Racing with the Big Dawgs...

With my series win locked up in the Cat 1 30-39 H2H series this year, I made my decision with what to do with the last MTB race of the season. I'm going to test the waters in the Pro/Cat1 division. I figure next year I'll be doing some of the Pro/Cat1 races so why not get my feet wet now and see how it goes.

4 laps at Ringwood is going to be an interesting task for sure. 4 times up those switchbacks and in through the techy final trail will make life difficult but I'm up to the challenge. I'm ready to tackle this one and then retire my MTB for the season and go full time on the cyclocross bike. I can't wait for both.

Then the next step is to decide what to do next year. Do I compete in the Pro/Cat1 series H2H races, the NUE 100 miler series, or the MASS Endurance series. I'm thinking some combination of all of those actually. It will depend a bit too based on if I get my upgrade or not. If not I will be chasing some early races to officially get that upgrade.

Decisions Decisions...

Thanks to my solid race season thus far in 2010 I've been presented with an interesting opportunity. As it sits right now I've been fortunate enough to lock up the local H2H race series for the win with 7 of the 8 races completed. This gives the great opportunity of what to do for the last race. Let's see.

The options are:

Sit it out and enjoy the series win...yea like I have the will power to do that.

Race my category and go for the win to cap off a great season - that would be nice.

Race Cat1 SS and break out the rigid singlespeed for some action - not that much fun on the Ringwood race course as there's a lot of sections to get spun out.

OR

Race the Pro/Cat1 race...


I've really been hoping at some point to get my pro upgrade but never thought it could actually be this season that it happens. As it sits I had two wins this season, one being an AMBC race, three second places, and all of those placings were top 3 or better overall in all of Cat1. This combined with the overall win of the H2H race series this year could be enough to qualify me for the pro upgrade. Maybe if I just wish hard enough it may happen. Once the race series results are official I will submit my upgrade request and cross my fingers and hope the cycling gods agree.

So with this realization that a pro upgrade could be on my doorstep I'm thinking I should lean towards the Pro/Cat1 race for the Ringwood weekend. It would be a great learning experience at hitting 4 laps hard and be a good test to see just where I would end up on a fast course with the big guys. I'll prepare myself to get thoroughly thrashed but I think it'll be fun regardless. Just to line up next to the regulars in the Pro field would be an honor.

Jungle Habitat State Championship Race

Today was a great opportunity for some power to be laid down and a race with a lot at stake. Beside being another of the 8 H2H races, it was also the State Championship and a key race in the overall series. As I was waking up and making breakfast this morning I peered out the window to see what a magnificent day it was. It was truly nice out - almost a little warm at race time.

So as we roll to the line 17 of us were there to contest the State Championship title and one one would do it. As the gun went off I hit it hard and was wondering how my legs would respond as they were a little stagnant in my warmup but that was never an indication that worried me. I hit it hard and jumped immediately into 2nd. Through the first lap a lead group of 4 or 5 quickly snapped off the front. I was in 2nd then 3rd, then 4th, then 3rd. As lap two started, my teammate Brian in front of me was unfortunaately having cleat issues and had to pull over. So now I was in 2nd. At some point during that lap I passed another teammate not in my category and just as I did I showed him how to endo and cut myself up. I did this all without unclipping and unclipped, ran, and just kept on it. I blew through a few more turns unexpectedly as the rocks were just throwing off my line but by the end of lap 2 I knew what the game was. Catch Foco...

So at the start of lap 3 I could see Roger who was in 1st place now just ahead on the twisty section but I knew he had a minute gap already. Time to put it down and gap up to him. I hit every section hard and was on the verge of that crampy feeling. I ignored it and pressed harder. I did fumble a bit on Animal Chute and had to run a corner and then decided to nut myself with my stem all in one motion so that took the wind out of my sails for a second. But I recovered well and pressed on to keep the gap I had and keep the gap down in front of me. Part of me was hoping Roger would fade or have a mechanical but not so. He just rode steady and strong and faster than me.

I came around the last corner all alone and stood and crossed the line in 2nd. I didn't know by how much or how little but the look at the results later told me. Just under 3 minutes behind Roger and then 2+ minutes back to 3rd place. A really solid finish and one that also gave me 2nd place in the State Championship - the top 3 finishers were all from NJ - and even better it gave me the overall win for the series. What a nice feeling. With one more race to go it's all locked up already.

I've done 4 races now since I've been back from my blood clot and although I've had fun and done pretty well I don't think I've had that killer mindset on the third lap. Today was definitely different. My mind was in kill mode from the start. It wasn't on moderating, or being careful it was locked in on how many corpses I could create. It was nice to be back and really ride well - besides the endo. So I'm totally satisfied with the outcome and really amazed that I bounced back to well to win the series.

The only question now is what to do with the Ringwood weekend. Race my usual cat and try to win the last one or is it time to try the Pro/Cat1 race... Decisions...decisions...

Blue Mountain Chainstretcher Race Report

With fingers crossed and mud fender in hand, I rolled up to Blue Mountain to take on the Chainstretcher course. It was a wonderfully techy course that was surely an advantage to bike handlers. I got in a good warmup knowing that it was going to be a long race and knowing the lines was going to be key.

As the race went off I was in a nice group of 5 that had broken away from the rest of the pack. I sat comfortably in 3rd for the first lap and with a few efforts got into 2nd. Then back to 3rd and repeat. During the 2nd lap I was in 2nd with a little gap but 3rd and 4th were close behind. Too close. Me and the two others started lap 3 together and it was going to be interesting how it went. As the rocks and roots beat on I just lost a little bit of steam with the lack of feed spots and hydration and couldn't keep the pace. I let the two go and tried to gain the time back to pass but it just wasn't there.

I crossed the line in 4th for a good finish with 18 starters but my mind was partially on the secondary race at hand. The overall race for the H2H series championship. My goal for today was to do the best I could and hopefully keep John Arias and Steve Mancuso behind me. They are #2 and #3 in the series so I wanted to keep them at bay. And I did just that. I finished one place ahead of John but 5+ minutes ahead and Steve unfortunately had to DNF. That may have been the reason I didn't chase as hard when the two others got through. With the 4th place finish I extended my lead to 136 points. If all goes well I will be able to wrap up the overall championship next week at the State Championship race at Jungle Habitat. If I have a solid day the series is over. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for sure!

In hindsight the race would have gone better with a few changes. First and foremost eating and hydrating normally. It was just a rough course with too few opportunities to do so. Secondly I made some poor choices on the course which cost me time and I need to be smarter next time. Also it doesn't help when your garmin GPS launches off the handlebar into the leaves and you have to stop at fullspeed and find it. That hurt a bit. That was probably the 21 seconds I needed to get 2nd. All notes for next time. Experience is key...

Ahhh Windham Worlds...

My day started at 2:30 am with a nice alarm and a restless night's sleep. By 3 my pancakes were made and by 3:15 the car was loaded. By 4 I met up with my teammate and his girl and we were off to worlds. Our race was at 8 am and we needed to get there to pick up our numbers and transponders and warm up to take the line. We arrived at 6 with plenty of time to do all of the above but somehow things took longer than anticipated and the warmup suffered. Ok not such a big deal. We had 4 - 3.5 mile laps and a field of around 50 or so. I figured that the first lap would be hot but I'd warm up through the race and things would heat up later.

The start comes and we're off. My legs weren't ready so I took a nice consistent pace and settled into the first climb in 15th. I wasn't worried as there was lots of climbing and I'd knew I'd get a bunch more spots on the steep ups. The plan was working nicely. By the end of lap one I was 9th and gaining ground as those that went out too fast faded. A few passed and I got a few back and now I was sitting about 7th with the lead group not far off. I figure I'd stay strong and pick more off when I could and I was feeling alright. Signs were good for a great race. The downhill came on the 2nd lap and something didn't agree with my rear tire. I had just made a great pass to get that 7th spot and drilled the downhill. I had a big gap for the next climb where I was hoping to get some more spots but that was not to be today. My tire was flat. It still had some pressure as I took the wheel off so I blasted it with co2 and put it back on for it to make it 200 feet further before it was down again.

So now I throw a tube in there and fill the tire. Great, now it wouldn't go back on easily. I fiddle and curse at the tire a bit and it finally goes in. So I jump back in and start lap 3 WAAAAAAAAAAAY behind. I was now probably last or close to it. I lost a ton of time with both wheel fixes. Whatever. I set my mind to it and ramp it up and get back out there. I pick off a bunch of riders in my group as well as others and start making a nice pace just to save face. It was nowhere near the ride I had been throwing down earlier but at least I'd finish and save face and maybe beat a few people. That worked well until the downhill of lap 3. Flat #3 Mother F'R!!! I was really pissed this time and audibly yelling in the woods. So once again I took a few more minutes to fix my tire and got rolling again. The tire was at about 50 psi this time so I figured it wouldn't blow. If it did I was running.

So I get to the start of lap 4 and I knew my teammate Lucky passed me as I had the flat so my new goal was to gap up to him and finish this dreaded race. On the first climb I hit it hard and no Lucky. Second climb - no Lucky. Damn he was riding well. Third climb - no lucky - 4th no lucky. The final climb to the top. There's my bitch :-) I saw him and laid it down. Closed it down on the climb and there was no one around us. At this point we both just wanted to finish so we rode smooth through the remaining course and went on to finish this dreaded race. He was having a blast and I had a miserable day so we rolled to the line him a length ahead of me. 35th and 36th of 42 finishers reportedly. So at least I wasn't DFL.

I was disappointed on one hand but excited on the other. My lung felt a whole lot better today and I was climbing well. My recovery felt better than the 909 race and that should set me up nicely for the Blue Mtn race. Race efforts have been the only time I've felt the effects of the embolism and they seem to be dwindling. I've got some gas in store and some pent up frustration to let out at Blue. It's going to be throw down time. 2 more weeks of recovery and efforts will set up nice for the remainder of the H2H season.

Let There be Hillz

This past week of normalcy has been nice except for the normal part. I got a lot of work done and a few good rides. It felt pretty good to get back into the swing of things - except for the work part - as I need to start paying some bills. I'm eagerly thinking ahead and starting to look ahead to next weekend. This weekend I'll be doing some workouts and getting some good saddle time in to get me prepared for what's ahead: Windham Worlds.

Looking over the racewindham.com site I checked out the course profile and I like what I see. I've been doing well with the climbing races and this one seems right up my alley. Something like 500 of vert right out of the gate for 2 miles sounds like fun. 4 laps of this heaven would work to my advantage. Hopefully my lung goes along for the ride on this one. For the 909 race last weekend I felt pretty good but not 100% for sure. Hopefully for Windham I'll be closer to the 100% side of things and be able to climb like normal. Last week it felt like I could go hard and not recover quickly. I'll need that ability to do well on this course. Tomorrow will be 4 weeks since my embolism and the saturday before windham will be 5 weeks so that should be enough to make some gains I hope. Only time will tell.

The Comeback...

With the doctor telling me to resume normal workouts and such and feeling pretty decent prior to the 909 race, I decided to throw my hat in the ring and give it a go. I didn't know how my top end would be with a full race effort but I wanted to feel normal again and get out there. My plan was to give it what I had and if my body gave me any ill effects I would pull the plug and pedal easy to the finish or DNF if I had to. With that contingency plan and a big wad of extra tape on my seatpost(to keep my thin blood in if I had a bad fall) I decided to line up and lay it down.

I had an amazing day from the start. Once I got to the park I picked up my number and was sitting on the line again all was right in the world. I know it has only been 3 weeks since I was in the hospital for my blood clot but I didn't think I'd see the mtb any more this season. Seeing all my friends out there again was a very good feeling. It was nice just to be there and however the race unfolded was a bonus.

So from the start as we hit the uphill drag race I figured I'd punch it and see how it goes and I rounded the scoring tent in 3rd wheel. As we got through the first singletrack I was 2nd wheel, and by the first really tight and windy singletrack I was 1st wheel. Ok so things weren't going too badly. So I kept a decent pace but soon realized I wasn't 100%. I didn't feel bad but my top end was not there and probably because my lung isn't fully healed. I don't think I was absorbing enough oxygen like I normally do. Anyway, that aside, I start to ease back as John Arias and Ross got Anderson came by and over one of the next ledges my bike ghost shifts like it did the whole first part of the lap(gotta love that) and my chain explodes. Not only did it separate but the pin from the open end was lodged in the other end of the chain. So I had to chase the pins out of both ends and after I dropped the quick links like 5 times I was back on the chase after probably 4 minutes of fixing it(After some research it seems it was over 5 minutes, my GPS recorded 2:18 and my finish time was 2:23 according to scorekeeping). By this time I think I was in dead last or close as EVERYONE passed me.

So now the race started again. It was like a severely penalized slow motion start. I had to stay steady and pick off as many as I could one by one and that's what I did. I wouldn't say I was riding fast but I was riding well, consistent, and felt really comfortable out there. I was climbing hard but really couldn't recover like I normally could. In the past I felt I could give it all I had on a climb and then crest recover and go again. Not so much this time. That was the biggest difference I felt. So I rode to my new limit and I passed when I could and could have used one more lap as I didn't realize the group ahead of me was so close. I chased back up to 9th of 22 starters I believe.

Looking back over the results, and riding how I did should have put me in 5th place or maybe even 4th if my chain had not failed. So that's the most promising bit. If I can get this engine fired up again I'll be in good shape. Plus it doesn't help that after my embolism, my diet has not been the best. I did this race a full 10 lbs heavier than I've been racing regularly. That had an effect as well I'm sure. That's changing as we speak. The diet is on lockdown and the pounds will be shedding ASAP.

All in all a truly amazing day, race, and scene all together. Thanks so much for all the well wishes and everyone for checking up on me to make sure I was ok. I think we even had a little gentlemen's agreement on the line that if anybody saw me die out there they would sprint ahead for help...lol. I knew there was a lot of love in the group.