Where have you been?

Well I guess it has been a few months…ok more like about 5 months since my last post but life has got me pretty busy. Trying to be a full-time dad, husband, work a full-time job, and training for Xterra really kept me busy. The thing that really put a stop to my blog postings was a job change. I took on some new responsibilities at work and that really put a damper on my free time. But now that I’m not on a regimented training program I have some time to get the two or three people who read this blog an update to the end of my first year of my rookie season.

So where did I leave off???? Oh yea, Xterra Beaver Creek….. that was a tough race, it was mostly up hill with little to no technical sections on the bike course. I ended up with 2nd place in my AG. Stephen White took first again (the same person who beat me in Buffalo Creek).

The following week we were off to Ogden, Utah for the Mountain Championship race. I felt like that was the best race of the season for me and I also took 2nd only to Stephen White again. Do you see a trend here? Nonetheless, the 2nd place finish was enough to earn a spot for the Xterra world championship race in Maui. I wasn’t planning on doing that race but as soon as Heather heard that I qualified she started making plans to go.

After the mountain championship race I had about three weeks to get ready for the USA championship race in Lake Tahoe, NV. Lake Tahoe was an interesting race to say the least. I sent a race report to some of my friends back in October so here it is:

“First of all if you have never been to lake Tahoe it is a beautiful place and has to be on the top 10 list for epic places to mountain bike in the US, if not the world. In the days leading up to the race the Lake was like an ocean. There were 2-3 foot waves and the water temp was in the high 50's ...that is cold my friends. But on race morning the water was flat and we didn't even notice how cold the water was. The starting air temp was about 40 degrees. I could immediately feel how huge this race was when helicopters with cameras attached were hovering over us. That was the real deal! It was clear that the best of the best was present form all over the US. So I only thought about having the swim of my life! The cannon went off at 9am in a mass start! I took off like a mad man trying not to get dunked or kicked in the mouth. I managed to get to around the swim course in one piece with no problems and I managed to swim in a straight line from buoy to buoy. I was very surprised. Lake Tahoe is so clear and blue it was just amazing! On the bike I just hammered and I felt great. I was cold enough that I never felt thirsty so I never thought to hydrate or eat anything. I guess I have a bad habit of doing that when it is cold. I had a fantastic bike split but once I got onto the run course I started to feel the effects of not hydrating or fueling during the bike section. So I bonked on the run and managed to salvage a 5th place finish. Luck it wasn’t worse. One bright spot was my teammate and one of my XTERRA mentors, Luke Jay, finished the season as a National Champion. Very cool.”
Three weeks later it was off to Maui for the World championship race. Here is another race report I sent to my friends and family:
“Hey Guys,Here is how it all went:I finished World's but I'm not happy with my result. I had a great swim by my mediocre standards. I loved swimming over the reef because there was a ton of wild life under the kaos of the flailing bodies. I even saw two turtles during the race.....that's something you don't see everyday! Then I jumped on my bike and forgot my CamelBak! oops! I decided to use a CamelBak instead of water bottles because I kept hearing that the course was really rough and tough and I would need plenty of fluids. Well, I blew that plan and didn't have water for the first hour of the race until I reached the first feed station. that sucked! Needless to say, that really screwed up my race. After hydrating I couldn't break out of my slow conservative rhythm. I resolved myself to just finishing the race. I ended up in 9th place out of 64 starters in my AG. If I would have done everything right and ended up with the same result I would have been satisfied. I guess I shouldn't complain considering where I started out this year. Nonetheless, I'm determined to get back to Maui next year to put up a better fight. One thing that I noticed was that all of the Euros are really fit and fast! OMG, those guys are super fast! I was the 3rd American in my AG and the leading dude from SUI still put 20 minutes on me! Oh well, at least I got to spend time with my Mom, Heather and Danielle on the beach!”
So there you have it. I guess now that the season is over I can officially say that I’m not a XTERRA rookie anymore. I learned a few things along the way and I’m sure I still have a few more things to learn next year. My goal for next year is not to have a sophomore slump.
I’m off to Atlanta for a seven-day business trip and when I return I will begin my 2009 training campaign.
I need to think of a new name for this blog because I intend to keep it updated for the 2009 season. Any ideas?Cheers!

XTERRA Indian Peaks

I made the decision to race the XTERRA in Nederland this past Saturday. I think Heather and Danielle are hooked and are my biggest (and only) fans. They’re having a great time and meeting all of the great people I’ve been telling them about. Nederland is only a 90 min drive from Parker so we needed to leave by 6am to get there in time for packet pickup and to do my pre race rituals. The format of this race was a little different with a time trial swim start going off in 5 second intervals. This meant that chances of getting kicked in the mouth were a little less than usual. They placed us in order of how fast we told them we could swim and mountain bike. I put down that I was a terrible swimmer and a better mountain biker. So that put me in 88th position for the start. The idea was that if they put you in correct order then there wouldn’t be much passing going on. That was true…..I didn’t pass as many people in this race as I have in past races. So the race went like this: my swim was OK, I felt good on the bike but there was a weird circumstance, and the run was only 6K. The weird circumstance was on the bike course because a race marshal got his truck stuck and was unable to make it to his spot in time for before the first 40 to 50 bikers passed through. He was supposed to put up some caution tape and direct the racers on a 90 degree turn at the bottom of a hill. Instead, most of the racers continued down the hill where the course picked back up. So, most of us didn’t even notice that something was wrong until we finished the race. The race director apologized and informed everyone that a time penalty would be assessed to make it fair to those who had to do the extra part of the course. Not sure how fair it was but I still ended up with a 1st in my AG and 19th overall. With three AG wins that puts me in the lead for the mountain regional points. The next X is in Beaver Creek next week then it is on to Ogden for the Mountain Championship XTERRA. I’ll keep you posted and thanks for reading.

XTERRA Crested Butte

We were in Crested Butte over the weekend for the big race. Almost the entire team was there with the exception of Kathy and Julie. We rented this awesome house with enough room for the team, friends and family. I've lived in Colorado since 1985 and never visited Crested Butte before. I have to say it is one of the most pristine towns/places I seen in Colorado. Huge mountains and really green. Some how, the Town of Aspen must have got first dibs on the name because the aspens are beautiful in CB.

We arrived Friday afternoon. Cody, Ed, Adam, Jason, Dave, arrived in the WRC VanDiesel…..that thing is a sight to see! It’s huge with enough bike trays on the roof for about 10 bikes. Luke and I were joined by our families so we drove separately. Within an hour after checking into the rental house we headed over to the bike course for a pre-ride. The course included the upper loop trail and strand hill trail. The upper loop is a very tight and twisty single track through the aspens with lots of short and steep hills. The fun factor for this course is a ten. However, I could already tell that a traffic jam would happen during the race because there were very few places to pass.

We pre-rode the course again the next day then did a short run afterwards. I guess I should say only some of us pre-rode half the course while Cody and Ed rode the entire thing. Crazy dudes! Even though Cody’s coaching plan called for training through this race I wanted to conserve a little energy so I could give a good effort the next day.

On Sunday we were up early to the smell of pancakes and eggs cooking in the kitchen. Heather and Becca woke up extra early to prepare a pre-race breakfast. It was great! Nothing better than pancakes before a big race! Then we loaded up the WRC Van diesel and headed over to the race start with a pit stop at Camp4 coffee…..good stuff!

We started the race with a 1000 meter swim in Lake Grant, located in a country club neighborhood and surrounded by multi-million dollar homes. The race had two wave starts and of course I was in the second wave that started three minutes behind. I didn’t have any issues during the swim other than the altitude. It was my first time swimming at 9000 plus feet and I could definitely feel it but I came out of the water a little bit less confused than the last three times. Once I got on the bike I knew I had to go as fast as I could to pass as many people before we hit the single track. As soon as I got to the single track I ran straight into traffic. I could see about 10 to 15 racers in front of me and I was stalled. I didn’t have any where to go. It was frustrating because I was stuck! The only thing I could do was wait for the someone in front of me to make a mistake before I could make a move. This lasted for about 30 minutes then I finally got to the main dirt road that connected us to the second part of the race course. At that point I was finally able to go full speed! I passed a ton of people on Strand Hill and the road back to transition. The run course was on the same trail as the first part of the bike course where I was stuck in traffic. Only difference was I probably ran that part of the course faster than biking it. I felt really good on the run and I was able to push it all the way to the finish. I think I probably could have ran a little faster but I’m still learning how to keep it full throttle without blowing up.

As soon as I crossed the finish line Cody told me that I was the first person in my wave to finish. That also meant I won my age group. Sweet! Another 75 points and closer to qualifying for the XTERRA US National Championships in Tahoe!

The entire team did well. Ed, Luke, Cary, also won their age groups, Cody was third in a stacked Men's Pro Field. Sara finished a respectable fifth behind Jenny Smith, Shonny V., Mel McQuaid, and a former Olympian (I can’t remember her name).

Up next is…..well I’m not sure. I’m registered for the Indian Peaks XTERRA but I’ll make a last minute decision to race.

XTERRA Iron Creek

Luke and I made the last minute decision to head up to Spearfish, SD for the XTERRA Iron Creek. We both heard mixed reviews about the race but we decided to take a chance and form our own opinions about the race. We arrived at the venue in time to do a course pre ride. We ran into Will Kelsay aka “Mr XTERRA” and Paul (the Co-race director for XTERRA Buff Creek and Crested Butte) and they gave us a personal tour of the bike course. Will is probably one of the most popular Pro XTERRA athletes on the circuit. He’s the dude with a blue Mohawk and an infectious enthusiasm for XTERRA. In 2007, Will was awarded the title of “Mr. XTERRA” earned by traveling the country in a RV (with a big XTERRA logo painted on the side). I heard that he raced every weekend and put on XTERRA clinics at the race venues to earn his way. He’s a super nice dude and a great ambassador for XTERRA. After the ride we ended up at the same restaurant and shared a table with Will and Spenser (another pro). One of the things I love about XTERRA is the camaraderie among all of the athletes. Guys like Cody, Will, and Spenser, are all regular guys minus the chip on their shoulder.


"MR XTERRA"

The race started with a 1000 meter swim. It looked a lot longer but I’m not complaining because unlike the pros we were able to wear wetsuits. They said the water temp was 70 degrees but I think it was colder than that. It was also a cool morning with temps in the 50’s. The race started off with a 10 second count down. I’m still getting used to the swim part of these races. Getting hit, kicked, and basically racing blind for the first few minutes is a little different than anything else I would do on a Saturday morning. During the first 300 meters the thoughts of dismay and quitting entered my mind. I guess it’s because while the pain sets in I’m realizing that I probably can’t stand up or swim to the side to take a break. Luckily, by the first buoy I started to settle down and begin to concentrate on getting to the next one. I need to work on pushing myself a little harder instead of being content to just finish the swim.

Yet again, the bike course is where I made up all of the ground I lost in the swim. One thing that I’m still not used to is the transition from swim to bike then from bike to run. I feel like absolute crap at the start of every leg! It’s like my body goes into shock every time I switch to a new discipline. Everyone tells me that it sucks for them too. Even though I immediately start passing people out of transition I always feel like there is no way I’ll be able to push it like that for another 1.5 hours. But usually after a long 10 minutes my legs start to feel better and then it’s hammer time! This course had some sections were it was pretty rocky and I saw three or four people fixing flats. I guess Luke was fixing a flat and I didn’t even see him. Someone on a relay team stopped to give him a pump. Just before the start Luke realized he forgot his CO2 but decide to take a chance and go without. Murphy’s Law I guess or as Luke likes to say just “part of the master plan”. Luckily Luke only lost about 4-5 minutes and was able to continue. Eric Kruse also flatted then decided finish the race with his wife. It was a pretty cool sight to see this really fast dude continue on with his wife and take it all in. Toward the middle of the course I passed Will who was having apparent problems. Will has been recovering from a staph infection that he picked up while racing at the Eastern Championships race in Richmond, VA, I guess he stepped on a stick and it got stuck in his foot. Ouch! Even though Will didn’t feel well enough to continue racing, he hung out at the finish to cheer everybody on…..XTERRA needs to hire this guy!....maybe they already did? The bike course seemed kind of short. I was a bit worried because I didn’t think I made up enough ground. When I entered the bike to run transition I only saw a few bikes in the racks. A good sign? I really didn’t think about it too much because I was just focused on doing my own race and enjoying the moment.
The run started out with about a 1k climb then dropped down the rest of the way around the lake with a really steep power walk section toward the end. We did two laps to complete the 8K course. I thought the run was awesome because we only had to suffer at the beginning of the lap then it was down hill the rest of the way. Speedy Luke passed me on the second lap like I was going backwards on the 1k climb section. It wasn’t until after the race when I found out that Luke had a flat but he was still able to pull out a 4th place overall and 1st in his age group. Now that’s fast! I think he would have been at least 2nd or 3rd if he didn’t flat.

I ended up crossing the line in 6 place overall and 1st in my age group. Wow! pretty cool. I know I have some humble pie waiting for me at another race but I’ll take the win for now.

"Hardware" Literally

Up next is Crested Butte. Heather was able to take some time off so both my girls will be able to travel to this one. I can’t wait!

Firecracker 50

Heather’s Mom and Howard, were in town over the 4th of July weekend so we decided to head to Breckenridge for a mountain experience. It just so happened that the Firecracker 50 mountain bike race was going on while we were there. OMG….what a coincidence! Not really because we planned it that way. But you can’t get more of a mountain experience than a grueling 50 mile mountain bike race….right? At least, that’s true for me and not so much for the in-laws. Not sure why I wanted to do this race because it nothing but a sufferfest. The race course has a total of 11,000 feet of climbing and it starts at an elevation of about 9,500 ft. For you people living in the flats that means above sea level. Believe me, this is no ordinary bike race. Extraordinary enough that it’s the US championship race for mountain bike marathon distance (50 mile distance). The race is actually a huge event in the town of Breckenridge. The Mayor of Breck leads out the racers as part of the town parade. The start of the race went up Main Street and was lined with a ton of kids giving the racers high fives. It was pretty cool. Really cool until we got out of town, left the cheering crowds, and instantly began to climb. I never really warmed up before the race because I figured I’d have plenty of time to get warm since we were going to double what we usually race….I probably should have warmed up. As soon as we hit the edge of town a few of the leading guys began to hammer up the road climb. My strategy was to find the Chipotle-Titus guys and hang on for awhile. The Chipotle racers in my age group always seem to pass me in pairs mid way through a lot of races. So I figured I’d watch them for awhile to find out what kind of tactics they used. So I basically sat on their wheels watching them take turns drafting off of each other. They didn’t figure out that I was drafting them until about 1k left on the fire road climb. At that point I decided take a turn on the front just to be fair…. To make a long story short, I never saw them again because they dropped back! I worried about it for a split second thinking that I was going out too hard but then I just figured I’d go at my own pace. I felt like quitting after the first lap because I just didn’t feel well but I just kept telling myself that this was just a training race. So I persevered. This race felt a little different than last year because I didn't crash on the first lap and I passed more than others passed me. I guess that's a good thing. After about 4 hours and 40 min I crossed the finish line in 9 place. That’s about a 10 minute, and 12 place improvement over last year. I can’t complain about that. Maybe next year I’ll cut off another 10 minutes.

My Buddy Mark took some great pictures. Check'em out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockymtnway/2644646630/in/set-72157606018468008/

Buffalo Creek Race Report

Saturday was the Buffalo Creek XTERRA. It was announced that this year’s race had 500 racers signed up and it was the 2nd largest XTERRA in the world only behind the World Championship race in Maui. 500 racers! Wow! The entire EPC/WRC XTERRA team made it out for this one. It was the first time we were all in attendance at the same race.

The EPC Guys

Steve and Julie warming up

Adam and Steve

The calm water before the start. 65 degrees. Cool but Not bad.

The Swim
The start was a staggered or a wave start and I was in the third wave with the “old guys” (39+). I wasn’t as nervous as I was at Farmington because it wasn’t my second (ever) open water swim. Swimming with Ed over the past few weekends really helped me boost my confidence. I only got kicked (in the jaw) one time. A little sore… no big deal. My T1 time was better this time because I was able to relax in the swim and I thought about the transition on the final leg. Whereas before my only thought was making it back to shore and stayin’ alive! Also my shoes went on easier because I switched to all Velcro straps rather than the Boa (ratcheting dial) system.

The Mountain Bike
This was where I needed to make up time because I knew that I had lost at least 3-6 minutes on the leaders in my AG. On the first mile of the bike course my legs felt a little heavy until after the first fire road descent then I was able to recover and establish a good rhythm. Once I hit the single-track I had to maneuver my way through the stragglers from the wave in front of me. I saw a lot of leg markings that were a few decades below my age and only a few that were in my group. So I really never had a sense of where I stood in the race until about the last 3 miles of the bike course. That was actually a good thing because I just made it my own race and slowly built up my momentum. I wasn’t until the last descent before the big 2 mile climb when I realized that I had caught up with the guy that took second in Farmington, Scott Swaney. Scott is a super fast swimmer and runner. I knew I had to make a move because it would be my only chance to put time on him. I decided to stay behind him on the rest of the descent while I finished off my last bottle. Once we hit the climb I made a move and just hammered my way to the top. I probably only put a minute on him but that was the difference between our run times from a few weeks ago in Farmington. Going into T2 I knew I had to kill it on the run to hold him off.

The Trail Run
While leaving T2 I could hear the announcer calling the names of the people entering the transition. I never heard Scotts name. So I thought I had a chance to beat him. The run started off with a killer climb. No time at all to recover from the bike…just straight up. At that point I started to feel exhausted and I started to cramp up. I was starting to fall apart! When I reached the top of the climb Scott caught me and descended like a mad man. I stuck with him until we got to the top of a crazy steep section! Scott practically did a controlled fall to the bottom and just kept going. I didn’t have enough energy for that kind of nonsense so I did the safe thing and ran down as fast as I could….as opposed to falling down and landing on my feet. After that I never saw him again. We had to navigate our way through the trees on a twisty trail. At one point there was a fork in the route where short course racers went left and full course went right. I went right and kept up my not so stellar pace. Luckily, I had the opportunity to run the course a few weeks ago after the Buffalo Creek TT so I was confident that I was going the right way. Once I got to the fire road and out of the trees I thought I would get a glimpse of Scott and try to make up some time but I never saw him. At that point I became somewhat demoralized because I thought he had laid down an acceleration that I just couldn’t match. The mind does funny things when that happens. It’s almost like you just want to shut it down because you know you just got beat. So I went into survival mode while my stomach began to cramp and the pain set in. Three younger guys ended up passing me as well as teammate and Pro racer, Sara Tarkington, but I had enough to hold on and finish.

Much to my surprise, when I crossed the line Cody told me that I just got 2nd! WHAT! No Way! Scott took the wrong turn at the fork and ended up with a DQ. That sucks! Nonetheless, I’ll take it! I ended up with 16th overall (including pros) and 2nd in my age group. It almost doesn’t make sense. REMEMBER, I couldn’t swim in October? Mark, Nils, Mike, and Jason, if you guys are reading this take that into consideration when you go to the pool and get ready for 2009! (and get a good coach! EPC is a good place to start :-) Hands down, this is way more exciting than just racing mountain bikes.

The entire EPC/WRC Team had a great day. Everyone finished and had a great result:

• Sara, 1st pro women
• Ed, 1st am, 5th overall
• Cary, 1st AG, 3rd am
• Kathy, 2nd AG
• Rickey, 2nd AG
• Luke, 2nd AG
• Julie, 3rd AG
• Cody 4th pro men/overall
• Adam finished, first ever tri
• Steve finished, second tri, first full length xterra
  
  Luke had to leave but his medal managed to make it in the picture.
  

Kathy hasn't lost a step after being out a few years!

Sara 1st in the Pro Women Category

Cary Second only to Susan Williams (Olympian and Bronze Medalist)

High then Low

Training (life for that matter) always seems to be full of ups and downs. Right now I want to talk about one of my "ups" in training. On Thursday, after work, I headed over to Mt Falcon to do a TT on the bike followed by a run TT on the same route.

On the bike I felt great! I set a PR from the outhouse to the pavilion at just about 28 min. That’s more than three minutes off of my time from last August. I was psyched and that made the rest of the ride and the decent much more fun because I was full of confidence. I followed that up with a run TT up the same course and only beat my bike time by a few seconds…. It felt really weird passing other MTBers while running. After a solid 3 hour session and a PR to boot, I went home confident that Cody’s plan is working.

Now for the low, yesterday I raced the opening race of the WP Mountain bike series…the dreaded Hill Climb. The race is a 5.3-mile non-technical ascent up a fire road from the base of the ski area to the peak. It climbs a total of 2,062 feet and finishes at around 11,200 feet. Needless to say, the air is very thin. It was a 10:15am start and I arrived in time for an hour warm up. I met up with teammate Julie B. and we were able to warm up by climbing about a third of the course and we added several top end repeats to blow out the legs. At that point my legs felt fine and I felt like I was going to have a good race.

At the staging area I noticed about 7-10 guys in my group with cyclocross (CX) bikes. It isn’t uncommon to see CX bikes in this particular race because it’s non-technical with barely a bump on the road. However, I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many as it has become ever more popular to own a CX bike. My original game plan was to start the race off steady and in control then begin my attack after the first big kick. That plan went out the window at the sound of “GO” when about 5 guys with CX bikes went off the front while others began the chase… including me. I should have stuck to the original plan because I suck at fast starts. Whenever I set a new PR on any uphill TT I always start off in control and gain momentum and speed toward the end of the climb. By the time we got about two thirds of the way to the top the leaders were still within reach and there was only 1 CX bike in sight. I should have known better! It only makes sense that the guys with CX bikes would have a fast start because they have super light bikes with skinny tires. The rest of the story goes like this…..I blew up trying to close the gap, never recovered and got 10th. End of story. No excuses, I just got beat! After the race I met back up with Julie and we continued on to do a 50 minute run with 2-8 minute hill sprints and 1-5 minute flat sprint…just a little bit more suffering for the day! I’ve decided to chalk up the day as a great high intensity-training day.

This morning I met Ed for an open water swim and he immediately noticed something was wrong. After about 2 minutes of swimming he stopped and looked at me with some concern….I told him that I was tired and he replied with “I can tell”. Our plan was to swim 4 - 750 meter laps but I decided to cut it out after only 2 laps. I was finished for the day. Buffalo Creek XTERRA is in a week so I better pay close attention to what my body is telling me….I need to REST! My plan is to train very lightly this week and build in an extra rest day just to make sure I refill my tank. I hope I can get back on one of those Mt Falcon highs.

BTW, Julie raced to second place and Kathy placed first each in their respective categories. Way to go ladies!