Quick Recap: (Alterra, opps) Colectivo Coffee Bean Classic

Time for a quick recap and opinion on WORS #8 in Franklin, WI.

This race can be considered my home race. Although it might be better to call Cam-Rock my home race, I grew up about a 15 minute drive from then Crystal Ridge, now The Rock. I rode there a lot when I was just getting started. And once I had a drivers license, I was there after school as often as I could borrow my parents car. To be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve ridden there, but it still has the feel of a home race. My family and friends always make it out.

Full Circle

This past weekend I originally planned to drive out to Vermont and race the final round of the Pro XCT, but when the chips fell, money was tight and I was getting tired of traveling. So I decided it was best to stay in Wisconsin and race the WORS race held at Sunburst instead. I think it was good for me because I’m feeling refreshed and ready for this coming week. But besides a quick recap I’d like to talk about a quick realization I had during Sunday’s race.

Trying to find my rhythm

Crashing and hurting yourself has some obvious consequences. The time off was tough because I lost a fair amount of fitness. Not being able to race in the races I wanted to, missing some of my season’s biggest goal races was even harder. As much as it was cool to see friends tearing it up in Idaho, it was bitter sweet knowing that I could have been there having success too. There were a lot of I could haves and what ifs running through my head, weighing me down and making it tough to push through and continue keeping focused on coming back. It’s funny, just because you want something doesn’t mean that you’ll have the drive to make it happen. I’ve had a taste of this for the first time in my life in the last few weeks, feeling afraid to try for fear of failure.

I think my fear was somewhat justified too. I have yet to get back on a mountain bike, still waiting for the doctor to clear me in a week. And while on the bike I was feeling uncomfortable. I wasn’t picking up where I left off. I was trying to re-learn a lot of what I spent years learning. There was a blockade standing in my way and for some reason I couldn’t just deal with it like before. It was almost like I forgot how to.

And this continued much the same into this past week’s rides. I was trying so hard to hit the numbers, to push myself, to go hard. But I couldn’t. I didn’t know if the numbers were wrong, or if I was just not up to it. After failing to push myself hard enough on the weekend, I was still feeling tired from the long hours. Not recovering right and felt dead Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. But something happened yesterday. Something happened that showed me the light at the end of the tunnel. It was distant and dull, but light is still light. During another FTP effort where I just couldn’t keep the pace up, I thought maybe I’m just not in a rhythm. So I focused, I push the pace and effort to a place where I knew I could hold it and just sat there. It hurt like all hell, but I stayed there. I focused to keep the cadence high and the effort high all the while keeping my gaze on the road ahead. I let my body do the work while I focused on the effort.

I think that’s the subtle difference. I was too focused on the pain and not focused enough on the effort. I was too focused on how hard I was going and not focused enough on how hard I should go. Hopefully this makes sense. Like I said, that light was short lived, as I only had 2 minutes left in my interval. But for that brief moment, I felt like I was strong. It wasn’t easy, but it was manageable. I found a rhythm and held it.

And this is true in the other aspect of my life/training (what’s the difference anymore?). I was eating whatever, getting takeout and subs almost every day. I was staying up too late. I was letting things sit and not dealing with them. I stopped doing the little things that alone don’t matter but together make all the difference. In the last few years I’ve become someone who can fix almost anything as long as I understand the problem. I thought I did with this one. I thought I knew how to get back going again. Turns out I didn’t, but I think I do now, but only the next week’s riding and training will tell.

I owe Gordy at Speed Cycling huge thanks. He picked me up this year and I was a little worried that my lack of results would be reason to kick me out. But after 4 weeks of recovery I contacted him letting him know I was ready to start riding again. We met and got things going again. His support was rock solid. His confidence in my abilities was noticeably deeper, and this played a big role in helping me figure this all out. But of course he stressed that we should focus more on handling skills, haha.He gave my training and remainder of the year some much needed refocusing. His experience and knowledge are there, but the caring is what makes Speed different. Gordy and all the coaches there care, like no other. When I went in 2 other coaches who I don’t really know all that well asked me how things were going, as if they understood the whole situation. I could go on and on about it, but I’ll sum it all up with a HUGE THANKS to the whole Speed Crew but even that isn’t enough.

http://www.speedmadison.com/

The next few weeks will be important. There will be lots of hard miles trying to get back to where I was and further. Then on the 23^rd I’ll get cleared to race and race off-road. The next race of any consequence will be Ore to Shore where I’m hopeful for a solid result to confirm that I’m making progress. I might race the Wausau 24 before that for some fun and some dirt practice, but we’ll see.

See you on the roads and trails!

there is fine line between badass and stupid, i walk that line

so, some bad news.

my collarbone is broken. i crashed yesterday racing the Wausau big ring WORS race. i was in position to sprint for that  elusive 5th place i've  been hunting. crashed pretty hard and thought right away is was the collarbone. i was told it was not broken on the scene and i could move it around, so i was hopeful. but i went into the emergency room today for x-rays and they said it is broken in two places. everything is in place and it already beginning to fully set so recovery will hopefully be quick.

typing is slow going with one hand so i'll make this quick. laps 1 and 2 were awesome. i felt in control and i was riding within myself. i was sitting in because i knew from last time that its not really possible for to ride away so tactically my best move was to follow wheels. Matt was talking to me over dinner the night before and made sure i heard it this time. sit in, take it easy and wait for the big moves. beginning of lap 3 things came back together and the big move happened, Tristan went. the group worked together to pull him back in but it was over. then Brian went and the  group exploded. i was sitting 3th with Nate on my wheel and i had a little tangle with a tree in the first section of single track. i got back on and Cory caught me.

Then Mark Lalonde got me on the big hill but i was able to keep him in sight through the single track. then Tyler caught me but i was able to hold his wheel much better and we paced each other for the rest of the lap and into the last lap. i was putting everything i had to hold his wheel, but was beginning to settle in. just as we entered the most technical section i eased up a little but Tyler put on the gas. i began to follow but just couldn't quiet follow through the rocks. i was back in the red and without warning i hit a rock which flung me off my bike. i hit the ground and felt a crunch. i rolled off the trail and just sat there assessing the damage. i tried to get up but couldn't. my race was over.

a huge thanks to the national mountain bike patrol for getting me out of the woods and getting me some immediate care. Thanks to Matt for the pre-race talk and saying exactly how i felt as he went by me laying on the ground; "dammit Joe!" also huge thanks to teammate Tim for helping me home and with getting to the hospital. it's nice to know that when things go wrong, friends have your back. i'll be at the Trek 100, we'll see if i can ride.

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!