Syllamo's Revenge

Headed down to Arkansas once again for Syllamo. Had some expectation coming into to this race. Pre-rode some of the technical sections to get them dialed the day before and felt pretty good.

Race starts, feel strong. 1.5 hours passes, still feel strong. Was riding somewhere near top 20 im guessing based off first check point assumptions. By the 2 hour mark I started fading. HR would spike on quick punchy climbs and couldnt seem to recover from those.

As it started getting hot out I continued going backwards. Today was not my day. I didnt have it. Limped in in 50th place overall for 19th in age group for a time of 5:56. My slowest ever down there. It wasnt very motivating to have my slowest time when the course was the fastest I have ever seen it.

A big thank you to Dave Domian's parents for handing us bottles all day in the heat saving us uber time avoiding long lines at the checkpoint water coolers.

Zach had his best time down there coming in under 5 hours. Dave had his best time beating his old best time by over 2 hours(6:28..?). Wish I could have joined their party. I had to sit in the back seat all weekend....



Hope you enjoyed this detailed race report.

Greensfelder XC 2012 - Marathon

Before I start I have to apologies for never posting about Cedar-X. That was a race worth a post for sure but left my left hand numb and tingly. I must have pinched a nerve or something along those lines during the ride. My hand slowly went numb and is still not back to normal. Quickly though, I didnt finish. Got 90 miles in. That was more than enought that day. The heat ruined me. Bob Jenkins is the man and gave possibly the best pre-race speech in the history of pre-race speeches.

This year at Greensfelder I raced Marathon unlike years past when I usually race Cat 1. I wanted to race Cat 1 as I have podiumed the last 2 years in my age group. But, again, with Leadville in mind I needed to go the distance and with the trails being in the best shape ever, I was looking forward to spending more time flossing some tech single track.

There were 53 starters in Marathon which shatters any local record to my knowledge. The start of the race was pretty fast. Heading into the single track I was placed just inside the top 10. I was riding like shit in the techical sections right off the bat. Not sure what my deal was but I could not stick a line to save my life at first. About the half way point of the first lap I learned how to ride again and smoothed things out settling into a 3 hour pace.

Going into the second lap I was in a group with Zach Brace and Jason Zoll, aka arm baby, aka leg titty, aka Orin Boyd. We were a hand full of bike lengths behind Brett of Dogfish but slowly realed him back in. After the majority of the lap had passed, they all started slipping away from me just a little. Ending the second lap I had to stop to grab another bottle and caught Zach as he was doing the same. Riding down the long gravel path before the single track Tim Rister of the Cyclery caught us and passed by.

Now on my third lap I was focusing on getting calories every place the trail allowed pacing myself for a 5 lap race. By the end of the third lap I had lost contact with Zach. Going into the 4th lap I was now riding with all the racers of the other races that had just started or were starting behind me. I ended up riding what felt like a pretty fast 4th lap. At the end of the 4th lap I had to stop for another bottle.

At the start of the 5th lap, which was sure to be my last at 2:42 in the the race, I drank most of the bottle I had just grabbed to hopefully get a boost. My last lap felt a little slow but for the most part my pace was the same all race. I finished in 8th place out of the 53 starters.

Photo by DRJ Racing

Was hoping for a top 5 but all the riders in front of me were all fast so I cant complain. Looking back at the lap times, even riding conservatively, my first 3 laps would have placed me 3rd in Cat 1 30-39. That was probably the highlight of the race for me.


Syllamos Revenge is this coming weekend. My goal down there is top 15. I dont know if that to high or to low. I finished 10th down there a couple years ago but the race has blown up since becoming part of the NUE series which is now drawing national riders. Having said that, most of them will be in the 125K race. So, just going to ride my best and hope for the best. Geez this is getting serious...

MFXC THREE

MFXC THREE is in the books. Came into the non-race with fresh legs after several days of rest and a couple easy rides. Started pretty slow going through the camp ground chatting with Matt James. By the time we hit the single track I was following Matt and Gino"one sexy Latino". They were about 50 feet in front of me for the first mile of single track. By the time we hit Middle Fork Gino passed Matt, and in single speed fashion, rode away from us up the long climb to 32 and DD.

About the same time we hit the Middle Fork trail I noticed my right pedal was turning into a complete piece of shit. The pedal body apparantely had no desire to stay attached to the spendal and was doing everything it could to seperate itself from my bike. It was pretty torcherous to have to keep my pedal on while pedaling by squeezing inward with my right leg the entire 4 mile or so climb up to 32 and DD, where the first aid station was. There I stopped and asked for aid.

Not very usefull. Photo by CFR.

At this time I asked if there were any pedals I could use.
"me: got a crank brah's pedal I could use?"
"aids: would you like a beer?"
"me: yeah, why not."
"aids: we have to go back to camp and get you a pedal"
"me: okay"

While Nico and CFR(aids) went to get me a pedal, which was quite amazing of them, I hung out with Faranella and drank a beer with him while I waited. About 25 minutes later I was rolling again.

Loosing about 25 minutes there, that was pretty much the non-race for me. I rode pretty hard trying to catch as many people as I could. With no other issues along the way I came across the line at 3:54, with a ride time of 3:29. But the 3:29 also included rolling around the camp site for about 5 mintes before the start. So, not really sure what my actual time was. Guessing about 3:25. Doesnt matter.

The trails were as good as they get. This is a non-race to non-miss.

A big thank you to the Jerks that make this race happen. Also, thanks to Jim and Wendy Davis for the mid race PBR hand up right before the biggest climb on the course. It was delicious.


Later in the week, this happend....

Tour of Hermann Road Race(training ride)

Not much to report this year for the last edition of TOH. I have been putting in big hours on the bike and my legs were not feeling great. Been doing pretty much all easy endurance riding on my MTB on the road. I had good momentum coming off Hillsboro Roubaix but that was a flat race, the climbing in Hermann was the nail in the coffin. I got dropped with in the first 10 miles like the PUNK-ASS-BITCH that I am. My HR and breathing felt great, but my legs were trash. I thought about chasing a little but the gap opened pretty quick and the group was out of site not long after I popped. This turned into a training ride pretty quick. Since I was out there and paid money, why not just finish it? So thats what I did. I rounded up and dropped a couple guys during the first lap but eventually picked up David Smith from the HUB. We finished the first lap and completed the second lap together as well. We were the last finishers in the CAT 3 race but we at least were finishers. Had a huge week with slightly over 17 hours of riding at close to 300 miles, almost all on my MTB on the road. Base is good! Totally bummed this race is not happening next year. I have attended all 5 of them and never had a bad time, minus the hurt the race would bring. The 2 day gravel stage race will hopefully make me forget the TOH though. I have no doubt that Jeff Yielding will make that event top notch just like everything else he promotes. Stage racing on cross bikes sounds pretty bad ass to me.

Photo by Dan Singer

Photo by Lawman. I thought it was pretty funny to see that even roadies know the TeamSeagal salute.

Hillsboro Roubaix

If there is a race that should be run in the rain, its this one. Its one of our own little monuments in our area drawing riders from all over the Midwest. The race this year was wet and rain was fore casted for pretty much all day. As cold as it was in the morning I was pretty excited to be racing in shitty conditions.

There were close to 100 riders in the category 3 race. I have only placed well in a RR one time. That was a 2nd place finish at TOH but in the 4's. Ever since then I have seemed to struggle to find the front of a road race as a 3. But I have also never had a true training plan. My result this year wasn't great but I felt like my race was.

The first lap of the race did seem a little slow. Sort of a gentleman's lap so everyone could see the sketchy high speed corners maybe...? No issues first lap other than figure out how to keep shit out of my eyes. It was raining pretty hard at times and the wheel spray made it worse. Glasses were useless pretty early into the race.

The start of the second lap things sped up dramatically. A break formed right away of about 6 or 7 riders, followed by a chase group of about 4 or 5. The gaps were never much and both groups were caught pretty early. The main field was down to about 50 riders cutting the original 100 in half. I'm good at math...

I was sitting mid pack feeling pretty fresh. I hadn't consumed 1 calorie since the race had started and had only drank through half of one bottle(i think endurance specific training is starting to show and payoff). I had 3 bottles on me, it was not necessary this day. I eventually muscled my way to the front of the race and even pulled for a short while. Soon some attacks started and i covered everyone of them with ease. It felt great to be this late in the race and be able to do this.

Coming into this race my only goal was to not crash and get some solid training. Now that was at the front of the race I started to think about a good result. I figured the only way I was going to go for a good result was be at the very front coming into town as to not have to dice it up on the rain soaked brick streets. Because screw that.

Coming up the first climb coming back into town I was sitting around 10th on the far left hugging the center line that doesn't exist. Not great but fairly safe. Just before the second climb a crash happened to my right and a little behind me. A rider fell against my back wheel and it spooked me. I swerved left to avoid anything else that might have been coming my way and looked back to realize I was fine. But in that split second about 15 riders passed up the right side.

That was it. My race was over. I finished on cruise control and out of harms way in 48th and happy about it. Top half. Good at math remember....? Sure I was bummed that I didn't get a top 10 or better but my race effort showed me that what I am doing is starting to payoff.

My form right now seems pretty GOOD. If the plan in the place goes right the next 6 weeks leading up to Syllamo it should be way BETTER. After Syllamo the riding should be pretty intense for long rides that will hopefully take me to the BEST form I have ever had for the Leadville 100 MTB race.

TOH next week. Just the road race though. Need to get a 4 or 5 hour ride on Saturday to keep my fitness going in the direction it is. And in true TEAMSEAGAL spirit, you are all a bunch of jerks for reading this.

Have a nice day!

Lost Valley Luau - Marathon

Since I am in training for Leadville I have decided that I will only be racing longer races through Leadville. The Luau was a great way to get things kicked off for racing this year in the Marathon class.

As of right now everything I have done on my bike has been easy riding plus 2 Tuesday crits. And riding only started at the beginning on March. Needless to say I do not have a ton of miles yet so a big ride was needed on Saturday on top of the race. Went out for 4 hours Saturday.

Sunday morning during warm up my legs felt a little sluggish but not bad. Had zero expectations for the race and my only goal was to have fun and get more hours. When the race finally started I took it easy the first couple minutes to see what the pace would be setting at. To my surprise it seemed slow. I rode up to the front of the pack and tried to settle in. Going up the climb the first lap a small group of about 8 to 10 riders got a gap on everyone.

By the time we got to the single track they were pretty much gone. I was now purely focusing on my HR and trying to keep it around 175. This was going to be my first 3 + effort and with the 4 hour ride the day before I knew I was going to have to take it easy early in the race.

By the end of lap 1 I was pretty much going the speed I was going to go. Not super fast. I stopped for another bottle and some more food. Starting up the climb the second lap Zach caught me and told me the brake on his front wheel was rubbing bad. I told him "I know that, I heard you coming up the hill....."

Zach didn't have any tools on him so I dropped a multi tool in his pocket going up the climb as we rode next to each other. "Get that shit fixed and catch back up", I motored on to start the second lap.

I felt pretty good starting the second lap, alone. Flossing the single track while riding by myself was a blast. And the trails were perfect too. Being alone now I could just ride and not think about someone in front of me or behind me. Eventually Zach caught me and we rode together for a long time.

We traded pulls all the way from mid 2nd lap through about mid 4th lap. I started falling off pace and Zach was eventually gone. I did my best to stay with him but I just couldn't do it. Not sure if it was the 4 hour ride the day before or if I didn't eat enough or both.

I finished the 4th lap at about 3:02 into the race in 8th place out of 41 starters. I haven't seen the official time but it was right there. I think I was the first rider done that didn't get 5 laps. Not really upset about the 5th lap either. My legs were pretty tired from 7.5 hours of riding in 2 days.

One more week of easy riding to finish up my March training block. Not sure what the plan for April is yet but I am excited to hear whats in store. I do know that Hillsboro-Roubaix and TOH are a part of the plan. Looking forward to these races.

The season is off to a good start!

Power testing

My training for this year has just started. I have been working out pretty much all winter but most of it has been off the bike. The plan Zach put together for me is as follows for the month of March

8 hours week 1

10 hours week 2

12 hours week 3

14 hours week 4

All these hours will mostly be base/easy miles. The Tuesday crits will be my only intensity for the month of March. I decided that since I have a power tap now that I should go ahead and get some numbers to see progress.

Max watts: 1404
5 sec: 1268
10 min: 304
Weight 170

I plan to get a 5 min and a 20 min this coming week also. The 20 min number is the one I need to focus on as I know this is my weakest link. After those tests im sticking to the plan.

Not sure what to think of these numbers because I have less than 20 hours of riding since Masters Worlds nearly two months ago. If all goes well and I get the 40 + hours this month I would expect to see these numbers increase. Just not sure how much.