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.