24 Hours of Climbing

I slept hard last night, and I haven't done much today....reports on Ben and Chris are similar. I haven't heard, but I am guessing that Paul isn't bouncing of the walls either.

This report won't be lengthy. We rode 38 laps out at Afton over 24 hours (5PM Friday - 5PM Sat) with no major problems. Then next team was 2.5-3 hours down so the race was not too stressful. Lap times were 35-40 minutes depending on the amount of light. Chris and Paul put up 33:58 and 34:20 laps respectivly around noon on Saturday! They must have found some fresh chamois=) Ben was consitently fast even though he was in a "base" phase for the Collegiate season...Go UW!

Probably the most amazing thing that happened at the race is that Rich "Richzilla" Omdahl sucked down 30 White Castle sliders between laps...who knew sliders were a substitute for Gu?

http://www.morcmtb.org/forums/showthread.php?t=22657

Paul brought the RV...making this the most comfortable setup yet

Walking to the starting line

Ben working itTegan and Cousin Jeff hangin'Grandpa and Tegan Fisher getting ready for another oneCarnagePaul...no longer a 24 hour virgin

Control - Alt - Delete

For you computer literate, yep, that is what I did this week. Start over with a restful easy riding week....the volume was the same, but I kept the intensity very low. The feeling I had last weekend is not one I want to feel again. I think the reboot worked.

I felt much better at Spirit Mt yesterday, and while the result show that I got worked by Jeff, I am content this morning. Off the start, I took the hole shot and Jeff followed. By 5 min in we had a 20 second gap or so, and I wasn't' riding under any pressure. Then all of a sudden, after a rocky section, Jeff and I look up the hill to see the field cruising by. They had all unintentionally cut at least 30-40 seconds off the course! Jeff and I flew up the trail and they let us pass. I was flustered, but they all let us by. We had a gap soon again, but a foolish crash left me alone with missing skin on my left hip. I waited up for Paul and the chasers who I finished the first 1/2 lap with (it was a 2.5 lap race and the first lap was a 1/2 lap).

At the start of the next lap, I got away by a bit again...then BURP! Yep, the tire burped, but luckily Mr Stan and my CO2 cartridge saved the day. Sam went by me and the chasers almost caught me by the time I got back in the saddle. I went hard and caught Sam, and from then on we rode together (save the time I twisted my handlebars and had to chase back again!). We gapped the chasers pretty good on the sweet new climb they added. I should not that this is the most fun and challenging climb I have encountered in the Midwest....rocky, rooty and steep. Thanks to all the Duluth trail workers and Scotty K for making a sweet course.

Going into the final lap, Jeff had 3 minutes on us, so Sam and I just sat up and took a easy lap. He was feeling pretty bad about cutting the course, and he said that I had him on the rivet during the climb anyway. In the end I rolled in ahead of Sam, as he burped a tire on the last climb and told me not to wait.

Summary: legs felt good despite 2 silly crashes and a flat. I definitely could have gone faster yesterday, but it just would have made the gap smaller to Jeff...what is the point of being a closer second? =)

24 of Afton this weekend...if it doesn't dry out, we are out.

Just one of 'dem days...

My face at the finish says it all: Welch really took it to me today. I kind of saw it coming, but didn't want to believe it and didn't tell anybody. My legs had been hurting abnormally this week. I felt it at Buck on Thursday, where Sam rode away from me, and it was the same story today. To be honest, I really wanted to quit, and I had to convince myself to keep riding. The reason that I kept going was to show the younger riders that never giving up is important.

The race:

At the start, Jason Wenk slipped a pedal or something and took me out. I was dead last before I knew it. I got clipped in and had to put in a hard effort to recover, but this put me into the red way too early. This was the worst scenario, as my legs already had lead in them. From there, I hung on to the leaders for about 1/2 the first lap...never really recovering.

At that point, I decided to cut my losses and just ride. Sam O is climbing like a crazy man right now and rode away from Ben and Jay. Sam told me on Thursday and again today that he is feeling amazing right now.

I don't know how, but I ended up only a minute or so down from Ben and Jay (according to my dad, I haven't seen the results). With dead legs, 4th is more than I deserved.

Me, no where to be seen at the startWorking my way up

Tegan telling me, "its ok, daddy, get em next time."

Next weekend is Spirit Mt in Duluth....until the, some rest.

Oh well...it was fun, right?

This weekend, myself, Ben (bro), Ben (Portilla), and Fisher set out to win. We didn't, but we did ride about 320 miles off road.

Everyone on the team did their best. The course was FLAT....PAN FLAT! Nothing like we are used to here in Minnesota or out in Col (for Ben P). The singletrack was rocky, rooty, twisty, and super cool. Between single tracks sections was flat double track.

We didn't win because of several things in no particular order.

1. We weren't feeling great. No one on the team was anywhere near a peak. Were weren't going bad, but we weren't going good.

2. The team that beat us was really strong, especially on a power course like that. Doug, a 2 time Cheqaumegon winner probably had it in the 44-11 on all the flats=) Jesse was awesome out there. Discounting the first lap (they skipped a section of the singletrack) Jesse and I were the only ones to pull sub 58 minute laps. Brian and Marko were consistently strong the entire time.

3. I had a rough night. In fact, it put the win out of reach. My handle bar light fell off 4 times on my first night lap because my mount was broken. It was a borrowed light and I didn't want to loose it, so I pocketed it and ended up riding the lap with only a small head lap. On the second lap, I was rolling through the rocks and hit one kinda hard, which burped my tire and popped a spoke out of my beloved Mavic SLRs....don't worry it WASN'T the red spoke=) I ended up having to put a tube in when it wouldn't seal...oh and my CO2 was acting up so I had to wait for someone with a pump to come by. The whole ordeal took more than 1o minutes. After fixing the flat and dealing with the spoke so I could finish the lap, I even took time to pee. Heck, it was 2:30 am, I was in the middle of the woods, I had Stan's gu everywhere, and I had just put us out of contention. What could a nice leisurely pee hurt? =)

I can't thank our support staff, Jen, My Dad, and Ben P's parents enough. They did their best to force feed us when we looked tired and demoralized. We couldn't have done it without them.

Next year we will be back if it is the National Championships...otherwise we will probably opt for Afton. For now, I think one 24 hour race a year is enough. Ask me in a few days if I am doing 24 of Afton.

Cheers

24x9

Our Team is ready to go for the Stars and Bars...

Ben Moore

Brendan Moore

Chris Fisher

Ben Portilla



Wish us luck. I am sure the Wisco boys will have a team there for some good competition.

Ninja

Last night was a perfect night for a mountain bike race...80 degrees, low humidity, a nice breeze.

With no Paul there (he is out at nationals) Fisher and Sam decided that I had to lead it out. I would rather follow, but duty called...

I rode reasonably hard on the hills and just let things flow in the singletrack. After the backside singletrack on the first lap, I basically rode solo the entire way for the win. My only contact with Chris and Sam was when in twisty the singletrack sections I would hear them yelling "NINJA." Apparently they saw Paul's little blog quip about me being a "Singletrack Ninja."

Afterwards, I got a fair amount of grief during awards....I may show up in all black next week.

Hammering

The Buck Hill Race last night was hard. Paul led a pretty hot first lap and then started to suffer so I put in a nice hard attack on the pavement climb. I got my nose in the singletrack and just tried to keep it upright (it was very dusty/sandy/washed out last night). I managed to pull a 10 second gap on the chase group of Sam, Chris, and Eric Thompson before the end of the lap. Eric really picked it up last night and hung tough. I continued to climb within myself and ride the singletrack as cleanly as possible. It ended up being a solo TT style effort from the attack on, and I rode it home for the win. Sam took second and Eric nipped Chris for third.
The race was hard and my legs felt fine...much better than in the heat at Kato.

I was going to ride down to Rochester this afternoon, but right now my body is screaming for rest. I am going to listen.

Next race is at Buck in one week.
Cheers.

Tres Chaud

Today's Bluff Riders Charge in Mankato was the hottest race I ever remember being in. I know I have probably said that before, but you know what they say about racing...you need to have a short memory.
The exact numbers are difficult to say, but my car said 95 in the shade. On the side of the ski hill, who the heck knows. Combine that with 70+ degree dew points and you get the picture. Heat indexes well into the 100's. I should stop complaining now=)

Jeff Hall showed up for the first time in a long time...he had some good Euro-stories

Lucky for us, the race was only about 100 minutes because any longer would have made things a lot more difficult. From the gun Paul Hanson was going to have his way with the race. I was the only one who attempted to follow him, but my legs didn't quite have the charge I expected today. 1/2 way through the first lap I had to decide whether I wanted to blow up or ride my own race. The decision was easy, but it left me riding solo for 4.5 laps with Jeff Hall, Fisher and others a little ways back. I was only down 1 minute going into the fourth lap and ended up over 2 minutes down. There isn't much else to say other than that Paul was flying up the climbs and put on an impressive "pro" show. I was happy with second on a day like this and the strongest man won. Fisher put in a strong ride and came in 3rd. It is great to see him killing it again. Ben suffered but hung in there and refused to DNF. That isn't easy when it is hot and the legs aren't there.
All of the pics are from Paul's Dad, Thanks!

A new gnarly part of the course call "Quick Release"

Seeing exactly how hard I have to go on the last lap...no other experts in sight=)

Having way too much fun during awards.
There is a couple week break now from weekend racing....I wonder what the next race will be? I can tell you that it will be an important one for me...and 3 others=)

Compatability on Vacation

I keep teasing myself that my brother and I will have a nice endurance ride one of these days, but let's face it, we aren't compatible that way. Every ride ends with both of us crying "uncle!" Some you have ridden with us and can attest to this, and usually it is Fisher that keeps us in line. Today the two of us went out for a friendly cruise in the Iowa countryside. After 2 hours of head wind we turned around and turned it up. Geez....we took the last mile back to the resort easy anyway after we looked at each other and agreed that the legs were completely cooked.

The best part of doing this on vacation is that we spend the rest of the day by the pool.

2 Fast Ones and 2 Trips to Chipotle

The starting line at Buck on Thursdays is usually when I start thinking about lunch the next day. Every Friday a group of us from work hit either the Chinese Buffet or Chipotle. This week I had a hankering for a burrito the size of a six pack.
Oh, and the race....the guys at penn made a super sweet course that was longer than normal so we only did 3 laps. The finishing times were comparable due to the added climbs. Fisher, Sam, Paul and I were off the front quickly with Eric Thompson dangling of the back. After 2 hard laps, Sam had a flat and Paul had fallen off a little. I led Chris into the 3rd lap, and he sprinted around me up the pavement climb because he didn't want me to go on the attack in the singletrack. Coming out of the singletrack we sprinted. Going up the bonus south climb we sprinted. Up the finishing straight we sprinted. It was sweet and painful to do 3 sprints in the last 5 minutes.... Chris took the final sprint for the win. VeloRoch, 1-2... Jen pulled of another win as well.

Today, I headed over to Lebanon Hills for the annual TT. I can't make the WORS race in Eau Claire tomorrow, but I wanted to get a little intensity in this weekend. I can't make the race tomorrow because we are headed out tomorrow for a family vacation at Lake Okaboji in Iowa...pool time and R&R here I come! I am sure Ben will make me suffer a little while we are there.
The TT went well, and I felt like I was going fast. I did 2 laps (Intermediate - Expert - Out for those who know the course) in 46 minutes, which was enough for the win.
When I got home, it didn't take much coaxing to get Jen and Tegan over to Chipotle for a second burrito in as many days and races. "Hello, my name is Brendan and I have a burrito eating problem"

BTW, my pick for the WORS race tomorrow is Fisher. He is going really good right now, and with a course that suits him, his power will be dangerous.

Cheers!