10/13 Bubba 2 @ Creve Couer, Masters, 1st.

 

Did a quick practice at Kenrick on Thursday. Probably the least amount of CX prep I've done, ever, before the first race of the season. Kenrick was bumpy AF and I was hurting and wondering how bad Sunday would be. 

Ultra nice weather and the course was pretty much fully laid out by 945, which was great. Got in a good warm up and was ready to roll. After a week of being back on the no booze train and a few good nights of sleep I was wicked fired up. 

Couple new faces on the line. We started 15 seconds behind a large group of  (8?) SS riders including Kukla. I got a good jump on the long uphill paved section only to be passed by Jamey at the top, who dropped into the first turn before me. He took a wide line on the next turn and I went around him. I was happy to pick the clear lines and trying to ride within my limits.

We hit the pavement and I wasn't going to lead out the group so I sat up a bit and Jamey caught me off guard with a massive attack. I was the only one to respond and bridged up to him just before the grass. It was full gas and there was going to be enough of that on a fairly non technical course that I started to worry a bit. Going around the tree after  the sweeping left hander that ended up being almost as fun as riding mtbs, Jamey went down and I went around him. I put a pretty decent gap into him and the chasers right away but he made another huge push on the pavement and probably got to within 5 seconds of me.  After that, I was able to extend my lead by 5 seconds or so every lap to take the lead with really no mistakes and feeling pretty good, aside from some tightness in the back and hips. 

Post race my brother told me I made it to within 23 seconds of Kukla before he extended it to 40 seconds or so for the rest of the race until he started to slow up on the last few laps of so. 

All in all I felt good about the race. Little worried about the lower than average NP but the speed was good and there was a fair amount of coasting so I'm hoping this was more due to efficiency than fitness. We'll see. 

9/14 One Eyed Dog 24, 2cd. Council Bluff retrospective. Talking to myself so I remember.

So much that I'm still mentally and physically unpacking from this race. I can't think of anywhere that I have ridden or raced as much as this loop, yet I was amazed at how little I remembered, including the hilly drive in to the campground. It's bizarre to me. 

Mesa decided to do the Burnin' 12 Hour race here in 2004. I bought a size large base model Specialized Stumpjumper HT the week before the race after not having mountain biked all season and focusing on the road. It was too big and I'm sure the lighting and nutrition were questionable, but I suffered through it and won with 8 laps, I think. I was carrying a compact disc player with a few CD's in my pocket. 

I won again on the same bike, but upgraded in 2005. I had done almost all road racing that year but rode a ton and think I finished with 9 laps. I had my first iPod.

In 2006 I was 4.1% body fat when I had a V02 test done at SIUE in March and pretty much lost all motivation to do anything by midway through the season. I raced on the road but don't remember a ton and sat out the race that year. 

I quit racing on the road in 2007 to focus on endurance racing and had a great year. My goal was to do 10 laps at the Burnin'. I did a 12 hour race at Landahl in August where I lapped the field and was able to stop an hour early and did the same thing in September at the Mohican Wilderness 12 hour. I was totally dialed in, My first two laps were 1:06 and change. On the third lap I gashed my tire and when I went to change it found the tube I had been carry all year had had a bent/broken valve and the CO2 cannister I had was empty. That was that. It was a 5 mile walk out and I quit. 

I can't mention 2004-2007 without mentioning Dwyane. Dude was such a beast. Dwayne and his NOS energy drinks.  I would have liked to see how the race would have played out in 2007 with both of us taking the endurance thing seriously and with great fitness/preparation for the showdown.

After the dream crusher that year, I committed to a goal that arose while back home in MA for Thanksgiving. MTB Nats were in Mt Snow, VT that year and I decided I would give it a go after a little too much holiday cheer. I changed my focus to XC racing and planned out my whole season around Nationals, which went well considering the circumstances- I got food poising the Sunday night before a Tuesday flight back east, barely made the plane and went from race weight of 148 lbs to something like 138 leading up to the race. I finished 4th and will forever question the what if, but was super stoked I persevered the way I did and the result is something I am incredibly proud of. There was a major rain storm during the Rim Wrecker race there in March, probably the wettest race I've ever done and I won with Ploch in second.  I decided to do the 6 hr race at the Burnin' and one of my strongest competitors that year, Matt Keeven, was signed up as well. I was expecting a battle but Matt had some issues and I won with 5 laps in 6:09. My future wife came to this race with some friends the post race partying and having the chance to get to know her will always make this year super special.  

March 2009 was the Rim Wrecker snow race. Chris and I battled and he won. The snow melted, things got downright nasty, and it was brutal and comical at the same time. Lots of running.  I tried to repeat the Burnin' 6 hour race and detonated. It's the only race I've quit unrelated to mechanical issues that I can think of.  

The rain in 2008 and the snow in 2009 were pretty outrageous. 

I got married in 2010 and between the bachelors party back in MA, my buddies wedding in CO and our wedding in Aug, I  didn't' really race that much. In August I decided to convert my S-Works HT 29'er to a SS and race the State Championship race at Binder Lake. I rode it once the week of and showed up with a 38x18, if I remember correctly. I won the jersey with Dan Miller and Garrett Steinmetz in attendance, two blazing fast SS guys at the time, still are. I was stoked and Matt James and Christopher Conolly and I decided to do the SS Team, which was 10 days after returning from my honeymoon in Italy for 2 weeks. We shattered the SS  course record and I'm assuming it still stands. We finished 10 laps by 8:45 pm and didn't have to do the 11th due to the lead. This was the hardest of all the Burnin' races for me, basically like doing 4 races in a day... brutal. 

The few races I did in 2010 were the last races I did before selling all my bikes and quitting racing. I did some 5K's but didn't ride at all until resuming cross in November 2021. I started mountain biking again in June of this year. I think the Burnin' had fizzled by 2014 or 2015 without Russ and Adrienne's involvement , not sure. It was a great period in time though.

I thought my mtb season was over as, ironically, I have no interest in racing for more than 2 hrs these days and didn't realize the OED had the two lap option. I saw it on Fakebook the week before and my excitement definitely spiraled out of control. For as many laps (70+ ?!?!?) as I've ridden there I didn't remember much. I watched a full lap on You tube, which jogged my memory to some extent, at least for the placement of the big climbs and rock garden. The weather was looking terrible all week and a rainy or wet race was very likely. I didn't think much of it. I've been running a Racing Ray/Racing Ralph combo since I bought the HT in June and flatted while riding with JR and Miller on Saturday and then again on Tuesday so ordered some new tires which I mounted the night before. After reading the reviews I heard the Vittoria XC races were pretty supple so I figured I'd ride higher pressure. I had a great ride at GF on Tues, took Wed off and ran out of time to ride on Thursday at lunch and lost my window. Friday I did an easy ride assuming that a good warm up and long race would allow me time to settle in by the second lap.

Weather turned a bit for the better after a few days of rain and during a little recon to see how the tires felt and get scope out the first mile or two it didn't seem too bad. Tires felt ok but with 2psi higher in the front and rear over the Schwalbe's, they didn't feel that supple but I was worried about going any lower and flatting or burping after reading about how supple and squirmy they were. This was not the case at all but when I found out my rear lockout had stuck in the on position after the pre-ride,  it made me feel better and assumed that would help. 

We lined up and Wes was talking about a guy named Kater that was racing with us after flatting our shortly into the 50 mile race and how fast he was. Not wanting to wait to find out, I drilled it off the start to get into the woods first, which I did without towing anyone along. Immediately I was losing my front wheel and having trouble cornering, but not too many issues with the wet. Kater and I had a gap right away with me leading. My legs were heavy from the car and extra day off but was pretty sure I'd loosen up after 40 minutes or so.  

15 minutes in or so, before the first climb, Kater came around me which helped with following lines, though I quickly learned that technically I was going to have trouble keeping up. He had a few seconds on me before the climb and set a strong pace but I was able to bridge and latch on. I later learned that he was trying to drop me and realized he wouldn't be able to on the fitness end of things. Aside from dabs and slide outs I found his pace to be slightly slower than what I would have been riding but opted to play the long game, or so I thought, and wait it out. This changed when we hit the rock garden. I had no recollection of the lines or how long it was and he gapped me right away. Surprisingly I was able to close it before the drop in at the end but ended up crashing hard over my bars onto my knee. Air was gushing from somewhere, which fortunately turned out to be the valve on my CO2 and not my tire and my bars were at 45 degrees and my left brake had been pushed all the way to the grip. I forced the bars straight, mostly and set off to chase. 

The next semi major mishap was reentering the woods after the beach. I didn't remember it and was already committed when my front wheel gave out on the wet rocks. Fortunately I didn't crash but was off the bike again running up the hill past the rooted section. 

I hadn't seen Kater at all since the rock garden and was chasing hard when I hit the first footbridge before the boat ramp at an angle at full speed. I didn't think the first one we crossed close to the campground was slick and definitely wasn't expecting to immediately lose my front wheel and slide into the lower rail of the bridge, knock it off with my chest and fall off the bridge. A quick assessment and I found that I was mostly ok. The rail was loose enough and I hit it mostly across my torso, which felt tight and breathing hurt, but the wind hadn't been knocked out of me. 

Back on the bike and chasing. I was finding a little bit of rhythm on my own and kept reminding myself there was a lot of racing left. I managed to stay on the bike and had the benefit of having seen the trail again after 14 years. 

When I hit the first climb I was amazed to see Kater making the first left hander and timed him to be about 40 seconds ahead. Motivated, I chased hard knowing he didn't see me but did not see him again until I turned right to start the second climb. He was a good distance ahead but still hadn't seen me and I put in the effort. I didn't remember how much of a climb we had after the false flat and was prepared to attack but caught him just as we crested and it would have been fruitless to make a move there, so latched onto his wheel and recovered. Turns out I had closed over a minute gap.

Once again I found Kater's pace to be a little slower than what I would have been riding but second guessed myself and believed he was cat and mousing me. This really blew any chance I had at controlling the race before the rock garden and I can't say it cost me the race, but it kept me from making it a race. 

We hit the rock garden and Kater very effortlessly rode away from me. I was blown out just trying to get through it and he gapped me by a good 10 seconds by the time I hit the grass. That was the race. I never recovered from it and while it occurred to me that I might catch him on the last climb, a few more times off the bike for me meant him extending the lead back out to 45 seconds or so and that was that. 

My key takeaways after my last XC race of the season are this-

 I don't think I've ever been able to push myself and as motivated to race all out as I am now. Assuming it's a maturity thing, or possibly that I'm not chronically overtrained anymore. Not positive, but I'm really happy that I stay engaged and don't give up, no matter the circumstances. 

Equipment changes should never be made that can't be fine tuned prior to race day. Ever. New tires do not ride the same as tires that have been ridden a few times, I don't care what you tell me.

Over rested and flat outweighs trying to ride the knifes edge of fitness on race day, even for dirt crits.

 

8/29 STL Dirt Crits #8, 2cd.

 Seemed like sort of a best of the rest race without the Big Shark Geezer Trio in attendance, but turned out to be a pretty fast race by any standard. A little bit of rain tacked up the track nicely since I was dialing in the new bike there on Tuesday and even though the heat index was still 100, it felt much less imposing than the 110 on Tuesday. It was a smaller field and I was lined up early to be on the front row. Good start and into the woods behind Bowen. Everything was moving really slowly, similar to last week but last week I was in damage control mode the whole race so it was a bit more frantic. I remember the really good hockey games where everything just slows down so much feels like a video game your good at. I think all the time I've spent on the mtb in the last few months and the new bike have helped dramatically. 

After the StL start we settled in and I was able to recover on Bowens wheel for a bit. I want to say there was a group of about 10 of us that separated. Bowen pulled off after the first lap and I was happy to have clean line of sight and get warmed up. After a lap or two on the front James jumped hard and I covered. Lots of power was drained. He pulled off and I was back in the front. Maybe midway through the race we were down to a group of 5, but I didn't ever really look back.  I think Bowen might have taken another half a lap as well as Devon, but otherwise I was either 1 or 2 wheel the whole race. 

With 3 to go I was expecting fireworks but instead of leading it out remained patient and stayed on the front setting a consistent pace and not burning too many matches out of the corners. No moves were made. With 2 to go we were down to 4 of us and I did more of the same. I was really expecting a strong surge of a few guys but it never came. On the last lap I went all in to prevent anyone from coming around me, riding on the rivet. When we hit the last grass opening on the backside I made the move and shut Bowen down and was able to hold it all the way through the wide section before the drop in. We came on a lapped rider on the short hill before the finishing straight who went left before going back to the right to let us pass and it got a little dicey. Shock locked, out of the saddle spring from there on. Bowen came around me and clipped my bar hard but we both stayed up. Last lap was the fastest of the race by almost 10 seconds.  Same finishing time but he got me by a bike length.

43:43 was the fastest time for the CCW races on the new course this year. I thought for sure it was a slower race and was happy to have some validation that I can hang at the front of one of these. The new bike is just sick. At race pace, the 47 degree head angle floats far less than at lower speeds and I don't think there could be a better bike for me. Really happy to be mountain bike racing again!!! 

8/22 STL Dirt Crits #7, 6th place.

 Weather was perfect; dry and cool. Easy on the lungs. Big race. Aside from Brody, I can't think of anyone who has won one of these recently that wasn't there and knew warming up it was going to be a flamethrower of a race. The track was hard and super fast. I made the major mistake of lining up late and ended up in the second row, which was a major mistake. The guy in front of me couldn't clip in and I hit the woods somewhere 15-20 back. John Rines was behind me but was far more assertive passing and moved up quicky. I tried not to overact and slowly moved up to 8th or 9th. There was quite a bit of carnage going on and at one point Tom and I were hauling the mail through the straight and he went sideways were it dropped back in to the right. Fortunately, I made it around him, not over him and moved on. For the middle section of the race I was in no man's land but keeping roughly the same distance to the lead group. With maybe 4 to go James and Ian must have had a mishap and I passed James and latched onto Ian. We went back and forth for the last 3 laps and when we came though on what I thought was the bell lap I heard "OK A racers, you can do one more lap" which I took as we were doing an extra lap, not the last lap. Ian jumped me in the grass on the far end of the course and I was content ride his wheel and feeling good. When we hit the start finish straight I  sat on his wheel in what I thought was going to be the last lap, no effort to sprint and relatively relaxes, only to pass through the start finish and realize it was over. Rookie mistake. A little bummed I missed out on fighting for the last podium spot, but it's my fault! Great race, happy with what I was able to do. 

8/11 UFD Indian Camp Creek, 5th

 Big field with a lot of fast dudes. Didn't know what to expect since this was a super power heavy course with little climbing and after pre-riding it didn't feel like it suited me all that much. I was feeling pretty relaxed and rested, which was odd given the field, and my game plan to be in the front-ish going into the woods which were super tight and nowhere to pass until the first field section. I got a good jump so kept going and led it out, knowing I'd lose spots in the field and could set the pace without anyone coming around me. 

 I think I was sitting in 7th after the field and was not really able to respond the way I needed to. I maintained contact with Devon, Jimmy, Harre and Brody going into lap 2. Harre went down and Devon and I moved up staying in contact with Brody and Jimmy. 

By lap 3 Tom caught us and I wasn't able to hang with him after a wash out before the field on the back of the course. I couldn't catch him but he was dangling in front of me. Don't remember exactly.

Coming through into the last lap I passed Brody, could not see Harre behind me and had Jimmy and Tom within 10 seconds or so. I caught Devon before the start/finish and then he stopped for a bottle and I passed. Going into the first field section Jimmy was about 5 seconds in front of me with Tom another 5 ahead. I assumed Jimmy was bogging down but he had crashed and Tom passed him. They pulled away in the field and gapped me quickly. Exiting the field I couldn't see Harre, Brody or Devon. Pretty uneventful until the stretch between the field in the back and road crossing to the bottom when I came up on a Grenada rider who refused to let me pass. This went on for some time until I went from asking nicely to telling him to move. In retrospect and after seeing the lap times, this made a pretty big difference. Fortunately, I never was caught by Brody or Harre but lost a lot of time waiting. 

Overall I was super happy with the way I raced. There's no way I could have won that and Jimmy and Tom defintely out powered me, which I would have expected. Happy to be able to hold off Harre and Brody. 

Overall, I believe that maybe second to one of the Landahl races in 2008, this was the biggest MO mtb race I've been to, which is awesome. So many (fast!!) kids and a really well done event. Great to be a part of it!

8/4 UFD Thrill at Matson Hill, DNF.

 Originally planned I wasn't going to race thinking that taking nearly a full rest week with two nights of partying at Phish on Tues and Wed wasn't the best idea but after doing a few laps there couldn't resist. It was going to be a hard, hot race and I thought it suited me. 

Took Mon-Wed completely off and did a little too much partying. Felt pretty good and rode a few hours on Thurs after work and then another easy hour on Friday. Sat morning I did another few hours with a few efforts and then the tired hit me and I was couch locked all afternoon watching the Olympic Road Race. Sun morning was still pretty tired but got a good warm up in and was psyched there were some fast dudes there. 

Not sure how I feel about the downhill start but I took the hole shot and my plan was to try to hit the top of the climb first so I wouldn't get gapped on the downhill. I had things pretty strung out right away but it wasn't until near the top of the climb that any gaps opened up and then Jimmy, Tom and Will latched on for the downhill. Things were far different at race pace and when we took the drop at the bottom I was amazed and  how fast we went over it. Could have been bad news.

After the descent I realized I had lost my nutrition bottle, which was somewhat of a problem, but I had a bottle with water and extra gels so wasn't too worried. 

On the climb up to the lot I was able to gap both Tom and Jimmy and will was gone. I think I probably had 5-10 seconds on them which I lost on the descent. The three of us were riding the bottoms/tech sections more or less together when I nailed something with my rear wheel sometime around the bottom. Immediately I thought I had broken my rim but it was just a big burp which I tried to keep riding thinking I might be able to get to the start finish and use a pump which would save me time. The tire kept losing pressure and I was forced to stop and try to CO2 it. First time using this since I bought the MTB and it blew a rubber seal or something and all the air came out at once. Tried to ride a bit more and the tire came unseated. Jog/walked to the finish, tried to reseat to see if I could catch a few people but no such luck. Game over. 

7/21 UFD Show Me State Games @ Rock Bridge, 2cd Overall (1st age group - that's the way they scored it)

Another good race. Took it pretty easy all week since I wasn't feeling recovered from the race in the heat on Sunday and skipped my big workout and Dirt Crits. Definitley felt a little flat or tired, not sure which. I'm guessing just tired from a stressful week and a long hr plus warm up because I wanted to pre-ride the course.  I'm glad I did becuase I remembered 0% from the last time I raced there in 07. Far more technical and challenging than I was expecting, which I liked.

Bob was talking about letting following Josh around for a lap but I had zero fucks to be given to that idea and had a great start and was first in the woods. Overcooked a few things here and there but mainly kept it together. The young kid with long hair that reminded me of a 90's hair band came around me about 5 mins in, which was fine by me. He got a little gap on one of the downhills but I was able to recover, probably moreso since I was able to ride his wheel through the flats, which were a blast. He dabbed after the creek and I went around him.

I was riding a good pace up the climb which was apparently hard enough to drop everyone but Marc, which I didn't realize until we hit the gravel road. We had a pretty gone line of sight through the big field and couldn't see anyone chasing, which I was super suprised by. 

I think Marc passed me on the climb to the start finish and put a pretty good gap into me right away. I had no idea who he was our what to expect and just kept pushing. I bogged down a little on lap two but lap one was so fast we had a pretty good cushion. Lap 1 was 35:18. Nutrition was good, legs were pretty good and I was riding well. I didn't see anyone at all on lap 2 which was my slowest at 37:01. 

Lap 3 was more of the same but I was able to push pretty hard and motivated to finish strong, which I did. Lap 3 was 36:53.

Really happy with the way I raced and the result. What a fantastic course. Definitely worth the trip. Planning on trying to get a big workout in this week and some long mountain bike rides next weekend and taking a rest week after that. Seems like a lot of racing in a short period of time and need a little reset.