Race Report: Salida Big Friggin Loop (SBFL)

A Nervous Start

After racing for several years, I don't tend to get too nervous for races anymore, but the Salida Big Friggin Loop (SBFL) was different.  The SBFL is part of the Colorado Endurance Series, a series of bike races that have an underground feel to them.  The field sizes are extremely limited (most are no more than 74 riders), they are completely self supported (no aid stations), and there are no course markings so you are dependent upon a GPS to find your way.  No registration fee, no prizes, just a bunch of hardcore riders looking for bragging rights.

Nervously Waiting for the Race to Start (Mr. Kerkove on the left)

The thought of doing a self supported race made me nervous enough, but the fact that the loop was from Salida to Buena Vista (47.5 miles) and back to Salida (45 miles) with zero civilization between the two towns was terrifying to me.  From the time I signed up for the race in December, I couldn't stop obsessing over this race.  I lost many hours of sleep, but none more than the night before the race.  After months of obsessing though, as soon as I pushed my first pedal stroke to start the race, all of the anxiety faded away as my mind and body entered race mode.

The Race

The SBFL comes in two flavors; long loop and short loop.  I decided to do the short loop since this was said to be much easier to navigate and closer to the distance I train for.  The "short" loop was 89.3 miles originally, but days before the race we all found out that an optional segment of singletrack could be added.  The optional segment would take riders on Cotton Wood Trail and drop them into downtown Salida.  With this segment the short loop would become 92.5 miles, and anyone that took it would receive a 100 minute time bonus.  I decided this was the route for me.

Salida to Buena Vista

It was a 6:30am sharp start in Salida, and it was already getting warm out.  The start was the most enjoyable start I've ever done.  We all rode together neutrally for a good hour giving me time to chat with my racing buddies Ben Parman and Jeff Kerkove.  Both of these guys are fast as hell, and both were doing the long loop so I need not worry about them.  After the long neutral roll out, Jeff picked up the pace.  Ben and a couple other riders joined Jeff, and they soon pulled away from my still very sore/stiff legs from the Gunnison Growler I had raced two weeks prior.  Not to mention I was tired from not sleeping much the night before; luckily downing two Huma Chia Energy Gels in a row woke me right up.  I didn't try to chase.  This race wasn't about competing with anyone else but myself.  I put my head down and held a steady pace that I kept all day.

Neutral Rollout

The first climb out of Salida was a huge one starting with pavement (which was part of the neutral start) that turned into dirt road (were Jeff picked up the pace) and into the singletrack of the Colorado Trail which is ridden until you head east into Buena Vista.  Although I rode alone where the pavement ended and the dirt road started all the way to the Colorado Trail, once we hit singletrack I soon started picking riders off that may have pushed a little too hard early on chasing Jeff and Ben in the lead group.

The soreness/stiffness in my legs never went away the whole race, but it also never got worse.  I wasn't able to push hard, but at the distance I was riding pushing hard would have been a bad idea anyway.  I held a strong, steady pace on the Colorado Trail and just enjoyed the ride.  There was so much good singletrack to me ridden during this segment, and views were absolutely breathtaking.  It was easy to forget that I was racing at times.  It just felt like I was out for a big ride.  It's easy to get that feeling when you ride a bike as enjoyable as my SCOTT Spark 900.  Damn, I love that bike!

Once I made it to Buena Vista I made a stop at their local bike shop, Boneshaker Cycles, who had kindly setup a small aid station in the shop with water, sports drinks, and snacks.  The shop owner (I presume) let me know that I was the fourth rider to stop by, and I knew at least two riders in front of me (Jeff and Ben) were doing the long loop.  Therefore there was only one racer that could potentially be racing the short loop like I was ahead of me.   I filled up on water and was off right at 4 hours 30 minutes.

Back to Salida

The ride out of Salida started with the last bit of singletrack until hitting the optional Cottonwood segment near the end.  Honestly, I was happy to see dirt road after taking so much abuse on the Colorado Trail.  There was a lot of variation of "dirt" road to be ridden.  Most could be done with any vehicle, some only by a good all wheel drive vehicle (SUV/Truck), and some only could be ridden by an off road vehicle such as an ATV.

It was during a long, gradual, dirt road climb (the kind that could be done with any vehicle) that I felt myself losing focus.  I was 65 miles into the race I needed something more than an energy gel/sports drink.  I decided to take a KIND bar break.  It was one of their newest bars, a dark chocolate almond mint.  This bar is good any day of the week, but when you are deep into an endurance race it tastes AMAZING!!!  It was just what I needed to rejuvenate myself for the last part of the race.

It wasn't too long after my short break that I saw another rider far off in the distance.  Little by little on the gradual dirt climb I was pulling him in.  I wasn't sure if he was a racer or not since he wasn't wearing a hydration pack, and had on a wool athletic t-shirt with baggy shorts. I don't mean to discriminant as not all of use shave our legs and wear a team kit, but it just threw me off a little bit.  It wasn't until we reached a downhill section were I was able to still spin on my 2x11 drivetrain and he ran out of gears on his 1x11 that I caught up to him.

Once I caught up to this lone rider, we rode for a couple of minutes together both clearly happy to see anyone else out there.  I can't recall his name, but he was really nice guy from Durango and riding super strong.  He had hung with Jeff and Ben most of race; very impressive knowing how strong those two ride.  I could tell he was a little burnt hanging with those two beasts. He split ways with them when they turned off for the long loop and he turned for the short loop; thus he was the lone racer ahead of me when I left Buena Vista.  As we entered the last big climb, I was feeling strong.

To Cottonwood and Beyond

The last big climb was on a rutted ATV dirt road through aspen trees.  I upped my pace as much as I could without completely blowing up.  I didn't look back until the top, and by that time the lone rider was no where to be seen.  I didn't relax though as there was still the optional Cottonwood trail segment that he could still catch up to me on.  I knew I was about 15 minutes away from the trailhead so I downed a raspberry Huma Gel that contains 25mg of caffeine so it would hit my system right when I entered the singletrack.

After what seemed to be the longest 15 minutes in my life, I finally hit the Cottonwood trailhead.  At this point, the caffeine hit my system just as planned and I was ready to give it my all.  As stated early, the optional Cottonwood segment would give a 100 minute time bonus.  Jeff mentioned at the beginning of the race that the segment probably would take 60 minutes, so if it went as planned I would drop 40 minutes from my time.  Without taking the optional segment, you could finish the race in 20 minutes.  In other words, to make the optional section worthwhile I needed to do it in at least 80 minutes.

In the end, I didn't do the optional Cottonwood segment in 80, nor 60 minutes.  Between the caffeine and the adrenaline knowing I may be in 1st place, I sprinted the last segment in 55 minutes taking the win!

A Good Day on the Bike

I can't tell you how amazing it felt to take the win.  I went out there to race my race, and my race alone.  What I ended up with was a sub 9 hour finish over 92.5 miles, and 11,444 feet of climbing to take the win!  I found out that most riders, both long loop and short loop, skipped the last Cottonwood segment because they ran out of water.  Did I mention it got up to the upper 90's!?  Running out of water wasn't an issue for me as the over planner that I am had a 100oz hydration pack, and three extra bottles of water in anticipation for the hot weather.  Hell, I even dumped a water bottle during the second half since I knew I wouldn't need it and it was weighing me down.  There was one other person who did the optional Cottonwood, my buddy Ben Parman to take the long loop win!!!  Congrats to Ben on his big finish as well!

Ben & me on our Makeshift Podium!

Now that's a damn good day on the bike!  Happy Trails!

Celebratory Beer & Burrito

Race Report: 2016 Gunnison Growler

I said it to myself: break six.  I said to my friends: break six.  I repeated it over and over again in my head on race morning: break six.  In case you're not catching my lingo, break six means getting a time of under six hours in a race.  That was my only goal for the Gunnison Growler, and it turned out to be quite a lofty goal.

Race Morning & Start

It was a cold morning in Gunnison for the Growler.  Nothing unusual there as it's always a cold morning in Gunnison on Memorial day weekend.  Without even a countdown, the shotgun to start the race shot off startling everyone.  After a neutral start, the race began on a steep hill lovingly called "Kill Hill".  I paced myself perfectly to keep my heart rate down on that first big climb, but it still wasn't enough to keep me from overheating.  I was wearing a skull cap, and by the time I was nearly to the top I desperately needed to take it off.  I used a trick I've done many times.  I took off my helmet while riding uphill, held my helmet in my teeth, and went to take off my skull cap.  Everything would have went smoothly if I had remembered to take off my sunglasses first.  Unfortunately, I did not and my sunglasses went flying off.  After dismounting, grabbing my sunglasses, and hopping back on my bike I was left with quite a bit a ground to cover to catch up to the front.  I knew right then that it was going to be a long race.

Climbing "Kill Hill" Post Skull Cap Mishap

In the Thick of It

Even with my skull cap mishap, I was feeling pretty good.  In years past, the race would quickly transition from dirt road into singletrack making it hard to pass, but this year they started it with a much longer dirt road climb section so I was able to make quick work passing a large amount of racers.  I soon found myself within eye shot of Jeff Kerkove, a well known crusher in the endurance field.  I tried my best to catch up to Jeff to congratulate him on his recent engagement to another local crusher, Karen Jarchow (KJ), but the closest I got was still a bike length away.

Photo by Matt Burt

Even at that distance, I knew if I was keeping up with Jeff I was on a good pace.  I was able to hold on for about an hour before he finally rode out of sight.  That was enough to put in a good position before heading into Skull Pass, a mean two mile lollipop loop attached to the big thirty two mile loop.  Even for the best riders, there are some short sections where hike-a-bike is required on Skull Pass.  In years past, any time I stepped off my bike to hike my heart rate would sky rocket and I'd be winded for a couple of minutes.  This year though I have been hiking quite a bit with my wife Megan and my son Nolan, a twenty pound one year old, strapped to my back.  I was surprised that not only was I not winded, but I was running the hike-a-bike sections!

Photo by Dave Kozlowski

End of Lap One & Beginning of Two

After Skull Pass, I was at 1:40 and thought that if I could finish the first thirty two mile lap at 2:40, I would be sitting pretty good.  To my disappointment, at 2:40 I was still on lap one, and at 2:45, 2:50, 2:55.... Finally at 2:58 I rolled through the line to finish lap one.  After a two minute pit stop to shed some layers I started my second lap right at three hours.

Photo by Matt Burt

Endurance racing can be very emotional in the middle of a race when you still have hours to go, and I was feeling down on myself for not making lap one in 2:40.  I was still pushing, but I wasn't feeling overly motivated to push.  I thought that maybe I just needed a good shot of calories, so I downed a strawberry Huma Gel.  That did the trick, because by the time I got to Skull Pass for round two I was in a much better state of mind.  I completed Skull Pass just a couple minutes under 4:40.  Doing the math in my head (which is harder than you think four hours into an endurance race), I calculated that if I completed the last couple of miles about the same time I did on lap one I could still break six.  Right at 4:45 I downed a raspberry Huma Gel that has 25mg of caffeine so it would hit my system right at the last hour mark.  It was game time!

Photo by Matt Burt

The Last Hour

The last couple of miles of the Growler is a lot of mean technical sections and climbing.  You have to work hard for every inch.  I knew the pain that was coming, and I was ready to take the damage.  I over concentrated on the technical sections to clear everything I could while still pushing myself into blurred vision on the climbs.

Tech Section in Last Few Miles
Photo by Dave Kozlowski

I gritted my teeth, and counted every second.  Right at 5:57 I started the final descent.  Any concern for personal safety was out the window.  I knew I needed to complete that last section like it was an Enduro run.  After a brief, but scary couple of minutes of descending the finish line was in site.  I sprinted the last mile like a mad man.  With my head down, going full throttle I crossed the line at 5:59:40.  I broke six!

Full Throttle to the Line!

Mission Complete!

This was my third attempt at racing the Growler counter clockwise, the first two times ending in disappointing DNFs.  That made this victory even sweeter.  I was greeted by cheering team mates that I'm fortunate enough to call my good friends with hugs, and high fives.  I was also greeted by a sip of Colorado made Fireside Bourbon, and a growler for the Growler of Barrels & Bottles brew.  Hanging out while celebrating with friends made all the pain worthwhile.  I love my team, Pedal Pushers KIND Racing!

Seconds After Crossing the Line - Mission Complete!

Race Report: True Grit 100

Ah yes, the True Grit 100, a mountain biker's version of March Madness.  When I stepped out of the motel door at 6am in St George, Utah it was lightly misting.  I shivered all the way to the race start located in the neighboring town of Santa Clara.  After a winter full of multiple colds and trips back to the Midwest so family could ogle over my incredibly adorable ginger-son, my only goal for the day was to finish while having fun.

I was still shivering when the race started at 7am.  Being that cold may have been why I started out so fast with the head of the pack.  After a good half hour of pushing my heart into the red zone (aka zone 5), my legs told me it was going to be one of those days.  Once again, like every first race I've had for last several years, I was feeling a bit over trained.  What can I say, I'm really good at beating myself up during winter training; perhaps a little too good.  Despite cutting back on training, it still wasn't enough.   I really needed an extra week of recovery.  Just something to remember for next year.

Two things can happen when you're in a very long endurance race and your legs are telling you "not today"; A) You can accept that it just isn't going to be a "competitive day" and back off early so you can at least enjoy the ride B) You can bury yourself and have a miserable day.  One way or another, you ain't landing a top spot.  During the first lap, I wisely choose option 'A'.  I may have got passed a lot, but I always had a good enough gap to enjoy the downhills.  The True Grit has so many oh so good downhills too.  Lots of fun was had the first lap.

I completed lap one in around four hours, and started lap two feeling good when it happened; mountain bike race purgatory!  What is mountain bike race purgatory you ask?  It's when you have one or more racers who are fast enough to pass you on the uphills, and then ruin you downhills with their lack of skills.  Sure, you may finally pass them on the downhill, but by that time most of the downhill goodness is over.  There was two of them riding together in my case.  After they ruined one of my downhills, I couldn't let it happen again.  Between the gap I put on them on the last downhill I was able to salvage and pushing the pace on the uphills, I was able to ward them off for all the good stuff.

All the pushing the pace on the uphills to get myself out of mountain bike race purgatory put me quite a bit over the edge.  Luckily though, there is a long rolling section between the good trails in the True Grit 100.  I was pretty gassed, so I very slowly pedaled through this section.  When you're that gassed, that's when experience really comes in.  I've done enough endurance races to know that when you feel like you can't go on, you still have more in you then what you think.  It's a nice metaphor to life.  You can't quit when the chips are down; that's when you just have to suffer through and believe it's going to get better.  It did get better, and I was smiling again by the time I reached the last bit of singletrack goodness.

Any day you can complete 10k of climbing in 100 miles (85 miles technically on the Garmin) is a victory in my opinion.  Having beers while chatting with new and old friends makes it even sweeter.  I can officially check the whole True Grit 100 off my bucket list.  After a couple weeks of training in Vegas/Phoenix, I'll be back in Colorado preparing for the Gunnision Growler.  Come ride and be warm with me if you can!

Finding the Balance

Three, the number of colds I’ve had since beginning training in November.  The last one lasted one and half weeks, and took me off my bike completely during what would have been a tough training block.  Years prior, either two things would have happened; a) I would have buried myself trying to train through it b) I would have lost my mind from stressing out about not training.  This year is different though… it needed to be different.

A Bad Balance

I put a lot of pressure on myself the previous race season to succeed.  I had the notion in my head that I had to prove to everyone that having a baby (my son Nolan was born in January 2015) wasn’t going to end my racing career.  I pushed hard to compete, and ended up having the most successful race season to date.  It came with great sacrifices though.  Sacrifices that were far from worth it.  I defended my training so fiercely, that I pushed away my family.  The worst I can remember is a time I had just brought my wife home from the hospital after having complications from child birth.  She was tired and desperately needed to rest, but in my mind I needed to train more.  I insisted on hopping on the trainer rather than letting my wife rest after a long day.  That is only one of many times I let my training take too high of a priority.  Biking used to be my number one stress reliever, but suddenly it became my number one stress.  I had become a monster.

Finding Myself in Spain

The month I spent in Sevilla, Spain from mid-October to mid-November may have been the healthiest thing I’ve done in the last six years for myself mentally.  I had my victorious race year, but there was no enjoyment in my success.  My marriage was in shambles, and I knew that this trip was more than just a vacation.  I needed to re-analysis what was most important in my life, and try to fix the damage I had caused.  I elected to stay off a bike for the trip, and just enjoy life with my family.  Letting go felt good, and for the first time all year I felt alive again.  I thought about the previous year, and couldn’t remember one time I enjoyed being on the bike.  It had become too much about competing and less about the joy of being on a bike.

A New Path

I contemplated quitting biking altogether.  When I got back on a bike for the first time in nearly two months in November, I knew biking needed to once again become a stress reliever, not my reason to stress.  I needed to rediscover my love for biking, but not let it consume me.  Biking needed to make me a better person, not an intolerable tyrant.

Finding the Balance

Between sickness, and traveling to see family, I have taken more training days off than I have in my whole endurance racing career.  Will it make me slower this season?  I don’t really care.  Life happens, and if I stress myself out over not training so much that it affects my mood which affects my home life then maybe I shouldn’t be training at all.  Doing badly at a race isn’t nearly as bad as letting myself become the monster I was.  Who knows, maybe this new stress free lifestyle will make me faster in the long run.  I don’t know if I’ll make it on the podium this year, but I do know that I’ll be a lot happier.  I also know my family enjoys, and deserves a better me.

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.

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!