Pics from OT

Here are some Pics from the weekend. These were taken at the C-bluff spur. Its wierd, because it barly looks like we are sweating. The last pic is from Sat morning, and my bad decision to run a 5k. I got 2nd place, but paid for it in stiffness for 3 days. My legs felt increadble on Sunday and Monday.

The crit last night was a different story. I was barley able to hang on to the pack, but I did. I was really feeling it on the ride home. The B race is faster, and once there is about 10 min left, the pace really kicks up. I made one brief trip up to the front, not all the way. That was enough for me. About the time I got up there, I was blown up, and had to pull back. These are truly different than the C race.

OT on the brain

I cannot stop thinking about the OT and the tasty, epic single track that is down there. That sound of gravel under the tires is stuck in my head. I have been studying the maps on ozarktrail.com, and ozarktrail.com/planner. These are two very detailed sites. The southern trace creek section looks pretty good, but so does the northern section for that matter. I think our crew had a good plan of attack on Sunday. As I mentioned we parked at 32 and DD, rode north on Middlefork, and dropped packs at the c-bluff spur. That let us floss the lake trail, sans packs, which makes a huge difference. On the lake trail, you also get a chance to refill bottles at the beach. Caching at the spur also allows you to refuel, and head north on trace for as far as you want, or your pack will allow. One can also drop packs at the Middlefork/South Trace sign. The options are HUGE!! Can you believe this is Missouri?

If EPIC is the name of the game, you will want a pack, and bottles. With this heat, you are still most likley limited to 5 or 6 hours of water that you can effeciently carry. Research indicates that water is available on Trace, with exception relating to an 8 mile section. Your opiton there is water purification. There are many methods out there, some more effecient than others. Filter, and Iodine are the most common. I gave up on filters a long time ago. We were on a 15 day trek in New Mexico. The guy that brought the filter, didnt have room in the pack for it, so I volenteered to carry it for a few days. Nothing big, only a pound or so of weight for our water supply. On the second day, the filter became difficult to pump, due to cloggage. Unfortunatly, the shlep rock owner of the filter forgot the cleaning brush, renduring the filter useless. The remainder of the 13 days, we ran into few people, none of which has a cleaning brush. Bummer. Now that not so heavy pound, was dead weight, and taking up space. Luckly, we had two of these:



In the iodine universe of water purification, tablet are the most common. I prefer the bottle, because it will not run out, or go bad. This would be the ticket. Cant wait to get back down there, and cruise some trail.

EPIC

Who is up for it??

Start at the lake, and ride Southern part of Trace creek. Cross the road and go over Bell mountain, taking the Joes creek loop, before heading back.

C-bluff

Scott "Mr. Clean" Piepert, "Taco" Christopher Connely and myself headed down to the intersection of DD and 32 on Sunday morning. The legs were incredibly stiff from a 5k that I did on Sat. Morning. It was to benefit Easter Seals, and was held in Forest Park. I am not a runner, but I cracked off a 5k in 21:12. The rest of the day was spent on the couch, in the horizontal position. I got up only to drink a delicous Dutch lager, and pack for the trip. Anyways, back to Sunday. We planned to ride a lake loop, and headed that way. At the lake loop connector, we dropped packs, and geared up with the bare essentials. The lake loop is in awesome shape. I found myself being hypnotized by the sound of gravel crushing beneath the tires. Things were really coming together, carving corners, and lots of momentum. We did a CCW direction, my personal favorite for that trail. After that, we headed back to the car. The heat had taken a toll. Terrific conditions down there, even with an inch of rain the day before, you cant even tell. I will be going down there again soon. Still on the tick list is the middle fork loop, and a recon trip on the north or south trace creek. These excellent trails are just too close to ignore any longer. Pic will follow.

Eureka Springs Fat Tire Fest.

This weekend had me down at the grandparents for some BBQ, sand pit washers, beer, and country music. "Texas Party" is a two day event that my grandfather throws every year. I was up late Fri night defending my title in shuffle board. Sat morning I did an easy spin to stay loose, and ate some more BBQ.

I awoke at 4:30 am on Sunday to drive to Eureka Springs AR. The race was a 9am start, so I wanted to get their early. The last 30 miles into ES is in the mountains, and I mean that. There is some great terrain down there. I got a good warm up in, and also had the nutrition dialed. The race started in the old town square, going up hill. I was truly flying on adrenaline. My HR before the start was 140, standing at the line. I was second row, and I knew it would spread out fast. They said GO, and I launched off of the line with two others on SS. We left every one behind, as we climbed some super steep drive ways, and then descended with our hair on fire down open roads with hairpin turns. There was a hair pin turn into a gravel jeep road, with several turns on loose chert. Back out on the road there were 4 of us spinning toward the first true singletrack section. The single track is close to the middlefork conditions. Loose small gravel with flow, and grade reversals. We climbed, and sawed off one of the 4 that came into the woods. There was a dude on SS riding off of the front with some conviction, and he got away. We were spread out as we did another mile of road after the first lung buster climb. The road was great to spin out on and regroup. Coming down a road hill, I slammed into the next single track section with tons of momentum and floss.

The new bontrager tires were great on the loose dry gravel. They really grabbed on to the corners at speed, and hooked up on the technical stuff. No complaints. I might have been running the pressure too low in them, but that is not their fault. I think these tires are designed more for DRY hard pack, and gravel to loose gravel.

The rest of the course was single track, save for the finish area. The trail just kept coming with loooong switchbacked hills up to 2 miles in length, and then flowy down hill sections. There were two secitons where I truly let it all hang out. No exaggeration, I did not hit the brakes for 15 seconds on a steep, tight, smooth gravel, full on down hill. The adrenaline rush was huge. By this time I am passing the expert field that started ahead of me. I was really riding hard, and feeling really good. I brought along two rooster booster packs that came in really handy. I could feel the rear wheel loose some air on a switch back, so I said to hell with it and put a tube in. This only lost me 3 min, and 3 spots, which I gained back with very short work. Within 15 mins, I was rolling up on a train of expert riders. They said the SS rider I was chasing passed about 5 min ago. I came around and just started drilling it. What killed my race was the missed turn at the dam, the Dam turn just snuck by me. I probably lost 6 min with that stupid mistake. That happened with about 5 miles to go. At that point, it was about 95 with sun, and the long up and down gravel was replaced with shorter, very technical, rocky sections. I was working on large groups, but with about a mile to go, I could feel some cramping coming on, so I powered down a little. I am still waiting on the final results. I did not stick around for the ceremony, because I was trying to find a ride back to the start line, about 5 miles away. I rode around the parking lot a few times, but it didnt seem like many people were leaving, so I geared up and got ready to ride back. I asked what the route was to get back, and how long it was. The answer "well, you go up that trail, and climb over the mountain, the climb up to the road is about 4 miles, then it is 2 miles to the town." I ended up finding a ride, so I really lucked out.

Over all this is one of the better races I have done this year. It was epic in length, and the trail just kept on bring a smile to my face. I have not raced this hard before. I could feel the pain and tiredness creeping up, but worked through it to get the most wonderful feeling in the world; MTB racing at the edge of your ability. You wouldn't know it from the results, but in the end I really enjoyed myself. I am going to keep racing, and training. Hopefully with some more experience I will get the results I want, without the mistakes of a ROOKIE.

Thompson

Took the stumpjumper out to C wood last night. The bike felt wierd from a set up stand point, from the different cockpit. I got onto the rollercoaster for the first lap. Into the last section, where I consider you can pull the most G's, my seat comes off of the post. I racked myself sooooo bad. just walk it off son. the right ball took most of the force, but from the look of the post, it could have been alot worse. I consider myself lucky. Its funny because I was reading the thompson website the other day and thinking about how often a post breaks. That seems to be their main advantage next to wait, the bend not break advantage. Now I fully understand what they are talking about. It dosent just happen to DHers and freeriders. I will be hooking up a thompson post to replace the broken one. Walking and spinning easy back to the car always makes me feel like a poser. Maybe I am you say? What ever. Here are some pics of the damage, and the stumpie. Still a great bike. I need to do somthing about the heavy ass kore stem and bars. I could easly lose a pound doing that.









a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6EaimQyWvrD2-8KRaLpNSCqqaySMB0W82oupPUbSUdmXETukX3MT31KHp3h2kyaUX9Euzo78L2Wma8NZwu_NPScXc74RI7I-JQu3K5NkcxPNSRLMVIPHDq4QJ26-EJJwCdZSjoN0c/s1600-h/DSCN0154.JPG">


I picked up some bontrager tires yester day from TK at ghissallo. They are tubless ready, but seem to have a better sidewall than the pythons. Word on the street is that the Lalonde brothers run these in WI. The tred looks like it is made for some dry conditions. It should be a good fast ride. Trail conditions sound like it is gravel and chert on the trail. a good fast tire sounds like the hook. 715 grams for those that care. I dont know how that compares, but we will see. I am going to set them up tonight and run them this weekend. I dont know much about the tubless tire set up, but evidently since there are no UST 29er tires out there, this is the next best thing.




<

This the the elevation profile for the course in AR for the weekend. It looks pretty tough. Definatly going to be a grinder of a race. I am going to make sure and get some rest in before hand. I just found the profile today, so I am trying to decide which bike to rock for this race. The 26 HT will climb well, and has UST. The 29 just feels like it has a motor on it when climbing though, so I am leaning toward that. What ever, we will jsut have to wait and see. I have laid out my training calander from now until the 17th of Aug. I am going to try and hit 95% of those workouts and restdays. I will be intergrating some hard core circut training in there, with at least three double days. Its what Mark Twight calls "the attitude of the knife"...cut off whats incomplete. I think that is originaly taken from the movie "Dune" but I am not certaine.

First B race last night at the crit. Faster pace, and smarter compitition made this an interesting experience. I made two trips up front, but there was nothing to be had. The amount of time it took to recover from these short efforts was about double what it took in the C race. With three to go, there was a sharp increase in speed that had me in good position, with good legs. I quickly realized that the anxiety level was increasing, so I backed off. Overall, a good race, and an easy spin to an from the park got me over 40 miles for the day.

I got a camera

Check out my new bikes that I got in June!!

The Salsa is FAST!! The Seven is super fast, and both climb like a dream. The seven frame is all steel. I am really impressed with thed smoother ride that it provides. It came in handy over the weekend on a 52 mile ride through Jeff CO. We rolled early on Sat morning from Kirkwood. Over 141 and onto Hillsboro road we traveled. This time we went up Jim Weber road. I wish we had more time to ride the whole loop, but Keith had to be back my 9:30. Not really complaining, I was in a pretty fragile state from the night before. Friday afternoon was a booze cruise on the meramec river in Fenton.

Hill Country

I took the new road bike out to Wildwood for some hills. I hit the big ones to see how the bike climbs. Warm up on Shepard road, climb up ALT road, Allenton, Wild Horse, and some rollers in the middle. 48 miles with an 18.6 avg. It felt good to be in the saddle for 2.5 hours. I need a few more rides like this in me with in the next couple of weeks. This was my second ride out there this week. I also hit up LV for some SS riding, but the legs were super tired last night. I ended up doing two easy laps and shuttin'er down. The weather looks good for the weekend, so I am contemplating some longer road and off road rides. The motivation is running strong right now, so Ill take it. I am committing to the race in Eureka Springs Ar next week. http://www.fattirefestival.com/ It looks pretty good. Maybe I will get some revenge and redemption from my DNF last week. I guess I am finally over that. I really want to perform well at an AMBCS event, so this is my chance

DNF

Big disapointment on Sunday. The Dino Race in IN has been on my calander and my mind for two months now. I was looking forward to it, just like all MTB races. I got to ride up there and spend the weekend with some of the fastest dudes in the midwest. Dave tore up the expert race, Zach tore up the sport race, and I tore up the sidewall of my python rear tire. Wes told me that I would cut a sidewall on that tire, now I believe him. Zach B. won the highly covented (to me) overall sport race. That is his second win for the overall this year I believe. Davey B won the expert overall, his second in a row. Two very good performances on a demanding course. The course...? Demanding physically and technically from a bike handeling standpoint. There was some slop on the warm up lap, and some dought in my mind about how fast it would be. I almost missed my start because I was dicking around on the course, and forgot my watch was an hour behind. I rolled to the start, and started my pregame focus session. I was dialed. The horn went off, and so did I, third into the woods. The leader started to pull away, but the second was not keeping up. Second guy goes down, and I spin out to catch up. At a slop up hill by the bridge, the leader slips and I get around. We were about 4 min in at that point. I keep it toghether on the hills, passing the wave infront of me. Toward the end of the lap, I hear a hiss, what ever, no distractions now. I keep pushing, and soon enough I feel the soft back end creeping up. I knew I had time, and my HR was in check, so I calmly add some air and am on my way again. Problem solved....NOT!! Again, I add some air, this time checking and confirming a sidewall cut. BALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wait a bit to see if it will seal. People begin to pass, #2, zac B, #3, #4. I air up and roll through the starting line, begging for a tube. Its my fault I didnt have one, because I am a complte ROK. Some day I will get the hang of this MTB race thing. I aired up until the canistor ran out, which was enought to get me to the bridge. I ran back to the car to try and find a tube. There was one there, but the motivation was snowballing down hill at that point. I decided to throw in the towl. DEFEATED...OWNED...ROOKIE

I decided to make my self useful, and ring the cowbell for the Mesa crew and EP. Overall there is not much to be disappointed about, I have had good luck all year, and I know things like this happen. It will not change my overall drive to continue racing. MOVING ON.

Crit

Last night came together real well. I hung in the pack, doing some work up front, but not for too long. The pace was being pushed by none other than Christopher. With three to go, I was front third of the pack, and kept this position while there was alot of movement around me. Like DB told me, "stay in the center of the pack, and everyone else is moving around you, like Danail-san. Most broke early on the last lap, at the bottom of the hill, I just carried some sick momentum to the top, and accelerated to the last 30 meters, then got out of a saddle. At the top of the hill, I rolled up on a junior, he was ready for a sprint, I did, he won. Evidently he is a 2, that was in the C race to help his dad who is a "Legit 5" I will be catting up next week. Afterwards we had a BBQ in the park. Good food, good beer, good friends. Great way to end the day.

Big shout to MJ at Mesa, he really did an awesome job setting my up on a new ride. I bought his Seven frame from him, and swapped some parts onto it. The ride is unbelievably smooth. At any speed, the smoothness is the same. Also, when you hit the gas, this thing moves. I had a FSA SLK carbon crank with 53/39 put on, that makes a huge difference. I am super impressed with the difference this bike makes. I am really fired up to go and ride some of my training routs to see how it rides. Legs were also good last night. Felt somewhat sluggish early in the ride, but things loosened up as time went on. This weekend should be hard core. Stay tuned for pictures of the new ride.