5/17 Sugar Cubed USAC XCM, 4th.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lots of big changes this year-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Landahl - First race in a Big Shark kit.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3/15 UFD Last Miner, KOM

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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