Out of the groove

The last week hasn’t been bad, but it’s certainly been one of those weeks where you remember all those things you have to be thankful for. One Wednesday night I felt a sore throat coming on and woke up Thursday morning contemplating going into work. I wasn’t dying and didn’t even feel that bad. But I wanted to try and stop the cold before it started so I’d be fresh for the weekend. It was Memorial Day weekend after all.

The days went by until Saturday morning and I woke still feeling tired and with a runny nose. I was really bummed, but I had to miss the snake. Watching the race from the sidelines was still a lot of fun. It’s a very exciting race to watch as the riders have some of the best pain faces because the snake is unforgiving. My teammates had ok finishes, but didn’t perform how they wanted to which was too bad. But either way they rode hard and that’s all one can do.

I was able to race Sunday in Melon city. Not much to say here except holy crap that’s a hard race. It’s pretty obvious what you get when you put some of the regions fastest riders and tough course. But actually feeling that is another thing. I was dropped after 22 laps and did 2 laps by myself. Sad thing is I still finished well. Next day was quad cities, similar story except I was able to hang in there. The race was fast but I sat in comfortably and worked on pack presence. I thought once about trying to get into a break, but only once. The last 7 laps were ridiculously fast and I was only able to hang onto the back of the pack rolling in 45^th place as the last rider on the group.

All this is fine and dandy, but I want to talk a little about how the cold is affecting me. Over the last few weeks, Training with Gordy has got me into this nice little rhythm. I can tell that I’ve been riding about as hard and as often as I can without killing myself. I’ve felt good at all the races, but I was tired during the weeks. Basically I think things were going really well. But when I got sick I had to take 2 days of training and 1 day or racing off. It felt like an eternity and I felt weird on the bike on Sunday. I didn’t like this at all. I didn’t really feel normal or good until Tuesday morning. In fact I still feel kind of fat and slow.

I think the reason I got sick was that my body was obviously worn from training, plus not getting enough sleep. I knew this would lead to something bad and it did. I need to make a better point of being less sloth around the house so that I can get to sleep on time. I remember a time when I could handle a night with only 6 hours of sleep, but on this training schedule, it seems I’m barley still functioning with 7. Hopefully things are ironed out by Wausau. I’ll have another front row start and I don’t want to waste it.

Other notable happenings:

Ran out of Clif Bars and I’m freaking out!

Couscous has been the most recent source of carbohydrates. I made a slamming veggie and couscous dish, really highlighted the flavor well.

I finally got around to replacing the chain on the road bike. It was making all kinds of noise.

Short and sweet, now back to work; Thanks for reading.

Dive in Head First

WORS #2 was this past weekend and after a relatively good start to the season I was still hungry for more. This season’s start off-road has to be put in perspective. Last year I placed 40^th at Iola and DNF’d at Crystal Lake, so placing 13^th this year at the season opener was exciting. I came out of that weekend with high hopes for a monster season.

Part of taking Mountain Biking more seriously this year has been making a full weekend out of racing. At Iola, Tim Racette and I stayed at one of our KS/TW teammate’s cabin about 20 minutes from the race. This past weekend it was about time to break out the tent and air mattress for a little camping. It was awesome that the venue had full shower, restrooms and food. It made everything so much easier.

Saturday was the usual pre-ride. I did something different than I usually do this time though. I took my first lap super slow and found all the lines. When you go slow you have a little more time to think and process everything. You also feel the bumps a lot more so when you make a mistake you feel it. The course was crazy dusty and just about as dry as I ever seen a course. But things were very fast as the course was dominated by fast open double track. On the flip side, the single track was bumpy and technical. My pick for ideal bike? Trek Top Fuel. The smaller wheels might not have been awesome on the flat open sections but were unbeatable in the tight stuff. And the soft tail made putting the power down a lot easier coming out of corners. Unfortunately I was on a hard tail, so my body was in for a pounding. I finished my pre-ride off with a fast lap at race pace, which took about 35 minutes, and finally another slightly faster lap which was just under 40 minutes.

Another teammate of mine, Matt Gehling was there as well and we got talking about the race. I knew I’d have a second if not first row start, so I was determined to make something of it. Matt was in total support. As he will say the plan should have been to go out super hard and then sit in, but all I heard was go out super hard…

After a solid warm-up I came to the line a little later than usual as I was called up and didn’t need to fight for a third row start. When I was called, there was not really any room on the front, but I asked politely and was able to squeeze in. Off the line I tried to play it cool, but that’s not really my thing and when Maciej went off the front, probably joking, I followed and it was on. When things settled a little more I tried to do my best to sit in and not push it too hard. I was trying to ride like I belonged there in the top 5. When the pace elevated I was the last man in the lead group sitting top 5! I wasn’t sure was to expect, but somehow I was sitting comfortably and making a point to keep second or third wheel trying to keep the dust out of my lungs. I never really tried to attack, but tried to keep an eye out for someone else to make a move. I felt things slowing a little and I knew I couldn’t hang, so my plan was to pull; keep the pace high and stretch the gap out to make sure that when I got dropped I could have a lot of space to keep my 5^th place. In hind sight not a great idea.

I went to the front and pushed it in the single track and got a small gap, and once we hit the open double track the gap only grew, so I didn’t let off. Again, probably really dumb move but it wasn’t all bad. From hearing stories, Jesse Lalonde asked the group when I took a flyer, “who the hell is that?” As far as I’m concerned, mission accomplished. If they didn’t know then, they know now. I remember thinking when I was off the front, I’ve got the element of surprise, they don’t know me, and maybe I can pull a big gap and stay away. Again, really dumb, but I know that now. They pulled me back middle of lap two and when I tried to catch the last wheel, it wasn’t there. I think I pissed them off a little bit.

There is a noticable difference in my face from
the beginning to my face a the end in this picture.

I finished lap 2 lap two solo with the chase group slowly pulling me in. On lap 3 they caught me and again, couldn’t hang on. After a bit of shuffling and some bad “I’m too cross-eyed to do simple math” I was either in 7^th or 8^th with bag gaps ahead and behind. I was pretty sure I was in 8^th, but turns out I was in 7^th, again, thinking is tough when you’re in over your head. Things stayed the same from there on out, every time I stood up and pushed it up a hill I was burning matches I just didn’t have. Usually if it hurts I can just indulge in the pain and push a little harder, but this was a lot of pain and I couldn’t catch the group in front of me. But I rolled in for 7th, matching my best ever finish in a WORS race.

I am incredibly pleased with how the race went. Ideally I wouldn’t have blown up so bad and finished 5^th, but I think I did what I wanted to do. I went to the front and showed my colors. I showed those guys that I’m here and they better take notice. Hopefully I didn’t piss them off too bad, but next time I won’t race so stupid. Next time I think I can hang on.

Weekend Update

It was a pretty low key weekend planed. I had the Matt Wittig Memorial Race Saturday and then 4 hours of dirt on Sunday. It was shaping up to be an awesome weekend.  The Crit would have tons of UW and TW riders to cheer on and I was excited for that, and Sunday was mountain bikes, what’s not to love. It was made even better by the fact that my mom called me on the way to the race to say she’d be there to watch!

Things unfolded in pretty standard fashion. I signed up, chilled out and got ready. I had a good warm up, which made me happy because I tried something new. I usually do some single leg stuff and some high cadence work  but I added in a 1 minute FTP effort and 2 sprints to get my heart pounding. This is very similar to what I did for Iola and it seems to work pretty well because I was ready to go from the gun. Maybe for WORS I should add in the sprints and 2 FTP efforts because I remember being a little in the hole, but I’ll see. I lined up and the gun went off.

Being the Matt Wittig Memorial race, the UW riders rode together and wore UW jerseys. We sent Eric up the road and blocked. He seemed to have a pretty good chance to stay away, he almost got out of sight from the pack, but got brought back with a few laps to go. From there Josh, a UW alum pushed the pace on the last few laps to string things out and provided the perfect setup for me to sprint for the win. Overall I was proud to put the motion W first across the line, and it was a ton of fun riding with those guys.

I then hoped in the P/1/2/3 to see how I’d fair, turns out pretty well. I felt comfortable in the pack, but I was burning matches to follow accelerations. I flated with about 13 to go and got my free lap. When I joined the group again I worked my way back up and started trying to bridge to the group up the road. I was able to do it and began doing work to try and keep it away. With only a few laps left I was ready to do anything to stay away and secure a pretty solid spot in my second P/1/2/3. It was a 5 man group and I was in the money so I was pretty happy. With 5 laps or so to go 2 wheel and sprocket riders and a stan’s rider bridged and it became a little more tactical.

I do have to say though, it was very dumb for the other big teams to allow 2 teammates to bridge like that, but I guess I wasn’t there so I can’t say much. My mistake was that I kept doing work when I should have begun to pay attention to the gap. Once they started working I could have sat in a little, the group was big enough for that. I kept working and got screwed in the sprint taking 7^th. To say I got screwed though is kind of weird, because I was happy with getting in the break in that race, especially after racing the 3s.

One topic of discussion with my friends lately has been my upgrade. I have to say, I’m a bit nervous because If I upgrade I’m fearful that I’ll be getting spit out the back at memorial day weekend. While that isn’t the worst thing, I was planning on doing well at snake alley and Memorial Day this year and I feel I owe myself the completion of that goal. At the same time if I do upgrade, then do well in the P/1/2, well that’s huge. That’s money and recognition I just can’t pass up. I need to think about it a little more, but there is one thing for sure. If I race Memorial Day as a 3, I’ll be sandbagging hardcore.

There is a lot to say about Sunday, but I can sum it up really quickly, it was amazing. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to just go ride off-road and enjoy it and enjoy the day. On top of that I was with Matt Gehling, a teammate who is on the same level as far as fast as me. He’s definitely better technically and I’m arguably stronger. So riding together pushes me to learn to handle and him to push himself. We never really said to each other, ok let’s rip it. But a few times we just got going fast and really kept it going. Teammates don’t do you much good off-road during races. But training like that? That makes both of us faster and it was honestly some of the most fun I’ve had in months. I can’t wait to do it again.

Next weekend is the Crystal Lake WORS race and I’m still hunting that top 5. Things are looking better and better.

WORS #1

With all the success in the past few weeks and how well I'd been feeling during the week, it's an understatement to say I was excited for the first mountain bike race of the year. With the new Trek Elite 9.9, I was losing almost 6 lbs off the old bike, and the confidence of having a new coach behind me, I had pretty high expectations. My dream goal was to really burst on the scene with a top 5. I didn't feel perfect on Saturday, but as the pre-ride went on I only felt better and better and the bike was hooking up nicely. This was certainly in part to the new tires I just picked up. I was lucky to snag some Bontrager XR1s and some XR3s, both tubeless ready. I mounted up the XR1s thinking I'd most likely use them in the sandy condition, as they are a good all around tire, but brought the XR3s in case of mud. The XR1s were sick in the sand of Iola, better than anything I've ever had. It had tons of traction and the 2.2 had the volume to push the corners hard without burping. But rain was expected that night so to be honest, the pre-ride was useless.

And what do you know, it rained. It rained hard that night. I stayed the night in a cabin 20 minutes from the course with a teammate, so I was able to not only relax and get a good nights sleep, but also keep a close eye on the weather. It rained a little during the night, but poured pretty good that morning. Tim (my teammate) and I both considered changing tires. He had a super slick raven on the back, and switched, which was a good idea. I decided to leave the XR1 on because I figured the sandy course would hold up. I was pretty nervous that things would fall apart completely and I'd be screwed. I got the venue at the Iola Winter sports club, always a cool place to race, and walked around. Between stopping to talk with good friends from Madison and years past from racing, I checked out the course.The starting area and the surrounding area was dry, but also sandy. Based on that I stuck with the XR1s. I got ready and started the warm up. the legs felt good, much better than the day before. I had a big breakfast and right on schedule I started burping it up during my warm up. On a side note, the guys I was staying with asked if I had any pre-race rituals. Tim would eat mac and cheese pizza the night before, pretty strange, but it must work. I had nothing to really say then, but I do now. Big breakfast, followed by lots of water. Then if I don't burp and taste it before the race started, I know I won't feel good because I didn't eat early enough. So that was a good sign. I got some hard efforts in a lined up.

I got in about 2nd row, but as more people came to the line i was pushed back to 4th or 5th row. That kinda sucked but it was ok because I nailed the start shooting the inside. I usually avoid the inside because everyone goes for it and if you are a few rows back it clogs up, but the inside was lose so people avoided it and the lane was open. I moved into the top 15 and charged up the hill taking a few more spots. I think I broke into the top 10, probably 9th for a period. I passed a few people on lap 1 and then started to fade on lap 2 a little which was made worse by some mechanical troubles from the mud, but i think that was pretty common. But what I was blow away by was how well my 'dry' tires were handling the mud. Some sections were beyond greasy, and running was the only option, regardless of tires. But in the light mud and the sandy sections I was making up 1-2 spots because I was railing the corners like they were dry. I think in dirt with more clay they would have clogged up, but in that sandy stuff, they were able to shed mud and hook up. I kept it going, my drive train was well behaved, until the last lap and I was able to nurse it in for 13th. Not what I was hoping for, but this will get me a call up in the next race so I should be well on my way to a solid season. 

I have to give some mention to the Speed cycling crew. I've been coached by Gordy for only a week now, but I'm already seeing benefit. Obviously it's impossible to see benefits from improved fitness in just a week. But i think the extra motivation both racing and training have helped a ton. And Gordy's experience has kept me from over training so I felt fresh and ready to go on race day. It's good to have someone with the experience and the knowledge to keep you on the right track. hopefully this is only the beginning.

Full results are here on the WORS website



Thanks for reading!

Home field advantage

The last week has been pretty awesome and I have a lot to not only talk about, but be thankful for. I’ll try to be concise.

Roll back the clock to 2 weekends ago. Leland Kermesse was a really tough race but I think I learned a lot coming out of it. I certainly went really deep and completely depleted things from not eating enough and just the fact that it’s such a hard race on the body. I’m sure it’s nothing compared to a real Belgium Classic, but enough of a taste. Then the next day I did a lot of work for the team (quantity, but not quality) and ended up coming out on top with a win at GDVC in the sprint. But it was a hard weekend and I could feel at GDVC that I was pretty tired. I decided to take an easy week to give the body some rest.

But there was no way I was going to skip Wednesday Worlds. So on Wednesday, after two days of easy recovery rides, I went out and got ready to crush it. I felt pretty good, but not great for the first hour or so and won the sprint into Belleville. Then on the 92 climb skip attacked like I knew he would and I followed. I proceeded to go super deep to follow and just couldn’t close the gap. Something that I wasn’t too bummed about, but when I noticed that the group was also gaining I realized just how hard skip was going, he wasn’t. Things went downhill from there as I just completely blew up. In hind sight it was probably due to a poor breakfast that morning, but that in itself was telling of my overall fatigue. I was making bad decisions just to get some food in me, and I was too tired to stop myself.

I’m really taking it easy now. Thursday and Friday were easy recovery and I planned on taking it easy on Saturday in prep for Sunday’s road race. In my little time off, I went in to talk to Speed Cycling’s own Gordy Paulson. For those of you who don’t know, Gordy is a well-known cycling coach, from my understanding the best in the mid-west. And I can see why. I was happily surprised when Gordy sat down with me to see that he wasn’t a salesmen telling me how awesome training can be. He was real, and told me how hard it would be. But he wasn’t trying to scare me, he was trying to prepare me and had a confidence and experience about him that made me feel like this was something big! I instantly felt my motivation shoot up 100% right there. If you’re at that point in your cycling career where you don’t know where to go, talk to the people at speed because no matter where you’re at, they know where to go and how to get there.

After the chat I was ready to show what I could do, maybe a little too much. I took Friday pretty chill on a lunch ride and went home on Friday night to some amazing food from my mom. Pot Roast, mashed potatoes, and homemade apple sauce! It was amazing, and my friends who joined me agreed. It was more of a nod because we were all too full to say anything. I probably had eaten too much but I didn't care, it was so good!

The weather on Saturday morning was pretty bad. Rain expected all day and the temperature was dropping as the day went on. It’s been so nice out that I almost forgot it was spring, but this was good reminder. The team had a pretty good plan in place, and we started the race in a dominating fashion. We controlled the race and kept things together. This was my job and things seemed to be going well, but pulling back all those breaks was wearing the pack thin including my team. Strength wise, I was going well. But tactically I had basically eliminated most of my own team. Not what you want to do in a race. We re-strategized and came out with a solid third in the sprint with new member Alex Martin, but we were definitely looking for the win.

My mom outdid herself again that night with spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I tried to tone it down and eat less. I was able to do this, but still over-ate. Who cares, I needed the calories for the following day at the Kettle Moraine Klassic road race. I woke up and was feeling so-so. Not spectacular but I could tell my legs were happy to have some rest time, as they were feeling ok, but not fatigued. This was good because I had my eye set on this race as one to win. We had a loose idea of a plan as a team; basically we wanted to force a split half way through the race and see where we sat and who was there. When the time came there was one guy off the front for Rhythm Racing and we were not well organized so I called it off. Instead we chased the solo break guy down and the brought him back.

Once we caught him the attacks started flying hard. By this point we were well organized as we had just all moved up to the front to pull the break back. We were able to put a guy into every break and play the tactical game for 2 laps. We had a lot of times where we were able to have 2 guys in a small break. But they all came back. The dominant teams were us, Rhythm Racing, and LAPT, having Michael who had gone in the solo break at GDVC #1 with me.  One of these teams was always left out in the break so they never quite got away. Until on the final lap on the back stretch a Rhythm Racing guy got away around the corner and I followed hard. We opened up a 10 second gap pretty quickly and decided that this was it. We put our heads down on that stretch and got probably 20-30 seconds. Not much but a comfortable gap on the last lap. On the final stretch the RR guy was starting to fade so I did most of the pulling. I was in kill mode for sure.

Coming down the final hill with the last corner in sight we had maybe 15 seconds on the pack with red jerseys all over the front keeping the pace slow enough for me to stay away but I could see that others were trying to get through and they started coming fast. I came into the last corner behind the RR guy and took it really hard, clipping my pedal on the corner. I’d like to say I skillfully kept it under control, but I just kept pedaling and somehow my back wheel jumped 3 feet and landed perfectly as I sat down and started hammering. I stayed seated with less than 5 seconds, barely a gap. A GDVC rider came leaping out of the pack yelling “I’m gonna get you”. I whispered to myself “no, you won’t” as I put everything I had into the pedals. Looking back the rider was on my wheel but couldn’t come around. I stayed seated and continued to hammer. I couldn’t see my computer at the time but looking at the data I was pushing 900 watts coming to the line. Did you see the Tour of Romandie where Wiggins took the sprint? It was almost like that, in the saddle, everything I had. I looked back just before the line and had a bike length. I sat up and pounded my chest once and then raised my arms in the air for the win.

It was an exciting victory to say the least. I was looking for a victory like this. A hard race one where the win wasn’t something I could get just for being the strongest. And by no means was I the strongest. A lot of the Rhythm Racing guys were crazy strong. But we won in the end. We won because we worked well as a team and played the right cards at the right time. That on top of a little bit of good luck with me getting into the break with a guy that I was stronger than. It all came together at once and for that I cannot thank my teammates enough. Alex Martin, Tim Racette, Julio Jacobo, Andrew Hellpap and Ben Stengel. Each one of these guys put in everything and I thank them!

WORS #1 is up next weekend and it should be a really fun weekend hanging out and riding off-road. Can’t wait to get dirty!