Smithville, TX 11/09/2008. This mountain bike race was only special because it was attended by none other than Lance Armstrong himself. I did not get to race against him, but I thought it was cool anyway.
As far as races go, it was another poor showing for me. The heat I was in had 40 people in it at the start, so I needed to be fast out of the gate if I wanted to finish well. I made a critical mistake by starting out in to high of a gear. So everyone pulled away as I struggled to get up to speed, putting me behind some very weak riders. To make matters worse, this course started with some pretty strenuous climbing, which would not be a problem for me, except all the people walking their bikes up the hills.
Once I was at the top, there was a bomber downhill, and another big climb riddled with more bike walkers. After this, I found myself alone in the woods, as all the better riders that had good starts were able to put some distance on me. After a few lonely miles, I caught some riders that made this a race.
Actually, a rider caught me towards the end of the race, so I had a good battle to retake my spot. One of the things that made this battle interesting is that while I was trying to take my position, a kid from the kids race ended up between us in the single track. I found this very frustrating, and is one of the reasons I will be moving from Cat 3 to Cat 2 next season, even though I'm not sure I'm ready.
Any way, I got past the kid, but not without rubbing his tire. Now before you accuse me of intimidating a twelve year old kid, this happened on accident. I would never do that on purpose to a kid.
Once I got around the kid, I shifted into the big ring for the last climb, because the race ended in a huge downhill sprint. As it turns out, I reclaimed my position right at the finish line. Even though, it was only 19th place.
As a side note, since there were 40 people in my heat for this race, and none of them could ride a mountain bike very well, and having kids on the course during the race, I have decided to cat up to Category 2. I had always envisioned winning a bunch of races, and being forced to cat up, but instead I'm moving up without fanfare because of snot-nosed kids. Maybe I'm just a better racer in my own mind
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
BTU Power Pedal
Bryan, TX 10/12/2008. Well, what can I say. This was one of those races where I found myself wondering why I'm doing this. As it turns out, these are the kinds of thoughts that you have when you are in the trough of the over-training curve.
The weekend was going great up to the race. Tim picked me up early Saturday morning at the house, and we drove to Academy Sports where we met with Rick, Jim, and Drew. From there we headed to Bryan.
Once in Bryan we unloaded the bikes, and completed a nice pre-ride of the course. After that we set up the team area, checked into our hotel, and went out for dinner.
Everything leading up to the race was going well too. At the gun I had a great start, and hit the single track in 6th place. After getting slowed up in some turns by a slower rider, we hit a jeep road, and I was able to pass. I could see the lead group of four up ahead riding in a pace line, so I put the pedal to the metal to try and chase them down. As I was gunning for them, I was not making to much ground, and I could hear someone closing in on me fast from behind. Tim rocketed past me like I was not even moving. He was actually able to catch the lead group before hitting the single track again, and the guy that was slow in the twisties passed me to get into the next twistie single track. So I was behind a bum once again.
It did not take long for me riding on this guys wheel to get around him again, but since I was over-trained my mind was wondering, and I could not concentrate well on what I was doing. I ended up sliding going into a corner and two guys got by me. This was just a small set back, and I was not to concerned. I settled back in and caught one guy pretty quickly, and the second was within sight.
This is a good time to stop and let you in on what some of the symptoms of over training are. First, your legs go dead, and you feel like your 300lbs heavier than normal while pedaling your bike. Second, you loose enthusiasm over riding and exercise in general. Lastly, you become so fatigued that you begin to loose concentration on what you are doing. It is almost like bonking.
I was riding down a stretch of single track where I could get a good look at who was behind me, and I was trying to look for some friends when I wandered off the single track, and a bush reached out and tore me off my bike. Now this was not a small crash. I landed on my shoulder and went skidding down the trail. When I hit the ground, the wind was knocked out of me. When I came to a stop, I looked and saw that my bike was not on the trail, so I just laid there to catch my breath. I'm not sure how many people went by me, but I sure got a lot of comments from other riders surprised to see my lying on the side of the trail in such an easily ridable section.
Eventually, I got back on the bike and did a quick recovery spin. I was very frustrated, but at the feed zone Rick, Jim, and Drew were there to cheer me on. Which actually did make me feel a great deal better, until I crashed head-on into a tree.
I did work my way back to 16th place which was a disappointment, but what was most important is the life lessons I learned from the weekend. Sometimes, it is not only a good idea to take a few days off to rest, but it is probably recommended. Finally, any race is fun as long as you have positive people there to share it with you.
The weekend was going great up to the race. Tim picked me up early Saturday morning at the house, and we drove to Academy Sports where we met with Rick, Jim, and Drew. From there we headed to Bryan.
Once in Bryan we unloaded the bikes, and completed a nice pre-ride of the course. After that we set up the team area, checked into our hotel, and went out for dinner.
Everything leading up to the race was going well too. At the gun I had a great start, and hit the single track in 6th place. After getting slowed up in some turns by a slower rider, we hit a jeep road, and I was able to pass. I could see the lead group of four up ahead riding in a pace line, so I put the pedal to the metal to try and chase them down. As I was gunning for them, I was not making to much ground, and I could hear someone closing in on me fast from behind. Tim rocketed past me like I was not even moving. He was actually able to catch the lead group before hitting the single track again, and the guy that was slow in the twisties passed me to get into the next twistie single track. So I was behind a bum once again.
It did not take long for me riding on this guys wheel to get around him again, but since I was over-trained my mind was wondering, and I could not concentrate well on what I was doing. I ended up sliding going into a corner and two guys got by me. This was just a small set back, and I was not to concerned. I settled back in and caught one guy pretty quickly, and the second was within sight.
This is a good time to stop and let you in on what some of the symptoms of over training are. First, your legs go dead, and you feel like your 300lbs heavier than normal while pedaling your bike. Second, you loose enthusiasm over riding and exercise in general. Lastly, you become so fatigued that you begin to loose concentration on what you are doing. It is almost like bonking.
I was riding down a stretch of single track where I could get a good look at who was behind me, and I was trying to look for some friends when I wandered off the single track, and a bush reached out and tore me off my bike. Now this was not a small crash. I landed on my shoulder and went skidding down the trail. When I hit the ground, the wind was knocked out of me. When I came to a stop, I looked and saw that my bike was not on the trail, so I just laid there to catch my breath. I'm not sure how many people went by me, but I sure got a lot of comments from other riders surprised to see my lying on the side of the trail in such an easily ridable section.
Eventually, I got back on the bike and did a quick recovery spin. I was very frustrated, but at the feed zone Rick, Jim, and Drew were there to cheer me on. Which actually did make me feel a great deal better, until I crashed head-on into a tree.
I did work my way back to 16th place which was a disappointment, but what was most important is the life lessons I learned from the weekend. Sometimes, it is not only a good idea to take a few days off to rest, but it is probably recommended. Finally, any race is fun as long as you have positive people there to share it with you.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Country Roads 10k
On September 20, 2008, Lisa, her friend Melissa, and I ran the Country Roads 10k in San Marcos, TX. After the disaster that was the Nike Human Race 10k, I was a little nervous going in and decided to take it easy.
Unlike the Nike race, the Country Road race was held in the morning, so it was about 20 degrees cooler than the Nike at 70 degrees. After so many days of upper 90s to 100 degrees, I felt very cold.
During the race I felt wonderful. Since I wake up so early in the morning to go to work, I normally run during the hottest part of the day. So a cool early morning run put in a Zen state pretty early. After I made a turn on an out and back section of road around mile 4, I saw Melissa was not to far behind me. So I kicked it down a gear until mile 5 when my back started to hurt. I ended up finishing with a time of 48:30, which was good enough for eighth place in my age group out of 16 people. Melissa won her age group. Lisa did well finishing sixth out of 21 in her age group.
After the race, we treated ourselves to a day at Schlitterbahn. Nothing beats a day at the water park after a good run.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
RIP Marin Hawkhill
As you all have read, during my last mountain bike race I crashed, and bent my derailleur hanger. Well, after closer inspection with the hanger removed from the frame, we found that the frame was also bent. My bike frame is aluminum and can not easily be bent back. Also, Marin has discontinued making that particular type of hanger. Therefore, my Marin Hawkhill has been deemed toast.
I have replaced it with a new shiny 2008 model Mongoose Canaan Comp. Before you ask me if I purchased my new bike at Wal-Mart, I would like to tell you "NO". Mongoose has a full line of bikes. The bikes at Wal-Mart are their very low end bikes. The Canaan is their line of cross country race bikes.
I considered the new aluminum 2009 Scott Spark, but a Scott with the same components as the Mongoose ran $1,200 more. So I thought I could live without the Scott name.
Anyway, I am very pleased with my new bike, since it is a huge upgrade compared to my old bike. Though, I will say that I did love that Marin.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
2008 Nike Human Race 10K
August 31, 2008 Nike Human Race 10K
Yes, after my mountain bike race I drove to Austin, TX to be w ith Lisa. Yes, I ran the 10K. Yes it really hurt, but I would do it all over again.
I was not planning on running the race, but after I spent some time walking around down town Austin with Lisa, I got excited about the race.
I did not bring my running shoes, but Nike had a demo booth. As long as I was entered into the race, Nike would loan me a pair a shoe for the race using my ID as collateral. When they asked what shoe I wanted, I told them any shoe for a neutral striker. They gave me a slightly used pair of Nike Zoom Vomero3. I was set to race.
At the time of the start of the race, it was in the 90s with high humidity. I was going to try and run alongside Lisa, but after 3 miles I started to cramp. I ended up doing a lot of walking to get through to the end. I was frustrated, but after the race, Nike let me keep the shoes.
Yes, after my mountain bike race I drove to Austin, TX to be w ith Lisa. Yes, I ran the 10K. Yes it really hurt, but I would do it all over again.
I was not planning on running the race, but after I spent some time walking around down town Austin with Lisa, I got excited about the race.
I did not bring my running shoes, but Nike had a demo booth. As long as I was entered into the race, Nike would loan me a pair a shoe for the race using my ID as collateral. When they asked what shoe I wanted, I told them any shoe for a neutral striker. They gave me a slightly used pair of Nike Zoom Vomero3. I was set to race.
At the time of the start of the race, it was in the 90s with high humidity. I was going to try and run alongside Lisa, but after 3 miles I started to cramp. I ended up doing a lot of walking to get through to the end. I was frustrated, but after the race, Nike let me keep the shoes.
In the end, I ended up with a free pair of shoes, a cool shirt, 10 power bars, Nike socks, and a Nike towel. Not bad. The race was worth it.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Camp Eagle Mountain Bike Festival 2008
August 31st, 2008 Camp Eagle Classic Mountain Bike Festival
As you can tell from the pictures, I now race for Team Sage Cycles. I was having a great race, and was somewhere in the top 10, but I ended up crashing.
Earlier in the race I hit a rock, and bent my rear derailleur hanger. Therefore, I only had 3 gears I could shift into. They were low gears so I could climb well, but would spin out during the downhills.
Eventually, I burped out all the air in my front tire on a drop, and went endo. I tried to repair my tire, but my CO2 cartridge was a dud so I could not finish the race. This was very disappointing since it was the best mountain bike race of my life up to this point.
Anyway, at least I have a few good pictures in rememberance of the race.
As you can tell from the pictures, I now race for Team Sage Cycles. I was having a great race, and was somewhere in the top 10, but I ended up crashing.
Earlier in the race I hit a rock, and bent my rear derailleur hanger. Therefore, I only had 3 gears I could shift into. They were low gears so I could climb well, but would spin out during the downhills.
Eventually, I burped out all the air in my front tire on a drop, and went endo. I tried to repair my tire, but my CO2 cartridge was a dud so I could not finish the race. This was very disappointing since it was the best mountain bike race of my life up to this point.
Anyway, at least I have a few good pictures in rememberance of the race.
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