Rocket Family Racing

Mellow Johnnies - nothing mellow about it

2012-03-04T23:41:00.002-06:00

Race day, man I love race day at the big events, the atmosphere, the level of competition and the memories.

cool little cabin near the race course, race course to the right

hill country

Slammed down a typical big breakfast of protein and carbs while downing a lot of liquids - coconut water, green machine and some coffee. Rolled out of our hotel around 8am to hit our 11am race start. Seems like a long time ago that I lined up for a MTB race, guess racing a full season of CX for almost 5 months really breaks things up and I have to admit that I was ready for this new MTB season to start. Last season other than a few races (like MTB nats) my season pretty much stunk, mechanicals and more mechanicals and many poor race performances. I have though about last years MTB season for while since CX nats wrapped up and would sum it up by saying that I expected to do better than I prepared myself to do. That is only half the equation and when you race fast with the fast boys from around the country you need to be prepared.

almost there, it's green down here and the trees are blooming all over, another beautiful day outside

New year, New Season and this time I know what to expect and am better prepared to go hard. All the best plans and I knew there would be some setbacks, just was not expected to have a stupid crash 3 days before my season opener. Friday it was difficult to walk, Sat the legs loosened up some after riding them numb, Sun, race day, and the legs felt well, like I wrapped them around a tree a few days ago. That little thing called doubt crept into my mind, I tried to put it away but the calf and quad kept firing and feeling odd during my warmup, doubt had entered my mind....

Race entrance was tight

Call-ups time. They staged us by order of registration then rolled us up to the start line. Once it was our age groups time to go they called up Ty Kady the current MTB CAT1 champion and the top 5 from the Texas race series. They sent each 10 year age group off with a 2 minute gap which was nice as I did not hit lapped traffic until things has thinned out a little and by then I was already well into the passing mode. Passing mode should never has happened like it did though, my race start was horrible.

This is a cat 1 race at a ProXCT event so everyone is gunning to go fast right? Well, not everyone. Here is where the call-ups by order of registration failed. The guy in front of me at the gun pretty much sat up while I nearly jammed into his backside, I was instantly swarmed by 10-15 other racers. What was a 3rd row start out of 6 rows which I should have killed it off the line given my CX experience ended up with me hitting the hole-shot with about 25 dudes in front of me. I was ticked and really started to hammer it and got a little reckless as I was taking risky passes and bumping folks, but I came down here to race and I learned to go hard in CX season and put those skills to good use sort of.

Bad start... back in the pack

About 15 minutes into the first lap the guy in front of me looses his wheel on a semi-technical section. It was the sort of technical root and rock step-up you could clear when you first started riding bikes. Still in CX hammer mode I reacted and next thing I know is I am laying on my side??? I literally did a full flying dismount like I would have done going into barriers in CX however the trail dropped off about 1 foot to my left side, which is my dismount side, and my feet never touched the ground. Wow, I hope someone got that on film because that had to be some funny crap to watch. I was up fast and remounted and still managed to pass the dude who screwed up that easy section. I could not help but laugh at myself, nice one JP, now settle in and race smarter, can't finish if I am broken on the ground.

The race for me from that point on was hammer to your limits and pass everyone you catch and put a hard dig in as soon as you pass them. Lap one done, J-Dot with a perfect hand-up and out for lap 2 of 3. There were so many people and I was passing a lot of 3s (marked age groups on our calfs) and SS and was already hitting the back of the 2s which left 4 minutes before me. I really pushed it hard that second lap and my legs started revolting. Both the calf and the quad were flat out angry and firing like mini cramps on the climbs and some of the hammer it flats. I settled into a slower groove and pedaled through the pain in the legs. Towards the end of the 2nd lap I ended up battling for position with this a rider for about 1K (course was marked) and popping out of the woods into the feed zone climb he went for a bottle hand-up and I pushed on with 1/4 of a bottle for the final lap. J-Dot caught a pic to the upper right of me rolling through and passing the guy.

Skipped the hand-up for the final lap to make a pass

Last lap was tons of traffic and it made things interesting, I put in a huge effort after passing the guy I had battled with leading up to the feed zone to try and shake him off. Last year Travis has beaten this guy and he remembered the Ethos jersey and was pushing hard to not get beaten again. He had talked to me before the race some about how Ethos came down and cleaned up last year. I told him that was my teammates and not me seeing how I DNF'd in 2011. When I passed him up I wanted to make sure he stayed passed up. Rest of the lap was me going as hard as my legs would let me go and they were really not behaving well for me. I remember looking down at them at one point and yelling to pedal damn-it.

I finished the race not knowing where I ended up as I had no idea but was pretty sure it was not good enough so rode off to the car to change after thanking J-Dot for the awesome hand-up work. Karen was looking shelled and really upset about her race but also really stoked. She put in a huge fast first lap but at about an hour into her race the wheels came off the engine. CX fitness with no base and she could not push the entire race at that pace and she did not drink enough so got dehydrated finishing 3rd place. She is totally in love with the new bike however and is going much faster this year. It was about 75 outside and no real shade and the sun was beating down on us, not used to that yet, but we did get nice starts to our tans (burns that is). About back to the car and the guy I passed up in feed zone congratulated me for doing really well and making the podium. He was pretty sure he was 4th when I passed him. Really? OK, change the clothes and put on a clean jersey over to see the results.

Full results here: Mellow Johnnies results

Ended up on the podium in third 5 minutes behind the reigning national champion. He was 10 minutes faster when I raced him in July last year, I will take that as a solid sign of progress made. Seeing how I missed the podium at Nationals by less then 4 minutes last year I am now more amped then ever to step on that national podium for my first time come July. Overall I was 4th fastest of the Cat 1 racers all age groups, missed top 3 by 11 seconds on the overall. Happy with the finish especially considering on Friday I was struggling to walk after that wreck, satisfied, nope, hungry for more, yep!

More on the course. After racing it today I will say that this course was the most well rounded course I have ever raced. You had to have everything to do well. Technical skills, climbing legs, hammer legs for the flats, fast descending skills, ability to rail loose and dusty turns and ride creek crossing with rocky slick climbs on the other side, this course was awesome. For the KC folks the best way I could describe this would be to take best of every trail we have in the area and put it into a 7 mile loop, add more rocks, a few cactus and sprinkle it all with a bunch of dust, because it is Texas.

Next MTB race is Lawrence River Trails on the 24th and a off-road duathlon on the 25th which I will be doing as a COED duo with the GF.

Thanks for reading.

Hello Mellow

2012-03-03T21:31:00.003-06:00

Registration and packet pickup was in the Salon, pretty cool.

Drove from KC to Austin and spend the night in what had to be a crack hotel super 8, it was cheap and on the way and we were done driving, they only had two rooms left and to top if off the rooms had no TV or heat, it's not cold here so whatever, sleepy time.

J-Dot raced at 10am today so we rolled over the to course around 7:30 in Texas "hill country". Some pretty sweet ranches with nice views and there is a stupid amount of oil money down here with super huge homes and of course a race stripped yellow Lambo cruising around. We took some back roads to the race and were on some narrow back country single lane roads with some great views like the one on the right. Last year the race as on Lances ranch but he sold that so this year it was just down the road and another ranch, we ended up driving some of the same roads we were on last year.

Course map, UCI course smaller per rules, Cat1 full course.

Temps down here, wow, perfect? mid 60's and sunny with a nice breeze. Last year it was hot, this year perfect, love it. Parked the black bus and walked over to registration to get our race numbers. Pretty much like all the bigger races everything is pretty well run and organized with good maps and course markings.

This was J-Dots first trip to a big race and he was pretty pumped up to race. He had over 40 dudes in his race and commented many times how great it would be if we could get #'s like that in the KC area, I can't agree more and with a few more years of hard work I think we can start to see some upswing. He had a pretty great start but then had some mechanical problems with his chain coming off 3 times. Still finished top 20 even with that and with no pre-ride of the course. Solid work.

Pro-Women then the Pro-Men raced and the fields were stacked deep on both sides. Guess the Olympics has everyone on their A game and going hard. It was pretty fast and hard racing out there and you could see it on the faces, the were throwing down hard and the race at the front was ripping fast.

Here is a little crappy video of the men's start coming out of the sun with tons of dust, gives you an idea how stacked the race was, the phone I am using now shoots horrible video compared to the Samsung Galaxy S I was using until I shattered the screen.

K-Rocket and I rolled around all day watching the races but took it real easy so we have tons of matches to burn tomorrow. They opened the course for pre-ride after the pro men finished and I took the hole shot and rode solo out front for a lap with no traffic so slow me down. My legs are really hurting and there is a lot of blood pooled up in my left calf and every little bump hurts so I was really worried about being able to race. About 10 minutes into the lap it all went numb and I was able to turn the pedals over pretty well. After scoping the course I lit it up on the second lap and pushed race pace most the course and took it easy on the climbs. I feel great, never had fitness like this to start a season and probably never been this fit and focused ever.

The course is flat out awesome. I overheard some folks complaining about this course compared to last years, this one is more technical, more punchy climbs, more drops, more turns, more step-ups, two creek crossing and some loose sandy stuff in some corners and of course is strewn with rocks. Are you kidding me? This course is so much fun to rip! The opening section wide out speed into single track trails that hit a screaming downhill into a flying all out hammer section of flowing turns which put you into a set of 3 fast drops could make uncle scrooge smile. Well, I guess if you like smooth and chill trails this is not for you so maybe not, this is mountain bike racing and on some killer trails.

Tomorrow the season starts and Karen and I are amped to shred, gunning for the double podium, it kicks off at 11am. There are several national champions in our races tomorrow which is a perfect way to see where we are early on.

Go time soon for the 2012 season and the opener is killer!

Double Podium? Check back tomorrow.

Crashing is never fun but I am thankful that there are trees to catch me...

2012-03-01T21:59:00.001-06:00

Went out for one last ride on the MTB before packing up to head to Mellow Johnnies tonight, it ended early.

So we got hammered pretty good with that storm system two nights ago and I was doubtful we would have dry trails but yesterday is was super windy, warm and dry. Check the flag flying here, it's practically blowing up from the strong winds. Good news is that the trails dried really quickly and were once again in ripping condition tonight.

Cut work a little early today and hit Swope around 4:30. Was not a few minutes into the ride and ran into Jon-Dot on the trails doing the same thing I was, ripping it around before heading down south tomorrow. Took off and started to push the speed, not really hammering, just pushing the bike speed. Feeling faster, riding smoother, rolled through everything easily and ripped it through 8-pin.

Almost done with lap 1 of 3 I had planned and really started to push it hard, like cyclocross hard on the fairly non-technical line of phase 3 heading counter clockwise on the lower section, I was approaching red-line, it felt great then something happened.

T-Donn and I were just talking the other day how we probably could not go CX speed on our MTB's because we would likely crash a bunch. Why is it we don't take our own advice sometimes?

Exhibit A) In the picture below front and lower center notice the rock with the fresh pedal strike.
Exhibit B) same picture there is a tree just up the trail about ten feet, if you look closely on the left side above where it splits there is a smoother section of bark, that was beating the tree up with my leg, the tree won this round.

You probably figured this out by now, stupid fast around the bend with a perfect pedal strike resulting in me flying through the air upside down and backwards and coming to a dead stop with my legs and bike against the tree facing back up the trail the other direction.

Had that tree not been there I would probably either pulled off a wicked sic 360 mctwist or likely would be still tumbling down the hill on the rocks not writing a blog entry. So for this tree I am thankful because this one could have been a lot worse, I think.?!

First thing I felt was my left knee backside pictured to the right which took a pretty solid hit on the tree and fired those pain receptors right away. I won't share the words that came out of my mouth since there are kids reading this blog. Then I tried to stand up and my right leg would not hold my weight, oh crap... after a few minutes I was able to hobble off the trail at least so knew it was not broken, just a deep muscle bruise from the impact.

Had to twist the bars around, move the shifters and straighten the seat on the bike before I could try to ride out of the trails. First pedal stroke was pain firing deep in the right quad area, great, just what I wanted to do right before the big race this weekend. Noticed a piece of the tree bark is embedded into my seat post, there it shall stay as a reminder. Bike appears to be only scraped up, not broken, man carbon is pretty strong really.

RICE for the next two days then hopefully race on Sunday with minimal pain. Rolling out of KC around 2:30pm tomorrow.

Blog entry note: Do not race at blurry eye snot blowing cross speed on a MTB unless it's smooth double track, well perhaps not at all, best leave cross redline speeds for cross season.

Let the healing begin and let it be fast.

Mellow Johnnies - a chance for redemption

2012-02-28T15:28:00.005-06:00

Last years trip to the John did not go as planned for me with what ended up as a first of a string of DNF's which all started with a cracked frame in last years Bone Bender race. G-Wiz and T-Donn destroyed it there last year taking 1st & 2nd overall in the Cat1 field. Karen raced hard however was pretty fatigued heading into the race but locked down a solid 2nd place finish in the Cat1 Junior women race. She raced the girl that beat her later in the year at Subaru Cup and took the win on the rematch.

I pulled from the race with a nasty tooth/jaw infection that resulted in a major tooth extraction at the dentist office back in KC. Going into that race I was riding a less then desirable race steed. My cracked carbon Sworks from a few weeks earlier resulted in a last minute build of a Stumpy HT Alum 29er with a rigid fork. The course was pretty rough and I was beaten into pulling from the race due to a "biological". I raced that rigid 29er all year leading up to Nats where I was back on my Carbon Sworks (repaired beautifully by a local carbon wizard, let me know if you need his contact info). Racing on a rigid feels fast, racing with some suspension is fast, I prefer going fast to feeling like I am going fast and will never go back to rigid for racing.

Fitness wise this year it's not even close to the same for me. I had barely logged any time on the bike going into the race season last year. Jan - Mar in 2011 I averaged 3.2 hours of riding a week according to my files. This year I am coming in with some decent fitness carried over from the deep cross season and have been getting ~ 14 hours on the bike the last few weeks. Really looking forwards to hitting this course and letting things fly and seeing how I place, well not really, I want to go down and dominate the race and put Ethos on the top of the podium like Garet and Travis did last year.

That looks to be a tough challenge however, the current National MTB champion for the 30-34 age group is in my race and he was about 10 minutes faster then me at Nats, heck he beat Garet by 6 minutes. Target on his back I will be on that wheel and riding to the edge gunning for the upset, can't think of a better season opener test to see where I am at compared to the "best" in the field.

Noticed something was not quite right on my bike Sunday while churning some laps @ Swope so took it to my boys @ BikeSource. Turns out my internal shock parts were cracked, something about stupid lightweight titanium parts they used that year but no longer make. Oh no, race is a few days away...

This is were having a solid tech at reputable shop comes into play. The shop contacted SRAM on the situation and will be replacing the internal busted bits for no charge on my 2 year old fork. Not only that but will be upgrading it to XX insides and this will give me a remote lockout which I have missed. From busted to fixed in 2 days and no charge, that is sweet service and another reason why my business goes there.

Course preview is up and we leave on Friday, it's almost time to shred and I am pretty pumped to go rip.

Recon lap on Mellow Johnny's 2012 UCI course from Sager Sports on Vimeo.

2012 race season

2012-02-24T07:35:00.000-06:00

2012 is going to be hard.

I have decided that I want to push this body to go as fast as it will go and 2012 is going to be the year I get on it. I want to be fast @ 40 which is next year, and by fast I mean competitive at the national level on the MTB and CX scene. So this year is going to hurt, doing legit training with a coach for the first time ever, mapped out my year with A, B & C races, training with a powertap, yeah this year is going hurt.

That hurt is good though, I tasted fast at the end of my CX season and want more. Going fast is really fun, well riding bikes is really fun period, but something about going fast has lit a fire inside me and I can't recall ever being this motivated and competitive feeling. I normally just sorta go with the flow but some thing woke up deep inside me and it is go time. 2012 is going to hurt so good and the first racing starts tomorrow.

Here it is, the season, of course it will change some, and I will do way more CX races than are on the list locally, 2012 is going to be fast.

Date	Day	Name	Race	Location	Race Note	Priority
2/25/2012	Sat	Spring Fling	Crit	Lawrence, KS		C- Race
2/26/2012	Sun	Froze Toez	RR	Columbia, MO		C- Race
3/4/2012	Sun	Mellow Johnny's Classic	PROCXT	Dripping Springs, TX	National Qual Race	B - Race
3/10/2012	Sat	Spring Fling	Crit	Lawrence, KS		C- Race
3/11/2012	Sun	Perry Road Race	Road	Perry Lake		C- Race
3/24/2012	Sat	Gods Country	MTB	Lawrence, KS		C- Race
3/25/2012	Sun	Gods Country Duathlon	Duo	Lawrence, KS	Duo w/ Chia-Ru	C- Race
4/1/2012	Sun	Perry Roubaix	Road	Perry, KS		C- Race
4/7/2012	Sat	Crock Rock	MTB	Perry Lake		C- Race
4/15/2012	Sun	Bone Bender 3/6	MTB End	Lawrence, KS	Duo w/Karen	C- Race
4/22/2012	Sun	OMBA Caramba	MTB	Springfield, MO		C- Race
4/28/2012	Sat	KCCC Disc Golf	Golf	Kansas City	Corp Challenge	D- Race
4/29/2012	Sun	KCCC Disc Golf	Golf	Kansas City	Corp Challenge	D- Race
5/5/2012	Sat	KCCC 5K Run	RUN	Kansas City	Corp Challenge 5K	D- Race
5/6/2012	Sun	Wilson Lake Fat Tire Fest	MTB	Wilson Lake, KS		C- Race
5/20/2012	Sun	Dirty Little Sercret	MTB	Manhattan, KS	KS State Championships	B - Race
5/26/2012	Sat	Snake Alley Crit	Crit	Burlington, IA		B - Race
5/27/2012	Sun	Melon City Crit	Crit	Muscatine, IA		C- Race
5/29/2012	Tue	KCCC Bike Race (short TT)	TT	Kansas City	Corp Challenge	D- Race
6/4/2012	Mon	KCCC 800meter	RUN	Kansas City	Corp Challenge 5K	D- Race
6/5/2012	Tue	KCCC 1Mile run	RUN	Kansas City	Corp Challenge 5K	D- Race
6/6/2012	Wed	KCCC Distant Relays	RUN	Kansas City	Corp Challenge 5K	D- Race
6/7/2012	Thu	KCCC Sprint Relays	RUN	Kansas City	Corp Challenge 5K	D- Race
6/10/2012	Sun	Down and Dirty	MTB	Truman Lake, MO	MO State Championships	B - Race
6/16/2012	Sat	Ute Valley Pro XCT	PROCXT	Colorado Springs, CO	National Qual Race	B - Race
7/7/2012	Sat	MTB Nationals	MTB	Sun Valley, ID	NATS - PODIUM!!!!!!	A- Race
7/14/2012	Sat	Eureka Springs Fat Tire Fest	AMBC	Eureka Springs, AR	National Qual Race (2013)	B - Race
7/15/2012	Sun	Eureka Springs Fat Tire Fest	AMBC	Eureka Springs, AR	National Qual Race (2013)	B - Race
7/21/2012	Sat	Rapture in the Midwest	MTB End	Perry Lake, KS	Ethos Race	C- Race
7/29/2012	Sun	Show me State Games	MTB	Columbia, MO		C- Race
8/18/2012	Sat	Subaru Cup - Mdwst Reg Champs	PROCXT	Mt Morris, WI	National Qual Race (2013)	B - Race
8/25/2012	Sat	Cruise the Blues	MTB End	Tipton, KS	Duo w/ Someone!	C- Race
9/15/2012	Sat	Herman CX	CX	Herman, MO		B - Race
9/16/2012	Sun	Herman CX	CX	Herman, MO		B - Race
9/22/2012	Sat	USGP Planet Bike	CX	Madison, WI		B - Race
9/23/2012	Sun	USGP Planet Bike	CX	Madison, WI		B - Race
9/26/2012	Wed	Gateway Cup CX	CX	St Louis, MO		B - Race
10/13/2012	Sat	USGP New Belgium Cup	CX	Fort Collins, CO		B - Race
10/14/2012	Sun	USGP New Belgium Cup	CX	Fort Collins, CO		B - Race
10/16/2012	Tue	JP in Tiawan
11/8/2012	Thu	JP in Tiawan
11/10/2012	Sat	USGP Derby Cup	CX	Louisville, KY		B - Race
11/11/2012	Sun	USGP Derby Cup	CX	Louisville, KY		B - Race
11/16/2012	Fri	Jingle Cross Rock	CX	Iowa City, IA		B - Race
11/17/2012	Sat	Jingle Cross Rock	CX	Iowa City, IA		B - Race
11/18/2012	Sun	Jingle Cross Rock	CX	Iowa City, IA		B - Race
1/12/2013	Sat	CX Nationals	CX	Madison, WI	Nats - Top 10	A- Race
2/1/2013	Fri	Masters CX Worlds	CX	Louisville, KY		B - Race

Planning to be back in Taiwan in Oct, more on that later.

RIDE!

2012-02-22T10:54:00.000-06:00

CX Nats race report

2012-01-10T23:45:00.001-06:00

Overlooking the venue from the hill, the soccer field in front and pits on the left.

A little late getting this post finished and posted up. After my race ended on Sat K-Rocket and I left the 2011 season behind us and drove to Burlington, IA to see grandma and I slept. Up the next morning for church and a big brunch then on the road again to KC for unloading, dinner prepared by my wonderful gfriend then more sleep. Monday was back to work to dig out of my email hole and blah blah blah I was busy like we all get and did not force the time to update the blog.

The trip was great and the weather was amazingly warm for Madison in Jan. For my race the conditions were awesome, that was not the case for the first race of the day for Shad and Hedjuk. They had darn near stupid conditions to race in with frozen ruts covered with slick slime. Guys were crashing all over and I am not talking about in the turns or technical areas, on the straights. After that race wrapped up they altered parts of the course to make it safer for the racers, should have happened first thing in the morning before anyone raced. Shad ended up 12th and David 19th in the masters 40-44 race.

17/18 Junior hopping the barriers

Watched the Juniors Men 17/18 race and holy cow we have some fast fast fast young men racing CX. Many of these young men will be putting in good results in the U23 & Elite men's races soon and several are already near the top in the world. Yes USA CX racing is looking strong indeed. Next up was the Collegiate women which K-Rocket will be racing with in 2 more years, that makes me feel old. Karen noticed some of the girls she raced in Louisville and beat were at the front of the race and that gave her a pretty big smile knowing she is already faster then some of the front runners in D1.

KCCX Fuji / Challenge are was busy all weekend

Go time for Travis and I was rapidly approaching and I was really feeling strong and confident, not a normal feeling for me at a big race, I was feeling aggressive and ready for the kill instead of nervous. We warmed up together at the KCCX Fuji area and had support crews standing by with Hedjuk, Shad, Bill A. and Dean manning the pits for Travis and I, thanks guys! Temps were up to 38 degrees with the sun shinning bright. The course was really fast and only a couple areas were still slick/frozen/slimy and those spots were short but they were on climbs and turns so you had to stay sharp.

20 minutes till race time, time to go do work. Rolled back to my car and geared down for the race. Skinsuit, a thin base layer and gloves was all I wanted with the sun overhead even with temps at 38, I like racing cold. Did a few openers on the road heading from my car to the race start and the legs were all go. With the recent string of solid races and my DFL start to 2nd place finish on Wed I felt more ready for this race than any race I can recall. Callup order had me seeded 20th and Travis 21st and the game plan was simple. Slot in the right side of the 3rd row (the starting grid is 8 riders wide) side by side and take the inside of the first turn and hit the field off the road full tilt and be as far in the front as we could get then let things sort out from there, above all make it to the grass without getting tangled up in any wrecks. It was great lining to next to a teammate at such a big event and I feel its only the start of many big events we will be lining up together to put the Ethos smack down on competitors. 2 rows in front of us and 5 rows behind, everyone looking pretty focused and ready to rock.

2 minutes till race start is called and everyone strips down to race gear tossing jackets, leg warmers and water bottles over the fence as anticipation builds, the chatter dies down and the focus sharpens. 1 minute till race start. At the big races they call 1 minute then at anytime around 30 seconds or less the whistle will blow. I point my bike to the space between the two riders in front of me so I can shoot the gap if it opens. 30 seconds, head down, heart pounding, the guy in front of me is twitching is leg nervously, slow breathing, calm, then the whistle blows.

1st lap and flying

I have grown to love the bat out of hell fast starts in CX this year when they happen and it was on from the whistle today. Travis and the guys in front of him jumped out of the gates a little faster than the guys in front of me and then opportunity presented itself in a way I have never seen, I jumped. I was about to get boxed in when the guy on my front right put his hand on the backside of the guy in front of him and literally pushed him out of the way because he was going to slow. Nice move, but that little move slowed him just a tad and created a seam which I exploded through moving up a few spots. Hit the grass on the gas full tilt and did not let up on the little roller up onto the soccer field which moved me past another set of 3-4 riders including Travis. Kept the hammer down all the way around the soccer field knowing full well that there could be a backup in the little tight turn at the end and came into this turn sitting somewhere around 7-10th.

Watching Tilford (and others) kill it early on in his race and battle for position changed my approach to this race. Racing CX fast is fairly new to me this year and racing fast at a big event is something I am green at. Steve and two other riders were banging and jostling through that turn and Steve won that battle then dictated pace from that point out. He is very experienced and I took notes, go hard, race aggressive but in control and anticipate mistakes of other riders and be ready to exploit those mistakes. Every spot counts throughout the race, take the spot and protect your position while riding clean and smooth so you are not the one making the mistake and being exploited. After starting DFL and slowly about 5 rows back of the eventual race winner on Wed, then catching him with two to go only to get dropped at the end of the last lap had not left my mind. What if I had started faster and was with him from the gun, might I have been able to open a gap during the race and take the W? Shoulda Woulda Coulda and this is the big race so leave nothing.

1st lap top of the run-up sitting top ten

Going into that first potential trouble turn I was ready for a fast dismount and run if someone went down. The racer 3 spots in front of me lost his front wheel slowing/stopping the two others in front of me and this was it, I was off the bike in a flash and running hard into that turn. One of the other riders jumped up and into my path which I shoved to the side and kept running through the turn, three more riders passed and I was sitting top 4-6 at this point. Quick remount on the uphill muddy sloggy section and here I made a mistake. Going into that turn I was pushing big gears and never downshifted before dismounting, my gearing was too big for me to turn the cranks in the mud so had to jump off and run to a spot I could remount and pedal losing 3-4 spots and saw Travis go by me riding. Back on and up the long gradual climb leading into the first steeper hill which was another potential spot for trouble. I dug deep and passed a few on the climb including Travis and stomped it up the hill. Held position going into the long run-up then two dudes ran by me on the railroad tie stairs, mental note, work in some high speed stair running next season! Quick remount and down a super fun double turn descent onto a quick pavement climb leading into the a screaming fast downhill. Another 2-3 dudes blasted by me on the climb, man some of these dudes are wicked fast, not stupid fast like we like to say, but wicked fast which is another level up. Flew down that hill and into the barriers and through the slow slick turns and sandpit onto the backside of the course. Fans were everywhere yelling and one was counting positions and called me at 11th. Top ten was in reach and I hammered the back section climbs and popped out on the starting road of the first lap still in 11th position.

Rode the wheel of the 10 place guy on the road then jumped around him going onto the soccer field for lap 2. I was a little warm, but under my limit and feeling super strong. Kept on the gas the rest of that lap and did not move up or loose a position until my race took a turn for the worse after the sandpit and long grass section before the back section climbs on lap 2.

Backup bike....

My chain had somehow came off and was under my chain watcher on the top of my crank and also jammed between the chainstay and chainring on the bottom. WTH! I have never had this happen on this bike once, and for it to happen here, now, when I am racing strong at Nats! Frantically fumbling to get things undone and I could not get the chain out from under the chain keeper. Travis went by me not to long after this happened and had no choice but to shoulder the bike and began the long run to the pits, angry, demoralized, furious, dejected, empty. Once I hit the road section at the start line I side mounted the bike and pushed it like riding a skateboard. Rolling through the finish line the race announcer calls me out "and here comes Brocket rolling through with some bad luck Fred Flintstones style" that at least calmed me down a bit and I think I actually cracked a smile, its only a race after all.

Ready to quit...

Finished my ~ 3/4 mile run to the pits feeling like I lost at least 40 places and figured I was DFL with all the riders blowing by me while I was running. I was pretty darn spent after that run and slowly mounted up on the pit bike and went out for a ride while on the race course. I was done, checked out mentally from the race and still burning from the mechanical. Still I did not give up any spots and passed a few riders on lap 3. The pit crew with help of the Shimano neutral support guys had the Van Dessel ready to go for lap 4 but I was 90% done at this point and ready to pull the plug. When I dismounted off the Crux and walked into the pits Shad could tell I was about to quit and yelled at me to get arse on that bike and finish the race. I needed kicked in the tail and this simple act got me back out and racing again. I ramped it up on lap 4 then on lap 5 finished hard and passed racers like they were standing still. Not sure how many I passed but it was a lot. Hearing the spectators yelling at me because I was going so much faster then the guys around me, and heckling the ones I passed provided more motivation to really gun it. Finished the final lap going 90% race pace from earlier and had fun but was still ticked and feeling dejected.

Finishing strong, just passed these two on the hill

Rolled through the finish and straight to the support area dropping my bike and then the anger flooded in. I wanted to rage but kept it in check with K-Rocket there and others around, its only a bike race...

After getting cleaned up and cheering on Andrew who raced right after T-Donn and I finished I walked over the to results tent. T-Donn finished 14th and Andrew took 10th, nice work men. I was shocked to see that I finished 29th, after everything that happened to still beat over 1/2 the field? Top ten would have been hard to maintain but I was there, it was within reach, next year it will be mine.

Nats was bitter sweet. I close the CX season on a low note in my final race result but also feeling great about the future, I found my fast this year, now it's time to get really fast and race consistent, I want more.

The fire is fueled for 2012!

Video from my race, only place I am in this is the green helmet on the right towards the front of the start, I sit taller than most the riders ;)

Watch more video of USA Cyclocross National Championships 2012 on cyclingdirt.org

http://www.cxmagazine.com/cyclocross-national-championships-2012-masters-men-35-39-madison

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/american-national-championships-2012/masters-men-30-34-35-39-40-44-45-49/photos

CX Nats Fri Update

2012-01-06T21:08:00.001-06:00

Lots of racing today and lots of action, I could write a pretty long entry but this will be short compared to the amount of action on the day.

Pits were busy all day long, the words of the day were "MUD" and "POWER"

Its been very warm for Madison this time of year, two days in a row we were over 40 and the normal frozen tundra has turned into sicky, slimy power zapping mud. Wed when I raced it was 1/2 frozen icy and slick muddy mix which was slick and as fast as you dared go. Two days later it is slick and deep mud and with temps looking like they will be in the upper 30's again tomorrow I don't expect the course to change for my race tomorrow at 2:45.

Tilford taking the hole shot and Songer right behind.

Today kicked off with the Masters 50+ which had 4 KC area racers in the mix. Tilford owned the race from gun, he was flying out there but had some good competition in the race so it never was fully in the bag until the end when Steve won another title. Songer, Lucas and Anderson from 360 were on course as well and Songer put in a great race coming in 9th, he was sitting top 5 for a while but had some mechanical issues during the race. Lucas had some bad luck as well and looked cut on a knee and pulled out while Anderson rode to a 45th place finish. It's pretty fun cheering on the local boys in the big races.

Fast Girls Rule!

Next up was the future of the sport show with all the juniors from 10-18 boys and girls. It's a blast watching these kids get after it and get after it they do. Some crazy fast kids on the boys and girls side of the racing today and the future of CX in the USA looks to be very strong indeed. K-Rocket's big race was after the younger juniors finished and she was feeling pretty good before hand during warmups.

Karen 4th place early on

2nd row start and coming out of the first tight turns she was sitting 4th place. From there she starting going backwards and really struggled to race her normal race today. She pitted each lap and so did pretty much everyone. Travis and I teamed up in the pits and had extra help from Joe Parker to make sure she always had a cleaned bike ready to go. A clean bike each lap was pretty much mandatory, for those that did not we saw a lot of broken derailleurs. Several girls passed her 1/2 way through the race that Karen has beaten before and I know from personal experience how that feels when you know you should be going faster but the body won't respond. We think the cold she has been fighting just kept her off her "A" game and on this course you needed 110% to do well. She raced it as hard as her body would go and took 9th on the day. Not where she wanted to be but sometimes the mind says GO and the body says NO. What a great season by Karen this year taking some huge wins and several podium spots at big UCI level races. Future looks bright indeed!

Later on we watched Isaac and Lane compete in their first big race. I talked them through various tactics and preparation the night before and the day of the race. They both looked ready to go have some fun and race hard. Karen helped them at the start with jackets, bottles etc while Joe P, Dean A, Bill M and I manned the pits. Pits were very busy and there was a lot of good racing action all around with over 50 15/16 boys out shredding the course. We saw two kids snap derailleurs right at the pit entrance, talk about a lucky break! a few more feet down the course and that would have been the end of the race unless they were sic cross country runners. Isaac finished 36th and Lane took 48th, the smiles on their faces were grand for sure.

Tomorrow Travis and I race @ 2:45 and Andrew races right after us. Callups are in and Andrew is 18th in his 30-34 Masters race out of 45 guys. Travis and I are being called up 20th and 21st out of 72 men. It will be pretty cool starting the race with my teammate by my side, let's hope we are both on our game and the Ethos pain train runs some folks over on our way to top 10 finishes. There are more racing as well with Bill S, Dan M and David H mixing it up in the morning.

Dinner is down, pit bikes and pit crews are ready, mind is go and tomorrow it all goes down.

Songer in flight

Andy in flight

Anderson doing work

Steve pushing it to the tape early in the race

Ethos Crew chilling (Karen, Travis and Andrew)

Songer in battle

Ethos cheering section

CX Nats Thu update

2012-01-05T19:38:00.003-06:00

Bike wash is busy with these crazy warm temps here. It hit 50 degrees in town, there is lots of mud!

Rail Road tie run up hurts after a few laps.

No racing today for Karen and I but there were some familiar KC area racers hunting podium spots. We slept in a bit then rolled over the course to cheer on Dean Parker who put in a great race on some tough conditions and getting on the podium in 4th place. I ran around shooting some video while Karen took some pics. Great job Dean, I hope I can still race like that when I am 60 years young, inspirational man. Next up was Catherine Walberg who just missed bringing home another national title with another strong race. Day wrapped up for the KC area racers with Jen Herrell-Rhoades taking on several elite women in her race. Jen took the hole shot and raced hard and just missed the podium finishing 6th on the day. I shot more video of her race which I will post up later tonight along with Dean's hopefully. My main video editing machine is at home but I have my laptop with me so will see what I can whip up on this Windows 7 machine with Movie Maker.

Today's results are here.

Pit Bike. Thanks Adam, KCCX and Fuji!

Swung by the KCCX setup and picked up Karen's pit bike for her Friday race, the Fuji Cross 1.0. Adam her coach @ Source Endurance is not racing so gave her his pit bike. Got it adjusted (raised the seat almost 2 inches) and put on my Boyd Wheels glued up with the Challenge Limus. Karen went out a did a few test laps on the bike and if something goes bad or if the her main bike is loaded up with mud she can jump on this and race a clean bike. Back to the hotel for our third in room bike wash then dinner time and early to bed. Karen is feeling better from her cold and even though the competition here is tops, and everyone is amped, she is confident she can mix it up with this crew and come out near the top. The stage is set, the fastest of the fastest girls from around the country are all here, Karen is as prepared as she can be and tomorrow morning @ 10:45 it all goes down...

Here is a collection of pics for today and I will update this entry once I get the vids edited and uploaded.

Dean leading out his race.

Charging up one of two steeper climbs on the course.

Running the steps

Powering up the other steep climb

Done and Dusted - 4th place, great work.

Here is a quick Vid of Dean rocking it!

Jen owning the hole shot!

Everything is getting muddy

Sometimes is faster to run

Finished, great race with a solid 6th place finish

Jens Vid below

CX Nats Wed update

2012-01-04T20:08:00.001-06:00

Pretty busy day on the course and starting to see the pro-rigs setup. Will be packed by Friday.

Up early @ 6:30 so K-Rocket could down a quick easy breakfast before her 9am race. She had her typical early race fuel of a banana and some Naked Green Machine while I ate a pretty big breakfast since my race was not until 11:30am. We had everything packed and ready to load last night to take the stress off race morning. Loaded the Flex and off the course, traffic was heavy the other direction so smooth sailing for us and we quickly arrived and scored a good parking spot directly across the street from the venue. Parking on Fri & Sat will not be as close given there will be at least 3x more racers on hand. Parking is $5 per day or $15 for the week and seeing how we are here racing 3 of the 4 days and have KC peeps to cheer on our non race day the $15 option was best.

Karen went to the heated tents provided by Saris and Cycleops. Pretty sweet to be able to warm up inside. They had at least 40 spots setup in this tent and two tents. With the forecast in the mid 30's most days I doubt it will be as busy as it could be seeing how the averages here this time of year are a good 10 degrees lower. All the spots were using the Supermagneto Pro units and to run the Challenge Limus on them they had to switch the unit over to 29er mode. Took the guy setting it up a few minutes to get it setup for Karen. I rode them later for part of my warm-up and they feel pretty smooth and well designed. I use the Fluid Pro at home and there is a noticeable difference in the way these two units spin up and maintain speed, more realistic I would say. I like the Supermagneto better and it's probably worth the extra few $$ if your are starting from scratch but I will not be buying a new trainer anytime soon.

Walking over to the race start for Karen's race the course was still quite icy and with temps right at 27 degrees as the sun was rising over the hill so it was going to get ms. The section in the photo is after you come off the starting road section and come flying around this soccer field then into a long climb up to the top of that hill in the background. No letting up, you will be pedaling a lot and pedaling hard to keep your speed up.

Still putting down deicer on the course after three days of attempting to get all the ice off the roads and other high speed areas were a crash could take out a huge portion of the field. They have a pretty big group of volunteers here running around helping make sure everything was running smoothly. I heard they need some help in Louisville next weekend and I hope they get some peeps out there to make it all happen so we put our best foot forwards at the first CX Masters Worlds on US soil. While I am on volunteers a big thanks to everyone that has helped this year with the races!

Karen lined up 2nd row on her random callup and quickly moved into the top 5 where she stayed the rest of her race. She has been fighting a cold for a week now and it held her back for sure. I have watched her race enough this year and could tell she was in slow-mo. Pretty sweet to get a top 5 when you are under the weather. She was in some pretty good racing battles each lap and that always makes the racing more fun to watch. The 2nd lap of the race there were 3 groups of two riders separated by 15 seconds or so which made the races within the race entertaining to watch. Rest tonight and tomorrow then hopefully she will be 100% for her big race on Friday. Here are some pics I took of her race.

Pretty fast start.

Triple barriers after a screaming fast downhill into a sharp right hand turn. Lots of riders did not make the turn.

About to head out on the long climb after the loop around the field after the road section.

Headed to the top, it gets steep up the right then turns back left and keeps on going to the top.

Start of the screaming fast downhill that goes into that right hand turn then the barriers.

Done and on the podium even when not racing strong. Well done K-Rocket

Karen gave me the run down on the course and some spots to avoid then off to warm up for my race. The sun was overhead and the winds pretty calm but it was on the verge of being too cold to race without leg warmers and a decent base layer. They did another random callup in my race just like Karen's where they hold up a # (7, 3, 4 etc) and if your race # ends in that # you scrambled to the line. I was hoping for a good callup given the slick and slimy course which always creates interesting moments and tough passing as riders mess up in front of you. Happy Happy Joy Joy I get called up DFL, not second to last, but DFL, nice! At least on Championship race day I will be called to the line in ~25th out of 70+ thanks to the rider ranking callup order that is new this year. It will be interesting to compare the callup order and actual results over this weekends of racing, hopefully someone with some spare time does that and shares it.

I was borderline too warm at the start of my race and worried I would get overheated and distracted on the long climbs. I hate being overdressed and racing on the verge of being cold is wonderful (core only, hate cold toes & fingers). I was laser focused on riding fast but also staying out of trouble given riders messing up all around. I did not want to get caught up in any of the mess early on and that was really important if I was going to have a shot at winning. I was able to ride clean and made some great moves on the first lap then followed that up with the second fastest lap time of the race (missed the fastest lap by 2 seconds) on lap #2. Moved from DFL to top 10 to 5th at the start of lap 3.

Somewhere along the way I started to get cold and noticed a headwind that was not there before. The wind had kicked up and was blowing from the north and the sun was now behind the clouds. The actual temp must have dropped 5-10 degrees and the windchill even farther. GO TIME with 3 laps left and not worried about overheating now. Quickly caught and dropped 4th & 5th around the field and into the long climb chasing 3rd down place on lap 3. 3rd and I battled the rest of that lap trading places a few times. Towards the end of that lap coming onto the concrete at the start of lap 4 he pulled over and sat up looking for me to pull. I had just chased him down 4-5 minutes before and he was putting up a good fight. I was not about to let him recover on my wheel and attack me later. Soon as he sat up I attacked and used that chance to bury the needle and ended up dropping him before we got off the concrete with a monster effort. Stayed on the gas until I caught the wheel of first at which point I was way in the red and opened up about a 20 second gap on 3rd. Lou Kuhn, the 1st place guy, put in a pretty big attack at the base of the railroad tie runup then attacked hard on the next climb and that ended up being the race on the bell lap. I could not match the attack after burning so many matched playing catchup from the gun. I did what you should never do and sat up on that last lap some, he could have went down, or had a mechanical or any number of things but I was spent and had over a minute on 3rd place so rode for a safe 2nd place finish. Hard fought 2nd today to a very strong guy that was 38 seconds up on the opening lap according to the lap splits, I will take it. Still wonder if I could have had the W today with a better starting position...

So all in all a pretty good day even with some less than good callups and K-Rocket feeling off. We both made the podium today at a big event, pretty freaking cool really to have your daughter called to the podium then to have yourself called up minutes later.

Here is a link to today's podium results. Double Ethos podium call father daughter style.

Awards were in a public library that overlooked the course.

K-Rocket on the podium again.

Check the stick in the rear wheel, glad that did not end my race. It was threaded between the spokes somehow. Yes it was muddy!

# Ready for the big big race on Sat and some swag from today's race. Nice getting stuff I can actually use.

Time for some rest and back to the course tomorrow to cheer on some more KC area racers and get some pics of the growing scene. Karen's big race is on Friday, start sending those get well fast vibes her way.

CX Nats Tue update

2012-01-03T21:14:00.003-06:00

Packet Pickup was slow on Tue night. Going to be much busier later this week. Pretty normal setup with typical SWAG.

Arrived in Madison around 2pm after spending Monday in Burlington, IA with my mom. Nice to see family on the trip up and it almost exactly breaks the drive in half. 4.5hours on Monday from KC to B-Town and 4hours from B-Town to Madison. Its pretty chilly up here for me given its been so friggin' warm in KC (no not complaining really). Hit the hotel first and just like Louisville we are staying at a newly built Extended Stay and it's just about perfect for K-Rocket and I. We always try to get a ground floor accessible room with a roll in shower because the rooms have plenty of room to spread out, a mini kitchen and also it provides an warm indoor bike wash!

Quick check-in, got dressed for a pre-ride, jumped in the car and 15 minutes later we are at the race venue. On the drive to the course we were pleased to see the location of our hotel is close to pretty much everything, Costco, Bike Shops, Target, Mall, loads of restaurants and of course the race. The venue has plenty of parking although not quite as convenient as the Louisville or FoCo USGP races but not terrible. If you want close parking they want $200 for "Team Parking" on site and well I am not paying for parking. Bill and the KCCX crew did spring for parking and already has a pretty decent spot on the grounds and he has offered up the space for us to use for our races (remind me to tip him for that).

The course is on a hill and pretty wide open for passing and has some areas that are super fast, and yup like the preview here says it is for sure bumpy. Did two laps with Karen checking things out and talking over lines and tactics. There has been some snow up here but only just enough to leave a thin icy coating all over the course. Temps have been below freezing since the last storm and today with the sun beating down @ 27 degrees all you KC MTB'ers know what was happening. Slime on frozen ground mixed with icy mix turf. Enough folks were out pre-riding that the course has some decent areas worn through the ice but it will all refreeze tonight. Passing may actually be a bit of a challenge even though the course is generously wide with the icy turf. Going to take some risks to win for sure but take too much risk and hit that frozen ground with speed and the weekend might be over...

After our two laps together we separated and rode at own pace for two more faster laps. I put in one full on race pace lap to end my pre-ride and this course is really deceptive. When you are just riding it the course is really nothing to be all that excited or worried about. At race pace it was a totally different beast. The longer climbs end in some punchy ups and then more climbs leaving you deep in the red, this will really separate the racers. The longer downhill section is as fast as you dare ride it and goes into a sharp right hander and over three uphill barriers (freshly put in) and an uphill remount. Twice I was flying down that hill into very hard braking into that turn then over the barriers and remounting in way to big of a gear, need to remember to downshift before I hit that turn. 45 minutes on this course are going to hurt and outside of the course not having a super technical area it is really pretty well balanced and will take about every skill you have and a big old bag of fitness to win it. Mix in that it will be warmish (above freezing) the ground will likely be slick and require constant focus to keep the rubber side down and your momentum going forwards.

Bikes messy and fingers frozen it was time to get warm, hit registration, grab food, find K-Rocket some warmer gloves, clean the bikes then relax before tomorrow's non-championship race. Karen is up at 9am and I am up at 11:30. She is predicted to finish 6th out of 26th and I am predicted to take 2nd out of 33.

Here is a link to the schedule for the weekend.

Here is the link to registration and were you can see your placement for call-ups (race predictor under the view registrants link)

The local Trek Store had two of these beasts on display, bet they are fun in the snow! (lots of warm gloves as well)

Been to three National Championships now, pretty much same swag at all three although the Grape-nuts are new.

Mini Kitchen and whipped up some quick dinner.

Dinner served with some Almond Milk and dark chocolate for desert.

Indoor roll-in warm bike wash courtesy of our hotel room. Best way to clean bikes on the road in the cold!

2011 goes out with a ...

2012-01-02T01:05:00.002-06:00

Last two races of the year here in KC and the last two chances to get everything dialed in. The local promoters did a great job pulling together a night race on Wed the 28th. There is just something special about racing at night, the weather was great, the turnout good and the environment festive. Excellent night to put down the hammer and see where the cards fall.

We had a good field for the elite race with the local fast crew as well as the Clif Bar pro Brady Kappius from CO came over to on his way to Nats for a few more primer races. Tilford and Brady were off the front lap 1 then Steve rode away for the win while Brady and Dan Miller battled for 2nd and 3rd. Travis, Hejduk and I mixed it up for several laps until Travis and I decided to push it into the red and try to chase down Dan and Brady. We jumped and soon it was just Travis and I in chase mode. We closed within 5 seconds before they rode away on what ended up being the final lap. We both thought we had another lap, missed the lap counter and bell for the bell lap somehow. Had more gas in the tanks and were going to really launch it but came across the line 4th/5th and well that was it, still a great race and feeling pretty peaked headed to CX Nats next week. Results here.

K-Rocket lined up in the 3/4 Mens race and had a killer race taking 13th out of 26th. Next year she is going to be racing at the front, the men better be bringing their A game in 2012!. Tori also raced and had a blast in her first night race, still chasing a few of the junior boys but coming up just short and has not beaten them, yet.

Sat was the final race of the season here in KC with the CX of the Old Year race. Same park as Wed with a few changes in the course design to keep it fresh. Temps were almost hot, heck were hot for Dec 31st, mid 60's! Tori was up first and put in a huge race effort with 2 laps to go. She was sitting about 30 seconds back of one of the junior boys when she put in a massive attack. Sprinting the entire long road uphill out of the seat and then jumping out of every corner she closed the gap and passed with 1 lap to go. The crowd was really cheering her on and it was so cool. Tori kept digging and before the end of the bell lap caught and passed another junior boy. She was totally spent at the end of the race and just beat two boys she has never defeated. After the race she was sitting down near the finish line and when I told her she should go drink her smoothie and have some cookie butter she replied "Dad, all I want to do is sit down a while, that hurt!" Love it! Later in the day after she was recovered she jumped on Donica's 45" Tri-Cross and rode 3-4 more laps on it much faster then she can on the 24" Redline. Tori is ready for a 700cc bike and now I need to find her a frame, shoot me an email if you have on for sale!

K-Rocket's race was next and she started with all the best intentions but pulled the plug on her race early since she is feeling under the weather and needs to get better before her big race next week. Happy to report that she is feeling better today and looks to be 100% for Nats next week.

I went into my race with a plan. Sometimes plans don't go quite as we expect them. I wanted to start from the back of the race and chase hard all day and hopefully place well while getting some killer footage from the bike mounted camera. I know I will be in chase mode at Nats and need to be aggressive to crack the top 15 (out of 70+). Feeling strong coming off Wed nights race I had it all planned out.

Here is the video, it's 8 minutes long and well you can watch and see for yourself how the plan went.

Off to Nats and a fresh 2012 racing season!

Lap 1 - Boxing Day CX - Elite Men's race

2011-12-27T21:34:00.000-06:00

The Pain Train lap 1

3 races this week to fine tune the engine and equipment before heading up to CX Nats in Madison. Been on the paleo template diet since July (earlier postings have the details on that), dropped some more weight (down below 170 now). I sort of put together a training plan back in November the week before Jingle Cross and threw in these threshold intervals that Karen's coach over at Source Endurance has her doing. She has really gotten pretty darn fast this last season so I figured maybe doing one of her hardest workouts once a week might help me some as well.

My last 3-4 races have been my best of the season and I am feeling stronger and faster each week, good timing leading into Nationals. Hoping to keep rolling and pull some nice finishes in the last two races which should lower my points and get me a better starting spot at Nats. Looks like I am 3rd or 4th row sitting high twenties out of 70 racers. That will be by far my best starting position at a big race this year. I was back row every USGP race since I did not pre-reg (never again!).

Anyways, here is some first lap video of the Boxing Day race. I mounted up the Drift Innovations HD170 to the stem and other then the cables on my bike rattling a bit the cam did a pretty good job. We turned a ~5:20 second lap and kept the gas on the entire race. Good times for sure. (select 720 for a better view).

Boxing Day CX Pics:
Roger did another great job shooting some pics.
More great pics from Mark here on facebook.
Jon was slinging the cam here are his pics.
Chris with some nice shots here.

Race results here.

Boxing Day Cross - Tori's first full feature video!

2011-12-26T21:21:00.000-06:00

Tori warming up before her race.

Today was a local CX race at Mission Farms here in KC, we have three races this week which is great for those of us headed to Nats next week, and great for those that just want to get a few more races in during this crazy warm spell in KC. Mid 40's in late Dec? Yeah, I'll take that!

Used the Drift HD170 Stealth to shoot some footage of Tori racing around today. Great way to spend Boxing Day, thanks to everyone that put the race together!

Shot in 720HD so select that if it does not start playing in HD for you.

Karen raced the men's 3/4 and placed a respectable 10th as well.

Karen crashed in the pre-ride, better there than in the race!

Full results here, if I get motivated I will put up some video from my race later along with some lesson's learned.

It is so awesome racing with your kiddos and guess what, the kids I see out there love doing it!

There were some first time kid racers today which is pretty awesome to see this late in the season. Loved all the fellow racers out there cheering all the kids on, there were many smiles today.

Go ride bikes peeps!

What K-Rocket wants to be when she grows up.

2011-12-21T10:25:00.001-06:00

Karen dreams of CX racing internationally one day and loves the racing in the messy stuff, perhaps one day she will be on the world cup scene and I can watch her racing online!

4ème Manche de CDM cyclo-cross from Petitesreines on Vimeo.

2011-11-23T11:10:00.001-06:00

I think my new CX practice routines are going to end up being more like this especially on the "commute to work" days.

Ride Everything!

Back in the saddle again, lots to catch up on!

2011-11-20T22:11:00.001-06:00

Remember those days when you were fearless and had not a care in the world? That seems so long ago for me but those were some of the best years. I think back to the countless weekends, long summers and after school nights were all I did was run, ride and play with friends. Even after getting my first part time job, I still played hard and as much as I could. I feel that getting back into cycling has brought me closer to those wonderful childhood memories and feelings, and when I can jump on the spoke pony and just go ride I can almost touch that carefree feeling again. I would love to have more time to ride but alas these are busy times...

Kiddie Cross at UTCX 5 from Grizzly Adam on Vimeo.

The nagging rib injury I got the days leading up to Herman CX (all the way back in Sep when I landed chest first on a bad barrier practice run) has finally healed up, but not without a setback along the way in Texas, Texas, that was an interesting race weekend, well heck it's been 11 races since my last blog update so time to recap them all.

11th, 11th, 10th, DNF, 1st, DNF, 13th, 66th, DNF, 16th, 7th, well there you have it. 3 DNF's out of 11 races. One was legit (Texas), one I pulled the plug while way off the front, and one was mechanical due to crash in the sand (Louisville). So the 1st in there? That's Texas as well.

Tori and Will off and racing, so cool.

First two 11th's were @ the Joules CX race weekend out in Lawrence. It's on a farm, on a hill, it's bumpy, I did not really like the race last year and I did not really like it this year. 2nd day was interesting as I rolled up to the line my rear shift lever fell off (SRAM), yup, just fell off. Was stuck on a 42x14 gear combo for that race, and like I said it was on a hill and that hill did me in pushing that big old gear. Most that race I was just hoping to get my RPM's over say 60? The 10th was at the Shawnee Rad Sport race and the start of me going backwards fitness wise. Only rode the bike once during that week leading up to the race and well I felt pretty crappy, need to find a way to ride more somehow I remember telling myself, but of course did not listen to my own advice. SRAM replaced the broken shifty bits of course free of charge as usual, they stand behind their products, good peeps.

Rode the bike on Monday some then got busy again during the week and the next thing I know we are in Texas. The GF and I along with her brother in law and neice/nephew decided we would all head down to Texas and see some of their friends. They were great people and we had a good time just hanging out in the Dallas area. One of the brother in laws friends (Alan) was a cyclist and he found a few cross races for me to jump into, sweet. That Friday I was able to meet Alan and go for a ride, ended up being 2.5 hours along some nice bike trails, good ride to shake the legs out but I was getting pretty sore towards the end of the ride??? Turns out that was the longest ride I have done since Aug 24th? Really? Triple checked Garmin Connect and it's a sad fact, my longest ride had been 1 hour and 5 minutes going all the way back to Aug 24th. That does not build a strong base my friends, no sir it does not indeed. Saturdays race was on a killer course, super tight, technical, and challenging, a real MTB'ers course for sure, it even had a nice rock garden area! I went to register for the Men's Open race only they don't do that, down south it's P/1/2 and I never did upgrade my license. So entered the 3's race and pre-rode the course, it was awesome, this course really suited me well and with the racing the 3's thing going on I was amped to go kill it.

Moving into 2nd in TX before eating woodchips...

Texas race #1: The course went through a playground area with an ~15" frame around it and filled in with woodchips. I decided to bunnyhop it during the warm up and discovered it was pretty easy and I could pop up then hammer through and fly off the other side. I figured this would be to my advantage, which is was, but it also ended up being my undoing and the "W" I was gunning for ended up as a complete failure of the DNF kind. Started the race lined up in the back of 30 guys, on lap 5 I passed 2nd & 3rd with a really aggressive move on a tight corner and was chasing down 1st going into the playground area. Came in a little faster and popped up and over no problem then disaster struck on the landing. Over the course of the race I was the only one bunny-hopping this thing and all the guys running it were starting to create a pretty big dip in the woodchips that I failed to notice. I stuck that front wheel into the dip and face-plant city I was eating woodchips faster than a wood chuck can chuck wood. Frantically trying to get unclipped from my twisted mess while 4-5 guys pass me up. When I did finally get up and moving I went hard, hard for about 20 yards, then hard onto the ground again! I was seeing stars when I remounted after faceplant #1 and noticed my rear shifter was pushed really far in, far enough I could not ride it so I smacked it with my fist to get it back into position. Guess I hit it too hard as it rotated all the way out causing my rear brake to lockup. Now when your riding one handed downhill and off camber seeing stars and your back brake locks up it just plain ends badly. Family jewels to the stem then over the bars and down in a heap with my legs on top of my bike and my chest, face and head firmly on the ground. Wind knocked out of me, left knee in pain, right quad twinging, twig and berries screaming and to top it all off my ribs re-injured. I limped around the course and found my GF waiting who said she heard the crash 1/2 way around the course! I reported my DNF licking my wounds and went home dejected. Not what I had in mind but a fun evening of Spades, rotating ice packs and plenty of drinks was good enough recovery to get me out and racing again the next morning.

Wide open course on TX day two.

Texas race #2: The tale of two races and courses. This thing was wide open hammer, a few tight turns, wide open hammer, climb a gradual long hill, tight turns, fly down that gradual long hill into a 20' embankment, back down, barrier, run up, back down again then around a long banked turn and to the start again. This course could not have been any more the opposite of Saturdays course which was way more my style, and his course was short showing only 0.92 miles on my Garmin. 30+ guys again and somehow got called up to the front row, very nice seeing how was ticked off about yesterday, ticked off about not doing well on a perfect course for me, ticked off about my ribs and ticked off today's course was a drag strip connected with some tight turns. As they were calling the rest of the guys up someone smarted off that Derrick would win no matter were he was lined up anyways. I marked him and the guy that won the previous day and was ready to release some anger.

Hard charging off the front in TX

3,2,1 GOOOO and I had a perfect start, nailed the clip-in and was flying with the lead into the first set of turns. Pinned the turns and went redline for the drag race first lap opening up a 10 second lead on guess who, Derrick. Race pretty much played out like the first lap, went hard as I could, kept opening up more of a gap. Some of the spectators told me to slow down jokingly and well, I did not. Last lap I did slow down some and sort of just rolled it in for a 50 second win over 2nd place who was about 40 seconds up on 3rd. Short laps for sure, average speed for my race was 15.1mph and I hit the back of my field and started lapping peeps on my 3rd lap. Gladly took that W (hey it was my first ever W in the 3's race seeing how I never won one last year) and went home knowing full well I need to request that upgrade to Cat2 right away.

Next race was 360 Cup and a killer course, the 60x series are always some of the better local races we have here in KC. I was on a very tight timeframe with K-Rocket in Jeff City running at the State Championship with her cross country team. They were going for their 5th state title, they nailed it with great performances from all the girls and K-Rocket put in a huge effort. Coach said it was the 1st time all 5 scoring runners finished withing 60 seconds. 5 years in a row, pretty amazing for the Lady Titans.

"5peat is quite the feat!"

They were supposed to be back from Jeff City late that afternoon so I decided to to the 3's race seeing how I could not race the open race and get back to pick Karen up in time. Tori raced earlier and was having her usual good time and was actually racing a 50+ year old woman for a few laps, it was so awesome to watch them "battle" back and forth through that race. Going into this race I was at an all time low with only 50 minutes of exercise that week but the good thing was that 30 of those 50 were my first real intervals of the year (puke). Anyways they lined us up behind the SS guys which I thought was odd but whatever. Sent us off 30 seconds after them and I was into the back of the SS racers before the 3rd turn on the course. Took the holeshot and hammered the first and second lap at which point I was passed everyone and the announcer called me out as the SS race leader, no dude I have gears, look next time. I was already over 30 seconds up on 2nd place and this particular 2nd place guy is getting bashed for being a sand bagging turd, he was pretty far up on 3rd place at this point. I decided to pull from the race and go home and race the open race the next day like I should. I sat up for two laps and when the 2nd place guy came up I told him I was pulling from the race and it was his to "cough" win if he wanted to (he did and is still lining up and winning 3's races by large amounts, time to cat up dude).

Big turnout for the women's race, it's great to see and hopefully keeps getting bigger.

Boulevard Cup was the next day and always one of the most well attended races of the year here in KC and this year was no exception. They had the largest turnout for Women locally I have ever seen and the biggest open men's field locally as well. I raced hard and was doing pretty well for about 1/2 the race then my body started to revolt from not putting in the bike hours during the week the last 3 weeks. I was barely able to hold onto the bars and my back was killing me. I slid way back losing 5 spots in the last 3 laps and ended up 13th of 26. Not where I wanted to finish but where I deserved to be given no training time was put in. The more you sweat training the less you bleed on race day and it is high time to get back into the swing darnit!

Next up was Louisville USGP. Nothing like a big race to get you motivated to put some hours in. Ribs were finally able to allow me to do a few core workouts for the first time since September and I got in 3 solid days of training before we headed out. Carpooled over with Hershey and Choung and the drive is almost as far as going to Denver but one heck of a lot better drive, there is actual civilization and scenery on the drive to Louisville unlike the drive west across Kansas. The course was simply put the best I have ridden. It had everything and was fast, flowing, technical in spots, hard sand pit, huge "green monster" flyover and a great parking. Karen put in an awesome two days of racing nailing a 2nd and 4th which gives her a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th for her 4 USGP Cat2 races. Her story is over on her blog.

Here is some footage of the elite men on course I shot on Sat at USGP Derby Cup in Louisville.

Karen shredding the course

My race on Sat was horrible, my fall allergies really flared up and my lungs burned and I had no push so just used the race as an easy ride to dial in sections and hoped for a better race on Sunday (66th place on Sat). Sunday's race was better, wind died down, temps cooler and I was able to go hard and hard I went. Started 72nd of 80+ guys and by the 2nd lap had moved into the top 30 hard charging. 3rd trip through the deep sand and I messed up and went down burying my shifter in the sand.. That did it, no shifting, was stuck in my smallest gear all the way to the pits which of course were about as far away as they could be. Lost a ton of spots going 1/2 the speed of everyone else rolling into the pits for some SRAM neutral pit support. The have mechanics and bikes for every USGP race and for this I was thankful! Rolled into the pit and the SRAM mechanic asked what was wrong I have screamed/fumbled out sand in rear shifter and he threw me a CRUX with flat pedals and told me my bike would be ready when I returned back to the pit. Racing fast in CX is impossible on flat pedals but at least I was still moving and when I rolled back around to the pits the mechanics were ready for a full pro-style pit bike change. Rode in fast dismounting the CRUX and running hard grabbed my bike and remounted and was off racing again with some motivational cheers pushing me on, that was pretty cool. The race leader was right on my tail so I redlined it one more lap keeping him behind me then pulled off for a DNF vs another near last place finish. So USGP Louisville was a great trip and a fun course and I will come back next year and race it fast, clean and hard, I feel like it owes me that at least.

Managed to get another decent week of rides in, that's two weeks of some sort of training/riding in a row believe it or not. Sunday was another Shawnee race in town so was getting ready for that one when a friend pointed out a big race down in Tulsa with some huge payouts on Sat. Couple quick calls and Karen and were headed down to Ruts-n-Guts for some prize money! Plan was to go down, race hard get some $$$ and return home with some extra cash. Mission accomplished. Karen has some big time allergy issues with something in the air but still took 4th on the day. I raced hard and fast cracking the top ten when I flatted on a sharp rock. Rode that lap on a flat, pitted and went back out with 3 laps to go sitting dead last. I pushed hard as I could for 2 of those three laps and got back some of the spots taking 16th on the day. The course was great and had literally everything, its's totally worth the drive down next year again. Check the race vid below, I am at 37sec and 1:15.

Rut N Guts 2011 from Design Your Ideas on Vimeo.

Sunday was Shawnee Rad Sport race and my legs were pretty flat after Rut-n-Guts on Sat. Also think racing @ 76 degrees on Sat then 35 degrees on Sunday hurt me some as well. Did not race great but my laps were pretty consistent and ended up 7th on the day and now the blog is all caught back up.

Next up is Jingle Cross Rock, it's one of my favorite races and there are over 1000 registered racers so fields are going to be huge and the weather looks perfect (rain/snow/cold/mud). Let's close this with the video I shot from last years Elite mens race.

K-Rocket USGP Derby Cup

2011-11-14T18:07:00.000-06:00

USGP Derby Cup Video from Karen's races over the weekend where she took 2nd and 4th. Awesome venue, super fast racing, best CX course we have raced on to date.

It's awesome how she focuses then competes out there, she really gets after it, her ability to dig, then dig deeper, then bury herself leaving nothing, and I mean nothing is amazing to watch. This year she is developing the heart of a fierce competitor, no quit, no backing down. The way she is racing in these big events is fun to watch, she is out gunned by these women at each race being the little skinny girl and yet claws, elbows, digs and cuts her way to the podium. When her physical strength catches up to her heart it's going to be an amazing thing to watch!

She has raced USGP Fort Co and USGP Louisville this year and has a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place finish in her 4 races.

Cross Country is finished so now she can focus on Cross the rest of the season. She will be racing the 3/4 Men locally (watch out boys!) and then 2/3 Women at the big races leading up to CX Nats in Jan where she is gunning for a top 5 finish in the 17/18 Junior's race. Next year she may just be racing with the Elite Women...

Riding with the kiddos..

2011-10-20T12:41:00.001-05:00

Out for a warm weather fall ride

My kids ride bikes, did you know that? Of course you did. I get asked quite a few questions as we ride around town and go racing all over the country, this one the most it seems...

Q: When did (insert kids name) start riding a MTB/CX Bike?
A: Karen was 11 for the MTB and 14 for the CX, she begged for a MTB for her birthday. Karen had two things driving her desire to try MTB'ing, one was to try what Dad was doing and the other I won't go into details on, let's just call it to escape from her day to day life.
A: Nate was 11 for the MTB and 13 for the CX and he just likes riding bikes and had some friends that were on MTB's so away he went.
A: Tori was 9 for both the MTB and CX and you know, little sis can do anything big sis and bro can do!

MO State Crit, all three got hardware that day.

I hear this quite a bit as well "You must be so proud to have (insert kids name) racing etc etc". Of course, I am as proud as any dad that is given the rare chance to do something he loves doing with the children he loves, trust me it's a double bonus of large proportions and I know it's a moment in time that I will cherish. Hopefully when they are all grown and have lives and family of their own we can, just perhaps, all go ride together, that would be pretty awesome to do someday. I am a young father and when I am 60 years old Karen will be 38, Nate 36 and Tori 32. I hope to still be riding lots and racing some, I can only imagine a day when Grandpa (that's me) heads out for my first ride with one of his grandkids, that would be a special day indeed!

Check out this video of another dad enjoying the trails with his 3year old on a strider bike, very cool stuff.

Guess it's never to early to take the kids out a ride a bike, you never know where the trail will lead them...

First quad podium day racing MTB's in 2010

One of the first rides together 2007

Karen 4 years after her first MTB ride (4th @ Nats) @ 15

Karen's first MTB ride at 11

I ain't got no skilz

2011-10-17T11:43:00.002-05:00

I pretty much ride XC race bikes, never had tried to get into free riding, but man it looks killer fun and no doubt learning some of these skillz would help me when racing. Perhaps it's time to start saving up some nickels and dimes so I can start hucking some, or better yet build up that old stumpjumper double squish 26er frame I have sitting around, winter project # 76 has been found.

Check out the video below, I want to ride my bike...

A Hill in Spain from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

USGP New Belgium Cup weekend

2011-10-14T00:21:00.003-05:00

USGP race had the feeling of MTB Nats, it's one heck of a scene with huge crowds and sic fast racing going on.

Let's kick things off with a pretty sweet video of the course on Sun, it was sunny, 50's and course conditions were just about perfect for a fast hard race.

Now let's look at the Sat race conditions, below is a little video from my Sprint Samsung EPIC 4G Touch (employer plug, and hey it's a rocking phone), raining, 38 degrees, yeah perfect CX weather!

You really should watch the video I shot from the phone fullscreen with 1080p selected, it's pretty nuts how good the video is on a phone these days especially considering it was raining and overcast. I remember back in 2002(?) when Sprint rolled out the first phone with a camera in it, it sucked by today's standards but "picture mail" really kicked off the whole phone/camera revolution... and in a few more years our phones will become our wallet, keys and connection to pretty much everything we want to interact with, or should I say be interacted upon depending on your point of view!?

K-Rocket's 3rd place hardware, literally!

Oh yeah back to the weekend. This was my first trip to a USGP event and while I would love to say it was so I could go kick some arse and put my rocket to the test, no, it was for the K-Rocket to drop the hammer and see where she stacks up with the big girls on a big stage. She raced all out and proved she is one of the fastest girls around, and she is only going to get faster. First USGP race and rallied to a podium spot in the 2/3 race, well done, you can read about her race on her blog. Her races both days were really fun to watch with constant battles for position and attacks.

Marshall and the KCCX/Fuji crew were in full effect and they have one heck of a setup, big thanks to the team for helping K-Rocket throughout the weekend. The setup they have is awesome, bikes, wheels, cover from the wind and rain and of course some swag. It is quite the PRO deal and had a lot of peeps checking it out, by the end of the weekend there were challenge hats all over the place.

I rolled over to FoCo and stayed with an old high school bud (thanks Chris!) with Karen, Tori and Cam Rex. I really dislike the drive but the destination always makes the trip worth it. Along the drive I realized why I hate Kansas, it's not the people (not all of them anyways and you know who I am referring to), it's that lies between me and Colorado, at least they were kind enough to knock off 30 minutes of driving (legally) with the increased speed limit recently.

Left KC 4amish on Friday so we could pre-ride the course later that day. We no sooner arrived and started suiting up when a local reporter came over and starting shooting pics and asking questions. Nice guy and a small world as he was an Iowa boy as well and grew up not to far from where I did. Here is the article with a picture of Tori and I cutting onto the course for our pre-ride. Notice the sandy/loose soil on the ground, it was gone by Sat afternoon and replaced with soupy mud.

Mud, Rain, Yeah!

Sat it was raining and ~40 degrees for my race, in other words it was a freaking blast to race in especially when you are rolling on 50mm tubulars glued up with Challenge Limus, those things were wicked in the mud. I raced the masters 35+ and got called up 3rd from last (I registered late) behind 80 some riders, I figured I had a 1 in 9,999,999,999 chance of getting the hole shot so the plan was make aggressive passes every chance I could and keep moving on up, well that's not really a plan, that's just what you do when you race from the back. I was having so much fun on the new bike in the mud I tended to forget I was racing at times. I passed a lot of people but not enough, finished 39th out of 82 so passed 50% of the field, meh. Soon as I finished the race I rolled over to the bike wash and promptly froze my butt off in the 20mph gusts standing around soaking wet with temps below 40. Bike cleaned up and in the car with the heat cranked until the shakes stopped about 20 minutes later, oh yeah, cross season in full effect.

Tori raced before I did, in the rain, in the mud, in the cold, so did like 30 other juniors, they all raced and most all finished. Since her race was right before mine and it was raining pretty hard I did not get any pics of her from Sat, hopefully some will surface out there. Here is a pic from Sunday, will she earn the nickname T-Rocket someday???

It was so cool to see that many kids in those conditions, you remember don't you? Playing in the mud and rain without a care in the world... Tori was super fun to watch race on Sunday and I am going to do the next blog writeup on her and my thoughts about kids in individual sports vs team sports and the stark contrast in the "fans/parents" watching and cheering.

Sunday I raced in the earlier 2/3 race so we could get back to KC before school started on Monday. Sunday's conditions were awesome, temps in the low 50's, sun out, course smooth, tacky and fast from yesterdays racing. My race was pretty much like Sat except the 2/3 field is not as fast as the 35+ field and had about 10 fewer racers. I started last row again and with two near wrecks out of the gun was sitting pretty much DFL from the start. With two laps to go I cracked into the top 20 but lost 6-7 spots when my legs just flat out gave in on the long climb. I was cooked and it took way to long to recover but was able to get back 3-4 of those spots on the bell lap coming in 23rd overall. My average lap spit times put me in the top 10 but when you start at the back of a field that big you pretty much cannot win, and if you do win from the back of 70 racers you should CAT-UP immediately.

Full Tilt Boogie is right!

I did body check a racer 3 laps in, that was a first and more fun that it probably should have been. On the long downhill sweeping turn you could let it really fly, if you had the marbles, and well I like going fast downhill which means I had a lot of momentum when the course turned back uphill. I passed people on that downhill turn every lap, and in bunches it seemed. I just blew by a group of 5 guys and stayed on the gas up the other side headed into a right hand turn. I was rolling up fast on another racer on his inside when he started to close the door, well I simply yelled I am taking the inside line and put a shoulder into him hard sending him the other direction and off his line and kept on the gas. He yelled something, I yelled back it's racing so deal with it. I thought for a minute he might chase but I was gone using that added bit of adrenaline.

Got back to KC around 2am, just enough time to catch around 2 hours of sleep before getting up to take the kids to school and hit work. Awesome weekend, in all Tori took 1st on Sunday and 3rd on Sat and Karen took 3rd on Sat and 5th on Sunday. They both got lots of swag and had a blast, it's so cool to go racing with your kids.

Here are some pics I took of the racing and the venue, if you've been to an USGP race you know it's off the hook, if you have not start saving up the time off, kitchen passes and $$$ and get to one. Louisville is up next and I cannot wait.

CX season has started, enter the pain cave.

2011-10-11T11:07:00.003-05:00

Fall is in the air finally and my allergies are starting to calm down so now I find myself planning many long trips deep into the pain cave of this cyclocross racing thing. I know there is plenty of great trail riding to be done this time of year but after my crazy season on the MTB I honestly wanted to hang it up for a while and see how my body would react to revving the engine to 95% for an hour of power. It's only Oct 11th and I have already raced 4 weekends full of CX...13 more weekends of racing leading up to CX Nationals in Madison the weekend of Jan 6th. Plenty of time to ramp up that engine and get used to the punishment of CX racing. I am going all in this year after messing around with CX that last two season, hopefully this will give me that top end speed I need to take a step on the podium at MTB Nationals next year, so far it's off to a decent start and I can tell by my results I am way faster than last year. Now we will see if I can race myself into shape because I am not willing to cut out parts of my life to train for CX racing, so riding hard is my option when I find time.

Season kicked off with Herman CX and Jeff Yielding and crew did an amazing job and the weather was great with a little overnight rains to mud things up a bit (yeah, that's a good thing). This was my first open men's race and I finished mid pack after taking 2nd in the masters 30+ race earlier that day. Racing the open men's race hurts, period. Like I said earlier I messed around with CX before but actually racing it, and racing the fast guys, well that is another thing all together. I discovered two things that weekend. Racing twice in one day is dumb when you want to go all out and that I can go just as fast as the fast guys, but not for 60 minutes! My average HR for the race on Sat night was 95% of max... that's like running an 800meter event only for an hour...

Here is a video of Saturdays racing in Herman.

Next weekend was the opener for KC at Manion's CX. This is one tough race on a hillside that works you over from head to toe, it was on the warm side and dry as a bone. 5th on day one then my nagging rib injury held me back on day two for a 10th place finish. I hit the dirt hard the week before Hermann practicing dismounts and remounts at speed when I got lazy and distracted and did not get unclipped. Hitting the dirt going ~15mph chest first sucks but it's 90% healed now and not bothering me after 3 weeks.

Manion's CX - Pic by my son Nate, he's got a good eye.

Testing out the new sled.

Next up was Boss Cross weekend which is always a KC favorite. The big excitement for me that weekend was my new bike, the Van Dessel Full Tilt Boogie, which arrvied via UPS on Friday so I stayed up late getting her all built up, well almost, no seatpost but I figured I would just use Karen's or find one at the race (which I did, Thanks Mark!). Spent most the race getting used to the bike, longer reach so my 120 stem was too long and I could not hit the big ring but that's what you get when you don't test it before racing. Ended up 9th in the open race. Sunday I got the shifting fixed and kept the longer stem, did not like it and decided to move to a shorter stem before heading out to Fort Collins for the big USGP race the following weekend. Three weekends of racing CX in the books and I can go a little deeper into the pain, will test myself @ the Fort Collins race.

Karen has been killing it in CX so far this season and is starting to go really go fast on her new bike. I think she is on the verge of breaking out a big season on her way to CX Nats.

Father/Daughter matching bikes thanks to killer sponsors, very cool.

My new ride for CX, it's one fast machine, way better handling and ride than my CRUX was.

K-Rockets sled.

Next up will be a recap of the USGP New Belgium Cup.

I leave you with a pretty cool CX racing video from Utah, nice video work and a great song, check it out here

Long rode back Part 2 - Eat to race better? Yeah we all do that right?

2011-09-27T15:56:00.003-05:00

Almost two years ago my GF started getting me to eat much better, cutting soda, cutting gluten (Karen is gluten intolerant so that became a must), reducing dairy, less processed foods, the "don't buy it if it has more than 5 ingredients" rule, etc etc etc. She knows her stuff and well I just went along, after all she looks amazingly young, and has more energy than just about anyone I know! She had me eating a lot more fruits, veggies and lean meats especially cold water fish. Last year (2010) I had a decent racing resume with a lot of W's and dropped about 15 pounds off which was great, maybe there was something to this...??? I felt better, raced better, was there more to this eating thing that could elevate my performance?

Then a very good friend of mine who is a national level Xterra athlete shared with me he went "paleo", you know the eat like a caveman diet sort of thing. I did research of my own, lots of things I thought were good well, maybe they were not so good, some down right disgusted me (like the show "Food Matters" and "Food Inc") so the journey back in time began with my eating. I started gradually moving to a paleo template around April this year and went all in right after MTB Nationals (was pretty close to all in before that point). Oh and another thing that I started doing before going all in was stop eating toxins.

Did I have a breakthrough year? Not really at least I don't think so (although finishing under 4 minutes off the Podium @ MTB Nats CAT 1 was pretty nice), did I drop those extra stubborn pounds off and get noticeably faster and feel a lot better all day long and have some of the best race performances of my life? Heck yes I did! (and no I am not riding or training more this year compared to last, in fact life happens and I have trained less this year, miss you Dad)

Post Race @ MTB Nats the crew and I all smiles (with a sprinkle of dust)

So the cat's sort of out of the bag here now that Bicycling magazine has published some of this stuff today (there went my "edge" ha!). The article is pretty high level but gives you some basics, the best resource I have found is the Paleo Athlete for Diets from Friel/Cordain and it very well could be the cheapest ten dollar upgrade to your performance you ever make (of course changing what you eat and when you eat is much harder then reading the book).

Oh, and I don't recall being sick once since I started eating better, occasional sniffle or such but nothing that took me down and lord knows I had some big stresses in my life this past year...

The article is below that hit the wire today:

Published on Bicycling Magazine

Cycling Nutrition: Big Fat Lies
Big Fat Lies
A surprising new approach to losing weight and keeping it off—and riding longer and stronger than ever.
Selene Yeager
Created 2010-04-30 14:50

ONE OF THE LONG-ENDURING TRADITIONS at bike events of all stripes is the pasta dinner the evening before the big ride. After all, who doesn't believe in the hearty, turbo-fueling quality of a whopping plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce?

As it turns out, the nonbelievers include a number of highly informed people, including Allen Lim, PhD, the brains behind much of Garmin-Slipstream's training and race preparation. "There's nothing nutritious about that," Lim says. In fact, he has eliminated all processed wheat from the team's diet, and at races has replaced traditional starchy foods with balanced, whole-food fuel such as rice cakes made with eggs, olive oil, prosciutto and liquid amino acids. If this creates the impression that Lim knows something you don't, well, that's probably true. His job is to make sure that, unlike the rest of us, his team doesn't blithely adhere to old, counterproductive eating habits—habits that can lead to unnecessary weight fluctuation and diminished performance.

Here's the good news. We've tapped into this new school of food science led by the likes of Lim to correct popular misconceptions about food, particularly about carbs and fat. Proponents of this new approach believe, for example, that a diet heavy in starch causes your body to burn sugar instead of fat, so you bonk more easily, often eat too much and end up overweight rather than properly fueled.
Even Joe Friel, who relentlessly advocated carbohydrates in his training bible series of books, has done a 180, turning his back on starches and relying instead on vegetables, fruits and lean meats as fuel. Consider this our effort to correct myths and misconceptions you've been exposed to over the years. Follow this advice, and you won't just live lean. You'll also be able to ride longer on less food and never bonk.

FALLACY #1
A calorie is a calorie
This might be the biggest weight-loss misunderstanding in existence. For years we've been told that weight loss is a simple calories-in, calories-out equation, and 3,500 excess calories will put on a pound whether they come from soybeans or banana cream pie. That's simply not true.
"There are three key types of calories: carbohydrate, protein and fat," says sports nutritionist Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, CSSD, creator and coauthor of the Flat Belly Diet (published by Rodale, Bicycling's parent company). "They're as different as gasoline, motor oil and brake fluid in terms of the roles they play in keeping your body operating optimally." Sass says that many of her clients might eat the perfect number of calories, but they have cut their fat intake too much. So the jobs that fat does, such as repairing cell membranes and optimizing hormones, go undone, and the surplus carbs are stored as fat. By correcting her clients' balance of carbs, protein and fat without changing their calorie intake, she says, she has helped them lose weight, improve their immune systems, gain muscle and boost energy.
The Get-Lean Fix
Eat a representative of each macronutrient group at every meal. Sass recommends getting 50 to 55 percent of your calories from carbs (fill half your plate with vegetables, fruits and some whole grains), 25 to 30 percent from fats (olive oil, avocado and so on), and 15 to 20 percent from protein (lean meats, fish, eggs and poultry). "Just be sure to skew your preworkout meals or snacks to be heavier in carbs and lower in fat and protein to fuel up properly and avoid cramps," says Sass.

Fallacy #2
Starches are sensible fuel
At some point, starch became synonymous with carbohydrate. While pasta and bagels are carbohydrates, and you do need carbs for fuel, they're often not the best sources, especially if you're trying to keep weight off. Starchy carbs are easy to overeat, and any surplus goes to your fat stores. "Your brain operates on sugar, and when you eat bagels or potatoes, your body turns them into sugar and delivers them to your cells quickly, which makes your brain happy and leaves you wanting more," says Friel. So in this case, you shouldn't listen to your body.
Fruits and vegetables, by contrast, are rich in carbs but often lower in calories and also digest more slowly. You're less likely to plow through so many berries and carrots that you end up with more fuel than you need. As a bonus, plant foods are loaded with vitamins, minerals and immunity-boosting phytonutrients that make you healthier and stronger, so you can ride better and burn more calories.
The Get-Lean Fix
Choose carbs wisely. Eat starchy, quick-digesting carbs only during and right before and after training rides or races, when it's important to get food that can be quickly digested and converted to fuel. Otherwise, get your carbs from fruits and vegetables.
How much is enough? If you're eating considerably more than Sass's recommended 50 to 55 percent, especially from starchy sources, then you risk changing your metabolism, says Friel. "When I see someone who has started eating lots of starch," he says, "they not only have gained fat, they've also changed their metabolism from fat-burning to sugar-burning." It doesn't happen over one plate of pasta, but the body is adaptable. "Over the course of a few of months," Friel says, "it will switch over to burn whatever you're feeding it most."
When possible, pair your carbs with some protein. Lean meats, nut butters, fish and eggs slow digestion, so you feel full sooner, get more even energy from your meals and stay full longer. The amino acids in protein also help repair, build and maintain muscle tissue.
It's no coincidence that Americans got heavier as fat consumption went down. For years, the government preached low-fat, carb-heavy diets. "This wasn't only misguided; it was flat-out wrong," Friel says.

Fallacy #3
All fat makes you fat
As your body becomes more conditioned, you become a better fat burner. You need ample amounts of healthy fat, which, contrary to widely held belief, won't make you fat. In fact, starchy foods turn to stored fat far more quickly. What's more, evidence is stacking up that healthy unsaturated fats are essential for firing up your fat-burning metabolism. In a study of 101 men and women, Harvard researchers put half the group on a low-fat diet and half on a diet that included about 20 percent of calories from monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). After 18 months, the MUFA-eating group had dropped 11 pounds; its low-fat-eating peers had shed only six. Fat is also slower to digest than carbs, so it helps you stay hunger-free longer.
Fat will help you ride longer so you can burn more calories, says Friel. Research shows that athletes who get about 50-plus percent of their diet from fat produce better average times to exhaustion in exercise tests than those eating typical low-fat, high-carb diets.
The Get-Lean Fix
Add healthy fats to every meal. Sass recommends getting about 20 percent of your calories from MUFAs, or about 55 grams per day at 2,500 calories, which is what most cyclists eat as training ramps up. "Because most athletes don't have time to count fat grams, the simpler message is: Include small portions of good fats, like almonds, avocado and olive oil, with all meals and snacks," she says. Try nuts and seeds, olive-based tapenades and even the occasional chunk of dark chocolate. Some healthy portions to shoot for:
Nuts and seeds Everything from pecans to pine nuts, almond butter to tahini. A serving size is 2 tablespoons.
Olives Black, green, mixed or blended in a spreadable tapenade. A serving is 10 large olives or 2 tablespoons of spread.
Oils Canola, flaxseed, peanut, safflower, walnut, sunflower, sesame or olive. Cook with them; drizzle them; eat them in pesto. One serving is 1 tablespoon.
Avocado As guacamole or just slice and serve. One-quarter cup equals one serving.
Dark chocolate Go for one-quarter cup of dark or semisweet, or about 2 ounces.

Fallacy #4
Food comes from a box
Many cyclists who think they're eating healthfully often consume far more sugar and sodium than they realize because they eat so much pasta, cereals, energy bars and other processed foods. "The vast majority of grocery-store foods are packaged junk," says sports nutritionist and exercise physiologist Tavis Piattoly, RD, LD, of Elmwood Fitness Center, in New Orleans. Some items also contain trans fats—the kinds of fats you want to avoid. The sugar is also troublesome for weight loss because it causes the body to step up its production of insulin, which in turn blocks hormones that control appetite. As a result, the food you eat is quickly stored as fat—and still, you're always hungry.
The Get-Lean Fix
Eat mostly whole foods that are part of an animal or plant, Piattoly says. Fill most of your cart with foods from the grocery store's perimeter first; that's where the fresh produce, meats, fish and other whole foods are found. Then go down the center aisles to fill in the rest. That should reflect the proportion of processed foods you include in your diet.

Fallacy #5
Skipping breakfast is fine if you need to drop a few pounds
Eat breakfast. That bit of essential advice is food gospel. Still, according to a survey by the International Food Information Council Foundation, fewer than half of us eat a morning meal. Breakfast is the key that starts your fat-burning metabolism. Without it, you go into an energy deficit that not only leaves you ravenous (and more likely to overeat) later, but also suppresses your calorie-burning furnace, so what you do eat is more likely to go into storage. Research shows that people who skip breakfast are 4 1/2 times more likely to be overweight than those who don't. "It's one of the biggest fueling mistakes almost everyone makes," says Piattoly.
The Get-Lean Fix
Because you have a whole day of activity—usually including a ride—ahead of you, try to eat about 25 percent of your daily calories at your morning meal. That meal should include protein, healthy fat and fiber-rich carbs like fruit. A British study found that exercisers who ate a breakfast high in fiber burned twice as much fat during workouts later in the day than those who ate less fibrous foods.
For a power breakfast that'll sustain you well into the day, try two eggs any style; cup whole oats, cooked; 1 cup yogurt; a cup of mixed berries; coffee; and orange juice.

Fallacy #6
You can eat the same at age 40 as age 20
Muscle is the engine that powers your pedals, but it also drives your calorie-burning metabolism. The more lean tissue you have, the more calories you burn and the leaner you stay. As we age, we naturally lose muscle and thus gain fat. Cycling and strength training help stem that loss, but the right foods are more important for muscle maintenance than most people realize. Because of age-related kidney changes, our blood becomes more acidic and we excrete nitrogen, an essential component of muscle protein, faster than we take it in, Friel says. "Essentially we end up peeing away our muscles," he says. And with a net loss of nitrogen, you can't form new muscle.
The Get-Lean Fix
Turn the tide on nitrogen loss and preserve muscle mass by increasing the alkalinity of your blood to neutralize the acidity, says Friel. One way is with supplements like Acid Zapper, but you can also eat foods that enhance alkaline. Fruits and veggies are the only foods that offer a net increase, says Friel. Fats and oils are neutral. All other foods, including grains, legumes and meats, have an acid-producing effect. If you don't get most of your carbs from fruits and vegetables, Friel says, you're losing muscle mass as well as calcium from your bones, which also gets leached away in an acidic environment as you age.

Fallacy #7
You're never hungry... or you're always hungry
Most diets treat hunger as the enemy. But it's actually your closest ally, says Piattoly. "Once you start the fat-reduction process, you'll be a little hungry, but not starving," he says. "The trick is balancing the two, so you're losing weight, but not setting yourself up for a binge."
The Get-Lean Fix
Try to eat every three to four hours, says Piattoly. "Eat breakfast, then wait until you feel hungry and eat just until you're no longer hungry," he says. "That's where people usually go wrong. They eat past the point of satisfaction until they're 'full.' Eat only until you're no longer hungry. If you don't feel hungry again in three to four hours, you ate too much earlier." Once you get the hang of it, weight loss and maintenance is much easier.
Where the Carbs Are
Fruits and vegetables are a more substantial source of carbohydrate than most people realize.

RAISINS, seedless (1/4 cup) 32g
BRUSSELS SPROUTS, cooked (1/2 cup) 7g
PEAS, cooked (1 cup) 25g
STRAWBERRIES (1 cup) 11g
SPINACH, cooked (1 cup) 7g
SUCCOTASH, cooked (1 cup) 47g
CARROTS, cooked (1/2 cup) 8g
ORANGE (1 medium) 14g
COLLARD GREENS, cooked (1 cup) 12g
CORN, sweet, cooked (1 ounce) 7g
CANTALOUPE (1 cup) 15g
SQUASH, winter, acorn, cooked (1 cup) 30g
SWEET POTATO, baked w/ skin (large) 44g
ARTICHOKE, cooked (1 medium) 13g
WATERMELON (1 cup) 11g
GREEN PEPPER (1 cup) 10g
BROCCOLI, raw (1 cup) 4g
PEACH (1 large) 17g
BANANA (medium) 30 g

Pasta & Grains
SPAGHETTI (1 cup) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40g
SPAGHETTI, whole wheat (1 cup) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37g
TAGLIATELLE (1 cup) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44g
WHEAT BREAD (1 slice) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12g
RYE BREAD (1 slice) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15g
MIXED-GRAIN BREAD (1 large slice) . . . . . . . . . .5g
FRENCH BREAD (5 inches) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18g
PITA BREAD, WHITE (6-inch diameter) .. . . . . . . .33g
LONG-GRAIN WHITE RICE (1 cup) . . . . . . . . . . . 45g
SHORT-GRAIN WHITE RICE (1 cup) . . . . . . . . . . 37g

Source URL: http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/nutrition-weight-loss/big-fat-lies
Links:
[1] http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/training-fitness/your-three-month-plan-going-huge
[2] http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/nutrition-weight-loss/power-pasta
[3] http://www.bicycling.com/tags/Garmin-Slipstream
[4] http://www.bicycling.com/tags/weight-loss
[5] http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/nutrition-weight-loss/almighty-calorie

The long rode back part 1 - a little history

2011-09-09T15:25:00.001-05:00

Some of you know this, most of you don't... 5 years ago this month (Sep '06) I was 230 pounds (I graduated from high school at 165) and decided I had enough and it was time to get my arse back in shape. What drove me to snap was a couple health scares and always feeling run down, it was affecting my quality of life and my time with my kids. I wanted to be around when they grow up and have families of their own! After a night in the hospital in Sept was "awakened" to how bad I had let myself slide... but I had a good career and a family and a car and a house (all you need right?) time to get busy staying alive!

So I bought a bike and went for a ride... approx 5 miles into the ride I was DONE! Had to sit down on the side of the trails and rest... wow when I was younger I rode all the time, that is just what my friends and I did, we rode everything, bikes, Rollerblades, skateboards, it it had wheels and was driven by human power we were game. 14 years of my life went by getting busy with life the American way. Get married, have kids, work your butt off at work and play the game to advance that career so I can provide for my family (cars, house, etc etc). 14 years of eating "normal foods" and fast foods etc etc with very little hard exercise and I pack on 65 pounds and can't even ride a bike for over 5 miles. Drastic changes to my lifestyle were needed and needed now!

I could not stand outside in the heat (over 95) without getting light headed, could not exercise hard without almost passing out afterwards and felt like crud. With the help of a good friend I started swimming and working out in the gym some. I could not run for crap with all this weight, so swimming was the ticket. Over the course of that summer and fall we would swim 3-4 times a week and got stronger and faster and I dropped off about 15 pounds by Spring of 2007. Felt a lot better and it was time to get back on that bike again.

Started MTB'ing more and more, could actually ride for over 10 miles on the trails! Swimming gave way to more rides with friends and some running off and on, nothing more than a few shorter runs in the woods. We started riding more and more and all hours of the day. Night, morning, afternoon, weekends, I was starting to have some fun again and it felt awesome. Still remembering the younger days when we used to rip off endless miles at high speed on the bikes and some racing... so a crazy idea hits, let's go do a 24 hour MTB race!

Reese, Banda, Me and Gulley left to right, thanks guys!

Sep 2007 it was time for the Granny Gear 24 hours of Landahl and the event with 3 of my riding buddies. Little did I know that this event would set things in motion for my long ride back. We raced, it was hard, it was fun, I was hooked again and wanted more. It was insane how fast the fast guys were riding this race, but we did not care. Met this guy Josh Tostado who was cranking out solo laps like nothing, super nice and crazy fast, and I started to wonder... I was fast once, could I be fast again??? Do I want to start racing again? Will my body survive? Do I have time?

With anything in life worth doing, it starts with the first step or in this case the first pedal stroke.

The 24 hour crew minus Reese, who moved out of KC, decided to do the 8 hour Castlewood adventure race that winter (Dec '07). We teamed up with Lively to go in as a 4 person team and see what this AR stuff was all about, which also meant I need to run (crap!) and run pretty far. So training commenced, pains where had, fun was found and I willed myself into the best shape I had been in since I was probably 25. I was hovering around 205lbs so had dropped 25 off my body in a little over a year. I had cut out soda but was still eating pretty bad really, or "normal" as most people would have it.

We raced, it was insanely fun, and harder than anything I had done in over a decade. We we doing pretty good until I made a bad navigation call in the canoe. Tried to split to big logs in the stream and did not clear it and it ended badly for us, picture this. It's 45 degrees outside early December and your in a canoe with all your bikes and gear strapped down in the middle. Your canoe gets high-sided on a log and you get dumped into a stream with ~40 degree water chest high miles from anything warm or dry. I somehow got the gear unhooked and thrown over to shore before I started to lose it. My teammates were on shore and I was still in the water, not sure how long I was there but long enough I was losing the ability to make decisions. They pulled me out and helped Lively and I get some more dryish things on and onto our bikes so we could ride back to the main race area. We somehow made it and immediately went to the Tahoe and stripped down all the way, trust me there was nothing to see the junk had crawled all the way back into my insides to stay warm. Sat in the Tahoe with the heater cranked and the heated seats on until we could feel our appendages then went to report our DNF... even with the frozen stuff ending we still had a blast and I was even more hooked. After the race was all done Lively asked me about riding for the team he was on, they were looking for some MTB racers and I was riding pretty decent at that time.

Me racing @ Shawnee 5 hour.

Sometime that late winter / early fall of '08 I joined SKC Racing and so the racing was officially part of my life again. Raced that year a lot pretty slow, but getting faster, I dropped another 10 pounds off from 205 to 195 over the course of 2008 and finished up that season as a top 1/3 CAT 2 MTB racer locally.

First bike, First crash...

2009 was more of the same, but faster was able to pull off some podium finishes and raced pretty well in the Cat 2 field finishing the year up 3rd overall and ready to move up to faster racing in Cat 1. Then my oldest daughter Karen begged to get a bike, she wanted to try this thing out, and I was all to happy to get her one. And with all things worth doing it started with her first pedal stroke. Her story is for another day and perhaps she will write about it on her new blog sometime.

Winning Rocket Style!

2010 I was faced with racing Cat 1 super fast dudes or racing marathon (3+ hour events) and I decided to do the long stuff and put a year of endurance riding under me. Had a great year and ended up only losing like 2 out of 12+ races and took the overall racing title for Marathon in our local series. Karen continued to race and did really well and Nate and Tori decided to join in the fun. It was a special year with all 4 of us doing well and on one weekend we pulled off a 4 way win, that was awesome. We ended up all taking the overall titles for our classes in the local race series and Rocket Family Racing was born. Karen and I raced at MTB Nationals that year, she got 5th in her race and I crashed out but was racing pretty good until that point, just 3 season prior I was just starting to race, now I am at MTB Nationals racing in the Cat 1 race... seems ages ago when I could barely ride 5 miles... I was starting to get educated from my awesome girlfriend about foods, she was super supportive and I listened and started making changed to my diet. By the end of 2010 I was riding in the mid 180's most the time now, 50 pounds gone and feeling pretty fast, but not done yet!

Later that fall they all wanted to race Cyclocross so it was more bikes, more fun and then I found this little note in the back of the car one morning from my youngest. Yeah, that makes your day, week and year!

2011...more big event racing going on (translates to more travel), new team with a lot of like minded riders on Ethos Racing, I full on changed how I eat, ride more, still not really training at all, just racing and riding. K-Rocket is turning into a superstar and the Nate enjoys some racing and likes to go ride and Tori is wanting to do more and more racing, even my awesome girlfriend who "does not like to compete" has started to do some races! We raced road, MTB, duathlons and are entering the CX season now. K-Rocket got 4th at MTB Nats and I finished 12th out of 32 and was less than 4 minutes off the podium with a bad start to my race to boot (not to mention a crazy season leading up to it with the loss of my beloved father and a broken bike frame). I am riding at 170lbs now and only 5lbs over my high school weight, I feel awesome and faster. CX season is calling and I am going all in racing most the USGP series and CX Nats.

K-Rocket 4th @ MTB Nats!

2012 will be a big year as it's my last year racing in the 30-39 group and I want to take a podium spot at MTB Nats in 2012, I just called it! Then after that it's the 40-49 masters group and my longer term goal is to Win a National Championship once over the course of those next ten years, oh and to not let K-Rocket beat me in a race (there is a lot of motivation there let me tell you). It's time to start actually training for the first time in my life, a legit training plan of sorts, I need to knock off 5 minutes race time before July 2012, that breaks down to 3 seconds per minute faster for a 90 minute race, three short seconds. Most of that can be made up in just better bike handling yet alone better fitness through actual training and diet.

Part two will talk more about the diet changes, I credit two things for dropping the weight and starting to get fast.
#1 - Riding my bike when I get the time to do it, and riding it hard when I am on it.
#2 - Eating better and gaining and understanding of what to eat and when to eat it. "Eat to recover"

For now here are two starters on some links to food advice.
http://blog.foodfacts.com/index.php/2011/09/09/food-facts-you-may-not-know-or-want-to-know/
http://chriskresser.com/9-steps-to-perfect-health-1-dont-eat-toxins

Slaughter, Heat, IKON and some CX dreaming

2011-09-02T13:15:00.002-05:00

Headed down to the Slaughter Pen Jam sat with G-Wiz to rip it up with some new blood in Bentonville, AR. I have been wanting to hit this one for the last 3 years but things just never worked out schedule wise, this time around it's on and we roll out 8:30am. A few familiars will be down there but mostly this will be a lot of folks we don't get to race against which is nice, I am hoping for a big turnout of fast guys and some dry weather. Nice thing is it's cooler down there then it is here in KC. These last few days over 100 are stupid, it's Sept and all I want to do is go race CX soon but this heat...

SPJ is supposed to be a really cool race that starts in town and rips off 3 nine mile laps with lots of small rock and babyheads and some sharper shale just to keep you riding clean (or fixing flats). Mounting up the new Maxxis IKON with the EXO sidewalls. I raced on these a few times and have to say they are my favorite tire right now. Huge tall tires (2.2) much like the conti race king that roll very very fast and have surprising grip in the corners and climbs, heck they even stop well (not that I stop often but it's nice to be able to quickly when you need to!) and are very light.

Karen is racing her first cross country race tomorrow with the varsity squad of super fast girls from Lees Summit West, she runs @ 10am over at Longview college. Good luck girl!

Speaking of CX racing there is a lot coming up this year. Just registered for the opener @ Herman which has a team competition this year and it's gonna be a junk yard brawl in the open race for sure. Jingle Cross Rock reg is open so need to jump on that ASAP as well.

Here are the races so far and no way I am racing them all, planned ones for K-Rocket and I are yellow.

Local Events:
9/23/11 Buffalo Bill Cross
9/24/11 Manion’s Cross
9/25/11 Manion’s Cross
10/1/11 Boss Cross 1
10/2/11 Boss Cross 2
10/9/11 Cross Out Cancer
10/15/11 Joules Cross
10/16/11 Joules Cross
10/22/11 Smithville CX Challenge
10/23/11 Smithville CX Challenge
10/30/11 Boss Cross 3
11/5/11 360 Cup
11/6/11 Boulevard Cup
11/12/11 Grand Prix HPT
11/13/11 Veteran’s Cross
11//19/11 DeStad Cup
11/20/11 DeStad Cup
12/3/11 Boss Cross 4
12/4/11 Boss Cross MO State Champs
12/10/11 Capital Cup
12/11/11 Capital Cup
12/26/11 Boxing Day Cyclocross
12/28/11 Grote Prijs Shawnee
12/31/11 'Cross Off The Old Year
Regional Events:
9/17 & 18 Hermann Cross - St Louis
9/24 & 25 USGP Planet Bike - Madison
10/8 & 9 USGP New Belgium Cup - Ft. Collins
11/12 & 13 USGP Derby Cup - Louisville
11/25 - 27 Jingle Cross Rock - Iowa City
(possible Midwest Regional Championships being pulled together mid Dec- TBD)
12/31 & 01/01 Chicago CX
1/6-8 USAC CX Nationals - Madison
01/13-15 Masters Worlds - Louisville

Tall Oaks Challenge throwdown

2011-08-29T14:53:00.002-05:00

4 bikes and gear loaded up.

Day started off early with a 4:30am wake-up to take the GF to the airport for her Chi-Town trip, hour twenty round trip and back home to load up the FLEX and get some eats in the belly. Kids cooked up some eggs with basil and sauteed spinach and had the car mostly loaded up when I arrived back home, it's pretty awesome that they can cook and know the race day drill well enough to get 'er done pretty much on their own, teach your kids to cook when they are young! Slammed down breakfast and whipped up my powerup smoothly for K-Rocket and I and we hit the road.

Another beautiful sunrise on race day, temp was near perfect in the morning at 68

Burnsey and crew

Rolling on 50 to Jeff city listening to my normal race day mix of house/techno while the kids are playing a newer game on their tablets and phones called Dragon Fly. Simple basic free game but pretty addictive and challenging, the stages change every day to keep it interesting. Seems like every road trip we run across friends on the roads and about 30 minutes in we passed up Kat & Michael Gaherty on the way to the Otterville Road Race. Bummed they were not racing in the dirt but Kat has been putting in the miles on the road and wanted to test her legs in a road race. Shortly after that Burnsey came rolling up on me with my duo racing partner Jesse G flying shotgun and Travis, Dana and Jackson sitting second row. We rallied it to Sedalia caravan style then they pulled off for a pit stop while we rolled into the race to claim our team are and with Ethos rolling in with 4 duo teams and 4 solo artists + some supporters we needed a ton-o-space.

Rolling up to the venue it was pretty much spot on with what I remembered the first and only time I did this race in 2008 which was my first year back racing and back then I was still over 200 pounds. I know I am faster now, and 30 pounds lighter at 170 so was itching to go put in a fast lap or 5. I was shelled at the end in 2008 when I raced this super fun course with Wade from SKC Racing, blood was starting to flow pretty good just thinking about it.

Early registration line was small

The crew from Red Wheel do a great job putting on the Tall Oak Challenge, it's well marked, easy registration, fun and challenging course, fast results and good payouts with some nice swag and always some hot eats off the grill. Same lady that was grilling things up in 2008 was here in 2011, awesome.

Ethos Pit

Grabbed the bikes off the back of the FLEX and piled them up in a primo spot for our team pit right on the line after the timing/scoring table. Then we rolled over for registration. Burnsey rolled in shortly after with the crew and setup the pop-up and sun shade. Shorty after the rest of the Ethos crew rolled in. 11 racers in all and by far the largest team showing. Nearing race time... lots of fast boys and girls from the area showed up, this was going to be a dogfight. K-Rocket racing 6 Solo and Jesse and I in the open 6 hour duo race.

After talking things over we decided that I should take the first lap and just pin in and try to get us a decent starting position on lap one so Jesse could have minimal traffic to contend and roll smooth and fast on his single speed avoiding the extra road section they use to separate the field before the single track. He has been racing really strong this year and putting in loads of miles on the MTB. My fitness has been pretty good of late but most of my time has been on the road bike and I wondered if that would hurt me a little as they called us up for the race start. Didn't get a count but looked like 50-75 starters on the line (more in the wings as duo partners).

Race starts off down the road a couple hundred yards then into a field along the treeline back to the scoring area and into the single track. This is designed to thin things out a bit and put the fast guys up front and the slower peeps mid to back pack and avoid a pileup headed into the single track (Subaru Cup failed on that big time as Travis and I stood off our bike for over a minute before we could file into the single track, they need to fix that next year!). They starting/ending gun is a big old rifle you can here for miles, great way to kick off and end the race.

Boom and we hit it pretty hot up the road, I drop down and start churning the pedals and pretty soon I was up front. Hit the turn up the field back to the single track and kept churning but backed down a bit looking for someone to jump around and take the lead into the single track. No-one jumped so I take the hole shot and lead the field into the single track thinking what the heck am I doing in front of all these fast guys???? I don't know the trails but what the heck just kept pushing the pedals at a hard but not red-lined pace. Remember that whole thing about my fitness coming around but have been spending all that time on the road bike? Well I was riding like crap, all over the trail, no flow, scrubbing all kinds of speed in the corners, man I was really off. Guess I need to get out an hammer the trails with the new fitness because like a roadie I had more engine than my bike skillz could handle (that has never happened). There were about 10 of us in the beginning mile then it started to thin out more and more, at about 5 miles in I blew an uphill sharp turn, just plain missed it and was caught off guard. Ploch shoots by then I grab his wheel and ride for another mile. Travis was right on my wheel and asked for a pass which I was all to happy to concede given how poorly I was riding! Those two pulled away in a rocky babyhead area and gapped me by 17 seconds by the end of lap one. Pass the baton to Jesse sitting 3rd after one lap and up only 13 seconds on 4th place, man this one gonna be a dogfight.

Riding like a sally...

Jesse put in a solid lap but we lost one spot and were now sitting 4th. I head back out determined to ride better and back the pace down since it's a long day of 35 minute intervals for 6 hours (cross practice anyone?). Back in and still sitting 4th, Jesse rips off another good lap but we loose one more spot. We held onto 5th until the final two laps. My back just plain cramped up, never had that happen before and there was nothing I could do to make the bike go fast, I would have rather had leg cramps... horrible lap and 2 minutes off pace and now only 1 minute in front of 6th place, I lost 4 minutes to the 6th place team that lap. Jesse rolled out for what was to be our final lap as we missed the cutoff my 2 minutes and slid back to 6th place and off the podium, I think it was Andy Gibbs that put the hammer down to secure 5th on the next to last lap, lack of spending time riding my MTB cost us this round.

Race results here.

K-Rocket ripping

Karen dug really deep and pulled out a 3rd place finish with 7 laps and Kay won with 7 laps, the Ethos women rocked it. Travis and G-Wiz (who threw down a 31minute fast lap) ripped the place apart and put down one heck of a solid run for the overall duo win while Mark Cole rallied his legs for a solid 4th in solo men with 9 laps. Oh yeah, remember I raced here on the same course in 2008, comparing times even with the longer start this round and my back cramping up lap my average lap time (36:02) were nearly 3 minutes faster than my fastest lap 3 years ago which was a 38:40. Taking that one bad lap out I put down 35:33 laps while Hoppe pulled a solid 36:14 avg while Travis hit 34:19's and Garet as usual was fast man laying down 32:44's. This was a great opener for getting ready to rip things up at the Rapture in Misery where G-Wiz, T-Donn and I are doing the 12hour supa fast team race.

Women 6 hour podium

Open Duo 6 hour podium, just missed it...

Busy double double racing racing football football weekend ahead

2011-08-25T12:31:00.001-05:00

Friday night preseason Chiefs home game against the St Louis Rams AKA the governors cup which this year is dedicated to Joplin which was devastated by a huge tornado on May 22nd. We all can take a note from how this community banned together to rebuild, I heard recently that they had like 95% of the students in class on the first day of school.

Sat morning K-Rocket is running in the Silver and Navy Intra-Squad CC race where the early placing for Varsity and such will be determined. She is just starting to get her running legs under her so this will be a good test, most the other girls ran all spring and summer with track so are ahead on running form but Karen's aerobic fitness is super high. Her team is already the favorites to win State again which would make it 5 times in a row, pretty amazing run. Sat afternoon will be some MTB'ing at Swope to keep the engine primed and skillz sharp for Sunday's 6 hour race. Sat night family is headed over the the Sporting KC game against FC Dallas at the new LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Heard lots of good things about this new venue, pretty excited to check it out.

Sunday Sunday Sunday! It's shred time. Ethos is rolling in heavy to the Tall Oak Challenge 6 hour MTB race over in Jefferson City with 4 Duo teams and 3 solo artists. Jesse G and I are ripping the Duo and chasing Travis and Garet, we are gunning for taking 2 of the 3 top spots and getting some nice payout. K-Rocket is racing 6 hour solo style and she will have some tough competition. Not having trained for a long MTB race it will be fun to watch her rip it up. Heck last year she went to Cruise the Blues and destroyed the field and was leading RIM by over 20 minutes when she cramped and dehydrated and had to pull. It's gonna hurt but the weather looks awesome and the trails will be on fire with some crazy fast times being thrown down by the Ethos crew.

2011-08-16T20:51:00.000-05:00

Holy crap Danny is ripping things up again... I think it's about time to invest in a trials bike, I can think of a few times that mad skillz like this would come in handy.

Sit back and enjoy the show.

Weekend winnings

2011-08-15T09:19:00.004-05:00

This weekend had a lot of racing going on, too much to do it all for sure. Some weekends there is not a lot to choose from, This was not one of those weekends... Saturday was a 5K/10K Trail run a friend was hosting and a 3/6hour MTB race, Sunday was the MO State Championship Crit and the MO Single Speed MTB championships... choices choices

Nothing works without awesome volunteers

Saturday's choice was easy as it was the inaugural Hillsdale Harrier Hustle trail run my good friend Jeremy put on in honor of his dad who passed away after a long battle with cancer. I lost my father earlier this year and there was no way I was going to miss this event. Loaded up the kids and headed down super early on what was an absolutely beautiful morning with temps in the upper 60's.

Tori testing the hill

Chia-Ru was running her first 10K and Karen was running the 5K (just for fun since she can't compete during her cross country season at school). Nate, Tori and I set out on the course to one of the nastiest hills to cheer/help the runners, it was pretty steep and all torn up from the horses. The race was a very technical run with tons of rocks, roots, loose footing, horse hoof holes and plenty of steep run ups.

83 years young!!!

Karen on the hill

Karen was the first female up the hill and she went on the be the fastest runner in the 5K. She is not in form yet since she just is getting back into running after her killer MTB racing season but ran a solid event non the less. Chia-Ru was a few seconds back and running strong.

A little while later this young lady on the left came up the hill, I think she was in her 80's if I heard correctly. I love to see people out and moving and she was a real inspiration to others. She won a free message for her efforts as well!

Chia-Ru took 1st in her age group and 3rd overall in the 10K. Jeremy and all the volunteers did a great job on this event and the course was challenging, put it on the calender for 2012 folks.

6 Hour Overall Podium

Later on Saturday the kids and I jumped on our MTB's and rode through town over to Swope Park where the 3/6 hour Spoke Pony Showdown MTB race was underway. Ethos teammates killed the course taking several podiums. Travis won the 6 hour solo, Jesse won the 6 hour solo single speed, Sarah won the 3 hour women, Sean took 3rd in single 6. Swope is a real MTB course and throws a lot at you and there were some casualties for sure... Kevin and Garet DNF'd and Garet broke his frame on that super fly Sworks Epic 29er in one a his spectacular crashes and is now in the need of super carbon fixer guy Mark Girod. Ethos rocked it once again, results here.

Saturday night was a real treat as well, Chia-Ru and some of her friends get together and do a pot luck of sorts where the food is all this amazing authentic asian fare. We ate so much it hurt to breathe and the food was amazing, I really do miss the fresh foods from my Taiwan trip last year and this was as close as I will get until I go back.

Sunday was and easy choice as well, the kids all wanted to race in the MO State Crit. Up super early again and rolled out to Jeff City for the 9am junior race start. Chia-Ru and her friend came along to cheer us all on. The course was pretty fun to ride as it went around the state capital building and had a few climbs and hills to make it a decent race.

Tori, Nate and Karen all racing at 9am, first time they have all raced together in a crit and this was Nate's first crit. It's a pretty awesome feeling to have all the kids racing together. They had a blast and did pretty darn good bringing home 5 medals (2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze) and a state championship jersey. Nate was really hapy finishing 3rd of 5 in the junior boys for his first race. Tori raced really strong and beat a boy that just last week lapped her! Karen raced just fast enough to win and was saving up for her first women's open race which was going to be fast and hard.

Kids brought the hardware home!

I decided not to race since I was feeling not so great after cheating on my paleo diet the night before so decided to just sit in a watch the races. Lesson learned, once you go off all dairy, beans and grains don't go back (bloated pig feeling!).

Karen's open women was as not until 2pm so we hung out watching the races. During the masters 40/50+ race an older man wandered onto the course after the pace car came through and in the middle of the course after turn one. Evidently one of the racers hit him hard and went down on his shoulder which ended up red flagging the race while the ambulance rolled in to get him up as he was out cold for a while. Where were the corner marshals or fans to keep this from happening?

Good sized field for Karen's race.

Women's open race had a good size field, definitely the biggest field K-Rocket has raced in on the road and there were lots of really fast women that showed up. The first 40 minutes of the 50 minute race were lots of small attacks but the field would not let anything go off the front and kept the pace pretty fast the entire race. Karen raced really well and was able to stay in the pack the entire race then got shelled in the field sprint up the hill and down the straight away. With 6 laps to go one girl launched a massive attack and stayed out front for the solo win. Karen was very happy finishing in the field sprint in her first open race.

Meanwhile Garet was racing his other bike, the single speeded kind and pulled out the Win in the MO State Single speed race, nice work. Results here.

Kid all at the line

Tori looking fast in that CX bike

Nate in his first crit looking pretty good

K-Rocket doing her thing

Rockets Racing

2011-08-05T15:27:00.005-05:00

Finally caving in and putting the blog up so my friends and family can keep up with all the riding and racing my kids and I do.

Lots to post, where to start? From the beginning? That would take a while for sure... how about we kick things off with a little bit about each of of the Rockets.

I, JP (aka Rocket), am one of the luckiest dads because I love to ride and race bikes and my kids do as well and for this I am blessed. MTB and CX are where my wheels roll and occasionally you will find me in a race on the road. I rode and raced when I was young, took 14 years off for life, work, kids, got out of shape and gained 60 pounds! Fast forward a few years and I am in my 3th year back racing again and wish I never stopped, and those 60 pounds are gone and I never want them back...

I race with a great group of guys and gals on the Ethos Racing team. Super fast, Super cool and pretty much the best dirt team in these parts!

BLING - 4th Place MTB Nats

K-Rocket is the up and coming superstar and is just simply in love with bikes. Just about to turn 16 and racing all over the country taking podium after podium and smiling the whole time. Here she is wearing the latest bling from her 4th place finish and MTB Nationals!

She is very self motivated and has her own coach, Adam Mills with Source Endurance, who does in great job working with her. Adam focuses on her long term love with the sport, not creating a short term kid wonder that will burn out by 18, and making sure her training does not get in the way of being a teen!

You will see a lot of K-Rocket on the CX scene this fall as that is her #1 passion. This season her goals have her taking a step on the podium at CX Nats in Jan. Helping her get there this season will be the best tires in the business from Challenge and the lightweight fast rolling bomb proof carbon tubulars from State Wheels. Big thank you two her first two full sponsors!

Winner Winner!!!

Nate is the fun loving young man that loves to ride around in the dirt. Super smart and funny as all heck but when it's race time he is all in. Nate is riding for the U20 team and is itching to get it on during CX soon.

Tori is one crazy 10 year girl on a bike. Already owning a CX bike and two MTB's she is well on her way to an addiction! Look for her on the CX course this fall.