7/15 UFD St. Joe, Cat 1, 1st!!! $500

 

After pre-riding the weekend before and seeing the humidity and heat in the forecast I knew it was going to be a long, hot race, which it was. I saw the names of some of the heavy hitters pre-registered and set goals, with landing a step on the podium being the most lofty. I'm almost 48 years old, I train about a third the volume that I used to and, while I love racing and training, enjoy the racing/life balance that I have now, which is basically training to be competitive at local masters races. 

I did a huge workout on Wednesday night and basically avoided any intensity and too much heat exposure leading up to the race. I felt a little flat but knew if I could maintain contact on the first big climb without blowing up it was going to be more of a race of attrition than a drag race. I was mostly right, but it turned out to be back and forth up until midway through the 3rd lap which was some fun and fast racing with nearly everyone making mistakes and suffering from the 102 heat index.

I was the first into the woods and was totally surprised that I wasn't just leading the group out on the pavement and only to be jumped going into the woods. I dialed it back a little before the start of the climb and paced myself which Brody, Aaron, Eli and Bourisaw came around me. This is about what I was expecting and my goal was to stay in contact with Bourisaw and Aaron. Surprisingly, we had a gap on everyone else already. At some point in the first section I went around Bourisaw and was riding 4th wheel. Again, we opened up a gap on him immediately. I got gapped on the downhill by the youngsters but was able to get back onto Elis wheel through the bottoms. He went down in front of me and I made it around him, or more accurately, by running over his bike. 

Both Brody and Aaron started to bog down a little after the last climb up to the pavement and passed Aaron who was undergeared on the SS. Once we hit the double track Brody either hesitated or was recovering and I went around him. I thought I had heard that there was cash for the fastest lap and was really surprised he let it happen, pretty much uncontested. 

I came through the start finish in the lead and noticed all the bottles from my hand up table were on the ground. I stopped, grabbed a bottle and put another on the table for the next lap. Brody and Aaron were already exiting the field by the time I got back on, but I chased and somehow caught them before we hit the dirt again.  Not too long after Aaron let me pass and I was riding Brody's wheel. He was bogging down to the point I thought he might be waiting for Eli to catch up so I said fuck it and went for it. Pretty much no response. I had daylight almost immediately. That was about 2 miles into lap 2. The rest of the lap was pretty uneventful and I was feeling good and pressing on. 

Coming through the start finish after lap two the tape had blown my bottles off the table again, which I failed to notice until I was exiting the field and had to stop, run across the field to grab one and get back on. Aaron passed me but again I caught up to him before the singletrack. I was gassed. At some point in the next mile or so he let me pass and shortly after that I hit a tree hard with my left shoulder, went down and he took over again. Not sure how long after that I caught him, maybe mile 3 or so, but I passed and ended up putting 3 minutes into him the rest of the race. 

I don't think I've ever celebrated winning a race like that before and it was uncontrollable joy. Why it means so much to me I'm not sure, but I'm super impressed that I can do what I'm doing at this age and there's no doubt this was a hard mans race, which are always more enjoyable to me. 

6/30 UFD Klaus Park, Cat 1, 4th

 My last XC race was in 2010, 14 years ago. The 4 rides I've done in the last week are the only rides I've done in over 10 years. I had some confidence after the dirt crit on Thursday but seriously questioned if I had two hours of race pace fitness. 

I pre-rode a lap easy. The course was really great without anything too technical but had a lot of places that knowing the course would allow you to maintain flow, which I definitely didn't at all.

My plan was to go all out again and fight for it, assuming I would either detonate a little over an hour in or just get smoked. 

I got a great jump on the start and think I could have fought a little harder for the hole shot but knew the two youngsters would be better off and was able to jump into the woods in 3rd. I almost completely went over the front end about 30 seconds into the race, which would have been bad given the speed, and then slid out on a root on the first lap, but aside from that I rode an exceptionally clean race, which is amazing to me.

I blew up on the first gravel climb and lost two spots, one to a guy in cutoff shorts on a SS and one to Devon. I don't know what I was thinking, probably not much because I was totally gassed, but I never once considered that Arnzen was in our race. I also never realized that someone dangling 10-15 seconds in front of me (that I never caught) was someone I was racing because given the nature of the course you were lapping and seeing a lot of people. Total rookie mistake!!!  TK jumped me right before the woods, which turned out to be a huge mistake as well as he had his son and his teammate ahead of us and Tim was content to do tail whips and catch his breath while they rode away. I made a mistake on a root and Bob went around me but as soon as we hit the field I jumped them both and went for it. There was almost immediate separation. 

By the end of lap two I had Devon in front of me and caught and passed him at the start of lap 3. I genuinely thought I was defending 3rd place for the rest of the race and was eyeing Eli, remember that he crashed and I put time into him at the dirt crits a few days before. 

The rest of the race was fairly uneventful. Did well with nutrition and the legs never really said no until 3/4 the way through the last lap. By lap 4 I was hitting the lines and using a lot less power which made a huge difference. 

I came across the line 3 mins behind Brady, a minute behind Eli and 14 seconds behind Arnzen. I was completely floored by my performance and to say I was super happy would be a total understatement. 

6/27 STL Dirt Crits #2, 5th.

 Spring journal catch up. 

Did a major project in the basement and basically took from January through March off the bike with hardly any riding and just a little skiing mixed in. Ramped up some riding, lifting and skiing in March before a trip to Park City where I skied my balls off for 7 days straight. Came back and jumped right into riding without much planning and probably riding too hard, too much. I knew I would have a big break in June going to Key West for 10 days and figured I'd tried to build as much as I could before then and given my training load was around 8 hrs a week, never really thought I could over do it. I was wrong and I started to feel heavy legs all the time and not super motivated. I tried a half assed rest week but it wasn't enough. I actually think the root cause was the heavy lifting, riding and week of skiing just tearing down my muscles to the point of no return. 

Apparently drinking Pina Coladas for 10 days in Key West was the must needed rest my body needed. The week before our trip I had a come to Jesus and realized that as much as I like riding on the Grants trail, doing it  24/7 was getting a little old and I  needed something else, that something being to get back on the mountain bike. I talked to Casey, who was supportive, and then my buddy Mark Stika basically made me an offer I couldn't refuse and I picked up his Epic HT Pro two days before we left. I ordered a bunch of stuff and was just as excited to come home from vacation as I was going, which is saying a lot. We got back late the night before the first dirt crit and there was no way I could make that and hoped I could get comfortable on the bike before #2.

First ride was great but the rear brake blew out completely so it was tough. Got a really good ride in the next day at Greensfelder and was amazed that my fitness wasn't in the gutter and I was riding a mountain bike after a 11+ year hiatus pretty well. I was also amazed that after a few days of hard riding I was still feeling totally refreshed. 

I was super amped and committed to going all out until I blew up at the dirt crit just to see what happened. I got a great start and was feeling amazing, in the front group of about 10; super relaxed riding well and able to close gaps when needed. Then I looked at my watch and realized we had only been racing for 20 mins. That was hard. I pushed on. I worked my way up to 6th or so and the person in front of me let the gap grow a little and I wasn't confident enough to pass and chase it down, which probably wouldn't have lasted too long anyway. 

Don't remember too much, other than I was staying away from the chase group and keeping the leaders at about the same distance. I was able to push all the way through and never felt negative, always motivated.

I finished 5th, my best dirt crit result in the last 3 years and I was stoked.