"The bike" -- I've been talking all spring long, on & off about getting a new bike to race this season with. Being so uptight and exacting, I must have analyzed things a hundred different ways over 8 or 10 weeks before settling in on a one of kind Trek Top Fuel 69er, yes, one of those Travis Brown freak bikes which can’t embrace uniformity of wheel size. It's however dressed up from the stock model Trek has on it's website. I worked with Penn cycle in Bloomington because they were willing to swap out parts at cost and were really understanding in helping build the bike I wanted. I learned a big lesson last year about working with bike shops to get the right bike, I know some people are fans of Jay "Hollywood" Henderson, of H-wood cycles, but I unfortunately didn't have a favorable experience last year in purchasing my Salsa 29er. Could have been communication on both our parts but I was left rather aggravated & unhappy from the process.
This full suspension 69er (29" wheel upfront, 26" wheel in back) has been set up with XTR, shimano componets, and the bontrager race x lite wheels, etc. Saddle is a fi’zi:k Aliante Gamma XM – most delightful saddle ever as far as my backside is concerned. I went with a Bontrager Dry 1.8" front tire -- which I had questions about it's width at first but it handled both the MNSCS race & the Cable Off Road classic without any problems. But you've got to try it to know if it's something you like to race with.
So how do I like the bike overall? All I can say is the bike suites me really well, I've got what I feel is reliable front steering that one can be carelessly aggressive with. And there's snap and quickness I like in the smaller 26" rear wheel. (Some riders notice the difference in turning the 29” wheels & 26” wheels, other don’t. I for one do, hence the 69er is so appealing). Both front & rear suspension I keep to a minimum when I'm racing, but I also pedal alot in the saddle so even that little give helps a lot when cranking the pedals in a higher cadence fashion like I do.
Otherwise when riding for fun the suspension is open all the way for a smooth ride. If I had to get picky I'd increase the head tube angle which at 69 degrees puts that front wheel out there a ways more than my previous bikes at 72 & 73 degrees. I'd also put less travel in both front & rear suspensions and have a carbon frame. Again, that's just getting picky because this one is dressed up as nice and light as just about any full suspension race bike out there.
I ride with 25psi in the front 29x1.8" Bontrager Dry that has a mixture of Bontrager "Juice" & Stan's in the rear I have 28psi on a 26x2.0" Bontrager Revolt(-something). Every have questions about this hybrid ride, drop me a line.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Cable Off Road Classic
I’d wanted to prep really good for this years race as ’07 edition had been a disappointment for me. Each of the two weeks before the race I drove down to Cable and gave the course a run. In fact I had some pretty wild encounters on my previous pre-rides, the Weds before the race about half way into the course I come across what I first imagined at a distance to be black squirrels… but as I got closer…oh wait, shit, those aren’t black squirrels. That’s right, some of the tiniest baby black bear cubs you've ever seen. Dangit, dangit, dangit!! There they are 100 feet in front of me in the middle of the trail with no Mama bear in sight – key words “in sight”. Now what? Well, for those of you who’ve never watched Animal Planet, or Wild America, or even the other weeks Grey’s Anatomy, you’ll know the next dumbest thing to walking through a hostile area of Bagdad unarmed, is coming between a mother Black bear & it’s cubs. So I reposition my bike for an well advised escape and start yelling at these unassuming bears. (I sort felt bad scaring the little guys), the little one’s scampered up the near 100yr old White Pines while Mama reared her big ‘ole head long enough so I could see her off to the left heading in what would appear to be the opposite direction. With that in mind, I tried to remember if the trail --which was starting to go around the corner -- doubled back or not. Well, I didn’t remember and just decided to make a go and fly down that trail as fast as I could.... figuring I may not hit the top speed of 30 mph to out run the bear on this trail, but if I could do 20+mph it might take her long enough to give up the chase and lose her appetite. As it turned out, I’m here today to post with all body parts intact so the story ended well. Except for the odd chance that when I got home that night at 1:40am I’m awaken from my deep slumber to my 4 dogs going crazy at something outside on our deck – wouldn’t you know it… another Mama black bear and 2 cubs. DANG, they followed me all 40 miles back home!! Ok, ok maybe not the exact same black bears but definitely their cousins to the north of the Bibon swamp. What are the odds of that happening with 6 hours of each other?
So what’s that got to do with the Cable Off Road Classic race itself? Nothing.
Anyways, I was coming off a slightly poor training week, and hadn’t road the previous couple days because I was too busy cutting trails at the house and doing yard work. So Saturday morning I’m all stiff & sore, so I get on the bike at house for a quick 20 min spin before driving to the race. I gave a couple hard efforts that had me feeling even worse, so now I’m almost convinced I’ve screwed up my prep for this race. However, I packed up and took the 45 min drive down to Lakewoods, got registered only to find out all the preferred starts had been sold out (ouch!). Oh well, guess that’s going to make for an even more interesting race today. As soon as I start warming up however, I feel really strong and can ride fast without feeling crappy unlike about an hour previously—hmmm… maybe it will be an ok race. I get to the start late but fortunately a super nice racer I’ve known for years Don Freitag from Marshall, WI let me bump in front of him about halfway back in the 250 person race. At the horn, I knew I had to pounce on every opportunity to get close to the top 40 or 50 to have any kind of chance, of not getting trapped in single track purgatory at the 1 ½ mile mark. It’s where the entry to the single track on this course gets backed up horrendously. I snap up a bunch of places rather quickly as I’m feeling strong but also putting out a big, big effort. I hear words of encouragement on the first hill from Tom Gaier and jump past another dozen riders. Later on I catch up to what I guess is the tail end of the preferred start as I pull up next to good ‘ole Paul Belknap and give him a tap on the back. He looked to be riding good himself. I got to the single track about 8 spots too late. A line begins to form and I’m stuck behind 4 or 5 single track technically challenged bikers for the next 10 minutes. Sure it’s frustrating but once it happens there’s nothing you can do about it except bide your time and give positive encouragement to those in front of you. (Cuz when was the last time yelling or complaining hasn’t made the lesser skilled rider in front of you screw up anyways and slow things down further).
Once back in the double track I hammer on again picking up more places. This is unusual for me because I tend to start real fast and slowly drop places, this time the roles are reversed and it’s actually a good feeling. Without a ton of play by play for the remainder of the race, I crept up from around 50th position to the mid 20’s. It was hard but doable as with each mile another racer would show up in the horizon and I (or we, if a group was with) would pass up yet another person. Catching people slowed up by mile 18 or 20 of the 23 mile race and from that point on it was just a hard push to the finish. As I recall there was a group of 3 of us with maybe 2 or 3 more pursuers of which gaps would open and close with the hurdling of downed trees & logs (from the previous night’s wind storm that littered the course). I should have probably taken more water, endurance drink or gel but taking the time to do it and having the opportunities were seemingly challenging. In reaching the final 2 mile rail road corridor stretch, I was so anticipating this part of the race because much of my training this spring has been on flat sections and this was the perfect the opportunity to push a fast steady, unchanging cadence. Essentially a Time Trial at the end of the race, perfect! Only I was quickly running out of reserves and knew I was in trouble as five of us hit the corridor. Pete O’donnell (whom I outlasted at last years Duluth Dirt Spanker), Matt Muyres, Shawn Gort & Adam Staufenburg – it lined up like a team time trial and Muyres started to rail it. I think O’donnell & Gort took turns as well. I was able to hang on in the first mile but couldn’t hold out for the last, Shawn proved to be the strongest at the end leading not only our group but grabbing an additional 3 places from a group that was in front of us. I wound up 31st on the day in just over 1hr 47min. Happy but not elated -- given the circumstances of the start, it was respectable.
I gotta make mention of one great race done by follow Ashlander, Paul Belknap, no sooner had I crossed the line and was walking back to great Katie and kids I see Paul come cruising in across the line, twelve spots back and just under 3 minutes behind. For someone just getting off the CC ski’s not so long ago and with relatively few miles/hours on the bike I thought it was phenomenal!! Way to go!
Next on tap is some rest, then back to intervals and onto my first WORS race of the year in Wausau June 1st.
So what’s that got to do with the Cable Off Road Classic race itself? Nothing.
Anyways, I was coming off a slightly poor training week, and hadn’t road the previous couple days because I was too busy cutting trails at the house and doing yard work. So Saturday morning I’m all stiff & sore, so I get on the bike at house for a quick 20 min spin before driving to the race. I gave a couple hard efforts that had me feeling even worse, so now I’m almost convinced I’ve screwed up my prep for this race. However, I packed up and took the 45 min drive down to Lakewoods, got registered only to find out all the preferred starts had been sold out (ouch!). Oh well, guess that’s going to make for an even more interesting race today. As soon as I start warming up however, I feel really strong and can ride fast without feeling crappy unlike about an hour previously—hmmm… maybe it will be an ok race. I get to the start late but fortunately a super nice racer I’ve known for years Don Freitag from Marshall, WI let me bump in front of him about halfway back in the 250 person race. At the horn, I knew I had to pounce on every opportunity to get close to the top 40 or 50 to have any kind of chance, of not getting trapped in single track purgatory at the 1 ½ mile mark. It’s where the entry to the single track on this course gets backed up horrendously. I snap up a bunch of places rather quickly as I’m feeling strong but also putting out a big, big effort. I hear words of encouragement on the first hill from Tom Gaier and jump past another dozen riders. Later on I catch up to what I guess is the tail end of the preferred start as I pull up next to good ‘ole Paul Belknap and give him a tap on the back. He looked to be riding good himself. I got to the single track about 8 spots too late. A line begins to form and I’m stuck behind 4 or 5 single track technically challenged bikers for the next 10 minutes. Sure it’s frustrating but once it happens there’s nothing you can do about it except bide your time and give positive encouragement to those in front of you. (Cuz when was the last time yelling or complaining hasn’t made the lesser skilled rider in front of you screw up anyways and slow things down further).
Once back in the double track I hammer on again picking up more places. This is unusual for me because I tend to start real fast and slowly drop places, this time the roles are reversed and it’s actually a good feeling. Without a ton of play by play for the remainder of the race, I crept up from around 50th position to the mid 20’s. It was hard but doable as with each mile another racer would show up in the horizon and I (or we, if a group was with) would pass up yet another person. Catching people slowed up by mile 18 or 20 of the 23 mile race and from that point on it was just a hard push to the finish. As I recall there was a group of 3 of us with maybe 2 or 3 more pursuers of which gaps would open and close with the hurdling of downed trees & logs (from the previous night’s wind storm that littered the course). I should have probably taken more water, endurance drink or gel but taking the time to do it and having the opportunities were seemingly challenging. In reaching the final 2 mile rail road corridor stretch, I was so anticipating this part of the race because much of my training this spring has been on flat sections and this was the perfect the opportunity to push a fast steady, unchanging cadence. Essentially a Time Trial at the end of the race, perfect! Only I was quickly running out of reserves and knew I was in trouble as five of us hit the corridor. Pete O’donnell (whom I outlasted at last years Duluth Dirt Spanker), Matt Muyres, Shawn Gort & Adam Staufenburg – it lined up like a team time trial and Muyres started to rail it. I think O’donnell & Gort took turns as well. I was able to hang on in the first mile but couldn’t hold out for the last, Shawn proved to be the strongest at the end leading not only our group but grabbing an additional 3 places from a group that was in front of us. I wound up 31st on the day in just over 1hr 47min. Happy but not elated -- given the circumstances of the start, it was respectable.
I gotta make mention of one great race done by follow Ashlander, Paul Belknap, no sooner had I crossed the line and was walking back to great Katie and kids I see Paul come cruising in across the line, twelve spots back and just under 3 minutes behind. For someone just getting off the CC ski’s not so long ago and with relatively few miles/hours on the bike I thought it was phenomenal!! Way to go!
Next on tap is some rest, then back to intervals and onto my first WORS race of the year in Wausau June 1st.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Getting caught up
It's surprising to look at the calendar and see that it's almost Memorial Day weekend. How has May gone by so quickly?
On the good side, after the many, many weeks of preparation racing finally began. Though delayed an extra week because of less than delightful back injury, I recovered well enough to make it to the first MNSCS of the season held in Inver Grove Heights. We were down in the area because my wife's 91 yr old grandma had passed away and so they had a family gathering that weekend in the Twin Cities. 91!! Good gracious, and she was doing well right up til the last 2-3 weeks when a difficult intestinal surgery was required. Her & I didn't always see eye to eye, but if you'd met the lady, it was great to see how vibrant and engaging she was at an age when that descriptive language isn't regularly used. Most people not knowing better would have put her at a youthful 70ish. And still her vibrancy paled to that of Kate's grandpa, Bill. That guy would knock your socks of if you had to guess his age given his sharpness, mobility and activity level. He's like 93, but still golfs all the time, and goes about his day like he's almost 30 yrs younger. Both very inspiring & encouraging to see, may we all be so fortunate to have good health and active lifestyles into that point of life. I gotta tell SKJ, she's still gotta be doing MTB races with me at that age. Wow, think about that, bike racing for 60+ yrs of your life, that's awesome. And for Chuck Farrow, he'd be like doing it for 80 yrs by then!! Whoa! That's if all this crazy long enduro stuff he's into right now doesn't kill him first. But hey, without that goal out there, how else is it going to happen? Life is what you bring to it.
So, speaking of bringing to it.... that first race, Erik's Cup as they call it. Held at an elementary school with a good share of yet undeveloped property that accomodates for 4 or 5 miles of winding, curving, relatively smooth trails.
With nothing to gain or lose, I felt my back injury had come along far enough, to give it a shot. I signed up for the 5 lap Expert Race even if the 4 lap Comp race may have been more appropriate. What's the worse that could happen? (Let's not bring up USA cycling...) Anyways, like normal my race prep took longer than planned so I was relagated to the back row at the start. Didn't seem to matter much because everyone took off fast. I was happy to see how my body was reacting to the hardpace from the start -- my coach put in a good share of max effort intervals the last week of April to prep me for the nasty feel that a first race of the season can be. I can't say it was a perfect solution but it did buffer that normally horrible feeling quite nicely.
In a field of 50 racers or so I slide into the top 20-25 or so as we entered the single track on the first of five laps. The intensity was high and I was working my tail off but it was very bearable. It's a weird sensation to be going that hard and keep going that hard despite the body's desire to slow down. I got in behind Matt Muyres and stayed strong for the first 20min lap or so -- that's when the body finally over-road what my mind was thinking. As soon as we were onto the 2nd lap, a combination of my endurance at that speed along my back stiffening up occurred and I kissed that front group of 20+ good-bye. The 3rd lap had similar challenges as I needed to stand up several times to try & stretch my back, and some difficulties in making time for the gator-fuel (in my case it's PowerBar Endurance drink or water & Powerbar Gel). Fortunately laps 4 & 5, despite dropping additional spots, felt much better and I was at least able to finish relatively strong & without back pain. An 1:45 & in 34th place, about double of what I was looking for in my Expert race debut but I quickly put it in perspective given that challenges going into the race.
Next up news on "the new bike"..... and the Cable Off Road Classic review!
On the good side, after the many, many weeks of preparation racing finally began. Though delayed an extra week because of less than delightful back injury, I recovered well enough to make it to the first MNSCS of the season held in Inver Grove Heights. We were down in the area because my wife's 91 yr old grandma had passed away and so they had a family gathering that weekend in the Twin Cities. 91!! Good gracious, and she was doing well right up til the last 2-3 weeks when a difficult intestinal surgery was required. Her & I didn't always see eye to eye, but if you'd met the lady, it was great to see how vibrant and engaging she was at an age when that descriptive language isn't regularly used. Most people not knowing better would have put her at a youthful 70ish. And still her vibrancy paled to that of Kate's grandpa, Bill. That guy would knock your socks of if you had to guess his age given his sharpness, mobility and activity level. He's like 93, but still golfs all the time, and goes about his day like he's almost 30 yrs younger. Both very inspiring & encouraging to see, may we all be so fortunate to have good health and active lifestyles into that point of life. I gotta tell SKJ, she's still gotta be doing MTB races with me at that age. Wow, think about that, bike racing for 60+ yrs of your life, that's awesome. And for Chuck Farrow, he'd be like doing it for 80 yrs by then!! Whoa! That's if all this crazy long enduro stuff he's into right now doesn't kill him first. But hey, without that goal out there, how else is it going to happen? Life is what you bring to it.
So, speaking of bringing to it.... that first race, Erik's Cup as they call it. Held at an elementary school with a good share of yet undeveloped property that accomodates for 4 or 5 miles of winding, curving, relatively smooth trails.
With nothing to gain or lose, I felt my back injury had come along far enough, to give it a shot. I signed up for the 5 lap Expert Race even if the 4 lap Comp race may have been more appropriate. What's the worse that could happen? (Let's not bring up USA cycling...) Anyways, like normal my race prep took longer than planned so I was relagated to the back row at the start. Didn't seem to matter much because everyone took off fast. I was happy to see how my body was reacting to the hardpace from the start -- my coach put in a good share of max effort intervals the last week of April to prep me for the nasty feel that a first race of the season can be. I can't say it was a perfect solution but it did buffer that normally horrible feeling quite nicely.
In a field of 50 racers or so I slide into the top 20-25 or so as we entered the single track on the first of five laps. The intensity was high and I was working my tail off but it was very bearable. It's a weird sensation to be going that hard and keep going that hard despite the body's desire to slow down. I got in behind Matt Muyres and stayed strong for the first 20min lap or so -- that's when the body finally over-road what my mind was thinking. As soon as we were onto the 2nd lap, a combination of my endurance at that speed along my back stiffening up occurred and I kissed that front group of 20+ good-bye. The 3rd lap had similar challenges as I needed to stand up several times to try & stretch my back, and some difficulties in making time for the gator-fuel (in my case it's PowerBar Endurance drink or water & Powerbar Gel). Fortunately laps 4 & 5, despite dropping additional spots, felt much better and I was at least able to finish relatively strong & without back pain. An 1:45 & in 34th place, about double of what I was looking for in my Expert race debut but I quickly put it in perspective given that challenges going into the race.
Next up news on "the new bike"..... and the Cable Off Road Classic review!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Race on...
What a past 2 weeks it's been. When I last posted it was full steam ahead going into the May 4th WORS MTB opener at Iola. Having a very good solid pre-season of training and workouts I was opportunistically viewing what would be my first go around in the Expert Category of racing. (Didn't get the USA Cycling license last year hence not the upgrade previously)
Well, things are going all well & good until Friday morning before the race weekend. I'm out cutting single track trails on the 40 acres of woods in the back yard when I bent, turned or twisted the wrong way and threw out my back. For those that have never experienced it, and Lord help you, you never do. Your entire body get frozen in a single position from which breathing is even difficult. So there I am stuck in the woods hunched over like Quasimoto and can't even move so much to reach the cell phone in my pocket. All I can think is "how the hell am I going to get out of here?" and "What's the likelihood of when Kate & the kids would actually come looking for me?" This is NOT how I planned on spending the morning. My four dogs, Oppenheimer, Phoenix, Gabelli and DeDe who come out in the woods with me every time are just wandering around coming up to me occassionally and looking as if to say "Dude, what's your problem? What's the slow down? Come on! Let's go!" They're quite the gracious Lassie types, huh? Anyways, after some more time passes I'm able to position myself well enough to get the phone out of my pocket and try calling Kate to no avail, as I only get her voicemail. Great! Now what? Well, I manage to find position where I can actually move my legs but I'm hunched over really bad -- knuckles dragging on the ground caveman style bad. But since I can at least move I'm able to slowly make it back to the main trail and back to the house.
The worst comes to mind of what happened to my back but two hours later in the Doc's office I'm reassured it probably wasn't a disc problem just a muscle tear so I'm out that door with prescription for some Vicatin and told to hit it with ice and occassionally some brief period of heat.
With it being Friday & the WORS race on Sunday, it wasn't looking good. I had hopes that my mutant healing abilities (at least that's what the massage therapist I go to says about how fast I recover from injuries) would make riding & racing possible but it wasn't to be.
Funny thing was how I could get on a bike within a day or two and ride in relative comfort but standing up straight was still very difficult and sitting for more than a 30min block of time would just kill.
So this previous week, I worked on alot of ice, heat & stretching on the big 'ole balance ball and it must have been enough to as I was able to manage some pre-riding off the Cable Off Road Classic Course and felt good enough to give the MNSCS MTB opener at InverGrove Heights a go this past Sunday May 11th. Recap in a bit, but all the good 'ole crew of riders from the northern parts were there -- Jesrin & Tom Gaier, Charlie Farrow, Scottie Chappin, Todd McFadden, Mike Bushey to name just a few. Didn't necessarily work out to the best of my expectations but given the conditions and what I was coming off of, I was just gracious to be able to ride.
Well, things are going all well & good until Friday morning before the race weekend. I'm out cutting single track trails on the 40 acres of woods in the back yard when I bent, turned or twisted the wrong way and threw out my back. For those that have never experienced it, and Lord help you, you never do. Your entire body get frozen in a single position from which breathing is even difficult. So there I am stuck in the woods hunched over like Quasimoto and can't even move so much to reach the cell phone in my pocket. All I can think is "how the hell am I going to get out of here?" and "What's the likelihood of when Kate & the kids would actually come looking for me?" This is NOT how I planned on spending the morning. My four dogs, Oppenheimer, Phoenix, Gabelli and DeDe who come out in the woods with me every time are just wandering around coming up to me occassionally and looking as if to say "Dude, what's your problem? What's the slow down? Come on! Let's go!" They're quite the gracious Lassie types, huh? Anyways, after some more time passes I'm able to position myself well enough to get the phone out of my pocket and try calling Kate to no avail, as I only get her voicemail. Great! Now what? Well, I manage to find position where I can actually move my legs but I'm hunched over really bad -- knuckles dragging on the ground caveman style bad. But since I can at least move I'm able to slowly make it back to the main trail and back to the house.
The worst comes to mind of what happened to my back but two hours later in the Doc's office I'm reassured it probably wasn't a disc problem just a muscle tear so I'm out that door with prescription for some Vicatin and told to hit it with ice and occassionally some brief period of heat.
With it being Friday & the WORS race on Sunday, it wasn't looking good. I had hopes that my mutant healing abilities (at least that's what the massage therapist I go to says about how fast I recover from injuries) would make riding & racing possible but it wasn't to be.
Funny thing was how I could get on a bike within a day or two and ride in relative comfort but standing up straight was still very difficult and sitting for more than a 30min block of time would just kill.
So this previous week, I worked on alot of ice, heat & stretching on the big 'ole balance ball and it must have been enough to as I was able to manage some pre-riding off the Cable Off Road Classic Course and felt good enough to give the MNSCS MTB opener at InverGrove Heights a go this past Sunday May 11th. Recap in a bit, but all the good 'ole crew of riders from the northern parts were there -- Jesrin & Tom Gaier, Charlie Farrow, Scottie Chappin, Todd McFadden, Mike Bushey to name just a few. Didn't necessarily work out to the best of my expectations but given the conditions and what I was coming off of, I was just gracious to be able to ride.
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