2012 In Review

This past year went by in a flash.  I'm gonna keep the year in review short.    While I nearly accomplished all my goals I also left a lot on the table for 2013.  Though for 2013 I just want to have fun, however I also plan to try and bump my fitness to the next level and just see what happens.  I plan to use everything I learned last middle of last year, plus the ability to expand my base fitness now that I am healthy to hopefully be the strongest I have ever been.  More importantly to keep things fun, I am only racing a short season.  So mid July or so my racing focus will be over. 

2012 Results

Apr.15.2012 Fisk Knob Time Trail (5th Mens 25-29, 25th Overall)
Apr.28.2012 Willow Time Trail (4th Cat 3, 18th Overall)
May.06.2012 Cone-Azalia Classic Road Race (DNF Cat 3)
May.12.2012 12 Hours of Stony Creek MTB Team Race (1st Open Sport, 4th Overall)
May.19.2012 West Michigan Stage Race Time Trial (10th Cat 3)
May.19.2012 West Michigan Stage Race Criterium ( 30th Cat 3)
May.20.2012 West Michigan Stage Race Road Race (30th Cat 3, 29th Overall Cat 3)
May.26.2012 Das Tour of Frankenmuth (14th Cat 3)
May.28.2012 Grand Rapids Bicycle Co. Time Trial (6th Cat 3)
Jun.02.2012 West Branch Classic Road Race (DNF Cat 3)
Jun.08.2012 Le Tour de Mont Pleasant Prologue (21st Cat 3)
Jun.09.2012 Le Tour de Mont Pleasant Criterium (DNF Cat 3)
Jun.10.2012 Le Tour de Mont Pleasant Road Race (33rd Cat 3)
Jun.16.2012 Duck Lake Time Trial - State Championship Time Trial (4th Cat 3, 3rd Place State Championship Cat 3)
Jun.30.2012 State Championship Track Time Trials (4th Mens 23-34)
Jul.08.2012 Terry Reisch Memorial Charity Race (11th Cat 3)
Jul.22.2012 Le Champion Pave Criterium (20th Cat 3)
Jul.29.2012 Milford Criterium - State Championship Criterium (18th Cat 3)
Aug.05.2012 Hines Park Time Trial (1st Cat 3)
Aug.10.2012 Cherry-Roubaix Prologue Time Trial (2nd Cat 3)
Aug.11.2012 Cherry-Roubaix Criterium (DNF Cat 3)
Aug.12.2012 Cherry-Roubaix Road Race - State Championship Road Race (DNF Cat 3)
Aug.19.2012 Tour de Gaslight (17th Cat 3)
Sep.03.2012 Debaets-Devos Pro-Am Memorial Bicycle Race Criterium (8th Cat 3)
Nov.03.2012 Iceman Cometh Mountain Bike Challenge (8th Mens 28-29)

Finishing the Cycling Season

This past weekend I participated in my third Iceman to close the season.  It feels like its been a hard, stressful and long season, so it was finally nice to hang up the bikes this week and finally take some time off.  However the first thing I felt like doing was going on a run Tuesday.

Iceman is always a crazy event.  This year proved to be no different.  Hurricane Sandy threw a giant wrench into any plans bringing heavy winds and rain across the region in the days prior.  The weather was suppose to be cold but sunny for the race.  However some of the rain stuck around and turned to snow Friday/Saturday.  To my shock I woke up Saturday in Traverse City to see 1-2 inches of snow.  The weather was right around 32 so it really wasn't going to accumulate to anything more but melt.  I could go into tons of details of the race, but I'm not.  I started bad, lost some time being near some fluke crashes, witnessed a very severe accident that I had to report so medics could come, then had my rear derailleur break down on me @ mile 22.  I still finished in 2:05 8th in class, not near my goal but I will take it since the course was longer and slower then the year previous.  Overall I was better then last year to. The mechanical was a real heart breaker though, it killed my hope of breaking 2 hours and getting on the podium.  Luckily learning from 2010 I had a multi tool and was able to do the repairs fairly fast.  Overall though I couldn't help to smile most the race though.  With the snow on the pines and ground it was awesome racing through a winter wonderland.  I'm gonna be honest and say my motivation and focus was lacking to prep for this race.  Next year I need to change some things up to focus on this race better.

The season was very successful though,  I finally won a TT, won a group finish sprint in a road race,  helped my team win a 12 hour MTB race, and won the Cat 3 Michigan point series.  I can't complain, my leg is healthy and I made it through the season.   I think that's why I had trouble getting ready for Iceman,  for me the season really ended 2 months ago.   It also makes next years focus very different.  Next year I think I will race less and just focus harder on certain events.  I would also like to dabble in XC ski racing, running and maybe triathlon / xterra.  Either way the focus will just be having fun and competing. 

Finishing out the road season(Pictures will be added later)

I meant to post this September 6th and forgot....


It's been a busy month since the Hines Time Trial. It seams I have been on the road for almost every week making training and life just difficult. After Hines I was really excited for Cherry Roubaix and the state road race. Since its a long haul to Traverse City I decided to do all three races. One to try and snag some MBRA points and two, just to race. Looking back now I probably should have cut out the crit, but I will get into that later.


Friday's time trial in my mind was mine to lose. With cash prizes on the line I was excited to snag some cash. The course was a 6.2 mile loop located on the peninsula that splits Traverse City's bay. Surprisingly this made for a very hilly and extremely windy circuit. More complicating was the start order, for some reason I had to start 2 minutes after the junior waves finished starting. That would mean that not only did I have to deal with wind but also passing slower junior riders. Passing juniors was never an issue however. I started hard, maybe to hard and almost crashed because I missed the first corner. I forgot it was a super tight right bend, oops. After the panic I settled in and just hammered it. The back section was a real struggle with the hills and wind. On the first hill maybe two miles in is when I started to pass the first junior riders. At the end I came in slower then my goal, I still averaged 25.8 mph which was good considering how hard the course was. I ended up second, behind by 9 seconds. I still won $50, so I couldn't complain.

The criterium Saturday I was looking to add to Friday's success. The race just never got rolling good for me though. I started with asthma issues and got stuck in the back. I fought hard but ended up losing contact with the field due to riders sitting up in front of me because they blew up. I managed to pass most of them, but constantly bridging gaps is not healthy and costly energy wise. I learned a lot though for next year. The legs also hurt from the TT's last Sunday and Friday.


Sunday road race was just going to be a suffer fest. I kind of got a feeling the legs would not have the gas to make the full distance the day before. You can only dip in the pain bank so much in a weeks time. Two TT podiums probably used that up. The course was new for '12 being 3 laps of a 23 mile course. The new sections of climbs proved to just be ridiculous. The area near sleeping bear dunes is very hilly and just rolls non stop. I made it through the first lap fine and comfortable. However I was having shifting gremlins, this ended up becoming serious on the second lap. On a long decent I just couldn't get down to the gear I needed and watched the pack slip away at 45+mph as I was stuck at 40mph spinning. I finished the lap and called it a disappointing day. Next year I have a better idea for how to train for this race and what to expect. I also got the shifting issues fixed, turns out I made a mistake putting my new cable housing in a few weeks prior. I just hadn't been on the bike enough to figure this out.

Gaslight criterium I remembered being a lot of fun in '10, I didn't race it in '11 so I was a bit rusty on what to expect. However this kind of criterium circuit suits my skill set better. Its very fast with ample space to move and attack. With the Michigan Challenge point series coming to a end I still just needed 6 points to tie for first. However luck was not on my side, as the race was started the skies opened up and it started to pour. My tires on my race wheels are old, I was hoping to get them to the end of the season and replace. So my wet traction was alarmingly bad, I had hoped the race would start cautious, but it didn't. From the line the hammer was dropped, and in the first two corners I fought fish tailing badly. It never got any better and the field went single file. I keep with it though but it seamed every lap a crash happened mid pack causing the field to split leaving me to catch to the front group. Several times I time trialed solo back into the race. However the fourth crash just left me in a bad spot with a huge gap to close, the guys around me didn't want to help much. My biggest issue was the time I would loose in the corners due to my crappy traction. Eventually the race just became me fighting to finish hoping I still might have a decent place. After 50 soaking minutes the race ended, I got lapped but crossed the line 17th. It was a truly messy race, next year I will have some better rubber options for days like that.

So this leaves me with Debeats-Devos this past Monday, my last ditch chance to snag the needed points for first. I hadn't been training much but still felt I could do it. These matters got complicated a bit more when mountain biking this past Saturday I hit a tree...hard. I was doing a fast paced ride and on a downhill my line pushed wide and bam. The tree knocked me backwards off the back, enough to bruise the back of my shoulder. I got some nice gashes on my left forearm and leg. Along with some massive bruising and neck whiplash, my sunglasses flew like 15 feet. Sunday would be all about rest and ibuprofen. Monday I lined up with my arm and leg bandaged. Despite the damage I felt ok, other then not being able to move my neck or shoulder.


Because of the crash my mindset was a little more reckless, it was all or nothing today and I had to make my moves and leave nothing on the table. So on the first lap I made it a point to hit the front and drill it. In the laps following I attacked several times trying to start a break away, that's what I really wanted. All I needed was a top 10 and a breakaway would get me that. So up until the 30 minute mark I pushed hard to stay near the front and ended up with 4 attacks I think. I went for one sprint bonus but was heavily marked. No one seamed interested in racing a break with me. So I sat in for the sprint. The last 3 laps was a mess of movement, I had to really fight for spots. Didn't help much, on the last lap I had a lot to do. The back stretch I couldn't get what I needed. I knew there would be a crash remembering last year so I made it a point to have the inside line the last two corners. I used this as my spring board. As the crashes happened I just sprinted and found myself around tenth after the last corner. I gave it everything I had a lunged the bike at the line for 8th. Looking back without all the attacks I would have had more gas to maybe break into the top 5 or better. Oh hitting a tree two days prior probably didn't help either.  However I still won $65 and had put everything out on the table. I was completely gassed after the race, but I got my 8th place Michigan Challenge points to wrap up first for the year. Its been a tough but rewarding year, now I just need to find some focus to get to Iceman.

Sunday's Hines Time Trial

Since my move to Plymouth, Hines has now become my home training turf. So one of my big goals this year was to win this event and really just prove to myself that I could get back into better fitness then before my Achilles injury. The main thing lacking post injury had been my endurance and the motor to really push hard for a time trials. While endurance had been covered earlier in the year, I wasn't 100% sure the motor was back to 100%. Hines is always a somewhat illusive out and back 20k run. You really never know what the wind will do, it often swirls and always feels like its in your face. Luckily this year I had gotten lots of practice riding the course and knew exactly what to do given every scenario...mostly. The weeks leading up to the race have been hard, I have been working hard to push myself to levels I have never been to. The main goal is Cherry Roubaix this weekend, but this race was a key component. Like Milford I choose to train through the race meaning I didn't really hold back during the days leading to the race. This actually worried me a bit since my mountain bike ride in Kentucky Thursday seamed to hurt the legs a lot. It could of also been the 11 hours of driving I had to do and walking in a car assembly plant for several hours on my busted foot. From my own diagnosis its pretty dang clear I have a stress fracture in my Navicular bone of m left foot. Going to a doctor wouldn't give me any better news and just cost too much money. Its hard to see in X ray and normally needs an MRI or other expensive scans. The main solution is just stop running for a few weeks...I can do that. Wednesday I had decided to run 6.5 miles, probably not the best idea since the stress fracture occurred two weeks prior when I tripped I believed. The run also proved to me it wasn't just a bone bruise and something was busted. Anyhow that along with my work trip left me really tired riding Friday. So Saturday I did the opposite of what I thought was right, instead of an easy spin I did 1.5 hours of hard tempo. So for Sunday I was never really sure what I had in the tank till I started.

My warm up was nice, but super humid. Temps were in the low 70's which was nice, however towards the end of my warm up the sky opened up and starting dumping rain. This was the only scenario I hadn't done before.  The perfect storm was brewing, Michiganders tend to hate rain...however Oregonians like me love and live for it to race in the rain. So I ditched my sunglasses and rolled up to the line knowing today was my race to lose. I started hard and just kept a nice steady pace out and then back. I managed to catch a fair amount of the Cat 4's that started before me. I didn't care I was the first Cat 3 out, no one was catching me in the rain today. When I came up towards the line I saw I was in the 27's, meaning I was gonna hit my time goal of sub 28 minutes. I ended up crossing the line in 27:52, a new PR and at the time the 3rd fastest time of the day. Later the rain would stop, however my time held up to be in the top 15 of the day and good for first in Cat 3. Without the rain and the tired legs I could have probably been in the top 5, the gaps ahead of me where not large but just hand fulls of seconds. However it was nice to get my first category win in a time trial and the first ever on the road. $50 bucks for the win was nice to.

This weekend will be the hardest test of the season. Cherry Roubaix I will be doing a 6 mile TT Friday, a 35 minutes Criterium Saturday and a 70 mile road race over some brutal hills Sunday. Hopefully all the hard work I have put in will yield some rewards. Also, the Hines TT win catapulted me to third in the Michigan challenge series. With the season nearing an end there is still some hope being 12 points shy of first. None the less though this has been my best season ever, some results could have been better but the new methods of training I have used the last two months have paved the way for me to have a really good 2013.

Catching up on the past month

This past weekend I raced the Milford Criterium.  Once again this year it was the state championship criterium race.  I have never ever done well on this race course, so I decided not to pressure myself and just focus on training for a couple other races.  My real goal was to do well the previous weekend at the Flint criterium and later in the season.  However Flint never really went as planned and I missed out on a great opportunity.  My legs felt really good that day, however I missed the break away.  At the time that was ok because a team mate of mine did make it.  However a few laps later he dropped.  I spent the next 10-15 minutes killing myself trying to bring the break back.  I leveled a blazing pace that kept the whole field single file holding near 26mph. In the end it just left me dehydrated on another hot day with a lot of great interval practice.  Nobody really could help me or my team mate pace and we just couldn't catch the group off the front.  I blew up on the last lap of the race to finish 20th.  I was bummed at the end of the day, but there is always next year.

So my real focus has been the Hines time trial and the Cherry Roubaix weekend.  Cherry will be a really tough test for me with a lot of climbing.  Hines TT is now my home turf so my expectations is first or bust.  My training for the two coming weekends to end my road racing season has gone really well, it also has caused me to overlook Milford.  I probably trained to hard during the work week, before the race I could tell I just didn't have the pop in my legs to fight hard for position.  It wasn't a horrible day though, last year I DNF'ed and the previous year finished a lap down due to a wheel issue.  So just finishing the race was a good goal.  Once the race started I could tell finishing with the pack wouldn't be an issue, it would just be about how well I could keep myself towards the front.   Well I failed bad at keeping myself near the front, every lap we would sprint up this little hill and I just didn't have the pop to prevent people from taking spots from me I gained on the rest of the circuit though.  The other bad thing that happened was someone's tire exploded next to me and completely knocked out my hearing in my left ear.

Five laps to go I finally got some urgency to dig and try to fight.  My endurance is really good, so I took many spots from other riders that started to suffer.   I still just couldn't make any headway to get near the front.  I probably should have taken a few more risks earlier, on the last lap I just had too much ground to cover.  My sprint wasn't great, but I closed some serious gaps out of the last corner to take 18th.  After the race I wasn't tired at all.  It left me with a lot of what ifs, if I had trained a little lighter in the week I could of maybe had the pop to contend.  Then again my training would not be as good for the coming weeks.  I will just have to see how the next two weeks pan out if I made the right decision.   My new focus the second half of the season has been training more specific, leading to situations like the past weekend when I didn't have my 'A' legs. It seams to work though and I am getting faster.  I also started running again, for the past month I have been trying to run 1-2 times a week and do 3-10 miles a week.  My current goal is to do a 5k in under 20 minutes.  Right now I am around 23:30, but I did that on a blistering hot night.  Its amazing what all the cardio from cycling gives me.  When I started running I had no issues pegging 7 minute miles, the only thing I had to wait up for is my legs to adjust to the pounding of running.  I haven't ever been able to run this fast in my life though, so I am curious on how fast I can actually get.  The long term goal is to do a sprint triathlon, which is a 800 meter swim, 20 kilometer bike, 3 kilometer run, and hopefully break 70 minutes.  This winter I will just have to learn how to swim.

Michigan Time Trial State Championships

This past weekend I participated in my third State TT.  I have never raced a good 40k in my life, I wasn't expecting much better this weekend either.  My fitness was on a downswing needing a short break and rebuild phase.  So I was just hoping I could sneak through the weekend and snag a decent result. To my advantage the race was in the middle of nowhere leading to a lower turnout.  It was going to be another smoking hot day but luckily I started at 9:05 AM and it was only 76 or so with high humidity.

The race was two laps around a 20k course.  When I started I could quickly tell I went a little overkill on my intervals Wednesday, I didn't feel great.  I was just hoping that I could break one of my goals of breaking an hour in the 40k.  When I finished my first lap I was around 29 minutes, still very much on my pace I wanted pre race to finish in the 58 minute range.  The only issue was though I was gassed and the heat was starting to get to me.   I gutted it out though and finished just barely under an hour,  not quite my main goal but still breaking the hour.  To my surprise that time was good enough for 3rd in State for Cat 3 and 4th in Cat 3 overall.  The winner was from Indiana and not eligible for medals.  Overall it was still a bad time trial for me, not to take anything away from the result but my particular field was week because overall I did not place well and despite being 3rd my pacing was well off what I could have done.  It still feels awesome to win a medal and to celebrate I jumped in Lake Michigan later, pictured above.  The water was maybe 60 degrees, but felt great considering the 90+ humid day.  Hopefully after a mid summer break and a little relaxing I can finish off the second have of the season strong and finish well in the Michigan Challenge Points Series.

Lack of Motivation

The past few weeks I have been suffering from a lack of motivation or a mid season burnout.  The remedy is time off to re focus.  My last few races have gone horrible for many reasons.  My early season goals were too much, so I cut out most my MTB races till road season ends.  Less racing and more fun, I also picked up a few items to get back into running some.  Mountain biking will have to wait for the fall.  Back to race recaps though.  West Branch I only raced to get some hill reps at race speed,  I severely overdid it during the work week and came into the race beat tired.  I was hoping to at least sit in the field to get fitness for Mt. Pleasant, which I did but in the end the cold nasty weather spit me off the back and back to the parking lot.  Crashing before the race and gashing my right calf didn't help matters.

After West Branch I was hoping a week of rest and easier rides would be a cure to have a successful weekend at my second stage race of the year.   I was really amped up for the prologue TT in the days prior, but when race time came I just had no drive.  It led me to an uninspired 21st place in a discipline I normally race strong in.  Going first didn't help either, its better to chase then be chased.   The 4.1 mile distance is not a strong suit for me either.  Hopefully the state TT at 40k will suit me much better.  Saturday I was hoping for a better day.  When it rains it pours for me, prior to the race I suffered a flat on some glass.  Not only was the tire toast, it cut the tube in two spots.  I had time to fix it before the race, however it made me miss my nap time.   The race didn't go much better, my lungs acted up at the start and I slid to the back.  When things finally started to settle down I started to drive my way back up the pack.  Then a crash happened and I had no where to go but stop.  The race went up the road and I was done at 9 minutes.  I pleaded to the refs to give me a free lap to rejoin since I had to put a foot down to avoid the wreck.  However they said I needed to have hit the ground to get a free lap.  I am not gonna go to deep into this, but a major loop hole in the rules.   It's a bunch of bull shit when you can't rejoin a race because some guy can't corner and ended up doing a snow angel in the middle of a turn.  You can say I should have been towards the front to avoid it, but my body just hadn't settled into the crit.  Next time I will just flop...ride into the grass and fall over.   I was so angry after this I had to go ride around town for 35 minutes to not strangle anyone.  When you train hard for a race and find your self watching on the sidelines for reasons you can't control it maddening.

Sunday I was hoping for something, anything to cheer me up.  It was a 54 mile race, easy I thought.  I can't get a break though, the weather was clear skies with temps reaching lower 90's.  The race started good with the team making solid moves.  At mile 15 or so I looked to do some damage and attacked on a head wind section.  I stayed off the front for a good 5 miles, I mostly just road a steady tempo pace.  At this time I noticed the heat index was nearing 100.  Before the race I had joked that 2 bottles of water was more then enough.  I brought 3 to be safe.  After I was brought back the racing was erratic. There was lots of attacks and counters making for hard riding.  The terrain rolled some, nothing major, the cross wind just ate the pack alive.  Around mile 30 I was the first to blow, I had very little water and some major heat stroke.  I was a bit delirious, the master 35 pack passed us, but we passed them back almost right away.  I didn't notice the pass back and found myself out of the race.  To be honest I was baked, I rationed my few sips of water left hoping to make it the last 24 miles...ya right.   I just felt worse and worse and wish I had a cell phone to call someone to pick me up.  I was really dehydrated and started to dream of rivers, oceans and water.  I felt like I was in a desert,  it kept driving the pedals in my delirious state.  I was just about to stop at somebodies house and ask for water when a wheel vehicle went by.  The guy asked me if I was ok, of course I said heck no.   He handed me a 26 oz bottle of water, I then drank half of it...which made me more sick.  Oh well I had some water, I carried on for 10 miles to make it to the finish.  Before the finish I was once again out of water.  I crossed the line and went straight for shade and the riders tent to grab lots of water.  Hour later I was mostly ok, still very disappointed.  Turns out many others got shelled after I did for very similar reasons and almost everyone finished dehydrated and out of water. I felt good about my attack and wouldn't have done it any other way.  I think no matter what the heat would have KO'ed me, growing up on the West Coast does not prepare someone to suffer in heat over 100.

After the state TT I am going to take some time off and work on my base conditioning in extreme heat.  That just means I need to not race for a few weekends.  Hopefully some 3-4 hour rides in warm weather along with some running will cure my heat conditioning issues.  I guess its all the ups and downs of a season, hopefully the second half goes much better.  My expectations are low for the state TT, but I would love to podium.  My training numbers earlier this week show I still got the kick, I just need to find the drive this weekend.

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...

Willow!

Time trials and me don't always go as planned. This year having my own dedicated time trial bike has really paid off.   With Fisk being only two weeks prior, it didn't leave a lot of time to correct the issues that plagued me there.  Strange enough this year the weather at the start was in the low 40's, really fricking cold.   My recent training in Kentucky the past two weeks has spoiled me with warmer weather.  I really wasn't excited to race in the cold. I still toughed it out and put the skin suit on, you really shouldn't wear those under 55.   My goal for the race was to hit the 6, 2.2 mile laps as hard as possible.  So after a 35 minute warmup I was ready to roll off the start line. Due to the alphabet seeding I was once again the first Cat 3 to start.  This year I was hoping to not get past by anyone.  The race started bad for me, my pacing was horrible.  I had this issue at Fisk, by lap three I got it corrected.  However those seconds lost add up.

The only main complaint I had in the race was the cars trapped on the course due to poor timing by corner marshals.  I got impeded by a few cars, oh well...probably cost me 5-10 seconds.  Finally going into 5th lap someone past me.  I figured a Cat 1 would pass me at some point.  He would be the only to pass me, and he only got 10 seconds ahead of me in the next two laps. His passing me pushed me to go faster, further proving the point my pacing was bad if I could hang with the Cat 1.   I finished in 30:44, a new PR for me at Willow, hitting almost 26 MPH average. I though at the time when I finished my result would be poor, however it was enough for 4th in Cat 3 and 18th overall. I lost out on 3rd by 4 tenths of a second.  While I am happy about the result, I still wish I would have been on the podium, darn car traffic. I guess my time trial legs are back, now I just need to fix my pacing issues so I can be strong at the state tt.  Next up is Cone Azalia, this will be the real test but I feel ready.

Below is a little video that Marisa filmed and then I edited on my new iPad 3. 

Full Results

Fisk Knob

This past weekend I finally got my first race of 2012 out of the way.  Fisk Knob this year was scheduled for mid April, a change I defiantly like.  The weather was much warmer for the change, actually near the 70's.  Unfortunately the crazy Michigan spring has caused a whirlwind of allergy problems.  The past three weeks have been miserable for me, however the allergies finally feel like they are getting better this week.  For the most part of this off season I have dodged major sickness.  It also seams that the achillies tendon is starting to finally get better.   I was actually able to train for 14 hours one week, last year 8 was a struggle.  Breaking this barrier has allowed me to get in good shape for the start of the 2012 season.   So going into Fisk my goal was to repeat a podium like I had last year. Unfortunately with Fisk you only race in age groups, meaning that there is a chance I will race against higher category racers. 

Due to a business trip though I had to make sure I started the race earlier.  Luckily the promoter was able to move me to the 16th starter.  This is good and bad, typically the big dogs start later in the day.  That would mean I probably would have no carrots and have to just try and pace myself hard.  Everyone starts in 30 second intervals, so at least I would have 15 people ahead of me with up to 8 minutes time buffer.  

After getting in a 50 minute warmup I was ready to go.  I started hard and caught my 30 second man in the first 2 miles.  This would be a common trend, before I reached the halfway mark at 8-9 miles I had passed 10-11 of the 15 starters in front of me.   My allergies defiantly played a role though in the day, I could never get going at 100%.   I kept trying to fire the legs though knowing the last thing I wanted was to get passed and I really wanted to be the first person to cross the line.   So I kept going in the pain cave.  While most of the last 4 miles is uphill, I had a nice cross/ tailwind to help push me along.  Before the last corner I had picked off 14/15 starters in front of me.  With only 1.5 miles of uphill to go I just punched it, it hurt but I clocked in a 43:47.  Unfortunately I never caught that last person, so I was the second across the line. 

Since I had to be in Kentucky that night I left the race right away not knowing results till later.  However I ended up 5th in my 25-29 age group and 25th overall.  With the quality of competition greater then the previous year I was very happy with my results.  Time trials have been a struggle for me since I hurt my tendon, the race against the clock really exposes lack of fitness.   So for me I felt very good to be competitive even when my allergies were killing me.  All and all I have managed to take the bad of last year and make it into something good for this year.  I am very excited to see what else I can do this year.

Results

First Outdoor Ride of the Year

Recently I got a chance to ride outside for the first time of the year.  It was also the perfect opportunity to break in my new camera mount.  Last year I wasn't able to catch very much footage due to mount stability and breakage issues.  However for 2012 I have a nice new CNC'ed handlebar camera mount that should hold up to everything.  So I decided I would give it a pounding on the local icy trail.  Below is some video from the ride, I am still working out the kinks on how to best edit the video.  Enjoy!

Cross Country Skiing

This winter I decided I would hang up the bike and take up the sport of nordic skiing.   I have never been on skis much in my life, so this was going to be a new challenge.  Michigan actually is a very good state for winter XC sking, however this year the temps have been higher then normal and the snow fall has been minimal.  Despite the conditions I have still managed to get out skiing a few times and am well on my way to learning decent form.  XC skiing is a much better way to spend the winter rather then biking in the extreme elements.  Overall the off season is going well and everything is looking good for the bike racing season next year.  Check out the video below, I finally edited some video I took at the Milford Criterium.

Year in Review

Well it's about time that 2011 finally came to and end.  There wasn't just
one incident I want to put behind me but many.  Never in my life have I had
a year with so many health problems.   Bronchitis, asthma, kidney stones
and of course my Achilles.   Putting all that aside though outside of
racing my year was good.  My racing season wasn't a complete bust either, I
managed to get my first class win in a mtb race.  Iceman I also got some
redemption of the mishaps of the previous year.  My road season I just
would like to forget and turn a page to this year.

For 2012 I have a lot to look forward to.  First of which being some new
teammates that should make the road season a lot of fun. Most of all
though, starting the year healthy.   Last year gave me some new motivation
and anger.  Hopefully I can turn that energy into some good results.   As
far as goals for the new year I have only two, stay healthy and enjoy
life.

2011 Race Results
Mar.27.2011 Fisk Knob Time Trail (2/9 Mens 25-29, 16 Overall)
Apr.30.2011 Willow Time Trail (6/14 Cat3, 38/204 Overall)
May.01.2011 Cone-Azalia Classic Road Race (20/32 Cat 3)
Jun.18.2011 DanCihak Memorial Duck LakeTT - StateChampionshipTT(12/12 Cat 3, 76/116Overall 40k)
Jul.09.2011 Criterium Detroit City (DNF)
Jul.10.2011 Terry Reisch Memorial Charity Race (DNF)
Jul.16.2011 BTR Bike Race Criterium (DNF)
Jul.23.2011 Maillot Jaune Road Race (DNF)
Jul.24.2011 Le Champion Pave Criterium (17th Cat 3)
Jul.31.2011 Milford Criterium - State Championship Criterium (DNF)
Aug.01.2011 Hines Park Time Trial (9th Cat 3)
Aug.20.2011 Maybury Time Trial - Mountain Bike (1st/7 Sport 19-29, 14/101 Sport Division)
Aug.28.2011 Birmingham Bike Festival (26th Cat 3)
Sep.05.2011 Debaets-Devos Pro-Am Memorial Bicycle Race Criterium (21st Cat 3)
Sep.11.2011 Addison Oaks Fall XC Mountain Bike Race (1st Sport 19-29)
Oct.15.2011 Peak2Peak Mountain Bike Classic (DNS Sick)
Nov.05.2011 Iceman Cometh Mountain Bike Challenge (10th 28-29 Age Group, 397/3744 Overall)

Iceman Video

Iceman Cometh 2011 : Raw/Unedited Cam Footage [Part 1 of 4] from Brandon Love on Vimeo.

I show up often in the first 9 minutes, but at 9:20 the guy with the camera follows me until I finally drop him.
...the video best describes the race, enjoy

Iceman!

Iceman Cometh has come and gone along with another interesting season.   My training prior to Iceman had been filed with sickness and work travel from Mexico to Kentucky.  I missed Peak to Peak unfortunately suffering the after affects of getting sick in Mexico.  So next year I will finally have to give that race a try and have a proper warm up race for Iceman.   Despite not racing in some time my legs were feeling rested and strong going into Iceman weekend.  I also changed up my preparation for this years race,  now that I am a more competent mountain biker I spent my time focusing on speed.  Riding dirt roads rather then working on trail technique. 

This years edition of Iceman would be traversing mostly the same course of the previous year with a few small changes to add some excited.  Despite the race being billed as a 27 mile point to point this years edition was rumored to be about 30.3 miles, making the sub 2 hour goal a little bit harder.   Given last years performance I had a lot to look past and a lot to improve on.  I also took the opportunity this year to arrive in Traverse City a day early to test the new finish loop.  I'm glad I did because it had a few fun surprises. 

Last year I experienced bonking, water freezing, bike problems and a busted leg.  So this year I brought an insulated camelbak along with a revised nutrition plan, tools, and the leg is still just a work in progress.  The weekend's weather was amazing, at race start it was still a frigid 32, but the skies were clear with sun warming the air to the mid 50's by afternoon.  Unlike last year where I got to start in wave 3, I had been demoted to wave 6 based on my finishing time due to my problems last year.  This would only mean I would have to pass more people and have less riders to pace with.  Basically from the start I would have to go on my own and just push the envelope.   My main goal for this year was revenge, break two hours, and also reach the podium.

9:15 my wave left Kalkaska and began our Journey to Timber Ridge in Traverse City.  Our wave started fast, I did my best to stay near the front but also conserve energy and warm up.  Unfortunately my gearing and lack of being warmed up led me to lose the top 3 guys in my wave.  If I could had stayed with them at the start I might have had a better time and a wheel to draft off some.  As we entered the double track trails I was probably around 20th, I mostly just tried not to push the envelope and not crash.  I knew I would be picking off riders soon enough.  After the fact I wished I would have pushed harder to get the whole shot, however its hard to say how much that effort would have hurt me later in the race.  I might of lost 2-5 minutes working through the pack, or risked bonking from the hard early effort and losing that much time later on. 

As I picked riders off though I gained more and more wheel suckers(drafters).  I would drop them time and time, but more would come back.  I could have let them take a pull, but it would have just slowed me down.  As I bridged gaps to groups of riders I always found myself doing all the work breaking the air.  If I did find a break of a momentary rider to draft off, I usually dropped them on the next hill.  This was the entire race for me, along with dealing with traffic lines on some portions of single track.  The penalty of losing my early start wave is exactly what I got.  Me generally being the faster guy not finding relief with other fast riders to ride with.  Iceman is a strategy race where pace lines and drafting can net you not just seconds, but like 10 minutes. 


I finished the race safely in just over 1:58, beating my goal of 2 hours.  I ended up 10th and missed my podium, but given the year I had the race is still a success.  Next year I earned my faster start wave back and will have fast riders to work with.  That should help with my new goal of breaking 1:50 and landing a spot on the podium.







Check back for Video soon!

Addison Oaks Fall Classic

Sunday marked the one year anniversary of my first mountain bike race as I was entered to start my fourth race ever on the trails.  In the weeks leading up to this race I tried to do my best to make a few trips to visit the trail and learn it.  I think those trips really helped out race day.  The weather and the trail was perfect for a race.  All I had to do was bring my A game and I was fairly confident I could win my sport division.  Like last year the course contains a mix of single track, double track and open grass over 7 miles done 3 laps.  The previous year I had melted down on this trail, for some reason the off and on power and climbs really wore me out.  Given my lack of conditioning this year I was a bit worried about how I would hold up.  This race would be a big gauge on how I need to alter my training leading up to Iceman.  It also will serve as a gauge on if I am ready to race expert.  If I had the fitness I had last year paired with the skills I have now I would say yes in a heartbeat.  However my endurance is still somewhat lagging coming back from my tendon injury.  Hopefully by Iceman I should be 100% ready.

Before the race I had thought long and hard about strategy, however there was a few factors I didn't consider.  Anyways the plan was to start calm, weather the opening storm and sit in.  My second lap of three was when I would plan to attack.  The only downside would be what if a rider got away off the front, then I would have to catch up. 

Well throw all that out the window.  From the start line I missed my pedal clip in, actually this didn't turn out to be a big deal.  I still sprinted to easily slot into second going into the single track.  Now comes the factor I didn't account for, lots and I mean lots of slow traffic.  No offense to the juniors and high school kids, but get out of the way!  Before I knew it my pack was in a mess of junior and slower single speed riders who had gone out before our wave.  I tried to be a nice as possible passing, but this really messed up my rhythm.  About 3 miles in I knew there was a wide open double track section.  I made an audible and decided this area will be my point of attack.  Shock and Awe, Go big or go home.  If I was going to make this my race I decided I needed to do it there.

So I got myself ready, drank some fluid.  When the trail opened, I hesitated for a second...then drove it like I was racing a road time trial.  My open trail speed was to much for anyone, a gift road racers have.  I quickly opened a gap while passing something like 12 people ahead of me.  By the time I made it to the single track again I had made the selection and was safely in the clear.  I still caught up to a few more juniors, but without much impact got around them.  At the end of the first lap I was in the clear with one rider still chasing hard about 15 seconds behind me.  Now all that was left was for me to keep it together and time trial to the end, easy enough right?

Bonk, the same thing I was victim of last year quickly set in on the second lap.   I am still not sure if this was a byproduct of going too hard on the opening lap, or bad diet and poor recovery in the days prior to the race.  My guess would be the later.   However I had an open trail and used this to increase my lead and do what I could to conserve and try to get lots of my energy drink mix down.  At the end of the second lap I even tried to eat an energy bar, but I could only get about 25% of it down.  So that left me going into the last lap with one of the worst energy bonk pain caves I have ever endured.  This is where I needed to prove I was mentally tough,  I keep trying to egg myself on.  The miles slowly went by and the hills got harder and harder.  My form faded badly and my decents were just plain out of control.  The pump track like sections I miss timed everything and got the back of the bike way in the air.  I even hit a tree on one of the fastest descents.  I had brushed the same tree the previous two laps, but this time I nailed it hard with my right elbow.  The last few climbs really hurt, I couldn't even stand.  My legs and arms were fried, the last time I had this feeling was at Cherry Roubaix last year.  I knew I still had the lead so I just gutted it out turning myself inside out.  I made it out of the trail and into the finish chute.   I crossed the line and fell over, I had won my div by 1:44.  Being only my second ever win I don't have much to base this on, but it was the hardest I have ever had to gut out at the end of a race. 



Looking forward I have much to improve on.  During the race, first I bonked, I never got in my own rhythm and wasted lots of energy because I was in a bad rhythm.  In retro spec I am not ready for expert yet.  I am close though.  Without the bonk my lap times would have been good, but I need to build my endurance and work on the small things.   Smoother lines and better cornering will lower my workload, efficiency I need to race at the next level.  I also need to not let surrounding factors ruin my rhythm. Looking forward though I have 3 more MTB races and 7 weeks to prep for Iceman.  I have a lot to work on but plan on doing it one step at a time.

The end of the road racing season

This past Monday the road racing season finally ended for me.   My last two criteriums were somewhat bittersweet, but gave me a lot to feel good about going into next year.   I will start first with the previous weekend where I raced in downtown Birmingham for the first time.   This event was new for 2011 and set up on a 6 turn .52 mile loop.    I don't normally have fun in crits, but this course was technical, fun and fast.  For a change the weather was in the 70's and perfect.    My race was scheduled to run for about 45 minutes.  Which ended up being 34 laps.   The only downside of the race was the Cat 3 field was to race with the Cat 4 field.  I thought this would be a bad thing, but to be honest the course was such it weeded out the weak links in the first few laps.  

Off the line I didn't feel great, I hadn't raced on the road in some time.  The first 15 minutes I had to fight hard to stay with it.  The only thing that kept me in it was my ability to rail corners, a new confidence that has grown recently with all my trail riding.   After I finally settled down I took to taking it easy riding near the back.  I knew I could use the corners to my advantage to move up later in the race.  With four to go things started to get a bit more serious and the pace picked up.  With one to go I started to push up hard on the outside to gain spots.  Unfortunately that was where the only crash would be going down the front stretch.   I had absolutely no where to go but lockup the brakes and wait to go around...race over.   Despite that part the event was awesome and for a rare turn I actually felt good in a race.

This past Monday was the season finale in Auburn Hills.  Dabaets Devos had a new course layout, making it a giant long loop at 1.5 miles long.    Unfortunately the weather was crappy, 56° with a little mist and a lot of wind.  I wasn't really to motivated to race, mentally the road season had already ended for me and the focus was on the trails.   Once the race got going though I perked up.  Throughout the race I took a few pokes at making a break or going for a prime.  With the conditions though it was going to come down to a sprint.  I tried to focus a lot on positioning after the last races debacle.  With 4 laps to go I had a solid spot in the front, however holding that was another thing.   The windy back stretch left the race wide open.  Sure enough any move I made was countered by another line of riders coming back to the front.  With one to go I found my side of the pack was failing so I went to the back to make a surge up the other side.  This move allowed my to get back to mid pack, about where I wanted to be for the sprint.  Unfortunately once again I got hosed, the guy in front of me with two corners just kind of took the corner half pace.  The other 3 lines surged up my inside and instantly 10 spots where gone.  To make matters worse I had to start my sprint early to get back in the swarm going to the line.  That little bit was enough to kill me and I couldn't make up spots and crossed 21st.  

Still though it was another solid race for me, next year once I get the leg back to 100% and can train like normal again things will be much better.  Just being competitive with the lack of training I was doing is great.   Next up a couple days of rest and a change of focus.  I've got 2 months to prep for Iceman, this year I will do it by doing 4-5 MTB races instead of one.  Also since I am not burned out like last year I got a little bit more motivation to train hard and get revenge on the grudge I hold with Iceman.  Should be fun.

Maybury Time Trial

Today I raced the Maybury Time Trial, my third mountain bike race ever and the very first of the time trial discipline.   Maybury State Park I have a bit of a love hate relationship with.  When I first started mountain biking two years ago it was the location of a very nasty crash I had.  Leaving me with bruises all over along with both sides of both knees bruised.  I didn't ride there again till last year, I broke my chain before my ride barely got going.   Living so close by I should be hitting this trail once a week, its nice.  There are plenty of nice hiking trails also.  However I refused to go back till this year.  Frustrated with my road racing season a little over a week ago at Hometown Bicycles they had the Maybury race website up on the computer.  A few of us there talked about it and decided we should do that race since it is so close.  So with only a week to prep I needed to put the demons aside and learn to conquer this beast of a trail.

Maybury can best be summed up as a short, ~6.5 mile or so trail.   It is very technical with lots of twists and lots of trees waiting to knock you off your bike.  Twisty has never been my thing, so I did some serious upgrades to my mountain bike to improve handling.  Man did they pay off, when I took to the trail I really enjoyed it for a change.  With it being so close to my office why had I avoided this place like a plague.  Anyways I rode into today with three days of practice there totaling 6 laps.  Enough to at least understand it.

I signed up to race Sport 19-29, being only my third race I wasn't quite ready to sign up as Expert.  Even more so since this trail did not suit my ability well.   For the time trail they added a few extra sections, mostly for passing.  Also to add a few hills to make it a bit harder, so the race route was about 8.5-9 miles I heard.  Lucky for me I was set off to be the first one off the line in sport class.  I would have a clear trail with no traffic.

I started off in a blaze using my road legs to my advantage quickly tearing through the connectors leading to the trail head.   I started to hard maybe because my heart rate was pegged.  When I finally reached the single track I was breathing hard.  On the first hill of the regular trail I picked a bad line on the erosion and drifted into the bushes.  Unfortunately I got a branch stuck in my front wheel and had to get off the bike.  I yanked my bike out of the shrubbery and sprinted to the top of the hill to get back on my bike.  I really thought I had blew the race,  we started with only 30 second time gaps.   Lucky for me though I started so fast I was still clear ahead and had my clear trail.  I quickly composed myself and relaxed.   I pushed my bike and tires hard through the single track.   I had several near misses almost losing control in corners.

However I just got in my groove and made up ground on the straight sections and hills.   Surprisingly I made it to the end of the single track still on my own.  I could hear second chasing me, but knew I was putting ground on him.  However I was out of the single track and on the paved bike path for .75 miles of pure speed.  I used that and the final single track connector to push my gap to 23 seconds on the guy chasing me.  I sprinted like mad across the line, then let the waiting game begin.  Turns out my time held to be number one in my class and 14th overall in sport division.  Getting the 1st class win under the belt felt amazing, also confirms I might be ready to race Expert.  I know I probably lost a good chunk of time on my incident, otherwise I would have been in the top 10.  I will take that though since I am a newbie when it comes to mountain bike racing, especially on a tight twisty technical trail.  Next up are a couple more crit races and then 3 more MTB races to get me in tip top shape to take my revenge on Iceman.  If I am not on the podium there for my age group I will be disappointed.  The leg is still touch and go, but the fitness is finally getting closer to on track.  Hopefully the end of the season will contain a few more podiums like today.  Its a huge relief and monkey off my back with all the heath and injury crap I have had to deal with this year.

Results