Royal fail

Big slice of humble pie and DOMS on deck for me this morning after the Royal 162 race on Saturday. Having previously finished this beast in 2011 on a day with conditions best described as appalling, 2 years more experience, and a solid training effort, I felt ready to give this race a good hard run.

Waiting:

Early in the lead pack (on the left):

Photo by Cornbread.

I felt really good at the start and tried to contain myself as much as possible. I still ended up riding off the front of the pack in a few sections at the start only to ease up on some of the hills and just work with their pace on the climbs until the lead group was whittled down further and further. Roughly 45 miles in the final group of 4 was selected and I was sitting in it. I really didn't think I belonged with that group and knew at least 2 of the other riders were really strong contenders, but I still felt pretty good and was able to take my turns pulling without too much effort.

Letting it roll:

Keep up the pressure on the rollers:

Don't forget to smile for the camera:

Photos by: Craig Lindner

At mile 63 we had our last pass through town with any guaranteed services. 3 of us pulled in and made a quick stop to reload on water and take a pit stop. The other rider kept rolling towards the next water point at mile 90 or so. I had only loaded 3 of my 4 bottles planning on rolling into the town with a slightly slower group and having time to reload there, plus grab a coke and possibly a solid food item like a sandwich. I forgot to grab the coke (mistake #1), then let the other 2 start to open a gap about 5 miles out of town (mistake #2), and didn't pack any true solid/non sugary food with me (mistake #3).

I was ok with rolling off the back of the other 2 as I was sitting in 6th at the time as a 2 rider chase group had passed up the refuel town as well. We could see them when I fell off our group of 3. I think part of the reason I fell off is that our lead rider was very intent on hunting down the 1st place guy and I was sitting 3rd wheel behind a 120 lb 5'5" gal who was throwing off no draft. I couldn't get any respite and was fighting going into the red again before we even hit halfway.

After I got dropped, my plan was to keep riding at a good steady pace and just finish out as best I could. I had finished the race 2 years ago in 40 degrees and rain, so I was relatively confident in my ability to keep on rolling solo considering it was upper 70's and sunny with light winds at that point. One of the chase group guys backed off and as I passed him, he said he was just going to finish it out at a much slower pace so I was back into 5th overall. By mile 80, my stomach turned completely sour though. I felt it coming on and tried to down more of my nutrition and drink, but it just wasn't settling well and I ended up slipping into that downward spiral of eating less and less even though I needed the calories.

Just past mile our 100 we rejoined the course with the people doing the 100 mile route of which there were over 1000. I was looking forward to having some company and hoping that might lift my spirits a bit. I was still rolling ok, but I could feel my energy levels dropping and nausea getting worse. At one point I forced myself to down a couple shot blocks knowing I had to eat something. If I hadn't gotten a rush of fresh air from a downhill, I'm confident I'd have puked while riding. Our checkpoint in a state park was coming at mile 121 and I forced my way there. I finally got passed by another rider in my race about a 1/2 mile before that and was back to 6th.

At the checkpoint I tried assessing the situation, but it wasn't looking good. I didn't need water, but I headed off to the spigot at the ranger station looking for any excuse to get off my fucking bike. I loaded my bottle back up and laid down on a bench to hopefully collect myself for a few minutes. Finally, I faced reality and went slinking around the corner of the building to a slightly less conspicuous spot and found myself on all fours puking against the side of the building.
A few minutes after the dry heaves subsided, I felt very slightly better. I decided to go ahead and roll out of the station and try nursing my way the final 35 miles to home by easing some food and water back into my system. I made it up the first climb out of the park and a few of the smaller rollers afterwards, but on the next big climb, I found myself on the flats prior to the climb in my next to easiest gear barely able to turn the pedals. I hopped off to walk the climb and a wave of nausea blew right back over me as I trudged one foot in front of the other barely making it above 1 mph. I pulled the plug at mile 128.

As luck would have it though, another rider from our shop happened to roll by at that point and decided to walk with me. His dad was waiting for him in a town another 5 or 6 miles down the road and could give me a lift. However, after assessing my condition, he offered to call him to see if he could come backwards on course and find me to pick me up. I ended my day watching a stream of riders trickle past while basking in the sun and sprawled along a grassy ditch. After getting back to the finish line, I found that the 3 riders I'd made the final group of 4 with came in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd with the winner being from the group of 3 of us that made the stop together.

Post race with 4 awesome dudes:

I need to say a big thank you to my wife and family for giving me time to train, the guys at Rasmussen Bike Shop for the service and support, Oakley for some kickass eye wear, and all my riding friends for being a killer group of people to ride, race, and hang with.

Race Rig:

2012 Salsa Chili Con Crosso 100% stock build with only a swapped out seat and seatpost. Aero style seatpost mount dual bottle cage holder, Revelate mountain feed bag and tangle bag, plus a Banjo Brothers cue card holder.

I'm playing the sad sack alternating game of "what if" and "kicking myself in the ass" this morning. I can live with the DNF; it happens. I've had to pull the plug before and at some point in the future, it won't surprise me if it happens again. I was happy with my effort and my overall race right until I blew up. Worse than the DNF, worse than tossing your cookies in front of a bunch of strangers, and worse than 40 hard miles of nausea, honestly, the worst part for me was having my older daughter ask how I did in my bike race and seeing the puzzled look on her face when I had to tell her that I couldn't finish it because I got sick and couldn't keep going. That part really sucked.

2012 IMBCS/XC racing recap part 1

Rather than go whole hog on each race, I figure it might be easiest just to do a quick recap of my cross country distance races from last season. 2012 was far and away my best year yet. Part of my goal was to race in enough local series races to qualify for the end of the year IMBCS championship in my class. I raced the singlespeed class and was hoping for a solid year, but we also race with the comp class guys so my secondary goal was to finish ahead of as many of those guys as I could as well. To qualify for the series championships, you had to race 5 of the 10 races at a minimum. Here are the quick recaps.

IMBC #2- Camp Ingawanis full course
Results
For the first race out of the box this year, I was pretty nervous. We raced the full north and south course this time which was a first for me. I'd raced each side separately, but not together. With a longer gravel road transfer in the middle, I decided to keep a little bigger gear on the bike not wanting to spin out so much. Kyle took off like a scalded rabbit getting a 50 yard gap on everyone heading into the woods. As soon as we hit the small road climb between singletrack sections, I pulled myself back to his wheel, but it was tough. Andy Bach ended up making us look like monkeys though as he passed and gapped us on the first time through the gravel road transfer while Kyle and I were drafting each other and spinning our asses off.

Shortly after hitting the south trail section, I was leading Kyle and overcooked a corner on some loose trail litter. Kyle thankfully avoiding running over my head, but in the few seconds it took me to right myself, he put a small gap on me that I couldn't close. I'd see him time and again and think I was closing, but he was too strong at that point and I couldn't shut it down. I managed to follow him home taking 2nd place singlespeed and 3rd overall in the comp/ss combo.

IMBCS #3- Moorehead Park
Results
Moorehead Mayhem has been on my list of races to hit for a few years. I finally made it in 2011 only to snap a chainring on lap 1. I wanted some revenge this year so I was back for more. Weather conditions were perfect and the course was in top form. I lined up with Kyle, Jubil, and a bunch of comp class guys for the all out sprint down the gravel leading to the singletrack.

At the drop of the arm, we were off and sprinting. Jubil and I ended up banging bars about halfway down the road as he got the position on me. I rolled into the singletrack about 4th spot with Jubil and Kyle leading the way. As we got to the long gravel grind to the middle portion of the course, Kyle and I got a gap on the field. Once we hit the back rollers though, Kyle waived me by as something was up. We'd later on figure out something he had eaten came back with a vengeance during the race.

I stayed on the gas through the race with only a couple issues where my chain dropped twice on me. In the end I was 1st singlespeed and 1st overall in the comp/ss combo. I was pretty stoked to get my first win of the year.

Charging up the gravel

IMBCS #5- Beverly Park Fat Tire Frenzy
Results
July found me headed up to check out some new trails in the Cedar Rapids area. My good friends the Snoops had been telling me about this great park filled with singletrack for quite a while so I figured now was the time to go check it out. I coerced Mr. Fuller into heading up to race with me so we hit the road and got up to the park in plenty of time to go for a nice pre-ride. The day was turning out to be a scorcher so I was doing my best to stay cool and hydrated.

The course was nothing short of phenomenal with some fast punchy sections, some extended climbs, a little high speed double track, and even some bermed turns. Keith has a killer opening sprint and its his home course so I was planning to stick to his tail as closely as possible. Neal was apparently of the same mind and ended up taking 2nd slot into the singletrack as I was hollering to make sure he stuck like glue to Keith's wheel as we powered through the opening climb and fast follow up section. We finally got to the open grass climb area and I put my climbing power to use trying to string things out and open a gap. I slowly opened things up over the next couple climbs and was soon out in front.

About 3/4 through the lap, my chain dropped. As I was stopped to spin it back on, Neal came roaring back by having quickly closed the gap I had worked so hard for. I hopped back on and kept the pace up while trying not to toss myself into panic/chase mode. Soon enough, Neal stumbled on a nasty angled root section and I passed back by him. I managed to ride clean through the rest of my laps finishing out 1st singlespeed and 1st overall in the comp/ss combo again. Definitely a great race with lots of people cheering out on the course and at the start finish area. I'll be heading back to this one again for sure.

Rolling fast

Suns out, guns out...

Next up the last two point races of the season.

Weekend rewind

Friday was an off day in more ways than one. I managed to chow a full sausage sandwich from the local tap over lunch. My co-workers were at least slightly impressed with my gastro-intestinal prowess. I have been known to put down a sandwich or two in the past though.

The monster sandwich on our Ouchita MTB trip last March:

Food won the round, but I put a hurtin' on it:

Unfortunately, lunch somewhat set the stage for some copious amounts of excessively over sized meals this weekend. We day tripped with the girls to the Henry Doorly zoo in Omaha on Saturday. The trip wouldn't have been complete without a stop by one of our favorite pizza joints in old town- Zio's for some slices:

Thai Chicken, Everything, and NYC 5

With all that eating, it was time to get back to work on some training. An hour spent on the trainer playing with my new Powercal was interesting. The HR strap on my Garmin shot craps, so since I needed to replace it anyway, I figure I might as well upgrade for a few bucks more and see if I can actually get some power data on the cheap. I'm really not too worried about absolute accuracy, but more basic feedback to be able to do training with power versus heart rate alone. The guys at Rasmussen's gave it a big thumbs up, but I want to formulate my own review on it. I'm hoping it works out for me.

I followed up with a pretty productive morning workout hammering a couple more hours of base miles on the trainer while the outside world was coated in a shiny 1/8" of icy death. It looks like its going to clear off pretty quickly though and maybe I'll get a run in tomorrow morning. I'm just starting to get back in the groove of training for the year. 5 active days this week for 7 hours is at least a start. I'm just trying to get a jump on my training over last year which didn't actually start until March 1.

I also added a Strava widget to the blog. I've been using it for about a year now and like the more competitive aspect of comparing ride data directly with friends over just straight number crunching and mileage tracking. There are definitely some people running hard already this year though as I think I lost 4 KOM's in the last 2 weeks. Guess I have some work cut out for me this year.

Little bit at a time

I'm starting to figure out that I'm delusional. I want to do all of this cool stuff and most often, I fail to even take the first step. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I make the first step seem like its a mountain. Take this blog for instance. I have probably a dozen plus posts/race reports that I could put down in journal form, but I love getting into so much detail with stats, pictures, and play by play that each post takes me an hour or longer to write on average.

I think I'd be much better served if I figure out how to take the big steps and break them down to smaller manageable pieces. So, here's my start to doing that.

For the year, I really don't have any clue what I'm going to actually do for racing. The training is going in fits and starts for the year. I've been lucky in avoiding too much trainer time, but I've been working on freezing my butt on some long outside rides in 0 and even below 0 windchill. I have some races I'd love to hit and lofty aspirations, but realistically, I need to go back and temper my wants to a few key selections and spend more time with what matters most- family.

I'm still racing for and leading the MTB team for Rasmussen Bike Shop. Greg, Sterling, and the guys there have been nothing short of spectacular and I look forward to being part of that family for years and years. I'll most likely still be on my weight weenie race rocket this year- Salsa Selma set up with a rigid Niner fork. Depending on the race, I may well strap a 9 speed cassette on the back and run it as a 1x9 to get the necessary top speed if I hit any expert class XC races this year. Most likely I will still run it as a singlespeed for any marathon class events just because I love the challenge and simplicity of it.

Hopefully, I'll get some pictures and stats up as the year goes on, but small steps.

Dakota 5-0 recap part #2

Rolling out of aid 2, I checked my time as its about the closest to a halfway point as you get. I knew from the previous year, I could just about double the time and add roughly 10 minutes to get a guesstimate of my finish time barring unforeseen events. I rolled in with just under 2 hours on the clock knocking over 15 minutes off my time from last year for the same section. I knew I was rolling well, but this shot another round of adrenaline through me being so far ahead of my time. 2 hours was a distant goal in my head, but I don't know that I ever planned on actually making or possibly even beating it.

Back to the race though as Trevor had put a gap on me. It was time to eat and get back into race mode. I snarfed some shot blocks as quick as possible and tried upping my pace along the relatively flat section of trail we were on. Just after aid 2 there's a high speed downhill into a right hand hairpin. I saw the turn about the same time as I passed it. I was cursing myself as I slammed on the brakes and brought my bike around to get back on the right trail. Getting into chase mode, I kept the pace high as we started to get more into true singletrack again.

With the lack of rain this year, even the singletrack was dusty and loose in many spots. A short bit later, I found myself right back on Trevor's wheel as he'd overcooked a fast downhill corner and lost his gap over me righting himself. I got back around and he was right on my wheel for a nice shot of Deja Vu. I think we rode and walked together for a short bit including a section of extremely rough and rocky downhill where I could feel every hit reverberating through my rigid frame. I remember complaining back to Trevor on how rough it was and how I was wishing for at least a suspension for at that point. Looking back, I think this spot was the biggest turn in the race for me as I could feel the tires and wheels pinging off the rocks a number of times as I tried to keep myself from going over the bars and still keep my speed up as much as possible.

Shortly after or possibly even right at the bottom Trevor came flying around me in what would prove to be a killer winning move. He took off like a scalded cat and I didn't have anything to respond. At that point, I was pretty happy in my position sitting in 4th and was starting to worry that maybe I'd even put a little too much effort into being where I was. I knew there was still a lot of racing left and if I pushed too much, I'd be cramping and done being able to race before I got to the finish line.

Aid station 3 comes flying up on you as you're pointed mostly downhill in this section. I think this is where I flew down a gravel forest service road only to come around a bend at 25+ mph to be faced with a closed service gate and a roughly 2' wide open spot to ride through. I jammed my brakes and rode it out for all I was worth shooting the gap while trying desperately not to load up my chamois. Luck was on my side as I sailed through and into aid #3. I wasn't stopping here either as I had plenty of water loaded up and short distances to cover for the next station.

The hop to aid 4 is another downhill screamer for the most part. There's a multi mile downhill double track that you can rip through. Last year I hit this section with a fair amount of traffic around and was choked up by all the dust and hoping I didn't hit any unforeseen holes. This year I was still mostly on my own and was able to see further ahead and pick my lines. The only downside is I think not having any rabbits in this section left me a little slower than last year.

Now I began to notice something a lot more alarming though. It seemed both tires were getting a fair bit squishier than I like to run. I wasn't sure if I'd burped them on something or worse yet, had flats developing. By the time I rolled out to the gravel road section, I knew there was no avoiding stopping to add some air to my tires. I wasn't too worried as I was rolling with a couple 40g Big Air canisters from Genuine Innovations so I had plenty of quick access inflation on me. I grabbed the inflator from my seatpost while still rolling and hopped off the bike almost before it stopped. I shot air into both front and rear and was back on the bike in about 30 seconds flat.

I wasn't sure what to think about losing air at that point as it should have been sealed up by Stan's as I know I had plenty in each tire. I just kept pedaling and hoping the shot of air would hold me until the end. Aid 4 rolled up and all I needed was a quick top off of a single bottle so I was in and out in under 30 seconds. I'd been so hammered after Aid 4 last year that I just walked over to the climb to Bacon Station and hadn't bothered to hop on my bike. This year, I was determined to make up some time and pushed my bike up to the first lessening of pitch in the hill and hopped on to ride as much of the climb as possible. I'd venture that with fresh legs or gears, I could probably clean most of the climb to Bacon Station. Alas, I had neither at hand so I rode where I could and walked with as much speed as I could muster where I had to.

Soon enough though, I noted my tires were losing the battle with holding air. I kept on riding until I just about fell over as the front tire tried to roll out from under me with too much flex. I was at a walking point so I hustled my way up the hill and knew I'd have to stop as soon as the terrain was ridable again. I was dreading this point as I knew something would have to be done to fix the leaks since my last stop was a mere 20 minutes back and I knew I had a solid hour+ to go in the race with some of the most technical and fastest downhill terrain left to go. I flipped the bike over and started in on locating the leaks. First up was the rear and I found both a tread hole and a sidewall leak. Both were leaking sealant so I grabbed the only option I had beyond a tube to fix a hole. I knew from past experience the tubeless plug kits from Genuine Innovations did a pretty good job of sealing a friend's tire and holding up to race abuse so I grabbed my kit from my seat bag and went to work on the tread leak. After fumbling for what seemed like forever, I finally ripped my gloves off so I could thread the tiny repair strip through the needle and plug the tire.

As soon as that was done, I shot in more air and started the "Stan's Dance". For anyone familiar with tubeless tires, this dance apparently is hidden in our subconscious. Basically you hop around like a fool while violently shaking your wheel and simultaneously praying to the deity of air pressure and promising upon your unborn children that you'll never do anything bad again so long as you live in hopes that the black magic of sealant will grace your tire with its workings. The plugged hole seemed to seal up just fine, but the sidewall cut was still slowly leaking air, albeit slightly slower than before the dance.

Onto the front. I'm still not sure I ever found the leak in the front. I looked for one, but couldn't locate anything definitive. Once again I employed the dance with my new partner and hoped for luck. I couldn't find anymore leakage after the dance so again, I held my breathe hoping it was good enough. Thinking back, I'm pretty sure the rocky section after aid 2 was my downfall. Post race inspection showed me a couple pretty good divots in my rims and given the sidewall and tread cut proximity to each other, I'm pretty sure it was a rock that got me.

By this time a steady stream of riders had passed me and I wasn't sure how long I'd been setting trailside. My info would later show that apparently 6+ minutes is what passes for an eternity when you're without forward motion in a mountain bike race. With some pissed off energy flowing back into my system, I jumped back on the bike and laid into the pedals. I no longer knew where I was in the standings or how many singlespeeders had passed me. I just made a plan to hit every pedal stroke as hard as I could and make up as many spots as possible.

I passed a few riders before even finishing up the last 7 minutes into the Bacon Station. I was handed a near full cup of PBR (seriously guys?) and chugged about half in a single gulp as I never stopped rolling through. I tossed the balance and hit the Dakota Ridge section with a sense of urgency.

Coming into bacon station: 

Rolling out of the Bacon Station, you have about an hour left to ride. It's basically divided into 3 parts. The Dakota Ridge section with all of its rockiness, a little more climbing, and technical singletrack along with the descent off the ridge, then a forest service road climb before you finally top out with about 9 miles left of downhill doubletrack, singletrack, and gravel at wide open speeds.

Rocky descent after Bacon Station

Keepin' it sunny side up

As I hit Dakota Ridge after losing a bunch of spots while fixing the flats, my goal switched to passing back as many people as I could and hopefully claw my way back up in both the overall and singlespeed standings. I passed a couple singlespeeds and a handful of other riders on Dakota Ridge as I blasted my way through the rocky terrain. Putting as much speed into the downhill as I dared, I chased down a few more riders before hitting the bottom and getting ready for the last longer climb of the day. I pre-rode this section on Saturday and also remembered it from last year as a good climb for me. I put my head down and churned my legs forward seeing a couple groups of riders sprinkled in front of me.

The last group of two going up the climb had a geared rider and singlespeeder both. I split the middle and tried to keep my speed up as I went through. The singlespeeder jumped on my wheel right away knowing I'd just put him 1 further position down. He definitely didn't make it easy for me and we stuck together through the top of the climb and onto the first doubletrack downhill section even as I tried to shake him loose in a couple spots. He went by me for a minute and I waited for a good shot to get back around. Nearing the crossing of Tinton road and back to the singletrack, I shot around him on a faster section and kept my cadence as fast as I could spin. I knew I needed to be first into the track given its dustiness and limited opportunities for passing. I didn't look back as we hit Tinton trail as I was determined to put as hard an effort as I could in making sure he'd either lose ground or have to flat outride me to get back by.

I railed the downhill with near reckless abandon and managed to keep myself barely upright in the process. I'd get a peek back every once in a while and I couldn't see my chaser. I had no clue how far back he was though and I was still hopeful I might catch another rider or two in this section so I kept full on the gas. Just before we popped back out on the road I came up on a final rider on a geared bike. He asked if I wanted the pass, but I knew we were about to hit the open road so I stayed behind him. I was hoping I could latch onto him for a draft down the hill knowing he'd most likely be able to outrun me. We both hit the gravel and I was about 10 feet off his wheel as we accelerated to max speed. Unfortunately I was just shy of being able to catch his draft and had to watch him pedal away even as I spun my legs like fan blades.

I focused on getting in my most aero tuck and keeping my hands off the brakes as I dropped like a stone down the gravel road. My speed peaked at just over 40 mph showing I'd at least learned a little more about being aero between this year and last. As I rolled into town, I could feel the energy being sapped from my body as I knew it was about over. I could see the geared rider not too far in front of me, but I lacked the will and energy to put any type of chase in figuring my placing was pretty well secure as I didn't have anyone breathing down my neck. I sat up and pedalled into the finish line happy to be done and completely spent from the effort.

Post race dirt bag:

I dropped my bike and went to start checking results. Initially I thought I had moved back to 5th singlespeed, but as it were, I ended up 6th and less than a minute back from being top 5. I've kicked myself a little for setting up at the end and wondering if I'd have been able to chase the last guy down. I probably could have closed the gap a little more, but I don't think I could've drug all the time back in the short period that I sat up.

54 seconds back finishing in 6th Singlespeed and 30th overall.

I've also done a fair bit of post race what-iffing trying to figure out what would've happened without those flats. Who knows?! I think I had a pretty solid lock on 4th place and probably 20th overall which would have been out of this world for me. In any case, I'm pretty damn satisfied with my performance and it always takes a little luck to finish well. Trevor rode a superb race and took the much deserved win. It was pretty cool to ride with him for as long as I did and then see him take it up another level to chase down the other two riders. Maybe one of these days, I'll have that kind of kick.

Post race beverages with Squirrel:

Photo credits to:

Black Hills Endurance

Patty W

Dakota 5-0 2012 recap part #1

Race data

Race results (6th SS)

Uggh, I'm so behind on doing any race recaps this year, though its not for lack of racing or lack of results. Hopefully I'll get a chance to catch back up on those once I get this beast out of my head. I went into the year with 2 big races on my calendar and a fair amount of smaller/shorter XC racing filling the gaps. Cheq 100 was my first big goal race, which I still need to recap as well and my 2nd shot at Dakota 5-0 was to be my second big race for the year.

I had roughly 2.5 months to get myself recovered, refocused, and ready for Dakota so it wasn't a quick turnaround by any means, but in turn it gave me almost too much time to the point that I really started fretting my self prescribed training plans and goals. It finally got to the point that a couple days before heading off to the race, I just tried to push all thoughts of goals, pacing, splits, etc out of my head and focus on going out to ride sweet trails and push myself hard through the race. Hopefully I'd come out the other side with a better time than last year and from there let the chips fall where they may. Once I made that call, I drew a pretty big sigh of relief and started getting more excited about racing versus just wanting to be done with the race.

Middle of nowhere South Dakota gas stop

Fuller and Squirrel were my compatriots for the 10 hour haul to get out to Spearfish. We opted to do the drive out as an overnight to roll into town early on Friday with plenty of time to get settled in, hang out, get a solid pre-ride, and relax a bit. We rolled the route from Tinton trailhead up to Aid station 1 before turning and bombing the downhill. Unfortunately, Squirrel got off in the loose fluff at the edge of the trail and introduced his wheel to the nearest tree. A taco'ed wheel was the result along with a slightly banged up Squirrel. We rolled the last mile or so pretty slowly as his wheel was still barely ridable. Once that bit of fun was out of the way, we managed to get a new wheel coming from Rasmussen's via some teammates that hadn't left town quite yet. Disaster averted, we found some good eats and a few beers before settling in for the night.

Rushmore Mountain Sports kicked butt with free beer for the racers!

Saturday, we rolled with even more teammates that had showed up (17+ member's flying the Rassy black at Dakota!) for a morning pre-ride. This time we headed up to the Aid 1 parking lot and would our way over to the Bacon Station to give the Dakota virgins a test ride of the most techy section of the course. We rolled down to the last fire road climb and then headed back to the vehicles for a nice short warm-up and shaking out of the legs for the last time before the real fun would begin the next morning. After a smooth time heading through packet pick-up, we spent the afternoon hanging out with friends and getting our final prep done before race rollout.

Lots of Rassy teammates

Bike is ready to roll.

As per my usual, I slept like crap the night before the race. Even with an early bed time, I woke up feeling like I got shorted on sleep from all the tossing, turning, and fretting in my head about the race. No choice now but to get things loaded up and give it a go. I had laid out everything and prepped as much as possible the night before to hopefully avoid missing anything in the morning rush. No issues there as all was good to go and we got to the race start in plenty of time for warmup and some nervous chit chatting before we lined up. Squirrel and I opted for a wave 1 start given that we both were figuring on being in under 5 hours. Since I was hoping to do better this year, I got in place early and ceded myself only a couple rows in from the front versus last year where I'd started around 8 rows back. I was really hoping the roll out would be a bit better for me this year. Last year it had gone off like a track start at 25 mph and I got passed by a ton of people before having to work my butt off on the gravel climb to pass them back.

Sitting about 3rd row in:

Rollout:

At 7:10, Smokey the Bear dropped his arm and we took off following the race director on his quad for the roll out of town. I got my legs moving pretty quickly and was sitting pretty comfortably in the top 25-30 through the rollout. I had on a bigger gear this year opting for my 19t cog which helped, but I think the pace might have been slightly slower as well. All in all, my legs weren't awesome, but they weren't dead either as we wound it up for the real racing to start at the gravel. My plan for the gravel was the same as last year, go hard, but don't blow up and get into the singletrack as far up the leaderboard as possible. I could see the fast guys getting themselves together for attacking the climb and I was still sitting pretty close at that point. As we got into the climb I kept checking my legs and my heart rate to see how both were doing. I had more left in the tank, so I kept jumping on some wheels and marking Trevor Rockwell who has been killing the SS enduro's this year. I just kept thinking that if I could stick close to him, I might be having a pretty good day.

On the meat of the opening climb, there was definitely some wind in play. I made a point to duck in and keep my nose out of it as often as possible and it seemed to help. I'd sit for a minute and then jump to another wheel as the faster guys would come around. We finally got close to the singletrack and I was sitting in a great position so I just opened it up and put a solid dig in to keep or maintain my spot. From the looks of the pictures, I went into the singletrack around 15th or so and was the first SS'er.  I knew from last year that I was able to ride all of the opening singletrack, but could also get some recovery as well as the pack would slow down for some of the more technical spots. Well, I'd blown the recovery portion out of the water as the leaders definitely weren't going to be waiting for anyone. I just had to go with it. I rode fast and hard, but tried to avoid really going over the top. Every time I looked down though, I could see my heart rate was about 10 beats higher than I wanted.

Headed to Tinton trail on Kelly Magelky's wheel:

Throughout the push to Aid #1 we selected down to a group of about 7-10 riders basically in the first chase group after the leaders. There were 3 singlespeeders in the pack with myself, Trevor, and another guy that we didn't know. For the most part, nobody really got dropped or changed positions here as we were all riding pretty close to the same pace. As we got to the aid station, I kept right on cruising after learning my lesson and stopping there the previous year. That had cost me close to 10 spots in the 30 seconds I stopped and I wasn't going to let that happen again. I'd figured on riding straight to Aid #2 with the liquid I was carrying before topping the bottles.

Railing after Big Hill/Aid #1

Still sitting pretty comfortably in the top 20, we motored the section after Big Hill and into some dusty open meadow singletrack. This is where I started having a few issues as it was so dusty that I dropped back from the guys in front of me to hopefully clear my vision a little in case there was something I needed to avoid. Eventually, I got gapped off the back just a little, but another rider came around and offered to give me a pull back to the group on one of the shallow meadow climbs. I stuck like glue to his wheel and slowly we rolled back onto the small group I'd been riding with.

Out in here, the race starts going fuzzy. I put my head down and pedalled. I was still riding tight on Trevor's wheel and one singlespeeder was out in front of us. I felt pretty good, but definitely knew it was time to start backing down the effort in hopes of maintaining my position. The notable portion of section 2 has to be Cardiac Climb. You scream down into a big drainage only to be routed straight back up the hill. I remember walking a good chunk of the climb last year. This year, I definitely rode more of it, but all 3 of us singlespeeders eventually hopped off and started the walking portion. I did try jogging more this year which I'm not sure how much really helped other than it made my calves and legs scream for mercy as I tried pushing on.

On over the top and through to aid station 2 I was still sticking tight to Trevor's wheel. Somewhere in here, I actually passed him and then just put in a steady hard effort all the way into the aid station. I was wondering just how much he had in the tank. I knew I was pushing my limits, but I was hoping maybe I'd be working on him as well.

Leading into aid 2:

Don't look behind you

As we rolled into aid 2, I had my plan off attack for refilling my bottles and getting moving in as little time as possible. What I didn't count on was the only water source being from the water tank that had been towed up. I rode straight past it and to the volunteer table where they only had cups of water/sports drink, but nothing to fill a bottle. I handed a girl my bottle and she ran to go fill it for me, but I lost precious seconds in my mistake as Trevor nailed the stop and got a 20 plus second gap on me. It wasn't the time to panic so I finished up my stop and focused on getting away clean and without losing anymore time.

Pics borrowed from:
Squirrel
Fuller
Blackhills Endurance
Patty W

Mullet Classic race report

Results

Race data- none because I forgot to charge my Garmin... DOH!

Following The Dakota 5-0 race I spent the next week vacationing with my family through the Black Hills. If you've never been there, its an awesome place to experience natures beauty at some of her best. Basically, I did nothing but site see, relax, hang with my ladies, and eat and drink everything in site for the better part of a week. I'd already used up my ride time for the pre-riding and racing so checking out more singeltrack by bike wasn't in the cards. In any case, all this adds up to a great recipe for going from peak racer geek fitness to touring pace rider pretty quick. Having a season that starts in February and goes through October makes for some pretty hard fought battles to keep up fitness towards the end of the season. I was fighting the downhill slide as much as anyone at this point feeling the drag of the long season.

As The Mullet Classic drew closer and registration opened, I had an interesting choice to make. I could sign up for my usual singlespeed class and race for IMBCS points and prizes or I could take on the marathon class and race for pride and $$$. Considering I wasn't eligible for the overall class win in the IMBCS and that I'd been training for and performing well over longer distances this year, I thought the possibility to earn some cash was a better fit for me. Of course, I also tried to push back the fact that I DNF'ed this same race after a scant 3.5 laps last year. I was ready for some redemption though and figured this would be a good opportunity.

Lake Ahquabi isn't what I would call a good singlespeed course in the fact that while it has climbing and descending, its wide open double track with a lot of flat and fast sections. I was having a pretty hard time wrapping my head around what gear to run here given all the variables. The weekend before the race, a few of us met for a pre-ride of the course. I stuck on 34x19 gearing figuring I'd be able to spin it fast enough on the flats and still fall back to a comfortable climbing pace as the laps wore on. After a race pace lap at 30 minutes, I felt pretty good with my choice and decided to stick with it for race day.

I tried resurrecting my training the couple weeks before the race with some longer solid efforts to mimic the time I'd be on the bike. The weather was cooperating perfectly and before I knew it, we were onto race day. As with previous years, this race had the biggest turnout of the year for any of our local MTB races with over 150 in attendance. I'd been watching the pre-registrants in my class all week and knew most of the names and who I should probably try to mark as the faster guys. Same as last year, the race drew a few strong roadies in addition to the usual dirt riders being that this course is much less about technical skill versus what we usually race on. As we lined up, I took a look around and noted only 1 other singlespeed in the marathon class. He was running a massive gear from the looks of it (I later found out it was 36x16). I wondered how long he'd be able to push it.

Bruce let us go at 11:45 to give us a 15 minute head start over the main field who would be headed off in waves starting at high noon. We had a nice pack take off and were pretty bunched up as we came through the opening tree section and headed back to the lake. Only a quarter mile into the race and the other singlespeed guy had already opened a lead and was out of site around the first bend. Not knowing him and seeing the gear he'd be pushing on the hills, I thought he'd eventually tire and come back to us. I marked Jerome who won this class last year and watched him shakily navigate through the first few corners since he's a roadie with some questionable handling skills. I was leading a train of 2 or 3 guys as we got back to the steep climb at the tail of the lake. I hit the climb hard and cleaned it while the guys behind me shifted down to make it up. At the top, I'd opened a small gap so I kept on the gas knowing there was a technical downhill right ahead. At the bottom of the downhill, I couldn't hear or feel anyone chasing me.

Starting the pain train on lap 1:

I put my skills and endurance training into action. I kept the pace high without going into the red zone and focused on riding fast and clean. As lap 1 wound to an end I was still on my own. Having come through the start finish in under 30 minutes for the lap, I was only 10 minutes or less behind some of the category racers that started at noon. I started catching and passing them pretty quickly into lap 2. As I got to the hilly section near the end of the lap I started hitting bigger crowds of riders. I got pretty aggressive in my passing and pushed my way into a couple spots where there really wasn't an opening for me, but being where I was in the race, I couldn't back down and being on a singlespeed as well, I couldn't afford to slow down and wait to get up the hills either.

Coming through the fast downhills of this section I sat back down and suddenly felt my seat pop and collapse under me. My carbon railed seat had finally given up the ghost. I'd heard it make a louder than usual pop earlier on lap 2, but tried not to think about it until this happened. I was only a 1/2 mile or so from the finish which included some climbing, so it wasn't too hard to get back to the finish, but what would I do once I got there? As luck would have it, I spotted Greg Rasmussen and Tom Anderson cheering people on at the start/finish area. I rolled through yelling at Tom that I needed the seat off his bike. I knew he'd just gotten the titanium railed version of the seat I was riding and had his bike on the car. I feel bad that I didn't ask him, but more demanded in the heat of battle. Luckily, he's a great guy and ran to get the needed parts as Greg and I started tearing off my now broken seat. Tom cam back with both post and seat so we just installed that versus switching out the seats. It took a couple shots, but we got the height pretty close and I took off on lap 3 after losing an unknown number of spots.

I was in full chase mode now, but I knew I had a long ways to go as well. I went back to riding fast and clean, but the adrenaline rush was spiking me into the redline as well now. The next couple of laps are pretty much a blur, but I would see racers ahead and work on reeling them in as quickly as possible. I wasn't sure who was in my class at this point, but I wanted as many people behind me as possible. Near the end of lap 4 I passed another racer in my class. He thought he was in 3rd or 4th spot at the time so I knew I was gaining some ground.

At the end of lap 4, my second mishap of the day happened. I came flying down the meadow above the start/finish area into a nasty little dip section that runs you across the corner of the parking lot. As I hit the drop, my left foot came unclipped and I found myself horrifyingly loose on top of the bike coming hard into a compression area. My foot slammed the ground, my body compressed, and my jewels took the brunt of the impact on top of the seat. I managed to stay up on my wheels and kind of surfed to a stop across the pavement. An apparently horrified onlooker came running over and asked what she could do for me. I was gasping for breathe and trying to clear the stars out of my vision when another friend also asked what he could do. There wasn't much left for me to do or say, so I got back on my bike and starting pedaling again. It definitely took the wind out of me, but I wasn't throwing in the towel. In the meantime, the rider behind me had gotten back by and now I was chasing him again.

I caught and passed him again on lap 5 and I also came across Kent Carlson who was cramping pretty hard by the looks of it. At that point I was pretty sure I was in 3rd spot with Jerome and Eric still out in front by an unknown margin. I was cramping by this point too, but I kept pushing on as hard as I could. The hills were really starting to take it out of me though. As I started lap 6 I couldn't see anyone ahead or behind me. I buried it as much as possible this lap thinking I would be done at the end and if I could see someone, I'd try to chase them down. As I cleared the dam for the last time, I still couldn't see anyone so I knew catching up would be pretty much impossible. I backed it down at this point to save myself from the cramps that were now dominating my focus. I rolled to the end of the lap without seeing another person and gratefully was told it was after 3 so my riding time was done. I found out later that Jerome was forced to quit at the end of lap 5 due to a broken chain, so I ended up 2nd behind a super strong Eric Brunt on the other singlespeed who came over from Nebraska to lay the smack down.

All in all, I had a great race and executed my plan very well. Short of the seat and ball issues, it was about a perfect race. I don't think I could have gotten 1st given how strong Eric was riding, but I definitely felt like I had the legs and stamina for where I placed especially given the issues I had.

Photo credit- Steve Fuller

Dakota Five-O Race Report

Race data

Race results

My "A" race for the season this year ended up being the Dakota Five-O. Of course, I think thats a bit of a misnomer in itself as I usually try to treat every race I'm going to pony up cash to participate in as an "A" race. If you're not going to give it your all, why are you on the line? I digress, it was still my most looked forward to race of the year for multiple reasons. A number of friends have headed to the wilds of Spearfish over the previous years and come back to tales of how undeniably awesome this race was. Add in that it would be my biggest race ever in respect to the number of participants, my first big race on the singlespeed, racing against a bunch of friends and you've got a serious recipe for wanting to have a great race.

Iowa peeps representin'

As luck would have it, my wife and girls were able to join me for the trip and turn this into our family vacation as well. We took off Thursday so we could make an overnight trip out of the 12 hour drive so the girls wouldn't get too cooped up in the car. I was planning to get there Friday in time to do a solid pre-ride for part of the course and then go back out on Saturday for a light spin of the legs and a little more recon. For me, it proved to be the perfect plan. Friday, I got dropped off at the Tinton trailhead opting to skip the opening 3ish mile gravel climb that would be part of the start. I've got plenty of gravel experience so climbing 3 miles worth of it wasn't going to gain me anything over driving it. I really wanted to check out this sweet singletrack I'd been hearing so much about.

Race prep had me looking at various elevation charts and distances to time stations, etc. I figured a good warm up would be to ride to the first aid station from the trail head and then downhill it back before meeting my ladies for dinner. I saddled up and hit the dirt to find a mix of dirt, limestone rockiness, short steep climbs, longer power climbs, and rolling terrain through some breathtaking scenery.

Crows Peak backdrop:

I rolled through my pre-ride toward checkpoint 1 with very little descending and a good chunk of climbing. The steeper sections were a good workout, but not overly difficult in this section, but the real treat for me were the extended gradual grades. With my gearing at 34x20, I could power through them at a good cadence and not overtax myself. After topping out at the checkpoint, I was looking forward to the ripping descent that awaited me. I pointed the bike back down the trail and was grinning ear to ear as I flew down the trail in what can best be described as a speed not recommended for having your big race in 2 days... I let it hang pretty far out as I was having so much fun.

Finally I hit the gravel back towards town and was planning to meet the girls somewhere on it. I ripped down one hill, then another, and then another. Sensing I didn't recognize the scenery, I whoaed up and realized in my zeal to fly back into town, I'd headed down 1.5 too many hills and missed my turn. Ooops! I turned back around and grunted my way back to the turnoff where my chariot was awaiting to run us back into town for some dinner.

I felt really good on the pre-ride and was starting to really look forward to having a good race. After all my skimming and researching, I was thinking I'd shoot for a sub 5:30 hour ride time as a good goal for having a solid race. I felt pretty confident I could hit that time and maybe a little better. As Saturday rolled around, I hit packet pick-up and sent out the call for another pre-ride and easy spin that afternoon. Tom and Maria answered the call and we decided to head further up the trail and pre-ride part of the course starting at Aid 1 since I could give them a preview of what was leading up to that part.

We got a pretty nice and easy spin in and turned back just before the big drop into Iron Creek drainage and the subsequent uphill known as "Cardiac Climb". The course was shaping up to have pretty much every type of terrain and track you could imagine. I was really stoked about racing at this point. Tom and I chatted a bit more about the race and he'd been geeking over numbers and reports even more than me. After that, he shared his race goal with me and laughed at mine thinking I was pretty handily going to be able to beat that effort and I should up the anty a bit. I think I stepped it up to something around 5 hours as my goal from that discussion. We killed off the rest of the day and I tried to hit the hay relatively early, but sleep wouldn't come easily. I was excited and nervous about such a big race and being a first timer. I really wasn't sure what to expect from myself, my fitness, or my race plan. Only time would really tell.

Race rig:

Just a gentle reminder it's going to suck at some point (Sometimes "fun" hurts pretty f*ing bad):

The morning rolled in damn chilly with a low 40's start temp forecasted. I got bundled up with a coat for the 3 mile downhill from our hotel to the start since the girls would be sleeping in versus getting up at 6 with me. I kept going through my race plan in my head to keep myself focused on what I needed to do and help forget about the chill in the air. As I lined up for the start I stripped down to just arm warmers in addition to my Rassy kit. I ended up stage about 6 or so rows back from the start and had a good view of all the horsepower sitting on the start line. Finally, Smokey the Bear dropped his arm and we were off for our "neutral" start. I was almost instantly spun out for the neutral roll out at close to 20mph.

Let the pain fun begin!:

I wasn't anticipating such a fast start for sure. I'd done a small warm up, but had been sitting on the line for close to 20 minutes and my legs weren't going to be able to really respond without overstressing them. I spun fast, but watched probably 50+ riders surge away as I struggled with the pace. It wasn't a great omen for the opening neutral mile of the race, but I stuck to it and kept as quick a pace as I could. Just before the neutral section comes to an end is Hill street. It's a 90 degree left into a steep uphill. As luck would have it, being back a bit in the field, I had an open enough line that I could carry a ton of momentum into the hill. Tag that along with singlespeed climbing power and I quickly passed back a good 20+ people inside of a block. Maybe it wasn't going to be such a bad day after all.

I started settling into the pack and could see a big mass of riders moving up ahead stretching for a couple blocks already as we hit the end of the neutral start and opened up the racing. The gravel climb started and it was a bit of a relief for me. My plan was to hit the gravel progressively harder as we climbed and I warmed up and topping out somewhere in the midst of Z4 when we got to the singletrack. I'd already passed a couple teammates at this point and was tailing a few others. I began picking off a number of people as the gravel steepened and I warmed through. A few riders got past me, but for the most part I was gaining positions much faster than I was losing them. I could now see the "fast guys" group had separated and was a solid 1/4 mile up the road with a pack of 20ish guys duking it out. I held my plan and all too quickly I found myself at the end of the gravel and ready for the singletrack attack.

Get all the spots you can:

I tried to sneak a couple more spots as we hit the singletrack figuring the slinky effect would be full on with this many riders. Sure enough, there was a definite drop in pace as everyone filed into the narrow stripe of dirt. I'd dug a good bit into my heart rate and the slow down was actually a good chance to get it back under control for a bit and something I'd halfway counted on happening. I figured a race of this size, entry into the track would be paramount, but I was also hoping I could place myself far enough up to avoid having to actually stop and wait. I ended up right on for placement and I figure I was roughly top 50 into the singletrack at this point.

Having ridden this section of track, I knew we were going to be pretty limited in passing for a bit so I made sure to keep my pace steady and avoid trouble as much as I could. As luck would have it for me, I'd gotten into the track just a couple spots back of local singlespeed stud Kent Carlson. I cued off of him and shortly was on his wheel as the couple riders separating us had bobbles that I could get around. All of a sudden, Kent was on the ground and I was slamming my brakes to avoid him. Luckily we were on a pretty slow paced section of trail and he was able to jump right back up and keep rolling without any riders getting by. A scant 20 yards or so down the trail though and it sounded like shotgun going off as his front tire blew off the rim. I slowed for a few seconds trying to ascertain my options of stopping to help or sticking to my own race. I hollered to see if he had everything and Kent seemed a bit rattled at this point saying he didn't know for sure. I knew he didn't appear to be hurt and hoped he had everything he needed in form of tube, CO2, etc to get him moving again so I decided I needed to keep rolling.

I got back on the gas and tailed it up to the chain of guys we'd been following prior to the crash and blowout. The going was still fast and slow as people of different riding styles and skills were working their way through. We finally got to some double track climbing areas and I put the pedal down hard making my way past 5-10 riders in just a couple sections. I also took advantage of a couple open meadow sections to further my position. Quicker than I was anticipating, Aid station #1 came upon us. I decided to use bottles for this race figuring the aid stations were close enough to make quick stops at each and not have to deal with the excessive low back pain from my camelback. I hopped off the bike and tossed a packet of Accelerade in my half empty bottle before a worker quickly topped it off. I was stopped less than a minute, but close to 10 guys probably passed me like a locomotive in that short period.

Rolling into aid 1:

I hopped back on and grabbed a few shot blocks as I hit the easy section right after the aid station. After Aid 1 the sections start to blur together with a few notable exceptions. The downhills leading up to Cardiac climb were awesome being a mix of open pasture type track and wooded downhills. With suspension on the front, I could let it rip pretty well wide open on the downhills without too much worry. Cardiac Climb itself kicked my butt. I rode the first section or so, but as soon as the grade really pitched up over 10%, I got off to walk. I walked steady, but still pretty slow. I think I could cut a decent amount of time just by picking up my pace to a faster walk or even a slow jog. I will say that the walking was a nice break from the constant turnover of the pedals and I felt pretty secure in the fact that not too many of the SS guys were going to be riding all of the climbs without expending serious amounts of energy.

The section to Aid 2 definitely had more downhill than section 1, but I think it still had just as much climbing including some pretty serious steeps that had me off the bike more than once. I rolled into aid 2 with just over half a bottle gone again and about 2:15 or so off the clock. I remembered Tom had told me most people can double their time to aid 2 and add about 5-10 minutes as a good way to figure out their finishing time. I did the quick math in my head and realized how good of a day I was having on the bike. I still felt pretty strong and even though I didn't know for sure what lay ahead, it shouldn't any worse than what I'd already been through at this point since we had to start back down eventually.

Still grinning at Aid 2:

After aid 2, it was definitely looking better as there was less climbing and more descending. My speed picked up a bit in this section as I was able to let it roll. I also spent less time walking my bike! It was a short hop to Aid 3 and it caught me by surprise how quickly I rolled up to it knocking just over 30 minutes off the clock. Again, I had barely touched my bottle, but opted for one more refill.

I think this is leaving Aid 3:

The next section to Aid 4 was arguably one of the most fun of the whole course as it was dominated by a nearly 2 mile high speed downhill on some fire road. Coming out of Aid 3 was a short climb and I looked back to see a Rassy jersey closing in. I was pretty confused as to who it might be. I'd been having a great day on the bike so either someone else was having an even better day or something was afoot since I hadn't seen another team rider since Kent flatted back at the start of the singletrack. Jed came ripping past me just as we were nearing the top of the climb and getting ready to fly down the doubletrack. I'd later find out he and a train of 8 or so guys had taken a wrong turn and got about 4 bonus miles in. Ouch!

Between Aid 3 and 4?:

The fire road downhill is hard to describe, but it was flat out screaming fast, exhilarating, and scary all at once. I was coasting much faster than I was geared for so I tucked into an aero crouch and I passed a number of guys on this section by letting it all hang out. The dust from the front runners hung in the air making it nearly impossible to see what was coming up in time to prep for it at those speeds. The best you could hope for is to watch someone in front of you and see how smooth they looked and hope for the best. I hit one washout spot and felt the bike go sideways under me for a split second before gathering it back up. That was really the only super scary spot of the run, but it was more than enough to leave me shaky. All too soon though, we had flown through that section and were now into Aid 4.

At Aid 4, I had only taken a few sips off my bottle so I didn't need anything other than to gulp a quick cup of water. I had plenty of water on board to make the final sections considering I had yet to touch my second bottle. Hooray for carrying an extra few pounds through the entire race... Aid 4 is strategically placed at the base of a nasty climb. I didn't even think twice before walking my bike over to the climb and starting up on foot. I knew salvation lay somewhere at the top of this climb though. The fabled bacon station was the next (and last) stop available. I won't lie, a nice cold beer sounded pretty damn good at this point in the ride. I mixed riding and walking in here as there was pretty much nothing but climbing in this section. I got passed by a few people, but overall, I still was holding pretty tight to my overall position figuring I was somewhere in the top 100 or so pretty easily.

As we climbed and climbed, I could start to hear loud music and people hollering about. Pretty soon, it was bacon station time. As I rolled in the festivities were in full swing with all the people partying and carrying on. I wasn't too sure about the bacon handups since I still felt pretty good and didn't want to mess things up. The ice cold PBR was a different story though as I slammed a cup of that tasty nectar. I rolled in less than a minute and soon found myself in the most technical section of the course. The trails turn to rocky technical singletrack here with lots of pitches, drops, and tight sections. I passed a few riders balking at this section with my decent technical skills. Finally, we rolled into some downhill, but I did find myself off the bike at least once in this section as we crawled up a high point with Crow Peak as a spectacular backdrop. I actually stopped here and waited for my phone to come to life so I could snap the picture I posted up top with the peak in the background.

As soon as that was done, it was pretty much business from here on out. The last climb of the day was another forest service road grade that I was able to hit pretty hard. I put some time into the few guys I was riding with at this point and soon found myself alone again. About the time I thought we'd be do for some more climbing, I was rewarded with a sign noting it was all downhill from here. I was pretty stoked at this point knowing I had the opportunity to turn in a great time and gave it all I had left. I attacked the downhills just on the razor edge of safe and kicked it pretty hard on the few short steeps that were left to go. We were back onto the Tinton trail at this point and having ridden it a couple times now, I felt pretty good about opening it up.

A couple guys still got by me, but for the most part I was on my own and flying. Finally, I hit the gravel downhill to town. Having plenty of gravel experience, I put everything I had into tucking low and flying for all I was worth. I caught a geared bike and drafted him to slingshot around. We also had a SUV try to pass us, but I wasn't about to let that happen and suck his dust all the way to town so I swung wide as he was waiting for an opportunity to get by. Of course it helped that we were running over the speed limit at this point as well. I think he got the hint though and backed off to let me and the geared guy feed off each other as we went down. I finally got a bit of a gap just before we hit the pavement and as we climbed the couple small hills back to the finish line, I just powered through them like I was big ringing it putting him a ways behind.

Heading down that finishing shoot with hundreds of people lining the street was something new for me. I just had a pure rush of adrenaline come coursing through my body as I smiled from ear to ear. Having my girls there cheering me on made it so much sweeter as well.

Waiving to my ladies:

Into the finish line:

To say I was riding high as I finished would be completely understated. I was excited beyond belief and knew I'd just had one of my best races ever. All of my equipment performed flawlessly, my ride plan was near perfect, my training was spot on, and it all came together in perfect harmony. I can't say enough for everyone from my family, my riding/training buddies, and all my support from Rasmussen Bike Shop, Ergon International, and Genuine Innovations. I ended up 8th in the singlespeeds and roughly 50th overall. For those that haven't had the chance to do this race, it needs to be on your must do list. I can't say enough good things about how fun the course is, how great the people are, and the overall atmosphere.

Financial rant

I can tell when my general malaise is bubbling over. I tend to get inspired to write again. At least that's certainly the case this time. A bit of back story here: I complained about receiving my 401K statement the other day and that I'd lost 20% of it's value in 1 quarter. Most friends were on the same page feeling equally taken in the shorts with losses. A couple friends posted to stay the course and it'll get better and one friend in particular took some time to write out thoughtful responses on why I was still doing OK and that it shouldn't be considered a real loss at this time. I took issue with that and thought I'd do a better job of writing up a rant rather than crapping up a post.

The last comment that got me digging out the soap box was, "A real loss only happens if liquidated/sold. Your accumulated shares are showing less value at the time your statement was printed. There is a distinct difference. I guess you now own more shares/units than before. In my mind this is a gain in 'value'."

To my friend- don't take this personally, its just that this comment really bugs me. I suppose as long as you're still playing the game that could be considered true. It just means I haven't lost everything yet. I'll try to remember that next time I sit down at the blackjack table and the dealer is holding half my money. I mean, heck, I'm still playing the game, so as long as I don't get up and take my lumps, its still possible for me to get my money back and possibly even make some.

Here's my stance. This type of rose colored glasses are a big issue in my book when it comes to talking about personal finance. Its all great until its time to pay the piper. If I've lost money, tell me, I'm a big boy and can handle the truth. If I didn't want the risk, I'd bury my money in the back yard. Don't sell me on the fact that I'm missing the equivalent to a DI2 equipped Shiv from my account and that its all good because I can still buy 50 strider bikes right now. The stuff I've all ready purchased didn't suddenly cost me any less or multiply behind my back. If I stopped playing the game 3 months ago, I had that money. If I stopped today, I don't. It really doesn't matter if you're still playing, it matters where you're at all the time. A gain is a gain and a loss is a loss. Delaying talking about them until you've quit the game is only a delay.

Losing money sucks, no doubt about it, but people need to hear when they're ahead or behind flat out without smoke and mirrors to decide how much risk they want to continue to take. Obviously the long term trends show we'll eventually gain back our money and continue to grow our wealth or we'd all be suckers to keep going at it. I wholly understand that fact and will keep plugging away at trying to make wealth for myself in this manner as its an acceptable risk/reward scenario for me. Just don't tell me that ups and downs along the way don't suck or alternately aren't awesome. I don't need the smoke and mirrors to make it better, I need simple to understand terms. Honestly, I think most Americans could use the same type of thing.

Shit, I can't think of a good wrap up for this rant without dredging up 10 other things that are pissing me off so there you have it in a nutshell.

Conspiracy theorist

I'm not usually one to indulge in conspiracy theory, but I had a wacky thought pass through my head and thought it might be fun to indulge and see where it goes.

So, I'm sitting there washing my hands in the work restroom and notice the little pump bottle of hand soap sitting in the corner. There's currently all of 1/4" of soap left in the bottom and the pump won't suck it out. So, whomever the fairy in charge of replenishing our restroom supplies is, has placed a new container of soap on the counter for us to use. The old soap sits there all fore lorn and wondering why we don't use the rest of it. I'm betting it will eventually get tossed in the trash rather than anyone taking the time to pour out the rest of its contents and use them.

Now here is where my brains goes wacky. I begin thinking that some middle management bean counter in the soft soap world headquarters had a brain storm one day to raise revenues. So, he pitches to his boss that they should shorten the pick-up straws by 1/8". Here's his rationale- people are lazy. They won't necessarily notice the small amount of extra liquid left in the bottle since the pump really never emptied all of the contents anyway. Even if they do notice, they'll be too apathetic or lazy to do anything other than bitch about the fact that there's still soap left in the bottle.

Now the middle manager is figuring most people will end up throwing the balance of the bottle away without going to the extra work of unscrewing the cap and dumping it out or into the next bottle. Obviously, that would be too much work. Additionally, since consumers tend to be brand loyal, they will now be buying the soap at a faster rate because they've just tossed more in the trash. So, he sells the idea to his boss that he can trim the cost of the pick up tube now that they've decreased the size and in turn increase the sale rate to the customer because they'll have to buy the product more often because they're getting less usable material in each bottle. Middle manager gets a nice promotion or big bonus for adding money on both sides of the company's bottom line. Everyone is happy and they've just fleeced the consumer who has no clue about anything.

I told you it was a crazy thought. This could never really happen. Right?