Dirty Duathlon 2010

The last race for my MTB season was CITA's Dirty Duathlon. With the performance of my team mate and I coming in 2nd last year, it would be a hard fought battle to do any better and quite possible that we'd fare worse. Jamie, the running portion of our team, wasn't too sure how we'd fare as his training wasn't quite up to snuff from the previous year and knowing my last fiasco with dropping out at Ahquabi, I wasn't very confident either. That said, it was indeed a race and there was some sweet hardware on the line.

Trophy courtesy of Squirrel:

Jamie ready to run:

This kid ran in clipless MTB shoes the whole time (ouch!):

The whistle sounded and Jamie got a good start on his run with the lead group. I went down and watched them come through the first section of Hillside before heading back to the exchange area to get warmed up. Jamie came in 2nd or 3rd from the run with John Conlan's smokin' fast high schooler was in 1st and Neal's and Jed's runners came in right about the same time. I shot out of there as hard as I could go, but Neal got a better launch and beat me out of transition so I was sitting 3rd or 4th at the start of the bike leg. Its far enough back, I can't remember my exact spot, but I think Neal got out in front of John early and I tailed up to him pretty quickly on the climb into Hillside. I got past him after I spun out on the first attempt due to the wet conditions. We'd had a 1/4" of rain the night before leaving the trails tacky to wet and slippery in spots with the leave cover on. I'd pre-ridden a good portion of it so I knew where some of the slickest spots were and the lines to get through them. Now it was a game of going as hard as I could without falling or blowing up. At least now I was only running a 1 hour or less race so I could pretty much run wide open the whole race without holding back.

I tailed Neal through all of Hillside, but was just maintaining the gap without really shutting it down. Jed had passed me about mid lap and had also gone flying by Neal putting us down to 2nd and 3rd. Barring any accidents Jed would repeat as winner this year by a pretty big margin. As soon as we crossed over to Rollercoaster though I saw him off the side of the trail having gone down on a slick log crossing. I found out later he'd also had his brake or shift lever come loose and was having a hard time with it which contributed to his spill, but he soldiered back to the staging area, tightened things back down and rode it out finishing strong in 3rd place. I was sitting 2nd with most of my first lap complete and at least one major contender still behind me in the form of Cam. Jamie eked out a couple second gap over his team mate Kristy last year on the final downhill to take the 2nd spot and he's a much stronger rider than me so I knew it would be a dogfight to stay ahead again this year. I ripped through the creek crossing in Rollercoaster which is arguably the most technical portion of the trail and never looked back.

Entering the double crossing:

Dropping into the second half of the crossing:

Getting ready for the pain of climbing to the meadow:

Now it was time to hit the steepest grunt of the race and from my pre-ride I knew it was too slick for me to ride the whole thing. I hit it and then hopped off cyclocross style and ran up it keeping my heart pounding in my throat as I got back on and finished the climb to the top of the meadow. Now a ripping descent into the finish area and off for lap 2.

As I got to the end of the finish area I was surprised to see Jed standing there next to his bike. His terrible luck flatting tires this season had bit him yet again and he was out of the race. Now I was sitting 1st place in the race for the second time in as many years. I got some good cheers and atta boys as I raced through Hillside in the lead and headed off for a 2nd trip through Rollercoaster. Soon enough I could feel and hear someone coming behind me. Cam had indeed powered his way back to me, but where we were at there weren't any clean lines to pass and I didn't intend to make it too easy for him. He tailed me down to the creek crossing and as we raced through it for the second time, it turned into a good photo session.

Taking the good line through:

Probably the only shot you'll ever see of me leading Cam (thanks Jamie!)

Cam didn't get the good line (he says I took it away hehe):

Quick and calm recovery though (damn):

At the time, I didn't realize he'd gone down behind me. I just stayed on the gas through the climb out of the crossing and knew he wasn't pressing me yet for the pass. I finally hit the run up and he was back on my wheel and did an amazing job riding the slick leaves and mud that I wasn't able to, so I did the proper thing and stepped out of the way for him to leave me in the dust. Sure enough, by the time I came through for lap 3, I couldn't see him anymore. I thought maybe we still had a chance to reel them back in if I could keep the gap somewhat close since last year he had passed me much earlier on lap 2. I tore off on lap 3 and was passing traffic a fair amount on this lap, but never had any real slow downs due to it. I cleaned all but the run up again and tagged off for Jamie to chase down Kristy if possible. I think they had roughly 1:30 lead on us at the transition which would be a tough gap to close down.

Jamie ran a hard race, but with his training off in comparison to last year, he didn't have the finishing kick on the hills to chase down Kristy again. Jamie ran hard, but we finished in a hard fought 2nd overall again this year.

Kristy can leap creeks with a single bound:

All told, there was 28 seconds between our team and Cam/Kristy this year. With last year's results thrown in, there are roughly 24 seconds that have separated our teams the past two years. Now that's some fun rivalry! This was probably my best race all year in regards to how I felt, how I rode, and finishing place. A stellar pair of runs from Jamie definitely helped set the stage for the finish so hats off to him for his outstanding abilities as a runner. Cam dominated me on the bike putting in somewhere around 4-5 minutes on me over the course of 3 laps. One of these days I'll get a little faster and maybe see if I can give him a better run. I can't wait to do it again next year!

Photos borrowed from Steve, Squirrel, Courtney, and Mike S.

Du'in it to it

CITA put on the Dirty Duathlon this weekend. This was my final race on the schedule for the year. Sure, I know Jingle Cross is coming up in another 2 weeks, but I'm not planning on going unless it's to heckle for a day and I doubt that's even going to happen. With the somewhat anti-climatic ending to the IMBCS races due to the concellation of Sugarbottom, an indulgent October, and a rescheduling of the Du, I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I toed the start line.

My original running partner in the form of Adam (the fit guy from Rassy's) was out due to a strained achilles a week or two before the original event date. That left me scrambling last minute to find a suitable replacement since I surely don't run. Through luck of the draw I hooked up with a guy name Jamie who happens to be a smokin' fast runner. We traded some emails back and forth and a couple calls. The plan was to hit it as hard as we both could and hopefully hold off the advances from other teams. Considering Cam and Kristy smoked the field the last few years running, it was going to be a pretty tall order for anyone to take them down. Jamie was a bit more confident than I, but stranger things have happened.

Yesterday definitely had a bit in the air with temps hovering right at 45 with a bit of windchill on top of that. I began to 2nd guess my choice of race kit in the form of bibs, long sleeve jersey, and an ultralight sleeveless base layer. I knew I'd probably do this, so I purposely avoided packing more bike clothing. I had done a couple recon laps the day before with a race pace lap at 19:45. I was hopeful to stick that time for 3 consecutive laps, but knowing the amount of climbing I'd be doing, it was a hope at best. I managed to find Jamie in the crowd of runners after a few harried minutes wondering if he was going to make it in time. He'd been out warming up and was ready to go, so all was good.

The starter lined the runners up and sent them on their merry way down the road to the pool before turning in to the singletrack. I nervously paced around hoping things would go as planned with Jamie coming in the top few runners as he was predicting. The first runner came hauling down the hill and it was Ryan who'd teamed up with Herb from the All 9 squad. Next up was Jamie about 30 seconds back. We tagged and I ran my back down to the pavement for a flying mount as I drilled it trying to catch Herb. I wasn't necessarily worried about Herb, but those lurking behind me definitely had me running scared. Just into the 2nd section of Hillside, Herb had dropped a chain and I rolled on by. I could see Neil coming up from behind and a few more bikes scattered behind him as I took the lead less than halfway into my 1st lap.

Pretty quickly I could see/feel someone coming up behind me. Thinking Neil had caught me, I was pretty surprised to see Jedi Jed flying past as I let him by. I picked up my pace for a minute or two trying to hold his wheel, but knew that pace would cook me so early in the race and most likely cause me a crash or two as well. I let him go and concentrated on riding as fast as I could without blowing up or blowing chunks. I was holding or eaking out a bit more gap on the riders behind me and at certain points I could see massive amounts of riders hitting sections of trail mere minutes back.

Rollercoaster creek crossing

As I hit the switchbacks going down Rollercoaster, it was great to hear people cheering for me and again as I headed up the gully climb into the meadow before dive bombing back to the finish. I poured it all out on the climb knowing that Cam and others would be eating me up on the climbing legs. As I hit the downhill to the finish, I stayed on the gas clipping through the start finish a shade under 19 minutes. I'd knocked off 45+ seconds over my race pace lap from the day before! Still sitting in 2nd as I headed off into my second lap, I wondered how long I could hang on at this pace. I still felt pretty good so I just tried to maintain my effort without going too far into the red.

With traffic pretty much a non-issue at this point, I was free to bomb through a good portion of Hillside. I was surpised though that I started catching people partway through my second lap. Most everyone I passed were great about moving to the side or even stopping all together as I worked up to them. I could start seeing Cam at this point and knew it wouldn't be too long before he was lapping at my heels. As we worked to the last section of fingers on Hillside he called for the pass and slid on by. Again, I upped my pace for a minute or two trying to hold his wheel, but knew the result was going to be the same as with Jed. I settled back down determined not to let myself slip any further back if I had any say in it. I could still see a few chasers, but it appeared I had close to a minute gap on anyone else at this point.

Another round through Rollercoaster with the crowds cheering on the racers and encouraging me to play catch up helped to keep my energy level high. I sprinted back down the hill, across the line, and headed out on my final lap with around 19:15 clocked off this time. I was still moving well, but I could tell the effort was catching up with me. Knowing I had less than 20 minutes to go, I poured everything back out one more time. I was climbing a shade slower and standing more on the short steeps, but I was still rolling well. I made it through Hillside still setting in 3rd and hit Rollercoaster for the final time.

I grunted my way through Rollercoaster making my way to the final climb. I'd been passing riders at regular intervals for a while, but now I'd caught a couple riders walking up the steep grade to the meadow. I called out that I was riding and they needed to move. Unfortunately, the gal was a bit confused on where to go and managed to go nowhere. I hit a root about the same time and spun my back tire drawing a few gasps from the crowd watching the sufferfest on the hill. I kept my momentum and climbing the side of the wash riding up and around the rider making that one of my highlights. Still holding a firm grasp on 3rd I raced to the transition area and tagged Jamie for his final run.

At this point, I figured we were pretty well set for 3rd place. I knew Jed was a long ways in front of me and figured Cam had gotten pretty close to or had chased him down. I spotted Jed in the crowd and he confirmed that he'd beat Cam in to the transition. Now it was time to wait. I don't think anyone saw Jed's runner come in, including Jed, but he pulled through in 1st place. Now we were waiting for Kristy to come in. I looked up the hill and couldn't beleive what I was seeing. Kristy was hauling the mail down the final hill and Jamie was somehow flying past her. With a scant few seconds separating them at the finish, we'd clinched the 2nd spot. I've definitely got to hand it to Jamie, he knew what he was capable of and put on a superb race.

Rassy's took the top 3 overall positions with the relay teams and in addition we took the top 3 men's open with Louis, Kent, and Nate taking those honors. Our very own Teri Sue showed the way in the women's open taking the win and hopefully stamping her come back to doing some more racing. Congrats to all my team mates! A huge thanks to CITA and the Capital Striders for putting on a great event with their volunteer work forces.

Thanks to Doug for the photo.

Dirty Duathlon- Relay Report

Sunday was the 3rd installment of the Des Moines Dirty Duathlon. I’d heard about it last year, but not being a runner and not started into mountain biking yet, there really wasn’t any reason for me to participate. I’ll have to admit, the concept sounded a bit foreign. I mean who in their right mind would want to run, bike, and then run again through the woods, mud, muck, and everything else? Amazing what a year will do to change your mind. I couldn’t think of too many other places I wanted to be come a beautiful fall Sunday in Des Moines.

I teamed up with Heather Myer-Davis from Punkrock Cycling to take part in the relay. I may be a mountain biker now, but I’m still no runner. With the temps full on in the 70’s, it was just about perfect for a race. I showed up early enough to watch both the kids and beginners race through the course. Everything looked to be set on kill as far as the course being dialed in and fast. I helped Squirrel run through the woods and set up a couple Rassy banners before the start of the beginner race and got to see how well the CITA boys had prepped everything on Saturday. Shoot, they even blew the leaves off the trail!

Heather made a small confession before the run started. She'd never done the offroad trails at the Science Center before... I told she was in for a treat as they were all downhill, smooth as a baby's bottom, and would guarantee personal bests would be set all day long. OK, so maybe I didn't quite say that. Actually, I think it was more of a mirth filled chuckle followed by something along the lines of, "You're in for a treat." Soon enough the runners were off. I ran to the drop into Rollercoaster and cheered her on as she ran by, before heading back to get my bike ready.



Soon enough, runners started streaming in and then Heather was back. We tagged and I was off. Somehow, I even managed to execute a great running cyclocross mount onto my bike at the end of the transition area and was off to the uphill grind. The first climb out of transition was brutal, long, and on soft ground, before we cranked it back downhill and dropped into Rollercoaster. Soon enough I had my rhythm and was reeling in a few bikers. For the most part, everyone was really great about allowing passes and I got by a number of people without slowing myself or them down.

I had to keep reminding myself that I had 4 laps to do so try to keep my pace under control. When I got stuck in traffic, I made the best of it by gearing down and just spinning up the hills waiting for a chance to pass. This seemed to work well for me, but I was still working hard by the end of lap one. I did find a good strategy for passing though. For some reason, most people were using the pavement sections as either just another average pace section or for recovery. This was my opportunity to pass so I drilled it every time and hauled as much speed as I could to the next section of trail.

I blasted the creek crossing and switchbacks all 4 laps on Rollercoaster which brought a smile to my face.



Soon enough, the grind of 4 combined laps of Rollercoaster and Hillside was taking it's toll on me. I started grinding up the hills just about in granny gear and taking the downhills as my opportunity to recover as much as possible rather than bombing them.



I finished with 90 minutes showing on my bike computer and was happy to tag Heather for her second run. She was off and I think we finished right around 2 hours 18 minutes, but we couldn't find our tag number on the results right after the event so we have to wait until final results are posted. All in all, not too shabby for a couple amateurs just out to have a good time and work ourselves over as much as possible. Hopefully we'll get a chance to come back next year and see if we can do a bit better with some actual prep. Congrats to all those that competed in any of the categories!

Rollercoaster

and no I'm not talking about our much loved and recently fought over trail at the Science Center. I'm just talking about day to day life and everything that goes into it. It seems everything these days is in a whirlwind- work, family, finances, weather, etc, etc. Let's break it down shall we?

Work: Just when you think you're on top, a wave of stuff comes smashing back over you. Take for instance this morning. I had one major thing on my desk to accomplish by days end and any various number of small side items. Along about 8 o'clock I get a call that one of my sub contractors doesn't seem to be fulfilling his obligations to meet deadlines on the jobsite and they want a meeting at 1 this afternoon to make sure I keep his butt in line. OK, so that throws a wrench into the day and now I'm scrambling to make sure all my ducks are in a row too. I decide that we should take over part of his work load and now I've got several large scale items on my desk, plus a phone call to fill up my day and then some.

Family: Actually, family has been pretty decent. Miranda and Corley were out of town a couple days last week and I was able to get the house cleaned. I also had a good steak dinner with Squirrel and his family on Friday night. It was nice to kick back and chill. Saturday was pretty busy as we hit the Science Center in the AM for some Halloween fun and then Night Eyes Saturday afternoon along with going out to eat that night. Sunday was pretty lazy though as Corley and I hung out in the house and watched the wind attempt to remove the shingles from everyone's houses.

Finances: I've been eyeing these pretty close as of late with all the ups and downs in the market plus the general piss poor shape of our economy. Things look pretty decent for us, but you can never make too sure. I even earmarked some money to possibly purchase a new mountain bike. Now, a week later, I've seen my quarterly IRA statement (down over 20% for the year), had our home equity line of credit shut down because they estimate my house is worth MUCH less (over $20K) than they told me 1 year ago, and I'm still wondering how our taxes, year end bonus, and sales for our business are going to shake out for the rest of the year. I hate credit card debt and luckily, we really don't carry any balances unless it benefits us with something like 0% financing and the like. This means we're just fine financially, but I like having the cushion of the line of credit for emergencies and/or to use as a slush fund in case something too good to resist should pop up (read new mountain bike). Funny thing is, I think this very thing happened to a number of other people who are probably a bit less responsible when it comes to spending and now they're up shit creek having no more access to easy cash. This leads to the current housing storm we're all hearing about and in turn drops my property value...

Weather: Wow, I can't believe the wild ass weather for fall. We go from torrential rains, to cold, to warm, to windstorms, to cold again in a week. Pretty wild. At least the winds helped speed the drying process for the center trails and word is they're about perfect for now. I'm looking forward to riding since it's been over a week now. I'm itching to get out and I have to practice up a bit for this weekend's Dirty Du. I've teamed up with Heather from PRC to ride the relay portion while she runs. I can't wait!