It's All About the Big Picture

Levis 100 strikes again.  I am now 0-3 at this race and am thinking of staying away from that place for awhile as nothing good happens there....for me anyways.

I started off great and moved with ease to where I wanted to go.  I then got caught up by some junk riding that forced me off my bike 3 times in the first lap.  The start of the second lap I put some air in the tires based on the fact that I was rimming out a little too easily.  The very start of the third lap is where all hell broke loose and upon entering the first section of singletrack I picked up a stick and snapped off the derailure hanger.  My day was done after that, but I did manage to salvage the day by getting out on the mountain bay for another 40 miles.  Luckily for me I still managed to get in 6 hours of riding just as the coach ordered.

This race was a dissapointment, but all in all it's about the big picture and riding as many laps as I can for Tim Wissbroecker and his family.  The more laps I complete the more I can hopefully give them.  So if you are interested in pledging or even just a regular donation I wont turn you away plus you gain entry into a raffle from the great people at:

Bigby Coffee of Wausau
Sprocketz Bike Shop of Weston
RedEye Brewing Company of Wausau

All you need to do is send me the following to mtbkr81[at]gmail.com

Name:
Address:
Phone Number:
$ Pledge per lap:
$ Maximum:

Here is the news story about my quest and personal tie to Tim and this type of accident:

Thanks to everyone for their donations and support see you at Wausau24.

Ramping up to Wausau24

As I get closer to the Summer Formal of 24 hour racing here in the Midwest I am slowly learning more about my strengths and weaknesses by riding with the fast and the furious from right here in Wausau to those speed demons from Duluth.  I have found what I need to work on just in time to have a final test before Wausau24 by facing some past demons at the Levis 100.

This race has seemed to hand my arse to me year after year.  The first time I made it to that race was in 2008 and I had just come down with the flu in which I only managed to make it for 4 of the 8 laps.  2009 I was determined to get my revenge and come home with the win but I had been already plagued by mono up to that point unknowingly and was extremely sick before crossing the line in which I at least finished.  I am hoping for a strong appearance this year as it would be only two weeks out from my last 24 solo attempt for an unknown amount of time.

Needless to say I am ready for Levis after a hard workout at the underdown and I will be ready for Wausau24.  So let it be known I am ready to GET SOME!

Louis Garneau "The Review"

Louis Garneau TRAIL X-GRIP SHOES

About the shoe: 

This is actually their level MTB shoe and has two single straps that merge into a wider one for more power transfer. Removable crampons under the toes and a heel retention system make this shoe a practical and affordable solution.

Approximate weight (size 41/1 shoe): 308 g/11 oz

First thoughts were based on the price range and at an msrp of $84.99 I wasn't sure if I was going to get the performance to rival that of the Sidi's and Specialized BG shoes.  The design was simple and for me it didn't include a ratchet strap that seem to fail on me after a year or so on most shoes i've tried in the past.  The loop on the back I wasn't really fond of I honestly thought I was going to catch it on something, but that has not yet happened.  I was worried at first about only having two velcro straps but the width of the top strap made for a tight yet comfortable fit.  Even in wet muddy or dry and sandy conditions I never felt the velcro loosen up.   The cleat track is durable and stiff but not to the point of being unable to run in them and they clear mud quite well.  The design of the toe box is interesting and while I didn't see anything up front to protect it from the elements and damage from bouncing off rocks amongst other things it's held up very well after 4 wors races, 3 12 hour races, and multiple mountain bay rides in all conditions from the wet rain and snow to the dry and dusty.  I am very happy with the performance of these shoes and at this price there is no possible way you can go wrong especially if you don't like the ratchet strapping.

(short version pictured)

Louis Garneau MEN ALVEO 3K BIB

About These Bib Shorts: 

The mesh look-a-like construction of the Alveo 3K Bibshorts provides ventilation and the ability to recover its shape although it has been stretched.  Airzone chamois is super ventilated with memory foam that maintains density.

DETAILS:

• Ergonomic fit
• 10 panels
• No seams inside legs
• Flatlocks
• Powerband
• Front reflector
• Back and bottom reflective logos
• Airzone Chamois

I normally don't go the route of a bib short I just didn't like the feel in the past but I'd figure I would give it one more chance and I am glad I did and with a bib at an msrp of $119.99  It is well ahead of it's competition at the pricepoint.  Fabric felt heavy at first but the mesh like material allows the short to breath with ease and very comfortable.  I was very impressed with the airzone chamois in one major aspect in that the beveled edges really made a difference by not pinching your skin as you move in the saddle as you pedal at a high cadence.  A nice touch to add to this as well would be the lack of seams on the inside of the short and the "powerband" got rid of that ever so annoying gel bead at the end of the leg.  The only thing I didn't like and I may just need to get used to this is how high the material goes above the waistband and I thought it would get too warm but didn't notice a change except to the slimming of my midsection.....hahahahaha.   I am loving these shorts, but I have to keep reminding myself that I still need to use some chamois butter despite how comfortable these bibs are. 

For more info go to www.louisgarneau.com

Order through John at Sprocketz here in Weston!!!!

WEMS #2 Stump Farm 100

Photo By Mark Schindel

I'll start off by saying that I wasn't sure what to expect.  The weather up to Sunday morning had been well short of amazing even by rain forest standards, but if history says anything about the Reforestation Camp, this place could hold water on monsoon like levels, which is a complete contrast from what the Adventure 212 guys went through in Ohio this past weekend.  The weather when I left for the venue was fine with even some sun here and there and that basically lasted till I got to highway 41 when it poured like crazy really till I got to the camp.  The setup was very much different from the past and without lapping through the same route as done in past.

We lined up for the start and the field was not short of competition and even with Tim sprinting to a top 5 finish at the Dirty Kanza, I still had to contend with the usual suspects plus with the addition of Carlos, Mike and Trevor this was surely going to be a hard fought event.

The start ran in the opposite direction down the new wet single track and then out on the ski trails backwards to the main gravel two track.  I got off the line out front and was first to the bike.  I was quickly joined by Carlos and clearly he can ride singletrack smoother than I can so I held is wheel and jumped ahead going into the first section to buy a few minutes of time and once it opened up he regained the lead and we rode out the better half of the first lap wheel to wheel until I bobbled a section and lost my momentum for little bit.  I thought at this stage in the game it was early and maybe, hopefully, he would come back to me later on  and really I should have stuck with him as our lap times were almost the same averaged out over the last 4 laps so yeah I screwed up a little bit so I settled into a pace in which I felt most comfortable and was caught by Mike Curtes and we rode in through the lap area chit chatting a bit about how fun that course was backwards.

I kept my pace where I thought it needed to be and began concentrating on riding smooth and efficient and basically that's what I did for next few hours. Lap 3 I was already encountering lapped traffic and  Lap 4 I came in for new bottles and took to the course again without hesitation.  I started feeling pretty damn good so I began my attack and really my approach was to pass every rider ahead of as if it were a fellow 100 miler and this pace continued on as I came through lap 8 even though I dropped my chain while climbing some singletrack.

It's strange what goes on in your head during a race like this.  Today I was paranoid that my bike was going to break and that Mike would catch me so in an effort to fend off those demons I stopped for more bottles and this time I lubed my chain quickly and glanced for loose twigs and such in the derailure, pedals and cassette.  I ripped out of there like a James "Bubba" Stewart starting a Moto X race with every intention of testing these tired legs and "build some character" I pulled out a couple of my best laps  (minus the pit stop) and rolled in 2nd place at 7 hours and 5 minutes.  This was probably in my eyes the best race I had where I didn't win because of the hard pace I sustained and then the increased effort that I didn't know I had towards the end.

Photo By Mark Schindel

WORS #4 Sunburst Slowdown
With a very difficult training week in store I wasn't expecting much but it did have some climbing so I thought I could sustain enough for a top half finish.        WRONG!

I took off from the back and got hung up in a crash that occurred early on before the initial loop even got underway.  Then to top it off, I got caught up in another mess on the singletrack climb where I was reaching for every branch trying to keep myself from unclipping but it just wouldn't hold off and I jumped off the bike while Scanley, Mark, Bill, Dan and Jesse all got away and again I was off the back. Now I am getting pissed off at this point and really just cruised around for the first lap.  The second lap I hit the reset switch and attacked as best as I could with my flat as hell legs and busted up that climb.  I started reeling riders in one by one and thought I did a good job, but that was not the case.  Too much early on putzing around really cost me some valuable time.

Next up is the 12 Hours of John Muir.  I've loved this course the last couple of times I've done it and am looking to improve on my 9th place finish from last year and looking back at my lap times, there should be no reason why I can't get back to my 2008 2nd place performance, but the new course has me quite curious and with the weather that place doesn't hold water all that well and gets very sticky.

After that I have the Subaru Cup XC and Short Track followed by a much needed break before heading to Levis to get some revenge on that course.  I have unfinished business with that race let's put it that way shall we.

WEMS Series #1 12 Hours of Northern Kettles

"Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, either way you're right"

~Henry Ford

The first race of the 2010 WEMS Series begins in the Northern Kettles outside of Fond Du Lac and not in Green Bay as the schedule may dictate.  Due to the "weather" (or lack there of)  the Stump Farm 12 was rescheduled and changed to a different date and format in which I am still planning on attending and still intending to bring the pain to the best of my ability. 

The 12 Hours of Northern Kettles had a challenging wet course that only got better as the hours passed by and we were warned that it would be slick but that was not at all to be a joke.  We had a different start format this year running up a pretty steep gravel hill to get to our bikes.  My goal was to get to my bike at a comfortable but uptempo pace and hold my own from there.   You see, I normally have issues during the first couple of races during the season with trying to complete all of my laps without taking a break.  Typically I would take one here an there for around 10 to 15 minutes to take inventory on my body and my gear to make sure all was okay.  At this point I didn't have a clue what to expect as my lap times were by feel since my garmin had no juice out of the fact that I never charged it and I also ran out of Infinit Nutrition while mixing my bottles.  As far as I knew, I would be in survival mode from the time Mr. Nigh yelled GO!

I settled in right behind Cale and let a couple of rabbits go ahead knowing full well that I was in it to retain a fast yet obtainable pace.  Now I didn't have any support and neither did Tim so I really didn't care to check on my progress until the last few laps, but more on that later so really my focus was on being consistent and not overdoing it.  The first lap felt slow and was.  Same can be said for laps two and three.  Lap four I felt a crap-ton better despite the fact that I crashed late in the lap on an off-camber downhill. 

I stopped only a few times to get new bottles filled full of Infinit and to apply chamois butter and the occasional Baer back & body pills to help me out with the bumpy course.  I knew that this course was going to eat me up due to the fact that every time I had to apply more chamois butter the pain almost made me vomit.  Granted I know this isn't something you all need to hear, but it is one of those things that you may never know you may have to deal with during a race like this as if it were some sort of a law where you need to expect the unexpected.  So I continue on towards the halfway point and now I know this is the best I've done this early on in the season.  Usually, I sit down for awhile as previously mentioned, but this time I haven't considered doing any sort of rest other than restocking on fluids.  I was quite happy with my progress and still to this point I didn't have a clue whether I was in last place or in first place as I have been riding by myself not getting passed by any solos at any point since this morning.  

So somewhere around the nine to ten hour range I finally decide to check and in an effort to not slow me down I picked a lap I needed more liquids and rode past the timing area straight to the cabin and noticed I was in second.  I can't lie here, I was a little shocked all I did was rode how I felt and didn't rest as that was my only choice since I did not have a clock, gps, odometer and so on.

My focus then shifted toward attack mode to keep the distance more if not the same to third place and see what I can do to reel in Eki.  Well now that I've seen the stats I know I couldn't have caught him at the pace I was riding, but I wasn't too far off and with it being this early in the year I would have some hard workouts to get me to that level or better later on so I needed to maintain and really without thinking into it, that's what I ended up doing anyway.  So I came around for lap 14 and looked at the clock for a little bit running some simple grade school math (which after ten hours can be challenging) and with some praise from the crowd I embarked on my 15th lap and hammered home what I felt and thought would be a hot lap.  I was pretty gassed at that point and hoped I had something left other than this annoying cough that recently developed.

I came in at 7:44 with roughly 16 minutes to spare 15 laps and around 100 miles with Tim (former teammate and fellow Salsa rider) coming in 8 minutes later wrapping up his 16th lap.  I gotta say he is always a great competitor and I enjoy racing against him.  Wish him all the best at the Dirty Kanza.

Next up is the WORS Trek Big Ring Classic here in Wausau.  The Rhinelander race was a strategic disaster and will hope to bring a better performance to my home course.  I know my strengths and weaknesses and hopefully my body will forget about the weaknesses I have for about 2 hours next Sunday.

WORS #1 Iola Bump & Jump

The opening race of the 2010 race season for me has come and gone. I am about 90% happy with how things turned out as I knew I wasn’t going to contend for the win I just really wanted to sustain a hard effort for a long as I could and turn the screws as I went along hopefully within 8-10 minutes back of the winner, but that did not happen.


The pre-ride on Saturday gave an early indication of what to expect in regards to the number of riders hitting the course on Sunday and I am glad I got there before the start of the sport race as I had one of the last remaining spots in the parking lot. Around 850 racers toed the line that day and I also heard that 70 Elite riders had a series plate already in addition, over 100 Elite men were to toe the line at the start of the Belgioso Pro/Cat1 series.

I found out early on and reflected hours later that my best races, and races I’ve won were because of start position and placing before the trail tightens up. I know it’s common knowledge, but year after year I get either a terrible start or get stuck behind some slower traffic while the leaders smoothly ride away.

My first race of the year was no different. I picked a bad place to start and got caught up in a mess and watched all of my friends speed off in joy and glee to the first right hand corner going up to the ski jump and again another mess in the little sand box at the top. At this point I got shuffled back quite a bit and spent a good deal of the first lap trying to see if I could gain what I’ve lost and really the only thing I lost on the first lap was a lot of energy. The second lap was not any different, but the third lap I could see a large group of people including Jesse and Nate along with about 3 or 4 more guys and as I drop down into the second half of the 3rd lap I end up losing my second full bottle. Not cool, I had to stop on the start of the 4th lap to get whatever I could and Paul was able to help a brother out.

The fourth and fifth laps were kind of a blur as I was pretty mad at this point and my lower back was killing me. I did catch a couple more riders and had Nate in my sights until a stick got caught in his spokes and wouldn’t be able to see him again for the remainder of the race. I rolled in towards the bottom of the results page and 19 minutes back of Tristan, but cut 10 minutes off my 2008 elite time and gained 5 minutes on the winner so that was the encouraging part of the day.

10 things I’ve learned….

1. Earn the call up and pick a more strategic place to start. Not just any place will do. Look for the line of fast racers in the best position to maneuver the first series of corners and obstacles this can make a difference between a top 20 or bottom 5.

2. Kill the lower back issue and get a riser bar already. (done)

3. Have an extra bottle waiting just in case.

4. Racing is fun, but you can have fun and be aggressive at the same time.

5. I’m not pro, this is a hobby. Train by yourself and ride with your friends

6. I have to be more aggressive on the starts. I’ve put in the time and the effort to compete it’s a matter of just shutting up and doing it.

7. I have been racing for about 6 years…I still have room to improve on technical riding skills.

8. Remember, everybody out there is in just about the same amount of pain. What am I going to do about it?

9. Who cares about how many hours you spend on the bike. Quality trumps quantity.

10. The conditions are never going to be perfect and races don’t always go as planned. Just keep pedaling circles and let the smile on your face do the talking.

This weekend is the WEMS series opener in Green Bay at the Stump Farm 12 and without a doubt will be going 12 solo again. Rain and snow in the forecast with temps around 50 at best with rain the night before will make things interesting. This is going to be a tough early season test for equipment setup, the mind, and keeping on a regimen in regards to nutrition is always tough as we tend not to ingest as much as we should because of the rain and cold. History would show that these are typically conditions found at the Underdown WEMS race and I’ve usually had good luck there when healthy, so this should be right up my alley. Race report to follow after I thaw out from racing in these conditions.

Base

While getting ready to ride this beauty well into plaid speed at Wausau24.  I've been training probably the best I've ever done.  I did come down with something this week but not before I got at least 10 hours in, but it's too early to risk something worse by riding through it much like I did last year so I took the previous 4 days off to focus on getting healthy again.   This just about happens every year since I began to run track.  I get allergies which leads to a cough, then leaving me with a massive cold.  I got my salsa in working order and minus my rotor crank I'll be ready to rock.

I am excited to race a 24 solo again this year.  I am also glad to be racing it at a lower price....at least 200 dollars less.  I hope they get rid of that stupid finish loop on the way into the tent this year, boy was that terrible.  I don't really like the idea of a shorter lap.  While I would love to bring in more riders that were affraid to tackle a 15 mile lap,  A short lap would make things clog up and would be kinda difficult to keep the traditional favorites i.e. flower trail and Ho Chi Minh both in the course while still crossing red bud rd.  I say go back to how it was during the 2007 race.  I want to say it was around 13 miles and afterall it is an endurance event.

Trail project in Bradley Park is taking shape.  Really the focus is on design right now and to get a feeling for how many markers, maps, and other signage to make it a course we can all follow.  My goal is to have a race in the park using the old and break in some of the new stuff in spring of 2011.

Racing schedules will be cut down to smaller amount for 2011 as well with baby Lund entering the picture sometime in mid to late November of this year.  I being a future daddy and all will be sure to educate the baby by watching Klunkerz, Kranked Revolve, 24 Solo, Off Road to Athlens, Chasing Legends and Highlights of the Tour De France.  We are excited for the new adventure.

This weekend I will be riding the salsa on my new trails up north as a early season test session for the bike, Epic Cam, and the trails already in place at the park.

Happy Easter and enjoy the great weather.