On the door step of the Mohican

I sit here packing all my gear and reviewing former write-ups and data and try to plan for what's to come Saturday morning. I remember the course pretty well as it really fits my riding style. I think I can go pretty hard consistently and do well if there's no really long extended climbs. That describes the Mohican to a T. So I figure I need to set my game plan. Here's what I figured:

Last year I finished in 8:30 with an amazing race. I was solid the whole time - everything was dialed - and I was REALLY happy with my result. Given that here's what my splits were going into each aid station the best I can figure.

20 2:00
34 3:05
46 4:05
72 6:00
80 7:00
92 7:40
100 8:30

As far as I can see the past few days in Ohio it has been rainy and pretty sloppy and the forecast isn't supposed to get much better. So I'm going to totally ignore that, be optimistic and set my goals like it's going to be dry(yea I know that's stupid). But that's how I'm going to approach this. Given the conditions I'm hearing about, if I cut the same time as last year I'd be happy but again - I'm trying to be oblivious ;-D

So here's the time goals. After compiling and calculating the data(actually just guestimating) here's what I've come up with.

20 1:55
34 2:55
46 3:50
72 5:40
80 6:35
92 7:10
100 7:55

The plan is simple - all I need to do is cut 5 minutes off of each section and I should have my goal time of a sub 8:00. I'll have these numbers on me to compare and see when and where I need to get my a$$ in gear. Hopefully it'll work. We'll see soon enough. Either way it's nice to have numbers to chase. It'll be like 7 mini time trials all in sequence. Looks like fun eh?

:-)

1st Place Never Felt So Good!!!! - Tymor Recap

Today was the Tymor Park Challenge in Lagrangeville NY. It's always a race that is a little crazy since they have a great choice of hills to throw in and the rain there always makes the course a disaster. So with this one coming up I wasn't sure how to prepare but I was just hoping for the best and heading up ready for anything. And to sum it up in one word - AMAZING!!!

For those of you that bagged the race because it was going to rain....TOO BAD!!! It was amazing!!! The course was bone dry and even dusty in sections. The hill was still painful and flowed much better in the course. It was just great in general.

The CAT1 30-39 race went off with probably 20+ guys and went out fast. My teammate Keith got the hole shot and I jumped on his wheel. He peeled over so I could get around him and Roger Foco beat me to the punch and had the better gear and momentum. I hit the first hill with too big of a gear and panicked to downshift and finally recovered to jump onto Roger's wheel. From here we started the pain train motoring through the fast swoopy singetrack. On one left hand corner Roger slid out and hit the ground blocking the trail so I had to jam on the brakes. Steve Mancuso got through but Marco Mora squirted through on the left as Roger got up. We hit it hard and got to the fire road where I was getting antsy and jumped to the front. I knew the course well and I just wanted to get to the hill to put a solid effort in. As I put it down I had Steve with me and others falling behind. Steve and I were opening up a nice gap passing the previous classes as we cruised. Into the hill we went - I put it down and Steve stuck right with me. Awesome! It was great to have a teammate with me. We hit the top of the hill and drilled the down and were all alone together into lap two.

This duo of Steve and myself stuck into the hill once more. I asked him if he wanted to pass and take a pull but he said he liked his spot and we kept on drilling it. We picked off more people here and there and just kept it super steady. As we hit the hill for round two I was feeling more confident about the effort needed to get to the top fast and wanted to push it up a notch as I had it dialed. I pushed harder and harder and got to the top and saw that I had opened up a gap on Steve. I knew it wouldn't be long before he joined me again. So out of the end of lap 2 I was solo in the lead.

I kept on it passing some here and there and passed Brian Kelley on the SS(later I found out he was the SS leader) which he immediately jumped on my wheel. We rode together for the majority of the 3rd lap with the sounds of brakes and hard shifting not too far off. I knew I had to keep on it as to hold off the charging mob. As we hit the hill for round 3 the pain started setting in and I was right on the verge of cramping. We were going so hard that if I pushed just a bit more I would have cramped solid. Either way I wasn't giving in and I refused to ride the hill easily as I was worried about what was close behind. So I put everything into finishing that last lap as hard as I could. I said hi to Wendi as I was about to hit the field and started hooting and hollering a bit and hit big ring and crushed it across the field. I looked back to see only Brian and Wendi in the field so I knew I had the win. I cruised in for a finish time of 1:36:37 in first place. It felt sooooo good!

I rolled across the line and of course was curious about what unfolded behind me so I turned around to see the finish order and just under a minute later RFJ came rolling in with Mancuso shortly behind and John Arias a little behind him. The 4 of us were all within 3 minutes of each other. It was an amazing race. What a bunch of fit doods and just great racers in general.

I just looked over my garmin data:
Lap1 31:38
Lap2 32:19
Lap3 32:50

Holy consistency. What a day!!!!!!!!!


I'm tired now... :-)

Giro de Cielo 2010

Two more days of cycling are officially in the books. Yesterday and today my teammate BL and I went up to the land of cheese to compete in the Giro de Cielo. It was originally designated a women's event in its inception but has grown to include a CAT3 and CAT4/5 race. Me being the road racing NOOB, I entered the CAT4/5 as this weekend would be what's needed to officially get my 10 mass starts and FINALLY get to the CAT4 status. The weekend consisted of a 4.5 mile hill climb up Sunrise Mountain and then later that afternoon was a 15 mile 22 lap crit.

The TT was my event. I knew that my road racing skills aren't the best since I sprint like an elephant stuck in the mud. So I wanted to do the most damage I could then and hopefully get some nice points for the General Classification competition. I went off at 8:35:30 and I went out HARD. It was good but I was feeling kinda bleh. Not really snappy like I was hoping. Each time the road pitched up I tried to keep the pedals spinning quickly and tried to reach that man just in front of me. My 30 sec man I caught probably half way up the climb. He was good on the flatter sections, but as it pitched up, he fell back and I passed him with a nice burst and set out to catch my 1:00 man. I didn't see him for a bit but as it pitched up again he came into view and he was falling back. The problem was that I was running out of road to get him. So as I made the final steeper ascent to the top of the mountain I was reeling him in hard but the line came up. I was probably 10 seconds off of my 1:00 man at the top. I was satisfied with how I did but definitely felt I had more. It turns out I didn't do so badly. I was 3rd in the HC and pretty satisfied with that as #1 and #2 ahead were pretty far ahead 30+ seconds so that was a relief. Next up was the crit.

Later that afternoon after some food and some chill time I lined up for the crit. 60 or so of us toed the line and with a boring(non-hilly) course and a tight course as it was still open for traffic would make things interesting. Oh and throw in a nice 20 mph headwind on top of the one little hill it had. So we set off after a sweet call up :-) which I was happy to oblige since I was 3rd in the previous event. The first lap was a nice casual chat lap since it was neutral but once the whistle sounded it was on. It was hot and sketchy. I had the guy in front of me which I thought was a decent wheel, hit a cone since he was not riding with his head up and almost throw it right into my wheel. F-that racer I found a new wheel really quickly. I worked my plan and stayed at the front. I wanted to go for one of the GC bonus sprints since they were giving out GC bonus points. I knew the sprint would hurt at the end but I might be able to sneak out some more points. Nope. I put in a big effort to go with a break and get out front but we got gobbled up and spit right to the back. So now I had to work my way back to the front. With 4 to go I figured I'd try an attack and get off the front to avoid the final sprint. They all had me marked as I attacked hard but they were ready and just jumped on my wheel. CRAP! Fail #2. Ok so it was just to stay at the front and salvage what I could. Around the 2nd corner to the finish it heated up and I stayed with whatever wheel I could. I rode the gutter to get around those that faded early and finished strong but not as far up as I'd liked. 17th and out of the GC points. Maybe tomorrow would be better...

So this morning we showed up early and got all warmed up, and then cooled down as the ladies race had a crash which pushed us back. So I used the time to work on strategy. My two efforts were again #1 to go for GC points prime, and find a spot to attack for the finish since I didn't want to wait for the sprint. All was good and into the prime sprint I got out ahead with a small break but got gobbled up. DAMN! No good. So now my move was to find a spot for the final attack. I waited, and waited, and waited for the last lap. There was a team on the front controlling the pace and I was right with them leading into the final mile of the course. It consisted of two hills, a hard right hand turn, and two more hills with the finish on the top of the last hill. As we hit the first hill the team in front of me said to the pace guy to hold back and just set a tempo. To me this said attack fool! So I went - around the right I stood up and charged. As I rolled off the front I heard don't attack - let him go. WTF??? REALLY! I hit it twice as hard then. I looked back to see the pack fading. SWEET!!! I hit the 2nd hill and looked back and saw the pack 150 yds back. Sweet they were holding back. I hit the right turn - same margin. This might stick!!! Up the next hill - looking back uh oh they are getting closer. The final hill - I was ducking for cover as this massive freight train that is the peleton gobbled me up. I was 100 yards from the finish line as I was giving it all I could and this train of testosterone flew by like I was on a tricycle. I did what I could to get to the line but I was absolutely gassed trying to get to the line. I went from 2nd to 44th in a heartbeat.

I'm really happy with myself for attempting that move. The more I think about it, the happier I am with that then sitting in and settling for 20 something in the sprint. I know now what it takes to get away and stay away and it's all in the experience bank. To suffer that much and get hammered at the line just makes it that much more interesting the next time that situation arises. I think 2 things should have happened. I should have gone sooner as it would have let me roll into the first hill and get an even bigger gap. The other thing was to stay out of the wind more. I got caught on the front a few times and had to use more energy than I wanted to. Maybe if I actually did this road thing more than 4 times a year I could figure it all out :-)

Any way I finished 12th in the GC out of 50. I'll take it since my heart is really in the dirt. As much fun as these races were, I really want to throw down in the dirt next weekend. Tymor is coming up and I can't wait for this race. It should be a blast!!!

Wawayanda Spring Cleaning Recap

I went into the first race of the H2H race series today with a few questions to be answered. How was my recovery going from the Cohutta 100 last weekend? How well would I deal with the rocks and techy nature of Waway as it's one of the roughest courses that will be seen? And finally how well would my body deal with the 90+ degree heat? It would all be played out soon enough. On my preride I knew it was going to be tough as I rode for almost 40 minutes and blew through a bottle easily. I ran back to the car to grab any fluids I could and got it setup for the race.

I wanted today to be a nice hard training day. I'm placing more of my emphasis on being disciplined and really putting my efforts at the 100's. So this would be a nice opportunity to get a good workout in. If I happen to place well - then that would be nice. Upon looking at the preregistration I knew it would be a tough race as there were a lot of familiar names - and mostly familiar since they always finish ahead of me. So in the heat of the day we got called to line up and here's how it played out.

I started in row 3 - not worried too much since it would be a long race. Off of the first climb I got through a few and settled into the first singletrack in 7th spot. I just wanted to ride it clean. For the most part I did just that. As the lap went on I got a few here or there as the lines opened up on the fireroads and the power just wanted to be put down. I moved up well and just rode solid. At the end of the first lap I was sitting in 2nd or 3rd position. I lost count.

After that the rest was a blur. On lap 2 I pretty much held my spot and rode alone until I saw a random 19-29 rider or some of the pro's falling back. I felt good and was happy to be riding solidly and was hoping to keep the gaps that I opened up during lap 1. I ate, drank, and popped some more endurolytes in preparation for the pain that was to come on the 3rd lap.

On lap 3 I knew I was starting to fade a bit but I needed to keep on it. The one sure thing that I have learned is that you can NEVER let up in CAT1. There will always be someone there to steal your lunch if you do. So I kept it up and rode one more solid lap and put it down where I could. I came across the line happy with it to be over. It was a long hard race.

I think I finished in 2:36 in 2nd place, and couldn't believe it. I knew I was doing well but I really can't believe I did that well. There were a lot of strong riders out there but I think the heat just got the better of a bunch. Either way I'll take it. What a great day and a great dry race. It could have been a little cooler though :-)

Cohutta 100 2010 Race Report

What more could you want for a prerace dinner than some good calories in the form of a HUGE Mexican dinner. Nick, Geoff, and I hit up the El Rio restaurant in the middle of Copperhill and got probably the largest item on the menu. I think it had 8 or 9 separate parts and I couldn't finish it all. It was so good and just the ticket for the hard effort that was to come the next day. A great meal followed by an early night to bed was a good recipe for the misery that was to come.

The race went off well as I was at the front of the main group and as the 1.8 mile paved climb started I jumped into the lead group and settled in. The pace was good and towards the top a little attack was made to stretch it out going into the singletrack. I was sitting about 20th overall into the singletrack and was content sitting in and enjoying the 20 miles. It was tackier than the day before with all the rain overnight but slower as expected. The corners were a little sloppy but the bridges were deadly. Luckily the guys were sane and took their time over the slick surfaces.

As we crossed the stream, over the bridge and up the other climb it was all good. Everyone staying in line at a very manageable pace and climbing and descending and flowing all around was good. There were more climbing bits than I remembered in the first 20 miles but it wasn’t that painful. So the st gives way to the fire road and you can put in a good effort here to kill the hill and get to aid #1. Here is where I ditched my disposable bottle and kept on riding.

The descent after aid 1 was loose and sketchy as always. It undulated as there were a few short climbs in there but we then hit the fireroad where it would lead us into the big climb. At this point I hit that section hard with a group of 4 which later turned into 5. We pacelined and made the monotony a little nicer. With names like Applegate and Prosser along side of me it made for some pretty cool company as I’ve seen those names way far from mine in the results usually. We held it together for a while but as the hills turned up the group shattered. It left myself and Garth for a little while, but he started to feel better and took off as well. I knew I was in for a long day and put in a great effort so I was ok holding back a bit. So I climbed ok but not really strongly.

Into aid #2 I was feeling good but not that strong. The hills kept turning up and I kept on it trying to put down more power when I could. It worked for short periods but I really overall just felt flat and couldn’t muster up the power to really do some damage. Maybe it was the thought of surviving the remainder of the race or maybe I just went too hard too early. Either way I was getting it done. So up through the climbs I rolled into aid 3 for some water. My goal at aid 3 was to roll in at 4:00 and I hit it at 4:13. I was close but lost a little time. I knew the climbing wasn’t done as there were two more to come. These seemed especially hard but next time I need to go harder as there is PLENTY of recovery once the top is gained. It fools you since right out of aid 3 it goes down but then goes right back up – a lot. So I kept a good pace and finally topped the last one.

Into the descent it was not raining yet but it was on its way as I heard thunder in the distance. It was fast and sketchy as usual but oh so much fun. Once I hit the sprinter climbs I was having a blast as I love that section. I put down one hard effort after another to kill those hills and they flew past. Unfortunately this is when the rain hit HARD. I rolled out of those hills into aid 4 and that’s when the fun stopped.

Out of aid 4 it was the flat and false flat roads near the river. It was good since it wasn’t climbing but now it was slick muddy roads with lots of potholes and just plain cold. The rain was driving, the wind was blowing, and my muscles were just cold. I had to block it out and keep going. I pushed on and the road started to turn up towards the Syclo Campground into the next climb and once again the legs were flat. I just did all I could and got up it. Towards the top I hit the 65 miler aid for some coke and then just kept rolling. There were a few more hills to crest and then it went down into aid 5. This was a key point since there were two climbs to go and the time was growing short. Just around the 65 aid it was 75 miles and I hit that at 6:06 so I knew I was still right around the 8 hour mark. I would have to put in a heck of an effort to break 8. I was still giving it all I had though.

After aid 5 I hit the gravel hills hard as there are some steep windy ones but they aren’t really that long. Actually I crested them much easier and quicker than I thought I would which was amazing. So now I hit the downhill into aid 6 and hit that mark at 7:04. This was great since last year the remaining section took 50 minutes so I was elated that I would break 8 if nothing went wrong. Last year’s time was with lots of dehydration issues and cramping including one section which was walked. I just hoped the conditions on the next trail were good. They weren’t.

So the last climb was good and steady and then I hit the muddy singletrack. It was slick and slow. MUCH slower than I anticipated. I was steady and strong and put down what I could once again. The last few climbs were brutal as I was dying to get to the finish as the 8 hour mark was rapidly approaching. I still felt good at this point though. As I looked down at my Garmin though I knew I was going to be over 8 but I wanted to cut that down as much as possible. I hit the 1 mile of road to the finish and the wind slapped me right back in the face. I pushed through the wind and rain pushed as hard as I could to get to the finish. I made the final turn and as I crossed the bridge I saw a guy suffering and caught and passed him. Looking back it was one of my competitors so I gained one position in the last 100 yards. I finally crossed the finish line at 8:10 in 27th place.

It was a good race with really bad conditions. I was happy with how I did considering how slow the course was. In theory this should have been a 7:30 or 7:40 finish but the weather didn’t allow it. I guess I’ll just have to go back next year and prove that it would have gone down….

The weekend was capped off by driving past the Whitewater Center and realizing that they had done a dam release and the river was at it's high point. It was raging and the hydros and holes that were created were impressive. I can see why it was constructed for the olympics. So we stopped for a little sightseeing as some kayaks were about to get launched and some people were about to have a lot of fun. It was cool to see and after watching the play session we headed home on our 14 hour journey.

One Large Block

...of training is finally over. Ever since I did the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek I've been riding steadily. As a matter of fact, including the 6 hour race, I rode 11 days straight. Of course this was including active recovery and whatnot. For the most part it felt good. There were some poopy days in there for sure but overall a great training block. Something over 250 miles on mostly dirt and 20+ hours of riding.

It feels good to be kicking back and not doing a whole lot today. As a matter of fact my plan is to keep my butt glued to this here couch for a bit and absorb some of the good 'ol boob tube and try not to do a whole lot but rest and eat. :-)

I'm hoping this last training block is going to settle in nicely and make the stars align for a sweet finish at the Cohutta 100. I'm hoping this little old training program will help set a new PR in less than two weeks. Just for previous knowledge my two prior finishes at the Cohutta have been 9:46 in 2008, 8:58 in 2009, and who knows for 2010. All I know is that for 2008 I had a cortisone shot 2 days prior just to make my knee work. In 2009 the heat and my ignorance helped me cramp for about the last 4 hours. So this year I'm going to head into this race with MUCH more knowledge, experience, and fitness. We'll have to wait 11 days to see what happens.

6 Hours of Warrior Creek Wrapup

Greetings from North Carolina and Happy Easter! Yesterday Aaronasaurus and I took to the hills of NC and the W. Kerr Scott trail system and attempted to lay down some nice miles and show them how the Bulldogs roll. The race was a 6 hour format with an 11 mile lap of tight twisty bermy hardpacked climby goodness. It was like a rollercoaster the entire way.

So from the gun Aaron and I got in the front pack and drilled it to stay with the cool kids and just avoid the bottlenecking as the passing was SOOOO hard to find and tight. So as we hit the first lap I was sitting in about 15th overall and Aaron was on the leader's wheel. As we pumped and flowed through the good stuff I picked off about 4 or 5 guys and settled into around 10th going into lap two where I maintained that. Lap 3 I felt like poop and started spinning backwards. I kept on the nutrition and hydration but lap 4 wasn't much better. I kept doing all I could mentally and tried to put down some more effort on lap 5 since I wanted to make the time cutoff to start lap 6 and stay on the lead lap. I did. From lap 4 to lap 5 I put in a 7 minute negative split to get out on lap #6. This was amazing since a few guys finished right before me on lap 5 and bagged it. Finishing that last lap made me jump past them and then get one or two other guys that ran out of gas on lap 6.

I finished in 6:36 feeling ok that I was consistent but a little annoyed that the power was gone on lap 3 and 4. I thought I'd have more in the tank but it just wasn't there. After all it was my first race on dirt and my 3rd ride on dirt so far this season. The intensity of riding the MTB hard just isn't the same as cranking on the road hard. For sure... So it was a good day after all. I was surprised as heck to find out that when they put up the results that I finished in 5th place of 104 in open men. I was thinking 20 something maybe. With this format it's so hard to keep track with the guys who pit and duo teams etc so it was a nice reward for a HARD day. Dirt is sweet!!!

Unfortunately my teammate Aaron was in the lead and opened up a nice gap when his stomach turned and shut down his day. After that he just couldn't put it down any more and was really hurting. He had to bag it after lap four and I was astonished when I came into camp seeing him prepping to give me feeds. It stinks that he had a bad day as he was doing REALLY well. It is what it is right?

So all in all it was an amazing venue with a bunch of great people, great organization, and a sweet BBQ afterwards. What a nice early season race! Maybe I'll come back for round two next year. I'm sure I'll post up more details and things become less fuzzy :-)