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

definitely excited

racing at 7 oaks tomorrow. absolutely love this course. it makes for fun xc racing and there should be some awesome guys there that i haven't seen for a while. feels like a very long time since i did an xc race which has me wondering what my expectations should even be. pretty sure if anyone's looking for me after the race i'll be the one puking in the corner. should get to see some family while i'm there as well. weather looks amazing for the rest of the weekend...hope some folks are getting miles in.

less whining

more post race happy thoughts and pics. in case i forgot to mention it...the riding was amazing. no matter how much i was suffering there was always a part of me smiling because i got to ride this stuff. the speeds were crazy addictive. sustained 25-30 mph downhills on singletrack for what seemed like miles. 35mph+ for miles down gravel roads. i've never been so white knuckled in my life just praying that no one in this string of 15 riders raging down a mountain would lay it down, cause we all would've been in bad shape. i will come back. smarter and stronger. met some super cool people. finally got to hang out with craig which was cool despite my having to ask him to do metric conversions for me every 2 minutes (i was far too mentally fried to do it for myself). again, the race organization and the volunteer staff was second to none. finishing my first hundred miler feels pretty good regardless of whether or not i met my own expectations. another huge thanks to vassago for making such an awesome bike and for getting me back on one so quickly.

base camp brought to you by vassago

personalized number plates...impressive

5:30 a.m. race day. beef sticks for breakfast.

no, it wasn't raining. there was just that much moisture in the air.

geared up and chatting with craig

requisite pre-race briefing and equally requisite pre-race stance

controlled rollout through the village of coburn, pa

rolling out of aid station #1

craig getting situated at aid station #1

aid station #3 approx. 60 miles in. my world had already started to collapse when i got here. i stuffed my face. and yes, i am picking my chamois out of my ass.

leaving aid station #3. i think i rode another 10 yards then walked for the next 20 minutes. the singletrack climb coming out of this aid station was soul crushing.

yes, i wanted to die. i couldn't get my other sock off without at least 4 different muscles cramping at the same time.

just keep staring...

eventually if i stare at this damn computer long enough, words will appear...right? the planned 3500 word essay on the 2009 wilderness trail 101 seems to be falling apart. too much to sort out in my head, too many mixed emotions, too many questions left. so, i'll do what i do well and ramble in a completely unorganized fashion.
this race was absolutely amazing. it was incredibly well organized, staffed, volunteered, signed, supported...everything. the camping/start/finish worked really well. the food, the beer (what i was able to drink of it)...man...everything was just done right. huge thanks to the organizers and volunteers.
i really am trying to separate this experience into two things for myself to grasp. one being the ride, one being the race.
this was hands down the most incredible ride i've ever been on. huge climbs, SCREAMING fast descents, righteous singletrack, beautiful setting, awesome support at the aid stations. as a ride, given the pain of the course and 6 hours of paralyzing cramps, i am happy. happy that i did it, happy that i finished. happy that ran i full speed into my pain cave until i was so far buried in it i didn't know which way was out, that i kept crawling my way through the darkness until i came out the other side.
as a race, unfortunately i am disappointed. its hard to set goals going into a race that i've never done before, but my goals were certainly higher than my finish was. my finishing time was "respectable". i finished in the top third overall and the top half of the single speed class...again, "respectable". there is some satisfaction in those results. however, i made mistakes. and in trying to figure out where things went wrong i've had to accept that i made mistakes i've made before, and that's hard to swallow. undoubtedly, i went out to hard. i have to learn to control myself at the start of big races like this otherwise my body will continue to react the way that it did. when i started cramping at mile 53-ish i thought it would be similar to most of my cramping episodes. stretch, walk, soft pedal, drink, drink, drink, fight the pain for maybe a half hour then go on with the ride. not this time. they just never stopped. i could barely pedal up any sort of incline without something cramping. by the end of the race, both groins, both calves, both quads, one hamstring, one foot, both forearms, and one little muscle in my hand that controls my thumb had all cramped, most of them multiple times. it got to the point where one calf would seize and turn to concrete and i would just keep pedaling slowly trying to stretch it, and as it stretched out it put me into a position that my quad would blow up. so i'd stand, try to soft pedal, sit back down only to feel a groin start to go. my body was absolutely wrecked. and it was my fault, and it was the same lesson i've learned at least twice before. i will have to get a heart monitor or something to force me to slow down and relax at the beginning of these things.
all in all, it was an incredible experience. from the ride side of things, i'm happy with what i've accomplished. the (overly)competitive/race side of me is far from satisfied. pretty sure this one's already getting penciled in on next year's calendar...
more random thoughts and pics when i'm better rested.

so it is

there's really no sense in hiding it or hiding from it...i stress about shit. i'm sure some of you are already well aware of this and anyone on facebook probably realizes that i'm already a bit worked up about the 101. maybe stressed isn't the right word, but in all reality it probably is. in some sick way i think its part of what i enjoy. just like transiowa, it has started to consume my thinking. gearing, tires, how to pack, what to pack, what to drop, when to leave, where to camp, how many tubes, how much co2, how many bottles, how long can i go between refills, how much water do i need to take in and how often, what food to take on the ride, how many gu's, am i still as fit as i was for ouachita and transiowa, can i do it rigid, how will my body react if its raging hot, what are my goals, what will i be happy with, what will i be content with...it just goes on and on. christ, i have two more races before i even head out for this thing and they've already taken a mental backseat. what makes me feel silly is that as soon as they say "go" then i know all of this shit won't matter. vassago has built one hell of a frame. travis keeps it running awesomely despite my lack of maintenance and regularly scheduled flogging of parts. its a single speed...its pretty tough to have a catastrophic mechanical. i've done endurance races...my body has failed in glorious fashion and i've learned a lot about nutrition...nutrition specifically to me. brad keyes and his carborocket takes care of my hydration and has had a huge impact on my cramping and stomach issues. beef sticks rule. i have awesome friends and family supporting me. but still...i stress. i keep a pretty calm demeanor but inside i pretty much freak out. so it is. taking squirrel's advice, i'll go ride my fucking bike. and i'll smile. and for a short time i'll quit stressing. someday my competitiveness will probably start to fade...maybe.

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.

getting back to racing...finally

the self-imposed month off from racing seems to have worked out okay in terms of fitness, but its time to get back at it. headed to mankato tomorrow to shake the cobwebs loose a little bit. just over a month away from the wilderness trail 101 with three xc races before i head out. the 101 is definitely taking over in terms of focus (or is that fear?!?!?). got a call from matt from des moines yesterday so will be meeting him for a trail ride in a few hours. had a great ride at mankato last year in the comp class, hoping to get into the fast half of the expert field tomorrow. always liked this course and i'm not that far off...

weekend of racing

congrats to brothers chris and adam for throwing doing their thing at the dam to dam. my knees cry a little just thinking about running that far.

dirty kanza went down this weekend as cornbread, steve, g-t and about 80 others attempted to battle heat and high winds leaving only 15 at the end. congrats to those who made it through as well as anyone willing to line up.

larsson did his thing racing around the base of afton alps.

i made my way up to the cities full well knowing i was about to get my ass kicked. afton as a race course has always beat me down and the pro/expert field did its number on me this year as well. i'm certainly learning to swallow my ego racing with these guys. afton has a murderous amount of climbing and i'm having to deal with the fact that my body is unfortunately fragile in the heat. first lap started out fast and i was riding somewhere in the top half of the field as i was able to climb the entire course. lap 2 of 4 brought that familiar feeling in my stomach and the mild dizzyness. a conscious decision was made to back off for fear of not finishing. started trying to get in fluids despite a stomach that wasn't terribly receptive. had to walk shady lane (1st of 2 big climbs each lap) and got some gu down. was able to continue muscling it around hairpins despite stubbornly not gearing down for this race. made it to manhandler and was quickly walking there as well. a whole line of geared guys passed me here...so it was. i was starting to feel a little better until the super stuttery downhill at the end ejected my full water bottle rather than my empty one. no more carborocket for me. stopped at the water station to refill my empty bottle and did lap 3 on cruise control. still only had to walk shady lane and manhandler and slowly the bottle started to recover. pretty happy i was able to read my body enough to know when to go into damage control mode and come out of it enough to feel like i was pushing a little harder again on lap 4. passed a few riders beat down by the heat and the course but still ended up in the slower half of the field. still learning. still somewhat accepting of where i fit into this field as of right now. far from complacent. don't know what my potential is but i'm far too competitive to accept mid-pack until i'm damn sure that's all the better i'll ever be. if so...its better than i ever thought i'd be. for now, its just another reason to keep busting my ass. oh, and the debilitating forearm cramps that left me unable to use my hands for almost 10 minutes following the race has left me certain that a suspension fork is well past due. physically i'm pretty trashed from this race but the next month should help with both my recovery and my fitness.

love the one-footed corner here...we were flying

larsson with a front row seat...my forearm cramps are excruciating

cheezin post-race

weekend

got some friends rockin gravel in kansas this weekend...good luck to everyone out there. got to ride with one of the organizers during transiowa. awesome guy. i'll be hitting the trails today to shake down the jabber now that travis has it up and running again then i'll be heading up to afton tomorrow. something about this course does it to me everytime. i'm not sure i've ever finished a race at afton without puking during the race. and now i get to ride an extra lap. awesome. i actually really enjoy this course, its just a mean course.

race pics

ready...

set...

GO!

GO!GO!GO!

finish

respect

chatting with zach after an unfortunate blowout ended his race

putting a little fear into cam :)

congrats on the 3rd place finish

back to xc racing...these guys in the pro/expert field are FAST!

erik's spring cup

headed up to minnesota for the first race in the mnscs points series this weekend. erik's spring cup used to be held at buck hill, a ski area that was a pretty fun course. it has since moved to inver grove heights and is now made up of a 5 mile loop that has virtually no climbing, is super dry and sketchy and crazy fast. this was my first ever try at riding with the pro/expert class in minnesota. i finished around mid-pack and i'm fairly content with that. a couple of years ago the experts were the people racing sometime after i had my medal (hopefully) and was already headed home. i never thought i'd be in the same league with these guys so just racing in this class feels pretty good. i learned a lot at this race, made some mistakes, lost a couple minutes trying to get help for a rider than tried to chop down a tree with his neck at 20 mph right in front of me, and had a pretty good time. ran into zach and steve who also ride for vassago. both have jumped up a class this year after dominating their class last year. switched out to a flat bar/ergon setup and i'm really liking it. more on that when i've got more time on them. rode most of the race without a front brake after puking all the hydraulic fluid out at the caliper. seriously considering bb7 mechanicals. 2 highlights of the trip...getting to hang out with colin and larsson's first race. colin lives up in the cities and made his way over for the race. got to hang out a bit before and after the race and grab some mexican food and a beer after. it was awesome to hang out and discuss the possibility of some really stupid future plans. we brought larsson's bike with just in case he decided he wanted to do the kids race. as soon as we got there he knew for sure he did. so he got a number plate and lined up at the start...and his face was all business. it was about a quarter mile loop in the grass around a baseball field and he had a blast. he wanted no help from julie or i and he was determined to do it alone. dude rocked it. that was worth the price of my entry fee. i could have packed up and left without doing my race and been completely thrilled that we made the trip. some pics below from one camera, more later when i get some off the other one.

getting ready

race face

not sure who's more proud...racer or mom

hanging out with colin post race

decorah tt pics

scotty and i relaxing at the start

moffitt...ummm..."helping" me

fuhrmann

kent

trevor

scotty

me

folkey

the sponsor

the king

time trials weekend

kent and ryan got to town late friday afternoon and were treated to an awesome day of dry trail riding. after their ride they came up to the bar and we waited for scotty, had a couple then moved on to corner. had a good time hanging out but it definitely cut the night's sleep short. got up saturday morning and headed to t-bock's for breakfast. squirrel showed up and met us down there then we all headed to the shop to pick up my bike and grab a couple things. as would be the theme for the weekend, it was wet out. very, very wet. the 5 of us were joined by dan from the cities and we rolled out shortly after 10 to preride the course. it was grease. dead pet was like riding on ice trying to pick your way through all the wet rocks and roots. lots of walking and enough rolling around in the mud to add some humor to the ride. after the ride i had to get cleaned up and head to work while the others went back to the shop to clean bikes and build scotty's jabber. the guys came out to the bar for dinner later and luckily i was able to get out early and get some much needed sleep.
sunday morning woke to more rain after a night full of thunderstorms. squirrel and ryan passed on helping us build an ark and headed back to dsm so kent scotty and i headed to registration to see what the story would be for the course. no pali. this would eliminate probably the biggest threat to people's safety by not having to ride the rock garden. see a bunch of the usuals, b.s. a bit, pick starting times, head back to the apt to get ready. trevor was going off first, followed by fuhrman and kent. couple other guys in the mix then i followed scotty and was 7th off. short version of the race is i rode well. conservative, but that was intentional. i could have ridden faster but i don't know that my time would have been better. every corner was drifting on the verge of washing out and laying it down. any time gained by riding faster would be lost with one crash so i chose to focus on keeping the bike upright. in the end it worked out for me. walked 3 climbs and put a foot down a couple other times but rode and cleaned a ton more than i thought i would going into the race. good enough for 3rd overall. shively won it and fuhrman was second. shively is a perennial top 3 here and fuhrman just won the 80 mile ss at ouachita and is basically a local. i can handle getting beat by those guys any day. i was done racing by 11 and we were having beers in my garage by noon. awards were a riot and i scored a sweet home made set of pbr fenders as well as some cash for 3rd. by 2 a.m. i had spent basically all of my winnings in 3 different bars and it was time for scotty and i to get some sleep. apparently having one more in the garage and staying up til 3 seemed appropriate. slow day today for sure. now focusing on getting organized for trans and spending most of the week off the bike and resting. big congrats to shively and fuhrman as well as kent for throwing down a top 5, scotty for a top 25, and troy for getting into the top 3rd of the field. doug gets the animal award for running with his bike on his shoulder through all of mother's day and boa after ripping his rear der off. big thanks to the volunteers. it was miserable out there and this race (any race) absolutely does not happen without them. pics later.

like heroin for a cross addict...

imagine the nastiest mud pit you've seen at a cross race. make it 12 inches wide and 24 miles long. add copious amounts of rocks and tree roots. turn every 10 yards. sylvan island stampede was not the same animal it was last year. better race report later. my eyes still burn more than i care to keep typing.

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.

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.

license upgrade

last year i argued with myself periodically as to whether or not to ask for an upgrade from a sport class license to an expert. the problem for me was that i felt strong enough to race expert in iowa but i was doing enough racing in minnesota and considering a few in wisconsin and felt that i belonged in the comp class there (which iowa doesn't have and wasn't an actual license category). upgrading to an expert license would have meant jumping from sport to expert in those races and getting my ass handed to me. i decided to ride out the year without the upgrade then do it over the off season and take this coming year for what it will be racing expert at the bigger races. learn from it, hurt because of it, get faster, get better, move forward. then usa cycling went and changed licensing formats to be similar to road racing and now we have numbered categories. cat 3 is for beginners, cat 2 is the new sport class, cat 1 is expert AND semi-pro, and then you have your pro category. by combining experts and semi-pros into cat 1 it means that my upgrade would be an even bigger jump in strength of competition (or so my understanding of all of this goes). long story short, i renewed my license and was carried over into cat 2 and decided to ask for my uprgade at the same time. just found out that i got it. which is cool. certainly not life changing, but cool. in the middle of winter surrounded by snow covered trails and ice covered gravels its nice to have little things like this happen that help justify all the hours, all the suffering. really, anything to help me swing a leg over my bike when i could just as easily stay inside where its warm and safe is more than welcome. so...here's looking forward to a new year, bigger races, faster classes, longer distances, getting ridden into the fucking ground repeatedly by myself and my competition and hopefully doing well enough from time to time to smile when its over.

ouachita

looks like i got in to the ouachita challenge this year which will be my first non-snow related race of 2009. i'll be headed back to dubuque for lance's triple d race again in early january. hopefully gonna have scotty and spinner along for that one. plans for '09 are coming together and i'm pretty excited about travelling to some bigger races this year. anything to help stay motivated is nice when its 3 degrees outside with some ridiculous wind chill.

weekend review

spent the weekend in the quad cities completing the DICE cyclocross race series. race #3 was saturday and it was cold...damn cold. a fairly long, stretched out course with a couple fast downhills and a mean run-up that was frozen to the point that my toe spikes couldn't dig in. i felt pretty good and had a really tight yo-yo battle for 5th/6th which i eventually lost. the guy that beat me was a strong rider and it kinda felt like my weeklong head/chest cold finally kicked my ass on the last lap (at least that was my excuse til he beat me worse on sunday). pretty cool course that was a little more wide open than races 1&2 of the series. sunday brought warmer temps, the biggest field of the series and my favorite course of the series. it was fast, a little soft and muddy in spots, had another tough run-up, and had a super fun downhill to a jump. can't say i really expected to be jumping fisty but you kind of had to try to NOT jump off this thing so you might as well put your head down and head right for it. top ten again (9th i think) which ended up getting me 5th overall in the points series. i think i ended up winning half my entry fees back over the course of the four races...not bad for a whole lot of fun. oh...and the vassago fisticuff continues to rock, and making the switch to wtb crosswolf tires is something i should have done a long time ago. these things have tons of traction. for me, cornering at speed is all about confidence. you don't have to ride a set of tires too long before they either give you that confidence or they don't. i won't be racing any other tires for a while. next up...hopefully gonna make it down to iowa city for the single speedo (not a typo) race on sunday of jingle cross. picture low 30's, rain/snow, and a nice blue speedo that goes with the color scheme that fisty is already sporting.

cold and running and jealous of the warm people drinking

sometimes racing is just fun

i really kinda sucked at barriers this weekend

grampa and larsson checking out the action