True Grit Epic 100- Sunny and DIRT!!

View towards the start
Site of bike set up and first 
dirt tracks of the year

So the True Grit Epic 100 Bike Race would be the first true mountain bike race of the year for me.  This year is looking to be a little different for me as I focus on races across the nation in pursuit of having fun and racing hard with my many new friends I have made over the years now. This opening race was held in warm and sunny St. George,Utah which meant that I would be embarking on a first in my many years of racing, flying to a race.  A week earlier I had sent my bike down to St. George and was scheduled to join it on Thursday before the race.  I flew in to Las Vegas on Thursday evening and stayed there for the night as they have cheap rooms that charge ridiculous hotel fees after you check out!!! 

Zen Loop- Crazy Line
(My Photo featured inSonya Looney MTBR Report)

After sleeping off the flight in Vegas, I was northbound for the sunny desert.  I planned on getting to St. George and taking the bike out on a spin for a little pre-ride.  Got to Red Rock Bicycles who held my bike until I got there (Thanks Guys!!)  and found the bike in perfect condition. Immediately like a kid on Christmas morning I headed out to the start venue where I planned to assemble the bike and head on the pre-ride.  I was so excited to finally be standing in the warm sun with temps over 40 degrees.  Long WINTER!!  I assembled my bike on what would be the start line the next day out of the back of my rental.  Fun.  I couldn’t contain my excitement as I finally got everything together, kited up, and was off on the dirt instead of the snow.

Great View on on Zen
(My Photo featured inSonya Looney MTBR Report)

I decided that I would check out the Zen loop as many locals and fellow racers said this was the most technical of loops and warrented a look. I proceeded up the opening climb for the race which was up a nice and rugged dirt road.  Getting to the top I started to run into all the great folks I like to call friends from the past year.  Getting to stop and chat as I was out for pre-ride was great as it had been a long 6 months since the last time I saw many of these folks.  I proceeded to hit the Zen and was amazed at what I found.  This loop was no more than 1 hr. on race day but it was going to be a tough hour.  The loop was full of slick rock, boulders, and cliffs all over.  The drops were big and terrain technical beyond anything found in Iowa! During my pre-ride I stopped many times to take photos and enjoy the view that I knew the next day would just be a blur.  Also I was stopping because of the technical nature of the trail. I scouted a few lines and found out that many times I needed to trust my bike and skills and just take stuff at speed in order to get down the lines. Well got through the pre-ride and didn’t kill myself so +1 for the first true mountain bike ride of the season!  YES!!!!!!

Zen looking down on
Bear Claw Poppy and Stucki Springs

After the pre-ride, I again chatted with some folks from the great shop 92FIFTY (Elevated Legs Supplier) and proceeded to race check in and hotel lounging.  My night was filled with the normal pre-race jitters as I laid out everything for the next morning.

Race Morning

Woke up after a fairly good night’s rest and was ready to tackle the day ahead.  The temps in the morning was a balmy 60 degrees and I not ready for the high temps, hot racing, and full sun that the day was going to bring.  

Sunny and high’s in the upper 70’s were on tap for the race but the racing was going to be much hotter.  The SingleSpeed class for the 2014 NUE Series looks to be a fun one with all the top finishers from 2013 returning to take up the challenge again and I am sure some new top contenders will also be joining us for the fun this year.  

Race Time

Check out the other photos of the race at
Crawling Spider Photography
http://crawlingspider.com/true-grit-epic-2014/

After a little rolling around for my warm up and getting all the final checks done I headed to the starting line. As I prepared to toe the line the top 4 SS finishers from 2013 were all together once again.  Around me was Gerry, A.J. and Ernesto and I knew that this was going to be hard but fun day with friends. Right from the gun it was on.  Gerry took the early lead up the opening climb obviously wanting to open an early lead to make the rest of us chase him.  That we did as A.J. and myself took a chase position up the road climb working together to rotate and stay out of the wind.  The story of the day was no doubt the wind!!  For most of the day if you weren’t getting a boost from the tailwind you were getting stopped dead in your track with a massive head wind or blown over with even stronger cross winds.  

Check out the other photos of the race at
Crawling Spider Photography
http://crawlingspider.com/true-grit-epic-2014/

After the opening road climb, things came together as Gerry, AJ, Myself, and another SS were right together to enter the Barrel Ride section of trail.  It was here that mishap #1 for me on the day hit.  Unfortunately this being my first time on the SS race bike in 4 months not everything was set up and ready to go. My bars tipped on a nasty rock drop and I had to make the hard decision to watch the 3 other guys ride away as I fixed the bars.  The bad thing was I needed to stop again later to move the brake levers as I mistakenly placed the bars just off.

After fixing the bars I could see Hammer Nutrition SS in front of me so I made a push and worked my way up and past him to take hold of 3rd entering Zen.  During the pre-ride of this section, Zen was very challenging but surprisingly at race pace I was able to make all the drops and climbs with ease and push through very fast.  Feeling good about this I went on in hopes of pulling Gerry and A.J. back.  The next section of Bear Claw Poppy trail was rocking fast.  This section had multiple line selections and was ripping fast but bumpy. I could see why Gerry choose to ride a Full Suspension SS for True Grit due to this fast but rough section of trail that was all downhill. I was able to rock this out very fast and then it was to the nightmare section of Stucki Springs. 

Check out the other photos of the race at
Crawling Spider Photography
http://crawlingspider.com/true-grit-epic-2014/

Stucki Springs would have been an awesome trail with a pretty nice uphill grade for a SS to keep power to the pedals without spinning out but not today as it was into a stiff, possibly 20-30 mph headwind.  This sucked as it was about 1 hr. of riding straight into the wind but grit your teeth and get through it is all I thought. I did swear at the wind a few times as I despise wind in general! Getting through this with a geared local’s help I hit the Rim Runner trail with strength and feeling good.  Barrel Roll Aid station was next where I pulled away from my geared friend and was on my own to get nearly blown off the trail and over a cliff by unbelievable cross winds!!!  This was nasty as many times you would be on slick rock and feel your bike slide sideways because of the wind.  A little unnerving but again in True Grit style, Grit and bear it!!  Got through here fine and back to the aid and heading to what was suppose to be my second lap.

Here the biggest mistake of my day happened.  Unfortunately on this section of trail, a running race had been run the weekend before and had used white arrows to mark the route.  This section of the trail the arrows appeared and seemed to run right with the trail markings for the race which were hard for me to see due to never racing in the dessert, the wind and little orange pieces of tape that were getting blown away by the wind.  So as I crested a hill I saw the white lines so headed on with the fire road type trail not seeing off to the left the hidden sign where we were to enter a washout and head to lap 2.  I rode on, off trail for about 30-35 minutes, literally all uphill and wound up back at Barrel Roll Aid.  Knowing I had missed a turn I did the only logical thing and headed back on trail to find where I missed the turn.  By the time I found the missed turn I had been bumped back and lost about 40 minutes to now 3rd place SS Ernesto.  GAME OVER!!

Finish Line- Not a bad view for a school!

I pushed on with hope of pulling Ernie back in but knew it was not in the cards as I had used alot of effort on the off course riding and now was into the wind and uphill sections of trail that worked me over pretty good.  I did my best to limit my loses on the day.  The second lap was pretty much myself riding with myself.  Rode shortly with Curt Wilhelm of 92 Fifty but I had an adrenaline rush knowing I was finally nearly done so I burst off and towards the finish.  Ended up finish 4th in the SS class and 21st Overall in just over 8 hours. I really do feel that if I hadn’t taken the wrong turn I would have been in under 7:30 but I guess I will have to try my luck next year to see this come to fruition. Congrats to the other three on a strong ride though as they were riding strong for such an early season race. Not quite the start I imagined but what was interesting, the SS class now sits with the top 4 from last year in the exact same positions we ended 2013 in.  Weird but only fitting to lead to one heck of the year.  Next up for myself and many of the top dogs is Cohutta 100 in Tennessee at the end of April. See ya there!!

Garmin File and Other Race Reports
True Grit Bike Epic Garmin File
MTBRaceNews.com Race Report
Pfun with Pfulg Report
A.J. Linnell Write Up
Sonya Looney MTBR Report

PWC 2014- Race that could have went better!

PWC 2014 has come to a close and so has the first portion of my 2014 season.  Pugsley World Championships was the last race in my early season schedule of Fatbike Snow races.  I was going into this race with high hopes of a good finish due to the fact that it was on home course and the snow conditions were looking good.  Hopes and actuality with me often don’t see eye to eye.

Rolling to the start

Race Day

For once got to wake up in a familiar place (my house and bed).  Slept in till I felt like getting up.  As always on a race morning I was jittery and ready to get the day going.  I was able to get a good breakfast in and then it was kit up time and off to sign in for the race.  Upon arriving at the race sign in I was met with not the greatest of starts to the day in that they were pushing back the start due to the snowfall the night before and need to remark the course.  Oh well guess the pre-race tablets I had taken were all for not.  So be it, decided to sit at the Elks Lodge in Decorah until race start and see what I was going on with all the other racers. Was nice to see a couple of new faces this year and of course some of the oldies as well.  Time finally came and we were told the course and time to head out to start line.  Disappointed a little in the length of the course this year at only 10 miles I was figuring it to be about a 1:30 minute course at most.  Gross overestimate on my part.

Waiting for the GO!!!

Race Time

Rolled out to the start line by taking the group of fatties down Water St. (Main St. Decorah) to the odd looks of everyone we passed.  You would think people would get use to us in town with how out there us locals are when riding but I guess not.  The start was located below Palisades park on the gravel (snow) road by the river.  It would be a nice 1/2 mile flat rollout to get the legs opened before it was straight uphill into the lung and leg burners of the Quarry/Whitetail/Clay Hill combination.

The start of the race was a good indication of how the day was to unfold. I went to the front of the pack and started the pace line with Hollywood next to me in another pace line.  I figured being the local I was going to be pushing this line up the hill for a while.  After the long flat rollout it was right and up Quarry/Whitetail. This hill is deceiving as the beginning is paved then turns to good gravel where it starts to go up and then another right and then BAM!!, hits you below the belt hard and makes you want to cry.  That is exactly what it did to me as we hit the gravel Shockey (Local) took the pace lead and pushed it up the hill.  Talking to him later he thought this was a good place to try and separate out some of the racers to see who had the legs. I was feeling fine with this and grabbed his wheel when we took the hard right up Whitetail and pushed as hard as I could knowing that the downhill was icy and going to be troublesome if there was a crash.  

I made it to the top with Shockey and a slight gap on the group of Hollywood, Hollywood Teammate (Sorry Man forgetting name), and Trevor Olson.  Felt good about this so down I went with caution trying to end my race on the icy gravel under the couple of inches of snow from the night before.  It was here that the race was set and the front group of 5 was formed as we got to the end of the decent together and content to work it out over the next couple of miles of gravel roads.  Going up Clay HIll I once again was at the front working to keep the tempo good and stay out of trouble.  The climb up was rough as there were good inclines on this mile long hill that sent my tires spinning because of the ice/snow combination.  I was putting in power only to be caught by the hill with a spin out.  Finally I was content to go with the group over the top due to the fact I knew a head wind was waiting and wanting to catch a break hopefully not on the front.  I was wrong!!!

Went over the top and the refusal of anyone else to go to the front meant I was leading it again.  After about another 1/2 mile, Trevor Olson finally came around and pushed at the front for a little bit.  That was much appreciated!!  After make same 90 degree turns on the gravel on top of the ridge it was down a little hill and back up.  Right after this hill I knew that we would be turning into a tailwind so I took the chance and I jumped.  I put in a strong effort to break away hoping the tailwind would help to hold out front.  Well Hollywood and his teammate didn’t let that last long as about a 1/4-1/2 mile down the road they were back on me but I felt that it was good to separate at least two off the group.

Down the long fast hill to what would be the deciding part of the race.......The Singletrack!!

No Passing Singletrack!!

Well got down the hill just fine and knew it would be a dismount into the singletrack so I was ready in cyclocross style and jumped off the bike and into the snowy foot wide path.    Here I was able to make a little jump again and got around Hollywood after he decided to loose some pressure. I made the decision this year to start off low knowing that some would go high and dump air after entering the trails.  This paid off as I was now in the lead and pushing on.  But then my excitement got the best of me and I was off trail in about 2-3 feet of snow.  It was here that Trevor Olson got by so I jumped back on and pushed on with him. By the end of Iowa Public Television I knew it was going to be a Trevor taking the win, but which one?????

So we pushed on as I ran through the remaining parts of the race in my head wondering how i was going to get around Trevor in order to take this W. I wasn’t able to make anything happen on the open Prairie section as I had hoped as the trail was down to pretty much a tire width and visibility was low due to the snow really falling now.  So on I went following along hoping for a mistake.  After Olson bobbled a little in the Pines East I thought I might get around but no go as I plowed into heavy snow, so back on I went.  I finally made a pass right before entering the Pines West.  Not to far in though I got overzealous and washed out on a corner that has gotten me many time before in snow and dirt.  So Olson was back around. I knew that I had one last opportunity for a pass and that would be from Pines to Little Big Horn.

Made the turn out of the PInes and Olson punched it to keep me behind and I didn’t dare a pass knowing how soft the trail was on the sides.  So I went in behind Olson on Little Big Horn hoping for a slip up by him.  That never did come. We rode tire to tire rubbing often over the next mile or so of trail.  Once we were off of LIttle Big Horn and on Rocky Road, I had to accept the fact that the race was over. 

Down Rocky Road I could have went faster me knowing the trail but with Olson in front of me and nowhere to pass I was stuck in 2nd.  After Rocky it was the Luge and the finish right at the end of the Luge.  2nd place rubbing Olson’s tire all the way in.  I was a little bit disappointed with this finish position because the race was decided by the fact that there was no passing in the last 2 miles of trail even though we were a dead heat!!!  In a race I feel that it needs to be decided like a race and if you are with another guy, a sprint finish. Take us down the opening gravel or at least a few hundred feet of road but don’t let the trail not being passable decide the race!!!!!!  Okay I will stop ranting, still not happy with this though!

So overall the race was not a complete wash but definitely a disappointment.  I wasn’t impressed how my legs felt in the trails section but more disappointed with my riding quality in this section.  Could have done more if I would have staying up right those 2 times.  Oh well race over and on to the actual season.  2nd Place overall in around 1:07 for 11.5 miles of snowy Gravel/Trails.  Olson took the win and Hollywood was 3rd so at least I got Hollywood after last years debacle.  Lessons learned and need to be a little more hard nosed in racing sometimes.  Don’t just let people by.

PWC Garmin File

Actual season starts this weekend, True Grit 100, the opening race in the NUE Series. I am looking forward to this season as I will try and take a podium spot in the Singlespeed Overall. Hope to get off to a good start in the desert outside of St. George,Utah.  Look for upcoming race updates as the season gets going and I tackle the big dogs of the NUE Singlespeed Class!!!  All for now. Thanks for reading.

Fatbike Frozen 40- Frozen everything!!

Traveled to the north country for a little Fatbike fun this past weekend.  FatBike Frozen 40 was on tap in Champlin,MN.  Took off early Saturday morning (4:00 a.m. to be specific) for the race that was set to shove off at 9 a.m.  About a 3 hour drive up and figured should account for some traffic in case.  Arrived plenty early at around 7:45 so had time to get registered and geared up.  The race was being held at Elm Creek Park just north of the cities on what was suppose to be some of the best winter single track around.  Having never ridden here was taking the word of everyone out there and hoping for a good day.

After registration it was back to the truck to get dressed as it was a balmy 5 degrees out and didn’t feel like freezing while getting dressed.  This is where the first bad omen of the day came.  As I put on my race gear, I went to pull my Camelback Race Back jersey hose out of where it was stuck and pulled the cap right off thus soaking my tights/chamois and SS jersey in the process.  All I had in the truck so it was soaking wet I would be.  Finished getting all geared up and then figured I should at least ride around to get halfway warmed up.  Problem area in winter racing!!!  As I rolled around I couldn’t help but feel off as I had developed a wonderful head cold 3 days earlier and it was still full throttle as I rolled my warm up.

Race Time!

So I lined up for the pre race meeting and start line knowing where I should be, at the front at least for the start.  So 2nd row is where I ended up as they called up the top dogs for the series at the race.  Hoped it wouldn’t matter any way.  Bang!!! Time to roll.

The race opened up with a 1/4 mile dash to a turn around cone in which we would then fly back down the same road towards the start line again and off into the wider horse trail for the parade lap.  Got off good and was sitting in with the front line as I flew into the snowy double track.  Sitting a little over 10th and seeing that I needed to bridge a gap before it got away I made a push and grabbed onto the tail end of the lead train of around 7 riders.  Felt ok for the start, heart rate a little high and breathing labored I kept the push on knowing I needed to be here if I wanted to do anything in this race.  Got through the parade lap just fine and finally started the 1st of 4 Singletrack loops of around 10 miles.  

Hitting the single track for the first lap I noticed right away that the trail was in pretty solid condition, the only thing that I did notice is that it was a very icy layer of cornstarch snow on top.  Every corner I was struggling to hold an edge and keep the bike on trail.  This would be the story of the day for me!!!  It was in the first 4 miles of the 1st lap that my race would go to shit and the beginning of a long day would happen.  As I went down the trail, all of a sudden BANG!!  I slammed my head into a low hanging branch.  Fuzzy, seeing double and wobbling around on the bike I slammed into a tree with my handlebars.  OMEN #2.  Just this past week I had done the same thing on the Decorah trails except I had broke my helmet in 3 and suffered what I diagnosed as a mild concussion.  Well that concussion was back again as now my head throbbed and I was having trouble balancing the bike.  Nonetheless I carried on pushing hard to hold onto the trail that rolled up on me.  I was still sitting top 10 at this point and felt I could push on.

Toward beginning still feeling fresher!

After some fast, slippery single track the course opened into the prairie section that seemed to be the toughest section every lap.  This section was complete whiteout conditions in that it was terribly flat light and you couldn’t tell where the trail was at because of this.  Pushed on and was off the bike more than I have ever been in the opening 10 miles of a race like this. Got through the opening lap and knew I needed to get some fluids in after a rough 1st lap and Omen #3 hit, FROZEN WATER!!  OH NO!!!!!!!

Well my water in my Camelback line was frozen solid, both bottles were solid. Only thing to do was head out for lap #2.  This lap went about like the first except the trail started to get worst and worst.  This the lap that the ruts started to appear in the trail.  Also during this lap the prairies section added a new challenge as large, large snow started to fall.  The race was expecting 1-2 inches of snow during the race so on I went trying to again make out where the trail was.  This time the trail threw another wrench into the mix as you tried to fly to catch up all of a sudden the trail sunk and you were slogging through powder trying just to stay upright.  When you did put a foot down you had to make sure that you didn’t go off trail with that foot otherwise it was into 2 ft. of powder you toppled!  Well only did this another 10-20 times during the race, as my Cobrafists would attest to at the end of the race (3-4 inches of snow in them!). 

Lap 2 went by and still I rolled on.  This time I stopped to see if my two bottles in my cooler were ok or frozen.  Luckily there was little non-frozen drink in these so I got as much out of it as I could (10 oz. possibly) and off for Lap 3.

This was a good looking part of trail!

Lap 3 was more of the same with much more pushing up hills and some downhills were starting to require a kickstand leg out to stay upright.  The trail had developed significant ruts everywhere and it was challenging to get any momentum at all.  Still pushed through and pulled into the pits one last time.  It was here that I figured I needed to finish the 4 laps at least never one to DNF and keeping my pride alive!! I pushed out for Lap 4 at around 3 hrs. into the race.  I had all but lost hope of a good finish and was just trying to finish the race now.

Lap 4 was some of the worst riding I have done in a long time.  Riding is not the word for it as a majority of the lap was spent walking not only uphills but also downhills as it was very rutted, soft and not much fun anymore. Still though pushed on and pushed on.  On this lap I ticked off the miles and kept looking for my checkpoints I had established on previous laps to know where I was.  Pushed hard as I could as I wanted to finish the race and be done!!  Across the line I rolled not knowing where I stood and not really caring much other than to get a drink of some water in my system having had little to none throughout the race.  

So after the race found out where I stood after all.  8th Place Overall in a time of 4:33:06. Long day in the saddle with a refreshed mild concussion, very frozen water (no water) and head cold to boot!!  The race overall was a very well put on race. Major props to the race directors, volunteers and anyone else that helped.  Trail conditions are a part of the sport and only the strongest will continue to push onto the end.  Great talking with Ben Welnak from MountainBikeRadio.  About all.  Time to enjoy the non-existent Blizzard raging outside the house!  Until next time….. 

Iowa Winter Games- CVAST Winter Weekend Fat Bike Race

Up this weekend was the Iowa Games Winter Fat Bike Race/ CVAST Winter Weekend in Waterloo,IA.  This race was taking place at George Wyth State Park, a place I have always wondered about as far as where it was and what was there. Well it really is quite a beautiful place.  What probably helped to make everything even better was the fresh 2-3 inches of snow that fell on the morning of the race.

To the Race

Trail really never looked
 this good during the race

So going into this race I felt that I was just going down for a little training ride not knowing how many people would show up.  This race is probably the shortest race that I will do all year as it was only scheduled to be an hour race. I was planning to put in a hard effort and get a good workout but didn’t expect the competition to push me as hard as I did end up have to push. I didn’t put to much into this race as I drove down morning of leaving with just enough time from Decorah to pull in, put the bike together and toe the line.  No warm up for me today!!

The course was a flat, ski groomed trail that ran on mostly double track, flat terrain.  The course was just over a mile long with two loops overlapping in the middle.  The race really did turn into a cyclocross race on snow, with fatties.  The middle overlapping section from the beginning was going to be a pure running section as it was potholed to start the race due to the large tent area in the middle for spectators and the roaring fire.  

So at the start line, I took a look around and didn’t recognize many, as is becoming common in Iowa as I don’t race much here anymore.  One thing that surprised me was a group of riders coming up and asking “ How do you know Dwayne??”.  Hmmmmm.  Confused I asked how they knew him and come to find out they were from St. Louis and came up to ride their fatties in snow for once!  Ha!  Shout out to Mike from Pfu Cancer and all those from St. Louis that I didn’t catch names of.  Great seeing you at the race and congrats on your finishes!

Dale Waack Photo's- Check out his great shots
of the race on the CVAST Facebook Page

Game On

So the start was as expected and I took the hole shot from the start.  First on trail and the story was over.  I was able to ride about 20-30 feet at the entrance to the trail and then it was onto foot for about 30-40 yards.  After this I was on a mission to open a gap.  The trail on the first lap was miserable.  Very soft conditions where I just kept the pedal down and went where the bike took me.  I was able to put down right around a 10 minute lap to open the race and had about 10-15 secs. on second (Mike from Pfu Cancer) and knew I would have to kept the pedal down in order to get some distance.

Dale Waack Photo

Second lap through lap 6 were more of the same.  The trail throughout the race got better and better.  Every lap the groove got a little more pronounced and packed in.  I was able to negative split most of the race, other than lap 3 or 4 where I got caught up behind at least 20 lapped riders.  It was nearly impossible to pass since the trail outside of the groove was 5 inches of soft, soft snow.  When I did choose to pass I punched it and jumped out of the groove and just hoped that I could keep the front wheel straight. During laps 3-6 my lead gradually grew as I was putting at least 15-20 seconds a lap on second and could see this every time I went through the running section and opening section of each lap. 

Dale Waack Photo

I was able to come through Lap 6 at 57 mins. flat so I had one more lap to go to finish the race.  This was actually the best lap of the entire race. I was able to clean the opening section of trail (only lap to do so) and boy was it every fast.  It was during this lap that I laid down my fastest split by putting in a 15 mph. effort in a great section of trial.  I felt as though I was flying through this lap with no dabs other than the running section and exit to the trail with a pretty much mandatory run up. 

Finish It Up

Well I was able to finish the race at 1:03:55 which was a good days work.  Know it was a tough push when I had an average heart rate of 169 and max of 179.  Pretty much had it pinned the whole day.  Ended up 1st Overall for the second race of the season.  Really enjoyed the race and CVAST put on a good race for their first year doing this.  Will return to this one was it is very close and great to support a group that is making an effort to spread single track in Iowa.  Two weeks till the next race which should prove to be a good test as I travel up to the Triple F Frozen Forty in Minneapolis.  Time to relax in my Elevated Legs and get ready for the week ahead. All for now.  Race GPS FILE

Trying to not shiver to bad!

Blue Ribbon Winner

Chatting w/ the St. Louis
Contingent Post Race

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**