MisSOULa pt. 2

After a night of racing the STXC I returned to my hotel very tired. I took a shower and cleaned things up and laid down on my bed to relax. Next thing I knew I was waking up at 4 in the morning with the TV on and the lights in my eye. Guess I was tired. I turned things off and went back to bed to get some more sleep. At a more reasonable 9am I awoke to a text from David Flaten to get some breakfast.

After breakfast it was to the hotel to prepare for the day. I packed everything up and made the short drive over to the race course. I wasn’t able to get anymore laps in on the course like I wanted to but I rode around the lodge area and up to the top of the climb on the spectator trail. Hung out with friends some and watched some early races. Around 2:30 I got in the car for a late lunch to get ready for the race. Whereas the night before was a little bit hectic and nervous, I was calm while getting ready for the XC. It’s the main event but like I said, the STXC is good at getting you in a groove. It was just going through to motions, very comfortably. I made sure the bike was working well, pinned up, had some more snacks and got my bottles ready. It was pretty quiet as far as stories go, but in this case no news is good news.

MisSOULa pt 1

In the gravel parking lot at the bottom of the mountain there was a car parked right near mine. It had a ton of bumper stickers but one stood out. It simply said MisSOULa. I can’t understand exactly why, but I just really like what that means. I’ll be a Wisco boy forever, but I left a little bit of my soul in Montana.

Cam Rock Recap - Go Team!

In the wake of my first big trip to a Pro XCT down in Alabama, I was overcome with relief on the way home that I was going to get a weekend at home with no real racing. It was memorial day and Alabama back to back that had my legs and mind feeling the stress of life on the road. The stress is worth it when the results are there. But there is nothing like knowing that you get some time to relax and charge up for a while. I took the time to train hard, but with no class and no work it was a lot of relaxing and a lot of sleeping so the hard days were more than under control.

The annual Trek 100 was the weekend. While I was going, its not a big drive and there is no pressure. It was all about having fun with the team and enjoying riding a bike. On top of that the ride support there is top notch. The rest stops are packed with everything you could want, seriously. And the finish line has enough food to ensure that you can easily replace what you burned for the day no matter how far and fast you went. I enjoyed every moment of it. And in the end we as a team raised $24,000 towards helping Trek and the MACC Fund fight childhood cancer. So it was a win-win.

So the week off was tough riding wise, but it was exactly the mental recharge I needed. The week leading up to The Cam-Rock race was full of rain so it made getting out on the trails tough but Tim and I did the best we could. I think over the 2 week period we rode there 3-4 times and even hit up the kettles. I feel so lucky to get to ride mountain bikes as much as I have this year. I feel lucky to be healthy and lucky to be as focused and driven to ride as I’ve been; and even luckier to have the resources to do it all.

But all this riding gave way to a local WORS race a Cam Rock. I wouldn’t consider it my home course, but I know it pretty well. I was really looking for a good result, especially after the troubles in Iola. I really felt like I had something to prove. I knew I was capable of racing at the front end, I just wasn’t doing it. So despite the home course and all the familiarity that comes along with that, I was a little bit nervous. But it was a good nervous. The kind of nervous that forces your body to prepare.

It’s hard to pin-point what exactly was special about it, but the warm up felt good. I had some rest in the legs and did some good openers the day before. I made sure to warm up well. I also started drinking a caffeinated soda in the warm up. It seems to help clear the stomach and gives you some sugar and caffeine to charge you up.

When the race started it was up up up the big start hill. To my surprise I felt very under control. I was smooth and playing tactics instead of reaching for a spot in the pack. I was moving about how I pleased. We kept together going into the single track and I followed wheels and tried to keep my whit’s about me to be ready for the big attacks to come. When they came I was ready as I made a few passes and defended my position. Eventually it was Tristan, Corey, Nate and myself riding at a solid tempo on the front. When a gap opened up between Corey and Nate, I played the waiting game thinking he would close it back up, but he just wasn’t able to. I came around him and shifted into the next gear. I could still see Trisan and Corey and I was gaining. But coming into a slick corner I lost the front and hit the deck. Nate came around me, but I was quickly back on and making chase. I caught nate and took the pass in an open gravel sections and decided to focus on putting space between him and myself instead of trying to catch the leaders. The gap grew and I began to realize a top 3 spot was all but mine. I rode the pace I could sustain thinking that maybe Tristan and Corey would play games and I’d get back on. It just wasn’t happening as the gap grew up to a minute on them before Tristan attacked and from there the gap only grew.

Coming into the middle of the last lap, Kevin was starting to come within sight of me just off my back wheel. I lifted the pace to try and keep him off me, but he slowly clawed his way back on. I battled but the body was tired and I made a few mistakes allowing him to overtake me and further put about 30 seconds into me. It was back to 4^th for me. I was still super happy with that result. I crossed the line with a huge smile on my face and immediately realized how much everything hurt. But this race was a huge personal victory for me. I remember growing up watching the elite racers, and now I am one.

Huge thanks go out to Trek, Bontrager and Emery’s for helping me get the equipment issues sorted. I train so hard but you’re only as fast as the weakest link and it’s good to know that the equipment won’t be that link because I’m on the best bikes around. Also thanks to Speed Cycling and Coach Gordy. I just pedal, he’s the one making sure it’s actually making me fast. I’m learning every day that it’s a team effort and you can’t do it alone. Speaking of team, teammate Tim Racette also had a best finish that day with a 7th place. The front end of the elite field is getting more and more red each race.!

Racing Up

Since I started racing off-road, I’ve had a dream to race as a professional mountain biker and this weekend marks a big step towards that dream. But that realization only strikes me right now as I sit here post-race. The focus has been other places like making sure everything is packed and that the legs are set. That’s the way it should be.

Day one really started when the clock struck midnight while my roommate Sam and I made our way down from Wisconsin all the way to Birmingham, Alabama. We didn’t stop for a hotel until about 3am when we pulled into a Best Westen just north of the city and fell asleep about as fast as a person can. With only a few hours of sleep we finished the drive to Oak Mountain park just south of town. We pulled in and found a parking spot right near the start line.

First impression was that it really wasn’t anything too big. Participation was smaller than a WORS race and the race was run with much less order. But I began getting ready, warmed up and headed to the start line only to find that they decided to run the PRO race separate from the Cat 1 race as planned. Hard to say this hurt me, but it threw me off a bit if I’m being honest. As the Cat 1s had their race, it was tough to keep the legs warm and ready. But we finally toed the line and unsurprisingly there was a serious lack of communication. They didn’t have a timer for the racers, and no real way of letting us know how much time and laps were left. Now I don’t expect these things at every race I go to, but this is a PRO XCT, so I was expecting something better than that.

But once the race started it was all out of mind because with only about 15 or so racers, I started behind Todd Wells and next to Jeremiah Bishop. No time to be star struck though (well only a few moments) as the race was off. The start was pretty easy and I felt pretty good, but that feeling faded after a few laps. But I could tell I wasn’t the only one feeling that way as I was battling in the second group for 4^th place and making up ground on the leaders. Things were going well but as the last few laps came around, something just wasn’t there. I sat on the back of the group and let the race unfold in front of me, eventually losing contact with the group. Don’t know if it was the legs, lungs, or the head, but something wasn’t there. I rolled in for 8^th place.

I followed that up with a ride on the XC course and I was blown away, the trails are pretty sweet. The end of the long loop and the majority of the finish loop were on a trail called Jekyll and Hyde. We ran it backwards with the Hyde part first. It was a flowy fast tour of the ridge on the south end of the park. There were a lot of jumps and little berms, it was a blast and very fast. The Jekyll section was much different. A 1 kilometer climb through some of the toughest rocks I’ve ever had to deal with. It really put the grind in bump and grind. But the reward was ample. Once at the top we descended blood rock which featured a few tight rocky switchbacks, then 4 or 5 major rock garden drops. Finally the trail opened up into a fast loose section all the way down the mountain. There were a few small jumps and a lot of rocks. It was very fast and I was on the limit of grip the whole time. I got to the bottom and was so charged up to race on it. We packed up and headed to a hotel for the night. I spent the night cleaning up and getting my head ready for what was to come.

To my delight the XC race was better attended. When we got there the crowd was forming. People coming just to watch and people just finishing the race were lining up around the finish area. Again, it wasn’t much bigger than a WORS race, but there is still something special about having the big pros there. We arrived a little late so my warm up was cut short. I made it too the line and started getting in the zone.

Quick little side comment. I’ve been “getting in the zone” more. A racing buddy Tim and I talked about on the way to a race and it seems to help. Telling yourself it’s going to hurt, preparing your body and mind to deal with it. It gets your heart racing and you blood flowing and some adrenaline going as well. I think all in all, it helps a lot.

But back to the race, I was in the zone. When the race started I was able to quickly make my way up from almost last into a top 15 or so. From there the pace was fast but nothing too crazy so I was able to handle it. The group stayed together for the first 5 miles of single track but when it opened up onto a long gravel road the top dogs opened up the taps and I just couldn’t follow. Luckily neither could anyone around me so it was a fight for the back. This long 5 miles mile section of gravel hurt the legs more than anything else in the race. I pushed hard but I was only losing ground. At the end of the long stretch was a noticeable 2 mile climb up to the top of blood rock. I was able to find some power on the climb but only enough to hold the gaps.

I was pretty lonely on the descent from blood rock, but I was ok with that because I was able to have a lot of fun. And at the bottom riders began to appear and motivation was back in a big way. I metered my effort on the way back to the start area and got ready for the last 10 mile ascent and descent on blood rock. Metering my effort worked very well as I was able to pull back rider after rider. I took it easy near the bottom so that when I reached the rocky ascent portion I was able to really hammer and stay smooth. By the time I reached the top I passed 2 riders and at the bottom I was hot on the tail of another. For the final 2 miles I kept telling myself you can do this, you can do this. I made the pass coming around for a tight downhill. After coming around him I hit the gas hard but couldn’t drop him. I was feeling the burn and getting more and more worried that I would get caught. It’s always tough to get caught for the line. I was battling for 12^th, but at a certain point even battling for second to last feels like fighting for a win.

I saw the 1 mile to go sign and for that last 5 or few minutes the only thought that went through my mind was that I could do anything for a mile. That if anything was going to slow me down, it wasn’t going to be my legs. I was giving everything to stay ahead. I came out onto the road and looked back. Nobody was there. Rolled in for 12^th.

All in all it was an amazing weekend. The trails there are amazing. I can’t even do them justice talking about them. The freedom, atmosphere, and the focus on the race. Everything was so immersive. If I wanted to be a pro bike racer before, I really want to be a pro racer now. I want to live that life.

This video is of a guy climbing blood rock, we descended this section.