Finally Some Results

So it has again been a while since my last update. To be honest there hasn’t been much going on as I didn’t race the weekend after Subaru Cup. I took the extra time to get myself aligned for the coming school year and get myself back into the MTB training/racing schedule that worked so well for me last year. As much as I really enjoy racing on the road, and racing as much as possible, 2 races every weekend and trying to train in between is just a lot of work and effort. It was really wearing me down. After taking a couple days off and resting for the Subaru cup I felt great and did well in a tough field, so I can say for sure that I was very fatigued. And looking back on all the racing and all the results for the year, it all makes sense.

Down the first part of the descent, before the switchbacks

 Putting my body through all the stress in the beginning of the year wasn’t all bad though. I learned a lot about my body and how it reacts to training. I now realize what it means to be tired, what it means to be exhausted physically, and mentally. I have always felt that balance in life is important, the real key to happiness. But this doesn’t mean that just playing everything safe and in the middle is the way to go about getting there. You need to push your body and you mind, find that limit and break yourself down. I have done that with my mind and spirit doing formula and found my limit there. Now I have done it with my body on the bike. But the other side of things needs to be explored. I definitely had a time after school ended where I was super lazy. I sat around a lot and slept even more. No doubt this was kickback from all the work I had done, but it showed me that although you can’t work yourself dead, you can’t sit around all the time either. You really do need that nice balance.

And that is what I feel that I am moving towards now. There isn’t necessarily anything crazy amazing going on in my life that I am really excited for that is making me happy. I think that because I am just doing what I love, getting sleep, training, working, making money and living relatively stress free I am happy. It’s not a revelation, or an epiphany. It is the realization of a long term goal. I found that happy medium between overworked and underworked. That’s not to say that I am there, but I have it in sight. It might not be something that I can attain and hold, but it’s something that as long as I’m close, I can be happy.

Not my best photo, but this was at the top of the
second to last climb, you can see the relief on my face

And this is really helping me in other aspects of life, like bikes! It just makes sense that the only way to get faster is to train hard. But when things fall out of balance, you are not at you best physically and mentally, you just can’t train hard enough. I found that a little rest goes a long way at Subaru cup, and that with that restful mindset; I was able to train harder. Put those together and you have a winning formula, well 9^th.

That’s right! After a week of good training with a few long rides early in the week leading up to Alterra, followed by some rest and two hard interval days followed by more rest; I was feeling pretty good for the Super week race on Saturday. This past weekend was certainly going to be a good weekend. There was a super week race which literally started down the block from my parents’ house. Then the next day was Alterra. I was feeling really good for the Crit, and had a fair amount of support from my team. With 2 laps to get I was sitting 10-th wheel which was perfect. From there I made the mistake of not moving up for the last lap. Early in the last lap, the eventual lead out that won moved past me, in retrospect, I should have followed that wheel. I came around the last corner and opened up a really long sprint and made a ton of ground up, but not enough to take the win, finishing in 7^th. A little disappointing, especially to not win in front of my parents and friends, but 7^th was still pretty good.

Thanks again Claire

The next day was Alterra and despite racing the next day I felt really good. I lined up and had great position from the start. I filed into the field section in about 15^th wheel. From there I just kept picking off riders. Pretty quickly I found Bryan Fosler’s wheel. I followed him and Matt Gehling around for the first lap and came out onto the big climb in contact. I decided that I had to show them I was a force to be dealt with so I attacked up the hill and got a gap. Turned out they really didn’t chase much until they realized that I was gone. With them behind me I really felt like it was going to be a good day. And with my dad, and few other friends supporting me and cheering, I knew that I was in for a good race. My favorite cheer had to be the one from Claire who was handing me bottles. She said, “Slow down Joe, I can’t keep up with hand ups.” I didn’t slow down.

The last lap was a really tough one, because I know that the guys behind me might be able to catch me if my legs didn’t hold out. I was lucky to have a racer in front of me get a mechanical and I slotted into 10^th place with Ronsta up a head. I slowly pulled him back and on the second to last climb and attacked past him and got a big gap. Then I rocketed down the tricky decent trying to put enough time into him. I came out of the forest for the finish with Ron close enough to catch me, but somehow I still had some left and I put even more time into him. I ended up 9^th after an amazing ride. I cannot express how happy I was to place so well. I really need to thank the Trek store of Madison MTB team and Team WORS member Claire Cannon for the hand ups and my dad for a little bit of water and a lot of excitement. 

Man it Feels Good to be Home

One thing I definitely forgot to mention in my last post was how awesome it was go home to Milwaukee for a few nights. I went over to Milwaukee for ToaD racing, and stayed with my family. It’s easy for me to forget how much I truly love them when I’m always wrapped up in racing and working. I have a somewhat busy life, but I always like slowing down for a few days and spending time with my family.

After a relaxing weekend with the family, with some fun racing mixed in, I decided to take it easy during the week. My dad has told me many times that rest is important. I completely agree, but never really made the proper effort to make it happen. I spent the week riding as little as possible, sleeping properly, and eating as best I could. I think I did a decent job. I came up with a really tasty rice thing with tomatoes, pepper and whole host of other vegetables. Add some salmon to it and I was eating like a real person for once! I also decided to pull the trigger on some new MTB wheels, something I had needed since last year began! I ended up getting DT 240s and Stan’s ZTR Arch rims laced with DT revolution spokes. I figure it’s a fast enough wheel set to race for the year, and should last me a long time as a training wheel set once I get something nicer. Having said that, they are really nice, very light, and very stiff as well; I am super happy with them so far. I spent the week building those, and completely cleaning the rest of my bike. It needed it, badly.

Not only did I spend the weekend at home, but I went home in another way. The Subaru Cup was last Saturday, and it was awesome to get back to the dirt. I felt good coming in and was really hoping for a good result. I was really bummed out that the short track filled up, but in the end I wasn’t going to get all broken up about it. Drove up later on Friday with Isaac Neff from Willy bikes, the store where I worked before Saris. He had the Willy bikes sprinter, which for those of you who don’t know is a really tall van good for hauling bikes and people to races. It was pretty sweet to have all the setup. We arrived in time to get a pre-ride in for the XC course. My first impression was that it was quite a bit harder than I remembered, but this was also because I raced cat 2 last year. There was a new section called the nitro amphitheater which had a few world cup style option routes. Although both the A options were not difficult, it really played well for atmosphere. They also removed a field section, which I think was a good decision as it didn’t really add anything to the character of the course. Overall an amazingly fun and challenging course, very difficult with lots of climbing.

I lined up to race with plenty of time, but was surprised to be way back on the starting line. I didn’t think this was a big deal as there is plenty of room on the first 2 miles to pass, at least there was last year. This year however the course went straight up the hill after the bridge and into some tight single track. There was a huge pile of people wait to get into the section and people ended up standing around. With a little bit of aggression and assertiveness I was able to make up a few spots there. What really helped me were my cyclocross skills. I hopped off my bike early and ran past people in the single track. I made it past the first option and rode the drop. I had to again dismount before the second option and ended up leaping off the Bontrager Bolder, seriously a 5 foot drop or more. With a awesome start not only was a in good position, but really had the racer mindset. I feel I have been lacking that competitive aggression lately, so it was good to get that back.

Dammit, Gary got a picture of me falling

After the first lap I kept the pressure on hard and was consistently passing people one by on. I feel like almost everyone I passed I was able to handle, that is until I got near the top twenty. One the last lap I was riding somewhere around 20^th or I thought maybe farther up. I was trading spots back and forth with some guys, but was able to get gaps in the single track and when passing some of the elite women. At the end of the lap I was gassed, but ended just outside to top 20 in 21^st.

I was disappointed to be outside the top 20, which I know I’m capable of, but I was happy to feel like I was able to push it. My legs didn’t feel amazing, but Just having that aggression back makes me hopeful that I can continue to ride right around the top 20, and even high when my legs are feeling good. It was also amazing to be riding with some really fast Cat 1 MTBs from around the country, some of which I’ll be racing in the MWCCC season and at nationals. Overall, another amazing weekend racing WORS filled with excitement, and some of the coolest people in the world. Watching the pros race wasn’t bad either!