Endurance Racing

Dawn Til Dusk is one of my favorite races. The last time I raced Dawn til Dusk I was somewhere in the 240lbs range. The weather was terrible, rain, wind, cold, and SNOW. I remember removing my sunglasses on my last lap due to an incredible amount of snow that had built up on the lenses limiting my visibility. I remember getting blown off my bike on a switchback from a very strong wind gust. Even with all that I remember it being super fun!!

This year Dawn til Dusk was moved to a month later to hopefully avoid bad weather. The weather for Dawn til Dusk was absolutely perfect. The race start time was pushed back to 8am, I would have preferred a 7am start so the finish be at 7pm and make the drive home slightly more bearable. The good part about an 8am start was the temperature was absolutely perfect.

I moved to the front of the start line and saw a couple of other riders that I know and wondered how I would end up doing on this first lap. My goal was to try and stay with the front group on the dirt road and save enough energy to rock the single track. 8am arrived and we were off. One rider jumped off the front but we all knew he wasn’t going to make it far alone, the road is fast and drafting works really well until the single track section. I ended up out front within the first few minutes and noticed my heart rate and effort was lower than I expected. I let some others take some pulls but for the most part I pulled the majority of the road until the first hill where I dropped off a little but regained to 3rd position before the single track.

Once we hit the single track my real motivation always kicks in. I started closing in on the guy in 2nd and as I went around one of the first sharper corners, my front tire went off track and into sand. I went flying over the handlebars and left a “sand angle” on the course. I was unhurt, my rear brake lever was out of place but easily moved back to where I needed it. I was able to keep my position but a group of four had caught me. The crash shook me up a bit and I ended up taking turns slower than I should have, wasting energy to re-accelerate out of them. I ended the first lap in 7th place with a good time.

My team was in the 4 person co-ed category and we heard the announcer say that we were in 2nd place. Everyone on the team was pretty happy about that and we raced in 2nd place for the entire day behind another local team, Colavita SouthWest Cycling. We all turned laps we were happy with, I even turned my fastest lap on lap 3. I wasn’t as strong physically on that lap but my mental game was back and I was riding very smart, looking ahead to pre-plan turns and find lines that would require less effort with more reward…it paid off. I have never gone faster on a 3rd lap then I did on previous laps, I used to always slow down by 8+ minutes, however, my fitness and weight loss has transformed me and what a great transformation it has been.

The team ended up finishing in 2nd place, Ben and Amanda had to work the next day so they did not hang out for awards. Myself and Zach hung out for the awards and picked up our cool pottery. Overall another super fun experience on the bike and 0 flats so far this season in both training and racing!! Thanks Stans!

The heart of my racing season is the New Mexico Off Road Series, and so far, so good. Spoiler alert: 4 races, 4 wins. The first race of the 2013 season is the Coyote Classic. It has been around a long time bouncing around a couple of locations near Las Cruces before ending up in nearby El Paso, Texas. Yes, I know that is not part of New Mexico but my 8th grade history teacher always said it should have been. The course is rugged, with most of it up in the rocky hills in the background.

My race went great, with my Stan’s Race Gold wheels and sealant working perfectly despite all the sharp rocks and cactus. I finished first in my masters age group, 3rd overall Cat 1, just behind the handful of Pros, my riding buddy Jerry Garcia (yes, that is his real name) and another guy who had just downgraded from Pro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next race was the High Altitude Classic in Cloudcroft NM, which we (NoTubes Endurance Racing) were very happy to help sponsor. This venue is an extreme change from El Paso, starting at about 9000 feet in the pines instead of the desert. We did three laps of about 8 miles and 1400 feet of climbing each.  All the Cat 1s and the one Pro who showed up started at the same time, and I had a great time staying with the Pro for the first lap and a half. I talked to Damian as we began the long jeep trail climb on the second lap, asking him why I was still with him so late in the race. He was taking it a little easy, since the Tour of the Gila started in just three days.  Anyway the pace picked up a little after that, and I fell back but still finished fifth overall and first in my age group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next weekend was the La Tierra Torture, just outside Santa Fe. This used part of a really fun network of trails, twisting in and out of juniper and pinon trees and up and down hills and through arroyos, with some new technical singletrack added this year. The start was a little narrow, so we started at 2 minute intervals, making it harder to race with the young guys, but I still won my age group.

 

The third in three consecutive weekends of racing was Oak Flats, in the Manzano Mountains southeast of Albuquerque. My usual riding partner Jerry Garcia and I camped out near the course despite the possibility of rain. Race day turned out cool and dry, perfect racing conditions. I foolishly tried to adjust my disc brake just before the start, and ended up stripping a bolt and starting the race with my front caliper held on by only one bolt. Luckily it held together, and I finished first in age group, and Jerry won first overall Cat 1!

No more NMORS races for me until July, but winning the first four races of the season was a great start. Thanks to Stans NoTubes and all the other NoTubes Endurance Racing sponsors for a trouble free time.

 

 

 

 

 

What could possibly be better than getting to ride one of your favorite mountain bike trails? Getting to ride that trail three times in a day, pushing yourself to your limits and maintaining the smile on your face at the same time.

I enjoy riding my mountain bike no matter what the trail or the conditions.  The unique thing about 12 Hours of Mesa Verde is that the Phil’s World trail system is one of the most fun courses you could possibly imagine.  Almost 100% flowly fast single track with short punchy climbs, and technical rocky sections.  The combination makes for one amazing ride on a single speed.

I have done this race for the past three years with a group of friends.  This year one of our friends had bronchitis and we decided to stick it out with a three person team and get some extra laps in, I’m very glad we did this.  I usually only get two laps and as my fitness has improved I want to get more mileage to push my limits.

My goal this year was to turn a lap under 1:20 as I have done 1:23 and 1:25 laps on the single speed last year.  This year I did the opening lap, albeit slower than I wanted due to traffic, it was still mileage and that’s training.

I decided that I’m going all out on my 2nd lap in order to achieve my goal.  My subconscious was telling me that it was going to be hard to reach my goal considering I had already done a 17ish mile lap semi-hard.  I approached the Rib Cage and noticed I had quite a bit of time left for a sub 1:20 lap, I decided to use up whatever I had left to reach my goal.  I raced in to the exchange area with a lap time of 1:17….goal reached and then some.

While I was out on the course I noticed a lot of people with flat tires. This reminded me that the last time I had put sealant in my single speeds tires was last years 12 Hours of Mesa Verde race! I stopped by the NoTube’s van where I found Kenny Wehn enjoying some well deserved rest after his super fast lap. I asked Kenny for an empty Stan’s sealant sample and he gladly obliged. I returned to the camp site, removed my valve stems, poured some of my sealant into the sample container and then dumped that into my wheels. I felt much better knowing I had some fresh Stan’s sealant in my wheels.

I enjoyed some well deserved rest and hung out for a little while with my 10 month old daughter Arya and my wonderful wife Heather who made me some very welcomed lunch!  My friends Terry and Kevin some of their best lap times in the past 3 years, everyone was excited to be racing and racing so well.

I went out for the teams 7th lap, during the first half of the lap I wasn’t feeling super strong.  I found my legs on the 2nd half and told myself I’m going to turn another sub 1:20, I did just that coming in @ 1:19.

It was absolutely amazing to do an extra lap and still destroy my previous PRs on my 2nd and 3rd laps.  I am feeling very strong and very happy with how far I’ve come in the past two years since I started taking cycling seriousl and joined the NoTubes Endurance Team.

Have a super awesome wife that gives me the go ahead to do back to back 7hour plus drives/weekends away from the family – Check.
Register for Whiskey 50 and SRAM Tour of the Gila – Check.
Months of physical and mental training - Check.
Stomach Bug and Cold week of Whiskey 50 – ARGGGHhh.

Whiskey 50

I was looking forward to racing the Whiskey 50 for the past two years and finally decided this year was a go.  A week before the race we had a dust cloud roll through Durango and I ended up with the common cold.  I thought to myself, this is ok, you will be over this by race time.  It turns out that not only did I get a cold but I also had a stomach bug.  I felt much better Thursday before the race and decided to make a go of it, only when I got home to pack I felt terrible again.  Friday morning I felt amazing and drove to Prescott (7 hours), prepped my bike for Saturday morning and was excited to race.  Friday night the stomach issues returned and on Saturday morning there was no chance I was riding my bike 50′ let alone 50 miles.  I made the best of it and cheered friends on from Skull Valley.

One thing I noticed as I slowly walked around the venue and talked to friends, Stans wheels were everywhere!  The friends I was staying with race on the Epic Endurance cycling team and all of them were running Stans NoTubes wheels.  It was great to talk to them and hear stories about how these wheels saved their butts in races when they heard a hiss from their wheels only to see a little sealant seep out and the hissing disappear.

Sitting in Skull valley it was quite depressing watching others race the race I had waited so long for.   My thoughts were lightened when I saw Kenny Wehn coming down the road in 1st place sporting his NoTubes Elite Master’s jersey.  Joe Burtoni rode by in the same outfit with a huge smile on his face, was great to see him having such a great time.   My friend Kelly came through and was very happy with his performance so far, it’s always great to see fellow racers having a great race and a smile on their face.  I told myself, next year the smile will be on my face as well…packed up my stuff and headed back to my family to rest up and hopefully be ready for Gila.

 SRAM Tour of the Gila

I was very nervous about whether or not my body would be recovered for four days of road racing.  I dropped my bike off with Pete Shirk @ Cottonwood Cycles for some brand new tubeless rubber and to stitch a powertap into my Stans Alpha 340 wheelset that I had used for cycle-cross.  The guys at Cottonwood cleaned up my bike, stiched in the powertap, put the tires on and filled them with Stans Sealent and sent me on my way.  I stopped in ABQ to ride with a friend and do openers.  One thing I noticed right away was how much smoother my bike was riding with my new tubeless setup…on to Silver City, NM I went confident my bike was ready to perform…but was I?

Day 1: Road Race

I parked my truck, hopped out, noticed immediately the guy I parked next to was running Stans wheels.  I mentioned that I had just set mine up and hadn’t had much time to test them out, he said he has been running them for 2 years now without a single issue and absolutely loves them…great to hear!

The race started out on a downhill and then began to go up, I noticed that myself and two others were not with about 19 riders that had put a little bit of space on us on the first climb.  I told them if they want to catch the group they should grab my wheel now because I’m closing the gap….I did just that.  Ten minutes later I began to cramp, was it from putting out so much power and not warming up properly or was it from my lack of nutrition due to dropping 5lbs with a stomach bug?  I was able to maintain the pace of the main group, until the last of the climbing started.

I finished 16 minutes back on day 1 but I was just happy to be racing and not completely cramped up in a ball.

Day 2: Time Trial

I will keep this short, started feeling my legs trying to cramp only 12 minutes in.  The cramps combined with no aero made for one hard TT, winds were in my face going out and changed to stay in my face coming back…not cool.  The course included some very rough road which I just rolled over, my wheels did a great job even though I thought my bike would explode

Day 3: Criterium

My legs felt much better on Day 3 and had no signs of wanting to cramp, I held the corners great with slightly less pressure in my wheels for better corning (couldn’t have done that with the ole wheels and tubes).  My goal was to finish with the pack and not cramp so I could “roll” into day 4 strong…goal completed.  Finished with the group.

Day 4: The Gila Monster!!!!

I went into Day 4 very nervous.  This was the hardest stage of the race and I was going in fairly beat down.  3 days of racing, a week of being sick and only 2 days of recovery, I thought I may cramp or just explode into the nether.  It turns out that as the days went on my body was recovering, at this point I am fairly certain my cramps were due to my lack of nutrition from being sick.

The Gila Monster which I had thought would be very brutal to me, ended up putting the biggest smile on my face of the past two weeks (besides my beautiful wife and adorable daughter of course).  I raced with the group up past the copper mine and down NM152, our race was stopped for a few minutes while the Pro Peleton went flying by, up to the continental divide we went, I slowed down and grabbed a water bottle at the feed zone only to realize that in road racing anything goes and you will get dropped in the feed zone!  The feed zone was 20 yards from the top of the continental divide and the people who grabbed water first sprinted in order to drop those less fortunate.  A little disappointed, I tried to chase back.  Two groups had formed, one of about 12 riders in front and another of about 10 riders behind.  After 2 miles of chasing the 10 rider group and not gaining ground I decided to back off and save some energy for the long climb I had ahead….very glad I did that.  I also told myself that this is all training for USAC MTB Nationals, this calmed me down and made me enjoy the rest of the race.

I made it up the climb I thought I would explode on, went down through another valley and found a 2nd wind.  I climbed towards the finish line very strong..so I thought.  I approached the 200m sign and noticed a car coming behind me followed by 2 riders going quite fast, they cruised by me going up a steep hill, surely doing over 20mph and the crowd cheered.  These were the Master Men A’s racing to the finish.  I looked at the crowd next to me and with my keen sense of humor said, “Well whatever bear is chasing them, he isn’t chasing me.”  They all cracked up and I continued on…  I crossed the finish line, grabbed some hydration and a banana, telling myself.  ”I can’t wait until next year!”

 

Summary/Lessons Learned

You can train as hard as possible for months and end up not being able to take advantage of that training.  However, in the end if you put a smile on your face and remember you are out there for the fun of it you will never have a bad day.