The Wah Report

Summit Local Series #3. Everyone said to me that this was MY race to loose today. Tons of climbing and the start was ½ block from my house….. How cool is that. The gun goes off and I prepare for the 20min climb. I rock out of the start and instantly get a gap in the middle ring.. The hill starts to kick and I drop to the granny and my chain falls off.. Nice! 5 guys pass me as I put it back on. I hop back on and hit the gas and regain my lead spot. I’m killing it and opening a huge gap. Finally at the top of the 1^st climb we hit some flat single track and I hold my position… then comes a sketchy downhill…. 1,2,3 people pass me. Damn – I’m going as fast as I can down these hills and people are passing me like I’m standing still. I’m still nursing my road rash from over a week ago and I’m 1 arm warmer, 1 knee warmer guy because if I fall on my left elbow or left knee I think I’ll go into shock ;) After the double dip of crashes on that side, the healing process is coming along very slowly. We hit another climb and I regain my 1^st position. Flat single track for a little while, then we hit what is called heinous hill. This is a 30 min granny gear climb, loose rocky and never-ending. It is the kind of climb that you have to sit on the tip of your saddle, put your weight on the front tire so it doesn’t pop up, but not too much weight as you need some weight on the back tire to keep traction. It is quite uncomfortable wrestling the bike like this… I decide I need to really open a gap here, because if I’m climbing this long it only means one thing… I must have to go downhill again. I look back and no one is in site.. I pass about 10 people in other classes that started before me like they are standing still. I get to the top and hit a flatish single track section, then comes the dreaded long technical, rocky & loose downhill. I see a kid in front of me, he must be only 11 or 12. He is rocking the downhill, but I can’t pass because he is as fast as me on the downhill… Back to twisty turny flat single track then comes a super crazy downhill. I’m holding on for dear life and know with one false move I’m over the bars and in “shock” from the pain… “on your left”… Damn… there goes my # 1 spot.. I may has well been at a complete stop the guy was going so fast… I know I have to grab his wheel and hang on, but I can’t. He is just killing it on the downhill. After only riding my mountain bike 6 or so times in 5 years, my downhill skills are terrible. We finally hit a flat section and I drill it as hard as I can, but can’t see him… last downhill and I don’t see anyone behind me so I cruise in for 2^nd…

hugo road race. 80 miles of flat with a little wind. I felt good with the new custom insoles but was unsure of what 80 miles felt like. The group was huge and they did not enforce the yellow line rule so gutterball was out of the question. I don’t know if it is CO ACA style because they are not USCF, but in MN they would have DQed the whole field it was so bad. We must have taken up the entire road for half the race. Feed zone 1, I grab a bottle and the yahoos at the front decide that it is time to attack. Nice! What kind of racing etiquette is that? They get a break and I hop on the chase group and we roll at a leisurely pace until a few miles to go. I make a few attacks, but they are not letting me go, so I sit in for the final sprint and the pace heats up as we catch a group of 3's and 35+ guys. If I would have known that once we caught them, there were only 6 up the road I would have dug deeper for the finish... but I sat up and cruised in with the pack.


Lap the lake citizen race (Wisport CO style) Course description said 45 miles.. A breeze I thought and only brought one bottle and 1 gel and got there 30 mins prior to the start without a warm-up. There were 20 or so "serious" racers there and then the usual citizens. The gun goes off... it was a real gun that they shot.. Only in Leadville. We climbed for 20 mins from the gun... At the top I was "warmed up". The course was brutal. 30 mins of climbing per lap for 3 laps. Every time up the long grinder, people popped off. 2nd of 3 laps and 3 guys are drilling it up the climb and I'm feeling the effects of yesterday's 80 miles and can't close the gap. I get into a chase group of 5 guys and we roll. The lady at registration said we did 2 laps around the lake and then a short flat lap, so I'm attacking like crazy on lap 2 near the finish.. but can't shake these guys. Gel gone and most of my water gone, we head for lap 3.. I don't know if I can do another lap.. I'm cramping and out of food and almost out of water. We grind away and I hang on... We hit the finishing straight and a "citizen" racer who is in our group leads us out and I grab 2nd in the sprint and 5th overall... I'm toast. Today's 45 miles was way harder then yesterday's 80.

The double rip…. Often described as the double dip, but in my case this weekend it will be called the double rip.

Saturday Mountain States Cup. Similar to the MN series but CO style. Course start on dirt road, up a single track rocky climb, to single track flat section surrounded by cactus, not passing here or you will get a flat, followed by headwind double track to tail wind single track to super sketchy rocky downhill to more single track to fast dirt road section to start/finish line. The gun goes off and the quick start is hurting me. I settle in around 10th. I pass a couple people on the initial climb and the road sections. I hit the rocky technical downhill and hold on for dear life as one false move and you will fall off the mountain. 1st lap almost down when I hit the fast dirt road section… then I decide to take a gel shot with my right hand… (first mistake) I’m screaming 20+ gel in right hand when all of a sudden a course marshall jumps up and starts screaming LEFT LEFT. I panic and grab my left brake (note…. front brake) gel in right hand trying to make the left turn and Pete Rose it loosing all the skin on both knees and elbows.. and my chain gets stuck in my chainrings… I pry and pry and 5 mins later get it out and hop back on as tons of people have passed at this point. I’m bleeding from all ends and continue to rock for 2 more laps and catch people on the climbs and road sections… After all that nonsense I end up 5th….

Now the normal person, would say “that’s enough racing for the weekend” I need to heal up and there is always another race… But, NO there was a crit on Sunday in Fort Collins and it was in the downtown area so those are always fun and tons of crowds. Course: twisty turny… maybe a ½ block of straight aways.. So, basically you are always turning. I line up front row with my teammates and they pull the raffle ticket. The race was co-sponsored by Tyler Hamilton Foundation and Fat Tire Beer. They call my name as I’m lined up… and I end up winning a sweet Fat Tire cruiser and Tyler makes me do a victory lap on it prior to the race. Nice! I should have quit right then and left with the swag. The gun goes off and it’s full-on all out crit racing. Diving into corners and holding on for dear life. We hit the final corner into the start/finish area on the 1st or 2nd lap and BANG my front tire blows at 30mph… I don’t think I could have been going any faster. In an instant I’m sliding on my left side on my scabs and wounds from yesterday.. Ouch! I hop up, go to the pits and grab a wheel. My ass and sides are hanging out, my knees and elbows and flowing blood and kit is ruined but I do a quick wheel change and hop back in… The race is super fast and I make my way to the front a few times, but a hit on the brakes and you are mid to back pack. 5 laps to go and I’m trying to move up, but too little too late. 1 lap to go…. Someone hits the barrier and it is carnage… Sheeet I can’t go down again… I lock up the brakes and skid for 10-15 ft and somehow avoid the carnage… and roll in with the pack…

Funny note from Saturday.. I was getting cleaned up at the 1st aid station and there was a teenage kid doing the cleaning and he says “what was your time… so I told him.. and he says “was that for 2 or 3 laps” I say 3.. and he says “that’s super fast”… I say yea… but I’m getting too old for this nonsense and he quickly replys “yea… really” Pretty funny.. 37 yrs old getting cleaned up by some teenager and he is agreeing that I’m told old for this racing business.
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rock it

You know you are living in the right town when the front page of the local paper and the local radio station gives a race report from the town series mountain bike race. Last night was race #2 in the series. The series is truly the Wednesday World Championships in Summit County. This series is what people live for, and for some, are the only races they do. Instead of little league baseball, they have Mountain Bike Little League up here. It is awesome. Some day I hope I can leave the 50+ races a year lifestyle and just rock the local series.

I will be using these races as another hard workout for road season. Coming into the race after Tuesday night’s hard local training ride, which none of the mountain bikers showed up at because they wanted to stay fresh for last night’s race, I was a little sore and tired. I warmed up over lunch with an hour spin and 1,500ft of climbing and hit the line for a pretty non-technical race with half dirt road and half single track. I have to say that this new mountain bike technology is awesome. The new fangled STI XTR shifters are amazing and the Rock Shox Sid World Cup with pop-lock is the bomb diggity. I’m rocking a Gary Fisher Sugar Team and it rocks. The gun goes off and it is redline dirt road action. One thing I work on during cross season is the quick start…. but it is not cross season so I have not been working on that. My start is horrible and I feel awful. I can’t go that hard from the gun yet… I settle in around 15th or so. Finally after 10 mins I start to feel good and start picking people off on the climbs and long road sections. It is amazing how much faster “roadies” can go on the dirt roads then true mountain bikers. 1 lap down and I can’t see the leaders – they rocked the start and kept rocking. 2nd lap I start passing women, kids, etc… It is awesome when you come up on a fast woman or kid on a technical single track rocky downhill and they can rock it faster then you. ½ lap to go and I roll by this kid and he pulls over and feels his back tire and starts bawling so loud because he flatted. It was super funny. I continue to hammer the roads and climbs and pick-up people but the crappy start hurts me and I finish 5th. Saturday brings another mountain bike race and Sunday a crit. Not technically the triple dip, but close.
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rock it

Saturday was Rocky Mounts Criterium. Another day of hill repeats/intervals, with basically a climb then downhill with maybe 100ft of flat. The weather was 90 degrees. 5 VC dudes on the line. The gun goes off and lap after lap it becomes apparent that the hill will decide this race. I'm finding it easy to move around the pack and try to stay toward the front. Mid-way through the race teammate Ross makes the winning break. We move to the front and block a little and just sit in as the break is going to stick. 15 mins left in the race I move to the front and get the crit mentality back that I need to be aggressive and stay top 10 or no results are going to come. Chris keeps yelling at me to "stay at the front".... thanks Chris, that really helped. I was suffering but knew I had to stay top 10. 5 laps to go and it pays off. Some CU guy attacks hard on the climb and I hop on. He is going so hard and I'm deep deep deep in the red zone but I see we are opening a gap and we are almost at the top of the hill so I can rest on the descent. Another guy is with us. At this point I won't work because I believe that Ross is still in the break. But with 2 to go I see him on the side of the road. 1 lap to go and 2 guys bridge across to us right at the hill. Oh no! is the pack coming? I have nothing left at this point and look back and see that the pack is far enough away for me to easily cruise in for 8th...

Sunday was the 1st mtn bike race of the Summit Series. It was called Le Tour De Trash - yep it was at a landfill. The Summit Series is what most cyclist live for up here and is the only time a lot of them race, so this is their big day. I'm treating it as just another hard training day and focusing on the road season. This was my 1st mtn bike race in years. I started my racing career in the dirt 14 years ago, but fell away with it when I did my first road crit. I decided to race Sport because my technical skills at this point are probably beginner status and didn't want to piss off anyone by being stuck behind me. The gun goes off and we hit a long dirt road into a strong headwind. The one thing I like about racing with mountain bike guys is that they don't get the "draft" phenomenon. They love to pull and I love to sit on their wheel. I get 3rd wheel and we hit the downhill single track. I hear "come on" a couple times as I struggle through the technical stuff and the two in front of my open a gap. Then we hit the long climb and I catch the two leaders and put in a strong effort and put my self in 1st place. At the end of the 1st of 3 laps two guys catch me on another technical downhill, then we hit the road and they go to the front and pull ;) Suckers.. At the end of the road I attack and drop one guy, but the other comes with me. 2nd time up the long climb I drop the guy and I'm in 1st again and feeling good and putting serious gappage in on the climb.... when I decide to throw it in the granny I get chain suck and my chain some how lodges itself in between two chain rings and it takes me 10mins to get it out and when I get it out the chain is bent and skips and won't hold a gear... so I roll back to the car and call it quits.....