Jingle Cross Day 1- Under the Lights

Last night was my first ever cross race at night under lights and it was awesome! I was pretty pumped and for some reason found myself with a jitter or two before the start. The venue had giant spot lights brought in that did a great job of lighting the course as bright as day where it was shinning. A few spots were hard to see which made for some interesting racing to go along with the slip and slide mud covering the course. As usual Mt. Krumpit was a brutally long and steep run up to keep things interesting.

Telling your body its going to race at 7:30 at night in the dark through the mud and cold is not too easy. It helped to see the carnage from the previous races with countless derailleurs being ripped off and bikes hiding under layers of mud to get the blood flowing and adrenaline pumping. I can't explain it but I absolutely love and live for racing in nasty slick mud! The number of starts was in the 40's and looked to be some respectable competition. I decided to try something different and started a little easier to see if I could hang with a group through the whole race. This proved to work a little better and I was sitting in with a group all the way to the bottom of Mt. Krumpet. Dialing tire pressure was a problem again with sections of hard fast pavement and slow slick mud. After a bike change things were going a lot faster again and I was able to catch back on and pass a couple dudes. All said and done I finished 25th and in the money!

USGP Jersey 3

Getting everything to come together on race day seems to be a problem for me lately. I find myself being able to start pretty well, even when I toe the line with the pros. By no means am I taking the hole shot but I'm finding myself still able to move up within the field for the first half of a lap. This is where putting it all together comes into play and I seem to fall apart for the next 2 laps. Obviously cross is all about running red line and being anaerobic for the majority of the race. My problem seems to be able to continue or closely maintain my position in the race from the end of the first lap for the next 2 or so laps. If I could solve this problem I truly believe I would go from one of the last scored finisher in USGP races to a good 10-15 places higher. Day 1 of racing in Jersey was a lot like last year with inches of peanut butter mud across the entire course. Running for 40% of a lap is no exaggeration, especially after a pile up in the first corner of the race leaving the leaders long gone and the guys in the back doomed to start running. A pre-ride of the course should have been taken but I opted not to for some dumb reason.

If you know anything about cross making the right choice with tires and tire pressure is beyond crucial, it literally can make or break your race. I asked a couple people that took a pre-ride lap or two what they thought and made my decision based upon their information... bad idea. Of the 3 different sets of tires I had to choose from I probably picked the worst one possible. Slipping and sliding my way through an entire lap was the deciding factor in my race and left me OTB quickly. I would like to thank my sponsors for the ability to have 2 identical bikes for situations just like this. I grabbed my B bike from the pits and with no exaggeration was going a couple miles per hour faster just about everywhere on the course! Sections of the course that were unridable the first lap were now ridable with the simple change of a bike with different tires on it. I powered my way around the course for the next couple laps trying to make contact with people only to find them pulling out. The time I lost on the first lap is hard to estimate but I wouldn't be surprised if it was almost a half lap. Trebon was on a mission and that was to relieve me of my duties bringing up the rear with 3 laps to go. Oh well... clean up the bikes and get ready to do it all over again the next day.

Day 2 of racing brought a different course and different style of racing. The course was more technical and dried out to allow for a little faster of riding and lap times. I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice so I got a little bit of time on the course and was able to make the right tire choice. The start seemed slower than normal or I just had good legs because I was able to make my way from the 7th row all the way into the top 30 through the first couple corners. Its a shame to be able to have such a good start only to watch it slip through your grasp. As I elaborated on before I can start really well but some how fall apart for the next 2 laps until I'm able to get it going again. Going from the top 30 to the back of the field is a pretty big mental blow but I am not one to quite and did my best to keep it going. Like clock work I started feeling better a lap or 2 later and was able to start picking guys off one by one. If it wasn't for Johnson setting a blistering pace around the course I might have been able to catch and pass a couple more guys. I don't know what my problem is with fading after good starts only to kick it in a couple laps later but I'm determined to figure it out before the end of the season.

USGP Jersey 2

Here are more pics from the trip home and a stop in Cleveland.

Baby Bobcat

Killing time at the Natural History Museum hanging out with the otter.

Monday Night Football action

USGP Jersey 1

I'll post a bunch of pics from the trip to New York first

Ground Zero and the construction of the Freedom Tower

Wall Street Grand Central Station (The picture doesn't do the size of the station justice)

Time Square trying to find Ben Baily and the Cash Cab.

Rockefeller Center and the tree going up.

Amazing pizza at Lombari's in Little Italy

Cool mural in one of the subways

Iceman 2009

The funny thing about this picture is I didn't know they were behind me. I was in the front row on the line just focusing on the start.... apparently they were too haha. The gun sounded and I was off and surprised how slow the group was going for a start. Maybe I've been doing to many cross races with the pros because I felt it just wasn't fast enough to make my head spin and legs scream so I took the whole shot pretty much from the start. My pull was probably for a good mile or so until I decided to let someone else pull a little and sit in and recover. Jesse Bell took over with the pace making and I followed 3rd wheel until right before the first section of dirt. Two guys attacked on both sides and turned up the pace a notch for about 20 more yards. This is where my great start was wasted as the two guys who attacked bumped each other and caused my buddy Matt to crash right in front of me! Needless to say I was pissed and left running down the middle of the trail trying to get my chain back on going from 1st to 100th place after 5 minutes of racing.

The rest of my race was spent trying to make up the lost places. This is where the shoulda coulda woulda took over in my head as I drilled it for the next 20 miles. Somewhere around Williamsburg road I knew I was getting close to the front of the race and could see little groups not far up the trail. I tried with everything I had to bridge the last couple gaps to the groups but found the match book running out of matches. The fuel tank levels were dropping fast and the chase ended with 6 miles to go and turned into salvage mode. My goal of 1:45 was falling by the wayside and as the miles ticked by slower and slower so did the goal. 1st twice or 11th in my age group was the final result. Overall I'm still pretty happy because I knew I felt as good as I have racing in a long time and I was able to almost get back to the front. I may have over done it in the chase by myself and payed the price in the last 6 miles but it was worth the efforts and I would do it exactly the same again. Congrats to Brian for the 3rd place finish and almost the repeat on the 3peat.... Triple Crown!

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and enjoying the company of new and old friends. The annual party downtown was crazy as usual including the party bus. Breakfast the next morning was the now tradition of The Omelet Shop, and amazing as always. Iceman is always one of my favorite race weekends of the season and I can't wait until next year.

Quick Iceman update

Just rolled in from the long drive home so I'm gonna make this short for now.

My 4th Iceman Cometh Challenge is in the books. Not quite the result or finish I was hoping for but overall still pretty happy. Finished #1 twice as Russel and myself like to joke about or 11th depending upon how you look at it. Time wise I was about the same as last year with a little longer course. I'll leave you with a couple pictures and do a formal write up soon.

Pre Part Bus action at the finish
Score for the weekend.... Brand new super cheap wheel bags!!!

RECAP 1 Grafton cross and WORS #12

This is going to be the first super update to bring myself current in my recent endeavors. Let's start with the weekend of the last WORS race of the season.

The day before the last WORS race of the season I decided to get a nice little warm up in by doing the cross race in Grafton. The course looked pretty good with one really steep climb towards the end of the lap. An important side note is the fact that I was doing my first race on my new custom SISU ti cross frame I finally got in but 2 days earlier. I managed to throw the bike together just in time for the race to test it out. The start of the race proved to be more trouble than I would have liked getting myself pushed to the outside of the first corner and almost in the back of the field before I could ever really get going. My work was cut out for me at this point so I did what needed to be done... start working my way back to the front. The field by and large stayed together for the first 3 laps, just really strung out. I was making up ground and picking off guys one by one as the time ticked by. The rather large hill I mentioned earlier was a deciding factor in the race and would prove to be my undoing soon enough. The first lap up the hill I could hear my rear derailleur trying to bobble between gears as I hammered up the hill with the large group. The same thing happened on lap 2 so I did my best to keep it smooth and steady. Lap 3 seemed as if the problem had gone away which eased my worries that I had something wrong with my last minute build of the bike. Lap 4 was go time and I was finally starting to feel good after a crappy start. I was closing in on Kip and decided to push the steep hill a little harder to try to make up some ground. Coming into the bottom of the hill full speed ahead and right out of the saddle left me on the rivet. No more than a quarter of the way up the hill the bobbling sound was back and worse than ever! I tried to keep it smooth and steady again until the feeling of no pressure on the pedals and the sound of defeat echoed through my mind and body. Game over, broken chain! I was pretty bummed to be done so quick but things got a little better after someone handed me a beer from the heckling section of the hill. Oh well hopefully this was a good enough warm up for the big race the next day.

It wasn't enough time racing to give a thorough assessment of the new frame but enough to know I was definitely pleased. Snappy response and great handling qualities not to mention a nicely damped ride from the full titanium frame and carbon fork to eat up the bumps. Definitely the best cross bike I have ever owned!

The next day was the last WORS race of the season on my local trails here in Sheboygan. The quarry and Evergreen Park is where it all started for me 8 years earlier almost to the day! I did my first ever bike race in the citizen class during the Wigwam Ultimax Challenge. Needless to say I have managed to learn the trails for the race inside and out. After a poor race the day before and honestly a poor WORS season all together, this was my last chance. I felt it was my time to shine and finally put the doubt out of my head on being able to race for a win in the comp class. If there was any course to do it on this was the one; home field advantage if you will.

The start was crazy as usual and left me chasing hard after the guy in front of me missed his pedal. By the hole shot across the parking lot I had worked my way into the top 15 and close to the top 10 by the first section of single track. Someone manged to stack it up in the first single track allowing me to pass a couple guys and into the top 10 where I belonged. I did a little count in the switchbacks and found myself in 7th place, sweet! I kept the gas on and managed to pass a guy or two in the next 3 laps and closing in on Brian Schwaller. Local spectators were giving me time splits to Brian and I was definitely closing the gap. By the end of lap 3 I had caught him as he was pulling out of the race on the equalizer. We later joked about how he was in 5th and decided to pull out of the race haha. Lap 4 was crucial, no mistakes to be made! The pain of cramps was starting to set in so it was damage control time while keeping the gas on as much as possible. I was running out of people in front of me in my wave and knew it was my race to take if I could hold off all the people behind me. It wasn't until 2 miles to go in the race that I caught the guy in 4th and layed down what I hoped to be a serious attack to distance myself from him in the closing miles. As soon as I knew I had dropped the guy in 4th I found another guy from my wave was breathing down my neck. Full tilt from the equalizer until the bride overpass proved to do little to shake the dude. There was less than 3oo meters from the bridge to the finish line so it was now or never. One last attack across the grass and into the little section of single track before the finish was just enough to hold him off! In my mind I knew I did pretty well and was in the top 5 in my wave but totally unaware of 4th overall in the race.

I honestly didn't know I was in 4th overall until I had changed and came back to look at the results board. Staring at the results board a little blankly and double checking what I was reading until it clicked, yes indeed I was 4th overall in the race. By best finish in a WORS comp race and by and large my best result of the season to date was the perfect ending to a WORS mountain bike season!