Tour de Burg

We're on Day 5. Crazy wind storm Friday night wreaked some havoc on yesterday's mountain stage on the SMT.

Stages so far-

6/30 Tour de Burg Prologue

7/1 Tour de Burg Stage 1

7/2 Tour de Burg Stage 2

7/3 2012 Tour de Burg Stage 3 aka trees from hell!!

7/4 2012 Tour de Burg Stage 4

June 16, 2012 Lumberjack 100

Flat! Constant Pedaling! Hot! Dusty! Fast as $#!T! Just a few ways to describe this race. Fast first 2 laps, fell off a bit on the third lap, but ended up 12th. Overall a good day and a great workout.


Check out the race coverage from Cyclingdirt-


Lumberjack 100 NUE Race Highlights 2012


Sweet Crash!! Watch those bars Drew (and Kevin)


Goofy interview featuring me


and... here's my Garmin file on Strava- http://app.strava.com/rides/11149068

6WC 2012

Aka 6 Hours of Warrior Creek in the year 2012 A.D.



Thank You Sponsors! Blue Ridge Cyclery, Stan's NoTubes, Magura USA, Schwalbe Tires

6WC 2012 Podium

What can be more fun than riding a huge 12.5 mile pump track with monstrous banked turns and berms and flowy singletrack for 6 hours? I will leave that question unanswered. Lets just say, this race was a lot of fun. 


I arrived Friday afternoon in time to get my race number plate and lovely t-shirt, and do a lap on the race course to refresh my memory from 2 years ago. The loop was in great condition, and the weather forecast for race day was looking to be perfect, starting cool in the 50s and getting up to 70 or so. After consuming my standard pre-race meal of Mexican food at a fine local establishment, I headed out to find the cabin fellow Blue Ridge Cyclery teammates Scott and Ellen Ramsey had rented for the weekend to lay my well stuffed body down to sleep. There was a big crew of team people at the cabin including Gordon WW Quadsworth, Chris Coleman from the shop and his girlfriend Liz and it was great to hang out and enjoy some team togetherness before I got too tired and had to go embrace the pillow for a few hours.


The next day Scott, Chris, Liz and I got out to Warrior Creek bright and early and we got the pit area all set up for the day. Since BRCC was one of the race sponsors we had a choice pit location right next to the finish line.


Race time was soon upon us, it started fast with me and some duo team guys leading out on the extra road/fire road section at the beginning of the first lap. The first 15 miles went by in just over an hour, we were flying, average speed was close to 14 mph. One of the duo team guys came around me in the first lap. From the second lap on I just went fast and smooth, didn't go crazy sprinting up every climb but just stayed steady and strong without killing myself. 


Something clicked with the banked turns, which I've never been good at riding, and suddenly I was railing every turn and hardly using the brakes at all. Basically, you just whip the bike around sideways and extend your arms and legs going in to the turn, then compress and suck the bike back up to you at the end of the berm, keeping your body fairly still and letting the bike move around. It felt great to finally get the hang of this technique!


Over the course of the race, I moved down into third in the 2 man team rankings, then fourth, then on the last lap one more 2 man team guy passed me. Bummer. I did win the solo category by 23 minutes or something, but I wanted to get on the duo podium too! Oh well... No I'm just kidding it was frickin sweet, and I only missed 3rd on the duo podium by 40 seconds or so. And, when you figure in the fact that the duo guys never had to stop and refuel, because they just do that during the rest lap, I was easily in 3rd and probably 2nd if I would have not had to stop and grab a fresh bottle/food/etc etc. Yay. 


Preliminary race results are up here and individual lap times will be up soon.  My Garmin was running for the whole race, so I posted up the results to Strava and the Garmin site (which has more accurate stats) Happy to see that my 6th lap was only a few minutes shorter than the 2nd! That was good pacing, and great job legs you make me happy.


Coming up this weekend... Camp Hilbert! Should I do 5 hour or XC? Stay tuned!!!

March MADNESS!! and some April madness too..

I know, I've been slacking lately on the blog updating... sorry about that, if anyone actually reads this thing.  Anyway, I don't have a lot of time to write at this moment, but I will say, racing has been going great lately! I've won more races in the past few weeks than the past 2 years. Feels like things are starting to come together.

Tsali Podium

Here's the latest results, in an easy to read bullet list format for your enjoyment.

• March 11th VORS #1/Southern Classic #2 -  Shootout on Angler's Ridge, Danville VA - 4th Cat 1 30-39

• March 18th VORS#2 - O'hill Meltdown, Charlottesville VA - 1st Pro/Expert

• March 24th Belmonte Endurance Races, Wintergreen VA - 1st Open men (a course marshal sent me the wrong way and I missed part of the course, but at the time I was 20 minutes in the lead, so I'm counting it as a win!)

• March 31/April 1 US Cup East/SERC #2/Southern Classic #4 - Tsali Knobscorcher, Bryson City NC - 1st XC, 2nd TT Cat 1 30-39

• April 7 6 Hours of Warrior Creek, Wilkesboro NC - 1st Solo Men (only 7 minutes behind the winning 2 man team! :)

VORS is the Virginia Off Road Series, I'll be doing these when there's nothing bigger going on, and also should be able to complete the US Cup East/SERC series, 2 more of those are coming up later this month in Georgia.  I will be racing 2 of the US Cup Triple Crown races also. Currently registered for 7 NUE races and several more soon when I get the money to pay the entry fees. I'll be at Cohutta 100 at the end of the month and doing the US Cup/SERC #4 race the next day.. ouch. Not planning on winning that one, but I need to complete at least 8 of 10 races in the series and there are a few other ones I'll have to miss. Drive to Alabama from Ohio the day after the Mohican 100??? Probably not. Oh scheduling conflicts, you kill me.  


Speaking of which, I couldn't make it to Dragon's Tale this year due to being down in NC for the Tsali Knobscorcher on the same day, and that was very sad.. I love Dragon's Tale, such a badass race, and Chris Scott does such a great job putting it on.  There was a huge field this year, and JB came out and destroyed everyone apparently. But hey, if I had to miss a big epic gnarly backcountry 4 hour race for a little 2 hour XC race like Tsali, at least I won the thing! And, although its not my normal style of course, it was super fun and good to practice that fast flowy buff singletrack.  Apparently everyone is into these sub-2 hour short sprint XC races, so I'm giving that a try this year, but I think my real love will always be with the longer backcountry races.

Start of the 30-39 cat 1s. You can see me way in the back left behind everyone... Photo by MTBMike

The win at Tsali was especially tasty and satisfying because I had a terrible start. I got jammed in the 2nd row behind tons of guys all fighting for a good spot on the start line, and was maybe 15th or 20th getting into the singletrack. A few dropped off the sides, but we were pretty much cruising along single file in a big train at a medium-fast pace for the first few miles and it was impossible to pass on the tight twisty singletrack. Finally, I saw an opportunity on a gradual climb with some room on the sides of the trail, and stood up and sprinted past the entire line of like 15 guys. 2 were a few hundred yards off the front and I was able to catch them within a few minutes by turning myself inside out on the steep grunt of a climb in the middle of the race lap. "Shut up body, do what I tell you!" 

Andy hot on my wheels towards the end of the 1st lap -Photo ToShun Campbell

After that, it was just cruising fast and smooth. Andy Johnston and I traded pulls in the lead until the middle of the second lap when I punched it hard again up the steep climb and didn't see him any more after that. Gary Yates, who eventually finished second, bridged up to me a few miles from the finish, he was flying! He passed me and I was having a hard time holding on to his wheel, and thought my hopes of a win had disappeared. Then, either I got a crazy burst of energy or he had exploded himself in the effort to bridge the gap, either way I came back around him and hammered my ass off for the last 2 miles of the lap and got a good 40 second gap on him. It was pretty intense. On second thought, maybe this short XC stuff is alright.

Enjoying the lead a few miles from the finish :) -Photo by ToShun Campbell

BRC Training Day

Today I drove up to Natural Bridge, VA today to ride with teammates G-Wad and Jay Catleggs (Gordon Wadsworth, Jay Catlett). Frank Deal and Dan Netzer also joined us.  We rode the monstrous 12 mile 3000 foot Orchard Mountain climb twice, with a little warmup before hand. The first time up, Dan and I hit it pretty hard, and halfway up I went even harder, riding alone the rest of the way up. The second ascent was more leisurely and threw in some painful low cadence strength work. Both times down we hauled as much ass as possible, and since the road was only about 5-6% grade most of the climb this involved a lot of pedaling...

The day was clear, the sun came out after a cloudy and raining night and morning. It was beautiful. The view from the Blue Ridge Parkway to the valley floor 3000 feet below was pretty incredible.

Gordo snapped this pic of me and Jay at the tippy top of the climb

Southern Cross 2012, Dahlonega GA

So since its now summer in February on the east coast, weather conditions were looking great for my first race of the season. The 50 mile Southern Cross (final 2011/first 2012 race of the American UltraCross Series) was a good test of fitness for the many upcoming NUE 100 milers on my schedule. So, packed up the VW Rabbit Friday morning and began the 7 hour drive to Montaluce Winery. My plan was to get there in time to check in and do some pre-riding of the 'cross sections of the course, and get a good prerace workout. However, being me, I didn't get on the road until after 11 and it was getting dark by the time I rolled in to the winery and I barely made it 15 mins before the end of check-in.  Oh well. That night it was back to the cabin to relax and eat lots of food, finish swapping wheels and mess around with the bike a bit, and get some sleep.


_8

Figure 1


The race course was a figure 8 (with a tail) configuration, as shown in Figure 1, with racers riding through fun cyclocross sections on the way out of the winery and on the way back in. In between, we would be hitting some fast pavement, which changed to dirt/gravel after a few miles. Over some rollers, up a long steep in places 5 mile first main climb, ride along the ridge for a while, down a fast descent, some more speedy pavement, onto more dirt and then back up the mountain again with a more gradual ~10ish mile climb. Finally, ripping down another dirt descent (which is also the big climb seen in Fool's Gold), back onto pavement, closing the figure 8 and back the tail into the winery for the final 'cross section. Whew. The long extended climbs should benefit me, as I enjoy long forays into the pain cave. If this race description has completely baffled you, an easier way to get the picture would be to look at the map of my ride - http://app.strava.com/activities/4563107

Anyway, on race day I was feeling pretty good and got to the course with over an hour to warm up and take care of last minute details- minor brake adjustments, dropping the kids off at the pool for the final time of the morning, etc. Weather was beautiful, sunny and cool-ish, staying around 45 degrees for the day, which was actually perfect conditions for my clothing choice.

A little after 10:00 about 300 of us rolled off the start line and into the first CX section.  I got a good start and was up with the lead 10-20 riders, flying down through a field and over a log obstacle, into a narrow section and into a steep run up. I was able to ride through all of this pretty easily since I was on my mountain bike with fat tires and low gearing, and was able to pass most of the riders in front of me. On the way out of the winery onto the first paved section, I sat in the lead for a good... oh, 30 seconds or a minute, until the eventual winner of the race, Thomas Turner, and 2nd Stephen Hyde, went cruising by. I tried to hang for a minute but couldn't quite match their pace on my MTB, so dropped back and rode with the lead group of 10 or so guys, including speedy Garth Prosser and Charlie Storm, as we took turns pulling until the bottom of the first climb. Garth had some really bad luck and flatted (the first of 4?) right at the bottom, and was the first casualty, leaving me with no one to goof around with for the rest of the race. The pace was very high, Brian Toone (the one other mountain bike and eventual 3rd place), led Charlie Storm and 2 other riders up, I dropped back a little ways back with some other guys around me. By the time we got to the top 5 miles later and 2000 feet higher, I was alone with no one in sight in front or behind, sitting in 7th place. I cruised as fast as possible down the descent, but a killer headwind kept speeds from reaching the expected 45+ mph.

Through the pavement, over the rollers and into the second huge climb.  Now I was starting to feel pretty good, the race was half over and I went as hard as possible up this climb. Getting up near the top, I started catching some guys that had ridden with Brian up the first climb. Saw one speck way up the road, he was bobbing and wobbling around and lookin pretty rough, and soon he was out of sight behind. Then another. Then, I was in fifth and pretty happy about that.  Then, I saw another guy up ahead and as we were reaching the very top, I really dug deep and caught up and came by him. This happened to be Charlie again, and he actually wasn't looking as wasted as the last two guys. In fact, he wasn't wasted at all as he promptly came back around me again! Over the next roller I sprinted past and got a good 50 foot gap on him going into the big dirt road downhill.  With him on a cross bike and me on the fast 29er with disc brakes and fat tires, I figured I would be able to drop him. But, every time I looked back, there he was just sitting there 20 feet behind me ripping around all the corners just as fast as me. Crap. And now we were back on the pavement with about 14 miles to go to the finish. We rode together for a while taking turns pulling and chatted a bit, he had gotten a flat tire and Brian had gotten away but probably was only a minute or so up the road. That was encouraging. We started back up the "tail" for the last few miles into the winery, and coming up one of the paved rollers Chalie took off and I couldn't match him. I stayed a few hundred yards behind but couldn't match his speed on the pavement.

Finally, we were back to the winery. The final CX section was fun, with a brutal steep run-up and extended climb afterwards. I was able to ride it, and made up a lot of ground on Charlie, 4th place was looking within reach again! He was only like 30 feet in front of me!  Of course, we were only going 4 mph, so when things turned down again he was 250 feet ahead. Anyway, it was close, but he held me off and we finished 10 seconds apart. How exciting. Glad to be finished, I changed out of the spandex and had some post-race lasagna and drove back to the cabin for a shower and some beer.

The post race party was a good time, tons of raffle prizes were given away, and several people even got rewarded for finishing well! All in all it was a good day.

Team Spririt

So, since my last post, I have joined Blue Ridge Cyclery's elite MTB team.  Very excited to be with this great group! Looking forward to this year of racing with some good guys, Gordon Wadsworth and Ryan Fawley to name two, and having support from this awesome Charlottesville bike shop. Looks like the rest of my sponsors are locked in as well, NoTubes, Magura, Uvex, and Schwalbe tires. Thank you all for your support!

I got a chance to check out the shop and meet Dave and Shawn Tevendale today, Quadsworth and I drove up to do the very prestigious Pantani Ride put on by BRC. It was sweet, 47 miles on mountain bikes, some hellacious climbs, lots of gravel roads and some pavement too. We climbed over the big steep Broke(n)back Mountain, then came back up and over it again. Although Gordon and I were by ourselves out front most of the day, we decided not to stop and re-enact scenes from the movie. A great decision since the ride started a bit above freezing and got progressively colder throughout the day.

Coming up next weekend... Southern Cross, down in Dahlonega GA! My first real race of the season, 50 miles of dirt roads on a mountain bike with lots of hellacious climbs. Today was a good warm up. This race should be fun, with cyclocross-style sections interspersed with miles and miles of gravel road.  It's geared towards a cx bike, but I don't have one, so I'll just be on the ol' Niner Air 9. With Ernesto Marenchin, Gerry Phlug, and Garth Prosser all signed up, it should be a great race! We'll see if all my winter training has been paying off, I'll try to put the hurt on these guys :)  Stay tuned for a recap...

Right now I'm anxiously awaiting my new wheelsets from Stan's! Some stupid light ZTR Race Gold's for racing and Crests for every day use. They should arrive in time for the race this weekend.