Santa Ynez Valley Classic Race Recap

I've been lagging with race updates, but better late than never, right?  The weekend started out by driving up Saturday with James, Heather, and JD in JD's Fun Mover RV.  Thanks for hooking that up JD!  When we arrived at the venue, the weather was great with some gusts of wind.  We all did a pre-lap and as soon as I finished with my lap, I ran into Nick D. who was getting ready to get his lap in.  I was only planning on doing one lap, but he said it would be a mellow ride.  I decided to join and off we went.  Little did I know that shortly after we pedaled off, the effort would start to increase.  I don't know what it is, but whenever Nick and I pedal together, we just can't take it easy...lol!  I did go much harder than I wanted to and I was hoping there would be no ill effects come race day.  The day ended with eating some horrible AYCE spaghetti and beers around the campfire with good people.

I didn't get a good nights sleep as I was too paranoid about the bikes locked up and hanging on the Team Velosport EZ-UP outside.  I could hear the wind picking up as morning approach and that led to more paranoia of the EZ-UP just blowing away.  The morning approached and of course my paranoia was in vain.  Everything was fine.  I suited up and began my warmup for my 8:30am start time.  It was brisk but not terribly cold outside.  The winds were fairly calm, but the clouds looming above looked very threatening.

The race start for once was not a blistering pace.  I was able to squeeze into the top 6 or so in the initial paceline.  Things didn't start to break up until the first legitimate climb.  Barbee and I traded spots back and forth for most of the race until shortly after the beginning of the third lap.  I think this was the first CAT1 race where I wasn't in no man's land.  It was really fun battling for position with Barbee.  He would edge me out on the climbs mostly, but I was able to reel him back in on the singletrack descents.  I tried to attack him a couple of times, but I couldn't shake him that far off from my wheel.  The wind was pretty awful on some of the ridges.  At times, I was fighting to stay upright on my bike as the cross wind was that strong.  Barbee got away from on the 3rd lap.  I felt I had the strength to fight on, but mentally I was done.  My brain didn't want to suffer anymore and because of that, I lost the fight.  Barbee wanted it more than I did.  I ended up taking the 6th spot with a time of 2:10:39.  Looks like I continue to be worst of the best.  The next closest competitor was over 11 minutes behind.  I'm always hovering right below the podium.  It's in my sights, just need to push through the pain for a little bit longer.  I'm hoping I can get there soon.  I think my best chance is going to be at Elings Park, Santa Barbara come June.  I really enjoy that course as it suits my style of riding much more with it's punchy climbs, tight switchbacks, and 95% singletrack.

The next SoCal State race is Big Bear mid May.  The BB races are my least favorite of the series.  The format is a big loop with no laps.  It's funny, I used to like the big loop format last year, but this year I'm more in favor of the lap format.  I think it's because there's less inexperienced traffic on the course at one time.  The big loops generally are more of problem since all amateurs are sent off in waves instead of seperating the different catergories into two individual races.  Congrats to James on his win as well as JD and Heather's podium appearance.  Stay tuned for my Sea Otter Classic writeup.

Barbee on my wheel.

Can't shake the Barbee.

Fontana National Race Report

My race weekend started off pretty busy.  I decided to drive up to Fontana Saturday morning to pre-ride the course.  I got a couple of laps in and then I had to jam back home to head over to the ADT Velodrome in Carson for my first track race experience.  Track racing is such a different exeperience and I'm looking forward to hitting the track more often.  There's plenty to learn about the track.  Overall, my first experience went well.  No mishaps and a decent overall result.

I was hoping not to burn out my legs too much at the track.  Lots of full effort sprints at the track takes a toll.  I still needed to be fresh for the Sunday Fontana XC race.  My legs felt a little fatigued the morning of, but they quickly felt better after a nice 20 minute warmup.  The weather was looking great, the wind completely died out for Sunday.  Saturday had gale force Santa Ana winds blowing dust and dirt everywhere which is never fun to race in.

On to the race start.  Thankfully, the pace didn't seem to be blistering fast this time.  The pack stayed together up until the big National Hill climb.  I kind of got stuck towards the back of the pack which didn't work so well for me on that climb.  My 1x9 gearing makes going up the steep hills a little quicker than some with shorter gearing.  I ended up running into the back wheel of the rider in front of me while in tough loose section.  I just couldn't go any slower while maintaining traction.  This resulted in me having to dismount and hike/run up the rest.  Of course, this created a chain reaction for the riders behind me.  There were some words of dissapointment by some, but in all reality, it's a race.  I hate dismounting my bike as much as the next guy.  We all get stuck behind slower riders holding us up out there sometime on the course.  After the climb was over, things started to spread out a bit.  I was sitting in around 7th place or so and trying to hang on to the lead pack.  They gapped me and I settled into my own pace.  My first lap was my fastest lap coming in at 24:21.  We had to do 4 laps.

Boy my gut is fat...lol

The 2nd and 3rd lap were pretty uneventful, but I do remember Justin Mann just leaving me in the dust halfway through my 2nd lap.  That guy was on his game that day and just kicking ass.  BTW - as of writing this, Justin had a bad bicycle accident just yesterday fracturing his neck and kneecap among other things.  I wish him and his wife the best and I'm hoping for a speedy recovery.  I hate it when bad things happen to good people.  I felt good and kept my pace consistent throughout.  I was able to keep the 2nd lap in the low 25 minute range while my 3rd was in the higher 25 minute range.  I remember getting held up by some slower women riders after National Hill, which probably attributes to the slower time.

The 4th lap was starting to get hard.  I remember seeing Barbee about 30 seconds ahead of me.  Maybe I could catch up to him?  Not if Big National Hill has anything to say about it.  The climb kicked me off my bike earlier than previous laps and was sucking the energy out of me.  I was glad to be over with it, but I know I lost time to Barbee.  I was just imagining him pedaling up the whole climb without a hitch.  He's a strong climber.  I still need to find more speed on the climbs.  I crossed the line in 7th place with a time of 1:40:53.  Less than a minute behind Barbee.  I'm happy with those results.  I hope to one day reach the podium this year and I think I can do it.  I'm really not that far off from the podium finishers minus the top 3 guys.  I wonder what would happen if I actually followed a training schedule or hired a coach?  I don't want to do that because that would take the fun out of it for me.  I just like to ride and have fun while riding hard.

Los Olivos in Santa Ynez is up next followed by the Sea Otter Classic the following weekend.  I love this time of year.  Can't wait for the SOC!  For now, I'll keep on riding and enjoying my bike.

PS:  Thank you Frank and Alissa for cheering me on!  Great to see you guys out there.

2010 Vision Quest Race...err..."Event" Report

I'll be honest.  I really had no intention of signing up for the 2010 VQ, but yet for some reason I did.  I just happened to be up at midnight on the day of registration and just did it.  I didn't expect this event to sell out in 15 minutes or so.  Each year it has gotten harder and harder to get into this event due to the popularity.  Just to recap; the Vision Quest is a mountain bike event put on by the Warrior's Society.  The event travels 56 miles and climbs over 11,000 feet across the Santa Ana mountain range in east Orange County.  This happens to be in my backyard.  Most accept this challenge just to finish it, which in itself is an awesome accomplishment.  2010 would mark my 3rd attempt.  After much thought, I set a couple of goals for myself.  A really hard and almost unreal time of sub 6 hours with a secondary goal of 6.5 hours.  Last year I finished the VQ on a single speed in 6:53.  This year, I decided to do it on a geared bike, well...partially geared.  That geared bike happened to be my new Santa Cruz Tallboy which is setup as a 9 speed.

As the day of reckoning grew closer, I felt less and less motivated to do it.  This winter brought us lots of rain and very limited training time on the dirt.  I really didn't train or get the base miles in that I wanted to for the VQ.  The last time I was on a bike for at least 4 plus hours was about 2 months before race day.  I really didn't feel confident about the race going into it, but I would put down my best effort, regardless.  It was great to have Alping Rob repeat as sag support along with newcomer Matt.  Matt failed during the registration process and decided he would just support his fellow riders.

Of course the day started out early with a 3:30am wakeup call.  The worst part about VQ is waking up.  Damn 5:30am start times!  I grabbed my gear and headed off to the event.  Luckily, it only takes me 20 minutes to get there.  The morning was cold, but not too cold.  The forecast called for nice sunny weather in the upper 70's!  Yet another great day for a bike race.  As the start time approached, I headed down to the start line while making sure I gave my feed bag to Matt.  In years past, I've always started towards the middle or back of the pack.  This year I made sure to start out in the front.  If I was to put in a good time, I had to make sure I would be out of harms way this year especially with the extra hour of racing in the dark up Blackstar due to DST.  I brought my MagicShine bike light which was more than enough light.  I was surprised that others opted not to bring a light at all especially a couple of the pro's.  It was pitch black at the start.

After Chris Vargas's encouraging words, which I didn't listen to at all, the race was on!  My start was a good one and I was able to latch on to the back of the lead pack of 15 riders or so.  We stayed together pretty much until the first switchback when the really climbing began.  The pro's took off for the races and I decided I would try to stick to Tim Z's wheel for as long as I could.  Tim eventually started to pull away and it would have been a wasted effort to chase.  I settled into a ryhtym that wasn't comfortable or excrutiating.  I wanted to keep the pace high without killing myself.  I came upon a rider about a 2/3's the way up to Beek's that didn't have a light.  As I passed, he stuck to my wheel so he had a line to follow.  Turns out this rider was James Walsh.  Super cool guy.  I've never met him before, but I knew we race in the same age group and category at the state races.  We were chatting a little bit back and forth.  I felt he was pushing me a bit while we were riding together.  As we approached Beek's, I looked at my split (44ish) and I was off to a great pace!  Eventually, I lost James after a climb (turns out he took a piss) and I was on my own for my journey towards Maple Springs.  It was no longer dark at this time as there was enough daylight to see.  I kept the pace high and the legs were feeling strong.  I passed another rider while bombing down Motorway.  That was the Tallboy's first time down that trail and it was quite impressive.  I got to the base of Maple Springs in 1:47ish.  Wow...this has to be a personal best.  I found Matt in his bright orange jacket at the first aid station.  I took off my lights while Matt and Rob exchanged my water bottles.  Off I went for the 2nd leg.

Motorway

Motorway again

Climbing up the pavement on Maple is my least favorite part.  I despise that pavement.  For some reason it's just harder until you hit the dirt 4 miles later.  I decided to scale it back a little bit to take in some much needed fluids in the form of Vitargo and EFS.  Not too much longer after I started climbing the pavement, the rider I passed on Motorway catches up to me in no time.  He complimented me for hauling ass down Motorway.  Turns out this rider was Guy Sutton.  I complimented him as he was hauling ass up the pavement.  He's a really strong rider.  It started to get lonely riding by myself.  I remember looking down on the ground and seeing some writing on the ground in chalk.  I look and see my friend's name Ryan Meyer.  I thought to myself...that's cool!  As I rode on I saw more familiar names written in chalk with words of encouragement.  Then I came across my own name and seriously was laughing from what I read.  It said, "Jason Rusnak, Where's the wig?" and I knew exactly who wrote it at that point.  There's a whole inside story behind that.  That really did put a smile on my face and helped me forget about pedaling that damn pavement for awhile.  Finally, I reach the dirt and press on.  I see some people hiking up the dirt and turns out it was Ryan's friends.  I think they were surprised to see me this early in the day and actually I was quite surprised to seem them this early on as well.  Their cheers were awesome and I heard they cheered everyone that went by!  Those guys rule!  Check out this video they made.  The rest of the climb went well.  It took me 58 minutes to get to 4 corners.  Climbing up towards the peak was another lonely adventure.  I couldn't wait to get up and over as most of the climbing would be over at that point.  I bagged the peak and headed down to Upper Holy Jim.  The trail was in great shape and this was the first time I have taken the Tallboy down it.  I had some trouble making it around a couple of those tight switchbacks which ultimately led to a small down for me.  I tried to dismount during a switchback and I had trouble getting unclipped.  My front tire decided to wash out and well, that's all it took for me to crash.  Just some dirt rash.  I got up and was able to ride out the rest of the trail.  Kind of bummed I crashed since it's not very often I crash.  Proceeded down Holy Jim and was having a good time, but I was really starting to get sketched out by my front tire (Maxxis Aspen).  It really was starting to push and washout.  About halfway down, it pushed hard and the tire just folded over.  Aaargh!!  Damn VQ gremlins!!  Front tire was flat.  It was my fault.  I forgot to check my tire pressure that morning so I'm sure I was down a couple of PSI or so.  As I was fixing my flat, 1 rider passed me.  That probably cost me about 5 minutes or so.  Once the flat was repaired, I made my way to the 2nd aid station.  Again, Matt and Rob were just great!  They lubed my chain, check my tire pressure, and changed my bottles out.  Top notch service.  Matt told me I was in 10th place overall!  I was quite surprised.

Now, the toughest part of the race was ahead of me.  Riding up Trabuco at this point is really tough.  The trail is technical and loose at times which require more strength and concentration to pedal through.  I had a couple of dabs, but overall I was happy with my performance.  Legs still felt pretty good at this point.  Once I reached the dreaded hike-a-bike in West Horse Thief, I had aspirations of pedaling it.  That was not to be with my 1x9 gearing.  I pedaled a couple of sections on the HAB parts, but mainly was hiking.  The weather was still nice and cool.  It felt great to have a little bit of a breeze up there.  Again, I was by myself without hearing or seeing another soul.  WHT went by surprisingly fast.  It took me less than 40 minutes to get to Main Divide.  Once to MD, I was informed I was in 9th place overall!  Wow!  It was due to Manny Prado dropping out of the race because of mechnicals.  As I reached the top of Trabuco Trail, I realized that I actually may have a chance of breaking 6 hours.  I let if fly down Trabuco.  I was pushing trying to make up as much time as I could.  I still felt fairly fresh, but fatigue was starting to set in.  As I came flying by the 2nd aid station for the 2nd time, I had about 10 minutes to get to the finish to break 6 hours.  That would be pretty tough, but I tried really hard.  I got to the finish about 2 minutes after 6 hours.  At first, I was bummed, but later I was stoked to have put in such a awesome effort and to finish in the top 10.  If only I didn't get that flat!!

Pedaling to the finish on Trabuco

To recap, the event was awesome and the weather was absolutely perfect.  I was amazed on how much easier this event was from years past.  I didn't feel completely wasted at the end.  I kept my nutrition and hydration spot on thanks to First Endurance's EFS Sports drink as well as Vitargo.  I didn't eat any solid foods or use any gels.  I got all my calories through my drink and it really does work.  My Santa Cruz Tallboy was an absolute joy to ride and with it's sophisticated VPP suspension, I was able to stay fresh and strong for the entire ride.  Thanks to Rock N' Road for being an awesome bike shop and always taking care of all of my biking needs.  Top notch customer service!  Thanks to Matt and Rob for the awesome sag support at the aid stations.  You guys truly did make a difference.  As for next year, I'm on the fence about doing another VQ.  I really would like another crack at breaking 6 hours, but I wouldn't mind taking a year off and give another rider a chance to complete the Vision Quest.  Congratulations to all the finishers this year!  It's awesome to see everyone meet their personal goals.

2010 Vision Quest Results

Man and machine

Bonelli Park Race Report

The crew at US Cup really turned Bonelli Park into a gem of a race course.  This time last year, Bonelli was quite lame of a course.  Mainly fireroad with no real technical aspect at all.  This year was completely different and became one of my favorite courses.  The course had a great variety of everything a XC mountain biker could ask for.  Screamin fast descents, bridge crossings, world cup style switchbacks, techincal singletrack, and everything else just to keep you alert.  The consensus appeared to be the same throughout all the pro's and amateurs.

As for the race start at 8:30am on the day we "Spring" forward for DST, I could have done without that.  After the race, I was glad to start that early since it did get pretty warm for the CAT2/3 race.  Since upgrading to CAT1, one of the most annoying differences from CAT2 is the insanely blistering fast pace at the start of races.  On that note, CAT1 is definitely more orgainized and racers seem to work together more, but they definitely like to attack and put the hurt on others. 

The start of Bonelli took off like a flash.  We were the first age group to go off, most likely due to Ty Kady (US Cup Marketing Director) racing in my class.  I really tried to hang on to the lead pack, but it got away from me towards the top of the first climb.  I just don't like to keep my HR in the 180 range for too long.  That's what it took for me to hang on in the beginning.  Despite the 2nd bridge being iced over warnings, I still managed to slip right on the bridge.  I was going so slow, but hit the bridge at an off camber angle which caused me to slip.  The bridge was fine on the following laps after it warmed up.  I was happy to be able to catch on to Barbee's wheel for part of the 1st lap.  He always gets me on the climbs and eventually would open up a gap.  It wasn't until the 2nd lap where I started to settle into a rythym.  I would try to grab a wheel on faster riders when I could which really helped me not to focus on the pain.  Mental toughness is what XC racing is all about.  Sure there is power, skill, and talent, but all of that means nothing if you can't mentally block the pain of pushing your body beyond it's limits.  I didn't seem to make much progress on my competitors, but I also didn't seem to lose much either.  In the end, I took home 8th with a time of 1:51:19.  Another mid-pack finish, but I'm really happy with the results.  I wasn't that far off from a podium finish and if I really started training seriously, I think I have a really good chance of making the podium.  I've been putting in maybe 8 hours a week on the bike and I know alot of these guys put in more than double that amount of training.  Plus, I know I can work on my diet too.  I was also very happy with lap times being consistent.  This has always been a problem for me racing CAT2 last year.  My lap times always got slower as the race went on.  Since this was my first lap based CAT1 race, I am happy to report that my last lap was my 2nd fastest lap.  I'm happy I was able to leave some gas in the tank for the final stretch.

Matt (not pictured) was of great help with the bottle exchange.

In addition, I had zero issues with cramping and felt strong the entire race.  I switched my sports drink from Cytomax to First Endurance's EFS Drink.  I made sure to follow the usage instructions and I made sure I was strict with my hydration intake.  Hydration is much more important with these longer CAT1 races.  I could get away with not hydrating properly more last year.  So far, I'm completely satisfied with the product.  The true test will be Vision Quest.  Next US Cup race is Fontana, but I have VQ to tackle before that.  (Finished VQ yesterday at the time of writing this entry)

Love the Fruit Punch

PS: I've recently been introduced to track cycling and it's insanely addicting.  With that being said, I just purchased a Felt TK2 (Thank you Nick!) with the intention of racing next Saturday at the ADT Velodrome in Carson.  I have no idea what to expect and I'm not entirely sure on what the rules are.  I've only ridden a track bike twice in the last 3 weeks and I must say it's such a joy riding a bike at it's most simple form.

2010 Season....another new bike you say?

It's been a long time since I last updated this blog.  Alot has happened since Hurkey Creek.  The 2010 race season is already upon us with the 2nd US Cup race this weekend at Bonelli park.  My miles have been lacking lately due to a very wet February and March thus far, but the extended forecast is looking much better.  Vision Quest is just around the corner and to be honest, I'm not really looking forward to it.  However, I will man up and put forth my best effort to get as close to the 6 hour mark as I can.

I managed to break my Blur XCc before Xmas which turned out to be a beautiful thing.  Santa Cruz hooked me up on the warranty which allowed me to get their brand new full suspension 29'er called the Tallboy!  This bike has been an absolute thrill to own and ride.  I'm more than satisfied with this bike in every way, plus it's pretty darn sexy.  Take a look for yourself.

Santa Cruz Tallboy!

Busted Blur.  :-(

Build list:

Frame: Santa Cruz Tallboy, XL

Rear Shock: Monarch 3.3; 6.5" x 1.5" (165x38mm)
Fork: Fox F29 120mm RLC Q15 with FIT 2010 (non-tapered)
Saddle: Specialized Phenom SL plus Gumby
Seatpost: Easton EC90
Seatpost Clamp: Santa Cruz QR
Handlebar: Easton MonkeyLite XC
Stem: Easton EA90 90mm 10 degree rise
Grips: LizardSkins Charger
Headset: Chris King
Brakes: Avid Elixir CR, 160mm front/rear rotors
Shift Lever: Simano XTR SL-M970
Chain Guide: MRP 1.X
Rear Derailleur: Shimano XTR RD-M972 Shadow
Crankset: Shimano XTR M970 32t chainring 180mm length
Bottom Bracket: Chris King
Chain: Shimano XTR CN-7701
Pedals: Time Atac XS Carbon
Cassette: Shimano XT 11-34t
Wheels: DT Swiss 240s laced to DT X470 rims. Converted tubeless
Tires: Maxxis Aspen 2.1 Front; Specialized Captain Control 2bliss 2.0 Rear. Stans Tire Sealant

Weight: 24.2lbs.

I'm very happy with how the build came out.  Even with the big wagon wheels, the bike is only 1/2 lb heavier than my old blur.  I did have to compromise a little with tire selection in the form of a non tubeless ready tire (Maxxis Aspen), but so far it's been holding up great.  How does it ride you ask?  The bike handles and performs just like a blur.  The biggest difference is stability.  This bike is extremely stable at speed and holds a line fantasticly.  This could be attributed to other components such as bars, stem and/or frame size when comparing to my old blur.  I went with an XL over the L.  Another noticeable difference is how much speed and momentum this bike carry's up and down.  Climbing is great once you get it up to speed.  Acceleration is a noticeably slower over the blur, but not by much at all to really make a difference.  This bike loves to eat up any rough terrain thrown at it and just inspires confidence with the added traction of the wagon wheels.  It really is a joy to ride.  I haven't ridden my other mountain bikes since I got it.

12 HOT action

I also managed to race the 1st 12 hours of Temecula back in January.  I decided to give this a go solo and the masochist in me voted for my single speed.  The race turned out to be fantastic and overall I did well.  I ended up 5th out of 15 with a total of 10 laps.  I had a chance for 2nd place, but I took too long of a break after my 8th lap which didn't allow me enough time for that 11th lap.  I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the organizers did a great job with the course work since it rained for a week straight leading up to the race.  I learned alot about nutrition and pacing myself for such a long time.  I think I ended up riding close to 100 miles and somewhere around 14,000 feet of ascent.  Just a normal day on the bike...lol!  I'm looking forward to the next one in June.

WEEEeeeeee!

The US Cup #1 at Sagebrush was a couple of weekends ago.  With poor weather for most of the week, it appeared that Sunday's race would be a mudfest, but the course turned out to be in much better shape than I anticipated.  One small setback was a course change that eliminated the upper loop to Mt. Pinos.  I was a little bummed about that since I really was looking forward to that descent from Mt. Pinos.  Since this was my first official CAT1 race, I didn't get to do it last year.  The course change had us doing the upper loop from 4 corners twice which meant we had to do the hike-a-bike section twice!  As for my race, overall it was going great until I had to fight off cramps for the last 10 miles which pretty much killed my chances for a better finish.  I placed 8th out of 15 which is just about where I thought I would be racing with these fast guys in the minor leagues of CAT1.  This race also marked the Tallboy's inception into XC racing.  The bike felt fantastic all day.  There was one small problem, my front rotor started to come loose on the final descent.  I guess I didn't tighten the DT Swiss centerlock adaptor enough.  Fortunately, it didn't cause me any problems, but was scary hearing that thing rattling around.  The race was extremely fun and it was great to catch up with all the familiar faces from last year.  I love the MTB community!  They make racing so much fun!

Yes, I jumped on the leg shaving/bib short bandwagon.  Definitely faster this way!

Need more lean!

24 Hours of Adrenaline at Hurkey Creek

I've been wanting to do another 24 hour race since I participated on a 5-man team two springs ago. The final 24 hour race of the year is typically held during the fall at Hurkey Creek Park near Idyllwild. This year the race fell on the same weekend as the US Cup unification race. After much thought about which race to do, I decided I would much rather do the 24 hour race. The course is really enjoyable and the experience is always top notch. Next, I needed to decide how to compete in the race. I thought about a 4-man team, but I felt that wasn't going to be challenging enough for me. The only other option was a 2-man team, or doing the 8-hour solo option. I wasn't even thinking about attempting the 24-hour solo. I'm no way near ready for that. I decided on doing the 2-man and I recruited Matt as my teammate. I knew he would the perfect guy for this type of race. He's a really strong rider and always does well on endurance type efforts. I figured we would balance each other out for the entire 24 hours. I'm glad that Matt agreed to do this race and with that, Team Ludicrous Speed was born!  "Evil will always triumph, because good...is dumb."

For those of you that don't know how a 24 hour race works, here's the deal. Racers have the option of putting a team together of up to 10 people or as little as 2 people. There's also the crazy endurance athletes that race it solo. The race starts at noon on Saturday and runs until noon the next day on Sunday. The object is to do as many laps as possible in that amount of time which means racers are pedaling during the day as well as through the night with lights of course. When it's all said and done, the winners with the most laps in the quickest amount of time walk away with the victory and a sweet new winners jersey to add to their collection. As you can see, this type of race can be pretty tough on your body physically as well as mentally.

My race weekend started out with me driving up to Hurkey Creek Friday night after work. Matt decided to drive up Saturday morning, the day of the race. I pretty much packed anything and everything preparing for what could go wrong. I know I overpacked, but it's better to be safe than sorry. I also decided to bring both my Blur and my Superlight which got transformed into the SuperNIGHT! I would ride my Blur for the day laps and the SuperNIGHT for the night laps. Matt and I were also very fortunate that my good friend James was also competing in the 24 hour race with a 5-man team. James was kind enough to allow us to use the facilities of his trailer while out there. That really proved to be helpful during the race. You just can't beat the trailer. Way better than camping it with a tent in freezing temperatures at night. I can't thank James and his wife enough for their hospitality.

I was able to get a decent nights sleep, but not as much as I wanted to. Not much I could do about that at the time. I picked up our race packet after I woke up and had some breakfast. I ran into Tom and Roy of Troupe racing at the registration booth. They were doing a 5-man team. I wished them good luck and I knew I would see them out there on the trails. Matt showed up not too much later with this car full of stuff. He brought Rita and his GT to race on. We got him all settled in with the pit setup and headed over to the Captain's meeting. Since I was the one starting the race, I wanted to make sure I understood exactly how the LeMans race start worked. I left the meeting still a little confused, but I'm sure I would figure it out when the time came which I did. The bikes were all ready and noon was approaching. Matt and I decided that our lap strategy would be to start out with alternating laps until nightfall. At that time we would do 2 laps each in hope that would give us enough rest while one of us is on the course. The weather was a nice and clear day with temps in the mid to high 80's, but there was a cool breeze.

About 20 minutes prior to noon, I checked in with the time keepers and placed my bike on the provided racks. Since it was a LeMans start, that meant I would be running about 1/2 a mile before hoping on the bike to get the show on the road. I lined up with the other racers at the Start/Finish line anticpating the start. I was trying to get pumped up with some bad 80's rock in the band Survivor since they were blasting "Eye of the Tiger" before the start. The countdown began...3...2...1!!!! and we were off. I consider myself a decent runner, but for some reason this run really sucked. My mouth was already dry and I was already sucking wind. I think I had the loudest of all cleats smacking against the pavement. All I heard was CLACK..CLACK..CLACK with each stride. That was quite annoying. I was able to finish the run in about 3:15. I grabbed my bike and took off trying to get ahead of the traffic. I knew the first climb called Keen Camp was going to get boggged down and I did get stuck behind the slower riders. It was expected so I just went along with the flow until there was an opening where I could go around those riders. I do remember passing about 10 riders just before the summitt. I think about 5 other riders followed my line as well. Just after the summitt was a fun flowing singletrack that would take you out to Johnson's Meadow. Of course I got slowed up by another rider, but I had to keep telling myself that it's ok. This is only the first lap out of many and there is no reason to go balls out as I needed to conserve. I eventually passed the slower riders before Exfoliator. At that point the course really opened up and traffic was no longer an issue. I was feeling good and the course was in decent shape with some sand here and there. It didn't prove to be too difficult. My first time down Tunnel of Love, I was hauling ass. I almost made a bad decision as I hesitated on a line. I really wish I could explain what happened, but I don't know how too. My Blur basically made me look like a bike god as I should have been out of control, but it managed to keep me in control as I drifited into the proper line with my front wheel not even on the ground. It was quite amazing and I really wish I could see the replay. Anyways, the rest of my lap went great and I crossed the line in just over 53 minutes. Matt was waiting for me and I gave him the baton. Off he went for his first lap.

I headed back to the pits to refill the water bottle and refuel a little bit. I knew I didn't have much time to rest and I was already back at the check in tent before I knew it. Matt came in hot after a blistering lap of 48 minutes! What was he thinking? He didn't listen to his own advice and went really hard. I know it's hard to hold back sometimes, but I was pretty confident he would be ok. One of my goals for this race was the break the 50 minute mark on a lap. I knew if I was to reach that goal, it would have to be on my 2nd lap. I pushed on that lap, but still left some in the tank. I was able to match Matt's lap time of 48 minutes. One goal down. Matt was still feeling good as he went out for his 2nd lap and put in a nice time of 51 minutes.

My 3rd lap would end up not so great for me. Everything started out great and was flowing. I was feeling strong, but started to get an upset stomach before the Demoralizer climb. As I cleared the climb, my right quad and calve started to crap. How is this possible so soon in the race? I was drinking alot and I even took some endurolytes before the lap since it was pretty warm out there. I was able to fight the cramps off, but the damage was done. I met Matt at the exchange and I felt sick to my stomach. I asked him if he had 2 laps in him and he said he felt good. I needed time to recover and fix my upset stomach. I told Matt I would check on him after the 1st of 2 laps. I got back to the pits and tried to eat and drink, but my body just didn't want to cooperate. I had to force liquids down. I decided my body needed some sugar so I started drinking Coke. About 5 minutes after have a cup of Coke, my upset stomach was gone and I was able to eat. I chomped down a turkey sandwich and some fruit. I was coming back to life and felt 100% better. I also decided to take a shower and go for a short change at this point.  The shower made me feel alot better as well.  I prepared a cold water bottle for Matt just in case he needed it and I headed back over to the exchange. I met him and he was still looking good. He took the cold water bottle and headed out. Meanwhile, I was able to rest some more before I went out for my 2 laps. Nightfall was approaching so I prepared the SuperNIGHT and headed to the exchange.

Matt came in and was not looking too good. I think he was suffering from the same thing I was. He had the cold shakes. I told him to go get some rest and drink some Coke since that made me feel alot better.  I think we had about a 1 lap lead at this time and I knew the other teams had to be going through the same type of suffering as Matt and I were.  I remember getting spooked out by one of the photographers just kicking it on the side of the trail in the middle of nowhere.  I would pedal by and all of a sudden I would see a huge flash.  Spooked me in a good way because it woke me up.  My legs felt decent, but they did lack the strength to push it over the tougher obstacles.  I spent alot of time in the small ring and at times I wish I had a 34 tooth casette, but I'm glad I didn't.  I probably would have been diving into that too often which would make me go even slower.  The 28 tooth was perfect on the SuperNIGHT and still kept the speed up.  One thing I remember vividly about those night laps was how awesome the sky looked that night.  The stars were absolutely incredible and it seemed I could just reach out and grab them.  It was one of those times where I was reminded how much I love to mountain bike.  My back to back laps went well and even though the times were slowing, they still were fairly fast. Anything quicker than 1 hour is still really good.  I was able to put down :57 and :59 minute laps.  Back at the exchange, Matt looked like his old self again and thanked me for the Coke tip.  I was releived to see him recovered.  With the baton exchanged, Matt went out for 2 more laps.

I think it was around 10:15pm by the time I got back to the pits to refuel and rest up.  Since Coke was my savior, I decided to stick with drinking that.  My stomach was no longer upset and I was able to put down some decent solid food.  I remember having a can of vegetable soup and some more pineapple.  I felt pretty good for doing 5 laps and I knew the halfway point was approaching.  I was sleepy, but still alert.  It's amazing how fast the time would go by while resting.  It seemed like before I knew it, I was getting my gear back on to get ready to pedal again.  The weather was still great.  Of course it was colder, but it could have been much colder than it was.  50 degree weather is great pedaling weather for the night.  I got away with just a long sleeve jersey and some winter gloves.  That was more than enough to keep me warm.

Onto my 6th and 7th laps.  I don't remember too much about those laps.  I kept the pace fairly slow, well slow for me and everything went smooth.  I do remember stopping more often at the aid stations to down some Gu-Tang drink or whatever it was they had.  The drunks that were cheering all the riders throughout the night on the "The Tunnel of Love" trail really helped get the blood pumping again.  It would be dead silent out there until you rounded left into the yells and cheers of that group.  Really was surprising to see them there especially at 2am.  Your mind does start to wonder quite a bit when you are pedaling all by yourself in the early morning in the middle of a forest.  I started to question myself if I had it in me to keep it going at the current pace and actually finish the whole 24.  I also started to question myself, "why in hell am I doing this".  At times, I wanted to give up, but that's not my nature.  I wasn't raised as a quitter and I would finish the race.  I finished up my 7th lap and Matt wanted to switch back to the 1 lap strategy and I was totally on board.  He didn't think he had another set of back to back laps in him and I either did I.

This is where things really started to get tough.  I was feeling spent and I was struggling with trying to stay awake.  All I wanted to do was to get out there and start pedaling again.  I thought that would help to keep me awake.  This time around it seemed like I was waiting around forever for Matt to come in, but it was ok.  I was able to keep busy by checking out the current standings.  We were in 1st by about 2 laps at this point.  That was a relief.  If we could just keep our current pace, we should have no problems winning this thing.  That is of course we can finish the race.  As I was waiting around the Start/Finish area, they were playing movies on a projector screen.  I remember watching parts of "The Benchwarmers".  I never saw the movie, but it looked really, really lame.  Matt eventually showed up looking ok for the most part.  Off I went for #8.  Legs still felt ok, but really had to take it easy on the techy stuff.  I had to back off a bit to make sure my legs would start to cramp up again.  I remember getting of the bike and walking some tougher parts of the climbs.  I really didn't want to risk cramping again.  I took my time out there and it showed on my lap time.  I was close to the 1:15 mark.  Again, I wasn't too concerned about making up time on the 2nd place team.  We were well ahead.  The 2nd place team was suffering as well.  I really was having hard time keeping my eyes open on this lap.  I would close my eyes just for a few seconds and it felt so relaxing.  My steering got really lazy and it was hard to keep the bike moving in a straight line.  I needed to get some rest.  After my lap, I conversed with Matt telling him that I need a small nap.  We were still on the 1 lap strategy and I told him to just come and get me at the pits if I wasn't at the exchange after his next lap.  I think he agreed with that and off he went.

I got back to the pits and I needed to get some rest.  Luckily I had a human alarm clock with Dan and he was kind enough to wake me up.  I slept for a good 45 minutes and Dan did his job waking me up.  However, it took me a few more minutes to get really started.  I was slow to get my gear on and I still felt sleepy.  I think I drank half a can of Monster and I started to wake up again.  I pedaled to the exchange and I didn't see Matt.  I went to check in and the time keeper told me that Matt just left for another lap about 2 minutes ago.  What!?  I couldn't believe it.  Why didn't Matt come and get me?  I thought we were on the same page.  I was a little upset, but at the same time relieve.  Upset because I could have gotten at least another 45 minutes of sleep and I would have to do back to back laps next time out.  Relieved because I got more rest time.  It must have been around 4:30am at this point.  Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk so I headed back to the pits where I just kicked it for another 45 minutes or so.  I didn't want to go back to sleep cause that would have been next to impossible after drinking half a Monster.  I ended up finishing the can before meeting back up with Matt.  Matt told me he waited about 3 minutes for me to show and got tired of waiting.  He decided it was better to just do another lap since he assummed I was sleeping still.  I couldn't believe Matt was able to pull off back to back laps.  I was very impressed.  I told him not to worry about the next 2 laps as I would have them covered.

The next lap would be last lap with lights.  I was so glad that dawn was rapidly approaching.  I was totally sick of riding my heavy ass SuperNIGHT and it was starting to become uncomfortable.  The shitty fork was really pissing me off as well since it required more energy to keep the handling in check.  About 20 minutes into the lap, I could finally turn off the lights as there was enough nautical light to work with.  It was such a sight for sore eyes.  It's amazing how much faster things got from then on out.  I was able to flow down "Exfoliator" and "Tunnel of Love" with ease again.  The fun factor was back and I felt like a new rider.  I was putting in a really good effort and finished that lap under an hour.  Wow!  I was back into the upper 50 minute range.  After that lap, I decided to finally ditch the SuperNIGHT and went back to the pits to do a bike exchange.  I said hello to Matt as he was resting in the trailer.  I put on a fresh jersey and headed back out with the Blur!  That bike felt like a feather compared to the other.  Things were feeling even better.  Almost like the sun supercharged me.  I like to think I'm solar powered.  There's no other explanation for it...lol.  Things felt great and I was really flowing on my 10th lap.  I was able to put in an even faster lap time in the range of 56 minutes.  I was really happy.  Maybe it was because I knew the end was near and it was.  After my lap, I met with Matt and I told him how incredible I felt and was hoping he would feel the same.  We went back to the 1 lap strategy.

11th lap in the books.

After Matt's lap I informed him that we were well in the lead.  We agreed that 1 more lap each would be more than enough to hold onto the win.  That would put us at a total of 22 laps.  We would be short of the 24 lap goal, but I could care less at that point.  I went out for my 11th lap and took it very easy.  Spent alot of time in the small ring and just enjoying the lap as much as possible.  I stopped wearing my HR monitor as I no longer cared about that.  I didn't even look at my Garmin to see my progress on the lap.  It was a great feeling to round the final corner and walk (not run) the bike over the finish line for the last time.  I was completely spent and entirely relieved.  I came in just past 10:30am and we had to send another rider out as that was the rule.  Matt was the man for the job and the crazy guy decided to finish the race off on his single speed!  Not the friendliest bike on the legs, however he did it anyways.  He finished off the race with a pretty good time.  We still had time to do one more lap, but there was no reason to kill myself any further.  My ass took the worse of the punishment.  It was completely sore and rubbed raw from riding a bike close to 11 hours in total.  We were finally done and we did it!  We won the 2-man 24 hour race!

To end the day we collected the winner's jersey at the ceremony, but for some reason the orgainizers didn't have our medals.  They said they would mail them to us.  I sure hope we get them soon.  Here are the stats for my half of the race.  Over 105 miles with 13,844 feet of climbing in 10 hours and 38 minutes with an average speed of 9.8MPH.

I learned alot during this experience.  I didn't think the race was going to be as tough as it turned out to be.  I guess it humbled me a bit.  I also learned how important nutrition is with an event of this caliber.  It was difficult at times to eat and drink.  I think there needs to be more structure on what to put in the body instead of a free for all.  I think both Matt and myself paid the price with that.  Lucky for us that we recovered strong enough to finish the race.  One thing to note is that the winner of the Solo Competition completed 21 laps in total!  Those guys are just nuts.  One guy did 1 less lap than Matt and I did as a team.  Just insane.  I don't know what is next for in terms of an endurance race.  Maybe one of these days I can attempt a 24 hour race solo?  I should probably start with a 12 hour solo race.

Results:

Some professional pictures

We were plate #23

Over the Hump Series

I should have done a write up on this a couple of months ago, but be thankful I'm getting around to it now. OC is very fortunate to have some passionate mountain bikers out there that are willing to start up a XC race series from scratch in our very own backyard. OTH (Over the Hump) came to life this summer on August 26th. The mindset behind the organizers was to put together a summer race series that would be held on a weekly basis during the middle of the week. I think it's a fantastic idea to be able to race for an hour after work. Irvine Lake is home to the series. The plan is to eventually make this an 8 race series for 2010, but 2009 just saw 2 races. The overall support and participation for those 2 events were awesome! I couldn't believe the amount of racers, family, friends, and vendors that came out to show their love for mountain biking. It really looks like that OTH is going to be successful in the future with their grassroots style racing.


I decided to up the ante and race in the Expert field for the 2 races. The race in August turned out to be brutally hot and super dusty after the start. The course itself seemed fairly tame during the pre-ride, but proved to be quite challenging to race on. The singletracks generally got bogged down from slower riders in the Beginner and Sport groups since all categories were on the course at the same time. That's ok and is part of racing. Not much you can do with crowd control when there is just over an hour of daylight and the race typically lasts around an hour or so. The Expert group did 4 laps of a 3.75 mile and 250ft ascent course. My first Expert experience really was no different from racing CAT2 this year. The only really difference was I could not battle it out with the leaders. My lap times were inconsistent and that needs to change come next season. I need to go fast every lap. I guess more training is in effort. I finished the first race in 19th place out of 33finishers with a time of 1:06 even. Kind of where I expected to be. The second race in September was a better race for me overall. I was able to knock off about 2 and a half minutes from the August race. I finished 19th out of 36 with a time of 1:03:32. I really enjoyed the 2 race series and I'm looking forward to it's expansion come next summer.