Thursday, April 29, 2010

Decorah Time Trial Race Report



Knowing that the Decorah Time Trials were going to be on the IMBCS schedule this year, I knew it was a must do. About 3.5 years ago I had the chance to cruise up to Decorah to finally ride the awesome trails. With it being 3.5 years since I had ridden them (I have subsequently said year after year that I was going to get up there at least once) I knew I was going to need a refresher on the trails.

I contacted Shockey at the beginning of last week. Tentatively the plan was I was heading up on Thursday to pre-ride come hell or high water. Luckily neither of those came about and I was actually joined by Adam and Thomas B. We shoved off nice and early (8am, come on it was my day off) in gorgeously sunny weather. Shockey had arranged for Jeff O'Gara to ride with us.

Last time I rode those trails a couple of friends and I actually rode with Jeff and another individual who we figured out to be none other than Ben Shockey. Small world, but it is Iowa. So after some minor adventures on the way up we arrived just in time to meet up with Jeff.

Jeff knows those trails well enough that he could casually ride a fast pace and make us feel pretty worthless, but without that kind of pace, I wouldn't have gotten a good race pace feel for the trails. We rode just about all of the course (some or most backwards) and included the Palisades side just to round things off and kill the last of what was in our legs. I somehow remembered a lot of the trails and where we were which was great.

Come race day Adam and I met up even earlier at 7am to rainy cool weather. With a 10am start we knew that we had to get up there early enough to get a decent start time. We arrived right at 9:30 with just enough time to register and get the low down in the race meeting. We nabbed the 10:53 and 10:54 start times, and got suited up.

One thing I need to work on is warming up. I suck at it. The course started with about a 200 yard road stretch and then turned into the sky. I had been forewarned about the opening section. I knew there would reach a point that got too steep. This came a little earlier than anticipated due to the tacky/slightly muddy conditions. At this point my heart was beating out of my chest so I hopped off the bike and attempted to run. Not happening. So I hiked up the short section that led to the top of the bluff.

I thought that things wouldn't turn up again too badly, but I was wrong. I was 10 minutes in and had already passed countless people who were faced with the intensity of the climbs. The trail opened up into a double track section that again pitched up steeply. There were three more people here either off the bike or just trudging along. I dove in past the last of them thankful to find the trail finally at the top of the bluff.

This is where my heart finally slowed down and I got into a good rhythm. After this I was on cruise control. I was feeling great. I knew the couple of trouble climbs after this point and knew the insane dosage of elevation was better spread across the remainder of the course.

I got heckled twice going through Death Valley where all the party people were hanging out and was wishing I could stop, but I felt really good. I got down to the river trail and punched it as fast as I was comfortable with. Trevor was waiting at the line and said I had rolled across the line close the the sub-1 hour mark. I knew I had made the top 5 and was content.

I then proceded to drink way too many beers, eat some awesome chili, hang out with Shockey, Adam, and Marty, show up to the awards late (they started way earlier than anticipated) and then head home. I pulled out 4th on the day. I had hoped for more, but everything felt great. The stupid cramping problem was being caused by the Rotor rings and was remedied by a chainring position change. This race confirmed it.

Next up is the WORS race at Iola. I am hoping that my legs have a little Bump and Jump in them after my bachelor party on Friday night. I have a long drive up there on Saturday evening after work and a late start time on Sunday and then more driving.

After that I am on official house lockdown. No mountain biking for me until after the wedding. More self imposed than anything seeing as the beginning of the season has been laden with races already.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Sylvan Island Stampede Race Report



So this is way late, but better than never. I headed down to Davenport early on Saturday for my cousin's wedding so I got a chance to preride the course with Emily. Riding the course backward from last year was very surprising. It rode great! Not a single hiccup in the flow of the course.

The wedding went off without a hitch, I probably drank too many beers, and then headed to the hotel to get some rest. I woke up nice and early to watch Paris-Roubaix. It was crazy to see Cancellara ride away from the rest of the field that well. After getting ready we headed over to the Island to watch the Sport/Women's race.

After getting all ready, we lined up for the Men's Expert race. Things were running behind all day long so it was an antsy start on top of the fact that it was the first IMBCS race of the year. I as usual was an idiot and didn't get a front row start which really hurt my chances. I was right behind Kevin who got bumped off the start which in turn caused hesitation on my part.

So getting into the singletrack somewhere around the 20's I knew I was going to need to do some work to get through the beginning of the field. What I didn't know was that I was going to darn near have to blow myself to do this. On the open sections of the course it seemed like everyone was riding really strong. I had to burn a couple more matches that I would have liked to just moving up.

I got up to around 4-5th by around the end of lap 2. I realized that if I held that "pace" I was going to blow up. Worst part was all the accelerations were causing me to slow instead of being able to settle in and hold a solid pace. The rest of the next two laps were damage control.

I over'Gued myself somewhere around lap 4. My stomach got all weird and bloated which turned out to force me into a comfortable pace. At this point I realized my fitness was lacking and that I was going to ride above my comfort level just to save face.

Lap 5-6 were when I felt the best. If the race would have ended at lap 6 I would have been happy. I would have been one place lower, but Jed Gammel rode stronger than I and should have beat me if not for a late race puncture. I also have to give it up to Brian Kingsbury. He rode the race of his life. His fitness looked great. He caught me on lap 6 and never looked back. Hats off to him.

I ended up 5th on the day. With guys like Brian Eppen, Jesse Lalonde, Cam Kirkpatrick there, you know it is going to be a tough day. And it was.

I promise to get the Decorah Time Trial update up this week. It went a lot better.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Ouachita Challenge Race Report

So race day came. Woke up around 6am and got showered and headed over to Oden to pick up the race packets. We officially found out that we were going to run the race the opposite direction. My goal for the race was to stay with the leaders as long as possible to see what would play out.

At the start I made the group for the long dirt road section before the singletrack. I had to ease up on the climb to the entrance but caught back on the tail end of the line of 15 or so leaders. I rode in the group for quite some time while things stretched out slowly. I realized quickly that I was going to need to back off the pace.

I eased up and settled in climbing Blowout and Big Brushy. On the descent off of Big Brushy (after flatting) I found my front brake slowly leaking down. Shit. As it turned out, my brake hose banjo bolt was not torqued to spec (the bike had been built for 5 days, still my fault) so the last 40 miles were ridden without a front brake. Awesome.

Anyways after my mechanicals, I kind of shut down a little mentally. I was out of the top 20, and was yoyo-ing around the 30's. I decided to just ride and have fun. I started to have some cramping issues a little earlier than expected as well. I was hydrating well and eating, but cramping ensued early. I think I have tracked it down to my chainrings which leave you on the gas a lot.

All in all I still finished top 50 which was a good day on the mountain bike. I finished with Adam same as last year forgoing the opportunity to sprint it out for 39th or 40th or something. Seemed fitting to cruise in with him.

Next up Sylvan Island Report. More of the same (minus the mechanicals!)