Here We Go 2010

First race is this Saturday at Salem Hills.  I moved up to the Sport class this year and I am looking forward to the challenge.  The race is three laps for approximately 14 miles.  It will be flat, fast, dusty, and did I mention fast?  I really have no idea what to expect as I understand these guys are MUCH faster that those in the Citizen class.  I have been turning 17 minute laps but this is without the 60+ other bikers I anticipate will be in my wave.  There is also a .4 mile prologue added to each lap.  I am shooting for 65 minutes which would put me in the middle of the pack.  See ya!

2009 Wrap-up

OK....I have put this off long enough.  I survived the 2009 season and have been preparing for 2010.  As for 2009, I took 1st four times, 2nd two times, and 3rd once in the MNSCS (now MNMBS).  I took 7th in the WORS Firecracker in Eau Claire.  Of course, this was all done at the category 3 level which is the lowest.  This year, I am participating in category 2 which is also referred to as the 'sport' category.  The races are longer and I understand they are much faster.  Last fall, I found I would have to decrease my lap times by 15% in order to be competitive.  We will soon see if the work I have put in over the winter pays off.  My goal is to place one time during the season.  This may seem like a weak goal but there are guys who have been doing this for three years and never place.  The number of riders at the sport level are 5-6 times greater than the citizen level.  I intend on making most of the MNMBS races this year and hope to get to one NMORS race later in the summer.  We will see how that goes.  No WORS races this year unless something unforseen happens.  I did not make the Cheq 40 lottery so I will miss that race as well.  Maybe next year.  I will begin posting more as my outdoor riding increases.  See ya!  

Trek Border Battle

Just got back from race #8 in the MNSCS. The Trek Border Battle is a race that is designed to be a competition between riders from Minnesota (MNSCS) and Wisconsin (WORS). The event is held at White Tail Ridge Park in River Falls, WI. The Citizen course is two laps for a total of 10 miles. There are no dramatic ascents or descents although the course begins by climbing a fire road before entering the single track. For some reason, I have found the trail to be difficult and have crashed several times in training. It is a great course, I just haven't gotten dialed in on it yet.

There was quite a bit of rain last night in River Falls so I was wary of what the course would look like. I was pleasantly surprised to see it was in pretty good shape with a few soft spots in the corners and switchbacks. There were a few areas where I took my time but my lap times were nearly the same as in practice. The race began with call ups from both the MNSCS and WORS. I took the outside edge next to another MNSCS rider in my age category. The race started clean as we began the 1/4 mile run for the first hill. I settled in around 7 or 8 and took the hill with few problems. Once we reached the top, there was a single trail section which I believe was the slipperiest of the course. There were several crashes with one rider falling off a foot bridge. I completed the first lap without incident in 30 minutes. I did notice there seemed to be an abnormal number of breakdowns and crashed but this was probably due to the rain.

I felt good on the second lap but for some reason took 31 minutes to get it all done. I may have passed a dozen riders but still did not do as well as I would have hoped. For my age group, I placed second to another Minnesotan which was good with me. I had beaten this guy the last two races but I had no chance today. The last time I saw him was at the top of the first hill and then he was gone. I believe he beat me by a minute or so. He was certainly the better rider today. As far as the Border Battle goes, I placed 6th with the top three slots occupied by Wisconsin riders. Oh well.....next year perhaps.

Buck Hill Birch Bump

I recently read an article in which the author suggested road riding as an alternative training method for mountain biking. His argument made sense as he indicated you could get the benefits of an aerobic workout without the pounding your body takes from riding single track. This week.....I believe him. My body hurts, both from the recent wrecks and the continuous riding.

I spent Saturday afternoon at Buck Hill for the pre-ride. I rode the course three times and felt very good about it once I finished. The trail has no major ascents or descents and is very, very fast. I understand the course condition was not typical as the rain had packed the sand down which led to very easy riding on the traverse sections of the course. Buck Hill is covered in trees on the back side which provided shade during a very warm and humid day. In addition, the course had no technical areas worth mentioning.

After my pre-ride, I expected I could go under 40 minutes for the two laps. Unfortunately, I underestimated the heat and humidity and crashed hard that night. I am not sure if was the heat or perhaps a cold that is going around the house. Regardless, I was a mess and did not get much sleep. For some reason, I still dragged myself out of bed and headed to the race. It was a cooler day and I was going to be miserable whether I stayed home or raced, so why stay home? I got to the race about an hour early and did my warm ups. I began to feel better quickly and began to focus on the task at hand.

As I have mentioned in past posts, I am the series leader of my age group. A benefit of this is the 'call up.' Before the race begins, the announcer calls up the top three riders in each age group. This gives the rider the advantage of a clean break and less chance of an accident. The first time I was called up like this I was a bit embarrassed and decided to stay back in the pack. I soon learned that being back in the pack is not fun. So........I now try to take advantage of the opportunity and get out front.

The beginning of the race is a slight uphill climb to the area with the ski lifts. From there we hit the only meaningful ascent which took us to the top of the ski hill. During the climb, I found myself in sixth place. Toward the end, people began to drop off and I found myself behind the 'ghost.' Way behind the 'ghost.' From there on I was racing for second. Like I said, the trail was fast and I was able to get through the first lap in just under 18 minutes. As I was climbing the beginning hill for the second time, I noticed a rider behind me who had beaten riders I have lost to in other races. With this in mind, I worked harder to get to the top of the hill and really hammered the single track. It turns out I needed all of it as he finished 13 seconds after I did.

I finished in 34:13 which was below what I expected. I placed first in my age group and 16th out of the 65 Citizen racers. All in all it was a fun ride and I had a good time. Next week we jump right into the Minnesota Wisconsin Border War. I have two training sessions there and a couple of decent wrecks. I hope to get back on Thursday and for the pre-ride on Saturday. From there, I have a month off before the last two races of the year. Looking forward to the break. See ya!

River Falls

I thought I would get up to River Falls for my second training session on Sunday. The weather was phenomenal and I figured I was good for two times around the loop. As I made my way around the first loop I took some time to acclimate to some of the 'man made' obstacles on the course. These obstacles are a relatively new concept for me as I do not recall their existence back in my younger days. I am not sure what to think of them so I am trying to keep an open mind and negotiate them as best I can.

Once I got through the first loop, I had developed an unhealthy confidence and began riding the course as if I knew it. I entered a section that contains two narrow foot bridges. These bridges are no more than 18" wide and span a gully with no more than 3-4 feet of exposure on either side. In the middle of the two bridges is a rock ramp which you must negotiate prior to mounting the second ramp. I blew by the "PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION" sign and negotiated the first ramp unscathed. I then ran into a bit of a problem with the rock ramp and hit the second bridge off balance. Of course, in my mind, speed is safety so I continued to hammer the pedals. I had a few feet left on the bridge with a 'good inch' before I fell off the side of the bridge. Unfortunately, I looked up and noticed there was a fairly large tree just to the right of the bridge. At about the same time, my 'good inch' was gone and I was milliseconds from becoming intimately involved with the tree.

Now.......I am not exactly sure what happened but this is the story I am sticking with for the moment. I was able to get my head to the side and nearly missed the tree with the only revenue generating source I have access to. The rest of my large self was less fortunate as I now have a columnar looking bruise from chest to my waist line. I think I flipped and somehow came down on top of my bike. I immediately jumped up and conducted the obligatory 'is anything broke' pat down and moved to the 'look around and see if anyone got a picture' pose. As far as I could tell, no fractures and no pictures so on my way I went.

After all of that, the only part of my body that bothered me was my left little toe. Mind you, the collision occurred on my right side so I am having a bit of trouble explaining this one. Anyway, White Tail Corporate Park is a tough trail for me so I had better get there a few more times before race day. See you there!

Single Track Attack

I completed my fifth race of the season this past Sunday. The race was called the Single Track Attack and it was held at Hillside Park in Elk River, MN. I understand it was the first MNSCS race on this course. Overall, there were more than 360 riders with nearly 80 in the Citizen group. The course was fairly flat, very fast, and short. The entire race was eight miles for the Citizen class. I made four training rides to include the preride the day before. The course consisted of two sections with the first being much more technical than the second. I use the term technical with a grain of salt as there were very few obstacles and only slight climbs. During one of my training rides, I continued through sections three and four. Theses sections had many more obstacles and some very steep climbs. In fact, there were several sections where I had to get off of my bike and push uphill. This is the area the Sport riders race on so I hope to be doing this next year. Overall, the Sport race was 15.5 miles. Getting back to the Citizen race.........the course contained a half mile prologue to start. As I learned at the Chippewa Firecracker, it was critical to get as close to the front as possible prior to entering the single track. With this in mind I entered the single track in third place out of the 20 people starting in the fourth wave. I quickly passed one rider and found myself behind Tim Hieb. I tried for a bit to keep up with him but I had no chance. He has been much faster than me all year. Regardless, I was not passed the entire race and finished first in my category and 22nd out of the 79 Citizen racers. At the moment, I am the series leader for Citizen males between the age of 40-44. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I am in a class that has very few participants. Both of my wins have come with only one other rider in the field. If I can make the jump to Sport next year, I have noticed they have many more riders in my category. I will just have to work over the winter to make sure I can compete at that level. In the mean time, I am enjoying the Citizen level where I can learn the courses and the process of preparing for races. The next race is at Buck Hill. The course is private so I am unable to do training rides there. Instead, I have made one training ride in River Falls where they will host the WORS/MNSCS Border War. Nice track with a few hills and obstacles to keep you on your toes. See ya!

Chippewa Firecracker

I participated in the Chippewa Firecracker on the July 4th weekend and had a blast. The track is located in eau Claire Wisconsin. For the most part, it was a very fast race with a minimal number of climbs and descents. There were several technical obstacles to deal with in the form of logs, creeks, and rocks. The course was primarily single track with very few passing opportunities aside from the one mile of fire road on each lap. The race began with a sprint of a mile or more on the aforementioned fire road. I made the mistake of taking it easy at the start which I paid in the form of slow traffic later on. I entered the woods in the top 30 (out of 80 riders) but quickly found that some of the faster guys on the road were not capable of handling the obstacles. There was one point in which we came to a complete stop just before a two foot mound of dirt. I knew I was in trouble at that point. I felt like I had a great ride but came in 8th out of 20 in my class. This was a bummer as I was not passed the entire course. In fact, I passed between 9 and 12 riders so the end result was disappointing. Next year I will make a sprint for the front to make sure I do not get caught up in traffic. The course had some cool obstacles to include a steep descent on a large rock followed by fast single track into a steep climb. There was another area in which you could build up speed and launch into a rock trail at the end of a steep climb. I bailed during my first practice run but made it the rest of the time. All-in-all it was a fun race and I look forward to returning next year.