race report

the weekend was fun and the race was tough. this will be brief...

the morning of the race was a brisk 41 degrees, hella wind and moist conditions...always great to have adverse conditions to help out with the pain and suffering of a race. we ate breakfast at Wesson's mom's house...bagels and eggs...to fuel the system. since we were about 30 minutes from the race and Wesson was racing his ss, his start time was 2hrs before ours...ouch for everybody...we had to wait for him to finish then he had to wait for us to finish...made for a long day!!!

the course was changed some from the last few years...the start had us riding out on to a field with a nice hill to break it up the group but the catch for today was the 25+mph headwind that was blasting straight into our face! so anyway...i tried to stay out of the wind but keep good positioning...i think i was about 7th going into the woods...i passed several folks in the first few miles then settled into a nice rhythm...about 20 seconds behind the leaders and with one guy in tow. things stayed just like this for the remainder of lap one...the second lap was just about the same...only i got towed around the 2nd lap, until dude got a little tired and i took over the lead...i tried to bridge up to the leaders over the last couple miles of the second lap...but...i think i burned up a few too many matches while trying to bridge up...the section of the trail that i was trying this move on was a open and flat section and a large section was in a field that the dreaded wind was just killing me...i could feel the power dropping...once we went into the woods just before the transition i knew i was in trouble...as we were going through the start/finish line, 2 fellas caught me. I knew i had to stick to their wheels to have a chance...BUT...again, the wind was zapping my power...i stuck to them up the hill but lost contact going back into the woods for the last time. I watched them slowly pull away...nothing i could do by try and maintain! And even that wasn't happening...the heart rate was way low...hovering around 165bpm...normal race pace for me is 174...!!! towards the end of the lap, i started getting passed...alot...and by the time i dragged my body across the finish line, i had dropped 4 positions on the last lap...which landed me 7th place about 6.5 min back off the leader.

the guys who i rode with on laps 1 and 2 finished 2nd and 4th on the day...so for me to look at the race from an optimistic standpoint...had i only dropped a couple minutes on the 3rd lap, top 5 was very doable! i truly believe i'm stronger than what the placement shows...i didn't eat enough of the right stuff leading up to the weekend, didn't drink enough liquids in the few days leading up to the weekend, and my sleep was lame! i got to regroup this week, rest some, train some, eat and drink a bunch, and get some good sleep...then try and hammer this weekends race...Knobscorcher!!!

almost the weekend.

Fairly laid back week this week...short track practice on Wed, 30/30's on Friday, tues/thurs for recovery, and a few strength/core workouts and some regeneration work...coach has laid out a nice week leading up to back to back weekends of important racing.

This weekend will be round 2 of the SERC in Columbia, TN at the Chickasaw Trace trails. This course is normally blazing fast with hard packed dirt and a few climbs. With all the rain this week, it'll be interesting to see what the trails are like. I'm leaning on changing the tyres out for a more aggressive tread...thinking about the Michelin XCR AT's...they are a little more heavy than the pythons but way better grip in nasty conditions...I'll make the call Sat night after the pre ride. Last time I raced this course it was the first expert race...I got blasted! I think i came in 19th out of 21 racers...I cramped so bad on the last lap that i dropped 10 min compared to my first 2 laps...i'll try and negate that this go around! Goal...top 7 finish!

Next weekends race is the 3rd round of the SERC in Bryson, NC at the Tasli trails aka...Knobscorcher. Can't wait! Should be an epic race for sure...more to come on this the closer it gets.

race report

it was a good day. got the call from wesson saturday afternoon saying that he was in for the sunday day trip of racing down at the boug for the second race of the SCRCS.

i meet up with b and wesson at 7a at the waffle house to carpool down to mobile, al which is about 1:30 min drive. we had a blast on the way down telling jokes and bullshit that you talk about before the race...all the extra excuse of why we didn't do good if we didn't do good...

legs felt a little tender in the morning on the way down but the body felt good. the scene was good when we got down there...lots of folks, a spacey walk for the kiddies, local folks at the beach, lots of disc golfers...

the warm up went well but super chill...rode the first starting section of the trail and tooled around the park a little, mostly just to get some blood flowing. the same line up of guys showed up at the race as did a few weeks ago at BBB so i new what i was up against. kuppersmith took the hole shot like i knew he would but unlike last race, i thought i would test the legs and just go...so i took the second position going into the woods, then it was tre and b.lee rounding out the top 4...out of that, i'm not sure. after the first mile, i knew the legs were going to be solid. kuppersmith and i got a small gap on tre but he was never far behind...and eventually bridged back up to us as we started ran into the cat 1 19-29 fellas. after we passed the main group of them kuppersmith laid down an attack, i followed with no problem...we gaped tre again and didn't see him again. we rode smooth thru the first lap. grabbed a new bottle(a little more on that later) took a shot of hammer gel as did he and we went back into the woods. after the firs section, i took the lead. we hammered out that lap and caught the 1st place cat 1 racer and dropped him. the rest of that lap and the majority of the last lap was just us riding hard. once we came to the end of the race, he put in a little attack but cramped...i didn't attack, i could/should have...cause once we eased of the pace for just a few seconds and came out of the woods to enter the finish area, he went again. i wasn't ready and could keep his wheel...he got me at the line by a bikes length....3rd was about 4:30 back.

i feel great about the race...i was coming off 2 weeks of a building phase in the training plan and didn't even plan on doing this race until the a day before. the legs felt good, the HR was steady but not too high, handling skills are coming back, and most importantly to me...the ability to keep the lap times the same...maybe only 1 min off from 1st thu 3rd laps.

pics to come...

it's on tomorrow

decided that i'm going racing tomorrow. I have been tinkering around with the idea of heading down to the second race in the SCRCS, Back to the B0uge...which is held in Mobile, AL at Chickasabouge St. Park.

All week but have kept my training just the same...gone hard 3 out of the last 4 days and have been working hard in a build mode for 12 days with only 1 off the bike. Feeln good but can tell the legs are tired.

It'll be a good test...if I can stay steady the entire race, it'll be a success. Results don't matter! Good thing's...race course is shorter in distance than most and not much climbing but with some small rollers.

we'll see....

todays ride was simple...1.5 hr ride time with 5x 1 min full speed sprints. All 5 intervals went well. I could tell the last 2 the power had dropped some...wasn't going as fast as the first 3...it's all gravy though...that's what training is all about.

On my way back in form the ride...

hill repeats

yesterdays workout was 3, 2, and 1 min hill sprints. I truly love this workout...it allows me to go as hard as i want to and go up hill...i like the way it works the legs and hart rate...hard and high!

The graph didn't show up as large as I wanted...but you get the drift on the non stop ups and downs for the HR and the elevation...

you may also notice the abnormal jump in the very beginning of the ride...the garmin 305 ain't always the most reliable computer in the world...i'd say it's about 85% on the mark.

the hills aren't too long here so for me to find a hill that will last 3 min when i'm going full speed is hard to do...the one i have been using is about 2.5 min at full speed, so i tag on about :30 sec of a false flat run up to the hill...it seems to work pretty good.

the actual hill is perfect for the 2's and 1's...no run up needed...just start at the most noticeable rise in the pavement and drill it!

need some help getn a feed?

since b rad and i travel to most of the out of state races by ourselves and we both race in the same cat we are always in need of a feed. I saw this idea in a magazine several months ago and think it might the the trick to grabbing a full bottle during a race. I do say full not fresh cause it will be warmed by the sun but a full bottle is better than no bottle.

For my pole...I took an old real estate sign pole to use for the stand. It's about 4.5 ft tall with a pointed end and it's metal so it's nice and sturdy.For the cup...i took a 3 inch PVC clean out valve with a cap to seal it off. Nice and simple and h2o bottles fit perfectly.

Next...i took my drill and put 2 holes in the bottom of the cap...space out to match the pole ends and insert...

Now...the reason i stop the assembly process at this point...the cap is deep enough that the entire top will slot right into place and be sturdy enough to hold up....BUT i can hammer the stake into the ground if its rock or hard, then slot the top and bottle in place.

Lastly...I screw the top of the clean out value on to the cap and pow!!!

Instant feeder!!!!

I had 2 poles so i made two feeders.

Well it's monday and i'm thinking about racing...surprise, surprise!!!

Back to the Bouge is happening this weekend and I have had no plans about doing it...until today. I got screwed out of a race weekend before last at Gainsville, FL with a stomach virus. I need another race effort workout in before I hit the next 2 SERC's...especially Knobscorcher!!!!

I'm not going to tapper at all. I will train right thru the race IF i do decide to go.

Plus, I was thinking about trying out the new feeder!!!

old hardtail but new single speed

thats the great thing about old hardtail frames...its a diamond in the rough! i have help on to my old trek 8500 hardtail as backup rig for the 24hocs and to use on my urban rides. But decided last year that with the addition of the new Oiz, i needed a ss to use when the trails were nasty and just to have different ride!

it's mostly old parts off the fuel that i have been racing for the last several years with the exception of some ss specific parts. yesterday was my first ride on it...i have it geared with a 34x17 and that was perfect for my local trails...no hills...but may need to adjust that ratio when i head to the hilly trails around here.

also, USM performed a control burn on the land that our trails are on and for the most part the trails were not affected. it did change the scenery quite a bit...for now at least! give us a few spring showers and some warm weather and this place will be green again!

SERC#1 Gainsville, FL...RALPHIE...???

well...not what i was gunning for to say the least. not to drag the story line out too much, I'll just say that Friday night I got a call from the wife...1st call around 9p...one kid was throwing up...2nd call around 11p...another kid was throwing up...3rd call around 1p...all the kids are sick. By 6p Saturday, i was felling bad, by midnight i was throwing up. I didn't race this weekend.

BUT...Saturday morning and the pre ride was awesome! the trails were very cool. the were tight ans technical. lots of short punchy climbs. the trails are located in and around a old rock quarry. very unique setting. B rad and I had a blast pre riding the course...we turned 2 laps.

this was a huge pipe we rode thru.B rad rolling thru behind me.

this was one of the dug out sections that we rode down in to.

The water was so blue...we could see turtles and fish swimming around.

some of the upper woodsy areas...they were fast and very similar to the MS trails.

the trails weaved thru these huge rocks...pretty sweet.

just a little recovery

coach has had me doing short rides with short burst of effort but mostly recovery pace. she also has me doing 3 strength training sessions that are mostly focused on core and stretching.

i headed out to the rails to trails to get the 30 min spin on...weather was about 68 degrees and sunny. the legs felt great! light and snappy...compared to Tuesday's ride the legs felt 100x's better.

as i got closer the the location of our local single track i noticed lots of smoke...

nothing like riding in a cloud of smoke...like puffing on a cig while riding...not fun!

this is a close up of one of the entrances to the trails...humm...good? bad? work...you bet!

I leave out tomorrow afternoon to head towards the 1st SERC of the year...Gainesville, FL! Weather looks great and I'm feeling pretty good at the moment. I have a short ride planned for Friday morning with some 90 sec efforts mixed in there for good measure.

Race report to come!

SCRCS #1 Briar-Badlands-Battle

the first race of the 09 campaign is in the books. everything went according to my plan...i had intended it to be as easy of a race as possible and although i wouldn't call it easy, cause no race is, it was just what I wanted.

the plan was to stay in contact with the lead/chase group until the last lap of the race and make a move, if any, there.

about ten folks showed up in my age group with several of them being first timers. scott kuppersmith of herring gas, showed up and laid the hammer down from the get go.

for some reason i wasn't paying attention at the starting line and got a late jump...so i had to play a little catch up right out of the box...

i always like to be in the front group when entering the woods and i managed to work my way into 5th...

scott went off the front and jojo followed, then a group of 3 (betz, b.lee and me) was established, behind that i really dunno...scott quickly dropped jojo as we dropped b. lee...over the course of a few miles, jojo slowly faded back to betz and i and tre bridged up...the small climb would end up being the fate of chase group...one the first go around, jojo dropped off the pace at the crest of the climb...then betz took the lead with tre and i in tow...on the 2nd lap, betz fell off the pace at the crest of the climb...tre took the lead and i followed...i decided that just before the start of the 3rd and final lap i would give it a go on my own...
i never saw scott again but finished 2nd...

the bike was great, the course was dry for the most part...not my favorite course by any means but a good workout!

wesson took a big 3rd place in the ss division!!! b rad before the egg beater took a beatin and broke off the spindle!