Addison Oaks Fall Classic XC

Sunday I raced my very first mountain bike race ever.  After a long season of riding on the road...boy was this a change in pace needed.  After my last road race Labor Day Monday I proceeded to hop on my mountain bike Wednesday and Thursday.  I felt so good on the trails I looked online Thursday night and found a MTB race that was Sunday.  I was like "ah what the hell, can't be to hard."  So I signed up feeling confident I had a shot at winning my sport division.   I could have raced beginner, but I though that would be unfair. I also figured I needed a solid race to really get me ready for Iceman in November, and with my upcoming vacations this weekend was my last shot at squeezing a MTB race in. 

So Sunday rolled around and I showed up at the race.  Saturday I had been doing some last minute upgrades on the bike, with more to follow in the next month to make it race ready.  My bike was still hefty, far off the pedigree of a racing mountain bike but I figured I had the power to ride strong with what I had.  As soon as I got to the race though I felt out of place, it was like starting all over again.  However though I didn't have any pre race butterflies.  My goal for the day was just to finish, and learn for Iceman.   Now generally in road racing its ok to race the course blind, not knowing where the roads take you.  More realistically its probably better to do more then 3 trail rides for the year prior to your first race.  So, I was racing the course blind and with less then 50 off road miles for the year.   Heh, I figured "I am fit, I can handle this."  You can probably see where this all is going, I might have been a bit to arrogant.  I grossly misunderstood the type of preparation that is required to race off road.

Finally start time approached, there was 11 others next to me.  My race was scheduled for 21 miles with about 15 of that I would say racing single track.  Since it was a mass start my strategy was to slot in behind the leaders and follow them till I learned the course.  I had done that last year on new trails with good success.  The whistle blew and we all took off, I had all the power in the world to run away off the front but I slotted in about 5th.  Then before I knew it we were on the trail and going uphill.  Before I knew it the top 3 had escaped, and I was still stuck behind 4th watching them getting away.  Passing can be tricky on single track, so most the time you have to wait for an opening to shot around.  The next part I didn't expect.  The guys in front of me were really that good, and my lack of experience was showing.  I couldn't corner as well and had to work much, much harder due to my inexperience.  I was working to hard, and the guys in front of me kept slipping away.  A smart person at this point would just ride there own pace, but I kept on going trying to stay on what I thought was 4th places wheel.  Turns out he was in a diff cat, and I was really in 4th with my teammate behind me.  I had convinced him to also enter his first MTB race that day.

Half way through the first lap I finally snapped, the hard pace was making me make mistakes and ride outside of my ability.  I near crashed in a corner with a rock garden, I finally waved my teammate by to let him lead for a bit.  This helped me recover a little.  I soon though lost touch with him, but this was due to a mechanical.  Going up one of the hills I shifted my front ring and my chain stuck.  This lead to me falling on my side, oh well that's racing.  It took me about a minute to fix my bike and get going, but I was well behind.  So I finally decided to do the smart thing and race the race at my pace.  The damage had been done from the early effort though.  Going into my second and third laps my body tired and I started to cramp.  The roughness of the trail was wearing hard on my upper body.   I ended up losing a few more spots and finished 7th in my class.  Overall a solid finish given the magnitude of the feat I was trying to pull off.  Next time I know what to expect and how to prepare.  Riding the single track trails is a blast though, next year I hope to participate in a few more cross country races.  Well, once I get some lighter wheels.  My current ones are way to heavy and do not help with me keeping up with the leaders when I have to work that much harder.

Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend I raced in my last road racing event of the season.  Boy, its been a long season.  However it has made the summer just fly by.  I can't believe that fall is almost here and college football has already started.   In a sense its a good feeling, I can finally kick back and enjoy life.  It will not be till the end of March next year that I will race on the road again.  However this doesn't mean I am done racing.  This coming weekend I will be racing my very first mountain bike race.  It will be a warm up for the Iceman Cometh race in November.  Those will be a story for another day.  

 

So the Debaets-Devos Criterium took place on Monday.  I was pumped up for this race, it was local and I was feeling like I was on great form after the suffering I endured in Traverse City.  The circuit was just over a mile and was shaped like an "L", with two tight 180° turns.  The weather was mild and windy...yep, its seems fall just showed up out of the blue.  The race was scheduled to run for 45 minutes.  The race started off with a flurry of attacks.  I joined in on attacking, everything in this race felt effortless.  I was defiantly on a good day.  I rode off the front a couple times really hoping to make a breakaway that would stick.

As a team we were racing great, we continually attacked as a team and worked very hard to protect the gaps by placing ourselves at the front.  This race was a blast, by far the most fun I have had in a criterium this year.  With three laps to go there was a small breakaway off the front.  I guess in a sense the team effort had really inspired me, so with two to go I went to the front of the pack to absolutely hammer the pace and bring the field back together.  I killed myself for for the last two laps finally letting up before the second to last corner, I had brought the field back together and worn some of the field out.  The race was now in the hands of my teammates, who I had positioned with my pace setting.   I sat up to coast the last little bit, I was tired.  However I was rewarded with one of my teammates taking fourth in the sprint.  All and all it was a great day and a great way to end the season.  We had won the team championship in Michigan for Cat 3.  I can't wait for next season.  However next up begins my mountain bike saga, with an encore climb to the top of Mt. Hood.

Full Results

Cherry Roubaix

Cherry Roubaix can be best summed up as the hardest race weekend in Michigan.  On schedule for the weekend was a criterium in downtown Traverse City on Saturday, and a road race of epic proportions near Sleeping Bear Dunes Sunday.  The criterium for this year was still mostly in the same location, however the route had been changed.  I for one wasn't really a fan of the new route.  It was a fairly standard 6 corner circuit with a few sections of brick road.  I've raced on enough brick this year and frankly I am just tired of it.

My race was scheduled to start at 430,  luckily the weather wasn't to hot.  The race was just 40 minutes plus two laps, so it would be quick and painful.  For me the race started as a disaster.  From the start nothing went right.  I didn't have good positioning off the line and to make matters worse the pace was set high from the gun.   I was doing a fairly decent job at carving my way through the field, but then everything went to crap for me.  About ten minutes into the race I had another racer chop my front wheel in a corner.  What this means is essentially he didn't hold his line in the corner and came across my front wheel, making contact.  This usually doesn't bode well for the guy in my position.  Luckily I was able to make a few evasive maneuvers and stay upright.  He had hit my wheel hard and defiantly felt the contact.  Going down the straight he looked back at me and I gave him the "death look".  I was mad. Not only had I almost wrecked, I lost all my momentum  recovering and found myself at the back of the field again.  

Oh well, so I had 30 minutes to work back up.  However I was doomed, every effort I made to move up was countered by either a crash or...yet another wheel chopper.   I was using up a ton of energy to work around these incidents.  Some races positioning is golden, and this was one.  I don't mean to be offensive, but there was a good group of riders in the field that need to learn how to ride.  It is essential to learn how to hold your line in a corner.   I had one rider literally cut me off in 3 straight corners, and he knew it.  I would sprint to pass him, and he would sprint to not let me pass.  Then he would cut me off in the corner and I had to work just that much harder to get up next to him on the next straight. To make matters worse there was a crash with 8 minutes to go right in front of me.  I had to back way off and lost contact with the field.  I busted my butt though and got back into the race.   However with three laps to go 3 riders in front of me decided to just give up and drop from the pack and race. Grr...they really slowed up in the corner and blocked me a little.  This created another big gap to the field.  The work I had done throughout the race dodging mishap had taken a major toll.  I couldn't bridge back, so I rode the last 3 laps in anger.  Out of 45 riders I took 30th.  I was a much stronger rider then the results show.  Some days just don't go to plan.

Cherry Roubaix Crit Results 

Sunday I was hoping for much better luck, road races suit me better.  The course though was a brutal circuit with about 800 feet of climbing per lap.  My race was 5 circuits for a total of 68.5 miles.  800 feet of climbing doesn't sound to bad, by the 2 main climbs average around 8% gradient making for a tough climb.   Another good thing about this race was it started at 840 AM, which was good since the forecast was for upper 80's in the afternoon.  

So my race set off in the cool morning air, which was actually a very welcoming thing.  Right off the bat a Ricardo sprinted off the front.  This brought out a good laugh since he might have been the biggest guy in the field and not a big threat for the day.  So the race started very relaxed and everybody was talking.  However by the time we got to the first climb is was back to business.  To sum things up the first 3 laps were boring, with a few attacks here and there to keep everyone awake.  The only casualty was one of my teammates who crashed at the end of the first lap.   Unfortunately he broke his front wheel and DNF'ed, but what was more unfortunate was that he was boring my front wheel.

The fourth lap the race was finally starting to shape up,  several serious attacks took place during this lap.  I found myself at the front of the pack twice turning up the pace to bring these guys back.  I did bring them back in though and lived to fight into the final lap.  However though at the start of the final lap I realized my day was done.  Which was ok because I did what I needed to do to contribute to the race.  Going up the first small incline of the last lap I got a funny feeling climbing.  My legs were dead. my muscles weren't cramping, they just had no power.   I was hoping I could just keep with the pack over the last two big climbs, but on the next and biggest climb on the course I got dropped.  It took everything I had to not walk up the hill, I wasn't breathing hard either.  I just had no power.  So I spent the last 4 miles by myself cruising to the line solo.  Its a real kicker to bonk like that so close to the end.   I guess the only thing I could have done was eat on the bike better during the race, maybe that could have helped.  Anyways I rolled across the line in 25th out of 41.  I was just happy to finish this grueling race.  Last year I had to DNF after I strained my calf muscle badly.  Next up, the final race of the road racing season for me on Labor Day.

Cherry Roubaix Road Race Results

Tour de Gaslight

This past weekend I raced in my first Tour de Gaslight State Criterium Championship.  Since the season is winding down this race was a kind of a welcoming sign,  soon I will be able to sit around and watch college football.  The season has been long and hard, but I have learned a lot about racing and myself. Leading up to this race my training had been giving me some good feedback, so I was ready.   However this race was going to come down to a sprint, my weakness.  So I knew my goal for the day was 100% breakaway all or nothing, that was my shot.

The warm summer had yielded to some cooler days, so that was to my advantage.  The circuit was near a mile long around Gaslight Village and East Grand Rapids High School.  The course was flat and somewhat technical with a sharp left hander after a long back stretch leading into a head wind.  Positioning into that corner was key for the finish. This circuit was set up to be fast.  Unlike many races prior, today I made and effort to line up on the front row.  I wanted to get and early jump and position myself on the front.

We were maybe a little to tightly packed on the line, I was sure someone was going to hook handlebars and wreck.  However the start was clean and I took off as planned quickly slotting in line at the front.  At the end of the first lap there was a small push by three to get off the front of the pack.  I didn't want this to happen so I drove the pace of the pack to bridge the gap back.  However though, that also meant I was leading the pack into the first corner at speed for my first time.  I horribly miss gauged the corner and nearly went wide into the curb.  After the gap was closed I decided to relax a little and wait for my chance at a break.   At around 15 minutes into the 50 minute race the bell was rung for the first prime prize lap.   This is generally a good time to make a move so I got myself ready.  Sure enough as we went to the line 3 guys had driven away from the pack, so I quickly jumped the gap and joined them.

We were a strong group of four, I thought for sure we had a chance at being that break.  The one that got away for the race.  We stayed off the front for 3 laps I believe, but the pack was having nothing of us getting away.  I think they saw the danger and strength of us four and they worked hard to bring us back in.   Once caught I decided I best relax for a bit.  I had been on or off the front far to much, a better strategy would have been to save energy for the inevitable sprint.   That didn't mean things were easy though, fending for position in the pack is cut throat.  At one point I was run wide up onto a curb and another time bumped elbows with a fellow rider.   After the curb incident I moved to the back of the pack, mostly cause I wasn't sure if I had cut my tire or not when the carbon rim hit the concrete.  Luckily I hadn't, but not being able to trust your tire for a few laps makes things very interesting.  As time ran out, I knew my chances were feeble.  I had played my cards, and the field ate me up.  All that was left was to give it what I had and try to fight with the sprinters.  I only got 29th out of 42.  I wasn't let down by the day though.  I knew my strategy was break,  I tried and failed.  Some days the breakaway works, but not on a day were the race pace averages near 26.5 miles per hour.

Gaslight Full Results

Time Trial Weekend

Saturday was the makeup date for the 4k State track time trial.  Unlike the previous weekend the forecast was clear and there would be nothing to stop the event.  I had thought the 3k sucked and was already hard enough,  the 4k wasn't going to be much better.  I am still not much of a track rider, my peddle stroke is not smooth enough to be fast on a fixed gear bike.  I think this winter I will have to buy a used track bike to do velodrome workouts next year.  Maybe try a few scratch races. The benefits from track workouts can greatly increase your sprinting speed, and peddling speed in general.  The track will make you a faster bike racer, just take Mark Cavendish for example. 

Since the velodrome is 200 meters around I would be doing 20 laps today.  The main goal is to keep the bike on or below the black line, to ensure you are doing the shortest route possible.  This is the one thing I am actually good at on the track.  The hardest part about doing these events is I am using a borrowed bike.  All setup is done at the track and it always tends to be different from one day to the next.  Also your gearing selection is very limited.  For today's event I was using at 48/15 T combination.  If I build a track bike I am going to put a crank bigger then 48T on it.

Maybe the hardest part of this time trial is the standing start.  In a regular TT you can start in a easier gear and slowly shift up.  On the track you are stuck spinning the big gear.  The first lap can cost you tons of time if you have a slow start.  So when you stat the first few peddle strokes require a ton of muscle.   After that you can settle down and get into a rhythm.  20 laps is a long time.  My run wasn't to bad,  my lap times stayed fairly consistent.  The problem was I just wasn't fast enough.  I finished 7th/8 in category.   The funny thing is I can do a 20k time trail with a faster average speed then a 4k on the track.  Hopefully after some more track work next year I can master this skill.

State Track Results @ Bloomer

Sunday was the big event for me.  The Hines Park Time Trial.  Two years ago I had raced my first bike racing event here.  Seems like a long time ago but since then I have had a lot of fun.  I have also been able to push my fitness to new levels.   The race is a 20k out and back race against the clock.  Seams easy right?  Well Hines runs East to West and has a bad habit of being a wind tunnel.  Time trials hurt, and to add insult to injury this race starts heading East with the tailwind.  So, the last 6 miles can be summed up by how much pain your able to withstand. 

Luckily my start time was 8:47 am, meaning I could race in the cool morning air for a change.  My previous times were 34:49 and 30:13 last year.  My training had indicated that I was on fitness to run around 29 minutes flat, so I was hoping I could break into the upper 28's.  Being the engineer I am I had my splits planned out on how fast I needed to reach the turnaround to meet my goal.  However there was one small glitch in my plans, the wind was light and not heavy.  On a bike your biggest enemy is air resistance.  This force increases exponentially once you reach speeds over 20 mph.  So bike position becomes everything.  I had worked a lot on my aero position and felt confident that I could slice through the head wind.

Back to the race though, so how is a light wind bad?  Even with a light wind at your back it still feels like a headwind because your going so fast.  Also it would mean my pace estimates were are worthless.  So I started out smashing my pedals turning them over at an average rate of 95 rpm.  Everything felt awful, my speed wasn't what it should have been and I was falling off pace.  So I just kept gunning it.  I reached the turn around point well off my mark.  In fact it caused me to panic some because I didn't want to miss my goal.

First off I will say biking into a head or cross wind is never fun, there is no coasting.  You have to constantly maintain momentum and just power through it.  That's were the pain element factors in,  as the lactic acid builds the legs just burn and hurt.  Cause of the wind I had started to hard, I was actually ahead of my pace based on the wind.  Halfway through the return trip the pain finally caught up with me.  To make matters worse I hit a pothole and almost crashed.  Its at this point a sane person gives up, there is no point in deliberately making your body hurt.  However I just kept turning over those pedals at 95 rpm.  I think the grimace on my face showed it all coming down the finish chute.  However I stopped the clock at 29:02 and some change.  Right on pace after all, funny how that works out.  My time was good enough to grab me 6th/15 in category and 31st overall.  Not to bad considering I do not have a real time trial bike and rear disc wheel.  Those items alone could make me more aerodynamic and save me an extra 10-90 seconds over this distance.  Next year I will have to break into the 28's.

Hines Park TT Full Results

Milford Criterium

The Milford Criterium was one of the events I was really looking forward to this year, I had missed it the previous year because I was camping in Oregon.  I had spent the previous day at the velodrome for the State events.  I showed up too late for the 200m and then the 4k got rained out.  So I spent 5 hours at the track to get a little over an hour of practice.  That aside I was still feeling good to race.  Other then the Hines TT and Kensington Valley road race this is the closest thing to a home race I have out here.

The course was set in downtown Milford with a loop that was near 1 mile.  This course however was somewhat technical with lots of elevation change.  The hardest part was the near 120° corner that lead into an uphill segment to the finish line.  Throughout the day this corner had been the scene of many wrecks.   Including a few in my race. In fact all the photographers seamed to congregate in this corner to capture the crashes.

My race was scheduled for 50 minutes.  I had heard in the parking lot before the race that several teams were going to hammer the pace at the start.  Mostly to try and weed out some sprinters and drop them off the back.   The rumor was true because as soon as we started the pace was harsh.  I had a bit of a slow start, but I settled in and started to work my way from the back to mid pack.  Eventually I was going to go to the front, but as I got nestled in the middle of the pack my rear tire started to feel really funny.  Due to this I went to the back of the pack to look at it.  Riders agreed it looked low.  So I went in the pits to change my rear wheel. 

In most circumstances they will give you a free lap to rejoin the race and be on the lead lap.  Such as a crash or some sort of mechanical.  The referee quickly looked over my wheel and denied my free lap.  The tires pressure was not low enough.  After the race I found a cut in the center of the tread, the sealant I put in though sealed it before it went flat.  Anyhow I rejoined the pack, a lap down.  Since I was no longer in contention I just sat on the back and rode out the rest of the time.  The rest of the race though was filled with several attacks.  Eventually 4 riders slipped off the front to stay clear to the end.  The harsh pace had took its toll on the field, also given the lack of teamwork by the field the gap was never closed.

Overall the race was a bit of a big letdown for me.  Not only had I had a bad day, but almost everyone of my team had.  One of my teammates crashed and hurt his shoulder badly.  However I did the right thing changing my tire, its to bad the referee didn't side with my decision to change tires for precautionary reasons.  Oh well, that's racing.

Milford Full Results

A Message to Triathletes

Sigh, so I am out riding at Island Lake park and a triathlete passes me. Since my goal for the night was an easy ride I kept a nice steady pace, no racing him. It just so happens my pace kept me 100 to 200 meters behind him.  Well then I decide to do a few intervals.  Once again my goal was just to loosen my legs up to race this weekend. My first interval I never caught him, but my second interval was a steady 6 min medium effort. Well I end up passing him.  I look back and can see he is trying really hard to stay with me. A few minutes later at the end of my interval he tries to follow me through a 90 bend I took at over 25 mph.  I hear an awful noise...carbon meeting road.  He had blown the corner and laid the bike down skidding off the road into a ditch breaking the fork and top tube of his Cervelo P2.  I kind of feel like an ass now, then again it was his fault for trying to follow me.    I turned around though to make sure he was ok and offer help. I feel like I indirectly caused him to crash by pushing him harder then he should have been going.  I guess I should have stopped for a few minutes to make sure I had a clear road to do my intervals.

So my questions are, why do people treat training like a competition and why do triathletes have this grudge against roadies?  I mean I would never take unnecessary risks training just to keep up with someone.  There is no shame in getting passed training, not every ride is a race. Oh well...