You’re Doing It Wrong

Way back in September I completed my last race, and my 2014 season was a wrap.  Since then, I’ve had a lot of time to think about my previous season and to be quite honest, I consider it a complete failure.  Looking at the results, I wasn’t even hitting top marks in expert class, let alone pro.  All season I felt over trained, overweight and just plain out of the game.  Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun, but my goals were not even close to being achieved.

It Ain’t Over

With my first child due in January and a season that was A COMPLETE FAILURE (yep, I said it again), it would be really easy to just walk away and be done with racing.  For a couple of milliseconds I considered it, but then I remembered just how hard I have worked to get to this point.  Anyway, what example would I be leading to my newborn son if I just quit when things didn’t pan out exactly how I wanted the first time around.

Change EVERYTHING!!!

Albert Einstein was often quoted saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”  Therefore, after of a season of disaster, some big changes needed to happen. 

DIE it!

First thing that had to go was my diet.  My good friend and mentor, Wes Felteau, helped me discovery how badly I was doing things wrong in my diet.  Quite frankly, being a vegetarian was just stupid.  I’m not saying it’s stupid for everybody since we all react differently to diets, but it was the wrong diet for me.  I was consuming way too much sugar and carbs from all the fruit, and not enough protein to every recovery properly.  Even with all the nuts, greek yogurt, beans, and being conscious of protein intact it wasn’t enough.  The solution?  I went from vegetarian to a mass murderer!  First to go was high sugar content fruits, and to only eat one portion of fruit a day.  Next was increasing the protein by eating a diet mainly of animal protein, and getting rid of beans.  I mostly eat chicken, eggs, and fish.  I also continue to eat nuts; mostly almonds.  High sugar content veggies like carrots took a hike too.  Now I eat mostly broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach.  For all of you that just went “Uh huh! Paleo!”; not quite.  I eat dairy every day.  Carbs aren’t completely out of the picture, but are reserved for only when I truly need them for hard training/racing efforts.  Oh, and I also upped my butter content…. Mmmm, butter.  After switching to this diet cold turkey (which I now eat) a month ago, I’m at my proposed race weight of last year (which I never met last year by the way) and am still losing.  My body is also a lot happier with me.  I’ll spare you the details, but you know what I mean (hint: grumbles in the tum tum).  The best part is I’ve been off the bike and not exercising this whole time, and still losing weight.  Pretty sure this is going to work A LOT better for 2015.  Oh, and if this is the 100^th time you’ve read about my dieting habits from the beginning of this blog, I hope this will be the last time I write about it as well.

Recover, Recover, and Recover some more

The second step was to take a nice long break from riding so I could completely recharge my battery.  I hadn’t done this in two years.  I took a month off the bike and focused my energy on remodeling a bathroom.  Okay, maybe remodeling a bathroom isn't the best way to recover, but even pro mountain bikers have to deal with real life sometimes.  With a baby on the way, and no bathtub in our upstairs bathroom, I did what needed to be done.  I am taking an additional couple of days off after the project is done to “truly” recover.

Keep Your Eye On The Prize

I competed in several enduro races last year.  As fun as they were, I feel they are just too much of a distraction to my primary goal of being the fastest endurance racer I can be.  For 2015, no more enduro races.  Okay, maybe one, but that’s it!

Anything Else?

I considered competing in all 100 milers for next year to change things up, but with a newborn coming and most of the races out of state, reality finally kicked in.  I will continue with the same training plan that has shown yearly improvements for me with the exception of last year.  With the help of my mentor, Wes, I will now have an extra voice of reason to help me make decisions about training and recovery that's a little more unbias.  Between changing my diet and taking time to recover, I’m confident I got this nipped in the bud.  Only time will tell though.  One thing I can guarantee is if it doesn’t work, I’ll keep on working to find what will be a success.  There is no such thing as quitting to me.  I will have one more huge advantage on my side for 2015.  My new 2015 Scott Spark 900 Premium.  My carbon baby is due about a month later then my human baby which is January 9th.  Can't wait for both!  Happy trails!

Race Report: Steamboat Stinger

Let me start by saying I loved this race.  The Steamboat Stinger course had everything that makes a great endurance race.  Long climbs, super steep challenging climbs, short punchy climbs, technical single track, flowing single track, long descents... just 52 miles of awesomeness!  This one goes down as one of my top favorite races for sure.  If you haven't done it, I strongly suggest you do.  At about 7,000 feet of climbing, it's a tough one but has plenty of rewarding descents.  When you're done with the race, there's live music, food, beer, fun and friends waiting.  Steamboat Springs is also a fun place to hang out so might as well make it a weekend trip with friends and family.  Had a great time!

Going into this race I didn't set very high standards for myself.  After a month off from endurance, this race was meant to get me back into the swing of things before my last two races.  Everything went smoothly.  I conserved early, and had some energy left in the tank for later.  This is how it should work.  My previous races this season I would attempt to conserve, but my tank would end up completely drained long before the finish line since it was never full to begin with.  Although I still wasn't at top form, I felt better than I have all season.  There's a good kind of pain and suffering you get when endurance racing, and there's a bad kind that just digs you deeper into a hole making the next race even more miserable.  I've had too many races like that lately, and it feels good to be on the other side of that now.  Park City Point to Point is next, then Winter Park 50.  The game plan is to finish the season strong, and for once things are trending up.  Game on!

July Update: Race Reports and R&R

After you've been training since the winter and racing throughout the spring into early summer, July is about the time when you start becoming completely burnt out.  Combine that with less than par race results (shooting way over bogie here) along with other stresses in life piling on top, and you have one unmotivated racer.  So, instead of burying myself deeper into over training, I decided to take July off... well kind of.  I dropped the Telluride 100 for the Endruo-X: Steamboat Springs, and still raced the Keystone Enduro.  I also didn't miss any Tuesday night team rides with my racers.  In other words, I'd ride Tuesday, pre-ride the race course on Friday, and race Saturday and Sunday.  Far from being “off the bike”, but hey, I really do love what I do so it's hard to just not ride.  Anyway, here's some race reports from the enduros.

Keystone Enduro

When I signed up for the Keystone Enduro way back in January, I was already nervous.  This is about the most techy enduro you're going to get (at least in the USA) so I knew I was in for a “treat” so to speak.  I found some time in late June to pre-ride Keystone, and then pre-rode some more on the Friday before the races started Saturday.  I didn't mess around with this race.  I was padded from head to toe with armor under my jersey, 7iDP knee and elbow pads, an Urge Endur-O-Matic full face helmet, and Ride 100% goggles.  I looked so enduro, it hurt to look at me.  The course did not disappoint with some gnarly rock gardens, drops, jumps, roots, crazy steep grades, and many other features to induce fear.  After spending the last five years training myself to climb, it was time to see how well I could descend.  To my surprise, I didn't completely suck at it!  Sure, I could have been faster and rode cleaner, but I did pretty okay.  There were some crashes, but that's going to happen when you push your skill set.  I also got to spend time with my team guys and gals all weekend.  It was a great weekend full of bikes, beer and friends.

Enduro-X: Steamboat Springs

I was a loner on this one, but the weekend turned out to be full of meeting new friends and hanging out with some old ones.  As far as the race goes, I could have done a little better.  Frustrating mishaps like crashes and going off trail is all it takes to drop you to the bottom of pack in enduro, unlike endurance where a couple of seconds isn't going to hurt you too much.  Still, I had a great time and rode a lot of fun trail that was new to me.  Another successful weekend.

Some R&R And What's Next

After a July full of failing at taking time off the bike, it was time to REALLY take some time off.  The wife's birthday is July 28^th, which means I am not allow to bike that weekend and we aren't sticking around CO.  This is the life you lead when you're married to a flight attendant.  We decided on the east coast somewhere, and we ended up in Charleston, SC.  The trip (Friday through Tuesday) was full of beaches, great southern seafood, and tasty beer.  Even though I sweated about a gallon a minute in humid 90+ degree weather, I ate enough fried deliciousness to send my calorie intake way above a healthy limit.  Although I can't say I regret it, it's going to be fun getting back down to race weight by mid August for the Steamboat Stinger.  No worries though.  I have a long ride planned in Breck this Saturday, and two weeks until the race to get back into the swing of things.  Will I pull my season back around?  Who knows, and at this point, who cares?  I have three fun races to look forward to one way or another.  If I do well, awesome.  If not, I have 2015 and beyond.  Right now my focus is enjoying myself; which recently I've been doing pretty awesome at accomplishing.  Hope you're doing the same.  Happy trails!

Race Report: Firecracker 50

In my last blog I noted that I was over trained.  Well, that’s still the case, but I’m trending up.  I knew going into the race that I wasn’t going to be throwing down.  I may not be able to be competitive in races, but I’m more than capable of completing races.  I went into the race with a mindset that I was going to have fun and not bury myself deeper into the realm of over trained land, a dark hole of misery!!!  I started the race with my head down and let the pack pull away.  No point in burning matches that early, and if I did my day would have been pretty painful.  Instead I held back on the first big climb, and stayed conservative on all the climbs during the day.  There was one place I could be competitive though, and that was on the descents.  As far as an enduro racing goes, I’m not great at the descents like all the crazy downhillers, but in the endurance arena I’m getting pretty fast.  I give credit to racing enduro races this year, and riding with my uber-fast teammates who excel when the trail turns down and are pretty damn solid at climbing as well.  Seriously, I have an awesome set of guys and gals who are seriously fast riders, seriously humble about it, and are seriously great people to be around… no, seriously!  Go PPR!  Anyhow, back to my race.  I found myself passing people on the descents left and right.  I’d of course get out of their way on the up hills where I tortoised my way up to another descent.  At the end of the day, I may have been passed a lot, but I had a smile on my face.  I came in around 4:40.  Not a great time, but still solid considering.  Oh, and this was the first time doing the Firecracker 50 without getting a flat tire, and I’ve done it five times!  Double bonus!

My plan now is to recover in July, and come back strong in August to finish my season.  I have the Telluride 100 scheduled for mid-July.  I’m fairly certain I’m going to be dropping that race for this year.  Just don’t think I can do that race and still come back strong after it.  I still plan on doing the Keystone Enduro, and may pick up the Winter Park Enduro for the weekend I was going to do the Telluride 100.  Endurance racing is about overcoming adversity.  This is just another bump along the way I need to overcome, and I will be stronger when I come out on the other side.  Anyway, not like my team is going to drop me.  Another reason it’s good to be team manager ;).  Happy trails!

Video: Snowmass Enduro Stage 4

Raw footage from the Snowmass Enduro, Stage 4

Updated Race Reports

Let me start by apologizing.  I’m usually good about writing race reports, but when your season starts with poor race results, depression, and frustration it’s hard to find the motivation to write about your races.  On top of that, life has just been crazy.  Let’s start with some short summaries of my races.

Firebird 40 25

My first race was the Firebird 40, which due to snow in the high country of Eagle, CO turned into a 25 mile XC race.  I don’t train for these short distances, so I knew I wasn’t going to do well, but I didn’t think I would do nearly as bad as I did.  A week before the race I ran into some turbulence in my emotions.  I was depressed, and no matter how much I slept (I was clocking 9-10 a night) I was still tired.  This went on for five days straight.  I went into the race feeling drained, and within the first ten minutes I felt gassed.  Game over before I even started.

Gunnision Growler

I was really hoping that I could turn things around at the Growler, a 64 miler in Gunnision, CO.  The day started cold and rainy which really didn’t bother me too much.  I started out strong, but my energy level just wasn’t what it should have been.  I was getting passed by racers that wouldn’t hold a match to me even if I was running at 90%.  My race ended short with a broken pedal during the last part of the first 32 mile lap.  I frantically asked everyone at the race pit if they had an extra pedal, but none could be found.  Even if I had completed a second lap it would have been way under where I should be at this point.

Captain Enduro

This was just some good old fun.  I raced Pro class since it offered two more stages and it’s not like I was going to compete whether I was in the class below or not.  Hanging out with team mates and working on my technical skills was a good way to restore my love for mountain biking.

Bailey Hundo

Things started out okay up until a broken chain around mile twenty.  I burned through a couple matches to make up some time and got behind on my fluids.  I started getting leg cramps around mile forty and was feeling the effects of heat exhaustion slowly starting.  By mile sixty I was a ball of pain.  Any hard effort left me winded.  I was hoping I’d catch a second wind, but it never came.  It just got worse.  Near the end I was getting shakes like my body was going through shock.  Never hurt that bad during a race, but after my DNF at the Growler I wasn’t stopping.  My result was worse this year than I did two years ago.  Another huge failure.

Snowmass Enduro

Another epic weekend of bikes, beer, friends, and awesome downhill stages.  Really glad I could go race this one.  Although I’m no good an enduro races, they are incredible amount of fun that I can’t resist.

Analyzing Disaster

So what the hell is going on!?  I started my season strong with some long rides in November, and started my training in December.  I have never started that early.  I’ve worked harder this season then I ever have.  My first thought was that the overtraining I felt at the last few races of 2013 have carried over into 2014.  Also, after the race I did in March, the True Grit 50, I felt like I was hovering over the line of overtraining.  I did dump training sessions to attempt to counter this though.  I hate to admit it, but I think the culprit has been stress.  Stress is the biggest enemy to an athlete.  It messes with recovery, and makes your focus fuzzy.  There are a couple life events that cause the highest amount of stress in a person's life.  These life events are death, having a child, and new job.  My father was diagnosed with cancer in November and just passed away this Sunday, my wife and I are expecting a new child in mid-January, and I started a new job last Monday.  Oh, and if you’re an athlete having a crappy season weighs in as a huge stress as well.  Train your ass off for five years straight only to fail epically and you’ll know what I’m talking about.  I like to think I can handle the stresses in life, but perhaps all these stresses were just too much for myself or anyone to handle well.

Race Report: True Grit 50

After a strong three week training block, the True Grit 50 was meant to be a training race to finish off whatever I had left off in the tank.  What I had left in tank was very little as I could tell right off the line.  As the pack raced away from me, I settled into my own race against only myself.  It's one thing to race at your prime after a good period of tapering off your hard efforts, and completely another when you're already beaten after a good hard training block.  My goal was to push myself, but not to completely bury myself.  After all, it's still early in my training up to my first "competitive" race in May.

Knowing that I wasn't going to be competing for a top spot, I decided to race on my Scott Genius 710 that I have set up for enduro.  A short stem, long SMAC Innovations handlebar, and burly Maxxis HighRoller II 2.3 tires is an awesome setup, but not quite what one would consider ideal for fast paced endurance races.  Still, it's my all mountain play bike that can do it all.  Plus, the True Grit is known for being pretty techy.

Let me tell you, there were many times in the race I was very happy to have the six inches of travel.  This was especially true on the first half of the race that had a lot of rough areas including the super techy Zen trail.  

After tackling the techy first half, and dealing with a mechanical (rear derailluer bolt shock loss releasing the shift cable) it was onto more flat trails.  Even the flat stuff the Genius was good to have since the trail had been ridden while wet and it was in need of some smoothing out.

The second half of the race we started out going east and seemed to just be flying along on the flowy singletrack.  When we turned around and started going west we all found out why going east was so easy.  Heavy, heavy, winds.  Yay!  I started out alone, but slowly pulled in the guy in front of me.  I offered him a wheel to suck on in favor of the same after he caught his breath.  I don't road race, but I know all too well the benefits of drafting and never to ride alone into a strong headwind.  We took turns taking pulls as we slowly pulled in racers into our group.  Some stuck with the pack, others pulled ahead or fall off.

We all eventually made it out of the bulk of the wind onto some more flowy singletrack, and then to the last techy section of the race, barrel roll.  With a few more choice areas to have a full squish bike, and final long dirt road to the finish line I completed the race.  I finished feeling pretty worked, but not completely wrecked.  Mission accomplished!

St George has some great riding to be had, and the town was super friendly!  Already thinking about returning next year.  Great race!

I like to thank our sponsor CarboRocket for the great nutrition during the race with their Half Evil 333, and a complimentary Rehab recovery drink after the race.  And more importantly, for taking down our popup tent before the wind destroyed it!  Talk about a sponsor that has your back!  Thanks guys!

Stroke Of Luck

It's been awhile since I've blogged last, so let me catch you up.  After a twelve week block of base training, with a two week vacation to Australia and New Zealand in February mixed into that twelve weeks, I'm two weeks into my endurance training plan.  The first week was in Colorado with temps in the 60's.  I can't complain too much, but after training in the cold since the beginning of December I'm done with winter.  So, for three weeks I am visiting Henderson, NV.  Let me tell you about my first week.  Ever had one of those weeks were your luck seems to be down?  Yeah, one of those weeks.  Let me make a list for you.

• Took out driver side rear strut on drive down, and I had to order the part to repair it, so it took me a week to get it fixed.
• Silver lining: The nice lady we are staying with had her son lend me tools, and I was able to get the job done myself in nice weather.  Plus, if it had happened at home the wife wouldn't have been able to make it to work so it was best it happened now that she is on vacation time.
• Hook that holds down the wheel on my Thule bike rack rusted out and broke off
• Cable on BOA shoe broke
• Crashed
• Several other things that seemed to just pile on... when it rains it pours.

You know what though?  I rode in 70+ degree weather all week on some awesome trails at Bootleg Canyon.  It was a great week!  Yesterday I rode 4.5 hours and found a great loop connection between the Mother trail and the Caldera trail.  The weather called for scattered showers, and although it was clearly down-pouring South of me, I didn't get a drop.  A sign that luck is turning my way.  Two more weeks of sunshine, and ending it with the True Grit race in St George, UT.  Life is good.

Not a wound, but rather a new form of tattooing involving crashing head first into rocks....

Missed the storm

Goals For 2014

As 2013 comes to an end, I'm already looking at how I can improve myself in 2014.

My Riding Life
As mentioned in my last post, 2014 will be my debut as an endurance pro racer.  To prepare for this, I have already started training with a solid base training plan.  I plan on doing a lot more core work.  To help with this, I have started doing yoga.  Not only does this help with strengthening my core, but it also helps stretch out my muscles assisting my recovery.  I have concentrated so much on the fact that I'm not naturally skinny that I forgot to account for the fact that I can gain muscle quicker.  Strong core equals strong platform to push off of which equals more power output.  As far as weight goes, I'm going to get as low as my body and mind will allow wherever that may be.

2014 is also going to be my first year of doing enduro.  I spent four years trying to get better at climbing that I neglected improving my technical skills. I'm already working hard to change that.  Not only will it help me not completely embarrass myself during enduro races, it will improve my endurance racing times as well.

Team Manager Life
Another area I really want to concentrate on improving is being a better team manager.  I've always been a "if you want something done, do it yourself" kind of guy.  This has translated to me working harder than I need to.  I plan to change that in 2014 by delegating more work to others.

Working hard in 2013 has given us a lot of great sponsors for 2014.  The team is more then just race team, we are a marketing firm.  I already have plans on how to promote them and our team.  With 23 incredible team members, it's going to be fun and easy promoting all our awesome sponsors!

Personal Life
I'm not going to be lie, I can be a little negative at times, and perhaps a bit unappreciative.  Quite frankly, I need to be a little more "zen".  It's kind of been a double-edged sword for me.  I am constantly trying to improve myself, but when improvement comes I never enjoy the moment.  I only focus on how I could have done it better.  Everyone deserves to be appreciated, and that includes appreciating myself.

Lofty Goals
Going to be a big year in 2014.  Very excited to into it with a good game plan ready.