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I'll try to keep this one short since I wrote a recap for the MNSCS site, which should be up sometime this week.
It breaks down like this: 2 weeks ago I went into Mont du Lac sick. Came out worse, with a 8-9 day cold/stomach bug. So between Mont du Lac and Mankato I got in 3 rides on the bike. I had no idea what kind of legs or lungs I'd have going into Mankato. So, I made a point to focus on three things I've let slip so far this season: hyrdation, nutrition and warm up. No beer the night before, no coffee the morning of. Good meal Saturday night, good breakfast and snacks Sunday, with lots of water. I warmed up for about 45 minutes and drank an entire bottle of sports drink. At the start line I took in a little gel and off we went.
I was 3rd up the first climb and held on all day to take second in my age group, 11th overall. That was the best I have felt all year, and the best I've felt during a race in a long time. I think the mild weather helped. I think locking out my rear suspension for the entire race helped (very smooth course and the few sections with some roots weren't bad). I absolutely believe being properly hydrated, fueled and warmed-up made the biggest difference. I got tired on a few of the punchy climbs, but I never blew up. Most of all, I had fun. It was tough, to be sure, but it wasn't a death march like Mont du Lac or Afton. I hope I can build on this for Red Wing and beyond.
Photos from skinnyski.com
To say the camera on my phone sucks would be an understatement, but at least from the blurriness above you can get an idea of our kick-ass seats for PJ Harvey and John Parish on Saturday night at of all places, the Minnesota Zoo ampitheater (cool venue). Holy F can that woman sing. She could sing my grocery list and it would sound awesome. How does someone that tiny have such an enormous voice? Band was great as well. The whole set was comprised of songs from her two albums with John Parish, none of her other work. Second time we've seen her and we will definitely go again next time she's in town. Pop Parker opened up. He was kind of like a one-man Flight of the Conchords, only more subtle and not quite as funny. Entertaining though.
Well, after doing everything I could all week in an attempt to not catch the cold making it's way through my family, it hit me Saturday night. Got about 4 hours of sleep and felt like crap Sunday morning, but it was race day so what else was I going to do? Sleep? Nah.
Picked up Clayton and headed up to Mont du Lac for the Dirt Spanker. This is a fun course. Well, fun if you like a race that starts you at the bottom of a 230' climb with no warm-up. Normally I love it, but just didn't have the energy yesterday. Had no illusions of greatness going into it, just wanted to ride and see what happened. For the first two laps the answer was, "not much". I was suffering like a dog on the climb to start lap two, to the point where I briefly considered calling it a day. But, I figured 4+ hours in the car and a $35 race fee, I may as well keep riding. Towards the end of lap two I started feeling a little better and was still mid-pack in a pretty long train of riders. I passed a few here and there, but mostly I just sat on, knowing this was a throw-away race.
Ended up 7th and my time was only about 2-minutes slower than last year. Not bad for being sick, but probably not worth the toll it's taking on me today in the grand scheme of things. At least it's a rest week. Congrats to Clayton for killing it and just missing out on the hardware. Props to Kevin for another win and to Matt for finding the podium in the Expert field. Cool to see father and son McBurney medal. Jamison continues his statewide podium tour. Peace Coffee rocks.
When I first got here it was actually a bit chilly. I knew it wouldn't last. The terrain at Afton makes for a scorcher of a race. The climbs (and that would be most of the course) come up out of the river valley, so there is almost never a breeze. The oxymoronic Shady Lane and quite aptly-named Manhandler are the longest, steepest ascents, and you are left totally exposed to the sun the entire way up.
Decided to ditch the Camelback and go with bottles. Also decided to mix gels directly into sports drink instead of throwing a few in my jersey. Turned out to be a mistake. First lap I felt okay. Got a decent start even though I was stuck back about 3 rows on the line. Passed my way into top ten by the time we got to Bridge Loop. Picked off a few more on Shady, held my own on the Southern Switchbacks and made a few moves on Manhandler. Not too bad. But, I noticed when I rolled through the start/finish that my bottle was only about half-empty, meaning I was not drinking enough or getting enough gel.
Felt ok up Bridge Loop but my next foray up Shady left me low on power. Manhandler treated me like the new guy on the cell block, and I was starting to wonder if I could actually do another lap. Had to small ring Shady and the Switchbacks on last lap, spinning out the leg cramps. Same with Manhandler, although I started to recover a bit towards the top, and passed a few on the final part of the climb past the lift tower. Gunned it the rest of the lap, but too late to make up much ground. 4th in my age group. Just glad to finish that one. I was really digging deep for a while there. Think I'm sitting top five, which is fine at this point. Long way to go, and honestly, I don't care as much about the overall this year. Just wanna have some fun and try to have a life off the bike too.
Photo from skinnyski.com
I'll try to keep this one short since I wrote a recap for the MNSCS site, which should be up sometime this week.
