5 yrs ago- today

This past weekend was the Crystal Ridge WORS race. This course is my home field and I've always have a blast riding and racing this course.  It's always hot/humid or really muddy.  This year it was very very hot.  But 5yrs ago in 2007 it was really really muddy.  In 07' I was new to the sport of cycling.  I always went to the races with my parents but never wanted to race. For some reason I decided to sign up for the Crystal Ridge race.  I pre-registered so when it poured rain the day before the race, I couldn't back out.  On race day I lined up, with the other citizens, in my tennis shoes and my dads CSC kit.  I rode my hardest and finished covered with mud.  As my mom always told me "if you're getting dirty you're having fun".  Now 5yrs years later I lined up with the Elite field in my Shimano shoes and Wheel and Sprocket/ Vision kit.  I went my hardest up the the start climb, but got blown away by Tristan who got the hole shot and the victory for the day.  I was stuck behind some people in the single track on the first lap and couldn't get by.   Once it opened up, I snuck around them and could finally start to race my race.  I picked people off one by one. Each lap I worked my way through the field and tried to keep water coming in.  I got a bottle from my coach, Joe and from my dad. I was drinking over 1 bottle a lap which is a lot since it's only a 7 mile loop.  After climbing the start hill 4 times, I was finally on my last lap. I came through in 13th place and could see the next 3 places about 45 seconds- 1 minute ahead of me. I pushed and got around Justin Piontek right before alpha trail and focused on catching Ben Koenig. I caught him right before the rocks and the wood bridges in the new HD line.  I floated behind him as he and I were riding at the same pace.  We climbed craters of the moon and came out onto the white gravel road.  Ben was far enough ahead where I couldn't get a draft, so I really had to push it to pass him before the upper section of single track.  I got around him and set my focus on catching 10th spot, Brian Heifner. I saw him and ended up getting on his wheel about half way down the white gravel going towards the "wall". We climbed the "wall" and thanks to Rachel Horstman's cheering, I was able to stick on his wheel. He got a small gap on me before the start/finish climb and I couldn't close it in time. I rolled through the finish in 11th spot about 5-10 seconds behind Brian. Going back 5yrs to racing in the mud and my tennis shoes to now, taking 11th spot and getting on the podium in the Elite race, I'm really glad my parents highly encouraged me to saddle up and give it shot.  Thanks for all the support you guys have given me over the past years.  With my best finish of the year, things are looking very good for the next couple of months. Time to relax and get some zzzz's. Don't forget to check out XTR photo for some great shots of the race.  

Busy Busy Busy

This past month has been pretty busy with training, racing and working.  I haven't had much time to sit and write up a post.  I've written bits and pieces but haven't had time to finish it.  This past month i've done a couple of WORS races where I won age group in both of them and took 23rd and 24th overall.  I felt great during each race but everyone else was also feeling good I guess.  I've also done a couple of TOAD races.  I've raced Cat 2/3 and have gotten dropped in both races.  The first race some guy takes out 2 people around the first turn, up the first hill, on the first lap and almost took me out.  This put me about 5-10 seconds behind the field and it was impossible to catch back on.  In the second race, again some guy goes down and takes out 3-4 riders in the first mile and almost took me out.  I got back on the back of the pack but with a nasty cross wind, it was really hard to move up.  I was riding at my limit and popped.  I ended up doing 4 of the 5 10 mile loops because on the 4th lap I broke my rear derailleur cable.  Now today I'm racing at Downer classic and hopefully I will be able to hang with the group. I'm still going strong and keeping focused on the months ahead.  Can't wait till august when I get to see my grandparents and teammates.  It feels so far away but it will be here before I know it.  See all you guys soon.  Here are some pictures from the past races

 

Levis 100

This past saturday June 9th I decided to race the Levis/Trow 100 WEMS race.  I signed up for the 100 miler because I wanted to get a 100 mile race in before I head out to Leadville for the Leadville Traill 100. On friday my dad and I drove up to Hatfield, WI to Levis Mounds

Up north fools have recognized

We arrived around 7:30pm set up our pit tent, our sleeping tent and tried to relax and enjoy the night. We struggled with that because the mosquitoes were out. They weren't to bad but defiantly noticeable. We headed into the tent and preped as much as we could for the race. Shortly after we headed to bed. The next morning I tried to sleep in a little but my body clock woke me up at the usual 5:30am. I headed to the car made breakfast and waited until 7:00 when I started to get ready. Not knowing how this whole endurance racing works I did a much shorter warm up but found out later it really wasn't needed because the pace was very comfortable on the 1st lap. At 7:45 I headed to the riders meeting and placed my bike about 300 meters down the track for the lemond start. At 8 the shot gun goes off and we take off jogging to our bikes. I grab my Trek Superfly with its newly added Shimano XTR brakes, mount it and take off sitting 4th.  We enter the first section of single track and since I don't know what the pace was going to be like I decided to just follow and see how hard everyone else was going.  After a comfortable 1st lap us 4 make it through the pits where I take a bottle hand up and keep rolling. Now out on lap 2, the 4 of use are still together and before the single track I pop a Powerbar Gel and eat some Clif Shots. A couple miles in Randy Wegener takes off and gets about a 40 second gap not knowing if I should chase I passed 3rd and just stuck with 2nd place.  After a couple more miles around mile 6 we hit the aid station I look behind me abd power past 2nd because I notice he might be a little sick. We start the long climb and 3rd slowly falls off my wheel.  I climb at a steady pace and fly down the technical descent knowing that my new Shimano brakes can stop anything.  After another 12.5 miles I make it back to the pit. I stop and my wonderful pit crew, my dad, hands me a waffle, 2 bottles and I stuff my pockets with Poewrbar Gels and Gu Chomps.  I take off on lap 3 and catch Randy around mile 2. I sit on him taking his pace until mile 10 when his pace slows a little and I decide to take the lead and ride my pace. We hit the last climbs of the lap and Randy falls off my wheel.  I enter the pit with about a 2-3 minute gap.  My dad hands me 2 more bottles a Pop tart and before I head out I squirt some water over my head. Now out on lap 4 the temps have risen to about 85 90 and I'm drinking a lot more. I go through both my bottles in the first 8 miles and fight through the last 4.5 miles driven by the thought of water. I finally make it back to the pit and my dad has 2 bottles and a sandwich waiting for me. I take one of the bottles drink as much as my stomach can handle and dump some on my head. I take 2 bottles eat my sandwich and grab a couple more Gels. I ask my dad to have a Camelback ready for me on the next lap and head out on lap 5 after another 2ish minute pit. Knowing that I'm going to need more water than the 2 bottles I have, when I made it to mile 6 I stopped at the aid station, filled up my bottles and ate some banana pieces then started the grueling climb.  Still feeling good I make it back to the pit in about 40 minutes.  Again I dump some water on my head grab my Camelback from Ken Stuckart another 100 mile racer who had to drop out. I also grab a bottle just incase and my dad tells me 2nd is about 34 minutes behind. I roll out feeling much better because my fluids are replenished.  I make it through lap 6 without any problems except the fatigue is starting. I roll back to the pit with about a 40 minute gap and headed out for, as Ken said "one more WORS race".  The 7th lap went well even though it was much slower. The fatigue in my arms and hands had grow exponentially and it was getting hard to shift but this was due to all the pounding form the bumps and not from a bad bike fit, thank you Randy Jennings for doing such a great job fitting me.  I really tried to enjoy this lap and not do anything stupid knowing that I had a pretty large gap I tried to pace myself so that I wasn't totally trash for the last lap.   When I got to the pit for the last time I lightened the load a little. I dropped the Camelback and 1/2 of the gels in my pocket and took 2 bottles. I did about another 4 minute pit but this time I tried to really make sure everything was working on my bike just to make sure nothing would fall off or break on me for my final lap.  I took off feeling pretty good and tried to keep the pace high. After making it through 97 miles without falling I hit the 9 mile sign and go about .3 of a mile pop up my front tire over an up high root and keep going backwards. I end up in the woods and rip the leg of my shorts on a log.  I get up assess my leg and take off again.  Another teammate Jesse Kruchoski, he did the 50 solo and took 4th, caught me in the last 1/2 mile, I let him by and I stuck on his wheel.  He slows up right before the finish to let me by and we roll in together. I finished with a time of 10 hours 34 minutes which was almost exactly 52 minutes ahead of 2nd. I roll back to the pit area dismount my bike and just stand there not knowing what to do. I walk around in circles kinda in daze still not understanding what I should do.  After about 10 minutes I get changed and wash up.  We drive up to the finish for awards and head to Culvers for dinner.  

                          New Giro helmet as my prize                                            Results after 7 laps
                           
After a long car ride home last night its time for some serious R&R before WORS race #4 CamRock and pick some strawberries with my mom.  Thanks for reading check back soon for a post race report of CamRock.

Short and Sweet

Came up to Wausau feeling good. Got a pre ride in with Nathan and Ryan Baumann. About 1 mile in my front break decides to stop working I stopped gave it a couple pumps and it was back. This only lasted about another 2 miles when again I had no front break.  Good thing Rib Mountain Cycles wasn't to far away because they closed at 5 and my dad and I were leaving the race site at 4:30.  We got to Rib Mountain Cycles and Casey Hildebrandt and his crew bled my front break and tightened my lose bottom bracket. We then headed back and I went out for another lap just to test it out. Near the end of the lap a tree decides to pop up, I hit it, go over the bars head first into a tree and give myself a concussion. I made my way back and the rest of the night is still a little blurry.  Now on Sunday my neck and back hurt and i've got a splitting headache. After some pain meds my headache is finally gone and I'm feeling great. My warm up goes good, I get my first elite call up ever. I'm sitting right behind Brian Matter and Mike Phillips when Don calls go. We take off make it through the first section of single track down along the gravel road up the big hill and enter Ho Chi Min when I puncture my rear tire. I shot some CO2 into it but it didn't hold. With my day over I start to walk back with another elite racer Rebecca who bent her hanger pretty nasty.  We had a great conversation on the way back about racing. 40 minutes later we make it back I turn in my tag and call it a day. Not the best of luck for me this weekend but theres always another race can't get caught up in 1 stupid little thing like a flat. TIme to rest the head and get prepared for the races to come. 

Bone Ride

The Bone Ride a 160 mile ride is put on by former Tour De France racer Tom  Schuler.  We ride from his house in Wauwatosa to madison and back. You can join the ride anywhere on the route but most people start at his house or at Attitude Sports in Pewaukee.  Only knowing it was going to be a long day in the saddle I had to pack a lot of food and drink.  I had pockets full of PowerBar gels, Cliff Bars, Cliff Blocks and a new food on the list Pop Tarts. I also tried some Enzo Button hole chamois cream. This stuff works great it has a subtle cooling affect and without it I don't think i'd be able to sit today. On the way out the pace was really moderate. We were riding at 20MPH, but since you were in a draft you do't have to work very hard at all.  We made it to madison just under 4hrs. Once we arrived we rode around the capital and headed to lunch. Myself and many others headed to Noodles & CO. After putting down a big bowl of pasta some of us rode over to a local coffee shop, just down the street from yellow jersey bicycle, and had some espresso.  We then rode over to yellow jersey bicycle got a group pic and headed home.  Just outside of madison I was riding in the lead group and all of a sudden things blew up. We were really hammering and realizing I wouldn't be able to hold this pace for another 70 miles I fell back with Ric Damm, Sam Tobias and a handful of others.  We tried to start a pace line but people kept attacking off the front trying to catch the lead group. These people quickly fell off our group and we got a good rotation going.  We made it to Oconomowoc where some stopped at a gas station to fill up on water. I kept going but had to stop in Pewaukee to go to the bathroom.  Good thing Pat Janisch also stopped because other wise I would have been on my own for the last 15miles. I pulled Pat out of Pewaukee until North Ave then he took over for a bit and we traded off pulls and slowly made it back to Tom's house. With 159 miles in my legs I rolled home and had finished up with 160.04 miles.  I came inside showered, sat down on the couch and fell asleep at 7pm.  Time to get some good R&R.  

Rhinelander

WORS number 2 was held at camp Tesomas just outside of Rhinelander. Last year at this race Jack Schirpke invited my parents and I to stay in a cabin with him.  Thankfully we got to stay in that same cabin this year.  Since we had this cabin the whole weekend, my dad and I drove up friday and got in late.  The next morning we got up, did some things around town and headed out for a pre ride.  I went out with teammate Nathan Guerra, and Wilhelm, master mechanic at the trek tent. After doing a lap I realized this was going to be a hot and dusty race.  On race day it was 80 degrees and with the rain holding off, it didn't seem like it was going to very different conditions from the pre ride.  After watching my dad race in the sport race I got kitted up and started my warm up. After the warm up I headed to the line.  Everyone was already at the back of the start shout and I was sitting about 5th row.   Once Don called us up I moved up 1 or 2 spots. Don called GOOOOO and we were off. After the first turn I was already up to the top 20 and was battling to move up.  Once we hit the first section of single track I was about 15th.  Powering through the first lap I was feeling good and flew through the start shout out onto my 2nd lap.  During this lap the temperature started to drop and it was getting darker out.  About 1/2 way through it started to downpour and my dad said it was also hailing and that the tornado sirens were going off.  Not knowing if Don was going to call the race Matt Gehling and I took off.  We got to the start/ finish and Don say's "keep going you've got 2 more".  This little bit of rain was just enough to make the trails perfect, the dust was gone and the trails were tacky.  With new found energy I tried my hardest not to blow up on the start straight.  I got through the 3rd lap with ease and was going strong on the 4th lap until the rain came back.  This time the sky really opened up and didn't hold back.  It poured so hard it created rivers that ran through the trails and created giant puddles everywhere.  With no brakes and my cassette clogged up with sand I pushed through the last lap and rolled through the finish. I think the only thing not clogged with mud were my crank brothers peddles Now with the rain finally over, I found my dad and he told me, he thought I finished 12th. After waiting about 5 minutes WORS already had the results posted and I was officially 13th overall and 2nd in age group.  I rolled back to the cabin showered and went back for  the awards ceremony.  While waiting I said to my dad "watch they will pay out top 12". We waited and my age group came up.  David Flaten (left) got called up, then Kyle Sarasin (right) and finally myself. I walked up and got my award. 

 Even though I was second in my age group, Joe Maloney, who is really killing it this year, took 7th overall and was on the overall podium and doesn't count toward the age group podium. After the podium it hit me I missed out on the overall podium.  As I guessed only the top 12 got payed out.  

After a long day in the saddle and a long drive home I need to get some good recovery as I'm doing the Bone Ride on wednesday. Below are some more post race mud pics. Check out http://www.xtrphoto.com/ for some great photos of all the racers.  

WORS #1 Iola

WORS #1 is finally here and gone. Its been a long awaited race and it was a great way to start of the MTB season.  The day before a couple Ripon teammates, coach Ric Damm and I all drove up to pre ride the course on saturday. The course was beautiful. But this wasn't going to last long. After we left I got a call from my parents saying that it was starting to rain. This rain wouldn't let up until early sunday morning only to start up again around 7.

The Storm before is on its way

This storm only got worse throughout the day. Since the storms where so bad Don, the founder of WORS, decided to push the start time of the sport race back by 30 minutes and shortened there race. He also decided to shorten the comp and elite race by 1 lap. Now only having to do 20 miles I new this was going to be a fast race. After a quick warm up, I got to the line around 1:20pm.  I was sitting 4th row, which I was pretty happy about because I knew that everyone in front of me was a seasoned elite veteran.  After Don's famous GOOOOOO, we took off.  I pushed off but had to dab because the guy in front of me didn't start to move like I had anticipated.  I pushed off again and finally got going. Cruising up the first hill, then down into the bowl and making a hard right we started to climb again.  I wasn't the happiest with my position so I tried to move up but it wasn't happening. After climbing for a bit we flew back down into the bowl and then right up another big hill which is usually rideable but with all the rain it was like trying to ride up a greased slip and slide. All of us got off and ran it. I re-mounted, clipped right in with no problem, thanks to Crank Brothers for making amazing pedals, and got going again.  Now realizing what kind of race this was going to be all I could think about was collegiate nationals which had similar conditions, except Iola was much flatter and didn't have a river running through the center of the trail.  After racing for 3 laps just behind Casey and Pete I was in no mans land because Casey and Pete only had to do 3 laps.  Trying to push and catch some of the people in front of me I ran out of trail and my first WORS race was in books.  I realize now i've got a long way to go but for the first race of the year and my first elite race ever, I didn't really know what to expect.  I ended up finishing 2nd in age group but got a 1st place medal because Joe, who took first, was also on the podium for the overall prize, so he doesn't count for the age group.  I also got 12th out of the cat 1 males and 28th overall out of every male elite racer. Not knowing what to expect I can only hope things get better from here but we will have to wait until Rhinelander to see.  Here are some post race pictures. 

Jason and I.