Leadville Training 1

Training 

Training wise, I’m not a fan of long slow rides.  They have their place, mostly on recovery days, but for us non-professionals with actual non-cycling day jobs, they are waste of time.  Assuming you only have 5-12 hours a week to train, you need to make the most of it.   I’m going to advocate two intervals a week and 1-2 long sessions of riding on the weekend.  I’m also a fan of 1-2 recovery rides during the week. 

A standard week goes something like this.  Monday completely off or 1 hour of very low-intensity riding (zone 1).  Tuesday 3x10 or 4x10 threshold intervals.  Wed – 1 hour recovery or Interval session 2 depending on how I feel.  Thursday – 1 hour recovery or interval session (depending on what I did Wed) 2 – 4x12 sweet spot, 4x10 over-under, or similar.  Friday recovery ride or off day.  Saturday a 2-4 hour ride out doors for fun – ride however you want – spirited group ride, ride at the trails, or solid solo ride.)  Sunday 2+ hours of easy zone2 riding or take the day off. 

I advocate intervals during the week because these will bring up your physical conditioning and start building your legs and mind.  More on this later.  

I use the trainer, computrainer for my intervals.  I’m apparently a sick person as most can’t stand to ride indoors.  I personally see my trainer as the gym – when I’m on it, it’s workout time.  It’s not for fun, it’s not for dead miles.  Each ride on it has a purpose.  Also, I hate getting dressed to go outside.  With the trainer I can get in to a routine and I can get a very quality workout in a short period of time.  This is important to me because I work 9 hours a day Mon – Fri and I don’t have a lot of time to ride.  Getting on the trainer saves me 20-50min of prep time and ride out time (time I ride to get to a spot to do my workouts.) 

Whether you do your week rides on the trainer or outdoors, it’s your world.  I’m just explaining how and why I did what I do.   I have a helacious “laboratory” setup where I train including a computrainer, dedicated trainer bike, dedicated computer, 50” tv/monitor, and several thousand dollars of cycle training software. 

If you choose to go outside just hold yourself accountable to doing what you’re there to do. 

I like intervals during the week since time is usually limited.  Intervals give you more bang for your buck (timewise.)  Many people think that interval training is only for racing short distance races and since Leadville is a 9+ hour endurance race, they aren’t necessary.  Truth is, you’ll be climbing for 30minutes to 1:30 at a stretch and while climbing you will be using an intensity above normal endurance race intensities.  You need to be able to climb at these intensities (zone3 and 4) and be able to recover.  IMO you can’t do this by riding at an endurance pace for all of your training times.  Intervals will help you and your body cope with these climbing intensities. 

In addition, to helping you cope with the climbing, intervals will bring your fitness up quickly.  Not only will your ability to go hard increase but your endurance ride intensity will also go up.  More on this another time. 

Rest

You need rest.  Rest is very important.  If you notice in the workouts above, there are lots of recovery rides.  Training smartly with intervals and doing them properly will stress your body and legs.  Your body needs recovery.  Build it up, recovery, build it up, and recover.  This is how you get stronger.  Recovery is just as important as training. 

Most people do too much training and never recover.  This is a normal thing for most who train and thus they struggle with getting better/stronger.  Build in enough recovery in to your plan and you’ll get the results you are looking for. 

Recovery means doing nothing or riding very easy.  When I say easy, imagine a ride with intensity of about 10mph on a road bike.  These kinds of rides seem pointless but they do wonders for helping your body recover. 

Nutrition

You need to start dialing in your nutrition early on.  Do you want to eat normal food, gels, liquids or a combo of all the above?  You need to start experimenting now.  If it were me, I’d start experimenting with a lot of different items.  On race day, at altitude, and with the intensity needed to race Leadville, you may find that what you like is suddenly un-palatable during the race.  You will need to eat something, you’re going to burn upwards of 5,000 calories and ride at various intensities.  It will be impossible to ride without some kind of nutritional aid. 

I went with portables.  Midway through the race I couldn’t tolerate them anymore.  I forced myself to eat them but only because I knew I couldn’t go without.  I started eating GU’s because they were giving them away for free.  I hate GU but for whatever reason I was able to eat them that day. 

My point is make sure your body can run on different fuels.  Find what you like and what works for you but also have a backup plan.  Understand you will HAVE to eat something several times throughout the race. 

Another thing to be aware of is how you eat.  It’s one thing to eat something when you’re heartrate and breathing is relatively low (120-135bpm), it’s another when your HR is up in the 150+ zone.  When you’re HR is elevated (as when you climb, or race shorter distances) it becomes difficult to chew, breath, and swallow.  The higher your heartrate and breathing, the harder it is to eat solid food.  You need to practice eating at higher intensities.  This sounds like a joke but at the rattler (a shorter race) and while climbing at Leadville, it’s a HUGE deal and could prevent you from being able to eat. 

Weight

Getting your fitness to its highest is key but an equally important thing is to go to Leadville as light as possible.  This means being as lean as possible.  You’ll be spending a lot of time climbing and gravity is not a friend of weight.  I didn’t understand this, being from Texas, I never really understood gravity’s effect on climbing.  It’s real, and real bad for those of us who are heavier.  I went to Leadville at 225lbs.  My buddy Zack when at 200lbs.  We were equally fit, I may have been a little stronger.  He beat me by 40min during the race because of the weight difference. 

While you train, especially in July, you need to start trying to drop as much weight as you can.  You need to hit Leadville as lean and light as possible.

There’s a fine line between training and losing your weight.  Losing weight and training may seem to be one of the same but they are not.  If you’re training hard you will burn calories and lightly lose weight.  With that said, if you try to lose weight while training, you could cause your body to have a difficult time to recover from your workouts.  If you can’t recover you won’t recover and your training will stall.  I caution you to be very careful, you can’t train with intensity or long duration if you are also trying to lose weight. 

Rattler

The rattler is very important and this should be considered your A-race.  You want to do as well as possible here.  The better you do the further you move up in corrals at Leadville.  This is a huge deal.  You’ll be up front the better you do which means you won’t be stuck behind people on the first climb or on Columbine.  This will save you 30+ minutes of time and it’s huge.  As the riders get tired you’ll be stuck behind them.  The further up in corrals you start, the faster riders you’ll be with.  If you start in the back corrals, you’ll be surrounded by riders who are slower and thus you will be at their mercy on the single track climbs.  This will add minutes to your time. 

Do well at the rattler (under 4:30) and you’ll have a good place to start from.

Bahamas - Dinner and Evening Events

Eating in the evening at the resort was a semi-formal dress event.  Perhaps semi-formal is a misrepresentation of the actual attire required for dinner in most of the resort restaurants but it's a drastic change from swimwear and flip-flops to "elegant sandals" and collard shirts.  As the old saying goes, when in Rome...

Later that evening we went to take some sunset pictures.  The small camera I brought was having some technical difficulties (may have been the person working it) so most of these were courtesy of Kristen's phone.

Though the resort food was good one evenings we decided to head off the resort and eat at the FishFry.

While waiting for our ride someone decided to take the bellman's cart for her own ride, shenanigans...

Yes, the "Cavendish's" had a selfie stick...

For the record FishFry SUCKED and don't even get me started on the service!!!   It should also be noted that we may have been a little out of our element at FishFry.   It is more like a strand of food and bar establishments and as we went to explore this strand after eating, we quickly decided it might be in on our best interest to grab a taxi back to the resort.  It was uncomfortably clear that we did not belong here and we stood out like the tourist we were...

Bahamas - a Day in the Life

Day 1


After a relatively quick trip to Nassau and a short van ride to the hotel we got checked in.   We grabbed  a quick bite to eat and made it to our rooms where we quickly changed in to our work uniforms swim suits and headed for the office beach.

The opening hours at the beach were somewhat chaotic as the workaholics attempted to detox.

After a few hits of the iPhone they were ready to get their vacation on (for the moment) and some of us rejoiced.     While no pictures exist I too was quite happy though my happiness was because I wasn't going to have to pay for the smartphones that almost got skipped across the lagoon.

Finally it was time to enjoy the beach and turquoises waters.  Shenanigans seemed to accompany the adult beverages that were never ending.

It should be noted that Vaughn's phone is NOT actually connected to his ear though his hand does not seem to know this.

It should also be noted that even though we were on vacation, safety was adhered to.  While in the water flotation devices were readily available.

After a few hours at the beach we decided to make our way to the pool for the remainder of the afternoon.  Upon arriving Kristen saw a pool game (bridge) going on and immediately ran over to participate.

She was quite happy with her performance.

Tired from a tough day we called it a day.  It was a tough day at the  office resort and we needed to get ready for dinner.

Bahamas - Private Island

Day 4 - The Private Island


Michelle was sleeping and I was trying to kill the boredom of sitting on a small private beach with a beer when I decided to cross over from our island to this deescalate little island 50 or so yards on the other side of the channel. 

I got over there but it wasn't without it's challenges as the water in the channel was crawling with these guys:

Apparently Michelle figured out I was gone, probably from my dog paddling splashes. 

As I clawed my way on to the slippery rocks to ponder my situation, I realized I'd have to make the treacherous journey back because there was no beer or alcohol on this island.

After a few minutes of watching me ponder, Michelle convinced me to start my journey back.

Luckily the Baywatch lifeguards showed up to see me safely back.

In the end it all worked out and my activity for the day was completed and I was able to return to my normal duties for the rest of the day.  

2014 Leadville 100 MTB Race

It has now been a little over 60 hours since I got off the bike after crossing the finish line in Leadville.  At the time of finishing I was adamant about not returning saying ‘NEVER AGAIN’ but much like anything that was difficult, as time passes the pain dulls, the hardships disappear, and I’m finding myself more and more open to potentially going back for another go…  With that said, open to potentially going back is far from committing to doing this extremely hard race a second time.

My buddy Mark and I drove up to his sister’s cabin in Basalt CO.  It was right at 7,800’.  We stayed there from Friday to the following Thursday morning.  During that time we got used to altitude, relaxed, and got in a little riding.  There’s a road from Basalt to Hagerman Pass that has a steady 2.5% grade from 7k’ up to 11.5k’ at the Hagerman rail tunnel (approx. 25miles from the cabin.)  We rode this road several times during our stay, each day it got easier and easier.  On Monday we made a recon drive over to Leadville and drove to various places on the course including ¾’s the way up Columbine.  This was Mark’s 10th year to do the race so he knew how to get around the course.  At the time it was a tad bit intimidating for me to finally see the course in person.  The video’s and pictures do not do this course justice.

Our wives arrived on Tuesday (they flew in) and we hung out with them on Tuesday and Wed and got in a hike.  Thursday morning we all left Basalt and headed for Leadville. 

We arrived in Leadville (10,200’) Thursday afternoon in time to register and pick up our race packets.  The town was lined with bikes, vehicles with bike racks, bike riders, and their crews.  The little town was very busy.  Mark and Katy have a friend who has a nice vacation house in Leadville so we headed over there and met up with our other friends that were also staying there – Garret and Linda.  We all went out to eat that night and came home to go to bed.  Friday we got up and rode the start out to the base of St Kevins (pronounced St Keevins), the first real climb of the day, and then rode the finish.  The last 3 miles is not out-and-back, the course splits and there is a completely different route to the finish.  After the ride we went back to the house, changed, and headed over to the mandatory race meeting. 

The mandatory pre-race meeting was held in the local high school gym.  It was jammed packed with people.  After some talks, discussions, and other ceremony we were free to leave and get ready the next day’s race.  We opted to go back to the house and hang out.  We thought we were ready to roll for the next day and would spend the afternoon chilling but that was before bike maintenance, grocery store visit, clothes and gear prep, food prep, crew route recon, and dinner ate most of our Friday afternoon.  Before we knew it the sun was down and we had to roll out to the starting line in 6 hours…

After a decent night’s sleep, I got up with Garret and ate.  Everyone else got up and started getting ready to.  We got dressed and rode over the starting line.  Temps were somewhere around 42 degrees but I hardly felt the chill as I was amped up and ready to get this show on the road.  The ride over to the start took about 10minutes and we headed off to our designated corrals.  As I got in to my silver corral (thanks to a good qualifying race at the Austin Rattler, I’m up in the front) I hear the announcer say we have 42minutes till the start. 

42minutes went by quickly.  I brought my iPod and jammed out to a familiar playlist I had often trained to.  Eventually I see Zach (he’s in the silver corral with me) so I go over and talk with him briefly.  With 10minutes to go I handed my iPod off and tried to keep my anxiety to a low.  They collapsed the corrals and all the riders moved up and packed in.  At this point I was surrounded by a couple hundred other riders.  We were probably 20 riders across and 200 or more yards deep (I’m told there are close to 2,000 of us.)  Michelle is standing off to the side of me outside the barriers, I can’t really look over at her to much because she seemed more nervous than I was. 

The start of the Leadville 100 goes off with a bang, literally a shotgun bang.  We’re rolling and the speeds are building quickly because the start route is all downhill.  I’m currently in the front 150 riders and can see the leaders up ahead.  Speeds continue building and we’re soon rolling out of the city at well over 30mph.  Looking back at the computer file, we averaged 28mph for the first 7 minutes!  Our giant pack pass several Single Speed riders who despite spinning what seems to be a 150 cadence, they can’t match the speed of the start.  Despite how fast we’re going, I see the front group of pros putting a gap in us.   By now Zach has moved on and is up front with the others.  This is the last time I see him on the course.

Shortly after we cross the railroad tracks and make the famous right hand turn off the pavement on to the dirt and we start heading for St Kevins.  The opening climbs are small rollers and the pack starts separating.  We get to the meat of the climb and I quickly realize this day is not going to be an easy one.  The power meter shows I’m well over 500 watts (which is not remotely sustainable) so I force myself to back down the power and as I do I quickly start getting passed and left by those I was previously riding with.  About 5 minutes in to the climb I feel my head throbbing, a headache is coming on.  I back down the power a little more and finish the climb.  As I crest, I feel a hand on my back and it gives me a gentle push.  It’s Mark.

I tell Mark I have a headache and he can tell I’m not looking good.   It’s good to see my friend, especially in that moment but at the same time it tells me I’ve given away a lot of time and positions.  That opening climb has already put a beating on me and we still have 80-something miles to go.  Mark goes on and I descend behind him with a dozen other guys.  (Later Mark tells me that he thought I was going to quit because I looked so bad when he came up on me.)  It’s a 4 mile paved road decent and I get a chance to recover. 

At the bottom we see our crew (our wives) waiting for us before we cutover to the Hagerman section that leads to the Sugarloaf climb.  It was great to see them and it gives me a little boost.  (Later I realize this race is one of a lot of little boost brought about by friends, family, and cheering supporters.)  We start the Sugarloaf section and Mark opens a gap on me.  My headache seems to be gone but I keep the power at bay and work my way up the various climbs of this segment.  This series of climbs are draining.  I’m passed by 30-50 people in this section including professional cyclist Rebecca Rusch and the lady she was pacing. 

At the top we start to descend, this section is called Powerline but it’s basically the backside of Sugarloaf.  It’s a fast decent with lots of rocks, some -15%+ grades, wash outs, and everything else you don’t want to see when flying downhill.  I’m flying down the various descents and passing riders often taking lines through the worst of the rocks but it’s difficult to stop a speeding train.  While I’m somewhat terrified by what I’m doing, somehow it makes me smile and laugh so I keep it up completely white knuckled.  I pass Rebecca’s friend toward the bottom and then pass Rebecca at the very bottom as she slows up to find her friend.  My body is drained now and I’ve still got a LONG way to go.  Catching up with Rebecca and her friend gives me a little hope and a smile.  I pay her a nice compliment and she says "Thanks" as I ride on. Time to find some friends of my own as I make my way to the section called pipeline.

The section between Powerline and Pipeline is a lot of roads and pastures.  It’s open and exposed and the wind is brutal.  You need friends and a paceline to get through this section quickly.  I group up with 5-6 riders and we start rolling.  We make it to Pipeline and I blow through the feed zone without getting anything from our ‘other crew,’ the Ross family.  Seeing them ready to take care of us gives me yet another little jolt.  It’s 45minutes to the next feed zone where Michelle, Katy, and Linda are waiting for us and I have plenty of fluids to make it. 

The next section between twin lakes (the base of Columbine) and Pipeline is relatively easy and open with some nice single track sections.  I bridge up to a group and join them.  I eventually leave this group and bridge to another.  Behind me a tandem crew creeps by and I jump in their draft.  We hit some single track and this tandem crew is railing the single track.  We’re flying through this single track and they don’t miss a beat.  This tandem crew is bad ass.  The single track spits us out on to some more roads and somehow I catch up with Mark and his group.  This gives me a new flicker of joy.  It’s incredibly charging to see my friend on the course again.

Coming in to Twin Lakes you descend out of a neighborhood, cross the road, and make sharp left turn in to one of the parking lot of Twin Lakes.  I take the lead on the descent and hit 35+mph as I cross the road I’m starting to panic as I’m going way to fast.  Somehow I manage to transition to the short piece of single track and make the hard left turn in to the parking lot.  We roll across the Twin Lakes dam through the feed zone (it’s a circus here – literally hundreds of crew members yelling, cheering, crewing, and seemingly having a party.)  Our crew is at the alternative twin lakes area which is about 10min further up the course, literally at the base of Columbine.  I head over there with Mark. 

We see our crew and pull over to grab some food and new bottles.  At this time I’m still on a sub-9hr pace but Columbine is no cake walk.  I eat a rice cake portable and Mark takes off.  I eventually take off not looking forward to what lies ahead.  As I start going up I see Mark up ahead and start closing him down.  I get within a couple of bike links but the constant 7% grade is taking a toll on me so I decide to back down the power and find my own pace up the 6 mile climb. 

As Mark pulled away from me I set in to a pace I could maintain and found a rhythm.  It seems everyone is passing me and I’m NOT passing anyone.  “oh well” I tell myself “just get up this climb.”  About 1/3 of the way up the pace motorcycle comes down honking “Riders coming”.  The pro’s are already coming down!?!?  I see the leaders and I’m humbled by how fast these folks really are in person.  They are at least an hour ahead of me and we’re around 3 and a half hours in to this race.  Rebecca and her friend catch and pass me.  The tandem crew catches and passes me.  Daniel, one of Wink’s friends passes me.  Several people comment “how did you get here big guy?”  Several other try to encourage me by saying “way to go big guy keep going.”  I just keep my head down, control my breathing, and focus on grinding out a tempo. 

¾’s of the way up Columbine the road goes away and turns in to a rocky jagged jeep trail.  As it makes this transition it also gets steeper.  I see Ken (the founder of the Leadville event) up ahead sitting atop his 4wheeler on a tight rocky section where people are already walking.  The two riders in front of me get off their bike in front of him and I have no choice but to get off too as there is nowhere for me to go (I’m extremely thankful to them for this.)  The air here is getting thin at an elevation of over 11,500’ but almost as bad as the thinning air is how the trail is turning upward.  Grades are 12%+.  Ken makes a comment that the two riders in front of me (both wearing Lifetime Fitness kits) were “making that kit look bad.”  They say nothing and we keep pushing our bikes up hill. 

There are a few more sections along the upper part of Columbine where we have to get off and walk.  I start seeing some of the people who passed me (Rebecca and her friend, Mark, the Tandem crew, and a few others) coming down but I don’t care anymore I just need to get to the top.  The last mile of that climb is ridiculous – rocks, thin air, descending riders, tight jeep road, erosion, steep grades, and other ascending riders who are just as taxed as me.  It’s also quite disturbing to look up (you are now above the timber line) and see how far that last mile really is as it snakes up to the top of the mountain.  I finally get to the top, make the small descent in to the turn around, and I’m ready to get the heck off this mountain.  I'm at 4:50 at the top, I can still break 9 hours!  I get a surge of energy and joy, “Columbine is done” I cheer to myself.  But, before I can start to get off Columbine I have to climb back up the descent I previously made in to the turn around.  I snicker at the cruel joke this small climb is to me and my tired legs.

I make the short climb and I’m flying down the mountain.  As I start down the trail is full of people now.  Literally there are people everywhere trying to get themselves up the mountain – most pushing their bikes as there is nowhere to ride.  I’m worried about running in to one of them (or a whole line of them) but my main priority is getting to the bottom.  A few riders in the line call my name but I can’t see them, I have to concentrate on going downhill.  I get to where Ken was and he’s still sitting there watching.  There’s literally a line of people and bikes lined up from the top to the ½ way point down the mountain and most are walking.  As I’m flying down I pass so many people who are still working to make the journey up.  I bridge up to another fast descender and we’re flying down together.  He over cooks a turn and slides out at about 25mph.  I slow, he says he’s okay, and I keep going.  My brakes are squealing loudly in a pitch I’m not used to and that is obviously caused by the heat of constant use.  Texas descents have nothing on this place.  I imagine they are glowing red like a formula1 car but I refuse to look down at them, there’s nothing I can do but hope they will hold.  I pass a few more descenders and I’m off of Columbine!  This brings me great joy and I’m still on a sub 9 pace.  I pull in and get some more bottles another rice cake portable and I get rolling. 

Making my way from Twin Lakes to Pipeline is fairly uneventful but the day and the climbing is starting to take a physical toll on me.  I make it to Pipeline but I pretty much ride most of it on my own because there are no groups and the riders I bridge to are more spent than I.  The wind is ripping in to our face and nobody seems to want to push very hard in to the wind. 

I get to the Pipeline feed zone and see the girls and get yet another little boost in seeing familiar faces.  I get some fresh bottles and I’m rolling.  Ugh, Powerline is coming up.  Everyone tells me this is the hardest part of the course and at this time I’m pretty worn down as I’ve been on the course around 6 and a half hours.  I work my way over to Powerline and it’s a daunting site looking up from the base of this section.  I’m told the first part is extremely difficult to ride with fresh legs and that much more difficult when your legs are spent.  I give it a shot and don’t make it far before I’m off and pushing along with everyone else in front of me.  ¼ of the way up I get on the bike and try to ride up.  I make it about 100’ before I have to get off again.  I’m torqueing so hard on the pedals in such a low gear that the front end of the bike is floating up and it’s going where it wants to go (toward the wash outs) instead of where I want it to go.  I have to get off again.  I push the rest of the way up the initial face of this iconic climb. 

The problem with the Powerline section is that it never ends.  You make it to the top of a long climb and you descend only to come around to another big climb.  This happens 4-5 times.  I walk some of the pieces of these various sections.  By this time I’m out of gas and I quickly develop a new climbing strategy, when I see others walking, I don’t even try, I just get off and walk that section too.  I look at the clock and I know it’s highly unlikely I’m going to break 9 hours now.  I have a little emotional breakdown but quickly get over my pity-party and focus on finishing.  I decide I can finish in under 9:30 which is still respectable and I’m okay with this because I’ve done everything I could do up to this point and despite my best efforts I just didn’t have what it took to break 9 hours. 

A few of these Powerline ups and downs and I’m spent – physically and mentally.  About the time I see the final climb of Pipeline (I didn’t know it at the time) I say “Lord, if this is what you got for me just keep throwing it at me because I’m committed and I’m not going to quit, I’ll just keep doing whatever I got to do to get over these.”  I get to the top and start descending, it’s the final decent and I’m quickly off SugarLoaf.  I get an immediate endorphin drop and a huge smile at knowing the hardest parts of the course are over. 

My endorphin drop is extended when I make the turn off of Hagerman pass and see our crew of Michelle, Katy, and Linda standing there.  Seeing my wife and friends was refreshing.  They give me more bottles, I drink some extra water, and I’m off to make the final climb – the backside of St Kevins. 

This final test is 4 miles up a winding paved mountain road that has an average grade of 5%.  I quickly find my tempo and to my surprise I’m passing people.  I’m finally passing people on a climb!  I get to the top and I’ve passed 15-20 people on my way up.  I exit the climb and get on the St Kevins dirt and head downhill.  I’m on a super endorphin drop now and I’m all smiles from ear to ear.  I’m passing people.  I’m patting people on the back as I pass and cheering them on.  I get to the bottom and make it back to the paved road.  I’m riding solo and I’m riding strong again, nobody is attempting to ride with me but it’s okay, I got 4 miles until I’m across the finish line. 

The road to the finish has a detour up a dirt road that we didn’t go out on.  It’s also approx. 600’ to ascend back in to the city from the bottom of St Kevins.  Again I’m catching and passing more people.  As I’m coming up on these two riders with identical kits I hear one say “There’s the 9 hour mark, we didn’t make it.”  I look down at my computer and it says 9:00:23.  It doesn’t even make me sad or phase me in any way at this point.  I look at the guys and say “we may not have broken 9 but we have a hell of a respectable time.”   They look over, smile, nod, and say “yes we do.”   I pick up the pace but they don’t go with me.  I pick off a few more riders and make it over to the final hill approx. 200yds before the finish line. 

People are lined up on both sides of the road cheering.  I see a guy on the hill and he’s struggling.  The people are screaming and cheering for me and telling me to catch that guy.  I race on and catch him as he crests the top to the cheer of the crowd.  As I crest I see the finish line and ALL the people.  I’m so excited I keep my momentum going and descend the hill to the finish line.  I hear the announcer say my name and time as I cross the red carpet finish, I’m done!

I sit on my top tube and start looking for Michelle and the crew as I catch my breath and soak in the moment.  One of Wink’s friends recognize my kit and snaps a picture.  The folks there give me all kinds of loot – hats, treats, water, food, medal, wet towels, and other stuff.  After a few minutes Michelle comes up, takes my bike, and I see Zach.  He smoked the course at 8:30-something.  We talk for a minute but I want to sit down.  Michelle directs me over to where Mark is sitting and I finally get a much needed break from the day.   

9:15:22 was my official finish time.  353 out of 1271 who finished (another 600 or so started but were pulled from the course for not making the allotted time cuts.)   This was a hard and taxing race.  While I’m more open to the idea of doing it again, I think I may be okay with just crossing it off my bucket list.  The 2015 Austin Rattler qualifier is a long ways off and a lot can happen between now and then…

2014 Texas State TT

As the State Time Trial goes, I can say I did it and that's about it. I went in a little over confident and a lot under-prepared for the challenges of an hour long FTP session in the aero position on a TT bike. To say I was humbled would be an understatement. 

First 20minutes were great, next 5 I started feeling weird strain in my hips and legs. The remaining 35minutes were a combination of soreness, strain, hell, and total discomfort. My legs and body simply weren't ready for what pushing the TT bike needed from them. Combine that with the heat radiating off the freshly paved blacktop and I was done. 

After the turnaround (20k out and 20k back) I could not get the power meter to get up over 300watts for more than brief periods of time. The whole way back I struggled to just keep moving toward the finish line at a 20+mph speed. I sat up at least a dozen times to try and get relief or to find a position I could even remotely generate a little power from. I told my legs to shut up and work and they didn't even respond with a sarcastic comment or anything they just simply wouldn't work.

I wanted and knew I was capable of doing 55minutes. I ended up with 59min even. A horrible, horrible outing. That TT bike is very unforgiving on longer distances if you haven't taken much time to ride it. Lesson learned...

Things went from bad to worse when I crossed the finish line. As I stopped pedaling the pain in my upper legs and hips started to present themselves. I rode over to my car and some how managed to dismount the bike. Not sure how I was able to grab a jug of water and stagger over to the grass but somehow I did. Michelle had to help me up and get me changed. My hipflexors, glutes, and surrounding muscles were all completely locked up. I've never experienced that before. I eventually sat in the car for a bit as Michelle waited for the results. We eventually just left, I didn't care about my results as I knew they weren't going to be great. I had been worked over and all I wanted was to get on the couch. 

I was pretty much stuck on the couch the rest of the weekend. The muscles in my legs and hips are still trashed today. 

I will likely never do a TT race over 25k again. If I do I'll be sure to spend at least 100 hours on the TT bike prior to the race.

Warda XC Race 2014

When I got to Warda Saturday morning I was feeling pretty good. We parked next to John Madden and he and I were talking and hanging out at the cars. Wally Groda rides by and is parked in the next row behind us. John takes note and mentions that instead of racing for 2nd (Will Black was in the 40 class) that they were now racing for 3rd. I laugh and walk over to talk with Wally. My laughs are short lived when Wally informs me he's racing the 30 class so he can get an extra lap... I put my mind in check because it started to go south on me again. First Robert Baird, then Joch Da-bla-bla, Dale, and now Wally... I tell myself I'm just going to ride smart and stay with them, I'm fast enough to go toe-to-toe with any of these guys, the funny thing is, this time I believe what I'm telling myself. 

There's a little discussion in the front during the top10 call-up at the start. Some of the guys moved up so everyone else in the top10 does too including Robert B who is NOT in the top10 (only because he's only raced one race.) Ultimately things work themselves out and Robert stays at the front. Wally looks over at me from our 2nd row positions with a snicker. Top10 wise I was 11th going in to this race so I stayed back but I wasn't worried as it's a LONG start here at Warda! Gun goes off and we're on our way.

I'm not liking where I end up in the pack once we settle in after the initial little climb. I'm midpack if that, likely back half. I notice I'm behind Jessica R. and I'm not liking the lack of draft I'm getting off of her. At the same time I see Wally, Zack, and Robert up ahead of me and I feel compelled to go up and get next to them. I tell myself "be patient, it's a long way to the cattle guard." As we round the 1st and 2nd corner and start heading back toward the front I move up a spot or two. Midway through the field the pace isn't too high but it just felt like things would explode at any moment. I know something's got to happen soon so I make another move to go up the left side to the front. There's approx 5 people between me and the front and we're rolling in two pace lines. 

Time to make a move and get a little closer to the front, I hit the gas and as I pass the 3rd person, still nobody has gone yet. The cattle guard is a couple hundred yards and closing quickly. As I come up on the front riders I see some movement on the other side and I figure others are now going too so I put down a little more power to get on to the surge that seems to be happening on the other side.

I slam the pedals and surge out in front of the group. I put my head down and just drive in to the pedals. As I cross the cattle guard there's nobody in front of me and nobody in my slip stream. I hit the funnel and I'm now moving through the dirt around the lake. My goal was to be in the front 3 going in to the woods. The attack I put down was just to make sure I was out front with the big motors. Not only am I'm out front, I've got a huge gap and I'm all by myself. KIA and Noob are yelling at me from a shade tree as I shoot up the false flat into the single track. I back it down a little once I make the woods because I need to recover. 

This was pretty much the race. I knew at the time the attack would go really good or really bad. Either way I was not going to go in to the single track midpack without a fight. It paid off and the gap widened as the race went on. I finished the race about 50sec ahead of 2nd. 

Throughout the race the guys would close me in to about 15-20 seconds and then sometimes I'd get the gap back to 30-40 seconds. It was really fun to be out there solo but at the same time it was very unnerving knowing that they were likely going to come flying up on me at any second. Ultimately nobody every closed me down and I seemed to open the gap a lot through the last lap.

Lap3 I almost went off the side of Gas Pass after the switchback. The only thing that saved me was that I kept looking ahead to where I wanted to go and not where the bike was headed. Literally I was on the front tire (back tire off the ground) at over 12mph on the edge. How I didn't go over the bars, let alone the edge, is beyond me. All I did was just keep looking ahead up the trail and tried to let the bike keep itself upright. Unbelievable when I think about it but I'm incredibly grateful I was able to ride that mishap out. 

This was by far one of the best races I've ever had. The field had some seriously strong and talented riders and the course required a good mix of skills. Getting away early and staying out front was a challenge. In the end I got the win. 

3 Podiums (two wins and a 3rd) in 4 races (1 DNF), 15th at the Rattler, not a bad Spring race season! Now it's time to focus on Leadville.