7 oaks...as expected

two things are very predictable when racing at 7 oaks in boone. 1) its gonna hurt. 2) its gonna be a lot of fun cause you know there's gonna be a lot of good guys there. showed up early with promises of incredible weather (rare for this race). wasn't long before all the expected faces started to show up. trevor, kent, cam, jed, jay, aaron, kevin, steve, wild bill showed up!, kyle, taylor, bruce, a good chunk of the iowa city crew, met jacob after helping get him set up with a jabber test ride on adam's bike, met some other new (to me) guys. adam and amy came up with amy dragging emma along. had enough fun hanging out before the race that i was somewhat seriously trying to convince everyone to just dig into the 30 pack of pbr in my van rather than race but it seems everyone else had other plans. which meant it was time to hurt.
the deal with 7 oaks is that it has this perfect amount of climbing that makes you force yourself to climb everything because you know that its climbable...but barely for a ss over the course of an expert race. 1st lap had us stacked up a couple times early but people worked well together and things fell into place. biggest problem with the first lap is that the riding didn't flow well. it was very stop and go because of how tight we were so coming out of every corner and into every climb you were starting from nothing instead of carrying flow into it. that meant plenty of hard grunting efforts that would later take its toll. it was obvious early on that cam was off the front as expected. glimpses of jed (his 2nd race ever on a single) told me that he was riding damn strong. i found myself in a loose group with kevin, aaron, jay and kent with trevor not far behind. some dabs by guys in front of me along with just getting things sorted out led to some positions swapping throughout the first lap. by the time the second lap started my legs felt like shit. kevin and aaron had started to put a gap on me but i could still feel jay and kent behind me. second lap became about survival. pushing as hard as my dead weight legs would allow me. finally near the end of the second lap something happened and it was like someone took 10 pounds off my bike. legs finally felt good (product of too much endurance training?) and i finally started to enjoy the race. the entire third/final lap i could see aaron and kevin in front of me (lots of switchbacks) and jay and kent behind me. the gaps between us never really seemed to change. my legs were a strange mix of feeling good but also threatening to cramp if i wasn't smart about my efforts. so i pretty much just settled in knowing that if i tried for some herculean effort to reach the two in front of my i would put myself at serious risk of blowing up and standing on the side of the trail watching at least jay and kent ride by me. so i rode as close as i could to the red line and just smiled knowing that i don't get to ride these trails often enough. ended up 5th overall, unofficially 3rd in the ss state championships. happy enough with that considering the talent that was there.
post race was plenty of fun...donating 12 of pbr to jed for taking the ss race, drinking a piss warm abbott ale, having another one spray all over the inside of my van after aaron couldn't seem to keep it in his hands, hanging out with guys i don't see often enough and making plans for what should be a raging party in south dakota. i'm getting more and more excited for that trip as people continue to step up and throw their hats in the ring. long, sore drive home broken up by a nice, long, relaxing dinner stop halfway. recovery day yesterday at the pool with larsson. might spin the legs a bit today and try to fix the drag brake someone apparently installed halfway through the race.

starting line...WAY to many rasmussen's jerseys...

climbing...weird
spentglad adam was there to help hold the bike so i could go find my beer
thanks for the pics amy

go time

headed out soon for some place north of the cities. cabin style for a few days then headed to pennsylvania. first real vacation i've been on in a long time. excited to get away for awhile and getting over the anxiety of the 101. bike is dialed. decisions have been made. now that i'm committed to what i'm running, all that's left is to ride the damn thing. now its all about excitement cause there's nothing left to stress about.

yesterday's final shakedown ride fully geared up for 101 miles of soul searching

wt101 war machine

got the new jabber frame in and everything got built up in preparation for the wilderness trail 101. funny to see a suspension fork on my bike...honestly haven't even owned one in like 5 years. but the bike looks good and its getting a serious shakedown ride today as long as the rain holds off. yeah...i'm happier now. almost two weeks without a trail bike sucked. huge thanks to vassago and travis for getting things together for me so quickly.

bluff rider's charge recap

love this course...always have. amazing what happens when the mind, body and bike are all dialed. made a huge step forward in this race and felt great. ended up 17th overall and 4th age group. 9 of the 16 ahead of me were pros. mankato rides a lot like 7oaks...just enough climbing, super fast and buff, carved corners that let you keep your speed...just a lot of fun to race on. i was able to take advantage of climbing on the ss to get around some geared folk at a few different points on the course, gave a couple of those positions back but was able to make enough of the passes stick to feel good about my fitness. previous races here left me with some confidence and course knowledge that got my head straight. and the jabberwocky is absolutely on right now. everything on it is dialed and it is happily encouraging me to ride it harder and push it further. i could not have raced this race any better than i did...and that's an awesome feeling. its easy to accept my finishing place when i know thats just how good i am and realistically the best i can do until i'm able to get my fitness up. off next weekend then headed back to minnesota for the red wing race in 2 weeks. cam had a good ride to 4th in the pro/expert field. got to meet jesse rients after reading so much about him on charlie's blog. marty and trevor were out there doing their thing in the comp class. awesome weather and a great result for me...can't do anything but smile after a day like that.

trial runs

rode trails last night with the brace. pretty happy with how the hand felt, not so much the brace. took the brace off and tried the bar tape over the grip this morning and adjusted the brake lever setup a little.
happy enough with how it felt. pain-wise i'm doing pretty well but i can still tell the grip strength just isn't there. good enough to race this weekend.

ouachita (as much as i can remember)

got to adam's thursday and met up with kent for some dsm style dirt riding. good to finally see most of what they have. totally different than here but lots of fun. really dug kyle's skinny in denman's...a little surprised by the random tractor tire but rode it...child's play looked like a blast but chose not to take a stab at it with the race on sunday. basically skipped lunch and dinner before the ride so bonked early, chased kent for a while then headed back to do final touches on my jabber and help adam with his jabber following his thumb-breaking realization that wet bridges are dangerous.

trevor showed up friday morning, left larsson with adam's fam and the forbes fam for weekend duties, loaded up the child molesting race van with trevor and julie and headed south. very, very far south. we made it to mena (hotel location) in about 8.5 hours. not a bad trip, really. absolutely gorgeous once we left misery. i think that's how you spell it. maybe missouri. checked into the hotel...er...motel. clean though. good enough to sleep in. drove to oden and checked in for the race and got some grub. trevor scored some race x lite 29'er wheels as schwag just for eating some spaghetti...wow. a little jealous. got back to the motel knowing i hadn't put enough calories (read "crap") into my body. so a walk to sonic for some late night cheeseburger and fries was in order. got my stuff ready for the morning and tried to sleep. woke up every hour, maybe a bit anxious.

woke up to rain. and much colder. happy for the cold, not the rain. too hot saturday, would have been in the hospital by the end. got to the race, got dressed, met jj (still haven't seen results for him), warmed up a bit, ran into a couple iowa city guys (god i suck at names), brian and brother were there as well. rain stopped. readysetgo. controlled roll out on pavement SUCKED. fast and sorta fast geared folk out front, big mob of single speeds all rocking similar gears and spinning miserably together. then came a big ass climb. gravel for a while, then atv-ish. i passed a lot of people. i passed a lot of people fixing flats. A LOT. never seen so many flats. and we were still climbing. this did make me a bit nervous. i was running about 23 psi in the nano out back and about 21 in the big comfy weirwolf up front. mental note from the start...protect the tires. so many more flatted on the way down the backside after that climb. the trail was absolutely littered with people fixing flats, never seen anything like it. i felt good so i rode hard...or kinda hard. did a decent job of controlling the adrenaline out of the gates. got stuck in the first couple sections of single track behind down-shifting geared folks so i ran a couple hills just to give the legs a break. never lost ground, just trotted along behind some guys spinning crazy high cadence. it was obvious early...these trails were awesome. super flowy, amazing views, rocky, long sustained climbs, rippin fast downhills. even sight-unseen you could rip through this stuff. for only being on trails for about a week i felt very dialed technically. nutritionally i was doing pretty well. 100 oz. of water on my back and 2 24oz. bottles of carborocket. doing well nutritionally til i blew past the first aid station where i had planned to stop and sort some stuff out. turned out to not be a problem since we now had a ridiculously long stretch of pavement. i was able to eat and hydrate a lot. two very cool geared riders time trialed up to me but let me latch on. i spun my ass off in their draft and they pulled me graciously all the way to the next gravel section. super cool guys, don't remember names, but huge thanks to those guys. more gravel, more water crossings, had to walk the big one, mandatory dismount. started tearing into my beef sticks, which others found amusing but i say they are the shit. i'll take them above any bar or gu on a long ride. luckily i take all of those.

basically at this point it was settle in and ride. push it when i felt good, back off a little as i was starting to feel fatigue a little. most importantly...ride smart! every 2 seconds there was something to flat on. i felt my front rim bottom out on rocks more times than i care to admit. you had to be mentally sharp or you'd be patching something. the course continued its mix of gravel and sweet singletrack and i felt good. riding with a smile and very happy that my nutritional plans were working out. then we hit blowout mountain. wow. walk, walk, hike, hike, ride, walk, hike, ride, walk, hike. holy shit it was rocky. and it climbed forever. by now my hands hurt...a lot. having to battle to the top of blowout was bad enough, but i almost had to walk the downhill side because my hands hurt so bad i could barely ride over the rocks anymore. i will buy a suspension fork someday. got to aid station 2 thrilled for a break. refilled the bottles with some pre-portioned carborocket, then it was back into the trails. more hike a bike. more rocks...huge gnarly rock gardens that were difficult to walk through. i gave up on trying so many of these because walking would lose so much less time than fixing a flat or dealing with a taco'd wheel. starting doing a yo-yo game with some geared full suspension guys. i'd catch them climbing what i could, they'd pass me going downhill. finally the bonk started to come. i could tell and it was too late. too little food, too much gu and i was about to be in bad shape. the hunger came, then the feeling of overheating, then the dizziness. fuck. i knew there had to be an aid station soon so i started sucking down as much water as i could. needed to eat but was stubborn about it. finally saw julie again and she said aid was just up the road. stopped for some food. shoved down some fig newtons that had baked in the sun and guzzled more water. the bonk was going away (a VERY quick bonk/recovery by my standards) and i headed down the gravel. less than a quarter mile of gravel to the next singletrack and just as i was about to enter...no twinges...no warning...just BOOM!...there goes the hammy. first cramp of the day. damn it. this one took a long time to rub out. back on the trail...very gingerly. basically couldn't pedal up hill. ride the flats, coast the downs, as soon as it went back up i'd push a few strokes then walk. every hill that came i got a couple strokes further up til the strength started to return and with it came renewed confidence in my body. super fun last section of singletrack. last group of volunteers..."all gravel and road from here". me..."how far?" them..."8.5 miles". christ. totally spent, here we go for 8.5 miles of ripping fast downhill gravels with a few climbing efforts thrown in. about a mile or so onto the gravel and spinning my legs like the road runner my hamstring blew up again. no stopping now. unclipped the right foot and let the leg hang while the left one continued to spin and propel me forward. got the cramp worked out and sucked down every bit of water i had.

in the end i had absolutely no idea how i was doing. but i knew this...i could not have done much better. going into the race a good friend asked me my goals...realistic was top 5 ss, top 50 overall and sub 6 hours. what i wanted was top 3 ss, top 25 overall, sub 5 1/2 hours. while recovering on the good side of the finish line someone from the tent hollared at me not to go anywhere. huh? she told me she owed me a check for winning the ss category. "are you fucking kidding me?" so much for acting like you've been here before. so much for acting appropriately on elementary school grounds. sorry, i was just a bit surprised. 1st ss, 19th overall, 5:44 and change. judging from results it looks like this years times were pushed back about 20 minutes by the difficulty of the ride so even my time goal was achieved. i've ridden my ass off this winter, and really for the last year and a half. i've worked hard on getting my nutrition figured out. my jabber is a phenomenal weapon. sometimes things just come together.

time for pics and time for me to get out on the road bike and spin the littlest gear i can for a few minutes. legs are still garbage. still don't have all my grip strength back. glad to have a two week break before the next race. congrats to brian on taking the 80 ss. write up eventually about carborocket. been using this stuff for about 6 months now and i'm hooked.

ouachita challenge (short version)

awesome race. 1st single speed, 19th overall. way above expectations. ecstatic with how i raced and how the body held up. just got back and not even done unpacking yet. longer version with pics tomorrow. jabber rode amazing and the nano rear/weirwolf front proved a perfect set up. will most definitely have a suspension fork before august.

trail time is happy time

got out this morning with jeff and trevor. made it out earlier than yesterday so the trails were actually better, frozen a little more solid. another fun ride. good to get reacquainted with the jabber with ouachita just around the corner.

cold nights and stolen shit

took advantage of the freezing temps overnight to get out on the trails for about 2 hours this morning before the sun worked its magic. not wanting to damage the trails and having ridden almost everything in the ice cave and van peenen area (some of it both ways) i decided to call it a day. good to be back on the jabber and back on the trails. hopefully getting back after it again tomorrow before biddy basketball. hoping to roll out around 7:30 if anyone's interested. ogaras a maybe. speaking of ogara, you can read his take on what happened here. i can honestly say to whoever did this, it is in your best interest that the police figure out who you are before jeff does. it is unfortunate the number of people in this world that just plain suck. the amount of trash dumped from cars along our trails, riders leaving blown tubes along the trail, empty wine bottles left in the glory hole (although it did cause me to smile briefly), people riding through the mud and tearing up the trails before the trails are ready, thieves. get a job and buy your own shit. pack out what you take in. there's plenty of days to ride, don't fuck up the trails for everyone else because you're too impatient to wait a few more days. i don't like getting on a soap box but come on people...just try not sucking.

ramblings

-fixed gear trophy for cirrem looks super cool. no idea who's gonna be there let alone who i'll be racing against in the fixed category. but know this...i fully expect to get throttled by the roadies that show. oh, and the weather is supposed to suck. that kinda makes me smile.

-being sick has taken me off my bike. while this means i'm not getting any faster or adding any base this week, it does mean that i'm truly starting to rawk at guitar hero. ok, i still kinda suck but i'm getting better. i don't really RAWK!!! i just kinda rock.

-ari is right. transiowa is right around the corner. yes, its 2 months away but this beast sneaks up on you like a silent ninja assassain. you spend so long preparing for it, so many brutal winter miles with no sign of t.i. then one day you wake up and its 4 a.m. and you're sitting on your bike wrapping your head around what's in front of you. 2 months left of training and its about time to start getting in some gear training. full pack of everything i think i might need over 30+ hours on the bike so i can start adding/subtracting til i think i might be as minimalistic as i can possibly be and still get through.

-jabber and fisty are shiny...crazy freakin' clean. pretty much thanks to the weather and my health. now that those are clean its time to get this guy ready...

spring cleaning

tried to make the most out of an ice-ruined day by swinging down to travis's place and giving the jabber a little bit of love after a long winter of neglect broken only by the occasional day of abuse. got everything shined up and virtually race ready for the trip to arkansas. i realize that's a month away but i really don't expect this bike to see much ride time before then unfortunately. everytime i really take the time to go through this bike and clean it up/adjust brakes/new chain/scrub drivetrain/etc. it just reminds me how much i love it and why i was so particular about the build in the first place. a couple pieces have been changed but not many. its light enough and with the nano rear/weirwolf front i just set up for ouachita it will be fast enough that the only thing holding it back will be me and the months that have passed with no technical riding to speak of.

mmm...shiny

this is an explanation of the impetus behind the previous post. travis had this parked out back for just a few hours before all this ice built up.

birthday claus

got to take adam a couple new toys when i headed down to des moines earlier this week. first off was a present from his wife...

adam's new jabber...we'll get some better pics once its covered in mud

next gift was really just a loaner from me cause he gets to take a trip out to ray's (insane jealousy boiling in my veins)...

my trusty steelhead...this thing has been beaten, crushed, welded, neglected, dropped, thrown, abused, ground, modified, torn down and rebuilt and just comes back smiling and begging for more.

had a great time with family while i was down there and looking forward to trail weather to really start riding with adam. the enthusiasm of new riders is so contagious...you can't help but remember why you fell in love with riding in the first place. kent even joined later in the night for some highly important philosophizing and world problem solving. looking forward to my seemingly regularly scheduled monthly trips down to the area...especially since the next few times i'm down there i get to put a number on my bike and try to ride it really fast.

one more picture of it just cuase i really like this one. seems i've gotten even with it for what it did to my leg a couple years ago.

getting caught up

on some randomness from the last few days...

1. i did in fact break jesse's finger in a fine display of derby skills. and beer freezes. click here for proof.

2. the weather finally freaking broke and i got out for an awesome 5 hour ride on sunday. harmony and back...love this ride but haven't done it for a while. halfway to harmony it started to sleet and froze over my goggles. then the ice pellets started to stab my eyes and it hurt to keep them open but riding with them closed wasn't a great option. while enjoying a kwik star double cheeseburger in harmony the weather changed to snow and i had an incredible ride home. the snow seemed to float rather than fall. after triple d its nice to be reminded that 60+ miles in the snow can be enjoyable rather than suicidal-thought-inducing.

45 miles into sunday's ride

3. CIRREM. yes, i'll be there. fixticuff hopefully, otherwise jabber in snow mode if the weather gods don't play along. thanks and good luck to kent and jed for throwing this one.

last night in pictures

essentials

spinner jabber in snow
spinner explaining the finer points of...something...
wild bill
link between the two log rides in little big horn provides a nice sitting place. the picture ends up a bit small to see the flask but we were able to carry a six pack of beers and 2 flasks of rootbeer schnapps. no pictures of the gravel portion but spinner should have some here soon.

wherever you are...

i hope you find a reason to smile. three and a half hours of this worked for me today.

triple d training

necessary info

bike 1-

vassago jabberwocky, custom molten brimstone paint

custom ti black sheep fork, powdercoated black

white industries eno cranks, black (not pictured)

32t white industries chainring, black (not pictured)

phil wood ti bottom bracket, alloy cups

xpedo mountain force ti/ti pedals

king headset

industry nine wheels on stan's arches, all black (not pictured)

maxxis crossmark rear

schwalbe racing ralph 2.25 front (not pictured)

boone 17t cog (not pictured)

thomson elite masterpiece seatpost

wtb devo saddle, ti rails

titec pluto carbon stem (not pictured)

truvativ team carbon bars

esi vapor foam grips

formula oro bianco brakes

approx. 20 lbs.

light, fast, comfortable, durable. this bike is sick.