Doing it HBA Style

Iowa State Gravel Championships

2011-06-04T14:13:00.001-07:00

Today was the State Gravel race hosted by Twisted Spokes down just south of Kalona, I saw this race a little while back and wasn't sure if I was committed to racing on gravel, but as the time came closer I decided that it might be fun to give it a go. Looking at the race flyer I noticed there was a Mountain Bike Open class, and since my cross bike is down right now with a shifter that isn't making with the happy, I figured this was something I could do. Load up the car and head down, get there with about an hour till we were off, got registered and waited to see who was showing up, saw Landon, and he was giving me crap about doing the mountain bike class since he too would be doing it, and then a little later another guy shows up with a mountain bike, not sure who he was but was from an Iowa City team and didn't know how strong he would be. We got all lined up and it was a neutral start for the first 1/2 mile or so till we got to the actual course.

The course is 7 miles long with pretty much rolling hills for the first 5 miles and then the last 2 miles are where the bigger hills come in.

Heading into the first lap we were joking about just rolling the first 2 laps together and go all out on the 3rd, but quickly that plan changed. I dropped back to talk to the other mountain bike guy to find out what his fitness level was and what kind of threat he might be. The group was rolling along really well together until we started hitting some hills, I was up front with the only singlespeed guy in the group and we pulled the others around, there was only 9 of us in the 4 or 5 different categories that were on the road and the mountain bike class was the biggest with 3. We get to the west section and that is straight into the wind, and being as I was up front I was doing most of the work, I tried to drop back a few spots but seemed like noone really wanted to come through. Turn onto the final stretch with all the climbing and I think on the 2nd of 4 hills is when we started to lose people off the back, by the time we got onto the 2nd lap we were down to a group of just 5, the guy on the single speed, 2 60+ guys and Landon and myself both on mountain bikes.

I tried to get the others to work on this lap to just put more time in between us and the others, but didn't get much interest in that, so I continued to set the pace at the front and tried to sit in if I could on some sections to conserve energy. This lap would be pretty uneventful as the 5 of us rolled along the countryside, no attacks, no one really falling behind we just stayed where we were at. Legs were feeling good on the hills and towards the end I would put in a few little digs on the hills to see if anyone else in the group would be going with, and John Adamson was the only one to really keep with me. Going into the 3rd and final lap we had a small gap, maybe 15 seconds, and I was ready to go, but he informed me that he would be going with, but not working at all since his teammate Landon was racing against me, and he wasn't attacking a teammate. So for a little while I kept going and decided it would be more fun to wait for the group and battle it out at the end. Sat up and within about a mile of that time the guy on the singlespeed had gotten a flat so he pulled off to fix that, now we are down to 4, John makes an attack and I decide not to chase him, I probably could have bridged up to him, but since we were about to turn into the headwind I wanted someone's wheel to sit on. So thats what I did, got onto the wheel of the other 60+ guy and sat there waiting for the final right hander leading us into the climbs again. We get there and now it is on, Landon comes charging from behind on the first hill and I follow right on his wheel, second climb I put in a small effort to only have it matched, and realized it will be best to wait. On the 3rd climb Landon tells me he is fully expecting me to pull away from him on the final climb and once we get to the bridge it is on, so we get to that point and now I am up front and he is on my wheel, I don't attack on the bottom part of the climb, but you can start to see the barn where the finish line is so I give it a little more, he follows, and then once we hit the 200 meters to go sign I decide it is full on sprint time, put my head down, pick up one gear at a time and don't look back.

Ended up 2nd overall for the group, and got my 1st Win since returning to racing in 2006, felt really good, and to know that I have the legs to attack and recover pretty quickly was awesome. I did get some crap from my wife for beating an old guy, but it's all good. Headed back to registration to change and get my medal, and my prize, a plate of homemade Cinnamon Rolls from Landon's wife, they are so good.

So I am the 2011 Iowa State Gravel Road Race Champion in the Mountain Bike Open Class!!!

2011 Team

2011-06-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

Guess I never announced it but I am back racing for HBA Racing for the 2011 Season.

Snake Alley Crit

2011-06-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

This past weekend brought the return of road racing to my season, first time since 2009, and what a way to come back but to do the hardest race in the area. For those of you not familiar with the course it is a .8 mile lap with a climb up the second "crookedest" street in the world, with 6 switchbacks and an average grade of 12.5 percent and a max of 19 percent.

I didn't make the decision to race until just over a month ago which meant I was behind on getting a great starting spot, but was still good enough for a 4th row call up, and with as wide as we line up on the line I was in the 3rd row, looking around there were a few people I recongnized but for the most part it was out of state racers and even the ones from Iowa I wasn't familiar with. I had a game plan and that was to line up as far to the left as possible as the start is a downhill roll out to a 90 degree right turn which then starts you with a one block straight up climb before entering the narrow street know as Snake Alley. My reasoning for this was I figured everyone would be fighting for a position on the inside line of the corner and I would be able to carry more speed on the outside, so they give us the countdown and we are off.

I was able to get clipped in right away and was trying to move up as fast as possible, but got caught behind people that didn't get in right away, boy do I love my Speedplay pedals, a little bumping but was able to get where I wanted to be, and turns out that my plan worked flawlessly, I was able to get down into the little ring before climbing and not worrying about dropping a chain, shot past a good part of the field and entered the Snake up in the front, by the time we hit the top of the hill I was sitting in 3rd place, wow not where I was expecting to be, and once you get there you drop down into a technical descent with 3 downhill 90 degree turns, full of painted lines, and manhole covers, my descending skills are pretty good so I was able to retain my position until we hit the bottom where it flattens out a little bit and the guys with bigger motors then I have passed my, but still sitting up in the top 10 heading up the Snake again. The next few laps were about the same, I would try and climb the best I could, but was losing some time and places there, turns out I just ran out of gears quicker then I thought, next year I will have a 12-27 out back for that little extra climbing gear.

I would continue to ride the next few laps solo, lost some more places by now, not sure how I am doing, and we are at the halfway point now. The field was so blown apart and I see Rob McKillip at the top of the hill cheering me on, he started with me but got pulled early on, so at this point I was in survival mode and tried my best to TT the best I can to avoid getting caught and pulled, had very consistant lap times through these last few all around the 2:44 area and was hoping to stay away, come up towards the line on lap 7 or 8 and see the USCF Ref down on the street kind of waiting to pull people, and thought my time was up, but I was spared and he pulled the 2 guys that were maybe 10-15 seconds behind me, dodged that bullet, next lap saw him again and I was still allowed to continue, so figured I was doing well enough that I wasn't holding anyone up or causing a situation to where I should be pulled.

At this point the sky's opened up and it started to downpour on us, not good for this race, but knowing there was a chance of rain I was running a lower tire pressure to try and get just that little bit of extra traction. I was climbing when it started and going down the first time was borderline scary, I grabbed the brakes going into the first corner and they didn't do much for me, only slowed a little, so I sat upright and trued to avoid leaning the bike in the corner so I didn't go down. Climbing proved to be a challenge as well since you can't stand up on the bricks when they are soaking wet, and I am not a good sit down climber, with 3 to go I got caught by the solo leader, so I only had 2 more laps to go. I did the best I could to stay out of the way of riders that were lapping me, but of course they were catching me on the climb, so I would take the far outside line, was easier to climb there, but my lap times suffered pretty bad. Final lap and I had been caught by 3 guys but had another group of 6 or so charging pretty hard so I basically sat up before descending to get out of the way, was a mistake because no one was actually going downhill faster then me so I just jumped in line and would get out of the way at the bottom, I had one guy think I was on the lead lap and almost sprinted but told him I was lapped, he smiled give me the thumbs up and cruised across the line.

At this point it was still raining hard and I had no idea how I did, went and found my wife and headed back to the car to change, the rain stopped shortly after my race and I was able get changed and walked over to look at results, ended up in 23rd out of 52 finishers, 62 starters, and 5th Iowan. I was very pleased with that result. Came home and downloaded the info from my Polar power meter and compared my race to when I did Snake Alley 2 years ago and had an increase of 32 watts average for the race, I was pleased with that as that is a 10% increase in power over 2 years time, means I am still getting stronger.

Pictures from the race can be found here

2011 So Far

2011-05-29T17:50:00.000-07:00

I know I have been bad about updating this since I have been into the social media with Facebook, and recently twitter, and have been letting people know what has been going on there. I will try and keep this more up to date though as race season is getting into full swing.

Training so far hasn't been consistent to say the least, had an awesome January, February I fell off a little bit, March wasn't great either, but April things started coming around as I got to a few group rides, races started up and was getting good mileage each week, and now we are into May and things are going well.

First race for me was Sylvan Island MTB race in April, always a great way to start the season, this year I will be competing in the new Comp Class in the IMBCS Series basically in between Cat 2 and Cat 1, and the same people I was battling with last year for the overall in the series also stepped up to this class, and with that they have upped their training. So this year they decided to do a parade lap which was about a mile long to add some longer double track sections and try and break up the pack more before heading into the singletrack to prevent a bottleneck. Well from what I was told beforehand we would not be doing that as our classes were small enough that we wouldn't need that, apparently the USCF Ref didn't get that message and sent us out to do the lap, so the tape was moved at the finish line area but not in the woods, I was in 2nd place at the time and the tape was across so I yelled out to the guy in front to just go under it, and a course marshall held the tape up so the rest of the field could get under it, so now I am in 1st place leading the way though the lap, and we come back down by where the start line was to see all the Cat 1 guys standing there and they stopped us saying we weren't supposed to do that and we would be restarting, crap my HR was up and I was ready, but now I had to stop and stand around again. On the restart I was bumped into the 2nd row somehow and even though I got clipped in right away I didn't get a great start and was 3rd going into the woods. First lap I felt like I was doing awesome, till I couldn't reel in the guys in front and could hear guys coming from behind, so I just did my best to hold my position. I would lose a few spots before that lap was over, and was doing my best to keep up the pace I had set. The problem with Sylvan is that they only have so much room to build trails so it is tight singletrack with many turns with short sections in between so you are flying into every corner and pushing to get out of them as fast as possible, well after a couple laps of that it takes it's toll on you and I was really starting to lose some major time on each lap. By the last lap I was toast and every corner I just wanted to stop and get off the bike and walk out of the woods, but knew I had to just keep going, was helpful that there are a ton of spectators out there cheering and that keeps you going. I came across the line in 14th place in the Comp Class, not bad for the first race of the year, but farther down then I was hoping. Pictures are here http://angysnoop.smugmug.com/

Next race was the Decorah MTB TT going into this race I knew there would be a lot of climbing which I did my best to train for by hitting some hills around here, but still nothing can prepare you for this race. The weather was less then desirable for this time of year, when we arrived it was 37 with a wind chill of 32, I didn't pack for that kind of temps, I did have arm and leg warmers, but just my summer long finger gloves. I did pre-register which gives you the option of choosing your start time when you check in, and since it rained the day before I wanted a later time to let it dry out a little more, and was able to get 40th spot. I got a little warm-up in and rolled up a few minutes before I was to go, and knew who my guys right before and right after me were, and with 1 minute intervals you can kind of judge how you are doing out in the woods if you can see them. I started off up the road towards the entrance of the singletrack and dove into the woods to start climbing, this year was dryer then last year and that was nice being able to climb everything and not have to get off and run, I started catching a few of the slower riders not too far into the woods, so we climb almost to the top of the hillside, and then switchback down towards the bottom to only climb again, and repeat a few times, except this year they had a cruel idea of sending us basically all they way down to the start line to climb all the way back up as a sustained climb that would take somewhere in the 3-4 minute range, then drop down the backside of the hill and hit yet another 3+ minute climb, then bomb back down to the flat section of the course next to the river. For only being 6.1 miles long there was just over 1100 feet of climbing, took me 42:15 which was good enough for an 11th place overall and 3rd in my age group which the overall placing was awesome for me and I was pleased with that. Here is a video I took with our Go Pro handlebar cam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGeZr1XsQtg

After that I did Snake Alley Crit which I will do a separate write-up on that later.

2010 Cyclocross Season

2010-12-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a long time since this has been updated, so I will cover the whole cross season in one post, and Jingle Cross will get it's own.

First race of the season was at a new venue in North Liberty at Bobber's Bar and Grill put on by the Iowa City Crew, and Race #1 in the Eastern Iowa Cyclocross Experiment (EICE) For the series I did the combined Cat 3/4 lined up on a nice 50 degree day with a mist in the air, not really raining but enough to make it chilly. Lined up front row as the start wasn't very long, and then had a 90 degree left onto the grass, got a good start and was either first or second going onto the grass, lead into the barriers and continued there for a little while. Halfway through the first lap and we had a gap forming and 5 of us were gone. We would battle that out over the next few laps and exchanged places depending on what section of the course we were at. About the halfway point I was still feeling strong, and could tell some of the others were starting to fade, so I put in another good lap and was all alone by the time we came through with 2 to go. This is the point where I don't like being as there are guys in front you can't catch, and the guys behind aren't really gaining on you much, so just have to continue to give it all you got. I go around with one to go, and know I am in a good position, cruise that lap and end up coming across the line in 3rd Place out of 15, good enough to score me some upgrade points.

There was a couple week gap in the schedule till the next EICE race, and I didn't feel like travelling to Des Moines, so I found out about a race in Illinois that was only about a 3 hour drive, and decided we should go out there and see how I do in a larger field. So we head out there and I go to register and after turning around my wife points out that Barry Wicks is standing right behind me, and she gets all giddy like a school girl, Barry is the man. Being as this was part of a series and I didn't pre-register I knew I wouldn't get a good start like at the local races, but didn't realize it would be this bad, I was in the last row of about 70+ starters, oops. Oh another sweet thing is this race had a fly over, which I have always wanted to do a race with one, but nothing was local, was awesome. So back to the start, I was able to get clipped in right away, fast start into a left and then a right, weaved through the pack, was able to get into about mid-pack and was riding well, barriers in the woods, and with this being a Cat 3 race you would think people would know how to dismount and remount, but nope was a traffic jam, I was able to get through and pick up a few spots, but of course by now the leaders were gone. Found myself in a group with about 6-7 other guys and was nice for a change to be with people, I think this was the first race that I was with someone else the whole time. I did have one stupid crash on the first lap on a downhill 180 degree corner, but once I found the line through there I was good. The course wasn't overly technical, so of course the stronger road guys would pull away on the straights, but I would bring them right back in the corners, or the short run up. Going into the last lap I found myself with a small group of 2-3 guys, was able to loose all but 1 going into the last little bit, and found us sprinting for the line which I don't recall ever having to do that. Came across the line in 34th out of 64 finishers, and was pleased with that result, wish I had a better start maybe could have pick up a few more spots.

Back to Iowa for the next race in the EICE, Devil's Cross in the Quad Cities. Always a good venue with a good run-up, some climbing, and technical corners, line up again on the front line, and once we are off I get the holeshot into the first corner, around the tree into the barriers, lead for a little bit longer, then I crashed going into a corner way too hot, and since the ground was dry from the lack of rain this year it was loose, also 2nd place went down on the same corner, was able to get back up quickly and retain my position, got passed on the run-up and was ready to settle in behind those guys. At this point I was sitting in 3rd place going into the 2nd lap. Next few laps were pretty much riding by myself in no mans land again, and then I notice Steve Bullerman coming from behind with Carl on his wheel, did my best to keep them behind me, but after another lap they caught me and were gone. At this point my plan was to hold off any more riders from catching me, going into the last lap I was starting to gain a little ground on the guys in front of me, but just could never catch them, oh well I would settle for a 5th place finish.

Onto the first double weekend for us with Bobber's Cross II on Saturday, and Middle Park Madness on Sunday, I didn't have a great night going into Saturdays race I knew I would not have a great race but still lined up on the front row and got the holeshot, but was quickly passed once we got out in the field, this race was shorter the the other race held here, was slightly more technical with the corners but I still wasn't mentally into it. I tried to do what I could to pull people back that I usually beat, but just didn't have it in me. Spent the rest of the race trying to not lose many more places, and came across the line in 8th place.

The following day was Middle Park Madness, held in the Quad Cities, I love this race, always a fast start, and a perfectly made, natural jump over a drainage pipe, got a much better night of sleep, felt refreshed, and was back on my game. The start line is about halfway through the lap as to sort us out some before hitting the run-up, so we start, around the pond to the barriers, I am leading at this point, through the tight turns in the field, hit the run-up, get back on as soon as it flattens out some, still in the lead on the upper field section, down to the jump, get a decent amount of air, was a little farther down the hill then I though and the landing was a little sketchy, but all good. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold the lead for much longer, got passed in the barriers and made a wrong turn and almost through the caution tape I went. Regrouped, figured out I needed to just calm down a little and race, next couple laps more of the same, not really losing to many spots until I crashed, not once but twice on the same lap. Once again due to how dry it has been the grass was a little tricky in some of the 180 degree corners, and I went down, the second time I had ripped the scab off from the crash at Devils Cross, and was bleeding again, doh. I yelled to the wife I had crashed, and of course being supportive as always she cheered me on and said I was doing great and to keep at it. Well with 2 laps to go I find myself in 4th place, and 5th was closing in on my slightly, he was on a SS so I would have the advantage in some sections, and others he would catch back up, going by my wife this time she yelled out that if I get top 5 I can get new tires, as the ones I am on this was their 3rd season, and that was the motivation I needed to just keep hammering away. 5th place never did catch me as the run into the last bit was downhill from the jump, then around the pond and the small field section, I was gone, bug ring the whole way just cranking on it, came across the line in 4th place, and decided we were heading to Geoff's Bike and Ski on the way home to get some new tires, picked up a sweet set of Challenge Grifo's :)

The next week I went on-call for work, had it all worked out for a guy to cover my weekend so I could race both days of Cedar Valley X, but that fell through and was only able to find someone to cover Sunday, oh well one day is better then none. So we get up to Cedar Falls, and the course is huge, 2 miles long with a giant whirl, it took almost a minute to get through it. The start was a decent length climb that switchbacked up to the finish line, then down hill, a couple corners to the run-up, over to the long paved section, about 1/2 mile, and then barriers, the whirl, and then repeat. Get to the starting line and Carson is there along with a few other fast road guys, and with this being a pretty much all out power course with little technical section, I knew I was screwed, so in my typical fashion I got to the front of the line and when the whistle blew I was off, didn't realize how big of a gap I had till after the race and looked at some pictures. I lead the entire first lap, and bobbled the run-up as I had wasted most of my energy already, and just couldn't get back onto the leader group. I did bridge up to another guy on the paved section and was able to sit on his wheel into the headwind, and we caught the leaders, seemed as if they were trying to use some road tactics, and of course it worked because shortly after we got on they went again, I did all I could to try and keep up, but just wasn't happening. I would ride the next few laps solo, which wasn't too bad, but the paved section sucked into the headwind, so when I thought I would get a little break on that section I ended up working harder then I wanted. Once again I didn't have the legs I wanted, so I would just settle for a 7th Place finish, and be happy I was racing my bike and not working.

Then my season went really bad, got sick on Halloween, was in bed for 2 days, got over that and still didn't feel right, ended up I had Bronchitis and it took just over 3 weeks to get better from that.

But in that time of being sick I had one more race in the EICE, Psyclofest in the Quad Cities, another all out power course with one killer run-up, I decided I would show up, do the race for points in the series, and if I didn't do well I had a pretty good excuse. I lined up with everyone else, didn't go all out at the start, wasn't leading, but once we got to the backside of the course and started climbing I knew it was over, I basically had no power in my legs, couldn't breath, and just realized I shouldn't be out there. I did the best I could to keep moving forward, which at some points wasn't easy. Phil's Hill was killer, was really hating that thing after about 2 laps, and at that point I was so far off the back it didn't matter. Halfway through the race I was feeling worse, so I made the decision I would finish, but I did sit up and made it a point to get lapped. It took a while for that to happen as it was a long course, but eventually it did and I was relieved. Came across the line in last place, and just rolled over to the car, loaded the bike and sat down for about 30 minutes before moving.

That race was the final race in the EICE series, so we waited around watching the mens open race, and ate some pizza and drank some Gatorade that was provided by DICE/Healthy Habits. Once the results were all final and the series standing were posted I ended up in 2nd Overall in the Cat 3/4 for the series.

There is one thing I have learned from doing both the IMBCS Series the past 3 years, and this Series this year, is you don't have to be the fastest to do well, all you have to do is be consistent to do well.

I will do a separate write-up in Jingle Cross later as that needs it's own post, and this should be more then enough reading for now.

WORS Race Lake Geneva

2010-09-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

2 weekends ago we decided to travel to Wisconsin to do a WORS Race, having never done one, but always hearing great things about them and it only being 3.5 hours away we went for it. Get directions and we are off, get closer and we follow some signs which lead us to the Grand Geneva Resort, I mean this is an upscale place, they have a sweet stone entrance, a whole bunch of fountains, huge resort buildings with sports complexes, golf course, and an airport. Tucked all the way in the back though is a small ski hill that would be the venue for the race. I decided to try out the Comp Class which is basically in between Cat 2 where I usually race and Cat 1, which I hope to achieve someday.

Roll up to the staging area after getting a good warm-up and look around, don't know anyone, talk to a few guys that pre-rode the day before and got some pointers on the course, and they go through the call ups for series leaders, not looking good, so the rest of us finally get up to the line and I am 3rd row. Not where I am used to starting, usually am on the front row and ready to rock out, now I would have to fight for a decent position. The way the had us staged was in 2 separate age groups lumped together, so wasn't really sure who I was racing against. The countdown to go, and we are off, now since it is a ski hill, and we are at the base of it, guess where we get to go, that's right, up, and up some more, the start is fast, short grass flat and then turn left and climb, was in a decent position by the top of the hill, maybe top 10, and once you get to the top, you have to come back down, really fast side hill singletrack downhill, into another left and climb back up, back down and then the final ascent on the frontside that would take us all the way to the top of the hill. Get up there, lost a few spots as I didn't know the course so didn't want to blow up too quickly, into the singletrack on the backside, and just hold my current position. The singletrack was a lot of fun, twisty, and rooty and rocky, my kind of course, but of course the local had the advantage, so I would end up losing a few more spots before getting to the rock garden. That was a blast, it seemed every spectator was there waiting for carnage, and you could hear the cheering from about 1/2 mile away. Small drop down, sweeping right and now you are in the rocks, thankfully there was a line established by this time from all the other riders before me and was pretty smooth, after the rocks was a set of 4 drops that dropped you back off on the fire road. Now we are about 3 miles into the 6.75 mile course, and I was doing my best to follow wheels, started to catch up to the back end of the Elite Womans field that started 3 minutes or so before us, and passing wasn't an option in most places, so you did have to wait some. One spot was a pine tree section that reminded me of Sugar Bottom for a short while, but that was quickly replaced with more tight twisty rocky, rooty singletrack. Before making it back to the lap line, you had a series of switchbacks that were just about180 degrees, and very tight making for some hard going for the 29ers, but as long as you took it wide you were good to go. One final double track climb and time to rinse and repeat 2 more times.

Feed zones was established at the top of the first climb, and was able to get my empty bottle to Salem so he could get it refilled for me before the last lap. By now the guys from the next wave were starting to catch up to us, and not knowing what class they were in I assumed they weren't with me as they were moving pretty good. Back up to the top and down into the singletrack, had 2 guys gaining on me at this point and told them I would let them pass when we got the chance, well I rode that section well and took till the next doubletrack before the catch. They go by and I try and hold their wheel the best I can, but that was a lost cause, and they were gone. Look up ahead and see a familiar jersey in front of me, and it was on the shoulders of Brittany McConnell from Iowa City. Couldn't quite catch up to her before the rock garden, went through there again with relative ease and was feeling pretty good, caught Brittany on a singletrack section, and waited till it opened up again to make the pass, exchanged a few words and kept on moving. It was pretty neat as half way through the course they had a neutral water station set up and had 12-15 people with water cups lined up handing them out to racers that wanted them, or they would splash you with it if you liked, so I would grab one at the first guy and drink that one and then grab another towards the end and throw that one on myself, was really refreshing as it was close to 85 degrees that day. End of the 2nd lap and I was starting to feel my legs just yelling at me telling me enough already, but had one more lap to go.

Start the 3rd lap and was able to get both my water bottles, so I had plenty of fluid to get me though, just didn't know if I had anything left in the legs. Climbing the 2nd hill on the frontside I actually dropped into my little ring and just sat there and spun, I think that is 1st time in an XC race the past 3 years I have used the little ring, only other time was the 24 Hour Race last year. Crested the hill for the last time and was back into the singletrack, rock garden seemed to come quicker this lap, was probably all mental but go there and flew down through the chute again, and was felling like I was ready for the race to be over. But alas there was still almost 4 miles of the race left and knew I had to keep on moving. Get to the feed zone and the 1st Place Elite racer flew by me like I wasn't moving, ok so he has made up a whole lap on me now, damn. I just keep plugging away knowing I just need to keep pedaling and not look back. The nice thing was you could tell when the Elite guys were coming because you would hear them talking to guys behind me, so about 2 minutes or so later 2nd place comes by. I did my best to stay out of their way, not sure if I ever stopped, but would get over and let them go. Final time through the switchbacks and you can hear the announcer at the finish starting to rattle off names of finishers in my race as well as the Elite's. Coming up that doubletrack for the final time was a relief, I was in pain, legs were shot, and I did all I could to not allow anyone to pass me. Finished.

Sat down on the side of the hill, layed down and was convinced I would just stay there for a while. Got up about 5 minutes or so later, and talked with Kyle, Robin, Kevin, and Brittany for a few minutes, headed back to the car to change and hangout and try and eat. They are really quick about getting the results in, so walked back over and saw I was 13th in my age group, and found out later that I was 44th overall for the Comp Class, a pretty good result as it was my first time racing at that level, and hoping next year to make it back up there to do some more WORS Races.

Next up Cyclocross Season :)

8-29-10 Sugar Bottom Scramble

2010-09-18T05:38:00.000-07:00

Been a while but finally have some down time to write this up, hopefully I can remember most of the details. Sugarbottom is the longest lap of any of the IMBCS Series races, at just over 10.5 miles of almost all singe track goodness with rocks, roots, and a fair amount of climbing it is a true test of skill and stamina. Also helps that it is a local race for us and have the ability to ride there often, and although I didn't take advantage of that as much as I should have this year, the trails mostly stayed the same from last year with the exception of a few needed reroutes. Showed up early so the kids could race in the morning, with both of them doing the youth race and placing 1st and 3rd, Salem decided he would attempt the Junior Race which was a full lap of the course, would prove to be a challenge for him thats for sure. He did great and ended up in 5th overall and 1st in his age group, awesome result for him, and got a State Championship medal.

On to my race now, knowing this start sucks I positioned myself on the front line in the center of the gravel road, looking around there was probably 30 or so of us and knew it would be a fast start. Off we go heading towards the gravel climb that is probably 1/2 mile up the road, I was clipped in and just picking up gears as quick as I could, look back and I had a 20-30 foot gap going into the climb, knowing I would fade slightly and there were some faster local guys that ride there alot I was in to just try and hit the woods in the top 10. I started counting as guys went by and entered the woods close to 8th or 9th, right where I wanted to be, and the big reward for making it into the woods up front is you now descend with some switchbacks and can for the most part recover. I sat in right on Ryan VH's wheel, right where I was hoping to be as me and him are close for the top spot in the overall, and since I knew the course pretty well I was able to give him little heads up here and there on sections coming up so we didn't lose the lead group. All is going well till we hit the one section where you drop down do a 180 turn right up a little hill, then turn 180 to the left and right back down, at this point Ryan goes down and I do my best to avoid hitting him and his bike and end up hitting a tree myself going down and losing my water bottle on the ground, so I make sure to pick that up as it was 90 degrees and knew I needed that. I do a quick run up the hill and do my best cyclocross remount and only lost 2 spots and was now riding behind Kyle Williams. Another 3/4 of a mile and we would exit out onto the gravel road, made a risky pass to get by Kyle and started to reel Ryan back in, at this point I had ran out of gears, was doing upwards of 33 mph and went by Ryan on the right, taking a couple other guys with me. We get into the next section which is a flat flowy trail that I was using to recover before starting the North side with all of it's climbing. Got onto the Northside single track and just plugged away at the ups and downs. This has the only Black Diamond trail as well as the Double Black known as "Cyclocross Hill" You could hear all the spectators on cyclocross hill as they go looking for carnage, this year though it was the most rideable as it has ever been, so was able to fly into it carry that speed most of the way up the other side and come out with a decent amount of speed still, in previous years it wasn't as fast and most would walk/shift under load and break chains. Another flat flowy section and we would be heading into lap 2.

Start of lap 2 found me getting caught by the 2 guys behind me but I had gapped Ryan by now and wasn't sure how far back he was, then it happened. I missed my feed zone and was heading out with less then a full water bottle, not good. At this point I decided I wouldn't chase the 2 guys of front of me and just sit in at a pace I could hold for the next hour. First section went pretty well for me, was able to keep the guys in front of me in sight and wasn't losing any time, still didn't know where Ryan was behind me and knew I had to keep going the best I could to stay up. I was passing water bottles on the ground and thought I would stop and grab one to drink so I had something, but not knowing what people have in their bottles I didn't want to risk it, so I continued on. This time I was able to ride the Southside cleanly and had no mishaps heading into the gravel road again, hoping my feed zone might be there, nope :( Oh well only have about 4 miles or so to make it through, and almost out of water, it would be crucial to just sit and spin up the climbs and not go all out. I made it to the top of the climb and noone else was in sight either in front of me or behind me at this point. Took a few chances on the downhills to keep my speed up and try and make up any time I lost on climbing. Got to cyclocross hill and could hear cheering before I got there so knew someone wasn't to far ahead, but not sure if I could go any harder, then it happened, climbing up the other side I started to cramp my left calf, so knew I was done with any hard riding. Thankfully it was basically flat the next mile or so to the finish, I would be able to cruise it home and retain my position. Out into the field, put it in the big ring and just went for all I had left, finished.

Sat down and drank some water, some Coke at a sandwich and just watched everyone else finish. Waited around for results and once they were posted I wondered over to find out I was 7th overall for the Cat 2 Open, good result for me and I was pleased, my second lap time suffered due to the conservative riding I had to do, but was able to retain a good finish. Waited around as they were paying 8 deep, found out it was just a table full of schwag and was a pick your prize deal, so I ended up grabbing a tubeless conversion kit of my 29er, so will get around to doing that for next year. Also they had a raffle drawing and we ended up winning a sweet New Belgium Brewing pitcher, shirt and a couple other things. Overall I was pleased with the result and kept me in contention for a top spot in the overall in the IMBCS Series.

Pics are here

IMBCS #7 Seven Oaks Rec. Boone

2010-07-26T07:51:00.000-07:00

After 2 months away from racing the mountain bike, yesterday found us traveling out to Boone for another adventure around that race course. I have had little luck mechanically at this place with my double flat 2 years ago and tacoing my wheel last year, things weren't looking good going into this one, but I am always up for the challenge of conquering my past demons. With all the rain we have had the past few weeks the back section of the course is missing bridges, and sections are washed out pretty badly, so the day before the decision was made to run the upper section of the race course, less climbing, but still enough technical sections to make it a hard race. Got there plenty early so I could head out and get a pre-ride in which was really helpful to see where the slick spots were and where to push it if I could.

Standard Boone start, far end of the field which would give us about 1/4 to 1/2 a mile of grass to ride through before hitting the climb for the first lap, got a good jump and was sitting in 3rd going into the singletrack, first time up the climb there were a few bobbles on some of the switchbacks behind us which would allow small gaps to form. Hit the top and was now time to open it up. There is nowhere near the amount of climbing as usual here, so that would prove to be a set back for me as I like climbing, but the 3 of us pushed on and at one point started to open up a gap. 1st place got a head a little bit and I was able to get around 2nd place towards the top and try not to let the gap get too big, but that didn't happen as he was already gone. Came through the first lap in 2nd place, but was getting caught in the field section at the bottom.

Started the 2nd lap in 3rd place with Ryan sitting about 20 yards off my wheel, he would stay there on some sections, others be right behind me, then I would open it up again. That first climb would prove to be my breaking point as I was having an issue recovering after it on the top section, usually we would get to the top and then have a descent to get a little rest, not today though. I was having a good day on the short punchy climbs though and that was helping to keep the gap. By the end of the 2nd lap Ryan would catch me at the bottom of the hill and we would enter the 3rd lap together. Climbing back through the switchback I asked how he was feeling, said pretty good, so I knew I would be conceding my spot to him on this lap, once again by the top of the hill I was pretty much unable to recover so I let him go by, trying my best to keep him in sight and try not to let the gap go too far out. 3rd lap was the only one I was able to ride cleanly, so I knew I had slowed down a little, because the first 2 laps I made some stupid mistakes from pushing the pace a little too high. Got down to the bottom to start the final lap and now was all alone with Ryan about a minute ahead and John Peters just over a minute behind.

Started the 4th lap and decided that opening climb kicked my butt the other 3 times, and would drop down into my little ring and just spin my way up. Felt better at the top this time from not pushing too big of a gear, and probably should have done that sooner. About 1/2 way through this lap I was starting to get caught by the front 2 Cat 1 racers, Kevin McConnell and Cam Kirkpatrick would be just a little behind him, pulled off and stopped to let Kevin go and a few minute later did the same for Cam. Descending for the final time the trail switchbacks going down giving you the chance to see people in front and behind you, so never saw Ryan again but could see John on a section behind me. Out to the field for one final time, ended up catching Mike Johnson whom was at the tail end of the Cat 1's just before the line.

Came across in 4th Place overall for the Cat 2's and that would also be 4th Place in the Cat 2 Open for the series. Boone however did get the last word because after changing and getting ready to load my bike I noticed my front tire was flat, must have picked up a thorn somewhere, but held air till I got down to the finish so that was a good thing.

Summerset Shootout

2010-05-30T06:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend found us traveling out to Des Moines for the 4th race in the IMBCS Series, headed out Saturday afternoon to get in a couple pre-ride laps with Rick, Ryan, Kyle and Bruce. We also took the kids and wifes bike and they also pre-rode the course as Sunday was Angela's birthday, and she was thinking about racing but wanted to see the course before making her decision.

Sunday morning we arrive to get registered and warmed up, the whole family was racing this weekend, Kaden doing the kids race, which he won (small course), then Angela and Salem were lined up for the beginner race, they made the decision that the women and juniors would do 2 laps of the 2.5 mile technical course. They got off to a rolling start down the road towards the singletrack, Salem went into the woods before Angela and he was keeping right up with most of the guys, remember he is only 12 years old, so he was doing awesome. Angela came through where I was standing at about 4 minutes after Salem and she was smiling, at least for the pictures. I handed off the camera to Kaden so I could get warmed up, decided I would go and find her on the course and cheer her on, Salem was walking back towards the Start/Finish area with a flat tire, bummer. I rolled up behind Angela to see how she was doing, and she was doing good except on a couple of the looser climbs, one of which I wish I had the camera for because she was upside down about 6 foot down off the trail and still clipped in, funny, helped her out of her bike and let he finish her race, I turned off to head back towards the staging area. I get back to find out that when Salem came back they told him since he was the only Junior if he could grab another bike he could go finish the race, Kaden's bike was locked on the car and I had no keys, so he jumped on Eric Penne's son's bike, he is I think 7 years old, so he takes off on a bike that is clearly way too small for him, and was able to finish the race. Overall Angela came through shortly before we started in 2nd Place in the women's race, her first mountain bike race, and Salem was 1st since he was the only Junior.

On to my race now, we would be doing 5 laps of the Northside of Summerset, which is some of the most technically challenging course we race on, not in terms of rocks/roots but in the form of trails with no real flow to them, some really steep drops, so climbs that you go into carrying some speed from the previous downhill, but go into them at a 90 degree turn, or more, and side hill stuff that you almost can't pedal all the way through without hitting your pedals on the ground. Lined up with some familiar faces, Neil and Tyler would be 2 that I knew I had to try and not let get away, and I was on the front line with them. We go, and it is probably just over 1/4 mile into the singletrack on the paved road, I am 3rd wheel behind Neil and Tyler, and holding that place going through the first section. I am doing a good job keeping them just in front of me, but can see them starting to pull away slightly, I do have someone on my wheel which was good, kept me motivated to go. I get gapped about 1/2 way through the first lap, and when we got to a spot I let the guy behind me go chase them down as by now I know I have lost contact with them and would not get it back. The end of the first lap I turned in just over 17 minutes, way faster then my pre-ride, and knew I wouldn't be able to keep that pace, so I scaled it back a little for the next few laps.

Lap 2 was basically maintaining my position and trying to figure out how to ride the course cleanly, did a really good job of that on this lap, at this point we were picking up the back end of the SS class which started 1 minute before us, much respect to those guys especially on this course, not SS friendly. The one thing about this course is there is only 2 places to grab a drink and they both come towards the end of lap, so water management was an issue, especially with it being 90+ degrees out and very humid. At the end of this lap on the road section I picked up one of the SS guys spinning away, he jumped on my wheel and drafted me to the entrance of the trail again which was helpful to him. I finally thought I had this course figured out, was on top of one of the ridges on the back section, and BAM, I was on the ground, apparently I clipped a tree with my bars and was laying across the trail. Now to pick myself back up and try and regain my mental focus and get back into it. I was doing a good job of keeping with lap times of around 18-19 minutes.

Going int lap 4 I saw Tom Anderson from Rassy's on the road, catch up to him and let him to jump on my wheel on the road section, and he was saying the Ryan from Rassy's who was just in front of me on lap 2 was still only about a minute up there and I could probably catch him. I did all I could, but by now I was starting to feel the pain in my legs, and also a little pain in my lower back, not sure what that was all about though, and ended up dropping it to the little ring and spinning up the steep climbs instead of trying to power them in the middle ring. This course was no longer fun at all and it turned into a death march to just get through it to the end. I never did see Ryan in the few spots I thought I would be able to, so my chase was over, and decided I was good as long as noone else caught me. By now we were starting to lap the back end of the Cat 2 field, it is amazing the range of riders this class covers, the top 3 or so should be in the Cat 1's and the back 5 or so are ones that just came up from the Cat 3's. Back through the road section for the final time heading into lap 5.

I did get a chance to see Rick ahead of me on one section, and decided he would be my carrot and I would try and chase him down, but had nothing left in the legs for any speed, and never able to get up to him, I knew he still had 2 more laps after this one so he was just trying to get through it. I think I was able to ride the whole 5th lap cleanly, dropping to where I could spin helped out a lot, and also knowing the race was almost over was a relief. Came across the line in 1:35:08 which I know was a good time for this course, just not 100% sure where that put me overall.

Waited around a little to watch others finish, and then went to change before coming back for results. That was a big cluster, and instead of posting results they just announced the top 3 in each class, and I knew I wasn't one of them so I had no clue how I did leaving there. Angela did get a gift card from one of the local bike shops and a prize off the table, she grabbed a wind breaker, and Salem got a new bike computer for his road bike. After they did awards they had a hill climb setup behind registration, cash entry $1 per try, and I usually am a good climber so I tried it out, ended up being tougher then I thought, never got the a clean run into it so didn't get too far. It was however won by Adam P who was on a SS, he had it dialed in and just powered up it.

Result finally came out and it turns out I ended up in 5th overall for the Cat 2's and 4th in the Cat 2 Open for the series category. Next race for the IMBCS is Ida Grove, but not sure if we are making it to that one as it is a 4 hour drive one way, very fun course though, so we shall see.

As always pictures are here

IMBCS #3 Waverly

2010-05-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was the 3rd race in the series, Camp Ingawanis Boy Scout camp near Waverly. I was originally not intending on doing this race as I was on-call for work this week and couldn't find anyone to cover it being it was Mother's Day. Thursday afternoon I was able to nail down a coworker to cover the time I needed to head up and race, so right in the middle of my rest week I was going to be racing my bike.

Got up there around 9:15 as they were having a youth race at 10:05 that we told the boys they could do, so we get them all registered and set up to race. They did a shortened version of the full course, but still had a good mix of hills, and singletrack for the kids, so I offered to ride behind them and make sure they all found their way around the course the first lap. Salem took off on the opening climb and was ahead quite a bit, and Kaden wasn't too far behind. After the first lap I went ahead to where Salem was at and followed him through the course. He ended up coming across the line in 1st, and a couple minutes later there was a heated battle between Kaden and one of the youth girls, and a sprint finish at the end put Kaden in 2nd, good racing for them.

I then took off up the hill and decided to check out the first 2 miles or so of trail so I knew what to expect at the start. The opening hill is always a killer, good way to separate the pack a little before hitting the woods, then it is some really flowing trail down to the river. Got to a point where I knew how to get back to the car and decided I had seen enough. Got back with plenty of time before my 11:05 start time.

Lined up after the Cat 1's took off, front row, left side, best line for getting up the hill, so go through the usual pre-checks, bike in big ring, check, fork locked out, check, ready to go, check. They give us the countdown from 10 and I know at this point it is on, GO, and I am off towards the hill, get clipped in right away and sprint up the hill, holeshot into the woods again, I don't quite have the same gap as I did at Sylvan Island, but a few seconds. I am not sure who is behind me at this point, but know there was a couple fast guys right there. The first section I am riding pretty strong, and knowing I am not holding anyone up, one almost missed turn, wanted to go left, but the trail went right, oops, thankfully I could regroup and not lose anything there. By this point I am feeling some pressure from behind and know there are a couple guys that want to get around, I knew it opened up shortly, so as soon as it did 2 guys get by me, and now I have Ryan Neipert from QC FORC on my wheel, neither of us had ridden this section beforehand, so I asked if he wanted to go around, and he declined as long as we were keeping the leaders in sight, so I did my best to do so. Now we hit the climbing sections of the race course, first one comes and it is a grinder with the trails being a little more then tacky from the rain a couple days before, so standing wasn't an option. Next up is the rock garden, and the guy infront of us bobbles the entrance, causing me to have to unclip, not wanting to lose any more spots I keep going without being in my pedals for the first section, finally get in just before the huge rock drop off, clean that section and we are off again. Descending again which mean we will be going back up, so I let Ryan and another guy go so I didn't hold them up any longer. The best climb come at about a mile from the finish, you come down to a low spot, and then it is a climb up in basically a gully that is about 3 feet deep, exposed roots, and switchbacking up. Come down that and it is across the bridge, short road section, then down to the start finish line.

Lap 2 starts with me letting a group of 4 guys go, including a couple of the SS guys, up the hill I try and just maintain their pace as long as I can, which isn't long, at this point I can feel that I haven't ridden all week, and fatigue has set in, so I just tried to make the best of it. Was riding along with on of the SS guys for a good amount of the lower section, but as soon as we hit the hills, he to me he was cramping, so he let me go ahead of him and we would go back and forth we me having the advantage on the hills with my gears, and him catching back up to me on the flatter sections. This time we had gotten to the rock garden and nobody was infront of us, so I was able to be in the right gear and just flow through it, feeling pretty good now knowing we had just 2 more climbs to go. We caught up to Brittany McConnell on the first climb, so that was a good time for me to be able to rest a little and not try and pass her on the climb, so once it opened up again at the top we went around and now there was 3 of us together. Back to the final big climb up through the gully and the SS guy opted to run the section due to the steepness of it, and I was just powering through it, back down to the road and got passed by the other guy that was with us, tried to match his speed, but had no power left in the legs at this point. Final section of singletrack, lost the guy in front of us, and has the SS guy right on my wheel, was able to hold him off as it was a downhill run into the finish line, and had the gear advantage.

Came across the line in just over an hour and four minutes, knowing I was out of the top spot it would just be a waiting game to see where I ended up when the got results sorted out. Got some food and waited, they started getting this posted, and I was 10th overall in the Cat 2 combined, and 7th place Cat 2 Open. I knew going into it I wouldn't have the results I did at the other 2 races, but still pleased with where I finished. Next race up is Summerset Shootout in Des Moines on the 23rd, so back to some serious training for me this weekend.

As always pictures can be found here

Decorah MTB TT

2010-04-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

This is one of those races I have heard about for the past couple years, but never made it up to because it was always the same weekend as the Old Capitol Crit in Iowa City. This year though it is part of the IMBCS Series so it was put on the calendar, and I am glad it was. This was the 20th running of TT's in Decorah for them, the race is ran rain or shine, and once again this year it would be rain. The trails were slick in spots, mostly the exposed roots on the climbs were the spots that would prove to be challenging.

I did pre-register so I was able to select my start time, I wanted to get going early because there was still the threat of rain all day. I got the 30th start time leaving the start at 10:30, got a decent warm-up on the rollers before starting as there was really nowhere else to warm-up, and roller up to the start line with about 10 minutes to start. The first 200 yards or so was a paved road leading up to the singletrack, and once you hit the woods you start climbing, really slick on the first couple parts, but was able to just sit and spin up them for the most part. Bobbled one section and took part in my first of about 5 or so hike a bike sections, but unlike in the past where I would just work my way up them at a decent pace I know I had to run them, so off I was running. We started in 1 min intervals and within the first 3/4 of a mile I had caught 2 guys that started ahead of me. The first 2 miles would be basically switchbacking up and down the frontside of the hill, almost to the point of going all the way back to the bottom only to have to climb back to the top. By mile 3 I had caught I believe 5 of the people that started before me, and was just trying to maintain a good pace.

We have now dropped down the backside of the hill and into a valley between 2 hills, so that means time to climb again. This next climb was a nice one, about 1/2 mile in length, rocky, and climbed about 200 feet verticly, I had not caught up to anyone in a while, but could start seeing people in the next couple sections ahead, so I had something to shoot for. That is the one thing I don't like about the TT is you have noone behind you pushing you all the time, and usually you don't have anyone in front of you to chase. Now we get into the really technical sections of the course, lots of off-camber side hill riding, plenty of log crossings, and really tight corners. Make it through there passing about 5 more guys, and I come up to the pine tree section and notice a BikeIowa.com jersey, it was Kurt Benson, I went past him, and was just flowing through the pines, almost a 1/2 mile section, and at one point I thought I missed a turn because there were no course markings, nothing, but finally found one and was back on the right track. Made my way back down this hill and know I was getting close to the finish, would have to climb part of the first hill once again to make it back over, dropped down through another rock garden section and down to the pavement, cross that and down to the river trail, which was mainly flat once you got through the first section, threw it into the big ring and just hammered it out to the finish line.

Looking back I would have liked to be able to pre-ride the course, maybe I could have pushed it more in some sections. Headed over to T-Bock's where they would have the results and awards ceremony, so while waiting we ordered a couple plates of fries, and a Snakebite, which is now one of my favorite drinks, Woodchuck and Guinness, sweet.

Finished the 11.2 mile race in 1hour 13minutes and 04seconds which would be good enough for a 2nd Place in Mens 32-33 category (got a sweet plaque for that) 18th Place Overall out of 87 finishers and 2 Place for the IMBCS Series in the Cat 2 Open class.

Sylvan Island Stampede

2010-04-12T04:51:00.000-07:00

Sunday brought us to the Quad Cities for the first Mountain Bike Race of the 2010 season, and the start if the IMBCS Series. The weather would be much nicer then last year with temps in the low 70's and sunny, it would prove to be some fast lap times, and huge crowds. We had gone down the day before to pre-ride a couple laps, and I am really glad we did that, trying to pre-ride in the morning can prove to be a hassle on some courses.

We arrived pretty early which was good because sometimes parking can be a pain, but they had guys out directing us where to go, so all was good there. We went and got registered, the kids were doing the kids race at 11:15 so we walked around looking for good spots to take pictures and also watch some of the Novice Race. Got the kids to their race, and I warmed up for a little while they were doing that.

I made sure to show up to the line early so I could get a good spot on the front row, I had heard there was 119 of us in the Cat 2/Womens Open Races, so we would all be on course at the same time. This year the Women were sent off 4 minutes before us, as they are a much smaller group with 25 of them compared to the 90+ of us. Off they went, and we waited, talk about a long 4 minutes. I made sure I was in my big ring and had my fork locked out. The start is a 6 foot or so wide trail that would funnel down into a single track on the other side of the island which is about .2 miles away, so not too long.

From my past experience you want to be in the front, so the whistle blows, I clip in and go. I once again have the holeshot heading towards the singletrack, and after the race I would find out I was doing 29.6mph along that section on the start. First lap has begun, and I am leading for quite a while. We do start catching the tail end of the womens field, and they were pretty good about letting us go by when we caught up to them. Before this lap was over I was in 5th place or so and we have caught almost half the womens field. Onto lap 2 I am feeling pretty good, and know I just have to maintain the pace I have been going at. I do lose another position to one of the Junior racers, so no biggie there. By now I have a pretty good handle on where I am at on the course and know where to push and where to sit up for a second and recover.

Lap 3 starts with being able to see some more guys about a section or so behind me, so I keep turning the pedals over the best I can, and try to maintain my pace. By now I have worked my way almost through the entire womens field with the exception of maybe the top 5. Still feeling pretty good I am basically in cruise control mode now and feeling the flow of the Island. I did get caught by another one of the 40+ guys before the lap ended, and he followed me around for a bit before it opened up and I let him go ahead of me, I tried holding his wheel for a little bit, but wasn't able to. Final lap and I am feeling the pace starting to get to me, but know there are guys coming. The sections between the tight twisty singletrack are big ring hammerfest and making sure I don't slip any. I am now over half way through the final lap and have a pretty decent gap on the next guy behind me, and know I am not gaining on the guy in front so I just have to hold this pace. Come into the final straight to the finish which was the same as the start .2 miles of flat fast trail, so back into the big ring and bring it home.

I come across the line in 1hour 23minutes 20seconds, and from start to finish my lap time only went up 56seconds with times of 20:19 20:48 21:00 and 21:15. I am very pleased with my result here, 7th overall and 3rd in my Category. Next race up is in 2 weeks in Decorah, and from what I have heard I better bring my climbing legs.

Pictures up here

2010 Training so far

2010-03-07T18:36:00.000-08:00

I have been riding quite a bit this year in the first couple months, and have managed to stay off the rollers for a good amount of it. Temps have been warm enough to allow me to be able to ride outside quite often on the weekends which has been really nice, and makes me want to ride more then just sitting there aimlessly pedaling in the same spot.

I did start off with doing about 6 weeks of low effort rides, some longer then others, so not a total base workout, but no real intensity, so hopefully I will not burnout mid-season like last year, that was a huge blow to my motivation.

I did go and get a fitting done for my road bike 3 weeks ago at Geoff's Bike and Ski and that has made a huge difference in my comfort on the bike. I can go for longer periods of time without the feeling of constantly adjusting my position on the saddle so I can go further. I am going back in tomorrow morning to have Kevin check on a few minor things with the fit, but that is the great thing about having them so close is I can go back and have him make these tweeks. So after that I will be riding back home from there, should make about a 50 mile ride out of it.

Today I went out in search of hills as part of my training to get ready for the Decorah MTB TT coming up in April. I have never ridden up there, but hear the climbing is pretty brutal so I want to be ready for it. Ended up finding 1660 feet of climbing in 28 miles that I can hit from my house, so I will be incorporating that into my usual training once a week.

Video from today's ride here

And the power profile

So far so good, hope the rest of my March goes good, first race is April 11th Sylvan Island Stampede in the Quad Cities.

2009 Year in Review/2010 plans

2009-12-25T19:10:00.000-08:00

2009 was by far the longest season I have had so far, not in the number of races I entered, but it all started back in January with roller races and continued on with at least one race a month till November. I feel that by dong that I had peaked really early in the season and in turn had a bad cross season.

One thing I was focused on was winning the Cat 2 overall for the IMBCS mountain bike series, and after the first couple of races it was looking pretty good with myself and Nick Sobocinski going back and forth for the top spot. I did get a gap in the points by going to the race in Ida Grove that only few people traveled out to, great race course, but 4+ hour drives aren't friendly. Then about 1/2 way through the season Rick Blackford came from out of nowhere, started winning races and made for a really tight battle in points, but a few wins from him, and me not traveling to Council Bluffs and the cancellation of Sugar Bottom left me 13 points shy of winning. Such a disappointment on my end, but the stronger rider came out on top.

I did a few road events, and really realized that I am not cut out to be a road racer, I don't understand tactics that are needed to do well, I hear them say start and I tear myself inside out in the first few minutes like I would in a MTB race, and then when I settle into a rhythm that works for me, I get dropped, and it is game over. I did manage a decent result at Snake Alley, thanks to me ability to climb pretty well, but the next day at Melon City I was OTB after 2 laps and pulled not to long after that. The State Crit I tried to help a teammate that went off the front in the beginning of the race, fell off again and never recovered.

Then there was cross season, the one thing that I look forward to the most in the year, and I had a decent first race, but then got sick with some sinus stuff that wouldn't go away, I was sick for well over a month, and once I would start feeling good, I would go ride and right back to feeling like crap. So I took it easy and tried to make sure I was good for Jingle Cross, so instead of the 15 or so races that I could have done, I was down to just 6 for the fall season. I did pretty well at Jingle Cross considering I am a back of the pack Cat 3, and it was a really strong Cat 2/3 race.

Ok now moving on to 2010. I am at a point where I need to start thinking about the other members of my family and what they want to do with their cycling. Both of our kids will be old enough to race in the Junior races, and my wife has showed interest in doing both more cross races, and also trying a crit or 2.

I think it will be best for me then to put any personal major goals on hold for this year and help focus on them and their training, so I will not be competing for the overall win in the IMBCS series but will hit some of the more fun races and try for good results at those events. Road events will be limited to Snake Alley and the race that HBA will be putting on here in the Cedar Rapids/Marion area, oh and if Kent Park happens I will do that. Cross Season will be my major focus so hoping for a late peak in my training so I can be a little more competitive.

Training for 2010 starts next week, I have been on the rollers/riding outside at least once or twice a week in December just to keep the legs moving, but the real stuff starts soon. I hope to see you all out there again, and I will keep this updated as often as I race, maybe some status updates on how training is going and how the family is doing in their racing.

Jingle Cross Rock

2009-12-04T17:10:00.001-08:00

Last weekend brought Thanksgiving, and the return of the Jingle Cross Rock, only this year would be the first year as a 3 day event with night racing Friday night on a course powered by lighting from Musco, and some Christmas lights.

Lets start with Friday night, this was a toss up if I would even be racing in this one as I had to work Friday, and not sure if I was getting off early. I did get off and loaded up the car and headed down the highway towards Iowa City. I had heard from Kyle that the descent off Mt. Krumpit was sketchy with all the rain we have had that would turn it into a muddy mess, and it was on off camber switchback coming down, and as soon as we pull into the parking lot you can look up the hill and see it. I did get up there to check it out, didn't get to ride it before racing as other races were going on and it was rideable. Show up to the line for staging and see that there was about 65-70 of us in the Cat 2/3 race, I was sitting 4th row and it was a fast start with the first lap having us do basically a half lap including the descent of Mt Krumpit before heading out for a full lap. The first time down I knew it would be really bad with that many people trying to go down at once, by the time we hit that section I was towards the back of the pack, but still had enough people around me to make it even more sketchy. I get into the first right hander of the switchback, and the guy infront of me didn't go around the corner, he decided to stop and head straight down towards the fence, and that caused me to crash over the fence I tumbled, and it took me a few seconds to recover and get back to my bike losing time, but I was able to get back on and catch most of the people that chose to walk the hill. Next time around I had fewer people around me so I was able to make up any time I lost on the run-up by just letting it go down the hill and fly by those walking. The course conditions were pretty bad with mud that was really thick and it was causing alot of problems with people breaking rear derailleurs or hangers, the unofficial total was 30 for the night. I was able to ride it the next few laps only having problems on the 2nd to last lap where I got stuck in a rut and went down, but this time I was right back up and going again. The barns we went through were all lit up, and Grinch's lair was nicely groomed and there was a nice path through the sand. I had my best finish of the weekend taking 35th out of 45 starters.

Day 2 would bring us back to conditions that were a little better, a little less mud and temperatures in the mid 50's with lots of sun. Todays race would take us up the big run-up on Mt. Krumpit, 80 meters long and deep mud from the bottom to the top. I got about the same starting position, but would not get that great of a start and ended up towards the back fairly quickly but still had people behind me. The descent down Mt. Krumpit was a long not so steep hill, but it was very muddy, and people had lots of issues getting down and lots of crashes. I was able to find a great line, and figured out if you just point the bike in the direction you wanted to go and kept pedaling you could make good time down the hill. I did hear from alot of people that I made it down just as good if not better then most of the others including some of the Pro's that raced later in the day. I did make plans today to have my dads bike in the pit so after 2 laps I did grab his bike and let him clean off my bike a little bit. One thing I noticed is his bike has less clearance on the fork and clogged up with mud at the top of the hill, so I lost some time there, but switched back when I could. I did end up staying with the same group for most of the race, I would pass them on the downhill and they would pull away in the field sections. I didn't do quite as good as Friday night, but still 44th place for the day.

Sunday would find us up really early as both Angy and Salem were racing at 8:30am and the both did great. We showed up early enough to get a lap in before their race started, and with this being my wifes second race ever she was nervous and excited, and had a goal to not let Salem beat her again. They did start the juniors about 1 minute after, and she was able to hold him off, and even make up some more time then the one minute gap at the start. The did rerake the sand, so it was harder to ride today. My legs were really feeling the effects of racing 2 days and also running around taking pictures and cheering on others, coming up to the line was an effort in itself but I had every intention of finishing. Typically on Sunday we would be descending Mt. Krumpit on that same section that was the run-up from the previous day, but they decided to change it due to the conditions and we would use the switchback downhill, but this time it would be a left, right, left, right and then a short drop off and another right turn. I knew that section would be hectic, but it was so late in the lap that we would be very spread out. Today we would also see lots of long field sections with about a 20 mph headwind, I was off the back after one lap, and I had one or two guys in front of me but just could never catch them, I would make up some time on the downhill, but they would drop me again in the fields. I was going into the second to last lap and could hear them announcing that the leaders were coming down the hill just after I had crossed the line, so for the first time this weekend I would be getting lapped, but I would try my best to hold them off. I made it all the way to the run-up before getting caught, so I let the first 2 guys go by before descending for the final time. In a way I was relieved to get lapped because I would have been the last one out on course and was not looking forward to another lap in that wind. I finished in 45th place on the day, so my worst finish of the weekend, but still a decent showing.

Looking back I now know what 3 days of racing feels like, and I know what I will have to do before next year to get ready for it, also I realized that I am a very good technical rider, and I need to work on the fast flat sections so I can be an all around better rider, and maybe next year I will have more consistant finishes. So that brings an end to the 2009 race season, pictures will be up at Angy's Photo's shortly.

Cross Season Updates

2009-11-08T17:01:00.000-08:00

Well this year has not gone as planned thats for sure. Sugarbottom ended up getting cancelled, so that shot my chances of winning the IMBCS Series again, instead I ended up in 2nd Place for the Cat 2 Open class. Since that weekend I have been fighting a cold on and off, and finally all of my sinuses have started draining, so that is a good thing, and I can finally get back on the bike and salvage the rest of this season.

October 11th was my first race of the season, and also being our 12th Wedding Anniversary my wife also decided to race as her first race ever. She did great coming in 3rd place in the Beginner Women's race, and she now knows how much pain cross involves when you are trying to go all out for as long as you can. I did the 3/4 race which was right after her race, so while I was running around trying to take pictures, it didn't give me much time to warm up. Oh well I lined up and was ready to go, got a decent start, and was in the pack for the first lap or so, but then started sliding back towards the back of the field and would just stay there for the rest of the race. I was able to catch and pass a couple people, but not making up any ground quickly. I think I ended up finishing around 14th or so out of 17. Was a great day though as we had cupcakes, and the wife and I dressed up, she had altered a dress and had her headpiece attached to her helmet, and I had a dress shirt we modified with a corsage on it, so we had a lot of fun with it.

2 weeks later would find us back in the Quad Cities for the second race in the Dice Series, and even though I was the only one racing today I decided to do the Masters 30+ race, one for the 60 minute race time for more training, and we didn't have to get up as early. We had gotten a bit of rain the week before, and there was one section that was sloppy, but for the most part it was fast and dry. I wanted to get a good start because in the earlier race the first corner claimed a few riders as it was a slick 90 degree left hander. I know going into this race I would be towards the back, and after 2 laps I was off the back of the 30+ and was back with some of the 40 and 50 guys, so I had people to ride with. I set out to just ride my own race, and not worry about position. I was finally feeling decent on the bike, so was able to put some power down to the pedals. Was a great day for a race, temps in the 50's and sunny, here is a video of me at the one barrier section http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0Xn3WASEW4

This past weekend was the first time I was able to get back on the bike and feel somewhat normal, I am still feeling the effects of being sick, trying to get rid of this before Jingle Cross Thanksgiving weekend. There are 2 races between now and then, and I will hopefully get updates up here sooner then 2 weeks.

As always pictures can be found here

24 Hours of Seven Oaks

2009-09-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

Once again it is that time of the year, time to have the most fun you can have on a bike in 24 hours, well that is the theory. I did have a good time again, was a lot tougher then last year but still fun. Our first hurdle was not being able to find a 4th for our team, so we ended up doing it as a 3 man 24 hour team, good and bad. Good because the 3 of us are pretty evenly matched when it comes to how we ride and lap times, but bad because less rest between laps.

Once again this year I would start us off, I had no problems with that, gave me the opportunity to get us into a decent position after the first lap. Le Mans style start (lay your bike down and run to it) and I was the first to my bike, was able to get through the traffic, get on my bike and be first out to the gravel road. From there it is a long 1/2 mile climb up to the campground where we would drop into the singletrack and work our way down to the start finish area and begin the real lap from there. First lap went fairly routinely as I was 5th or so into the woods, and really the front guys are going to usually be your fastest anyways so I wasn't too worried about being stuck behind anybody. I was with 2 other guys for a little bit, one who had never ridden the trails here before and when he bobbled one of the switchback climbs I was able to get around him, which he used to his advantage so he could follow my lines as I have ridden many laps here in the past year. We get back down to the bottom and go into the chute for the exchange to the next rider, get Tom on his way and I can go rest. Look down and notice I did the first lap in under 45 minutes, sweet that is a crazy fast time considering at the XC race 2 weeks before I was doing 45 minute laps, and they were 1/2 mile shorter laps.

Now it was time to sit back and rest a little while Tom and Chris would each ride their first laps, so I sat down ate some food, and watched others race. We were keeping track of who was coming through, how fast they were doing laps, and also what place we were in overall. Watching as the first 3 teams would jockey back and forth depending on who was riding. My turn came up and I would head out for another lap, and this one had less traffic so I was able to just set my own pace and go for it. This lap would be about a minute slower then my previous one, but still a respectable time. So now we are 4 laps into it, and can see we are sitting in 3rd place for the overall, sweet. Next couple laps go by and we are behind by a few minutes, and a few minutes ahead of the next closest team, so as long as we can keep up the pace we were going at we would be fine. Chris was turning some really great lap times in the low 40 minute range, so that was helping us out. I went out for my next lap and saw the one guy from the 2nd place team come running back with his chain in his hand, oops, but that just put us back into second. I was able to match my previous lap time of just over 45 minutes keeping us where we were at. By now it was time to sit down eat some dinner which was some chicken and rice, and rest before heading back out for what would be my last lap before nightfall.

After 7pm you are required to take your lights with you whether you use them or not they have to be there. So I get my bike all setup for night racing and go wait for the exchange. I got going just before 7, and knew the sun would be setting soon, so I had to bust out another good lap to make it back before dark, wanted to conserve light if I could. It did start to get a little dark in the woods for the last mile, but I was able to make it through without the use of my lights, and still had a good lap time. Now that night had fallen I knew that both fatigue and the fact that I don't have the greatest lights would slow me down a little bit for the next few times. Got out on my first night lap right around 10pm and it was dark. I was out running my lights on the downhill sections, not good, and trying to get them pointed where I wanted was costing me a little time. I did slow down some on that lap, down to 53 minutes as I was really starting to get tired, so when I got back I went and layed down for a little to try and rest. My next lap was up just before midnight, and not having slept yet and with the cool temps it was hard to get the legs going. It was a full moon 2 nights before, so when you got to an open area the moon was very bright and helped being able to see some. That lap I was in at 56 minutes and needed some sleep.

Now here is where we went wrong, we didn't switch to 2 laps each to allow some rest time, we kept going on a 1 lap rotation like we had been, and that proved to be a problem. I did get about 30 minutes of sleep this time, and knew going back out I would be able to still do a lap, just not as fast. I got back on the bike and was just all over the place by now, and tried the best I could to keep moving forward and not stop. Now that is was 3 in the morning most guys had stopped racing, or something because there was hardly anyone out in the woods, was peaceful and all, but had no one in front or behind be to judge my lap times off. This lap I slowed a little and was just over 57 minutes, back to try and catch some sleep.

30 more minutes of sleep and mt alarm goes off, it is now 5:40am, and I know Chris is coming around soon, so I just up get dressed, grab my light off the charger and run over to the finish line to wait. Hmm no Chris, ok there are a few guys coming in, so I go and check out the lap board to see that we are a lap or 2 down now from 3rd place, damn. So I talked with the couple people that were still there, and someone asked if that was the updated numbers and they said yes, but wait the last completed lap by our team was at 3:30ish which would have been my last lap, did they miss Tom, I know I heard Chris get up to do his lap, hmm we will deal with that soon. Fast forward to 6am now and I can see what I believe is Chris coming down the hill, quite foggy hard to see. Indeed it was Chris, he comes across the line, tells me that Tom had quit 1/2 way through his lap, he was going to hit the shower and sleep, he was done. Crap what do I do, I got up, I might as well go do a lap so we don't fall too far behind, so I head out for what would be my slowest lap of the race. I never got off the bike to walk any of the hills, I would just sit and spin at 2 mph on some of them and keep making forward progress. Got back with a lap time of 1hour 2 minutes, and decided it was time to lay down, the sun had started coming up on this last lap, I watched the sunrise on top of the hill, and looked into the valley to a fog covered ski area, was a very nice view, but at that point I was too tired to admire it.

I never fell back asleep, but did hear Chris wake up at about 8 so I decided to get up and see what he was feeling like and what his plans were. He figured by now we were so far out of contention we should probably just pack it in and call it a day, since I now had my coffee in hand, and the wife started the grill for pancakes, we headed over to look at the scoreboard. Wow we were still sitting in 5th place overall and 2nd place in the 3 man team's. So we didn't want to lose those places and we did see guys still turning out laps, so we decided to both turn in one more lap a piece since the team that was winning was 3 laps ahead of us, and they had that many done just after 7am, even if we did 3 we couldn't catch them, and to do 4 with just under 4 hours would have been impossible with how we felt. Chris decided to fore go breakfast and head out for an easy lap, he said even if it was an hour and 10 minutes he was doing it, so I ate and waited for a little to get dressed. At around the 55 minute mark or so someone said they saw Chris at the top of the hill, at that point I had about 4 minutes to get dressed and back on the bike, not a problem, he only had to wait about 2 minutes for me over at the exchange area. I was back on the bike, full of caffeine and pancakes, and ready to rock. I had yet to ride a clean lap without putting a foot down all weekend, and was starting to get pissed about that, so that was my goal for this lap. I got to the top of the hill for the last time, looked down and noticed, hey I am only about 6 minutes off my day time laps from the previous day, hmm do I have enough for one more lap??? Well by this time the other team in first place caught on that we were riding more laps, so they sent a guy out to chase us down so we didn't pull off a sneak attack late in the race. I stopped by and grabbed a Coke from the tent on my way by, and headed out for one last lap. This lap would be about 3 minutes slower then my other one, but did it feel good to be that strong after not sleeping and racing so much. I am happy to report that both of those laps were ridden cleanly with the only time I stopped was to fill my bottle.

Some stats from the weekend,

5th Place Overall

2nd Place 3 man 24 Hour

10 laps of Boone

8hours 39 minutes of racing

81 miles

8000+ feet of climbing

I need to thank all the people that made this possible this weekend including my wonderful wife who made food for us, and we wouldn't have eaten as well if not for her. Chris's dad for coming out and helping with setup and tear down of our camp. My kids for being there to cheer on our team as well as most of the other guys that we now know from doing races, and all the people involved in making this race happen.

IMBCS #8 Seven Oaks

2009-08-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

I am not sure what it is about this place, but it seems like I can not catch a break when it comes to racing here. Read on and you will see what I am talking about.

Got to the race with plenty of time to head up and do a couple miles in the woods to get a feel for the tight technical course that has the most climbing of any race in the area. Chris Reed, Rob McKillip and John Peters all from the HBA Team had shown up to race, good to see some more guys out there doing the mountain bike racing this year. Lined up, and with the combined start of Cat 2 and Single Speeder's there was 46 of us, and once again being in the front was the spot to be. We take off in a grass field, heading towards the turn point at the ski lift, was in 3rd place at this point and held that place when we hit the singletrack. I was keeping no more then 10-15 feet between the 2 guys in front of me, and me, and not sure who was behind me or where, but didn't look back, kept going. First lap is always hectic as everyone is fighting for position on the 7+ mile loop since there isn't much passing once you get in there. Made it up the back hill and back down into the valley to start climbing the backside of the main hill for the first of many times, and the guy in 1st bobbles on one of the skinny bridges, fell off and took the guy in 2nd with him, I was able to get by, and didn't look back. So now we are about 2 miles into the race, and 4 of us have about a minute gap over the field. I was starting to hurt from the high pace and turned it down slightly, and was sitting on 4th place with still a good gap. Thats the nice thing about this race is you can see alot of the course, so you can keep an eye on others. Then it happened, I was cruising along just flowing through the corners, go into a right-hander a little too fast, and wash out. Well when that happened I turned the bars at a 90 degree angle and ended up tacoing my front wheel, DAMN not another bad time at this race. I sit there for a few seconds, look around and noone is caught up to me yet, but I can see them coming, so I see if I can ride it a little bit, and yes it is rideable since it is bent away from my fork it isn't rubbing, all is ok. Going straight isn't bad, the faster I went it got easier to ride, and turning right wasn't and issue, but left turns it just wanted to wash out, not good. So I am going slower now, but still going. I do let Chris, Nick, Rick and a few others go by me, and then when I get to where my wife was taking pictures I stopped and let about 10 guys go by me, not sure if I was going to continue or abandon. I decided after about 20 seconds I would try and ride it for as long as I could. I am sure when I came down the hill going into the second lap I was getting some strange looks from spectators, but I wasn't going to quit.

Started the second lap feeling pretty good, just had to focus and work a little harder to keep the wheel straight. I could start seeing that I was reeling in a few guys now, one of them was Nick, and the other was Chris. I would catch Nick on the descent into the valley, and just pace myself off him for a little while. The 2 of us kept hitting it pretty hard on the spots we could, and eventually caught up to Chris, so the three of us were now riding together. We hit a flatter section, and I was feeling really good, so I got around Nick and was now riding Chris's wheel, he was carrying too much speed going into a corner, and had the wrong line, and I was able to get around him at that point. Made it through the corner I had crashed on during the first lap and just never looked back. I had begun to catch up to one of the Experts that started 5 minutes ahead of us, and was able to get around him, so now I was at a point where I knew I had 2 guys right behind me, but not sure where the guys in front were at. I made it back to the top part of the course, and just pushed as hard as I could to finish.

Came across the line in 9th Place overall and 5th Place in the Cat 2 Open, and furthering my lead in the series. The one thing I have noticed about that is I have yet to win a race, but I have been consistant and have been participating in all the events which is really what has kept me in the lead. Coming up next is the 24 Hour's of Seven Oaks in 2 weeks, and we still only have a 3 man team, so hopefully we can find a 4th before then, if not we will still have fun with it.

August 9th Lake Ahquabi

2009-08-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

Heading into this weeks race I have been off the bike for almost the entire week due to being oncall for work, which the riding I did amounted to a total of 50 minutes on the rollers. I was heading down there just to get more points for the IMBCS Series, so showing up and finishing were my main objectives for the day.

The course was a 7.5 mile loop with roughly 700 feet of climbing per lap, all of which came in about 3 climbs that were good length and then shot you right back down the other side. 22.5 miles in total of double track with absolutely no technical sections, so not a course that suits me at all. I got down early enough to get a lap in, and took that at a leisurely pace and still managed to do it in around 40 minutes.

The start was different as it was a mass start for all categories, so we had Experts, Sport, Single Speed, and Beginners all lined up and ready to go. Was not on the front line as most of the Experts had made there way up there, and also since it wasn't a huge deal to get to the single track first, since there was none, second row was fine. We start rolling and get to the first climb which came about 1/4 mile in and that would be where the separation would begin, I was still up in the mix with some Experts, and some of the faster Sport guys catching up. Still going at probably a higher pace then what I wanted to be at, but at one time I looked down and we were rolling along at 20mph or so. I had made the decision to back it off a bit so I could finish at the very least know that I would not be in contention for a good placing this week. Heading into the long paved climb on the back section of the course I was probably sitting in the top 5 or so in the Sport class, so that was good for me. I was able to keep my position on the hills and not loose any places there, but was getting killed on the flats.

Started the second lap and had found a rhythm that was working for me at that point, had one of the other guys catch up to me that I have been beating this year at the other races, and at that point I was just trying to keep up with him, I was starting to feel the fatigue setting in and still had 14+ miles of racing to go. More of the same on this lap, would loose some spots on the flat fast sections, but almost make up some of it on the climbs. By the time that lap was over I knew I was still in the top 10, but was out of the top 3 for my class. So I would just keep powering on though the next lap and see what that brought me.

Third and final lap I was starting to cramp up a little bit, and was taking on as much water as I could, when I could. I had really no one in front of me, or behind me that I could see at this point, so kind of stuck in no mans land just making my way towards the finish, but a lot slower this lap. We got to about the half way mark and I could see 2 guys behind me in the distance, one being Nick from Geoff's Bike and Ski and 2nd Place in the Sport Open for the Series, so I knew I couldn't let him get too much of a gap on me. When he caught up we chatted for a little bit, he told me had had a mechanical on the first lap and had only one chainring bolt left on his little ring, ouch. So he got by me and I just tried to keep him in my sights as long as possible. After the next section he was gone, and I had one more guy coming up pretty quickly. I did my best to hold him off as long as possible, and just before the end he was right on my wheel. The finish for this race was on the final lap you took a sharp left hander and headed straight up this grassy climb back to the lodge. So with him right on my wheel, and a couple people cheering I dropped it down about 3 gears, put my head down and just powered up the hill.

Came across the line 13th overall, and 5th Place Sport Open. Still a respectable result for not riding all week, and being on a course that was not my thing, I think I got 5th here last year. Next race on the calendar is Seven Oaks in two weeks, and I have some redemption with that race as that is where I had double flatted last year and finished the race on my front rim and flat rear.

August 1st and 2nd Camp Ingawanis

2009-08-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

Another 2 day mountain bike race weekend, this time a Time Trial on Saturday followed by the XC race in Sunday. Really sweet thing was the TT course was the same as the XC course, so I was able to do a good amount of scouting out the trail beforehand.

Saturdays TT wasn't well attended, only 11 people racing, but some very strong competition. We started off in 2 minute incriments, so we would be spaced out and not on top of each other the whole time. I was 3rd to register so not too many people for me to chase in the woods. I got off to a good start and was pacing myself pretty well, knowing where I had to be at what times to do a good lap. Came across the line with a time of 22:49 which was almost 2 minutes off my pre-ride times, but only good enough for 8th overall.

Sunday brought on the XC race, 3 laps of the 4.6 mile course for the Cat 2's with a long gravel road start to try and break us up some. Got to the line and was in the front row, knowing the holeshot once again would be crucial, and got on it from the gun. Was the first one in the woods and had a teammate and another guy right on my wheel. Bobbled one corner and took it too wide and got passed. Sitting in second place now with Chris Reed behind me helping push me along, took another corner too fast and it was full of sand and went down, popped right back up and kept going. Got to a spot where it had opened up and let Chris go around me as he was feeling way stronger then me at this point. I would hold his wheel as long as I could before getting passed by one of the singlespeed guys. Going into lap 2 I was in 4th and about 15 seconds behind the lead 3.

Second lap I was starting to feel a bit better, but had no climbing legs, and while there wasn't a hole lot of climbing there was enough to make it hurt. Ended up catching up to the guys in fromt of me in one technical section and was right on their wheel again, stayed there for a bit until it opened up and the other 2 guys went around Chris and me and him were 3-4 at this point. He let me pass after a little bit, and I knew there was another group of guys coming up fast. At the end of this lap I was in 5th or so coming across for one final lap.

Final lap started with me and another guy right behind me, he would get by me soon after the first section, but I could still hear Chris back there yelling at me to keep going. I pushed as hard as I could, and all was going well till I hit the few little climbs and my legs were just shot by this point. I had the one junior behind me, and the guy that is in second overall for the points series right behind him, so I could not give up any room at this point. Knowing we were less then 10 minutes to the finish line I was going as hard as I could. I was able to keep them back about 10 seconds up till the last 1/4 mile. At this point I put in one last acceleration and was able to put almost 30 seconds on the 2 of them. Came across the line in 7th overall, and 3rd place in the Sport Open.

Waited around for results and prizes, ended up getting some Ergon grips, might give them a try since everyone that has them raves about them. The best thing was they were having a raffle for a Surly Karate Monkey Frameset, and Chris had just won a long sleeve jersey, and said if I won the bike he would trade me, and before I oculd answer him the pulled my name out of the box! So I am getting a new 29er frameset for free :) Awesome weekend.

Here is a link to pictures. http://angysnoop.smugmug.com/ From now on that will be the site for all our pictures, and there is a link in the upper right of the blog.

July 18th and 19th Sco Co Pa Frenzy and Chase

2009-07-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a 2 day event in the Quad Cities area which consisted on a Short Track race on Saturday and a Cross Country race on Sunday. Sundays race counted towards the IMBCS series overall, and that would be the day I would hope to do well at.

Saturday showed up and got registered with plenty of time to spare so we walked the course to see for good spots for pictures and get a feel for it. I was able to get a couple warm-up laps in to get familiar with the corners. For the Cat 2 race it was 12 miles of basically a flat fast course with many corners, and only one small climb. Got to the line looked around and saw about 10 or so riders, so a small turnout, but still some good competition. Got the holeshot going into the woods and already had a small gap. First couple laps went fairly routine with a couple guys pretty close, and one guy on a single speed sitting right on my wheel by now. I would bobble one of the corners and put my inside pedal down and spin out, so now I was starting to feel some pressure to keep the speed up. I would stay in front for now, but another poor corner after a few laps and I was in second. By this point we are at least 20 or so seconds ahead of the rest of the group, and I am down around 10 seconds, and could not bring the gap back. Being this was a short track we started to lap people by now and getting behind some lapped traffic at the wrong point put me down a little farther. By the final lap I was about 15 seconds off the lead and would settle in for a second place finish. Pretty fun event, something I would do again, wish it was a little shorter being the day before a longer race, but was still fun.

Sunday brought us to the XC race. 19.5 miles of mainly all singletrack, with very tight turns, lots of trees on the sides of the trails, and a little bit of short climbs, but nothing major. Got on the front line of the race, there were 62 starters today, and the start would be very important as it was close to 300 yards to the singletrack with a 180 degree right hander into it from the field. Got the holeshot again, and didn't look back, the first section was the same course they used for the short track so I was just moving at that point. The course had a bunch of switchbacks and places where you can see the riders behind you. I was holding on to about a 10 second lead the entire way through the first lap, and feeling pretty good. Starting the second lap a guy was able to get up to me, but that was a good feeling because I had someone there to help push me along so we kept up a solid pace. Still with a good lead we hit one section where they cut out a tree and I hear the guy behind me go down, and find out after the race he flatted the front tire and went over the bars, so I was alone again. Starting the final lap I had about a 30 second lead, but the guys were coming fast, and I was starting to feel it in my legs. I drank when I could but my legs were cramping up pretty bad, and by the first 2 miles into the lap I was caught. Was able to keep in front for a short time, but once it opened up I let the pass as they were alot faster then I was at this point. I get into the final 2 mile loop in 4th place with still a decent gap over the rest of the field, but fading fast. I get about 1/2 mile from the finish and I have a rear flat, damn, so I try and push the bike up the hills and ride it on the flats and downhills, but about 1/4 mile my tire came off the rim and the tube wrapped around the rear hub so I had to stop and take the wheel off to get it rolling again. Knowing if I try and replace it now I would loose more time and just decide to run it the final section. While running I had a couple more people pass me and I lost a good 2 minutes or so messing with the tube. Ended up coming across the line with lots of people cheering and finished in 18th place out of 55 finishers. Looking back if I would have just ran it from when I first saw the flat I might have had a few more places, but I made a different decision and that is what it was.

Racing picks up again in 2 weeks with 3 IMBCS Races in the month of August and lots of points available for the series which I am currently leading.

Sco Co Pa Frenzie

Sco Co Pa Chase

Night at the Oval

2009-07-14T19:57:00.001-07:00

Night at the Oval

Iowa State Criterium Championships

2009-07-09T04:55:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday brought bike racing back to Cedar Rapids after being gone for a number of years. It turned out to be a great day weather wise and a great turnout for the event. The course was setup downtown as part of the Freedom Festival, and included racing across the 2nd Ave and 3rd Ave bridges.

We rolled in about 8:15 because Salem was doing the Junior 10-12 race at 9:30 and that way we could get all setup and watch him race before he headed off to Boy Scout Camp for a week. His race went well with 10 juniors showing up between the ages of 10 and 14 both boys and girls. He took 4th Place in the 10-12 age group, and ended up bringing home a Silver Medal for the age 10-12 boys race, great job.

The rest of the day also went well for the rest of the HBA racing team as we have Chris Eastburn taking home the Gold Medal in the Masters 50+ as well as a Bronze in the 40+, Rob McKillip taking the Gold in the Cat 5's, Dustin Salter with Silver in the Cat 5's, and Macklin Scheldrup with the Win and Gold Medal in the Juniors 17-18.

My race was at 2 in the afternoon, so about 1 o'clock I got ready, hopped on the trainer for a bit and warmed up. Showing up to the line I could see a great turnout for the Cat 4 race, 40 riders in all. I really had no plan as my training has been lacking this year, just hang on as long as I could really and go from there. We started of with a preem on the first lap, so that picked up the pace right away with one guy going off the front for his prize, and noone really chasing him for that, but the pace was fast from the gun. Mack try's to launch early on and I was sitting about 5th or 6th wheel and could see him go, and noone responded, probably due to it being so early in the race, so I jump out of the saddle and ride up to him bringing another HBA rider with me and we stayed out for a little bit but was caught after about a lap or so. Sat back in with the group about mid pack and figured I would just sit in and hold on now. Well about 1/2 way through the race a few attcks happened and I just was unable to keep the pace and slowly fell off the back with a few other riders. I would end up riding about 3 laps solo before finally being able to bridge up to another guy and work togther which worked out well for us. We ended getting lapped with around 7 laps to go, so we jumped on the back of the pack and tried to settle in for a bit and recover. One thing I was noticing was how poorly some of the guys were going through the corners, and not able to hold a line, pretty scary when you have a group of 30+ riders. So I stayed to the inside of the corners, tried staying out of the wind and hung on till one lap to go. I was off the back again, as were others, and good thing because the second to last corner there was a pretty good crash and unfortunatly it took out Mack, he was ok, just a little shooken up from the crash. I was able to come across the line in 30th place out of 34 finishers.

If I learned anything from this race it is to sit in as long as you can, and that is what I have a hard time doing. Oh well that is all part of racing, so now other then a few more Night at the Oval races I am hanging up my road bike and looking forward to finishing up the IMBCS mountain bike series and then into cross season.

Gold Pointe Fitness Club Criterium 2009

Night at the Oval

2009-06-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

I guess I can do a short write up on this one. We showed up and I could see guys I have not seen at the Oval before, but I knew who most of them were, and that means tonights A race would be that much harder.

First race was a 12 lap scratch race, and after 5 laps I was off the back and ended up getting lapped. Then we did a 13 lap points race, and sprints for points every lap, after about 7 laps I had a go for some points, and that didn't work out for me, so I just tried to not get lapped, but that didn't happen either. Next we had an 8 lap scratch race, and the pace wasn't quite as high, and I don't think I got shot off the back for this one and finished at the back of the pack. Then we did some team time trail races, we ended up winning, but my legs were shot and I couldn't do much at the pace of the other guys. Finished the night off with a Big Gear race which I was in about 4th place coming into the last corner, and I cross wheels with a teammate at about 20 mph, and almost went down, so that was it for me, and then a granny gear race which I did well in, maybe top 5 on that one, with a max cadance of 170 rpm's.

Night at the Oval

IMBCS #3 Summerset Shootout

2009-06-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday brought the next mountain bike race in the series, and after my performance last weekend I wasn't sure how it would go. I know I still haven't nailed down any structure in my training this year, so heres how it goes.

Headed down there early because they had a kids race, so the boys were very excited about that, and I wanted to get a lap in before their race, but I would have to wait till after, but I had 2 hours before I raced. The first 2 miles of trails were very technical, with some steep drops that shot you right back up the other side, some loose climbs, and a lot of tight off camber sections, so the start would be important. After that you hit about a half mile road section before the next singletrack, which was nice to get some water into you and keep a high pace. The next section of trails were basically flat, some sand sections, and lots of tight turns, but nothing too hard.

Lined up after they started the experts, and I was on the front line, good place to be, look back to see roughly 40-50 others, and knowing it was a local race for more than half of them I would be in trouble if I let some of them get ahead of me. From the start line there is about 1/4 mile road section before getting into the woods. Locked out the fork, was in the big ring, they give is the go, and just hammered it. I was able to get the holeshot, and enter the woods first, good because right after entering the woods there was a log crossing, and then a really tight tree section which if you had wide bars you wouldn't fit. Also knowing the first 2 miles wouldn't allow any passing I was sitting good. I did have a guy pretty close, and I just kept going as hard as I could. I made it through most of the first lap without too many issues, other than the one I had to run up since you come down, take a more than 90 degree turn, and then straight up a short 50 foot or so climb that was pretty loose. By the time we hit the road section I got caught by another guy, and we kinda took turns drafting each other and made some good time making to the next section, he got a better line in a few corners, and was ahead of me by about 20 seconds at the end of that lap.

Second lap I entered the woods following a Singlespeeder that had a mechanical, and he was gone, but I just kept at it. I was caught by the one junior in the sport race about halfway through the first section, and I bobbled a climb, and had to get off, and he got by me. We did ride together for a little bit, but he was able to pull away after a couple more stupid moves on my part. Just before getting out of the woods we ended up passing the guy that was in the lead due to a mechanical. Onto the road section and I knew I couldn't bridge up to him, so I just tried to maintain the gap. Came out of the wood section, and didn't see him on the next road, so I knew he pulled away some. Got through my feed zone and grabbed a bottle for the final lap.

Third and final lap and I am sitting in 2nd place at the moment, and I am starting to feel it in the legs on every little climb. By this lap I had figured out what gear to be in for certain sections and was able to ride the entire first section cleanly. I did hear some guys coming up from behind me, look back a section and see what I thought was 2 guys, but must have only been one because within the next couple minutes he was closing in on me. Got to one of the loose climbs and I mis-shifted and sent my chain over the top of my cassette, and I stopped to make sure it didn't get stuck and break, which allowed him to pass me. So I get right back on and try to hold his wheel, but didn't happen, so he was gone by the time we got to the road. I looked back and saw nobody, until I was about 1/4 mile out onto the road and someone popped out of the woods, so it was go time for every last little bit I had in me. Thankfully I was able to get some second wind and keep up a good pace through the last wood section. I didn't see him gaining, and once back on the pavement heading to the finish line, it was big ring time, and just hammer it home.

Came across the line in 3rd Place overall for the Sport Class, a really good finish despite how I felt beforehand, and I was very pleased with how the 29er handled the tight stuff.

IMBCS #3 Summerset

Melon City Crit 5-24-09

2009-05-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

Next race for the weekend was in Muscatine, it is a mile long course which includes a screaming downhill, a speed hump at the bottom, and a climb back up to the top of the park. Me and Mac somehow got our registration in about the same time as he was #1 and I was #2, which was nice because that got us on the front line. Picked a spot on the right side so I could be on the outside of the first turn, a 90 degree left hander which many of people either hit the curb, or drop a pedal on the ground.

We start and me and the guy next to me take off, and are one two through the corner, safely, and it was all downhill from there. I did loose a couple spots on the descent, but still up in the front of the pack going over the speed hump, safely again, and then start climbing. The next couple laps were about the same, but I did find I was able to pick up as many as 5-10 spots going downhill as guys were grabbing for their brakes, and I would just fill the gaps they left. I would turn around and lose those spots climbing though as my legs were really starting to feel Snake Alley from the day before. By the 5th lap I was at the back of the pack, and an attack on the right side caused an acceleration that I just couldn't hold onto. So off the back I went.

Now I was stuck in no mans land all by myself, couldn't get back to the group, and the guys behind me weren't catching up. I only had about 10 seconds on them and one was a teammate, so I waited for them so we could work together and try and stay in the race. We did well taking turns pulling, and a few laps later we did pick up a 4th guy. One time up the hill one guy put in a harder effort which I was able to hang onto, but my teammate didn't get on so we had lost him at that point. 2 more laps and we could see there was only 4 to go and the USCF official pulled the 4 of us. Kinda pissed us off because there were 2 guys we were catching up to about 15 seconds up the road that didn't get pulled, at least on that lap, and we were still a good minute before we got lapped, but I understand on a course like this you don't want people getting in the way.

So next weekend brings the return of mountain bike racing down in the Des Moines area, hopefully that goes better for me....

Melon City Crit

Snake Alley Crit 5-23-09

2009-05-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day weekend, and the biggest weekend of racing in Iowa. Saturdays race is a killer, having to climb Snake Alley which consists of 7 switchbacks, and it is all brick, a must race for anyone in the midwest. Forecast was for a chance of showers in the afternoon, and with my race being at 1 I figure there should be no issues. It did sprinkle a little as I was warming up, but stopped before the race started, it did get really humid after that, but it was dry.

Staging I was able to get into the 3rd row and on the left side, which is pretty much where you want to be going into the first corner before starting the climb. First time up I was sitting pretty good in about top 10 or so, and descending you don't usually lose too many positions. Next time up I did get passed by quite a few guys, but still in the pack. As the laps went on I did slip farther back, but finally settled into a pace that I could hold for a while. After the fifth or so time up I was off the back, and fighting to keep from dropping back much farther. I was with a teammate and another guy for the next few laps, and about the 8th time around I did put in a big effort on the climb to try and lose them, and that did work out, except when I got to the top I felt everything I ate that morning coming back up so I had to let off, which hurt me quite a bit because the legs were feeling ok climbing.

I did get caught by the leaders with 3 laps to go, so I got out of their way on the climb, and was caught back up to by the other guy I had dropped earlier. So we basically rode together the last couple laps. He did get away a little on the last time up the hill, but I was able to push it on the downhills and get back onto his wheel going into the final straight, and was able to out sprint him to the line. Came across in 36th place out of 59 starters, and only 39 finishers.

Snake Alley HBA

Snake Alley (other racers)

Old Capitol Crit

2009-04-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

Decisions, Decisions. That is what last night was all about, should I wake up and see what the weather is going to bring and race, or have another Guinness and sleep the morning away. Well the need to race got the better of me and up at 7:00 to see what the radar showed, and it looked clear for at least the next few hours. So packed up the car and off to Iowa City we went. Just after we got there and registered the skies opened up and the rain started, a quick check of the weather and it showed a passing shower, and within 10 minutes it had stopped. But would make for an interesting race now.

Got lined up and was in the second row, with the rain still making the roads wet we were cautioned by the officials that we should take it easy for the first lap till we get a feel for how to safely take the 90 degree corner at the bottom of the hill. First lap safely through it and start to climb the hill on the other side back up, was in the back end of the main field, but that was a good spot to be at this point, wasn't last so if the front group went I would be able to stay on. 2nd lap and was in the same place up the hill, and then on the 3rd lap it happened. Going down the hill a guy in about 10th place or so took the inside line, went down and took 3 others with him, but I was behind them and almost had to stop to get around them. By this time the main field was gone and I did my best to try and get back on but that wasn't happening. I worked my way back up to a group on the road of 3 guys and one of them happened to be a teammate, so we were able to work together for a little bit. By the 10th lap we had the follow motorcycle come up and tell us we are about to get lapped and if we could stay off to the side and let them go by. So we did that and were able to jump on the back of the group for a little bit, but just when we did they were going for a preme, so that strung them out and shot us off the back. I got off a few times, and got back on. By the time it was almost over we would end up getting lapped again with 2 to go, so one last time around. I tried teh best I could to hang on again, but was falling off fast. So I just made my way back to teh finish line to cross in 20th place.

Old Capitol Crit

Sylvan Island

2009-04-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

Ahh the first race of the 2009 IMBCS Series, and it would prove to be an experience. The forecast called for scattered showers, and with the weather being so nice lately the guys that pre-rode yesterday said it was dry and fast. That would change quickly as we were driving down there we got about 20 minutes out and it was raining, and it wasn't looking like it would stop. A quick check of the radar confirmed that and it was going to be a fun muddy race. I haven't really been on the bike at all in the past 2 weeks due to some personal issues and wasn't sure how my legs were going to do today.

Got to the start line about 5 minutes to go and noone was lined up yet so I shifted to a gear I would be able to get a good start in and locked out the fork and tried that out with a few starts from a stop. Guys started to roll in so I jumped right on the front line in the middle. She blows the whistle and we are off, I was in the big ring and just flipping through gears one at a time, the starting stretch is probably 600 yards before hitting the single track and I knew from last year you needed to be up front to do good here. I was unaware until after the race someone in about 4th or 5th position crashed and took out a group with him, including Landon from the Bike Tech Racing Team and he ended up being taken out on a stretcher. Into the first couple tight sections and I was still in front, but had small group behind me. When the trail opened up 2 guys were able to get past me, so I was sitting 3rd. Another guy got by me at a less than desirable spot that caused us both to have to put a foot down. So now I was in 4th and would be there for sometime.

Second lap and I was sitting in a great spot and was just trying to push, but could see one guy coming up fast. He got behind me about 1/2 way through the lap and we rode that way for quite sometime. By now the skies had opened up quite a bit and it was raining hard. Puddles were getting bigger and some sections were getting sloppy. The guy that had caught me and was able to get around when it opened up. I was starting to feel going out so hard at the start in my legs, but as long as I kept drinking I knew I would be able to avoid cramping.

Start of the 3rd and final lap I was in 5th place and there was a group of 3 coming up fast behind me. I would get caught by the first one pretty quickly and he got by me. I had the other 2 guys in front of me one section up and just couldn't shut down the gap. They were maybe 15 seconds, and I could see them alot, but now able to make up the ground. The other 2 guys caught me at just past the 1/2 way point and one got by but not both of them. I was able to hold him off for a few more sections, but once it opened up he got by me. I was digging as deep as possible and was able to get back onto his wheel by the last section but had no way to get around. Final straight going to the finish line and it was down to a sprint, but since he was already out in front I was basically riding his wheel and no way to get around.

I came across the line in 8th Place in Sport Men overall, and 3rd Place Sport Men 30-39. Good start to the season and hopefully I can find some time to train in the next couple weeks and continue to have a great MTB season.

Sylvan Island IMBCS #1

4-07-09 Night at the Oval

2009-04-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

First race of the year, and those are always a good way to see how your winter training has paid off. Well to say the least mine needs more work. It was about 40 degrees out witha strong NW wind which meant the back stretch would be killer.

First up was a 15 lap scratch race, and since there was only 14 of us there wan no splitting up into 2 groups.everyone raced at the same time. I did the same as last year with going out to hard on the 2nd lap instead of just sitting in an got shelled by the 3rd lap. Thankfully I had another guy fall off with me and we just took turns pulling each other around for the next 10 or so laps.

2Nd race they split us up in 3 groups divided by age. Being in the young group has its advantages but also some disadvantages. We were the 3rd and final group to go so we could watch what everyone else did and not make the same mistakes. Finally it was our turn for a 3 lap lead out race, so out timestarted when the first person crossed starting the last lap and ended when the first guy finished that lap. We led out Mac to what ended up being the fastest time by almost 2 seconds.

3rd and final race was another 12 lap race, and this time I was determined to stay with the pack. First couple laps and so far so good, I am able to sit in and even spend short bursts at the front. Then at about the halfway mark it happens, I got shelled again, this time was my own fault, we were into the headwind and I miss judged why was the last guy in the group and they shot by me like I was standing still. So knowing I was OTB and no hope of getting back on I rode the next 4 laps like a time trial just doing what I could to not get lapped. I did however get lapped because the 3 lead guys were putting down a blistering pace, so I saw that and just sat up and let them finish.

Next race is on the 19th, and that is a MTB race in the Quad Citites, hopefully I do better offroad than on.

Frost Buster Roller Race

2009-03-01T17:56:00.001-08:00

The final race in a 7 race series for a State Championship title. I had only done 2 others, so doing today would qualify me for possibly getting a place in the Cat 4's. Seeing how all the other guys were doing at previous races I knew I had to run about a 6:20 to get into 3rd overall, as long as noone bested their times today. Well it was apparent that the other guys had also brought their A game and weren't letting anything back. I had watched a bunch of races and knew when I had to ride, so I got dressed about 45 minutes before my run to start getting warmed up.

I got up on the rollers and Vern asked if I had a goal for the day, and my only goal was to finish, seemed reasonable. I went out at a pace of just under 6 minutes, knowing I more then likely couldn't hold that for the entire 2 miles I just kept giving it all I had. I got to the half way point and started to really feel it in my legs, I backed of just a tiny bit, and was on track for a 6:30 which I would have been totallt happy with. I pushed as hard as I could through the middle, got to the one minute to go mark and just laid it all out there. I was able to turn a time of 6:22.3 which at that point had me in 3rd for the day and .3 seconds out of 3rd for a medal, so that hope was gone. Only one Cat 4 left to go so we hung around and waited to see him go, and of course he ended up doing a sub 6 minute run so that knocked me out of 3rd, but oh well.

I did set some personal records today, one of them being my time of 6:22.3 (21 seconds faster than my previous best) and a new Max heart rate of 211. Here is the power file from todays race

Final Roller Race

New MTB Bike Day

2009-02-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

Well the day finally came, got enough money set aside to get my new ride. I have been eyeing this bike for quite some time at the bike store, and today we went in to pick it up. It is a 2009 Cannondale 29'r F2. Nicely speced bike with disc brakes, now I know you are thinking they have been around for quite some time, but this is the first bike I have had with them. I have not gotten to do a good test ride yet since it is snowing out now, and the local trails are quite sloppy from all the melting snow, but soon enough I will be able to report on how it rides. Here are a few pictures I took before the snow started really coming down.

45 degrees in January "Carpe diem"

2009-01-31T19:10:00.000-08:00

When translated it means to "seize the day" and that is exactly what I did. I just couldn't pass up riding outside today, temps were warm, wind wasn't too bad, and even though there was still ice in spots, and run off from the melting snow I had a really good time. I forgot to bring the camera but did get a couple pics with my phone, I will add them here in a minute. Rode for 1:35 and got in just over 25 miles, chose to do a flat route since I didn't feel like hills today, but tomorrow I plan on getting out again for a bit and will probably hit up some hills just to see how my early season workouts have been treating me.

Bikes 2 U Roller Race

2009-01-25T18:30:00.000-08:00

Today found us traveling to Grinnell for the next Roller Race in the series. 4 of us from the team headed that way to represent from HBA, myself, Vern, Chris, and Jason. We showed up just after 11 and got signed in, the nice thing is you can basically choose which rollers you want to ride on, and in what order you want to go. I decided to get in early and get it over with along with Vern, and Chris and Jason took some later runs.

Vern was up first, and he was doing a good job, up until the guy on the other rollers fell off, hit the bar and took out Vern, so both of them were off and needed to get the belts back on which cost them alot of time.

Next was my turn. Last time I did it in my big ring, and that seemed like if I needed to switch gears I was putting myself into some hurt, so I tried this week in my little ring, and wow that made a difference. Starting off I knew my legs were starting to feel a little week from all the intetsity training I have been doing the past couple weeks (looking forward to a rest week) and I thought maybe using the little ring I could drop my time to a 6:30. Started off pretty strong, but I quickly realized I couldn't keep that pace, so I just found a pace that worked for me. At the halfway point I was at about the same pace as last week, and knew I had to hold it if I could. I gave it one last push towards the end and came in with a 6:46, so a couple seconds off last weeks time. Still in the end was good enough for a 2nd Place finish in the Cat 4's.

Jason was up next and was hoping to put down an under 7 minute run, but come up a little shot of his goal. Chris went a couple after Jason, and was able to put in a run of 6:17, which was also just a couple seconds off his time last weekend. We had all notced that and commeneted on how ths week seemed so much harder and times were slower for just about everyone that raced. It was another good weekend for HBA, no pictures as the wife and kids didn't come, but they will be there for the next one.

Here is my power meter reading from today

Rollin' the Rapids

2009-01-18T17:10:00.000-08:00

Today was the Rollin' the Rapids Roller Race held at Gold Pointe Fitness Center in Cedar Rapids. Having never done a roller race before I wasn't sure what to expect. The setup is Kreitler Rollers with a Killer Headwind unit attatched for some major resistance, and you race for 2 miles just like a Time Trial. At our training ride the other night I did try doing it on the exact setup and had a time of just under 7 minutes.

Got there shortly after registration opened, found a spot to setup my rollers so I could warmup, and got signed in. Was 15th on the list to ride, so I had sometime to hangout, talk with some of the other guys and watch the other races. There was a good turnout from the HBA Team, with Jason up first, he set a good time of just over 7 minutes due to having to stop because his front tire hit the one belt and it came off and had to be reset. Next up was Vern, and he put down a personal best of just over 7 minutes. Ian was up shortly after and threw down an impressive sub 6 minute ride.

I was up next, and the guy I was next to is the current state record holder for fastest time, so I knew I had no chance of keeping up with him. We got the signal to start, and I went out a little to hard at first and had to tone it back some. It does show your estimated time on the computer screen, so I was trying to get a check of that every once in a while, and saw it kinda hovering around the 6:45 mark. When I did the ride the other night I was on my wheels with a 12-25 cassette so I was able to use the big ring, well today I had my other wheels with an 11-23 on it, and used the big ring, but looking back I should have been in my little ring and used a gear that if I needed to change it would only be a 1 tooth difference, not a 2 tooth one, so now I know for next time. One mile into it and I was really feeling it, and had to try and settle in for another mile of suffering. Got to about .2 left and gave it all I had, and posted a time of 6:43.00. Which was good enough for a second place in the Cat 4's.

Chris was up about an hour later and put down an impressive run with a time of 6:15.9. Also Tom the newest member to HBA did just a shade over 6 minutes.

Rollin' the Rapids

Cyclocross Nationals Kansas City, MO

2008-12-15T05:37:00.000-08:00

Going into this race I had 2 goals, one was to finish and second was to not be last. Good news I achieved both of those goals.

We got into Kansas City on Friday afternoon around 2, just in time to catch the Masters Womens 30-34 race which Robin Williams of the Mercy Specialized Team was in. Watched he do good in a field of very tough competition, some very fast girls out there. Then stopped by and picked up my registration packet and headed off to the hotel to get settled in before to late so we could get some dinner.

Saturday morning rolled around and we got up early to get some breakfast and get over to the race course so I could do a couple laps before the course was closed. I had changed my cassette due to the fact that I usually spin too much and was thinking that would only hurt me here rather than help me, wish I would have not gone as far as I did with the gearing change, but being 3 hours before my race I didn't want to be working on the bike and risk something go wrong, so I rode with what I had. The course was pretty dry from all the wind we had, the ground was soft though as it had snowed earlier in the week, and all the moisture was still in the ground, plus with temps in the 50's it wasn't quite hard. Did some warm-up on the road, and then some on the trainers they had setup for us to use, then it was time for staging.

Since I was able to register early I got a good spot on the line, second row, of about 6-7 rows deep, but I knew I wasn't going to be up that far for long. The official gave us the 30 second warning, then she was going to blow the whistle when she was ready with no other warning, whistle blows and we are off. Man those guys are fast, I did the best I could to try and stay towards the front going into the first corner after the long road straight, which was a good thing because there was a crash at the back of the field which I was in front of, by this time I was in about 30th place or so, and we started climbing, I was doing my best to try and keep up with anyone who got past me, and did ok with that. The hill just seemed to go on forever, we were doing switchbacks up the hill so it wasn't straight up the hill, but it was very energy robbing with the soft ground. Unfortunately I was second to last by the time we reached the top of the hill, not good, got to the run-up which was and up, then back down, then quickly back up, and most guys chose to run it, but I was able to ride it on all the laps which is good because I suck at running. Got to the bottom of the hill after some good descending on my part and was able to catch back up to a few guys, good not in last anymore.

Next lap I was going as hard as I could, and once again able to reel in a few guys, and we would swap positions back and forth. At the start she said if we were getting lapped she would be pulling guys out of the race, but as long as you did 1/2 the race you would be placed, so that was motivation to go as fast as I could go. By this time I was regretting not changing my cassette back, and really suffering up the hills, I then realized I am a spinner not a masher, and will have to make sure I keep my gearing so it allows me to spin. I have kind of always known that, but that was the true signs of it. Got another good descent and was able to stay with the same group of guys.

3rd lap, and as I was climbing the hill I could hear the announcer say the Andy Jacques-Maynes had just come through the paved section, so I knew it was only a matter of time before getting caught. I just kept plugging away at my pace that I was at, and by the time I got to the top of the hill, Andy wasn't far behind. He would catch me on the downhill, and I let him go by, as he went by he just said keep going and good job, kinda cool if you as me. So I knew I would be getting pulled out, so I tried to stick his wheel and follow him down the hill, but he got ahead on the straight section, and was gone. I had a guy about 15 seconds on front of me, and I was able to close in on him before the lap was over, but I could see them pulling guys off, so I just made sure to keep my position till that point, and got pulled at the bottom of the hill right where the pavement starts.

Finished in 51st place in the Masters 30-34 out of 55 finishers, and 64 starters.

So I competed at the National level, which I was able to take alot of stuff from. One was next year I am going to focus on cross more, and less on the road races. I will do a handful of crits, and do the IMBCS MTB series again, but my season will be planned on doing really well in the fall. This year I had peaked in June and it was all downhill from there, and I don't want that to happen again. My season is now over, I will get on the rollers a couple more times this week, then I will be taking 2 weeks off the bike, then start the 09 season with a roller race in January. Pics will be up sometime.

Video Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp_2dM4p97g

Cross Nationals Master 30-34

Women & Men Elite Nationals

Cyclocross Upgrade

2008-12-08T14:34:00.000-08:00

I sent in my request for an upgrade to a Cat 3, and it came back to approved. I know this year is over except for Nationals, but I will be ready for next season. I am hoping to have a better structured training plan so I can peak in the fall for Cross season, and still be competetive in the MTB Series.

Various Jingle Cross pictures

2008-11-30T17:49:00.000-08:00

Here are some other people at Jingle Cross, some named, some unknown. Little bit of the 2/3's and Elite races from both days.

JCR day 1 and 2 various other people

Jingle Cross Day 2

2008-11-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

Woke up to about 2" of the white stuff one the ground, woohoo cross in the snow. Trying to get everything ready realizing that the roads might be crappy we were thinking we might miss the start of the Juniors Race for Salem, but nope the roads were clear, and we made it with about 40 minutes to spare.

Called up to the line with just a few minutes to go so we could all stay warm, was back on the front row, only issue was the snow was so wet that it would fill your shoes when you got off the bike, not good. Got started pretty good, was in the top 5 or so at the barriers, and then came the run-up, pretty good sized one, not as long as yesterdays, but steeper, and with the conditions it was a task to try and get up it. Once you hit the top you come across the hill for about 100 yards, all off camber, and very slippery, we had guys going down all over the place, I was able to get back on the bike after a little bit and ride some of the hill, but wasn't clipped in. Finally got back in after a stretch of flat ground, but lost a few spots. Into the WhoVille Whirl to get dizzy, then the sand pit which was a traffic jam, then out into the field for a few log crossings, which I found later to be rideable. After the first lap I was sitting in 15th or so.

Second lap I was trying to make up some time on the finishing staright from lap one, and came into the corner way to fast, and down I went, thankfully since it was snow I slid, but still ended up with a little bit of road rash on my knee and hip. Loosing about 5 places there sucked, so now to play catch up. Made it back onto their wheels by the time we hit the hill run up, and once again made my way up that and rode back down the other side, this time not picking up many spots. I knew it would be fastest if I could try and stay clipped in the whole rest of the lap so I didn't loose time trying to get the snow out of my cleats, so rode the logs and was able to stay in the same position as I was the whole lap.

3rd and final lap there was still a group of 3 right in front of me, made it to the hill with them, and a couple of them ran it faster than me, so I went to a realy high line once I got up there and was able to ride basically the whole hill, and able to put some time into them which was very valuable. I finally got clipped back in and could see 2 guys ahead of me. Going into the sand pit there was nobody in front of me so I could fly right through it, and made up some time on the back field. Going into the switchback building I could see the 2 guys right in front of me by one switchback, one guy pushed it too hard coming out of it and went down, but quickly got back up, so I was right on his wheel at this point. Tried to shift into my big ring for the sprint to the finish, but shifting wasn't much of an option, so I ran it through all my gears in the little ring and spun it out for all I had, but just wasn't enough as he got me by 1/2 a bike lenght.

Finished 14th out of 42 today, another good finish. Now 2 weeks off and its off to the National Championships in Kansas City, MO.

Here is the video from Day 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ0JenVN-Wk

JCR - day 2 Keith, Jason and Chris

Jingle Cross Day 1

2008-11-29T18:49:00.000-08:00

The last official weekend of Cross in Iowa has been Jingle Cross for the past 5 years, and this is my 3rd year racing it. Now the one thing about it is that it is getting to be a very large event drawing people from all over the Mid-West, so you don't know most of the poeple you are racing, which always keeps it exciting. I was back in as a Cat 4 this year, last year for that, and I registered early to get a good staring position.

I got to staging right on time, and they called up the first 8 guys, well out of that only one showed up, so when I was called I asked if we could fill in the gaps, and she said go right ahead, so I was on the front line, great place to be in a field this large. 56 of us this year that they had on the results.

The started us right on time, and we were off, I was second wheel going down the front stretch, but the guy in front was just riding away from me, so I let him go. I got to the barriers which was quite a ways in this year in 3rd place, and lost a couple more spots on the first climb as it was getting slick from the frost starting to thaw a little bit. Up Mt. Krumpit for the first of 5 times, and running isn't my strong point so I knew I would loose a few spots there. Down the backside and into the field which has a set of corners where you go up the side of a hill a few feet and back down, but there is a ditch there, well it is usually muddy, and this year it was actually solid ice, so you had to make sure to hit it straight on so you didn't go down.

After the first lap I was sitting comfortably in the top 15 or so guys and knew as long as I could keep these guys around I would have a pretty decent finish. Next couple laps were uneventful, until I got to the sand pit on lap 3 I think it was, where I was carring a good amount of speed through it, and ended up having my front wheel wash out on the concrete exit, and down I went. Didn't break anythng on the bike, shifter was bent in slightly, but nothing I had to try and fix right away, so I kept on going, and only lost one spot there.

Final lap I was sitting in a spot where I don't like to be, a couple guys in front of me that I can try and catch, and one guy behind me that I don't want to let catch me. So I was pushing t as much as I could in every spot I could. I got through the sand ok ths time, but after that we went into another building with 6 switchbacks that are very tight, and I entered right behind a guy that flatted, and he wasn't able to go to fast, and with t being so tight I couldn't get around him, so once we got out to where it opened up I was able to pass him, but the 2 guys in front of me were gone, so just had to hold off the guy behind me.

I was able to do that, and ended up taking 13th place for the day. I am hoping that tomorrow brings a similar result as last year where I did better on day 2, but they are calling for 2-4" of snow tonight and tomorrow, so we will see how that plays a factor in all this.

Here is a video from it with both me and Chris Reed from the HBA Team http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUwYOvPayzM

Jingle Cross Rock day 1 - HBA members Keith and Chris

Old Towne Vande-Cross

2008-11-09T18:20:00.000-08:00

Back down to the Quad Cities for my last race before Jingle Cross. The weather was on the chilly side, high of about 34 with winds out of the North at 15-25mph, not sure what the wind chills were, but it wasn't warm like the last few races. We got there early enough that they were still setting up the course, but since Salem was the first race to go off we wanted to get there with enough time to get him ready and warmed up. Well his race went pretty good other than the fact he had some frozen fingers, time for new gloves, but since there was only 2 Juniors, he took 1st in the 10-14 age group.

Now onto my race, another 3/4 race, and most of the fast guys were there. We started off at a pretty decent pace, not too hard, but hard enough. I tried to hang onto some wheels as long as I could, but by the end of the first lap there was a decent gap and I was in a group of 5 guys. Not knowing how far back we were place wise, I just had a goal of trying to stick with these guys since I have raced against a couple of them before. The next few laps we took turns leading until about 5 laps to go when we dropped 2 of them, so now there was 3 of us left to battle it out. We worked pretty well together for the next couple laps taking turns into the headwind sections, never thought drafting was used in cross that much. This continued for the next 3 laps, and I was feeling pretty good. 2 laps to go and I was out in front, made it cleanly through the barriers and was on my way, got through the next few turns just fine, but came up to a 90 degree right hander and my inside pedal was down and caught the ground, sending my back wheel out sideways and the guy right behind me smashed into it, damn that not good. Didn't even stop for a damage inspection, don't even think either of us put a foot down, just kept going. Good thing I didn't stop because when I checked at the end of the race my wheel was pretty well out of true, damn now need to get that fixed. Final lap and they have about a 10 yard gap on me, and they were able to hold that and slightly increase it before the lap was over, oh well I did what I could.

Ended up taking 13th place in a field of 20+ riders, not sure the exact # but still a decent finish. Looking forward to a couple weeks off from racing and focus on some skills before Jingle Cross.

Old Towne Vande-Cross

Iowa State Cross Championships

2008-11-02T19:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday found us heading to Altoona to a new venue for cross this year. There has been maps online for the course with changes just this past week, but looking at them and seeing the actual course were slightly different, there was supposed to be a long grinding uphill, which I was somewhat excited about since I have my bike geared down a little lower than most, so I was looking forward to just spinning up it and catching people, but the hill wasn't that long.

To start of off they decided to head to the bottom of the final paved climb since after the parking lot at the top we shoot left onto a gravel section, and they didn't want 34 of us going full speed in a pack at that point. I was in the front row at the start, and when we got the go signal I just took off, first up the hill, and first through the barriers, now I knew I couldn't keep up that kinda pace, so a few guys got past me, and I just let them go and sat in for whatever place I would end up in. I was able to keep with a group of 3 guys for a couple laps, but for the most part I rode the race alone, not knowing what place I was in, and not really caring. Every lap just seemed to fly by as they were long laps, but it was a fast course. I come around with 3 to go, and was just thinking to myself that I hope I don't get lapped. I had no idea where the leaders were, or who they were, I just knew I had to keep going. Now with 2 laps to go, I kinda knew I wasn't getting lapped, but also knew I couldn't give up any as there were a couple guys behind me. One lap to go and I just gave it all I had to try and catch the 2 guys in front of me, I could feel myself closing in on them, but just could never make it up to their wheels. Came across the line without getting lapped which is a good feeling.

I ended up in 15th out of 34 starters, 31 finishers, so again in the top half, now just need a couple more top 10's and I will think about upgrading. All in due time though, I know I can't hang with some of those Cat 3 guys, they are way fast.

Here is a video I threw together http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD3ho7SY1DU

Iowa State Cross Championship

Spooky Cross Day 2

2008-10-26T19:04:00.001-07:00

In the past few years I have had mixed results doing 2 day races back to back. Today started out with checking the weather to see there was a high wind warning, sustained winds of 25-35mph and gusts up to 50 at times. That would play a huge roll in today's race as the section just off the bean field from yesterday was in it again, and right into the headwind.

Got to the starting line earlier today and was able to get a spot on the front row, the ref said go and I was off, actually I holeshotted to the first set of barriers, and was still in the lead going through the first hard left before heading up to the field. I started to loose some spots there, but I knew that would happen, then I could find a place where I was content and ride my own race. The course layout was very different from yesterday, and I would say laps were just over 2 miles long, and instead of dropping down and climbing we had to cross a bridge, which you had to run as the barriers were there, then you did a short climb, then a longer road section, and then drop back into the valley and climb back out of it. They had the 2x4's across the course again, but the hill was rideable. Lap one I had to get off and run as the guy infront of me decided he wasn't going to ride it and I actually ran his foot over, oops. Got back up to the starting area, and could see a couple guys in front of me and behind me, so I couldn't let up, and wasn't sure if I would reel in the others. next couple of laps were about the same, I guess it was lap 3 Ang told me I was in 20th place, and I could now see there was a group of 5 guys in front, so I had to step it up some. I did just that and by the middle of the 4th lap I was right in a group with them, and passed one of them on the climb. I would catch the others right before going into the 5th and final lap. I did manage to catch 3 more of them, but the one guy was able to catch back up and gave it a final big effort to the finish line.

I ended up in 17th place out of 34 guys in the 3/4 race, and I reached one of my goals of not being lapped. Next weekend is the State Championships over in Altoona.

Spooky Cross day 2

Spooky Cross Day 1

2008-10-25T19:09:00.001-07:00

Another weekend of racing, this time back to Des Moines for the first of 2 races at Living History Farms in Urbandale. Another Cat 3/4 race, and usually the Des Moines area races have more people attend than the Quad Cities ones.

This weekend would be no different as there was 37 of us at the line. I was off pre-riding a short section a few minutes before they lined everyone up, so I go a horrible starting position, 2nd to last row, so some work would have to be done to make up ground. The ref says go and the front line moves, but we are still standing there, not good, so I get clipped in as soon as there is movement in front of me. Chris Reed (HBA Racing) was in the row right next to me, so he jumped on my wheel and we were weaving in and out trying to get closer to the front in the first section leading up to the barriers, I think we got into the top 15 or so guys, which would prove to be good going into the next section which was really sloppy mud. At the end of that section was a drop-off to the road, and one guy about 3 spots in front of me must have been leaning forward because his front wheel dug in and he was over the bars. Then it winds down a double track trail and comes to the base of a climb, now there is no real barrier here to make it a run up, there are a few 2x4's they put across the width of it, but it was still rideable, and since I suck at running and this was a pretty long hill I decided to try and climb it. That proved to be very successful for me, and even though I didn't make up much time, I didn't really lose any time either. A couple laps go by, and I am sitting in a good spot with 2 other guys right around me, so I could try and pick them off, or just keep going at the same pace I had been, and see how it pans out. I come around with 2 laps to go and get through the first section, when I hear a cowbell, not knowing if that if from a spectator, or the ref, I glance back when I go by the start/finish line to see that it was down to 1 lap now, which meant I would probably be getting lapped. I just kept pushing it as hard as I could, keeping those same 2 guys in a reasonable distance, and at the top of the climb I got lapped. Now knowing that I was done after that lap I decided to go for it on the last road section leading up to the barriers towards the end, so I get it up in the big ring, fly past one of the guys, and get over the barriers, catch the other guy and never look back.

Came across the line, and waited around to see Chris finish since he didn't get lapped. Go back to the car and get all cleaned up and wonder over to registration to check the results, Chris ended up in 14th, and me in 15th out of 37 riders. Another good showing from the HBA Team this cross season. Tomorrow will bring some cooler temps, and some strong winds, should make for an interesting race.

Spooky Cross day 1

New Bike Day

2008-10-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

Tuesday brought about another new bike day for me. This time it was a cross bike, and man I am excited to race on it this weekend, I rode it Tuesday night on our training ride, and what a difference from the Cross Check.

Devils Cross 10-19-08

2008-10-21T04:41:00.000-07:00

This past weekend found us traveling to the Quad Cities for the first in the DICE cross series. This is a new venue for them, and was a great place to have a race, everything you could have wanted, some pavement sections, some uphills, some fast flat sections, and some good off camber stuff. Going into the race I wasn't feeling great, but I decided to try and see how it went, just couldn't get my legs going, and they felt heavy, so I knew I was in trouble there.

We showed up at 9:30 because this was to be our son's first cross race as a Junior. We get him all signed in and head back to get him warmed up and ride the course so he knew where to go. A little on his race, he was racing at the same time as the beginner men, and as a Junior it is 10-18, not realizing there was any other Juniors all he had to do was finish. Turns out there was another Junior, who must be 18, but that's ok. He did 3 laps before getting lapped by the leaders, and ended up doing 4 laps total in just over 30 minutes, did a great job of staying in it the whole time and not letting up, he does need to make sure he drinks more, but that will come with time and learning, and we need to figure out a way to get him to lift his bike easier too, the barriers about killed him. It was great though because all the way around the course people were cheering him on and ringing cow bells, and just being supportive of the little guy out there hanging in with the older guys.

On to my race. Like I said before I knew going into it that today would not be my best performance, but I tried anyways, got to the line, and it was nice to see a team mate there as well, Chris made it out to the race, and although cross is not a team sport, it is nice to see others from the team doing it. We get all lined up, and the ref lets us go, and the race is on, starts off on a long sweeping left on the pavement before shooting off into the grass and the first set of barriers. I get a good start as no one else is really pushing hard, and go into the first section in around 3rd or 4th place, but already I am feeling it in the legs, and was just trying to hold on to a respectable pace. We hit the first run-up and by this time I know I am done for, so I watch about 1/2 the field pass me, and just come to the realization that today is not my day. I was able to finally get into a rhythm about lap 3 and had 2 guys from the DICE team around me, so we were constantly changing positions with each other. Somewhere around this time I get to one section and see that Chris was off his bike and messing with the front brake, I as if he is ok and he says yes so I keep going, come to find out later that he hit a hole and went over the bars, but when his bike hit the ground the front shifter moved down his bars and pulled the brake cable, so he had to get some slack out of it so he could ride. I continue on my way and keep my pace the best I could. Lap 5 Chris catches back up to me, and I get a little boost and try and stick with him, but that was on the run up, and he was gone, at this point I looked down for a second, and somehow went off course, so that cost me about 10 seconds trying to figure out what I had done. I finally got the one DICE guy to break down to the point of I was feeling better on the run up and actually ran it and never saw him again, but the other guy had a decent lead on me and I never was able to regain it. Lap 6 and I can see the 2 leaders closing in on me, so I knew before the end of the lap I would be caught, just when, they got me right after the run up, so it was just time to keep my pace and go to the finish.

Crossed the line in 11th place in the Cat 3/4 race, so with not feeling well I still had a good placing. Next weekend we will be heading to Spooky Cross in Urbandale for 2 days of racing action, and I will have my new bike by then, so hoping for feeling better and a better result.

Devil's Cross

Cyclocross practice

2008-10-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

Keith, Chris, John and Jason cyclocross practicing at Thomas park October 2nd.

Cyclocross practice at Thomas Park

Cross out Crohns

2008-10-05T19:00:00.001-07:00

This weeks Cross race found is traveling to Newton, IA. I raced here last year, and was sick the week before, so that result wasn't all that great, so hoping to improve on it.

Got there with plenty of time to walk around and check out the course, the layout was similar to last year as we started on the road, and shot in to a 90 degree left hander that the opening was only about 6 feet wide, so needed to be there up in front, a couple more spots that were tight before the first barriers, and then it opened up some after that.

I get to the line and was talking to the USCF official for a few while others were finishing warming up and rolling to the line, looked back and there was a good turnout, another 20+ in the field, we get the whistle to go, and I was able to get clipped in right away and was in the lead. I was able to continue my lead all the way through the first set of barriers, so that meant no piling up for me. We hit the first climb and I get a few guys going past me, I expected that, so I just got into a rhythm and tried to keep it for the whole race. A couple laps go by, and I was sitting in 9th place and the 2 behind me kept creeping up a little at a time. Now we are almost 25 minutes into the 45 minute race, and they get by me, but I can still see them and they are catchable if I get a good run, or if they begin to slow down. Next lap I was in my big ring on a road section, and when I went to get out of it I dropped my chain, not good, and they were gone. I did all I could to try and catch them quickly, but decided to wait and see if they slowed any, and since there was noone right behind me now, I could take it a little easier, but still try and go pretty hard. With about 40 minutes into it I am gaining on 2 of the guys now, and the leader is gaining on lapping me, so I just keep going along, get lapped, and try and catch up to the guy in front of me, about 1/2 way through that lap I catch and pass him, and never look back. Final lap now and I can see the guy right infornt of me, but I am not able to close the gap before the end, I think if we had one more lap I could have caught him.

We wait around for a little, talk to some people and watch the 1-2-3 race take off, and then realize results were up, go and check them and I got 10th place in the Cat 4 race. So now I have broken into the top 10 in a race, now to try for a top 5 spot. I have a weekend off, and then down to the Quad Cities on the 19th.

Cross out Crohns

Capitol City Cross 9-28-08

2008-09-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

First cross race of the season, and many more to come. I learned that maybe doing a MTB race the day before might not have been the best idea, but we would see how that played out.

The park is in downtown Des Moines, and there is a decent size hill that would be a factor in the course, as a run up. Got there about 2 hours before my start, got to check out the course, watch some other guys race, and then got dressed. It was a chilly morning as the fog hadn't lifted yet, but was very humid, I did a pre ride of 2 laps with my base layer on, and dropped that before starting. I got in the front row of the start, and looked back to see what seemed like a sea of people, 28 of us to start. The start wasn't the most ideal as we just went about 50 yards, took a hard left and started climbing towards the barriers for the run up, so it really didn't seperate the field to much. I was still in the front 3 or so at the top of the climb, and lost a couple more spots before the end of teh lap, but I finally settld into a groove that I could go at one pace, and I wasn't loosing any more spots, but wasn't gaining any eiethr.

Me and another guy rode for quite a few laps together switch spots back and forth, until he finally pulled away slowly as I started feeling fatigued from the race the day before. So now I could see him one corner or so ahead of me, but could never make it back onto his wheel. With 5 laps to go I got lapped by the 1st place guy, and then the next lap I got lapped by a few more guys, and by the end of the race I think the top 6 guys had all lapped me, and most of the rest of the field.

Came across the line in 11th place out of 26 finishers, so not a bad showing for my first cross race of the year, now next week will be just a single race weekend, so hoping for a better result there, pictures for this race will be up soon as well....

Capital City Cross

Manawa Mayhem 9-27-08

2008-09-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday brought the conclusion of the 2008 IMBCS Series in Council Bluffs, and what a way to end the series.

We headed down Friday night and stayed at a hotel since it is almost a 5 hour drive and that wouldn't have been fun race day morning. Got to the park with plenty of time to spare, so we walked a couple of the trails just to get an idea of what the terrain was like, we got about 1/2 mile into the woods, and it was some nice singletrack, well packed, smooth and flat. Perfect recipe for some fast racing. I go and start getting warmed up and find a neat place for some picture taking, so I tell Ang and the kids where to head to, and I went and headed for the starting line. The start was a bit sketchy as they had us about 1/4 mile up a paved road and shoot right into the singletrack, but going from the pavement to the grass was a few 4x4 pieces of wood sticking out of the ground, basically so you can't drive on the grass, and we had to go in between 3 of them to get on the trail, thankfully no one hit one. Get into the woods in second place, and I have a guy come around me at one section where it opened up a bit, ok I am sitting in 3rd, no biggie. We hit the short little hill and the guy in 1st place breaks his chain, ouch 1/2 mile in and you are done, so that puts me into second now and I am with one of the local guys. I am a better technical rider than he is, so I was able to keep on his wheel in all the log crossing sections and tight stuff, but when it opened up he was gone, so basically a game out cat and mouse so to speak. We come around at the end of lap one, and I am n second a few seconds behind him.

2nd lap, I am still right behind him, and catching him where I am doing better than hm, and for a little bit I was in front of him, but he would get me on the fast open stuff, we get about 3/4 of the way through that lap, and there is a course marshal saying there is a guy hurt, and they are stopping the race, and will restart, so find a way back to the start, so we get a group of us and head back up to the levee and make our way to the parking lot. By this time the guy is out of the woods and into the ambulance, and they are trying to figure out how to restart the race. They decided to take your placing from the first lap, and set us off in that order, giving the appropriate time gaps to make it fair, so after sitting around for 20 minutes or so, and having to go again, my legs weren't to happy about that, and I couldn't quite make it back up to the guy in front of me.

3rd and final lap, I can see him in a few spots, but can never bridge the gap to him, and now I can see guys behind me, so no looking back, just need to go for it. I was clearing all the log crossings well, and trying to push to hard in some spots that might have cost me some seconds due to having to slow down into the corners more since I was going faster into them. I get to the end of the lap, maybe a mile to go, and can hear people coming maybe one section behind me, and now adrenaline has taken over completely at that point, and I just hammer to the line.

Came across in 2nd Place for the Sport Open which got me a medal, and also secured my position as winner of the IMBCS Points Series for the Sport Open. Not sure when they do the awards for that, but I will update when they do. We got some decent pictures, and they will be up soon...

IMBCS #3

Sugar Bottom Scramble 9-21-08

2008-09-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

Another one of those races that I have wanted to do, but the calendar never allowed for it, but not this year. I have been looking forward to this one since it is the most local race we have, and I can ride the trails beforehand. I was able to get on them twice this week, and had a good feel for them.

Got there nice and early for both a decent parking spot, and look for some places to take some good pictures. Ran into a couple of the other HBA guys, one of which is doing the Expert race, and start to do some warming up as we take off just after noon. Got all warmed up and head to staging. The released us in waves, starting with the Expert men, the women, singlespeed, collegiate, and finally us. I am in the second row, and look back to see a very large field, I guess there were 53 of us altogether including the 3 women, biggest turnout this year, so I know getting into the woods first is important. He gives us the count and we are off, I am right behind the 2 other HBA guys that I wanted to be with as they are both strong on the road, I believe a Cat 3 and a Cat 2. We get into the woods in the top 10, and there are a couple of gaps starting to form early on both in front and behind, so I keep pushing trying to keep it close. By the time we get through the lower side of the course, Karl is gone, and me and Chris are riding together. We keep it that we for quite sometime and swap positions back and forth, coming into "Cyclocross Hill" I know there is no need to try and ride it, so I plan to get off and run it, which worked out well for me because it proved to be faster than the few guys I saw trying to ride it. Get through lap one with Chris about 15 second behind me, and he is with a couple of guys.

Lap 2 starts with me making it into the woods with that same gap, only I am catching up to some of the collegiate guys that are doing 3 laps, so they aren't going quite as hard to conserve energy. I am at a spot where I am not able to get around them, so I have to wait, well at that time the gap behind me closes, and I have Chris and another guy on my wheel. The trail opens up and I get around them, as do the others behind me, which is good, but now there are 3 of us in the Sport race all together again. The one guy gets behind me and I am just maintaining a pace that is comfortable to go at, and not loose anymore time, Chris is right behind me now, and he is my motivation to keep going hard. We got to a spot where my wife was taking pictures, and Chris needed some water, well she had some for him so he stopped to fill up real quick, didn't loose much time there, and 2 sections later he was back on my wheel. We get back to the gravel road, and head to the upper section of the course, after passing one of the Expert women and a singlespeed rider. The two of us keep on working until we hit one section and I look back and see Robin, the Expert woman, and no Chris, I get to the top of that trail and it is basically 100 feet from where you go in, and Chris is running towards me needing a tube, so he grabs that out of my camelback, and I am able to get back going without loosing any spots. I get to the bottom of the downhill, and it is back to "Cyclocross Hill" again, this time there is a bigger crowd, and once again I get off and run it, apparently the crowd isn't a huge fan of that one, but oh well, no need to kill myself or break my bike over a couple seconds. I get to the last field section and put it back into the big ring and never look back, cross the line in 11th place overall, and 7th in the Sport Open. So we will have to see what that does for the Series Standing, and if I head to Council Bluffs or not next weekend.

From the HBA Team, Karl placed 4th overall and 1st in the Masters 35+ and Chris was in 23rd after his mechanical.

24 Hours of Seven Oaks

2008-08-31T18:42:00.001-07:00

This is one of those things I have always wanted to do since I first heard about such a race. I will have to say that even though being very tired from lack of sleep, and going as hard as I could when I had to ride, it was definitely the most fun I have even had on my bike.

First our team, there was Tom who is a Cat 5 road racer, but a very strong MTBer, Carson a Cat 3 road racer, and this was his first MTB race, and first time he would be riding at night, Chris another Cat 3 road racer and a top 5 sport racer in the MTB world, and then me, been racing MTB for the past 17 years.

The course is an 8 mile lap with probably close to 1200 feet of climbing per lap, not sure the actual numbers, but that is what I have heard. Mostly all singletrack with alot of off camber switch backs both up hill and down.

This race starts off with having to run to your bike, the past few years they had you run through the camping area, and to your bikes at the start of the singletrack, well they found out that caused bottlenecking in that first section, so this year it was a shorter run, and a long ride up almost a mile long gravel road. I was chosen to lead off for us since I have the most mountain biking experience of the 4 of us, and since running isn't my high point i was happy to see a short run, maybe 75 yards. I got to my bike, did some cyclocrossing and jumped on and went, once on the gravel climb, I was able to pick off a couple guys, and entered the woods section at the top in the top 10, and was able to hold that position for the 1st lap. I turned in a 50 minute lap time for the 1st lap not including the extra starting area, and that would set the tone for the rest of the race as we knew what kind of lap times were possible, and something to shoot for. The other guys set out on their laps, and we were all in about the same range of lap times, which meant if we could keep that up we would reach our goal of 24 laps.

Second time out was just my best lap, I was able to clear the entire course without having to put a foot down anywhere, and I turned another lap right around the 50 minute mark. There was a mandatory rule that if you start a lap after 7 pm you have to have your lights installed, not on, but you have to be ready incase it gets dark, and since my turn was coming up right around that time I installed them and was ready. Thankfully I didn't need them as I was able to get back to the bottom of the hill before dark. I tried laying down at that point to rest before heading out on my first dark lap sometime around 11. My turn came up right about that time, maybe a little before 11, and I have ridden in the dark before, but it has been a long time. My new light was nice, but since it was mounted on my handlebar, and my older light was on my helmet and wasn't quite as bright I had a hard time seeing somethings. I got back to camp with a lap time a bit slower than my day times, but still under an hour. We talked about how to ride the night laps, and decided to do 2 at night, but switch it with another guy so you ride one, take a 45 minute or so break and then back out so the other guys can get 3 hours or so of sleep, so I get back and have to try and stay awake for my next ride. Tom was who I would be doing laps with, and he was like myself a little slower at night. I head out for what I was hoping to be my last night lap as I knew my old light would only last about 1 and 1/2 hours, and even though there was a place to recharge the lights, 45 minutes on a charger wouldn't get me much. I lost my helmet light about 1/2 way through my second night lap, so that would slow things down quite a bit, and it proved to be as that lap time was just over an hour, and I was having a hard time turning the pedals over on some of the climbs. I was happy when I came out of the last section of woods, and knew I had about 5 minutes till I could get off the bike and get some sleep. And sleep is what I did, set my alarm for about 3 hours from the time I laid down figuring that would give me enough time to get back up and ride again. I rolled out of bed around 6 when Chris started his lap, and got dressed and ready for my next lap. I didn't really eat anything before going out again, and I was regretting that decision about 1/2 way through that lap, but I knew back at camp there was to be some pancakes and bacon, so that kept me rolling. I got back just before 8, and knew that I would probably have to ride again if everyone kept the same lap times. Around 9:30 the team that was winning came around to see if the top 5 team just wanted to call a truce and stop riding after the lap we were on, we thought about it, and knew that we were a lap behind 3rd place, but only about 40 minutes infront of 5th place, so we told them we were going to keep pushing on. Chris started his lap just before 10, so I knew at that point I would have to go again, but I was able to have 4 pancakes, 6 pieces of bacon, and a cup of coffee, so I was ready to go. Chris came out of the woods at just before 10:45, so I knew I had just over an hour to do this lap incase I wasn't feeling it I could try and soft pedal some sections if need be and still have a good lap time as we had to finish the lap before noon. I was feeling pretty good, and just taking it one corner at a time, and one hill at a time. I came across the line with about 20 miutes or so to spare, and was pleased with the fact that I was able to start the race strong, and finish the race strong as well.

Overall I figure I rode just under 60 miles in a 24 hour time frame as I did 7 laps, and everyone else was able to get 6 in, so that put us at 25 laps, one lap more than our goal. I think we put together a very good team that was able to ride about the same pace for the entire time, and hopefully next year we can do it again and maybe break into the top 3. Now it is off to get some sleep, pictures from the race will be up probably tomorrow sometime.

24 Hours of Seven Oaks

Iowa State Criterium Championships

2008-08-24T06:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday found us in Pella for the final road race of the season, the State Crit. The HBA Team had a total of 9 guys in 5 different races with 3 of the guys doing multiple races. Noteables, Chris Eastburn, 2nd Place Masters 50+ and 3rd Place Masters 40+, Carl Rosenberg, 3rd Place Cat 3 and Mac 2nd Place Juniors 15-18, so a good showing for the team.

Now onto the race, this was to be my first actual Cat 4 race with a good size field and some pretty big teams. Got on the line and was in the front row, looking back I could see 30+ racers in the group, and had only one other teammate in the bunch which was Mac. We talked that we would try and stick together in the top ten or so if we could to try and stay in the front and hope for a good placing. Well this was not a typical lenght crit, it was 35 laps for a total of 21 miles, mainly they do that so it will qualify for upgrade point since the USCF has guildlines for that. We get rolling and I am sitting about 7th or 8th wheel, right where I need to be, now I expected it to be fast, but not as fast as we were going. I was planning on just sitting in and going, but for some stupid reason, maybe inexperience, we slowed down on the climb on about lap 6 or so, and I took off to the front, hoping to take a few guys and maybe get a break, but that wasn't going to happen because we never got away, and by the time we hit the next lap coming up the hill I was shot, yeah and 29 more times around. I got shot off the back quickly and could never recover, so I just got it to a comfortable pace that I could handle and basically rode a time trial for as long as I could. Some laps later I got lapped, and noticed Mac was on the back of the pack, so I jumped on in front of him trying to help him get back with the group, well little did I know he was lapped as well. We worked for the next couple laps and a few more after that, lapped again, tried to get back on, but had nothing left. This time I picked up another rider and we worked for quite a bit as well. 5 laps to go and I would get lapped for a 3rd time. The nice thing about this course is there was no need to pull guys, so I was able to finish the race, one lap to go and I can see Mac going in the first turn, so I got on it and bridged up to him just to help him finish, and so the HBA guys could come across together. We both finished, not sure what place, but like I said we were so far behind it didn't matter. I was able to learn alot about racing in the 4's, and that my training for next year will be focused on doing shorter harder efforts, and how to recover quickly.

Results now posted, and I came in 19th Place out of 30 riders.

Up next is the 24 Hour MTB Race down in Boone next weekend, 4 man team, hoping that will be a great time, then 3 more MTB races and Cross season .

8-19 Last Night at the Oval

2008-08-21T06:00:00.001-07:00

Tuesday brought the last race at Hawkeye Downs for the year, which had a great turnout, and a pizza party afterwards. Once again I was up in the A Race, just trying to keep on some wheels and learn as we went about racing at high speeds in a pack setting.

First Race was a 10 lap scratch race, lots of attacks from the start, and I did a pretty good job of grabbing the right wheel when they went. With 2 laps to go Mac (HBA Junior) took off and the pack just let him go, I thought of going with him which it turns out I should have because he held a decent gap for over a lap, and having a second person would have been helpful to pull through the headwind on the front stretch. Well about 1/2 a lap to go and we were closing in on him fast, and he was caught right before the final turn, and it was a pack sprint from there, I came across the line in 9th.

Second Race was a 15 lap points race, every 3 laps you sprint for points, well again the attacks started right away, but nothing really stuck so the first few were just beating up the others with no real gains. One the 3rd sprint I was sitting 5th wheel, and decided to just go for it, well I got up out of the saddle and went only taking one other guy with me, and we almost held it all the way to the line, I came on 4th on that sprint which gave me one point, which all I wanted in an A Race. After that my legs were dead so I just settled in for my own pace trying to keep a high enough speed as to not get lapped, and that worked, but I was so shot after that one. Again a 9th place finish.

3rd Race was a 6 lap scratch race, so basically a 3 mile effort with multiple attacks and fighting for position. By the time we came around on the final lap I was feeling decent, and had a go for the sprint, ended up in 8th place this time.

Final race as it was getting dark was a win and out, so whoever crosses the line first pulls out. One guy takes a flier right off the start and tries to hold off the field, but that wasn't going to happen, and he was caught on the last corner and shot off the back. I knew I had no chance of winning any of the laps, so I just sat in and held onto the pack as to not get dropped and figured I would wait for the final sprint on lap 6. There was 6 of us left and I was the 3rd of them to come across the line, so once again an 8th place finish.

Overall it was a good year at the Oval, I have learned alot that can be applied in crits, and my pack riding skills have greatly improved. Looking forward to doing it all again in the spring, for now though there is teh State Crit this weekend, then 4 more MTB races, and the start of a couple month Cross season.

IMBCS #7

2008-08-11T11:35:00.000-07:00

Lake Ahquabi just south of Indianola, out by Des Moines. We got there with plenty of time to do a lap to get a feel for the course. Rick showed up right after we did, so after getting registered, we headed out for a lap. The whole course was double track, with 4 decent climbs, including one that had railrod ties to help with water run off. Felt pretty good on teh pre-ride, most of the course could be done in the big ring, so that was how I was going to race it.

First lap, I hole-shotted again and was first into the woods, most of the other courses that was important so you don't get stuck in a pile-up in the single track, but today was different, so I really didn't need to, but still did. Within the first mile a few guys got past me as I sat in to a pace that I could hold for the duration of the ride. Got through lap one with no problems, except a missed feed zone again, which they met me at another spot where I could grab the bottle.

Second lap, I was able to catch up to a couple guys, and ride pretty much with them, and even caught our first expert rider who went out 5 minutes before us. I did something wrong at some point because the other guys took off and I could never regain any ground on them. I got my feed zone that time too, so all was good.

Third lap I was totally in a zone just turning the pedals over at a constant pace trying to not lose any ground, but wasn't gaining any either. I could see a couple guys behind me at one point but just kept going. I caught another expert about 1/2 way through this lap. I somehow though made a wrong turn, and realized it about 20 second late, which allowed the other 2 guys to catch up to me, so now it was all out to try and reel them back in. I got back on the one guys wheel, and he asked if I was taking a shortcut, and I told him no I missed the corner. Passed him right before the railroad tie climb, and got on the other guys wheel going up the climb, well he was spinning away in the granny gear, and I only have 2 front chainrings, so no real granny gear to speak of, so I had to try and pace intil I could pass, got almost to the top and could go around him, and never looked back. A couple more ups and downs, then a big down to the finish, which had a nice drop off from the parking lot to the line, and I decided to jump it since it was over anyways. There will be pics of that I am sure sometime soon.

I did finish in 5th Place for the Sport Open, which keeps me in the lead for now, but 2nd place in the series is closing in on me, so time will tell how that plays out.

Here are pictures, they include a bunch of other people.

IMBCS #7 Indianola

Night at the Oval 8-5-08

2008-08-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

This was to be my 1st Oval that I raced in the A Race, I knew going int oit that there was no chance of winning since we have quite a few strong Cat 3's and such that were there. I set a goal of not getting lapped in any of the races, so that was obtainable.

First race a a 10 lap scratch race, and right from the go there were some atacks, and I was just trying to cover them so I didn't get shot off the back, but the speed and power that these guys have is incredible, so I was in the 2nd group. At one point I thought I could bridge across, and came up about 10 seconds short, and knew it wasn't going to happen, so I sat up and waited for the next group to catch me again. Sat in and tried to recover, and decided to just wait for the final sprint. Well that is still not a strong point for me, but I did come across the line in 11th place out of 13, so not last.

Second race was a 15 lap points race, and I knew that with only points going to the top 4 every three laps I would have to hope for a good finish. Even though I wasn't sprinting for anything I had to go all out just to be able to stay with the group while they sprinted. That went on like that intil the final lap which I was toast by then and came across in 12th place.

Third was an 8 lap scratch race, and I did better here. Made sure to keep an eye on the right guys, and even threw in an attack myself, but that didn't get me anywhere, but I did come across in 19th place that time.

Then there was 2 spiral of death races, basically one lap on the 1/2 mile track, one on the 1/4 mile track and then one on the 1/8 mile track, well I was so out of it by then that I would just settle for finishing, got 12th in the 1st one, then we went the opposite direction, and I got 11th in that one.

Overall a good learning experience of covering the right attacks, and when to go and when not to, so hopefully that will pay off when we go back on the 19th for the final Oval of the year.

Ang takes the blame!

2008-08-07T13:52:00.000-07:00

(This is Angy writing...I'm posting this over here because it's more related to Keith's biking than my blog and our family life.)

Alright, so I feel really really bad about what happened to Keith on Sunday at the MTB race. I know I had nothing to do with his double flatting, but I had a big to do with his dehydration and serious cramping afterwards! The plan was to meet him at the top of the ski hill for the feed zone, but I got totally distracted when I first saw him in the woods with a flat tire. I ran to the finish line to see if he wanted to keep going or what. After he decided to keep going, there wasn't enough time to run over to the ski hill to give him the new bottle. I did run down the road to see him again, but he was so far away and couldn't hear me, and even then I was only cheering him on, didn't realize I still had his bottle in my hands. After he disappeared into the woods there was no way to find him again. The poor guy filled up his bottle from the creek to get some water! And then he did find a spectator out in the woods somewhere who had a little bit of water on him. Thank you to him for sharing!! By the time I saw Keith again it was only a very short distance to the finish. I gave him his bottle, but it was too late the damage was done, and he had it downed by the finish line. It took him forever to finish the race, and I know the double flats caused the most problems, but if he had more energy (aka bottle) he would have been able to go a bit more. Sitting at the finish line he got cold sweats and drank probably 3 more bottle of water. We walked back to the car and then the cramp set in. His calf muscle cramped up so bad! Luckily it didn't happen in the woods. Glad I was able to help ease it by a massage, but still wasn't pretty! So from now on, water is the first priority!!! Pictures and everything else comes afterwards! Also I'm going to remember to carry extra water with me in case I run into a biker out there who needs it. Let's hope we never have another race like this one!! Well, he did finish, so that's pretty hardcore of him!

Seven Oaks MTB Race (my HTFU moment)

2008-08-03T15:24:00.003-07:00

Another weekend of many coming up of mountain bike racing, this one will hopefully be the one to get all my problems out and I can get back to some good racing. For those of you not in the loop, last year before cross season Ang got me a wristband that Team CSC used in the tour, that read Harden The F@*k Up (HTFU). All last season and this season I have been wearing it at races and it gives my that little motivation I need to make sure I always finish no matter what, (well unless I get pulled).

So this weeks story is my example of that. Got there early as a friend of mine was doing the beginner race and we went to watch him and cheer him on. He finished 2nd place! When they got done I had just over an hour till my start, so I went out to do some of the course. Once again I went farther than I wanted to and had to try and find a way back to the start so I didn't miss that. Got there with plenty of time to spare this week! Start was about a 1/2 mile gravel road to try and break up the group since there was about 30 or so of us. Got into the woods in about 5th place siting really good, and just start going at my own pace once I get into the single track, well about 2 miles in I notice my rear tire is feeling a little soft, crap a flat, and of course I don't have any way to repair it (don't carry any), so I decided to just continue on and see how it goes. Well the course is basically just a set of switchbacks up and then down the side of a few different larger hills, so a lot of elevation change on the course, I had heard something like 1800 feet per lap, but that seems a little high, but might be close for the 8 mile loop. So now it is decision time, do I try and continue on one good tire, and one that I can still go up and down just fine, but any side hill stuff just isn't going to happen to easily. I decide to see how long it takes to complete that lap and how many places I loose before the finish line. I lost maybe 5 places in the next 6 miles, and knew there were more out there, so I then decided to keep going. I make it up to Ang and the boys, and she sees the flat and asks if I was done, and said no, I will try and keep going, she says I am nuts, and I go on my way. As I cross the start finish line there were some people around and Ang made it over there, and they all comment about the tire, and she says that I am leading the points series, so I was going to at least try and continue.

Lap 2, I somehow missed the kids and my feed zone, so I was still only on my 1st bottle, and it was getting low quickly. I get almost to the same spot as last lap, and realize that I now have a flat in the front as well. So this is my HTFU moment! I decide I am no where that I can get out since I don't know the trails, and I was going to continue on 2 flat tires now. I had another guy pass me, and he commented on it as well, but I just kept going. I get about a mile, and have no control over the front end of my bike, and now I see the tire has actually began to come off the rim, so I stop, take the tire off, and throw it on my back, and ride with just the rim. I know it will probably damage the rim, but that is a chance I am willing to take. Another guy that also passed me said I made him feel really bad since he had a fully functional bike and I was almost beating him with 2 flats, was hurting pretty bad, and I could always see him in front of me, but could never catch him. I did finally pass him about 2 miles from the end, and never saw him again. Since I had missed the feed zone I came up to a guy taking pictures, and asked if he had some water, he had just a little bit, but that was enough to keep me from cramping, and make it to the finish. I see Ang in the woods about 5 minutes away from the end, (well with a good working bike, longer with my flats) and she had my other bottle, so I grabbed that and she made some comment to me, I just kept going. She runs over to the finish, grabs Rick (our friend) and says he needs to see how I am coming across the line, he thinks two flats, and she says, well yeah, but he is just riding the rim on the front. I came across the line almost 2 and 1/2 hours after starting my 16 mile death march, completely exhausted, but I finished, and that was all I wanted. I got some props from just about everyone there at the end, and I am sure they all thought I was nuts, but like I said, I was never going to quit. Believe it or not, the front rims is perfectly true, and I didn't see any major dents in it, the rear I haven't closely inspected, but will do that soon and see the damages. I think what kept the front from any major damage is the fact that it is full of mud and sand, so it made it pretty solid.

So all in all it was a good day, I got some good cyclocross training in with having to run up most of the hills, and I finished. Ended up taking 6th place in the Sport Open category and got some more points to increase my lead in the IMBCS Series. There were so many people that dropped out due to flats it was insane, most I have ever seen at a race.

IMBCS #6 Boone

Thanks Jason Road Race

2008-07-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

I was asked Thursday night on the group ride if I was going to make it to the road race this weekend, not knowing anything about it I told them I would see what we had going on and I would try and be there. After thinking about it for a day I decided I would go for it and see if I could help the team out, as I knew I had no chance of winning. It is a smaller race, so you usually get less than 20 people show up, and all categories go at the same time. While we were warming up a plan was made to try and cover all the attacks with the lower Cat guys so when we got closer to the finish the higher Cat guys could have a chance at the win. We start off at a pretty mellow pace, about 2 miles in a few attacks go off the front, but nothing sticks, I get off the front and cover as much as I can. We all regroup and an attck goes off with about 6 or so guy, 3 of them being HBA guys, I was going to go with them, but Carson said not to worry about it, and just sit in with this other group. So now we are the second group on the road, all is going well until Carson launchs an attack that I just couldn't hold onto and I was shot off the back. I did all I could to get back on the group, but never was able to get with them, we hit the turn around point and I knew there was no way to get back on, I tried, but after a mile or so I decided it was pointless. I did have 2 people behind me, so after being alone for 5 miles I knew it would be easier with another person to share the work, so I slowed a little to let the next guy catch me. The next 7 or so miles we took turns working together to make it to the end, and we were getting towards the finish line, and he takes off for I, so I tuck in behind him and just sit there waiting for him to burn out before the line, or be able to jump when need be. Turns out he went too early and I could see the line, so I get out of the saddle and go for it, and by then he had wasted all he had, so it was a pretty easy finish for me. Not sure what place I ended up in, but HBA took 1,2,3, and 5 so it was a very good showing for the team.

7-13-08 FORC Side Thrill Ride

2008-07-15T04:47:00.000-07:00

The 3rd Race in the IMBCS Series was being held at Sunderbrunch Park in Davenport, only problem is I was supposed to be leaving for NY on Sunday, hmm I will do the race and then just drive from there, yeah that works. Get there after the beginner race started, so no pre-riding the course now, no biggie, got registered and walked up the first hill t take a peek at the course. Didn't get to see much, so I would wait and try to get a lap in before the start. Get into my preride at about 11:20, and the course is just over 5 miles long, so I am off at just about race pace just to see as much as I could of the course and after a few miles I realize it doesn't ever come back out to the paved section that you can just cruise back to the start, so I finally see course marshalls coming out and ask one of them where to get out. Find my way out and get to the start line with 10 minutes to go.

The 1st lap they have you go up the paved trail so we get a little more spread out before shooting into the singletrack, which about 99% of the course was, I am on the second row of about 30 plus guys including the single speeders, which start with us but are scored separately. She blows the whistle and we are off, I get clipped in and am about 5th wheel going up the hill with 2 guys behind me, and by the time we hit the top of the paved section we have maybe a 5 second gap, first 3/4 mile is all big ring-able and I am sitting in a good position. We drop down into the creek crossing and then shoot uphill, one guy spins out and I have to jump off to get around him, do a little cyclocrossing run by 3 guys and jump back on and keep going. When we get around to the point where you can see the creek crossing again I look over and the last 10 or so guys are basically stopped waiting, good thing I was up front. The rest of the lap was me and 4 other guys riding pretty closely together and I cam across onto the next lap in 2nd or 3rd place.

2nd lap I am into a groove now and am just turning the pedals over at a constant pace to keep my position. About mile 2 I hit a tree with my shoulder, and could feel that it was pretty messed up, but never stopped to look at it just kept going. Got passed by a couple guys, and at the 1/2 way point I had hit the wall, and lost my rhythm, damn need to focus, a few more trees bounced off with my shoulder, elbow, hips and head I got back into it, but I have no one in sight either in front of or behind me, so just kept it going. I did get up to another guy, got by him, but on one section I wasn't pay attention, and went off course, grabbed a tree and let him go by me, but when I tried going again I fell farther into the woods and off my bike, so that sucked. Got back out of the woods and realized I needed to drink more as that wasn't really an option on this course so I was forcing my self to drink.

3rd and final lap I grabbed a bottle from the feed zone and was gonna make an effort to drink as much as I could on that lap, got to the top of the first climb where we cross the paved trail, grab a drink, and drop my bottle, crap, I grab both brakes and damn near endo, get my bottle picked up and a guy catches me, and I am thinking crap, but he is on a SS so I am all good, I get going again and get back up to him before the creek crossing and actually am in front of him for a little while. The rest of the lap we went back an forth being at the front, and that worked well giving me just enough motivation to keep pushing. Get to the back section of the course, maybe a mile to go, and we start to catch a few guys, sweet, so in the next 1/2 mile I am able to pick up 2 more spots. Get to the last section and just let it go to the finish, downhill for the most part, and it is a section you can flow pretty well. Come out of the woods and take a right turn back a across the bridge to the finish line, coast across the line in 1hour 35 minutes for the 16 mile race.

Waiting around for results because I knew I was top 10, but not sure just where, results get posted and I took 5th place in the Sport Open, and 2nd place Sport Men 30-39. So now wait around to see if I win anything, they do awards and I got a medal for my 2nd place Men 30-39. Leave from there at about 3:30 and now have a 16 hour drive to NY, wasn't gonna make it for that day, but all is good, we are in NY now, and will try and get some good climbing in while we are here. Will be back in a a week, pics will be up maybe tonight or tomorrow.

State Team Time Trial

2008-07-06T18:38:00.000-07:00

I was approached by one of the guys from the HBA (Hawkeye Bike Association) Race Team about joining them on their B team for this years Time Trial, after giving it some thought I figured it would be fun to try. The course is 3 laps at 19.33 miles each lap for a total of just under 58 miles, and not really much for climbing. Winds were out of the south making the 2nd to last leg of the course very slow going. Since the team was just thrown together a week before, we didn't have any time to get together and practice, so we did a little warm-up to get things sorted out as far as pulling off and keeping a pretty solid paceline. We were the 14th team to go so we get to the line and get our countdown and we were off, all was going well until we headed down to the first corner and Jason ended up hitting the rumble strips which knocked his fork mount part of his computer off and into his front wheel, not the way to start off the race, so we slowed down so he could stop and fix it, and we were off again. We had a really good rhythm going through the first lap and came around with an average speed of about 23 mph, a little slower than I think we were shooting for, but we could make it work. Got a couple bottles from the feed zone and we were back in action, on the tailwind section we were going good, until Mack, our junior rider was hurting and couldn't get his heartrate back down, so he decided to let us go on without him, and come to find out he turned around and finally got everything sorted out with his heartrate, which kinda hurt us some because you only need 3 to finish and your time is based of the 3rd person to finish. At about mile 35 I cracked hard and slowed alot, which meant the other guys had to wait for me because we needed to finish all together, I went and sat on for the next couple miles to recover. We all decided we weren't drinking enough so we would go into the feed zone again, so before we got there I threw my 2 bottles where the boys were sitting, and see my wife holding up 2 bottles for me, not wanting to stop I had to do a 2 handed grab at about 15 mph, which I was able to get both bottles, and stay upright, according to my wife I got some props from the people standing around for being able to grab 2 bottles at the same time. So onto the 3rd lap, now with 2 new bottles, I was ready to go, or so I thought, man I was getting slower out there everytime I turned the pedals over, but kept going. We got to about mile 42 and Jason had a cramp hit him, and he actually had to stop for a minute to get it all worked out, I knew I couldn't stop or I would have done the same thing, so I kept pedalling at about 7 mph waiting for him and John, who went back to get him, about a mile later we were back together again, and John did pretty much all the work from there on out, John is a long distance rider, he didn't get warmed up till about mile 30, so it was great having someone that strong at that time in the race. He pulled us all the way back into the headwind, I did jump up a few times to the front, but Jason was still fighting cramps, so we had to keep a lower pace. At one point I stood up to stretch and my upper leg about locked up on me, so I sat back down really quick so I could keep going. We made the last corner and out of the headwind, and it was about 2 miles back to the finish line, John was pulling again, and we just sat in until we could see the line, then we increased our speed the best we could and cross the line in 2:43:59 with an average speed of just under 21. We got back to the parking lot, and I couldn't even touch my toes I was in some extreme pain, after about 20 minutes I was able to kinda move. Lesson learned, do more long rides before attempting something like that again, as my longest ride other than this one was 72 miles, and that was early April. Pics will be up sometime, I think we are off to bed. Here are pics of just the HBA team. More pics of other teams will be up later.

Team Time Trial (Hawkeye Bicycling Association guys)

TTT

Cat 4 Upgrade

2008-07-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

So after some debating I went ahead and upgraded to a Cat 4!!! I know the season is mostly over, but I can finish out the season hopefully strong, and then next year start the year off right. Now to get a serious training program going.

July 1 Night at the Oval

2008-07-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

What a great night for racing, temps were in the upper 70's, lower 80's, wind was out of the SW at 15mph, and there was a decent turnout too. A few new faces, and some very familiar ones. Have I mentioned how I stand out very much so at these events, it seems like every week it is myself and maybe one other person not in Yellow and Blue, I guess there was also some red and white last night. First race was a 10 lap scratch race, so for about the first 2 laps we were all just going pretty steady, and of course I was up front doing most of the work, so I decided to attack and see where it got me, needless to say it didn't get me too far as we regrouped shortly, but noone would step up and pull, so I went again, and this time we spilt the group up a little bit, but not too bad. By the time we came around to the final lap I didn't have much left in me, so a few attacks from others and I had to settle for an 5th place finish. Next was the 9 lap points race, which every 3 laps you would be sprinting for points, and they are doubled on the last sprint. This one I let one of the other guys do all the work the first couple laps until the sprint, which the first sprint I think I came across in 3rd, so back to sitting on and setting up for the next one, which I had a great lead out and ended up winning the 2nd sprint, and then we slowed down and regrouped again so I had someone else to work with, and appears we almost slowed down too much as going into the last lap I look over and notice the 2 masters in our race coming by at a high rate of speed, and I was the only one to jump on their wheel, and let the one pull me around for half a lap, then I had to go for it, by now I had a pretty good lead on the rest of the pack, and came across in first and ended up winning the points race. Then he decided to switch things up and have us do a 3 lap scratch race the opposite direction, and at the start the one guy turned it into a 3 lap sprint basically, I tried to hold his wheel as long as I could, but that didn't happen and I ended up in 5th place. Next race was a big gear race, which this was the first time I had my 52x11 so trying to get started in that gear is a pain, but once you get going all is ok, well unless you drop your chain over the top of your chainring like I did and have to shift it back on, which cost me a few valuable seconds, but I was back into it and gaining on a few guys, and by the time we got around the last corner I was in 5th place and gaining on people, I shot right in between 2 guys that had obviously given up, and took 2nd place. Final race for the night was the granny gear race which was both the A&B groups together, the whistle blows and we are off, man do I love my new pedals, I was in so quickly I had a gap in the first 50 feet, and I can hear from behind me Carson screaming out "Go you mountain biker" I don't know how I did it but I was able to spin it up to 24 mph at one point, one guy did get around me and I could not get back on him at all, so I settled in for a 2nd place. Overall for the night I took 3rd in the B group and 3rd in the Cat 5's. Pics will be up sometime...

Johnston Green Days Crit

2008-06-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

Self proclaimed as the safest crit in Iowa, well unless it is raining and I am racing. The course is .7 miles with 2 180 degree corners on each end. Started out on the front line, and there was a break of 2 riders, and we just let them go, knowing we would catch them eventually, and by about lap 3 we had them back into the pack and then the fun of taking pulls started, it seemed nobody wanted to be on the front going into the headwind, so we would take turns for the most part. About lap 5 was the first prem and I was set up 3rd wheel coming into the corner at that end of the course and it was about a 100 yards to the line from there, came out of the corner and shot around the other 2 guys to take that one pretty much uncontested. 3 laps later there was another prem, and again I came into the corner about 3rd maybe 4th wheel, and another guy was going for it, I came around him just at the last little bit and beat him to the line with a throw of the bike by about 4 inches. Sat in to recover for the next few laps in about 5th place, ended up getting rid of the glasses because by that time it was raining, and spots on the glasses aren't any good, so another prem comes up with 4 laps to go and I was gonna go for that one as well, make it 3 for 3, but I went into the corner a little to fast and the back wheel came out faster than I could react and I was on the ground, got up as fast as I could and kinda checked for damage and tried to get back on, but by then the group was gone, and I was just gonna have to ride the last 3 laps solo, and try and pick up guys as I went. Picked off a few and ended up in 11th place out of 21, so overall not too bad, but would have liked to see how I would have done if I didn't crash. Next time I will make sure to not worry about the prems and go for the good finish, but I was getting greedy and that got the best of me. Only a little scrape on the left leg, nothing serious, but more of a hurt ego since this race was to determine if I was ready to upgrade to a Cat 4, and I didn't get the results I wanted due to a stupid move on my part. Pics will be up later tonight.

Night the Oval in the Gazette paper

2008-06-14T18:33:00.001-07:00

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080614/SPORTS/775155329/1056

New Bike

2008-06-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

Guess I never posted on here about what happened to my bike, but coming home from Melon City my bike decided it didn't want to be attatched to the car anymore and come off the rack at 70 mph. Frame was dented pretty good, and the fork sustained enough damage that I didn't feel safe riding and racing it, so a replacement had to be found.

Here are the pics of the old bike http://picasaweb.google.com/KASKSnoop/BrokenBike

And here is the new ride

And 2 with my racing wheelset

Picked up the frame and for for a very sweet deal on ebay, and was able to swap everything over without much hassle. Have only ridden it once so far, but plan on putting some miles on it this weekend as the weather is supposed to get nicer.

Night at the Oval 6-3-08

2008-06-04T20:04:00.000-07:00

Going into this week I knew I wouldn't do as good as previous weeks for a few reasons. One being I was on my Sulry cross bike since I haven't gotten my replacement road bike after mine fell off the rack last weekend coming home from Melon City, and I was oncall for work this past week, so no riding for me, except an hour on the rollers which wasn't enough. First race was a 10 lap scratch race which I did try and throw in an attack after about 4 laps which was enough to get 6 of us off the front of the group, but hurt so much I couldn't get on to the next attack that came just a few laps later, coming into the last lap I just kinda sat up and rolled across the line in 6th place. Next was a 9 lap points race, basically every 3 laps is for points, so you go for a few easy and them sprint, legs were finally feeling better so I was able to be out on the front for all the sprints and came in 2nd overall in that one. Next was a win and out 4 lap race, basically who ever wins the lap is out, so one guy went on the 1st lap, and I tried to go with him, but lost him just past the half way mark around the lap, so I just sat up and waited for the next group on the track and tried to hang with them but just fell off the back and settled for 4th place winning the last lap. Next the seperated us into age group and had a young vs. old race where you do 4 laps and your time is based on the last lap from the time the first person crosses the line starting the lap and ending when the first person again crosses the line at the end. We worked out a plan where we would go for it coming out of the last corner to get up to speed and work in a paceline and have 4 of us pulling the last lap for 1/4 of the lap and then breaking off, worked out perfectly we did the 1/2 mile lap in 55 seconds, then we watched the old guys have a go at it, and they were very unorganized, and we ended up winning by over 3 seconds. Then onto everyone favorite, the granny gear race, which was not in my favor tonight since I was running a 32-25, needless to say I was in the back of the pack, just couldn't spin any faster. And for the final race we did a big gear race, got started pretty good, but for some reason my wheel slipped out of my chainstay, so I had to stop and put my wheel back in right, so I rode the lap by myself, need to find out how that happened so it doesn't again. Overall a good night, got 3rd in the Cat 5's, can't wait till next time when I have my new bike, should be better.

NatO

Melon City Crit

2008-05-25T15:39:00.000-07:00

Never did this race before, but have heard good things about it. Since we were staying at a hotel we were able to get there plenty early and watch alot of the other races, which was a good thing since there was a speed hump right at the bottom of the downhill that everyone was talking about and we got to see how everyone else did that. Get to the line when they call us up, and start looking around an see some familiar faces from yesterday, but there was only 12 of us, oh well less of a chance of getting pulled, lol. Start the first lap and go out towards the front on the downhill to try and avoid and crashes on the speed hump, but we all make it through safely, and start the climb. 2nd and 3rd lap are about the same, except one guy made an acceleration on the hill that I just couldn't cover and I was off the back, so I spent then next couple laps riding by myslef, knowing that the leaders were too far in front for me to catch, and there was a group of 3 pretty close behind me, so I couldn't let up. One lap to go and I can see the group of 3 about 300 yards behind me so I know I have to keep going all out, get to the climb and keep it in the big ring and hammer up the hill never looking back to see where they are. I came across the line in 6th place and the legs were feeling 2 days of racing thats for sure.

Melon City Crit

Snake Alley Crit

2008-05-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

"The crookedest street in the world" according to Ripley's Believe it or Not http://www.snakealley.com/. I would have to agree with them, especially after having to go up it 8 times in a race. Rolled up to the start line in order of registration which put me in the 2nd row, but that was ok since there was 28 of us starting, after we started one guy took off and I knew I had to try and hang onto him and anyone else that got off the front because once you get to the climb the road narrows quite a bit, and you wanna be up front to not get stuck behind others. First lap I was 2nd up the hill, but the leader took a wrong turn on the downhill and I yelled at him he missed the turn, so by the second lap I was in the lead and had a few guys with me. By the 3rd lap the guy that took the wrong turn caught back up to us and back up the hill again. A few more laps go by and I start to crack a little bit on the hill and loose a few spots from where I was at the time which was probably 5th or so. The worst part about this race is there is really nowhere to try and grab a drink, so you are working hard up the hill, and can't really get anything back into you, so I was able to grab a couple sips on the far section of the course. The last few laps I was with another guy and me and him kinda went back and forth until the last lap where I couldn't get out of my big ring going up to the climb so I had to soft pedal until it dropped down costing me a few seconds on it, but once you hit the Snake you have over 100 screaming fans making you work harder than you probably should, but in the end it gives you motivation to close small gaps, and by the top of the hill I was maybe 50 feet behind him, and knew I had to make up time on the descent. I took a few risks though some of the corners, but it paid off in the end since I was able to catch him on the section where there ae only 3 more turns and a slight uphill to the finish, I went to the inside on the 2nd to last corner and got around him, started the sprint at the last corner and end up beating him to the line. So with that last bit of effort that got me an 8th place finish, one place out of prizes, but alot better than I had thought. Overall it was 6.75 miles with 1104 feet of climbing with an average speed of 18.5mph. There will be pics up sometime, time to go watch some TV and go to bed and get ready for tomorrows race.

Snake Alley Crit

5-20-08 Night at the Oval

2008-05-20T19:31:00.000-07:00

Another Tuesday night, another windy back stretch. Winds were between 15-20 mph for the races tonight, making it hard to be out in front by yourself. B race again as there were alot of people there tonight, and also some new faces which is good. 10 lap race, we all just kinda rode the first couple laps together and I was waiting for an attck, but again noone would go, so I went, and had a guy that caught on to me, but didn't realize it until I sat up for a second and noticed he was on th eother side of me, a couple other guys chased us down and caught up with us going into the next lap, 3 to go and another attack from one of the other guys, and I was able to get their wheel, sprint at the end, came in 3rd on that race. 2nd race was 8 laps, same thing noone would atack so this time I waited till I had a tailwind and went off the front, took a couple guys with me, but I was feeling it after the counter attack and fell off a little bit. Worked my way back into 5th wheel going into the last lap, set up for the sprint and took 3rd again. Next they divided us up into 2 group, the old guys vs. the young guys, and what they did was put one woman on each team, and the goal was to see how fast we could get her around the last lap, so the older guys went first, and you could hear them talking strategy the entire time they were riding. Us younger guys had a plan all layed out, so we get to the line, et to the 3rd lap, and since you had everything from Cat 2's to 5's and everything in between it didn't work out for us as planned. We did however end up winning by .8 seconds though. Next was a granny gear race around the 1/2 mile track, didn't finish too bad, but spinning out at 22 mph in a 39x25 is a killer, then for the final race we did a big gear race, but you have to start with both feet on the ground. I got clipped in pretty good, but for some reason my chain didn't wanna stay on and kept jumping over the big ring so I had to get that back on 3 times, so by the time I got going I was so far behind it was not worth it. I did catch back up and wasn't last, but man did that suck. Time to adjust the front deraileur now. Ended up taking 2nd Place overall in the B group and also 2nd Place in the Cat 5's. Also there are no pictures this week as the wife and kids had a chorus concert to got to at the school.

Night at the Oval

2008-05-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight's weather was great, there was a headwind on the last corner again, but wasn't too bad. Once again we were split up into 2 groups, so we waited around for the A Race to get over, and we took the track. I think there was 11 of us, and we took off for a 10 lap race, the first couple laps there was not really any attacks to speak of, so I decided to go for it, and we did a good job of splitting up the field, 4 of us were off the front. 3 of us worked the next couple laps pretty well together and had one guy sitting on, final lap and the one guy takes off and 2 of us start to chase him down, but he got a good jump and I would have to settle for 2nd on that one. Second race was another 10 laps and the one Junior joined us since he had to repair a flat and missed the first race, well 3 laps into it he jumps and myself and the one 50+ guy jump on his wheel, except the junior couldn't hold it and was shot off the back, so we spent the next 7 laps with a pretty comfortable lead of about 1/4 of a lap. We took turns trading pulls and was able to hold off the rest of the field, took 2nd in that one as well. Third and final race was an 8 lap points race, basically every other lap was for points, so you need to have some kind of strategy to do well. The race started and one guy just took off, so of course we had to chase him down, and before the first lap was over me and the 50+ guy were off on our own again. I took the first 2 sprints, and was starting to feel some pain in the legs, so on the 3rd sprint I tried to go to early and lost it and he took the last 2 sprints. Overall I ended up 2nd Place in the B Race, and 1st Place in the Cat 5's.

NatO

Ingawanis MTB Race

2008-05-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

Second race in the IMBCS (Iowa Mountain Bike Championship Series) Showed up with plenty of time before the start of the beginners race so I could get registered and do a lap before they raced so I kinda knew the course. Was not feeling into today during the pre-ride or leading up to the race either. Got to the line and was on the front, looking back I could see about 50 people ready to start the sport race, first though was I needed to be in the front of the bunch before hitting the woods or I would be stuck in the back and have to fight my way through traffic. From the line to the singletrack was just over 1/4 mile and had a short climb, the race started, I took off and ended up first into the woods which isn't exactly where I wanted to be because I was sure there were people there that would be a little faster than me, but I was able to hold the lead for almost 1/3 of the lap. A few guys got by me, and I let them go since they were obviously faster. Got into my groove and just kept pedaling trying to keep a constant speed through all 3 laps. I did catch another guy on the second lap and passed him, but other than that not really much changing of position through out the rest of the race. Came across the line after the last lap not know how I did, or how far back I was, but I figured somewhere in the top 10. It took a little while for the rest of the expert class to finish up and for them to get results done, but that ok there was some food there to eat, so we had a couple plates of pasta, some fruit cups, and some apples while waiting. The results weren't posted until after they did awards, so we all gathered around for that, they did the experts first, then they started on the sport classes, got to the class I was in and it turns out I took 2nd Place in the Sport Open class, freakin sweet. I ended up picking up a pair of sunglasses that the lenses change to adapt to changing light conditions, damn nice prize. So all in all the race went well even though I wasn't feeling it at the start at all, and didn't expect much else but to finish.

IMBCS #2 Camp Igawanis

Old Capitol Crit

2008-04-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

After yesterday and going to bed last night with snow showers in the forecast today wasn't looking to promising. Thankfully the weatherman was wrong, and the skies were blue and the temps were creeping up into the 50's, not as nice as last year but nice. They had the Cat 5's and the Collegiate D's racing at the same time, so the field was quite large, over 30 starters and I was on the 2nd row of them. Got going and was in about 10th at the bottom of the climb, kept that place for a little bit, then an attack on the 2nd lap and I was sitting on the front of the second pack with a few guys between us and the lead group. Kept a pretty good pace going, never was able to catch the front guys, but picked up a few that got shot off the back of them. 5 laps into it and I was on my own for a lap, and realized without anyone around me I was doing all the work, so I let a few guys catch me since the front group was nowhere in sight. Worked with a few for the next couple of laps and with one to go it was time to get on it, so coming up to the final climb I was sitting 3rd or 4th and just got on it and opened a little gap in the field, and never looked back, sprinted coming out of the last turn and took 7th Place in the Cat 5's and 10th overall with the Collegiate Racers. We did almost crash on either the 2nd to last lap or the last lap when one of the guys leaned to far over in the climb and pushed another guy into me, and the 3 of us were basically leaning on each other keeping us upright, kinda scary, but rubbings racing right?

Old Capital Crit

Iowa City Road Race

2008-04-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

Decided 2 days ago that I would do this race, I was only gonna do the Crit tomorrow. Showed up early and got registered, then went and watched the other races that were going on this morning. The wind was coming out of the west at between 25-35 mph, which was nice on the one section of the course, but meant that the 6 miles back were gonna be into it. We lined up and almost got going, but one of the Masters came back and said there was a rider down, and needed an ambulance so we waited for that to show up. The USCF official said we were gonna have a neutral start and roll behind her vehicle till we got past the crash, but we got to the hill and there were 2 ambulances and a sheriff blocking the road, so we turned back and waited for the road to clear, about 10 minutes. From what we were being told he got blown off the road by a cross wind and ended up flipping over the bars into the ditch, not sure what kind of injuries though. So once we finally got started we were on the tailwind section and cruising along at around a 30 mph average, then we hit the headwind and a few guys got off the front and got up to the masters in front of us, I wasn't ready for the attack and got stuck in the second group on the road. Me and another guy were working together pretty well and rode away from the rest of the group, so we came around for lap 2 and got back into the tailwind and tried to see if we could get back up to any other guys. Halfway through we picked up another rider and the 3 of us worked to pick up 2 more guys, so the way back into the headwind there were 5 of us working together. Coming up to the line was a short climb and the other guy I was origanaly with took off and I jumped onto his wheel and ended up in 13th Place. 26 miles 18.4 mph average, and other than the wind one hell of a good time on my bike.

Old Capital Road Race

Eagle Point Crit

2008-04-20T19:02:00.001-07:00

Came into this race with one goal, at least hang with the pack for most of the race. Last year this race was my first crit, and I got lapped and 15th place, so I was hoping to see an improvement. Got to the line and there was only 7 of us, kinda shocking since last year there was 18, but no biggie. The first lap was a nice "easy" pace and then on the second lap the attacks began, the 6 of us in the pack worked well to cover any attacks and keep us together. On lap 7 I heard a sound I didn't wanna hear, one of the guys behind me went down hard, and you could hear him hit the ground, they ended up stopping the race so they could get the ambulance in to him, he ended up breaking his collarbone, which seems to be a very common injury in cycling. So while they were working on him they rest of us just rode a section of the course so we could keep our legs loose. They restarted us with 5 to go, and it was on, we rode together for the next 4 laps with very minimal attacks, on the final lap there is a short little climb, a left hander and then the finishing straight, I was sitting 2 wheel at the hill, and one guy went so I chased him down and tried to hold his wheel. One of the other guys came with and the 3 of us and there was less than a bike length between us, so I ended up in 3rd place. So I made my goal of staying with the pack, and I also go a top 5 finish, which was another goal in a crit. Next weekend is the Old Capitol Crit in Iowa City, so we will see how I do at that one, hopefully stay with the pack there too.

Eagle Point Crit 4-20-08

Night at the Oval 4-15-08

2008-04-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

Tonights race we had much warmer weather, and a bigger turn out. 19 racers in all so the split us up into 2 groups. Group A was the 3's and 4's and Group B was the 5's, the Masters and the one woman that showed up. There was 20-25 mph winds coming out of the south causing the final turn coming back to the start finish line to feel like you were hitting a wall. First B race was an 8 lap event and we all just kinda rolled into it for the first few laps, then on lap 4 one of the Masters launched an attack, but was quickly caught onto and we remained a single pack, then the next few laps a few more attacks but we all stayed together until the final lap in which one guy went and we all tried to hang onto his wheel, but alas that didn't happen and I ended up in 3rd. Come to find out he was actually a Cat 4 guy that showed up late and missed the 1st A race, so that was ok. Second B race was another 8 lap race and was pretty easy going for the first 5 laps until I decided to try and attack, had a pretty good gap for about 20 seconds, but they worked together and came back up to me once I hit that headwind. Next few laps were a little more of the same, some smaller attacks and they were all quickly recovered. Final lap on the back straight another attack and I was sitting 3rd wheel and had a decent lead out from the guy in front of me who I ended up passing about 10 feet before the line and taking 2nd place. Final race of the night was another granny gear race and both Groups A & B raced together, this time we did the 1/4 mile loop and a smaller 1/8 mile loop which I took 5th overall and 1st in the B Group. Also made some contacts with a few local guys to start getting in some group rides, and also the possibilty of joining the one local race team.

NatO 4-15-08

Sylvan Island Stampede 4-13-08

2008-04-14T11:11:00.001-07:00

Ahh to be back on a mountain bike and racing it was just an indescribable feeling. It has been 9 years since my last race and even longer than that where I could say I have actually been competitive. I saw this race a few weeks ago and didn't think much of it, and just a few days ago I decided I would give it a go. Showed up right before the beginner's race started and I wanted to get a lap in before they went, so I hurried up and got dressed and went for it. It didn't take long to remember how to make my way through the technical sections and keep it smooth going through. Got to the line with about 50+ other people in the Sport race, first lap wasn't the best as we were pretty bunched up and there wasn't many places to pass, so you either had to wait for an opening, or take some risks passing where you probably shouldn't. I did a little of both and by the 2nd lap thing's were spread out far enough to the point where you could get into a rhythm and just cruise along. 3 laps into it and it started to get cloudy again, and even snowed for a short period of time, but at first I thought I was bonking and seeing little white floaties, but alas it was just the snow. By the 5th and final lap I was starting to feel the pain of being on the bike for over an hour, not just in my legs but all over my body, and just tried keep from getting caught. Did a good job of that and ended up 7th Place in the Sport Mens 30-39 and 13th overall for the Sport Mens class. All in all it was a great day of racing and I am looking forward to doing more mountain bike racing this spring and summer, I am better at this than road racing, so there are a few more crits I am gonna do, but after that I am gonna focus on the off-roading for a while. Pics from the race will be coming soon.

Sylvan Island Stampede

Night at the Oval

2008-04-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

Hawkeye Downs Cedar Rapids, IA 1/2 mile paved oval used for stock cars on weekends.

Wasn't sure what to expect going into this race after Kent Park. this one is a different format than other races, they have all categories race at the same time, but the turnout is usually 15-30 racers, so smaller, but more relaxed it seems. First race was a 6 lap race and I took 8th place in that one, 2nd was an 8 lap points race and I took 8th in that one as well. Next was a first and out, which basically means if you win the lap you are done and get points based on which lap you win, so I just sat on the first couple laps knowing I had no chance against some of the guys, then I tried again on the next few and just came up short, so finally on the 7th lap I started the sprint before the last corner and was able to hold it all the way to the line and take 7th place. The last 2 races of the night were a granny gear race and a big gear race, which I took 7th and 6th place respectively, the granny gear race was probably the hardest thing I have done, riding in my 39-25 at almost 20mph for 1/2 mile was rough.

Took 5th place overall based on points and 1st Place in the Cat 5's.

See photos here:

NatO

Kent Park

2008-03-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Kent Park, Tiffin, Iowa.

I have seen this race in the past and have wanted to do it, so this year I decided to make it happen. Showed up and registered on this chilly March morning. Got to the start and had to wait around for probably 20 minutes before going, so my legs had gotten cold, and didn't get warm again until after the 1st climb, and by then the front group was gone. I got into a group with 6 other guys, and was only able to get one or two of them to help do the work at the front, so by the 3rd lap I was done and rode a lap by myself. After the 3rd lap the front women caught up to me so I rode with them for the next two laps as well as another Cat 5 guy, and we all worked together, but the front group of Cat 1's were coming up fast so we ended up getting lapped within the last mile of lap 5. Finished 101st overall and 22nd in the Cat 5's, 5 laps and just under 20 miles.

Click for photos:

Kent Park Classic

Race for Humanity

2008-02-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

Crit race in Dade City, Florida.

Was on vacation in Florida and saw this race not to far from where we were staying with my in-laws so I decided to give it a try. The only training I had was the miles I had logged on the rollers since the winter was quite harsh, and the roads were really bad. I felt really out of my element on this one since these guys can ride outside year round, and not need lots of clothes to do so either. Race started and I got in with the 2nd group on the road, after about 6 laps I got off the back of that ground and was in the 3rd group now with 2 other guys. Worked together in an effort to not get lapped, but with about 5 to go it happened, and we just kept racing from there. Setup for the sprint in that group at the corner before the finishing straight, get the jump on the other 2 guys and took 10th place out of 15 starters. 23 laps and 11.5 miles later the 1st race of the year was in the bag.

Click for pics:

Race for Humanity