MNSCS #2 Rochester Cycling Steeple Chase

Matts Race

Let's just say not what I had hoped for. I had a poor start as usual and there were only a couple of expert riders behind me as we headed through the start/finish line after the prologue.

I was just behind Kyia and contemplated making a move past her just before taking the hard right into the single track but opted not to. Shortly into the first section I "burped" my front tire over a log and lost most of the air. I knew that I was in trouble, but I was hoping to get back to the finish to put some more air in. That would never happen, as I lost the entire bead on the next log section. As I walked backwards through the woods, I had to stop each time a group of comp riders passed. After the entire comp class had passed I walked to a clearing on the south side of the course and found my way back to the start/finish line. As I walked back I was trying to decide if I would quit or try to get the tire inflated and resume the race. I knew there would be no chance at finishing anywhere but last place, but I needed the race time to progress in my training. As I arrived back at the start I asked a couple of people if they had a CO2 (I run STANS), but no one had one to use. On an act of desperation, I hooked up my hand pump and pumped like crazy. With two sets of helping hands (holding the bead) I was able to get the bead to seal (Thanks Kurt and Jordan). I quickly pumped the tire to 40 psi hoping not to loose too much air before the Stans completely sealed. I jumped on the bike and headed back to the start/finish line to start my first lap (again). I had lost 20-25 minutes in the process, thankfully I was still on the lead lap.

Thanks for taking the awesome pictures Dana, and great race to you.

The goal now was to find a way to push myself with no riders around. I knew that the lead expert riders would be coming by at some point, so I used that as motivation to ride clean and fast and stay in front of them as long as possible. Sam O. was the first to catch me near the flats on my second lap (his third) and he informed my that there were two more behind him. I tried to hold his wheel for a little while, and use this situation as motivation, but Sam was just flying and he quickly disappeared. A couple of minutes later Ben and Brendan Moore passed and I was able to hang with them for a while on the flats before they to vanished and again I was riding alone. Overall I felt good, I was climbing well and riding fairly smooth on the single track, but the flats were tacky and slow and I could feel it zap the power from my legs. On the first three laps I was able to make all the climbs in my middle ring and 32t cog in the rear, but by the fourth lap I had to drop to the small ring on the climb after the zipper. Part way into my second I caught a few of the trailing comp riders and I again had some motivation to ride a little hard, but it is just not the same. I also passed a few of the expert women as they pushed hard on their third and final lap. The fourth lap was a surreal experience. The last time I had this feeling is when our 24 Hours of Afton team barely beat the 5:00 PM deadline and I went out for our last lap. It is strange knowing that you are the last person on the course and there is no one behind you. I tried to keep a respectable pace, but my last lap was nearly 4 minutes slower than the previous lap.

I finished in 2:38:28 almost 45 minutes behind the leader. If I factor out the 20 minutes to fix the tire it would have put me at around 2:18:00 good enough for 17/22. I am still learning, but I still need to find the speed on the starts so I can compete with the faster group. I am open to any suggestions.

Race Results

Andrea's Race:

My race went much smoother than Matt's. Although, I was quite worried after my preride. I really count on preriding the race courses on Saturday's to get a feel for the course and the conditions and to know what to expect. So when Steeple-Chase was closed for preriding on Saturday I was bummed. We arrived at the course a little after 8am and it took us a little while to get unpacked and set-up for the day, then I decided without waivering that it was extremely important for my confidence to go and pre-ride the course. Not only did I know the course was going to be slippery but this was the course that interupted my season last year with a broken collar bone, so to say the least I was a little pysced out. I started with the prolouge lap and then headed down the grassy downhill, that led to my demise last year, which went fine, and then into the singletrack. The first section of single track went fine and so did the Zumbrota zipper, then the 2nd set of singletrack was horrible I walked often and slid around a lot, then shortly after emerging from this section I saw the first glance os the citizen riders coming. So I stopped riding, waited for Jordan to go down the Zumbrota Zipper, I cheered her on and then I walked out to the start finish line. So my pre-ride did not go as well as I would have liked, but at least I knew the course.

I had about an hour until my race so I had a powerbar and some gaterade and tried to relax. A few minutes before the race I tooled around a bit and then headed to the start finish line. I had some friendly chit-chat with the ladies at the line and then after waiting for an ambulance to arrive we were off. I did not get a great start (I need to work on my starts), before I knew it I was in 2nd to last place.

But I know how to climb, so by the end of the prolouge I was able to get into a great position and there I stayed until the end of the race. Heading into the singletrack I was the 5th woman, although I thought I was the 4th. I worked hard and rode steady to stay as close as I could to the lady in front of me, Kris Brazil. Through the second set of singletrack, although I was riding it well, I gradually lost sight of Kris. Towards the end of the first lap Matt was out taking pictures and let me know that Kris was about 45 seconds ahead of me. So I tried to speed up a bit and see if I could close the gap. I continued to push hard through the entire second lap periodically passing a few male riders. Then towards the end of the 2nd lap, in a place where the trail turns back on itself, I noticed one female rider that I had not realized was in front of me. Kris had already passed her, so I kicked into high gear and worked as hard as I could to catch her, but I did not have enough distance.



I finished 17 seconds behind her and 4th out of 6 in my age bracket and 5th out of 11 for the female riders and 66th out of 90 overall. I was extremely happy with how my race went and excited that I conquered this course after last years trama.

Jordan's Race:

The Family is Getting Good!

Last weekend was full of riding for the entire family. Andrea and I hit Hillside Saturday and Monday morning early and we brought the entire family to Lebanon Hills Monday afternoon. I get so much enjoyment from watching them progress in the sport I absolutely love.

Andrea has made huge improvements since last year and she now has the confidence to attack any condition. She easily handles obstacles and sections she previously thought un-ridable. Subsequently, her lap times took a considerable drop since last year and continue to steadily decline. For example, last year at Hillside her best lap time was around 1:07. This year she started in the high 50s and has worked it down to a little over 51 minutes. She will soon be turning sub 50 min laps and I can see her getting down near 45 by the end of the season.

The kids are also having a blast. I road with my oldest daughter @ Lebanon Hills on Monday and we did the intermediate loop in a little over 32 minutes. I was amazed at her ability to pick clean lines through the rock gardens, and react instantly to changes in the trail. She executed the technical sections cleaner than I did. Taylor, Devon, and Wyatt had a great time on the beginner loop while Andrea and I watched in amazement. Taylor was all smiles as she weaved through the twisty single track and I could tell she really like the bridges. Devon loves his new "Proline mini" and with the skinny tires and light weight he flies through the trails. Finally, Wyatt (age 4) was able to ride the entire loop with no help from mom or dad. It was awesome watching him navigate through the trails on his tiny bike, even small roots are gigantic to 16" wheels. He even passed one guy who was walking his bike as he entered the beginner trail from the intermediate loop. My wife told me that the guy said, "Sure now I get passed by a 6 year old." She did not have the heart to tell him that he was only 4. I think he completed 5 laps, each time no help from us.

We can only imagine how good these kids will become as they get older. Our only goal is to allow them to love the sport as their "own". Yes, we are proud parents.

MNSCS #1 Erik's Spring Cup

Matt's First Expert Race: Room to improve, but happy with result.



The race is over and I am fairly happy with the result. I knew the jump from sport to expert would be difficult and I did not have expectations of running in the lead group.

The start was fairly ridiculous. Not only do the experts get a very quick jump off the line, but unlike sport the speed continues to build and build.


I found myself at the back of the pack before we got to the water tower and I was trying to get the speed to pass a few people during the prologue. I think I managed to pass two or three people before entering the single track. During the first tight section of single track I felt as if I was getting a little hung up and would have liked to have been further up in the field. Part way through the first lap I made another pass and tried to bridge the gap between a group of two riders in front of me. After lap one I passed another rider on the walkway and made good time through the school fields and past the start/finish line. My legs started to feel good on lap two and I was gaining on the group in front of me, but I could not seem to catch them. I felt alone out there and it was mentally very hard to push at that pace without someone to race with. That changed when the lead comp riders finally bridged the 2 minute gap just the start of lap 4. I held off the lead group of two for a little while and then allowed them to pass, not wanting to hold them up. I held their wheel for next half a lap and was going faster with them than riding alone. The little while later the leading comp rider slid out in a turn and the second place guy got by but I wasn't able to. The first place rider was able to gradually pull away and I was slowed slightly.

By the middle of lap 4 I could tell that my pace had slowed a bit but I was still feeling pretty good. All in all I think two more comp riders passed me by the end of the race, but the expert riders I had passed were no where to be found. I came through the finish line with a good sprint and finished 28 out of 35 riders less than 9 minutes behind the leader.

Andrea's First Sport Race, Well Done!

Well all the training paid off!!! After hours upon hours and miles upon miles of training since November in preparation for my jump from citizen to sport and the first race of the MNSCS season, I had a respectable finish. I finished 3rd out of 7 for my age group and 6 out of 13 for women in the sport category. The race was fast and twisty and technical, usually I would shy back, but I started right in the front and had a pretty good start. I stayed right in the middle of the pack of the women, and for awhile we all stayed together. After a bit the lead women started to pull away, this is where I made a mistake. I was following closely behind another female rider and I should have passed her, but I hesitated too long and when I finally passed her I had to work hard to catch up to the next female rider ahead of me. I finally caught her and stayed close to her wheel the rest of the second lap, as soon as we headed out of the singletrack I put it in the big chainring and gunned it. I passed her and stayed ahead until I noticed my front wheel was shaking, I looked down and my wheel had loosened up I rode for a short time until I knew I needed to stop and tighten it up, I did a quick fix, and got on my bike before she caught up. But I should have spent a little longer tightening it up because a short time later it came loose again and I needed to stop again, this time she passed me and I stayed as close as I could. The rest of the third lap we passed a few people and this is what allowed her to get too far ahead for me to catch up. I still had enough energy at the end of the race I tried to catch her but ended up finishing close behind (the results say 1 minute and 9 seconds I think it was closer than that). All in all I am happy with everything about the race.

Jordan's jump from kids comp to citizen also went very well!!

Jordan finished 2nd out of 7 in the 10-18 women's category and 7 out of 15 for all the citizen women. She started with a bang. She was lined up right in the front row of a huge wave (all women, men 40 and over, clydesdales, and single speeders) right after the start the girl next to her got pushed and fell over right into Jordan and then she fell over. She quickly got back on her bike and was looking good. After her prolouge lap and lap 1 she looked deteremined, and she looked great. She said the race went well. She is ready to go for the next race.

Taylor jumped into the kids comp category and did great! Matt rode with her to give her pointers and encouragement. She had a great race and only fell over once. It was a bit cold on Sunday and she was wearing gloves and had a hard time shifting into her middle chain ring so she was a bit frustrated by the time she came in. She finished 3rd out of 3 for her age group and 15 out of 18 overall. She is ready to race the next race. Good Job Taylor!!

Race Results

Pro UCI MTB Race @ Maplelag

Jordan and I had a chance to watch the pro men and women race at the UCI Spring Opener at Maplelag resort today. Because of the schedule and being a new venue the turnout was smaller than normal, but the racing was really good.

Women's Race

The women went out at 11:00 AM to perfect conditions.

Men's Race

BMX Park

As always the kids spent some time at the BMX park and were performing some pretty "sick" moves. The boys from Canada were down again and keep getting bigger and faster. Jordan even got some air on some of the jumps, but didn't get up the nerves to hit the 8 foot gap jump.

Course Pre ride

Later in the day Jordan and I went out for a pre ride and I took her on the lake side drops. I was impressed with her ability to handle the rocks and roots that are strewn all over the trails. She even handled the tough climbs that twist through the woods. Tomorrow should be much easier and Jordan says she is ready for the race. I know she will do really well.

First Race of the Season

Tonight the family will be heading out to Buck Hill for the first race of the 2007 MTB season. Andrea will try sport, Jordan citizen, and I will be challenging myself in expert. Conditions are just about perfect, and the heat (86 F) will be good for acclimating to the conditions yet to come. I will provide a complete recount of the race later tonight.

Race Report (Matt):

Let's just say that it is probably not good to feel as rested as I was at the end of the race. I think I finished 39th out of 47 in the Advance field. Not what I had hoped for but not last place either. Since there is no Comp class at the Thursday night races it is somewhat hard to tell how this will stack up in the MNSCS series. The drive in from Hutchinson takes a little over an hour and a half so we did not have much time to get all the bikes down, register, and have a decent warm up before the race start. After the race meeting I headed down to the start line to find I was nearly the last person to arrive. I did not have a good starting spot because rec and beginners classes were all bunched up behind the advanced riders. Therefore, I picked a spot near the back on the far right side of the road (in the grass). Mentally I had no ambition to push it hard at the start, but in hindsight it would have been a better idea. The race starts with a gradual hill on a gravel service road then veers to the right and down across the base of the ski runs before entering the single track. As usual there was a fairly large pile-up at the entrance of the single track at a short steep section. I had to get off my bike for a few seconds to run up a short section and quickly remounted. The pace was slow, however, and the leaders were gone. There was virtually no place to pass in the single track sections, therefore, I just followed at the pace of the riders in front of me. I feel confident that I could have rode the single track sections faster and with a better start. The conditions were extremely dry and dust and it started to take a tool on my lungs. By the end of the first lap I started to ca ugh really bad and it go worse any time I started to push it. This continued into the third lap and I never really felt good for the remainder of the race. I was actually having trouble taking in air; I have never experienced this before.

Near the end of lap two I came up on Jordan who was nearing the end of her lap in the beginner class. She was standing off the trail and I could see she was upset and frustrated. I stopped to help her out as she explained that the bike was making some weird sounds and it was making her worried. I gave her some much needed encouragement and she was able to get back on the bike in a fairly difficult section and ride like a pro. I will have to look at her bike to find out what the problem is; I do know that her chain is too long and needs to be shortened. After Jordan got back on her way and was out in the open I resumed my race. Despite the problems with my lungs I felt I could push hard and I could hang with most racers on the hill sections. For some reason I didn't feel as though I was going fast enough in the single track sections though. The remainder of laps 3 and 4 were fairly uneventful and I just put it in cruse control for the remainder of the race.

Race Report (Andrea):

Summary:

All in all I finished in about 1 hour 6 minutes with the leaders finishing in about 53 minutes. A full 13 minutes behind the leaders or about 25% off the leaders time. I will update the results when the are posted on the Penn Cycle site. I placed 39th out of 47 riders in advanced.

"Mud Madness" Cancelled Due to Weather?

After all the careful well laid plans for the weekend Mother Nature put a wrench in the plans. The 2007 Mankato "Mud Madness" was cancelled due to bad weather. After a a brief period of rain Saturday afternoon, the clouds lifted slightly and the rest of the day was fairly nice. The weather forecast at 10:00 PM looked promising with the rain supposedly holding off till later in the day on Sunday. We woke up early morning on Sunday, however, to the sound of wind blown rain against the hotel window. We quickly turned on the weather channel to see a "sea" of yellow and orange heading strait through Mankato. Not knowing what to expect, we started packing up and grabbed a quick continental breakfast in the lobby. On the short drive to Mt. Kato there was a lot of lightning and it started to rain harder. When we pulled into the parking lot we had a good idea the race was going to be cancelled. We talked to the race promoters and they had decided to reschedule the race due to lightning. Andrea and I were a little bummed, but neither of us wanted to race in a mud fest. We packed up the kids and had enough time to make it to Sunday morning church.

Since we are still actively training for the MTB season, we now had to find out what type of workout to substitute in for the missing race. Fortunately, Hutchinson had not received much rain and we were able to go out later in the afternoon for a simulated race at Stahl's Lake. We set up a combination of ski train (double track) and single track to set up a race course. The outer loop of the ski trail is 1.1 mi in length and the single track is 3.1 miles for a total length of a 4.2 mile loop. Andrea and I warmed up on the inner ski trail and then went our separate ways. I turned 4 laps with average times around 23-24 minutes and Andrea completed 3 laps at around 26-27 minutes. Andrea said that the her second lap was her best and despite the slick conditions cleared all the climbs. By the last lap my lower back was getting really sore and I could tell my speed was slowing down. I need to continue to ride more on the trails to get the rest of my upper body ready for race efforts.

Getting Ready for the First Race

This weekend (May 6th) is the first race of the season at Mt. Kato. Although we have listed it as a B priority race I approach each race with the same level of enthusiasm. Last time I checked there was a possibility of rain Saturday and Sunday so the race might live up to its name: Mud Madness. This will be the first time that Andrea has ridden in the Sport class and I have ridden in the Expert class. Andrea has put in a huge training effort and should do very well in Sport. I have also put together a much more structured training effort; time will tell how well it pays off in Expert.

Last week was a R&R week after the final build phase of the training. Therefore, we rested by spending 9+ hours at Stahl's Lake Park blowing, raking, and clearing the local MTB trail. The legs got a rest, but the upper body got a very good workout. Today I turned a couple of race pace laps out at Stahl's lake turning lap times of 16:30, 15:56, 16:32. I had planned on riding 5-6 laps, but the work schedule and lack of planning on my part prohibited that. Andrea managed to get up at 4:30 again this morning for some intense criss-cross thresholds. She was able to get her heart rate above the 165 mark for her high intensity intervals (great job!). That ability to push hard, recover at a high intensity, and push again is very important in race situations.

The Weather has Cooperated for a Change

Andrea and I had a good weekend of riding. We put away the trainer for the weekend and went outdoors for our training rides. Saturday we each had anaerobic intervals (Andrea pyramid and me 5x4 min intervals).

We decided to ride together for Sunday's E2 ride. Neither one of us was overly thrilled at getting up at 4:30 AM Sunday morning, but we coaxed each other to get ready for the ride. Thankfully, we each had placed all our clothes out the night before giving us less excuses to go back to bed. I had a couple of small bowls of cereal and a glass of juice and Andrea had a hot bowl of oatmeal (good choice, but I hate oatmeal). We stepped outside at about 5:20 AM to a good chill in the air; air temp 32 degrees. I was fairly uncomfortable starting out and was having a difficult time pushing myself to get the heart rate up. My legs felt heavy from the previous days workout and I generally had little ambition to push it. My wife, however, handles the cold much better than I do and wasn't effected by the cold air. I remember back to the first couple of endurance rides we had taken together last fall and I would lead and Andrea would draft behind me so that we were each pushing at about the same effort. As a testament to Andreas progress on the bike we both rode side by side for the entire time and in the end I think I was more tired that she was. On an added note, Andreas ride was supposed to be 2:30 but she rode with me for the entire 3:00, Impressive.

Now we have time to enjoy the remainder of the weekend and get some much need work done around the house.

My wife is Awesome!!

Life is full of compromises and there always needs to be a balance between the time spent training for the MTB season and family/extended family. The great thing is that my wife is every bit as obsessed (maybe too strong a word, or maybe not) about XC racing as I am. She has taken the sport as her own and absolutely loves it. Words can't describe how determined she is.

For example, the year before last (2005) she made the decision to give XC racing a try. I/we had made the decision that I was going to race 6 races in the 2005 race season. The first race was the Afton Avalanche at Afton Alps ski resort. Andrea did the majority of the pre-race preparations, not only for the entire family (4 kids), but for me as well. She made sure I had the right clothes, food, etc and I was in charge of bikes, spare parts, tools, etc. All we had to do was double check to make sure nothing was missing. While I was out racing in the sport class, my wife overheard the awards announcements for the citizen class. There were only 2 people in her age class and she realized that even if she would have finished last she still would have received a third place award. I am not sure when she mentioned it to me (probably early the next week), but she was interested in racing in the next race (Mt. Du Lac, Duluth). Trying to conceal my enthusiasm I made some much needed upgrades to her bike in preparation for the race. By Thursday evening Andrea had everything packed and ready to go for the race, including all of her stuff. I tried my best to keep my emotions in check; I was excited, but somewhat scared. I knew how much I love the sport and how exciting it is for me, but for someone new to the sport it can be a little scary. The courses in the MNSCS series are not easy; long lung busting climbs, steep descents, tight sections through trees, rocks, etc. Andrea definitely wanted to pre-ride the course before the race so we drove from my parents cabin to Mt. Du lac on Saturday. Before she went out, I carefully gave her some pointers and told her to be careful (I had to watch the kids, so I wasn't able to ride with her). After about 1 hour a friend came down the hill and told me that Andrea had gone down on a steep downhill section and her shoulder was bleeding. My worst fears went through my mind. I was concerned that this fall would be the end of her racing and enthusiasm for the sport. When she got back, I could see there was a really good scrape on her shoulder and I carefully asked what had happened. I don't remember the details, but what I do remember is her willingness to understand what had happened so it wouldn't happen again. I thought I might still have some hope; she might try this again some time in the future. Later in the evening after driving back to the cabin, I cautiously asked if she was thinking about racing on Sunday. She said with a smirk on her face, "We'll see how I feel in the morning, but probably". I knew at that moment that she had every intention of racing. She never lost that enthusiasm and determination and the first season was a great learning experience for both of us.

Before the start of the second season we were both ready to go. We had put in some more training earlier in the season and Andrea was able to ride on the trails a few times before the first race. Things did not go as we would had hoped, however. During the first race at Harmon Park (Erik's Spring Cup) Andrea "blacked" out and went down hard, shortly after the first lap. Her head must have been a little fuzzy because she could not understand why the nice course worker would not let her continue the race. One look at the bike should have told her, not to mention her helmet was smashed and cracked in two pieces. So maybe it wasn't a good idea to race a couple of days after recovering from strep throat.

Andrea wrote it up to a bad day and an unfortunate set of circumstances and eagerly awaited the next race at Steeple Chase. As an added benefit the second race coincided with the start of our MTB vacation in Missouri. We would be staying in a hotel in Rochester for the race then driving down to Kansas City to drop off the kids at Andreas sister's house. The plan was then to drive west and hit a few of the cool MTB trails in Missouri. The warm-ups went well and the day was going as usual. The race starts with a relatively short prologue lap before entering into the standard lap (a downhill section that ends with a sharp right turn into the wooded single track). I remember telling Andrea to "let the bike go" on the downhill sections to keep her speed up; a comment I would later regret. Andrea had a good start and was pushing hard on the prologue lap. Just as she passed the Start/Finish line and started heading down the hill the "crash" happened and Andrea went straight over the bars landing hard on her left shoulder. She had broken the second helmet in as many races and worse yet could not move her left shoulder. We later found out that she had a severe break in her left clavicle (collar bone).

My worst fear was about to be realized; I was sure this would be the last MTB race she would ever ride. Not to mention that this was the beginning of a 10 day MTB vacation for the two of us. Oh, by the way after waiting in the ER for 4 hours we hit a deer part way into Iowa and were stranded in the small town of Hampton for 3 days. Good thing the pain medication was doing its job. We made the best of our trip considering the situation. Andrea and I had to make a decision on whether she should have surgery to fix the break. She was very eager to know how long it was going to take to heal, because she wanted to know if it would be possible to race the last couple of races in the series. All I can say is that my wife has a great deal of heart and determination. The doctors at the Mayo clinic were less than helpful and were very willing to let it heal on its own despite the fact that there was a 50% change of a non-union (bones never growing back together). Luckily we have one of the best Orthopedic clinics and surgeon in the Midwest here in Hutchinson. Dr. Walker informed us that 95% of all broken clavicles are left to heal on their own. This break, however, would be a good surgical candidate. Later that week Andrea had a 4" long titanium pin inserted in the center of the bone with a nut that pulled the two broken pieces back together to heal. With the surgery performed Andrea was very eager to find out the recovery period. 4-5 weeks without any weight and she was to use the sling as often as she felt comfortable. I do remember that after a couple of weeks she was riding carefully on the indoor trainer. The bone healed very quickly and at a doctors visit in late July Dr. Walker informed us that everything heaing perfectly and she could do anything except weight training. (The pin needed to stay in for 6-8 more weeks.) Andrea quietly left without asking many questions. Later she commented that he did not say she could not race. My wife was able to race the last 4 races of the season. I could tell she was tentative at first, but by the last race she was pushing much harder than ever before. She has told me many times that because of the accident she is actually less fearful of falling. It might have something to do with the new bike (Fisher Super Caliber FS) I bought her shortly after the crash. She figures that if she can make it through a very serious accident like that, a minor fall should cause no problems.

Since last season we have trained harder and smarter than ever before. Andrea has put forth every bit as much effort in preparation for this season as anyone I know. I could not be more proud of my wife and her passion for the sport.

First Week of Build 2 and finding time around the Easter Holiday

Time is hard to come by, so we need train smart and at times compromise. Easter weekend was going to be one of those times to comromise. Andrea and I were determined to ride on Saturday, but were fairly certain that Sunday would be almost impossible due to travel between parents. In general our endurance is fairly strong so missing the long E2 (endurance) ride on Sunday would have a minimal impact on training. We therefore forcuseed on Saturday and each had strong rides, performing Anaerobic intervals.

The results for Andreas ride was simply amazing. She was able to hold nearly 19.5 mph (250 watts) for each of her 5 4 minute intervals. That's 4.8 watts/Kg which is great for a women cyclist. My ride went well, but I pushed it a little too hard in the beginning and fell off a little by the last interval.

Next week we will be entering the second week of the second build phase of training with six weeks remaining before the first MNSCS series race.

Easing Into Build 1 Rest and Recovery

Tuesdays ride of this rest week is an easy E1 Active recovery ride. Since it was a rest week I kept a fairly slow pace even for an E1. Wednesday was single leg drills and spin ups.

Good Weekend of Riding for Both of Us

Thanks to the weather we both had a good weekend of riding. In general our weekends are very busy and trying to fit in 11 hours of riding combined between Andrea and I make even more difficult. On the bright side the kids are now old enough that they don't need constant supervision and can run around the neighborhood without causing too many problems, they just get on their bikes and ride or play in the yard.

Andrea went out for a set of hard pyramid intervals Friday night because she had a work conference to go to all day on Saturday. The conditions were absolutely perfect highs near 70 and little to no wind. She said the intervals went really well, but is still somewhat concerned that her HR was not high enough. I think we need to possibly reevaluate what her Max HR and LT are during this weeks testing. Overall I am not too concerned because she can put down strong intervals near VO2 Max and her power is very good.

Saturday I put down my best anaerobic intervals of the season thus far completing five 4 minute intervals at 22.5 22.7 mph (indoors on trainer). The intervals lasted a little over an hour with the 4 minute recovery periods. The remainder of the 2:30 ride was at a steady endurance pace a little of 18 mph. The legs were fairly tired by the end of the ride, which is fine because next week is a rest and recovery week.

Andrea was eager to ride again Sunday afternoon and I laid out a route that took her from Hutchinson west on 7, then north on 22 to Litchfield, back east on 12 to Dassel, then back south on 15 back to Hutch. The round trip is just short of 50 mi and she completed it in 2:58 averaging 16.6 mph (on the mountain bike) at an E2 pace (145 Ave HR). Awesome Andrea, keep up the great work!! Her fitness is the best it has ever been and I am sure she will do very well in the sport class this year.

For my ride (indoors on trainer) I was just trying to survive. The legs were dead from yesterday hard workout and I was interrupted a couple of times by the kids (I almost decided to stop the second time). I was however able to complete 2.5 hours at an average speed of 18.2 mph. Not too bad, now for some rest and recovery. Oh yeah and maybe start hitting the weights a little as well.

Tire Choice

It is that time of season when I have trouble thinking of anything else but mountain biking and more specifically XC racing. In the off season I have had a chance to make some upgrades to my two race bikes and they are mostly the way that I want them. One area that I haven't thought much about until now is tire choice. In the past I have run Continental Explorer Pro in the front and a Twister in the rear with good results. This combination works quite well in a variety of conditions from hardpack, sand, loose over hardpack, and even mud. The twister in the back rolls really well, but if the climbs get steep or there is a hint of mud it becomes difficult to hook up on the climbs. As my fitness has increased I have switched to the more aggressive Explorer in the back as well especially if the conditions are the least bit slick. Last year I purchased a pair of Kenda Nevegals (2.1 front 1.95 rear) and used them for a couple of races. The have decent traction, but the tread pattern is a bit too aggressive for most of the conditions. Although they are said to be a quick rolling tire, I found them to feel slow in comparison to the Explorers. I think this year I will try a few new tires to determine what fits my riding style and conditions well. Listed below are a few of the options.

Hutchinson Python NG Airlight (I have these set-up on my SS)

Update: May 5th, 2007:

Recently I put on the Hutchinson Pythons on the FS and have ridden a couple of laps out at Stahl's Lake. I was pleasently surprised at how well they hooked up on the tacky trail. The bite nicely through the corners and roll extremely well despite the rather sticky trail conditions. My general feeling is that they will work very well when the trail conditions are on the "slow" side because they roll really well. Another added benefit is the relatively large volume for a 2.0 giving a very compliant ride running at 28 psi (front) and 32 psi (rear). There is a race this weekend at Mt. Kato and if the weather is not too raining I might give them a try. If it gets too wet, however, I will stick with the explorers (front and rear) because they handle mud very well and have a more aggressive knob to hook up on the short climbs.

Kenda Karma

Kenda Small Block 8

Maxxis Larson TT

As stated earlier I am also running Stan's tubeless this year as well and will experiment with running lower tire pressures as well. I have heard that many of the pros are running very low tire pressures with larger volume tires.

Great Overall Tire Site:

MTBTires.com

Here are a few links about going tubeless
Homebrew Tubeless
Stan's

Things are starting to come around

This weekend was crucial in my mind, because I have felt slightly "off" for the past few weeks; ever since we returned from Arizona. Since then, I feel as if I am just going through the motions and not really progressing very much.

Saturdays ride were hard VO2 max intervals, which I haven't done much of yet and last weekend they went poorly. The objective was to establish a baseline for future comparison. The duration of the intervals were 4 minutes with a 4 minute recovery. The speed was basically whatever I could hold for that duration and still complete 6 strong intervals. I was able to maintain speeds between 22-23 mph (325-360 watts) during the intervals. After the intervals, I finished off with a strong endurance (E2) ride, easily maintaining 18.5 mph.

Sunday was a hectic day with lots of family stuff to do, however, I managed to get in a decent endurance ride before bed. I never like getting on the bike too late in the day. I am usually tired and less motivated to do a good workout, however, it is slightly easier for an endurance ride. The legs felt a little tired at first but warmed up quickly. Overall the ride went really well I was able to maintain near 19 mph for over two hours before I decided to get off before bedtime.

Note: See full details in Matt's Training Blog

Time to Get Back on Track With my Training

Ever since the race in Tucson and subsequent vacation, Everything feels slightly off. I have been trying to get back on track with my training, but things always seem to come up to derail my efforts.

During the first part of my new training plan I could see dramatic changes with each ride and each week built nicely on the previous one. I found it fairly easy to stay motivated, probably because I had a race in February and didn't want to disappoint my teammates. After the race, however, there was a big let down. The first race of the MNSCS race series was still nearly 3 months away and there was 2 feet of snow on the ground. The vacation the week following the race didn't help either. I ate too much food (gained 4 pounds) and did less structured riding. To make matters worse, when I got home I had a turn right around and leave for a work conference for three days.

The training for the past few weeks has been adequate at best, but I feel I effectively maintained my fitness. It is now time to get back on track. This week needs to be turning point and mentally I must be ready for it.

Last week was the first week of the Build 1 phase of training (higher intensity: power and anaerobic work) and it went fairly well with a few notable exceptions (See Matt's Training). This week is week two of Build 1 and is basically a mirror of week one. The main goal is to layout good obtainable plans and be ready mentally and physically to achieve them. Early in the season it was possible go into a workout less than 100% and still complete it. At this point, however, it is extremely important to be 100% ready (mentally and physically) for each and every workout.

I will update later this week on how the workouts progress.*

The race is over and we survived

The race was awesome! I was not prepared for the speeds obtained during the race; average speeds were near 15 mph over the 16 mile long course. Overall Andrea and I did not disappoint our team despite the fact that we were complete unknowns.

We arrived at camp Thursday afternoon around 1:00 PM being escorted by Rick and his wife Judy. I immediately unpacked the bikes (because they were having trouble breathing) and started to get them set-up for the ride. Andrea was busy getting our home away from home ready for the next few days. Our accommodations were a large RV able to sleep 6 and a full size Dodge Charger.

Andrea and I went out for a pre-ride at 4:45 PM and based on perceived lap times we knew we were going to have to hurry to complete the lap quickly before the sun went down. We started out in shorts and short sleeve jerseys and by the end of the lap we had wished we would have put on more clothes. We were surprised at how quickly the temperature dropped even before the sun went down. That night we were alone at camp and we spent most of the time struggling to stay warm. The heater in the RV wasn't working so we curled up under a couple of blankets and a few sleeping bags to stay warm. The next morning we were told that the temperature got down to below freezing (we survived).

The next morning we went into Tucson to find a light jacket for Andrea and a new rear tire for me. It took a long time to navigate through the city streets in Tucson, we did not arrive back at 24 hour town until around 1:00 PM. Rick was already dressed to ride and I could see he was slightly eager to show me around. Andrea decided to stay back at camp as to not tire herself out before the race. Rick and I headed down the singletrack leading into a series of rolling hills that are fairly steep (referred to as the bitches: I did not name them). I let Rick lead out for the first 15-20 minutes and as I hit the third or fourth hill, I hammered up in my large ring. After the rollers (7 total) the road flattens out for a couple of miles before there is a loop around that leads straight south on Coral Trail. I took over the lead at the beginning of Coral Trail and kicked it a little to get used to the trail conditions at speed. I expected more sliding but the trail surface offered plenty of traction. This section of trail is slightly downhill with gradual high speed turns between the cactus and cholla. You can easily maintain 16-18 mph if you ride smooth. The remainder of the lap was moderately paced and we finished in a little over 1:15.

NOTE: you will find out rather quickly that everything in the desert "bites".


We got back to camp and met up with Chris who would be serving as our team manager. We also learned that Daryl was still struggling to get back from the east coast. I am not sure of the exact path but it involved a few rental cars and a couple of airports to find a flight back to Phoenix. Daryl ended up making it back around 8:30 PM the night before the race, but the lack of sleep took its toll.

Race Start

24 Hours in The Old Pueblo

The final preparation is almost complete for our trip to Tucson to compete in the 8th anual 24 Hours in The Old Pueblo.

http://www.epicrides.com/twofour/24.htm

We are competing on a 5 person coed team in the 200+ age catagory. Our team, "Sigma Force" is being sponsored by Sigma Technologies of Tucson. The only person that Andrea and I have had a chance to meet is Rick Elwanger, but through emails we have developed a sense of each persons personalities. We are looking forward to a fun event, but are serious enough to expectations of performing well.

Team members
Chris Sanders - Team manager and mechanic

Rick Elwanger

Daryl Stahler

Wayne Gorry

Matt Horner

Andrea Horner

!!GO TEAM SIGMA FORCE!!

Training:
A large part of the training efforts since the middle of November has been motivated by the proverbial "carrot" of having an objective/incentive. Andrea and I started training the week of November 20th and are currently in the middle of the third base period. Higher intensity workouts including lactate tolarance (LT) intervals and tempo rides of 3-4 hours are now common. Overall our fitness levels are noticably higher than what it was at the end of the 07 race season. Most of the improvements are in the form of increased endurance and efficiency below LT. As the training progresses improvements to the fine "race" skills will be made, including increased LT tolerance and Recovery from repeated high intensity efforts.


Trip Details:
We have found homes for the 4 kids and the dog, although it required three separate families and a set of grandparents to pull it off. Jordan and Taylor will be staying with Jordan's best friend's family, Devon and Wyatt will be staying with Paul and Elisibeth and Matty (dog) will be staying at Pete and Angie's until Friday February 23rd. My parents will be coming in to relieve everyone on Friday and stay until Sunday. Thanks to all of you!

Wednesday evening after the twins get picked up we will have a farewell dinner at McDonald's (Thanks Grandma for the V-Day gifts to the kids, they can now get Happy meals). We will then drop the girls and the boys off at there respective locations. After that we will stop back home remove one of the seats in the van and load in the contents for our trip.

• Bike Boxes (2)
• Large Suitcases (2)
• Small Suitcase
• Large Duffle Bag
• Carry on Bags (2)
• Computer Case
• One additional Bag

My only concern is weather we will be able to fit all this into the rental car.

On the way out of town we will drop off the dog and drive to Andrea's parents for the night. Early Thursday morning we will get dropped off at the MSP Airport and Andreas parents will starty their drive to Kansas City, MO to see their new granddaughter Esther. Our flight leaves at approximatey 7 AM and we should arrive by 11 AM in Phoenix. We will then be renting a car and drivin to Tucson (2.5 hours) to meet a couple of teamates at Sigma Technologies.