Tour De Tick

I felt so good after yesterday's ride I decided to drive down to Neosho and do the Tour De Tick. It was a nice 3 hour drive down there and I had plenty of time for warmup. The course was rock and a bit slick from rain, but very fast. Unfortunately my chain broke on the warmup just a minute or two before the start. I fixed it and rolled up to the line several minutes late when the sport riders were heading out and I just told the offical and bolted. First time I had ever missed a race start, since 1996! I chased back to the last experts and my chain broke again@! on the first lap. I removed a link and fixed the chain and began chasing again, this time the chain held. By the 3rd lap i chased into the back of the expert pack and that is were I ended up, almost 20 minuets off the podium pace. Definetly not my finest performance, but I felt good in spurts and obviously two chain breaks are going to affect my time. I was also fatigued from yesterday but was able to hold on to race pace for about 1.5 hours. Overall, better than not racing and a totally awesome course on old pennsylvanian shale and limestone from the jurassic period. In other words, I got to shred some prehistoric dirt!

Mechanical, twice in a row?? - My carbon bike had a mishap last week and I am riding a loaner, so I am ready to get my fresh rig back from specialized. Unfortunatley, there are no carbon frames in my size left at specialized. So for the next part of the season I will be riding a new M5 alloy frame, Roval EL 29er disc wheels, and everything else the same as my expert carbon stumpy. I have mixed feelings about going back to alluminum. Aluminum is equally as stiff as carbon, and only slightly heavier if at all, than carbon, however it lacks the vibration dampening quality that carbon has and a well made carbon frame like the stumpjumper 29er is stiff where it needs to be and flexi where it needs to be...maybe too flexi in some parts ;) So i will be spending a few hundred miles out in the Blue River getting my aluminum mojo back over the next couple weeks.

My loaner rig is a 29er paragon and i must admit i missed my carbon frame yesterday to soak up all the little cherty limestone bumps and roots that the alluminum transferred right to my back, but the aluminum still rails on corners and holds speed well. I am hoping that with the super light tubeless wheels and sworks tires, i can lower the tire pressure and get a good feel from what im sure will be a stellar aluminum frame from specialized. The last specialized i rode was a 1999 sworks M2 aluminum, which is one of the best bikes I have ridden to date, so i have high hopes for the M5 optimized alloy. I guess if i want to I could sell mid-season when the 2011 specialized bikes come in and finish off the season on a 2011 epert carbon 29er or maybe marathon carbon 29er. Let the racing decide!!

Jayhawker Ride

I have three beautiful days off work and am taking advantage of them with some rides. Rain was on the horizon this morning when i headed off to raytown and by the time i got there my plastic slicker was on. Clocked in at 2:45 with my loop out and back, half rain. I feel great and I love the country.

2010 Season Underway

I spent the off season lifting weights and working out my entire body. This method paid off well for building strength, but I lost a bit of VO2. I have some results to share for the 2010 season that kicked off 4-11-10 at the Lawrence River Trails and for today's Bone Bender 3/6 Hour.

UFD #1 - Lawrence River Trails
Like many of the 100 + rides I have had at the river trails, last weekend was fast conditions and good riders. About 100 overall riders and after 2 hours finished 6th overall. The top 3 riders were untouchable, but 3 to 6 was within a few mintues. Just felt like I needed to work on my VO2 and core/back. I spent the week of 4-12 riding off road and doing floor core and upper body workouts. Had a great ride out at swope on tuesday after riding to independence and back the day before.

UFD #2 - Bone Bender 3 Hour, Smithville, Mo
After having a mechanical with my carbon frame and calling in a favor during the week, I had enough drama going into the 3 hour race as any race last season. For the most part, I dont like to change rides in mid stream, let along mtbs 5 days before a 3 hour regional throw down. My favor paid off though, and I pulled up to the le mans start line ready to bolt. A quick run around some hilly slope and I was strapped on and looking at the leader, Kent McNeil from Omaha. My teammate JP was riding with me and we were sitting in to wait out a few of the less technically inclined riders through the first lap when I went big-big and wrapped the rear derail around my cassette. Quickly jupming off the bike I assesed the situation, took off the wheel, gave a tweak to the rear derail, put the wheel back on, and was back on the trail....after a solid 20 guys had passed.

I knew then I wasnt in the top ten, but felt good and just attacked continuously through the first and second lap, pulling back all 20 guys, looking at Doug Long throug the trees who was in front when I wrapped up my derailluer. I had a bit of a lull at 2:20 and let a few guys around while I recovered, dropped a hammergel, some accellerade and water and basically went on a 40 minute tear to catch back up to 14th overall and 2nd in the 19-34 Open (expert/pro) category. Kent, the overall winner, and Jon Schottler, the winner of Open beat me by 30 minutes.