Barry-Roubaix 2013, 65 Mile Killer Dirt Road Race

First big race of the year and the weather was totally unpredictable, or should I say the condition of the dirt roads were totally unpredictable.  Days before the race you could have sworn it was going to be a mud fest.

The day before the race.

As it turns out, the promoter had the co-operation of the local road commission and the weather man.  The sun that was due to come out during the race never did and the roads never really softened up... whewwwww!!!

As, a matter of fact some sections of the coarse remained quite icy.  I have been on Barry-Roubaix when the roads are icy and they are no fun.  I have the road scars to prove it.

Needless to say,  I was very hesitant on the first patch of icy road and I let the 40+ age group get away from me at this point.  This was my first race on my new Cannondale SuperX cyclocross bike, or should I say new to me.  I bought the frame off from E-Bay and built it up.

My New CX Bike!

All in all, I had a great ride / race.  I ended up in 64th out of 119 with a time of 3:39:02, 32 minutes behind 1st.  Not to bad considering there where some 40 year old's in my group and I was almost 10 minutes faster than last year. 

As a side note, I started a gluten free diet on March 1st of this year and I have had no stomach issues as of yet.  The real test will come when I go to Cohutta the end of April.

3 Favorite Races for 2012

I thought I would talk about my 3 favorite races for 2013, they are in not particular order because all of them made the list for entirely different reasons.

24 Hours of Hanson Hills

(Grayling, MI)

I did this as a 4 person team with Tom Stoner, Bob Stoner, and Aaron Barto.  We competed in the Veteran Mens category for the race in which there where 4 other teams.  I have never done a 24 hour race before so I wasn't sure what I was in for.

The coarse was just a little over 10 miles long per lap made up mostly of single track with some good climbs thrown in.  I used my full suspension Cannondale Scalpel 29er for the race, while everyone else on are team had hardtails.  

We decided to switch riders after every lap and we had are order lined up, it was Aaron, Bob, me then Tom.  The goal for us was to consistently turn in lap times under 1 hour each.  In the beginning of the race Aaron and I average about 46 minute lap times and Tom and Bob around 49-50 minute lap times.  My fastest was my 2nd time our with 44 minutes.  I tried the next 2 times to beat that but I couldn't pull it off.  We had approximately 3 hours of rest between lap times.

Between laps we would talk about our bikes, work on our bikes, eat, talk about life and just hang out.  I was very relaxing and just a lot of fun.  All of us got along really well and were very encouraging of each other.  We kept tabs on the other teams in our group and for the first 6 hours we were all pretty close.  In the 7th hour when the results were posted we were shown to be 1 lap up on the field.

We had an easy up and a tent set up.  All of us had some type of air mattress and sleeping bag in the tent.  The easy up had all of our other supplies that we needed.

As the night approached we got our lights on our bikes and put on a little more clothing than earlier in the day.  At one point during the day I was able to wear a sleeve less jersey, but at night I was wearing long sleeves and a vest.  I did one lap at about 9:30 pm but I was able to get away without really  turning on my lights.  I decided to lay down for a little nap after this lap, I remember being really cold, but I did fall asleep, in fact I couldn't believe that when I did wake up it was almost time for me to get on the bike again.  

My first real night lap came at about 1:16 in the morning.   I remember being cold, so I told Bob that I would probably stay out for 2 laps just to keep warm.  As I came closer to finishing that lap I was thinking to myself that maybe doing 2 laps was not such a good idea.  Well getting back to the staging area after that lap my relief person Tom was still asleep.  Bob told me he didn't bother waking him because he though I was going to do 2 laps.  No problem I just headed out and did the 2nd lap that I intended to do anyway.

After 20 hours we were still in first place by only 1 lap.  We couldn't let up though because the team behind us wasn't letting up either.  It looked like at one point the winner in our division was going to come down to who got the 30th lap in the quickest.  

In the end we ended up squeezing in 31 laps for the win to edge out the 2nd place team with 30.

This race made my top 3 because it was so much fun, the camaraderie was incredible, the promoter, Fun Promotions did an excellent job (free breakfast in the morning and great swag), the coarse was fun, the Scalpel was just a hoot to ride on this coarse, the competition was great and we won!

Potato Creek XC by NIMBA

(North Liberty, IN)

This one made my list for a few reasons.  I just love it when the family comes to my races and we spend time together.  I also like the fact that my 16 year old daughter did this race too and she had a blast doing it.  

Potato Creek is a State Park in Northern Indiana and it's pretty much all twisty flowing single track.  For me the race was 4 laps and about 30 miles.  I raced the Expert Men 40+ Category.

What made this race fun for me was the competition and how I kept by head in the race.  I got caught in a group of 3 riders from the start of the race.  Unfortunately we were the 3rd, 4th, and 5th place riders and I was the fifth place one.  

As we proceeded I could see the 1st and 2nd place guys pulling farther and farther ahead.  The guy leading our pack of 3 was letting them get away.  I was really getting antsy sitting there in 5th place with really no way to pass in the tight single track.  The 4th place guy made an aggressive move and was able to get around the 3rd place guy.  Me, I was not so lucky, I had to buy my time and my opportunity finally came... He fell in a turn and I was able to get around him.

This was short lived though as one of the turns for the coarse was not marked correctly and I went the wrong way, he followed me, but when we turned around he was now in front.  Together we only lost about 20 seconds though.  I was finally able to get around him again as he fell one more time.

I was now in 4th place and for the rest of the race I concentrated on putting more space between me and 5th place and hunting down the leaders.  

I kept a good pace and worked hard for the all of the laps and towards the end of the 4th and final lap my persistence paid off.  I caught the 3rd place rider and past him.

So, this race makes the cut because my family was there, the coarse again was just a lot of fun to ride, the promoter, NIMBA does an excellent job, and because it was my first podium finish as an Expert rider.

Iceman

(Traverse City, MI)

What can I say about the Iceman that I haven't already said (See My Iceman Post).  This made the list because my family makes a mini-vacation out of it and we spend some really good time together.  We stay at Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City and we just have a really fun weekend.

I love this race for the good time we have together as a family and because of how well and how big this race is.  It is just a blast to hit the trails with 4000 other mountain bikers.

2012 Iceman

The 2012 Iceman Cometh Mountain Bike Race in Traverse City Michigan was just a blast.  I had been watching the weather for a couple of weeks and as the event drew closer the weather forecast got worse and worse.  What started out as a race that was going to be in the 50's ended up being a race in the 30's with snow.  That's why they call it the Iceman.

I started in the 7th wave this year due to my time from last year.  My goal was a sub 2 hour Iceman and of coarse to beat my friend Mark Boese.  Mark was coming off his broken elbow injury from earlier this year, and he was coming on strong and getting stronger every day as he trained like a madman with a cause.

Unlike last year, when I couldn't find the keys to my car to drive to Kalkaska to the start, this year went pretty off pretty much without a hitch.

I love this event because my whole family comes with me and we make a long weekend out of it.  We stay at Great Wold Lodge in Traverse City, which the kids love and they actually look forward to the Iceman every year.  I enjoy it because they actually come and cheer Dad on.

My wife drove to Kalkaska (where the race starts) so I could make some last minute preparations and just relax in the car.

The ride from Traverse City to Kalkaska, yes it was snowing.

When we got to Kalkaska it was like in a different climate zone, the sun was out and the skies were blue.  I got ready, aired up the tires on my bike and took a quick spin around the parking lot.  The brakes where squeaking really bad, so I cleaned the rotors with some alcohol and headed to the start line.

The race is very well organized and the start is well planned out in waves.  I had a teammate with me in my wave, Aaron Barto and we had talked about working together as much as we could to help each other with our sub 2 hour goals.  I wasn't able to get as close to the front as I would have liked to but I was dealing with it.

As the race started, we where off through a few roads in downtown Kalkaska until we got to the trail head.  I tried to make my way up through the pack on the roads as best I could to be near the front when we hit the trail.  I actually had a guy yell at me to hold my line on the roads as I tried to jockey to the front.  Really, hold my line in a mountain bike race?  I actually think guys like hearing themselves say that because they believe they are in the movie "American Flyers".

End of the roads just before you hit the trails (That's me with the red vest and white sleeves).

As we proceeded through the roads I looked at Aaron and said lets go, I wanted to be closer to the front as we hit the trail.  I wasn't quite where I wanted to be, but I was ok with it.  Things seem to be moving very well.  Every once in awhile I would glance down at my bike computer and it would say we were going 17 to 20 mph as we hit the first 2 track section.  In my mind I thought this is great if we can keep up this pace a sub 2 hour time is possible.

Somewhere along the line I lost Aaron,  speaking to him later at the finish he said he was starting to feel a little sick at about 20 minutes in.

We hit the first hill on the 2 track and it seem to break up the pack a little bit.  Then came the first section of single track and everyone seem to handle that pretty good, I wasn't really slowed down here.

The real problem came at the new section of single track to by-pass the logging roads that were in terrible shape.  The train actually came to a stand still, my estimate is that I lost about 3 minutes due to this.  I would have thought that with starting in wave 7 I shouldn't have encountered a single track stand still, but I guess there are some fast roadies that have very limited single track skills.  This section of single track is not that tough and it wouldn't have held up any mountain biker that I raced against all season long.

Good thing I pre-rode the coarse the week before with Mark Boese and his son Evan, because a really sandy section of logging road was coming up and I knew if I stayed to the left side, there was this little single track section you could ride and not get caught up in the sand.  I must have passed 15 people here... wahooo!

The rest of the race proceeded well.  I was able to set my own pace, I climbed through Williamsburg Road Hill with out any problems.  Typically my family is here to cheer me on, but not this year.  Over the years I have become to fast for them to catch me at the finish.  So, this year they went right to the finish line at Timber Ridge Resort.

My split time at Williamsburg Road was 1:17:32, not what I had hoped for.  I was hoping for a time closer to 1:05.  Boy, the time flies by quick, and Williamsburg Road is 17 miles in.  I knew that it was going to be tough to go sub 2 hours at this point.  I would have to cover the next 12 miles in less than 43 minutes.  The next 12 miles is also where all the hills are.

Williamsburg Road - 1:17:32

I got to Annita's Hill and couldn't climb it all the way, it was just to soft and congested.  I tried to make up some time after the hill by really jamming on the 2 tracks, but I was running out of real estate.

The last climb before the the finish I ran into another snag, the guy I was right behind was having a hard time with the hill and his chain was skipping, I just knew he was going to stop in front of me and he did.  I didn't have time to change my line so I ended up off the bike too.  I ran to the top of the hill the best I could and jumped back on the bike, time was ticking.

The last bit of single new single track was coming up before the finish and a tandem was just ahead of me.  The though in my head was I needed to be ahead of them before the single track.  I tried to get

New Single Track just before the finish.

there before them but I couldn't pull it off.  To my surprise they handled the tight twisty single track perfectly and didn't hold me up at all.  I passed them in the next little climb and it was clear sailing to the finish.

That's me, just under the Finish Banner.

In the end, I did not meat my sub 2 hour goal, I ended up 2:09:59, not bad considering the coarse was about 2 to 3 miles longer and a lot softer than last year.  I came in 6th place in my division (Men 49), just missing the podium by one place.  The good news is that in the end, I did beat my friend Mark, but not by much, he came in at 2:10:26.

Already thinking about what I could do different in 2013.

I can't say enough about how well this race is run.  If you've never done this race you need too (http://www.iceman.com/), it's the largest single day mountain bike race in the country.  Add it to your bucket list, you won't regret it.

New Hampshire 100

I know it's been awhile since I have written on my blog.  A lot has been going on with my training and racing.  Since the Lumberjack 100 I competed in 2 more 100 mile races, the Hampshire 100 and the Shenandoah 100.  I DNF'd in both races but for entirely different reasons.

I tried researching more about my stomach problems and sent some emails to different nutrition companies about my stomach problems.  Robert Kuntz from 1st Endurance suggested I try a gluten free diet 48 hours before my next race.  I did that in New Hampshire and low and behold I had no stomach issues.  I was on the bike for 8 hours did not make the cutoff time but was happy that I had no issues with my stomach.  The Issues I did have where from crashing on the railroad bed that we had to ride.  My pedal caught one of the ties and through me down a ditch.  I also fell on a rock shut.

Yes, what we do for a pint glass

Railroad bed got the better of me!

I really hate riding rocky terrain.  Here in Michigan we really don't have it and I can't practice it.  I talked with my coach a lot about my difficulties with rocks and we took a look at my bike setup.  We concluded that the handlebars where set way to aggressive for riding rocks.  In other words my handlebars where way to low compared to my seat height.

Well that got corrected with a higher degree rise stem and we'll see what happens.

A little stressed...

Well over the past few weeks I have managed to go overboard on my training.  It all came to a head this last Saturday at the Stony Creek Heat Miser Marathon.  What was suppose to be a fifty mile race for me turned into 27 miles and be dropping out. 

My body had been stress with a lot of fatigue built up to the point that at the race I had no power or stamina.  I could feel it coming on after doing the Potato Creek Time Trial the week before.  Even though I placed 5th at Potato Creek I could feel that I was loosing power on the second of two 7 mile laps for the TT. 

I have raced in 8 races over the past 10 weeks, and I am what my coach calls over-reaching.  So, this week I will probably on get on the bike only once before I head to Boyne Mountain for the Boyne Marathon, this is another longer race, about 44 miles.

Maybe I will take a day and go the the beech with my kids!!!  Sound like a plan.

0 for 5

Right now I am 0 and 5 for endurance races.  So what is the problem?  Great question that can not be answered with a canned response.  I suffer from GI Distress (gut distress) and it effects 50% of the endurance race population and is the cause of more DNF's than another factor.  What sucks about this is that there is no easy answer for it.  What works for one person won't necessarily work for another.

2012 Lumberjack Start

So for me, almost every time I line up on the starting line at an endurance event it like gambling.  Will I get it right this time?  This last Saturday at the Lumberjack I didn't get it right.  The more I study this the more I learn and the more things I try to correct my gut distress.

I have been using a sport drink that has protein in it.  My reading and research has lead me to believe that this may be the cause of my problems... Article by Joe Friel on Stomach Shutdown.

The good thing is that I the team I ride for is sponsored by Infinit Nutrition and they custom make my sport drink.  They sent me a new formula to try without protein which I will test next Wednesday.  The difficulty in testing my formulas is that I need to do long rides under stress to simulate a race.  These rides need to be at least 50 to 75 miles long and last at least 5 hours for a good test.  The problem is I could easily over train just testing formulas.  This also makes it difficult for the shorter XC races on Sundays, if I am doing long rides the same week.  Keep in mind this needs to be done on a Mountain Bike on mountain bike terrain for a real test.  Going out on a road bike for 5 hours just isn't the same.

So am I a little bummed at my performance this past Saturday at the Lumberjack, you bet.  Am I going to let it stop me, HELL NO! It's all a learning experience.  I have to look at where I came from.  3 years ago I was 278 pounds and could barely ride 10 miles.  Today I am 195 pounds and race the Expert Category in mountain biking, not bad for 3 years! When I do finally complete my first 100 mile race it will make the story even better and the accomplishment even more precious,  I can't wait.

Syllamo's Revenge 125k

I got my ass handed to me by Arkansas's Syllamo trail system.  I pre-rode the start and first climb the day before that race and that went well.  The first climb is about 1 mile long that starts at the Blanchard Recreation area campground and then jumps into the single track of the yellow loop.

The first few miles went fine, I settled into a good pace.  During the first climb I noticed a guy go by wearing a Bell's Brewery Jersey.  It turned out to be Lee Cook from Kalamazoo.  Lee and I worked together for the first few miles until we got behind someone going just to slow.  Lee asked to pass the guy ahead of us and my encouragement.  As Lee passed he got caught up in some brush and fell down an embankment of rocks.  I didn't see Lee until later when he went by me after I fell on a switch back of rocks.  I didn't see him again until the first aid station where he had his elbow bandaged up and told me that it probably needed stitches.

I decided to journey on, I can't tell you where I was because I have never ridden Syllamo before.  All I know is that the terrain got more and more difficult.  The downhill switchbacks where driving me crazy, they were tight and rocky.  I was also starting to notice a knock in my headset.  This knock would get louder and louder as the race went on.  In a way I felt way beyond my comfort zone and was pushed to attempt terrain that I was not accustom to at all or even ridden before.

After falling 3 more times on the damn switchbacks the rocks where staring to take their tolls on my body.  By this time my shins where all scraped and bruised up and my right hip was bruised.  My left palm was hurting too.  For some reason I decided to wear full finger gloves and was glad I did.   The last time I fell I was ready to give in, I kept saying to myself "This is stupid, I'm going to kill myself out here" I picked the bike up off from the top of me, checked it out and decided to get back on.  All of this and I haven't even got 20 miles in yet.

By the time I got to the second aid station the heat had really risen.  It had spiked to 113 degrees on my GPS.  I was downing water like I had drank in days.  This was probably the start to my stomach problems that reared it's ugly head once again later in the race (I have been dealing with stomach issues on long races for a year now and have yet to figure it out). 

To get to the third aid station took everything I had, there was a long hike a bike uphill section that was totally un-rideable, at least for me.  There was 3 stream crossing, one that I could ride across the other two I would had to dismount and walk through.  Each one was about 20 to 30 yards wide.  There where rock / boulder lined downhill chutes that I had to get off my bike and walk down because I didn't dare chance another fall.

3 of the 4 checkpoint wristbands needed, I didn't get the yellow.

It took me 6 hours and 45 minutes to get 30 miles and the 3rd check point, mentally I was defeated, physically I was drained.  I tried to recover at the 3rd check point but it wasn't happening.  I couldn't get my heart rate to come down and my stomach was up in my throat.  I took a couple of papaya extracts and 2 Succeed tablets and my stomach calmed down enough for me to get back on the bike.  After checking my GPS readout after the race I realized I spent over an hour at the 3rd check point but during the race I could have sworn I was only there for about 20 minutes.

I got back on my bike and started to head out on what they call the red loop.  This was to be the easier 12 mile loop of the track.  As I headed out a race official caught me and informed me that I could continue on but I would not make the cutoff time.  I decided to to go ahead and do the 12 miles anyway, with my ego totally blown, my stomach in my mouth and all my bangs and bruises starting to play a toll on my body.  It took me 1 hour and 50 minutes to go that 12 miles, but I did it when the easy thing to do was just quit and ride the bike down the 1.5 mile downhill back to the start after they told me I would make the cut off.

I told my wife when I was done that If I had pre-rode the whole coarse a month earlier I wouldn't have done this race.  The terrain was way beyond my comfort zone but I learned from it, I got through the toughest part of the coarse and I pushed myself and got 50 miles in.  I was glad my family was there for support and to ease the pain when I was done.  My wife took care of me as I laid on the ground next to our car with words of encouragement and a chocolate milk, thanks Honey!

I am already thinking of my next endurance event and what I can do different to make sure I do better, lets go ride now!