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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Good Luck



...to those participating in the Westside Dirty Benjamin this weekend. I will not be attending this leg of the Almanzo Gravel Road Series due to the holy matrimony of two of my best friends, whom I wish an even greater fortune in all of their future endeavors. I am truly looking forward to an epic weekend! Huzzah!!!


Sunday, June 5, 2011

Reconnaissance

After several tough months of riding and racing, I feel like I can use some rest and relaxation. Although I enjoyed bagging big mileage rides on those long and cold spring days, and to some extent I kind of miss them...it's nice to be able to take some "fun rides" without being concerned with getting enough miles in or training hard enough...yada yada. So, this week I backed off a bit, but still squeezed in a few shorter "reconnaissance rides" out in the Blue Hills. The goal on these rides is to find places and trails that I haven't been on or seen before. Here is how these rides typically go:


You start out riding down something like this...





Then you might jump on an ATV trail or a logging road...




You'll run a few of these things over..




Find some water that happens to cross the road...




Obviously you ride across/though it...and maybe even jump in for a swim...




Further down the trail it probably thins out and becomes less used, but you still hope that it goes somewhere...





Then you see some more water...





Maybe it's not very deep and you're ambitious enough to ride the actual creek bottom for a while before jumping back on the trail...





...and if you've done things right, your ride home probably feels something like this...





Gosh, life sure is tough up nort'a Highway 8 der...don't cha know?

Friday, June 3, 2011

Cheq 100 & WEMS @ Northern Kettles

I didn't get around to writing a report on the Chequamegon 100 two weeks ago, so I'll try to kill two birds with one stone here...

I signed up for the Cheq last year, but due to crashing in the Almanzo 100 I was unable to attend. I think many would agree with me when saying that the CAMBA trail system near Cable and Hayward Wisconsin is likely the best mountain bike trail system in the Midwest. I've ridden a few sections with my older brothers, but I figured this would be a great way to explore and learn a bit more about the area, and find the epic sections that I want to return to.

With a simple 1hr 30 min drive to the start, I drove up the morning of the race. The course was a nice mix of singletrack, ATV trails & gravel roads. So, riding the trusty rigid Soma Juice 29er, I got a little beat up on the ST but was rewarded any time the sections opened up. Assuming that the bulk of the course was ST, prior to the race I dropped the psi fairly low for comfort reasons (no pressure gauge so I'm not entirely sure what it was set at). We started the course on Rock Lake road, and after about a mile jumped on to ST trails. It didn't take long before I realized that I had let a little too much air out. The rocks felt too soft, and on tight/fast corners the sidewall was flexing quite a bit. The handling was off all together. I planned on pumping up the tires a bit once the field thinned out and were were further down the trail, but it was already too late. I could tell that I had already pinched. Quickly becoming a feast for mosquitoes I changed out the tube as fast as I could, but I got dropped by the entire field.

Coming off a huge effort the previous week at the Royal 162, I suppose I didn't take this race too "seriously"...I was still pretty cashed. Once I flatted, I decided to take it easy, enjoy the trails and save some gas for WEMS the following week.

About 40 miles in we got to tackle the infamous Fire Tower Climb, which is at the end of the Fat Tire race in the fall. First time I've tried it...and it's a tough one...steep, long and rocky. By the time I hit the top it felt like mile 50 or 60, rather than 40.

Anyway...I trucked along past the OO warming house, down the Makwa, Mosquito Brook and Hatchery Creek trails (all sweet singletrack), and somewhere along the line I incurred another flat. Meh, by this time I was certainly out of any sort of placing that I would have been satisfied with...so, I took my time patching a tube (I only brought 1 tube - bad idea for 100 miles off-road) while fighting off the mosquitoes trying to feast on me once again. No worries though...I still kept a smile on my face and had a fun day in the woods. See?



6 hours and 30 minutes in to the Hatchery Creek (mile 60) checkpoint, I decided to bail. All I could think about was how much rest I would need before another 6 hour effort at WEMS the following week...

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Part Two: WEMS at Northern Kettles

This was a fun one! I didn't have this race lined up until about 2 weeks ago. My cousin was having a party in West Bend that Mom and Pops were planning to attend on the same day as this race. My older bro was planning to race, then hit up the party afterward. He suggested I hitch a ride with with my folks, he would bring an extra bike...we both race...then hit up the party afterward. Perfect!

Arriving about an hour early there was plenty of time to register, get kitted up and roll a few short trips around the parking lot on the Salsa Mamasita: Niner carbon fork, XT disc brakes with 160mm rotors, 2.4 Schwalbe Racing Ralphs run tubeless at 22psi up front & 24 rear, 34 tooth crank up front, 11-34 9 speed rear cassette. Light, stiff and snappy...I was just hoping I wouldn't put myself in to a tree. The picture doesn't do the bike justice...




On the first lap it took a little getting used to...well, everything. Picking lines was rough, my pace was horrible, eating/drinking was poor. I would forget to drink on open sections when I should, then by the time I was hitting technical sections I was thirsty. I even had a hard time passing guys going much slower than I wanted to pace...the right lines just never seemed to be there. I felt like I kept pushing really fast, then needing recovery time from overexerting, then pushing fast again, then more recovery...back and forth.


Lap 1: 5/28/2011 -- 1:58:12 PM -- 00:58:12 -- 00:58:12


On the second lap I was starting to get the hang of it, but not entirely. I was riding a little smoother, drinking more frequently and at more appropriate times. As I became more confident on the bike it was a little easier to bite chunks off the Clif Blok once in a while too. Side note: Clif Shot Bloks are quickly becoming one of my favorites for "on the bike" fuel. They're easy to open, easy to squeeze to the top as you're eating them, and they're not as messy as most gel packs.



Lap 2: 5/28/2011 -- 2:54:46 PM -- 00:56:34 -- 01:54:46





Starting the 3rd lap I made a quick stop at the cooler to slam some Coke and water. While I was standing around, Derek's buddy Steve passed me again. We seemed to be leapfrogging each other. I realized that he had basically averaged the same lap times that I did for those first two, so he must be pacing pretty well. I jumped back on the bike, gave chase, and decided to ride with him for a little while. His pace was pretty comfortable for me on the climbs, but quick enough downhill to realize his bike handling skills were much smoother than mine. On downhills I was bouncing and fumbling all over the trail, while he would swerve and swoop through the corners with ease. I then would have to kick it up a notch on the hills and open sections to make up the difference. It actually worked out pretty well though...it seemed like I was saving just a slight bit of gas for what I knew would be a long, bumpy day.


Lap 3: 5/28/2011 -- 3:51:39 PM -- 00:56:53 -- 02:51:39


On the start of the 4th lap I stopped at the cooler for a solid 10 minutes. I chowed a Clif Bar, drank some Coke, ate a banana and went inside the shelter to top off my Camelback with some Heed. 10 minutes off the bike felt really good, and I'm certain it helped me push through the remaining laps with some decent oomph. I started fighting some minor craps, which wouldn't escalate until the 5th lap, but Steve and I both noticed our climbing slowing down considerably. The perk- I could really tell that even in just a few hours, my bike handling skills had improved drastically, and faster sections were waaaay faster than I had been riding them all day. Steve lost a water bottle and stopped to pick it up. I kept moving along, and somehow found the juice to pick up the pace.


Lap 4: 5/28/2011 -- 4:58:09 PM -- 01:06:30 -- 03:58:09


While riding solo for the rest of the day, I was thinking...Man, this is starting to really hurt...my left toe burns like hell, my legs keep cramping up on the hills, but somehow it feels like I'm still making good time. OK, if I make it back to the checkpoint before 6:00, I'll go out for another lap. Ugghh...that's going to suck. Will I even make it anyway? If I head out for a 6th, I have to get back by 7:00 or my last 9.5 miles won't even count! OK, I declare it here and now...6:00...that's my cutoff! Since I was seriously not looking forward to 6th lap, failing to complete it then was likely a self-fulfilling prophecy...as once the mind games begin, everything begins to falter. I rolled in at 6:00:29 PM, which put my 5th lap at 1:02:20. Ahhh, that answers that! Cranking out another sub-1 hour lap while fighting cramps just wasn't going to happen.


Lap 5: 5/28/2011 -- 6:00:29 PM -- 01:02:20 -- 05:00:29


After 3 weeks of back to back racing on Saturdays, I was perfectly content with an 11th place finish in the 6 hour group. Excellent day, excellent course. I highly recommend this one!

I'm closing with a shot of my bro on his Gary Fisher Superfly 100. I still can't figure out why he looks so much faster than me...




Until next time!