Product Review: Primal Helix Kit

As an endurance racer who competes nationally, I have spent some very long hours in some of the most unfriendly conditions.  Just last year alone, I raced 70 miles in the wet and hot conditions of Asheville, NC, several races in the dry and hot climate of Colorado, and one of the hottest weekends in the already humid North Dakotas during the Tatanka 100.  The temperature during the Tatanka 100 reached 96.8 degrees!  On top of that, I've trained in the cold, snow, sleet, rain, and whatever mother nature could throw at me.  When you're out punishing yourself in the elements, the last thing you want to worry about is an uncomfortable bib and jersey (kit).  I have tried many kits in my day, but none have impressed me more then the Primal Helix Kit.  In this review, I will tell exactly why you need to be in a Helix Kit too.

Primal's Grown Up Side

When you think of Primal, you may think of all the fun and sometimes hilarious jerseys like the jersey that looks like you're in a tux!  Don't let these fun club jerseys fool you though; Primal has a whole another side of high end apparel for the die-hard.  This is the realm that the Helix Kit falls in.

The Fit

Nothing is more humiliating then having to size up on a kit.  When your buddy weighs a buck twenty and has to get a medium, you know something is wrong.  Primal kits fit just how you would EXPECT a size to fit.  You wear a medium t-shrit and jeans, you're going to fit nicely in a medium bib and jersey.  That stands true for even their race cut (or what they call Pro Tour Fit) unlike other brands where you can hardly breathe in the jersey and the bibs are cutting off you circulation.

The Helix Jersey

Every single panel on the Helix Jersey is designed for a specific purpose.   The front and back panels are made of Primal's SLR Ion fabric.  This fabric breathes fantastically, is super antibacterial so you can stand your own smell fifty miles in, and has amazing moisture wicking capabilities to keep you dry, and stretches comfortably around the contours of your body without feeling constricting.  The side panels and two panels strategically placed on the upper back are made of Primal's AE Elite mesh fabric to allow even more airflow in the most critical areas.  Lastly, the sleeves are made of the Primal's Z92  fabric which stays tight for better aerodynamics without feeling constricting, is ultra moisture wicking for all the sweat coming with your armpits, and an extra bonus the texture looks super cool!  Even better, after a long year of racing and training, the sleeves still fit great!  No wind sock sleeves after only a couple of uses like other brands.  The zipper is full length exposed YKK which is super easy to zip/unzip even with full fingered gloves.  There are also three decent sized pockets in the back that are super easy to put stuff in and take stuff out.  For a guy who races without a hydration pack and a water bottle in his back middle pocket like myself, I can't stress enough how important this is: especially during a race!

The Helix Bib

Like the Helix Jersey, the Helix Bib is made up of several fabrics to ensure they will be best pair of bibs you've ever worn.  The majority of the bib is made of Primal's Vero fabric.  I personally love this fabric.  It has a little more thickness then other brands which translates to great compression fit, and can take a fall without tearing!  It's just enough thickness to wear with knee or leg warmers without having your crutch freeze on on cold days, but not too thick that it doesn't work great on the hottest days.  Even during the Tatanka 100 at 90+ as mentioned above, the bib felt great!  Once again, Primal uses their Z92 fabric where most of your heat dispenses out of your lower back.  The Z92 fabric is also found around the leg bands on the standard Helix, but is updated on the Helix 2.0 (see below).  The bib straps are made of Primal's comfortable Promesh fabric for a great fit.  All seams are flatlock stitched so you won't feel threads digging into you after a couple of hours on the saddle.  Most importantly, Primal's HX8 chamois is by far the most comfortable chamois you'll ever use.  It's entirely seamless, and so soft and smooth you may want a blanket made of it.  The chamois is also super antibacterial for those times you're in pinch during a stage race and you have to re-wear... yeah, they are that antibacterial.

UPDATE: Helix 2.0!

The Helix 2.0 Kit is everything I love about the Helix kit, but with laser cut arm and legs bands comprised of Primal's Pri-Flex fabric infused with silicone micro-dot technology for a no slip non-constricting tight fit!  Also, the stitching on the chamois has been updated as well for even more comfort.  It's not like I noticed the stitching before, but hey, I'll take it!  Just icing on the cake for the already awesome Helix Kit!

The Ride

It doesn't matter the weather, the Helix Kit feels amazing.  It's so comfortable it seriously feels like you're riding in the nude, minus a nasty draft of course.  You know that a kit is great when you don't even notice it's there even after being on the saddle for five plus hours.  NO discomfort from fabric that's too tight, NO threads from bad stitches being engraved into your skin, NO saddle sores from an inferior chamois design, NO bib straps digging into you, NO overheating even on the hottest and longest rides, NO fumbling to get items in and out of jersey pockets, NO fighting your zipper while unzipping and zipping back up in the middle of a race.... NO compromises!  ALL comfort ALL the time in ALL conditions.

Primal Customer Service

It's clear that the Helix Kit is by far my favorite kit on the market, but as a team manager who deals with a lot of sponsors I can tell that no product is good enough if the customer service is below par.  Primal is located in Denver, Colorado with employees who ride the same trails as I do.  Through my interactions with Primal, I am proud to call a few of them my friends.  The customer service is absolutely outstanding.  This is especially true through the customization process with an amazing set of representatives and designers to put your vision onto fabric like you had envisioned.  Let me tell you, nothing is more infuriating then team kits with sponsor logos that are messed up, and coloring that is way off from what you thought it would look like.  The Primal custom team will help you through each step of the process to ensure your satisfaction with the final product.  

Final Thoughts

I'm not alone in my opinion that the Primal Helix Kit is the best.  Just look at other endurance mountain teams like Topeak Ergon, Feedback Sports, and 92fifty who love their Helix kits as well.  If you're looking for a kit that can take some abuse and stays comfortable for hours on end, you better get yourself a Primal Helix Kit!

Find out more about Primal Wear Apparel on the web @ http://www.primalwear.com/

2015 Endurance Season Analysis

If I had to grade myself for the entire season, I'd say I was a solid B.  Let's go over my season races.

• Pisgah 111k - 15th Men's Open
• Not a very impressive season opener, but it was new climate/terrain for me. I also could have been a little fresher going into it.  I think I'm pushing myself too hard during weeks 8 & 9 of my training plan which is putting me into the red zone so badly that even a three week taper isn't enough.  This will be addressed in 2016. Grade: C

• Gunnison Full Growler - 23rd Overall
• With only a week after the Pisgah, my legs were still not 100%.  I could have used more recovery time between races.  This could have been a top ten for me.  I still did well considering. Grade: B-

• ERock Sunrise-Sunset (4 person coed) - 1st 4 person coed
• This was a shorter XC type racing style which isn't my forte, but did pretty awesome anyhow. Grade: A

• Bailey Hundo - 14th Overall
• I felt pretty good at this one, but I could have been closer to race weight.  The fact that I was beat by a 50-59 class rider when I'm suppose to be a open/pro class rider... needs improvement. Grade: B

• Tatanka 100 - 3rd Overall
• At race weight, and felt solid.  Was able to hold an impressive pace all day for eight hours and had some left to push hard at the end.  I was still forty-five minutes behind the leader, so obviously I'm still not there yet, but showing strong improvement.  This will be the benchmark for all races in 2016. Grade: A

• Laramie Enduro - 22nd Overall
• I'm not going to sugar coat it, I sucked (in my humble opinion) at my last endurance race.  My legs were stiff from the beginning of the race to the end.  I figured I'd push the pace or die trying since I had nothing to lose.  I blow up with twenty miles to go.  Tatanka just took a lot out of me and I slacked at taking care of myself for this last race.  Alright, maybe 22nd overall isn't so bad, but it was way below par for myself.  On a positive note, it still didn't hurt worst then any one race I did last year. Grade: D

Thoughts

I feel like this season was the season I was supposed to have in 2014.  I know I've been dwelling over last years' performance a lot on this blog, but let me be candid about it one last time.  My poor performance in 2014 fueled a fire inside me that I could not contain.  I put myself through hell training for this season.  I applied so much stress on myself that it felt like it was consuming me.  I put my heart, soul, blood and tears into being an athlete.  Having an entire season crumble like that left a scar within me that I can't describe, and can't expect anyone else to understand.  It left me doubting my abilities, and questioned if I should even continue racing.

I can't put into words how relieved I am to have a successful season.  It's like having a weight lifted off my shoulders.  There was a lot of confidence lost that needed to regained, and I feel like it took this season just to get back on track.  I'm feeling very good about my future career in the open/pro class and I finally feel like I belong there.  I'm already looking forward to next year!

Goals & Plans for 2016

I'm gravitating more towards the longer races these days.  Races that are 75-100 miles in length with 8k-10k of climbing are becoming my niche, therefore that will be my focus for next year.  

These longer races take a lot out me though, so I need to be better about spacing them apart.  A minimum of three weeks is required for proper recovery between races.  I also need to do better about recovering.  One thing I learned this season is that race weight is important, but not if it sacrifices recovering properly.  Longer spaces between races should give me more time to keep the weight down as well.

My plan moving forward is to race cyclocross up to mid October.  Rather than doing a more traditional base training session,  I will use cyclocross season as base training by sprinkling in some longer rides on weekends I'm not racing.  From mid-October to mid-November I will be in Spain with my family.  While in Spain I plan on running for my main training and may do some weight lifting.  Once back from Spain I'll do a couple more weeks of cyclocross racing before going right into my 100k training plan some time in December.  My first endurance mountain bike will be True Grit in mid March, and I'm strongly considering doing the Old Man Bike Rally again in February.  After True Grit, I will keep things going with a race or two every month until August.

Race Report: Tatanka 100

The Tatanka 100 quickly become a race I wanted to 'complete' to a race I wanted to 'compete' in when I learned it had been shortened from it's original 100 mile length.  After successfully completing the Bailey Hundo, which had similar mileage and climbing (10,000) with a top fifteen finish, I knew I could do well at the Tatanka if I felt as good I did at Bailey.  To ensure I went into the Tatanka in prime form, I lost a couple of pounds and decided to drop out of the Firecracker 50 midway to save myself for the big point-to-point in South Dakota.  I figured if I could complete the Bailey Hundo in under seven hours, I should be able to break eight hours at Tatanka which had a lot more singletrack.  What I didn't realize was just how brutal the riding was going to be.

The start of the race was at Mount Rushmore.  This was by far the coolest start of a race I've ever done.  Admittedly though, I was too much in race mode to truly take in the historical monument.  After a long road lead out, I was able to be the fourth to the singletrack.  Typically, races start out with a climb to spread out the field.  This race started with a fast descent. It made things interesting to say the least.  Let's just say I was very happy to be at the front of the pack.

In front on the lead out
Photo by Les Heiserman

I was in the lead group along with a friend, local Golden fast guy Kelly Magelky.  Knowing just how fast Kelly is, I knew I wasn't going to keep his pace all day.  Sure enough, on the first big climb he pulled away with two other fast guys.  That put me in fourth, and I had no intentions of chasing.  I should mention that at the time I only counted two ahead of me and thought I was sitting third for most of the day.  Come to find I was sort of right.  Kelly had been sick for the last two days.  He made it a long way before stopping at an aid station, fell ill, and decided to throw in the towel.  The fact that he even started and then held it together for so long is a testament of how great of a racer he is.  Sometimes unforeseen circumstances happen in a race, and you have to make the safest call.

Me with Jamie Lamb who took the win for the day
Photo by Jennifer Bush

As I climbed higher and higher on the first big climb it kept getting steeper, and more technical.  Near the end of it there was a lot of hike-a-bike.  I really, really hate hiking my bike in a race.  Even at a slow pace, it seems as soon as my foot hits the ground my heart rate spikes.  I know I lost a lot of time in that section, but after it was done there still wasn't anyone in sight behind me.  Luckily, that was the only spot in the race that required hiking my bike.  I appreciated that it was at the beginning of the race, and not the end.

Ugh! Stairs after a long hike-a-bike section!
Photo by Les Heiserman

When I pre-rode some of the trail on Friday in Sturgis, I noticed that a lot of it was overgrown.  I figured that not a lot of people rode trail in Sturgis and thought that trail closer to Rapid City was more ridden.  Come to find out, not many people ride ANY trail in South Dakota, or at least not on the Continental Trail #89 which the course follows.  There was a lot of riding through knee high weeds, or what you may call deer trail. The whole time I was hoping I didn't get a weed stuck in my derailleur.  There was also a fair bit of riding through fields with a path mowed through it in what I like to call cyclocross style.  Miles of ATV/Jeep roads with endless mud holes filled with month old standing water left my drivetrain and entire bike covered with mud.  Between the weeds and the mud, keeping my drivetrain clean and making well calculated shifts to not brake a chain was my top priority.  I'd say the whole race had about 30% of "true" singletrack, but the little singletrack that there was was pretty darn good.

Me and my dirty bike coming into an aid station
Photo by Jennifer Bush

Since I spent a lot of time on terrain that I considered "nontraditional" in at mountain bike race, it was tough to know if I was on the right path or not.  There was a couple of times that I blew right through a path I was supposed to turn, and I somehow spotted it at the corner of my eye before going too far.  After speaking with several other racers, it seems the mass majority weren't as lucky and ended up tacking on a lot more mileage because they got lost.

Photo by Jennifer Bush

Most of the day I rode alone, except for a short time when 92Fifty rider Richie Trent passed me.  Team 92Fifty is another local team with a lot of fast guys.  Richie was on a singlespeed and tearing it up.  I hung on for a little bit knowing if I could hold his wheel on the climbs it would help put a big gap on anyone behind me.  Let me tell you, it was a tough wheel to hang on to!  Eventually Richie pulled away.

After what seemed like forever, I reached the last big climb which was followed by a long ten plus mile descent with one last short steep climb in the middle.  I pushed hard on that last big climb.  I knew if nobody else passed me on the climb, I was fast enough on the downhill to hold my spot.  There were some blurry moments on that climb with insanely steep grades over really rocky terrain.  There was no way I was putting my foot down though, so I dug deep into my pain cave to clear each one.

There I was, on the top of the last climb with a long descent a head of me.  I thought about the countless team rides I'd been on with all my enduro racers where I'd scare the hell out of myself holding their wheel.  All I could think about was that I needed to rip this downhill as fast as I could.  It was time to go into ENDURO MODE!!!  I ripped down the singletrack going mach speed, and flew up one last short climb before going back into fast descending.  When I finally made it to the bottom, I only had a couple of miles of rolling terrain to go.  My enduro mode paid off as I passed Richie within the last few miles.

The last mile of the race was a flat bike path.  I hit the bike path with six minutes before my eight hours mark.  My mind was way too foggy to calculate how fast I needed to go to finish under eight.  All I knew was that I had to push hard and I dug deeper than I ever have.  It was a mile long time trial to the finish.  Hopefully there was nobody within listening distance from me because I was letting out some bellows that must of sounded like a dying animal.  All the hurting paid off though as I crossed the line at 7:57:55.8.

Giving it all I had to the finish
Photo by Taylar Applegate

Extreme happiness after breaking the eight hour mark
Photo Taylar Applegate

The announcer confirmed that I was third overall!  It was a long tough day on a bike, but by staying focused and just racing my own race I came out on top.  Third overall in such a hard race is a new career best for me, and one that I'll cherish for a long time. I still have a long way to the top, but it feels good to see a big progression in the right direction.

Photo by Taylar Applegate

SCHEDULE UPDATE

After such a hard effort at Tatanka, I decided to drop the Breck 68 this year.  Also, I've decided to swap the Steamboat Stinger for the Laramie Enduro.  Not only do the dates work better for my family, it also has a better distance and amount of climbing for my racing abilities.  After Laramie, it'll be time to train for cyclocross!

Victory tastes good!

Race Report: Bailey Hundo

Here's an excerpt from my race report of the Bailey Hundo from last year:

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.

That last sentence. Another huge failure... that pretty much summed up my entire 2014. So far this year has been what I like to call the season of great redemption! Top on my redemption list has been The Bailey Hundo.

The race course for the 2015 Hundo was unlike the courses I had done in the past. Due to flooding, a main stretch of road the course followed was under water. The race board made some quick decisions, and modified the course to a two lap course instead of one big loop. It followed the same course of the shortened Hundito version of the race. This made the Hundo about ten miles shorter, but around the same amount of climbing, and a lot more singletrack. In other words, despite the course change, it was just as tough a race if not tougher.

The day started out hotter than usual this year. Typically, the 6 a.m. start of the Hundo called for arm warmers and knee warmers. After my warm up, I quickly ditched my knee warmers at the start line. It was going to be a hot one for sure. Thanks to an episode of the LW Coaching Show (LW Coaching is also my personal coach) featured on Mountain Bike Radio titled How to Start a 100-mile Mountain Bike Race, I had a crash course on how to start the race. I needed to hurt myself badly the first thirty minutes to get me on the singletrack as quick as possible. Hurt myself I did, and I was the seventh person to hit the trail.

After a hard race start, I took it down a notch, but not too much. According to my heart rate zone, I was climbing at zone 4.7 (the zones are from one to five) when typically I would have wanted to stay in a zone of low four or high three. My body was telling me it was okay to keep pushing, so I kept the hard pace.

I had a big motivator to help me keep pushing as well. My teammate Mark Wallace caught up to me about a hour and forty minutes into the race, and we rode together up to the last hour and half of the race. Since the course had changed, I had no clue what time I needed to shoot for, but Mark had it all worked out. According to his stats, breaking seven hours became the goal for the day.

Mark and I started the second lap right on pace. After hitting it hard during the first lap, I was a bit nervous I'd crumble during the second lap. I must have done something very right during training this year, because crumble I did not. On the contrary, I felt better than ever. So good in fact that I was pushing it on the downhills. I just couldn't help but take the harder lines that had features like rock drop offs. This is the great thing about the SCOTT Spark 900. Not only is it a super fast bike, but it is also so capable that it allows you to have more fun while racing. Not to mention you feel a lot less beat up during long races on this full suspension rocket ship.

Mark is on my tail!

After the first big descent, I nailed the first of three big climbs hard, made another quick descent taking all the "fun" lines, and nailed the second climb with a bit more fierceness. I was then down to the last mega climb to finish myself off. The last big one was a steep dirt road up to Wellington Lake, and then a long gradual dirt road climb to the top. There was a lot of teeth gritting with my eyes closed as I grunted my way up and over.

The last stretch was a couple of short climbs, and then a steep dirt road descent that went into one last climb before another short descent to the finish line. I knew I had to be on the gas if I wanted to break seven hours. I gave it everything I had, took some risks, and sprinted the finish. The official time was 6:58:56.50 which landed me seventh in the pro class, and fourteenth overall! Redemption accomplished! It felt very, very good to nail it at the Hundo.

Up next, THE Firecracker 50 on July 4th followed by the Tatanka 100 the next weekend, and the Breck 68 the weekend after that. Mega July!!! Time for me to recover, and conquer!

Race Report: ERock Sunrise to Sunset

I talk a lot about my own races here on my blog (as one would expect), but me racing personally is only one outlet in the cycling community that gives me joy.  For the last three years it has been my pleasure to be the team manager of an elite mountain biking team here in Golden, CO.  With the name derived from our great title sponsor and reason we exist, Pedal Pushers Cyclery, Pedal Pushers Racing (PPR) was formed.  The shop has had many race teams prior to PPR, but none took it to the level we have taken it.  We went from zero sponsors to having some of the most prestigious in the biking industry in a short time span.  With the help of many others, I have worked very hard to make this happen.  I am honored to have a team of talented, down to earth athletes who never asked for sponsorship, but I felt so strongly that they deserved it that I just had to make it happen.  I couldn't have done it without a lot help: my friend Eric Coomer being one of the biggest influences.  In short, when one of my racers does well at a race, it feels like more of a victory to me than if it was me on the podium.  This past weekend, three of my racers were on the podium as a team... that is, three of my racers AND me.

ERock Sunset to Sunrise is an eleven hour race that can be done solo or as a team.  Many of us on the PPR squad decided that it would the perfect opportunity to race together and just have fun.  We formed one four-person coed and two five-person coed teams.  My team consisted of me, Mark Wallace, Wes Felteau, and Ann Felteau.  With a new race venue for 2015, none of us knew what to expect.  The course was only six miles and around 600 feet of climbing, but very tight and twisty with a lot of punchy climbs.

We started out fast!  All of us had lap times close to 30 minutes.  With such short laps, we went full throttle all the way.  After we each did a lap, we checked the results to find out we were sitting in first place, but not by very much.

We soon learned the four-person and five-person coeds were all lumped together into one category.  Our competition had five people plus an 18 year old up and coming pro woman racer. We were definitely the under dogs.  Knowing the competition was fierce only fueled our fire.  Each of us put down faster and faster lap times.  Mark and I were breaking 30 minutes, while Wes and Ann were cutting minutes from their times.  

During my fourth lap it started to rain.  It went from light, to heavy, to hail, to becoming sunny again all in my 31 minute lap.  The rain was actually to my advantage, since I had just done the Pigsah 111k that was nothing but wet terrain.  So, I was well acclimated.  At the end of the lap, I discovered the race was delayed due to the weather.  The race was to be restarted in a mass start format with the same time gaps we had when I finished my lap.  Although we should had a 3 minute gap, the race staff made an error on the timing and refused to fix it because it was a "recreational" event.

Now we only had a five second gap with only five more laps to go for the win.  Luckily, with the rain delay we all had aqueduct rest so we were able to form the fastest racing order.  Ann made a tough choice and sacrificed for the team by letting me, Mark, and Wes finish out the race.

Mark started the mass race restart and hung onto our five seconds.  Wes threw down a great lap after that to keep us in the game.  I was able to put a little bit more time in our corner on my lap.  We were then down to our last one-two punch of Mark and then me again since we all agreed I could probably pull the fastest finishing lap.  Mark made a good jab on the competition with a one minute gain on his lap, and it was up to me to make the finishing blow.

I was enraged by the unprofessional way the race crew handle the timing mistake.  I wanted my f@$*ing three minutes back, and damnit I was going to get it!  Fueled by my rage, I pushed myself to my boundaries.  I worked the climbs, finessed the turns, and plowed the downhills.  After a blazing sprint to the finish I was met by an astounded team greeting complete with high fives.  They had to run to the finish to beat me there because they didn't expect me to come in so soon.  I got my three minutes back between the two laps I did after the rain delay, and we took the win!

Getting my three minutes back!

It was the best win I have ever had in my life!  Not because I raced so hard, but because I was able to contribute to my team winning.  Had it just been myself, it wouldn't have felt nearly as good.  To see my team mates work so hard, and to help them in the fight to win fills me with a joy I can't put into words.  Being able to help my team succeed either on the race course or by getting them sponsorship is why being a team manager fills me with so much happiness.  To make the day even better, our other five-person coed team placed sixth!  Our third team all riding Transition Klunkers did a great job racing as well and were the best cheering section ever!  Damn, I love my team!  Go PPR!

From left to right: Me, Mark Wallace, Wes Feltau, Ann Felteau

  

Race Report: 2015 Gunnison Full Growler

The week prior to the Gunnison Growler there probably wasn't a racer that didn't check the weather at least ten times.  The daily high continued to get lower, and the chance of rain hovered around 40% all weekend.  The racers for the Half Growler on Saturday suffered rain and muddy conditions.  The racers of the Full Growler on Sunday lucked out and were treated to hero dirt without a drop of rain.  The Full Growler is always a chilly start at 7 a.m., but this year was just a little bit chillier with temps in the mid 30's on race start.  Proper layering was definitely key for the day.

The race started fast up the infamous kill hill.  I hit it fairly hard myself, but held back just a bit.  I hung on to the front pack for a little bit, but with lead still in my legs from the 10k of climbing I did the previous weekend I wasn't looking to pull for a top ten spot.  I settled into my own pace for the first big loop.  Although I wasn't feeling quite at top form, I felt pretty damn good.  That alone is worth all the hard training I've done over the winter and spring.  I worked the climbs, and enjoyed all the great descending.  The Gunnison trail system is absolutely fantastic, and rides like a roller coaster.  There is also a good share of technical to keep your wits about you.  The worst of it is in the last couple miles of the loop.  Technical climbing up boulders, steep switchbacks, and rough terrain made the last bit of the loop feel like pure hell at times.  Once I made it through the first time I made a mental note for the second lap what to expect.

The start of the second lap is just brutal: steep technical climbing that seemed to last forever.  I was so happy to finally see familiar trail from the first lap.  At that point, I was feeling even better than I had on the first lap so I upped the pace a bit.  I put my head down and grounded out all the climbing.  I felt fluid and smooth through the trail.  Around 20 miles into the loop there is a lollipop loop in the Growler that is full of a lot of tech and fun.  I concentrated on clearing the section quickly without killing myself.  With a big smile on my face, I succeeded and even passed another racer along the way.  After that section is the last stretch with a lot of great descending, and some mean climbs.  I upped the pace just a bit more, but also kept in mind that I needed to leave a little bit in the tank for the last couple of hell miles.  Once I finally hit the last section I was ready.  I dug deep and cleared every last bit of it.  I knew that there would be a few people that would crack during this sections, and I jumped up a couple of spots along the way.  I did such a good job conserving that I had a pretty good sprint left in me for the finish line.

I ended up with 23rd overall.  With a brutal race in North Carolina a mere week earlier, I was pretty stoked with the result.  The Growler solidifies all the hard work I have done this year, and it felt great!  It was great to see old friends, and meet new ones.  I had a great time, and would like to thank all of my sponsors for making it happen!  Special thanks to Barrels and Bottles Brewery for the growlers for the Growler!  So happy race season is official underway!

Race Report: Pisgah 111k

If you're a frequent reader of my blogs, you'll know that last year was a very tough year for me.  I was over trained, over stressed, over race weight, and contemplating throwing in the towel.  With the passing of my father last June, and the birth of my son Nolan in January of this year, my life has been an emotional roller coaster.  I love our little Nolan, but as any parent knows the first year with your first child takes a lot of adjustments and challenges.  Luckily, he's an amazing, well-tempered baby (I like to call him a great beginner baby).  I know that a lot of people expected me to take a step back from racing, but not my incredibly supportive wife, Megan.  She knows the kind of man I am.  When the chips are down, that's when I work the hardest.  Most wives would have asked for a divorce long ago after dealing with the high maintenance life of an endurance athlete, team manager, ball of stress man I have become.  Instead, she has stepped up to the challenge and made sure I didn't miss a day of training.  If it weren't for Megan my racing career would be over.  She pulled me out of the hole I dug and I encouraged me to keep pushing.  It's been hard on both of us, but we made it through.

I toed the line in the Pisgah National Forest with the tail end of a nasty cold, and legs that were just a couple days off from being 100%.  I knew I wasn't going to be a competitor, but that was never my goal for the day anyway.  With around 70 miles, 10k of climbing, and terrain I had never ridden all I wanted to do was finish the race while taking in the experience along the way.  Finishing was just going to be a little bit tougher.  Once again, the chips were down, my motto all year. There was no way I was backing down.

The race started easy paced until we hit the first climb.  My legs nor lungs were not going to keep up with the front pack, so I quickly settled into my own pace for the long day of climbing.  The first half of the race took a lot of adjusting to the unknown.  I was warned about the wet rocks/roots, creek crossings, mud, and brutal terrain.  I had no idea that I would be carrying my bike overhead while wading through several knee high creeks, and sliding down endless mud/water shoots through rocks. 

Something happened to me out there that I hadn't experienced in any other bike race.  It seemed like every time I had to get off my bike to walk through another creek crossing, crank through another deep mud hole, or had more skin ripped off my arm by overgrown thorn bushes it became less like a race and more like a quest for survival.  I kind of went crazy out there.  At aid stations I’d stop and devour bananas with peanut butter, PB&J sandwiches, and anything else I could get into my paws.  For someone that follows a strict race day nutrition plan, this was far from normal.  I just snapped and said screw it.  I was in survival mode!

The second half was nastier than the first, and the last quarter of it was the nastiest.  The last several miles were a lot of climbing, with tons of steep uphill hike-a-bike.  After each steep uphill you were greeted with down hills so rough that it hurt every bone in your body.  It took every last bit of me just to hold on.  When I finally saw the finish line, there was no sprint nor spirit left in me to give.

The race director was there at the end greeting everyone.  After catching my breath, and taking a minute to take in what I just experienced, I thanked him.  The Pisgah 111k, much like my life this past year, was an emotional roller coaster full of fear, thrill, anger, weakness, bliss, and triumph.  It's the kind of experience that wakes you up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat amazed you survived, and finding yourself filled with joy that you got to experience it.  Somehow I was able to pull out a 15th in Open class, and still have some leg left for the Gunnison Growler for following weekend.