Memorial Day Weekend

Putting aside the West Michigan Stage Race, and coming off a week of great rest...I was ready to prove myself again at Frankenmuth.  Last year I had to watch this race from the sidelines and it killed me, I enjoy this race.  This year it was setting up to be a grand day.  The weather was in the 70's and poring rain...it does not get any better for me.  I love a good rainy race.  The 4 laps and 66 miles would go by fast.  For most of the first lap I tried to get the legs firing, eventually they got warmed up.  Most the second and third lap I spent ether near the front or covering a few moves off the front.  It felt great to be on the attack again,  no nagging leg issues holding me back.  At the end of the third lap I faded a bit to eat, this was probably my biggest mistake of the race.  Up till this point pack position hadn't meant much, but boy did things sure change.  One of my teammates made it into a two person breakaway.  Due to this the pack pace eased and turned into a giant traffic jam.  I was stuck and had no where to move back up in the pack.  For 13 miles I tried and tired and to much anger got no where.  Finally with a mile to go I was able to make some progress and creep up.   To my surprise I actually made it through the final corner in the top 15.  The downhill sprint was fast and furious, I moved up near the top five only to be cut off.  In a 45mph sprint crashing for a few places is not worth the risk, after almost crashing by being cut off I coasted to the line to nab 14th.  Looking back I should have picked a better sprint line, however though I was happy with having a very successful race in my mind.

Memorial Day I also decided to do a time trial in Ada, Michigan.  A side goal of mine this year is to be a contender in the Michigan Challenge points series.  For me to be a factor I need to work my strengths in the time trails.  The rainy weather was gone though and the mid to upper 80's heat was back.  The TT was about 15 miles in length, I opted to not use a water bottle.  This ended up being a mistake but I learned a lot to take to the state TT.  My legs still hurt from Frankenmuth and despite my best efforts to stay hydrated, I wasn't hydrated enough to go 35 minutes all out.   This TT hurt, a lot...I crossed the line 6th with a average mph of 25.3.  Way off the mark I should have run, however way above what I could do last year.  I have come a long way since my injury.  For a change my pacing felt good here, I just wasn't rested enough.  Towards the end I stopped sweating and got shaky, water was the only thing I could think about crossing the line.  All and all things are shaping up decent for the State TT, hopefully I can find a way to creep up onto the podium.  Oh, with the result I slotted back into 5th in the Michigan Challenege. Hopefully I can stay up in the top 5.

West Michigan Stage Race and the 12 Hours of Stony Creek

To start I will open with the 12 hours of Stony Creek.  I had never participated in a endurance mountain bike race, however doing it with a few of my teammates as a team I couldn't turn it down.  My split would be around 3 hours which is great training for a Saturday.  The course was about 10 miles log with a nice mix of single track and some double track with some killer grinder hills.   I was designated as the lead out man, meaning I had to be ready to go at 8am to start things out.  My goal was to hammer it for one lap and tag off to a teammate.  The main purpose of this was to gain course position, aka get way ahead of any traffic.   I easily took the hole shot sprinting and settled into just finding a rhythm.  That really didn't go so well since I almost crashed three times.  However I finished my lap and got to rest.  We each took turns doing the same thing.  Long story short was it was a long day, but at the end of the day we had won our category and placed 4th overall.  I think I will try a few more of these races in the future.

Now to the West Michigan Stage Race this past weekend.  Probably the best way I can summarize my first stage race was "unprepared."  This was probably the most taxing race I had ever done. Saturday started with hitting the road at 4:30 AM is order to get to the time trial in time.  The time trial was a short 7 mile, 3.5 out and back.   My goal was to podium, however I just never got the legs going full steam and placed 10th.  I still wasn't to fat out of the hunt so I was hoping to pick up time in the criterium or road race.  The criterium would be a 4:55 PM Saturday and last 45 minutes.   To put it short it was a tough day in mid to upper 80's heat.  Going into the crit I was tired and cooked.  The game plan was to stay up front.  Like all game plans that went to crap fast as a first lap wreck had me sliding to the back.  I spent the next 30 minutes trying to recover but heat stroke set in and eventually with a lap to go I dropped.  Everyone on the lead lap got the same time so I only lost two places to 12th due to time bonuses. 

Sunday I would still be in the hunt during the 60 miles road race, I just needed to recover and get some rest.  Once again Sunday is was another blistering hot day, I did my best to fight and race hard.  Halfway through the second lap though I cracked and ended up throwing up on the side of the road.  Exhaustion really had caught up with me.  I road the last 15 or so miles by myself and came in 7-8 minutes down.  That dropped me all the way to 29th.  All in all I was spent, few times in my life have I ever been so tired and wiped out.  Hopefully the fitness and experience gained will benefit me down the road.

Cone....

I guess Cone Azalia, Spring and I just don't get along.  While I was hoping to have a great race the cards just didn't go my way.  The weather was perfect, mid 60's and sunny.  The dirt roads were dusty and the pollen in extreme levels though.  All week my training indicated I would be in great form, so to start the race I quickly worked my way to the front to start my strategy.  I wanted to push the pace hard on the first section of dirt road.  This all worked great, however that's when the issues started.  I just wasn't getting oxygen, it was very clear to me then my lungs were working less then 75%.  As we hit the second section of dirt it just got worse.  I got dropped for a few minutes but made my way back to the pack before the lap was over.  As we started the second of 5 laps I pulled the plug.  I spent the next 20 minutes hacking up a lung,  2 puffs of my inhaler later I was ready to ride again.  However my throat was so raw and my chest hurt so bad I turned in my timing chip and took my number off and just went for a nice light tempo Sunday ride around the race course.  This year allergies have wrecked me non stop, it is beyond frustrating.  So I left the race Sunday very sun burnt and disappointed, I will leave it at that...