Skeet Skeet

Masters Worlds 30-34

2012-01-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

I don't have a lot to say about this race, except the 4 millions words below. When I got to the venue Thursday morning to watch some heat races and pre-ride a little it was a complete sloppy mess. There was standing water in spots close to 4 inches deep. All the off cambered sections in the woods were mostly not ridable. When I set out for my noon to noon-45 open course ride I could tell that the temps had already started to fall. By the end of my 30 minute 2 lap pre-ride the snow was falling at a pretty good rate. Most all the grass was covered. Washed my bike at the venue and headed out for dinner and a easy night of rest.

Waking up Friday to temps in the mid teens I knew the course would be frozen solid. Watching the 35-39 heat races was a preview of what to expect for my final. Looked dangerous to both bike and rider. The sound of carbon wheels smashing into and through frozen ruts full of ice was not a pleasant one. There was also the constant sound of the plastic course stakes that riders were running through and breaking. Crash, Smash, Pop, shit fuck shit. It sounded constant and expensive. Great.

They changed the course a little bit before our race to make it as ridable as possible. Mostly by widening the course in the worst spots to add a lane on one side or the other, or both. Still tricky as shit to ride at speed.

So here is what I have to say about my race. 25 degrees with a wind chill right at zero. It was pretty cold but with the right cloths it wasn't terrible. I randomly drew number 11 for a 2ND row start. At the sound of the whistle we were off pretty quick down the start straight. Entering the grass downhill and into the first ruts was a true butt-puckering experience. I followed a wheel all the way to the right splashing through the only mud whole that wasn't frozen. Several riders went down in the first straight. I stayed up but lost some spots. You had to ride in a zig zag pattern through the ruts to not fall into them. This was the best way through but only worked about 50% of the time. The other 50%, when you caught a rut, you would usually sling shot off the course or almost go down depending on how fast you were going.

Ending the first lap I was surprised my tires still had air as I had hit rim very hard many many times. Half way through the second lap after going off course a few times I noticed my front derailleur wouldn't move any more. By the end of the lap, the rear would only shift through 4 gears. They were frozen from the one and only water whole I went through on each lap. Had to go to the pit on the 3rd lap for my back up bike.

Now on my back up bike I sort of changed my strategy from trying to go fast and take chances, to slowing down and riding clean. Both strategies yielded almost identical lap times. Unfortunately all were a little on the slow side for the race.

Last two laps were uneventful. Crossed the line 20Th out of 29 starters. Considering my legs felt pretty good I'm not to pleased with the result. If I could sum up the race in one word it would be - shitty. Not because of the venue or layout. But more because of conditions. I really didn't find anything fun about the race and the constant worry of breaking a wheel or worse didn't help.

On Saturday I pitted for Josh Johnson who was in the 35-39 race. It was much warmer(mid 30's and sunny) so it was getting nasty again pretty quick and needed a bike change every other lap.

My overall experience for the weekend was actually pretty great. Hanging out at the venue watching other people and eating someplace different every time I ate. It was fun. Hopefully next year the course will be less "epic" for my race as it was called a few thousand times.

I guess in some regards you could say I got TeamSeagal on top... Courtesy of CXMAGAZINE.

Riding the choppy run up.

More Sketchy frozen ruts.

Run up after barriers.

Here is a link to a much much much shorter version of my story for Friday at worlds. Plus a few good pics. Crooked helmets are not a good look...

Veldrijden - Columbia

2011-12-30T14:39:00.000-08:00

2 weeks late on this one. Pathetic. Mark French of Quantum MESA Cycles race team setup a great course utilizing all the features of Bolm-Schuhkraft park. The course had everything a course should. Sand, Mud, Hills, Single Track, Stairs... even a creek crossing.

Unfortunately the turn out was very small for every race. With the season being traditionally over everyone went to CXMAS. I certainly cannot blame them for that because CXMAS is pretty rad. This also caused something else to happen that I don't think has ever happened at a local CX race. The "A" race was the biggest of the day with all the guys getting ready for Nats and Worlds. Me being one of those people.

Anyway the race gets going. My legs felt pretty good I guess but I wasn't riding the course right. There were a couple sections that allowed for huge recovery. Then there were other sections that would absolutely spike your HR. Specifically riding up the steep hill along the fence, then running up all the stairs, then riding slight uphill in zoysia grass heading to the start/finish line. That section throttled me every time.

Not sure why but it took me a few laps to figure out where to rest and where to go hard. After I figured it out I felt like I was putting in some pretty good laps. The only problem I had during the race was my own fault. Approaching the steep climb along the fence mid race and accidental bumped my front shifter causing it to shift to the small ring right at the base of the climb. Thinking back on it I could have still rode it but when it happened I thought I had dropped my chain.

The last few laps of the race I had noticed that the gaps between me and Yielding were staying the same as we passed going opposite directions. I know he was having an off day but it was still encouraging for me. So I crossed the line 7th out of 13.
Not great but all the guys in front of me are always in front of me.

Photo - Mike Dawson

Photo - Mike Dawson
The creek crossing was a cool feature but I rode it pretty timidly because I didn't like the feeling of my front wheel hitting of the rock bottom.

Photo - Dan Singer
Looks like was afraid of getting creek water in my mouth.

Here is a great video of the race. I know this has been posted other places but its worth it.

Up next is Masters Worlds in a Louisville. My race is pretty small which kind of sucks. There are currently only 29 riders signed up so there isn't even going to be a heat race. Just random draw for call ups, straight to World Champ main event. Not sure what to expect. I know there are a couple super fast guys but most of them I'm not sure about.

Bubba 11 - Spanish Lake

2011-12-13T16:38:00.001-08:00

Don't have much to report for this race. Really felt like shit. Legs hurt almost as soon as we started. Only took about 3 laps to get shelled off the back. Kept the pedals turning though and managed to take a few spots back by the end.

Traded places with Mike Hill of Wheel Fast for much of the race but was able to put in a little surge at 2 to go and opened up a big enough gap to finish there. Crossed the line 11th out of 17 I think. All the guys in front of me were fast though, most the ones behind me were too. Not sure what my deal has been the past couple weeks. Feel tired. Maybe its the 20 + races I have don't this CX season. It will be nice to have a few weeks of just riding before Worlds. Hopefully I will be able to recharge in that time.

Ending the race and ending the series.
Photo by Mike Dawson

Illinois State CX - Montrose Harbor

2011-12-08T18:50:00.000-08:00

I would like to appoligize to my 400,000 plus fans who have been waiting all week for this. 3 of you emailed me asking if I went, and 9 of you check my blog, so I figured I should take the time to let the rest of you know...

The Illinois State CX race brought me back to the location of last years race at Montrose Harbor in Chicago. Last year was much different than this year though in the fact that this was it was mid 40's and no snow. Last year was mid teens, windy, and 3 + inches on snow on the ground. Well the snow last year hid something I didn't realize was in such abundance. Sand.

Got to the race much earlier this year and kitted up for a couple pre-ride laps. Hopped on right after the finish. Start straight was wide open followed by a left, couple barriers, some twisties, and then the sand started. Not flat ground sand either. Uphill, downhill, around corners, through ditches. It was awesome and completely ride able with the right line and the legs to push through the deeper sections.

There was plenty of grass riding too and it wasn't easy either because the 700 + riders that day had it pretty soft and mooshy. Not muddy, just soft and tacky by the time our race went out.

Anyway, got 13th call up out of the 33 pre-registered racers. 38 in total by the time the race started. When the race did start I tried to stay near the front and out of trouble. Its weird racing against a bunch of people I don't know. Who is super fast? Who will blow up? Who are the squirrels? Who can I trust to follow? Got me..? Just hope for the best and ride my best.

Deepest and hardest section to ride.
Photo by Edmund White

Photo by Edmund White

The race split up pretty quick. All the super fit were long gone quick. The course was taxing in that if you weren't riding sand you were riding super soft ground and there was a long climb on the back side too. I really had to try and be smooth and use skill to ride all the sand sections clean to make up ground on guys that were struggling through it. After a few laps I threw up in my mouth a little and had to put it in reverse for a about a minute to calm down and lost a few positions. When I did calm down I was good for the rest of the race.

Photo By Arnold Klein

I was able to make up all the positions I had lost during that puke spell by the two lap to go sign. I was really ready for the race to be over on the bell lap. This was probably the hardest course I have ever raced on, in a good way. It really throttled you and there really wasn't anywhere to recover.

Photo By Amy

Rode a clean race and never went down. I only had to dismount for the barriers cleaning the sand sections and the run up to the single barrier every lap(tooting my own horn here...). I out sprinted another rider at the line for 20th place out of 38 starters, 37 finishers. My goal was top half and even though I didn't get that I am pretty happy with it.

Chicago has an awesome atmosphere for CX. Anyone who gets the chance to race there should. But, take a GPS with you to find your way around. Trust me. I learned the hard way.

Tricky off cambered turn in sand.

Tricky uphill sand section right after tricky off cambered turn in sand.

Riding through the SRAM banners. In more sand of course.

The deep section of sand from the top. Dropped down about a foot right at the apex of the turn. Lots of riders went over the bars here.

5 minutes from the race heading home. This eventually turns into 55 south.

Only a couple more local races followed by a few weeks of training for Masters Worlds. Dont have the cash or vacation time to do much more so Worlds it is.

Bubba 10 - Jefferson Barracks

2011-11-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-21T18:21:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-14T18:19:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-08T17:09:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

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.

Bubba 3(65)

2011-10-25T18:15:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was Bubba 3. I made sure to eat a lot of food the day of the race as to not repeat last Sunday where I bonked. You should never bonk in a hour long race.

Lined up near the back of the 25 rider field. At the sound of the whistle we were off down the narrow paved drive way. A little sketchy but everyone made it through without crashing. I noticed within half the first lap that my tire choose, Dugast Typhoons, was wrong. My front tire slid out probably 4 times having to put a foot down. I never went down but lost time and confidence in my bike setup a little. Should have listened to Matt James on that one. He even told me to switch to my Ryno's but in the moment I felt smarter than him. I was not.

Besides having to ride overly cautious on a few of the turns I think I rode pretty good. The downhill leading up to the barriers had a couple big hits and was a fast off camber. Never felt comfortable there. The other big downhill was littered with pot wholes. I felt great on that downhill and felt really fast on the uphill right after it.

I was scored as finishing 11th. I think I should be 10th because Cleeland finished behind me. He actually brought it up to me. So, I guess I got the top ten again which is awesome.

Photo - Mike Dawson

Today, October 25th, 2011 marks the one year anniversary of my mothers passing. I cant believe 365 days have passed already. My state of mind is in a completely different place than were it was one year ago.

Bubba 1 & two

2011-10-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

Bubba 1 night race.
With my hand being all janky the super bumpy sections and steep downhill sections(which were also bumpy) made for an interesting night. At the start I held back. I didn't want to have my hand fall off the bars in the middle of the group. After a lap or two I was able to ride the course the best that I could. The bumpy straight aways weren't really the problem. It was the bumps in the turns and on the downhill sections that gave me the most trouble. Finished the night in 10th place which means I have already met goal 1 of the season. Top 10. Sunday was a different story..

Gloves.

Wrong line.

First down hill section.

Bubba 2.
Got to the race late. Justin Holden from Alton rode with me. I wanted to stop and get something to eat before the race but time didn't permit. After we got there a my friend Sam asked if I needed anything from the store. Turkey sand which please. After Sam left to go to the store I rode around the course to check out the new turns that were added. Pretty much the same course so there wasn't much learning to do. When Sam got back he handed me a Turkey wrap. Beggars cant be choosers I guess. Went to my car to eat it. When I opened it up and grabbed it I noticed it was very soggy. Soggy enough that it was falling apart. I only ate about 1/4 of it. It wasn't good.

At the start of the race I knew I wasn't going to have energy. By lap 3 of the race my legs were already hurting. And now the warm day added another element. The layer of sweet between my hands and the hoods meant hanging on was a little sketchier. My day was pretty much done by lap 4 or 5. I had nothing.

To top the day off Gino, from TeamSeagal, threw a Seagal jersey on my back while riding by on lap 6 or 7 for some sort of team ritual I guess. The jersey then fell down into my cassette where it wrapped up around the rear D and locked up the back wheel. JERK! I didn't really care. It was pretty funny actually and we were right by the pit so I grabbed my other bike just to look PRO and headed back out. Coming back by the pit next lap TeamSeagal gave me a pretty pro bike change. That was the highlight of the race for me. Almost took out Yielding though.. Ended the day 17th. Suck.

Scariest turn for me..

Really thinking about food here in this one.

Barriers seemed tight.

Photos - Mike Dawson

So far the doctors haven't found anything wrong. Sure it was/is nothing more than a pinched nerve. But when they say the scary things that it could be it makes you stop(training) and think. Those are things they wanted to rule out first. CT was clear. So, its still not 100%. 10 times better than what it was last week though. Hopefully I will be able to be more aggressive on the bike for bubba 3. Haven't been on the bike all week besides a little trainer time so will see.

Are you kidding me? Not sure what reality check this is

2011-10-14T17:01:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning and my right arm/hand was a sleep. 15 minutes later it was still a sleep. Tried to shave in the shower but couldnt hang onto the razor. Had to start my car with my left hand. Got to work and had one hell of a time trying to log in because we have very complex password requirments, and my right hand wouldnt do what I needed/asked it too.

Was at the Dr office by noon. Have appointments scheduled with specialists early next week.

My right hand works, but not with anything that requires force or precision. Its a sleep feeling. Cant touch my thumb to my pinky. At this point, 15 hours after the fact its really starting to worry me... Hasnt got worse or better. This sucks...

A Burning Sensation.... 2 cats and a cougar

2011-10-13T16:36:00.000-07:00

Short post. Busy week with a big weekend coming up.

The oh-11 "Burning at the Bluff" duathlon is now in the books(heavy sided on the mtb riding, like, 100 yards of running and 12 hours of MTB racing... seems lop sided to me).

Raced coed class on a team I thought was sure to win. All 3 riders have awesome resumes for endurance MTB racing.

Zach Brace with many 6 and 12 hour solo victories and killed me at Breck 100 by almost 2 hours.

Barbie Miller who has had many great results and is fresh off a victory at the Dirty Kanza 200.

Me.. I ride bikes.

We started off good. I went out first and set a 1:11 first lap. My fastest ever and for the day. Barbie goes out next and had a mechanical. I don't think her mechanical mattered because the writing was on the wall with in a few laps of racing.

Zach goes out for his first and rides a 1:10. Zach and I both lost time our first laps. Minutes!! Yikes.

From here we kept a solid pace all day long with no more issues to speak of. We were sitting 3rd going into the night laps and still loosing a little time every lap just about. On the last lap the team in second had a lap ending problem which put us 2nd in coed(I love coed).

There we are(on the left)with me hoarding all the prizes from our team effort.

First place finished the race 40 minutes up from us. Great competition all day long kept it interesting for sure. We finished 12th overall for the 12 hour out of about 50 teams.

Had an amazing time riding on an awesome team. This weekend made me realize(yet again) how much fun MTB riding is. And NIGHT RIDING!! Holy shit that is fun. My last night ride was the burnin last year... then the year before that. I don't usually like night riding because I cant see but, for some reason this year it was fun and enjoyable.

Coming up is the core CX season. Bubba starts this weekend. I am pumped. I don't think this weekend will be super great for me as I have been on a semi rest week coming off the burning. But, I feel good. Been running and riding a little this week and feel ready. Just nothing hard with much intensity.

Want the real story? Go here.
It actually makes since...

See you all this weekend.

PICX 3

2011-10-02T14:12:00.000-07:00

PICX 3 was back at Gordon Moore park for the 3rd and final race of the series. Great venue but with the lack of rain its been a bumpy couple of weeks.

A surprising turn out for a Saturday had 14 racers in Men's Open. Just before the race I went to put my breath right strip on but made a crucial error. I didn't take a shower the morning of the race and forgot to wipe my nose off before putting it on. It didn't stick so that was a no go and I only had one in my pocket so I was pretty much effed on that.

Skipping a shower for me is the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker crashing into my face. Oily - Gross.

So this was the first race of the year with out the breath right. I could tell but it didn't bother me to much not having it.

Race gets going and like every race it stayed together the first lap. 2nd lap it spread out a bit as the lap was much longer this week. I soon found my self trying to latch onto Rock Wamsley's wheel. He slowly opened up about 8 - 10 second gap. About the half way point there was a 3 man man train of the wheel fast crew who were reeling my in. I would say about 5 laps to go I had about a 10 - 15 second gap on them. At 2 to go they had cut that in half.

I nailed it at 2 to go. I thought if I could open that gap back up to 15 seconds they would give up as the race was almost over. I don't know that they gave up but I think I made the right move. On the bell lap I had plenty of breathing room and was able to safely ride the last lap with no one breathing down my neck. Came across the line in 6th.

I also found the limit of my Typhoon tires. I slid out a couple times having to put a foot down. Its so damn dry right now. Lots of people went down in the race.

I wore my FUCANCER kit at the race. It was October 1st, the month my mother passed last year, and this was the venue for the only CX race she came to see me at. I cant believe its almost been a year already.

Photo my Mike Dawson.

PICX 2

2011-09-28T18:07:00.000-07:00

Since I was apparently in charge of building the course for this race I mostly just wanted to make it fun. I think that was accomplished. The field ended up being bumpier than I remember but.. hey.

After a "few" of us built the course on Saturday I rode for a little over an hour checking it out. It was fun but seemed harder than I imagined it would be.

Got to the course Sunday morning at 9 AM to finish setting some things up and make sure deer hadn't ripped everything down. Not too bad.

By race time I felt tired a little. Wasn't sure how the race was going to go. First lap everything stayed together. 2nd lap a little more spread out but every one was still close. 3rd lap things were getting thinned out a bit. 4th lap up the hill I some how managed to kick my rear break into the wheel and the spokes sucked it in and pretty much locked up my wheel going up the steep grunt climb right at the top. I thought for sure I had a broken wheel, at least some broken spokes. I got off and looked. Pried the brake out of the wheel and re-attached the cable. I then looked at the wheel and all the spokes. All were there and straight. They all had a little bit of yellow king stop pad on them and my left rear brake pad is ground down pretty good. Just some cosmetic damage. Thankfully.

Got going again but way off the back. At one lap to go I Drew Black back in my sights. At half a lap to go I caught and passed him. He had reserves though. I did not.

He came back around me and pulled away quickly. Finished 6th which kind of sucks for the turn out but not bad considering the people that were there. These PICX weekends leave me feeling like I raced a 6 hour....

Drew's attack face - last lap.

My suffer face - last lap and losing...

Photo's by Mike Dawson.

Gateway X cup

2011-09-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

Man, there have been a ton of races already. Gateway is a new race this year on a Wednesday night at Heman park in U-City. When I first looked at the course map and heard rumors of the place being super flat I was optimistic at best. But, the course was great and I really don't think it could have been any better. Didn't suit me by any means as I am not a diesel engine, but it was still a lot of fun to ride and good practice.

Depending on which report you read, there were somewhere between 60 and 65 riders in the mens open race. I am going to take a step further and say there were 84. Ok, there were really only riders in the low 60's.

I signed up kind of late and got a call up for 4th row. Not bad but not great. Lucky me the guy who was supposed to be in front of me missed his call up meaning I had a open slot in front of me for an easy start. Nice.

The race gets going. We survive the first sketchy gravel turn and start the long process of sprinting down a lot of long straight aways. I was running around 10th place for a couple laps. I soon started having some breathing issues. The same issue I have had for so many seasons now. Not sure if it was my lack of preparation, dust, or the fact that it truly was a fit mans course. Lots of hard breathing during the race and not much rest. I struggle on courses like this.

Photo by Mike Dawson

So, I started to gag a little and had to slow up to get my breathing under control. Soon Richard Breininger(Todd Wells mechanic) comes by me and tell me to hold his wheel and recover. Try as I might I could only hold his wheel for about a half lap. Breathing was not back to normal yet so it was a little too soon for that. After I fell off his wheel I eased up a bit to calm down. Soon I was able to get going again but not before a couple more slipped passed me.

Photo by Rob Ballou

After a couple laps riding by myself Bob Arnold caught up to me and we started working together. There was a group of 4 in front of us with a smaller group of 2 just up from them. As the laps ticked down we slowly reeled in the group of 4 but ran out of laps. We finished about 5 seconds down from them.

Me drafting Bob on the run up.

Photo by Rob Ballou

I ended up 16th out of about 64 riders total on a course that doesn't suit me, when I wasn't my best. Paid top 15. Having said that, I'm glad the course was the way it was because that's what I need the most practice on. Drag race, turn. Drag race, turn. Drag race, turn.

Super fun race and am once again very pleased with my result. After our race I got cleaned up to watch the PRO UCI race. Great racing but kind of small turn out. It was fun yelling at the local racers in there. I then killed He-Man. It was caught on video...

The video isnt that good, but the stills are...

Gordon Moore this weekend. Be there!!

Hermann CX weekend extravaganza.

2011-09-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

Saturday night at Hermann was my first test for things to come. Last week I was shit and knew it. This week I had time to focus on the race and the race only. Sweet.

Before the race started I was nervous. Nervous that my cat 2 upgrade was a joke. Nervous that I had no chance of being the cx racer I want to be. I lined up near the back of the 32 rider field. The start of this race is super fast being wide smooth pavement. There was a pretty big crash right after the start but it was on the other side of the road from me so I missed that one. Then, just before the grass there was another crash. Missed that one too.

After a lap I started moving up alittle in places I felt I could. I soon found myself in a small group of guys I didn't know. We traded places through out the race but we all pretty well stuck together. Little punches were coming from all of us but no one ever really got anywhere. Soon it was only 3 to go and we were gaining on the group in front of us. On the last lap our group had spread out except for me and another rider. The last time through the second sand pit the guy in front of me thought he would ride the second barrier. I ran past him and went into a full sprint down the back straight. From here we were both pretty much sprinting. There was another rider in front of us and I nearly out sprinted him at the finish. We almost caught the group in front of us.

So I ended up 16th. That's exactly mid pack of a 32 rider field. It was a fast group so I was pretty pumped with it. A couple of the riders in the group in front of us were guys that would slaughter me last year.

This is when things started getting strange...

I had 3 or 4 beers after the race and hung out for a while. I then went to find my brother who was camping and he was hanging out with Jim Davis. These two had never met before in there lives and of course found each other some how. Those two hanging out couldn't be a better match.

So then Leslie and I head back to to where out Hotel was. We stopped at McDonald's so I could get a 20 piece mc nugget and a small fry. That shit was good. After dinner we went to check in. The Indian guy at the front counter told me his name was Aljazeera. I thought how weird it was to be named after a news broadcast.

He asks for my ID and I show it to him.

aljazeera: Alton huh. That's not to far.
me: Nope not really.
aljazeera: I used to be a manager there.
me: really? where at?
aljazeera: on the corner of college and central
me:...? at the gas station on the circle?
aljazeera: yep the circle.

I wanted to ask him how many times he was robbed but just took the key and went to my room instead. For those who came to the pride race last Sunday, it was the gas station on the circle right by the park. Not a nice place when the sun goes down. So maybe things weren't that weird...

On to Sunday.

Sunday morning it looked like the course was going to be slop. But, they didn't get as much rain as I thought they did. Warming up, Butthead gave me the best compliment ever.

"Nice job yesterday, I didn't lap you". True. We joked about it..

I now had some expectations of myself for the Sunday race. The course was getting tacky so traction was not going to be an issue. I was able to do a fare amount of preriding so I felt like I was ready. I make sure my socks were pulled all they way up. Notice here. Pulled up to the base of the calf and tight. Perfect.

So the race gets going. I was a little more aggressive at the start this time feeling confident. With in a couple laps I was moving up passing a rider or two each lap. At 5 laps to go I had ridden myself up into 8th place. That's what people were yelling anyway. Then disaster struck. Something wasn't right. My legs started hurting and my back was in knots. Bad pain. Started going backwards. I feel all the way back to 11th and finished there. A great result for sure but I knew something wasn't right. Something serious.

I found out what the problem was. Scroll down to the next pic but I warn you. Its ugly and not for the faint hearted...

Holy fuck. How ugly is that? Its obvious what the problem was. I cant believe no one stopped me mid race to let me know about this. Careers are ruined over things like this. If you look close you can see that my right sock slid down about 1 cm causing a wrinkle in the sock. Good thing I wasn't in the top ten. Looking like this is rude, un-professional, and down right disrespectful to the other racers and race promoters. Looking like white trash is not cool.

Ok. So im joking a tad. The leg and back pain was real though and I fought like hell on Sunday. Pretty happy with 11th too. Less racers but hey.. I will take it.

Finished 12th over all for the weekend and am very pleased with myself. The course was awesome and Jeff Yielding did another flawless job(minus bike wash location;)) and I cant wait for next year already.

I now have some expectations of regular top 10 finishes in Bubba this year. Hoping so anyway...

This is the strangest blog post I have ever posted I think...

Photos by Jason Watkins

PICX 1 - TOAST

2011-09-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

The first race of the year is done. The race for me started Saturday morning at 9 am swinging a 4 pound sledge for 4 hours driving wooden stakes in the ground. My right arm is still sore from that. Pretty happy with course. If I had 100% control of how it was built I think there are some things I would have changed, but cant complain.

Sunday morning I got to the course again at 9 am to fix any and all stakes that were knocked down by all the inner city deer that we have. There every were, its kind of weird. Not much damage though.

I lined up for the Men's open race with zero expectation and socks pulled up as high as they would go. This is good and bad. Meant that I had no stress, also meant I wasn't going to be riding good since I was already tired from working at the park all weekend but would still look very pro while going slow. Its amazing what half a day swinging a hammer around while standing will do to your overall fatigue levels.

So I started at the back and made no efforts to pass anyone for the first lap. I was able to start picking off a few riders going into the second lap but I wasn't sure which race they were in since the masters race was going at the same time. Tried to find my zone and stick with it. About the half way point I was riding about 10 seconds ahead of Christopher/MESA, and about 20 seconds down from the 3 man group of Dust, Stover, and Wamsley. The gaps stayed the same for some time but the 3 man man train started pulling away a little each lap. Fairly certain if I had started faster I may have been able to get in that group and stick with it.

My lower back and legs were hurting pretty bad by 3 laps to go. The grunt climbing at the beginning of the lap was getting harder each time up. My right arm was almost as bad as my back. No strength left in it from all the hammering. Shottler and Johnson both ended up lapping me. Kind of bummed about that but like I said, I was really only trying to survive the race.

I ended up finishing 9th out of 14 in the men's open race. Good enough for me and it was a pretty fast crowd. Yielding would be proud, I did that entire race with no water. I did have some in the pit just in case though.

After the race we had to tear the course down. Took a couple hours but was home by 5:30. Super exhausting weekend. There is really to much on my mind from the entire weekend to give a better report that this. The race was really pretty uneventful for me. No major mistakes or close calls even. I call it a good race considering.

I also must note how well the Typhoon tires gripped. I really expected to feel them slid around a little bit but none what so ever. Very confident in them now and cant wait to give my Rynos a rip.

Fist lap on the back. Photos by Mike Dawson

Probably the worst turn on the course. Big tree roots on the far side of the tree.

Fastest part of course by far.

Top of the climb. Christopher in the back ground was never far behind.

Barrier. Photos by Katy Lynn.

Fast downhill section with the Wild Trak crew sitting on my left shoulder. Sam, I know your 70 but take off your helmt.

Cool pic from back half of the course.

Bummer this one is blurry. PG is really laying it over inside of me. Guess he trusts his tires.

Ok.. thats literally almost every pic I could find of me.

Looking forward to next weekend. Shit, the next couple weeks are cross crazy.

Are you ready to Rumble?

2011-09-08T19:53:00.000-07:00

CX starts in 3 days. Really hoping for some rain so hammering stakes isn't a nightmare. Hoping for a lot of racers to show up. Hoping for some awesome racing. Hoping for lots of wrist snapping. Just finished gluing my last set of tires about 20 minutes ago, hoping that's good too. Mostly just hoping for some superfanning, excellent beers after the race, and an awesome kick-off to this years CX season.

Going out for course recon tomorrow after work. Building it Saturday morning.

Crit season over.

Notice the socks are correctly positioned....

See you all Sunday.

Benton Park Crit. Is it CX season yet...?

2011-09-05T17:35:00.001-07:00

Went a lot like yesterday. Only not one big crash, but many small ones. Felt good. Breathing, legs, riding in general felt good. Stayed near the front most the race. With 3 to go crashes were happening every were and it seemed I was having to bridge back up to the main field a lot the last couple laps. That wore me out.

Finished 42nd which sucks. 43rd yesterday. Consistent I guess but not in a good way. Feeling fresh after the races is frustrating and motivating. Hoping that means my fitness is building and that I will have a great CX season.... One could hope.

Giro dell Montagna

2011-09-05T06:22:00.000-07:00

Felt good. Rode near the front all race. Big crash with 3 to go stopped the race. Race restarted with 5 to go put up on the lap counter. The time sitting there left my legs heavy and stiff and got going slowly when it restarted. Last 5 laps I didnt feel great. Tried to move up but it wasnt in the cards. Not sure where I finished...

Today is the last day of Gateway racing at Benton Park. Probably the best crit course ever. Cant wait. Tomorrow tire glueing will happen on my C35's since it will be a rest day. Then two hard days followed by rest for the FIRST CX RACE OF THE YEAR!!!!!! Sept 11th. Write that down.. be there...

Tour de Lafayette Super Speedway

2011-09-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

Quick Post. Nothing much to report on Lafayette. Started on the front and stayed there for the first 5 or so laps. Faded to the back for a bit then moved back up. About 35 minutes in I went to the front following the wheel of Christopher of 708/MESA. As soon as I did that I found myself in a break with 4 or 5 guys. But, its Lafayette and breaks never last here. At least in the 3's they dont.

After we got re-absorbed I faded to the back again and stayed there to the finish which is pretty lame on my part. Never been a fan of mixing it up in the dark. Cant see shit after the sun goes down.

Not racing today. Going to a fish fry for my grandpa. He turned 91 this year and still keeps busy building decks and fences. Usually by himself.

So today will be a bit of a rest day and should have me ready for The Hill and Benton park on Sunday and Monday. Looking forward to these two races and really looking forward to ripping my road tires off after the weekend and finishing up getting my cross tires glued on. Shit... only 8 more days.

CX Cross training with Sven Nys

2011-08-31T20:11:00.002-07:00

Holy shit. I am adding this training to my schedule tomorrow...

Tall Oaks 3:29

2011-08-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

Signed up for the 6 hour solo class this past weekend. No real goal or plan for the race other than just ride my MTB, eat, and drink lots during the race. Lap one was slow, was stuck behind a lot of traffic. Lap 2 was faster but still holding back. Lap 3 felt great. Just riding now getting towards the 2 hour mark. Lap 4 was a little slow, starting to feel the effects of the race on my body. Lap 5 was it, finished at 3:29 race time. Started feeling pretty bad all over. Threw in the towel at the end of lap 5. Going out for more probably would have done more harm than good. That was it. Guess the 6 hour solo class was a bad idea as I don't have 6 hour legs right now

Photo by Matthew Stacey

Great course and perfect weather made for a good day on the trail. Really cant complain.

Up next is Gateway Cup. Then right to CX and I am stoked. I have spent the last month doing almost all cx specific training. Ready to start putting it to use. Mostly just looking forward to some cooler weather.

....and repeat.

2011-08-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

So my 10 hour weeks are staying pretty consistent. I would love to be getting 14 but that's pretty hard when my work days take 10 hours of my day every day 5 days a week. 10 will have to be good enough and likely is. It has to be. If its not, than it isn't.

I feel pretty good on the bike but am certain my season will start slow, which is probably a good thing. I really don't have any expectations the first couple races other than see where I stand. Too bad the first couple races are going to be some big ones.

So I got my Dugast ryno tires all glued up. I think I did a OK job. Looks clean but how well the tire sticks the wheel is most important. Guess we will find that out soon enough. I must say, attempting to glue tubular tires while driving down the interstate in rush hour is stupid and dangerous and wastes lots of glue. Don't know how I managed that one.

My other set of tires will not be glued until after gateway cup. Only leaves me a couple days but shouldn't be a big deal.

I will be coming into the CX season with way less on my mind than last year. I will also be coming into this season lighter. Almost 10 lb's lighter. Last year I was 178 at the end of the season. I am scratching at the door of 168 currently... which still makes me a fat ass for the A race.

I have been changing some habits that have helped this. Like, eat dinner before my evening ride followed by a recovery drink after words. Many nights of eating big dinners at 9 PM is not good for body weight. Another thing is little to no beer during the week. This week alone I will set a personal record of ZERO alcohol from Monday to Friday at 5PM. Probably nothing this Saturday either as I will be racing the 6 hour at Binder solo.

So that's it for now. Maybe next post I will have something interesting to read about.. By the way.. I never glued a tire driving down the highway. Its hard enough in the basement. Jokes on you.

Ryno's glued up. New setup this year dropping the bars 5 mm and a 10 mm longer stem. Closer to my road position. Haven't tried it yet under effort but feels great just rolling around. My neighbors probably wonder what the hell that flag is...

My friend Jeremy Runge who is working on getting a his PRO motocross license is demonstrating what can result of that going badly. Broke his neck and back about a month ago. Looks like he will be fine.

Edwardsville crit(what was I thinking..?)

2011-08-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

I have known for a solid 3 years that I am not good when the temps are high. It was 106 with the index, 102 with the wind chill. I usually get goose bumps and feel cold when the heat gets me. It was a little different this time. I got a splitting head ache on the left side. It felt like my left temple was going to blow out of the side of my skull. The first few laps I was near the front and slowly went backwards. Stayed in for about 15 or so laps before dropping out. Been riding a bunch too. Got about 20 hours in the past two weeks. My legs felt good. HR was ok. Just cant take that kind of heat.

Not feeling good.

My boy PG off the front going for the $50 prime which he got easily. PG was riding like a super hero Sunday. Not because of his ride, but because of his night before the race. Out till 5AM. Fist fight at 3AM in U-city and got sucker punched in the nose. He didn't really remember all the details so I don't have much to say about it. Im sure he is somewhat at fault though... Just loved his side of the story on the drive to the race.

Photo's by Mike Dawson

Getting the ball rolling...

2011-07-24T18:13:00.000-07:00

My riding over the past 8 weeks has been almost non-existent. 4 to 6 hours a week. We are now approaching August and cx starts just 40 days later. I'm in boarder line panic mode from a fitness stand point. Not sure what my deal is but I have had a shit ton of stuff going on this summer.

Florida vacation. Sisters wedding. Lots of birthday parties. And a ton of bad or hot weather, both of which make for not much riding. I am fairly certain all the bad weather is now behind us. I do know for a fact that all my out of cycling events are. And that's good because I can start to focus on CX.

I have done a hand full of races though. Mostly crits, some clean some dirty. The Babler circuit race was fun too. I guess I feel like I should be out killing myself on my bike every night but I think I am in a perfect situation for cx. I had great form early in the year. Then the past 8 weeks have been very easy. Now its time to ramp up to be strong (and fresh) for the entire cross season.

Since I hate riding when its super hot out I actually spent 2 hours on my rollers Saturday. That's a record for me. The ipad helped a ton and watching cooking on channel 9 did too. Doing a little yoga and some running has also been good. Keeps the core tight. The plan is now in motion for my best cx season yet. It is now time to start getting big hours leading up to the first race.

Anyway. My bikes are almost ready to roll. My tires are here and are stretching on the wheels. Since I had a flat rear on my Shimano c-35 carbon tubular wheel I took the opportunity to throw the cross tire on there to get a visual.

I will be running the Dugast Typhoon's on my c-35 wheels and Dugast Ryno's on my c-50's.

Full Tilt with full Dura-Ace 7900.

Gin & Trombones with full Dura-Ace 7800.

Giant Beer mug boot for a groomsman gift. Pretty fucking rad.

"Epic Man Shit". It will almost hold a six pack.

Crits this past week.

2011-07-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

I once again had a unexpected 7 straight days off the bike coming into this week. I raced last Tuesday(7-5)... and didn't ride again until the following Tuesday(7-12). Its no surprise my fitness is gone with the way the summer has been going for me.

Anyway, At the Tuesday crit this week I felt like complete shit. I was winded just pre-riding and talking to people. The A race started out with lightning and thunder. Thought for sure they were going to call it. It was super windy too.

The lightning and thunder left us but the rain started coming down pretty hard. After 15 or so minutes of racing in the rain the decided to call the race for some reason. I was kind of confused by this. We were already soaking wet. So that was that for the A race. Christopher(708) and myself kept riding laps in the rain.

30 minutes later the B race lined up with clearing skies. There were only 7 or 8 riders as most(almost all) the other people had left for the day. It was strange being in the race. I only did it because I was there, soaking wet, and needed the time in so why not. Once we were moving it was clearly just going to be a tempo ride. The two big shark riders were trying to start a break but none of the guys from SLU were willing to take a pull so it came back every time. I never followed the attacks. I just sat in the rotation for the pedal time and would pull when it was my turn. With half a lap to go I put in a good effort and came across the line first with a decent gap on second and third. That was it for Tuesday.

I took Wednesday off to cut grass and not be totally blown apart for the dirt crit.

I started the dirt crit really slow this week. I didn't want to be red lined the first two laps so starting at the back was my plan. I guess it worked. After the race got going I held the same pace the entire time and rode forward the entire time as well. I only finished in 21st, but only 60 seconds separated me from 10th place. Hopefully when I get a solid week of riding I will be up there. 11 guys in a 60 second spread is pretty competitive but I should be able to make that up.

The weather is again being ridiculous. The super hot temps are making it hard to decide what to do. I am thinking babler tomorrow. Maybe. The mountain bike race tomorrow would be fun but I cannot handle this kind of heat for that type of racing.

I need a training plan... Sitting on the couch has not been working out like I thought it would.

UGLY!!

2011-07-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

What is the worst thing a driver in the tour caravan can do? Take the riders out.

Johnny Hoogerland went into the fence got the worst of it...

Beer Contest Winner is....

2011-07-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

..TJ Newport from Kalamazoo, MI.

Apparently none of you keep a change jar. The amount in the jar, although looks like not much, was in fact $337.14. Not a typo. Three Hundred thirty seven and change.

The last time I emptied it the change was almost to the guitar neck and almost worth 1K.

Save your pocket change. It adds up.

Finding my legs and drunk driving

2011-07-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

Now that I have had a week of riding since returning from Florida my legs seem to be slowly coming back. Tonight in the A race at the Tuesday worlds, I found that I was able to go to the front and attack, and chase attacks with out too much stress. But, I am still not recovering from those efforts very quickly. I will give it another couple weeks before I am back in good form.

Anyway. After getting in a couple breaks that didn't do much I just sat in the last few minutes to not blow my self apart. I wanted to do the B race too to get the hours. So I figured that was a good plan.

In the B race I sat in the first half the race just to ride it. Then about half way through I decided to go the front go hard up the hill one lap to see what would happen. I pulled one rider with me. Ben from Momentum. We had a gap so we kept it rolling. My legs were hurting pretty bad after a few laps of the front. I started to pull the plug until Buddy showed us 3 to go. We kept it rolling pretty good. On the final lap Jim Vandeveen and Sam Moore just about bridged up to us. I still had enough to out kick everyone for the prestigious B race win. Sweet right? Nothing better than Sandbagging. A win is always good, but that shit just felt wrong. Oh well.

I was out riding on July 4th. Mistake. I wasn't really thinking when I rolled out for the ride. I don't usually ride on the road on Holiday weekends as to avoid all the dumb asses. I almost paid for it this time...

It was actually the end of my ride. I was cooling down just a couple streets from my house. I always ride a couple laps around the block after each ride. So, I'm rolling down the street probably going about 15 or so, and of course all the way to the right. I hear a car coming up behind me, then skidding in the gravel on the shoulder of the road. I look over my shoulder and didn't recognize the car that was only about 5 feet from my rear tire. I did a double take to see if I knew the person. Nope. All this took place in about 3 seconds.

The car was just sitting at this point with some chick just starring blankly out the windshield. I turned around to see what the hell her deal was and why she almost ran me over. Before I could even say anything she pulled back on the road and started to take off. She drove about 40 feet and pulled in a driveway. I sat there and waited for her to get out of the car. I had some questions to ask her.

She gets out..

ME: Are you drunk?
her: Fusuck you. Get ju fuck out of my ard.
ME: im not in your yard. Im in the street.
her: what ju fuck is er problem?
Me: well you almost just ran me over right over there.
her:(she is now stumbling her way to the house)im done with yu fuck ju.
Me: do you even realize you almost ran over me?
her: Fusuck you. Get ju fuck out of my ard.
ME: im not in your yard. Im in the street.
her: wut.. do yuo unt me to call the cops er somethin..?
ME: sure, why dont you do that and get them here.
her: im done with yu fuck ju.

At this point, she started to walk towards me pretty aggressively so I bolted. I was super pissed at first. But as the day went on it really started to bug me that I almost got hit by some dumb ass drunk bitch. Kind of scared me I guess. I mean, in all honesty I don't think she was going fast but, cars vs bikes is never a good situation to be in. I thought about calling the police but I don't know that they could have done anything. Now that I have had a day to think about it, I should have called them.

There are now 4 people in the beer contest(is that ironic for this post?) 3 more days until some lucky person gets a 6 pack on me.

Dirt Crit One

2011-07-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

Hot. Fast. Soft legs. Creek felt great. Rode near the front the first couple laps. Faded. Then went forward again. Then faded again. Too hard of riding coming off vacation. Finsihed 27th. Hope to be in the teens next week.

Officially, no one is winning the free beer contest yet because no one has guessed(is my dirty foot bothering people?). The stats are in, I now know how much the change jar guitar was holding. Post comment for what you think was in there and win beer. 7 more days.

Click here, win 6IX pack of BEER contest.

2011-06-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

Look at these pics. Look very close. Guess how much is in there. I stuck my dirty sun burnt left foot(i have strange feet) in there for scale.

Here are the rules: Closest to the amount with out going over wins a six pack of their choice. Even if its a 30 dollar six pack from ITAP. If its impossible to get, choose something else, dont make it rediculous. You will be carded. Speeding tickets are not acceptable. You have to give me two beers from the six pack.

Contest ends Friday July 8th and the winner will be announced that evening. Please put the type of 6 pack you would like in with your guess amount. If ITAP-randoms is your choice. Put ITAP-IS-AWESOME(or global brew for eville dirt bags) next to your guess amount and we(the winner and I) will make it happen.

Thank you have and have a good day.

FYI- this is not a joke. Closest to the amount(without going over) gets the goods. You have 9 days so guess away...

The last few weeks.

2011-06-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

Haven't been racing much the past few weeks, or riding even. Not because I didn't want to race, but because I had other things going on. Been getting about 4-6 hours a week which is nothing.

A few weeks ago I skipped racing for the weekend to do a big ride to Downtown Stl for the Susan G Koman race for the cure and I was wearing my FUCANCER kit. That was my first 5 hour day in some time and had me feeling pretty tired to race on Sunday. Not even sure what I missed at this point. I think it was the St. Gen RR.

The next weekend, I think, was one of my friends(old man Sam) 70th birthday party. He had been planning this party for 3 years. His goal, ride 70 miles for his 70th... then get drunk. I was game and mission accomplished in all aspects. This was hellbender weekend.

Next on the agenda was a trip to Florida with Leslie. We went to Punta Gorda and visited many beaches. It was a damn good time until the sun had taken its toll on my virgin white chest, back, and ankle skin. Sun block was used, but the sun was snapping wrists like Seagal in his hey day.

After not riding a bike for 7 days straight, and only about 3 hours the week before that... I figured the rest period was over and ramping up for cross was next. I went to the Tuesday crits tonight only expecting to sit in. Problem was, I only ate a salad for lunch and nothing else. The sugar free energy drink mid day didn't help matters. I felt super empty and my HR was much higher than normal. If you want to feel like shit, do this. I sat in until my rear tire lost enough air that it was rolling in the fast downhill corner(tubular - slow leak). Stopped for one lap to air up and jumped back in to finish. Sat in until one to go and pulled the plug. Felt terrible. I have zero fitness right now but am psyched to get the cross workouts going now that I am going again. And with the dirt crits starting in a couple days I am certainly a couple weeks behind. Not worried though. My plan was to take it easy early in the summer and ramp up. Hopefully this years CX season goes much better for me. The Dirt crits should help gets the legs going again. And those start now.

Florida bound.

2011-06-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

3 hours sleep. Getting ready to head to the airport. Havent been on a airplane since 2000(Anaheim, CA supercross). Last time I went on vacation to a beach.....? Not long after my dad passed. I was probably 11 or 12.

Holy shit this should be a good time...

When will it end?

2011-06-18T06:59:00.001-07:00

I am sick of the rain. The only thing worse than waking up to an alarm clock on a saturday morning, is waking up to an alarm clock and realizing it was pointless. And that the ride is canceled.

Ballwin - O'Fallon double header.

2011-06-06T18:22:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was hot. So hot that I decided to skip the saturday RR. Like 105 in the pool hot. I am not good in the heat. When its that hot, I get goose bumps and start to feel cold and shakey. Thats not healthy.

Sunday there was two option. The cross race in Ballwin? Or the crit race in O'fallon? I really wanted to do both but couldnt decide saturday night. I had friends that were supposed to be doing the crit, and the course looked cool. But its cross... cant miss that can you?

Sunday morning I loaded both bike and 3 sets of wheels. I was for sure doing the cross race and if I felt ok was going to try and make the crit race. The time gaps between the two races made me think this would be possble. 11 am, and 2:45 start times. And only about a 45 minute drive to the second race.

Ballwin.

Even though this race was being run with MTB rules, it was a cross race. Lemans start(duathlon) it was. Run to our bikes and then begin the suffering of the race.

Photo by Mike Dawson

Photo by Mike Dawson

My first lap I felt great. Riding behind Yielding and Ploch the first lap and a half was a confidence boost. They had slipped away a little by the end of the second lap. On the third lap(could have been second, the heat made the memories a little fuzzy) I tried to pass Jay Strothman right before the stairs. Somehow, we managed to run up the stairs side by side. After thinking about that, He had to of held his bike over his head. The stairs were narrow with rails on both side. Jay passed me back and I couldnt hold his wheel.

The Stairs. I know I saw a shadow of a bike over me...

Photo by Mike Dawson.

Dropping in on the green monster.

Photo by Mike Dawson.

BJ Keene then made his way up to me. This was around the 4th lap or so. I was feeling miserable and starting to want to vomit. I did once, in my mouth. Just a little though. Drank a full bottle during the race and needed more. This was about the half way point of the race and I was now going backwards. Felt like complete shit. I drank as much as I could and tried to calm down.

With 3 or so laps to go I was able to start riding forward again. I caught BJ back and got around him. I finished feeling ok in 7th. Not bad I guess.

Riding the In-field.

Photo by Mike Dawson.

Quad-tastic in the pit.

Photo by Mike Dawson.

So with the race being over I chatted with everyone about the usual stuff after a race. Everyone seemed to love the race and it sounds like it will happen again next year. Pretty awesome.

No cross race is complete without a 1500 HP shopping cart. Welcome to Missouri.

Photo by Mike Dawson.

And with that.... time to get to O'fallon.

Hopped back in the car and pinned it east. Got to the race with 2 hours to spar. Slammed water like no ones buisness and ate some cookies to fuel up. Soda too just to be sure. The field was small for the 3's race. I think they said 27 or so. Fairly certain I was the only rider lining up with sand in his shoes.

Photo by Dennis Fickinger

The course was a 10 corner figure 8 type course. I thought it was great. I didnt feel great.. not even good really. Had fun riding the course though . I pretty much just sat in and watched the racing at the front. Lots of attacks but none went anywhere.

Photo by Dennis Fickinger

When it was 5 laps to go I knew I was done. The all day heat session was pretty taxing on me. I felt tired and weak. The water that was left in my bottles was warm too. It wasnt refreshing to drink it so I didnt. My throat was pretty dry the last couple laps.

Photo by Dennis Fickinger.

With one and a half laps to go I hit eject(pussy). I was done. No way I was going to go for the sprint. Riding the last lap alone was pretty sucky. I saw the beginning of the sprint with one corner to go as the field was coming toward me. It made me wonder how I would have finished had I not been such a turd. Or had I not raced a cross race already that day... I finished 18th. I beat 1/3 of the field somehow. A few guys dropped out and there was a crash. Doesnt matter.

Not sure what my deal is this year. No results to speak of except for a 4th place finish in the A's at the Tuesday worlds. Plus a couple of good MTB finishes.

There always next weekend.

So the day was long, hot, and I guess sort of "epic". Had a ton-o-fun doing it too. Wish there were more weekends like this. RR this coming weekend. The MO state race. Hopefully I can get in a break with a bunch of guys from Il. That way no one will chase since we cant get the jersey.... yeah right.

ICC 3/6 MTB Race

2011-05-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

Quick break down of the weekend/race...

Saturday my GF Leslie graduated and walked the stage with her masters in Education. (WHICH IS FUCKING AWESOME!!)

Saturday night, in celebration for Leslie, I drank a lot of beer... like 1 A-IPA, 12 APA's, and a few shit-lights...

Sunday morning I woke up, sorta, and drove to Zach Braces house on the south side.

Arrive at Zach's, Zach asks if I can drive... Sure, but need to get gas.

Zach asks How I felt... "Slow, dehydrated, and still needed to eat something for breakfast. Told him not to worry, I would eat where ever we got gas."

We then admire his deer head on the wall.. "Is that a 2 point?"..I ask. "No, 3 point." Zach Responds.

Zach hands me a piece of bread with peanut butter and honey. I drank his coffee(first of day)... Zach was out of toilet paper. SHIT!

We drive to race.

Race costs 40 bucks, Zack only had 15. I pay the rest for Zach..

Race starts... I drill it.

First lap... I felt OK, really thirsty but finished lap in 42 minutes.

second lap... about the same... finished around 45 minutes...

third lap.. horrible... probably about 53 minutes or so.. But Carrie Cash did sing to me in the woods.. I think she was singing to me..

4th lap.. Zack catches me and drops me like a turd in the John. Hard.

Finished the race at 3 hours 5 minutes for 16th place out of about 65 in the 3 hour solo class. Not bad I guess for the way the weekend went. I have never been so thirsty during a race... It was pathetic.

I then took Zach to ITAP. He was in love.... and paid me back.. big time(with beer)!!

The race was great and very professionally run. Hope it happens next year and hope to be in better shape for the race. The trail was awesome too. Perfect for a MTB race course. A little of everything.

Since the race, Dave Murray has assigned scattered tornado's to hangout around my back yard(dick, pot smoker). So, I have only ridden 28 minutes and did 3 1/2 sit ups since then. I call it recovery...

I also turned 30 on monday, the 23rd. Party is this Friday, the 27th... Holy SHIT.

Public CX course. In progress, needs work.

2011-05-24T17:33:00.000-07:00

Course is slow, soft, and bumpy. Hopefully we can get out there while the dirt is soft in some cars or a roller to get it packed down while its moist dirt. There are some areas that are packed and roll fast(er). Just need to get the entire course like that...

Few picks.

Tour de Grove

2011-05-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

Friday night at the first race of the weekend. It was as typical 4 corner crit with 2 really long wide streets with two really short and narrow streets connecting the two together. A rectangle basically. It was a Cat 2/3 race with about 80 or so riders. My plan from the beginning was to sit on the back, the very back, and try to stay protected from the wind. It was super easy sitting in like this. On the long straights I could move where ever I wanted to hide from the cross winds. A lot of people think this strategy is stupid. But it works on certain courses. I figured I would move up at 15 minutes to go.

So, At 15 minutes to go I sprinted up to, and right past, the front and into a small break away. Didn't last long though. Got re-absorbed. I sat on the front for another lap until going into turn 3 we got swarmed from both sides and I was back to 80th. Ok. Now I am thinking I will try it again with 2 laps to go.

Coming up to the finish line seeing 2 to go I sprinted back to the front. I was sitting 3rd wheel. I sat here until about half a lap later when the pack swarmed us again from both sides on the super wide back stretch. At 1 to go I was back around 60th. Just sat in and rode the wave in. Didn't work this time. Shit.

Saturday's weather was a complete piece of shit. Literal shit. Cold and rain. 45 degrees in May is not real common I don't think. Embrocation and arm warmers were a must. Gloves too.

The course had 6 turns and some where sharp. The last one being almost a complete 180. There were about 110 starters. I wanted to be on the back this time to stay out of crashes. But there weren't any really. I saw one going down the front straight but that was it. Being on the back in a wet 6 turn crit is the worst place. We kept getting gaped and I had to keep sprinting back up to the group. Or hammer anyway, not really sprinting...

It started to hurt pretty bad. After about 7 or 8 laps the 10 or so guys around me stopped chasing after the first corner where we kept getting gaped. This area was where the head/cross winds were the worst. I gave it my all but couldn't get back on. All the other riders around me dropped out. I kept going.

I rode alone for the rest of the race in the rain and cold. I caught and passed a lot of dropped riders. I ended up being scored as 70th place. Close to 40 DNF's. It was pretty miserable.

I opted out Sunday. Legs were tired and it was another cold wet day. And the course was harder with a pretty good climb in it. Feel bad for all the people with Bigshark who put in so much time and effort only to get pissed on by mother nature all weekend.

Tonight, Monday night, PG and I went to our top secret Greenwood mile crit training loop. We rode together for about an hour never going below 24. Felt great. I know im getting stronger. Maybe I need to rethink that tail-gunning/sprint at the last moment strategy...

Greensfelder XC

2011-05-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

Greensfelder is a tough race and waking up to the sound of thunder and rain wasn't going to make it any easier. The rain was moving out of the area but it had done its damage on the trail. It was slick as shit on the rocks and a few sections of trail were pretty sloppy. Not enough to call the race though..

Cat 1 race.

Our race started at noon. Some earlier races had worn some lines in and cleared some of the mud. The trail was drying but it was still wet.

There were about 19 Cat 1 riders total. I lined up in the 30-39 age bracket(for the first time) expecting to get my ass handed to me. Luckily it was a mass start so I was able to blend in.

The first lap was hard. People were sliding around and crashing on the slick rocks. I was playing it safe just trying to stay upright. Half way through the first lap is when things really got going. The field was strung out enough that you could really pedal. Or in my case, feel like shit. My legs felt slow and they didn't seem to respond to effort. I was in a group with Karl Stover and Marc Ciufolo, Drew Black not far behind. We were moving ok I guess. Karl started to gap us, then I started to gap Marc. Soon we all had little advantages over each other. As we finished the first lap the gaps were about 1 minute to each rider.

On the second lap I was able to ride a little faster. With clear site on the trail it was much easier to pick the lines you wanted and not have to worry about someone falling in front of you. I kept Karl in site and got a pretty good gap on Marc. My legs were feeling much better now also. Accelerating out of corners was much easier and I never saw Marc again. At the end of the second lap on the last climb, I was able to see Drew a switch back down from me. I remember last year Drew finished very strong so I was worried a little about him.

Going into the 3rd lap my legs were feeling the effort. I was on cruise control mostly just trying to ride smooth and not make mistakes. It worked out pretty well. I finished the lap with no one in site to the front or rear of me. Out of the 19 riders I finished 6th overall and 3rd in age group.

My efforts earned me 40 dollars for the 6th overall and a 3rd place medal for the 30-39 age group ranking. In an attempt to make 40 dollars look like a lot of money, I spread it out all over my bed to make it look like I just won the tour. What does 40 bucks on your bed look like...? It looks like 40 bucks.

Huge thanks to DRJ and GORC. This was a fund raiser for GORC and I think they were into the 2K plus range when it was all said and done between the racers and donations from some shops. STL has a pretty good MTB scene. Glad to be a part of it.

MFXC 2011

2011-05-02T17:18:00.000-07:00

No shenanigans, no BS, just true mountain biking with the highest quality people from around the area. Also, the most fun I have had on my bike in some time.

Brought to you by TEAMSEAGAL - Superior Attitude Superior State of Mind -

As you all know, the weather was not looking good last week. But, the reports kept coming in that the trails were buff. Yes.. the creeks were high and there were some wet spots too, but for the weather we have had it was almost perfect.

I was not about to miss a Team Seagal non-race. I loaded up and rolled out of Alton about 6:30 AM. When I got to 32 and DD I was shocked to only see about 7 cars. But, they started rolling in until the lot was overflowed out onto DD. 50 or so racers were ready to go.

This race isn't about winning. If you show up, do the race, grab a beer and get a high five or two you are winning. Unless of course you are Matt James, Dan Miller, Wendy Davis, or Nico Toscani. They really were winners.

Felt pretty good on the trail. Went backwards most of the day but my state of mind went forwards.

Long story short I finished the 32 mile-ish race 10th overall for a time of 3 hours 2 minutes. 15 minutes down from 1st overall. I would love to give a run down of how my ride went, and how a very young rider from BigShark sat on my rear tire for 1.5 hours without saying a word, until I finally had to stop so he would pass me... But, no way I can put a post together better than this.

Thank you Team Seagal for an Epic day. Its no surprise your team is growing...

Tour of St. Louis

2011-04-18T17:01:00.001-07:00

Had good legs coming into the weekend with a good amount of riding and equal amount of rest on the right days. It was cold too. Like 45 cold. Arm warmers and embrocation cold. Anyway...

Saturday was a crit/circuit at Crondelet park in South City. With it being damp out and raining a little while getting ready, I opted to run my aluminum box section tubulars so I could actually stop in the event I needed to. Carbon rims don't slow down so much when wet. Good decision bad decision.. it was dry as a bone during the race but I think Murphy's law was contributing.

The race started pretty slow. It was windy and cold so I think people were buying their time in the protection of the group until they warmed up. Soon the attacks started. I as sitting on the back for the first 4 laps or so. This wasn't the place to be if I wanted to get in a break. I went to the front and waited. Didn't take long to get bored so I attacked myself and went off the front for a lap by myself. After that a couple guys bridged up and we worked together for a couple laps, but not with much of a gap. Then another small group bridged up to us containing John Schilling of the GARMIN Junior team. He had a pretty good pace going but we got re-absorbed back into the main group. A 3 man group then went off the front and we never saw them again. A few laps before the finish another good sized group got established off the front with about 6 guys in it. Thinking I need to be there I tried like hell to bridge but fell short. The closest I got was about 6 bike lengths but that might as well be a mile when your on the rev limiter. Bing Bing Bing Bing Bing.... That group ended up getting caught anyway so it was energy wasted. With 2 to go I moved up to around the top 15. With 1 to go I was near the top 10 on the right side of the bunch with a left had turn approaching. The pack surged up the left side and put me back. Way back. I went as hard as I could on damage control but only managed 31st. Stupid on my part.

Couple pics from Saturyday's race.

Photo by Dan Singer

Photo by Dan Singer

Skipped the TT

Sunday was another crit in Downtown. Just a rectangle but the shitty road on the back side and the wind would be a factor. As soon as the race got going I went to the front and parked it there. I chased a couple of small attacks that led to nothing. Bridged up to a couple that led to nothing. Then I got a front flat and had to go to the pit for my spare wheel. Got back in the group and went back to the front. I few attacks looked dangerous but nothing ever got away. It was coming down to a bunch sprint. My legs were sort of weak by now. To many attacks, bridges, and riding in the wind like an idiot. I think I may have finished around 25th.

Went back to the wheel pit to grab my wheels only to flat my rear in the process. So, 60 bucks to race both days and 200 dollars in wasted tires. Expensive weekend to ride like a dumb ass chasing stuff to early in the race. Although, I think I proved to myself that I can ride at the front comfortably and should have a win soon. Hope so anyway.

Fairly certain at this point I am riding to aggresivly to early in the races. Need to bring it down a notch and save turning it up to eleven for later on.

Early in the race on the front.

Leading the break with my boy PG in his super secret kit in toe.

In the group.

Last three photos by Mike Dawson from Sunday's Crit.

Random video.
Take it from these guys, break dancing is extreme. Cant believe the guy is even conscious. Its funniest on the 3rd watch. Enjoy!

Tour of Hermann

2011-04-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

Tour of Hermann started bad and only got worse. When I woke up at 5 AM to the sound of rain and wind I wasn't sure what to think. With in ten minute the storm was severe. Crazy lightning, hail, 50 MPH winds, and down pouring. Not really feeling it I went back to bed for a DNS in the TT.

Arriving later in the day with much better weather seemed like the right thing to do. It was very warm in Hermann. Upper 80's going to low 90's by mid day. The course is the same still. A hill repeat followed by a 50 MPH downhill. When my race actually started I was confident but things don't aways work out or go as planned. The first couple laps I stayed with the group. My 12-27 cassette allowed me to stay in the big ring up the climb which was nice. Wasn't to hard to push and I think I was faster up the climb than the guys I was riding with. On the 4th or 5th lap is when I think the heat messed with me. Started getting a head ach and stopped enjoying the race. Just suffered, fell off pace, and got lapped 3 times by the lead group. Not a good first race of the weekend. Finished 22nd(last finisher) Drove back to Alton for the night to sleep in my own bed. Thought it would help.

Sunday was the road race. Same course as years past so I knew it would be hard. To my surprise I stayed with the bunch up the first climb going out of town with out much trouble(I am fairly certain I saw Bob Jenkins laying down on the side of the road in a orange shirt up this climb). Riding along I was fine. All the steep climbs on the first half the course didn't give any trouble. Around mile 16 or so I started feeling like shit again. It was warm, but not like Saturday. There was this slow gradual climb that totally fucked me. I don't even think we were going fast but for some reason it was really hurting me and I popped. Off the back I collected myself and started to chase. I got back up to the group right as they accelerated into the wind, and that was my day. DNF. Riding back into town was pretty shitty. Head wind. Hot. Some of the cross winds would damn near blow you over, or out into the lane. Pretty sketchy. Highlight of the day was Tyler from the hub, myself and another guy sprinting it out at the end of the first lap only to DNF ourselves. The crowd really seemed to enjoy it. They really thought we were racing.It maid me laugh too so I guess I got something out of the race.

Feeling like total shit, and a pussy, I had to wait around for the race to finish so I could get my spar wheels out of the wheel truck. It kind of sucked, but talking with all the people around was good. I spoke with Yielding after the race and he told me lots of people had problems from the heat. That maid me feel a little better I guess.

I really wish I was better at road racing. I've never won one and would sure like to be able to check that box off.

The city of Hermann is great for this stuff. The locals seem to like it, the terrain is great, and the obvious front man to it all Jeff Yielding makes it look easy to put on events like this. I'm sure its not.

Monday morning when getting out of bed my legs felt great. Not great like good weekend of riding great. But great like I havent ridden and needed to get out. This was how I felt last year at Hillsboro Roubaix and I was sick.

:Excuse
My legs feeling this way was a good indicator I was under the weather. It felt like I was pedaling hard as shit but not moving forward. You don't race hard all weekend and not feel like you DIDN'T ride at all on Monday morning. When I got home from the race Sunday evening, my girlfriend Leslie was sick in bed with the flu. Hmm.

Not much humour in this post. Im tired.

Hillsboro-Roubaix - Tilles crit and the Government Shutdown

2011-04-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

Went to the first road race of the year for me. Big field with about 115 riders. Wind was strong. I was positioned pretty good in the top 30 at the front. At some point in time near the half way point of the first lap I found myself much further back. The winds blowing as hard as there were had our group echeloning all the way across the road for long periods of time. The referee finally got fed up with this and stopped our race and gave us a little talk. Here is the short version of what he said with added curse words that he didnt use: "You pussies need to get your fucking shit together or im calling the race after the first lap. Got it muther fuckers? Now lets race on and keep your pansy asses to the right. " No problems after that. And I completely agree with him stopping the race. We were gutter to gutter. Coming into town the field split. Of course I was in the second part of that so I was now out of the main group and chasing while heading out for the second and final lap.

The wind sucks way worse when riding in it alone. Eventually I rounded up about 10 guys that had fallen out of the group as well. We never caught back on. Ended up 63rd on the day.

Me leading our chase group just before the finish.
Photo by Mike Dawson.

Tilles crit was the next day. All the 708 guys were up front and I knew some of them were going to drill it right away and start a break. Thats what happened. I followed but it didnt last. With in 5 laps my legs were flat. I just sat in the remainder of the race, not really racing. Pretty lame. On the last lap I moved up a fair amount and finished 33rd out of about 50. Not great.

Trying to make it happen on the 2nd lap. FAIL
Photo by Mike Dawson.

Up next is Tour of Hermann. I suck at this race the most. Hopefully my new 12-27 cassette will do the trick. I have only raced in Hermann with 11-23 in years past.

On top of all this, the Government might shut down, which means i will be out of work till who knows when. Bring on the mid week OT with SEAGAL!!!

Thats hot!!

2011-03-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Shimano C-35 Carbon tubulars really changed the way the bike looks. This is the new school classics setup. 14.8 lb's as seen.

Road season is here. I feel good and my bike looks even better. Hope everything comes together and I pull some results. Had a short break from the bike with the recent 11th round of winter we are getting. Should set me up perfect for this weekend. Legs feel rested. Will see.

Forest Park crit with FORTYSIX-TWELVE

2011-03-21T18:13:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday I decided to do the Forest Park Crit. With my road bike still sitting on its kick stand of a broken fork, the cross bike would continue to get some love. Saturday night I looked and saw that I only had 6.5 hours for the week and new I needed more. Lots more. The only solution to do the crit and get the hours was to ride there.

Sunday morning I set out on my cross bike with two bottles and a camelback full of water, tubes, and food. After battling the head wind, one blow out(blew my front tire of the rim), and homeless people playing air-drums while blasting Guns-n-Roses in the homless community on the river front trail, I made it to my destination in about 2 hours 40 minutes.

After signing up and getting my number pinned on, I spun around for an hour to keep the legs loose. It was pretty warm by the time the race actually started so it felt like a full on summer crit. HOT. Even though it wasnt really, just seemed that way.

2 laps into our 60 + 5 race, I knew my 46/12 gearing would be no where near enough to contend for anything. I guess I knew that before the race even started but I was hopefull I guess...

Half way through I felt great. Spinning my nuts off was great leg speed work but it was frustrating when I would go to shift and realize I was already in overdrive. Fall back in.

Photo my Mike Dawson
Sitting in and going no where.

With 5 to go I was fairly winded just from breathing so much. Legs were good because I hadnt yet pushed down on the pedals really. Just lots of breathing. Which is good. Last lap I got caught behind a crash that actually involved Matt James(went down), and Drew black(came to a complete stop like me but stayed upright, and needs to update his blog). Shitty way for a group of friends to end the last lap.

I put my hand out and helped Matt up. He was ok. Bike was mostly ok. All in all the crash could have been worse. They always could be.

So that was it. Race over and i dont even think I was scored as finishing. No biggie. First race of the year on a bike that was no where near what it needed to be to be at the front for the finish.

Afterwords I grabbed my pack and headed home. Lucky me I had a tail wind for the 40 miles back.

Ride time was 7 hours on the day for a distance of about 120 miles give or take a few. Felt pretty good too.

13.5 hours for the week. Fitness is building and weight is coming off.

Go me.

Drew Ballz, Jeff Co, and the Leadville 100

2011-03-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

Riding has been going ok I guess. Not great, but ok. My biggest problem is(was) it being dark or dusk when I get off work. Now that the time has changed I should be able to start adding about 6 to 8 additional hours to what I am currently doing. This week I got 9 so that will put me in the 15 hour range. But probably not every week.

I met up with Drew a couple times to do some Jefferson county rides. The first ride we did a couple weeks ago was pretty tame and about 3 hours. We did another ride Saturday and was 4.5 hours for about 75 miles and it stomped a mud whole in me. This ride was yet again, a reminder that I suck at going up hill. Drew killed me. Maybe my theory of doing base on the flattest roads possible is completely wrong. It seems that way.

I have also be training with the Kettle Bell this year. It really helps with keeping the lower half balanced. It strengthens the hammies and your glute's. My training has had a pretty slow start with the shit fest winter we had. Not worried. My focus for training this year is for cross season. I am still planning on doing every type of racing this year though, but using the racing as high end training. So, 4 or 5 more weeks of base for me when I'm just riding. If I racing obviously it will be racing. Speaking of which, the Tuesday night world championship's are getting ready to start. Pumped on that.

Ahhhh..... the Leadville 100. The great American 100 mile MTB(jeep road) race that is nearly impossible to get into. I have been trying for 4 years to get in. FOUR YEARS!! I signed up for this race once again this winter knowing that I could finish it. Breck 100 is a way harder race and I finished that one...

Well folks..... I got in. After four years I have finally been selected to race the Leadville 100 MTB(jeep road) race. One SMMMMAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL problem. A few weeks after I signed up, I found out my sister Monica was getting married that week. In Jamaica. Guess what race I wont be attending this year? And I'm out the 300 bucks.

Don't get me wrong. Jamaica will probably be a great time. We are staying at a adult only couple's place right next to a Hedonism resort. I really have no idea what we are getting into.

I'm not that bummed out about missing Leadville. Mostly because I don't have to train for it now. Plus, I will be on the beaches of Jamaica with family. Not bad.

Almost 100 miles of hills death ride

2011-02-28T18:18:00.000-08:00

TeamSeagal held the 3rd annual 100 miles of hills death ride this past Sunday. Perfect weather really. Mid 40's climbing into the mid 60's by days end. The day started pretty great. 60 or so riders ripping down Clayton road at 9 AM at about 40 MPH. Chilly, but great. Hill after hill came and went. To my surprise, the group seemed to stay together unlike years past. The route was mostly unchanged except for one special little detail. A tribute to STLCC for a visit to there monument from 1921.

Photo by the only person not in this photo.

Thanks for the photo, Mitch.

Video ripped the fuck off from the seagal blog. Thrasher?

The day was awesome. What was supposed to 100 miles ended up being 87, but only because I'm a pussy, which means Chriss Angel has no interest in me. Seeing everyone and chatting around in the group was much needed therapy. But, the real excitement was the car drive home.

About 30 minutes into the car drive home, going about 80 on 270 Randy and I heard a super loud crash sounds. We both flinched. It sounded like a tire blew out or someone crashed into us. That's when I looked in the side mirror and saw my new RITTE hanging off the side of the car. Pulled to the shoulder as fast as I could to see what the hell just happened.

My bike sits backwards because of the tray arrangement on top of the car. Not sure if I forgot to clamp the rear tire down or if the clamp came undone. Either way I almost lost my bike on 270.

The only thing that kept my bike attached to the car was a BROKEN fork leg.

After taking my bike off the rack when I got home I check the fork. I couldn't believe the BROKEN fork leg held the bike to the car. The broken leg flaps in the wind but supported the weight of my bike at 80MPH on the highway. The fork leg that didn't break pulled out of the fork clamp on the rack itself, stripped the lawyer tabs right off.

So I lost a fork but have my bike still. Its a win lose situation. Lose fork, still have bike. I contacted RITTE and am getting hooked up with a new fork for super cheap.

My reaction to hearing loud noise outside of car.

My reaction to realizing I had a broken fork.

Best version of the day HERE.

Till next time... Holla atcha boy.

Jimmy Turner

2011-02-21T13:52:00.001-08:00

Jimmy was a good friend of mine for some time several years ago. We used to ride BMX bikes together at all skate parks and dirt jumps in the area. He was a couple years younger than me but could do way more tricks than me. I had fallen out of touch with Jimmy and his older brother Tony starting about 5 or 6 years ago when I started spending way less time at the skate park.

A few weeks ago I learned that Jimmy passed away. Even though I hadnt seen him in half a decade, it was still a shock and sad. He was one of the coolest dudes to ride with. He and his brother Tony were a couple of characters that made everyone laugh. It was always a good time with them. Sure miss those days. Riding with friends and not a care in the world.

Jimmy was 26.

Jimmy at one of his gigs performing in Branson.

Jimmy at the St. Louis skate park.

Finally...

2011-02-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

Got out Sunday for a great ride finally with some of the local crew. Much needed. Got 4 hours in for close to 60 miles. Lots of head wind so we were not moving very fast. Didnt bother me. Just glad to be outside.

Rolling.

PG doing what he does. Keeping it real.

Dry spot in the road.

What most the pavement looks like. Shit.

IDOT needs to re-think this I think.

Pretty nasty considering it was sunny and never went on gravel or dirt roads.

Why I do it.... Good times.

The Bosberg

2011-02-12T11:26:00.000-08:00

The Boseberg looks good with the standard aluminum box section tubular wheels on it. I know carbon deep dish wheels are a better choice for performance reasons, but the old school wheel gives it special character and adds to the cool factor. IMO.

Perfect for classics(because there are tons of those around here...).

I still haven't had a chance to ride this bike really. Other than my rollers. I built this bike the first week of October last year. But, with my mom becoming extremely ill and passing, I never really had the chance to get it out. Ok, so maybe I got about 40 minutes on it outside right after I built it. That was months ago at this point. All the other times since then was cx specific training which meant I was always on my cross bike.

Now that we are nearing the end of winter(a bad one at that), the shoulders of the roads are covered with ice and slush still. Not to mention all the salt that is on the roads that will eat your gear and make it look like this. Cassette from last year...

Looks like it spent a life time on the bottom of the Mississippi. Hopefully I can get out on this bike soon. It needs to stretch and so do I.

The Classics are coming!!

2011-02-07T18:38:00.000-08:00

Training for spring hasnt been going great. Started out with lots of short runs. I then tried to hang with guys who run 30 miles a week for a 8 miler through the woods. Ouch. Over did it. Had to rest for 4 days. That was a few weeks ago. Good now, back to short runs... probably going to stick with those and at my pace. Plus riding rollers a couple times a week.

I also started using the Kettle bell. I also over did my first workout with that. My ass and hammies were thrashed for about 5 days after that. Again. Back at it, but at a much easier work load.

Got sick last week. Spent 4 days on the couch. Felt ok today so I went out for a short run for about 30 minutes. Its crazy how fast you loose fitness. I ran easy but could still feel the lactic acid build up pretty quick. So at this point I think I am moving forward. I have only been getting about 4 to 5 hours of cardio work per week this winter but have also been getting a good amount of core work too. Core is something I completely ignored last year. Completely. As the time starts to change and the weather gets better, I hope to get my hours to the 10-12 range. Its realistic for me.

Hopefully soon the weather will start to turn for the better. I think we have 3 times the amount of snow we normally get in a winter and its just now the second week of February. Plenty of time for more snow. I have cabin fever bad. One... that's one ride outside for me this year. That was last Saturday for a 50 miler down in Jeff co with Drew. The weather this coming weekend is looking good. High of 50 for Sunday and I think I might be heading to Edwardsville for there weekly Sunday ride in the AM. I would love to get 4 or 5 hours in.

Okay.. enough of the boring stuff. The Classics are coming!!

The spring classics in Europe are probably the most bad ass form of road bike racing. Its my favorite for sure. I hope it rains like hell this year on those guys. It has been dry the past 4 years and im ready to watch some muddy one's. Cancellara owned Flanders and Roubaix last year. As cool as it was to watch he kind of made it boring. Hopefully it will be a fist fight all the way to the line this year.

Road to Roubaix trailer. It keeps me pumped when I going no where on my rollers in the basement. I am thinking about gluing some rocks to my rollers and call them classics rollers... hmmm.

Stopping Prison Violence

2011-01-17T09:05:00.000-08:00

I cant imagine what these guys did to deserve this...

I think I better go get on those rollers. I feel like training now.

2011

2011-01-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

Preparations for the 2011 season have started. The weather has been uncooperative for road riding so I have taken up consistent running and core strength exercises during the week. Few hours have been spent on the rollers but if the weather continues to be a piece of shit I will have to start spending considerably more time on them.

Some of you may know that my good friend Jason who was the owner of Wild Trak Bikes decided to pull the plug on the shop at the end of 2010. Knowing this information ahead of time i started looking for a new team to ride for. I wanted something different so I contacted Ritte. Several emails later it was a done deal. I will ride for Ritte Racing as an Ambassador racer. I guess that's what they call it if you ride for them outside of Santa Monica, Ca. I am very interested in the same things they are and the fact that it says "Where's the pub?" on there back of there kit is reassurance that its a good fit. All of this came with mixed emotions of course. From me, and others unfortunately. I am no longer riding for one of my best friends, but am now riding for a very cool team that will be new to Stl. Myself and another rider from Wild Trak.

2 weeks ago WTB's was purchased from another person i know. So, Wild Trak Bikes will be opening again soon and I will still be able to buy bike stuff with out having to drive to St. Louis which is awesome. The Wild Trak Team is still together also. Minus me and one other person. I hope some of those guys make it out to races this year. I sure felt like last year it was mostly me at races. We had a pretty good presence during cross season but during the road and crit season it was mostly just me. Jason was super busy with school and the shop, and now that he doest have the shop to worry about he should be at a lot more races. Others did come out last year, just seemed very limited.

Anyway, now that all the crap I dealt with in 2010 is behind me I can focus on 2011. My plan is to work may ass off this winter and get my upgrade on the road as early in the season as possible. I had shit for luck at the beginning of last year at crits. Every race I went to I had great legs but either didn't chase the one break that would stay away, or get caught up behind crashes on the last lap. Yeah, that pretty much summed up every crit race last year. Minus the Tuesday training race where I was finishing in the top 10 almost every week, top 5 several of the weeks, and even got a win against Cat 2 and Cat 1 riders. I know I am good enough to be a Cat 2 but I have to prove it at the races that matter. Like, any race that doesn't fall on a Tuesday. Man I sound pathetic and no one cares.

this post is way to serious...

Jesus... the Bears are stomping the Seahawks right now.

Predicted 2011 changes and un-changes

2010-12-28T18:49:00.000-08:00

Been going kind of crazy with the new camera... and still going.

Midgit snow zombies in Alton..? Change.

Flying new flag in 2011..? Change.

Linus...? Un-changed.

More on all this later......

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T07:27:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!!

New camera and nothing to do

2010-12-18T11:43:00.000-08:00

I hit a dog a couple months ago and ate shit, breaking my camera in the process. I finaly got a new one and feel like posting some random pics that I have.

Enjoy!!

Full tilt boogie.

Somewhere in Colorado.

Only got to ride in a parking lot, but it felt smooth.

Breckenridge 100 #51

Clouds over the house.

Long day on the MTB. 103.52 miles.

Wish this was closer.

Dorks.

Biggest score of the year.

My neighbors love me. Me and my brother keeping it real... and keeping it real can go wrong.

Ritte Bosberg. Ordered this in May, built it at the beginning of October, has less than 60 miles on it. Cant wait for spring.

Linus puppy.

Leslie shredding in Michigan.

PG keeping it really real on the group ride. Sometimes, keeping it real can go wrong.

WTF? Outside my kitchen window.

Hard to stay focused on the trail when this is the view.

PG, Jason, and myself catching a ride.

My old camera was not crash proof.

Few state pics.

2010-12-09T17:22:00.000-08:00

Photos by Mack Adocious

Cat 3 IL State CX

2010-12-07T17:31:00.000-08:00

Went north this years since the Mo state race went west. Figured if I was going to drive 5 hours might as well stay in my own state. Man was it worth the 5 hour drive...

Driving up Friday night we hit some pretty serious snow. 4 to 5 inches reported on the ground south of Chicago. Made it up with out any problems but did not get downtown until about 2 AM. No biggie. Saturday I met up with my cousin Devin and some of the other Wild Trak crew and walked around alittle, ate a lot of good food, and drank quite a bit of good beer. Pretty good day. I really wasn't worried about the race. With my fitness below par I was here for a good time and not much more. Hopefully next year I will be in better shape physically, and mentally.

Sunday we got to the course a little later than I wanted so I was kind of rushed getting my number and getting going on the bike. About 45 minutes before the race I went to look for a spot to hop in the course and get some pre-riding in. Problem was, the races were so big that it was nearly impossible to do this with out messing up racers already on the course. So I stayed off and rode around the outside of it as much as I could to see what I could see. There was a very defined line that had worn in to the 3+ inches of snow on the course. It was obvious that that was the only line worth taking so I knew I wouldn't have to think about line selection to much. So that was good. The only other problem was guessing tire pressure. I had no clue how slick the course was or how bumpy either. My first lap of the race would be my first on course. Great.

Sitting in the pack waiting for call ups to get going I am thinking to my self how shitty the first lap will be in the pack not knowing what or where the fuck I am going. Also not knowing how slick the course was, meant I also didn't know how hard I could push into or out of corners. Super great.

They finally call the first rider up. Don't recall his name. Then they called me up. "Scott Peipert from our southern region in Alton, Il". WTF? Front row start with second call up. Not sure why I got that but I wasn't going to ask either. For some reason I have a higher crossresults.com ranking than the other riders. Don't know how that happened but the results are out there and I do have a couple upgrade points.

So now I'm thinking, great, Here I am on the front row of a 85 rider deep frozen cross race and I haven't ridden 1 fucking lap of the course yet. I was just hoping I didn't look like a idiot and not totally do my call up no justice.

When they finally blew the whistle I thought about really going for it. But I opted for the safer option of holding back and following wheels. It became clear to me very early that getting off the single track line completely wrecked your momentum. I was maybe 6th or 7th wheel going through he first few corners but riders were being pretty aggressive trying to get to the front. Still not knowing how hard I could go there wasn't much I could do.

After a couple laps and only one crash I found myself in the mid teens position wise and I was starting to feel like I had the course mostly figured out. I was able to start going a little faster and a little harder through corners with out getting off the single track line. I was concentrating so much that the first time I remembered to look at the lap card it was 2 to go. This was good actually because the race went by pretty fast for me and that meant I could really go hard for the last two.

With one to go I was starting to reel in the rider in front of me. But the rider behind me was starting to gain ground on me as well. Just had to stay focused and smooth for the last lap. Nearing the end of the last lap the gaps were pretty tight. 4 or 5 seconds to the rider in front of me, 4 or 5 to the rider behind. We were all going pretty good and it stayed this way through the finish.

I ended up 17th out of roughly 85 riders. I think I could have done better had I known the course but also think I could have done much worse considering I didn't.

That call up was my race. No way I could have finished that far up starting in the back in snow. It was hard to pass and was actually hard to get passed because the riders were always sketched out coming by running into you. Not a big deal, just had to ride cautiously.

Justin on our team finished 25th in the 4A race which is great for him.

The Chicago cross scene is awesome. Very similar to the STL scene(which is also awesome) only bigger. Much bigger. There were 565 starters this weekend which was there biggest race to date. It was crazy for me to see with 100 racers on a course at one time. The most I have seen before this was about 45 for one race. AWESOME!!

Man I cant wait for cross next year....
...how many days Jeff?

https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2010-2704

Still trying to get some pics together from the weekend. Hope to have those soon.

Holla atcha boy...

Bubba 10

2010-11-29T19:34:00.000-08:00

The last Bubba race of the season was at Spanish Lake park. It was a nice course and proved to be challanging.

I didn't really have a chance of putting up the results this cross season like I thought I was going to. The first 7 months of this year I had great training with a huge amount of base, and I think that's the only thing that got me through cross. With a lack of top end fitness 17th, 18th, 19th, and getting lapped by the entire field is where I was finishing.

To say something was different for me at Spanish lake is a little bit of a understatement. I really thought I was doomed when I pre-rode the course. It was mostly straights and every thing was very soft. Softer than Criss Angel at the playboy mansion(TeamSeagal inspired).

After pre-riding it was obvisously a fit mans course. Just before the start of the race I went to the very back as to not get in any ones way after we hit the grass.

Here I am at the back of the 20 man man train.

Photo by Dennis Fickenger

I stayed back for a while to see how the legs were going to take the abuse of the course. After about a half lap I found that they felt good. So I started to push. It seemed like every lap I was able to find a little more firm ground through out the course and make up time on guys and distance myself from people behind me. Not sure why but I felt great. About the halfway point I found myself riding past riders I have yet to ride with in any race this year.

The only reason I can think of is that all the other racers were drinking all week long and eating like crap because of the holidays. So, to some degree they were all handicapped down to my level. I did the same things, but that's about all I have been doing this fall. So it was just another normal cross race for me.

With only a couple laps to go my very own cheering section was yelling at me - "TOP 10". I thought "huh, no way".

Cheer section.

Photo by Mike Dawson

The one rider above in this photo I as able to drop just before the bell lap. I kept in in cruise control and finished in that place. My good friend Zach was at the finish line so I stopped and chatted with him for a few. He said he thought I finished 11th. Sounded good to me, that would have been the best I have ever finished in the A race. I then rode over to scoring to check the results.

Photo by Jeff Yielding

I broke the top 10 and finished 9th. I couldn't believe it really. That's the best I have ever finished by a long shot. It wasn't a huge field but most of the fast guys were there. Hopefully I can carry this momentum into the state race in Chicago next week. If I can get a good start I almost think I could finish in the top 10 up there. That would be a sweet way to end the official season. Its gonna be fuckin cold up there. Predicted high is 35 and its on the lake front. Burrrrrrrr.

BRRRAAAAP!

Photo by Mike Dawson.

Thanks to everyone who supported me this year. Bike related and not bike related. Lots of kind word from lots of kind folks.
It was nice.

Holla atcha boy..

Post without a name

2010-11-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

Over the past several weeks I have sat down to write something for a blog post. Whether it be about the race that weekend, or whats been going through my head, or all of the above. I dont know what to write though. Either for the races or my personal life. I think a million thoughts a day(mostly funny) about family(mom mostly, and mostly funny) and bikes, but when I try to put it into words I am blank. So I will just give it my best shot.

Rewind...

The week(end) after my mother passed I needed to get the hell away from everything so I went to the Bubba night race at Creve Coure. I know I said my season was over, but I was expecting to make it through the holidays with mom. Didnt happen - Thanks giving sucked for me... Christmas isnt going to be much better. I hate it. Long story short... I started racing again, immediately. I needed it.

The night race was a eye opener for the fitness lost. I got lapped by the entire A field... everyone. That was a pretty big mental blow but I did manage a nasty 5 dollar dead catfish handup from Carrie Cash which was pretty sweet. And it was through the sand pit too. Pretty sweet moment that the spectators really seemed to enjoy.

The next day I didnt get lapped by anyone. I would say that was big improvement from the night before. The hardest part of the weekend was catching myself write my moms name down in the EMERGENCY CONTACT INFO line on the sign up sheet. I have alwasy put her name down. Old habits die hard I guess.

The next weekend was the Pride race behind Lewis and Clark College and Bubba at Queeny. The Pride race went pretty good for me, finished 2nd out of 6 I think. For the first time my sister came out to see me race with my brother. It was cool to see them both at the race. I had a good time but once again caught my self writing my moms name down.

At Queeny the next day the course was hard and my legs were junk. Rode hard but didnt do worth a shit. I finished but just barley in the top 20.

At the Seminary race I felt good. Oh, Oh,.... I forgot to mention I got a new cross bike. Its the Van Dessel - Full Tilt Boogie. Full carbon. Its nice. Any way, this course was nothing short of amazing. I finished 17th or something and that was ahead of about 8 guys. Pretty happy with that. Then at Suson Park my legs were once again junk. Plus I smashed my tire into something and got a flat. Lucky me I have a pit bike now so I got to do all that buisness of switching bikes mid race. So PRO.

The last Pride race of the season, maybe ever, in Alton was held at Gordon Moore Park. Great place for a race. We had a good turn out of 11 in the mens open race. I felt pretty good and finished 5th. It was such a fun course with great fast turns that you could fly through. Wish every course was like that. The next day at the Winery was something a little less desirable. Matt James told me, "If they have this race next year, come to my house and punch me in the face for an hour". Then he wouldnt have to do it, and still feel like he did. Finished 18th there. It was a good layout but still terrible. Feels like you are going so slow the entire time. I should also mention that at this race, when registering, I made a serious effort to put Leslie's name down for EMERGENCY CONTACT INFO. Which I did. Then I put my moms phone number down right next to Leslie's name.... This shit is getting old and is stressing me out.

So that is it bike wise... I am registered for the Illinois State CX race in Chicago in a couple weeks and my cousin Devin only lives about 15 minutes from the course. I will be staying with him for a couple days before hand and checking out the scene around there. Looking forward to it.

Other than that I am just coping with the loss of my mom. Its still wierd to me that she is gone, along with my dad. He passed away with I was 9 years old. My dad(Larry), uncle John, uncle Mark, and uncle Benny, where all Hemophiliac's. Its the bleeders disease where your blood does not clot(it skips a generation, My brother, sister, and myself dont have it, but my sisters new son does....). If you get cut, you dont get a scab. You just keep bleeding(in bad cases, like in our family). They were all on some serious meds in the mid 80's and 3 of them, my dad included, contracted AIDS as a results of the pharmaceutical companies not screening for the new disease(AIDS). My father died in 1991. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer 3 years later.... I cant even begin to imagine what she went through. She always laughed and had a smile on her face.

Ive had terminally ill parents my entire life it seems... they'er gone now.

Because of the life I was provided, I feel lucky.

This is a bike blog. No more posts about this stuff.

Happy holidays.

Surrender

2010-10-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

Mom threw the white flag out yesterday-Monday the 25th of October. Things went quick. So sad that she is gone.

Rosemary Adams Peipert Gaston
1953-2010

2010 season has come to an end for me.

2010-10-18T17:02:00.000-07:00

I went to Bubba 2 really questioning myself as to why I was even going. My mom has been pretty sick as of late. She has been fighting breast cancer for 17 years. I now know where I get all my fight from thats for sure.

The past year has been pretty hard on her. The past 4 weeks have been really hard. After bubba 2 yesterday I went to see her and hang out with her for a while. She was tired and mostly pain free. We had pizza and hotwings. It was good. She told me she had a doctor appointment today, Monday.

Today at work I thought I would call her and ask how the appointment went. She said the doctors told her the treatments were no longer working and could now "legally" recommend hospice. Her choice at this point "IS" hospice.

Doctors can only do this if they think you have less than 6 months of life left in your body, at least that was my understanding anyway.

Having said these things, my season is over. It was done a month ago when I pretty much stopped training because of what I said above. Its hard to stay focused on bike racing when you have to deal with things like this. Its pretty easy to put it on the back burner, or throw it out completely.

Maybe you noticed at bubba 2(thanks DaveyB, Christopher, Justin Neely, Justin H, and TeamSeagal, for making me smile... you have no idea what that did for me that day), I wasnt exactly up to par.

My plan for right now is to spend as much time with mom as possible. It is possible for me to make a couple of the pride races because they are so close to home. I say that because they dont take much of my time since they are so close for me. And time, its not on my side at this point.

Bubba Cross #1

2010-10-17T07:21:00.001-07:00

Bubba Cross 1....thats funny.... thats how many laps I did. Well, plus to the barriers of the second lap... which is where the pit was, and where my spare wheels were that I stopped and grabbed and walked to my car with.

My eyes dont work very good in the dark. Add the dust, the best I could do was just follow the rider in front of me through the dark sections. The thoughts of waring my prescription glasses went through my head before the race. Shoulda... coulda... but didnt. Im fine in the day light.

With that I pulled the plug after the first lap. Pretty lame really. I dont want to start the bubba series off with hating the bubba series so I figued I would just come back today and race the course in the day light. If I make it 2 laps today... that is 100% improvment. Here is to 1000%! I will have a lot more carbon fiber on my bike today too:)

Pride CX #2

2010-09-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

The Pride race was held at Glazebrook park this time. A very, very, flat park. But, its a park they want us to use so we are not complaining. Just making it the best we can. The course was laid out over 2 soccer fields that were next to a paved path, so that was used also.

I thought I felt pretty good riding around before the race. I knew it was a horse power course. Lots of drag strips out there with a few tight turns. Not really a course that suites me. When the race started it was Jay, then Ron Bridal, then Paul from Gateway, then me coming out of the first corner. It stayed this way for most the 1st lap. I made one small move to get to third wheel but it didn't last to long.

About the end of the 2nd lap I started fading. I don't know what my deal is. I was gagging from my sinus problem for what seemed like a couple minutes. That's never good. By the end of the 3rd lap going into the 4th, I had slipped back to 5th. I kept the dogfish rider in sight for most the race. He was only about 7 seconds up from me for about 1 1/2 laps. Which on that course equaled about 10 minutes of racing. It was only a 6 laps race. I sort of gave up chasing him the last lap.

I finished in that spot. I felt kind of crappy about it but didn't let it bother me to much. Its to early in the year to let it bother you.

I bought a set of rollers to train on this winter. With the time starting to change im eventually going to have to bring it indoors for mid week training. I tried a regular trainer last year but being in such a fixed position hurt my knees and my ass, which means I didn't use it very much. I think the rollers will allow me to be more fluid on the bike and move around a little which will hopefully allow me to train pain free. I didn't get to much training in last year and this year I would like to be in the top 15 every week by the end of the season.

Hopefully with a lot of focus, and a little luck, my results will be better this year.

Cool photo with the clouds.

Crossing the line a little bummed out.

Photos by Eville Mike.

This was the first time I used my HR monitor during a cross race. Average was 186 with a max of 195. I guess that seems about right. Not really sure... Like I said earlier, this course does not suite me. I like the technical courses better. Time will tell.

AltoniaEvilliaHermannia

2010-09-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

Kind of a short post about 3 recent races. Been sort of unmotivated blog wise the past couple of weeks. Been busy, tired, and stressed about work contract stuff.

Any way..

The first Alton Cross race was Sept 11th. We layed out a pretty cool course the day before the race and thought it was good enough. Then it rained its ass off Friday night which provided some slick corners and one little bog sections. Just enough to make you smile and not hate life. With the course being on such a hill, most the water drained off. My legs were pretty flat from being on my feet so much in the previous days. Not bad, but not fresh.

Some fast guys showed up as well. Josh Johnson, Jeff Yielding, Jay Strothman, and a few others. Didn't know what to expect but these were the 3 I was expecting to see the back of. And that's exactly what happened. Rode pretty easy the first couple laps just easing into it. Josh came around me on the second lap and that was is. Jeff and Jay were already in front of me. I felt decent and the fact that on the last lap Josh still had about a third of a lap more to ride to lap me was kind of a good sign. Not sure how hard he was going but he usually would lap me or be close to it. Maybe I am better this year. So Josh, then Jay, then Jeff, then me...Scott. I think your name had to start with a J to be on the podium if this race.

Good day of good racing. People seemed to like the course which was a plus.

The very next day I went to the first annual E-ville crit. Cool figure 8 course. Low turn out, lots of wind and it was pretty warm too. Legs weren't feeling so great after racing cross the day before. Only about 40 riders in the 3's race also. So with that I stayed near the back trying to save as much energy as possible. About 15 minutes in I looked up the road to see a break had formed and I wasn't in it...

At the 30 minute mark they had a prime lap. I stayed on the back. Going throught the start finish I was watching the 3 guys that went for the prime. As soon as they crossed the finish line about 40 yard ahead of us they grouped together and began working, pulling away. Nearing the end of that lap they had put nearly 50 more yards on us now putting there total gap to about 100 yards. Fuck that. I ain't missing the second break. I sprinted from last place and bridged up to the break. Now 4 strong we started working together were pulling away from the peleton.

Nearing the end of the race I was feeling the weekend on my legs. They were hurting. With 1 to go, and since we obviously weren't getting caught by the peleton it was game on, and game over for me. I was in the hurt locker trying to stay on. We almost caught the original break away, about 10 seconds down from them. I did what I could to stay with it but finished 8th on the day. Didn't really care, just thought it was cool to be in a break that makes it.

Hermann night race.

Leslie came out and did her first cross race. She hurt like hell, and loved it. She actually had a smile on her face after sitting in the car with the AC on(it was 88 out).

The course was great. Had everything a course should have. Some drag strips, tech stuff, barriers, more tech stuff.

This was a long day for me. Helping Leslie out means the day started really early for me, and my diet was pretty horrible also. By the time my race started I felt empty, legs felt hollow. When the gun when off I stayed back falling into about 3rd or 4th. Didn't want to be on the front setting pace. Just wanted to follow. Felt fine for the 1st lap. A group of about 8 was quickly formed. 2nd lap felt fine as well, still with it, but noticed how quickly my legs went from feeling hollow to feeling like a boat anchor. Not good. Third lap I started to fall off pace, so were others. Nothing I could do but pedal smooth and ride the tech stuff with out making mistakes. The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. Finished 11th. I am happy with it but know I could have been much further up with better race day prep.

Sunday was canced due to a flash flood washing most the race equipment away as well as almost washing some cars away. That really sucked, especially feel bad for the promoter Jeff Yeilding. Put a ton of work into the course only to have it all washed away... literally.

Cross pic

Cool close up

Proof!! I finally made the break.

www.ficksphotos.com

Holla..

Gateway Cup days 3 and 4

2010-09-07T19:03:00.000-07:00

The race on the hill was hard. 5 laps in I knew I was in trouble. I was struggling right from the get go. Before long I found my self on the back tail gunning. I almost pulled the plug but that would have been stupid. Actually, the motorcycle referee told me to get back in there when he noticed I was starting to slip off the back. Thanks for the motivation. With 5 to go I made an attempt to move up. If I was lucky, I got past 15 or 20 riders in the 5 laps and probably finished 80th or worse.

Monday at Benton Park. First of all that was the best crit course I have ever raced on. More of a circuit race because of the 1.8 miles in length. 10 corners. Awesome!
I wanted to start at the front of the race because that's the only place to be on a course like this. Lucky me, I started on the very back and payed for it. The yo yo affect was bad coming out of every corner. Riders were dropping quickly. I only lasted about 20 minutes before I dropped off. It was hard. I tried to stay with it but sprinting from 15 to 30, 10 times per lap, for the 5 or 6 laps I was on killed me. I kept rolling though, it was so much fun to ride the course I figured why not? I got pulled with one lap to go because the main field was probably going to lap me.

So, I struggled like hell the last two days. Even though I got dropped Monday, I still had about a 24.5 average for the race. I think my fitness is ok..? Friday and Saturday seemed easy to me. Im really just getting back into higher intensity riding.

The first cross race is this Saturday. The last crit race is this Sunday. And with that, cross is pretty much in full swing. I cant believe its that time of year already...

Here is the sequence from the sketch, bang 'em up, crash, action that ruined my hopes of a good result on Saturday. It doesn't look like I was even involved, but I was all over the brakes.

Gateway cup day 1, 2

2010-09-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

Friday night I had great legs, low heart rate, and my breathing was good. Rode near the front all night. With 5 to go I moved up to probably top 20 or so. Last lap, second to last corner a crash happend right in front of me. Had to jam on my breaks and watch 100 other rides come around. Finished in 95th or so. Bummer.

Saturday I had really great legs, low heart rate and my breathing was even better. Never even touched my water untill 5 to go. Rode near the front all day. With 5 to go I stayed in the top 20 or so. The roads are so wide in the first two races its difficult to do much better because you get swallowed up in every corner. Anyway, last lap, coming into the second to last corner someone skipped there pedal off the ground and caused a ton of riders to lock up there breaks. I had to do the same with some riders going down behind me. So... same as Friday, I finished way back in the pack, like 80th or something. Hope the next two days brings some better luck for me.

Cross.... less than one week!

Cross time

2010-08-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

Got the steed out and dusted it off this week. I forgot how cool this bike looked. I am truly getting excited about the upcoming season. There are 22 races on the calendar but I know I wont make all of them. If I make 15 I will be pumped.

It has been 4 weeks since Breck and I have been in super chill/party/eat anything I want mode and its time to start ramping back up. I feel pretty fat and have actually gained about 5 pounds since I returned. BLaaahhhh. Hopefully I can get back to the 160 range before the first race on Sept 11th which is only 28 days away.

My kitchen is my workshop.

New Bling.

Leslie's new Ridley XBOW, she is stoked and looking forward to her first cross season. Its the smallest, and only, cx bike I could find to fit her, size 41cm. And no we're not keeping the reflectors on.

Holla

Dirt Crit #5(one)

2010-07-31T08:31:00.001-07:00

This was the 5th dirt crit of the series but the first for me. I didn't know what to expect or have any expectations for the race. I knew it would be hard since I haven't done any high intensity training for 2 1/2 months. This would be a reminder to my legs of the season to come. After crashing on a warm up lap, loosing a bottle and a computer(not a great way to start the night), it was time to get the show started

When the race started I held back a little. I really just wanted to sit in and see what happened. I'm guessing I came out of turn one around 10th maybe. The first couple laps felt pretty easy. Made no effort to pass anyone. After a couple laps a couple guys came by. I followed them and actually passed some other riders in the process some what unintentionally. About half way through my legs where feeling the effort. I started going backwards by this time loosing a rider a lap it seemed.

With 2 to go there was a small group of 3 in front of me. I kept them in sight just trying to maintain there pace to the finish and that..., was pretty much it. I finished in 17th place which is about what I was expecting really. My goal was only top 20 since I knew my legs were not going to be great for this kind of racing.

I think its time to jump back on the interval express and take it to cross season.

Ps. Food poisoning sucks, especially on Friday's right before the weekend:(

Holla.

Breck photo dump

2010-07-26T17:22:00.001-07:00

Lots of berms around town.

Preriding loop 1 on Peaks trail

Steep nasty switch backs up to Wheeler pass. Zach is the tiny orange dot in the middle. Not ridable.

Top of the world. Its hard to breath hard hear.

View from Wheeler pass on loop 1

View from Wheeler pass on loop 1

Sally Barber mine on loop2

Riding off course on loop 2 recon and not knowing it.

Riding back down after getting lost.

...it is vacation.

Zach keeping goal.

5:50 in the morning.

Glad its over.

Ready for a nap.

Breck 100

2010-07-21T16:25:00.000-07:00

The idea to race the Breck 100 came in the form of a text message about 2 days after a denial email for entrance to the Leadville 100. 2 days, and 4 text messages after that... I was pre-registered for the Breck 100. I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into. I mean, I have ridden in Breck before and I have done long ass MTB rides. But not 100... and certainly not at altitude.

Zach Brace talked me into doing this race early in the year. He wanted something big, and I wanted to try the same thing with him. It sounded awesome to me. I didn't really know how to train for a 12 hour race, when I only ride my bike 12 hours a week. The task sounded daunting but I figured I would give it my best shot.....

.......9 weeks ago I bailed on the race. I sent Zach a text message and told him I was out. I explained that my legs hurt after 4 hours of riding and there was no way I would be able to complete such a race or ride. He responded..."Your a pussy, fuck you".
Just kidding.... but seriously... "fuck you".

3 text messages later(technology is starting to annoy me), he convinced me to go forth with the race. At this point. I had 8 weeks to get ready. Time to go endurance mode.

I started riding my bike as much as possible. I was getting about 250 miles a week on my road bike and about 50 to 60 on my MTB. By far the most I have ever ridden for any duration of time.

!!BRECKENRIDGE!!

Zach and I arrived in Breck the Monday before the race at 6 am local time. We decided it was best to take a rest day since we had been up for over 24 hours. Tuesday we pre-rode the first loop up over wheeler pass, down the bike path to Frisco, the back up Peaks trail to Breck. It was awesome... and hard.

Wednesday we tried to pre-ride loop 2. We got lost... REAL fucking lost. We found our self on top of some pass where the single track just sort of ended into a snow field. Hmmm. Turn around and go back, to risky to try and ride the snow we thought. The back country can be unforgiving and we weren't willing to risk our lives riding a snow field that appeared to get very step towards the bottom just to see what was down there.

Thurday and Friday were easy days to get good rest for the race. We rode a little around town each day. Some single track, some paved trail, all easy.

The morning of the race we woke up at 4 AM to eat as many bags of pre made oat meal as possible. I am not one to eat breakfast. I am not usually hungry until 11. I felt like throwing up but I knew I needed to eat as much as possible so I did. It sucked.

6AM
We lined up near the back for the start of loop 1. The climb up Peak 9 road never ended. I actually felt like I could breath ok, but I taking it pretty easy. As Zach said before the race.. " you cant go to slow up the first climb".

After the climb we descended down to Frisco CO to the first aid station and the start the Peaks trail back to Breck. Peaks trail was a long steady climb but a fun one. Tech, and consistent. At the end of the loop coming back into Carter park I rode to our pit area to find Zach right there filling his pack. We both finished the first loop in about 3 hours 45 minutes.

Starting the second loop I noticed my right leg was hurting a little. The first climb up to Sallie Barber Mine was not really an issue but the pain was there. After that climb I had to start walking the steeper climbs to try and keep it together. I rode everything I could but had to suck it up and walk like a bitch up some stuff that would normally be almost easy. It was a long race and I had a long way to go, so I figured it was in my legs best interest.

Loop 2 never seemed to end. I am certain at least 5 times I thought the end was right around a corner but I just kept going. Loop 2 was the race. If you could get through this loop in a decent time, and feel ok you would probably make it. Came through at 8 hours 22 minutes in.

Loop 3 was the final and easiest loop. The only check point on the race was the 75 mile mark on loop 3 and you had to be here by 4:30 to continue. I arrive at this check point at 3:55 in the afternoon. My legs and knees were now hurting pretty bad. The leg pain I could deal with but, my knees were starting to swell and they hurt worse than my legs. At 80 miles in I started to feel my first hint of a bonk. I stopped and ate almost everything I had to prevent this. While sitting there I noticed how heavy my eyes felt. If I would have laid down right there I could have fallen asleep in seconds I think. I downed some caffeine and kept rolling. The check point in Como Co was nice to see. From here it was 10 miles up, and 10 miles back down to the finish. The 10 mile climb suck nuts bad. It was not steep but it never ended, and with my knee pain the fastest I could go was about 7 MPH. I was walking sections just to rest my legs and knees. They were swollen pretty bad at this point but I knew I was close.

After cresting the hill I bombed the decent back into Breck. It was so nice to know I was close to being done with this hard ass fucking race. According to the race website you had to cross the finish line by 7:30 to be declared a finisher. For me, this time was getting close. The last bit if single track I entered it was 7:19 in the evening. I was drilling it taking all kinds of risks and chance to make that cut off. I rode onto Boreas Pass road at 7:22 in a full on sprint for the line. Rode into Carter park and crossed the line at 7:24. I made the cutoff but 6 minutes. However, lots of people were scored as finishing way after me. Not mad about it... Good for them. I know what the website said though and I maid it... barley.

My total time was 13 hours 24 minutes for 86th overall in the mens solo category. Zach finished in about 11 hours 51 minutes. Nice work man.

This was a hard ass race. I don't really have anything to compare it too but everything I have read has this listed as the hardest 100 mile race in the country.

Fuck me. 4 days later.... legs still feel weird. I think I would do it again, but, I would prepare more.

PICS TO COME!!!

Holla atcha boy....

Breck 100. Lets see what happens.

2010-07-11T13:05:00.000-07:00

My journey west is about to begin. Not sure what the out come will be but I hope a good one. This will be a true test of what I am capable of doing on my MTB. I have never ridden more than 8 hours on a bike. This will probably be a 12 hour ride for me realisticly... if I even make the cut off. I wont quit. I might stop and rest at times, but I wont quit.

New bike is rolling finally. Just got it built 8 days ago which did not leave much time for dialing. Wish me luck... I need it.

Holla atcha boy..

Lost Valley mini test

2010-06-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

I decided to race the marathon race because the Breck 100 is getting ever so close. This would be my first long MTB ride since the MFXC. My plan was to start slow, chase no one, watch my heart rate(keep below 170), stay smooth and try to keep the legs feeling good.

When the the race started I held back, way back. I dropped down the gravel hill and coasted along with the riders in front of me. Climbing up the other side I reminded myself to stay focused and not follow wheels that would take me out of the "zone". Plus, with the heat, taking it easy on a 3 1/2 hours race was probably a wise idea anyway.

First lap I felt great. Coming through the feed I grabbed some ice cold water and slammed it. It felt like my core temps came down instantly. Heading out for my second lap I again reminded my self to keep the HR below or at 170. There were riders right in front of me but I was sticking to my plan, not chasing.

Coming through the feed area staring my third lap was the middle of the race for me. It was very hot, I drank some soda, grabbed 2 ice cold water bottles and headed out. Ploch indicated the Greg Ott was just out of sight from where we were at. I thought about putting in a big dig to get to him but that was not in the days plan. Half way through the 3rd lap I had seen no one, and not for a while. With the heat and being alone for some time, I let my HR slip down into the 140's. Realizing that I had fallen off pace, I stopped for a quick nature break, drank some water and got some calories. When I got going again my legs felt good so I took it back up to the 170 range.

4th and final lap was great. Being my last lap I decided to push into the 180's and see what I could do. My last lap was probably close my fastest lap of the race. Not sure though. I felt great and actually kept some the Cat 1 riders that were coming by in site for a while after they came by.

So, I only finished 11th out of about 30. I wasn't there to win. It was a test for me. A: See if I could control the urge to chase. B: Stick to a plan.

I think I was successful at both. For the day, I had ridden 54 miles off road in 100 + degree heat and felt like I had more in me. That's what I need.... more.

In training for the Breck 100 I have done some long rides. I have regularly been going out for 40 and 50 miles road rides after work a couple times a week, plus riding a racing during the weekend. I did my longest road ride ever this year. After the Illinois state road race(finished 21st) we decided to ride to the crit the next day in O'fallon Il. I road there, did the race, and road home for a total of 123 miles that day, 198 for the weekend. I felt great doing it too.

Breck is going to be hard. I need more.

Holla..

MFXC 2010

2010-05-27T05:22:00.000-07:00

I ventured down to C-bluff Saturday afternoon to get a ride in on my SS and camp with TeamSeagal the night before the big race on Sunday. Saturday's ride was good on North Trace. Didn't go to far, just needed to ride a little and see how the legs were feeling. The felt pretty good...

Saturday night was a grand time as well. Started off by eating pasta and talking about trophy trucks. These are two things I love so the night was getting started just right. Soon, after a few beers, we headed over to a Mexican disco..... at another camp site.... to see what the hell was going on over there. Well, it was a disco at a camp site. Kind of low budget but I have to give them credit because, well, they were having a disco at a camp site. Not bad.

Woke up Sunday feeling a little tired and dehydrated from the heat and beer drinking from the day before. Started slamming water and ate some strawberry's and a bagel with the man the myth the legend.... Bob Jenkins. Now that I was fueled up for the race I kitted up and rode down to the boat ramp for the start of the race. Upon arriving there I was greeted with many smiles and high fives. This day was already awesome, and it was my birthday(29). We did a lemans start where you run to your bike. Not sure who invented this or what the purpose is. Anyway, I think I hit the single track in 10th place or so.

I was having a hard time focusing on the trail because I had a little bit of a hangover from the night before. I just kept the pedals turning at a effort I felt I could manage for the entire race. The miles seemed to click off fast. Before I knew it was 20 miles in. This trail flows so good and is so much fun to ride, I think you loose track of time and distance.

After I hit the fire road I went into TT mode and cranked through that the best I could. It was hot out there and my hands were really starting to hurt from not waring gloves. I skipped the last water station because I honestly thought the race was over at the end of the road(I don't know this area all that well). But to my surprise, I found that we had to re-enter the woods and ride more single track back to the finish area and it seemed to be mostly uphill....I think. I was way out of water by this point(only had two bottles, one was small) and I was really thirsty.

Thinking the race was only going to take about 3 hours I only brought a flask of hammer gel for the ride. It was long gone by this point. I stopped one last time on the trail for a nature break and I could tell I was dehydrated. My pee looked like orange juice.... with pulp!! Knowing I had to be close I got back on my bike and rode out of the woods to cross a road, looked left and saw a intersections sign that said 32/DD. Then I could here people's voices. I was done. I finished 6th overall and 4th in mens open for a time of 3 hours and 49 minutes.

What an awesome race and good time. Cant wait for next year, its only going to get better. After the race I rode the single track back to my car so I could go home. My day gave me 47 total miles of single track on the OT. I was cooked by the time I got back to my car.

Results
1 3:24:08 Matt James - Men Open
2 3:24:50 Dan Fuhrmann - SS Open
3 3:30:51 Jeff Yiedling - Men Open
4 3:36:35 Mitch teh Morshor - Men Open
5 3:38:46 Larry Koester - SS Open
6 3:49:20 Scott Peipert - Men Open
7 3:50:01 Nico Toscani - SS Open
8 3:52:43 John Donjoian - SS Open
9 3:52:46 Brian Busken - SS Open
10 3:59:37 Paul Krewet - Men Open
11 4:01:26 Drewballs - Men Open
12 4:01:43 Tom Lauria - Men Open
13 4:09:52 Todd Holtman - Men Open
14 4:31:11 Roger Mackay - Men Open
15 4:31:12 Stove - SS Open
16 4:39:24 Rob Ballou - Men Open
17 4:44:28 Jason Pryor - Men Open
18 4:44:29 John Hatchor - SS Open
19 4:44:46 Karen Holtman - Women Open
20 4:44:50 Stephanie McCreary Women Open
21 4:46:44 Punchor - SS Open
22 4:51:53 Karl Kimball - SS Open
23 4:57:38 Rock Wamsley - Men Open
24 5:20:50 Taggort - SS Open
25 5:23:10 Keith Weinkein - Men Open
26 5:37:14 Guy in Veloforce jersey - Mn Open
27 6:19:20 Sasha - Women Open
28 6:19:21 T-Tocs - SS Open
29 6:44:25 Borb Jerkins - Men Open
30 6:44:26 Lukas Lamb - Men Open
31 7:10:04 John Farinella - Men Open
32 7:10:06 Guy in Salsa jersey (Justin?) - Men Open
33 7:25:00 Ben G - Men Open

MEGA thanks to TeamSeagal for putting this on and putting up with me all weekend. I had a blast!

Holla atcha boy...

Does the name "Tomac" ring a bell??

2010-05-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

Remember John Tomac? Well his son Eli is a very good rider also. Only on motorcycles. He just won the Hangtown MX national in what was is professional debut. He is only the second rider in history to do this. The first was James Stewert. This would be like winning Paris-Roubaix for your first pro race.

Steve Cox photo

Rhetts Run

2010-05-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

Well.. I will start by saying I knew I should have stayed home. I didn't know a single person who was backing out of going to the race in my circle of friends. So, I wasn't either. I kept hearing that the course drains well but the area did get about half a foot of rain this week. Hmmm.

Got to the race good and early and everyone who was already there pretty much all said the same thing. It was a piece of shit. I raced here last year and it was awesome. The trail was ripping fast and fun as hell. This year would not be the same.

I lined up(reluctantly) for the expert race knowing it was going to be ugly. When it started it was clear right from the get go just how bad it was. It was icy slick in spots, deep mud in others, deep water wholes, and very dangerous wet rocks and roots to deal with. I felt very uncomfortable on the trail. I was using tires I have never used before and was not sure if they were working or if I was just riding tight. Probably both. I almost fell I don't know how many times.

I started getting frustrated, then Scott Oglvie "ran" past me. Yeah, I was having a hard time in some spots. I held his pace for the rest of the lap until I exited the woods to start my second lap. Fuck that. I quit. That's shit was terrible. You can call me a bitch... that stuff just isn't fun to me on a MTB. Cross is a different story though. Some guys like racing in the mud. Just not sure why I guess. Its bad for the trails(Rhett's Run needs a lot of work now) and it ruins bike parts.

So, 4 1/2 hours of driving for 30 minutes of riding. Bummer. It wasn't really riding... it was survival on a bike for 5 miles. Maybe my head wasn't in it...I don't know.... I was over it real quick. I suck.

Before exiting... I have to say that Drew Black's ride Sunday was pretty awesome to watch from the sidelines. That fact that he held the gap from Breslin, Musselman, and Elwell for the last 2 laps with out loosing time was pretty incredible. Nice work Brah!

Hope my post hasn't depressed you to bad. I have a case of the Monday's.

Holla atcha boy....

Greensfelder Race

2010-05-13T19:08:00.000-07:00

First, a quick mini post with in a post. Went down to Syllamo a couple weeks ago with high expectations and flat legs. Didnt get to ride much the two weeks before the race and my legs felt heavy because of it. Shit happens. The weather was less than desirable Friday night before the race and the forecast didnt look much better. Luckily, the weather on Saturday gave us a big break. The trails were still very wet from the rain the day before which made for slick conditions the first couple hours. I went down on some wet rocks and managed a quarter sized dent on my fork. Only cosmetic damage. I finsihed 41st for 6 hours 17 minutes 8th in class. Maybe next year. Zach killed again and finsihed 9th overall. Nice work man.

Greensfelder Expert race.

The entire week leading up to the race I was riding hard everyday to get my legs to get some snap back in them. I put several laps on the G-felder course and did the thursday fast ride with the guys. Come race time, my legs felt good again.

There was a large turn out of about 25 Category 1 riders. There were 5 in my age group of 29-under. When the race started Jon Schottler's chain broke right next to me and he almost went down. I hammered it into the single track to try and be first wheel on the technical downhill so I had clear vision of the trail. It worked. After the down hill I put it in overdrive and just started riding my bike really. No huge efforts from me. I knew with the super tech trail coming up I was in a good spot. I love riding that stuff and do it well.

After some time past, Drew Black made his way around and I stuck his wheel for a bit. He started to get away from me after a mile or so, Drew is very fit right now and his off season training.... what ever it was... has that dude looking real thin. Drew ened up flatting later on, on the first lap.

Ploch and EPirtle made there way by a short time later about half way through the first lap. I stuck Eric's wheel on one of the flowy downhill sections to try and keep my pace with there's. That lasted about 40 seconds. Those two are fast.

The rest of the lap, and race, were pretty uneventfull really. That was untill about 1/3 of a lap was remaining of the 3 lap race. Earlier in the race when Drew flatted he fixed if, then put his head down and charged back to the front of our field. My first lap was a 44 minutes lap. Drew's was a 51 I think(with the flat). It came down the wire really. I only beat him by 8 seconds. I was riding as hard as I could that last section because I knew he eleminated all that time I had on him and he was closing fast.

I finished first in my age group and 13th overall out of all the experts. I should also mention that Jon Schottler fixed his chain at the beginning of the race when it broke, then smoked past me on the second lap and actually beat me by 8 minutes. Unfortunatly for him, he was DQ'ed for going to his car for a tool or part. Niether he or I knew this untill the scoring was announced. I didnt win the first place medal, It was given to me. I offered the Medal to Schottler after the race because it was his in my mind but, he politly declined.

GORC did a crazy good job and the trails were awesome. Bryan Adams and Matt Hayes layed out the course which everyone loved. I hope this course gets used next year.

holla atcha boy...

Almost Syllamo

2010-04-29T20:21:00.001-07:00

FUCK......

Tour of Hermann RR

2010-04-20T19:08:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday I did the Tour of Hermann road race. The course is very hard and very hilly. Not sure how much vertical there is per lap but I would guess around 1500 feet.

I only did one ride the week leading up to the race because I have been sick for almost 3 weeks and I needed that week off to kick my sickness to the curb for good. Over rested is better than over trained.

My only real goal for the race was to finish with the lead group. I have not done this yet as a 3 at Hermann. The first lap up the start climb seemed easier to me this year. I stayed with the group which was very good news for me. I held on to the group with out going over 90% of my max for the first lap. On the second lap, going up the Guttenberg road climb, I drifted off the back ever so slightly. HUGE mistake. Before I knew it, I was 50 yards back.... then 100.... then 1/4 mile.

I could still see the group after I got into the rolling country side. I started chasing. I picked up a Big Shark riding and we kept it moving fast. Then we picked up a Ghisallo rider and are chances of getting back on were getting better. The Big Shark rider fell off our chase but we picked up another rider along the way. We were slowly making our way back to the group 1 mile at a time. It took a total of 10 miles to actually get back on. Of course, my luck, we caught back on at the bottom of a climb. I was red lined staying on up that hill. It hurt. I almost pulled the eject button but gutted it out and stayed in. It took a while to recover from that but I was back were I needed/wanted to be.

The second half the course is much easier riding. Much more rolling... not vert. People were starting to launch small attacks through the flatter sections. I had enough of a recovery by this point that the attacks were easy for me to stick. The pace eventually slowed down coming back into town. The group was about 30 riders strong still so the finish was going to be sketchy.

Coming into the S turns that take you to the finish line, I tried to get near the front. These turns seemed much sharper than they did when I pre-road the finish section that morning. It got single file real quick... Hard left, then hard right, then hard left again all in about 150 yards. Then it was only about a 50 yard dash to the finish. You pretty much finished in the spot you were in going into the turns. I finished 19th.

I may have been able to do better had I thought about the turns more before we got there. I made a tactical error here. I had planned on sitting back a little more than usual because my legs were in pretty bad shape from chasing earlier in the day, and sprinting at the last possible moment seemed like the best option. My legs had nothing in them when I came out of the last corner, and the finish line was WAAAAY closer than I was thinking it was. I followed the rider in front of me across the line.

I was really happy with how everything turned out actually. I felt much stronger than last year, and I finished in the lead group even though I had to chase them down for a while. And really.... 19th is pretty good in a road race. I still don't have any Cat 2 upgrade points but, they will come, and I will get there.

Holla...

Hillsboro Roubaix 2010 edition... plus a little extra.

2010-04-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

The Hillsboro road race is about as close to a spring classic as anyone will get in the STL area. It has features that are mostly the same stuff I ride on all the time and am very comfortable with at speed. Shitty roads, gravel, brick streets, and wind that doesn't stop. Now, before I start making a bunch of excuses as to why I might not have done good..... I will just stick with the one I know is the truth. I have been sick for 2 weeks now, and going on 3. But, I am pretty sure a lot of people have been sick around these parts. How come every fucking flower has to bloom right now???? Huh....?

Anyway.... The first lap was easy for me. Just sitting in really. The sprints out of the corners seem to shell people like they have never raced a bike before. I tried to move up but the referee was DQ'ing people who crossed the imaginary yellow line so I opted to just sit in and see what happened. On the second lap, something happened at the front. Someone, or... some one's, got real fucking motivated and set a pace into a cross wind that was very difficult. People were dropping like fly's and I too started to hurt from this effort. Eventually it got me when I was way back in the pack with no protection. It sucked. I made it 40 miles, got dropped and hated life for a few minutes. But eventually I started to ride hard again and eventually rounded up 3 more guys and we road in a group back to the finish. I finished 55th. This is not exactly Cat 2 upgrade material. In fact, I think I have to gain a few extra points now since I suck so bad.

The next day I went to Tilles part for a crit race. My legs felt heavy to me during warm up with Christopher. Didn't really think about it too much though. WUT EVVVAAAAA!

When the race got going it seemed my legs had no kick to them. Like I had burnt all my matches for the weekend. But, staying at the front... pulling, chasing down attacks was not even an issue. By 15 minutes in, the race seemed easy to me. I mean, my legs still felt like shit but I was having no trouble at all staying in the top 10. People would attack and I was right with them.

I have heard before that if a cyclist has a shitty day and feels like shit, that the next day, that said cyclist, will feel like a rock star on the bike. Now, I don't know that this is what was happening but I sure wasn't under any pressure... EVER during the race. It was like a group ride really.

On the last lap I was about 20th wheel which is not really ideal but the course was very tight and twisty.... and it is crit racing, it doesn't always workout. Anyway.... with 2 corners to go I got run of the road by a very excited group and I did some CXing for about 40 meters only to re-enter the road in about 70th spot. My race was over but I was alive and smiling.

This coming weekend is Tour of Hermann. I am only doing the road race because I raced both days last weekend and, well..... I got stuff I gotta do. I am going to run a 12-27 cassette for the first time ever on a road bike. Hermann is hard!

Holla atcha boy...

Warranty..

2010-04-03T08:08:00.001-07:00

Shimano replaced my wheel no questions asked. All they wanted was my old wheel and the tire that ripped the carbon off the rim. I had my new wheel before I even shipped the old one out. Just in time for Hillsboros Roubaix and Tour of Hermann.

In other exciting news I finally got to try out my Sram XX on a dry day and it is AWESOME. The shifting between the two front chain rings is spot on. I also did the Forest Park crit race in the rain since the Lost Valley MTB race was cancelled. It pretty much sucked. Low turn out, very cold, wet, and windy. I won the prime but I missed the break and since no one wanted to work it was just a group ride in the rain. I went solo of the front a couple times but it never turned in to anything. I suck. My average for the race was only 21.3 which is pretty lame. I want to upgrade to the big show but, I want to earn it.

Holla..

Tuesday Crit

2010-03-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

Racing was good tonight. I felt strong the entire time and the group was moving along pretty fast most the time. There was a crash which sucks. I hate the way they sound. At the finish I gave it about 95% and came away with 6th. I think if I would have started my sprint about 20 feet sooner I may have ended up 5th. Either way, Im stoked. Things are starting to look good for this summer...

Holla

Problem.....

2010-03-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

Getting my wheels ready for road season. Pulling my cross tires revealed what a bike shop mechanic would call, a problem.

When is a glue job "too" good?

Leadbelt/Tuesday Worlds

2010-03-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

The first MTB race of the year is over. The trails were super muddy but I managed to pull off a 3rd place finish in Cat 1 for the 19-29 age group. That sounds good'n all but everyone behind me DNF'ed for one reason or another. I also think I finished last overall(last finisher, some didnt finish) but I dont really care because it was the first race of the year and I lost all motivation by the half way point when none of the gears on my bike would work. The trails sucked ass. The mud was super greasy and soft by the third lap. I wish I could sit here and wright about how awesome it was.... but it wasn't. My new XX kit was ghost shifting like crazy and my new crank arms are scuffed up pretty good also. As I used to say when buying a new motocross bike..... gotta ride the "NEW" off that shit. That's never fun though because that means all the money you just spent on the shiny stuff is... well.... well its just not shiny anymore, which sucks. Anyway, the race was run very well and on time so no complaints there. Hope the LV race in two weeks is dry.

I also did the first Tuesday worlds this week and I felt ok at best. I think I finished about 12th or so out of about 50 or 60 riders. There was a small break away of 3 or 4 that finished ahead of the main group and I was only able to pull about 9th in the pack sprint.... My legs felt pretty dead at the finish. I haven't really done any sprinting since Gateway cup last year. Actually, this is a good thing. I feel like this will be my year to win a couple of the A races and hopefully win a few Cat 3 crits early on for some upgrade points. I have tons of room to improve and I am already near the front. Last year a 3rd was my best in the A race. Its early in the year and im just starting to touch on top end. Wut eva....

Mason Storm.... Did you get my Gay ass card yet???

Hollaaaaa.......

2010 thangs, goals, and what nots....

2010-02-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

First and foremost the weather sucks ass as our weather usually does. This has not gotten me down too much though. I have ridden close to 500 miles outside since the middle of January this year on my cross bike(which needs some major TLC). I have been training this winter with a much different approach than any other year that I have ever trained. I have a plan, a training bible, and a email in my inbox that cleared some things up and should have me on the right track this year. Last year was my first year as a exSPORT/Cat 1.5. This year I want to be exPERT/Cat1. Last season was a real eye opener on what fitness is. Now I have a better understanding of how hard I should be training at different times of the year. I also have been reading about recovery, and that you get faster when your recovering, not when your training. You still have to train hard though, they both go hand in hand and are equally important.

Ok, no more of that crap.. I DIDNT GET INTO LEADVILLE.................AGAIN!!!

So it looks like I might be heading to the Breck 100 in late July for a suffer fest like no other. Course record is 8:33. Ouch! Goal is to finish. I did a lot of riding on the Breck course this past year and its going to hurt. I still plan to race the Expert races and use them for top end training. I want to impove on top end which I think will help my in all types of racing.

I will race as many MTB races this year as possible in Cat 1. I will also be defending my top 10 at Syllamo. I already know that I cant race the state MTB race at C-wood this year because of the Susan G Koman race for the cure is the same day and I will be there for my mother. The good news is, the NRC circuit race is the next day and I will probably do that. I hope to be able to upgrade to a 2 on the road by mid season. Jesus I am rambling....

Here are some pics of my new MTB build. I have been loosing weight so I can actually use the wheels I bought now. I was 178 at the Cross state race and was 169 yesterday morning(lots of running and swimming this year also). I am hoping with the right diet and training to get to the low 160's by mid summer. Enjoy!!

21.7 lbs

Holla...

CXMAS

2009-12-21T19:40:00.000-08:00

Whoa that was fun. Probably the most fun I have had on my bike in some time. I busted my ass on the ice once and did a little ice dance - almost fall. Keep your hands on the bar when riding on ICE. Man that shit was fun.

FULL REPORT

Thanks TEAMSEAGAL for a excellent adventure.

Washington CX

2009-12-14T13:37:00.000-08:00

The Washington race was a muddy mess. I did the 3's race hoping for one last shot at a good finish in a Cat3 only class. Unfortunatly, we had a very small field with only 3 riders showing up. It was Drew from Mesa, Greg from the Trek store, and myself. When the whistle blew I started pedaling softly trying not to spin the tire.. it was slick'r-en shit. I took the holeshot and led for the first few corners. Greg and Drew both came around me and it seemed for a second that they were both going to ride away from me. About half way through the first lap I dropped to my small ring because the big ring was too much for the super slow speeds. You really had to finess through the corners to hold any forward momentum that you might have had.

At the end of lap one we were all still with in 3 or 4 seconds of each other. Drew and I traded positions a few times during the first lap. Greg had put a small gap on us of maybe 5 or 6 seconds. During the second lap I started running some of the slowest corners because that was the faster option. I was also dismounting earlier for the runups because that also felt faster to me. Making these adjustments to my laps helped a lot. I was able to distance myself from Drew and bridge the gap up to Greg. As I came up on Gregs wheel he chose to ride a corner that I had been running and I ran right past him. Now in the lead I actually backed the pace off a little. Greg came back around me and I followed him for another lap before he started to slip away.

With 2 to go Greg had opened the gap back up to around 20 seconds. He was riding great in the mud. Drew still was not far behind at maybe 20 seconds back from me. We crossed the line in that order. Greg, Me, then Drew with the gaps still the same.

The race was a lot of fun and the course was awesome. Wish more people would have showed up for the race, I think they would have enjoyed the wet conditions.

So, I got second place which is a good result, but lets face it, its still a mid pack finish when you think about it.

With only 1 true cross race left this year the season is pretty much over(is it the end of December already???). Next year should bring good things and with the right training I will be able to get some better results.

See you at CXMAS.

Holler...

MO State CX

2009-12-09T18:25:00.000-08:00

The state race this year brought us back to Hermann, Mo for the third time in a row. I love the venue as there are many ways to lay a course out there. The stairs are a given. The sand is a given. Usually some sort of steep hill and a fair amount of pavement. Jeff Yeilding uses his imagination to do the rest and he is pretty creative. Jeff laid out an amazing course that was 2 miles in length and was a lot of fun to ride. He included a section of 5 barriers which were ridable. A double barrier section which was not. Sand was added to the already existing sand pit which made it very deep, and with a 180 turn right at the beginning of the pit it to was not ridable.

I did a couple pre laps to check the course. Most of it was not a problem. There were a few corners that were very slick from the thaw that had been taking place during the day. The run up for me was a ride up. I was able to ride it every lap in my preride but wasn't sure if this was the fastest method. The sandpit was a complete bog and zapped your energy. The slick corners I found just had to be ridden with caution.... I really just didn't want to fall down and get dirty. Everything else was all about corner speed, keeping momentum, and riding consistent laps.

Before the race started I had told myself I wanted a top 10. This was only the second Cat3 race I have done this year. The other was the Hermann night race and I finished 7th there. With many of the competitors being the same I thought my goal was with in reach.

Since I was starting on the front row I figured I would start the race just like the did at the night race. Full tilt. When the whistle blew I launched hard and dropped the hammer. I went down the pavement like I was approaching the finish line of a crit. In the drops and out of the saddle cranking hard. I got to the grass first and made sure to keep it smooth through the first few corners. I held the lead through mud bog and all the way to the base of the run up. A KCCX rider passed me at the corner before the run up, I swung it wide to get a small run at the hill to make sure I was able to ride all the way to the top. At the top of the hill my HR was pretty high so I backed it off a notch on the way back down through the slick corners.

Photo by Eville Mike

Struggling to regain my composure several more riders came by. It seems as if my plan of attack wasn't working out like it did for the night race. Its also pretty evident that I was lacking in some top end fitness. It took a few laps but I slowly started to find speed through corners and be able to charge out of them. There were a few riders behind me that I was keeping my eye on during this first few laps. By the end of the third lap I started put significant time on them which was a huge boost for me. I started looking forward trying to make up ground on the rider in front of me. When I caught this rider(GINO) we were at the steep hill. Gino let me by at the bottom of the run up since he knew I was riding it which was awesome of him. When I got to the top of the hill I quickly looked left over the course to see where the next rider was at. There ws a big shark Jersey going through the slick corner at the bottom.

Since my momentum seemed to being getting better I hammered it down the hill and pushed a little faster through the slip n slid. The next rider was in sight so I kept the pressure on. Before the base of the stairs I got around him and kept moving forward. Since I was again at a high point in the course I looked ahead to see where the next rider was.... and didn't see a thing. The legs were feeling really good by this point so I kept them moving.

With 2 to go I was letting it all hang out. Leaning through the corner more, pushing harder down the straights, braking less, running faster over obstacles. With 1 to go I was only now jut catching glimpses of the riders in front of me. There was a lot of ground to make up in one lap. I still gave it all I had just hoping that maybe I could catch someone. My last time through the sandpit I remounted and looked over my shoulder. No one behind me.... and no one on front. At a steady pace I finished the lap and the race with a position of 12th.

It wasn't the the top 10 I was looking for, and I know what mistake I made that probably cost me this goal. My start. I should have taken it easier and let the race unfold around me a little more. No matter what happened, I had a good ass time.

TeamSeagal kept it real as usual and had the cheering sections kicking mucho ass like always.

Andy from the team had an awesome ride and finished 2nd in the cat4 race. Jason finished a few spots ahead of me in the 3's race.

There are a few more races this year, some real, one non, and all should be a good time. After the new year gravel rides are in order and hoping to kick out several hundred miles worth before spring.

holla

Bubba 9

2009-12-05T15:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the course was awesome. About 30 percent of it was mountain biking which was the best part. There were also the usual horse power sections. I felt decent... Rode a couple laps in a strong group of riders until I fell on one of the slowest corners that had the most traction in some 4 inch deep zoisa grass. Matt James came around me when I fell but I was able to pop back up and run all the way through the next corner before remounting. For some reason this made my HR really high and I had to back off the throttle for a half lap to recover. After that I began chasing TK around for about 4 or 5 laps and actual got the gap he had on me down to around 8 seconds. Then I dropped my chain...suck. I chased so more but the damage was done. TK had the gap back to around 20 seconds and with only 1 or 2 laps left I didnt see it happening. All my matches were already burnt. I rolled across the line in 16th.

Photo by Eville Mike

Super fun.... The right temps(finally)..... Even better cheering section.... I LOVE CROSS!!!!This season has been the best yet in the 3 years I have been racing. Next year should only be better and I cant wait.

The state race is tomorrow and every category looks stacked. Hoping to end it with a top 10.

holla.

Bubba 8

2009-11-26T05:59:00.000-08:00

That was the hardest thing I have ever done on a bike that only took an hour. If I didnt feel like shit for the race I may have enjoyed it, a little. My girlfriend was sick the few days before the race and I was curious if I was going to catch it. I felt fine all week so I must have been ok.

When I first saw the course it looked fun but, none of the people riding it were smiling. I got dressed up and went out for a pre-lap with Drew and figured out why people were not smiling. It was hard. The ground was so soft that you had to pedal on the down hills so you didnt come to a stop. By the end of the pre-lap I could tell somthing wasnt right. I was having a hard time keeping my bike going in a straight line and couldnt get my bike to go were I wanted it too through corners. My legs felt empty and I felt dead. At this point it was obvious to me that I had been carrying a bug or virus of some sort. I didnt feel so good after that lap.

I decided to go ahead and race just to see what would happen. When the race got going it didnt take long to faid off the back. It only took 2 or 3 laps before I was pretty much DFL. The cheering section on the hill was the only thing that kept me going really. There was also some good cheering going on by the stairs. I still rode hard but when your running on 87 octaine you just dont go anywhere.

When it got to about 3 to go I started getting lapped by people I have beat this year. The only good that came from this was I was able to make about 5 dollars in handups. Probably because I was going so slow. On the last lap when I came up the hill by the cheering section on the stairs I saw none other than Gino from Seagal with the biggest shit eating grin on his face. "Want some beer?" Shiiiiiiit. Hell yeah I wanted some beer. Not sure what the beer was but it tasted pretty dam good. I finished the lap, and race, with Gino. Glad it was over too. I finished 24th. I think 26 finished and not sure how many started. So, I guess I wasnt totally DFL but, I still should have been a full lap ahead at least.

Next week is the last Bubba race before the state race. I have had lots of rest this week hoping to shake the bug and only a couple hours of riding. Hopefully I will feel better this coming weekend. Gobble Gobble.

Photo by Pdaddy.

hollR

bubba 7 OMG!!!!

2009-11-17T20:50:00.000-08:00

Shit that was awesome!!

The nice weather had me on my bike a little more the week leading up to this race. I was pumped for that and the fact that TEAMSEAGAL had reports of the course being euro enough that only the biggest JERKS would not be there.

Did a couple prelaps and it was true, the course was awesome.

I started at the back of the pack to try and start this race slower than I have other races. I always feel like I blow up about 3 laps in so a slower start should be the trick. When we got going I felt pretty good. The hardest part of the course for me was the long climb next to the road after you exited the woods. Thats the only place I felt slow anyway.

About 3 or 4 laps in I found myself riding with my team mate Jason. We rode together for a while untill Christopher caught us. Christopher came by us pretty quick so I jumped on his wheel. I then rode with him for what seemed like about 2 or 3 more laps.

I felt good so I asked to pass and started to ride a little harder. I got away from him a little and just keep the pedals turning. I eventually caught one other rider and finished 17th. My legs felt good and I think I was getting faster with each lap. Not fast enough though, I got lapped again by 1st and 2nd, and only about 1/3 of a lap away from it not happening right at the end.

Even though my finishing position was once again not so great, It was motivating as hell to feel the way I felt out there. I will keep training(suck) and come back next weekend swinging.

Thanks Eville Mike and Dennis F for photos

You just got done reading the lamest report on this race. Its late. Im tired. See you Sunday.

Holla.

Alton #4 Bubba #6

2009-11-09T17:34:00.000-08:00

What a weekend. Way to much to do in such a short period of time.

Friday.. leave work early to help build a cross course.
Saturday.. Get to park early, make sure all is good, sit in sun for hours before race.
Saturday night.. PICX after party
Sunday.. Race Bubba.

So Saturday kinda went how I expected. All day long I was excited to race because the course was so much fun to ride. Only problem was, I felt like shit. My legs almost felt shaky from all the walking around I had done in the past 12 hours at the park.

Alton 4
When the race started I actually got off to a good start leading Nagy and Strothman for a little over a lap. I knew it wasn't going to last because those guys kill me every time. I figured I would just go hard for a couple laps, hold the lead and get some home town love. Well.. it only lasted for a little over one lap. After Jay and Mark came around me I could tell that my HR was definitely in the red.

It was that uncomfortable feeling you get when your heart is in your throat and you can feel the beat in your eye balls.... yeah, that kind of uncomfortable. I pushed through it the best I could but on lap 3 or 4 I had to stop on the side of a hill and feed some baby birds that looked hungry. Luckily I had some water to wash the taste out of my mouth. After I calmed down I hopped back on my bike and finished that shit. Wasn't fast, was in last... but I finished. My team mate Jason finished 3rd not too far behind Jay. Nagy took a dominating win. I came in 5th behind Gary Dyer.

Made 5 bucks at least

Bubba 6
Got to the race feeling the effects of the after party from the night before. Took a couple warm up laps and spun around in the parking lot for about an hour before the race. I felt good actually... better than the day before. Maybe I could pull off a decent result, maybe.

There were several people missing from the race that are usually there, and usually finish in front of me. However, this was a horse power course, I was dehydrated, and it was friggin hot out. Close to 80. I had no idea what to expect.

I started the race slow. I didn't want to blow up like the day before. The first couple laps were good for me. No cramping or breathing problems and my HR felt like it was in the right spot. About the 4th lap my throat was feeling much dryer than normal. I drank as much as I could every chance I got. My water was half gone with 5 or 6 laps to go.

The first few laps I was in a small group. Then, for most of the middle part of the race I was all alone. At about 4 laps to go Matt Laberta from Dogfish caught up to me and attacked the shit out of me for an entire lap. It hurt like hell but I held his wheel. He was stronger that I was down the straight aways and would gap me a little but, I seemed to be able to catch back up in the twisty corners.

At one lap to go Matt had about a 6 or 7 second gap on my. I went as hard as I could to get back up to him. I knew if I could get the gap down to around 3 seconds before the last section of the course where most the corners were, I might be able to get around him before the finish. I got to with in striking distance but I couldn't get around where I had hoped too. He led me all the way to the last corner which was a off cambered right hand turn, from there it was about a 40 yard uphill sprint to the finish.

As we came through that corner I was able to carry a little more speed and barely snuck by him in a sprint finish. It was a awesome way to finish the weekend. I ended the day with a 13th place finish. I was happy with 13th, but also frustrated that all the guys I would battle with last year all seem to have found a few extra gears somewhere.

Hopefully the nice weather this coming week will have me on my bike more. I need to kick my own ass a little more, its pretty obvious im not doing what I need to. I want to find those gears.

Mike D's Photos

holl-R

Bubba 4 and 5

2009-11-03T05:04:00.000-08:00

Busy week so this will be short.

Coming off the BTEpic from the week before, I needed two days of rest before my legs felt normal again. Got a little riding in on Wednesday... that was it. Not much training last week.

Halloween night was a good night. I loved the mud, didnt like how difficult it was to see in the most rutting section. I think a tree was blocking the light. I will bring a axe to the next night race to ensure this does not happen again. Got off to a good start. Legs didnt feel too bad. Maintained same pace for the entire race which was good. My goal of not getting lapped was foiled with the short laps, and with getting lapped. Finished 14th that night. Pretty happy with that result... I think its the best I have finished in the A race(minus the races when only 10 guys show up) when 25 or so started.

The next day... Legs felt dead, I felt good. I was ready to go but my legs didnt have any snap in them. Everytime I was attacked I could not respond. I watched people ride away from me all day. The best part of the day was riding the ruts and berms that had formed. It really took me back to the days of racing motocross. Pick a rut, full throttle, full commitment, works everytime. I had a blast riding these corners. Finished 18th on Sunday. I still got lapped even with the longer laps, but only by the top 2 in the race, and pretty close to the end. I suck. But my new wheels were looking nice..

Taken from Mike D.

Holla...

Post BT-Epic

2009-10-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

One year ago I did my first long distance MTB race called the BT-Epic. I showed up with a little fitness and perfect trail conditions on my SS 29er. I rode good last year finishing 17th with a time 0f 5:34....

Now fast forward 365 days.....(fast forward noise goes here)

I came to the race this year with a few more long distance races under my belt. But with my last long ride being over 2 months ago I really had no fitness for this. Not to mention the 2 or 3 inches of rain that had fallen in days prior. Because of these facts I thought it would be a good idea to ride my geared bike(options).

Since I knew I had no fitness, and because I missed the Burning this year, and because they had amazing FREEEEEEEEEEE Pale ale on tap, I decided to focus on fun. I had a few beers Saturday night and probably stayed up too late. When I awoke the next morning and walked down to my car to get a few things, several people cheered me on as if they could believe I was going to go out for this race. I was asked if I was still planning to race. Of course I was planning to race.... well ride the race anyway. I really didn't feel that bad from the beer the night before. Wasn't that big of a deal, just thought it was funny. Anyway...

When the race finally got going I found my self in the top 20 maybe going over the trailer across the river. I climbed the first fire road with a modest tempo and made a small effort to latch onto a couple wheels in front of me but didn't really have the legs to do so, nore did I really care. Several more riders passed me before I finally hit the single track 3 miles into the race.

After I entered the woods I hit my water bottle a couple times and just tried to relax. I knew it was going to be a long day and just wanted to ride. Several more riders passed me but I did not really care, I was just hear to have a good time.

The trails were very wet. Some trails were super muddy while others were small rivers. There were trails that were perfectly flat and I still was barely able to go 5 mph. Thick mud followed by lots of splashing which actually helped clean my bike off. The sections of the race that were like this actually helped take my mind off the race itself. You had to put all focus on the trail you were riding when it was like this and for a brief moment...... you only thought about the trail, not your time. Even with this, there were still sections of the trail that you could just bomb down and shred like 80's metal. Fast and flowy. Rocks and roots. TECH!

About the half way point I got my first flat. I had to sit on the side of the trail for about 7 or 8 minutes until someone finally stopped to help me. I couldn't get the tubeless valve out of the rim. After that was fixed and was rolling again, it started to rain. Obviously the rain was not helping the trails and also did not help me. It took a lot of the wind out of my sails. Even though I was already wet and muddy, I didn't really want to get rained on.

By this point on the race my bike was making terrible noises. I almost starting aiming for the deep water wholes with the hope of my bike getting some of the mud blasted off it. Sometimes it worked, other times it seemed to make it worse. Carry on...

I had past back about 10 people that passed during my first flat earlier and only had about 10 miles to go when I noticed my rear tire was going soft again. I stopped to check it. The tire was soft which meant a slow leak. I checked my computer and saw that I only had about 10 miles left with 7 of those being fire road. Since I only had about 3 miles of single track left I figured and could air the tire up and make it to the fire road before re-evaluating the situation. I hit the tire with a shot of CO2 and rode pretty hard to the road. It took my about15 minutes to get there, and when I did the tire had gone nearly flat again. Hmmm... I had 3 or 4 CO2's left, 2 tubes, 7 miles of fire road, and a slow leak. I could air my tire up twice with each CO2, so I sat there for a sec and did the math. I figured I had about 30 to 4o minutes worth of air to ride on before I was up shit creek.

I hit the tire and took off. I made it about 10 minutes before the tire was soft again. Uh ohh.. I hit it again and took off. I rode about another 8 or 9 before I was hitting rim on the rocks in the road. Shit... I was now down to 2 CO2's and about 3 1/2 miles of road. I hit it again and went as hard as I could. I think this time it only lasted about 5 minutes. It was pretty clear that my slow leak had turned into a full on flat. I had 1 1/2 CO2's left. Hit it, ride... Hit it, ride..... Hit it, ride..... out of air.

At this point in the race I could smell the finish line. Didn't care about my slow time. I didn't care about my mistake of NOT putting a tube in it when I had the chance. I was near the finish and that was my only goal... FINISH. I had about 2 miles to go so I just rode the flat tire. I was standing up the entire time making an attempt to save the wheel from damage on the rock road. I didn't make it too far before the tire finally came off the rim. I stopped and put it back on so I could keep riding. I only made it about 30 feet before the tire came off again. I figured at this point, with only a little over one mile to go, I would just walk. I started to run at one point but it seemed pointless. I had been passed by several riders on the last few miles of fire road so I wasn't to worried about running to the finish.

When I finally got there it had been 6 hour and 48 minutes since the race had started and in 64th place out of about 120. The winners had finished over 2 hours before I arrived. I was so glad to be done... My bike was wasted and needs some TLC before she rolls again.

I had a ton of fun down there this weekend and cant wait for next year. I can assure you that I will be better prepared next time.

2009 MTB season....DONE!

One last time..

2009-10-24T06:53:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to head to Berryman for the last MTB race of the year. Hopefully my legs will push me faster than I am expecting them too but im not counting on it. I dont really have the base that is required to be strong at a 56 miles race like this. If I can make it to the finish line near the 5 1/2 hour mark with a smile on my face I will be stoked.

Bubba #1, and #2

2009-10-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

The Bubba series is finally underway. They started the races right this year with a one two punch. The first race was Saturday night followed by the second on Sunday both at Faust park.

Since I did a full season of the mens open category last year I had no choice but to continue taking the abuse this season. Hopefully I have more fitness this year than last, as last year was not good to me by this point in the season. I was smoked.

Saturday night I was skeptical how I might do. I had no real expectations or goals other than to have fun, do my best, and not get lapped. The course was very soft, like marshmellow soft. Not muddy really, just soft. I am not sure what the hardest part of the night was. It could have been the super steep barrier runup, the fact that there was no where to recover, or ..... the softness that never ended.

I finished the race with no idea where I placed other than knowing it was not 1st. I was making up ground on several riders in the final laps but most cleared the finish line before me. When the results were finally posted I searched for my number which is 4. Top 10...... nope. No number 4 there. Top 15...... nope. No number 4 there either. Fuck! 15 through 20???? There it was. I finally found my number. I finished 20th out of about 30 startes and only 22 finishers. This is not what I was hoping for at the first Bubba race of the year. Nothing I could really do about it now so move on, come back tomorrow and do better.

Sunday's race used most of the satruday night course but with the usual added sections of the day time course from previous years. The course was almost just as soft as the night before and some of the added sections seemed worse even.

I think there were 32 riders that started Sunday's mens open race which is awesome. Its great to have that many racers in one race. When the race got started I knew it was going to be hard(no shit, I knew this before it started). I got off to a good start and stayed with the main group for the first lap. The previous days race on my legs had me feeling a bit slugish through the super soft stuff. A few laps in I had fallen into a pace that I was comfortable with. HR was high but I was able to answer all the little attacks that were going on around me. Several of the riders around me were trading positions with each other through out the laps of the race. I did my fair share of pulling in the group and actually tried to get a way a couple times. Its really hard to do when the course is as soft as it was.

With about 3 laps to go the group I was in had split up with what looked like about 10 to 15 second gaps between all of us. I was really trying to focus on corner speed and barrier speed as I have learned TONS of time can be made up hear. Of course, I was still going for the dollar pick ups in the barriers.....

On the bell I gave it all I had. I was hanging it out through the corners and standing up out of every corner absolutly going for it. Although I was only able to catch and pass one rider on the last lap, it was very self gratifying to know I had it in me to attack the entire last lap.

After the race, totally confident that my result would be better the the night before, I looked at the results only to find that I finished in 20th position again. The only positive of this was that it was 20th out of 28 finishers as oppose to the 22 finishers the night before. I know I can do better than this but I was not upset with it at the same time. I will get there, its a long road to get to "fit".

Thanks GoPate for the pics.

Holla atcha boy.......

Hitler and his 29er research.

2009-10-14T20:35:00.001-07:00

Alton Cross #2

2009-10-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

I was pretty stressed about this race from about 5 weeks back. That was about the time I realized that my girlfriend Leslie's sister was having her wedding the same day. Mostly I was bummed about not being able to attend the Burning at the Bluff 12 hour but also about probably having to miss the Alton cross race.

So, long story short, I managed to find a way to go to both.

FYI... wearing cycling bibs under nice dress cloths at weddings is not too bad actually.

With the wedding being at 1, the cross race at 3, and the reception at 5, and all of them being very close to one another it worked out perfectly. I was able to attend the wedding and the race which made everyone happy. It was a win win.

The race it self was great. I could not believe how much the soccer Fields had dried up over night. When we were out there putting the stakes in the ground on Friday it was a marsh. I really thought it was going to be a bog but it turned out to be pretty dry considering how much rain we got.

Although it may not have been muddy, it was defiantly very soft and robbed you of all your energy.

There were 6 guys in the men's open race. When the race director said go it hurt almost immediately. Mark Nagy and Jay Strothman set a blistering pace right off the line. Jason from the team was hanging with them very closely which was awesome. After the first lap they were already starting to slip away from me. About half way through the second lap Jason flew into a corner and slammed his rear tire into a whole that had formed and rolled his tire ripping the valve off. He began to run back to the pit but with the course being as long as it was his race was pretty much over. I then passed one of the two MACK riders and was now in third positions. I was able to hold this for about 3 laps. Then the MACK rider who's name was Justin Armstead passed and began to pull away.

I never really felt like I had the go....

I settled into a pace now that I was in 4th. After a few more laps Darren Sherkat, also of team MACK, was able to make up a lot of ground on me and he too got around. He started to get a small gap. I sprinted out of a corner to erase what he had put on me. Now back on his wheel I just followed him for a lap. We both took a couple of turns being on the front. When I was behind him I was studying his lines trying to figure out where he was weak on the course. We were both pretty equal but there seemed to be a couple corners that I could go faster through than he was. I knew that when it came time to go it needed to be near these corners( I honestly don't remember which ones, there were millions of them...). With two laps to go, I drilled it into a corner and sprinted out of it, and then again into the next corner, and then into the next.

I had managed to open up a small gap of maybe 15 seconds. With the course being kinda slow due to the soft terrain, and with us passing each other going opposite directions, it was hard to tell if the gap was maintaining or not. On the last lap I knew I had it but kept the pedals turning hard. Since Nagy had about 2 1/2 minutes on me I figured I needed the work out.

So I finished 4th out of 6. I will take it, its better than my last place finish at the first Alton race and I didn't get lapped.

Darren and I had a great race and it was a blast. Jason probably would have kicked both our asses had he not rolled his tire on the second lap. He was actually leading the race when it happened. I think he will be a front runner this year in the Bubba A races if he sticks with it.

After the race I rushed home for a shower so I could go to the wedding reception and get my grub and drink on. Nice!

All in all it was a great weekend. I got to see a ton of people that I don't normally see, people were living in my house that I have never met(for the wedding), there was a cross race in Alton for only the second time in history, and I was surrounded by great people the entire time.

The next cross race will be the first bubba race next saturday night. YEAH I SAID NIGHT!!! I really have a good feeling about cross season this year. I think the turn outs will be record numbers.

Holla atcha boy.......