6/29 UFD Klaus Park, XCM, 1st.

 I'm hoping this race won't be the pinnacle of fitness potential, but in terms of what I had to give, it was a near perfect race. If I had a pit for this race, I think it could have been almost flawless execution. 

After a deep dive into some David Roche wisdom, and bouncing the ideas off Dan the Man Miller (now National Gravel Champ!!!), I continued my season's approach of trying new things, which seems to be paying off. 

After getting the monkey off my back last weekend, I probably let my hair down a bit too much during the week, but didn't have any big workouts and felt pretty recovered by Thursday. I was really planning on doing the XCO race, but after seeing Jimmy, Ploch and a lot of others registered for the XCM, I went for it. We'll see how that goes for next weekend, but yesterday was definitely confirmation that the plan is working as I set all time high metrics since buying the mtb just over a year ago, but more than anything, the ability to keep pushing for the duration of the race was an incredible feeling. 

I was almost certain the race would be cancelled due to rain and there was rain in the forecast the morning of, but after kitting up and a little rain shower I pre-rode and found the track to be in perfect condition. Tacky and ultra fast. It deteriorated slight with by the end of the race, I bet there were 200 riders on it, but you could rail turns and it was just flat out fun.

My goal was to go out hard and see how long I could hold it. Jimmy didn't flinch and we were off. Not long after I clipped a pedal and double unclipped but recovered and stayed in front. Jimmy was talking about riding together for the first few hours and then going no holds barred but I really had no intention of planning anything other than focusing on my race. Shortly after that, he crashed, I had daylight and started working on a gap that grew each lap. 

I was able to bang out two sub 20 laps and then settled into a ultra consistent 20-ish pace, only slowing to grab bottles of water to cool, ice socks and nutrition bottles on alternating laps so I never had to stop, just slow. 

It wasn't terribly hot but was very humid and I was soaked, especially noticeable in my gloves and shoes. The heat wasn't getting to me at all and I was doing a solid job of cooling. There was tons of lapped traffic on such a short course with so many people, most of whom were obliging and got out of the way. I tried to pass as quickly and efficiently as possible to keep the gains coming. 

My upper body was paying the price but I was able to hammer, if anything, I think most of the time loss was due to my handling failing, not my fitness. On lap 5 I accidently grabbed two ice socks and one got wrapped in my wheel that cost a bit, on lap 7 I dropped a bottle in the feed and then on lap I I stopped to grab my last two bottles for the last two laps and dump the ice over my head, all of which cost me a little time, but still, the lap times were incredibly consistent.

I finished the last lap strong at just over 3 hrs, 8 mins up on Jimmy and 15+ on 3rd.

My time of 1:40:38 for the first 5 would have been enough for 2cd overall in the XCO race, and the last 5 laps was 1:44:17 would have been enough for 5th. 

Hoping I didn't go to deep for next weekend, but we'll find out! Thinking I'll do the XCO race, but not totally sure. 

6/22 UFD Rhett's Run Sauna Edition, XCM, 1st.

Epic week of anxiety as I entered the race block. No matter how old I get, how many races I win, how fit I think I am or who I'm racing, this has been my Achilles heel since Pirtle took me to my first race at Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky late in 2002. 

Both of the previous races I did this year were in the middle of training, so I was going into this with a clean slate and not a bunch of confidence you get from racing. After two good workouts last weekend and enjoying myself a little too much on Fathers Day, I took two days of rest as my plan was to do the XCM race, which would surpass the planned TSS for the taper week and since April 1, with one or two exceptions, I have stuck exactly to the plan. I felt amazingly good for the openers workout on Sat morning, but at that point wasn't certain which race I was going to do for a few reasons; mainly the heat and not wanting to do the XCM if there wasn't much competition, but at that point there were only 3 people in the XC race.  I drove to Columbia and pre-rode. It was brutally hot and the trail was far more technical with a lot more climbing than I remembered. There wasn't much flow on the downhill sections for recovery, which had a lot of switchbacks and tech section. The climbing was step with hard switchbacks, very technical sections and lots of it. Climbing 8/10, flow 4/10.

I thought the XCM race was at 9 (didn't find out it was at 11 until about 5p the day before when I went into Walt's in Columbia for some grips) so was leaning towards that due to the heat and some fast kids registering by Saturday after my pre-ride. My mind was blown when Sam told me the XCM start was at 11 and the XC was at 1230 as it was going to be brutal heat either way, so I stuck with the plan and registered for the XCM.

I did a minimal warm up, set up my ice socks and nutrition cooler and lined up. They reduced the time cutoff time to 2:30 due to the heat, which was fine with me. It was a long gravel/grass start before the single track and I was expecting all the young guns to go for it so I led it out hard and sprinted once we hit the grass. Isaac was on my wheel but didn't try to jump me. We had a gap immediately which grew to over a minute on the first lap. Isaac seemed calm, on my wheel and very chatty, which definitely worried me as I was going pretty hard. I generally don't talk to much but was trying to be friendly. Left quad was a little locked up from the lack of warm up, but I was riding really well, the bike felt good and I never reached the unreversible boiling point.  I did a quick 5-10 second pit to grab an ice sock and took off on lap two and Isaac let me pass to stay on my wheel, which he did for about 5 minutes into the lap when he told me he was feeling the heat. I respectfully, since he is a kid,  told him that it wasn't my first rodeo and wasn't falling for the mind games. Shortly after, he was gone, I made a few efforts to extend a lead,  and I never caught sight of him again. 

I pitted again, as I would every lap and ticked out another good lap to finish my 3rd lap in 30:05,  1:28 total, which would have put me in 3rd OA in the Cat 1 race results. Lap 3 was uneventful and I still was sweating and handling the heat well. 

Lap 4 was more of the same with a 30:08 and my average times for the first 4 laps was 29:36+/- and pretty consistent. I started to realize that I was going to come very close to the 2:30 cutoff and was prepared to do a 6th lap. 

Lap 5 was harder. Power was dropping and I wasn't sweating as much but my legs felt great, just not capable of pushing as hard at the same HR, which was also staying steady. Historically I haven't been able to maintain the same HR without it falling off or skyrocketing, so I think this is a good sign, especially given the heat. I was caught by the front two riders in the Cat 1 race and was able to stay in contact with them for a bit. I was pushing about the same power on the climbs, but wasn't able to maintain it though the flats, etc, as I was early in the race. Lap time was 31:22

I came through the start finish on the heels of the two cat 1 guys so people weren't sure of which race I was doing and it was unclear to me what the time was. my lap time had slowed by over a minute.  Someone said keep going. I didn't have any bottles or heat socks left, which was poor planning, and had  no idea whatsoever of  how close anyone was. I wasn't getting any help from any of the teams there, so I dumped a cooler of ice on my head and took off. Seeing the results it turns out I was 13 seconds before the cutoff and had over a 13 minute lead.

I felt pretty confident I had a lead and just needed to protect it going into the last lap. I wasn't powered down and HR was still responsive, but I had no water to cool and wasn't sweating much. I had some motivation when two of the Cat 1 riders came up on me halfway through the lap and I was able to stay in contact to the finish. Lap time slowed to 31:34, so two minutes slower than avg for first 3 laps, but really not terrible.

Overall, super stoked to take a win in exceptionally hard conditions and glad the nutrition, bike and fitness all felt great. It's a little tough to see / watched the power drop steadily, way more than usual, over the course of the race but the fact that I could keep my HR pushing is a good sign in heat like that. Seeing how recovery goes before calling the next 3 races.

I had 3 gel blocks an hour before with a Red Bull, a Enervit Cheer pack 15 mins before= 80 grams pre-ride hour. I finished 3.5 bottles at 80 g each total 280 by 2:30 mins, one 40 gram gel at ;45, one 40 g gel at 1:30, one 30 g caff gel at 2:15 for 390 in 2.5 hrs/ 156 hr and then had 3 Clif Blocks on the last lap. I felt a tinge of belly upset after the first gel but think it was just going hard and eating, no issues after that and was always thirsty for the mix. I think I drank a few bottles but also used a lot of water for cooling. 

5/17 Sugar Cubed USAC XCM, 4th.

*totally un-pro podium pick due to Reynaud's. I lost all feeling in my hands once I cooled down and was wearing all the clothes I brough, and glove. It was about 60 degrees out. 

 In the quest to rack up some USAC points I headed to Iowa for the Sugar Cubed XCM race. Looking at some of the registered riders and previous podiums I knew there was some talent but really had no idea that it would be as deep and close it would be. Aside from the 16 year old phenom, Mason Wilson, there was a 13 minute gap between the 2cd and 9th place rider, over a 3.5-ish hour race. It was really fun racing and I'll definitely go back. 

The two weeks prior was the suck with a sinus infection, Z Pack and Prednisone treatment that ended the Tues before the Sat start. I felt pretty good by Friday with a little residual gunk. Christopher and I headed up early on Friday to pre-ride which didn't help at all with dialing in the course, it was just too long with far too much twisty riding and limited visibility that only locals would benefit from, but it did familiarize us with the layout and the track conditions, which was hard packed hero dirt with literally no rocks, all 14 miles of it. I was running the Rick XCs, which have not been good to me and lost my front wheel unexpectedly and went down pretty hard. I hit the palm of my hand, road rash on my hip and a big bruise/rash on my right calf from the tire, which was the worst of it. Other than not being able to follow the Garmin for the trail since it was so twisty, we rode most of the stuff  in 2 hrs, which was way longer that I wanted to be riding. 

There were about 40 riders the next morning and many looked serious. It wasn't the typical marathon field where 25% were racing and 75% weren't. We figured out it was a Lemans start, a little bit of slightly uphill gravel and a start loop we hadn't ridden the day before. I opted for one 80g bottle of nutrition per lap with a 40g gel every 45 mins and a bottle and skipped the USWE since it wasn't hot. Nutrition was pretty much dialed and my stomach was better than KC. I snuck in a few Clif blocks early on the last lap, which definitely helped.

The start was ultra fast, full on XC race pace. I was on the second wheel until just before the single track and jumped on Mason's wheel when he came on the left. He was flossing the single track and there were already gaps behind me and I was already off his wheel by a second or two when I hit the deck on a grassy right hander and slipped back to 7th. I was actually surprised I wasn't passed by more but it was ultra fast right away. I stayed in contact with the group for the first 3 miles or so and then started to lose ground. I was using a lot of power in and out of every turn, which were many. The course really wasn't predictable at all and there was limited to no straight line riding. I quickly found myself in no mans land with a group of 3 chasing, about 7 seconds back. 

By the top of the gravel climb on the first lap I was out of sight to the chasers and could catch glimpses of the lead pack, minus Mason, on the horseshoe sections. My first lap was about a minute slower than the top 5. I caught a rider a few miles into the second lap and after  another few miles had put some time into him and was out of sight by the top of the gravel climb. The second lap was slow and I still wasn't gaining any confidence or flow. 

Early in the 3rd lap I started to see a rider ahead and caught him a few miles in. I expected it was going t be a battle for the rest of the lap but he let me pass and I dropped him pretty quickly, which I definitely was surprised by. By the gravel climb I was out of sight which was at least 30 seconds. 

With about 5 miles to go I started to close on Evan Hartig and once I made contact we rode together for  a bit before he let me pass. Initially I thought this was tactical on his part but I was able to drop him pretty quickly and it wasn't long before he was out of sight. I was floored by how much faster I was going on this lap which was the fastest 3rd lap, aside from Mason. I extended the gap and rode it in for 4th place. I was amazed to learn I was only a minute behind Michael Maney and 3 minutes behind Michael Colleran. Mason destroyed everyone with a 16 minute gap over 2cd and a new course record which was 20 minutes faster than his time from 2024. My time of 3:25:59  was about 6 minutes faster than the winning time in both 2024 and 2023. All 3 riders in front of me rode for the Sugar Bottom Team, named after the trail. 

My average power was 222 and NP was 249. This was higher than any XC race I did last year, for 3:25 minutes. I'm floored. I'm not going to double down about being sick or not knowing the course as I'm incredibly happy with the result, but I can genuinely say I've never been racing as blind as this. 

Maximum USAC points achieved due to age group. Mission accomplished. 

4/13 KC Cup at Landahl, Marathon, 1st.

Lots of big changes this year-

- Joined Big Shark as all my buddies ride for the team and I needed new clothing.

- Decided to think outside the box and get coach/plan. I mainly did this to lessen the anxiety of putting a plan together on my own, and it's definitely helped. I really enjoy the structure and my immediate reaction is less is more and, even though weekly TSS scores are similar, it's far more consistent. I really like doing the strength workouts that are provided.

- Got a proper fit from Maurice. This was a gamechanger and I saw immediate benefits including increased power, cadence, comfort and handling. My seat height went from 74.5 to 77.3 and forward with more drop. Didn't think it would work, but it definitely did. 

- I decided to get off the bourbon and martinis at home and am trying to stick to a few beers and wine on Sunday nights with a steak. I'll have a few cocktails if we go out, but this is the first time in a long time I haven't had a fully stocked bar of hard liquor at home. I drank a lot in March to accomplish this and it's been nice to start add to the wine cellar again. 

- I broke down and bought a smart trainer. I hate to say it but I immediately see the benefit, efficiency, and ability to dial in specific workouts. It's totally different than riding aimlessly on rollers or a old school trainer as the focus really passes the time. I'm committed to sticking to the plan through July and then doing a lot of mountain biking while transitioning to the next phase, which I'm still not 100% sure on. 

- I've adopted the ever so popular 100g bottles. It's taking some tweaking to dial it in since I don't do that many rides that warrant that much, but think I'm getting a handle on what works and it's beneficial, for sure.

I love to train, I love to plan, but what's most fun about bike racing to me is winning or feeling good about the results, so all the above is actually fun. 

Landahl - First race in a Big Shark kit.

I was totally on the fence about doing the marathon race, with a bigger field and better competition, but required spending the night, or driving out the day of to do the Cat 1 race. The Cat 1 race was only going to be about 1.5 hrs. so I opted to make a weekend out of it.

I was feeling great pre-riding on Saturday after about two weeks of mainly riding indoors due to the plan and terrible weather, and really liked the course which was fast, tight, twisty, minimal climbing and hero dirt. I kept it low key and thought I had a good handle on the course after a few laps. Pretty uneventful night at the hotey with some movies and lots of stretching. 

I was definitely thrown off when they changed the course direction on race morning and a little pissed, to be honest, as I drove out the day before to pre-ride largely for safety reasons. Regardless, there was now a much longer field section before the single track with a tailwind. My plan was to go out hard, see if I could separate and then settle in. 

I was running 60g bottles and had 30g gels to supplement every 45 mins, which worked great. 

I took off hard and was surprised Wesley (Boyce) or Michael (Allison) didn't latch on. Someone came around me that must have been riding parallel to me in my blind spot right before diving in, but he was a local and knew the trail well so it didn't slow me down and we had a 5 s gap almost immediately. The trail was coming at me fast since I had never seen it from this direction but I was locked in Jedi mode. I jumped him in the first clearing about .5 miles into the race and started to floss. I was definitely expending unnecessary power since I really didn't know what was next and it was so tight, but I was amazed that my HR wasn't spiking so kept the power in check and pushed on. He stayed within sight for the first half of the lap but after coming through the start finish and looking back through the field I was out of sight, which was probably 15-20 seconds. 

From there on it was one of the more focused efforts I recall, pretty much ever. Due to the lack of climbing and flowy course,  it was really all about efficiency and bike handling, which are definitely my strengths. There were a few short grinder sections, especially the uphill in the field with the strong headwind where I had to monitor the power, but aside from that there was never a time I felt like I was bogging down. I was totally focused and thinking about winning about 1 hr in, which I had to reality check myself on multiple times. I knew Wesley and Michael were strong riders and thought they would have more endurance than I did, but I didn't see them again after the start.

The nutrition was going well aside from a little stomach upset/rot mouth that led to some apprehension and slightly slower lap times in the 3rd quarter, but that almost always happens and I was able to switch to water for a bit and then resume with a gel and bottle for the last two laps. 

Coming through at about 2.5 hours I was weighing whether I would have 1 or 2 more laps and asked for a time split. I was told about 4 mins, which wasn't as much as I expected so put in a fast lap and was mentally prepared to keep going at close to the 3 hr mark, which I did. Lap 8 was my 5th fastest of 9, and lap 9 was my 3rd fastest. 

This was an eye opening experience for me given my ability to race at XC pace for over 3 hrs. My avg power was higher than any UFD Cat 1 races last year, but given the lack of climbing the NP was not. There was genuinely never a time during this race that I questioned myself, which I remember being common in the marathon/endurance days. To say I'm optimistic about what's ahead would be a dramatic understatement.

3/15 UFD Last Miner, KOM

 

Last Miner format- be the rider to ride the most laps without crying uncle. You had to finish each lap in under an hour, wait for the hour and go again. I had no intention of riding all day, but wanted to get some race intensity in, especially at St. Joe as this is my A priority XC race for 2025. My goal was to do 3, maybe 4 laps, at race pace, check out the new fit, new nutrition program and see if my fitness was as good as I was feeling like it was.

There were almost 70 people registered so I was expecting more people to be doing something similar to my plan, but with the rain in the forecast and tornadoes in St Louis the night before, a lot of people didn't show. The faster guys were committed to doing the event format, so I was basically time trialing. 

I did a minimal warm up and we lined up and took off. No one responded so I had a gap almost immediately and went balls out. Legs were a little locked up but I was pushing hard. Trail was grippy and tight with minimal wet spots, although the washed out sections were a little chunkier. I was riding pretty well considering I didn't remember the course or lines well and came through at 37:32, which I knew was pretty fast because the KOM was 42-ish. I had 20 minutes to spin out the legs, stretch a little and change out my bottles. I was doing 100g carbs in the bottles and supplementing with gels/Red Bull. 

Lap two was laser focus and I was seeing the trail in slow motion and looking ahead multiple segments. It was Jedi shit. The legs were heavy, but responsive and I came through for my fastest of the 4 laps at 36:54. My normalized had faded from 269 to 261, but my speed was up due to the efficiency. 

Pretty much the same recovery drill but I sucked down another Red Bull and lined up for lap 3. I was definitely expecting a lot of fade on this lap due to  my lack of racing intensity and early season fitness but was a little astonished at the numbers I was seeing for the first few laps and was committed to keep pushing. The nutrition mix and Red Bull proved to be a bit too high and my stomach started to turn a bit and I was burping a lot. I stayed on the nutrition bottle but it was too much and I switched to the water about half way through to try to settle my stomach. I'm thinkin 75g bottles in the summer with less fructose and a little less Gatorade mix will be about right. I was shocked to finish at 37:14, again power had faded @ 256 np, but speed was still faster than first lap. 

I decided to go for one more assuming I would detonate but ok to just ride it out. I had a Enervit Gel to make up for getting off the nutrition bottle, which are easy on my stomach, and watered down a nutrition bottle with water to about 50 grams. I didn't bring a plain water bottle this time. My legs were definitely heavy and my heart rate wasn't responsive. I wasn't making mistakes too much but I wasn't able to keep the cadence up to really rail turns and gain momentum into the areas I needed to. I was pretty surprised that even though it was my slowest lap at 37:37, it wasn't that far off the pace, especially 4 hours in. My np faded to 250 and my heart rate dropped, but all in all, it wasn't terrible. 

I've looked back through all the Dirt Crits and XC races from last year and it's certain my fitness is on another level, I think the fit has unleased 15-20 watts on it's own. This was definitely a climbing course but even compared to the first lap of XC races last year I was nowhere near the np of the first 3 laps. Same with the dirt crits, but I've never been strong at producing power on flatter courses. Regardless, while I missed ski racing this winter not taking a big break is definitely paying off.