Castlewood

Holy shit! Castlewood was in such great shape on sunday. What an awesome race put on by the DRJ folks and the MWFTS. I'm currently typing this we a bum wrist (hopefully not broken, but if it keeps hurting then I'll probably get xrays this week).

Maggie and I both raced on sunday. I was on my new lynskey 29er currently set-up as a single speed (although it can be ridden as a geared bike at any time). The bike came together beautifully and still needs a few tweeks but so far is the nicest bike I've ever ridden...seriously log-scale magnitudes better than any other mountain bike I've ridden. I'll post some bike porn later this week or next once the custom wheels are complete...but I'm thinking that with the suspension fork it'll probably be around 21lbs, maybe less. And man, titanium rides so well. Stiffer than steel, more compliant than aluminum, and much more 'organic-flowy' than carbon. Jack at Lynskey is awesome and really hooked it up for me...super nice guy and very easy to work with.
Oh yeah, the race. Maggie rocked it again, taking 2nd in a field of around 6 or 7 beginner women. I'm so ridiculously proud of her...she's really pushing her comfort zone and having a great time while doing so. We also made the after work journey from Columbia so that she could race in the last thursday night alpineshop dirt crit. I just hung out with our daughter and watched everyone (well everyone except for one of the most agro mountain bike racers I've ever seen...who was also at the race today) have a blast.

My race was interesting. Unlike last week I finished. But similar to last week I had a flat on my rear tire. This time, I ran into the finish/starting area, changed it, and kept on going. When I flatted I was hauling-ass and riding in second place with one lap (of three total) to go. For some reason my CO2 cartilage thing would dispense the CO2 every time I tried to screw it shut...so I ended up wasting 2 cartigages and a ton of time before we finally borrrowed a floor pump from someone. Once I got it filled up I was probably in either 6th or 7th place and I still felt good, so rode my ass off but whilst doing so managed to have a pretty serious crash going down the last switch-backy down hills (Justin's or Jason's). I think I came across 3rd or 4th which I feel pretty good about. The dude that won the single speed category was pretty damn fast. I had him at the starting line, but he past me on the first climb. I realized that he was fast and started to settle onto his wheel. I think I could have held his wheel on an empty course, at least for a while, but when we encountered other racers, he got a good line and I got a bad one while trying to pass...he gapped me and I never saw him again. Oh well, it is always nice to see where I am as far as riding. On that note, later in the first lap Dave B. (who had flatted) followed me down the rocky switch-backy down hill (Justin's or Jason's) so I'm curious to know if he thought I was slow, decent, or par for the course in terms of the expert category. I think my goal for next year's mountain biking will be to ride in the expert category.

Rock Bridge

Beautiful day today and damn good conditions for July in Missouri. The high was mid-80s, no rain in the past few days, and a good turn out made for an awesome day of racing here in Columbia. I had a pretty mellow week riding-wise so I felt well rested and ready to go.

The single speed category had 6 guys, including fast-man Fuhrmann, some KC dudes, a dude I didn't know, and my friend cock puncher from team seagal. The race got off to a quick start and I managed to be second wheel heading into the trees. To my surprise, myself and the dude I didn't know slowly pulled away from the field...and I felt like we were going at a brisk pace (perhaps 60-70% effort) but nothing too crazy. The lap was an 8 mile loop with a little bit of everything included and to my advantage, I know those trails very well. I ended up pulling around the lead guy somewhere around 3-4 miles in and didn't look back. During the first lap I was feelin great. I was starting to ride my way into the expert class again so was super psyched. I knew that the 29er crew dude Fuhrman was somewhere behind me but I felt like my pace was solid. About 1.5 miles in to my second lap murphy's law came into effect and I flatted on my rear tire. Damn. My rear wheel is bolted on and uses a nifty ENO eccentric hub, which is great but also a serious bitch to deal with when changing a flat. So I've always told myself that if I flatted on the rear during a race, I'd call it quits. Shit. I was curious about where I was so I hit my stop watch and watched until Fuhrmann came by. To my chagrin saw that I at least a minute and 20 seconds on him. Damn.

Oh well. That's bike racing.

Maggie on the other hand, rocked it today. She was one of 3 of the 6 beginner women who got 2 laps in and managed to ride her way into second! After her first lap there was some poor communication about how many she had left so she stood around for about 5 minutes...so if that wouldn't have happened she might have won.

We both had a blast and are psyched for next sunday!

Awesome week leading to a non-race

This past week marked the return of my board scores, which ended up leading to a couple of days of celebration. The weekend that capped off the week had in store 3 great days of riding. Friday morning, I headed out for about an hour-ish of tempo-paced riding at Rhett's run. Saturday, was riding at Castlewood with Maggie and then Sunday was an awesome event hosted by our friends team Seagal.

The story with the Seagal event was that everyone would meet at Chubb trail then ride as a group to a few of the many difficult sections of the trail. Each rider had 2 attempts to ride the section for points, then at the end of the day the points would be tallied....and then something about a winner.

Anyway, the whole day brought back a lot of memories, as Chubb was a place I hadn't been too in 10 years, although most of my riding there was over 15 years ago, back when I was in the 7th grade. My mom used to drop off me and a friend at the Lone Elk side and we'd ride our rigid Trek 800s for anywhere from 2-5hours (depending upon the epic factor for the day). Seeing the trail again today and realizing how seriously technical the place is, I had to laugh imagining other mountain bikers seeing me and my buddy back in the day.

As for the event today, Maggie and I both rode and had an absolute blast. I think I only cleanly rode 2 of the 10 sections and am left hungry for more, wanting to head back to Chubb as soon as I can. The team Seagal guys had a fantastic idea organizing the event, followed through with an awesome day, then served up some great brats, burgers, and of course cold PBR. The whole day basically epitomizes one of the the reasons I love mountain biking...everyone there was so psyched for each other when someone rode a hard section of trail.

I definitely can't wait for more non-races and was thinking of some ideas for similar events to host in Columbia.-Cassidy was diggin the spoke card on the way home

Training and racing wise, I'm looking forward to the Rock bridge race next weekend. After that, there are basically 2 things on my radar. The most of important of which: cross season. The other: single speed world championships in Durango. I have a little altimeter on my handle bars that I'll use to train for the sswc, I'm trying to work my up to doing some serious climbing each week. Right now, I average around 3,000-5,000 of vertical feet per week. I don't know what all the course for sswc has in store, but I imagine I'll get at least a week or two of climbing in...at altitude.

Castlewood race

Maggie and I both did the race at castlewood on saturday. Overall, there isn't too much to say except that we both had fun but were dissapointed with the turn out. The course was great in my opinion. 1 fast and flowy section and 1 hard and technical section that I used to ride like 10 years ago pretty frequently.

The single speed category had only 2 racers. Oh well, I suppose that with the Thursday night crit and sunday's race a lot of people were recovering...or working. I ended up feeling the best I have on a bike in a long time so ended up riding into the expert group and staying away from the sport riders (barely) until the end. Unfortunately, because there were only 2 riders in the single speed category, I didn't get the state jersey but I did manage to pull a nifty Surly flask from the loot as a prize.

Maggie was the only racer in her age category for the beginners so ended up with a medal as well. Not bad for her first race ever.

Training in July-->race glory in september

Behold, the location of my rotation (marked "B) for the month...Elis Fischel Cancer Center....a 5 minute ride from Rhett's run (green area)! Muhahahahaaaaaa!!!! Training madness will be happening on an almost daily basis between July 1 and 31!!!!!

A little training, fast race, cold beer, and shrivled weiners

The title just about sums up the experience of the "midwest single speed championships" in Binder Lake in Jeff City this past weekend. Unfortunately, I have no pictures only a brief story of the day. First off, I was psyched that it was not hot. I take a bunch of thyroid hormone every day (since I had Thyroid cancer, this acts as a 'natural' suppressant via a negative feedback loop), which makes me hot-as-shit most of the time, be it summer or winter. Needless to say, being hot-as-shit, then riding bicycles in 100+ temps is not a great combo if having fun, going fast, and not heat stroking are my intentions. So, I was psyched to wake to the upper 60 degree temps today and only to have to drive 40 minutes to the race.

As for the first aspect in the title above, I have managed to get some training in on my single speed since the Rhett's run ass whooping that I took. I rode mostly in the mornings, did a lot of climbing, and tried to get some mileage in on my cross bike on the Katy trail. I also did some short, intense running which I am now definitely convinced helps in hard riding.

The race today saw 30-35 folks registered and out there riding on their single speeds. There were definitely some strong riders including one kid on my current dream bike who I think won the race (as he probably should on that thing). After the start, I found myself riding right behind 3 guys who seemed pretty fast and I settled in and basically sat on their wheel as they were some Red Wheel guys and I figured knew the trails pretty well (I had never rode Binder Lake before). I wasn't sure where I sat in the race, but thought I might be 4th...actually turned out at that point to probably be 6th-ish. The laps were 7 miles and the race was set as a 3 lap race. The first lap was fast, smooth, and a ton of fun. I felt strong and wasn't quite sure what to do when the 2 guys leading our four-man train accelerated ahead. I ended up sitting back, figuring that it was a long race and I didn't really know if I would bonk like I did at Rhetts. After one lap was down I passed the Red Wheel guy who had graciously put up with me riding right on his wheel and then found myself where I was for the rest of the race, alone in the woods. The second lap was a bit of a joke as I ended up eating dirt 3x. Each time, I realized afterwards that my mind was totally drifting right before each crash. I think the first time I was wondering what we would have for dinner, when my right handle bar hit a tree and sent me flying. The second time, I was wondering if I was being very practical when I joined the Big Shark Team while I live in Columbia...I've never been able to make it to one of their meetings, I do like the shop quite a bit but all-in-all definitely use local Columbia shops more frequently...then bam, this time my shoulder hit a tree and I went flying, this time to the opposite side. The third fall on the second lap I was descending a very fast little section thinking about whether or not I liked chocolate GU or vanilla more and bam, I just fucking fell. What an idiot.

The third lap was pretty smooth, but my legs definitely started to cramp a bit...once I unclipped my right leg to take a step and holy shit did it cramp up, unfortunately, with my toes completely pointed so I ended up struggling to get my cleat back in. At the end of the race, a big burly-ass ninja-like man was coming in hot behind me...it was sufficient motivation to pick up the pace and come in just ahead. Only later did I realize it was the one and only C.F.R. of the Team Seagal crew. I think I ended up 5th and he was 6th...so overall, a pretty good race.
The Red Wheel guys were truly a bunch of heros putting the whole thing together. It was definitely the most fun I’ve had on a bike since cross season ended.
The post-race glory was beer and bbq…however, I ended up not feeling so hot after being off the bike for a few minutes so only managed 1 hotdog and 1 brew. (warning: what you are about to read is painful, stupid, and may not actually do jack-shit but most pro-athletes are required utilize these before they leave games or training) When I got home, I harbored back to running in college and took myself a bath full of cold-water and all the ice I could find in the house…instant fucking relief to the legs and back.

Maggie got a bike!

Maggie got a sweet new women's MTB and we're both so excited to get out and ride!

We made it to Castlewood last weekend and having spent the last year only riding a few times she rode very well. There was one climb on grotpeter that when we were approaching I suggested that she shift down to her lowest gear. I climbed ahead of her then waited at the top. When she came up she said that she made it without dabbing once....then asked if she should have been in her little ring (meaning she climbed a pretty technical and steep hill in her middle ring!).

It definitely got me thinking about training for riding and how incredibly effective good cross training can be. Maggie has been seeing a trainer at the gym for the last 6 months 2-3x per week and he has her doing all kinds of crazy functional fitness stuff (squats, lunges, pull-ups, push-ups etc). Other than that, she had been on a bike maybe 5-6 times since she first got pregnant a year and a half ago!

Last summer when I had surgery and was laid up for most of July, I couldn't ride a bike for a while so I did some really intense trail running and hit the gym for some pretty hard-ass workouts. When cyclocross season came around I had been on my bike 2x in September (except for some very short commuting), not at all in August, and a few times in July. I ended up having a fantastic season and felt super fit.

This season, I'm doing a bunch more mountain biking including some racing throughout the summer and into september. I'm also trying to maintain some gym time 2-6 days per week depending on how much riding I can fit into my schedule.

Maggie is also planning on trying a few mountain bike races...and perhaps she'll try a few cyclocross races on her mtn bike.