Look what god did to me...

I was hoping that once you have a certain number of SS miles in, all your receptors for pain just give up and bother someone else.

Even though a bunch of "mountain bikers" were complaining that the Smokin' Spoke course was too bumpy, I thought it was pretty bitching. RangerElvis hooked us up with some first rate camping digs also. So this weekend was set to be a high for this season when my left knee started ripping (or something) 15 miles into the race yesterday. I couldn't transmit any force to the pedal with my left leg without my knee feeling like it was going to fold. So I rode the rest of the lap one-legged trying to figure out what this meant or how I did it or what I was going to do. Eventually I turned in my ticket and dnf'd for the first time since 97'. I may have been able to finish but it wouldn't have been very smart. Besides, I have to save myself for the rest of the season since I'm hearing we will be having some heavy company.

Lessons learned

Nearly 300 hours of bike time and many sleepless nights went into an attempted peak for this year's Subaru Cup. Physically I was strong and felt ready to bring it. I rode the course on Saturday morning with Isaiah and began to pray that the rain would hold out for the day. Don built a perfect course, and the conditions pre-rain were awesome. I loved all the climbing and felt this kind of race was suited to me.

I felt a sinking feeling during my warm-up as I watched the Elites come by looking more dirty by the lap. I knew that a brand new trail system would not hold up well to a mud race. And it didn't.

I had a good start and sat third behind Ben and Jerry (not the ice cream guys). I held this position uncontested until we hit the East Trace section. None of this portion of the trail was rideable by now and I completely lost my cool. Running, mounting, dismounting, kicking the pedals, screaming, ready to throw my bike. 3 singlespeeders passed me during this tantrum and by the time I regained my composure it was too late to catch them. I was at least able to make a race of it with James Huber. We rode most of laps 2 and 3 together, and in the end I put 20 secs on him that he couldn't close. I am still pissed at myself for racing for 6th when I was ready for the top three. I just wasn't mentally prepared for this kind of race, it was a learning experience. No matter how strong I am I'm still a noob and this season is for learning.

It turns out Sheri was right about the camper purchase. The weekend would have been 5 times more miserable had it not been for the shelter of the camper. Now I only hope this mudfest didn't sour relations with the Nordic Mt. people. I am looking forward to racing this course for many years to come as it has to be the best in the series, maybe a tie with the Sheboygan course. Thanks to Alexis and her horde of poncho wearing friends. Don couldn't have pulled this one off without her.

48 mile sandbox

Perhaps more like 40 miles of sand, much of it quite deep, and 8 miles of spinning like mad on the road. Ore to Shore was a tough race. The most memorable moment was near a powerline section of the course called Misery Hill. These were tough, rocky, and steep climbs. Riders were going down all around with flats and cramps in a huge cloud of dust. This was black dust too, like after the race I looked like I had been trapped in a coal mine for a week (meaning no disrespect to current events) On top of a big hill somewhere near the misery march there was a man with a bugle belting out the "charge!" call. This only added to the feeling that we were trying to race across the beaches of Normandy while being shelled.

I felt terrible for the first 20 miles of the race and lost a whole lot of time. Apparently I need a good warm-up even for these longer races. After I started feeling the power coming on I was killing it. While it was too late in the race to salvage a SS top three, I did overtake probably 75-100 riders in the last half of the race. Many of them like they were standing still. In the end I finished squarely in the middle of the singlespeeders and in the upper third of the main field at 160th. For next year I vow to take a half hour off of this year's 3:27 finish and bring a notebook for name taking. The 36x17 was a good pick for me since I didn't have to run anything that all the gearies weren't running anyway. I was also able to power up the ridable climbs at a good clip thanks to the right gear for me and some new bar ends. Climbing with the bar ends is the way to go, makes me feel like a monster.

As far as the other WORS regulars go, Ben Griggs was on came in at around 3:14 even though he had to repair a flat. Russell made a pretty good time also getting into the top 100 and went home with a ghetto cruising raffle bike. Unfortunately Rick had chainring bolt issues and had to drop out. This race is pretty hardcore and intimidating, I just wish it weren't at the north pole.

Upgrade time

When it was coming time to actually walk into Machinery Row to order up the Orbea, I just couldn't get excited about spending all that dough on all those gears. Cussing at my noisy and expensive drive train and spinning up hills like a rodent just doesn't appeal to me at all. I'm a singlespeeder for real.

So now that I've decided I'm still a Viking Berzerker the Raleigh is getting the full race bike treatment. Mike C. is ordering my hubs this morning and will have my wheels shipping within 3 days of their receipt. I won't see them before Ore to Shore but hopefully before the Subaru Cup. It will be nice to have some nice light wheels for that course as I am hearing it will be tough.

I'm loving the non-suspension corrected long and low front end of the Raleigh, so its getting the 26er version of the WB rock solid carbon fiber fork to keep the geometry as intended. I also have a set of these coming as the avid mechs are giving me fits. Topping off will be a couple pairs of the new generation of 29er tubeless tires. I'll be trying the new Hutchinson Pythons and the Specialized "Captain", both juiced up on Stan's Arch rims. I love the smell of new tires in the morning.

I can't forget to thank my sponsor for making all this bike porn possible.

Brew City Slop

Rowan and coach Andy.

Can't see the top three.

I can't think of any better use for a pile of garbage than to have a mountain bike race on it. Saturday night at Mama and Steve-o's I was afraid we might have a rain-out like this is baseball or something. I was happy to hear that we would be racing rain or shine, but decided I should drop gearing to 32x20 to deal with the slop. Of course, my chain was too short. Grabbed a chain from the truck only to find out Don's chain tool was broke. Rifled through the truck for a bit to find my own and then gave up figuring the good Jebuz was trying to tell me to run my 32x17 as his good Daddy intended.

I was supposed to find Jerry's wheel after the start and then sit on it. That I did, until he walked away from me on the moon climb. For the next lap and a half I had to deal with battling the little bastard in my head that tells me "its okay to walk this climb" and "you have nothing to prove, take a nap". I eventually beat down the doubt and had a good and fast laps 3 and 4. Well, fast for me. I rode about 1.5 laps leap frogging with Russell (only because his bike was complaining). At the end he sat behind me on the final climb and then gave it a go to show me how it's done. I saw him coming on my right and responded by stomping on it, making for a nice way to finish. (yeah I know he started behind me)

That final sprint while not meaning much helps to support my decision to upgrade early like I did. The Comp/Elite squad is a very fun group to race with. Not to mention that it is nice not having to deal with slow singletraffic. In this group I am the slow guy. Speaking of which I just found out that my Norba/usa cycling expert upgrade had been approved. Hmmm .... What to do next year?

I really appreciate the family coming out for this one being close to the old hood and all. Tarry was very cool playing superfan with the water dousing. Everytime a cold bottle of water was poured on me it felt like someone was pushing my turbo button. Good times, beer, and lasanga.