2010 look back

I meant to do this back in January, but just plain forgot. I wanted to write down some memories and thoughts about the last year when it comes to riding. Last winter started with good base miles (slacked off on the intervals though) and before I knew it was I kicking off the race season at Big Bear as usual. Rode pretty strong.

24 Hours of Big Bear was canceled, so instead I went way down south West Virginia and rode the 24 Hours of Creek to Peak. Big lightning storms. We got second place, but I'm not going to tell you how many teams were in our category.

Spring quickly moved into summer, and my goal was to ride the Bike the Wilds series. That series started off with the epic Dash for Cash. Just once I'd like to race that course when it was dry. This past year, the "creek" crossings were more like river crossings of death. Lots of rain made for very high creeks.

Summer hit full force, and I can't remember a hotter or more humid summer. Started off by going down to Davis, WV, with Mark and Hubert. We rode Canaan area. Rode Moon Rocks and Hoo Doo Rocks. We happened to arrive at the bike shop just in time to hook on with a group that was being guided by one of the shop's employees. Worked out great. Moon rocks is very unique to say the least.

Stayed at Hubert's "cabin" that night, and then got up the next day to be greeted by some serious rain.

Headed over to ride Plantation Trail. Never thought it would be rideable with all the water, but it actually was. Rode that rocky trail for what felt like forever, epic. Then at our farthest point from the van, got caught in a torrential downpour. Crazy.

Later that summer that three of us did a one day road trip to Raystown. Took a little under three hours to make it there. Rode the super fast, flowy trails of Raystown. Did about 18 or so miles. Someone described it as a 30 mile pump track, and it's a very apt description. The danger of the place comes from going too fast. And it's easy to go too fast, I know, I met a tree while there. Afterward, we grilled up some sausages at a local pavillion. That was a tough drive home.

Back to the hot and humid summer I arrived. I never had the heat hit me so hard. I was always out of energy. Did some very hot races in Bike the Wild, got lost in two of them. Then went on vacation, didn't ride for two weeks, came home and tried to race and thought I was going to die.

The low point of last summer was making it to the top of the first hill in North Park and collapsing. I had to call it quits, and I had gone like only two miles. No energy, no legs.

Finally the fall came around, and I got all my energy back. Rode the Month of Mud races with Mark. Mark was riding really strong, but it kept me riding faster than I normally would have. I started peaking around in December. Joe Friel would be so disappointed in me.

That wraps it up. Not exciting for the three people that read this, but I didn't want to forget when some of this stuff happened.

Mohican 100 or What was I thinking?

So I did it. I signed up for my first 100 mile mountain bike race. Or to be more precise, mountain bike ride. I signed up to do the Mohican 100. My only goal, to finish. Two and a half years ago I did a 100 mile road ride. Didn't think I could pull that off, but I did. Now, I fear, a much harder goal to accomplish. I've started to train a bit more seriously, but the weather here is really not helping much. But I have gotten in a good number of three hour rides on the road, need to up that to four hour rides if the weather will allow.

Here's a little video from Tinker's site that gives some great perspective of last year's Leadville 100. A good motivator I think.

Month of Mud - Moraine

Moraine - 11th Masters - 7th overall for series - 2:00

Almost forgot to write this up. Got to Moraine, and it was a beautiful fall day. I knew that I would finish in 7th place in the series as long as I finished. That took a lot of the pressure off. I decided I would ride a strong ride, but try to enjoy the day and the trails.

The experts started, and about five minutes later the rest of started. Almost instantly, the guy in front of me goes down hard. I saw his helmeted head bounce off the gravel road. I barely got the brakes on in time, and I just missed him.

The route this year was different. We quickly headed uphill, turned left in to some rocky uphill switchbacks. This section was packed with riders, things hadn't spread out enough. This section was built for me. Short sections that needed power, then stretches where I could catch my breath.

We got to the top of the hill and things started spreading out as we headed downhill. I caught the guy in front of me, but he was going slow. Finally, I found a place to pass him, and I could hear three guys behind me follow. I then stayed off the brakes and in no time at all we caught the pack again. Whew, time to catch my breath.

Had to do two laps, and like always when I was done with the first lap I couldn't imagine doing a second lap. But like always, I got in a groove and it wasn't too bad. And like always, I ended up not seeing a lot of people, I thought I must be dead last when I finished. Found out that I did okay actually, especially since I didn't push quite as hard as I could have.

Saw a lot of mechanicals, and saw a number of people totally cramping. Moraine's 12 miles feels like 22 miles by the time you're done. The rocks are awesome, very rideable, but you have to be on your game.

The series was a lot of fun this year. Got to see a lot of friends, the weather was awesome. A big thank you to the Month of Mud gang, great job.

Month of Mud - North park

Photo by Mike Briggs

North Park Time trail - #14th Masters - :35.51

Over 200 people? Yep, over 200 people showed up for the inaugural North Park time trial. Earlier in the week, I pre-rode the course, and on my single speed I clocked a time of 38 minutes. So on Sunday, I knew the pace would have to be high for the entire course if I wanted to get any points for the race series.

Mark and I registered, and then warmed up by stopping along the course to cheer on the expert racers that had already begun their laps. Sooner than expected, I found myself on the starting line ready to go.

In this time trial, racers are released every minute. Mark was two riders behind me, so my goal was to not let him catch me. Go! I was off. We had to first do a circle around a tree in the grass field. I almost went into it too fast and just about slid out. That would've been embarrassing.

I picked up the pace in to the woods and the initial switchbacks (where I heard later Mark took a handlebar to the chest when he crashed. I continued up the rest of the switchbacks, my heart pounding, and my lungs about to explode. Crossed the first bridge, and then soon enough I was at one of the steeper climbs of the day. Luckily with North Park being my home course, I knew I could recover afterward. And that's what I did.

Crossed the second bridge and hit those switchbacks at a high speed. All was going pretty well. Slowed down at one of the first creek crossings. I thought it best to slow down as a few weeks earlier I had burped my front tired slamming into the rock armoring. After hearing about a lot of people pinch flatting, I was glad I had slowed down.

Sped down the flowy downhill section in the pines, then headed back up the valley. Somewhere I had passed three riders, and no one had passed me. As I came to the really sharp switchback, a masters rider made a pass on the right. I had expected this, in the WV series he races expert. I stayed on his wheel for a long as I could. This definitely helped me pick up my pace quite a bit. Though I lost him on the last switchbacks to the Wisconsin shelter.

I crossed the road, and then made a left. I lost a bit of time here recovering, but it was needed. Soon, I passed my fourth rider of the day. Before I knew it, I was headed down the last decent.

At this point, I was getting a bit sloppy so I made what I hoped was a good decision. I descended at a moderate pace; I could've gone a lot faster, but I may have easily crashed.

Crossed the finish line, and about 30 seconds later, Mark crossed. I had done it, I had held Mark off.

Not exactly the finish I had hoped for, but compared to my total collapse of fitness this summer (heat, humidity, exhaustion) I was pretty happy. No back pain, which is great, but I definitely I could tell that my setup doesn't allow me to get all the power from my legs that I could.

Last race of the series this Sunday - Moraine. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks.

Month of Mud - Grove City

Grove City cyclocross - 15th - Masters - :58.45

And then it rained some more. That was the theme for Grove City. Rain, rain, and more rain. Pulled into the parking lot and got dressed for the rain, but at least it was cold.

Did a short warm up and then went and watched the experts finish their race. They were covered with mud, front and back. Soon enough we were lining up for our race. The rain had pretty much stopped, but I was pretty sure the mud would still be there.

The prologue lap was on slick pavement, and I decided to line up toward the back and play it safe. Unfortunately this was a bad strategy. There were no pile ups, so I was about midpack once we hit dirt and the first barriers.

I passed a lot of people as we moved on to the mountain bike friendly section of the course. We were then dumped on to the grass section, and a number of cross bikes caught me. Steady through the rest of the grass section, then on to the pavement and back to the start line. I was able to draft here, so I stayed with the pack. One lap down, three to go, hopefully.

Fourth lap - whew, I barely made it. As I crossed the finish line for my last lap, I saw the judges getting ready to pull people over for being lapped. Did my last lap, and caught and gapped a rider I had been battling with for two laps. I always need that kind of competition to keep my pace up. I also was able to work with another rider quite a bit. I could tell he wasn't in my division, so when he was sitting on my wheel for a lap it didn't really bother me. But when I dropped behind my "nemesis" I used the guy on my wheel. Once we hit the pavement I pulled to the side and let him use his higher gears on his cross bike to up our pace a bit. I then took back over when we hit the rough stuff. On the grassy sections, we took turns as needed. I'm not sure I really drafted except for the pavement area, but mentally swapping helped me keep up my pace.

The mountain bike was good for about one fifth of the course, but the cross bikes were just faster the rest of the race. Though I find it hard to rationalize buying a cross bike for two races a year, but I really wish I had had one.

It was a good race, muddy like cross should be. To be more competitive I need a cross bike next year. I also needed to be more up front at the start, as I was only about a minute behind three races, and that back of the pack start cost me at least that much time. But still, the race was fun. A one week break, and then the North Park time trial.