State Mtb Race

The location was Castlewood State Park.  The class was marathon. State Champion jerseys were on the line. The finish, unknown.  I do know that I finished somewhere near the back of the pack.  I was lapped by at least five riders.  It was nice to think the timing chip thing would go off without a hitch, but that is technology for you. 

Arriving at CW around 8:30 I got out of the car to feel that the heat was already settling in for the day.  I was already sweating just pulling the bike off the roof rack. Quickly, Brian Busken and I sat up the team canopy and registered.  We decided to do a warm up by riding up Love trail to get loose and shake down the bike.  Stitz came along and everyone worked out the kinks.  Everthing seemed to be in working order.  All lathered up, I decieded to settle under the canopy and concentrate on staying cool.  Busken took a trip up Lone Wolf to give his bike the final shakedown on the steep ascent to River Scene Trail.

Satisfied with my preride I took my place on the starting line at the bottom of Lone Wolf.  The official gave the countdown and off we went.  Well, sort of.  Off everyone else went while my gears mashed away in the moist morning air.  Gears 2x6/7/8 all of a sudden created chain suck and then a switch to 9 put my chain in the spokes.  Time to dismount and yank the chain out of the spokes.  During all this the beginner race had started and I had to get out of the way so they could make their way up Lone Wolf.  I put the bike in 2x5 and stood pretty  much the rest of the climb, passing the beginners, taking a rough line to get around them.  I had to ride the first lap under the same conditions, standing on any slight incline.  I was not prepared to push so hard so early and found my heart rate pounding near 180 for most the lap, way up in the red zone.

Pitting on my second time through the start/finish area I grabbed a Dos Equis and tried to cool down.  I thought about quitting, but changed my mind and just decided to have fun and finish the race.  I was so far back I knew I had no chance to be competitive.  Caleb adjusted my high/lows and half a XX later I was back on the trail, riding for pride and fun.

It was a hard day on the bike. The heat was near unbearable but I made the most of the last couple of laps, even cracking a smile or two here and there.  I cheered some riders on and chatted with others.  This was my second race of the year, not counting the non-race.  I guess I am satisified with the results, finishing that is.  I came close to blowing up the first lap while trying to catch the marathon field and think without the mechanical I would have had a more respectable ride.  Legs felt okay, but the heat nearly brought my head to a boil.  I usually don't mind the heat but that was something else.  I think I even overheard someone say they saw the devil looking for a glass of water out there.  This week is Lost Valley and the forecast is more heat.  I guess I better suck it up and get used to it.

St. Joe Leabbelt XC

The first race of the year began in typical fashion.  Rain, mud, and cold temps.  The moisture misted down all morning.  By race time the sun had poked out just enough to bring up some rumblings from the start finish line and then quickly disappeared.  I lined up for my first Single Speed sport race.  I had done one six hour race on a single speed last year.  Binder Lake is a great spot to ride a single speed.

So the gun sounded and we were off.  The guy who took off in the lead took a horrible line through some trees and we were all zigging and zagging trying to not hit trees and each other.  Why he did not lead up the road and then drop in at the trail I will never know.  I believe I hit the woods in 3rd, but most likely 4th.  The pace was high and the trail was a bog.  Two DRJ guys set the pace and I hung on bitterly for the first 3 miles.  The mud was too much.  I looked down at my heart rate and was pushing 180.  I had burned so many matches keeping up through the first two miles of mud I had to reel it in a bit.  Two guys passed me at this point. 

The next couple of miles things got better.  The feeling of puking on my handlebars started to subside and the trail was getting into some rockier conditions.  In fact when the guys in front of me hit the rocky soil before me, I could hear them war-hooping up ahead.  Screams of joy quickly turned into concern for another rider.

I caught up to Loreen Mattson, an expert women challenger, and was following her for a bit of downhill.  She knows how to handle a bike in these conditions.  Loreen hit a dip and I am not sure if she hit a rock or just washed the tire out and went down hard.  I could see two trees about baseball bat size smack her in the upper chest and near the head.  I was truly concerned having seen it all from behind.  Staying with her until she regained her senses  may have put me out of a third or fourth place, but I am not here to win championships and hope that someone would stop to see if I was okay if I was in her situation.  She hit those trees so hard that her visor flew off her helmet.  I was glad to see she got up and rode on and placed second in her category.

The race became more of a ride for me at this point.  First lap was finished and I could still see some of my challengers in the woods ahead of me.  I did not have the desire at this point to chase so I just throttled things back knowing that if I suffered through 3 more miles of mud I could enjoy the last half of the course.  There were so many back and forth creek crossings, a ride through a culvert, and some dippidy-doos to be had on the second half of the course.  Mike Barro asked me how the race went,  I told him "I was only a few minutes off the pace the first lap."  Then he asked about the second lap.  I said, "More of a nature ride, Mike."  He just laughed.

Caleb Hulsey put in a good show for Momentum, winning Sport 20-29 while Brian Busken ripped out three laps using "The Swede's" training principles.  Barro won expert in his age class, racing against himself.  Not a bad day, considering.  We wrapped up the evening by heading the CB Joe's BBQ near St. Francis State Park.  Good BBQ and BIG portions.  Overall, I have nothing to complain about.  6TH place in my first SS race.  I know my form is not there yet and this was a good gauge to see where I am.  Lost Valley is the next test.

Indian Camp Creek

The heat wave set in today so a I met a few friends out at the Creek to break in some trail.  The group consisted of Brian Busken, Chris Dial, Matt Keeven, Christian Stitz, Keith Weinkein, and your truly.  Stitz broke trail on the new section as we all followed and made our way to the first fork in the road.  We chose left, or I should say, Stitz chose left with Keeven and Busken following.  I thought, ouch.  The snow was flying and as we rounded one corner Busken's rear end washed out and down he went.  As he lied there laughing in the snow I zipped to the left and snapped off a limb of a tree, almost whacking the trunk with my shoulder.  We regrouped at the top of the hill I noticed that the trail was rerouted.   Into the woods and down to the street.  This next section had already had some wheels on it so it made for a more flowy, fast ride.  Busting out onto the field I was feeling it a bit, but remembering the cedars up ahead pumped my blood up.  Weinkein turned on the camera and shot some footage.   I hope it turns out so we can put it up on here.  After the last downhill and through some flats we pop out on the park road.  Feeling cooked but not overdone, we turned around and did it all in reverse. Snow and a receding sun made for ten miles in some great conditions with some great guys.  A cold sunday riding in January could not have turned out any better.  Happy New Year and the best wishes to all in 2010.

Middlefork Ozark Trail

Last Saturday was a day to remember.  The trail was in pristine condition.  The snow fall rested on the leaves.  The temps were cold but not unberable.  Working any harder than I did would have made me sweat.  A December day in the Mark Twain Forest could not have been any nicer.

Brian Busken and I rode to one spot with a nice waterfall.  You can almost see it in the background.

Been Awhile

Has it been that long? I guess I have forgotten my blog and left no time for reflection and other non-sensical things....

Burning at The Bluff turned out to be a great weekend of cycling and beer drinking. I performed much better at the beer drinking than I did the cycling. With the help of the most interesting man in the world and a few co-harts from Momentum we were able to successfully hammer back many a double X.

With the Most Interesting Man keeping an eye on things, Busken took the Bluff as a 12 hour soloist. Some are just here for the pain and the beer is extra. Busken is one of those types. Weinkein, Sarantakis, and myself rode as Team Natural Mystics for the second year running. Seeing Team Natural Mystics was not here for all the pain and mostly here for the beer things could not have gone better.

Taco took the first turn out of the gate. The start/finish area was a zoo.  Riders where all packed in and ready to go.  A chill was in the air.  Reports of course conditions confilcted from perfect to unridable.  Tensions raised, the riders where chomping at the bit to get out.  Upon asking Stitz what place he was shooting for, he flashed me the number one....always playing to win.

I went out for my first lap, #2 of the team, and did not fail to duplicated last years feat.  Mechanicals basically put us out of the running.  Last year it was 2 flats and this year it was the totally massacre of my rear der.  Just two weeks after gearing the rig for the big race all was lost on mile 8.  I found myself having to walk the final 5 miles.  I could only take pride in the fact that I finished the lap in under 2 hours.  After that, I turned the RIG back into a single speed and ended up with my fastest lap ever at Coucil Bluff.  Three laps this year, one in the dark.  Our team moved from last into seventh, I believe.  Another well put on race and great course.

Here is the 12 hour solo winner, Mitch "The Masher" Johnson

A few more pics

video here

RIG goes geared for Burning and BT Epic

I have decided to run the Rig as a 1x9 for the remainder of the race season. The lure of the 29er has taken it's hold. Running the RIG as a SS over the last few months has left me with an insatiable appettite for the big wheel. My poor and lonley GF Big Sur has sat in the basement gather dust as of late. Christian Stitz of MTB United fame has helped me put together a geared 29er piece by piece over the last week or so and I owe him many thanks. One last rotor and we are ready for a test drive. Bring on the BURNIN' and The BT EPIC!

Rapture In Misery

We left STL heading for the far reaches of Missouri on Friday afternoon. Brian Busken followed with young rider Caleb Hulsey. With only beautiful skies ahead of us we pulled onto the highway and merged right into traffic and found ourselves immedianlty drafting Team Seagal. We began to take pulls at the front, alternating between Momentum cars and Seagal cars, time trialing if you will, all the way to the Highway 65 interchange. That is when the chain broke.

The fireworks/gas station was almost as bad as described by Team Seagal. Keith bought, what he called later the worse sandwich ever, (he seemed to enjoy it immensly at the time). I pondered for a long time over the immense firework selection. I really do love a good smoke bomb. As I checked, out the charming ladies at the register had a hard time ringing me out with all the complaing about what time they wanted to shut the place down. Fuel in belly, we pushed on.

Trenton was a nice enough town. The people I encountered seem nice and genuine. Lakeview Motor Lodge was going to be home for a couple of days. I think their slogan was "you get a free breakfast.....and I ain't meaning one them continental ones neither." Leaving behind the Motor Lodge we headed for greenier pastures. Crowder State Park was only a few miles away. There we met up with Mitch Johnson and Greg Ott and pre-rode the course. Great course full of rock gardens with names like "the boneyard", downhills with names like "humpty dumpty", open fields, super fast descents, and leg punishing uphills. Just over nine miles of pure R.I.M waiting.

Next morning we had breakfast with Mitch, Greg, The Holtmans, Busken, and Caleb. Twus no contitintal breakfast at all. Over all, really just about as good as Denny's is when you not drunk. We finished up and headed out to Crowder to begin the days festivities.

Just finished bombing down the 'humpty dumpty' section. If you look close you may see smoke coming off my rotors trying to make that hard left at the bottom of the hill.

The six hour 30-39 podium