Stump Farm

Last Saturday was race number 2 of 4 races in 5 weeks for me. I did the 60 mile solo.

The course at Stump Farm is the polar opposite of Underdown. Underdown is almost constantly rough with 2,000 feet of climbing per 14 mile'ish lap, while Stumpfarm is smooth (except for 1.3 miles of new trail) and flowly with less than 2,000 feet of climbing for the whole 60 mile race. It was a beautiful sunny day in the mid 80's.

I knew going into the race that ss wasn't going to win. At least not me on a ss. There was far too much double track on which to lose time. After getting some recon from Scott, 2:1 was the call on gearing. So my goal was to average 13.5 mph for the race. Once again, my plan was to go out at my pace and not burn a match at the start.

Mike and Chad took off at the start and I quickly dropped back about 30 seconds off of them. However, once we got into the single track I made up some time and caught them. From there we worked together for the 1st lap. At that point I think there were 4 or 5 guys in front of us. Mike was geared so he did a lot of work on the flats for Chad and I since we were both on 2:1 ss.

Chad stopped after lap one to grab water and Mike and I kept going, however I told Chad I would see him in a bit and sure enough I did, about 1 mile into lap two. When he caught up Mike dropped off, he wasn't feeling it that day. Chad and I proceeded to work together for the next 4 laps.

And work together we did! We were slaying the single track and not doing too bad on the fire roads. We passed many a person as if they were stopped. Lap 4 was our slowest lap and it was my fault. I had a gas bubble I couldn't shake. Shortly after the start of lap 5 I finally found some relief and we picked up the pace again. We were a minute faster on lap 5 than on 4.

The last lap Chad fell off a little, I yelled back for him to get back on but he sort of dangled. I thought if I pushed the pace we would both go faster and just maybe we could catch somebody else. In the end I finished about 40 seconds ahead of Chad and in 3rd place. My final time was a 4:37:14 for about 64 miles. I averaged 14.1 mph! I also stopped for less than a minute during the whole ride compared to 20 minutes at Underdown. The two guys in front crushed it and finished about 15 minutes ahead of me. I have to say, it was great to be able to race with Chad for almost the whole race. It really made the race fly by.

Next up John Muir!

Thunderdown in the Underdown

Saturday I drove up to Underdown hoping to hit my goal of 4 laps in 6 hours. The organizers posted an elevation map of one lap and it was 13 miles with 2,000ish feet of climbing. I thought if I could average 9 miles an hour I would have time to stop and refuel every lap and still get 4 laps. It was a lofty goal, but a goal non the less.

The goal of 4 laps was shot out the window at the pre-race meeting when we were told that laps were actually 13-14 miles long. I would have been pushing it at 13 miles so a 14 mile lap met a 3 lap race. I, however, stuck to my plan and went out slow, thinking if I felt good I woul try to place well in lap 3.

Maciej was going to ride with me from the start, but he was geared and I was on a single speed, so during the roll out he took off while I was passed by most of the group going into the single track. The first mile was a little frustrating because the course was so hilly and the folks in front of me were having a hard time clearing some of the punchy rises. I ended up walking 3-4 times. Once I got clear though, I settled into my pace. Not going too hard and just getting up the long climbs, not trying to crush anything. I stopped at the aid station and loaded up on water every lap and stopped at the start/finish to reload.

My second lap was uneventful until I caught Maciej at the aid station. He wasn't feeling too well, the heat and the rough terrain were getting to him. We road together for a while. He said I was in first place, which I didn't understand since there were a couple of guys I hadn't seen yet. Turns out they accidentally cut the course (which they made up by doing the skipped section twice their third lap). After a mile or two Maciej peeled off my wheel and I was on my own again.

I took Maciej at his word, after all he would know if he was in first or not from the start, so I went into my third lap thinking I should just keep it together and ride within my comfort zone. One thing you have to understand is that this course was rough and constantly up and down, for the first 2 laps I was standing 90% of the time. By lap 3, I just couldn't stand as much any more and I stood maybe 80% of the lap. Therefore I slowed down a bit. I caught 2 people in the last 14 miles of the race, so I was by myself a long time, which also slowed me down. Until the last 20 minutes of the race, when I my co2 started to clang around funny in my seat bag and I got paranoid that someone was catching me. I hit it hard and finished pretty strong.

The laps ended up being closer to 14.5 miles, there was no way I was getting 4 done! I won the 6 hour solo with 3 laps in 5:21:02.This means I stopped and refueled for almost 20 minutes because my ride time was 5:02. That worked well with such a difficult course. I don't see the same thing working next Saturday at Stumpfarm.

Also, I have to give congratulations to Scott Marx who won the WI Single Speed Championship with a rigid fork! Ouch!

Levis Duo

It was a hot one Saturday at Levis. My Garmin said the max temp was 95. For my first race of the year I signed up for the 100 mile duo with Scott. I haven't done much in the way of hard efforts yet this year so I figured is was going to hurt a bit. I had the first lap and decided to start out easy. I passed about 10 people the first lap and came through the start finish around the 4th rider and first in the duo. (Some of the 100 mile solo guys were laying it down!)

Scott wasn't sure how his knee or his cracked frame were going to hold up. It turns out, that he would be just fine. He was flying through the laps. His third lap, I was waiting for him to come through so I could do my last lap. Now, my plan was to take it easy my last lap since we had a pretty comfy lead but Scott had different plans. He wasn't coming through and it was already 20 minutes past his average times. I was fearing the worse, then I saw him coming through--running. He broke a chain.

So my last lap I did what I could. I felt fresh for the first 6 miles, likely because of the gallon of water I drank since my previous lap. I had no idea if Scott was going to be able to do another lap and I was dreading doing another, but I thought I had better get a good lead if I had to.

Much to my delight, Scott was waiting there when I came through. He fixed his chain and was ready to go. He crushed his 4th lap. We won the race by about 7 minutes!

I wasn't the fastest on Saturday, but it's June and I think I am in a pretty good spot to have a strong Fall.

P.S. Also, I have two more exciting things to share that might seem odd to share as a postscript. First, my book is out! you can buy it here. Second, I can now share this on the web because Lauren told her work, we are having our first kid!

264k

Photo by Ronsta

This past Wednesday I took part in a Wisconsin tradition for the first time, I rode the Bone Ride. It's an annual ride from Milwaukee to Madison and back. It works out to be 158 miles. Ron has done the ride before so he showed me the ropes and made sure I made it back in one piece. I was thankful to have a friend and teammate watching out for me. He, of course, did the whole thing on a single speed. Well, almost the whole thing, he hopped on the ride 17 miles in. I tacked on a few more miles by riding home from the starting point and ended up with 164 miles in 8 hours and 20 minutes. (Sorry, Ryan, no data this time because my computer somehow lost it.)

It was a beautiful day with a strong crosswind. Everyone was fighting for a draft which made a lot of the ride kind of sketchy. I am happy I did it though. It wrapped up my real long base rides for the year. In the past 14 weeks I had twelve 5 hour+ rides, a 4 hour ride, and a 3 1/2 hour ride. They have mostly been easy miles. I've never gotten a base in like that before so I am curious to see how this season goes. I start racing in 2 weeks!

103k

I haven't posted much yet this year so here is a little update. As a lark--and to establish a good base for the year--I planned twelve weeks of getting a five hour ride in once a week. Today was week eleven. I did 64 miles (103k) of trail in the Southern Kettles and I felt really good. Granted, I am not flying on these long rides but I can now see the results in my endurance. I should be in good shape for the Bone Ride next week which will be between 175 and 150ish miles, depending on where I start.

After that, racing begins and I"ll start getting a little more serious about riding fast. I wasn't planning on doing any solo six hour mtb races this year, but after today's ride maybe I'll try to keep this endurance up.

In other news, I am now one of those nerds with a powertap. The deal at Ben's (there selling like hotcakes) was too good to pass up. I'll start using that more seriously in June as well and if I am feeling extra dorkish I'll post some numbers here.

First time out!

I got out to the Southern Kettles for the first time on my new day off, Thursday. The only better place to get some thinking done than a 5 hour ride at the Kettles is a dry ice factory. (kudos to anyone that can name that reference!)

Gun Show Number One

Photo by Ronsta

The first Gun Show was last night and you could tell it was a mild Winter because it was fast. I pretty much felt like what I thought would for most of the ride. I was able to contribute to the pace line but not really go for any of the sprints.

I did have to back off for a bit after a I did a hard uphill pull. It was there I learned that half a pound of guacamole for dinner was a bad idea. I couldn't stop eating though. However, now that I now what it tastes like when it threatens to reappear on the bike, I think I will be able to control myself in the future.