Ready...Set...2014!!!

Well the 2014 season has finally gotten underway!!  It is an early start but I was more than happy to see it start up again.  This off-season was quite a lengthy one this year as I felt a little burned out after last year.  Didn’t feel like myself at the end of the season. So one with it!

The beginning of this season started on Dec. 1st for me.  I have spent over the last month switching between my new Babe (Trek Farley) and the torture chamber than is the trainer.  I have been putting in pretty good time weekly trying to get in tip top shape early this season with the first NUE coming on March 15th at True Grit (St. George, Utah). 

Race #1 of the 2014 season though was last weekend at Triple D Endurance Race (Dubuque,IA).  For the past couple of years this race has been negatively view upon race by me after the first couple of attempts need in DNF’s due to completely unrideable conditions and having to walk for 10+ miles in each of the two previous attempts.  Going into this years race I had my concerns again…..

On Saturday, the day before the race, a winter storm came through Iowa as they have been every couple of days lately and dumped around 3+ inches of snow all around eastern Iowa.  For some reason my stomach got the same bad feeling that I have had for a couple of years now that this was going to turn into a marathon walking session.  Nonetheless, I was prepared to toe the line the next morning and ready to take on the challenge.

www.TripleDRace.Blogspot.com

Sunday came and the weather seemed to be just about the best it could have been in this winter.  The temps were forecasted to rise to around 35 and the sun was out in full force.  The only downside to the weather on the morning drive down to Dubuque was that the wind was going to be a factor with it gusting around 20-30mph out of the SW/W. This race is run from Dubuque to Dyersville and back (67 miles), on private snowmobile trails as well as the Heritage Trail (snowmobile trail). The only time that we were not on snow was a brief 1-2 mile section of pavement in the middle in order to transition from the private trails to the Heritage Trail.  Dyersville is unfortunately straight west of Dubuque thus the wind playing a factor.

As the pre race meeting took place, I began as I often do before a race taking stock of who was in attendance.  The unfortunate thing was I had no clue who was going to be the contenders on this day compared to my normal NUE foes!  So blindly I prepared my bike and self for what was going to be coming up.

THE RACE

It all started with a brief neutral roll out to the staging area just of the local shopping strip.  We would be starting on trail specifically groomed for the race with Lance Andre (Race Director) cutting out the trail this winter and riding it in solo with his snow machine.  As we toed the line I was front row and we all decided that we were not going to roll over the railroad tracks that lay ahead of us, but instead would start on the trail itself.  Once on the trial it was go time. Off and running.

Drew pushing through
some drifting

I started the race out front hoping to open a gap early as I felt I had the best endurance stamina out of the bunch.  Well that was short lived as I had made a critical err in my pre-race setup.  The only thing I can guess is my pump was reading high and thus I had put what I though to be 5 psi in the tire when actually was probably running 10-15 psi.  Not ideal for the soft conditions as shown in this video (Opening Hill Video Link).  So after about 2 miles of slogging through the soft conditions I bit the bullet and stopped to drop pressure in my tires.  At this time I was 3rd wheel on the course and after getting all the air out I wanted I was now running around 10th wheel.  Oh well, lots of course to go.  So on I went and caught back up and put in a little surge to get back up to 3rd wheel over the next 2-3 miles.  Really didn’t feel that it took much out of me and felt pretty comfortable after the work to get back up.  After getting through the first race specific snowmobile tracks, we took a turn onto the local snowmobile trail clubs trails that had seen much more traffic.  The unfortunate thing was these trails were far more open than the previous couple miles.  At the turn lance informed me and Greg Gleason (Current 2nd wheel) that the leader Drew Wilson (Rochester,MN) had about 5 minutes on us at that point.  HOLY COW, he was hauling at the start.

After hearing this news I decided I needed to start working a little harder so I surged again to work on closing down the gap.  Over the next couple of miles I rode as much as I ran due to the drifting conditions on the open sections that I encountered.  After running more than I wanted, I again decided it was time to bite the bullet again and drop the pressure.  This time I luckily had a little gap and after stopping as quick as possible only lost about 3 positions.  So off I went in search of Drew once again.  I was lucky enough to get a view of him about a mile down the trail and this offered hope that I was pulling him back. Over the next 3-4 miles I was able to reel Drew in and after a good amount of open field walking though waist high drifts we hit some awesome trails in undulating valley!! This was sweet!!!!  The downhills were rocking fast and the trail was firm.  It was in this section that I finally closed the final gap and it was back to square one with Drew and I at the front. 

After the covered section of trail, it was onto the worst section of non-riding trail as we trudged our way over about 1/2 mile to 1 mile section of open field land directly into a strong headwind.  It was here that we hit the first mandatory check point.  Running into Junction 21 we grabbed our cards and back on the bikes we went.  Supposedly this is where there were quite a few folks that got lost.  At the bottom of a hill, we jumped off the snowmobile trail and onto the only pavement section of the race.  I knew after reading the map that Lance posted on Facebook, as well as had copies of at the race check in that we were looking for Humpke Rd. for our entrance down into the Heritage trail.  I didn’t know where this road was but knew that we had a brief section of road riding so on Drew and I went in search of our turn.  Finally got to the clearly signed  Humpke Rd. and we were in for the notorious level B road down to Heritage.

The level B from previous years came back to me as we entered it.  It was here that in the one of my previous attempts that we encountered a completely ice covered road with about 2-3 inches of snow on top of that.  Let’s just say I slid the whole thing that year on my bottom after wiping at the top and taking my bike with me.  This year was completely different as no ice was to be found and the road was covered in thick snow.  AWESOME ride down, completely out of control at times.  After negotiating the road down, onto the trail that would take us almost all the way home.  We jumped onto Heritage trail and off we went!!!

Heritage Trail

Heritage Trail Goodness!

Once on the trail, the work started.  It was here that Drew and I began to take turn breaking trail as we were the first ones on the trail besides the snowmobile traffic.  I couldn’t believe the conditions!!  After riding snowy single track the last month or so, this was heaven rolling along a nice wide trail.  It was a little bit of work going out as we had pretty strong head winds all the way to Dyersville and the snow was beginning to get a little softer with the rising temps.  The only tough part of the rest of the ride into the turn around point (out and back section) was the wide open area outside of Farley where both Drew and I agreed we needed to be together to work through the wind. We ended up getting to Chad’s Pizza with at least a 3-4 minute advantage over Robert Gritman Jr. 

PUSH IT TIME

After checking in and getting back on the bike it was here that in my mind I knew the push had to happen. So as we left Dyersville, Drew and I started together heading out at a good clip passing all those working their way out still.  We were cooking now as we had a tail wind and a little bit more packed trail to ride on which made for quick riding.  Pushing along we hit the open section outside of Farley again and I began to push even harder.  I wanted to put as much time into 3rd as possible here knowing that it would pay off to get some time when it was easier going.  Unbeknownst to me during this session Drew started having trouble and when I finally turned around to talk to Drew around the underpass at Farley he was nowhere to be found.  That was my sign, GOOOOOOO!!  So I put in probably the hardest surge of the day and wanted to run away as fast as I could. I didn’t know what was going on at the time so I needed as much time as I could to get a gap on those chasing.

Over the next 20+ miles I would ride completely solo with my only company being the runners on the trail and snow machines that passed by.  I felt really good over this section, rolling the Heritage Trail.  What made life a little bit nicer also was that returning to Dubuque was a 1% or so down grade as we had actually battle uphill on the way out.  About 7 miles or so from Durango is where I really started to feel the grove. I was able to get into my highest gear and pushed hard, dancing on the pedals at times with a huge smile on my face!! This year I was really enjoying the ride and hoping to hold it to the end.  I was able to crush it into the Durango check point by 3 p.m. so I was 5 hours into the ride with only 5+ miles of Heritage left and Dubuque snowmobile trails to go. 

Temps on the RISE

Last Downhill & Then HOME!

Well after the check in, life did get a little harder as I could tell that the snow had softened considerably and was becoming a little more peanut buttery.  I was able to push through and off of Heritage trail in the next 30 minutes so all that I had left was the push back up the hill.  Got to the stoplight at the base of the Arterial Rd.  This is a looming giant that I knew was going to push me to my limit.  We would be riding the snowmobile trail up this beast the whole way.  The snow now was melting completely and the open nature of these trails and sun was making it very gooey to ride on. I continue to push on though knowing I had the win if I could push harder and faster than everyone behind me.  One critical mistake over the next section of trail that I made was not hearing during pre race meeting that we were allowed to ride the bike path at times along this section.  Well not hearing this I spent the entire time on the snowmobile trial walking quite a long section of it. I was able to ride most of the steep hills which I took as an accomplishment in this section but had to walk quite a chunk of the roadside section (Those chasing actually were on the road on this section, that is a NO NO! OH Well).

Riding the last downhill on the Arterial Rd. snowmobile section was fun with Lance there to greet me.  I was able to take the downhill into the previously ridden trail from the beginning of the race in 1st and never looked back.  Knowing I was about to win, I was still worried so I was in full gas mode taking as many risks as possible to get to the finish in 1st!!

Well finally onto the opening rollout section and I knew it was over.  Final push up the hill and I was done.  Finally that monkey was off my back and completed goal #1 of the season.  Had about 80 bikers toe the line and 45 finisher this year.  1st place in 6 hours and 43 minutes on the 67 mile journey.  Very pleased with the way my body felt the whole day and how it responded when I needed it to during those surges.  Now hoping to put some good training in over the next month till the next Fat Bike Race at TRIPLE F FatBike Forty in Minneapolis,MN. That is all from here, out into the winter wonderland I go for some single track goodness.

Recycled Artwerks

**THANK YOU to Lance Andre (Race Director) & Squirrel (Brian Pottorff) for the great trophy**