USGP Sun Prairie

Back in March when I looked at my USACycling account and thought about requesting an upgrade from a 2 to a 1 in CX, I thought it was a no brainer. Duh, of course I want to be a 1. If I had known then what I know now, I wonder if it would have been such an easy choice.

The weekend started out with a nice little ride out to the course on Friday to get a couple laps in with Dries, and then help set up the registration area. The course was similar to previous years with many winding corners and a few tough hills including the infamous hill side strangler. I did a few laps and picked up my number before getting a ride home with Jordan (thanks!).

Saturday was an early morning as they changed the format and race schedule so the 2/3 men and women, and cat 4 men all started before 10am. I got a ride over super early, but I was happy to see my friends ripping it up out on the course. I figured they all got yell at me later, so I’d better get them back when I could. But the long day at the race was of concern because it’s easy to forget to eat and drink. I made sure to focus enough to make sure I was primed and ready for the race. I warmed up as usual, making sure to really get a long one in versus a MTB race because the effort was much shorter. I could already tell in the warm-up that I didn’t have the top end I was hoping to have.

The racing was so intense! There is certainly something to be said for it being my first real CX race of the year, but still. The start was fast and aggressive, people bumping bodies all over the place. Every corner was do or die. I know that it can be like this, but again, I’m just not used to it yet I guess. I pushed it so hard to try and stay in the race. Every time I came to the run-up or another section with fans, they were so loud; I would just push it harder. But the top end wasn’t there and I faded back as the race went on. I was suffering, and you could see it on my face. I’m lacking some core and upper body strength and my body was screaming by the end when I was pulled with 2 laps to go. I finished in 39th. It was an early night for an early morning as I passed out pretty much when I got home.

It was a similar story on Sunday. Early start, lots of cheering, and complete focus on the race. I had a better starting spot this time so I was hopeful to get a good start and keep it. I was moderately successful. I was very happy to a head of the tail end of the field though as the riding in the top 30 and 40 was much more respectful as riders weren’t trying to cut you off every corner. I pushed hard to keep my spot, but to top end wasn’t there and I was suffering again. But just like on Saturday, the fans were going crazy and, as Skip would say, fueling my domination (sort of). I was able to stay in the race and finish in 39th again. But don’t get me wrong, I was hugely excited to finish, even if it didn’t look so on my face, I was hurting pretty bad.

And now for some data.
Saturday Laps
1-7:18
2-6:57
3-6:53
4-6:41
5-6:30
6-6:47
7-6:52
8-6:18
Sunday Laps
1-7:18
2-6:23
3-6:11
4-6:23
5-6:23
6-6:35
7-6:37
8-6:37
9-6:35
10-6:51
I looked at lap time and first off, you can really see how much a good start and good start position matters. Looking at lap times, my first lap was the slowest both days. But the lap times were pretty consistent, so I’m happy about that.

Tire choice was a big one too. This is the first year I’ve had the opportunity to run tubulars (big thanks to Challenge) and I’ve learned a lot already. They are extremely sensitive to pressure. I’m talking a psi here or there makes a difference. I ran the Challenge Limus on Saturday and I could tell that they were hooking up like glue in the corners. but they are more of a deep mud tire, so they weren't the best for the conditions. Sunday I ran my grifos and I was blown away. They were notably faster in the straights, but still had the grip in the corners for the dry stuff. Even on the run up, I had the grip to put all the torque into the pedals without worrying about my rear slipping out. Now that’s the kind of confidence that lets you push yourself.

Beyond that, I really do have to thank everyone who was there to support not just me, but all the local riders. There were so many people wishing me good luck and congratulating me on  the race that I couldn’t possibly name them all, but the support was amazing. And like I said, the cheers on the run up were keeping me on the power and in the race. So weather you’re a friend, fan or teammate, thank you for cheering! But a special thank you needs to go out to Dave Eckel, director as KS/TW. Even though he was racing both days himself, he was making sure I had what I needed. And of course it was awesome to see my parents there too. I was feeling the Wisco love!

Chequmegon 40 – Family traditions and a little success

This past weekend was the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival. If you’re not familiar, it’s a huge MTB race held in the northwoods of Wisconsin every year. It features a 40 mile race on Saturday as well as a 16 mile, and Sunday Crit-Cross, Poker Run, and Sunday funday events. All in all it’s pretty tough to not enjoy yourself with all the festivities.

And that has been true for me for the past nearly 2 decades. While for most it is just a race, for others it’s  a whole lot more. To some it’s a Wisconsin Icon, it’s a MTB icon, an epic race, or even just another challenge. But for me, it’s a family tradition. Every year my family in some form or another has been up in Hayward in the early fall racing their mountain bikes. I have literally been there almost every year since I was born. In fact, it’s more than a family tradition, it’s a family identity. It always has been, and hopefully will continue to be for a long time.

And to make matters more special, this was the race’s 30th running. I remember as a little kid running around the bowl, looking at the helicopter, and waiting for my dad to ride in after completing “the most brutal race in the world”. I have so many memories about going up there, I could go on and on and on. But to sum it up, I’d say this. Every kid has that special place, or special memory which defines there idea of happiness as a kid. For me Chequamegon is that special place and those memories are how I define my perfect childhood. To drive my point home, this race means a lot more to me than any other.

So to say the least, I get a bit nervous. And this year was no exception. Coming into it after pushing through both a broken collar bone and Mono, I knew I was not going to have my best race possible. But I was hopeful for something I could be happy about. I’d go as far as to say I needed a good result to keep the spirits up. I lined up after a pretty solid warm up and got comfortable in the 5th or 6th row in Gate 1.

The race started up as it always did, with a slow roll down main street and then onto the highway. As the quads pulled away a few people tried to attack, as always. The pace on the start this year was fast as it usually is, but it lacked the aggressiveness it had in the last few years and instead there was an overwhelming sense of nervousness. There were a lot of tires rubbing, every few moments there would be someone grouching as the “braaaap” of the knobs grinding cried out. It was a very nervous time, but I stayed cool and held my position in the top few rows.

When we hit Rosie’s field, I gunned it and got to the front as best I could, rubbing elbows with Tristan and other childhood heroes. But by the time we started out on the trails, I was getting gassed. Maybe 5 miles in I was hurting and lost contact with the lead group as they pulled away. I was overtaken by a few riders and fell into the back of the second group on the trail. I was struggling to stay there, and everytime I felt better, I’d get hit with another hill or another attack. And I’d like to make it clear. There are two things that make the Chequamegon hard. First, each hill is like the main climb in a WORS race, and they come one after the other without relief. And second are the attacks. The attacks are more vicious than in any other race I’ve done, because this race really matters, and people fight for every spot. So needless to say, I was in the red.

I dropped off the second group on a climb and slowly faded back just as the group was catching Bryan Fosler, a KS Energy Services/ Team Wisconsin teammate. I checked my computer and I had a long way to go so I settled in an focused on getting my breathing and heart rate under control to bring myself back within my limits. Once I did that I set about trying to keep it on the limit to try and catch any riders dropping off or maybe even a group.

I mostly rode solo through Hwy OO and beyond. I picked up a few riders on Fire Tower, but they were only in sight at that point. Once I hit the Berkie Trail, I began to close on the riders in front of me, but so did the riders behind me. With a few miles to go a small group of 5 riders including myself formed but quickly broke up after some shuffling around on the logging roads before the Mt. Telemark climb. I got to the top right on the heels of Justin Piontek as we began the descent into the finish area. I pushed hard, giving it everything I had. I didn’t touch my brakes once in hot pursuit. But in the end I just couldn’t close the gap. I rolled in alone, as I spent much of the race, for a 25th place finish.

I wasn’t sure about my finish position when I was done, but I knew that I had given everything I had, and whatever spot I got, I earned it. When I finally found out it was 25th overall, I was pretty excited. It’s important to remember, that while Chequamegon isn’t the most important race of the year, it in some ways is to me. This is because it is to my parents. And I love making them proud. But I was also extremely happy with the result for myself too. I see that as the first awesome result after being injured. In fewer words: I’m back.

Saturday night was filled with some good food on the grill, good beer, and good company as we celebrated with the team, friends and parents. But it was an early night to get ready for the Crit-Cross in the morning. A huge congratulation does go out to Bryan Fosler, one of my teammates, for placing 20th. It was cool to see him go up there and be recognized with the rest of the top finishes.

So I was up at the butt crack of dawn again on Sunday to head over to Telemark and race in the Cable Crit Cross. My history with this race is interesting. I race it every year, and as I’ve grown I’ve done better and better. But in last few years it’s been 2nd, or third. That win seems to elude me. After a 3 lap pre-ride, a fast 2 lap qualifier and a good warm up on the fund-raising trainer, I headed over for the finals. The course this year was different than before. Since changing to a Cross style race, the designers have struggled to make it a true CX course. But this year they’re starting to get it. More so than any year, the course suited a CX bike. But of course, I had my mountain bike. I started off fast and didn’t look back. I was able to pull away, but never really got away too much. I think I was about 5 seconds a lap faster than 2nd place. So when I dropped my chain on the last lap, I was in a hurry to get going again. Luckily I was able to get it on and win the race. Pretty stoked about that too. More than anything, It’s a free reserved entry into next year. That’s the best prize of all!

So the relative huge success of the weekend has me feeling awfully thankful and happy to make my family and sponsors proud. A huge thanks goes out to my mom and dad for always being proud and supportive. Of course the Team Wisconsin crew is a huge part of that support too. The support from KS Energy Services is unlike any I’ve ever had, and Trek is spot on supplying the team with the best bike around. And looking back, I realize I’ve never really thanked Emery’s a whole bunch. Emery’s has been there the whole time supporting us riders with gear and advice. I remember going through the bike buying process and I can tell you, they make it easy. They really did go the extra mile to make sure we were taken care of and ready to dominate the season. The whole team owes Brent and the whole crew at Emery’s a big thanks. If you need anything bike or Triathlon related head over there and be sure to mention my name and team and they’ll be sure to go the extra mile for you too.

Treadfest and Preparation

It’s time to stray from the usual blog subjects and talk about bikes.

Oh wait, never mind.

But seriously, I feel like this blog needs a bit of sprucing up, so I’m going to attempt to actually put useful information on the internet and talk about my pre-ride and warms up. What they should be and what they are.

First a little background. In all honesty, this is the first year I’ve put real effort into my preparation for races. My racing strategy has evolved from “put in enough effort to have fun, but not too much so that when you have a bad day you can say I wasn’t trying that hard” to “no any stone left unturned”. There are those Brian Matter’s and such who know the courses so well, are just that strong, etc. But I am not one of those. I’ve learned to work hard. Unfortunately I’ve yet to see the fruit of my labor, but that’s another story.

So needless to say it’s been a difficult process dialing in the preparation and figuring out how much effort to put into the pre-ride. You don’t want to make yourself tired for the next day. But the hope is that I have enough base in my legs that I can put in an hour or 2 and not feel it the next day. But the goal is at its core to gain a level of comfort with the course. You want to eliminate those first two laps of making mental notes about that corner there, or that rock here, how hard attack the hill, blah blah blah. You want to walk away from the pre-ride with the that confidence that you could race the next day and make no mistakes. You also want to open the legs up. I find that 1 or 2 laps ‘easy’ followed by 1 or 2 laps hard is perfect, depending on lap length and difficulty.

And I think I’ve a good job here. Take Treadfest for instance. I did 3 laps. My lap times were as follows: 34:57, 34:32, and 30:21. I did 2 laps easy and one almost at race pace. To compare my race laps were about 29 minute averages. That final lap acts are a good set of intensity to open the legs, and sometimes I’ll do some leg drills before that lap to wake the legs up. But again, I think my pre-rides have been good.

So you show up on race day, the course is buzzing around in your head and you feel good. You got a good night’s sleep (probably not) ate well (beer counts right?) and cleaned the bike up (haha, yea right). Regardless of those things, the warm up is something that I increasingly find to be important. The start of a MTB race is very important. Obviously the first few minutes are important, but really the whole first lap could be considered the start if you ask me. You’ve got be your rhythm right away. There is no time to find your legs or get focused. It has to be there at the start. I find that the real key to whatever warm up you follow is to get the heart rate up a few times. Sprints and 1-2 minute efforts are good for me. Get the heart rate up and let it come back down a little then hit it again. Tell your body to get ready. I’ve struggled to really be consistent with these.

Beyond that there are a million other little things you can do to make sure you’re ready when Don yells go. But I find the most significant one to be food. Eat the ride things at the right time and you will feel focused and lean. Still figuring this out, but for me, I stop eating real food 3 hours before the race, then start reaching for clif bars and shot blocks to fill the gaps before the race.

So in the end hopefully you learned something here, I know I did. In retrospect, I think I avoided writing about the actual race this weekend because I was disappointed. My usual impatient nature is starting to be annoyed with my racing as of late. I told tim on the way down that I only have one more ok performance before I start getting angry. Well the opening salvo went off when my chain slipped a few times and I threw my bike down. But really I need to thank those who encouraged me to get back on. Fellow racers Bill Street and Mike both told me to get back on the bike after that. Then the WORS super fans were going nuts like always at the top of the start climb, and I hate to disappoint them.  On top of all that, my mom was there making the most noise of all. At the end of the day, that race belonged to these people, because without them it would have been a DNF. So thanks.

Back to School

It’s been 2 whole years of working at Saris. After a semester off to work I’m returning to school, and I’m going all in. It’s obviously time for me to graduate, this being my 5th year. To make sure things go smoothly, I quit Saris to focus on school. Hopefully this will keep things a little less hectic. I’ve tried it before, and the work can be overwhelming. But there is a flip side. Money will be tight. But I know I can do it because I have an awesome family and the best support network of friends and sponsors to keep my head above water.

But beyond the trade-offs, it’s strange to be back in school. Waking up when class starts, and not at 6:30 every day is the big one right now. There has been so much sleeping going on! It’s strange to be sitting behind a desk getting talked at instead of thinking about a problem, or just cranking out work. It’s refreshing, but strange. A feeling which I welcome however is the feeling of confidence in classes. I feel much more in control, and much more on top of things than before. I owe this to my work experience for sure, so thanks Saris for that opportunity.

The free time has been abundant in the last few days, and hopefully it stays this way. And it will if I keep on top of things. And I need to because this extra time leads to better and more focused riding, and a lot less stress than before. I’m really looking forward to that.

But I think the best part of school starting was my return to collegiate cycling. The Ripon Red Hawks once again held a slamming race. Well organized with the man power to have a well set up and maintained course. Beyond that it takes place at Nordic Mountain, site of the Wisconsin Pro XCT, easily the best collegiate course in the MWCCC.
































The weekend started off with watching the DH guys “hucking their meat” on the downhill run. Absolutely amazing what those guys do. There are a lot of things in this world that are difficult, but riding a bike on that type of terrain is such high risk. In XC, you can ease into difficult obstacles, but a huge gap or drop, the only way to figure it out is to risk the fall. So, mad respect to the new gravity crew at the UW. The Short track followed DH. I felt ok at the start and had a good comfortable start. But as the race progressed I only got stronger and stronger. I was putting in little attacks to make the group smaller and smaller until it was only myself and Casey from Ripon. This kid will be a massive talent in the next few years, and if all goes well, on the national circuit. The kid has skills. But all that talent was no match for my strength and experience that day. With a cool head I waited and watched for the right moment to attack and ended up pulling a 15 second gap for the win. Huge shouts go to the massive UW cheering section on the back side of the course. I couldn't air the jump so well, but it didn’t soften their cheering.

Sunday featured the XC race. About 20 miles of no rest because it’s basically all uphill then difficult downhill. It’s a tough challenge but totally worth it because you can’t have more fun. At the start I felt good and noticed a gap form quickly behind me. Combine that with all the big threats to my win starting poorly, I went for it up the steep start climb. After pulling out a gap of 10 seconds to second place I dropped my chain and had to stop and fix it, putting me back to 3rd with some ground to make up. I quickly pulled in 2nd place and set my sights on none other than Casey charging in the lead. I think we both sensed that these early moments were going to decide the race, because he was gassing it, and so was I. After the first lap he was still in sight, so the pressure stayed on. After lap 2, the gap began to grow. On laps 3 and 4 it was much the same save a small section where he must have rested because pulled 10 seconds back in the middle of lap 4. But on lap 5, I was cooked. And with about a minute to make up and over a minute back to 3rd, I eased off. I knew that the race wasn’t over, but the only thing that could get me the win was a big mistake by Casey. I rolled in about minute back of him, happy with my second place performance. Losing to that kid is an honor, especially on that course. I bet he could teach the pros a thing or 2 about the lines out there.

With Monday off and Tuesday of no classes, it’s been pretty relaxed. Training is starting to pick back up again as the mono is slowly regressing and I feel more normal every day. I’m not back to normal yet, but getting there. I’m looking forward to putting in some hard training in the next few weeks to prepare to USGP and the rest of the CX season. And Chequamegon in 2 weeks! Can’t wait.

Thanks to Gary over XTR Photo for the great shots, go say hi at the next WORS race over at the XTR Photo Trailer. Also huge thanks to Gordy at Speed Cycling Madison for helping me get through the last few weeks without over doing it, and of course to Trek and Shimano for putting me on the best equipment around.