Roadie crosses over to mountain biking for a day
Cool Mountain Bike Race
3/13/2010
2 laps ~20ish miles
open SS 35-99
3rd place
First I digress....As most of you know I'm not really a roadie, but I play one on TV. Seriously though, I got into cycling because of mountain biking, but in the last few years I've become intrigued with road racing. Some dirties may wonder why bother? Well, it's really frick'n hard. I've done everything from being a competitive expert mountain bike racer, geared and singlespeed. I've raced endurance events where I logged over 100 miles and 18,000ft of climbing. Yet I've had no "real" success on the road. It's takes a lot of fitness, but also a lot of finesse. The strongest rider doesn't win. The strongest, smartest rider wins.
Any who, the point of the digression is I've been training really hard since October of last year. I miss 'cross season because of the knee injury incurred at SSWC09 in Durango. And in year's past I'd been close to some top 10's as a Cat4 on the road. So this was my year to properly train for a winning road season. All this amounts to the fact that I've not been riding my mountain bike a whole lot, because 200 miles a week is easier on a road bike ;-)
Mountain biking is where my roots are and so I always come back to it for fun and relaxation. Sure I'm still racing, but it's just a different scene from road racing scene. In my plan for roadie domination this year, I wanted to make sure not to burn out. Out in Caly we got a long season, starts in Feb and goes till September! Since I want to be competitive on the road for the duration of road season, mountain biking is my outlet to stay fresh.
I'd ridden my Swift the day before to make sure everything was dialed in. Last minute tweaks, adjusting my new Ergon grips and new Wolverine rear tire. The last time I rode it was probably about a month ago! And now I find myself lining up at Cool in the Open SS 35-99 class, ready to throw down. Being that the category is open, I know that I'm up against pros for the top spots. I push that thought out of my mind and focus on the task at hand, the start.
The categories ahead are going off in waves, Pro men\women, expert men and women. While we are waiting I'm nervously chatting with people, man it really has been a while since I've done a mtb race! I keep peeping my Garmin and see that my HR is getting elevated the closer our group moves to the starting line. We get the 30 second head's up to start and I force myself to take a deep breath and get ready for the pain I'm about to experience.
The whistle blows, I drill it and am out front with two other guys. They take a weird line, which makes me think I'm off course, I slow a bit and they merge back onto the course. We racing down pavement to double track which leads into a small hill and then a descent, followed by some rolling stuff. The hills are really not much, but at race pace my HR is pegged and I'm breathing hard. I keep the two leaders insight and dig to stay close. I can hear somebody breathing down my neck, but I focus on the guys ahead of me. We start catching riders from the previous waves. On the first real hill, I'm so red line I'm not actually able to climb much of it 'cause I'm totally redlined, it's muddy and there are riders from the previous wave strewn all over the hill, some walking some riding. Any who, I dismount quickly and begin jogging. I can see the leaders pulling away at the top of the hill. I'll get them I repeat to myself and hoof it up the hill passing people left and right. Sometimes it's just faster to run a section....both cyclocross and single speeding teach you that ;-)
One guy passes me, he's on gears no prob. We hit a flat section then another climb, one ss guy gets buy me. Hell no...he make it to the top of the hill before me. We crest the hill he eases up I 'cross hop onto my bike and drill it passing him to never see him again. For that matter, nobody else every passed me. Which meant as I made my way through more of the field, I was pretty much in no-man's land for most of the race. I kept passing geared riders hoping I would see some single gears but nothing. Finally near the end of the lap somebody yells to me on a hill, good job, keep on your gear, the leaders are about a minute up.
A minute no problem, I can close it. And then I'm no man's land from pretty much the second lap. I think to myself "shit, I've been going hard for a long time, am I gonna cramp, can I do this." The negative self talk started to bring me down, then I realized I gotta short circuit this shit and focus on the race. Joie, my partner, has been reading this book "Mental Training for Peak Performance," admittedly I though it was kinda hokie and a bunch of psycho-babble. But I happened to pick it up and read a bit a few weeks back and part of the book was about this exact thing. It said you should think about positive things, smile and focus on the task at hand.
So I did, I thought of Joie, who's been so supportive as I rehabbed my knee after injury last September. She' s been my biggest supporter and the biggest inspiration as she is so motivated and dedicated to training. She even created a training schedule for me! And I'll be damned if it didn't work. I thought OK, let's see what my HR is at, it's too low, I got ride at tempo and attack the hills. I don't know how far back my competitors are and I don't know how close the leaders are. This was my strategy and I kept picking people off, but never saw the leaders till the end of the race.
Turn's out it was an old friend Chris and some other fast dude. They finished like 10 minutes ahead of me! Chris and I used to race expert together and well I got phat and he went pro ;-) I was happy with my result. No cramping, although they were close. My hammy were whispering to me. The previous day's track workout taxed the hammys and well riding a singlespeed mtb taxed the same muscles. I finished the race and was like whew. My lungs felt great, what really hurt and was tired were my legs.
I got on the podium, which is always awesome, but more importantly I learned an important lesson on the mental fortitude required in any type of racing!
So I'm ready for some more mountain biking, but my focus is road this season. But it's funny you know, getting on the podium on my mtb has made me more hungry for the road!
Up next, Murphy's Enduro Numbero Dos and then the Big Sandy. Yes I know, there both mtb-ish races. We'll sortuv, the Enduro is mixed terrain and 90+ miles. Any way you add that it's a lot of good, fun miles. All to get ready for Copperopolis domination.
Last but not least, I'd like to thank Sam of Singular Cycles for believing in me and thinking I was worthy of a bike sponsorship. Sam had asked me to be a test rider and racer on the dirt side of things for Team Singular. I'm happy to say I'm happy to throw down on the dirt to help promote the Singular brand in the US. Sam is based in the UK. On the road side, I'm still happily a Mouse and plan to bring some glory to the pavee side soon!
Cheers and Thanks for Reading.
3/13/2010
2 laps ~20ish miles
open SS 35-99
3rd place
First I digress....As most of you know I'm not really a roadie, but I play one on TV. Seriously though, I got into cycling because of mountain biking, but in the last few years I've become intrigued with road racing. Some dirties may wonder why bother? Well, it's really frick'n hard. I've done everything from being a competitive expert mountain bike racer, geared and singlespeed. I've raced endurance events where I logged over 100 miles and 18,000ft of climbing. Yet I've had no "real" success on the road. It's takes a lot of fitness, but also a lot of finesse. The strongest rider doesn't win. The strongest, smartest rider wins.
Any who, the point of the digression is I've been training really hard since October of last year. I miss 'cross season because of the knee injury incurred at SSWC09 in Durango. And in year's past I'd been close to some top 10's as a Cat4 on the road. So this was my year to properly train for a winning road season. All this amounts to the fact that I've not been riding my mountain bike a whole lot, because 200 miles a week is easier on a road bike ;-)
Mountain biking is where my roots are and so I always come back to it for fun and relaxation. Sure I'm still racing, but it's just a different scene from road racing scene. In my plan for roadie domination this year, I wanted to make sure not to burn out. Out in Caly we got a long season, starts in Feb and goes till September! Since I want to be competitive on the road for the duration of road season, mountain biking is my outlet to stay fresh.
I'd ridden my Swift the day before to make sure everything was dialed in. Last minute tweaks, adjusting my new Ergon grips and new Wolverine rear tire. The last time I rode it was probably about a month ago! And now I find myself lining up at Cool in the Open SS 35-99 class, ready to throw down. Being that the category is open, I know that I'm up against pros for the top spots. I push that thought out of my mind and focus on the task at hand, the start.
The categories ahead are going off in waves, Pro men\women, expert men and women. While we are waiting I'm nervously chatting with people, man it really has been a while since I've done a mtb race! I keep peeping my Garmin and see that my HR is getting elevated the closer our group moves to the starting line. We get the 30 second head's up to start and I force myself to take a deep breath and get ready for the pain I'm about to experience.
The whistle blows, I drill it and am out front with two other guys. They take a weird line, which makes me think I'm off course, I slow a bit and they merge back onto the course. We racing down pavement to double track which leads into a small hill and then a descent, followed by some rolling stuff. The hills are really not much, but at race pace my HR is pegged and I'm breathing hard. I keep the two leaders insight and dig to stay close. I can hear somebody breathing down my neck, but I focus on the guys ahead of me. We start catching riders from the previous waves. On the first real hill, I'm so red line I'm not actually able to climb much of it 'cause I'm totally redlined, it's muddy and there are riders from the previous wave strewn all over the hill, some walking some riding. Any who, I dismount quickly and begin jogging. I can see the leaders pulling away at the top of the hill. I'll get them I repeat to myself and hoof it up the hill passing people left and right. Sometimes it's just faster to run a section....both cyclocross and single speeding teach you that ;-)
One guy passes me, he's on gears no prob. We hit a flat section then another climb, one ss guy gets buy me. Hell no...he make it to the top of the hill before me. We crest the hill he eases up I 'cross hop onto my bike and drill it passing him to never see him again. For that matter, nobody else every passed me. Which meant as I made my way through more of the field, I was pretty much in no-man's land for most of the race. I kept passing geared riders hoping I would see some single gears but nothing. Finally near the end of the lap somebody yells to me on a hill, good job, keep on your gear, the leaders are about a minute up.
A minute no problem, I can close it. And then I'm no man's land from pretty much the second lap. I think to myself "shit, I've been going hard for a long time, am I gonna cramp, can I do this." The negative self talk started to bring me down, then I realized I gotta short circuit this shit and focus on the race. Joie, my partner, has been reading this book "Mental Training for Peak Performance," admittedly I though it was kinda hokie and a bunch of psycho-babble. But I happened to pick it up and read a bit a few weeks back and part of the book was about this exact thing. It said you should think about positive things, smile and focus on the task at hand.
So I did, I thought of Joie, who's been so supportive as I rehabbed my knee after injury last September. She' s been my biggest supporter and the biggest inspiration as she is so motivated and dedicated to training. She even created a training schedule for me! And I'll be damned if it didn't work. I thought OK, let's see what my HR is at, it's too low, I got ride at tempo and attack the hills. I don't know how far back my competitors are and I don't know how close the leaders are. This was my strategy and I kept picking people off, but never saw the leaders till the end of the race.
Turn's out it was an old friend Chris and some other fast dude. They finished like 10 minutes ahead of me! Chris and I used to race expert together and well I got phat and he went pro ;-) I was happy with my result. No cramping, although they were close. My hammy were whispering to me. The previous day's track workout taxed the hammys and well riding a singlespeed mtb taxed the same muscles. I finished the race and was like whew. My lungs felt great, what really hurt and was tired were my legs.
I got on the podium, which is always awesome, but more importantly I learned an important lesson on the mental fortitude required in any type of racing!
So I'm ready for some more mountain biking, but my focus is road this season. But it's funny you know, getting on the podium on my mtb has made me more hungry for the road!
Up next, Murphy's Enduro Numbero Dos and then the Big Sandy. Yes I know, there both mtb-ish races. We'll sortuv, the Enduro is mixed terrain and 90+ miles. Any way you add that it's a lot of good, fun miles. All to get ready for Copperopolis domination.
Last but not least, I'd like to thank Sam of Singular Cycles for believing in me and thinking I was worthy of a bike sponsorship. Sam had asked me to be a test rider and racer on the dirt side of things for Team Singular. I'm happy to say I'm happy to throw down on the dirt to help promote the Singular brand in the US. Sam is based in the UK. On the road side, I'm still happily a Mouse and plan to bring some glory to the pavee side soon!
Cheers and Thanks for Reading.
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