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!

Fort Custer Stampede... Expert?

Well I took the plunge already, I moved up to Expert for the Fort Custer Stampede.  I called my coach Mike Schultz and we had a talk about what category I should be racing.  After talking about what would be best and we came to the conclusion that I should be racing the longest races I can to prepare for the 100 mile races.

I may not be as competitive in Expert as I would be in Sport, but the extra mileage will be good for me.  I also got a lot of grief from my training partner  Mark Boese for not racing Expert too, oh the peer pressure.  So the night before the race I stopped by Custer Cyclery to ask Dan Stewart if he know how to get a hold of Cathy Needham.  He called Cathy for me and got me moved me from Sport to Expert.

I pre-rode the coarse on Saturday the best I could, it wasn't marked yet when I rode it, but since it's my home track I wasn't too concerned.

I got up Sunday morning and my wife made me some eggs and rice for breakfast.  This was all I ate besides the few cups of coffee that I drank too.

I got to the race sit and set up my easy-up in team row.  I arranged for a spot for my team - Cannondale Midwest Racing with the promoter a few days earlier.  I was there about 2 hours before the race and really had too much time on my hands before I had to get to the starting line.

10:00 am was the start time for the Elite/Expert Categories.  I waited my time until our group was called to the starting line.  As the starter said go, I had a hard time clipping into my pedals and got off to a slow start.  I was next to last going into the single track.  I guess I was in no hurry to get the party started.  I got into a good pace and kept the majority of my field in sight.

Expert Men 40-49 at the Fort Custer Stampede

 It was just one long pace-line for the first 3 miles, that was until we got to Granny's Garden.  This is where 2 assholes from the group behind decided they needed to pass in the tightest most technical part of the coarse.  They cut me off on the inside of a turn which went down into a gully and then made a quick right hand turn with a quick uphill.  The 2 a-holes didn't even make it up the climb and caused everyone behind them to get off their bikes.  While I was off my bike my left pedal got stuck in another guys spokes... Thanks A-Holes (The A-Holes wore black and grey kits, not sure what team they are).

The rest of the race went pretty good, I worked my heart rate up just under my threshold and kept it there the whole race.  I worked hard and kept my lap times within 3 minutes of each other.  I ended up with a total time of 2:07:38 for about 27 miles, 17 minutes behind the leaders.  I ended up 22nd in my age group.  I passed about 10 guys and got clipped at the finish line by 1/10 of a second for 21st. 

I am glad I moved up and found out that I can at least keep up with these guys and not totally embarrass myself.  I guess I'll be racing Expert from here on out.

A Fallen Friend...

Yesterday I went out to Fort Custer for a little pre-ride on the race coarse for Sundays race - the Fort Custer Stampede.  While getting things ready in the parking lot a friend of mine, Mark Boese,  pulled up on his bike, he had already gotten 2 laps in and was ready to start his third. 

So we left the trail head parking lot and proceeded out on the red loop.  The red loop starts with some twisty single track through some trenches and then goes through a little rock garden.  After about a mile or so it dumps out into an open field,  About 200 yards into the open field there a couple of humps that we call the camel backs.  There are two of them and they are lined with lannon stone to stop erosion and to preserve the humps.

This is where it get's interesting, it was riding behind Mark when he went down after the 2nd hump.  It was surprising because Mark and I have been doing a lot of riding together getting ready for the Lumberjack and he rides Expert when he races, so he has skills.  We were not going at a fast past, just a comfortable pre-ride pace.

When I crested the 2nd hump Mark was lying on the ground at the bottom of the hump.  He had gone over the handlebars,  I quickly got off my bike to see if he was alright and that is when I noticed it.  It's the type of thing you hear about, but never actually think you are going to see it.  You learned about it in boy scouts and what to do when it happens.  It's in every first aid book you ever had with those cartoonish characters drawing of what it looks like... yes the compound fracture.

Yes, that is bone sticking out from below his elbow.

There he was sitting on the ground with bones sticking out just below his elbow with blood flowing out of it like a faucet.  I was thinking oh my god, we've got to get that bleeding to stop.  Mark pulled on the exposed bone first thinking it was a rock that had embedded into his elbow from the crash.  He soon realized that it was not a rock at all.

Neither of us had a phone with us (let that be a lesson learned) and we were fortunate enough that a couple of other riders came up on us and had a phone.  They called 911 for us and arranged for an ambulance.

At this point Mark decided that he was not going to wait for help to come to him, I believe his exact words were "I am not going to bleed to death here".  He had an experience before with his wife getting injured at Fort Custer and then taking forever to get help to her out on the trails.  So Mark stood up while grabbing his arm just above his elbow and applying pressure to help stop the bleeding.  I grabbed his bike and we proceeded to walk out to the trail head.

I couldn't believe he was doing this but he was very persistent that he didn't want to wait and just wanted to get back to the parking lot.  He was amazing that he could do this.  We talked as we walked to the trail head.  Mark was totally pissed about what had just happened and the fact that he was probably going to miss the Lumberjack.  I tried to come up with small talk to help keep his mind off what had just happened but I wasn't very good at it.  We just kept walking, me with 2 bikes and him holding his arm just above his elbow.  It's almost like I can remember every step of that walk.

In the end, we got Mark to the hospital with the help of EMT's, Park Rangers, and First Responders.  He talked with his surgeon today and found out that his elbow was shattered into 10 pieces,  he has surgery on it tomorrow and I only wish him the best and a speedy recovery. 

Mark, 2 weeks earlier at Yankee Springs TT

I hope I'm not sick!

I did a 50 mile training at Yankee Springs on Sunday, all single track.  I did this in preparation for the Syllamo 125K in Arkansas in 2 weeks.  During my ride I found it hard to take deep breaths of air the longer I was out there.  By the time I was done it felt like an elephant was standing on my chest.

I talked with my coach and he said that it was probably just the fatigue staring to catch up with me.  I have pushed my limits which is good, but I also need to watch it to avoid getting seriously sick.  When you get to fatigued it can lead to respiratory infections which is what I thought I maybe coming down with.

Just to make sure I went to the doctor today to get checked out.  He listened to my lungs and checked my ears.  Nothing really showed up.  Just to make sure he had chest x-rays taken and those came back negative too.  How ever he did find fluid in one of my ears and prescribed antibiotics as well as rest and drinking lots of fluids.

So what caused my breathing to feel the way it did?  Not sure, other than I hope is is just a little fatigue and I need about 4 or  5 days of rest. 

Today in the Life...

OK, it's Friday and today I sat on a panel in front of an audience of people as the expert on Bed Bugs.  The other 3 panels members where 2 attorneys and 1 judge.  The group of people interested in this where part of the 9th Annual Fair Housing Conference for Southwest Michigan.  I was asked to be on the panel by a customer and I am totally flattered about the opportunity to do this.  This is the second time in about 5 months that I have been asked to talk about the bed bug epidemic.  The first time was for the  8th Annual FOCUS-Residential (Management, Clinical & Human Resources) Symposium.

So what does this have to do with racing mountain bikes? Really nothing, but then again everything.  Because I own my own business I get to do things like sit on panels and do presentations for groups of people that value the information and knowledge that I have acquired over the years.  It also allows me to set my own schedule, I can manage my days so that I can get some training in and still be at my kids school and athletics events. 

I have always been of the opinion that I run my business, my business doesn't run me.  I am fortunate for what I have and truly appreciate the staff I have in place at my business.  They make it easy for me to escape once in awhile and get a training ride in.

According to my coach, Mike Schultz, it's all a balance, and you need a balance to keep your life in order and keep things in perspective.  It's not all racing mountain bikes, it's family, friends, and relationships that in the end mean the most.

Right now I am lucky to be who I am... but it has not always been this way. In 2008 I was in the verge of bankruptcy, my business was heavily tied to the construction market, My wife and I went $100,000 in debt and depleted my 401k to save my business and keep it afloat.  I learned a lot about myself during the 2008 to 2010 year time frame, a lot of sleepless nights and worrying about not just me but the people who worked for me and their families too.  Today, Keller Pest Control is a completely different company, a stronger company, a more diverse company.  It took a lot of work and some hard decisions but I have a better company now and I can take some time to smell the roses, so to speak.

Enough of my soapbox, lets go race!!!!!

Sport or Expert, that is the question?

I am really struggling with which category I should be racing in this year. Last year I raced Sport Clydesdale and did very well.  Even though I still qualify to race Clydesdale (current weight is about 205 pounds), I really wanted to see how I measured against riders in my own age group.  Well I got my answer this weekend at the Yankee. Springs Time Trial.  I placed 7th out of about 35 riders and was 2 minutes behind first.

This was not the determining factor for me though, when I looked at the times for the expert category I would have raced I would have been totally out of my league. Those boys where turning in lap times 7 to 9 minutes faster than me and did 2 laps instead of 1.  I really like the feeling of being competitive in a group and coming in 50th in Expert is not where I want to be right now.  All that would do for me is leave me with a lack luster feeling about racing which may bleed over to my training.

I think it's good I stay in Sport, work on losing some more weight, and still get beat by those 165 pound guys in my age group...  it will motivate me to become faster in shorter events while I still train for the longer 100's.  This will also give me one more year to get ready to move to Expert.

As the year proceeds I will probably re-visit this same discussion and re-evaluate what to do, after all I will be entering the open division for my 100 mile races and get my ass kicked by guys like Christian Tanguy, Mike Simonson, and Tinker Juarez!

2012 Yankee Springs TT

A 95 Mile Training Ride

2012 Miles to Date: 1492.62
2012 Time in the Saddle: 113:55:01
2012 Hot Yoga Time: 18:05:00

I did a 95 mile training ride yesterday on the mountain bike.  I can't believe how hard it is to get the nutrition dialed in.  Yesterday I tried to eat a PB&J sandwich, 50 minutes later I was wishing I hadn't.  The PB&J was made with orange marmalade jelly which I think was my downfall.  So for about the last 30 miles of my ride I was fighting the overwhelming urge to vomit.

I really believe that it is the sugars that are my downfall.  For some reason I can't handle sugars under the stress of long rides.  I have tried homemade rice bars with rice, pecans, fig & honey and had no problem.  The difference in the sugar is that honey is a pretty natural sugar as opposed to the processed sugar in jelly's and jam's.

The great part of the ride is that is was 6240 feet of climbing and an average moving speed of 12 mph.  Not bad considering my stomach was really messing with me... just fought through it.

Barry-Roubaix Race

2012 Miles to Date: 1159.22
2012 Time in the Saddle: 89:56:37
2012 Hot Yoga Time: 15:25:00
 
 I did the Barry-Roubaix race on Saturday, I entered the 62 mile Pro-Elite category, not because I though I could be competitive, but because I really wanted the training miles.  What was good about this was that I took 40 minutes off my normal training ride time for the same route.  I also was on my mountain bike with full MTB tires which added to the resistance compared to the guys on their cyclo-cross bikes.

All in all it was a good ride and a really good effort on my part.  What is really nuts is that the next day I followed it up with another 76 mile ride on the mountain bike.

Start of the 2012 Barry-Roubaix Gravel Road Race

First Road Ride of the Season...

2012 Miles to Date: 893.30
2012 Time in the Saddle: 70:44:50
2012 Hot Yoga Time: 14:05:00

First Wednesday Night Kalamazoo Bike Club road ride of the season... They went hard and fast!  All in all I am happy with my performance for being so early in the season.

Back to Back Rides

2012 Miles to Date: 846.69
2012 Time in the Saddle: 67:21:04
2012 Hot Yoga Time: 14:05:00

Did 2 great back to back 45 mile rides this weekend at Yankee Springs and Barry-Roubaix.  Each day consisted of 1 lap on the Time Trial Coarse at Yankee Springs and then a lap on the 30 mile route of Barry-Roubaix.  So I got 90 miles in this weekend on the new Cannondale Scalpel 29'er.  I will follow up later on my thoughts and review of this bike.

Training, Training, Training

2012 Miles to Date: 746.28
2012 Time in the Saddle: 58:07:17
2012 Hot Yoga Time: 12:45:00

I am going into this season prepared to spend a lot more time on loner training rides. Today I rode 30 miles of dirt road and 10 miles of singletrack in and around Yankee Springs.  My goal is to go into these 100 miles races as prepared as possible, knowing that the distance should not be an issue.  I am still having some sensitive stomach issues on longer rides, but I am optimistic that this will clear up as I train my body for these types of rides.

I am so lucky to have a wife and family that supports me as I take on training and competing in these events.  So many times I have heard from guys that there significant others are just bitching the whole time about their mates racing.  This sport is tough enough,  let alone dealing with the added stress of a non-supportive spouse.... for this I am so lucky  and appreciative of the wife I have, thank you Pam for being so supportive and loving to me as I take on this very tough and time hungry sport.  I couldn't do it without you.

To Date...

2012 Miles to Date: 602.9
2012 Time in the Saddle: 46:30:13
2012 Hot Yoga Time: 8:55:00

A Few Good Rides...

The past 3 days where some good training rides, 1 hour on the rollers on Saturday, a good 34 mile dirt road ride and another 60 dirt road ride on the mountain bike...  Time to ramp things up for the long season ahead.  The last time I did this 60 mile ride it took me 5.5 hours and the roads where crap, I am glad I could take 1 hour off my time with good conditions.




Looking Ahead to 2012 Races

I've spent the last couple of days reviewing my race schedule for 2012 and trying to find my motivation in it.  I registered for the Yankee Springs Time Trial today which is a great season opener, but I have also registered for the Barry-Roubaix 61 mile race to take place the end of March.

I have pre-rode the 61 mile loop for Barry-Roubaix a couple of weeks ago

61 mile of Barry-Roubaix on February 1, 2012

Here is my Garmin data... Tough workout in tough conditions

A winter ride a Fort Custer

Road the Fatbike today at one of my favorite trails, Fort Custer in Augusta, MI.  Riding a fatbike on trails that have snow, and that have been walked on, cross country skied on, or snow shoed on is really quit tough.  The best trails for riding where the ones where I was the first to lay tracks...

Farmers Fat Bike Race

I did the Farmers Fat Bike Race today with friend Mike Neimi.  Don Wood and Kimberly Owens were on hand also as our team to beat.  We got lucky with the snow, the week leading up to the race we had no snow and a few 50 degree days, that is until 2 days before the race.  We got hit with a storm which brought about 4 to 6 inches of snow.

We started out the race thinking each of might want to do 2 laps at a time, so Mike started the race.  He did his first 2 laps and boy they seem to go by fast.  On his first lap I was talking to Don about going back to the car and having a sandwich.  When I reached the car Don was yelling at me from the race staging area that the first riders where already completing their lap... wow! really,  you've got to be kidding.  No sandwich, and I quickly changed one of my undergarments to something a little more heavy with a turtle neck.  I also threw my GoPro camera on the bike so I could get some video footage.

Mike and I did the handoff and I started on my first lap, no warmup which was my fault and I felt it.  The first lap went fine until I got back to the pit area.  I tried to tell Mike after this lap that we should probably go to 1 lap each from this point on.  He miss understood and took off down the trail.  Mentally I was just thinking that he was just going out to ride to see the other racers, not thinking he was actually racing a lap.  So, turns out we were both on the coarse at the same time.

Mike got back to the pit area, and of coarse I wasn't there, because I was out on the coarse behind him doing a lap also.  So with a bit of bewilderment Mike started out again.  Then I gtt back to the pit area wondering where Mike is???  It dawned on me what happened and I waited for Mike to return to the pit area after his lap.

All in all, after out initial mess up we had a good time, got 11 laps in as a team and fell 2 laps short of the first place team.

After the race, we hung out a race head quarters for a while, which was I think the race directors garage across this street from the race coarse.  They posted the results as we waited for the customary raffle drawing.  Well our stomachs couldn't wait for the drawing so we headed out to get something to eat and drink.

We ended up at Founders Brewing for some sandwiches and micro-brew.  I have never been there and didn't realize how big the place was. I had a wonderful turkey sandwich and some kind of seasonal beer -  Ziffy Whomper,  that was pretty tasty.

So, my first fatbike race is under my belt and I would definitely do another one!  It was fun, I got outside and more importantly I was on a bike.

Barry Roubaix Ride Again...

Did Barry Roubaix again today, Hot Yoga tommorrow.

Rode the Barry-Roubaix route today.  I had to burn off some negative energy after watching the Detroit Lions lose last night.