No Bonebender for me, but did some gravel racing

With the weather changing BoneBender from Sun to Sat, left me hanging. I complete understand and agree with Chris L.'s decision, that's just how it goes sometimes.

With MTB racing taking a bit of a back-burner, I  did the only logical thing, built up a gravel single speed monster and go ride long and find some hills. We live in a great area for training gravel. The DK is on my must do list of races. Next year is probably going to be it. I just don't have the time to devote right now. I like to race races not just survive them.

Not my handelbars, but a good view of what some of the gravel looked like. 

To get a little taste of it, I wen't down to Jefferson City a couple weekends ago and races Cedar Cross. The race is 112 miles of gravel/singletrack/fields/some pavement. Other than bending my rim on some rocks for the single track, it was pretty bad arse! Bending the rim, not so bad arse....

I have never done a race like this, hell, I have not rode over 80 miles in one day in a very long time. Couple weekends before I took out the gravel rig on a big loop up here with a ton of climbing and a headwind to boot. If that was not going to prepare me, then nothing will. From this point, the amount of suffering will all depend on how much climbing and how much wind I am going to find out there.

Of course, being in Joetown, I preferred the course when it was up and down. 

The start of the race was an absolute blast! The race as getting strung out pretty good  but still enough people around to ride with. I ride alone 95% of the time so it was rather refreshing change of pace for me.
Being on a singlespeed I found that if I draft off a geared guy on the flats I could out climb most of them and make great time jumping from group to group.

When it was not gravel, it was pretty narly at times. 

But then we hit the singletrack and I had issues. I was riding a 40x15 which is perfect for me on the gravel, however not so much on any type of singletrack. I found myself walking any hill with any steepness.

The last stretch of the first half of the race I ran into a guy who was pretty much bonking. I agreed to toe him in as I just had two flats within 3 min of each other and lost touch of any sort of a group that was moving at a good pace. After I dropped him off at the halfway point, I charged him a tube for my work. It was a good thing I did, that is the tube I finished on!

The route took you through country gravel roads and then on the way back the last 30 + miles were via the Katy Trail and some river gravel roads. I had it in my head that once I hit 80+ miles and got down to where it was flat, I was home free. I was very wrong about that!At lest for me, there is enough different muscles being used when their is some elevation change that I don't get as tired. Once you hit the flats, there is no break what-so-ever. Its just straight up grind!

I did have some gas left during this section, so I kept a pretty good pace. As soon as I would catch a guy and think to myself I would sit up a little; I would see another person on the horizon and knew I would have to go catch that person as well.

I caught a bunch of guys in that last 30 miles. I have to tell ya though, the last 20 miles were rougher than the first 90! Finished up the race with beer shower to boot! I finished up I think 36 out of 126. Would have been a bit better had I not had those 3 flat tires, but then again, I am sure a bunch of guys in front of me could say the same thing.

Not sure what is next on my race calender. Life is pretty hectic right now and will not be able to get really back at racing until June. But I am itching for it!

Yes, I am alive. And yes, a bit out of shape.

This time last year I had already raced Perry Lake Circuit a couple times on the road bike and I had already started a program with Kent.

Neither one of those things have happened thus far. But..... Its time to start ramping things up. Uh, hopefully...

Last week I took the entire off work and prepped my home to sell. I had to pay the piper sometime for the weekends racing/riding etc. And let me tell you, it SUCKED! So I am hoping to free up some more weekend time to at least get one good ride in and try and get myself back to some kind of form. SC is already talking crap on me for cross this year, so I better watch myself.

I find it hard to motivate myself without any type of racing on my radar. Haven't even thought much about it since cross season winded down (for me that was mid December).

Sooooo. I registered for BoneBender in a couple weeks. Thought that might get some fire under me to start training again.

This should be pretty interesting. I registered for the 60k and Single Speed; and I have not ridden a trail on my MTB bike in 8 months plus and a single speed in years. Might as well do it right!!!

Now all I need to do it find my MTB and convert it to SS!

Well that was a fun season!!

Well I did not accomplish any of my goals for 2013, but I came damn close to all of them!! And I have to say that was a fun racing year. I did not get to race as much as I wanted, but who does. Life of having a family/kids, etc will always take precedence over racing, but they know I am a mental nut case and let me race quit a bit, so I am really blessed on all fronts.

I was able to get in 15 races for the season and can honestly say that I learned something new on every one of them. Its kind of crazy to think about, but now after four (3 solid years and 1 year just getting started) seasons of racing bikes I just now feel like I am starting to get it. I feel like just now am I really learning to race my bike. Yes, STARTING to learn how to do this. I have a ton left to learn, especially in road in which I still really know nothing in the grand scheme.

First, it is really easy to stay excited when you have a awesome LBS supporting you. Horizon Cycling has bent over backwards for the team and made us armatures feel a bit pro. I have been on a couple teams before and been supported by other bike shops, but nothing like this. Travis (owner) has gone all-out supporting the team and cycling in our community. I have not seen this much excitement with our local bike community ever and I believe Horizon Cycling has played a big part in that. If your ever in the area you have got to go check them out. 

While your at it head on over to the FB page and the Team page and give um a "like"..

Second, I knew from the last couple of years of training without any kind of knowledge of what I was doing was only going to get me so far. I had catted up to a point where hard work alone was not going to be good enough. Especially when your in your mid 30's and have limited time to train.  So I made a decision to hire a coach. I remembered Kent Woermann from when he was kicking my arse in singlespeed cross races and knew he was a damn good road racer to boot. Between that and some of my main race buddy/rivals were stepping up their game with him also. So if your looking for some direction and like me, doing hill repeats are you only workout, your not going to get the results you want by yourself. Even if you know what your doing, you still in my opinion need an outside prospective. Kent's a bad arse and I highly suggest giving him a try, with his help I can honestly say I am by far a faster racer than I have ever been. 2014 I know I am even going to be better. Head on over to his site and see what he can do for you.  You can only get your bike so light until you need to work on your 1. engine & 2. weight.

Now that this has become a novel I will make it brief.

MTB - Still fun as crap, I still get my arse handed to me in Cat 1. Still something I am going to race on the side, sorry G.

Bone Bender, 2013

Road - Still very new and exciting to me. I am going to continue to focus the spring/summers to racing road and maybe I can hang a bit better this year. 2013 to my surprise, I was getting repeatedly dropped out from the back of the 4's. Them dudes are fit, and unfortunately no my kind of fit. I still have a ton to learn, but I get motivated in getting beat. I would like to Cat up to 3's this year, but that is actually going to be challenging.

Tour of Lawrence, 2013 (pre-being dropped a lap or so later)

Cross - Um, this is my shiznizzel. I love racing cross and is now my #1 season from this point on. I had some decent results this year in the 3's. My main goal was that dang state championship jersey but I fell a bit short of that goal, but I made myself delirious by the effort in trying. Next year I am going to go from being the windshield in the 3's to the bug in the open field. Already have my rig ready to go! I am that excited about Cross. Ready to put Keck and Williams in their place, behind me at the finish line! Yah, I said it SC! Its going to be fun!!! Until we get lapped by Joe and company.

Boom! Going top be rocking out a Trek Boone this year. 

Missouri State Cyclocross Championship

Wow! What a race!!

Headed down to the CX state championship race in St. Louis on Sunday. I have had my eye on this race since last year when I got my arse handed to me by the St. Louis boys in Jefferson City in 2012. I have never raced cross in St. Louis before, so no matter what I knew this was going to be fun. Also we get to have a race in "cross" conditions with the snow the night before.

This was going to be my last one as a Cat 3, so I really wanted it to count. I am planning on catting up soon, so I am going to go from one of the top 3 in every race to one of the last 3, real quick-like.

One look at the course set up, add the snow and knew in a moment this race was going to be tough. The course was set up at St. Vincent Park. They seriously found a little bit of everything and incorporated it into the course. Had 2 sand pits, pavement, a good climb, some technical corners and add ice you have a great recipe for a cross race.

Warming up basically consisted of trying to stay dray and figuring out what combos of gear/gloves/boots to wear. I was either sweating or freezing it seems.

Had a great section that ran you through some singletrack ish trail 

I had done a little bit of research through the registered riders and crossresults.com to find out who I need to be looking for out there. Still a bit unsure, I asked a couple locals at the start line, who the fast dudes are.
I was starting in the second row which is okay if the guy directly in front of you gets clipped in and started okay. Well, this race was no different than most, and my guy does not get clipped in clean and I am 10 people back in the matter of 3 seconds.

Minus a little snafu on the first sand section my first lap actually went great. About 1/4 into it, I found the wheel of one of the labeled "fast dudes" the locals pointed out and hit the end of the first lap behind him. He was sitting 2nd and I 3rd.

Hey, here is the video of it, see for yourself. I had my GoPro turned on for this one.

After the fist lap I got passed by another dude and it stayed that way for the rest of the lap. I noticed at this point that the course was getting worse as the race progressed. Some of the corners were starting to ice up.
The race was pretty much blown apart by this time and there wasn't a group to be found. Just singles and a couple doubles. I traded some pulls with one more guy and thought that we were going to be able to pull back the guy riding in 3rd (1st was bout out of sight at this point and 2nd was in sight, just out of reach) who was just a couple seconds ahead of us.

1000 yard stare, I was in the hurt locker at this point.
Looks as if I was having a bit of trouble out of the corner.

I was beyond the point of delirious at this time and had started to make some mistakes around corners etc. With two laps to go, I thought this was going to be a good lap to catch up and make a play for the podium. On a corner that took us to the barriers I was still holding a wheel and I blew it and went down on some ice.
I got up and got back on as soon as I could but he had about a 10 second gap on me. I tried to close it the best I could, but I just couldn't. And that's where I would remain, finished up 5th. They got some fast guys over there.

It was a complete east side of the state event. The only west side guys were me, TDonn, Garet, and Mark D. Garet looked flippen awesome out there and won the open with his MTB. By the time I got changed and watched some of their race, he had already created a gap of nearly a minute. I think they were only about 1/2 way into the race at that point.

Results are not up yet, but you will be able to find them at USA Cycling when they do.

I saw a bunch of people with cameras, but these are the only photos I have seen yet.

JingleCross Rocks!!

Wow! I did not know what to expect heading up to the middle of Iowa to catch a cross race. I am rather sheltered in attending, well... Any race within a 2 hour drive from MO. I am also a little biased in I love Cross over other bike racing.

With that being said...JingleCross was the coolest bike event that I have ever been to!!! Between racing on the coolest course I have ever raced, to the atmosphere and the pros, it was worth the 4+ hour drive.

Saw some folks I know from the local races, and met some cool folks (Some of the T6 crew) up Mt. Krumpit. It was a blast!

Saw TDonn kill it in the 35+ and take 2nd. Then it was time to warm up. I think it took me longer to pin my arm/shoulder numbers on than actually warm up.

I only made it up for Sundays race and decided way late that I was going. They lined up based on the pre-registration date, which put me waaaaay back in the 7th row (50+ people back). It took the entire first lap for things to spread out a bit and find the room to stretch your legs out a bit. We were lucky enough to have the sloppiest race on the day with it raining the first couple of laps. I ended up moving up to 18th with gas still in the tank.

Here is my GoPro video of the first lap + 1/3 of the second (I apologize in advance for some of the language in the music. By the time it took to download I was fed up with editing as I don't have skills or decent software)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeVrhzmdhgc&feature=youtu.be

JingleCross FB

PICTURES

RESULTS

Here are some more picks/videos I took.

Looking across from the finishline

Vendors

Wheel Pit

Beer man on top of Mt. Krumpit

Top of Mt. Krumpit

This Guy

Course from top of Krumpit

The green thing. I don't know what they call it. 

The run up Mt. Krumpit

The Pros running up Krumpit

Check back tomorrow, I have some videos I am going to post. Ran out of time....

Boulevard Cup Cyclocross

Headed out to Shawnee KS for the Boulevard Cup!

I had to miss out last weeks races so I was eager to get back at it, especially when Boulevard Brewery  is the key sponsor!

During my warm up I noticed the usual suspects plus Mark came out to play with us today. I guess him and G & TDonn ran out of MTB races to dominate once BTE is over. 

The Boulevard guys laid out one hell of a nice course, had literally a bit of everything, sand, pavement a little bit of climbing and a bunch of switchbacks. I usually do well on courses like this. Well any course that does not have long power straights on them anyway. 

Started in the front row and had two to three guys picked out on which wheel I wanted to follow given how the race plays out. I don't like taking the hole shot, I can't pace myself properly and I don't want to blow myself up. 

So once were off I was sitting about 4 to 5 back when Mark who was looking to take the hole shot, blew straight by the turn in to get onto the course from the pavement and took the next 3 guys behind him. So I ended up second just like that. Fast forward a min later (its on the GoPro video, I don't want to spoil it for ya) and I find myself in the lead, exactly where I did not want to be. 

Click here and go to the video of the first lap. 

(You tube upload so slow with blogger it will take a day or so to get the actual video on the blog.)

The rest of the race would prove to be somewhat uneventful. I put the bike down a couple of times on the corners trying to be super cross man and rail them. I guess I got a little overconfident in my tires a couple of times.  Basically the whole race I wold take time on Andrew on the sand section and he would make it back on me during the pavement climb on the back side. We would yo-yo like this for the duration of the race. 

And just like that, I got my fist win ever as a Cat 3!!

RESULTS

TWIN SIX REPORT

On another note and even more important than my first win... Took my boy on his first MTB ride on his stryder bike and he LOVED IT!! He yelled either, come on dad or faster dad the entire time!!

Joules Cross, Day 2

Headed out to Lawrence for day 2 of Joules cross with two races on the agenda for the day. Last week that did not turn out very well with wheel issues. Got them glued back up and ready to rocks and rolls.

Leading up to race day, the prior weeks training sucked. I had nothing but issues. It a moving car on Tuesday, had to take Wednesday off because my knee was swollen. Back in the saddle on Thursday, my a.m. ride was cut short on Friday, because my 3 year old has placed my lights somewhere and my back up light battery went dead 10 min into my ride. (no worries, now that I have purchased a new light, finally found his secret hiding spot)

Anyway, the reason I even wrote this, is because my races would fare no better.

I lined up with the Masters 30+ and Masters 40+ and found out I was the only 30+ in the group. Boom! 1st place!!!! I rock!!!

I brought my GoPro and bought a bigger memory card for it and guess what, the flippen battery was not charged so I was only able to record the first 40 seconds of the Masters race. Not enough for me to mess with and post. 

Masters Race, Travis on my heels like usual. (Pic Rogers)

Race started pretty good. Hit the start and hole about 8 back and after a lap was sitting pretty well. After about 2 to 3 laps my rear wheel was going flat. SOB!! I pitted and grabbed my spare wheel and got back in the race and had intentions of catching back up with the group that just passed me while pitted, but they were actually in a race and digging deep. I lost motivation with about 3 laps to go and sat up to conserve energy for the next race. 

About an hour before the Cat 3/4's I got back on my bike (hoping the stans would seal the pinhole leek I have in my tubulars) and the tire seemed to be holding pressure so I did not worry to much more about it. 

Before the race I felt like I could take a nap. Lined up and did not really know who to watch, I did not recognize but a couple guys. Start went pretty good and I got in the hole shot again about 7 back and held my position pretty well without too much effort.  There was one long false flast/uphill section that drained my legs first race, but this one the strangest thing happened. I felt great!!! I am normally an out of the saddle kind of rider, but I was able to stay seated and just hammer it up. 

Was feeling so good second race,  goosed Jaret K & Rocky R on my way past them up the hill (pic Rogers)
Its a good feeling when your going good and can have some fun. 

After a couple laps the I settled in behind the eventual winner and we started reeling in the leaders but every lap I found my rear tire loosing pressure again. Each lap it was getting worse and worse and with 3 laps to go I was all over the place. This sucks!!!!! The four of us were within 5 seconds of each other and It was anyone's race. I knew I would not catch them with so few laps left but really had no other choice, I was all over the place. Went to the pit, changed my rear wheel and there everyone went. I eventually caught up with the second group and ended up having to sprint up the final climb to take 7th. 

Every race is a new learning experience. Sucks when you have good legs but your bike is not working with you. Any suggestions to fixing a pin hole leak in a tubular???

Hey! Still had matching wheels at this point!! (Pic, Rogers) 

Man, I am really seeing the value of a pit bike. When I had a spare bike, I never used it once. I could have used one the last 3 out of 4 races. Maybe I need to put some cross tires on my MTB? Travis seems to be kicking arse on his... Hopefully next race I can finish on the wheels I start with. 

RESULTS

ROGERS PICS

TWIN SIX REPORT