Race Day #3 - Battle of the Bear

So technically race day #3 happened about a month ago on 5.8.10. And my very good reason for not having posted about it since then is, well......, I'm lazy. Makes sense, right? Good.

Pdoo decided to come down and play official race photographer for the YOA crew which was being represented by Brant, Adam, Matt, and me. Since Brant had a cold he was all pepped up on goofballs and couldn't see straight, which led to him crashing a few times and not having the race he wanted. And in true, tell the ending before the story type fashion, Matty rode well (until he came unclipped from his pedals and racked his boys on the top tube) and got 2nd. Adam was strong as usual for a 9th place finish and I was 2'27" behind him for 12th. All of this in the M30-39 AG of the Sport division (20 miles).

Aside from the morning being pretty crisp and not knowing how to dress, the race unfolded as expected. I rode pretty clean and had a good start. In fact, I actually led the race for a bit. Too bad that 'bit' was only for a quarter mile out of the hole shot and then people passed me as we crested the hill. There weren't any tricks to this course other than not getting stuck behind people, and that's exactly what happened. First through some winding singletrack, and then catching up to some of the groups in front of us. The latter happened as we were doing a big climb and instead of being able to use this area as a strength and work my way up, I was stuck soft-pedaling and actually recovering. On a climb. It sucked. In fact, it happened both times, but both times I found the same spot to get around a handful of people that had been staying with me.

The race was really about timing when and where you could make a jump on people so they'd get stuck behind someone slower. Sometimes it worked, other times notsomuch. Regardless, when I came around the last turn to the straight away there were 4 of us together and I was able to power down and beat them to the line. A top 10 would have been nice but I can't complain about 12th either. It was only the second mountain bike race I've done and still early in the season.

Next up is some short track races and then we'll see what else makes its way on to my schedule.
Making my way through the first lap:

Getting ready for the final sprint:

Guess which of the four wasn't happy with his performance (hint: it's not a trick question):

Waiting for someone to bring me a beer:

Race Day #2 - Lookout Mountain

Second race in two weeks and it was time to get off the dirt and on to the road for the Lookout Mountain Hill Climb. It's held annually and is basically about as much as you can suffer on a bike. I say that often, and I'm sure it will be repeated again, but it's an all out effort up Lookout Mountain which is 4.25 miles and gains 1200 feet of elevation. If it makes any difference, Buffalo Bill's grave is at the top. I can tell you that it makes no difference at all because it doesn't help you take in any more oxygen which is the only thing you're thinking about!



I got to the race and it was perfect weather. About 50 degrees and sunny with only a small wind. I hopped on the trainer for a 30-minute warm-up and then Brant and I went to the start line. We were at the back and when the gun went off it was a mess of people trying to get clipped in. Once that cleared out, I was able to move up and ride with the lead group for about the first mile. My legs felt good and I was surprised I was able to hang on. Of course, this race is notorious for sandbaggers and it was just a matter of time before the group split. That time happened about a mile in and when the leaders laid it down, it separated the contenders from the pretenders. I have to say that a lot of the contenders don't belong racing in Cat 4 but that's a different post.



I got spit out the back but wasn't alone. Different packs came and went and I did a decent amount of pulling along the way, grabbing drafts for the brief amount of time (and benefit) as I passed people. Close to the top there's a series of switchbacks and I was in a group of four that I needed to split from. I geared down, hopped out of the saddle and surged through, blowing open the group, and almost blowing the contents of my stomach over the front of my handlebars. I didn't have much capacity at that point to go even more hypoxic than I was! One of the guys caught me and he was clearly a stronger rider so no problem with that. I was able to follow him to another group though, and it was near the top. Knowing the course was helpful since as I was passing another guy, I was concerned he'd sit in and then swing around me at the finish after taking advantage of my draft. So when I knew a false flat was coming up, I shifted to the big ring and was ready to take advantage of it before him which paid off. I lowered my head and sprinted as hard as I could to the finish, only to follow it up with barely having enough energy left to get off my bike and cough violently from the effort. It was well worth it though since when I looked at my time it was 23:09 with average watts of 277. I was super stoked since last year when I did it my time was 25:39 and average watts of 261. Chopping off 2:30 was HUGE and it made my day. Brant did great too and came in at 26:47 (a personal best) despite having a head cold.



After the race we had a beer, lunch, and then off to a party for a friend's birthday/housewarming/Kentucky Derby. A beer or two, a couple red bull/vodkas, and of course mint julep were taken down. I was much smarter about my consumption this year though, since last year left me as a puddle that wrapped around the toilet courtesy of Maker's Mark's mint julep flavored bourbon. One or two? Good. Ten? Uhhh, not so good. I only had one this time. And since it was the Derby, the seersucker got to come out for a showing:



My strategy of drinking less paid off since I felt pretty good when I woke up today so I called Brant and we tried to beat the weather by heading out to Lair of the Bear for a mountain bike ride. Crisp air, fun and flowey singletrack, and minimal crowds made the ride a huge success. It's about as much fun as you can have on the bike and we stopped a few times to enjoy it. No pics, but lots of fun. Now, though, after basically being gone for two days I have two dogs (one with her head on my arm right now) with lots of energy that need to be walked so it's out the door for us!

Race Day #1 - Lake Pueblo

Racing in April? Already? I'd like to think it was a warm-up race but I don't think such a thing exists since the effort never feels like a warm-up effort. If anything, it feels worse when it's early season! Knowing that that would be the case, Brant and I woke up bright and early on Sunday to head down to Pueblo for the Lake Pueblo Arkansas Point Challenge. Since we were making the two-hour drive it only made sense to race in the Sport category, which was 20 miles rather than 11 for the Beginner or 30 for the Expert. Rolling into the parking lot, it was evident it was a pretty relaxed vibe which was perfect. People were friendly and the typical chatter than masks pre-race nerves was abundant. Unfortunately, small races don't mean the nerves are any less. While roaming around the parking lot Brant came back and had asked if I saw the girl on the Stevens bike with quads bigger than my waist. I hadn't but was certainly curious and asked if it was Katie Compton, or KfC as she's otherwise referred to and the "f" isn't conveniently placed to tie her to Colonel Sanders. It's also not for her middle name unless her middle name is f'in (and that's being kid-friendly of course!). She's enough of a badass on a bike that she's definitely earned it. Arguably the best female cyclocross racer in the world right now and her palmares on a mountain bike and/or cyclocross bike are too long to list. My keen eye for attractive women on bikes (2 of my favorite things) had also spotted Kelli Emmett who's no slouch on a bike herself. She's an excellent mountain bike and cyclocross racer, and member of Team Giant. While she has her own remarkable palmares, one of my favorite things is her tattoo from winning the singlespeed championships in 2007. Have a look - I think you'll like it too! So here we are at an otherwise relaxed, early season race in the middle of nowhere with two of the best women that ride mountain bikes in the United States lining up with us. Pretty awesome!

Given the small overall field everyone lined up together. Expert/Pros first, then Sport, then Beginner, rightly assuming that the categories would get sorted out on the ride based on rider strength. The first 1-1.5 miles was on the road going uphill. The peloton pulled out hurriedly then slowed a touch. As it did the Expert field made it's way up the road. I was able to latch on to a guy and let him pull me up to that field and Brant followed my lead as we weaved through riders. Unfortunately for us, once we got to the back of that group they decided it was time to go and dropped the hammer. I was apparently part of the hammer since I, too, was dropped. Once at the top though, it switched to a sidewalk and the pace quickened since the hole shot to singletrack was quickly approaching and it's imperative to get in the right position. I was able to make my way by a handful of riders but got stuck trying to make my last move. This ended up costing me a little bit since I was faster than this guy early on but couldn't get by. There were little cacti on the outside the path making passing there an unattractive option. I had bumped tires with him a couple times to let him know I was there, and also verbally asked to be let by a few times. This lasted maybe 2 miles. At one point we were going uphill and he stalled. I bumped his tire again and lost all momentum so I got off my bike, pushed it uphill and hopped back on. I still didn't get by and the group I wanted to make contact with went farther up the trail. Finally he pulled over and I went off to the races pushing pretty hard trying to make contact. I figured that if I could bridge the gap, I'd be in good position to sit in and take advantage of the draft for a lot of the remaining miles. Part of the downside of early season racing is that I just didn't have the legs to fly up there on my own. A headwind didn't help. And that's not to take anything away from the guys in that group being strong riders. After all, that's why I wanted to be up there with them!

After pedaling in no-man's land I knew I had two options. Option 1 was to put out more energy than necessary working by myself and seeing if I could hold off the chase group. Option 2 was to ease up and get in that group and have people to work together. We still had more than half the race to go so I chose option 2. I led the group for a bit, then got passed by the same guy that wouldn't let me by earlier. He ended up being a strong rider at this point but we were out of tune with our abilities. I'd go up faster than him and stall, he'd descend faster than me. It made me expend more energy in/out of turns that necessary but that's part of racing. It's also solved by me having better descending abilities! Another few miles passed and one guy came through and went away, then the guy leading our pack pulled away just enough to make bridging difficult alone. We got to doubletrack and Brant pulled by me determined to get up to the other guys. Since he's 6'4", 195lbs, it's like drafting a bulldozer which worked well for me! Or so I thought it would. I went to take a drink and in the time I relaxed to do that, I fell out of his draft and didn't have the legs to get back on. No-man's land again.

I knew the race was getting close to the finish and another guy came by me. That was frustrating since I didn't want to give up any more positions. I don't know what his strategy was but since I knew we only had about 3-4 miles left, I wasn't letting him get away. I bridged the gap and hung on for 2 miles. Then it was back to the sidewalk and when I looked back there was another group working well together that was gaining ground. I told the guy I was with we needed to work together but he looked disinterested. I assumed he was playing games since he slowed down so much he was forcing me to take the lead while he would sit in for 1.5 miles and then outsprint me at the end. That kind of pissed me off so with 1.5 miles to go I did my own individual time trial. I started with a little surge and looked back to see if he was hanging in my draft. He was a little bit, but there was a bigger gap than I expected to see and that was all I needed. I shifted up to the big ring, put my head down and hammered the pedals. The effort was enough that every position caused me discomfort with each pedal stroke, but when I peaked back, my strateg was working and the gap was growing. I finally got to the bottom and knew I was safe. I was able to let up on the pedals a little bit but was still draped over the handlebars with my tongue hanging out. For 20 miles on a mountain bike, I covered it in 1hr 26min 20sec. That was good enough for 13th place out of 51 riders in the Sport category. Brant had a great race as well and finished 12th, exactly one minute ahead of me.

The normal post-race deconstruction/analyzing went on as normal, and that's part of the fun. As we were talking, I heard Brant yell and looked over my shoulder just in time to see Katie and Kelli duel it out in a sprint finish. After 30 miles (for the Pros), it came down to less than a second for these two. Goes to show that everything race counts no matter how big or small. Kelli had the inside line which propelled her to victory as she was able to keep Katie on the outside.

Since I've only been on my mountain bike about 7 times this year and have never really ridden a mountain bike seriously, I'm really happy with how this unfolded. My technical abilities need to be developed but that will come with more t.i.t.s. (time in the saddle). I said after the race that I felt like I had 45 minute legs for a race that was 1:30 and as my strength bumps up, I'll hope my results do too. Oh, and I won a sweet backpack from Specialized at the raffle which was worth about $100! Considering it only cost $25 to race, it added to the day being a success.

Fruita/Moab

Last Thursday, as part of YearOfAwesome (aka, YOA), I headed down to Fruita and Moab with Brant, Matt, Adam, and Nate. It's amazing that I've somehow lived here for 10 years and have never been there. What the hell have I been doing?! Fortunately I made up for lost time with this trip.

On Thursday we drove about 4 hours to Fruita where we stopped and warmed up with some loops at 18 Mile Road. The "warm-up" laps were much needed since I've only been on my mountain bike once this year and there's very little to be desired with my technical abilities. The trails were good, open, flowy singletrack which was exactly what I needed. What I didn't need, or could have done without is some of the ridges we were riding along and steep, tight descents. Brant and Matt made them look easy. Adam almost fell off the Earth on one of them but made it down safely. I made walking down a couple of them look as graceful as could be. It was still a blast though and after about 2.5 hours of riding we got some food and went the rest of the way into Moab.

We took a backroad into Moab which proved to be the better choice since we were in no real hurry. While driving through the canyon we took a quick pit stop so the boys could have a beer and just stretch out the legs (I was driving and didn't drink).

The next day we went to ride Slickrock and I can honestly say I don't think I've ever had more pre-ride anxiety in my life. It's basically like riding on sandpaper which is great because your tires hook up and get incredible traction. It's also terrible because if you fall, you're leaving a good chunk of skin right there. Fortunately, I made it through without any really bad crashes. Uhh, or at least until I got to the parking lot. I was so excited that I started riding a wheelie and took it a bit too far. The result? Me flipping my bike and ending up on my ass with a bloodied up elbow and bruised butt. Very smooth, I know.

After Slickrock my confidence got a lot better and the rest of the week was a blast. We rode Sovereign Trail, Porcupine Rim (which has a bit of riding that's a few feet from a 400 foot ledge), and Amasa Back Trail. Here's some of the pics from those rides:

It's Over

It's over. Ski season. Unfortunately it's gone now. Technically I think that A-Basin closes this weekend but I won't be around for it since the end of ski season means the weather's getting nicer and it's time to ride bikes. But before we get there, here's a few pics from the season. Okay, they're all actually from the same day but who's really keeping count. A couple weeks ago I took a Friday off work and Brant and I went up to Beaver Creek for the day. As luck would have it, it was snowing pretty good. As *my* luck would have it, we almost didn't get out of Denver. Once we did it was mostly smooth sailing. In fact, the sailing was so smooth that we drove right by the exit and kept going for an extra 15 miles or so. How two people don't even notice the freakin mountain out the left window is beyond me but it happened. A quick turn around later and we were on the hill which we almost had to ourselves. From the first run we knew it was gonna be a good day. Actually, it was probably the best day of skiing I had all year. Nice, soft powder and no lines whatsoever. We got a solid 4 hours of skiing in and could've kept going. But since we knew we were heading up to Aspen for the rest of the weekend, we didn't kill ourselves. Still, every run was as good as the last.






I started the season intent on getting 20 days in. Since that requires driving up at least once a weekend and a couple/few weekend trips, I didn't quite make it and fell about a week short. I got a total of 14 days which still isn't bad considering the snow wasn't always great. There's also the added nuisance of dealing with crowds and the cost of parking at the Vail Resorts mountains, but that's a different story. The good news is that I made some pretty good strides on my teles and am much more confident getting down the mountain on them now. It's a fun switch from the alpine skis when the conditions aren't as good. Turns out it's also fun on them on good days like when Matt and I skied at A-Basin. Perfect bluebird sky day.

MMMmmmmm...That Looks Good

Wanna learn how boring things are? Write a blog! I can't believe it's been since 2/7 since I've updated it last but it has. The good and bad news are I've seemingly fallen into a routine that I've been enjoying. It's not completely set, but I've been in the weight room Tuesday and Thursday nights, yoga Wednesday nights, skiing on the weekends, and fitting other workouts in around those. That includes the resurrection of two-a-days (they're not just for football players any more!).

My eating has cleaned up a lot in the last few weeks and I've been mostly good about sticking to it. The weekends present a challenge but since I'm not dead, I'm still going to enjoy things sometimes (like taco pizza and biscuits and gravy maybe?!). I'm also no expert on nutrition but doing 5 meals a day with about 400 calories each, and of the right foods, has really helped out with my stomach issues. If I had to put the top 3 things out there it would be these in no particular order: 1) Pay attention to, and abide by, serving size! A serving size is hardly ever the entire container. Hell, a bowl of cereal is most likely 1.5 - 2 servings. And if you pay attention to the sugar content, well that's just a lot of sugar. Segue? I think so.... 2) Cut back on the....wait for it......sugar! Processed sugar has no nutrtitive value. None. Zero. Yet a can of pop has about 41 grams of sugar in it. And all the shitty sugar substitutes aren't a legitimate excuse or replacement. Just start looking at labels and you'll see it adds up really really quickly. And guess what sugar turns into? If you said "fat" you were correct. 3) Unless you suffer from celiac disease, switch from white flour to wheat. Simply put, the first ingredient would read whole wheat flour. White flour, aka the other sugar, turns into fat. If you are allergic to wheat, then lucky you, it turns out they have almost everything you can think of available in a gluten free offering. Even restaurants are now offering gluten free dishes so there's really no excuse.

Now I'm sure that anyone who knows more about nutrition than me (which is almost anyone) could poke several holes in those, but they're a good start to re-vamping a diet. In the last 3.5 weeks, by following that and working out I've lost about 6 lbs (mostly fat) and have gained muscle. I'm expecting my weight will start moving back up as I put on more muscle so no one needs to get too alarmed.

As for my guilty pleasures, just to prove that I'm not completely obsessed about my diet, I offer you the following:

Exhibit A happens to be the most delicious breakfast burrito in the west that can only be found at Pete's Kitchen (home of waitresses that have bra snapping wars while the other is holding full trays of food). A breakfast burrito with bacon, covered in red chili and cheese would look a lot like this:

And since you need something good to wash it down with, why not do it with a Wisconsin Lunchbox? I know what you're thinking and you're right. The Sconny Lunchbox usually comes before the late night food, and this night was no exception. The breakfast burrito is like a sham-wow with how well it soaks up the alcohol!



For anyone still scratching their heads while looking at that picture that's trying to figure out if I'm drinking for breakfast, or just maybe gazing upon that picture with competing thoughts of "wow, that really looks delicious" and "just what in the hell is that," let me help you out. First, you're right. It does look delicious, and it is. For anyone trying to make this at home the recipe to delicious is simple. It's a half pint of beer (usually a good domestic beer like Miller Lite, Coors Light, etc. will do - PBR has been known to be very effective as well), top it off with a splash of orange juice and drop, yes drop, a shot of amaretto. Then chug. All at once. There will be a second during mid-chug where you're waiting for what you're certain is an impending doom of grossness. While your brain is processing that, your next thought will be 'holy shit I'm done and holy shit x2, that was delicious!' You're right. And you're welcome.

Lookout

With no new snow in the mountains, or at least not enough to make a significant difference in ski conditions on Saturday, Brant, Adam and I went out for a bike ride. From REI out to Lookout Mountain and back. Nice little ride, about 2.5 hours in total, gently rolling uphill on the way out and a slight decline on the second half of the way back. Oh yeah, there's also a 4.25 mile hill (Lookout Mtn) that sparked an impromptu TT/FTP test. Adam had been planning on it; Brant and I had not. Or at least I hadn't. Legs felt on and off on the ride out and when we got there I told Adam I'd carry his water bottle to make his bike lighter. Since it's always helpful to have rabbits up the road to chase, Brant went first. I waited about 3 minutes and then took off, followed by Adam about 2 minutes behind me. The first 100 yards I wasn't committed to the effort required and then......well I clearly just quit thinking otherwise I wouldn't have committed to the effort.

Tom Danielson holds the record up the hill at 16:02. On this day I was really almost right there with him, killing it with a time of around 26:00. Yes, you read that correctly. Tom Danielson can go up that hill 10 whole minutes faster than me. That's why he's a Pro Tour rider and I'm.....not. My best time up it was 24:48 on 8.31.09 and I held 273 watts (avg). The first time I ever timed it was in an annual race last year where I went up it in 25:34 with avg watts of 261. The good news is I have 3 months to add 10 watts to be on par with where my cycling was last year. Or I can add 20 watts to be where I was at the end of last season. I think it's do-able.