Cue the Jefferson's Theme Song...

"Well I'm a moving on up -- moving on up -- to the Expert class -- moving on up -- to a deluxe beatdown on the bi-i-ike..."

Peer pressure and the fear of being labeled a sandbagger are horrible things. So it looks like I'll be racing Expert class in 2010. Most of the guys who upgraded to Comp with me 2 years ago are making the jump, so I guess it's time.

Saturday was the last race of the year, and it couldn't have come soon enough for me. Motivation is gone and I need a break. I gave it a go anyway, came in 3rd in my age group and 9th overall. Locked up 2nd place in my age group for the season and possibly a spot in the overall Top Ten for the season as well.

This was definitely my best season ever on the mountain bike. I had only made the podium 3 times in the last 10 years or so of racing. This year I climbed the steps 5 times: 1 first, 1 second and 3 third place finishes in a row to end the year. I started and finished all 11 races, which is a feat in itself. It was a very tight, competitive race for the overall all year. Clayton thoroughly deserves the top spot after an outstanding string of victories. Ben and Brandt made sure it was a battle all year. Owen "raced" twice this year and had a blast. It was great having him and Jen cheer me on and hand up water bottles all year. Looking forward to a couple of weeks "off" then maybe some cyclocross, then back to Base 1 training phase for 2010. Or as it will be known, "the year of the Lanterne Rouge"...

Spirit Mountain

Top: looking down the mountain towards Lake Superior
Second: the new Peace Coffee Racing tent
Third: Owen and his buddy Gary.
Last: Owen, zonked out, holding dad's coffee (from my 3rd place at Maplelag — so nice to race on a team sponsored by a coffee company!)

Second to last race of the season on the hardest course around. Rocks, boulders, granite slabs, roots, gravel, scree, streams, mud, trees, and some serious elevation puts the mountain in mountain bike racing. Had a decent start and got to the singletrack ahead of the pack. Was doing great until I got crashed into a rock face, knocking my rear derailleur out of whack. Chain was jumping everywhere, leaving me with about 2-3 gears in the back. Frustrating, because the legs felt great. Did what I could to keep the bike moving and managed to come in third in my age group, 7th overall.

Knocked me out of first into second for the overall. I'll need a win and some help at St. Cloud to take back first, but it's looking like second overall for the second year in a row. I'll take it. It's been a great year overall, with two thirds, a second and my first win. Before this year I'd only made the podium twice in 10+ years of racing. To hit it 4 times in one year has been great. And, it's pretty awesome to hear Owen scream, "Go Dad! Dad Fast!" when I come by.

Maplelag

I knew it was going to be a long day when I woke up to, shall we say, "an armed rebellion south of the border". First time my pre-race routine involved Immodium instead of PowerGel. Warmed up a bit and headed to the start line not sure if I was going to make it. It seemed like the entire field got a call up, so I ended up 3 rows back and we headed out.

The usual logjam at the singletrack backed everything up and there were plenty of sketchy riders making it slow going. Managed to pass a few on the xc-trail sections, but starting the first lap after the prologue there was a collegiate racer from a certain corn belt state who could not ride the singletrack to save his life. To make matters worse he wouldn't get out of the way. Before long he had a train of about 10 guys behind him, with minutes ticking away. A few of us finally got past him on the climb up Suicide Hill and could actually start racing.

Last lap I was suffering but had worked my way up into top 5. Then it was: chainsuck, stop to fix, get back on, hammer to pass 5 guys again. This happened a total of 3 times. Then I managed to clip my bars on a tree twice, hitting the deck hard both times. So, again, it was get back up and hammer to pass the same guys I was ahead of. All of these extra efforts were killing me, and the only thing keeping me going was the 1km to go sign. I put it in the big ring, put my head down and prayed for the finish line.

Somehow ended up in third, about 25 seconds out of second place. That was a hard-fought podium spot. I damn near passed out in the dining hall during the awards ceremony. Nice to have two Peace Coffee guys on the podium (nice job on first Clayton!). Hoping Duluth goes much smoother next Sunday.

Photos by Skinnyski.com

Buck Hill Photos (Dana Schoppe)

For once in my life there's nobody else in the photos because I'm out in front! Usually it's because I'm in no-mans-land. Thanks to Dana for the great shots at all of the races.

MNSCS#7 Buck Hill

I came down Thursday to do the Penn Cycle race at Buck to check out the course. It was super dry and dusty with loose, sandy corners. There were also 230 people on the course at once, which was pure insanity, especially considering this is a 2.7 mile loop with a 12-13 minute per lap average. It's pretty much a dirt crit and the direction they ran the course meant no real sustained climbing to speak of.

Sunday's course was similar, but run in the opposite direction. So, we started at the bottom of the south end and climbed around the base up to the top. We got some serious rain on Saturday which really helped pack down all the loose stuff. Trail was nice and fast. And for maybe the first time all year, it felt like summer. Hot and steamy.

Clayton and I got our call ups to the line and waited for the countdown. As usual, Clayton was 100 meters up the trail before I even got clipped in. Brandt was on his wheel and I slowly clawed my way up to him. We were 1,2,3 out of the first section of singletrack at the top of the hill. Clayton and Brandt eased up a bit before the next little kick up the gravel road and for whatever reason I decided to surge. After two laps of sitting in traffic on Thursday night I had decided I would rather be first into the singletrack and blow up than to get stuck behind people. Well, I got the holeshot and stayed in front the rest of the lap.

With all of the switchbacks in the singletrack it was hard to gauge how close behind people were, so I kept pushing the pace as much as possible. Came through for laps 2 and 3 feeling pretty good, grabbing a drink through the start/finish area and trying to hit the climb as fast as possible. I got passed by 2 guys along the way, but wasn't too worried. By the end of lap 3 and start of lap 4 I started catching the Expert women and lapping some of the Comp guys. Lap 4 I was feeling a bit tired but knew if I could hammer the climb I could recover a bit in the singletrack. Was able to hold my position but I could see and hear people not too far behind me. I was able to make a couple of passes before the downhill, and I think this helped me open a little gap.

Final lap and I gave it everything I had up the climb. I could see Andrew, Ben and a couple of others not too far back. I got that adrenaline boost that comes on the last lap and rode pretty well the rest of the way. Dropped it in the big ring before the downhill and hammered the rest of the way home. I thought I did ok, probably at least third in my group. Turns out I got first in my group and eighth overall in Comp. First win ever. Gotta say, felt pretty good, especially after a disappointing result at Hillside. Close race, too. First through fourth place were only separated by about 30 seconds. Hopefully I can recover and have good legs for Sunday's Border Battle in River Falls.

Hillside Photos

Some photos by Dana Schoppe from last Sunday's race.

MNSCS#6 Hillside Attack

Got a call up as the series leader in my age group, which will probably be the one and only time that ever happens. Clayton got a call up as well, and we rolled to the line and got ready to drop the hammer.

Clayton tore ass down the road and up the first climb. I was sitting 3rd going into the singletrack, and was really hoping my heart rate would come down a bit. Started Lap 1 huffing and puffing but hanging on. Played leapfrog a bit with another guy in my group and we started passing a few of the Expert women. I was blowing up big time, so I let a handful of people around on my next lap. Grabbed my gel flask only to notice that the top had opened and everything had leaked out. No fuel for me and I was struggling.

I don't know if it's because I was that tired and on the verge of bonking or if it's because I'm so used to starting my laps there in the front lot but I thought I still had one more lap to do. So, as I'm coming out of Section 3, I eased off the gas a bit to save something for one and a half more laps. Made it through 4, recovered a bit in 1 and when I got towards the end of 2 I could hear Zilla announcing something about Comp leaders coming to the finish. Huh? Got passed by Scott and asked him if we had another lap and he said, "I sure hope not!". Grabbed his wheel and followed him to the finish.

Had I known that was my last lap I would have pushed it a little bit, but I was pretty much in no-mans-land so I'm not sure I could have caught anyone or if I had the legs to go much faster than I did. Gel flask is going in the recycling bin and I'm going back to gel packs. Pretty disappointing race for me, 5th place when I had realistic hopes of reaching the podium. I guess it cancels out my Spring Cup result.

Memorial Classic

This is one of my favorite courses because it's got a little bit of everything: tight twisty singletrack, screaming downhills, and steep technical climbs. This year the course got longer which meant much less congestion. The prologue was almost twice as long, so there were no waiting lines heading into the singletrack. A new downhill and climb kept us on our toes and the switchback climb at the end added some extra pain.

I wasn't feeling the greatest at the start, so I did what I could to keep towards the front going into the singletrack. I think I went into the woods sitting in 9th. Tried keeping a high tempo first lap but just couldn't get the snap I needed on the climbs. I dialed it back a bit to keep from blowing up. Made it up Stairway and the Quarry and around for Lap 2.

Ben Rogowski and were playing leapfrog for most of the race. If I managed to pass him he'd come around before too long. He spent most of the race in front of me. I started to recover a bit halfway through Lap 2, and when we started Lap 3 I tried to throw down a little attack on Ben. Didnt' work, and he grabbed my wheel then passed me before the singletrack. He managed to get by one other rider before I could, so I figured he'd gap me. I hammered all of the double-track sections and took some chances on the downhill. I felt ok at this point and decided to try to attack one more time. I was finally able to pass Ben and make it stick on the long climb up to the Stairway entrance. I passed a handful of guys before the downhill, and caught up to a big group at the base of Stairway. This is a long, steep climb over a bunch of loose rock (see last two photos above). I went hard and passed a few people but then got swerved into twice, forcing me off. I managed to get back on and pedal the rest of the way up. Made it up the Quarry climb for the 3rd time (first time I've ever done that) and went as hard as I could to the finish.

Ended up 4th in my age group, 12th overall. Clayton beat me by 19 seconds. It was like Groundhog Day -- last year I got 4th and missed 3rd to Zilla by about the same margin. If I could have had a stronger first lap I may have done better, but I made up about 5 places on the last lap and a half and was happy with how I rode towards the end. Feeling it today -- very, very sore. Good race, all in all.

Photos from skinnyski.com

MNSCS#4, Mt. Kato

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

Dirt Spanker

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.

MNSCS #2, Afton Avalanche

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

Spring Cup 2009

First race of the year for me (that wasn't on snow). Bone dry conditions meant fast, fast, fast. This is pretty much a roadie course (which explains all the Cat 1-2 guys showing up on CX bikes). No hills, nothing really technical at all, just an all-out dirt crit. Despite my call up and front row start, I let too many people in front of me before the singletrack. There really aren't too many places to pass out here: lots of twisty, tree-lined sections and most of the open spots are really cupped and lined with prairie weeds and hidden wheel snaggers. I managed to pass a few people, but the effort required almost wasn't worth it. Faded on lap 3, felt better lap 4 but not in time to reel anyone in. 9th in my group. Looking forward to Afton and some hills.
Top photo from Skinnyski.com, bottom photo by Greg Hawes

MNSCS Awards

Saturday night was the MNSCS Awards Party at Quality Bicycle Products. That place is ginormous, and very, very cool. The Peace Coffee crew grabbed a lot of hardware: several riders winning or in the top 3 in their age group and class, plus we Comp racers got second place in the team standings. I squeeked out second place for the season by 2 points, finally finishing in the top 3. We got a sweet Park multi-tool and a nice framed photo from superstar photographer Dana Schoppe for our awards. It was nice to see everybody one more time before the annual winter hibernation.

Weekend riding

Got out with the "Friday Night Lights" group and hit Theo. My new lights weren't working for some reason so I borrowed a backup set. That was my first night ride in a couple of years, and I forgot how much fun it is. The hard stuff gets easy because you don't see it until you're right on it and your brain doesn't have time to tell you to freak out, so you just let the bike ride right over it without thinking about it. The easy stuff gets harder when the shadows start playing tricks on you. Hopefully the weather cooperates and I'll be able to get out for a few more in the coming weeks.

Saturday I hit Battle Creek with Ton, Kevin, Andy, Jamison and Mario. Ton must have saved all of his training for this ride because he was setting a very painful pace from the moment we left the parking lot. We hit the upper section, down and back up the sand and across the road to the middle section. Down the Wall of Death and over to the section by the lower lot. Ton skipped the hard climb to the top and took us to the switchbacks and down to the abandoned road. The new Overlook Trail is pretty sweet. When you go from the bottom up, there's some good technical climbs and sharp turns. There's also a nice "skinny" feature towards the end consisting of a foot-wide, elevated concrete wall that zig-zags for about 50 yards or so. Nice painful climb up to the overlook. Checked out some other trails, then headed back. Rode for about an hour-and-a-half but if felt longer than that with the fast pace. My legs are still sore today. The post-ride carbo load at the Black Dog hit the spot.

Second

It's official -- my consistent mediocrity was good enough (barely) for second in my age group. Let the lucrative endorsement deals commence. Seriously, I'm happy to finally finish on the podium as I've been chasing that goal for the past several years and always just missed it. Also cool that Peace Coffee took the top two spots in Comp 30-34 and 35-39. Big shout outs to Kevin, Matt and Jamison for dominating all year long.

End of Mountain Bike Season

Singletrack Escape was Saturday, marking the end of another MNSCS season. My number one mission was to finish this race -- any mechanicals or a DNF would kill my series standings, so I was more conservative than a McCain-Palin rally in a Texas church full of oil lobbyists. I wanted to ride just fast enough to get the points I needed to hold off Rich and Brandt. Well, I finished 7th. But, Rich won and Brandt came in 4th. D'oh! Not looking good (proving that it's much better to be progressive than conservative).

When I first tallied up the points it looked like Rich ended up second overall by ONE POINT. Then I remembered the bonus points. Ah, the bonus points. I did nine races to Rich's seven. With ten races in the series, you get 5 bonus points for each race beyond the seven that are required. Even though I had mechanicals and DNFed two races, I still get the 5 points for each one. Meaning, by my rusty math, that I ended up second overall by two points. I'll have to wait for the official results to be sure, but if it stands I'll take it. Here's what I got, somebody else check my math:

1 Kevin Supple 950
2 Chris Van Ert 899
3 Rich Omdahl 897
4 Brandt Elson 883
5 Eric LeBow 855

However it all shakes out, it fun racing with y'all for another year. Looking forward to more suffering in 2009.

Laddie's Loppet (or, what a difference a week makes)

This course used to give me nightmares. Came up on Saturday and prerode with Jamison. Glad I did. I took my time and rerode a few sections to get them dialed in. We ended up clearing everything, which gave me a big boost of confidence for Sunday. Everyone talks about the "Lakeside Drops" (see above), but there are many, many spots on the course that are way more difficult. But, none of those spots is 10 inches from the lake, where if anyone crashes, they go into the drink.

Race day hit with temps in the high 80's and wicked humidity. My plan was to not go out too strong at the start and then try to bring it on the last lap. Well, I should have gone faster, because it got really, really jammed up in the first section of singletrack. I had to get off and run several times due to people in front of me falling (not a complaint, just an observation, I ate it right in front of someone later on). This really broke my rhythm and spiked my heart rate. I made it through all of the drops and sketchy singletrack in one piece and came around to start Lap 2. By now the heat and humidity were really doing a number on me. I grabbed a bottle from Jen and drained most of it before I hit the singletrack. Then, I started getting the chills and feeling like a full-body cramp was coming on. I eased way off the gas and just focused on riding smoothly and getting through the race. I noticed lots of other guys were cooking as well, so I just tried to keep it going and hoped I would recover. It was pretty slow going for a while, and all the punchy climbs were just killing me. But, at about mile 4 I saw Zilla and thought I had a chance to at least keep him in sight (I need to finish higher than him for the Series Overall). Well, I was finally able to catch and pass him, but he's got mad skills on the technical stuff, especially descents, and I knew he'd be tough to shake. He was behind me on the last steep climb up to the big boulder. I didn't have enough power to clear the boulder and went down right in front of him (again, sorry about that Zilla!). I was able to get back on and I gave it everything I had from there on out. I saw the 1k to go sign and popped it in the big ring and just went for it. I didn't look back until I got within sight of the finish. There was nobody behind me, so I rolled across the line, quite happy to just finish.

Ended up 2nd in my group, which was my best MNSCS finish ever. Not sure how that happened considering how close I was to a total bonk. Peace Coffee had a pretty good day. Jamison got second in his group, Clayton smoked me for the first time all year, and Bryan just missed the Top 10 overall in his first Comp race. I think the "dream" is still alive for a top 3 overall spot for me, but I'll have to see how the results shake out and who else is still in it. Big props to everyone at Maplelag Resort for making this the coolest race every year.

"Lakeside Drop" photo from Skinnyski.com

Snap (again)

First WORS race. I even got a callup to the starting line as one of the points leaders for MNSCS. Cool. I got a fairly good start, but was having trouble breathing with all of the dust. I entered the first section of singletrack in the top 10-15. First lap was fast. Second lap there was a train of about 10 riders going up the singletrack climb to the rock garden. That's the first time I can recall recovering on a climb. It was so slow that it was hard to ride without falling over. Third lap I had settled in and was getting into a good rhythm. Final lap, I'm feeling good, just passed some people in the last clearing and can see teammate and age-group leader Kevin Supple about 1o yards ahead of me. Pop it in the big ring and fly towards the singletrack. Must have hit the 90 degree turn a little hot, because I hit the deck hard. Dropped my chain, took forever to get it running. Got back on and managed to catch the two guys who passed me. Get through the downhill and to the switchback climb. I shift gears and SNAP, my rear derailleur is broken. Race over, season over (I won't have enough races for series points now). To say I'm bummed is an understatement. I was riding well, feeling surprisingly well. I had a couple of minutes on Rich Omdahl, somehow managed to pass and drop Walters and had the most difficult sections behind me, with nothing but fast flowing singletrack and the finish line ahead of me. Wasn't meant to be I guess.

So, today I get to go to the shop and assess the damage. New XTR rear derailleur for sure, hopefully the XTR wheel isn't toast as well. I've got some serious trail rash and bruising on my hip, knee, and arm. And I'm pretty sure my goal of a podium spot for the series is shot. No Maplelag this weekend, since the repair bill will be $$$. Could have been worse.

(I've decided to delete my rant about a certain rider and let it go.)

Powder Monkey

This was a favorite spot for the vultures, I mean spectators. Bottom of the expert course, sick rock garden at the bottom of a pretty nasty drop. I survived it twice, and from the look on my face thoroughly enjoyed it. Dana's photos continue to kick ass.

Powder Monkey

This race has destroyed my bike the last two years in a row: wheel in 2006, and a snapped rear derailleur last year. So, goal number one was to finish. This course was a beast in the Sport class, and the upgrade to Comp/Expert makes it epic. I can't think of a harder, more technical trail in Minnesota. Rocks everywhere, from babyheads to bus-sized boulders. Tight, twisty, tree-lined singletrack with lots of punchy, technical climbs. Climbs, climbing and more climbing, broken up by more climbing sections. Brutal (but in a good way).

Comp did one full expert lap, plus a half-lap. We started just up from the chalet, climbed to the top and made our way towards the bottom of Spirit Mountain (somehow climbing during the entire descent). Rode everything pretty well considering the expert sections were all new to me. I made the sketchy rock garden downhill at the bottom both laps, disappointing the spectators who were lined up waiting for carnage. Then we climbed back up to the top for what seemed like an hour. Wicked, technical uphill insanity. I made it through all but one section where the rise was so steep I didn't see anyone even attempt to ride it (walking it was a challenge). Just when I could hear traffic and see cars and thought we were at the parking lot we plunged down for more singletrack and more climbing. I was suffering like a dog, but could see some of the group leaders around me, so I figured either they were hurting just as much or I was doing okay.

Made it back to the start/finish for the final half-lap. Was doing fine until I clipped a tree with my handlebar and got launched over the bars and about 10 feet down the side of the hill. Smacked my calf and thigh on the frame, lost about 2 minutes in the process of climbing back up to the trail and got passed for 2 places. Rode with Kevin until the fireroad and then he lost me. Nice recovery, Kevin! I felt good enough to floor it near the parking lot climb but had major chainsuck which took a bit of time to fix. Got it rolling and hit the line for 5th in my group. The crash probably cost me a podium spot (missed 3rd by about 45 seconds), but considering I had to DNF the last two years, I'll take it.