MNSCS #10 Single Track Escape - St. Cloud, MN

I am running way behind on keeping the blog updated, Sorry. Anyway, better late than never

This race had a much different feel than the previous ones this season. I think it was partly due to the fact that I view the Maplelag race weekend as the end of the racing season. We all had such a great time up there and had a chance to get to know each other better. After the weekend, however, the kids go back to school and the summer seams to abruptly end. The main reason was probably because I was not racing. Although the pneumonia was gone I still was not feeling 100% and racing would have made no sense at all

I was excited about watching the rest of the family race and being able to go out and take some pictures of the event. Earlier in the week we convinced Jordan to give the sport class a try considering it would be one of the shorter sport races of the year. Either way she had nothing to lose, because she had 1st place in her age group wrapped up in the citizen class. Taylor agreed to the kids comp race for a change and I talked Devon into racing kids comp as well.

We invited Ray and the Hendricks to stay at our place on Friday night so they wouldn't have to get up quite so early on Saturday. After getting stuck in rush hour traffic in the cities they finally made it to our house around 7:00 PM and we sat down to a huge spaghetti dinner. The kids played outside until 10 and we were fortunate enough that there were no broken bones from the trampoline. Surprisingly the kids fell asleep with no issues, they must have been really tired. Saturday morning we had a nice buffet style breakfast and were out of the house a little after 7 AM. It was a little cool, but there was almost no wind and you could already feel the sun starting to warm things up.

We arrived a little before 8:30 AM and quickly got all the bikes down and our camp set up next to the start/finish area

Andrea and Jordan's Race

Andrea and Jordan lined up side by side at the start and they would be going out as the 4th wave in the sport class. At the start there was a slight delay in the countdown causing a start/stop/start situation causing Andrea to get "pinched" between Jordan on her left and another lady on her right. Andreas handlebar started to get wrapped up in Jordan's jersey and she had to unclip so as to not take Jordan down. Jordan hesitated to make sure mom was OK, worrying that she was mad at her. Andrea was able to get clipped in and up to speed quickly, but was left at the back of the pack. I didn't know how Andrea was going to handle the situation and I feared that she would get frustrated and let up. As the group of ladies made their way around the field at the start, I could see Andrea pushing hard to catch up to the leaders and by the time they entered the ski trail she had already passed Jordan.

I grabbed the camera and waited at the exit of the single track leading out to the field for the start of their first full lap. Not surprisingly Becca Heath was the first to come through followed by another female rider then Andrea came flying through. She later told me that after the bobble at the start she put it in the big ring and hammered all the way to the single track entering in third. A minute or so later Michole came by with Jordan just behind her. They were both riding really strong, but Jordan didn't have that fire in her eyes like she normally does.

At the beginning of the first lap Andrea made her move into second place and was only about 1 minute out of first. I could see she was having a really good race and was making quick work out of the tight single track. At the end of the 1st full lap Michole came through, but Jordan was not following. A few minutes later Jordan came through and I could tell she was having a rough race. I shouted a few words of encouragement, but I think her mind was on the fact that she still had over a full lap remaining. She really wanted to hang with Michole for the race and try to beat her.

After getting a few kids fed Taylor and I went out to try to get a few more pictures of the sport race especially Jordan and Andrea before the end of the race. Near the backside of the course we found Jordan and I could see she was slowing way down. I told her to conserve her energy as much as possible and that she was about halfway done with the final lap. This time the encouragement and/or thought of being almost done cheered her up and she started to push a little harder. We caught up to Andrea as she neared the end of her second lap and she was having a blast railing through the trail. She was concerned how Jordan was doing and I told her that she was having an off day, but the encouragement I gave her made things better. I was not able to make it back in time for the finish of Andreas race, but she finished in a solid second place about 5 minutes behind Becca Heath with a time of 1:13:36. Jordan pushed hard the remainder of the race and finished in 5th place for her age group (Actually she was placed in the 12-18 group because they don't have an age group for her) with a time of 1:24:29.

Andrea did an awesome job this year and finished with a very strong race. I was also extremely proud of Jordan for pushing hard for the whole race and doing great job for a 10 year old in a fairly long sport race.

St. Cloud Single Track Escape

I'm so sad that the season is over already, it went so fast! Matt and I both learned a lot about training this season and we now know what worked and what didn't work as well. We also know we really need some hills to train on; and since Hutchinson is about as flat as a place as you can get, we are not really sure what we are going to do about that aspect of our training.

Both Taylor and Devon raced Kid's Comp at St. Cloud. They both did very well. They both finished 2nd in their age groups. Devon finished 7 out of 13 overall and Taylor finished 9 out of 13 overall. They both said they had a lot of fun. The only riding Matt was able to do for the day was behind Devon in his race. Matt said Devon did great he passed people well and even wiped out pretty good, but got back on the bike and finished with a smile.

Wyatt raced in the kids race and did great as well. He always has a smile on!!

Jordan decided, since she had 1st place in her age bracket for the citizen category wrapped up, that she would ride this race in the sport category. (Ok if you ask her Matt and I talked her into it.)

I went into this race gunning to stay as close as possible to the lead riders. I was well rested and feeling good. I went out just before the race and warmed up really good on the course, I have found more than anything else this is key. The warm up not only gets my legs opened up and ready to ride, but it gets my mind into the course and ready to go. At the start line I was lined up in the middle next to Jordan who was next to Michole (her friend who also decided to race her 1st sport race). The man at the line started the 10 second countdown, only he hesitated between 2 and 1 and that messed me up a little, I started to go and then he hadn't said 1 yet so I held back and then went. That was enough to get me off just a little later than I would have liked. Next thing I knew my space was closed in and my handle bar had Jordan's jersey wrapped up around it. In an effort not to fall and not to make Jordan fall (that was my biggest concern) I really held up and tried to get untangled. After a little tire rubbing and laying my bike at a pretty good angle, I got us out of the jam and Jordan was still on her bike. Although we were both behind. I got my wits about me I started around the parking lot and then I put my bike near my top gear and gave it all I had. I knew there were certain people I wanted to be in front of when I hit the single-track. I gave it all I had and I accomplished my goal, just before entering the single-track I passed the last of the riders that I was concerned about, the 3 female riders left in front of me were not going to hold me up. As soon as I entered the single-track I did a little bit of shifting and my chain jammed (I had horrible visions of Afton, when I had worked hard to stay in front and my chain jammed and every single woman passed me by.) This time I stayed on my bike going back and forth with the petals a few times and then it let loose, I was soooo relieved. I started to weave through the single-track and I was making good time. Still during the prologue lap I passed 1 of the women then I passed 1 more somewhere around the parking lot at the beginning of the 1st lap, then I knew only Becca Heath was in front of me, I knew this was her home course and that all season long she finished many minutes ahead of me. My goal was to try to stay as close to her as humanly possible. Towards the end of the prologue lap Matt informed me that Becca was about a minute ahead of me. This gave me a little push to ride as quick as I could. Throughout the rest of the race spectators would let know how far I was back from Becca, from there info I knew I was falling further and further behind. I was not upset, I continued to ride as clean as possible and pass as many people as I could. I knew that Shanna was somewhere behind me and I also remembered at Mankato with only a half a lap to go Shanna passed me and stayed way ahead of me. So my new goal was to make sure that she did not catch me, by riding quick and clean. I accomplished this goal. I finished 2nd overall for the women, 2nd in my age group, and I had already wrapped up 2nd place for the year in the MNSCS standings.

This type of course does not necessarily suite me, but I have found through out this year that I am no longer held back but the type of course. I had the best time this year. I rode strong, I had no injuries and I learned a lot. Now I just need to figure out how to increase my speed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Special thanks to Tom Warner and skinnyski.com for a lot of the photos.

Matt has told you his part. Now I'll tell you mine!

The part of this experience that Matt has not told you is the time in which he was unconscious. It was about 5 am on that Saturday morning and Matt was saying his side hurt, so I gave him some ibuprofen and he took that and almost immediately he slumped back towards me. I got out of his way and he began this really loud deep snoring, which I had never heard before. (Now he has fainted before but this was totally different.) I was yelling his name with no response. I quickly ran downstairs and grabbed the cordless phone and a big bowl (he usually throws-up when he comes around after fainting). I ran back upstairs flipped on the light and by this time our 2 girls were awake and in our room. Matt's eyes were wide open and he was still snoring, then all of the sudden he stopped snoring and his whole body went limp. I screamed his name and listened for breath sounds and heard nothing. I lifted his body slightly and he was like a rag doll. I called 911 and I was frantic. The lady on the phone had the nerve to tell me to calm down. Although, when she asked how old he was and I said 33 she said "what?" I said 33 and I could hear the fear in her voice. About 1 1/2 or so after he had stopped snoring he finally took a huge breath and then started the snoring again. He was still at this point unresponsive to me. He went back and forth between the snoring and the not breathing 2-3 more times, before he finally came too. He wanted to immediately get up and I told him not to move a muscle and that the ambulance was on the way. A short time after he woke up the paramedics arrived and started to look him over and ask questions. They took him in after they were sure he was okay to be moved. I left the kids at home with my cell number and instructions and I headed to the hospital. As Matt has said they did a bunch of tests that came back negative (thank goodness) and sent him home, with instructions to come back on Monday. I was a little worried considering there were 2 more night we needed to go through before we could be re seen on Monday. Luckily, both nights went by with no further episodes and we found out on Monday that we had pneumonia. I am not sure the correlation between the fainting/seizure/who know what and pneumonia, but we are hoping they were related and that it never happens again.

Scary Weekend!

This past weekend is one I will not forget for a long time, although I am sure it scared my wife more than me. It started Friday afternoon with a dull pain on the left side of body. I remember falling hard at the Hillside race the day before, but I was surprised that I didn't feel any discomfort until nearly a day later. I was not too concerned as I had cracked my ribs on the right side earlier in the year and the pain was much worse than this. I figured at worst I bruised a rib and all I could do was get some rest and give it time to heal.

I woke up early Saturday morning and my side was still bothering me so Andrea got me a couple of ibuprofen. After taking the ibuprofen I remember taking a couple of deep breaths to stretch the lungs and the next thing I remember was Andrea frantically trying to wake me up. Andrea is not sure how long I was unconscious but figures it was probably about 5 minutes. I am still not sure what happened but I have fainted a few times in the past and this was completely different. Let's just say that I got my first ever ambulance ride early Saturday morning.

After arriving at the ER they ran a series of blood tests, heart scans, chest x-rays, and a CT scan of my head. All the tests came back normal, leaving us with many unanswered questions. The pain on my left side was slightly more than the previous day, but it didn't keep me from doing anything. I was trying to determine a link between the two but it just didn't make sense. The doctors were just as dumbfounded as I was and even insinuated that I had fallen asleep, by asking how much sleep I had the night before and if I had anything to drink. Yeh, I was a little upset, but I know how dumb some people are that come into the ER so I give the doctors credit for asking the question. Anyway, after the remaining tests came back negative I was told to come back in on Monday and not to drive for the next couple of weeks.

I was completely out of it on Saturday and slept most of the day. During this time the pain on my left side got progressively worse and at times I was short of breath. I also developed a low grade fever. I was more convinced now that the pain on my side and the unconsciousness were linked but more worried about what was causing it. Things got progressively worse over the next day, but not bad enough as needing the go into the ER.

Monday morning I went into urgent care and had more blood work done and a second set of chest x-rays. It turns out that I have pneumonia and probably a couple of busied ribs. Although it is uncertain that this was the cause of Saturday mornings events it is a definite possibility. I was extremely happy with the diagnosis because it is easily treatable and it made sense to me.

This the the chain of events that led up to this. The couple of days leading up to the 24 Hours of Afton I felt a cold coming on but was unsure if it was allergies or not. During the race I felt OK, but the day after the race developed a bad chest cold and even had a fever the Tuesday after. I felt slightly better by the end of the week but opted out of the TT and short track at Maplelag. I did race the XC race on Sunday but was not feeling 100%. I took it easy the next week and didn't even get on the bike until the Thursday night race at Hillside. During the first part of the race I went down hard on my left side while allowing a rider to make a pass. I felt like I was pushing hard the entire race, but the speed just wasn't there.

The doctor suspects that my body was fighting off the cold and the added stress from racing and the trauma from the fall led to the pneumonia. I will be on antibiotics for the next 5-10 days and pain meds for the discomfort. As for biking, I am not sure what will happen. I would like to make it to the last race of the season at St. Cloud, but even if I get better soon I will have a limited time to get ready for the race.

See you all soon.

Thursday night "Falldown" at Hillside!

Andrea is "game" for just about any race these days. Therefore, when a series came up Hillside we just had to go. Unfortunately we missed the first two races and the third was cancelled so race 4 will be our first. Andrea loves the Hillside course and because it is close to her parents we ride this trail more than any other.

Tonight the Experts will only be riding 1.5 laps, the same as the sport and women classes. That means that the entire race will be blazing fast and pretty much a sprint from start to finish. Rich had us do a Lehman's start, but the run was pretty short (100 m or so).

I managed to get on the bike about mid pack, but got smoked down the service road. For some reason I just could not stay on my bike at the start of the race. The first part of the race has a fair amount of roots and the hardtail was getting bounced around quit a bit. Although my HR was up where I would like it to be, the legs just seamed to lack the power needed to push hard through the twisty single track. Early on in lap one Rich tried to get some air on one of the small log climbs and got all crossed up and went down. I managed to get by him cleanly on the left side, but Eric Guse was unable to dodge the bullet. A couple of minutes later a trailing expert rider caught me and asked to pass. He was riding strong so I moved over to the right to let him by and proceeded to hit a stump that was carefully hiding on the side of the trail. I was purely amazed at how quickly I found myself on the ground. Rich Zilla, Eddie Karow, Eric Guse,and another rider made it by in my dismay. That pretty much set the tone for the remainder of the race.

Part way into the race it started to drizzle a little bit, but by the midway point the sky opened up and it began to poor. Surprisingly the trail handled the rain well and I felt it actually made it better by calming down some of the sandy sections. There were a few sections out in the open that had some puddles and were a bit greasy, but for the most part it was fine. The rain calmed down by the end of lap 1 and mostly stopped for remainder of the race.

I started to calm down but I never got into a good rhythm. I was constantly over breaking into the turns and just didn't feel like I was holding a consistent pace. I pushed hard to the end of lap 1 especially on the uphill climbs near the end. On the final section back to the start/finish line I tried to put together a little chase because I could see Rich up ahead, but I was never able to bridge the gap. I came in at around 55 minutes (my unofficial time) almost 8 minutes behind Sam Oftedahl.

I had a great time, but I am a little disappointed in my performance. Eight minutes in a race less than an hour is huge. I am hoping that the cold I have been fighting since the 24 Hours of Afton has something to do with it.

On a brighter note Andrea come in a solid 2nd place in the women's class and turned in her fasted lap yet at Hillside. Jordan took first in the beginner class and will move up to the women's class if we make it to the last race.

I would like to thank Rich Zilla, Stephanie Hendricks, Ramsey Bicycle, the city of Elk River, and all the voulentiers that make events like these happen.

MNSCS #9 Laddies Loppet - Calaway, MN

One Word, Awesome!

The perfect end to a good summer. The entire family absolutely loves going up to Maplelag for the racing and atmosphere. There is something for everyone to do. The kids spend endless hours at the BMX course riding around and love to go down to the beach for a swim.

We packed up and headed out already on Thursday to drop of the dog at Andreas' parents for the long weekend. We got an early start on Friday and were on the road by 9:15 AM for the nearly 5 hour drive. After a couple of bathroom breaks and lunch at the Pizza Ranch we arrived around 2:30. It took an hour or so to set up the tent and the eazy up and get our bed ready in the back of the van.