11/17 Bubba 7 @ Queeny, Masters, 1st.

Originally, I wasn't planning on doing this race. I hate Queeny and thought I could use a weekend off but after a rest week followed by a low volume week I figured the racing stimulus would be good.  Legs were torched after the weekend at Faust and trying to get the numbers into the positive for the last few weeks so took it pretty easy with a few hours on Tuesday and a great interval/skills workout on Thursday.  Did a shorter and more polarized openers ride on Sat, that I liked a lot. 

Course was super hard. Grass was still wet and super long/thick and there were two steep sections. The first was pretty slippery to get up, the second I didn't even try to ride and was amazed to hear that by the end of the day people could ride it, but assuming it dried out a lot. I was assuming this would be a super high powered course but there was enough finesse sections/corners, one really long downhill and one shorter one right after that which leveled out the power. Oddly, I didn't feel like there was much recovery to be had in those spots.  

There were 7 of us, which was nice, and another 6 or 7 in the SS class 15 seconds ahead of us, including Brandon. I took the hole shot and went down on the steep 180 and Jon went past and put in an effort to get away. It took me a bit to catch back up to him and the front runners of the SS class were a good distance. off. 

Once I passed Jon I was able to start opening up gaps and passing the SS class. I was riding pretty well and mistake free after the crash but the run up and subsequent uphill was super taxing. I was motivated to catch Brandon but it seemed like I was only gaining a second or two each lap. I ended up catching him on the last lap and was looking forward to it playing out but got caught up in some lapped traffic before the first steep hill and then again just before the run up. I jumped off early to get around a rider before the run up and went all out to get up it.  He had a few seconds on me when I crested the run up but I was torched and couldn't close it down right away. I sprinted it out on the pavement and probably finished 4 seconds behind him and about 3 minutes in front of Jon. Last lap was the fastest.  Good race. 

11/9 - 11/10 Bubba 5 & 6 @ Faust, Masters. 3rd Day 1, 1st day 2.

 There's a lot I'd like to journal to remember about these two races. First off, coming off a big block of training and only having raced in the negative so far this year, I was expecting day one to be hard and historically have always had a really good day the second day. This year, day one was far worse than expected, and while a flat didn't help, It was a 9.5/10 on the RPE scale for me. Day two was still super hard but my IT bands weren't locked up as bad and it was super hard because, by all metrics, it was my second strongest race in the last 3 seasons and my strongest was Spanish Lake last year, which was more of a gravel race.

Hard interval day last Sat, easy 1.5 hrs Sun, off M/T, easy 1 hr rollers Wed, 1 hr Th with a few sprints, easy 1 hr Friday. 

Day 1-

Rained a lot during the week and race morning. Track was super straight, soft and thick grass. There was one straight slight downhill in the field, but you had to pedal hard through it. The paved section was short and with wet leaves a little sketch, but not as bad as it looked. The 5-ish seconds on the pavement was the only real recovery spot, but day 1 I didn't use it as a chance to recover due to the wet. Pretty much hard pedaling the whole course, power heavy.

 I got a good, long-ish warm up in with some efforts on the rollers and didn't really need to ride anything more than 1 lap to know what the track was like.

There were 4 of us. It's killing me, but that's another story. Anthony, Dave and Jon. Always happy when Anthony shows up since we have a great rivalry. There were 5 or 6 SS guys in front of us with Brandon, who has been having some strong races. I really don't recall too much. Anthony and I got a little gap and rode the first 3 laps together. Dave caught us and attacked. We didn't react. I was suffering and the legs were locked, but I was able to ride wheels. We caught Dave again on lap 4, I think, and Anthony had realized I was faster than him through the barriers and did some blocking, both with his body and then with his bike when I went the opposite way. I was riding faster than him through most corners so I decided to take the outside line and block him as repayment for the barriers after the pines, which worked pretty well because he said something. Not long after that I went down in a corner, he passed and I was gapped by a few seconds behind him and Dave. By the time we got to the barn they had 5 seconds or so and were hitting the gravel when I smoked my front wheel on the concrete. I realized it was leaking pretty quickly and by the time I hit the pavement on the other side of the field it was pretty much flat. I rode it out to about the switchbacks before the barriers and had to run the rest to the pits, changed my wheel and got back on. Anthony had dropped Dave, I was a good 45 seconds back and that was that. Can't say I finished strong but I was able to hold off Jon, for third. Super hard day. 

Day 2

Was able to Stans my wheel, get all dialed in for Sunday, eat well and get my feet up. I went to bed early and got my first legit night of sleep all week after a brutal week at work and too much drinking. My legs were pretty torched in the morning but I was committed to doing my best to right the ship. I was a little bummed the course was pretty much the same as day 1, just with slightly different lines due to ruts, but got a good warm up in and was ready to go. 

There were 3 of us but I knew that Dave was probably feeling confident after the day before, and Sean was there as well. I have had some good races when going from the gun, regardless of the competition, and today I wasn't going to ride conservatively. Kukla and Brandon were in a field of 6 or 7 SS riders, which were the carrots. I took off and went hard. I was catching SS riders before the field in the back and latched on to Kukla, Brandon and one other SS guy. By mid lap two I had passed everyone but Kukla, who had a good gap and I was putting time into Dave who was behind Brandon and the other guy and more slowly I was putting time into them.

By mid race I had a big gap on the chasers and I would guess Kukla had the same on me, if not more. With 2 to go Dave might have shaved a few seconds off and was pushing hard on the bell lap but I was able to maintain what I would assume was a 30-45 second gap, not really sure. 

This was my strongest CX race with the expectation of Spanish Lake last year ( 271 avg / 292 NP), which was the gravel version . Avg power 269 W / 281 NP , compared to 255 / 269 the day before. More important than the W is the confidence boost from this, because training through all the previous races and seeing lower numbers is never a good thing.

10/27 Bubba 4 @ St. Vincent, Masters, 1st.

 Another big for me week of training, which is funny because that's only about 10 hours these days. It's tough to get the numbers I want when racing on Sunday, but I the racing itself is a huge part of the prep and fun, so fuck it. I got in a 3 hr easy ride in on Saturday and was tired, but not too bad. First one of those in a long time. It was great.

Little washed out on Sunday morning but the legs felt better than last week and I got a decent warm up in before pre-riding. Also, ate a couple Cliff blocks before the warm up and went with the 160 cal Enervit Gel pre race, which definitely helped. The course was huge, used up a lot of area at St Vinnies and was by far my favorite Bubba track that I can remember. Definitely a crossers course. 

There were about 5 SS guys that started 15 seconds in front of us. Brandon was there again so I was motivated to chase him down this week. I got a good jump and was into the sand with a bike length or two. I rode it cleanly and there was more separation. I was really surprised I caught some of the SS guys before the downhill parallel to the paved uphill and was opening gaps on the 40 plus guys, but nothing major. 

After the sand on the second lap I had 5-10 seconds on the 40+ and by the parking lot had caught and passed all the SS guys. I was free and said fuck it and went full throttle. On laps 3 and 4 there was an out of town guy from the 50 plus who had passed all the 40+/SS riders and was closing down the gap to me, maybe to 30 seconds or so. I thought he was in our race so I went hard. Aside from the first lap every lap was faster. I was able to open the gap on Paul, probably to around a minute and Dave was the first 40 plus rider behind him. 

Really happy with this race. I had total focus and felt great. Am really looking forward to how racing feels without this training load. One more big week. 

10/20 Bubba 3 @ Bella Fontaine, Masters, 1st.

 

Wasn't going to race as I am trying to get a few good weeks of training in, but changed my mind and got my cornerstone workout in on Sat and figured I'd take some licks on Sunday. My Hamburg workout is usually less than 150 TSS but I was feeling great and went deep on Sat and it was a 200. Felt pretty good on Saturday afternoon but warming up Sunday I was definitely tired with heavy legs. I only got a 30 min warm up in which should have been longer to loosen up.

There were only five of us and a few I didn't know but my general plan was to sit in a bit if possible and try to make a move with a few laps to go. We started and it was immediately apparent how hard this was going to be. I sat in the first few laps but found I was scrubbing momentum in every turn riding wheels so I went to the front. Lap cards went at 5 which seemed like it was going to be a short race. I opened a few gaps on lap three and was a little surprised when each one was closed down, but sometime shortly after that it stuck and I was able to open things up. I was definitely loosening up a bit and able to go harder. In retrospect, ever lap was faster and my last lap was considerably faster. 

I was dangling 10s behind the leader of the SS race who was aware I was coming and going hard. I continued to close in on him and by the last lap decided I wanted to try to close it down. I caught him with a full head of steam the jog before the tricky pine section but there wasn't room to pass and right when we got into the pines we came upon a lapped rider and there was a little Nascar rubbing as I scrubbed all my speed trying not to crash into them from behind. I came unclipped, dabbed, and wasn't able to clip back in right away and the gap opened up. I made the effort to get back up to him but my legs were torched and gave out and I called it a day. Good racing on the last lap. The first few laps were close to 40 seconds slower than the last lap, which was a scorcher and I'm pretty happy about the effort. 

Going to train through a Vlasis and then get some rest!

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!!!