Ok so it's been a while for a new report. Let's see...
The last few races I did were the Stoopid 50, Summer Sizzler, Stewart Six Pack, High Cascades 100, and Nittany Lion CX. Some were good, some were not so good, some caused me to stay off the bike for a while. Here's how it went.
Stoopid 50 - Still an amazing race. Felt decent but not overly energetic racing so soon after the Mohican/Bearscat double. I rode hard and solid until the aid station at mile 32 or so and then fell apart. Lost a few positions riding to that line at the end and finished 8th place. I'll be back for more at this one.
Summer Sizzler - Fun MASS series race that I have never done in Sewell and after I got accustomed to riding the sandy corners I had a blast. I finished mid pack in the pro field and really enjoyed the xc format as opposed to the endurance stuff I'd been doing.
Stewart Six Pack - I had high hopes for this one as I've done well in the past but I also raced the Sizzler the week prior so I didn't know how I'd feel. I went out hard and was comfy in the lead group of 8 or so for the first few laps. It then dwindled to 5 and then after 5 laps it shattered apart. All I knew what that there were 3 guys ahead of me and I put down all I had to the end. I never felt super good but I was consistent and riding hard. I finished 3rd only 15 seconds or so behind my teammate in 2nd place. So all in all a great effort even though I wasn't feeling super fresh.
High Cascades 100 - Oregon is absolutely beautiful!!! What a great venue and just amazing scenery and beer everywhere. The downside...the dust! Holy hell was it bad. The first 10 miles of dirt was horrendously dry, dusty, and loose. I stuck with my brother for the first 40 miles or so into Aid 2 when I realized that he just wasn't keeping pace. Something was off with him. So I said gbye and kept on rolling to see if I could get into the finish in under 9 hours. I did well and put in some hard efforts when I could, especially up to the never ending snow fields...there had to be 40 of them. Some small, some not so small, and some bridging across rivers. Once my feet thawed out I kept moving noticing the 9 hour mark was approaching. I got to the road at the end and absolutely crushed myself trying to make sure I'd cross before 9. I did just that 8:46 was my finish time in 26th place. It hurt bad but I'd met my goal and got a medal for making it in under 9. Part of me wonders just how much extra time I could have cut off if I decided to leave my brother earlier but that was part of our agreement. Overall it was fun, well marked and some great trails but that moondust was horrible.
As a results of something going wrong at the HC 100, I had to have surgery. I think the issue was that my saddle had slipped backwards and canted up a bit. Causing me to severely irritate some tissue under my sitbone that needed to be removed. It was so sore after the race I couldn't even sit down. The couch hurt - nevermind a bike saddle. I still tried to do my recovery ride and that was severely painful. But I pushed on through it.
After the HC 100 I did stop by the MacKenzie River Trail and ride that - what a killer ride! That's definitely a must do if you are in the area. The only problem was my sit bone was so sore I had to ride the entire 30 miles of trail standing up. Good thing the majority of it was downhill.
So with 7 weeks of irritation and the effects of surgery I was forced to cut down my training hours and what I could do - I mostly had to stand. It was aggravating but who knows maybe it will be beneficial somehow. I'm still debating this.
So now being on the upside of surgery I raced the Nittany Lion CX in Trexlertown PA and tried that going fast in grass circles thing again. There were 80 something riders in the field and we had a hard, clean start for once. Towards the end of lap 2 I wanted to vomit but I stuck with it and hung in there forcing myself to go as hard as I could and just get the workout in. I did just that shedding riders and passing when I could and I think I had an ok race. No real mechanicals and I forced myself to go pretty hard. I know I definitely wasn't 100% but it's part of racing my way back into fitness.
Up next a few more endurance MTB races and some CX races. Oh yea and I'm fat so I'm working on that. Stay tuned.
