The Grind

School is starting soon, looks like summer is almost over. I don’t think I’m ready to look back and reflect just yet, I still need to admit to myself that school is starting. I’ll let you know when that happens. As of now, I am getting by on the fact that collegiate MTBs are staring up soon, along with cross, which I haven’t really thought much about either.

But enough about my denial, let’s move on to this past extended weekend. Now for most of you Labor Day will be the extended weekend, but I took one in advance this past weekend. After heading home on Friday night with both my road and MTB, I basically sat around and chilled with my family until I went to bed early so I could get up early. This was because Saturday was the Make-a-Wish run walk fund raiser. My team was helping out by volunteering to be the pace bikes for the runner. There was a 1 mile and a 5k. Before the event Dennis and Tom, two of my teammates, met up early and went on a nice ride along the Milwaukee Lakefront. It has been a while since I had the chance to ride down there. It is always nice, and we really tore it up. I was surprised that Dennis was keeping up so well after 3 weeks off the bike, and that Tom was putting the hurt on me. Those guys are supposed to be old and slow! Haha, guess not.

I took the 5k with friend and fellow teammate Dennis and Tom, took the 1 mile. When the runners started I was surprised how fast they were. This isn’t to say I had to pedal hard, but I was surprised how much focus it took to stay ahead and watch where I was going. Our job was primarily to clear the path and show the runners where to go. After we reach about the half-way point, the leader was so far ahead that I decided to stay back and pick up the pack, as they could barely see where to go. After the runner came in the guys and I sat around talking. This was really interesting getting to know more about them. It’s interesting hearing about someone’s life and how they ended up where they are today. Not only is it interesting, but it’s a good way to learn about life too. After getting home, another buddy and teammate, Nick Frye called me to go MTBing a Crystal Ridge, basically my old stomping ground and the location of my biggest result this year so far. We did two easy-ish laps and headed home. I got to bed early so I could get up early for Sunday.

I had to wake up at 6:30 to leave by 7:30, to get up to Green Bay for WORS #9 the Reforestation Ramble. This particular race is a marathon style race, much like the upcoming Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival. I was a little worried after having ridden almost 50 miles the day before, 15 of those miles being off road. But I was feeling good, maybe a little tired. I was a little annoyed that we seriously parked a half mile away from the venue as there was no parking. I had the chance to check out the venue on my ride to sign up and pee, and saw Cole House was there, this was gonna hurt.

NICK FRYE, Looking sad back there.

And that it did. The start was blistering; I knew we were going really fast. I was really pleased to look back and realize that despite the speed and intensity, I wasn’t hurting so bad. I was able to hold the top 10 for the better part of the first lap. I seriously could see the leader until I crashed going down a sandy hills and corner combination.  I had some over steer and almost high sided into a mound of dirt. I was able to keep the bike below me and not get hurt but I dropped my chain in the process. It had gotten caught between the crank and the chain ring, and was stuck. It took me a few seconds to rip it out, but I got going again. In the process of ripping it out I had kinked it so it was skipping all over the place for the remainder of the race. It did get better, but I had to stay in the big ring. Luckily the course was fast enough that I could stay in the big ring. There were only a few hills where I really missed that little guy.

After crashing I raged and caught back on to the group I was in earlier, containing Tim my teammate and Bryan Fosler, a Friend. I sat on for like, 2 minutes, and attacked getting a gap and started catching Matt Gehling. I caught him and blew by him, I wanted to leave him in the dust .I finished up lap 2 of 3 and started to fade, oh say around mile 25? On the final straight, I noticed a group of all the people I blew by on the last lap were catching me. I really didn’t want that to happen, but I realized that the course was not the type where one could solo unless they were much stronger than the pack. I sat up a little and allowed the group to catch me. To my surprise I was caught by only two, Matt and Bryan. We rode lap three together, and by we, I mean I led them as I didn’t want those two teammates to start playing tactics with me. I kept the pace high and stayed in front. Once we started to catch the group in front of us, Mat came to the front and pulled us up to them. That was a lot of fun ridding with those two and matt and I had some good friendly banter back and forth. He even quoted my blog!

We rode with that group for the rest of the lap, as Ronsta pushed the pace. I eventually got dropped from it '"because Matt attacked", but not before a few others had been dropped. That was good enough for a 19^th spot. This gave me another good finish and some confidence in my endurance ability before Chequamegon in a few weeks.

Finally I took Monday off to help my sister move in to her dorm. It was kinda cool to see the campus on UWM because I hadn’t realized quite how big it was. The campus was nice and there was a lot of new building. Overall things were pretty cool, but Madison is still better. After she was moved in we hung out for a bit before I headed off back to Madison.  It’s always good to spend time with my sister, she is crazy but I love her. 

Proof that brakes only slow you down

Last weekend, I was able to kick back, relax, and be normal person for a few days. I had a company picnic on Friday afternoon, and continued the party all night with friend s around Madison. Then partied hardy on Saturday. That’s 2 days in a row, something rare for me. Then I took Sunday off, to sleep and get over my splitting headache. I have to admit, not the best for my training, but it’s good to have a fun weekend once in a while and not worry about training. It keeps you motivated. And that is exactly what it did to me.

I kicked off that Monday riding hard, getting a solid 2 hours at a thigh splitting pace. Then on Tuesday I rode out to Bluemounds and climbed the backside in all its 800ft of vertical climbing glory. I ended up riding in the dark, suffering like I haven’t suffered in a while. Actually I take that back, suffering like I did at the Wausau24. I ended up riding 62 miles, in 3 hours, with an average speed of 20.5 mph. I was very tired. Took Wednesday to recover, and rode and easy 2 hours on Thursday to ramp things down and get some rest before the weekend.

On Saturday I packed up and drove all the way up to River Falls, WI for the Boarder Battle. I vaguely remember the course from a few years ago, but slowly I remembered how awesome it was. My sister came to Madison and picked me up and we picked up Nick Frye in Tomah and made it up around 6:30 after many car shenanigans. Nick and I rode the course and damn I love those trails. Not my favorite trails, but they are up there for sure. After a quick lap we drop to St. Paul and got dinner at Great Waters Brewery. The food and beer was good and the waitress was pretty cute, this all adds up to a good night. I had a little trouble sleeping, but at least I didn’t sleep in the crack, sorry Ellie.

Woke up in the morning and had a huge breakfast at McDonalds, maybe not the best decision, but I was hungry. I enjoyed watching the Citizen and Sport riders and cheering on some of my friends that also made the trip. But eventually I got my head in the game and started a nice long warm up.

The field was pretty big, so I was really worried about getting a good start. I made the bone headed move when they called everyone up to get on the inside. I knew that it would bunch up and I would get stuck behind people. Exactly that happened and while I was hoping to go into the single track in the top 10, I was probably 25^th into the woods. I had some ground to make up.

I rode pretty well the first two laps, picking people off one by one and eventually caught my teammate, Tim. We rode back and forth, pushing each other faster and faster. Halfway through the 3^rd lap of 4, the pin fell out of my front brake and I lost all functionality. Not something you want on a course with those kinds of down hills. But to my surprise I was able to keep up on all but only a few really tight downhill switch backs. The broken part definitely brought my aggression levels down and I slowed a little, but I don’t think it really changed my result.

Whats missing in this picture?

I ended up in 15^th place, a solid performance when my legs went feeling 100%. I was hoping to do better with some of the big player missing, but I am happy with 15^th considering the situation. But either way there you have it; proof that brakes only slow you down.

In the wake of something Great

After the awesome result at Alterra, I was really eager to show everyone that I was fast enough to hang with some of the top riders in WORS by bringing another good result at race #7, Cam Rock. This was a good race to do so as I know the course pretty well being only 20 minutes from it. Problem was that a lot of people know that course, so there wasn’t much advantage. The week leading up to it,
I was really dead. The 24 hour race really took it all out of me. In hind sight, I definitely peaked at Alterra, all be it not planned. I felt ok at Wausau 24, but was really hoping to build up a little for this next race. After resting Monday, I rode Tuesday and felt like crap. Took Wednesday off and rode a little on Thursday and Friday and felt good on Friday. But I really didn’t ride hard all week opting to let myself rest up. I figure it better to be well rested than fatigued for a race.

Pre-rode on Saturday, and the course was extremely dry. The dust had covered the trail making it almost ride like mud. It was difficult for me to stay upright. I was riding the Struggle-bus hard core. I decided to run a really low pressure, like really low. I picked on 18 in the front and 22 in the rear which is really low for those 2.2 conti race kings, which really when measured are 2.1.

After getting rain the night before the race, which it needed really badly, I opted to run 20 and 24 psi. My front tire was hooked up on rails for the race. The back was a little low though. I was worried I would roll it and I banged the rim a few times, Thank god for tubeless. My first lap was ok, I made it into the single track in the top 10 or so, which was what I wanted to do. I was far up enough that I didn’t get caught in any bunch ups which really helped. Rode a strong first lap and felt ok, not as good as Alterra, but hanging in there.

I ended up raining on lap two, and the track got greasy. There were some corners that were perfect, just so fast. But some on the other hand were slick; worst part was it was hard to tell which ones were which. I crashed a few times in the last part of single track. First time I came up to a corner and my front just kept going. After getting out of a ditch, I had been passed by a few guys. I crashed again after locking the front again and going into a stump. I wasn’t fun, but better than going over the bars a few times like in my pre-ride. Laps 3 and 4 were super-fast, at least the course was. I was hurting really bad.  People were cheering like I was going to catch the guys up front, but I was struggling to stay where I was. I was able to ride it out, and came in 15^th.

I’m pretty happy with that finish. I would love to slot into the top 10, but in perspective, I can be proud of my finish. I think I proved to everyone that I am one of the fast guys. I think I showed that Alterra was no fluke. Good news, my confidence is high right now, bad news; I’m definitely on the radar of a lot of people. That’s going to make top finishes harder until I get a call up. I do need to give a huge thanks to everyone cheering for me. Tim, Chad, Matt, Cassey, and huge thanks to Brian’s parents for giving my handups. It really helps and I go faster every time I hear my name.

Looking ahead, next weekend I have off. I am hoping to use these next two weeks to get some good training in. I’ll be looking to have another good race at WORS #8, boarder battle. Should be a tough race with guys from Minnesota racing, and not knowing the course. My eye is really shifting towards collegiate MTBs right now. I’m hoping to do really well and get some solid training in before that starts. I need to elevate my fitness a little high if I want to dominate. After that I have WORS #9 and then other week two weeks of solid training before collegiate kicks off at Lindsey Wilson. I’m excited to see some Friends from there and race with them on the dirt. School starts somewhere in there which might affect things, but I need to keep my focus, while still doing well in school. I’ll have pictures from Cam Rock soon as I can. Thanks for reading.

Wausau 24

This past weekend was the Wausau 24 race at nine mile forest, formally known as 24-9. A few months ago I was asked by my teammates to join their 4 man team and compete with them. Having no idea what I was getting into, I agreed. 3 days after the event is over, after sleeping non-stop since it was over (not really, but it feels like it), I am finally aware of what I put my body through.

Because I run like a penguin with its shoe laces tied together, I opted out of the first slot as they needed to run ¼ mile in a lemond style start. So I was second up. My first lap was fun, and I spent it getting acquainted with the trails that I would be riding for the next 24 hours. The trails were nothing short of amazing, something one can expect from nine mile forest. A little dry and loose, but fast and challenging. That lap ended in a time of 48:47, respectable but I knew I had more in me once I got the trail down.  After that lap I sat and rested, all the while getting ready for my next lap. My teammate Tim and I had a little rivalry that would be settled by fastest lap.

I went to the transition area and waited for my teammate Andrew to arrive, with the intension of setting a blistering fast lap. Just then one the loudspeaker, the race director announced that rain was coming, and the lap would be canceled if any thunder struck. Andrew came in and I set out. The course was fast and I was feeling the rhythm, every turn felt like I was in control; telling the turn what I wanted it to feel like. Absolutely everything was going my way and I was making up ground on the team in front. Mile 1, mile 2, mile 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, all passed as quickly as you can read them. I came to a long uphill drag and felt the soft cooling kiss of death that was a rain drop. With 4 miles to go, I knew I would be riding on borrowed time soon. The rain was slow at first, and the dry sandy earth soaked it up like a man lost in the desert. It began to pick up tempo, just as I did. The moisture made the soft pack sandy ground fast and gave me even more confidence. Mile 9, mile 10 all passed. The rain was heavy but no rain yet, then the rain was biblical, but only flashes of light in distance, no thunder. But then a rounded a corner, mud on my face and back tire sliding across the trail, a bolt of thunder struck very close it might as well have hit me. Because my heart stopped, I knew the lap was over. I continued to ride hard, knowing full well the lap wouldn’t count out of anger more than anything else. I rolled up to a checkpoint and was ordered to stop. Damn

I ended up riding in with a few guys and Alex Martin who was racing the 6 hour solo. It was wet as fuck, and thundering like an old horror movie. Despite this I still wish I could have finished. After a 2.5 hour delay, the racing was back on and the rotation continued. I was able to get one more lap in before night fall, and the track was still really fast, as the rain made everything sticky, except the roots.

The night laps were especially difficult. I had never really ridden at night; particularly when it was pitch black. I was ridding ok, but I knew that I was braking early and hitting a lot of rocks wrong. I’m sure I looked pretty funny, but at least I didn’t fall too much. The first one was under 50 minutes which was my goal, but the heavy hand of fatigue hit me on the second lap with a 51:16. Which still is not too bad. But in the morning my lack of real sleep hit me harder than I thought. I was feeling ok at the start of my first morning lap, but again there was nothing, possibly even less in my legs than before. It was a deep fatigue. Every bone and joint ached and muscle cried for relief. But I pushed on and got two more laps in before 8. When I came in the decision was made for me to do one final lap in place of another teammate in an attempt to try and catch the team in front of us. And at the very least get one more lap in. I went out and seriously thought something was wrong with my bike, I was pushing squares for a full 53 minutes. After riding that lap I got a beer. BEST BEER EVER!

I particularly like this picture because I'm not falling

That about sums up the weekend.  I helped pack up and went home, slept as best I could in the heat and went to work the next morning with that same fatigue in my legs, I felt like I had anchors in them. I feeling much more recovered now after riding on Monday and resting Tuesday, although Monday was painful. I’ll be riding at Cam Rock tonight in an effort to prepare for this weekend’s WORS race. I hope I can get back into the top ten, but my goals are realistic. Sorry there are no pictures of the mud from the race I’ll try and find some soon.

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.