Iceman and Chron's Cometh

What a great race, all you Iceman haters and naysayers can take a step back, no other point to point race that I have done has been this interesting or had single-track, yeah it had some sand but it also had character. The start was somewhat relaxed and I sat fourth wheel trying to do no work and just sit in. The guy in first attacked as soon as we hit the trail and steadily built his lead. Okay so I am probably not going to win but maybe I can be top five. I sat and went with every move the now three guys in front of me made. I remember a guy at the start telling me that the last 6-7 miles have lots of climbs and to pace myself for it. I just tried to ride my race and then to my surprise single track, this is awesome 4000 racers and single track? Well it was a little clogged up so I just started yelling left, left, left, and they all moved over and let me through. By this point we must have been at about the 4-5 mile mark and I looked around an there were only five of us from my age group within sight. When we hit about the 10 mile mark the attacks from the small group started and I got left behind and now figured I could be top ten. I started passing people laying all over the trail, people shedding winter riding gear, cramped up, or just hanging out eating. This is were it kinda got weird, I was passing people who started over an hour ahead of me. People with huge backpacks with food and clothes and tools, people with baskets on their bikes full of who knows what, and the weirdest was a guy with a big bag of dog food strapped to his back. When the hills started coming in waves in the last five miles I started to get passed by a few age groupers and was struggling, with 2 to go I could see that the barn doors were open and wanted to head for home. Made a few age group passes in the last mile and stood and hammered the last two climbs to finish 10th in age group out of 150. Not bad for having my first bout with the old Chron's Disease of the year this weekend, almost made it the whole racing season but it popped up Thursday. The Shedmaster was there to high five me in the finishing chute, and Cupcake won his age group along with some cash to take home.
Chasity had a good race. No cramping or crashing. After not riding her bike since the middle of Sept she decided to do the race anyway and had a great time. Ended up 24 out of about 50 and thought it was a great event also. We will definitely be back, but will have to make it a four day weekend next time instead of three so we can enjoy the great scene at the finish and have some delicious beer and pizza.
It was great to be back home in MI and see some friendly faces from WORS and the hometown of Muskegon. Greg and Jen hope to see you at O2S next year

Paper or plastic

Now that the banquet is done the season should be over, but with a few more cross races to go and the Iceman in two weeks there is a lot of racing yet to be finished. I have wanted to attend this race for awhile now and am happy to have the chance to represent WI in my home state of MI. Even though I will always be a wolverine, I hope WI does well and wish all my fellow WORS racers luck at the race. So I have been vacillating over the idea of racing the resurrected Comp Clyde class next year or to continue on my goal of not being a clyde anymore. I think I will shoot for 190lbs and see what spring brings hopefully it won't be as hard of a choice as paper or plastic.

My pink bike was cooler than yours

I have been busy riding, racing, and working. First of all another season of WORS is in the bag. Sheboygan is always a great way to finish the series. I made it up the equalizer every lap except the first when a guy decided to dismount half way up, and through me off my line. They were out of cash by the time I made it around for the second lap. It felt like I was having a good race until the last lap when I felt like I was going to puke any moment. Maybe I should not have chugged the rest of that Coors Light at the top of the climb. Spencer raced Comp and finishd16th overall, not bad for his first mountain bike race. I fell to 4th in the overall standings for my age group, which is more than I had expected for the year. The only goal not met this year was to finish in the top 5 in my age group at one of the races 6th was as close as I got.

In other news Chasity and I will be going to the Iceman to represent WI in the Midwest Regional Championships. We both qualified second in our age class, Chasity for beginner and myself in sport, but both first place racers declined the spot. The Fraziers will also be attending since Niki also got a spot.

Cross season is keeping me busy racing. This weekend is Verona and then Cam-Rock. Verona was tough today, lots of climbing in my opinion. Had a horrible start and worked my way up to mid pack again. Hopefully Cam-Rock will be better. I have been forgetting my camera for the races and rides so I dug up this photo of the local paperboys from 86-87 I had a pink bike before it was cool

Cross has begun

The first foray into running and riding the bike was great fun this weekend. The CX race in Sun Prairie was made into a U.S. Grand Prix national event. Two days of tight twisty sprints through Angel Park, I was planning on only racing on Sat but after racing like a wuss I decided to go back for more on Sun. On Sat I started in 58 and finished 56 out of 108 riders. I t was muddy and slick and I was not very aggressive, so I figured I better try again the next day. On the other end of the spectrum Spencer started dead last in the race and finished fourth, just off the podium, and Bryan finished 17th. Sunday started out much drier and with a few changes to the course that I really liked. Since I did not preregister I started in the last row of 100 or so riders, I made it through half the pack in the first three corners and settled in to recover a bit, after that I only was able to pick off a couple of riders per lap and could not make a dent in the group just ahead of me. So I finished 56th again even though I rode much harder and attacked as much as I could. Spencer got on the podium with a third place finish and Bryan finished 33rd. All in all it was a good weekend for me, I wasn't last and I did not get pulled from my first national event. It was fun to see old friends and to watch the international field of pros tearing it up around the course. Jerry Long flew in from Idaho for the weekend and rode well, Ryan and Lisa were not able to race Sat due to illness but had a strong showing Sun.
On another note there is a possibility of me and Chasity getting in to the Iceman in Kalkaska MI for the Midwest Championships, cross your fingers we wont know for a couple of weeks.

Fall is here....

in more ways than one, falling leaves in the yard, falling in the standings, falling further behind in the training. Treadfest was great, just as fun and fast as I remembered. I did not see the chipmunk that got squashed but I still can hear the screams of pain as people were cramping up on such a hot day. I chose to not go out hard and just enjoy the trails, I have cramped up and blown up at the last couple of races and did not want to do it again this weekend. The plan worked even after spending Saturday night at a wedding reception (congrats Dani and Roger). Still looking forward to Sun Prairie in two weeks, maybe that will get me back in the mood to go fast, or at least try to go fast.

Kettles

On Sunday we spent a wonderful day at the Kettles. Monica rode 9 miles of the blue loop and only got off her bike a few times, she did some awesome riding. At the connector trail Monica and I headed back to the parking lot while the rest of the group rode on. Monica waited for me in the parking lot while I did the red, white, orange, and purple loops. I would ride for twenty minutes and stop back and check on her over and over. Chasity came back and Bryan and I headed out for one last 7 mile loop. Almost four hours and over 35 miles of single track.
Tonight I decided to get the cross bike tuned up for Sept 26th. To my dismay the chain was toast, so I called Wildside to see if they had any Campy ten speed chains. Brian said "No" apparently there has been a shortage of Campy chains in the U.S. this year. He informed me that a SRAM chain should work and luckily I had a spare in the basement. It worked OK and I headed of to Devils Lake. Need a few adjustments but I am looking forward to Sun Prairie. See yall at Treadfest.

Looks and legs can be deciving.

I cracked, like an egg. I felt so good and was riding so well, never pulled, never attacked, just sat in at the front. First lap 45 min, this is awesome, do not do any work. Second lap 50 min, wow I am going to crack the top 40 overall maybe 5th in age group, do not do any work. Third lap man this is getting hard, why can't I turn my peddles, and did 20 people just pass me? Oh man I just need to finish, I will check my computer and see how much farther. 6 MILES!!. Okay pull over take a breather and some water, you can finish, but do not do any work if possible. Was that Russel Jobs who just smacked me on my ass, this is bad. There's the finish and two more lost spots. I am done. Smoked Meat.

All the people in the picture eventually caught me and passed me. Looks can be deceiving.