12 Hours of John Muir

Much like the last 5, count em, 5 races we were gifted more rain.  So I rolled up to the venue, donated more money to the DNR (why you need both a state trail and parking pass just to ride your bike is beyond me), and set up my pit and as usual rolled to the start line with about 5 minutes to spare.

The course conditions were far from perfect watching riders go down left and right some right in front of me.  I bobbed and weaved like a veteran prize fighter but busting out the rigid singlespeed was not only an option cause of the way it performs in nasty conditions, but it was my only option due to drivetrain issues once again and would come back to haunt me later.  So for the first six hours I spent it all on my Redline SS and the aftermath looked a little something like this.

So now after that mess was over I needed to get on the geared bike, but I think it may have hurt me more than helped at this point as I was too worried about dropping my chain on the one or two climbs on the course and my turner is much more responsive so I rode a pretty sloppy line for the first couple of laps and just enough that I slowed a little and let people by that I normally wouldn't especially in the pits as I watch a fellow series rider go by as I change out shoes and camelbacks.  I am bummed about and new I could have caught or simply stayed ahead of the 3 riders in front of me had I been more prepared.  I did feel a little better and my legs came to life again like I was in a 24 solo race on the last lap and rode the 2nd fastest lap of the race for me which is a sign that I am on track for my season goals.  So the story goes 9th place on the day just under 100 miles and my turner survived despite the not so optimistic approach.  At least the 2nd half of the race offered no mud to speak of and I didn't have to clean two bikes.

Thanks to Simbree, Fluid, and MotorTabs for keeping me alive during the first five mud filled races.  Also, thanks to Tifosi for keeping said mud from scratching my retinas.  Of course I would also like to thank Ergon and Brave Soldier for keeping me comfortable in the saddle.

9th on another rainfilled race. last lap was 2nd fastest...report to follow.

Racing (If that's what I call what I am doing out there)

Now that everyone had a chance to hear the word about the bird (see previous post) I gotta say Life has funny ways of messing with you. First I go to California and do the Sea Biscuit Sand Classic in which I flat and crash myself out after a strong leadout. I then have work schedule changes that limit my weekly riding time to half of what I've done last year to this point. Then comes the weather. Green Bay WEMS looked promising up till about two days prior the weather channel changed their tune and from there we would have rain. I got off on a bad foot forgetting my camelback on the first lap, having the wrong camelback on the 2nd lap and along with chain suck issues from a old drivetrain that the budget wouldn't allow for upgrade I was forced to "riding in the dog" for about 2 hours which left my legs lifeless and would not recover no matter how easy I took it. I called it a day and would live to fight another day.

Next up was the 12 hours of Northern Kettles and I was feeling better than green bay but let it get to my head as I went out like a bat out of hell which if you know my style I started the opposite of the norm for me and burnt my first match early on in the first friggin lap. I recovered much quicker this time due to my illness being put away finally, but stomach issues forced me off the bike after each of the following two laps. Of course once again the rain gods decided it was time to wash the riders off the course and more chainsuck and bigring riding was on tap once again and was doing okay, but as I was gearing up to make a push for my final lap I crashed hard and came in about 5 minutes later than I wanted to be. Now I am at the breaking point. I can't get my legs the correct amount of work they desperately need, the weather has been piss poor each and every weekend, but there is still hope. Hope that the new drivetrain thanks to SRAM and some new chainrings should clear up the mechanical situation. Hope that the switch back to the old nutrition plan will keep my stomach in check. Finally, I hope that a good race at WORS Rhinelander event with good weather for once and of course a great group of friends will be all that I need to keep it going all the way to 24 hours of 9-mile.

At this point of the year I get so busy with trying to train, race, rest and repeat that I don't take the time to say thanks to the people that support the habit and most importantly my wife and friends deserve it the most. They all give me the appropriate amount of shit for doing what I do and never allow me to get lazy. Also, Bryan and Clint at EVOMO for contributing to this two wheel addiction plus wearing the EVOMO gear certainly helps me continue to bring the ruckus out there. The guys at Titec for some coolest go fast goodies, Jeff at Ergon for some sweet green grips and their packs that make commuting look cool and easy on the back, the Simbree snacks are awesome, motortabs tasting like Koolaid makes me happy to have a drink that doesn't taste like your typical endurance drinks. Fluid to ensure I recover well from riding that heavy redline ss for 5 hours or more at a time. Brave soldier friction zone for the keeping the undercarriage in check if in the rain. I would also like to give a shout out to Hayes Disc Brakes for creating the stroker....the guys from performa turned me on to these and despite the rain, mud, and thank god no snow they simply work and my hands do not tire unlike other brakes I've used in the past over the course of 12 hours in a race. Easy to adjust, set up, etc just simply awesome gear. Actionwipes came to the rescue at the right time early on this season cleaning up the mess I was in during the mudfest that ensued in the northern kettles.

The road to 24...oops I mean 12 hours of 9-mile starts....now!
June 1st WORS Rhinelander

June 7th WORS Wausau

June 13th WEMS John Muir - Whitewater-ish

June 27th WEMS Metro Challenge- Milwaukee

July 4th Pow-Wow Days 5k (that's a run in case ur wondering) Tomahawk

July 11th WEMS Levis 100 - Neilsville

July 25-26 12 Hours of 9-mile (a beer costume bring I will)

Lengthy...yes. Informative...maybe. I did manage to kill some time and continue onward with my business plan....watch out trump!

News!

In todays headlines you may have not yet heard

back in the saddle

Monday I was feeling a little scratch in my throat and all I could think was "oh shit now I got the swine flu" I assured myself it wasn't in fact I had everybody telling me to get it checked out but never fear all I have is a cold...yuck!.  This was my week now to have a little training camp since this severely gave me little chance for trans iowa (Congrats goes to Tim Ek by the way for a 2nd place finish).  Wednesday I had planned to do 6 hours at the camp in green bay and had every intention on doing so.  I did 3 full laps by myself and then Josh B rolled up so I did a lap with him and couple of his co-workers.  Nate and wrong turn neubauer along with paul from team performa pulled up as well.  At this point I was completely thrashed with the sickness creeping in and rockin the 32x16 for almost 5 hours already.  So when they took off I got dropped.  Total time was about 5:45.

I rested the following three days to see if I can shake this cold and today I finally got out to standing rocks.  Again, I was rockin the 32x16 singlespeed and again I did 5:40 minutes of riding but much less mileage as it was much more challenging than the camp.  I really have to take my hat of to guys like the lalondes and constatine rolling a singlespeed requires much more than pedaling circles, keeping rhythm, and the additional muscle groups that are recruited.  

All in all I am feeling pretty good about going into the first wems race of the year.  Last year I wasn't anywhere near ready and it showed as I spent a total of an hour in the pits.  Some good competition should be a great test for the early season legs, but the big question will be will my stupid cold be gone?

Sea Otter Report

This was a long time coming at least as far as a write up goes, but a sudden illness kept me in recovery for quite some time in fact right now I should be riding Trans Iowa, but I had to bow out as I was certainly not feeling well, but getting better.  Good luck to fellow EVOMO team member Tim Ek on his 300+ mile of gravel goodness.

So about that Sea Otter deal.

Flight departure from Milwaukee was at 5:05 so that meant getting up at 3 am. Good thing about having to go to the airport so early was the lack of traffic and I would be in California before 2pm. I found that regardless of the lack of sleep I've had I still will not sleep on the plane. I had a few connections, Chicago, Los Angeles, and finally Monterey before Bryan stopped by to give me a lift to Laguna Seca Raceway.  I got all situated at the EVOMO booth and headed over to get the first of many burritos.   After stuffing my face, Bryan and I went around to check out the booths.

First stop was at the Tifosi booth to say hi and thanks to Matt and Shannon.

From there we stopped by the Ergon booth and chatted up Jeff Kerkove and Sonya Looney two very cool people in which is truely great that we get to represent Ergon for 2009.  Sonya later stopped back to check out the threads and drop off a couple of dh grips that are new for 2009.  

Greg from MotorTabs set up his HQ at the EVOMO booth he is the man with the plan and hooked us all up with Motortabs for the weekends hot weather at times getting very close to 100 degrees.

We also made a stop at the Simbree booth to try ALL of their creations and they are All good.   If you have a chance to try some Simbree energy bites I am sure you'll enjoy them.

As far as the race goes, I started off great getting a front row start I took off like I was blasted out of a cannon.  I maintained 2nd wheel for the better part of the Laguna Seca leadout.  I could tell right away that this was going to be a blood bath with all the climbing in the wide open sun so I put down hard on the climbs and relaxed on descents.  The course was comprised of a lot of sand and maybe about 10% was tree covered if that and wide open easy to pass for around 19 miles for each lap.

This would not be my day though as I would lose my front tire in freakish way and do down on a descent as the tire was about ready to roll off the rim.  I ran/walked the remaining 3 miles for lap one and turned in my timing chimp.  Race ending in DNF.  I will say though that despited my early withdrawl from the race It was a great weekend and met a lot of amazing people.  Thanks to Bryan and Mike with Evomo, Tifosi, Motortabs, Fluid, Ergon, Simbree, and it was great to meet all of you.  

Next Race?  WEMS Series Opener at the Stump Farm 12 Hour.  Where I will be looking to defend my 2008 solo win!

The Turner is ready...well after I get some shifters!  I can't wait for the season to begin.

Who's Going to the Otter?

Stop by the Evomo booth and say hi, chill in the lounge, play some foosball and register to win the prize pack.