Packed up and ready to go

It is still early Friday night and the van is packet up and ready to go for the trip to Eau Claire tomorrow. I still think it is amazing that we can fit 6 bikes on our poor van. You should see the looks we get going down the highway. I am going to try to have Andrea snap a picture of some unsuspecting person while I drive.

I lined up all the bikes outside, I will be riding the Fisher Big Sur hardtail because the Supercaliber FS is on its way to the Trek service department in Wisconsin to fix the drive side suspension pivot bolt that sheared off and is embedded in the frame. With any luck it will be back by the Muddy River Rock & Roll in Redwing.

All that is left is to pack the cooler, kids, and dog and we are ready to go. We can set up camp after noon so we plan on arriving around that time to get a good spot.

I guess we are racing this weekend after all!

It doesn't take much coaxing these days to get my wife, and entire family for that matter, to enter a mountain bike race. Something as simple as a harmless post on the MORC forums asking if we plan on going to the WORS race in Eau Claire is enough. I think my cold will be better by then and I was able to push it fairly hard last night on a short but intense ride.

In looking at the WORS site I came across a cool video of a 6 year old kid racing in the citizen class at 9 mile. I could not help but think of my 6 year old son the entire time

Video

I will try to give an update before we head out to the race.

The good, the good, and the ugly

Race Day Overview

In the days leading up to this Sundays race we had contemplated camping on site. With both Andrea and I trying to get over bad colds, however, we opted for a decent nights sleep in Superior. We woke up at 5:45 in order to get everyone dressed and the car packed by 7:00 so we could grab a quick continental breakfast and be on our way by 7:30. As usual, it took us an additional 15 minutes, but we still had plenty of time. At 7:45 AM the temp was already 72 F and I knew it was going to be a hot day: perfect conditions to try out our new 10' x 10' canopy. We arrived at Mt. Du Lac a little after 8 and started unloading our stuff to set up camp (6 bikes, 4 kids, 1 dog, 2 coolers, 6 chairs, 1 bike pump, 1 EZ up, tools, and 1 bag of food).

The citizen race was scheduled to start at 9:30 AM with sport at 11:00 AM and expert at 1:00 PM. I felt fairly rushed the entire day, probably because the start of the citizen and water station for sport was halfway up the hill. Jordan had a great race finishing 1st for her age, 2nd for the women, and 38th out of 56 overall. Andrea recovered from a first lap flat to finish 4th in her age, 4 for the women and 51st our of 86 overall. I unfortunately had my first DNF. Detailed results are listed below.

Race Results

Matt's Race

After lining up a couple of excuses for todays race (bad cold being one of them) I ended up using one I hadn't thought of. After a short but decent warm-up and going up and down the hill to see how Andrea's race was going I felt fairly good for the start of the expert race. At the line I was in the third or forth row and as the gun went off the pack started to gain momentum towards the first steep section. I settled into a decent but conservative pace, because the first climb is a long one. As I approached the first steep section, I cranked hard out of the saddle and passed a couple of riders as they grinded it out. After the steep section the climb levels out slightly before making a right turn continuing up a gradual climb. I dropped down a couple of gears and settled into a nice pace, even taking some time to have a friendly conversation with Jennifer Meyer. I think I even made the comment something like, "I wish there were more people this happy when they are riding". As I approached the last steep section I left it in my middle ring and started to push hard out of the saddle. On my third or forth pedal stroke I heard a loud "crack" and immediately the back of the bike felt like a wet noodle. I pulled off the trial and quickly realized that I had sheared off the drive side single pivot bolt. Needless to say, I was really bummed, so I picked up my bike and threw it into a section of nice tall weeds. Jennifer Meyer must think I am a complete hypocrite.

View of the damages

Andrea's Race

The day was hot and I knew it was only going to get hotter once the race started. I warmed up by climbing "the hill" once just before Jordan's race started. I decided to try the climb in my middle chain ring and I did it, I was amazed. After the climb I tooled around on top the hill for a awhile then I headed doen to where Jordan's race was to start, we sent her off then I went down to chill for a bit before my race. Just before my race started I rode up and down the road a few times then I headed for the start line. Thanks to Angela Collins the ladies got their own wave to start in. Although, even with a 2 minute lag we quickly caught some of the men in front of us. As we took off I made my way up the hill keeping a good pace, I was the fourth women up to the top of the hill.

Once we got into the single track I got into a rythm and just rode, I felt great. Then less then half way into the first lap my back tire was making some strange noises and I knew I was in trouble. I knew the 5th place women was close behind, so I quickly stopped and my fears were true, my back tire was partially flat. I was soooo bummed, I had never had a dnf due to a mechanical before. Since it was not all the way flat I figured I might as well try to ride out verses walk, so I hopped back on my bike and continued to ride. I was still keeping a good pace and I was still in 4th place. I few minutes later I checked the tire again and it felt the same as it had previously, so I figured maybe I had just burped my tire, so I continued to ride, al beit a little slower. Some riders were coming up behind and I let them pass and told them I had a flat tire. Matt Johnson asked if I had anything with me to fix it and I said no, next thing I knew he had stopped and pulled out his CO2 and reinflated my tire. It had more air in it than I needed, but I was hoping for the best and thanked Matt and I was back in the race. Thanks again Matt!!!! Only 2 women had passed me and at this point I was just happy to be able to finish the race. After I started up again my legs felt dead and they ached, I was hoping they would soon start feeling better and then the back climb was right there. I vowed I was going to stay on my bike the whole way. Then I looked ahead and I spotted Angela and I put it into high gear and near the top of the back climb I passed her. Matt was waiting for me at the top and asked how I was doing and if my tire was holding air (Matt J. had told him). I said I was fine and I thought so. Next I was happily joused with water from the volunteers and then I made my way up the rest of the way to the top. I settled into a nice pace and I rode pretty clean and quick. I was happy wit how I was doing. Towards the end of the 3rd lap I decided I would quicken my pace a bit and try to catch and pass the guy in front of me, then I saw just in front of him was the one other lady who had passed me while I was fixing my tire. I kicked it up and rode right behind her heading into the last climb, I couldn't catch her but I ws right with her. Next we came to the top of the hill heading into the last decent into the finish line. I made a quick inside pass and I was in front. I zoomed down the hill as fast as I would let myself go figuring she was right behind me, Matt was at the bottom all lined up for his race and I quick asked him how close she was. He didn't answer so I just pushed hard into the finish. I looked back and she was just coming down from the top of the hill. I found out later that her brakes had locked up and she took a headed. I felt so bad, she said she was fine and it wasn't my fault so I felt releived she was ok.

Look Matt I'm smiling!!! Thanks Dana for the great photo!!

All in all I was very pleased with my result, I didn't feel so good going into this race, but I felt great coming out and I like the trail a lot better after completing 3 laps at race pace.

Jordan's Race

Jordan continues to amaze me with her skill, stamina, and compeditive spirit. For example, at the start of the citizen race, the race director made the decision that instead of the women starting in their own wave as usual, they would be starting in the second wave with the men. While the other ladies hung out at the back the pack, Jordan moved towards the starting line to get a better position amongst adults at least 2 feet taller than her. When the race started she bolted off the line, holding her own in the pack and pushed up the entire first climb without getting off her bike. At first it was hard sending her out on the longer races not knowing if anything bad might happen. She has proven that she can handle anything thrown at her during the course of a race.

She is a very well rounded XC rider. She climbs exceptionally well and continues to improve as she gains leg strength. She handles technical sections with easy and I have never seen her afraid of riding a section. She reacts instantly to conditions on the trail and bike position. But what I am most impressed with is her ability to never give up. Last race she went down hard causing her bar to smash into her chest, but she got back on the bike after a minute and pushed even harder to regain the ground she had lost. In all respects she is a racer and is having a great time doing it.

Jordan working the switchbacks coming down to finish the race

Jordan pushing hard up the last rise to the finish line.

Jordan finished 1st for her age group (10-18), 2nd out of 11 for the women, and 38th out of 56 overall. You can see by the picture how small she is compared to her age group.

MNSCS #4 Preride

We got a fairly early start to Mt. DuLac today heading out slightly after our 9:00 AM target time. It always seems to take at least 15 min extra to get all the kids in the car and buckled in. Four hours, and two stops, later we arrived around 1:30 PM. The conditions were beautiful, but a little on the warm side.

Taylor and I would head out first and Andrea and Jordan after, all the while Devon and Wyatt kamikaze down the hills behind the chalet. Taylor and I started up the hill leading towards the start of the Kids Comp (and Citizen) race. Part way up the hill, Taylor gave up and I had to push both bikes up to the start. As we made the right hand turn towards the initial climb Taylor was starting to have second thoughts about the race and was unwilling to pedal any further. We did manage to make it to the top of the hill by me pushing both bikes up the last steep section. When we reached the top and proceeded to the first downhill section, Taylor took one look at the rocky downhill and said, "NO WAY". I had to agree with her. It was not that the section was that difficult, but for an 8 year old that is just starting to gain confidence it was not something either of us thought she should try. She felt really bad, but I assured her that everything was fine and we would give it a try when she is a little older and ready for it. She will have fun in the kids race. We turned around and road back down the hill and she did a good job handling the tricky grass downhill.

Once at the bottom, I explained to Andrea what had happened and everything was just fine. My calves felt slightly cramped from pushing both bikes up the hill and I hadn't even gone out for my pre ride yet. Not to mention that I am nursing a good summer cold that has left me without a voice for the past couple days. I have been told to use the neck rule. That is if the symptoms are from the neck down you should rest, but if they are from the neck up you should be good to go. Well, most of my symptoms are fairly close to my neck so I will give it a try. I have all ready pre-registered anyway so why not. That being said, I put my bike in the lowest gearing and lazily spun up the first climb. I think it took almost 6 minutes, but at least I didn't waste all my energy for tomorrow. The rest of the ride went fairly well and I was primarily trying to memorize the turns and features of the course. Either they have changed a large portion of the trail or my memory is very fuzzy. The long blazing downhill from years past has been replaced with a great flowing section that weaves back and forth across the previous section. There were a few soft sections, but nothing too bad.

The key for me tomorrow will be to conserve my energy for will be a fairly hot and long race. It will help that the majority of the single track is under canopy, but the climbs are out in the open. Tomorrows race is scheduled for 5 laps and hopefully I with be able to hold 25 minute laps making the overall race time around 2:15.

I think I will grab a little snack and try to get a good nights sleep; tomorrow I will need all the help I can get.

E2 (Endurance)

I felt as if I have been losing some ground as of late. Because of all the racing I have not had a chance to get good endurance rides in. With no races scheduled for the weekend it provided a great opportunity to get in a good lone ride. The weekend would be busy, however, with Jordan having a birthday sleep over Friday night and a family party in the twin cities on Saturday night. The best plan I could come up with was to bike from Hutchinson to Coon Rapids Saturday morning, making sure I arrived in plenty of time to help get things ready for the party. After helping with breakfast for 7 tired girls and vacuuming up sour skittles and nerds from the family room, I got on the bike by 10:00 AM only 1 hour later than expected. With two full water bottles, 3 power bars, trail mix, five dollars, credit card, tube and CO2 inflator I headed on my way.

The first part of the ride was fairly good, but I was pushing a slight headwind to keep me honest. About an hour and a half into the ride, I noticed that the rear wheel felt a little soft and sure enough I had punchered the rear tube. No big deal, I brought a spare tube and was taking the rear wheel off when Andrea and the kids pulled over to help out. Perfect timing, I quickly pumped up the tire and refilled the two water bottles and I headed on my way. The weather was nearly perfect, and despite many people commenting on how hot it was I found that as long as I kept riding at a moderate pace I stayed comfortable. Even though I had printed out directions and taped them to my stem, was still able to get lost because some people don't think it is necessary to put street signs up in their towns. I think it is some type of conspiracy to keep people from finding their way out of town.

A little before Delano I got passed by a group of three road bikers and followed them through town for a little while. I contemplated hooking up with their group and riding for a little while, but I wasn't sure if I was staying with my directions. I followed them out of town and as we stared heading north I knew that I wasn't on the correct road. It was, however, going the correct direction so I continued to tail the group for a while, but never felt the urge to push it to catch up with them. I have found that, in general, road bikers have very little to say to someone rinding a mountain bike on the road. After about 25 minutes they had put a sizable gap on me, while I continued to enjoy the journey. I later passed them in the next town as they stopped at a local gas station.

Anyway, after about 3 hours of "feeling" my way towards the northwestern part of the cites, I arrived in St. Michael. I was slightly familiar with the area and new that I was a little too far north, so I called Andrea to get me back on track. After a little thought she was able to guide me over interstate 94 and back to a rood listed on my directions. The last part of the ride I pushed it a little harder because the legs still felt fresh, averaging 20 mph.

Summary
Time: 4:10:54
Distance: 74.8 mi
Ave Speed: 18.0 mph
Ave HR: 155 bpm

MNSCS #3 Afton Avalanche

Matt's Race

A brutal race. If it wasn't for all the people cheering me on after laps 1 and 2 I would have found a cool spot in the shade and quietly died peacefully. I did, however, manage to finish the race some 41 minutes behind Brendan Moore who had a very strong race. In general the field was much more spread out primarily due to the conditions (hot) and the course. For some reason I like the race course at Afton despite the fact that I have yet to race well on it. I think the course is the perfect race course because it demands the racer be very well rounded; if you have any weeknesses this course will definitly bring them out.

On to the race. I had a little better start this time, cresting the little climb at the start with a fair number of people behind me. As I started to go down the hill a few riders started to pass me as I tried to recover slightly. On the flats leading toward the meadows chalet I got passed by a couple more, but made a push to regain my position down the hill leading into the single track. Entering the bridge loop I kept a good pace up the climbs, staying in my middle chainring, but my HR was much higher than past races (i'm sure the heat had something to do with it). I could tell that I was starting to fade, so I backed it down a little bit because it was going to be a very long race. As I headed through the switchbacks leading toward shady lane each and every steep climb was painful and I wasn't recovering well. The first time up Shady I stayed in the middle ring, but by the time I reached the top I was toast and had a hard time maintaining speed on the technical descents.

The remainder of the race I was in damage control most of the time. The limited time training in the heat took its tool both mentally and physically. Although I typically climb fairly well, I haven't had a chance to do much climbing outside of the races. You know you are in trouble when you pull over on the side of manhandler to chat for a few minutes during the race. I guess I should not be to hard on myself noteing that at least 15 comp riders DNF'ed. To put things into perspective, last year I finished 69th out of 118 in Sport.

In the end, I finished 27th out of 32 41:57 behind the leader. I was glad to be done and happy to finish.

Whatever doesn't kill you will make you stonger!!

I look forward to the next race @ Mt. Du Lac

Andrea's Race

This was the first race I ever had where I truely thought I was going to get sick!

I started with a 20 minute warm-up which included a little of everything; some double track a couple good hill climbs, and some great singletrack to get my legs ready to roll.

All us ladies lined up on the start finish line and I felt ready to go. We were off and before I knew it I was at the back of the pack (man I need to work on my starts). Then we headed up the hill and I passed a few people and through some short singletrack and then a few more down and around some double track, I had agreat position with only 3 people in front of me. Then my chain jammed and try as I might to be gentle and get it unjammed without stopping I couldn't, so less than 5 minutes into the race I was stopped and trying to unjam my chain. Meanwhile everyone else was gone. It didn't take too long and I was off, I worked extremely hard and my heart rate was up in the low 170s for quite awhile until I finally regained my position. This is when I realized I felt sick. It was incredibly hot out and all the fluids I had were warm. I litterally was making plans on what I would do if I needed to throw-up, I would stop throw-up and get back on the bike as soon as possible. Well I backed it down just a little but I had one lady close behind me so I knew I didn't want to slow down too much. I started to feel a little better, and I continued to push it hard. When I had open spaces ahead of me I could see no ladies, that was disheartening, but I still raced hard.

During my second lap I rode with few mistakes although the heat was taking its toll. The back of my leg was cramping up and I was dreaming for cold fluid. I continued to ride, I told myself to keep going and I was not going to die on the bike. I finished strong and quickly felt better after a cool down ride and some cold water.

I finished 4th out of 6 in my age bracket and 4th out of 9 overall for this race. My series standing is 1st as of right now, but I have 1 more race than a lot of the ladies.

Call me crazy but I think Afton is one of the funnest courses to ride and I can't wait for the 24 Hours of Afton. I've never ridden it but I've supported Matt for 4 years, now I'm ready to race. I'm not sure in what capasity I will race it in(solo or on a team), but I will be there.

Jordan's Race

Kid's Race

Race Results