Gone in a Flash

This is my year, so I'll apologize now for the time you'll never get back if you take a few minutes to read this.

2008 has come and gone. What a year! When I think back to last fall completing my first 24 hour solo and then two weeks later my 4th Burnin' 12 hour, I knew then I was hooked. Hanging out with Dwayne Goscinski and Chad Brixey at the 24 made the monster effort doable. I had ridden with Dwanyne several times at the Ranch and the Burnin' 12 hour two other years. I knew Chad from my previous life in Springfield, Mo. but it had been a long time since I had seen him. I planned to train all winter and stay in good shape, that didn't pan out. Come March of this year I hadn't ridden much and I went on a ride at Lost Valley with Michael Rawitcher, Greg Ott and Dave Dellisio and barely hung on. That was it!

The next weekend the same group of four did a long, for that time of year, road ride. It was cold but my attitude was different. We knocked out a little over 60 miles in the hills out west and I was the strongest at the end. Towing 236 pounds up all those hills was not where I wanted to be. After that, I really watched my diet and rode whenever I could.

I now had a goal, Dwayne and I were talking about doing a 100 mile race in July. Although there were lots of races before then, I knew even July would be a push, so I refrained. Lots of riding, 3 months and about 25 pounds lost later, Dwayne and I were thinking about a SUPER ride. We planned it for July 5 and I was definitely nervous about venturing out on this one with Super Dwayne and his huge base miles. Long story short, it was incredible. 167 miles, every hill we could work into it. I started at my house in Manchester, Dwayne at his in Crystal City and rode toward each other until we met near House Springs. We did a big loop on stuff I normally ride but was mostly new to him and then cruised south and did his big loop which was new to me. We ended up at his house and I drove back home. We were in 5 different counties that day so we named the ride such. I was beyond wasted at about 140 miles but continued on and finished as strong as I ever would have expected. 5 Counties Ride.

Michael, Dwayne and I planned a trip to Colorado to coincide with the Breckenridge 100 race I mentioned earlier. I was stoked because Michael and Dan Libby, from Denver had decided to do the 38 mile version of the race. The trip was incredible, the race was...well hard, fun, demoralizing....I could keep going. Short version, I quit after 68 miles. Dwayne didn't think 100 was enough so he did 110+, but finished. Michael was glad to only have signed up for 38. The altitude was a killer. Started at 9600ft, peaked at 12,600+ft and never dropped below 9,200ft. For us Midwesterners there just wasn't enough oxygen. The rest of the trip was awesome! Day in day out riding, visiting with Jim and Judy in BV. Riding the Crest trail again. The photo on my cover page is Michael near the beginning not far from Monarch Pass. The photo at the top is the view of Jimmer's work shop with some little mountains in the background.

Now we're on to August. Mandy and I wanted to do the Moonlight Ramble on our tandem. It starts at midnight and takes about an hour and a half to ride. The thing is I was planning on doing my first cross country(shorter and faster) race in Cape the next morning. We got home at about 2:45am and I had to leave the house by 6am to make the 9am start, who needs sleep? If you think that's nuts, Dwayne did the 12 hour at Landahl in K.C. which finished after midnight and proceeded to drive home, took a short nap and then headed to Cape himself! He took off like a madman at the start, I just tried to hang on. Then there were three, we dropped the rest. Brad from Cape was leading and Dwayne began to fade(as he should have!). I chased Brad but had to settle for 2nd. OK by me, I was back! Dwayne wasn't far behind me.

Then I had my sights on a new adventure, my first 6 hour. 12 hour races for me to this point had been go super easy and be smooth. A 6 hour is short enough that you have to go fast, but long enough for endurance to play a major role. I couldn't believe the turnout. There were over 40 racers going solo! I decided to ride my single speed bike to keep things simple and this was a great course for it. Except for getting started way back in the pack it was an awesome race. I started my last lap in 5th place and briefly caught up to Mike Best who was in 4th, but he had more in his tanks than I did, so 5th it was. I was happy.

My next bright idea was to go with the Monsanto Mavericks and help raise money for MS research by riding in the MS 150. And as always, 150 wasn't enough. Greg and I did the double century but it felt great. What a great group of people!

In lieu of the Landahl 24 that we had planned on racing all year and then was canceled, Dwayne, Chad and I then traveled to Ohio to the 24 hours of Mohican. What a weekend. A 9+ hour drive, packing way too much stuff, raining on us most of the way there and pouring on us when we got there, it couldn't have been better. Fun course, good people and the most I've been able to ride with friends at one time, ever! Seemed like the three of us did lap after lap together. I was happy with 3rd place considering the guy that got 4th won it last year! If I go back to this one I will be taking a helmet camera, some of the stuff we rode you wouldn't believe!

Now for some R & R. Mandy-my wife of 12 years, Adam-my 8 year old, Eric-my 3 year old and I headed to Florida and a Disney filled week. We had a blast and due to my wife's excellent planning, picked the perfect time of year to go, great weather and no crowds. I found out that I don't like to be spun around in circles really fast!

After our trip I had one week until the 5th Burnin' at the Bluff 12 hour, the race to always look forward to. Dwayne is always fast, I knew Zach Brace was fast last year and was gunning for it this year. Zach's times last year were way faster than mine and only because he stopped did I finish ahead of him. I didn't really pay much attention to who else was in the race, I just assumed there were some other fast guys but didn't want to waste the energy on worrying. Typical start, which happened to be a 200ish meter run to your bike, I DON'T RUN WELL. I found myself lumbering through the short cut grass as if it was prairie grass up to my waist, heart rate 180, place-near dead last. I've got 12 hours, right? I spent the next 15 minutes trying to pass slower riders on the narrow and sometimes treacherous single track. Soon I caught Zach who was behind a bunch of other riders. I decided I would stick with him, if he passed someone, I was going to pass them. He says I was pushing him, that is, making him feel like he was slowing me up or something, but my head was about to explode the whole time. With the run we turned a 1:14 1st lap! My second lap was 1:13 with a 3 minute break, the only time I've come close to a 1:10 lap in a 12 hour. The lap is about 13 miles, mostly single track, rocky and has several climbs, none of which are super tough.

My third lap, I was on track to come in well under 1:10 when my master link on my chain failed and when it did, it took my rear der. with it. Like a dummy, I had forgotten my chain tool. My only hope, as it happened with 5 miles left in the lap, was to borrow a chain tool and shorten my chain to create a single speed. I ran with my bike, a loosing proposition, for about a mile until someone gave me a tool-Thank You! It was the hottest part of the day and I was on the dam so I kept running to get in the woods and some shade. I tried to put the chain on my 21t cog but it wasn't tight enough and bounced off as soon as I tried to ride. So I figured I would put it in the smallest cog since that's where it was bouncing off to. I did and as soon as I pedaled it shifted up to the next cog making the chain unbelievable tight and tough to turn. But hey, it wasn't falling off, so I made the best of it and pushed my hee-man gear(71.38 inches). I still managed a ride time of 1:21 but lost about 45 minutes and had to work so hard that I had to take a longer break before going back out. You see, everyone razzed me for bringing extra bikes, but because I did I was able to keep on racing.

I set up my back up bike and rode 5 more laps feeling like I was doing the right thing by not quitting. On my 8th and last lap of the day I was riding at night. I LOVE night riding! I was picking off riders one by one and soon at the 4 mile marker came across a guy I had never met, Kyle Shour. I was going way faster than he was but waited to pass in a safe place. When I did he asked me what class I was, "solo", I said. Then he asked me what lap I was on,"8", I said. "How bout you?", I asked. In a bummed out voice he said,"8". That was it, just the boost I needed. If nothing else, I had just moved up a spot on the last lap. I had no idea where I was, could have been 10th place for all I knew. I tore up that last lap and when I finished and everyone realized that I had passed Kyle for 3rd place,they went nuts. Again, I was super happy with that. I knew that 1st and 2nd would be Dwayne and Zach, although not in that order. Zach had the race of his life. He had passed Dwayne and even with a flat on the last lap, won the 5th Burnin' 12 hour. Way to go Zach! And by the way, the picture of the trophies at the top....Anybody else have all 5?

The end was near. This past weekend had to have been the high of all highs for me. I don't win much and when there is tough competition, I don't usually place well. Enter, Berryman Epic. A 55-60 mile race including the Berryman Trail, Ozark Trail and gravel roads. 92 racers, I hoped to 1st, finish and 2nd, place top 20. A neutral start got us rolling and led us to a 2 mile gravel road that essentially climbed most of the time, not my forte. I pushed reasonably hard to get pretty far up before entering the single track, I had learned my lesson. This race was just fun! I found myself riding with guys that are consistently faster than me, Wes. I just tried to ride my pace and pound on. We came up on Travis on the side of the trail. I think he had crashed, so he got on with us and it wasn't long before he passed me. I pushed on and soon was at the first check point. The check points are to verify that each rider completes the entire course. Checked in and off I went. Caught Jim Vandeven just before and thought for sure he'd be right there with me, but never saw him again. Passed a few riders fixing flats, but saw no one else before the Berryman check point. I had a hard time finding my feed bag and when I did, I grabbed new water bottles and took off.

We started south on the OT, I had never ridden any of this and it was cool. Lots of climbing and my heart rate was too high so I backed off. Nearing 28 miles on my computer, I heard a rider closing in on me from behind. Mentally, this killed me. He didn't look like anyone special, so I thought I was going to become a door mat for everyone behind me. Come to find out it was Brad Huff, who is an accomplished pro cyclist. In a little bit I came to the next check point and the end of the OT. The lady said, "8th place". I asked her to repeat herself as I couldn't believe it. It was on now! I pulled on to the gravel road and shifted to my big ring and began "mashing". It wasn't long and I came up on Eric Pirtle. He was cramping and was done, that's racing. So that meant 7th place. I continued to hammer. Back on a short section of blacktop now I looked up and could see another rider. It seemed like I was gaining on him when we started up a near mile long climb back to Berryman campground. He pulled away from me, I must emphasize, I don't climb well . At the top, I stopped to grab something to eat and started to ride away when I noticed the rider I was chasing was still filling his bottles, so I took off. I knew this next section well so I gave it all I had.

The climb after turning off of the last of the single track was brutal. A long straight climb with no break. You could see all the way to the top, so that meant you could see all the way down from the top. I pushed my way up it and then turned around expecting to see someone on my heels and saw no one! I wasn't home free, but I felt pretty good about where I was. Head down, hammering into a headwind, I suffered my way back. When I started down the big hill we had climbed in the beginning and I figured out where I was, I let it all go. I almost wiped out at the bottom of the hill because I was going so fast. Soon I was done. Not the usual 20-30 riders already finished and showered. Chris Ploch, Brad Huff, Mike Best, Matt Keeven and Travis Thrower all still dressed in their gear looking tired like me. But where's Dwayne? I hadn't passed him. I find out later that he missed a turn and I must have been very close to him and got by him before he figured it out. Killer race, can't wait to do it next year!

I can't believe all that happened this year. Gone in a Flash!