12/4 Bubba 10 The Little Big Show State Championship @ Queeny Park, Masters, 3rd (*2cd MO Rider).

 

This is going to be long winded so when I look back on this I won't forget it.

Still haven't totally digested this one yet. My preparation and expectations far exceeded the way I feel I raced. I trained through nearly every race this season and while some wear harder than others, they never came close to the way this felt. In retrospect, I can only attribute it to a stressful week at work and adding far heightened pre-race anxiety/pressure as this race has been on my mind since I started riding again last November. It was my goal. 

Racing is hard and the competition was strong but what I experienced on Sunday wasn't relative to the hard course or competition. For reasons I can only guess at, this was harder than any race this year by a factor of 10 and I really contemplated quitting after about 10 mins.

 After beating J Doug pretty handily the weekend before  at Spanish Lake I had some confidence and was coaching myself that I was going to go down swinging trying to stay with Anthony, because I really didn't want there to be that *first MO Rider if I were to win.  I also committed to going out hard as I felt the course suited me and thought the climbing would separate things early as it had the weekend before. The wider radius turns and clean course really suited my strengths.

I got a good jump off the start and led the charge the first lap. My breathing was heavy, which is typical, and I figured I'd settle into a pace and things would normalize. They never did.  Anthony and I had a small gap after the first lap and I think he started to gap me a bit on lap two. At this point I started to notice I wasn't recovering at all and was really suffering. My breathing was labored, the muscles in my face felt fatigued and I started to get a little blurred vision. The only time I remember my face feeling that was when I used to do 12hr racing and everything just kind of goes numb from total fatigue. 

I kept pushing and by lap 3 had a decent gap, maybe 15 seconds, over J Doug. Anthony was still close and Harre was coming up behind me when we crossed through the big parking lot before the uphill 180 right hander. I don't know what happened but I tried to avoid the tree and ended going through both lanes, taking down a lot of tape and a stake. I really didn't know what happened. Harre was in awe and could only muster a "whoa!" 

Whatever gap I had was all but gone and J Doug caught me shortly after that, not really sure. I jumped back on and saw 5 or 6 laps to go and thought there was just no way I could ride that long but pushed on. J Doug rode my wheel and I was pretty much just waiting for him to make a move, which he didn't, so I kept pedaling. Nothing was getting easier but I knew I couldn't quit as long as I was able to keep pedaling. 

As the lap cards counted down there was never a time I was able to open any kind of a gap on Jason, mainly trying to by taking chances on the downhill sections and just trying to keep the pace up so he couldn't pass me. With 2 to go I was sure he was going to pounce on a hill, but he didn't. I really had nothing to give and wasn't thinking clearly enough to consider my tactics. 

On the last lap I thought my only chance was to take risk on the downhill before the barriers and try to give everything I had on the switch back climb in the field and take more risks on the next downhill. I wasn't able to fully commit to anything, I just didn't have it in me, and made no appreciable gains. I think I grew complacent with him being behind me and tried to keep the pace up going though the uphill part of the parking lot before that right handed 180 again but didn't realize (at the time) the importance of making that turn first and didn't commit. About 3/4 the way across the lot, Jason did and blew my doors off sitting down waiting for it (the jersey) to be handed to me. I latched on and was going to try one more time when I washed out on a 180 and unclipped. Game over. 

Congrats to Anthony for taking the series overall, which earns him a training camp in Tucson! Also a huge congrats to Jason Douglas for winning his first Jersey, he's a great guy and super strong competitor. Looking forward to racing with both of these guys a lot more in the future.

11/27 Bubba 9 @ Spanish Lake, Masters, 2cd.

Great track and wet, muddy and chilly conditions made it what CX is all about! 

My first CX race ever was at Spanish Lake in 2007. I had spent the mountain bike season focusing on 12 hour racing and had a massive base but not much top end. Some of the A's that arrived that day were Harre, Nagy, Loudermilk and John Matthews. I ended up 2cd behind Harre, naturally, and had a great battle with Matthews which came down to a sprint.

I had tons of doubt about yesterday after a hard week of workouts and wasn't feeling too hot but was pretty motivated and started listening to some Kings of Leon and reminiscing about a day like this in 2008 and was seriously missing all my Mesa buddies that made that period in time so special. Not to mention that I had just met my soon to be wife and we went to McGurks most Sunday nights after the races, which was a beautiful thing. I get goosebumps just thinking about that CX season and being head over heels in love with my now wife. Fucking best ever. 

This year doesn't feel much different; I've got that same newness and motivation with CX racing after a long hiatus, everything else in my life is firing on all cylinders and while I do miss the Mesa team, I'm enjoying meeting a bunch of new folks and rekindling friendships that fell off when I stopped racing in 2010.  

The usual suspects lined up with a new face, J Doug, who I recognized from the Championship race last year and podiumed. I got a good jump and made it through the first turn first until the first 90 degree left hander and was passed by J Doug and Anthony who took off. Immediately this race went from the more civilized starts to all out attacks on the first lap. We all had taken our turns at the front and I jumped back on for the gravel descent. Once we hit the hill Anthony dropped the hammer and only I was able to respond. We had a gap which continued to grow as the race went on. Anthony gapped me on the hill on the 3rd lap and was able to maintain a 20-30 second lead for the rest of the race. At one point on the last lap I had closed it down to about half that, apparently he took a swim after the start finish, but we finished with the same gap and about 2 minutes or so to J Doug and Jon Bell. 

All in all I rode a pretty clean race and had good power, which I'm pleased with. I was able to power through the race without bogging down to much and had enough power to attack the hill on the last few laps. Good race. Looking forward to resting up a bit and seeing what I can bring to the Little Big Show next weekend. 

11/20 Bubba 8 @ Upper Creve Couer, Masters, 2cd.

Touch and go with a slight fever, general fatigue and sore throat on Saturday but not enough to pull the plug, I was a little under the weather on race day but not feeling too bad physically, just fatigued. The course was fun and super hard, probably would have been a blast by the time the A race rolled around and the lines were set. Someone raked the walnuts and leaves out of the first corner prior to our start, which was probably life saving. We were racing with Kukla again and Harre was 30 seconds back with the 50 plus, which makes things more fun. 

We started out relatively slowly again, which was fine by me, with Anthony in lead and Kukla and I in tow. I heard some carnage and Jon Bell was no where to be seen,  so assumed he got caught up in it. Unlike the weekend before at Faust, Kukla didn't let us ride away from him and the three of us navigated a pretty dicey course of leaves, sweet gum balls, off camber roots and more walnuts. Throughout the race they were raking and clearing but I never really felt like I was riding the lines right but somehow didn't make any big mistakes.

Jon Bell made a hard push to recover on the first lap and got pretty close but then the pace picked up a bit and it was just too much of a gap to recover from, apparently. We stayed a threesome for 2 laps and then Anthony pulled away a bit and I clung to Kukla and was suffering pretty good. I think I lost contact with Brian on the  last lap and was a good 20-30 seconds back from Anthony from about the half way point on. Slowly but surely Harre was laying waste behind us and passed me through the field and Kukla was able to latch on to him, if I remember correctly. 

Kukla stayed just out of reach with Harre ahead of him and I would guess Anthony finished a solid 30 seconds in front of me. All in all not a bad race, but also not a good race. I would have like to have been able to be a little more responsive to the changes in pace and have a better command of the course but it is what it is and that was a tough day at the races. Suck it up buttercup.

11/13 Bubba 7 @ Faust Day 2, Masters, 2cd.

The 30 degree wind-chill and sun felt almost warm compared to Saturday, but I opted for the same setup with some Hestra padded ski racing gloves I had which kept my hands warm but didn't help with shifting.

Another small group but this time we lined up with Brian Kukla, Anthony was present and Mike Morgan was in the 50 plus behind us. I remember him blasting by me on the first lap of the State Championship race last year and assumed that would be the case again today at some point. 

I was pretty exhausted from the effort on Saturday but my legs felt fresh, which was surprising.  I opted to do a more low key warm up and was ready to go. Anthony led the charge and I latched on. He tends to be pretty conservative on the first lap (which was our slowest by far) and  I was surprised that little gaps were already opening up to  Kukla and the chase group. For the first 3 laps Anthony ratcheted it up and things really began to open up. I was feeling great and wasn't having any trouble making the pace. Before we came across the gravel flat on the 4th lap Anthony urged me on and uncertain if he was fatiguing so I tried to hit the sweeping right hander after the pavement hard  and  put in an effort on the uphill to see if that was the case, which it wasn't, he just wanted to size me up surely calculating his move. I tried to keep the pace up and the net 3 laps were nearly identical with neither of us surrendering or making mistakes other than bouncing off some trees.

 I came though leading on the bell lap and thought he would try to outsprint me on the gravel, which he didn't and I tried to rail the sweeping right turn and turn the screws on the hill before diving back into the trees again even harder but he responded and allowed no gap. Coming into the barriers I caught him making a move and I was literally trying to remount at full running speed which cost me a hitch clipping in and he made a great move to ride me into the tape which killed my momentum. I had just watched videos of Sven practicing this and he Anthony did it to perfection. I got bogged down going through lapped traffic and he had a gap on the sidewalk section of a few seconds. I was going flat out and accidentally shifted to a higher gear on the uphill 180 and had to dismount and run like hell. That was it, I was completely gassed but didn't give up chase but, ultimately, I was completely schooled by his tactics. I reminded Anthony about the last time we had a race like this, which was also the last race I had won prior to yesterday.  Can't fucking beat it! Racing like this is everything I love about CX!

11/12 Bubba 6 @ Faust Day 1, Masters, 1st.

 

It has been a really long time since this happened, 12 years to be exact, and I couldn't be more psyched about it. 

It was cold with a 20 degree wind-chill and no sun. Cars from Illinois were covered in snow. We went from almost 80 the last weekend to this, so there was no conditioning.  I was most anxious about what to wear so I wouldn't cook myself but, as always, was really worried about my hands. I rode for 20 mins on Friday, and tried out two pairs of gloves and opted to go with a pair of neoprene gloves with liners underneath and embro on my hands, hoping the lack of breathability and moisture would warm things up. I think the last time I wore my thermal skin suit was probably for the State Championship race in 2008 and I most likely was wearing the same Craft wind blocker base layer, Craft zip base #2 and some woolies. I didn't have any Sportsbalm BKW and miss the smell, but greased up as I've had zero issues with my legs and feet. 

Another small group but Vince was there so I knew between him and Jon it would be a fast group. My general plan has been to ride defensively if Anthony is there and offensively if not so I went out strong and found I was feeling good. I was able to open things up pretty quickly but there was no way I was going to let off the gas after given my track record lately with issues. The pedals were ticking over pretty easily and I rode a nearly clean race, with no mistakes I can recall other than taking out a stake. I continued to push because I was feeling good and thought a little bit about letting up for Sunday but decided against it and managed to increase the lead each lap. I think I finished in about 38 minutes. 

After the race I realized my fingertips were a bluish black and was in excruciating pain, as I'm sure many others were as well but Reynaud's really makes cold/wet difficult for me. 

What I found most interesting was that my power and average speed from soloing Saturday and going toe to toe with Anthony for 7 laps on Sunday were almost identical. Super pleased I can push myself that way.

11/6 Bubba #5 @ Sylvan Springs No. 2, Masters, 2cd

 Another great course at Sylvan but this time with far less spots to catch your breath. Very demanding course with a lot of climbing, pure power and less floss than the first round there. Another week with a smaller goup of us which is fairly irrelevant other than the lack of tactics and races within the race to keep things interesting. We started with the lone single speeder, Brian Kukla, which changed the dynamic a bit because Anthony had a train to catch early, which he did. I stayed in contact through through most of lap two and then couldn't make the pace which led to a fairly lonely hurt locker for the remainder. 

After a little tire rubbing being overly anxious on the first lap I rode a clean race and found some power on the punching climbs, definitely related to the workouts I've been doing, which is good. I lost contact on lap two or so and after a short bit found myself in no mans land with what I would guess to be 30 seconds on both the lead and chase. This pretty much stayed the same the whole race but I was using less power as the race went on and I gained some efficiency with the lines. 

The training week before the cancelled race at Fort B, the supplemental workout for the race and the load the week leading up to Sylvan was pretty heavy and I think it probably left me a little flat so I was happy with how I did. New bike was great and I think the gain in bar height helps a lot. Going to be cold at Faust, time to bust out the BKW.

10/23 #3 @St. Vincent, Masters, 2cd.

 Can't believe I was able to find this video from 2009. I led the charge fueled by the Team Segal mayhem at the top only to tear a hole in a brand new pink silk Dugast tubie about half way through which sent me from the front to the back. There were some heavy hitters there that day. 

Apparently the years haven't been kind to the trail section and St Vincent and it's overgrown, which is unfortunate becuase that was a sick course. The course this year was bumpy, the surface was rock hard and there were only two brief sections for any kind of recovery. I definitely trained right thorugh for 3 weeks and everything felt hard but that's surely because Anthony and Harre were leading the charge and Jon Bell was pressuring me for most of the race.

I rode pretty well and had one wash out on lap one but nothing else really to speak of. Jon was pretty close up until the last few laps and I was keeping the same distance from Anthony for most of the race. At one point I gained on him a bit but it was short lived. Harre came though us a lap or two in and rolled though to win overall. 

Thanks to the help from the Hub I've got my new rig built up and it feels like I've got it close to dialed in fit wise. Amazing to me that the Fuji has significantly more aggressive geo than the Ridley. A slightly lower BB on the Ridley, different ST HT angles and I'm assuming a different rake make it more stable and predictable. Looking forward to getting more time on it in the woods tomorrow. Might be a wet one on Sun!!!

10/16 #2 @Sylvan Springs, Masters, DNF.

 This one stings. 

Extremely hilly track with lots of technical turns. Given the fact that I only ride the Grants trail I wasn't expecting to feel like I had much for the hills, but was wrong. I knew I had my work cut out for me with Sweeney and Jon Bell there, a few faces I didn't know, and TK behind me.  We started without much warning and I jumped out quickly, but it didn't feel fast. Looking back once or twice up the paved climb I already had a gap and was second guessing how hard I was pushing but decided to keep the pace and see what happened. By the top of the hill on the backside Sweeney had caught up but I pressed on. Everything was clicking and by the top of the paved climb I had another gap, which continued to grow. At one point I say TK and his competition pushing closer but by the top of the paved climb on the next lap I had started the descent into the bowl and there wasn't anyone on the paved climb yet, so I assumed my gap was close to a minute. Just before crossing the line with 2 laps to go my mind began to wander and it crossed my mind that this would be the first race I had won since 2010 and felt a jolt of enthusiasm followed immediately by regret for thinking that before doing it. With 1.5 to go on one of the acorn turns before the descent back to pit I turned hard and the brakes jammed on as my rear tire had almost completely separated from the rim. That was that. 

I removed both tires, sanded the clear coat of the rim and have re-glued, with solid results. I've got a new frame coming from the UK in about 2 weeks and hoping to put the cursed Fuji behind me!

On to No. 3

10/10 #1 @ Bellafontaine, Masters, 4th

 Great day for CX! Great course layout with mostly large radius turns, a few tight sections to keep you on your toes, but mainly a power course. After riding the re-glued tires a few hours during the week I was feeling confident they would stay on, which they did. I had my first two workouts of the year during the week and was feeling like they were easier than they should have been and recovering quickly. They get a bit harder this week so hoping the trend continues. 

Started in the second wave after the 4 SS guys and I think there were 8 of us total. I had a fairly conservative start, by my standards, and resisted the urge to push to get to the front (of the group behind Anthony). Coming through the barriers on a lap one I was sitting on 4th or 5th wheel with Harre coming up into the group. I tripped over the barrier but recovered quickly latched back onto the group sitting and moving up to 5th or 6th with the SS riders mixed in. I must have kicked my through axle when I crashed which began to loosen up considerable (unbeknownst to me at the time) and my bike started ghost shifting under any load but as long as I stayed seated it was bearable. 

We hit the back paved section with about 4 to go and there was a group with a few SS guys and the group of 3 chasing Anthony. I made a move before hitting the grass and was sitting in 4th. I kept in contact with 2/3 up until 2 laps to go when I realized I couldn't stand on the 2 hills without the shifting being an issue and managed to increase my lead on the group chasing me, but not to gain on 2/3, which is how the rest of the race went. 

All in all I'm super pleased and felt good/motivated to push the whole race. Barring the shifting issues it was pretty clean and that didn't change the outcome any, I assume. 

Highly optimistic about where my fitness is headed. 

Treehouse CX, Treehouse Brewery, Deerfield MA DNF

I was driving back to Cape Cod to stay with my parents and do some fishing and ironed out details with Roberto-san to stop in western MA and kick off my season. I maintained my focus of riding pretty easy in September to get rested up to ramp up the intensity (having done none of it with the exception of the Dirt Crits) once CX season starts here in October. Then it's 10 weeks all out. Regardless, I was feeling pretty pretty fit and  jazzed about the whole experience. I had just glued up some new FMB's and naturally feeling PAF as I registered for the Cat 4/5 race. 

We got there a day early and after 2 days driving I was pretty happy to have some time to preride and stretch the legs. The course was great with two big power sections through the field, two wooded singletrack sections and a 45* camber section with multple 90* turns that skirted the brewery walls. 

Lap one of warm ups I went into a turn and heard something weird which I thought was my tire slipping on the rock hard ground. The same thing happened on the next lap and I realized my front tire had rolled. I was pissed for not having brought my tubeless setup but just swapped out the front wheel and went on with warmups. After an hour of so or riding the rear felt fine and I thought one FMB was more pro than none at all so decided to rock it. 

There were about 75 people in the race and I got a good start and put in the effort to get into the first wooded section in the top 5. By the next wooded section I had moved up into 2cd and was feeling good. I clipped a pedal on the one of the off camber turns and got kinda trapped on my bike and slipped back 10 or so spots. Once again I moved up and was back in the top 4. 

I think it was about 25 minutes in going though the off camber sections again when I heard the velcro like noise of the day before. This time almost the whole rear tire peeled off the rim. Game over. 

In all my years of riding (for one season TRAINING on tubies) I had never rolled a tire. One remarkably different experience I'm having with this string of bad luck/crashing compared to the old me is how I respond to it, which is refreshing. I didn't chuck my bike into the woods or dwell on it. I was happy with how I was doing and to iron out some issues before my fitness is better and I care a little more about how I think I should be doing. 

Roberto-san had a bad start but, true to form, worked his way back up and had a respectable race. 

2TG Dirt Crit #5, 13th - Time to cut my losses.

 I was talking to one of my buddies before signing up to do some of the dirt crits and remember saying I was a little bit nervous about racing on a CX bike and getting hurt, especially something that would prevent me from racing CX. Three weeks in a row of crashing and I'm starting to notice a trend. Last night particularly sucked with rash covering the left side of my body and some deeper cuts on my knee, hip and forearm. Crashing into glass sucks. I remember some crashes when I raced on the road but in 10 years of mountain bike racing I can only remember one crash with this kind of carnage at Rhett's Run in 2010, which was a complete and utter mud fest. 

Race start was civilized and I was committed to trying to leave a little gap on the group of 7 or 8 so I  wouldn't burn as many matches getting brake checked in and out of turns. The dust was brutal from back there though and when we hit the flat riser on the back of the course the gap was opening up a little but I stayed patient and kept my pace. I think I was passed up by one or two in the field, had two riders dangling 10-15 seconds followed by Sandnop. I hit the left hander into the glass and went down hard; bars twisted and headset loosened but otherwise didn't think it was too bad. I got passed by the two chasing riders and jumped on. I could see Sandknop coming up behind me but recovered, for the most part, and kept going.  

I think Sandknop passed me like a banshee in the field but I didn't have the juice to hang. Going into the left hander I was concentrated on picking a different line and my front wheel washed out again but luckily I was able to dab and stay upright. Confidence as definitely shaken but I was still in the mix so pushed on.

Other than practically stopping before the left hand turn every lap the rest of the race was fairly uneventful, fortunately. Sandknop charged and caught the second big chase group  which was pretty fun to watch. I was able to maintain about the same gap of 30 seconds until the last lap when they started going after each other. 

I think the only logical solution is to dismantle my tubeless set up while I'm still in pain to avoid making the same mistake 4 weeks in a row.

2TG Dirt Crit # 4, 17th

                                          ***awesome shots from RainbowMarks last night!

After the race last night I was trying to recall if I ever started a race DFL and remembered one instance. It was my hardcore endurance racing year of 2007, doing lots of 3 , 6 and 12's with the ultimate goal to set a new course record of 10 laps at the Burnin'. I lapped a few fields and set some course records along the way but failed at the Burnin' when a flat and poor planning ruined the day early on.  Too many eggs in one basket for twelve hour racing  so while back East with my family at Thanksgiving I  declared I was going to train for XC  and come back to  race Expert Nationals at Mount Snow the next year if they all would go. I succeeded at that goal. Anyway, in 2007 I went up to Wisconsin to race their big endurance series, the WEMS, and since it was early in my season I opted for the 6 hr. Long story short, I got lost in the woods warming up, missed my start by 10 minutes, clawed my way back through a huge field of tight single-track where it was tough to pass and came in second, by less than 10 minutes. 

I'll admit after being torched the week before I put training aside and did a mini taper because I wanted to see how I could do if I felt fresh. I was feeling great. I really don't know what happened  but about 7 seconds into the bunch start sprint for the first corner I hit the deck pretty hard and fortunately didn't take anyone down or get ran over. I picked my shit up, knocked my bars and shifters back in place and jumped on the back of a 57 person train. It was pretty tough to pass, especially without the grassy section and generally the people in the back of the pack would accelerate or go with full NASCAR blocking techniques if you tried. As I got closer to the faster guys this was less of an issue, may be a trend. Oh well, I rode pretty clean and had great power when gaps opened up, but never really got a chance to run the ponies because of the traffic.  I worked my way up to 17th and am pleased I stuck with it and that  it felt "easy," hopefully a sign that my body is responding to the intensity work of the first few races, which I haven't done any of in training, if you can call it that. Really just enjoying everything about being on a bike again!

Loving everything about this series. Going to be bummed when it's over but the smell of sweet embro is just around the corner!

2TG Dirt Crit #3, 12th

 Big field. Lots of old Mesa friends coming out for a little reunion. Party like atmosphere. Might be the most enjoyable series I've attended. I might go as far as saying more fun than cross? Mike needs a gigantic cooler of ice cold brews at the finish to come close.

Faster and more aggressive start than last week. Oddly it felt like I was going dramatically slower this week but all my dorky power/ physio metrics say it was almost identical. I felt like a spawned out salmon drifting back down stream occasionally getting beached on shore and having to flop back in, all the while getting passed by those fueled by the hopes of fulfilling their destiny upstream... something like that anyway.

Little jockeying for the first half of the race but was able to maintain my position. Around lap 4 before the left hander up the glass block section my front wheel washed out my already twinging calves did not like trying to dab to stay up and went down anyway. Lap or two later I had passed Petey and a Gateway rider and had a 20-30 sec gap sitting inside the top 10 at that point, and went down harder in the same corner.  This time my left calf really didn't like it and I got passed up by the Gateway rider. At least there was some blood for posterity's sake. 

Not long after Greg Sandknop and some dude named Lars (that naturally must be a bad mofo) passed me and I was feeling pretty good sitting on their wheels with two to go. They we're riding super smooth and I wasn't juicing the pickle with my ooh face on coming out of every turn. I thought if I stayed with them to the grass I could make my move and possibly even catch the Gateway guy who was dangling 10 seconds ahead. Then that left hander came up again and I went down... That was that. Was able to hold off the charge but didn't close in on Greg and Lars. 

Still happy with the result given the talent and field of 70!!!!

2TG Dirt Crit # 2, 7th.

 

Wow. Can't recall ever be so pleased about a top-ten finish. Been riding a fraction of what I used to ride since I bought my bike in November, but feeling good, enjoying it and motivated. Last night was the first riding I've done with any intensity and it felt good, which was not which I was expecting. The last dirt crit racing I had done was my first season of racing in 2003 at Castlewood when I won the sport class series.  That course was all gas and no flow and I never really enjoyed it that much. The Valley Park course is just a blast. Great flow, technical at speed and a great track. The beer at the finish is a nice touch. 

My race was somewhat uneventful and pretty much finished where I started. My goal was a top 15 finish but I didn't want to get bottlenecked so I jump in with the lead pack, passed one rider on lap 2 or so and never looked back. I had one encounter with a tree that jumped out at me and hit my shoulder and one wash out where I ended up in the dirt with crooked hoods but fortunately recovered from both. I had a chase group that was yo yoyoing a ways back and went through a funk on laps 4/5 but managed to finish my last 3 laps consistently and close on the group with Bob in front of me a bit. I'm going to try to maintain my base/tempo riding and resist the urge to get all amped up for these but hopefully they provide a nice spring board to cross season.