Not what keeps me coming back...

Last nights Buck Hill course/race was not what keeps me coming back to mountain bike races. Because of all the construction (snow making system) they had to send us the opposite way around the hill...the problem is that much of the course is sand, so when you switch directions, the climbs are all break-bump sandboxes which aren't that fun to ride on. I should have had the dual suspension for SURE!
Either way, I rode hard but within myself when Fisher went out fast. I had a few mishaps with the semi-slick tires on the sand but I recovered fine. On the second of four laps, I made the mistake of being 4th in the lead group (so about 3-5 seconds separated us all). Jeff, Sam and I got caught behind lap traffic (yes, lap traffic on our second lap=) that had let Fisher by, and he had 15 seconds immediately. We pulled him back with some hard work. The same thing happened on the 3rd lap to Sam and I except she let Sam by but not me. He had 10 seconds quickly, and I basically gave up. From there I pedalled hard between lapped riders and the I just waited patiently until they let me by. Sometimes the legs are there to do well, but it just doesn't come together...
Fisher ended up with the win and Jen won the womens, so the Velo Rochester group still finished well!

Video From the Race

Paul Hanson provides video coverage and commentary of the UCI race via a helmet cam on his blog: http://bikelog.us/

SWEET! Thanks Paul.

A UCI filled Mother's Day

In they eyes of USA Cycling and the UCI, Cycings two top governing bodies for US riders, the Maplelag UCI Mtb Spring Opener was the most important race on my schedule for 2007. The race has Cat 2 status which means it is just below a national race on the importance scale. The main difference between this race and a normal MNSCS race is that Pros, SemiPros, Experts, etc. all race separately. Also the cash payout is higher=)

Jay, Jonelle, and the rest of the Maplelag crew always put on a top notch event and this was no exception. The course was in perfect condition and Jay had us doing 4 x 30 minute laps. The cool thing is that the Pro race on Saturday (won by Jeff Hall) was the same course so we could compare times.

The semipro field was the same size as the pro field, eight, and most of the top riders from the region were represented in one of the two races. 3 of the top WORS/National semi pro racers came over for the race: Mike Phillips, Chris Peariso, and Jesrin Geier.

From the gun, Mike took off like a wild man. He has been working over the SemiPro field at the national events, and I knew he would be a strong contender. Chris and I were actually last going into the single track. Experience told me to take my time and not blow up. Well, a few 44x11 efforts later, I was about 10 seconds in back of Mike. From then on, I just rode my own race. The course is EXTREMELY punch and tight. There are a few flat xc ski trails, but all the singletrack, 3/4 of the course, is up or down. I let things flow and caught Mike mid way through the lap. After going through the start finish, I took the lead and never looked back. Mike was there for a good while, but I was at/near my limit and with 3 laps I wanted to set a consistent pace.

By the time I entered my 3rd lap, I had over 2 minutes on the rest of the field. It is a good thing too because the 85 degree heat was taking its toll. I started cramping...I drank most of my bottle right away and rode the lap in damage control mode. Other people must have been hurting as well, because I ended up with 3.5 minutes on second place. Fisher rolled in with a strong 4th place. He was riding in 2nd place when he had an atomic bonk.

http://www.peaktiming.com/Results/maplelag_opener_overall_semi-pro.pdf

Another positive about the result was that my time would have put me 3rd in the men's pro race.

http://www.peaktiming.com/Results/maplelag_pro_men.pdf

Jen Meyer ripped it up in the Expert Womens (there is no Semi-Pro for women). She had her game face on all day according to my wife. It is good to see her so strong and winning in the WOW jersey...for those who don't know, VeloRochester and WOW are brother/sister clubs.

Tegan had the best seat in the house and was laughing at dad while he suffered.

A camera man caught this oops...and SAVE of mine. A momentary lapse of concentration is all it takes. Thanks to Bruce from Skinnyski for most of these pics...he always does a great job of covering the local events=)
Fisher did it there right way. In 1.5 laps he went from 7th to 2nd. I want to say a special thanks to my Wife who took care of Tegan before and during my race when she should have been getting a Mother's Day pedicure. Without you sweetie, I wouldn't be racing!

Cheers.

Buck is Back

The Buck Hill series kicked off tonite and I think it gave everyone there including myself a good kick in the pants. I haven't been feeling well since the cold, wet, muddy race last Saturday so I wasn't expecting much.
The race started 15 minutes late, so we had a nice long time at the starting line to let the legs cool down...seriously though, it was fun to chat with everyone again (especially the dude that was riding what he claimed to be a 17 lb hardtail). From the gun, Fisher, Sam O, Paul and I took off. I though the pace was reasonable especially on the climbs. I didn't want to try any early attacks because, again, the legs just haven't been there this week.
On the second lap on the back side climb, I gave it a punch. Paul held on for about a minute according to him and from there I rode solo. They added some single track to the course which is much to my liking and I think it will help my race performance there this year. I was able to ride it home with almost a 1.5 minute gap...much more than I expected.
Chris ended up second and Jen Meyer won the womens, so that left Velo Rochester/WOW with a 1st and 2nd in the mens and 1st in the womens. Sweet!
After the race Tegan and I got to hang out and try a few of the kid bikes. He wants something carbon fiber but I was trying to convince him that wood would be a good way to start. You can tell by the look on his face that he wasn't to sure about that.

Maplelag is this weekend...hopefully it doesn't rain (it has every time I have raced there).

Trail Benefit?

On Saturday, I headed up to Elk River for the Hillside Blast trail benefit race. This is the third time I have done this race, and I keep coming back because I love the trail. There isn't too much to say about how the race went, and I am not sure we "benefited"the trail by riding on it in the mud. I started pretty fast, had a 30 second gap on the field in the first 10 minutes of racing, and then it started raining.

The trail looked like this.

I had to make a decision to either quit or finish. Finishing meant wasting a $180 dollar pair of Stan's rotors and riding with no brakes (stan's rotors simply don't work int the wet and the special coating wears off). I hate quitting more than loosing money, so I finished...on semi-slick tires no less.

I will take the win, and the muddin' experience. I am not sure if I will replace the rotors...stainless may be the way to go.

Tegan was like "screw you guys, I am taking a nap."

Sunday, I headed to Rochester to attend my brother Brad's Eagle Scout award Ceremony. I am really proud of him. That makes 2 of us Eagle Scouts in one family=)

Ben doesn't update his blog, but he did the WORS Race on Sunday and finished 5th. Our next race together will be the Spring Cup. Velo Rochester will be out in full force at that race.

Sweat, Dirt and Snot

You know it has been a good week when all of your bikes are covered in sweat, dirt, and snot. Yes, even the road bike.

Time for some rest...

Madtown

Early season off road TT's are a nice mean way to wake your body up from the winter slumber.

This past weekend Jen, Tego, and I packed up and headed to Madison. We hadn't been there in way to long and missed the city and our friends there....oh, and there was a off road TT nearby at UW Platteville on Saturday=)

The TT course was 1000 feet of climbing each lap, lots of twists and turns, a log bridge over a big gap jump, and a starting ramp to get you going (pic above). The race was 2 laps and I went really hard on the first one...Ben started 30 seconds behind me so I had to get on it right away. I started to gap him. Then 1/2 way through the lap, I dropped my chain and slid my front tire out in a matter of a couple minutes..i lost 30 seconds to a minute from these two hiccups. Going into the second lap, I had put 30 seconds on Ben, but didn't know it. I kept pushing until the end and dealt with some calf cramping because of the effort (Ben also had calf cramping, and all we can figure is 80 degree temps and first hard mtbking of the year caused this).

One great thing about TT's is that given similar conditions and the same course, you can compare your results from previous attempts. In the end I won the TT and was 25 seconds off Jeff Hall's course record from last year. Minus the dropped chain and foolish crash, who knows. Either way I was 2.5 minutes faster than last year. Ben came in 2nd and trimmed over 4 minutes off his time from last year! Watch out for him...

Results should be posted here at some point: http://www.uwplatt.edu/org/uwpcycling/

After the race we were treated to some sweet jumps...this one courtesy of Richzilla.

After getting back to Madison and showering up, we got a babysitter for Tego and headed out on the town. Between some Great Dane beer and a boot of Spaten Optimator, we were all fat and happy=)

Top secret training you ask? Yes, this is Ben and his girlfriend Polka'ing the night away at the Essen Haus (German beer house).

Our biking tolerant hostess Mackenzie and my lovely wife=)

Until next time.

The OX and a 96er

This weekend kicked off the race season here in Minnesota. Rochester Cycling and Fitness, our teams title sponsor, along with RASC hosted the Oxbow Spring Classic. The highlight of the race is the Oxenburg climb, which is a couple hundred yard stretch of 22% grade followed by a gradual 1/2 mile climb....it should be noted that they shut the hill down in the winter because it is impassable. Look what the Oxenburg did to this poor animal...
Let me back up a few steps. I was having some debate on what bike to ride because in the past Ox races I had trouble hanging on when the peleton ramps it up going downhill. On Wednesday, I took my hardtail for a ride with 29er wheels (29" or 700c is the road wheel diameter vs 26" for mountain). It felt really high in the front end because I had my fork set up with no sag. Then it came to me... and the 96er was born. I put a hard case tire on a 29" wheel for the rear and a mountain bike tire and wheel up front. I couldn't call it the 69er because Trek probably already has a Trademark on that with their 29 front and 26 rear combo.

Back to the race.
Since my license says I am a Cat 5 (the lowest cat) I am kind of breaking the rules when I race the Cat 1-3 race. However, I am there for training and I wanted to do the longest, hardest race. This year they split the A class 3 ways...Cat 1-2, Cat 3, and over 35. That was fine by me, and so as to break the rules "less," I registered for the Cat 3 or A2. This allowed me to do the long race w/o messing up the results for the more serious roadies.
Off the start it was slow and nice until the first Oxenburg climb. The King of the Mountains prize was given to the first person from each category up the climb. While I didn't plan on even trying for the KOM title, we hit the climb, and I felt fine. I put in a little effort and crested the hill 4th or so but I guess I was first in the A2. It was hard to keep track in the race because the only difference was that A2 numbers were 600's and A1 were 700's. The rest of the race was pretty lame until the end. It was unknown to me and most of the peleton, that Grandstay, who by the way had 8 out of the 30 person peleton, had a guy away after that first climb. Grandstay sat on the front of the peleton and shut anything down...so I sat back and dealt with surge after surge....100% for a minute or less, followed by 2 min of coasting. This is TOTALLY NOT what I train for (mountain bike racing is just max sustained effort for ~2 hours) and was quite draining on my legs. I probably would have been better off taking pulls to keep the pace high. My brother Ben caused a lot of pain and had the peleton asking "who is that guy" as he put in pull after pull. In the end it fried him, but like he said, he was just there for training=) All I know is that Ben is going to win some races this year.

The only snaffu of the race for me happened when I missed a handoff. Ben, Chris and I were close together and I fumbled the bottle. I would have been screwed, but my dad sprinted after me and got me a bottle...a total race saver. He can sure still move for an old guy=)

Near the end of the race, Doug Swanson had gotten away and the Grandstay team was starting to look more ragged. I hopped on the front with 1/3 a lap left and put down a reasonable effort. I couldn't deal with more slow climbing and was pretty confident I could hurt some people with a hard pull....the pull ended up being for several miles.
Then THE LOOK! Dan Swanson had been sucking my wheel. He pulled up on my side, gave me a good stare and took off! I will have to get him back for that=) From what I hear it was pretty funny to see.
It was just hammer the last couple miles to the finish. There were only a couple 600's left in the group and when we hit the Ox the last time, Fisher hit it hard but then popped. Some other 600's kid on a road bike was right in front of me. I found plenty in the tank to pound past him (in pic below).

In the end I won the A2 race and was the A2 KOM (5th or 6th overall - no results yet), which is pretty cool because I expected nothing out of the race. Most importantly, I got a really good hard workout.
Oh, and I have to mention the trophy...the COOLEST I have ever gotten. As Chris Walkin would say, "I have a fever and the only cure for that fever is some more ...

Dan admiring the VeloRochester bike selection
Enough writing already right? Sorry, it has been a while since I have had anything worth talking about.
As Kip would say, Peace Out.

Silver Lining

This morning I got up before dawn like every Friday morning to go play hockey...but I didn't go play hockey. I went to Mammoth! It was frozen, crunchy, and sweet kinda like chocolate chip ice cream.
I only got one lap in because Seagate pays me to be an engineer, not a biker...and retiring earlier rather than later is on my mind=)

And a cool random picture for today:

Spring?

Let me start with the good news. I picked this up last Friday.

It is Cannondale System Six DA road bike. It is fast and fun, and I have had one decent day to ride it since.

Some more good news is that Tegan now gives some positive feedback when he is happy (vs. just not crying before). He can smile and will lay on his back kicking like a crazy man until he gets out of breath. Then sometimes he cries=)

Bad news: Mother nature crapped on us. 4 days straight of rain were followed by one "nice" day near 50 (average). Luckily, I had rest planned for the 4 days of rain. Now it is 15 degrees out with 30-40 mph winds. I guess I won't be getting soft any time soon.

I wonder what it feels like to ride on dirt......