Exhilarating, Unbelievable, and Catastrophe!!!

Lumberjack 100

Fast group ready for the start!!

Well this write-up has been eating me up as I didn't really want to write it as I am still a little bitter from last weekends race in the Northwoods of Michigan.  To start the Manistee Forest trails up in Michigan have to be some of the fastest rolling singletrack trails that I have ridden and this years race was again going to be a quick one as you will find out in the rambling that follows.

I drove up as is customary on Friday. I am getting really good at getting thru Chicago without any real traffic delays as I have figured out when to pass through.  An uneventful drive, other than the traffic delay in Coast Guard City,U.S.A. I was up there in no time and ready to find my sleeping digs for the night. This would be the first big race of the year for Team Noah as Dwayne, Pete, and I were all there and out for blood on the trails.  We staying in an interesting shack for the night getting quite cozy in the one room cigar box of a room.

Got my normal lack of sleep the night before the race and woke up bright and early at 5 a.m. for the 7 a.m. start.  My plan was to be at the starting area by 5:30 in order to get the pit set up and my body ready for the race ahead.  This race is a little different than others as it is a 33 mile lap race. I like this format as I am able to not worry about what I carry on course and focus on the race at hand.

Start
Well the start was looking good as I rolled down the 2 mile highway to the start line chatting it up with new found friend Daniel Rapp from Toasted Head Racing.  These guys were rocking the Team Noah Socks, THE WHOLE TEAM!!  This was an awesome and unbelievable show of support from a great team of racers. When we got to the start I slotted in at the front which is becoming more customary for me as I know where I finally stand amongst the racers.  This start was really worrying me coming up as I knew that last year we rolled out at 30+ mph and down the highway into a pile-up at the start of the race.  This years race was going to be different though.....

Me checking out Barry Wicks!  HAHA
Super fast Singlespeeder and Overall Sprint finish Winner!!

Mike Montabano led us out on his singlespeed and to all's surprise, non of the gear guys seemed interested in ramping up the pace.  It did help that the singlespeed crew for the race had essentially set up a road block on the front row and set the pace of the race early.  Rolling into the singletrack, I was around 15 people off the lead and felt great where I stood. All singlespeed racers were accounted for and I began my push to the front. By the top of the opening climb, as separation had been established and I was now located in the chase group of around 8-10 riders.  We were moving along great as most of us were singles and we know how to keep the flow, even up the steep climbs. Over the opening 10 miles or so, Dwayne, Pete, and I were all there and having fun as we do when we ride together, chatting it up and throwing in the occasional joke. I think this helps us in races as some people don't like this and it effects them in a negative way.  Our look on it is we are having fun and enjoying the experience in the woods with great friends!!

FireTower Climb with Jan in pursuit on Lap 1.

Well before the mid point of Lap 1, a separation had occurred and our group was dwindled down to around 6 riders (Dwayne, Myself, Jan, and 3 geared riders).  We created the separation through some wicked quick riding up some steep single track.  I took the lead through alot of this as I like riding at the front rather than behind folks.  The status really didn't change for the first lap as we cruised, and I mean cruise, around 14 mph. on singletrack coming through lap 1 at around 2:15 and feeling great.  A separation right before the lap count with Jan and Greg( gear guy #1) getting a gap on Dwayne and I.  I was loving riding with Dwayne in that we ride pretty much identical in every manner. We got out of the pits together and we felt that we had to be in 1st and 2nd Single and 6, 7 overall.  By the end of the race we would find out that this is where Jan had escaped as he didn't pit at all in the whole 100 miles and was off on his own somewhere in front of us.

On Lap 2, Dwayne and I settled into our pace, chatting and loving life on the trail.  There is something special about cruising around the wood with a great friend and not even really realizing that you are in a race.  After the long opening section of climbs, the trail opens into double track and we cruised down this at a good clip and by the end of this 2 of the gear guys (Greg and other guy) had caught us.  I took up the lead again going into the middle section of singletrack and tried to set a good tempo as we pushed around the woods. I loved this part of the race as we were all moving smoothly through the woods and enjoying our ride. The rest of the lap was status quo as we all were feeling great and pushing along at the same pace up and down the fast ripping trails.  I did have a bout of mid race fatigue hit me and knew that I needed to stop at the pit for 10-15 seconds longer at the end of the lap to try and get a little extra fuel in the tank.  So I did and took down a banana after lap 2.

Time for the Lap from HELL!!!!

Somewhere before disaster crushing it on Lap 3!

Well the 3rd lap started off with me taking the lead up the opening climb due to everyone else deciding it was a great time to take a bathroom break. Nothing like riding through the middle of 3 guys pissing off the side of the trail, endurance cycling at it's best!!!!  Well over the opening climbs, we dwindled down the group to Dwayne, Greg and myself and we were feeling great and working great together, taking our turns at the front to keep the pace hi.  I feel that this race I spent alot of time at the front as I was feeling good on the trails and liked my own tempo and no one else seemed to mind.  We rolled the opening climbs, jumped in behind Greg on the double track to get some speed and went into the middle singletrack with again me taking the lead.

Disaster Strikes.
Well we started to catch lapped traffic in this section which was no problem at all and we worked our way through them all.  After passing a tandem up a hill we made a left and climbed up a steeper section of trail that had a nice downhill on the other side and a perfect place to catch your breath.  Well rolling down the hill, what is still a mystery to me, CRASH!!!!  Somehow I ended up on the side of the trail pressed up against a tree. I quickly came to doing my quick body check and feeling fine, I grabbed my bike and was ready to go.  Well the bike had other plans.  Quickly I looked down and realized the reason that my bike wasn't rolling forward was that my wheel was now bent in half around my fork and my race was OVER!!!!  I was more than a little disappointed, I was IRRATE!!!  I am sure everyone thought I was a lunatic and I sort of had a right to be so. I had ruined a $500 dollar wheel on a portion of trail that had nothing to cause such an incident. Still don't know what had happened but I quickly realized that not only was my race over and my chance at a Overall Singlespeed win but also that my NUE series was now finished as I am no longer able to complete 5 races.  As we discussed on trail, no clue why 5 is now required but oh well it is and I am out of the series hunt.  Sucks!!!  Well I walked about 1/2 a mile down the trail, threw my bike a few times, loaded it up in the back of a van and hitched a ride to the finish.

Well this race was a series of 1st's.  This was the first time I have had a mechanical on trail (knock on wood) of any sort and I made sure to make it a doozy!!!  This would be the first time in 10 years that I DNF'd a race, other than the muddy boone race.  This would be the first time that I had a chance to win the overall and due to conditions outside of my control be kept from this accomplishment!!!

I have taken a few positives from this race after having a week to fume over it.  One positive is that I wasn't hurt in the crash.  After seeing my wheel, I could have easily had my season ended with a broken collarbone, broken arm or ended up in the hospital with the speed I was carrying.  Second positive is that I am going to be able to fix the wheel for less than $500, only $200 as I have gotten the spokes ordered and already have a rim at home. Third, my wheel was the only broken part on the bike and I feel confident that it is ready for Tatanka 100 this next weekend.  And the last positive is that I am finally on a Team that actually cares.  Team Noah, especially Dwayne and Pete, have proven to be true teammates and have helped me draw out these positives and give me a reason to go back out there and push for it again beyond personal goals!!  Team Noah Foundation is riding for a cause bigger than biking and looking forward to spreading the word and message of the great foundation. Shout out to Dwayne and Pete on great finishes with Dwayne again taking the 2nd step on the podium and Pete just outside of the Podium.  Would have loved to see Team Noah take the top two steps but the trail gnomes had other plans!!

Well look for the next write up in a week after hopefully Dwayne, Pete, Brett, myself and others of Team Noah Foundation go out and tear up the Tatanka 100 in Sturgis,SD!!  OUT

Lumberjack 100- 80 miles ridden on bike, 7 in a car!!!

Fun in the Mud!

Boone 3, 6, 9 MTB Party

Badge of honor for the day!

Well it is about time to get some of my past write up done.  The Boone 9hr. was set to be run on a great looking morning outside of Boone, IA at the Seven Oaks ski area.  Over the years I have come to appreciate these trails as a real gem in Central Iowa that offer awesome singletrack with plenty of climbing and ripping downhills that flows and flows and flows.  Ever since one of my first races at Boone where I rode through a crap ton of soggy, soggy clay to the point that my wheels no longer would turn in the frame, I have always been skittish when it came to riding in the rain.  After that race in which I walked out of the woods, swearing at then ex-friend Kyle Sedore, I knew that i would end up in that same place with the same conditions!!! This would be the year!

Took off from Decorah bright and early at 5 a.m. to head down to a 10 a.m. start.  I was signed up for the 9hr. as I was looking to put in around 100 miles if I was able to run my normal pace from the past weekends. Arrived at the started to a great looking overcast morning and trails that were just a little squishy, but tacky enough for some fun on these quick trails.  The course was around 6 miles in length with no fun downhill and uphill out of the lodge area due to a wedding.

Start

Pushing through a slick lap!

Well showed up to the line with about 10 other crazies and we were off and rolling.  Now normally a race takes off like a bat out of hell trying to fit to get into the singletrack first.  This may have been my favorite start of all time as we rolled down the gravel lane, at an unbelievably leisurely pace.  We were chatting and having a grand old time.  I felt as though it had been determined I would lead into the singletrack and I didn't mind this a bit.  This would be the last time I would see anybody really behind me.

The opening lap went really well for me. I was able to put around 3-4 minutes into second on this lap as I cooked around the course with a smile on my face. I settled into a grove and continued onto my second lap with no real problem. It was here that I started to catch up to some of the riders as I began to lap my own race. Over the next couple of laps I would catch and move on past many of the riders and finally had lapped the entire field somewhere around the 4-5 lap.

Feeling good as I rolled around, my motivation for this race started to dwindle around the 4 hour mark. I like to race but rolling with no one charging hard behind me, I struggled to find the urge to push really hard and my lap time showed. Also because of the lack of pushing, I made some mental mistakes and found myself on the wrong side of my bike. I did my best upside-down turtle impression after I bounced off of a root and when trying to catch myself with my right foot, flipped upside down under my bike in a 5-6 foot deep ravine.  This was fun to get out of as I spent around the next 3-5 minutes trying to wiggle out of my peddles, keep from sliding further down the ravine and also trying to climb the slick mud in the ravine due to the small stream of water coming down it!! This actually helped my motivation to come back and I was back to rocking the singletrack. And Then.......

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN
This is where the race really got fun again, as the sky's opened up and the rain began to fall.  The course quickly went from tacky to slip and slide in a matter of a lap around the course.  Many of the climbs that were no problem, were now nearly impossible to get up even when walking.  Lap 8 was ok as I was still able to ride most everything and still was having a blast.  Lap 9 was where things got really interesting as I was still able to ride but I was coming up on alot of other riders struggling to get by.  This is also the lap where I had to get creative with how I passed and how I climbed hills as often I couldn't just walk up the hills but rather had to throw my bike into the woods and bushwhack my way up the hills.  I was able to get by most people no problem as I was still on the bike and they were struggling to stay upright walking.

Happy Finish to a Muddy Day!

Lap 10 may have been when I had my most fun. Between cleaning out my bottom bracket area of the clogging clay and the occasional fun of trying to walk up hills, I had a great workout on some of the slickest trails I have ever experienced and yet the most fun as the challenge was amazing and ever growing excitement when I cleaned a hill or technical section on the ice!!!  This mad me happy and also though ready to be done.

Rolling in on Lap 10 I asked if everyone else had stopped. They told me yes and also made sure to point out that I could have stopped two laps ago and still won the thing.  Overall I felt great during the race and it was a great event again at Boone put on by Singletrack Promotions. Over the years I am glad that I finally started talking to Kyle Sedore as the races and the events that he has gotten me into have made my biking career that much better with some great friends and fellows over the years!!  Well 1st 9hr, 60 miles in around 6:45.  Not a bad day on the bike.  That is about it.  Out!!

Boone 3, 6, 9 MTB Party Garmin File

Last of the Mohican's......Okay not last, but sort of felt like it!!

Awesome shot from 
Butch Phillips Photography of what we saw all day!

Well this last weekend it was the great trek out to the state of Ohio for the Kenda Mohican 100.  Going into this great race I knew that I was in for some wicked steep singletrack climbing at the beginning with some steep gravel climbing in the middle as well as a long, long, LONG rail to trail section at around 50 miles to make you hate yourself more and more!  Did this race last year and got me hooked on the NUE 100 milers and happy with my choice to now do nothing but the long stuff.  More miles for the $$$ you pay!  

Driving out to Ohio and any race now for that matter is pretty straight forward for me now.  600 miles usually of sitting and relaxing with my co-pilot in the car next to me usually whining because she can't see out the front window.  The weather was great on Friday driving out until around 60 miles from my destination where it decided to dump like a monsoon on me all the way to Loudonville.  Once there I was able to sneak in and get my packet picked-up before they closed for the night and off to set up camp.  I am getting pretty proficient at camp set up as it usually takes about 20 minutes and I am in the tent relaxing or getting the goodies ready for the next day.  This race I wasn't able to get all my stuff set out like normal as it was pissing down rain for the whole evening so I choose to just relax in the tent and get everything ready the next day.  Again proficient at this so it doesn't really take much anymore.

Race Day

Time to take on the challenge as I woke at around 4:45 like normal for a 7 a.m. start.  Went to town on my new breakfast courtesy of Apex Nutrition.  I know am taking in a great tasting smoothie that has all the goodies in it: beet root powder, greek yogurt, L-Glutamine powder, whey powder, frozen berries, banana, oatmeal, chia seeds, honey, and coconut oil.  This really tastes great and is good for the early morning wake up as it goes down quick and freeze it before I leave Iowa and it is thawed but cold the next morning.  Also threw in a normal bagel as I think my body still expects this on race morning.  Able to get the bike all dialed in and ready pretty quickly and all my essentials packed in my drop bags and back pockets.  As I rolled to the start I was second guessing as has been the story lately about my gearing choice.  I choose to go 36x19 for this race with the long rolling gravels that make up the middle portion of the race.  I was second guessing because I knew that this gear was going to be a little steep in the beginning section of singletrack that is about 30 miles at the start.  Wishing I would have gone 20 out back (as would be the case probably would have made life way better!!! Oh well live and learn).

Start of the RACE!

Opening Singletrack Bridge Crossing
SLICK!!!

This race has a nice roll out through the middle of town and then it is up a wall that leads us out to the singletrack. This wall is just that in that it is about a mile to the top and straight up it seems like.  As we were going through town at normal start pace, everything suddenly went silent as the front group heard what sounded like a car running straight into the field with crashing metal and tubeless tires going off like gun shots.  Found out later that there was some touching of bars at about 30 mph and a pile up ensued.  Want to see the pile up, check it out here Mohican 100 Starting Pile Up!!  After the thanking my lucky stars I got out of the group that went down it was back to business and trying to find the right wheel.  Found Gerry's wheel as I always do and settled in for the long climb.  Blair and Harding came zooming by and I felt that I should change it up and went with them but realized that there speed was way to fast for the way that I wanted to start.  Oh well back to normal pace.  Got up the climb okay, not really struggling as I thought I would with the gearing and was sitting nicely behind the lead pack as I entered the singletrack.  I knew the opening section had two long steep climbs that I planned to run as I ended up doing.  A big set back in my race happened though here at the start.  As we descended the first big down hill, before entering the singletrack section, both of my bottles decided to catapult out on the fast descent.  I had to make the choice to stop and fetch them as I also had made the choice to not have any replacement until aid three that was about 45 miles in.  Probably the down fall of my race if you ask me.  Through the next 30 miles of singletrack, I was able to pick my way through all of the people that had gotten by me (LOTS!!!!!!!) and found D.Rapp riding at the front of a line.  He was setting a good pace so settled in behind him for about 2-3 miles and finally had to say bye and it was off.  Somewhere along the way I lost one of my bottles and this would prove disastrous as I would get way behind on my fluid intake on the hot and humid day that it was.  Cramping was sure to happen (more later). I was able to hook onto James Mayuric from Team CF/Pro Bikes for quite a while and we moved along at a good pace for the remainder of the singletrack and into the opening gravel sections.  Somewhere along the way he got away from me (Don't remember that section of the race, bad!!!)

Once onto the gravel it was time to spin my butt off as I knew there was alot of it and there were some good climbs mixed in.  Rode through checkpoint 2 catching on with some riders and then loosing track of them and getting back and loosing again.  I was really yo-yoing throughout this section as I was actually starting to cramp a little no more than 40 miles into the race due to lack of my normal fluid.  Body hated me the whole race.  Finally climbed up to the 3rd aid station and it was here that I would get my riding partners for the remainder of the race, Nate Annon and Ryan H.  These guys literally probably saved my race as they were great company through the next sections of rail trail and gravel until the last singletrack.  I was able to push through some wicked full leg cramps in between Aid 3 and the rail trail and held onto these guys.  During the rail trail we were taking pulls as best we could and it just so happened that this 9 mile stretch, the wind gods decided to be nice to us and gave us a tail wind to play with.  Yes!!!!  We were cooking with Ryan taking the last 4-5 miles at the front of the rail trail as Nate and I were all spun out.  Little did we know that we were riding in 4-5 singlespeed as we had no clue if Ernesto was in front of us somewhere.

Glad to FINISH! Now for a shower!

Aid 4 came up and we were glad to see it as this meant that it was 30 miles to finish (or less as we all knew!!!)  Coming out of the aid we knew we wanted to start together as it was better to ride together than solo.  I knew from last year that from here there was some wicked steep climbs coming up on the gravel and knew that being singles, Nate and I would more than likely walk away from Ryan.  This did happen as Nate and continued on after the first steep up and push on together.  Neither of us wanted to let the other go as we were pretty content to ride together till the last singletrack.  Over the next 10-15 miles we rode as much as we could, walking some of the steeper ups as neither of us had the legs to push our gearing up the hill.  I knew I was fading for sure over these last sections as the cramps had returned and I was running out of gas even with Clif shots and plenty of fluid.

We arrived at the last aid together and it was 8 to go to the finish on some awesome singletrack around Mohican Adventrues. This is some of the best riding in the race and really quite flowy.  Coming up to the first steep up in the singletrack, I decided to dismount and it was game over.  I knew Nate had it so I let him go and just rode into the finish.  Feel sort of disappointed that I let him go but honesty after the long day of cramps, I just didn't have the legs to challenge and really didn't feel like challenging.  If I would have known I was in 4th I would have maybe given it a go, but hindsight is 20/20.

Singlespeed Podium!

Overall after finishing in 5th Singlespeed and 12th Overall I was a little disappointed initially knowing I wanted to get a higher finish, then I found out that Gerry killed it and won the OVERALL!!!  Then my mind changed as I realized that the field of riders here was top notch and I feel that I am improving with every race.  I am realizing that fitness wise I am ready to challenge alot of the riders, but the mental aspect of the riding I have alot to learn.  Every race I learn something new and hopefully I can take all I learn and apply in the future to move up the ladder and give a challenge to these fast cats that are killing the Singlespeed field.  Maybe be a different story up at Lumberjack as I should have some fellow Team Noah Foundation members to push through and hopefully mix some things up and give people a run for their money.  Thanks to Ryan O'Dell and all the volunteers as Mohican 100 as the Aid stations were excellent and the course was the best marked I have seen in all my races. Finally feeling better now so out to ride.  OUT!