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.

40 it is.

December 17th was the night of my 40th birthday party thanks to Vanessa. That night was the culmination of a huge effort organizing an excellent get together with decorations, food, friends, a few drinks, and complete with a full size Quebec flag. Yeah it was originally planned to be a surprise party but that’s just not possible due to my superior detective skills.

Approximately 30 people were treated to a slideshow of way too many pictures of me – which I admit I enabled – and a music playlist of my favorites. There’s a chance that means some people can see beyond the assholeness and actually like me. Who knew? Although somewhat embarrassing the pictures were nice as a reminder of accomplishments and adventures. One baby picture got me to say “wow, that was a different life ago.” I don’t think I’d ever seen that one and must thank my mom for causing trouble from 700 miles away.

Kraig commented on the group being comprised of the old crew and the new crew which I thought about a few times since. I seem to make a few good friends along the way and keep them. I think the oldest relationship represented is from 1995 – 16 years ago – and the newest is from the 12 hours of Sundance mountain bike race just last October with plenty of people in the middle. Some of these friends grew out of the workplace and others out of leisure activities. Interestingly I think the group was split 50/50 among those two categories.

One common theme among the attendees is they all spoiled me by showing up but for some reason people felt the need to bring gifts. I truly never considered receiving gifts because by the time someone is THIS OLD they really don’t need anything, but people did awesome. Thanks to all.

Oh, and the whole “turning 40” thing? I had all bike racing season to think about it because I raced as a 40+ this year. One’s racing age is their age as of 12/31 of that year. And bike racing also helps me feel pretty good about my fitness compared to people of all ages, so yeah, I’m all good with 40. Bring it on.

2011 season

For 2011 my season goals were to complete Park City Point 2 Point under 9 hours, achieve 5 top 3 finishes in road races, and achieve top 5 overall in the Intermountain Cup mountain bike series. I reached the Intermountain Cup goal by achieving a 2nd place in the series.

I had a few decisions to make during the season, one of which was to focus on the ICup races more than road races. I actually rode my road bike quite a bit but I chose to prioritize races on the ICup circuit to maximize my chances of getting a top 5. Truthfully I started thinking a top 1 was possible during the middle of the series, but Jonas turned out to be out of my league and surpassed me.

At some point during the Intermountain Cup season I also decided to start focusing my training away from ICup events in favor of the longer Park City Point 2 Point because that was also an important goal I had for the season. As much as I wanted to do it all, my goals were a little unrealistic in their variety. I can only do well at one discipline at a time.

Miles

I rode 3035 road miles and 1232 mountain miles. Last season I logged over 1100 mountain miles but didn't believe it. This season I believe it. I spent A LOT more time on the dirt. And it was great fun. Most every mountain bike ride is a blast where some of the road miles get old and boring. I AM a variety whore though.

I do have to admit this season had plenty of lonely moments. The breakup of the SLC Bicycle Co. race team was nice in its reduction of drama but not as nice in the group ride aspects. The positive side of that coin is that I concentrated on my training even more than last years by not having the peer pressure of group rides without a training focus. I did join a lot of Rooters Bikers Edge rides and tried to integrate my training plan into them with decent success.

Best season

Results wise 2011 was my best season so far. Enjoyment wise as well. The mountain bike crowd is quite friendly while providing plenty of competition. It's really great to be cheered on by competitors - even direct competitors based on age and ability - during the race. If you're doing better than someone else they will usually encourage you. And it feels great to reciprocate as well. I really enjoy cheering someone on, and not get the ice-race-face look like some of the roadies give you. Yeah, I've cheered roadies on too. And sometimes they appreciate it but sometimes not so much.

I got a win!!!!

During the last race of the ICup season at Snowbasin I earned the opportunity stand on the top step of the podium! That felt good and of course I hope to repeat that accomplishment. The remainder of the season was filled with many top 5 finishes which also felt quite nice because as I said, the competition is pretty stiff.

Training

The Cyclist's Training Bible by Joe Friel suits me. I enjoy the structure, having a reason to get on the bike for each outing, keeping a log of my training, and the variety of workouts. This season I was also able to prove my results vs. my training peaks using SportTracks which helps me believe I am on the right track. Each A race corresponds to a high level of fitness coupled with low fatigue, resulting in the best results of the season.

Mechanicals

None! The bike was awesome. The tires didn't flat. It just worked. I am getting different tires though. As much as I enjoy the fast rolling Continental Race Kings I just can't make them stick on tight turns and it slows me down. Moving on to something else.

What's next

Maybe it's time for a coach? A TT bike? Definitely moving on to the Expert Intermountain Cup ability level, which means I won't see top 5s for awhile. And I'm moving back toward endurance events. Some on dirt, some on road. Should be great fun!

My Point 2 Point experience

See?? The bottle says I DID IT!!

It was a cold start at about 36 degrees at 7:00 am in Round valley. I woke up at 5:45, did my stuff, had very little time to dink around, and had planned it that way. I wanted to pretty much get up, eat, and go.

The start was nice and easy up a dirt road where the faster and more adrenalined filled people could get up front. I took it easy starting at the back of the 9-10 hour group. Turned out I was right in place with a 9:46 finish.

The sun came up a few minutes after the start which was quite nice as my fingers had frozen by the end of the dirt road and I didn't care for handling my bike without feeling my brakes or handlebar. I typically like to feel. Luckily everyone was pretty mellow so all went well. Until my little slide out of a fast turn. I decided my tire selection this year has caused me plenty of grief. I like how fast and light my Continental Race Kings are but I cannot make them handle corners. I have had many incidents during the season and have learned to take corners much slower than I know I can. I will go with different tires once these wear out. Note to self: commute to work with race tires :)

At the end of Round valley is a nice asphalt patch where I planned on taking off my arm and leg warmers so I started rolling them off on the double track before that pavement. I found Vanessa was waiting at the very start of the pavement, so I stopped, fumbled, struggled, and finally got those things off. I donno how I ever took those off while riding LOTOJA cause this time they weren't coming off. No biggie. They came off. It was time to eat and get to Deer Valley.

Did I ever mention how awesome Vanessa is? She took yet another day to support me while I was pummelling myself to the ground. She must enjoy seeing me destroyed.

I broke the race down into a bunch of sections for my own sanity. Round valley, to Deer Valley, first feed at Silver Lake lodge, TG, shadow lake, park city, spiro, iron mountain, and ambush. I felt getting through Deer Valley and down TG was pretty quick; the first feed went well although the placement of the support was a little confusing. I knew I was supposed to ride the practice loop section first but the placement of the people made me doubt it. I was set on my way after stopping, looking dumbfounded, and spotting Vanessa.

The most difficult section was the climb from the bottom of John's up past Shadow Lake. So much climbing, so relentless. It changed my mindset from a great day to wanting to finish. The best thing I did is tell myself I had a 22 mile home stretch after I finished that climb. All I had to do is finish that climb, see the lake, and then it's a 22 mile home stretch.

After my stop at the Park City feed zone I had the spiro climb to deal with. After telling myself about the 22 mile home stretch, I counted the number of climbs left. 3 climbs left: spiro, iron mountain, ambush. While on spiro I just cranked telling myself I had 2 to go after that one. But it took for ever. And some more. I had great company for a portion of the climb and had an excellent pace but I then got caught on a root or rock, stopped my momentum, and didn't keep up with the guy that was keeping me company. I got deflated a bit. And it kept going for-eeeever. Looks like almost an hour from the 5:13 mark to 6:09. That's a lot of climbing.

Finally I found myself at the Mid-Mountain to Iron Mountain intersection. This time I went the right way as opposed to my preride. I would have preferred to go the wrong way, add mileage and elevation, and get MUCH better singletrack. That mid-mountain section was horribly rocky: the loose shale, huge rocks that are feet in diameter, and absolutely no fun.

Once I started recognizing the trail again I saw some chairlifts. I am at The Canyons! I started looking at my mileage and it showed 11 miles to go. At 10 miles to go I had ridden for 8:15 and thought I could maybe ride 10 mph for the remainder to finish at 9:15 which would be an excellent time - for me. My legs disagreed. I tried, I pushed for the next 30 minutes, past Red Pine lodge, but there was still too much climbing to do and not enough legs remained. Finally I arrived at Ambush which I was quite mentally ready for as I appreciate the kind of sick humor needed to make someone climb back away from the finish line 3 miles from the end. I took it as a victory lap until two guys passed me like I was standing still. I congratulated them and told them they were doing a good job for finishing strong, but it was time for me to be done. Luckily I pretty much was. One more evil downhill through rutted terrain, some switchbacks, one more slide out on the second to last turn, and I'm down the road to the finish line.

Notice I didn't talk about nutrition? EFS liquid shot worked great all day, with the occasional Clif Bar for some solid food. I think I just wanted the satisfaction of eating solids; I think EFS would have worked fine. At the Park City feed zone I grabbed a bottle of Carbo Rocket and my trusty Rice Krispie treats because I wanted some variety, and still had one or two swigs of EFS. I am surprised how well it worked. Well done, First Endurance.



I finished 16th out of 56 finishers and 76 starters of the 40-49 age group.
Overall I am 118th out of 253 finishers and 311 starters.

After waking up from my much needed nap I posted "The Park City Point 2 Point bike race is by far the hardest thing I have ever done on a bike. LOTOJA, tour de park city, death ride, pfffft" on Facebook. I meant it. Tough event. Luckily it went as well as my previous 9+ hour events and I am quite satisfied with the results.

I think I heard this photographer say "Nice Job" as he took the shot ->

Park City Point 2 Point
Garmin data
Milliseconds timing