24 Hours of Seven Oaks

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

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

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

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

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

Night at the Oval

Iowa State Criterium Championships

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