Bubba 10 - Jefferson Barracks

Bubba 10 had us back at JB. Haven't been here for a couple years but remember it being a good park. I figured it would have been a sloppy mess with all the rain but pulling up the race I noticed the riders on course only looked cold at most. Walking around I noticed some mud holes starting to form but it wasn't even close to being a mud race. Just mashed potatoes and a couple muddy/slick corners was the stage for my worst race this year.

My start position ended up being pretty bad. Third row on the far left and we didn't move an inch when the whistle blew. Someone was sleeping on the front row. Moved up a few spots during the first part of the lap. On the long downhill approaching the off cambered up shoot thingy there was a big pile up. Dismounted and ran up it and around a few more. Some gaps had opened up but most were closed back pretty quickly as it was the first lap still. The long climb on the soft clay like ground from this point killed me. Especially with the head wind.

After a couple laps I found myself going back and forth with Scott of Dogfish and Greg of the Trek Store. Cant say we were working together though, seemed we just happened to be near each other for several laps. Soon they had a 5 second gap on me and every time I brought them back I couldn't recover. Did this for a couple laps but ultimately just couldn't do it anymore.

Wasn't feeling good. The course did not suit me but that's pretty irrelevant when we all ride the same course. Just felt like I was struggling out there the entire time. Though, the heckling section was pretty amazing and being in the only really muddy turn of the course you would get a good dose of it every time. That was pretty much the only part of the course I looked forward too. Just an off day I guess..

Anyway. Nearing the end of the race Dr. Mark was taking time out of me. He caught and passed me on the long up hill just before going into the bell lap. On the bell lap he and Rock were about 12 seconds up on me. I couldn't do anything to make up time on them and soft pedaled the last few turns to the finish ending up 14th out of about 25.

Today I have a very runny nose and a slight cough. Not sure if I had a bug yesterday and that's why I felt like shit? Or if my runny nose and slight cough was caused from yesterday. Or something like that.... Just hope what ever it is clears up quick.



Photo - Dan Singer

Riding the only real technical part of the course by the hecklers. They were fun.

COMO + Bubba 9

Made the 2 hour trek west for a one off Saturday race in Columbia, Mo. Josh Johnson with the help of the CBC put together a super fun course with a spiral of death that could be seen from the once planet, now big frozen rock, Pluto. The spiral of death was half the lap. It was HUUUUGE.



I didn't pedal a bike one time the entire week. I did a couple easy runs but that was it. Needless to say I had no legs and knew I would feel slow. Yep.

Race gets going and I pretty much sucked. Was riding around in 6th for a couple laps out of 9. Then slipped to 7th. There was no where to recover. It was super windy and there were many areas of just hard pedaling.

5 or so laps into the race the entire field was all with in the spiral of death still, even though the leaders were close to 1 minute ahead of last rider.

Aaron Koch left the race and I had to put in an attack on the last lap to get ahead of Mike Best to finish 7th out of 9. Shitty.

Totally fun race and worth the drive. The guys from COMO that race in STL every weekend have my applause. Takes some serious commitment and gas money to make that drive every weekend.

Bubba 9 had us back at "Mt. Shoot me in the face" winery. All the previous years racing here I hated it. It was always super nasty descents that were followed by equally nasty climbs.


This bike would be more suitable for climbing at this venue.

This year was a tad different though. It was raining and muddy. Not super muddy but very slick. And the rain actually let up before our race but the damage on the course was already done. We were going to get dirty.

The race had a neutral start because of a 180 on asphalt turn which I think was a good call. Safety first.

I held back not really knowing what my legs were going to do. Pedal mostly, but not sure how well they were going to do that. Lots of crashes the first lap. First time up the run up I rode it passing a few riders. My Dugast Ryno's were hooking up.


Photo - Mike Dawson


Photo - Mike Dawson

After a few laps I started getting heckled about being too clean. I was doing a pretty good job of staying on two wheels, and riding almost everything every lap.


Photo - Mike Dawson
Dan in the background having a less than desirable day

I stayed near Anthony Dust and TK for some time. About 15-20 seconds back for probably 3 or 4 laps. They soon slipped away and then Sam Moore caught me and passed by as well.

At 3 laps to go the heckles were pretty funny about being so clean. I had managed to stay upright the entire race. But, on two laps to go my luck ran out. On the fast downhill with the rut in the bottom that I had ridden perfectly lap after lap got me. I was slowly going faster and faster through with out issue but blew the fuck up this lap. Not sure if I hit a hole or what but landed on my head and slid about 10 feet while my bike cart-wheeled over into the tape. Bike and I were fine though so I got up and kept moving.

Finished the race in 8th and was the last rider on the lead lap. Josh and Dwayne were flying in the mud.


Most important part of the day was actually having fun at this race. I love racing in the mud. I typically do pretty good in it and am glad it was shitty out. Looking like a chance of snow showers and rain again next weekend also. YES!!

SEVENEIGHT

Bubba 7 brought us back to Concordia. Great place for a CX race. Felt more like a MTB race and running from the cops than it did a CX race.

Buddy gave a history making short speech. And then blew the whistle. All over the brakes the first few turns. All the twistys kept the group together going through the first lap. First time over the log Rock(Hub) went down kind of.


Photo - Dennis Fickinger

I got around him and settled in. After a few laps I found myself in 8th place. I was in a group with Mike Hill(Wheel Fast) and Rock for a couple laps. We were gaining on the 7th place rider. We dropped Mike and then Rock attacked the shit out off me bridging up to the 7th place rider. Then I flatted my rear tire and had a very slow lap getting back to the pit. Lost 3 positions in that time.


Photo - Dennis Fickinger
Riding the log.

On my back up bike I started riding pretty aggressively through turns taking lots of risks. I caught and passed Mark(708), and Dennis(Dogfish) pretty quickly. I had Mike Hill back in my sites with 2 to go.


Photo - Dennis Fickinger
Early on in the race. You can see my gloves in my glasses. Im that awesome.

At 1 to go Mike was about 10 seconds up. Almost went down a few turns trying to get up to him. Coming out of the last turn he was only 2 or 3 bikes lengths in front of me. Lucky me I have a good sprint. Got around him for 8th place. My best results in the A's.

Threw some stans in the rear tire at home and it held. Plus, my ryno's would be on my pit bike for Sunday.


Sunday had us back Creve Coure down by the lake.

Pre-riding the course Schottler pointed out the holes at the beginning and how he would probably hit one and crash on the start.

When the race started I found myself following Schottler. Going into the section where the holes were he had earlier mentioned, he hit one, and crashed. But, he was very quick to point out only one foot came unclipped.

I was now sitting 4th wheel. The next person to pass me was Schottler. I actually had enough in me to hold his wheel for 2 laps. But, during that time I learned every bad line to take through the corners. NOTE TO ALL: DON'T FOLLOW SCHOTTLER. Kidding... kidding. But seriously....

3rd lap Josh Johnson came by me on the pavement and I couldn't muster up the legs to hold his wheel. After a couple more laps I was in a group with Chris Cleeland and Sam Moore.


Photo - Chris Creed

That lasted only about 2 laps. Sam actually went on the attack and I did my best to follow. I gotta say it though, Sam was riding really well. He was up about 3 seconds on me and I did everything I could to stay with him but ultimately lost contact.


Photo - Chris Creed


Photo - Chris Creed
Close to Sam but couldn't keep it together.

From this point on I was pretty much in no mans land. With about 4 laps remaing I noticed Rock Wamsley taking time out on me but from pretty far back. At 3 to go he had taken a ton of time out reducing my gap on him from probably 40 seconds down to about 20. We were now close enough that he was heckling me as we passed going opposite direction. Don't recall exactly what he said... but something about loosing my virginity and my 401k being in the tank. Or something like that...

Rock kept it real. He never gave up and made me ride my ass off to keep my position. Which I did do. I crossed the line in 5th place out of 13. My best finish again.... and I got 10 bucks for my efforts. Which is a 15 dollar loss on the day. Great weekend of racing in STL. I know a few guys were out of town for some cx race in Florida or something but I still got 5th in the A race. You cant take that from me.



Photo - Chris Creed
Dwayne racing the 2 hour category.

WTB-Superprestige & Bubba 6

This past Saturday we wound up back at Gordon Moore park for the 1st WTB-Superprestige(this is going to be a 4 race series next year). We have found that after the Bubba races start the attendance drops dramatically on the Ill side. This race would prove to be no different.

5 lined up for the men's open race. Weak sauce. As soon as the race started Mike Hills of Wheel Fast took the lead. I followed his wheel for a couple laps. My memory is a little off but I think we traded pulls a couple times. About 3 laps in or so he started to slip a way from me a little. Then I started gagging and dry heaving again. OH BOY!!!! What fun that is. I dropped pretty much all the open positions and a few to the masters racers as well.

I pulled in the pit to grab a bottle and get back out there. That lap I drank as much as I could to get my breathing back to what I felt was normal. After that I tossed the bottle and put it back in drive.

Coming into the last lap I was in third with Aaron Koch about 12-15 seconds up from me. Went as hard as I could but came up short catching him. Ended up 3rd out of 5. Not real happy with that because the way I felt during the first few laps I thought I had a chance at the W. Nope. Super fun course though and had a lot of fun chasing.

The next day was Bubba 6 at St. Vincent park. Super interesting course with single track, lots of pavement, double sand pit, and plenty of grass. 19 started. Held back at the start not knowing how my legs would feel. I ended up feeling great.

The first few laps I kept running into people who were running the sand pit..? Ride that shit. That was probably my favorite part of the course. I started picking riders of each lap. I passed Casey Saunders at least 7 times during tha race. He really needs a new chain keeper.

I got at least 2, 1 dollar hand ups from TEAMSEAGAL from the death skull mounted on a post in the woods. One of those times I couldn't get the dollar in my pocket fast enough and almost made a detour through the woods.
Photo - Mike Dawson
Just staying on course.. And that's a pretty disrespectful sock height. Someone should have told me.


Coming into the last couple laps I had Paul Quindry in my sites.

At one to go I was putting out 100% effort trying to catch up to him. Problem was he saw me coming and was doing to the same to prevent that. Which he was successful at.


Crossed the line 9th. Breaking into the top 10 is nice. Hopefully I can do a couple better than that before the end of the year.

Bubba 4 and 5

Bubba 4 and 5 were held at Faust Park. Saturday night was the Halloween race. I didn't dress up much. Actually none at all. Just a TT helmet. I wanted to dress up more but I also wanted to race my bike.

The field size was a little bit of a let down. Only 15 for the night race.

So, race gets going and I settle in. Felt like I was riding pretty good the first few laps. Found myself riding with Aaron Koch for a while. Traded pulls with him for a bit before he went down in the back off cambered downhill turn. That opened up a gap for me. Stayed in cruise control until I started to gag from bad breathing(had a little(12) to much fun watching game 7). I was dehydrated from and could feel it. My throat was super dry. This pretty my set the tone for last few laps. Faded... Faded.... Gone. Fell back to 10th. Stupid.

Sunday for Bubba 5 I was feeling much better. I stopped and got a foot long veggie sub on wheat from Subway. I ate most of prior to the start of the race. I left a few bites for after the race.

The turn out was a little better for Sunday. 18. Just before the start of the race it started raining. It was cold but I was loving it. I wanted it to keep going. It didn't. The weather cleared up pretty quick before the race but the grass was still wet. The race starts. Heading into the second corner Dan Miller slid out taking Dust and I think someone else with him. I saw some part of Dust's bike smash Dan in the head. Looked kind of ugly but everyone popped up pretty quick to continue.

This crash put me in 3rd or 4th with Josh Johnson in front of me. I tried as hard as I could to get his wheels before the sidewalk to catch a draft but I wasn't close enough.

Soon I was in a group with Paul Quindry and Karl Stover. We were together for a few laps with Paul and I trading pulls trying to catch Rock. At some point we were nearing the sidewalk again and Karl decided he was going to take a turn pulling. But, he drilled it and I got dropped from the group.

Now I was in no mans land trying to get back onto the small group. At 2 to go I realized I was completely flat. No energy. Bonked. Thought for sure I had eaten enough but I clearly had not. Maybe I was riding harder... not sure. Jay Marbarger even got by me at 1 today. I suck.

Ended the day 13th which sucks. They way I was riding the first 4 laps is what I need to keep together for an hour. EAT MORE CARBS!!!

I should mention that most of TEAMSEAGAL was on hand super fanning from almost every place on the course.

Ttocs, Storm, Crotch, were all on hand over on the sidewalk. Gino, Torrez, and Orin Boyd were all near the pit giving me shouts of encouragement. GO YOU FUCK FACE... etc.

Nico... he was everywhere.

And if you haven't figured it out yet, I am officially riding for TeamSeagal. I guess starting now.. or when the new kits get in(which are sick).

Ready to represent the most solid team in the galaxy.

Find Roland Sallinger at a crit/cx/xc race near you.

Where's the humor in this post?


Never make bacon with out a shirt on. TRUST me.