Krug Park Race is THIS Sunday!!

Come on up!!!!

Course is awesome yet again!! Unless you like technical rock sections, then stay home....

Its fast and flowy with some good ole climbing... I can feel my legs seizing up as I type this...

BoneBender 2013!!

Sunday was the 5th annual running of BoneBender MTB race Enduro style.. 3hour and 6hour options. After years of doing duo's I decided to throw my hat in the 3 hour solo ring... Along with (what I counted) 87 others not counting SS or Clydesdale's.

Its ironic that I skip many MTB races because I hate riding rocks, yet I race this course every year and it has a decent amount of miles with enough rock to make me bring my sons baby wipes to work today in case I need to use the rest room. 

Some folks love the stuff, not me, I still hate them... I like to go fast on my bike. I don't have that much skills on them, so when your HR is maxed and your going 8 mph your basically just giving yourself a beat-down. Some dudes have skills though, I see them all smooth and fast though the tough sections... I should,  I had a great view from the side because I fumbled on some sections and I had to let everyone by...

Grass hill at the start.. In front of Rafal from NE in his sweet T6 Kit

Anyway, the race... Started pretty well actually.. I am pretty fit right now from my usual standards come beginning of April. Plan was start at the front and hit the single-track just behind the fast duo team members who are going to bury themselves for the entire lap. Myself, I was going to settle in for the long haul, or so I thought. Plan went off perfect other than forgetting to turn my Garmin on.

The race was started on pavement then went into a grassy hill, through some part of the race track and up a gravel hill to separate everyone. 

Fist lap in I unfortunately found the true key to having a good first lap and its simple. Just don't bobble, crash or anything. I did not do that... 5 miles in I made a stupid mistake on a easier section of trail and had to dismount and get to the side to let folks though. I had no idea I was going to be sitting there for a while when a train of 10-15 dudes came trucking by.. Then later I finally started getting into a groove and clipped a handlebar on a tree and down I go. Same story, to the side while another 10-15 dudes came screaming by. Let me tell you that is pretty frustrating. 

About the end of the lap the field was pretty much well scattered out, I have no idea of my time, but it was a really long lap as I remembered. Fueled up and off to for the second lap. 

Second lap started pretty well, I was not feeling overly fatigued and riding pretty well. Game plan going in was that the second lap was going to be steady at a good pace, but not too high so I can recover from the first lap and have a solid 3rd lap. I did get to cramping a little bit but some for fluids and calories fixed that. However, I got to noticing my time was running a little short and the trail seemed to be never ending. Once it finally hit me I bout went into panic mode, 'S***, if I don't get my A** in gear I am not going to get a third lap!!!!!' So off I went, I am in a literal race against the clock, if I don't get to the finish in under 3 hours, there not going to let me get out for a 3rd lap. 

I burned about every match I had trying to get to that finish line and it literally seemed to never get any closer.. I kept looking at my Garmin and it was ticking away, keep in mind I forgot to start till after we started, so I don't know exactly when 3 hours is;  2:20 (when the initial panic set in), 2:36 (crap), 2:45 (you have got to be kidding me) 2:55 (Owe Crap x10) and getting closer to the finish. 

FINALLY hit the gravel uphill towards the finish, absolutely buried myself up that climb and the last several miles to get in under 3 hours. To the finish line, 3:03..... Game over.... Bummer man... Finished up 17th out of 87 or 11th out of 34 in the 30-39.

Such a stupid mistake, I can think of countless number of times I could shave off 3 min... Owe, well..

Feelin the burn, climbing out to try and get under 3 hours. 

I felt pretty well most of the race and its the first time since I can remember that I actually wanted to do an extra lap. Today however, my body feels like I got in a fight.. Man I sometimes which Chris did not put on such great events, I might be tempted to skip those brutal rocks man...

RESULTS

PICTURES (Bart Cox)

PICTURES (Roger Harrison)

Owe and I cant forget the sweet shot I got of SC post race. Nothing better for post race recovery than beer, doughnuts and tacos!!!

Perry RR #3

Okay, I am about a week late on this one, but that's life.

Headed back to Perry # 3 for some redemption on my first Cat 4 RR... Ended up mid pack after the climb started kicking my butt. However, I did learn a ton that race. Being somewhat of a MTB convert (G-Wiz please forgive me!) I have virtually everything to learn about road racing.

Add All pics are Rogers. Thanks!! Very rare moment when I am sitting down on a climb.

The combination of being on Saint Patrick's day added with 30+ degrees and raining thinned out the field considerably. I still recognized some folks that I knew had decent legs already.

As soon as we headed out for the first lap of seven, it started raining. This did not really play much of a factor other than being cold and folks taking the corners pretty gingerly.

I thought this race started quite a bit faster than the last and my HR started to creep up pretty high from the start. I learned to attempt to keep out of the wind and conserve as much energy as possible. Which meant to be on the left side of the group on top of the bridge and the right coming back.

This is on the climb, lap 5ish.
Notice I can't climb in my saddle.  I simply hate climbing that way, although most guys are;
I think its from riding my MTB single speed for a long time. 

Come KOM time I wanted nothing to do with it and just kept a steady tempo to the top. I just don't have the legs yet to put too many digs in and still have legs left for the last lap.

Its been too long for me to remember all the details of the race other than come last lap people were pretty motivated. The corners I think helped me out, I wasn't as timid going though them and was able to keep on the group without too much effort.

I do remember however I felt great for the last 1/3rd of the race. In fact, I felt way better than the first 2/3rd of it. Good enough to remember it anyway...

Onto the last climb to the finish, after 6 laps and a previous race, you have gotten pretty familiar with it. Out of the saddle to start and then sit back down when it levels off and back out to finish it off when it pitches back up. Hit the last 100 yards with the remainder of the leaders (about 4-8 of us) and started to pass folks who where blowing up. Last 25 yards and I am sitting third, legs about numb from the effort. I thought I had 3rd in the bag when John Williams came by me and took it from me by less than a wheels length. Another lesson learned for sure!!

It took me literally an hour after the race to quit shivering from being so cold! I love it, what a blast this is!!

RESULTS

ROGERS PICTURES

Perry Circuit Race #1

Its official!!! My season has begun!!

And by my results the real work has officially begun as well..

I had intentions of hitting up Spring Fling on Saturday and Perry on Sunday, but a full day with my baby boy all to myself was too much to pass up. So I headed out to do the Cat 4 race at Perry Lake KS on Sunday. 

I recently upgraded to Cat 4 this winter after only one official road race under by belt which was the Tour of Lawrence as a Cat 5. Ironically these races resembled each other with a good climb each lap. Let me tell you, finishing up a race on a hill is way different mid season than first race of the year. 

Being my first "real" race I kept my ambitions at bay and just see what happens. Lining up I notice a good handful of dudes I recognize from CX but other than that it is a completely new scene to me. 

First lap I just got into the groove of riding in a group. At first I did not like being in the middle all that much, until sucking all the wind on the outside made me learn to get real comfortable in the middle of the pack real quick. I am sure its just because were still 4's but the group was a flippen accordion the entire time, speeding up then slowing down.

I think this was the final climb of the day. I was barley hanging on. 

I was able to stay with the group the entire race up till the final climb which exposed my lack of form real quick. You had to stay on the group because at the top of the hill (finish line of the circuit) it immediately went down hill and I was afraid that a group would get away and being left behind. 

After the downhill it ran across the Perry Lake Dam where the group would eventually slow down. Throughout the race a couple guys would try and make a break but I don't think anyone got further than 20 seconds up the road. 

Third lap was the KOM lap and even climbing like crap I toyed with the idea of giving it a shot. Well, until we actually hit the hill and I was already 30 yards back and that completely scrapped that idea. 

Last lap I somehow ended up in front by the end of the Dam and decided on a whim to put in a dig after the last corner onto some smooth roads. Took a Cycle City guy with me and he said we had a gap but I don't have the legs to hold anything right now and after 1/2 mile everyone had chased us down already. Perhaps burning a match that close to the finish was not the best idea, but hey, I was climbing like crap. Might as well hurt some legs to have some fun. 

I tried to stay in good position at the finish. The final climb had an initial steep section then it leveled out for a long time until it pitched back up at the finish line. I was in good position at the start but hit a wall about the middle of the climb and when It pitched up at the ended I fell off like a meteor to the back of the group. Bummer... 

Another pic on the climb

All in all, it was a blast. The race as actually kind of boring as far as action goes, but it was still fun. I am used to being all by myself for hours once I have been dropped by the Cat 1 MTB dudes. 

Besides the obvious of gaining form I did learn some things. 

1. Get better at staying out of the wind 

2. Don't chase down a group that is going to slow down anyway. I burned to many matches chasing down the group only to catch them and then the group slowed down anyway. 

3. Take in more calories. For some reason I thought the race was only going to be like 40 min. 

RESULTS

ROGERS PICTURES

Nothing but Cold January Mornings...

Letting my body rest a bit after a long summer and cross season and putting in some easy miles. I am trying to hit 500 miles for the month of January and I am going to cut it real close.

Man its hard to get out of bed at 4:30 am knowing there is nothing but the bitter cold waiting for you. Actually I find its easier to stay warm when its really, really cold like 10 degrees. You can bundle up and be fine. It's when its in the 20's I find it more difficult to find the perfect layering/gloves/boots etc... If you dress too warm, your going to sweat and then when you get cold again, it's really miserable.

Figure your going to be cold one way or the other anyway  its just going to be either at the beginning of the ride or at the end of it. I have just under 250 mi as of today, if I can get some 40+ milers in sometime it should not be too hard to hit.

Then will come February and it will be time to ramp up some intensity and start throwing in intervals and hills which are owe so much fun...

By the looks of the race results last weekend, we have some local cross fools still hitting it hard! Jump on over to KC Cyclocross and get the scoop on how the local boys and girls did at nationals.

On a warmer note... Looks like 2013 is already full of races in the works and these are just most of the local KS races.. Its going to be an interesting one switching my focus from MTB to Road...

It's that time of year.

Cross racing is coming to a close, which is fine by me. Now don't get me wrong, I love racing cross. I am just having one heck of a time convincing myself to train at any kind of intensity lately.

So its getting to be that time of year I find my weight creeping upwards and my avg speed on rides creeping downward. Usually I would be flipping out right about now, but with a full season behind, I am okay with letting by legs relax a little before I get back in training mode again for the spring.

There are a bunch of Cross races this week, on up to next weekend. I am not sure if I will be doing any of them though. My form is definitely fading and I have been riding like I have a bag of bricks tied to my waist. I hate racing and not being competitive. Simply participating is not very fun for me.

So we will see, perhaps after my sugar cookie hangover is gone, I might feel a bit differently by the weekend. Who knows...

One thing hasne't changed though. My disdain for trainers. I think I have ADHD or something, I have been on it twice and I can't bare the thought of a third time.

Check out what I got my little man for Christmas, his first bike! Sweeeet... I can't wait to get him out on two wheels!

Missouri State CX Championship

Go over to Twin Six to get the race report...

Look on my face says it all.. This race HURT!!

Results Here..

Pics Here..