2012 season

This was my first season as a Category 1 / Expert mountain bike racer. I had quite a tough time with short races and did ok with endurance races when my bike stayed together. That's it, end of story.

Why are you still reading?

Fine.

The races

I had goals of completing Moab Furious3 in top 10%, complete a 12 hour solo race, and a top 5 at High Uintas. Unfortunately Moab Furious3 was cancelled so I couldn't do much about it, although I am hoping to compete in Furious3 in Fernie in the future.

High Uintas was a pretty fun road Masters 35+B race even though I didn't hang with the fast guys on the climb. I was pretty close but just couldn't hang, so I had a lot of fun gathering a group and flying downhill to try to catch the leaders. The group got together pretty well but very few had enough juice to pull. Jason Sparks and I had a good time pulling hard and attacking but it didn't work well enough. I expected the finish line to be different than the previous years based on reading the race bible, and the finish line wasn't marked well at all, so I messed up the final push and sprint and I got 12th place. I didn't reach my 5th place goal but it was a good day after all.

I had a difficult time at the Mt. Ogden 100k but was happy to finish it. I also had an annoyingly dramatic Point 2 Point experience yet felt really good about my performance.

I raced 11 hours and 28 minutes at 12 hours of Sundance, totalling just under 89 miles and yielding me a first place of 3 racers in the 40+ male group. Turns out I was 2nd overall of 16 solo competitors as well. One goal achieved.

The hardware

My new Jet9 RDO works and feels amazing when it stays together. It has not proven to be the most reliable. It is definitely a fickle race machine, not a reliable bullet proof bike like my 2008 Fuel Ex 9.8.

I upgraded to a Garmin Edge 800; a very nice training tool, because my Garmin Edge 705 disappeared. It's a bonus I guess. The 800 is smaller, faster, touch screen, has more room, and has nicer features.

Fine tuning

My 2012 season is over. 2013 is starting this week. I am making small changes in my training to improve my early season performance and hope to have the best East Canyon road race yet. Mastery of a craft takes 10 years. I'm nearly half way there.

Goodbye to an old training friend

I am sad for the loss of a wonderful training buddy that's ridden with me since June 2008 for over 20,225 miles and 1400 hours through cold, wet, rain, heat, dirt, mud, and every other riding conditions known to the cycling world.

I will cherish all the early mornings, dark nights, and every time in between where you counted the miles and captured heart rate, cadence, speed, power, and elevation data for me to analyze. I will always remember the nagging-wife style motivation you provided during structured workouts to help me improve myself. And I won't forget the usefulness of the colored maps always available should I need to find my way in a strange place.

I even remember the Tooele ride that gave you that unique scar. You just jumped off the bike as I was pedaling along at 20mph to go bouncing off the pavement for no apparent reason. And you kept it together for years afterwards. Thanx for that.

If someone was lucky enough to pick you up I hope you give your next partner years of enjoyment as well. Goodbye old friend.

2012 Point 2 Point

I rode 65 miles and climbed 10,000 feet in 7 hours and 14 minutes at an average of 9.4 miles per hour. Last year was 79 miles in 9:46, 8.3 mph. I like where this is going.

Let's start with the drama, then the actual race.

Why was the course shorter this year? It was 11-12 miles shorter because we bypassed the Round Valley area due to time constraints. We had time constraints because started an hour later than planned. We started an hour later because it rained quite a bit during the night and early morning.

I also missed a 1.5 mile section of the course. I was in a group, following, and never saw a turn that we apparently missed. I never thought I was off the course; I saw orange markers all over the place. The image below shows the portions not ridden in red where the top right is Round Valley and the bottom right shows the missed 1.5 mile section.

I did hear a guy say that we missed a turn as I was passing more orange markers so I responded with something like "no, we're on course, see the markers?" Then during the climb after Johns 99 someone else from Revolution (or maybe the same guy) talked to me, said we had missed a turn, and told me he was showing 34 miles on his bike computer. I told him I was at 32.5 and we agreed I must have missed something. I thought I was disqualified at that point but I felt I should get the verdict at the finish line. I came to ride this thing and I wanted to finish.

At the Park City feed zone I told Vanessa about my possible DQ. She informed me a bunch of others had the same issue and there would likely be an adjustment at the finish. Cool. Maybe I can finish without a DQ. Moving on.

 

Then the results get posted. I am in first place. Jason Sparks calls me in disbelief and I tell him I missed the 1.5 mile and things just need to be adjusted. We go talk to Jay, the organizer. I ask to have my time adjusted, and after much discussion the decision is made to leave the standings as they are because penalizing just me isn't fair if others don't admit to missing the section as well. Before the awards Jay talks to the top 5, no one else is certain about missing the section, so the standings remain unchanged. I get the top step of the podium, although possibly not deserving. I'll never really know but I likely would have gotten 3rd place. [Update: Um, the dust settled and what I meant was 7th place...]

 

Sunday night the results change to show me in second place. My time is still not adjusted but someone else that wasn't listed anywhere near the top in the original results is now 1st.

 

The drama portion of this article is over. Now the race.

 

I knew I couldn't keep the truck and trailer at the start during race day so I scoped out overnight options for this race a few weeks back. I found a tiny dirt lot about 1/2 mile south of the start parking lot that allowed me to wake up a bit over one hour before the start. As I was getting ready I got a call from Jason Sparks asking me if I knew the situation because there was talk of postponing the race. Nope, no idea; I hadn't been to the start area yet but I made my way there to confirm and was told the race start was postponed one hour. I was already dressed and wet...let's race! But nope, they made me wait.

 

We start at 8:00 and bypass the Round Valley 12 miles. Nice, Round Valley is my least favorite portion of this race anyways and now race shrunk to 68 miles. Let's race!

 

I started with the 8-9 hour group, the second group off the line, because I didn't want to get stuck in traffic like I did last year. I figured I'd be in the back of the faster group rather than try to go through most of a slower group. There was a bit of slowdown during the first few miles still but not as bad as Round Valley last year. Maybe the muddy conditions caused it, or maybe people were conservative at the beginning of the event.

 

I found myself going pretty hard once the traffic cleared, and burning some matches to get in better positions for various climbs and descents. And I hadn't made it to Snow Park lodge yet. I also found myself thinking I should slow down a bit. Nah. Feels good. Let's race!

 

Snow Park lodge already? There's Vanessa...I don't need anything until Silver Lake in 3 miles so I'll just dump my empty water bottle to make the next transition faster. And I ask for an extra bottle to clean my bike cause my gearing was shitty due to the mud. See you in 3 miles...

 

Bang, already at Silver Lake lodge. This year I know I need to ride the little practice loop first so I tear through that loop and start looking for Vanessa. Oh, I donno why, but that loop was awesomely fun this year. I enjoyed the shit out of it.

 

I hear someone cheer me on, which turned out to be Bonnie, but I ride through the feed zone without seeing Vanessa. Oh oh. Is she maybe still on the chairlift? Nope. Did I miss her riding through? Nope. Ok, fill my water, ask Bonnie to tell Vanessa to meet me at TG and go. This may be another year like my 2010 LOTOJA where I am ahead of my support crew all day. I can make it work. One water bottle until TG and one clif bar until Park City. I was out of EFS liquid shot and very glad I grabbed a Clif bar just in case. I guess I shouldn't have dumped my empty bottle 3 miles earlier. I thought I learned that lesson at LOTOJA too. I'm a slow learner.

 

Earlier in the day I noticed a guy wearing Fat Cyclist shorts but a Carbo Rocket jersey riding a single speed. Could it be Fatty himself? Nope. It wasn't. But a little while after leaving Silver Lake lodge I spot Fatty behind me. I ask for confirmation that it's the real Fatty, he confirms, and we have a few conversations about Leadville, PCP2P, bike choice, and other stuff for the next few miles. He finally gets tired of my climbing speed and goes by but I mostly stick to his pace, keeping him in sight.

 

I get to TG, look around for Vanessa, fill my water, and ask a guy to tell Vanessa to move on if she shows up. Time for some seriously technical downhill.

 

At some point during the descending I pass Fatty, then he catches and passes me back during the Shadow Lake climb, which I had decided to take super-slow. I remember this climb was the turning point for me last year where I just wanted the event to end. This year: take it easy, make it around the lake, then enjoy the killer downhill to Park City. The lake showed up pretty quickly actually and I felt strong after climbing for nearly an hour. I pointed downhill and flew, hitting 31mph near the bottom. I passed a few people, told Fatty he'd get me back on the next climb, and made it down to the feed zone. Wait, can I say how much I loved that downhill? It's one of those times where your brain is the only speed limiter, where you pucker, where you have your fingers on the brakes and are just hoping to have the reaction time you need. K, let's move on.

 

Hey! There's Vanessa's cheer! Hey! There she is! I got two bottles, some EFS, drank some soda, tried to fix my gearing again, cleaned a bunch of mud, someone lubed my chain, and left. 1 minute 34 seconds. Nice.

 

Spiro is next. Last year that climb went on FOR-E-VER. This year went much quicker partly because the course changed and partly because I felt stronger. I really like the new Armstrong trail too. I remembered it from preriding and I remembered the gradual but not ridiculous climb. Mentally I was feeling quite strong because I made it to Park City in 4:45 and knew I prerode the final section in 2:55 at a snail's pace, so I calculated 2:30 to finish which would make 7:15 for the whole race. That would be amazing.

 

I get to the rocky section of mid-mountain. I mean rocky. And I eat it up. My Jet9 RDO killed it. I just held the bike upright. Until that one rock. I was climbing at 5-6 mph, saw a 1ft rock with a perpendicular face coming up, looked ahead beyond it and hit it straight on, causing me to endo, stuff my finger, and laugh. It was just one of those moments where a little concentration was lacking, and I paid for it. Moving on.

 

I get through Red Pine Lodge and continue on mid-mountain trail for awhile, all alone. The section from Park City to Red Pine was pretty much by myself; I may have passed 2-3 racers but there wasn't much activity.

 

A bit after Red Pine I got passed by a UMB guy that I later found out was Mitt. I saw the "3" on his leg and asked if he was Michael and he said no. Phew. Michael is in my age group and has this uncanny ability to pass me at the end of many races.

 

A small road climb stood in the way of me and the most awesome downhill section ever. I saw UMB guy climbing and felt I could match his pace so I tried to take that climb pretty strongly and in no time the downhill began. I wish I could describe this amazing downhill to give it justice. Here, let me give you a visual: I took this during the preride because I just LOVE this section:

Imagine probably a mile of this flowy, twisty, fast, gorgeous, adrenaline-filled trail where once again your brain is the speed limiter. Now imagine riding this trail PERFECTLY where you just didn't make a mistake, where it just all worked, where you could almost remember every single turn and take every part just beautifully. Yeah, like that. I was one with the bike and the mountain. I loved it. LOVED it. Near the end of this zen-like moment I came up on some hikers, slowed, passed them, and heard something like "that was smooth" in a woman's voice. Hell yeah it was. Wait, what? Someone caught up to me? A woman? No shit? I have nothing but respect for women but I typically don't get caught on downhills, and I've caught up to some of the best on downhills. I'm kinda crazy like that.

 

I later found out that was Amanda from the Kenda team. She won the pro women overall title. She is a downhill goddess, plain and simple.

 

As we get to a rolling hill section I ask Amanda if she wants to pass and she declines. More downhill follows so we ride down together for a bit. I then have a chain suck issue, have to pull over, and she passes. I quickly fix my chain, get back on, and chase. That was a fun chase :) I caught up a bit before the Ambush climb and we start climbing together. I surprisingly can stick to her pace for the majority of the climb, and am quite happy to have her to pace with. I remember last year at this point I just finished the race without really pushing but this year I climbed at nearly threshold. Not bad for the 60th mile.

 

During the climb we talk about the upcoming water bars on the last descent. I remember them from the preride and am pretty confident she can deal with them no problem, being the descending animal she is.

 

Last descent. Time for some fast and technical stuff. I catch up to another guy, Amanda gets by him, and I see Aaron C. on the side of the trail. He notices me and says hi but I am too focused to reply. I hoped he was ok :S

 

Then there's the finish. It's different than last year. Hairpin, jump? no way, bypass jump, grass, tiny singletrack, hey why are those people standing in the middle of the singletrack? WTF?? Oh, there's the finish, I have to turn left...Done! What an amazing day!

 

In retrospect, I wondered if my 2010 LOTOJA was a fluke. I knocked an hour off my first LOTOJA. Did I just get lucky? Well, this race helped me clear that up. I did this race in 7:14. If I add 1:10 for the time it took me to do Round Valley last year and, say, 15 minutes for the 1.5 mile I missed (1.5 miles @ 6mph...pretty slow climbing), I get to 8:39. Last year: 9:46. Look, I shaved an hour on a 10 hour event again. Eeeexcellent.

2012 Mt Ogden 100k

The toughest mental race ever.

First lap felt excellent. I knew the trails, I really enjoy the SnowBasin area, I heard a bunch of cheers from people I knew including Krank Munkys Darlene, Skyline Kyle, and Ryan at Dans run. I executed my first lap pretty well although the first climb portion was a bit slow due to traffic. The rest of the time I positioned myself properly when it mattered to try to have clear downhills so I could fly. On the road section near the end of the first lap I realized I was in a good place to hold on to my 7:00 goal. I stopped at my cooler for drink and food refills after 3:23 in the saddle, and the second lap is shorter. Nice.

At the very start of the second lap it all changed. I mentally broke down. I was on the dirt road just above the resort, not one mile into the second lap and wanted to quit. I was not interested in this lap one bit. UMB Michael passed me and tried to be friendly but I nearly bit his head off.

I spent the rest of that 10 mile climb barely trying, stopping, thinking, and talking myself into just continuing. It was pathetic. I self-diagnosed the whole time trying to figure out what's wrong: legs felt pretty damn good given I had already ridden over 30 miles, heart rate was low, what then? I did notice my nose was leaking all day. Usually I start a race with a runny nose when it's cold but it's a cleansing behavior and shuts off quickly. This time I had a runny nose all day, and when I coughed I felt sinus pressure. I just had no energy. It is possible I had a cold or fever but I think my problem was in my head. No desire. No ambition. No drive.

The climb from the resort to the top of Dans took 25 minutes longer on my second lap. But I made it. I had a bunch of mental fights to get there, and I knew one last fight was coming at the top of the Maples trailhead. I tried to enjoy the downhill from Dans to the resort again but found myself focusing quite hard just to avoid mistakes. I made a few on the way but stayed upright so that was a victory.

By the time I hit the Maples feed zone I felt pretty good about finishing. Then I stopped to get my bottle. Then I started thinking again. Why do I need to do that damn East Fork climb again? I already rode over 50 miles, that's good enough. One of the spectators tried to cheer me on and I nearly bit his head off too. Not nice. Sorry dude, and thanx for your help :S

After feeling bad about being rude to someone helpful I decided to just get it done.

Being a bit of a crazy downhiller I passed at least one person, maybe a few more. I made it to Wheeler where I asked for water on my back at the feed zone and was sprayed by Skyline Kyle with his geigerrigthingy. In my mind the only demon I had left was the East Fork climb which I had conquered in about 20 minutes in a previous training ride so that equated to a 20 minute effort that I needed. I can do 20 minutes and be done.

So the climb was pretty decent, and I was surprised that not many people passed me. I actually passed one or two (kinda delirious by then). Then came the Middle Fork descent where I realized that my bike wasn't going to give me perfect day. It decided to snap the front shifter cable, so I was left with just small gears for the descent. Tolerable.

The road comes, I know one of the guys I passed on the descent had passed me on previous climbs a few times today but I tried my best not to let him pass. I succeeded, although some other guy passed me just 1/2 mile from the finish, patted my ass, and told me "tag, you're it, come on!" Nice. But I was already going. Didn't feel like I had anymore. Although I tried to get him back on the parking lot section but just didn't have it.

The sad, desolated finish line comes. It appeared for most of the second lap as I was the last person on the trail and the finish line felt the same until I heard a bunch of people cheering right at the end. Turns out Krank Munkys and Vanessa were there patiently awaiting mine and Luis' finish. Way cool.

I finished 62 miles with over 9000 feet of climbing in 6 hours 50 minutes according to Milliseconds official race timing and 6:44 according to Strava. I'll take it.

And because I'm me I wonder how much faster I would have been had I not mentally cracked.

2012 Mountain bike nationals

Not a good start. I kinda knew this was a race. I expected a fast start but this didn't go well at all. I was near the back of the field at the start, the field separated within the first few feet, and I got squeezed into the right side of the bridge just a few feet from the start making me dead last by the time we hit the paved bike path. I'd like to see a video of the start because from my viewpoint the fast guys took off like bullets. I assumed the field would be relatively calm until the dirt road after the bike path. Wrong.

So I don't really care for being dead last. I expected to take it somewhat easy on the bike path as part of a peloton of riders but that didn't happen because the big front pack was out of reach and the rest of the people in front of me weren't in a group. I therefore had to work so I got in a tuck and picked off 2 or 3 riders on the paved trail before the dirt.

Now the dirt road starts. As others predicted quite a few riders slowed pretty significantly so I was able to pass a few riders pretty quickly. Maybe 5-6 by the time we hit the single track.

In the last 2 miles of the single track I passed a few single speed riders whilst being passed by a few 45+ riders and 2 of my group. I felt I had a very good climb; I thought it took quite a bit less than one hour but Strava says 57 minutes. I spent the whole climb in zone 5 so I don't know what else I could have done.

I swear I started drooling as I climbed the last few feet before the trail pitches downhill. I was ready to destroy the competition and pick up at least the 2 guys that passed me. Unfortunately I immediately felt my front tire was nearly flat. Damn. Stop, fumble for the CO2 canister, fill it up, GO! Probably only lost 30 seconds, maybe 50. At least 2 guys pass; I donno if they are in my group.

It's time for some serious downhill fun. I LOVED the top section again; this was my third time riding this and felt pretty fast. I think I caught and passed three riders before I realized my tire was low again as I was catching up to the "cow guy". About that time the second climb started so I got on his wheel and did that climb a little slower than I wanted to, but I felt it would be bad form to be aggressive, pass the guy, then pull over to refill my tire. Once the top of the climb arrived I pulled over and refilled.

The rest of the downhill to the traverse was a ok but not as fast as I wanted it to go because I was nervous about my tire and started feeling it soften. I think I refilled it once more before the traverse climb, got up the climb with another rider from a different group, and started down the service road where I immediately felt the tire was really soft. I took a few high speed turns motocross-style and planned on refilling at the slower section atop the little bump coming up.

Before that little bump is a straight line that I took at about 35 mph so I could fly up the hill. Well, I ended up sliding up the road on the left side of my body (at 25 mph according to my race data) because my front tire gave up before I could refill it. That hurt. I yelled. I think I yelled for a minute or so. I was pretty pissed off and felt everyone needed to know, although there was no one in sight.

So at this point I was on the ground, shaking likely from adrenaline, with a bloody leg and REALLY pissed off about that damn Schwalbe Rocket Ron tire that just doesn't hold air no matter what I do. I layed down next to my bike and filled up the tire with whatever air I have left, still yelling, and get up. I then realized I couldn't really walk so I limped along next to my bike till the top of the bump, and jumped on. The service road descent continued for a few turns before we hit the single track. It took less than one turn on that service road to realize the tire was still soft, waaaay soft. I'm out of CO2 and there's probably a mile left. Not a happy camper.

At the start of the singletrack a race course usher pointing us to the course happens to have CO2 so I fumble with his pump, use it to fill up my tire, and now I hear the air escaping every tire rotation. Shit. I better hurry to the finish.

I didn't make it. Every turn got scarier as the tire became softer; I hit the side of the hill a few times as the tire folded and threw me around; and finally the tire bead popped and I started running next to my bike. I start asking everyone that passes me if they can drop some CO2 just so I can finish. Probably ten guys pass me without being able to help, and finally a nice guy named Aaron helped me out. He was very friendly and not in a hurry at all. He helped me get going, introduced himself, and we got finished pretty much together.

By the time I get to the rock waterfall my tire is pretty soft again and I contemplate how intelligent it is to descend that rock garden in this state. Ah fuck it. I may as well go for it.

I get down it and realize one guy from my group that had cut me off on the inside of a hairpin is within striking distance so I try to get him back at the finish. I had nothing to prove cause I had that guy totally beat had I not had all the tire trouble. I take the sweeping right turn pretty soft because he's watching me, then he looks away and I stand on it. By the time I get to the last left turn I am just feet away from him but my front tire is about to put me in the finish walls. I finish with the same time as him but he still beats me by a bike length. Was kinda fun just to scare him.

One last thought: It was well worth the experience. The nervousness of the week coming up to the event was surprisingly intense, especially the morning of. Then on the drive home I realized I had just competed at the national level. Pretty fucking cool.

2012 Stan Crane Memorial XC Race

This year's race took us on a tour of the Corner Canyon area. Last year's course travelled north on a dirt road, through desert, and on foothills whereas this year went straight up and down the center of the lush foresty area. Much better.

This is one of very few mountain bike races I've participated in that doesn't start with a massive climb to sort out the order of the group. That kind of climbing starts soon enough but until then we are treated to some quick little singletrack that goes back and forth behind the parking lot area. This is identical to last year. Once the climbing starts it goes for about 1/2 the race course which includes the Gasline and Canyon Hollow trails. At the top of the race course is a dirt road to transfer to the trailhead where Rush starts. And Rush takes you down to the silica pit area to get you back to the singletrack surrounding the parking lot to prepare for the next lap.

I felt good during the race. I felt like I was climbing pretty well for an old fart and I felt like I had decent endurance during my last lap. This race was 33 miles and lasted just over 3 hours for me so it was excellent endurance training. I earned a 13th place out of 20 finishers; not quite mid-pack like I wanted but close enough to consider this a successful race.

Jet 9 RDO for me!

I was skeptical about feeling a difference rolling over rough terrain. I have to admit I was wrong; there is definitely a difference. Turns out the physics geeks know what they're talking about and the Niner engineers did a wonderful job putting me in the right position to be in perfect control of the 29 inch wheels.

Oh yeah, and let's get this out of the way right here. Niner's Jet 9 RDO is the sexiest bike on the planet. No other bike matches the sleek curves, colors, and geometry in a way that still produces a bike that doesn't look wimpy or fragile.

The full suspension ride is at least as comfortable and responsive as my Fuel EX 9.8. The rear suspension articulation has evolved, and maybe I was biased by a discussion by Butch at Skyline, but it does seem the rear suspension remains at the same place on the bike as it moves up and down. It's a weird little difference; looking at the suspension technology you can see the Fuel EX 9.8 articulates upward more than the Jet 9 RDO, and I believe it can be felt on the dirt a tiny bit.

Front suspension wise I purposefully got a 100mm front shock instead of 120 on my other bike but haven't felt a difference so far. I doubt I will. I can't say I felt a difference with Kashima coating, although I heard the front fork squeak for the first few rides.

I'm pretty confident the most benefit I will get from this bike is the 3 lb weight loss between my two bikes. As I mentioned to a few people already the bike and I are starting to speak the same language and it's quite the ride!

Since I turned 40...

You would know all this is we were Facebook friends...

I train almost daily. I really like training. At some point I may have started enjoying training more than racing. Well, maybe more than racing and not winning.

I started using Strava which is neat in its Facebook-like social aspects and has some nice training and fitness features such as Segments. It is not perfect from a technology perspective. Uploading can be painful, especially larger files. And for some reason Strava admits to being unable to correctly identify the date and time of a session without GPS data such as a stationary trainer.

We went to Montréal for my mom's birthday. It was a nice family get together and I felt the most at ease with the rest of the family as I've ever felt. I am not really regarded as a kid anymore and it's good. I had great conversations with my aunts and uncles and even good discussions with my niece and nephews. Montréal can be an old dirty place, yet its surrounding areas are beautiful.

Late last year I got a warranty road bike frame thanx to Salt Lake City Bicycles and Trek. Unfortunately the carbon failed on the front of the left chainstay. It took awhile to get used to the Ferrari red bike I had but didn't take long at all to get used to this color.
Not long after I joined the Skyline Cycle / Young Subary race team and couldn't pass up an opportunity to build a sweet new Niner Jet 9 RDO. So far I've ridden this bike a handful of times and can definitely feel some differences between it and my Trek Fuel Ex 9.8.

In late March we went to Fruita, CO instead of Moab. That was a last minute decision made as we were driving toward I-70 discussing the possible crowds brought by the Jeep festival. Fruita is less that 40 miles further than Moab and has been on our to-do list for awhile. Fruita has done a good job at advertising and competing for the Moab mountain biking crowd.

We spent a few days there and felt it is a good option with well-organized areas for all types of abilities.

Lastly I raced my first mountain bike race as an Expert, and as expected, I am not ready to compete with that crowd. I got my ass kicked. I moved up to Expert to improve my racing and I definitely have quite the challenge ahead of me.