Jingle Cross

With the penultimate race of the year done, things are slowly starting to wrap up and change focus for next year. This season started off early in January with CX nationals, moved into road racing, then transferred to mountain biking, then collegiate mountain biking and now cyclocross. With only the state championships left I'm still pretty excited to keep riding and training. I think having some great results at the end of the season has helped.
      This past weekend at Jingle cross I raced in the cat 2 race. On day 1 we raced under the lights. This was pretty cool seeing how this is the only race I do at night. The race was fast. I got out front early and held a steady gap of about 10 seconds behind the lead group, for the whole race, until the last lap when they picked it up and put 15-20 seconds on our group of 3. With 1 to go we hit a lot of lapped traffic. We weaved through them, politely asking to get by. Thankfully the lapped riders were nice and happily moved a side. This allowed me to stay with 4th place until the final straight when we both opened it up and he ended up getting me at the line. A solid 5th place on day one. With 2 more days to go I made sure to get my Honey Stinger protein bar in me and a lot of water followed up by some Texas Roadhouse for dinner.
      Then on day 2 the racing kicked off at 12:10. The weather was pretty nice seeing how it was a 80% chance of rain. A little rain hit right before the pro women took off but thats it. Since I took top 8 on friday I got a call up today. When the gun went off I was a little slow getting clipped in and was sitting about 15th into the first couple corners. I moved my way up a few turns later and was sitting with a group of 3 guys, again places 4-6. This time on the new hill ride up, 4th got away and it was just me and 6th place. He seemed tentative in the corners and didn't have the best top end, but could definitely suck wheel forever.  So on the big hill, where 4th got away, I rode hard up the first half and got a little gap. I tried to sustain it to the top and opened up the gap even farther. On the decent it stuck and I slowly pulled away only to catch a guy who fell off the lead pack. Now on the final lap, I pulled him all the way around until the final straight when we both sprinted for the line. He had a big kick, having had a lap of rest, and I ended up 5th again.
     Now on day 3, the course had a slick top layer which made the corners slippery and made Mt. Krumpit unridable. This time when we took off I got clipped in and was sitting 5th wheel. With 2 days in the legs running Mt. Krumpit was really tough. I slowly faded each lap to end up with a 9th place. Still had a great weekend with some great results. This season has been long but wouldn't have been possibly without the help of a lot of people so Thank you to everyone who has supported me this year. With out my parents none of this would be attainable. Thank you to the Ripon Red Hawks for helping fund some of my none collegiate races. Thank you to Saris/ Cycleops/ Powertap, Honey Stinger, ESI Grips, Fox Shock, Crank Brothers and Mad Alchemy for generously sponsoring me this season. I wouldn't be able to do what I do with out all of your help. 

Nationals Prep

With only a week to go till Nationals the thoughts and expectations, of this week, are already pulsing through me. These next couple of days just need to be over so we, the Ripon Red Hawks, can get on the road to North Carolina. Even though I have spent the better part of the year racing and preparing for each race I do, it all comes down to this, the last one, at least for this MTB season. I've thought about this race and what is going to happen now numerous times. I've been doing my homework, on the other teams, to see what they will have to bring to the table. I have been slowly packing and going over my bike since the middle of the week. I guess you might think I'm kind of crazy for doing all this stuff so early, but this is what keeps me up at night. It's comforting to know that I have everything ready to go ahead of time, so last minute all I have to do is put my stuff in the car and go. Not worry about anything just enjoy the ride and have the time of my life. I have also been really focused these past couple of weeks. Really just making sure that I keep on eye on my body and making sure that I don't get sick or hurt. Being in school it is really easy to get sick from someone. I've kind of turned into a germaphobe making sure to keep my hands clean and my body free from illness. I have some expectations for this race but I'm going to be happy knowing it was my best. Make sure to check back because I'll probably have another post a couple days before the race with more thoughts and some pictures. 

Sheboygan

Just a quick recap of this past weekend. Instead of going to Kentucky, our Ripon team coach let me stay home and race the last WORS race of the season so I could get 8 races in to help with my overall and age group spot. Seeing how it had rained Friday and Saturday, I was expecting way worse then it actually was. When it came time to race, almost the whole track was tacky. At the start line Don told us no equalizer this year because it was to muddy. After the National Anthem, we got the gun and were off. I pushed it hard, like usual, this time I was sitting top 10 when I entered the first section of single track. Without being able to pre ride and not riding that course for over 3 years now, I didn't really know it as well as I should have. So I hit a long root and slide out, but stayed up right. A small group passed and I was sitting about 11th. I kept that pace for almost a full lap when I started to fade. I got passed a few more times until the field started to come back. I picked a few people off and rode in for a solid 13th place and 2nd in age group. This was one of the most fun races of the year. It's great to see the great progression since the beginning of the season. This was probably one of the best feeling races I have had all year and my 2nd best finish, my best was 9th overall. Still great to know I was only 6 minutes out of 4th. This is relatively close seeing how I was much farther back only a couple months ago. Only 2 more mountain bike races and my MTB season is over with. Ill be finishing the year off with cyclocross and cross nationals in January. Can't wait to see what the rest of the season has to offer!!!

Trek CXC Cup

A week ago was the Trek CXC Cup, ya, i'm a bit behind on things, but I haven't really thought to write until now, while sitting in a hotel room, after racing some DH and having the XC race get cancelled because of to much rain. But thats a different story. The Trek CXC Cup was my first real cross race where I could test my legs against everyone else. I was really excited seeing how the race was hosted by Trek at Trek World Headquarters in Waterloo, WI. Day number 1 was a bit overcast but no rain. When I arrived, I went inside Trek to register and to check out the sweet bikes they had displayed. I think the 2 coolest ones were Fabians winning Paris Roubaix bike that was still dirty and Katie Compton's National Champ bike, still dirty. Fabians bike was tricked out with some sweet stuff. Just a couple things were his derailleur cage was beefed up and full carbon, his cranks/chain rings I believe were a bit different and the sick Spartacus paint job. Onto the race. It was a fun course with a steep climb near the start, a set of barriers, a tricky little decent, and a lot of fast corners. I pre rode the course 3 times before racing and felt really comfortable with it all. I rode the steep hill in practice but didn't try it until day 2 during the race. When it got to be race time, they called you up by how you registered, so I was 6th row, number 56 out of 85ish. When the ref blew his whistle, I knew I had to move up as fast as possible. I snuck up the right side of the start straight and about 1/2 way in I was sitting top 10 and moving up. Each lap I tried to catch the leaders, but starting so far back they had about a 30-40 second lead already. I still pushed and caught people each lap and ended up 6th, missing 5th by 6 seconds. Not expecting much, I was really happy with this, a great result to start the weekend. Then on day 2 it was the same stuff just a different day. The course changed slightly but it was for the better. Corners smoothed out and the descent was changed and was a little bit more tricky. Then after riding it a couple times it was race time. Got called up this time 58th out of 100 or so. I knew I had the legs to move up and thats exactly what I did. I was top 10 before the steep hill, which was about 1-2 minutes in. I pushed hard to catch the leaders, but seeing how day 2 was a UC 1, a couple more faster guys came out and drove the pace. I never caught them, but I did manage to hold position and ended up sprinting for 7th with Mike M, a friend of mine. He got me and I took 8th. My race was great, I felt fast and I finished 1min 10 faster then day 1.  Now after getting a taste of cross, I want more!! But with collegiate still going on, its back to MTB racing for me.

College life and biking racing

After a long summer of being home and working, I am finally back at Ripon College. Its really nice to be back with everyone again and being able to meet some new people. Its been about 10 days since I've moved in and I've been enjoying every moment. Besides riding and racing, our team has been doing a lot of team bonding, which is always cool. We are building trails, playing mini golf and hanging out when we are not racing. Now that Its officially collegiate season, I'm racing for the Ripon College Cycling team. Almost our whole team has gone to the last 2 WORS races. The first race, Colectivo Classic, I lost 3 of my 5 bottles and got dehydrated. I then proceeded to get dropped and lost 4 spots from the first 2.5 laps. I ended up 22nd overall and 2nd in age group. Still good considering my other results in WORS were just a couple spots ahead of this one. I'm still showing consistent results with the beginning of the season. Then after a good week of fun and hard training, along came the Reforestation Ramble. WORS number 9 for the series and probably my last one for the year, so I had to make it count. After a solid warm up I was feeling just like always, nervous and ready to race. I lined up 3rd row and after Don's long GO, I clipped in took 2 pedal strokes and got knocked almost off my bike and faded to the back of the field. I quickly jumped onto the pedals and got going. I easily managed to work my way back up to the top 15 and was sitting comfortably in the front group. The massive field worked its way around into the first single track section when we got split up. I had no idea where I was. I knew it couldn't be to bad seeing how 2-3 people who usually beat me, were in my group. For that first lap, we were really giving it and a few people fell off. Our group was now down to 4 people. I took the lead at the start of lap 2, where I held a fast but comfortable pace through the first sections of single track and open flats.  Nobody got dropped yet, but I could see that one person was hurting. I pulled off and sat in when Rick Mezo attacked. I chased and managed to hang on with Mike M from LAPT. After 1/2 a lap we managed to push it hard enough to pop Mike off the back. Now Rick and I were taking pulls. We hit the 3rd lap, I took the front and pulled for a long time, then let Rick take over. Then when he got to the front he slowed up. He was hurting, so I attacked on a hill and got a gap. I held a hard pace to the finish, which landed me a spot on the overall podium. I finished 9th overall and 1st in age group. This is now the 2nd time I've cracked the top 10. Now that I've tasted it, I want more and hope to have a great collegiate season. 

Sunburst thoughts

For the past couple of years they have been running the same course for the Sunburst race. Not many people actually liked the old course for some reason or not. Me personally, I didn't mind it.  I seemed to do good at it each year. A couple spots were not so much fun, but thats racing. This year, thanks to Attitude sports and WORS, the course was completely different. There was close to a 50/50 ratio single track to open. Probably a little more open because of the lower part which switchbacks so much. These switch backs were the hardest part of the race. After you did about 4 of them, on the lower slopes, the hill really kicked up and made you suffer. You did 4 or 5 switch backs before the top. Then once you were at the top you dropped into single track. It wasn't hard but it was nice to have it in their. A couple log ride overs and some rocks but nothing hard. Then you had a fast single track decent, hard left into a field, then climbed up and around a corn field back into some single track, where another fast decent was. The decent was long and fast enough, where if you were good at it, you could drop people. After the decent you climbed a little, across the hill, turned right, climbed a little more then hit a single track climb. Then a little more open at the top, then into a fast decent, down to the bottom where you lap through. This last decent was key. If you were in the front on the last lap you were most likely going to beat the people behind you. This decent is what we did in the past, but instead of descending it, we climbed it at the start of the loop. This course was, race pace, 16-20 minutes long depending on who you are.  A lot shorter laps then most, but I liked this style. It made it feel more like a world cup race. After 5 laps, I managed to hang on for 20th and 2nd in age group. Still really consistent with the other races.  All in all the course was fast, hard, fun and made you suffer. I think this new course is here to stay. 

MTB, Skinnies and Nats

Haven't really been keeping up with this so it has been a little while since I've wrote anything. Life has been going good, I started the WORS season a little slow. I had to DNF the first race, the next 2 races were much better taking 17th overall and 1st in age group and 18th overall and 2nd in age group. Then at the 4th MTB race of the year, Cam-Rock, I ended up rolling the tire off the bead. Luckily I had a spare tub, I threw that in and got going. I was just riding and trying to have fun with it and get some good practice. That race I took 29th overall and 2nd in age group. Thats been the start to my MTB season, next week I've got the Subaru Cup. This will be the true test before nationals the following week. A lot of the people Ill be racing against at nationals will be here. So kinda a pre race for nats.  This year nats is in PA so Ill be driving out to Bear Creek Resort PA the 18th and coming home the 21st. My race is the 19-22 Cat 1 at 8am eastern time. A little early seeing how I usually race at 1:30. It'll be interesting to see how the body reacts to the high stress. Then the week after nats ill be heading out to Washington for my uncles wedding. Taking the MTB to hopefully hit up some good trails. This site is what I going off of to find them. I was hoping this season would have been going better but can't dwell in the past. Keeping things rolling and hopefully go into the end of the season still fresh and ready to rock it for Ripon college!

Then for the skinny tires, I just finished racing TOAD, Tour of Americas Dairyland. I like doing these races because they are close, fast and fun. I only raced 4 days, I finished 3 of them and go pulled in the other.  For those 3 days I finished in the main field about 30th place. For now thats good enough. But next year if things go as I hope they do, I want to upgrade to a Cat 2 and maybe race Road Nationals in Madison.  One more road race for me, the state crit championships, and thats on the 6th. That's it for now more post as the weeks go by. 

WEMS #1 Greenbush

This past Saturday the 11th of May coach Joe decided that it would be a good idea for me to race the 100 mile WEMS race. Knowing that I could do a 100 mile race, I wasn't worried about finishing the race, just wasn't sure how well I'd do since it was so early in the year.  I was really nervous the days leading up because of trying to pack, ride and work.  I wasn't sure if I had everything that I would need to tackle this race. But after a couple days of checking and re checking, I was positive that I had everything. I had my extra set of Bontrager 29-1 tires, a couple Camelbacks, extra set of Sun Ringle rims, spare parts and extra Crank Brothers pedals. I think I packed a spare part for everything that could easily break. After stressing out for a few days about this, Saturday finally rolled around. After leaving the house at 5:20 my dad and I arrived at Greenbush at 6:45am. A little earlier then expected, but it was nice because we got first pick of pit spot.  Then after dragging all my stuff out I changed into my kit and rolled around for 10 minutes before the start. A brief riders meeting then we were off. We ran up a gravel road to our bikes, mounted and came back down the grass side of the hill. I was first onto my bike and first into the single track. I was riding at a comfortable pace making sure to hold the horses back so I wouldn't blowup later in the race.
 Lap after lap I came through the feed zone switching out bottles and grabbing Honey Stinger products. After the first 5 laps I was still feeling strong, then about 1/2 way though lap 6 I felt sick and slowed down. I didn't take anything from the pit this time around but after whatever worked through my system about 4 miles into lap 7 I felt way better. I ate a couple gels and just wanted to finish that lap. At the end of lap 7 I ate a Dark Chocolate Mint Almond Protein bar and felt amazing. My lap times even started to decrease for laps 8-10.  Also, mentally it got a lot easier because now the 3 and 6 hour races were at the venue. Then before starting lap 10, Brian Matter came over, and talked for a little, which gave me a little bit more motivation to finish strong.  Then only a few miles in, Brian came screaming by me and was gone like a flash of lightning. This last lap felt forever but after lapping 3rd place and 2nd place I just wanted to finish. I tired to push it cause I knew I was close. I rolled around the last corner and up the gravel hill to the finish with a time of 8hrs 56 minutes. After the race I could hardly stand up and walk because my back was so sore from the pouding that this course gave. So I went into the little hut sat and ate. We waited around for a bit to get awards then headed home.
Now 4 days later I'm feeling much better and was debating about doing the Bone Ride but decided against it because of WORS #1 this Sunday. Thanks to my Dad for being my pit and making sure everything was perfect for me. A I would be able to this without a great pit.

Ripon Spring Classic

           This past Saturday, April 6th, the Ripon College Red Hawks cycling team hosted a 110 mile ride through the beautiful Wisconsin countryside. The days leading up to the ride were very promising, sunny, 40's and 50's and very little wind. But of course the weather changed and made this truly a "Spring Classic". On Saturday it started off a bit gloomy and only attracted a small dedicated group of about 17 people. We had a mix of people from all over. A couple ISCorp teammates Hayley Giddens, and Kyle J. showed up. Some others were Bill Koch, Mike Klapperich, Ted Hanes, Scott Cole and Mike Curtis. After going through what the plan was for the day, handing out maps, and taking a couple pictures we headed out. We took off North towards Berlin and rode at a nice pace that we could all hold.  But after about 35 minutes, I looked down and my Cycleops Joule started telling me my hub battery was low. I kind freaked out for a bit but then shortly forgot about it. I then moved to the front with Ted and he started pushing 300 watts on the flats. Being on the front I had to keep up with him and then it hit me to slow down cause we had a long day a head. We all settled back in and I moved to the back. We made it into Berlin, went West a little, then came back South into a 17 mph head wind and rain. The rain only lasted for about 45 minutes but was enough to soak my shoes, socks and glove.

Group at the Pub

         The pace was higher then when we started but I felt comfortable sitting in the pack. After going South for about another 45 minutes we were on the North side of Green lake, we turned west and headed towards Princeton. We snaked around then finally made it to one of the sections of dirt path. Scott Cole, Mike K., Hayley and I were pushing on the front and split the group a little. After 20 or so minutes of this, we got back onto the road. We stopped, re-grouped, I opened up a Honey Stinger Waffle and gel, while others grabbed a couple Ripon Good Cookies and bananas from the sag van and took off. This is when the group split. Some of us took off solo and formed small groups while a small group of about 8 stayed together. After cranking way above threshold I caught a couple riders and was in a group off the front with Mike K. Ted, and Scott C. We then meandered through the country side, rode through the country club in Green Lake and popped out on a rode just north of the lake. This is when Scott C. dropped off and waited up for the people he came with. Now just us three, we started a small rotation going around to the South side of Green Lake. We turned South on County O, then headed back West.  While us three were cruising down a long straight away the group of 10 or so, stopped at Riley's Pub in Green Lake. From what I heard, after a couple Irish coffees and Guinness the group decided that they would take the shortest route back to Ripon.

Group before the ride, Photo credit: Scott Cole

            Now after what seemed like forever my group made it to mile 70 where the road turns to dirt yet again. This time the dirt was a bit softer and made riding much tougher, it was total 'cross conditions. We crossed over a damn and continued on past a logging operation and came out on the road at about mile 73ish. We made a turn back East when we rolled by the Mexican place that we were supposed to meet the others at.  After consulting with the group we decided it would be better to continue on and eat after the ride. Good thing cause the others would have never showed. But of course we were snacking on cookies, bananas, Honey Stinger products and another goodies we packed. Right after the restaurant we met back up with the lead van to re-fill water.  We each started to take off some of our outer layers cause the weather was starting to warm and get nice.  Now with only a small portion of the ride left we turned North and had an amazing tail wind. Cruising at 27 the last 30ish miles flew by. I was pulling on the front for about the last 1.25 hours cause the others were hurting. I don't think Ted had enough food and Big Mike K. did a lot of pulling earlier in the ride. We made it back into Green Lake and with only about 20 minutes left, Ted and Mike started to seem happier until they found out about the last 2 hills. One isn't so bad but the 2nd one is a killer. Granny gear for about 2 minutes to crawl up it, slowly. Not so bad until you have 5hrs 45 in your legs. We rolled in at exactly 6 hours and my hub battery still didn't die. We got some good miles in the legs and I had a great time getting to know everyone.  Hopefully next year will bring good weather and more people. Thanks to all who came out for the 2nd Annual Ripon Spring Classic.

Back to it

        Man its been a while since my last post. Since then I've completed another cyclocross season with ISCorp and Ripon. I competed at nationals in January then went to Worlds and watched in February. I took some time off in December and have been getting in some good base training with my newly structured plan that Coach Joe has me on.  I have been riding the Cycleops trainer mostly. I've been trying to get outside more often than last year and now that its getting to be March hopefully it will start to warm up so the winter atire can start to come off. After looking at the forecast looks like we still have at least one more week on winter.
          Now that its March the road season has kicked off.  I did my first race this past weekend, March 2nd and 3rd, down in Indiana. The Depauw team hosted both days. After upgrading to B's, a couple days before the race, I had a 40 mile road race on day one. The race itself wasn't that hard. The course had some rolling hills but nothing to hard. While racing it was about 27 degrees and it started to snow, the flakes were huge!!  This was the first time I've ever raced in snow on the road, which in a way was fun, but road shouldn't have snow falling during it. Lap after lap the pace held pretty steady with a couple attacks near then end but it came down to a bunch sprint. I felt I was sitting in good position for the sprint but missed the lead train and ended up 10th.  For me this was an excellent result seeing how I was on a cross bike and how I thought last year the C's were hard.  After the race we sat around in the suburban and watched as T-Kaatz raced 72 miles in mens A. He was going up against kids who are cat 1, race on the USA national team and are supper fast. He lasted almost the whole race then in the last couple laps he popped and ended up getting pulled but still an excellent result!!

Start of the TTT, thanks Jay Labecki for the picture

         After they were done we drove to the TTT. This was only a 5 mile race so nothing challenging. A down and back on a relatively flat course. Looking at my power file it only had about 50ft of elevation change. The wind was howling from the left, on our way out, so we had an echelon going and each took our pulls. We tried to power as hard as we could but had some fitness differences between us and had to slow just a bit. After the turn around we went as hard as the 3 of us could hold and finished. Nothing spectacular but we were not expecting anything much.

On Sunday we had the Crit. The weather was beautiful, barely any wind and sunny. It was about 35 but didn't feel like it. The course was about 2 miles long, flat with 4 turns and a winding final stretch. Todays race was 45 minutes. Eric and I lined up and took off. The pace was hard for the first lap or so then once the legs came around it wasn't to challenging. A group of 3 or so took off from the start and got about a 50 second gap. While they were off the front, I was sitting happily in the group not doing much, just sticking on. We never closed the gap to the lead group but we came close. So around the final corner we all sprinted for the line and I ended up mid pack. I wasn't trying to win more just going for a pack finish and thats exactly what I did.

Then after the race I sat around and watched Tony race the A's. During his race I got to catch up with some friends that I don't get to really see except for on race weekends. It's nice to be back in the swing of things and I can't wait for the MTB season to start!! The Iola Bump N' Jump is May 4th. Stick around for more to come. If you want more "live" updates follow the Red Hawks on twitter.