The older I get the more I think about why I ride and how it makes me feel to finish any type of workout or race. The races now a days, seem to be more relaxed, don't get me wrong, I will be shaking in my shoes this weekend at the Mohican 100 start. Besides the 100's though everything else seems more what happens, happens? I still race hard and put 100% in every time but as I do this more I realize that I am the only one I have to satisfy with the results, no one else really cares. So I do this for the love of the ride and I love to ride. These past 3 weeks were loaded with rides that saw me on the MTB a lot. I trained through the last WORS race and kept the hammer down in search of a new peak in my training. Playing the fine line of giving it all I have but not diving off the other side into just completely drained and wiped out. I think we hit that and the icing on the cake was the 6 hr ride this weekend at the Northern Kettles.
If you have not ridden there, I recommend it! There has been a lot of work put into the trails and it made for a good time. I usually do not like doing laps, but the trails were long enough and technical enough to keep me entertained for the entire 6 hrs. Also Matt Shriver and rkL kept me entertained for the first few laps. This weekend was the first time meeting Matt. I know he has a long list of accolades and it was nice to talk with him! Very likable and made the circuits very enjoyable! I wish him luck in all his travels and hope he continues to find time for the bike!
So either way, I capped off my training block on Saturday and it is now time to rebuild and get ready for the Mohican 100. Last year I had to DNF due to the tornado warning and the mud sucking the will out of me. This year looks to be set up different with very warm temps and sun! I am running a pretty conservative set up and after using this weekends race to dial in nutrition a bit more I think I am ready. So here we come Ohio!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Curly Bar Neglect!
So my new mountian bike has been getting all the love as of late. Yesterday was no different as Michelle and I beat Mother Nature and made our way up to Wausau to ride nine mile in the morning. It was 10 degrees warmer and the sun even came out a couple times, while it was raining in Amherst? Weird, it is only a 40 minute drive away!
So ended up with 3 hrs on the bike and rode about every trail up there forward and backwards! Including some new trail that is looking like it might be race worthy that ties back into the flower trail? Good stuff!
So now back to the other bike. The curly bar Tarmac! I have this sweet Sworks Tarmac with a Quarq power meter on it that will be useful for my ride today. When I grabbed the bike this morning though, to my surprise, it has dust on it!! Sorry bike! At least it didnt have a flat tire as well!!
I do not see an end to this trend though! This weekend if the weather holds off there might even be a strong Adventure 212 showing at a WEMS race near you! Time will tell......
Monday, May 23, 2011
Short Distance Race'n WORS Style
This past weekend was the WORS race in Rhinelander. This course is one of my favorites and despite my complaining about the changes after preride, it raced well and kept me entertained the entire time.
So after the warm up with the team we toed the line. Since I missed Iola, I ended up getting called up in 13th and lined up next to Brian. After some chatting with him and Andrea it was time to go and we went. The initial lead out down the road was chill but as soon as we hit the singletrack I felt as if the race exploded. Think it was mainly due to some tired legs from all the riding this past week, but I had one speed! Luckily it was just over my 100 mile pace and was good enough to keep bringing people back. I think I settled into 9th spot at the start and just picked one or 2 off as they blew from the front group. Then coming around on the 2nd lap I saw Big D up ahead. He hopped on then pulled me down the road section before letting me go again.
Later I found out that he fell back and ended up crashing pretty good on a bridge falling on some already injured ribs. Guess the doc is saying one broken rib! Ouch! I have been there and it is not a fun injury. I heard Ryan stopped with him as well as Mike Anderson and Brian Eppen! Thanks to all of you that helped and forfeited your race. Lets hope for a speedy recovery from him, he makes our trips entertaining!!
Now onto the 3rd lap I rolled upto Tyler and we rode together for about a lap talking about how good a concrete mixer from Culvers sounded! He was riding well and I kept tyring to get him to hang on, but in the singletrack I lost him due to the efficiency of the Specialized Epic! That bike is like cheating and this years bike is one of the most stable and most confidence boosting bikes I have ever ridden!
Onto the 4th lap I came upto Ben Koeneg and we rode together the entire 4th lap. He was also riding very well but I use the dual suspension coming off the last bridge to open a 5 second gap and hung on to take 4th overall.
After crossing the line I learned that I was actually bringing the leaders back each lap, minus the 4th lap where I chilled a bit thinking it was just down to Ben and I. Either way, don't think I had much more than I was putting to the pedals and without any highend training I was happy with the result. Looking at the data I pretty much flat lined the HR at 171 for the entire race. To put it in perspective I will do a 100 and average 165 to 168.
As fro the rest of the team, Myles came in for 3rd in the Juniors, Ryan still came back for 16th after helping Big D, Scott was 33rd, and Mark 43rd.
The girls had another good showing and keep improving. It is good to hear them having so much fun and getting in some tight racing action! I will let one of them tell their side of teh story but Lisa was 4th, Michelle 5th, and Sarah 7th.
My next big race will be the Mohican 100 as long as mother nature cooperates and it does not look like a mud bath is going to happen down there!
So after the warm up with the team we toed the line. Since I missed Iola, I ended up getting called up in 13th and lined up next to Brian. After some chatting with him and Andrea it was time to go and we went. The initial lead out down the road was chill but as soon as we hit the singletrack I felt as if the race exploded. Think it was mainly due to some tired legs from all the riding this past week, but I had one speed! Luckily it was just over my 100 mile pace and was good enough to keep bringing people back. I think I settled into 9th spot at the start and just picked one or 2 off as they blew from the front group. Then coming around on the 2nd lap I saw Big D up ahead. He hopped on then pulled me down the road section before letting me go again.
Later I found out that he fell back and ended up crashing pretty good on a bridge falling on some already injured ribs. Guess the doc is saying one broken rib! Ouch! I have been there and it is not a fun injury. I heard Ryan stopped with him as well as Mike Anderson and Brian Eppen! Thanks to all of you that helped and forfeited your race. Lets hope for a speedy recovery from him, he makes our trips entertaining!!
Now onto the 3rd lap I rolled upto Tyler and we rode together for about a lap talking about how good a concrete mixer from Culvers sounded! He was riding well and I kept tyring to get him to hang on, but in the singletrack I lost him due to the efficiency of the Specialized Epic! That bike is like cheating and this years bike is one of the most stable and most confidence boosting bikes I have ever ridden!
Onto the 4th lap I came upto Ben Koeneg and we rode together the entire 4th lap. He was also riding very well but I use the dual suspension coming off the last bridge to open a 5 second gap and hung on to take 4th overall.
After crossing the line I learned that I was actually bringing the leaders back each lap, minus the 4th lap where I chilled a bit thinking it was just down to Ben and I. Either way, don't think I had much more than I was putting to the pedals and without any highend training I was happy with the result. Looking at the data I pretty much flat lined the HR at 171 for the entire race. To put it in perspective I will do a 100 and average 165 to 168.
As fro the rest of the team, Myles came in for 3rd in the Juniors, Ryan still came back for 16th after helping Big D, Scott was 33rd, and Mark 43rd.
The girls had another good showing and keep improving. It is good to hear them having so much fun and getting in some tight racing action! I will let one of them tell their side of teh story but Lisa was 4th, Michelle 5th, and Sarah 7th.
My next big race will be the Mohican 100 as long as mother nature cooperates and it does not look like a mud bath is going to happen down there!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Here Chic-ee Chic-ee
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Bad morning!
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Monday, May 16, 2011
Wind from my sails
Not sure it was so much wind, but the loss of air form my tires. I knew that the wrong tires were selected when as a team we had 3 flats during preride! Oops. We mounted up all the LKs we had and made do with the rest. The rock down in Arkansas is like running over small razor blades and they took there toll!
So the race started out with "Johnny Holeshot" leading us out with his 30 seconds of power before fading back. I then took over the front of the race at the start of the first climb and set it at a comfortable pace up the steep gravel climb. About half way up Jeff uped the pace and we ended up hitting the first section of single track with a break of 4 riders and myself placed in 2nd behind Jeff. The other two riders were Christian and Brandon from Team CF. I felt really comfortable on the technical trail and had really good legs. Then my race started to come apart, not 8 miles in a stick flew through my rear deraileur and pulled the cable right out of the holder! I stopped to fix it and was able to get the high gears out of the fix with help from Ryan who stopped to help and was not going anywhere till I was back on my bike! Thanks! I then went to put the rear tire back in the bike and noticed the rear tire was flat so I aired it up and got going again. I quicky caught up to Scott and Ryan and they let me roll through cause my adrenaline was in high gear as well. I was taking some chance on the downhills to get back towards the front and didn't even make it another mile before flatting again and burping the front! I started with 25 PSI which is 5 pounds more than I usually run! It sealed so I put air back in both tires and started down the trail once again. This time Ryan latched on and followed me and kept tabs of the hissing sound coming from my rear tire. By now all hopes of getting towards the front again were gone so I found a nice rock, set down, and decided to put a tube in the rear tire. Once going again I decided that I was going to ride the rest of the day and enjoy the awesome, technical, trails there!!
I rolled along blowing through aid station one, then stopping at aid 2 to grab my bottles. By now my legs were really feeling good and I started to pick riders off again. I made it to aid station 3 and rolled right thorugh. We were now on the red loop, which was a fast flowing loop that reminded me a lot of nine mile. I kept the pace high and before I knew it I had moved back into the top 10. I knew Ryan was my next rider and I did not want him to ride by himself, he gets lonely, so I kept the hammer down. Then I heard that aweful noise and all the air escape my tire all at once! Not good, I was out of tubes!! My day was done!
My next hour was spent walking out of the woods and back to aid station 3 where I booted my tire and put another tube in. My tire had a good 3/4" slit in it so I pulled the plug and rolled back to the start line to accept my DNF! Bummer!
The rest of the team did well, besides the bumps and bruises that the girls have. Mcihelle ended up in 4th overall in the 50 miler, Sarah was around 8th I believe even after taking the not so scenic loop down the gravel road for 6 extra miles! Ryan had an awesome NUE debut with 8th overall, Scott also had 2 flats and finished 21st, and Mark said enough of the tech trail and went back to the cars early looking for where the beer was hidding!
So after a DNF, now I am obligated to go back and race again! Cannot leave a race like that and I will make sure I have some sturdier tires the next time!
Next up for the team is WORS #2. Not expecting a lot from myself, but the res tof the team is fired up and the Rhinelander course is one of my favorites! See you there!
So the race started out with "Johnny Holeshot" leading us out with his 30 seconds of power before fading back. I then took over the front of the race at the start of the first climb and set it at a comfortable pace up the steep gravel climb. About half way up Jeff uped the pace and we ended up hitting the first section of single track with a break of 4 riders and myself placed in 2nd behind Jeff. The other two riders were Christian and Brandon from Team CF. I felt really comfortable on the technical trail and had really good legs. Then my race started to come apart, not 8 miles in a stick flew through my rear deraileur and pulled the cable right out of the holder! I stopped to fix it and was able to get the high gears out of the fix with help from Ryan who stopped to help and was not going anywhere till I was back on my bike! Thanks! I then went to put the rear tire back in the bike and noticed the rear tire was flat so I aired it up and got going again. I quicky caught up to Scott and Ryan and they let me roll through cause my adrenaline was in high gear as well. I was taking some chance on the downhills to get back towards the front and didn't even make it another mile before flatting again and burping the front! I started with 25 PSI which is 5 pounds more than I usually run! It sealed so I put air back in both tires and started down the trail once again. This time Ryan latched on and followed me and kept tabs of the hissing sound coming from my rear tire. By now all hopes of getting towards the front again were gone so I found a nice rock, set down, and decided to put a tube in the rear tire. Once going again I decided that I was going to ride the rest of the day and enjoy the awesome, technical, trails there!!
I rolled along blowing through aid station one, then stopping at aid 2 to grab my bottles. By now my legs were really feeling good and I started to pick riders off again. I made it to aid station 3 and rolled right thorugh. We were now on the red loop, which was a fast flowing loop that reminded me a lot of nine mile. I kept the pace high and before I knew it I had moved back into the top 10. I knew Ryan was my next rider and I did not want him to ride by himself, he gets lonely, so I kept the hammer down. Then I heard that aweful noise and all the air escape my tire all at once! Not good, I was out of tubes!! My day was done!
My next hour was spent walking out of the woods and back to aid station 3 where I booted my tire and put another tube in. My tire had a good 3/4" slit in it so I pulled the plug and rolled back to the start line to accept my DNF! Bummer!
The rest of the team did well, besides the bumps and bruises that the girls have. Mcihelle ended up in 4th overall in the 50 miler, Sarah was around 8th I believe even after taking the not so scenic loop down the gravel road for 6 extra miles! Ryan had an awesome NUE debut with 8th overall, Scott also had 2 flats and finished 21st, and Mark said enough of the tech trail and went back to the cars early looking for where the beer was hidding!
So after a DNF, now I am obligated to go back and race again! Cannot leave a race like that and I will make sure I have some sturdier tires the next time!
Next up for the team is WORS #2. Not expecting a lot from myself, but the res tof the team is fired up and the Rhinelander course is one of my favorites! See you there!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Making it
Making it, or living the dream. How many times have you heard that? I think this counts. Michelle and I with tons of help from every team member has built the best group of individuals and riders and put them on one team. We are all fast in our own right, but each of us get it. The understanding of balance. Yes there are a few cyclists in the world that get to do this on a full time, paid basis, but not very many. We all work full time jobs, but take the time to do the things we love, riding bikes and travelling with friends!! Luckily our employees at 212 allow us more freedom in the summer to get out more frequently as well.
So as we sit here and get ourselves mentally prepared for the Syllamo's revenge, thanks to all family, sponsors, coaches, bike shops, friends, and each other as we have made it and are living the dream!
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Thursday, May 12, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Randomness
So things have been pretty busy with a bunch of odd things! Riding has still been at the center of it all with the Syllamo's Revenge coming up this weekend. I took a look at some of the trails down there and it looks like it is going to be a blast! Guess the trails did not get IMBA Epic status for nothing! Will be a much different race than Cohutta I am expecting!
Last night I worked on bikes and started packing for Michelle and I. We will have a total of 6 Adventure 212/Specialized riders down there and then Lee.
On the non bike side, I had some programming changes to make with the XM/Sirius satellite radio channel line up changes made this past week. I wonder if anyone ever thinks about custom home automation when they propose things like moving channels. Luckily I did not have anything to change on the Crestron system thanks to the dynamic presets, but on the Elan system I have 9 buttons on 8 different touchpanels and a remote. Sweet!
Back on the bike side of things, Michelle and Sarah went to Milwaukee for some curly bar racing. Sarah won one of the races and in the open race Michelle was 7th and Sarah 9th. I stayed home and pulled my curly bar Tarmac back out for some long hours. Made for a fun weekend that even included a destination trip from my house down towards the Wisconsin Dells. It was awesome cause I had a tail wind almost the whole way and most of the roads I was on were freshly paved! Double bonus! I made it down there just in time to fire up the grill and finish off the BBQ ribs! Mmmmm!
So now it is coast time with one more workout tomorrow before this weekends 2nd race in the NUE series! Can't wait!
Last night I worked on bikes and started packing for Michelle and I. We will have a total of 6 Adventure 212/Specialized riders down there and then Lee.
On the non bike side, I had some programming changes to make with the XM/Sirius satellite radio channel line up changes made this past week. I wonder if anyone ever thinks about custom home automation when they propose things like moving channels. Luckily I did not have anything to change on the Crestron system thanks to the dynamic presets, but on the Elan system I have 9 buttons on 8 different touchpanels and a remote. Sweet!
Back on the bike side of things, Michelle and Sarah went to Milwaukee for some curly bar racing. Sarah won one of the races and in the open race Michelle was 7th and Sarah 9th. I stayed home and pulled my curly bar Tarmac back out for some long hours. Made for a fun weekend that even included a destination trip from my house down towards the Wisconsin Dells. It was awesome cause I had a tail wind almost the whole way and most of the roads I was on were freshly paved! Double bonus! I made it down there just in time to fire up the grill and finish off the BBQ ribs! Mmmmm!
So now it is coast time with one more workout tomorrow before this weekends 2nd race in the NUE series! Can't wait!
Monday, May 2, 2011
WORS #1: Iola
Well the race season officially begun this weekend for the Adventure 212/Specialized team, and all I can say is....it's going to be a good, good year! It's always nerve-racking to get to the first race to see how your off-season of training stacks up...and it was certainly evident this weekend that the 212 team trained really, really hard!
So how well did the race go for Adventure 212/Specialized...for the girls this photo tells it all!
The race started fast (the course was very dry despite all the rain and snow lately...great job Iola race directors and crew!), despite the very chilly 40 degree weather...with Kim Eppen and Abby Strigel (two incredibly strong women who we can only admire) leading the way with the 212 girls and Robin Williams (Kim's teamate from Mercy-Speciliazed). Abby unfortunatly barely even began the race and broke her chain and was out, leaving Kim to continue her moster pace while the 212 girls and Robin came around after the first lap as one unit (despite Di dropping her chain and coming back from DFL)...something we've never, ever been able to do before due to all of our fitness/tech skill differences. It was quite a site and took the onlooking crowd by surprise!!! And we had quite a gap (couple minutes already) on any girls behind us. All in all the girls did amazing and we ended up taking the 2-5th Pro/Elite podium spots. (5th just by 2 seconds as Michelle was able to grab the sprint from another really strong rider Robin Williams). The girls couldn't stop smiling...this is what team racing is all about...the guys have had years of feeling this way and had talked about it often but for the girls it was a dream come true yesterday!
Not to be outdone...the Adventure 212/Specialized men also all took Pro/Elite podium spots:
The men's race was extremly fast with Tristan Schoutan and Brian Matter leading the way and creating a gap early on, followed by another group of Brian Eppen and Michal Anderson, and then Adventure 212's own Mike Phillips and Darrin Braun. Ryan Krayer and Todd McFadden ended up rounding out the elite podium taking 12th and 13th respectively. It was a great day!
In the junior race, despite leg cramps all race Myles Beach was able to pull-out a sixth place finish. I know he's a bit disappointed in that...but it's a long season and he'll be back up top soon no doubt!
One thing the whole team can agree on...the 2011 Specialized bikes are FAST, FAST, FAST!!!! All of us are just raving about how well they handle, especially cornering and their responsiveness is amazing!!! We thought they couldn't get better from last year, but we were definitly wrong!!! THANK YOU SPECIALIZED!!!!
The team would also like to give a special thanks to our support crew this weekend who braved the cold temps and harsh winds to make sure we were well fed and hydrated! Thanks Tim, Lynn, Jaime, Nicky, Kylie, Kelsey and the Beach family! Couldn't have done it without you!
What's next for the team....Sarah, Michelle, Chris, Ryan, Mark and Scott will be racing the NUE Arkansas race on the 14th followed by the team regrouping less Mike, Di and Todd for WORS#2 at Rhinelander!
So how well did the race go for Adventure 212/Specialized...for the girls this photo tells it all!
The race started fast (the course was very dry despite all the rain and snow lately...great job Iola race directors and crew!), despite the very chilly 40 degree weather...with Kim Eppen and Abby Strigel (two incredibly strong women who we can only admire) leading the way with the 212 girls and Robin Williams (Kim's teamate from Mercy-Speciliazed). Abby unfortunatly barely even began the race and broke her chain and was out, leaving Kim to continue her moster pace while the 212 girls and Robin came around after the first lap as one unit (despite Di dropping her chain and coming back from DFL)...something we've never, ever been able to do before due to all of our fitness/tech skill differences. It was quite a site and took the onlooking crowd by surprise!!! And we had quite a gap (couple minutes already) on any girls behind us. All in all the girls did amazing and we ended up taking the 2-5th Pro/Elite podium spots. (5th just by 2 seconds as Michelle was able to grab the sprint from another really strong rider Robin Williams). The girls couldn't stop smiling...this is what team racing is all about...the guys have had years of feeling this way and had talked about it often but for the girls it was a dream come true yesterday!
Not to be outdone...the Adventure 212/Specialized men also all took Pro/Elite podium spots:
The men's race was extremly fast with Tristan Schoutan and Brian Matter leading the way and creating a gap early on, followed by another group of Brian Eppen and Michal Anderson, and then Adventure 212's own Mike Phillips and Darrin Braun. Ryan Krayer and Todd McFadden ended up rounding out the elite podium taking 12th and 13th respectively. It was a great day!
In the junior race, despite leg cramps all race Myles Beach was able to pull-out a sixth place finish. I know he's a bit disappointed in that...but it's a long season and he'll be back up top soon no doubt!
One thing the whole team can agree on...the 2011 Specialized bikes are FAST, FAST, FAST!!!! All of us are just raving about how well they handle, especially cornering and their responsiveness is amazing!!! We thought they couldn't get better from last year, but we were definitly wrong!!! THANK YOU SPECIALIZED!!!!
The team would also like to give a special thanks to our support crew this weekend who braved the cold temps and harsh winds to make sure we were well fed and hydrated! Thanks Tim, Lynn, Jaime, Nicky, Kylie, Kelsey and the Beach family! Couldn't have done it without you!
What's next for the team....Sarah, Michelle, Chris, Ryan, Mark and Scott will be racing the NUE Arkansas race on the 14th followed by the team regrouping less Mike, Di and Todd for WORS#2 at Rhinelander!
The Cohutta 100
Mark, Scott, and I rolled into the Ocoee Whitewater Center at about 5:30 AM EST and just chilled in the truck instead of being chilled by the 42 degree outside temp. After listening to the radio and maybe even taking a little nap, we rolled out of the truck and started to get things put together. I jumped on the bike around 6:40 and rolled up to the line, went about a half mile up the start hill then the call up started. After losing the leg warmers and coat, the countdown started. The gun went off quickly and most of us were caught not paying attention and not even clipped in! I rolled out sitting not further back than the top 5 and at the top of the climb found myself sitting behind Christian in 2nd place. After the slight downhill and the loss of a couple spots I ended up hitting the first section of single track sitting in 5th position. We were riding really chill and felt nice to finally ride some fun dirt. I was riding right behind Michael Simonson so it was good to catch up a bit! Nice to see how well he is riding!
The positions stayed the same while we cruised the fun single track this area had to offer, until we hit the rooted single track near the river where we piled up last year. I picked the upper line while everyone else went to the bottom and I cruised right through and to the front of the race with little effort due to the efficiency of the Specialized Epic! I opened a small gap and it gave me time to peel off my arm warmers before we headed out for the remaining 6 hrs of fun.
By this time we had a group of 8 riders away and I lead through the rest of the single track. The Epic was rocking it and made the single track seem effortless. Love the new bike if you have not picked up on that yet! We then came out to the gravel road and we chilled a bit. The chill pace continued until Simonson gave a go on one of the flats. After Jeff chased him back down with the rest in tow, we rolled easily and chatted a bit. Then right before aid 2, the games began. I was unable to match the power of the others and fell off right before aid 2 in 6th place to settle into a pace I could manage. Sucked, cause it meant I was looking at the next 70 miles riding by myself! Which is not good, cause I like to talk while racing!
After stopping at Aid 2 I continued to climb at my pace and then rocketed down the other side at the 50 mile mark. Looking at my data, I hit this point almost 20 minutes faster than 2010, so I knew they were flying ahead of me. I rallied the down hill with the voice of Mike P ringing in my ear, "Don't know why I work on brakes, really don't believe in them on bikes!"
I then hit aid #4 and stopped to grab my food. By now I was feeling pretty good and was rolling well down the flat road section. Then right before hitting the climb, before the short and long course comes together, I saw Tom Turner. I went by him, asked if he needed anything, then continued on. I kept my pace and thought I was in the clear for the 5th spot on the podium after stopping at aid 5 for my last 2 bottles.
I took it pretty easy on the downhill going into the last section of single track due to the fresh rock that was so deep, it felt like riding on sand. After making it down this and entering the single track, I had a sigh of relief thinking I was in the clear! That is when I hit a root and noticed I had a flat tire! Not sure if it really counts as a flat or not? I always debate if it counts as a flat if you did not have to put a tube in it? So I will call it a loss of air! I stopped, grabbed my CO2, and filled the tire. As I was about to get back on the bike a 100 mile rider passed me!! Determined not to lose that last podium spot, I put the hammer down! I went by him and never looked back. I hammered through the last single track section and ended up finishing in 5th spot with a 3 minute buffer!
I was very happy to finish on the podium and feel like I showed that last year was not a fluke! Nice work to the rest of the guys on the podium, it was great riding with them and look forward to the next one in Arkansas!
Also Nice work to the rest of the Adventure 212/Specialized team for the WORS opener. I will let one of the girls write that post and give their perspective!
The positions stayed the same while we cruised the fun single track this area had to offer, until we hit the rooted single track near the river where we piled up last year. I picked the upper line while everyone else went to the bottom and I cruised right through and to the front of the race with little effort due to the efficiency of the Specialized Epic! I opened a small gap and it gave me time to peel off my arm warmers before we headed out for the remaining 6 hrs of fun.
By this time we had a group of 8 riders away and I lead through the rest of the single track. The Epic was rocking it and made the single track seem effortless. Love the new bike if you have not picked up on that yet! We then came out to the gravel road and we chilled a bit. The chill pace continued until Simonson gave a go on one of the flats. After Jeff chased him back down with the rest in tow, we rolled easily and chatted a bit. Then right before aid 2, the games began. I was unable to match the power of the others and fell off right before aid 2 in 6th place to settle into a pace I could manage. Sucked, cause it meant I was looking at the next 70 miles riding by myself! Which is not good, cause I like to talk while racing!
After stopping at Aid 2 I continued to climb at my pace and then rocketed down the other side at the 50 mile mark. Looking at my data, I hit this point almost 20 minutes faster than 2010, so I knew they were flying ahead of me. I rallied the down hill with the voice of Mike P ringing in my ear, "Don't know why I work on brakes, really don't believe in them on bikes!"
I then hit aid #4 and stopped to grab my food. By now I was feeling pretty good and was rolling well down the flat road section. Then right before hitting the climb, before the short and long course comes together, I saw Tom Turner. I went by him, asked if he needed anything, then continued on. I kept my pace and thought I was in the clear for the 5th spot on the podium after stopping at aid 5 for my last 2 bottles.
I took it pretty easy on the downhill going into the last section of single track due to the fresh rock that was so deep, it felt like riding on sand. After making it down this and entering the single track, I had a sigh of relief thinking I was in the clear! That is when I hit a root and noticed I had a flat tire! Not sure if it really counts as a flat or not? I always debate if it counts as a flat if you did not have to put a tube in it? So I will call it a loss of air! I stopped, grabbed my CO2, and filled the tire. As I was about to get back on the bike a 100 mile rider passed me!! Determined not to lose that last podium spot, I put the hammer down! I went by him and never looked back. I hammered through the last single track section and ended up finishing in 5th spot with a 3 minute buffer!
I was very happy to finish on the podium and feel like I showed that last year was not a fluke! Nice work to the rest of the guys on the podium, it was great riding with them and look forward to the next one in Arkansas!
Also Nice work to the rest of the Adventure 212/Specialized team for the WORS opener. I will let one of the girls write that post and give their perspective!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
The bottom step
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