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