Learning to Ride Roots Again

I spent a lot of time this summer traveling and racing out west and down south, which was awesome. Thoroughly awesome actually. But I seem to have forgotten a little bit about how to ride roots. Colorado was all about super high-speed riding over loose terrain. Asheville, okay some rooty riding there, but's it's all wicked fast. And PA, man, I have never sworn at inanimate objects (ROCKS) like I have in the Wilderness 101. That was a purely hateful relationship, though I'm trying not to linger on that one too much. So anyway, I'm back in VT and training again after some nasty asthma episodes. And roots, man, they're everywhere. You have to jump and weave and stuff. I guess I grew up on this stuff, but it takes some getting used too. It's Rad though. That's for sure. With the VT 50 coming up soon I gotta get myself in shape for them. Technical riding a few days a week, some strength work, and recovery rides on the road. Hopefully that will get me enough fitness to be a contender in a month. Anyone want to go ride Hinesburg Town Forest sometime soon?

Coming off the Break

There is a lot of good racing going on right now.....the Breck Epic, Windham/Worlds, some local 6 hour raced up here in Vermont. Unfortunately I haven't been partaking. I got back from PA at the beginning of the August completely trashed from a month of ultra-endurance racing and traveling. The prescription: couch time, movies, swimming, and blueberry picking. All the things I didn't really get to do in a month on the road. All pretty nice really.

The plan was to take two weeks off, come back for the Millstone Grind and the Race to the Top of Vermont and get ready for the VT 50. But the allergens in Vermont and my asthma had other ideas. For three weeks I could barely breath. So no Millstone and Race up Mt. Mansfield. Not much point in racing when just going for an easy spin is hard.

Fortunately, things are looking up. I finally got well enough to bust out a couple of hours of awesomeness at Perry Hill the other day. Technical and fun. Check it out. Last night (Wednesday) was the last Catamount Training Race of the season. It was more like a dirt crit than a mountain bike race this week due to the lack of light and the need to finish before it was completely dark outside. I started with the leaders, got dropped, managed to rage to two tiny quasi doubles solo on lap two, got in with a chase group, got in enough of an attack to hit the doubles first on lap three (yay), and then sat in for the rest. Good to remind the legs and head what it feels like to race.

Now its back to training. I'm switching gears a bit, but hopefully I can get enough good training in to make a go of it at the Vermont 50 in September. That may be it for the year, but who knows, maybe a late season race or two will sneak into the calendar for me.

Stay tuned for some local VT trail reports and photos coming soon. Thanks for reading.

Wilderness 101 Report

Man, was it really only five days ago that I was racing in PA. I've gone back to work this week, getting ready for the school year, and the summer road trip seems like a long time ago. It was rad for sure, and the riding was awesome. I wish it could have ended on a better race note, but there are still more races to come I suppose. Anyway, the Wilderness 101. This race actually is 101 miles by the way, not like those other namby-pamby 100 milers that end on an even number. But I lined up not being too worried. I knew I hadn't been recovering that well in the week leading up to the race, but I didn't think my body was too worse for wear after three weeks of hard races. I figured I'd go for, after all, it was my first race as a pro. So we hit the first climb, which wasn't that hard, and I more or less hung in. I dropped off right at the top; the lead group was still really big at that point. But I settled in, rode with some groups, and worked my way up.

First thoughts in the race: this is fast roady riding. I swear there is no single track in the first 30 miles. I was stoked to finally get to some. Then I realized how many rocks there are in PA. We're supposed to have rocky soil up in VT, but I guess compared to these trails that's not really true. Rock gardens. More rock gardens. I also had a valve stem fail the day before the race which meant racing with a tube at 40 psi. Man, I was feeling some serious vibrations coming through that aluminum to the body. Death grips central. But anyway I was doing okay out of aid stations #1 and #2. Then I started to feel really, really, tired. I cracked on the single track climb out of aid station #3, and thought, well, I'll just back off a bit. No good. Kept cracking. Coming unglued really. I was riding the rocks so terribly and death gripping myself out of the race. And then it just got worse and worse.When the faster weekend warriors started going by I knew I was in big trouble. My body didn't want to eat, and I was having a hard time forcing it to. I did get some fluids in, but they only go so far (not that far at all really) in getting you through a nine hour effort.

I finally made it to aid station #5 and still couldn't eat more than a banana. I kept thinking I could make it, but it wasn't happening. I finally stopped at a stream, got some cold water on my face, and managed to eat half a Pay Day bar. That got me up the last climb. From there it was a rail trail stretch and some technical single track I was too tired to even think about riding.

So it was a sub nine-hour finish. Actually my fastest ever. But it was not a fast day. I think I was in the 80's somewhere (overall). At the finish I threw up (nothing in the stomach though), and had blurry vision (really bad) for a while until I could find a way to get some food into. That began a long multi-hour process of eating enough food to be able to handle a beer from the "hospitality" tent. After a couple of hours I was mostly conscience again and able to sample some brew. Pretty alright. Seriously, the 101 has one of the most festive atmospheres out there. It was rad. The people were awesome. It was a good time - except maybe that racing part.

Eight or nine hours of driving and I was exhausted but home in Vermont. Haven't been on a bike since PA, but I'll get there soon. Right now the focus is on some pretty solid recovery. But I've regained normal human status enough to start thinking about racing again. Maybe a six hour in a few weeks. Then the Race to the Top of Vermont at the end of the month. Should be rolling again by Shenandoah. Stay tuned.

America's Newest Pro

Wow. I've literally spent years trying to get a pro license. This summer I decided to finally try and make it happen for real, but it always felt like a long shot. So I've been traveling around, living (and sleeping) in my Volvo station wagon, trying to link up the biggest races of the summer. And I've had some good results. Being the VT state champion was definitely a thrill, and since then I've snagged podiums here and there at some big events, started to learn how to ride endurance races, and ridden a ton of amazing trails. Then this morning I emailed USA Cycling putting in my "please make me a pro" plea one more time. Three hours later and it was official! Dang, I was pretty surprised. But here I am, a professional mountain biker! Guess I gotta order than international racing license now. Maybe I'll be at the start line in Windham next year? Who knows. This Pro thing has been a dream for as long as I can remember, but now I feel like I can really start dreaming. Life as a pro, I guess it starts now.

ORAMM

Well, I can't say I didn't try. The Off Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell is always a season highlight for me. It's hard, but man, any race with Heartbreak (a rad downhill) in it wins me overall. That trail might be my all time favorite descent - it always reminds me why it is I love riding mountain bikes.

Plus, I've done well here before. Last year I actually got fifth and was on the podium. This year, well, I just missed it. Thomas Turner raged it all day and lowered his course record by three minutes. The rest of us; we were just happy to survive the heat which topped out around 104 degrees when you factored in the humidity. Ouch. So what happened? Well, sitting on the line 30 seconds before the start I heard air leaking from my rear tire. Not a good start to the day. I hoped the Stan's would seal it, and it did for a while. I was able to ride with the lead group for most of the first climb, and I entered the Kistsuma single track in 4th. Awesome. Things were going well. I cruised the technical descent, and the tire was still holding air. Cool.

A couple of guys caught me right at the base of Kitsuma, which was fine, since it meant I had some help taking pulls on the road section that followed. We hit the single track climb up Star Gap and Josh Fix drilled it, riding away on his way to 2nd. My legs weren't that good, and I just had to watch him ride away. Oh well, I was okay with knowing I wasn't going to win. Nathan Wyatt and I rode together for a while, and I was feeling good, still riding in the top 5, when my rear tire finally went on Jacobs Creek road. On the road? Oh well. I was able to fix it without anyone passing me, which was surprising as we weren't too far into the race. I guess the time gaps got big fast.

I made it to the base of Curtis Creek, a monster 9 mile climb that gains 3,500 feet in elevation, 2:30 down on Nathan, and was intent on bringing some of that back. Big ring cranking. Ah yeah. Then halfway up I didn't feel so good, funny how that works. I had to dial back the pace pretty significantly, then more, then a little bit more. I was just about granny gearing by the top, and had been passed by a couple of guys who were looking strong. The aid station at the parkway felt like a miracle, and it meant fresh (full) bottles, which was great since I was pretty dehydrated by that point.

So I chugged some water and a whole bunch of flat coke on the downhill road section that followed Curtis Creek, recovering enough to mostly hang with Team Fraser rider Greg Kuhn when he came by me on the next climb to Heartbreak.

Oh Heartbreak. Best trail ever. And I raged that one I have to say. Once you know the lines and the switchbacks you can take it pretty darn fast, scary fast in fact. I must have known the trail a bit better than Greg, because I caught him pretty quickly and cruised on by. Alright, I thought, I'm not totally out of this.

Heading through the bottom of Heartbreak on onto the final climb up Mill Creek I caught back up with Nathan Wyatt and Will Black (single speed machine). I think at that point I was in 6th and on track for the Open Men podium. Radness. Just drop these guys on the climb and survive Kitsuma. That was the plan. And it almost worked, except that my rear brake failed on Kitsuma. Not good. That is a scary trail with no rear brake, wicked technical. And I was tired and trying to race it. I managed to summersault off the trail only once, which I considered an accomplishment. And Will Black was the only one who passed me, and he was a single speeder, so I still had a podium spot. Okay, only two miles to go.

Then Greg came flying by. I thought I was descending much better than him so I didn't think he could make it back to me, but he must have rocked Mill Creek and then eaten into my advantage on the descent due to the brake issue. Anyway, he looked like a rocket ship on his way by. Maybe I should have tried to dig deeper, but he put 2 minutes on me in the final 2 miles, so I am pretty confident it wasn't going to happen.

I ended up 8th overall, in what was a far more competitive field than last year. So I was pretty stoked, especially given my mechanical issues. And hey, that's bike racing. Stuff happens and you've gotta deal.

After the race I more or less sprinted for the creek. I've never been as hot as I was in the race. I couldn't drink enough it seemed, and riding gravel road climbs next to creeks had been pure torture. So I jumped in and lay face down for a bit. Sooooooo goooood. Wow. Pretty nice end to the day really. Hanging out with friends in a creek, drinking soda and a beer, eating pasta, and watching the rest of the race. Yeah, that was pretty cool. My buddy Aaron (who's putting me up) knocked close to 2 hrs off his time from last year and rolled through in 70th, which was rad, and we hung out to watch Katie come through. She rocked it despite having an stomach issue. Awesome effort.

All in all, pretty awesome day. Blue Ridge Adventures puts on a good show. Check out the Pisgah Stage Race or the Swank 65k, both of which are coming up this fall. They're sure to be a good time.

Next up, the Wilderness 101 in PA this weekend. Here's to hoping it's my first hundred miler in 8 hrs or less. Man, that would be nice.

Some Colorado Pictures

I'm in North Carolina now, having swapped altitude for heat on this road trip. And speaking of the road, that was a drive. 27 hours in two days. But hey, I am not the biggest fan of the open plains, so I was happy to bust it out and get to some good old east coast mountains. As I was going through some of the pictures from the trip though there seemed to be some good pictures to share. First of all, mountain goats are awesome. Man, I wish I could scramble around on rocks like those guys (and gals). I hiked a fourteener while in Breck (Quandry Peak), and got to see them for the first time ever. So cool. Turns out the peak is a really popular hike, but I went late enough in the day that there wasn't really anyone up there. I had the whole summit to myself and the mountain goats were pretty psyched to come up close and check me, and my funny camera out. Speaking of the summit, it had a pretty rad view of Summit

County, as they call it. Lots and lots of big mountains all around. And plenty of amazing camping spots down low. So this is where I should have been my whole week here, I was thinking to myself. Oh well, by that point the race was only a couple of days away and I was in full on prep mode.

Speaking of the race, the Breckenridge 100, I thought I was throw in a podium pick.

Nice work to all the guys who made it into the top 10. That was a wicked effort. I'm hoping that by the Wilderness 101 I'm going to have to recruit someone to take this podium shot for me! Thanks for tuning it. More to come soon.

Breckenridge 100 Is Done

Oh man, well, it was almost my day. The Breck 100 was my second hundred miler effort ever, and I'm learning fast. The newest lesson-run beefier tires and always pack extra food.

It was a fast, hard race. Over 13,000 feet of climbing at altitude, by which I mean 9,500-12,500 feet. Yeah. Up there. The course opened with an unending climb up through the ski area to Wheeler pass, over 3,000 feet of uninterrupted up right off the bat. I just tried to ride within myself and not blow up, particularly when climbing up through the small, loose scree near the top that can really zap the legs. We turned off the jeep road onto a barely noticeable single track, then hit some hike-a-bike, then headed DOWN.

It was a really rad descent, technical, rock gardens, high speed. A lot of people got flats, I heard Schalk got two actually. I was cruising, and managed to pass like ten people by the bottom. Then it was some bike path cranking and then a gradual up through some rolling single track back to the start finish to close out the first 30 miles. I was able to rage the single track and keep the body and bike together and get myself into the top 20 by then end of the first loop. Things were looking good.

The second 30 mile loop was the hardest. I knew the first climb would be long and hard. Pace yourself. Pace yourself. I thought I did. I was eating. I was passing people. Then I hit the descent, a fast single track to open forest road deal. Then I hit climb number two. Okay, feeling alright. Looks like the top is close. Nope. Not at all. I kept trying to read the topography, thinking I was just one corner away from the top of this single track on the Colorado Trail. That was two or three miles from the top. But I managed to suffer it out and only get passed by one guy, and then it was time to rail some single track at 30 plus mph all the way down. Scary fast, especially on a hardtail (29er) with skinny race tires. Fun though. A few more little but painful climbs and it was time for loop three.

Ouch. Over the continental divide twice in the last 30 miles, totally over 4,000 feet of climbing. Dang. I was going backwards - that's for sure. I'd been eating and pacing well, but after seven hours of racing I was getting tired. Then the top of the climb wasn't so steep, and I was able to hit the big ring and crank. Okay, I was feeling good. Then the Gold Run descent felt really good. I was going for it, riding back into the race. I was passing people. Cool. Only 15 miles to go and one climb and I might have a top 15, I thought. Turns out I was close to the top 10 actually, but it didn't matter because aforementioned skinny race tires failed and I got a flat .5 miles from the end of the single track. Bummer. I fixed it fast and was riding into the top 20 though, and onto the age group podium, when I got to the last climb. The only problem was that there was no aid station. I needed that one. So there I was, no food, no water, and I guy I needed to drop if I was going to make the podium. So I went for it. Up that last climb I was going pretty well until about two miles to the top. Then I cracked. I mean shattered. Race over. Game over.

So there I was, sitting on my bike thinking, okay, count to 10. Okay good. Now get on your bike and pedal as steadily as you can to the aid station at the top because that is the only way home. Ouch. I can't really even describe it. That's never happened before. I made it to the aid station and sat and drank water and ate bananas. It was amazing. Back on the bike my butt was too sore to sit, I could barely pedal, and it hurt to hold onto the bars. So I coasted the last downhill sections and came through in 22nd. Not bad all things considered. And really I'm just glad to be able to say I did it.

Next time, extra food. I think I could have had it, but man, once the body goes like that at altitude it takes days to recover. So, I got some new tires, and they'll be some GU in the Camelback next time - oh yes, that would be ORAMM this weekend, followed by the Wilderness 101 at the end of the month. Until next time.......