Pando Fall Classic - *Race Recap*

The last race of the MMBA Championship Points Series was this past Sunday at Pando Winter Sports Park.  I knew I would have to settle for second in the overall series for the year, but I came into Pando looking for the win.  Next year I’ll be moving up to Expert, so I figured I was due for one last podium as I exited the Sport class.  The Freewheeler Crewwas out in droves.  Seriously, riders everywhere flying the Freewheeler Racing colors.  Saying thank you to Curt and Gord at the Freewheeler Bike Shop for what they do for all the riders doesn’t really do it justice, so as a team we just did our best out on the course to try and show them our appreciation.

I knew the usual guys I needed to look out for (Eric Hune, Justin Langley, etc.) because our class tends to be fairly strong, but there was one guy I wasn’t expecting, Matt Alcumbrack.  We rode part of the Lumberjack 100 together where he beat me by just over an hour.  I’m not going to lie, I was pretty nervous.  The gun went off and right off the bat I settled into 4th with Eric Hune sprinting up the ski hill like he was shot out of canon.  My plan was just to play it cool settle in for a little while, but I quickly saw that I needed to take control of the race.  About a mile in I made it out front and was actually able to create some distance on the first lap of 4.  With Matt and Hune behind me I knew this wouldn’t last long.

Matt found my wheel again early in lap 2 and he sat on my wheel for the next two and a half laps.  You ever feel like you have a monkey on your back.  Yup, his name is Matt.  I would pull away in the single track and he would reel me back in on the false flats.  It made for a long day.  Did I mention we were climbing… and climbing… and climbing during this race?  My legs felt like they had bricks tied to them but the time we went out for our final lap.  Matt snuck by me and took control.  I knew exactly what he was doing.  If I am not out front, I can’t gap him in the single track.  Smart move on his part.  Winding through one of the sections I caught the edge of a log and that’s all she wrote.  Someone hit the eject button and I was over the bars.  I scrambled to get my bearing and was mashing it out to catch back up.  I would hear him say, “Are you coming?”  I kept yelling back, “Yup, if you would SLOW down!”  Just as I bridged the gap he found his way around two young ladies.  I tried to follow suite by cutting inside on one in a right hand corner and I got exactly what I deserved.  Down again.

It got to the point where I was telling my legs what to do out loud.  They just weren’t listening to my brain anymore.  I knew I was gaining on his slightly.  As I came out of the last section of single track my buddy Dirk said Matt had 20-30 seconds on me but to just go after it.  I rounded the corner down the hill like the BMX start gate had just dropped.  I saw Matt just turn the corner to head up the climb to the finish.  I was back a good 100 yds.  I turned the corner to climb and thought my tires were going to give.  Geared down just a tad and attacked the hill in a way I hadn’t all day.  Seemed like i was up the ski hill in seconds.  The crowd was thick and all the cheering just gives that extra boost you didn’t have before.  Just before the finish shoot I see Matt scrambling and I ride by him on the right, and through the shoot.  He had gotten turned around and didn’t go through ahead of me.  Not exactly the way I wanted to win, but sometimes its better to lucky than good.

Hune came in shortly after us with a very strong 3rd place finish. The rest of the field didn’t come through for another 7 minutes after him.  We were all on our “A” game for sure and it made for one of the funnest rides I’ve ever had.  When all was said and done, I ended up with 1st place in the 30-34 sport class with a time of 1:22:18.

Tour de Gaslight Criterium- *Race Recap*

Last weekend I made a last minute decision to race the Tour de Gaslight in East Grand Rapids.  I had told everyone that I would do at least one road race this year, so it was time to put my money where my mouth was.  This was a criterium race, which is a timed event on a course around a mile long.  When I woke up Sunday morning I was the most nervous I’ve ever been before a race.  I think the “unknown” just scared the crap out of me.  Dan McGraw met me down there early and we did a short inspection of the course and then a nice long warm up.  FYI, I had two goals for this race: 1. Not to crash.  2. To finish.

Before I knew it, we were lined up in the street ready to roll.  The starter let us go and the pace quickly went where I had rarely gone before…… 20+ MPH.  By the time we hit the back stretch all around could have heard me panting like a dog.  A few laps later I was able to calm the nerves and control the breathing…… until, “POW.”  The guy next to me blew his rear tire in the 3rd corner and went down hard…. taking a few guys with him including one of our Freewheeler riders.  It happened so fast I couldn’t even react mentally and I was back in the groove.

Every time I looked over my shoulder there seemed to be less and less riders.  Guys were dropping like flies one at a time.  I thought to myself, “I’m not going to be last!”  That was pretty exciting in itself.  Earlier in the day I had great intentions of working with Dan to see what we could do to get him near the front for the finish.  Needless to say the way my legs were feeling that plan was totally botched.

I remember looking at the lap board at one point seeing there were just 6 laps left.  Still on two wheels and still with the lead pack.  This day was turning out much better than I expected.  The laps went down quickly and with 2 laps remaining the pace really kicked up.  I was starting to really struggle, but hung on by the thread.  Coming out of the last corning the sprint was on.  I had absolutely nothing left to give so I just settled into my saddle and cruised in with the pack.  Ended the day 15th out of 34, the last guy in the lead pack.

Here are a few observations from the day:

• You can still be a strong rider with hair on your legs.  Many with shaved legs got dropped early.  How will they explain getting beat by a Sasquatch?
• There is much more drama in road racing than there is in mountain bike racing.
• I never want to get a flat rear tire while corning.

Maybury Time Trial- *Race Recap*

I’ll make this short and sweet.  Last weekend I headed over to the Maybury Time Trial with Dan McGraw and Jurrien Davison.  Both these guys race in Expert so it’s always good to see things from their perspectives….. however twisted it may be sometimes.  Those guys went off at 9:20 am and my start time was not until 10:35.  Got a real good warm up in and I was ready to roll.

In front of me in the start gate was Eric Langley, currently in second place in the CPS.  He started 30 seconds ahead of me so when they let me go the chase was on.  About 3 miles in I was able to catch him and from then on out he stayed right on my wheel.  Eric’s a really strong rider, just needed someone to pace him.  With less than 2 miles left I through my chain on a really gnarly downhill section.  I pulled off to put it back on and noticed it got jammed up in my rear derailed as well.  Not good.  After about a minute of tinkering, I was back at it.  Eric had gone by me a long time ago and now I just couldn’t let him get back the 30 seconds I had on him.  2 miles has never felt so far.  My heart rate was jumping into the 190s trying to preserve my lead.  The other guy I knew I had to look out for was Philip Utley from Racing Greyhounds.  He started behind me so I had no clue how he’d been running.

Once I hit the finish I was really happy with how I rode.  The Niner Air 9 Carbon was the perfect bike for the course.  I don’ think I could have rode harder that day.  I headed over to see the results which were coming up real time as people finished. Well, 4 seconds was the gap between first and third.  Eric took the top of the box, followed by Phil, and I came in third.  I was not ecstatic at seeing this, but later I changed my attitude.  That’s what racing is all about.  Either of those two guys could have had a mechanical on the course, but this time is was me.  That’s racing!

6 Hours of Pando- *Race Recap*

Last weekend a fellow competitor, Eric Hune from Apex Cycling, and I decided to team up for the 6 Hours of Pando with a two man team.  This definitely proved to be an eventful day to say the least.  This was Eric’s first go round at an endurance race of this kind, so we formulated a small game plan that we would try to stick to (this normally never works by the way).  The course was just over 4 miles long so we’d be turning 20-22 minute laps. Since that was the case we decided Eric would go out first and turn 2 laps and I then I would do the same.

At the start Eric went out at the front of the pack getting us a nice position to start with.  He turned 2 quick ones and then I was off….. up the ski hill.  Yes folks, UP a ski hill.  Not the easiest way to start a race, but there was no doubt weather you were warmed up by the time you got to the top.  And yes…. this would get old after 6 hrs.  We decided to start switching out ever other lap which proved to be a quicker strategy for us since my fitness is still getting back up there.

The course was wet most of the day because of quite a bit of rain that fell in the morning.  This made it pretty greasy on most of the single track, but it was drying out good.  And then it happened……  As I stood waiting for Eric to come through the transition, the winds kicked up, the skies darken, and then……  a torrential downpour.  It rained so hard that when I went out on course I could not see a thing until I got into the woods.  Right about then the hail started.  I could hear it ricochet off my helmet and my frame.  A once nearly dry course now had rivers running through it 3-4 inches deep and puddles as deep as 8-10 inches.  I was soaked from head to toe and as the rain stopped near the end of my lap, I could see the course was about to become nearly impossible.  The mud was building up like something I have never seen.  Every other lap, as switched riders, we went to the hose to wash off all the mud that was preventing the bike from braking and shifting.  My bike was making noises that I have never heard before. Like I have always said before, none of this is possible without a great shop behind you. Thanks again to all the guys at Freewheeler Bike Shop and all the great teammates with Freewheeler Racing.

After 6 hours of riding Eric and I had a pretty clear victory when all was said and done.  It was a great opportunity for Apex and Freewheeler to team up on this one.  Also, Mike Bigney and Bill Shaver riding for Freewheeler Bike Shop finished in 2nd place for the day.

Stoney Creek Time Trial - *Race Recap*

Wrote this up on my personal blog last week shortly after the time trial.

Just before my third daughter,Preslee Ann, was born my wife recommended I hit up a race on the east side of Michigan.  I was a little shocked with her encouraging me to drive 3 hours way, but I didn’t ask for an explanation.  Mike Bigney and I hit the road over to the Stoney Creek Time Trial put on by Tailwind Racing. First of all, Stoney Creek is one of the largest “parks” I have ever been to.  Call me sheltered if you choose, but it took us about 15 minutes just to find the side of the park the race was being held on.  Finally we spotted the finish chute.

I had several cards I could pull for excuses going into this one before the race even started…. all pretty valid.  Let’s review:

1. Still had not been training at ALL since my IT band is still giving me fits.  Had not been on the trail since my DNF at Boyne.
2. Had to register “day of” putting me at the back of the time trial group requiring much more passing.
3. My wife was due any day with a baby.

The thing that drives me crazy about a time trial is that you never really know who you are racing against until all is said and done.  I think it just takes a discipline that I have yet to develop to really perform well in these events.  I was able to negotiate a earlier starting position when someone didn’t show up the line so that was a big help.  As I headed out of the start gate I knew there were a couple of Freewheeler Racing riders ahead of me so my goal was to catch them and see if we could work together.  I went by two of them in the first couple miles thinking I was just going to check out and cruise.  Just then the lack of training set in.  The leg was bothering me pretty good, but that didn’t explain the fact that I was gasping…. yes, gasping, for oxygen.  The climbs, which weren’t that large, were absolutely crushing me. My mind was ready to rock and roll while my body wanted nothing to do with it.  I tried to pull away from the Freewheeler guys behind me, but they just kept reeling me back in.  

Finally I found the wheel of a local guy just as we entered some technical single track.  He asked if I wanted by.  I don’t even think I have the energy to pass if I wanted to.  I tried to respond without letting him know how weak and defeated I was.  The guy took me all the way through that single track at a pace I never could have on my own.  As we came out on to the last couple miles of trail, mostly 2-track, I told him that I would take the front and pull him to the finish.  I put down the hammer not looking back.  He stuck with me for a short time and yelled, “Thanks for keeping me company.  We’ll see you at the finish.”  I guess I was helping him as much as he helped me.  I rolled under the finish banner with a time of 55 min 27 seconds.  Felt like the longest race of my life.  Ended up with 2nd place for the day which was MUCH better than I deserved.  

Note to self:  Next time your injured it doesn’t mean you have a free pass to eat anything you want and sit on the couch during training times all fat and happy.