back in black

oh man. got back on the bike today. the second ride since September 25th. i know that because it was on the eve of the last race of the year that i was last riding.

rode out to Theo Wirth to get on the single track and see how the new Specialized Fast Traks felt. a big Woo Hoo on those. rolling resistance is way down from the Kenda Blue Groove on the back. i was pretty conservative between the trail being covered in leaves and a minor flashback to my wipeout on every curve to the right. even with the slow going i am pretty sure the Fast Traks were a upgrade and will be sweet next year.

wrist felt good today and i think cyclocross is a definate possibility now. today was beautiful and in the 60's. wearing shorts and a long sleeve jersey and i should have been in short sleeves.

wandering

a month into the wrist brake as of Friday. been on the bike once since to see how it felt. didn't feel great. the curiosity of cyclocross races has remained that, a curiosity. oh well, absence makes the heart grow fonder right? or does it make the heart wander.

some wandering may not be a bad thing. B hooked us up with a dslr camera and would like to get out on some hikes and record the world.

bikespotting

wow. this is hard. racing is over for the season. mountain bike racing anyway. over the past few months i hadn't realized how habit forming consistant racing is. i feel like i am in some weird biking version of Trainspotting. i tell my wife that i'm ok. i don't really NEED to race this weekend. i can give it up anytime i want. truth is i can almost see the spiders on the wall. this sprained wrist and the continous rain the past few days has softened the blow of no riding for about a week and a half but now i am wondering ,"what now".

i showed H my snowboard to see how much interest he has in getting on the slopes at 5 years old when it snows. got on utube to show him video of other 5 year olds ripping it up. he seemed interested enough but it's the ski goggles that he got stoked about. "when can we buy them?" he asked after we looked at some online.

looking at some cyclocross races also. pretty foreign stuff to me but definately interesting. looks like these could get me a fix through November.

theres always next year

so the last race of the season was coming up last week. this spring and summer had been a lot of fun and i had compiled 1011 points over 8 races in the MNSCS series. I hadn't gotten credit for the dnf at Afton. i had reported it but didn't get the credit. i left it alone thinking that it was 2 points that wouldn't matter. well anyway, with 1 race left it was me at 1011 points and Paul C in first at 1012. does it get any better that?

man was i excited. this is going to be great. i even got 2 sweet new tires when there was only 1 race left. Specialized Fast Traks S Works. i put them on and they squeeked on the garage floor like basketball shoes on the court. this had me pretty sure that the grip was going to be fun on the trail.

after messing around with them to get them seated correctly they were riding great. the rolling resistance was way down from the Kenda Blue Groove that was on the back. that was a great tire and i will probably use it for a mud tire but it was heavy and the big knobs were slow on the hardpack-straight aways and ski trails.

so i'm out on the bike path trying out the new tires. didn't have time to go out to the trails. just taking a quick 30 minute lap around the paved bike path, no big deal. until i went into a s-curve that was still wet from a little rain earlier. the curiosity and excitment to see how the new tires did on the corners overtook any part of my brain that may have had caution in it for the wet pavement. for that i was rewarded with a quick release of the tires hold on the pavement and a quicker meeting between my body and the pavement.

it was one of those wrecks that gave me the time to think, "wow, i'm sliding across the ground on my chest. glad i have my helmet on. wonder how my rain jacket is going to hold up to this." the rain jacket help up great. the bike did ok except for some scratching and a frayed rear derailer cable. the wrist didn't feel so great but not too bad. got back on the bike and rode.

a few minutes into it i was feeling silly but happy that there was no real damage to anything and that i would be racing in a matter of hours. got home and the wrist felt worse and started making plans to wrap it in the morning and just ride as best i could. within a few hours i couldn't make a fist, the swelling was up, and i was dealing with the fact that i couldn't race the last race of the season in the morning.

it is fun to be a part of a series. you can play and work toward building up points for the season overall while having little milestones along the way. but to be that close to the first place with one race to go and to go out with a silly mistake on a casual spin the night before hurts. this is like that Afton dnf times 10.

as Cubs fans say every year right about now, there's always next year.

suck it up buttercup

the power of the mind. the importance of the attitude and all that. that is what the race on sunday has me thinking about right now. on my 4 hour drive home sunday i found myself wishing you could go to the bikeshop and buy a good race attitude. you would find it between the water bottles and training magazines/books. you could take it like a gel or chew it like energy chews. within 15 minutes you would feel like you could overtake any obstacle be it course related, weather, other riders... anything would be under the power of you attitudinal outlook.

if i would have has this attitude gel on sunday at the Maplelag race i would have put it in my back jersey pocket before starting. i started the race feeling good. i started about third row because it is a stage race and quite a few guys got called up before me because they had been there for the two stage events the day before (a time trial and a crit).

i was next to Paul C at the "go!!" and i kept him in site in hopes of working together. the course had a nice long double track before the single track and speeds were up there. as the single track approached Paul and I were behind one guy. Paul said "lets go" and moved around him to take the holeshot. i wasn't as aggresive because i thought we would all move through the single track at a good rate and maybe even get into a group of three to five. in the single track i could see that Paul was pulling away and the guy ahead of me wasn't moving through the single track like i thought he would. i asked to be let by and got no response. asked again and was told a "opening was coming up". lots of passable spots went buy as Paul got out of sight. we did eventually get to the opening but i didn't have a pass in me. this guy was fast in the openings and i couldn't get by. this is where i would have taken the mythical attitude shot. it is something to learn from but i allowed this to break my focus. i was so frustrated with the guy not allowing a faster single track rider by that i let it bother me enough to take the wind out of my mental sail. so much so that this guy also got away.

with the proper outlook i would have shaken this off and rode with this guy. he did in fact end up being the overall winner and by over 2 minutes. the takeway is humbling. i can't make another rider do unto others what i would do. suck up the slight and ride with him. he will either be good to ride with or the pass will eventually come. if i could have done that i would have had more fun and a better final time.

it is bitter sweet but it is one of the things i love about this sport. i am still learning and will be for a long time.

but that was wisconsin

so i went to a bike race that pitted WI riders vs. MN riders. does it get any better than that?

forces were against everything happening pretty and perfect as usual. it had been rainy days approaching race day. once again my body threw a monkey wrench in and work is by no means a bowl of cherries or even a can of peaches. i have done a few of these races now and one thing that stands out is that there will almost always be something to overcome. circumstances will not be perfect and the wind will not always be at my back but if i keep going, keep trying, the wind will shift, the trail will turn, or the hill will crest and the view will make it worth the climb.

i went to the race in River Falls, WI prepared for a mud fest but also hopeful for the sun to come out. the sun did come out and it was a beautiful day. B and the boys were at the race for the first time in a few races. W had been telling me to "go fast daddy" all week while twirling his little arm around and standing in his warrior pose.

the starting chute was a few hundred feet back from last year and that was good. we got to the climb much more spead out and people were gunning for the top. top of the climb was the open field and i started making passes. got to the single track with a group and continued passes as the course allowed.

hooked up with a Freewheel rider and rode with him for a while. we got stuck behind a group. he said ,"let's pass when it opens up". i told him that i was in. the open area happened to be the spectator area. we were flying as the slow group had picked up the pace here. i tried to grab some water at the water station but couldn't get a cup because we were moving pretty fast. B had a bottle out for me just after the water cups. i had a nano second to recognize her and tried to get the bottle but the battle was just too fierce and speeds of this group made it impossible to grab the bottle. or i just missed the grab. right after that was a sharp right to do the big climb again. the Freewheel rider crashed with another rider and went down. that was a bummer because i think we could have worked together and improved both of our times.

in the climb everyone was going pretty well but this one guy was flying up. it looked like he had been born on this hill. got to the top, went through the open field again, got to the single track and saw the amazing climber and passed him. stuck my nose down and just tried to make time into lap 3.

got to the end of lap 2 and had an empty water bottle. looked desperately for H with my bottle exchange. no sign of the family. was starting to plan a third and final lap with no water bottle when i saw B holding it up high as i made the sharp right to the final big climb. that may be the happiest i have ever been to see her. got the bottle and started to climb with an opened gel. note to self: don't climb holding an opened gel. it just makes it harder.

once again the amazing climber passed me and the others like we were on a picnic. i remember seeing a wall of tatoos at the top of the climb that was the Lalonde brothers. i thought, "what would they do now that they were done with that climb?" and i told myself, "they would hammer" so i did my best attempt at that while trying to take the gel i just carried like a precious baby up that climb.

got to the single track and was pretty surprised to once again see the climber. passed him and was feeling pretty good that that was for the top spot in the division. that did turn out to be the last guy in my division that i passed (in WORS you can see a rider's division written on the number plate on their back). rode a little bit with a Wannabee rider (JB, who i met after the race and his wife was kind enough to email a podium picture to B) and then came over the finish line ready to lay down and feeling good that it was all out there on the course.

i had lost my tag and was nervous about not getting my time posted. i was posted when results were up and i had won the division. celebrated with some more watermelon and cookies.

takeaway: don't take a gel while climbing and/or need to concentrate on the trail.

Single Track Attack!

Elk River Single Track Attack! new race this year. awesome race.

got called up to see no JC. others said he went up to comp. saw him after the race and the rumor is true. i had kinda suspected it was when i saw him in the woods cheering the rest of us on. saw that he still won his comp division by 3.5 minutes and got 2nd overall. it was fun trying to catch him in previous races. maybe we will be in the same category again sometime.

took off on go. went down a flat, gravel road for 1/2 mile or so. felt like i was cooking pretty well and looked at the computer to see 28mph! could not believe that. was curious after the race and i had apparantly hit 29.3 at some point on that road. wish i would have known. i would have tried to hit 30 for the heck of it. started to feel like the heart was redline or worse so i backed down to 24 or 25. JS came up on my right and went into the singletrack first.

went by him on the first double track. there were good passing spots for quite a while. single track to double track transitions a few times. life was feeling good in first place for a while. came to a fork. right was a downhill rockgarden and left was a little longer but no rockgarden. had about 1/8 of a second to decide and went left for no real reason. PC passed me by taking the rock garden. very nice move.

fell in behind him and the pace was good. rode his wheel for quite a while and we were getting away from the others. told him that i would switch if he wanted to and that i would work with him but he said he liked the set up as it was. we rode like that almost the whole race. he flies downhill. asked him after the race and he says he likes to go downhill without using the brakes. i loved that. he makes it look easy.

front derailler cable is frayed and that gave me fits again. fixing that before next race. a month until that unless something changes. on a hill my chain was skipping on the front rings bad and i lost PC. he got first by 30 seconds and i came in feeling good with 2nd.

the crowds were a lot of fun. the race had great volunteer and sponsor support. remember to tell B that there are 2 great places to see jumps and rock gardens right off of the road just down from the back parking lot next time.