Cape

This course was not epic, it was not super rocky, it didn't have a ton of climbing, it was just 100% ridable fun.

Klaus Park, a new venue was a welcome change. While last year's race was still much fun this easily out did it. Nearly 100% shaded, a 3.3 mile loop of fast, narrow, twisty single track made for a tough race day. Brad Brown, Cape local, super racer was there and I knew would set the pace. Matt Ochs, also from Cape was looking fast and fit. Not a huge field but not an easy field either. I came down with Greg Ott, Jeremy Bock and Dave D'Alessio, all Marathoners. We set up a sweet spot to pick up bottles as we had no support and soon we were racing.

Brad led us out Matt in second, me, then Jeremy. Brad soon had a small gap. Matt and I stuck together for 3 and a half laps until I felt like upping the pace and passed. Within a minute I felt my rear tire getting soft. I stopped and could see no leak so I hit it with a blast of CO2. I could hear it leaking but couldn't get it to stop. I took off with hopes of making it back to our pit to get another wheel. I was flat with 200 meters to go. A not so quick wheel change and a fresh bottle and I was rolling again. Jeremy had burped his tire flat near the end of the 3rd lap and had to re-inflate it but came by me while I was fixing mine. No one else got by me.


Jeremy and I rode together for laps 5,6,and 7. On lap 8 I kicked it up a notch hoping to chase Matt down. 8 happened to be the lap Matt cracked on. He was riding such a good race. I passed him and could tell he was done. I only saw Brad on the freakishly winding sections that would play mind tricks on you. I started to watch my timer when I would see him and quickly figured out that he was 2-3 minutes ahead of me. Going into lap 11 I figured it would be my last, so I mentally "backed off". About half way through that lap I decided to go until I couldn't go. I pushed and pushed and soon started to wonder if I could make it out on a 12th lap. I made it with only 7 seconds remaining. Could have stopped and wouldn't have changed things, but what if Brad flatted or just fell apart? So I took off, no new bottle, just what I had. It soon became apparent that I wasn't catching Brad, but I was OK with that.

Brad had no mechanical issues that I know of. He just rode a clean race. Jeremy came in not far behind me on lap 11 for third place. John Peiffer got 4th in his first Marathon race, Nice! Greg wasn't feelin it and was lounging when I came through on one of my laps. John must have paid the photographer to take pics only of him!



























Dang it! let me get around this tree first!

Christine's gonna get you!

This is my good side! My legs are cramping...must get the shot.

Don't you love my shorts?

Niner Air 9 Carbon

I've been watching this one lately. Haven't heard much on the details. Post mount rear brake, internally routed shift housing, sub 3lbs. Might be BB30, a Cannondale pioneered press fit bb design that doesn't use bb cups but has an oversized spindle. A reduced "Q" factor, the width of your pedal stance, is possible with this design. I'd love to see a direct mount front derailleur.

Built up with Sram XX, I could do without the lettering on the American Classic wheels. Rear shift cable enters top tube on the non-drive side and is definitely internally routed, not sure on the front shifting. Pretty sure I can see a front derailleur clamp though.

12 seconds

Lost Valley was the setting for the second Team Seagal Non-Race, a night relay. The skies looked ominous and eventually opened up with a few light showers that only kept us from riding much before the "race". Instead we sat around and ate Nutty Bars. Jeremy Bock and I teamed up and he went first in the much appreciated non-lemans start to begin the 4.9 mile loop. While he was out on the first lap I had my first ice cold PBR, race fuel. Not to my surprise, he was the first one back in and off I went. It's tough going that hard with no warm up. I made it around and then Jeremy and then me on the final lap.

12 seconds. That is what separated our fastest and our slowest laps. Jeremy threw down a 18:58 and a 19:05, while the big assed boat anchor, I managed a 19:03 and a 19:10. We both deviated by 7 seconds from our first to our second laps. Greg Ott was the only other person to manage a sub 20 minute lap. I think all those who partook in inter-race PBR ingesting should get a time bonus, nah the PBR made me ride without care while fulfilling all my nutritional needs. Typical for me, I went too hard at the start of my first lap, then had to recover at the top of the climb. Went much easier on the second off the start then pushing the climb and maxing out on the gravel-much better. I got to go out on a "victory" lap with Gino and Nico at a much more preferable pace. I have to admit, I was hoping for a mandatory PBR chug at some point, would have needed more coolers.

1st - Team Big and Tasty (Mitch Johnson, Jeremy Bock) - 18:58/38:01/57:06/1:16:16
2nd - Rock Hard (Rock Wamsley, Dave Smith) - 21:15/42:33/1:04:04/1:24:29
3rd - Team Mullet (Brian Busken, Caleb Hulsey Chris Dial) - 21:37/44:51/1:06:03/1:28:12
4th - TC Man Men (Coach, Marshall Lawson) - 22:04/44:40/1:06:46/1:28:12
5th - Momentum (Jason Pryor Keith Weinkein) - 22:34/44:11/1:07:52/1:29:56
6th - T'aints of Steel (Mike Barro, Walter Davis) - 21:55/45:20/1:08:33/1:32:27
7th - Team Rockhounds (Jeff Powell, Steve Timm) - 24:12/46:12/1:08:58/1:33:33
8th - Bryan Adams, Steph Adams - 25:10/53:12/1:14:35/1:35:49
9th - 2 D00dz (Greg Ott, Jason Roberts) - 20:18/51:25/1:11:22/1:41:19
10th - Team Funhouse (Scott Lankford, Damon Moore) - 27:21/52:45/1:19:50/1:45:19
11th - Hub Bitches (Ron Clipp, Devin Clark, Andy Borger Chris Saxton) - 24:35/55:15/1:25:46/1:46:51
12th - Super Dave (Todd Hecht, Dave Dalasio) - 24:44/48:05/1:24:15/1:47:30
13th - Judd and Gino (Judd Myers, Gino Felino) - 30:43/57:54/1:24:45/1:49:00
14th - Nikko, Zach - 34:15/1:00:27/1:28:43/1:54:10
15th - Christopher, Margarette - 28:48/1:06:39/1:28:22/1:59:32

15 teams, some with 3 riders made the obvious choice as where to be on a beautiful Friday night.
Photos here courtesy of Mike Barro. Thanks to Mason, Craig, Gino, Coach,PBR and a bunch of other cool people. I think Caleb wet his cut-offs!

Ratpure In Missouri, uh Misery

Anyone else notice that my legs are a little bigger than Zach's? That's what I was thinking when I was watching him float up the climbs ahead of me.
My first RIM was a great one. If it hadn't rained I think Zach would have done 13 and pretty sure I would have done 12. Neither one of us knew the race had been called and were both planning on going back out. I made the mistake of not changing to my knobbys and slipped and slid around on my last lap. I crashed twice ripping all my 6 day old scabs free from the tender flesh underneath.


The proposed 12 hour race started with a WTF run up a steep, rocky wasteland. I walked. Conditions were great, not too hot, reasonably dry, dusty in spots. Not being a climber I think it's odd to say that the climbing didn't bother me. Perhaps it's directly proportional to the lack of speed I possessed while conquering said climbs. Other than pushing my heart rate higher than I wanted, they didn't affect me. I enjoyed every bit of this race course and only wish we could have had some fast, dry night laps.

The pit/camping area was superb. They weaved the course through the tents and the cheers were a plenty. All in all I was stoked with the way the race unfolded. Zach and I were close for the first four laps and then I had to take a few minutes to refuel, never saw him again. He is so smooth and consistent. With my present physique I just can't be in that crowd. Zach earned this one and I feel like I'm getting more in tune with my inner something. I think it's going to be a good year to Burn at the Bluff. We missed Dwyane but he'll be back soon.

We managed a 1,2,3 for St.Louis in the 12 hour overall. Todd Holtmann won his category which was good for third in the overall. Karen Holtmann won the women's 12 hour and Christine Ford won the women's 6 hour solo. Team Seagal was there in force snapping wrists up to the very last minute to clinch two podium spots. They had a cooler of PBR taunting everyone as they emerged from the woods nearing the end of the lap. Watching those guys and their gals lounging in those awesome chairs made it tough to keep chasing.

Nico in his street clothes when he should be in his effin riding stuff out on the course!

Kinda bummed, totally stoked

This past Sunday was the 9th race in the Midwest Fat Tire Championship Series, Spanish Lake. I last raced here in 1995, narrowly beating Dan Schmatz for 2nd in a sport race. Trail is definitely better these days, but still has a ton of gravel and rough grassy sections. I happened to find some of that gravel and get to know it a little better than I would have liked. This was the beginning of what led me to be "kinda bummed". I'll get back to that as it sucked and what made me totally stoked is better. Greg Won!

The race started out with what I thought was an easy pace. I again just sat back and followed. It was Todd Holtmann, Eric Schuck, Greg Ott and myself setting the pace. All was good through the first lap. Todd and I were together, Greg and Eric were together only a few seconds back. Todd stopped to get a new bottle to replace the one he dropped and I was in the lead. I felt like I was cool and calm when about 200 meters past the start/finish I went to turn into the single track and washed out, going down hard, very hard. I went down on my left leg and quickly went face first into the dirt. When I got up my glasses were hanging down off my face, my visor was broken and my thumb hurt. I felt for blood and didn't see too much so after Greg and then Todd came by I took off. I quickly realised that I wasn't going to be gripping the bar with my right hand and as soon as I tried my first shift, found out that my injury might be more than I thought.

I figured out a way to hold the bar so I wouldn't die while navigating stuff and found a way to shift using the rest of my hand. Had I had trigger shifters, I would have been done. (Monday after the race I tried to unlock my car using my remote and couldn't push the button with my thumb.) I really thought about stopping, but pressed on. Finished lap 2 with Todd, not far behind Greg and less than a minute on Eric. Cruised lap 3 and all was the same except Greg's lead grew. Todd dropped back on lap 4, Greg pulled away and Eric was unchanged. Lap 5 was when I started to feel everything. It was getting hotter, my arm was starting to hurt from compensating and my spirits started going downhill. I backed off and soon Eric caught me. Greg was far gone by now and Todd had stopped to take a cool down. Somewhere in there Nate came by me. Before starting my 7th lap I stopped and took a 10+ minute break. I wasn't sure that I would be going back out but also wasn't ready to quit. Just before I went back out Pete Goode came through taking over 4th. I left just hoping to make another lap. It went OK and went back out for another. I was slow but didn't get lapped and pulled off a 5th place.

Greg rode like a man on a mission for the win. Eric made a charge on lap 7 but Greg turned it back up and finished with over a 3 minute lead. Awesome job. First win for Ghisallo in the Marathon class.

Now I'm nursing my hand in hopes of doing the Rapture in Misery 12 hour this weekend. If nothing else it will be some good training as I've done none for the last few weeks.

Dun Blowed It!

I had a chance to do something I've never done before, ride 200 miles in one day. It hurts, no matter what, no matter who.

The Nine Mile 24 hour started out with a longer than I expected run to our bikes. Running is ok if you are anyone but me, running in cycling gear(shoes) while starting a 24 hour mtb race SUCKS! Around 250 (runners) started the race and I couldn't believe I got on my bike about mid-pack. We rode about half a mile on double track to find a bottle neck at the start of the single track. Next time I walk to my bike, hang out for 5 minutes and ride my own pace. Nothing like red-lining, then STOPPING to wait and then riding the single track as slow as possible. Soon it smoothed out and we were cruising. Dwayne dropped his chain and in a blink we were "out of sight", he said. All that did was allow me to lead him for at least ONE lap of this freak show. I went harder than I wanted to and felt I paid the price later on.

The miles clicked off relatively fast dispite the technical sections we encountered. The loop was a little over 14 miles, several of which were either gravel or cross country ski trails, kind of like double track with only one track. Anyone who says that this trail is not technical is smoking crack. There was a section from the 4 to the 5 mile marker that lacked a 20 foot section of the trail that didn't have either 5 turns or 15 rocks and roots. It wasn't that difficult mind you, just not that easy at 2am. There were a half dozen rock gardens that separated the men from the boys and more turns than Deal's Gap ever thought about. I did have to laugh when I came across the XXX-Danger signs. Tough sections and I guess if you were in a 14th hour daze, you could get hurt. We didn't prepare enough to have quick transitions and wasted time between laps. Next time we have bottles sitting out and stop less.

It rained on us in the late afternoon but the trail recovered well. I should have changed clothes after it rained and paid the price later with some saddle(butt) issues. The night laps were fun and I was getting back into it when I kind of hit a wall. I was cold so I decided to get into dry stuff and eat some real food. Once dry and clean, the tent looked real good. I climbed in for about an hour and a half and warmed back up. By the time I got going again the lights were no longer needed. I couldn't believe how well I was riding at this point in the race. Seeing the sun come up was a good boost. Knocked out a few more laps and started to think about the nine hour drive home and cleaning up our campsite/pit area. The voluteers at the check in table told me that I was seconds away from being lapped by the leader and so I called it. I should have checked for myself on the computers. He started lap 13 51 minutes ahead of me and I reduced that lead to 30 minutes by the end of that lap. His last lap was 1:53 and I had just finished a 1:25 lap with a short break. If I had ridden a 14th lap, 2nd place would have been a given. That would have forced a 15th lap by one or both of us, or a truce. All that's easy to say now that I'm recovered sitting in my cosy chair, I was in some pain and discomfort at the time. It was still stoooopid.

Still close to 200 miles, still 4th place. I was showered, had eaten and taken down our camp/pit by the time 3rd place came in. Indiana, here we come. Maybe this time, with less than a year since my last attempt, I'll remeber to not make the same mistakes.

24 hours of 9 mile

Dwayne and I are leaving tonight for Wausau,WI to ride in a 24 hour race. Surprizingly, it's a 14.2 mile course. If interested Granny Gear uses Real Time scoring and you can watch us turn laps into the night. We carry a timing chip that posts our times within seconds of completing a lap on the web. Sorry, I can't tell you exactly how to look at the times once you get there but I think it will be relatively easy to figure out. I'm in the "Men's solo just for fun" and Dwayne is "Men's solo singlespeed". It costs less than half to not race for the Championships so we figured we would have to win a ton of prize money to break even if we had, so we went just for fun. The race starts at 11am Saturday and ends at 11am Sunday.

If you watch closely you will be able to tell when I shove a stick into Dwayne's front wheel in an attempt to gain back lost time. I've also replaced his Stan's sealant with whole milk. So not only will he not have flat protection, but I figure by Sunday morning his bike will begin to smell real perty! Wish us(me) luck.

Non Race #1 Chubb Challenge

This post is bound to expand like my belly after 3 delicious tall PBR's, a burger, a brat and half a bag of chips. Which happens to be what I ingested after claiming the "Champion" ranking from this years first Team Seagal non-race. Beyond that I just had a freaking awesome time yesterday at Chubb.

It was cool as shit to see all those people out there ready to scrape some paint(and knees, and shins, and elbows......) in front of a crowd. I must declare to all who graced this event with their presence, I have ridden Chubb more times than most people have ridden a mountain bike. That trail taught me how to ride, period. Ride Chubb and you can ride almost anything. Anytime you think you are good, there is a different line that will kick your ass.

There were as many, if not more, single speeds as geared bikes. I thought about the single speed but I was going to put a wuss ass gear on, so I refrained. No way in hell I would have made hardly any of those sections on a single speed. But sections were made by many sporting gears that I couldn't run at Lost Valley.

We got to see spectacular, slow motion falls. We heard chainrings scraping rocks(including my own XTR big ring). Frames and forks bouncing off of rocks like empty PBR cans. Blood was spilled, tubes were punctured, chains were torqued from their rings(Jim, pure power). After all was said and done we finished to a grill of hot goodies and lots of ice cold PBR. Wendy made enough cheese stuff to feed ALL of the Shriners, mmmmmm cheese spread!

If you missed it, shame on you. And in case you are wondering, if you don't feel capable but are interested in this event, next year come out and hike along with us. This could easily be spectated on foot. Thanks to Seagal for a fun Sunday. Hope to have some pics soon.

Here is a link to some video. Thanks Greg!

Sacked

Didn't plan on doing this one when I was plotting the upcoming race season. 3+ hour drive and a course that I didn't care for too much last time I rode it. I remember it being a little over 3 miles and rough as hell. Not the fun kind of rough, just rough. A series of events changed my mind and Sac River was calling to me.

Greg, Dwayne and I went down early Sunday morning encountering some rain on the way down, but nothing too bad. It had clearly rained there sometime that morning but only made the rocks and roots a little slick. We registered and suited up for a pre-race lap. I could immediately tell that this was a much improved version of what I had last ridden in 1997ish. It had everything. 6.3 miles of fast and smooth, twisty and rooty, and loaded with rock ledges to go up and down. I was very happy with my choice to race the Jet 9, my short travel, 29" wheeled full suspension bike.

I started out at a slightly below redline pace and sat in around 6th place going into the woods. Within 2 miles I was in second place with Greg on my heals until he flatted. I never saw anyone again, including Dwayne. Didn't expect to. I had a pucture in my front tire on the second lap and my sealant took care of it for me. Didn't lose that much pressure so I pushed on. I finally got passed on my 4th lap by the 3 fastest experts and eventually a 4th followed by the two "old guy" experts and Gino, one fast single speeder on my 5th lap. Turns out Dwayne wasn't too far ahead until the last lap. I kept him to a sub 7 minute lead through the first four but he had over 14 minutes after the 5th lap. He put in a He-Man effort on the last lap chasing an expert while I started to run out of gas. I fully expected him to lap me, or at least make it out for a 6th lap. He didn't miss it by much.

Bike worked well. I felt pretty good. I haven't been feeling my best lately and have been trying to figure out why. I used this race as a gauge to see where I am in my training. I was scared to death that I had over-trained. This is often the end of a season and is very hard to recover from. I was worried because Dwayne and I are heading out next week to race a 24hr in Wisconsin. I rode well last Tuesday night at Lost Valley and completed my first century this year today so I think all is well.

Best part is that I still have the series lead by two points, Bou-ya! Here is a link to my race on the new Garmin Connect.

Finally a dry race!

Made it through a hot one yesterday at St.Joe state park. Used mainly by atvs and motorcycles St.Joe provided one of the better race courses I've been on in a while. The work that went into this race is hard to comprehend. From what I hear, just last week this trail was not in great shape and flat out hard to follow in places. It was awesome for us. Thanks Mark.

We pre-rode about two miles and then came back. With minimal effort my heart rate was in the 170's, I knew if I went out hard at all I wouldn't finish. So when we lined up at the start line I stayed in the back. I figured I could just roll with the field and not feel pressured to chase Dwayne and it worked. It wasn't long and I had worked my way up and was riding alone, making reasonable time. Drinking as much as I could and conserving on the climbs, I was able to claim 3rd only having to ride four 8 mile laps. Dwayne and Zach both did five for 1st and 2nd. I could have done another but didn't want to.

I will definitely go back and ride St.Joe sometime when it's not 96 degrees.