We have made some significant progress on the movie premiere event. To date we have secured the venue, the tickets, a bike for the raffle, and plastered the event all over the Internet. The next steps are to get some flyers out and sell some tickets. I will have the tickets available at the time trial on Wednesday June 10th.
The Chain Smoker pop up on on its way.
Also, we will have a cookout and beverages after the time trial this week. The Chain Smokers will provide burgers to grill and all the condiments and beverages. If you would like to bring something else to pass that would be great.
Last night for the final Blackhawk TT we rolled a short track race instead. The course included most of the trails on top by the east chalet (although it was shortened after input from our racers). After the re-routing and fine chainsaw work by Dean and David (mostly Dean, David’s arms were too wimpy to get the chainsaw started), we found a nice course that would take the fast kids about 4 minutes to complete.
We ran the race in two heats: a “I have a life and don’t spend every waking moment training” category, and a “There’s more to life than riding my bike?” category. The first race ran 20 minutes plus 1 lap, and the second added an extra 5 minutes.
In the first race, Bill Larson (who showed up on his special short track bike with cross tires) threw in a blistering first lap attack that decimated the field. Despite wasting valuable energy ‘clearing some brush on the ranch’ right before the race, Dean Kahl was able to claw his way up to Bill and make a race of it for a few laps. However, in the end, it was tri-geek Mark Larson who displayed some Ironman power and soloed off the front for the victory. Tim Clavette put in a valiant effort to hold on and rolled in in second place. In the women’s race, Samantha Kaplan set a tough pace in the opening laps, with Jen Jones just hanging on, trying to close the gap. They battled back and forth for a few laps before Jen’s WORS experience paid off and she was able to open a gap that Sam couldn’t close (it should be noted that after complaining initially that the race wouldn’t be long enough, Sam tried to quit one lap early. Be careful what you wish for!).
In the second race, the big question was whether David R. would allow himself to get lapped, or if he would display some semblance of fitness and hold off several highly motivated racers (well, maybe just one) who enjoy humiliating David at every available opportunity. The racing started fast and furious, with Sandbagger Tri-Geek Mark Larson (showing that the first race was just a warm-up) blasting off the front of the group. Not being content to be only the second fastest kid on the street, Jerry Long soon pushed Mark into the woods and sprinted past to take the lead, with Ron Knutowski and Ryan Rysewyk close behind. These three battled at the front for a while before Jerry had to stop shortly to fix a minor mechanical problem, allowing Ron to take the lead. Suddenly, Ben “42 flags aren’t enough for me” Neff flew up to the lead group, showing that even getting lost temporarily can’t slow him down. Seeing that a guy in a white t-shirt was about to take the lead was all the motivation Jerry needed to find an extra gear, and he managed to squeeze in just before Ben for the victory. We’ll never know if Ben’s horrible sense of direction and atrocious cycling fashion sense cost him the victory (I hear that white t-shirts cost at least 3 mph in the average short track effort). But of course, the real winner was Mr. David Reddington, who avoided being lapped by about 5 seconds. Nice work David!
On the way to the race I went through my usual nervous stomach conversation with Jenny, downed some imodium, and slammed about 5 water bottles enriched with NUUN. I also thought about the unusual amount of riding I did the leading up to the race and wondered if it would make a difference in my result.
It is all about preparation!
I did Jerry’s crazy road/offroad/watch Mike suffer ride(67 miles). Jerry and Ryan’s Tuesday night, 7 hard ass climbs ride(47 miiles). I could hardly move my legs at the Time Trial. Then Ryan ripped my legs off at the kettles on Thursday.
Anyway, as most of you know I moved up a class this year to comp clydsdale. One reason is to get as many team points as I can, and the second is because I frickin’ qualify for it. So after I registered and weighed in at 215, I heard from a fellow clydsdale racer that Russell Jobs wasn’t racing that day. I was a little disappointed but I began to think to myself, “hey I could do pretty good today”. Not sure why, but I got it in my head that I was prepared for the race and hydrated. This is based on my performance at the Firecracker where I hit Russell on the head and stole his water bottle(not really, but it is a good story). Anything it takes to win right?
On a side note, Russell is a great guy and pretty darn fast.
Fast forward to the race:
So here I am sitting at the start line while Don is calling up the preffered starters and I hear Russel’s name. Not expecting anyone to move I see Russell ride up to the start line. I was a little surprised, but also a little happy because I had someone to chase since he has been winning all the races. At the start I high tailed it to the top of the hill and planted myself right on Russell’s wheel. I paced him all the way around the leadout, thru the first sections of single track, out the alpha trail, and back. On the way back toward craters of the moon I felt really good and was stuck with the decision to stay comfortably behind Russell or pass him and turn up the juice. The choice was easy, I passed and hammered and never looked back. Then I saw Mark Larson and Paul - yes they were yelling, and it got me fired up.
Thinking that I am in first place my goal was to keep riding hard, not blow up on the hills, and try not to crash into trees….Easy right? Well guess what? As I was climbing up that stupid switch back climb to the top of the hill I caught and passed another clydsdale. Now I didn’t know what to think. So I just rode as hard as I could for the rest of that lap, hoping I would either catch more clydsdales or stay ahead of the ones I passed.
I settled in for the second lap wondering how I was doing, where is Russell and the other clydes. Then as I climbed the gravel road at the end of my second lap I saw Russell in street clothes. He saw me climbing and yelled great job, you have a good lead…I didn’t say this, but I thought “Holy @##$ I am winning!” then as i crested the hill I saw the guy I passed on the switchback climb sitting on a lawn chair drinking water….he drop out too. I finally realized i was in first place.. The third lap was pretty much a blur for me, I was starting to feel the heat but knew all I had to do was hold my pace. And i did! And i won! and I needed it! and it feels good!
Now I only need Don to shorten the races to 1 mile, and then I can win the Elite race. Pulling the Elite field through almost the entire lead out was pretty cool. I’m not sure why I did it, but it’s cool nonetheless.
Carlos can ride singletrack. Every time I get on his wheel in the singletrack, I think “Damn.” But I can hang. Now I need to figure out how to do that when I’m not following Carlos.
It’s a weird day when you get stuck behind a “slow” rider in the singletrack, and that “slow” rider has a number on his plate that’s under 5.
Crashing sucks. Crashing when you’re in 7th really sucks. Crashing when you’re in 7th and 3 guys go by you before you get things back together sucks beyond sucking.
If your course has one section that is more dangerous than any other section, that is almost guaranteed to swallow tired riders whole, shouldn’t you have a course marshall there to pick up the pieces? And if there is a course marshall in the vicinity, shouldn’t he check on the rider that just stuck his head in the mud at 25 mph? Or should he just leave his fat ass on the 4-wheeler while some other racer gives up his race to see if the crashing rider is ok?
Kelson should take CO2 with him. Ryan should try to avoid kissing trees. Both of those guys are pretty damn fast, CO2 and trees notwithstanding.
Since I only have two rings, they’re all “Big Ring” races. Except when they’re uphill, bumpy, tight, or otherwise not “Big Ring” races.
All winter I promised myself I’d do more core work. Tomorrow I’ll start, I’d say. It’s only January, Feburary, March, April, May, oh crap, it’s June and the only six pack I know is out in the beer fridge.
My bike is smarter than me.
According to the unintentional wisdom of the WORS message board, the reason that so many Elite riders had flats or other mechanicals is because they don’t know how to ride technical, rocky trails. Apparently, if you’re a good enough rider, you pick good lines and just float through or over the rocks. I had no idea that was the case, but now I’ll be able to adjust my training and racing accordingly. Just another reason to read the WORS board.
If the last two races had been only 200 meters long, I’d have finished in the top 3 both times. I’ll have to suggest that change to Don, because I’m not so good at the 54,200 or so meters that follow.
There’s no better way to start a race than to look down at your front wheel during the warm up to find that you warped it during the preride. But that’s what I get for trying to keep up with Jerry, Dave, Dean, and Mark. (I knew there was a reason I’ve been surfing ebay for a spare wheelset.)
I’m not the strongest starter, so instead of spacing out at the line like I usually do and ending up in the back row, I snaked my way up to the second row at the line up. I don’t know how much it helped…I always feel like I’m getting smoked at the start. But, half the guys who went all out of the line had dropped off by the time we reached the road section.
Everything was going well till the last lap. I caught up with two of my age groupers on some singletrack. I screwed up on a technical spot and the guy on my wheel passed me. Turns out this guy rode singletrack like my grandma, and I slowly saw my age groupers pull out of sight. As soon as we left the singletrack I passed grandma and cranked as hard as I could, assuming the two age groupers (Bellin Health and PCW) were gone, but I made contact with them on the next singletrack section. Bellin was setting a good pace, but before the mud hole he announced he had nothing left and fell off. At that point I followed PCW into the last singletrack while some crazy dude (Kelson) was SCREAMING at me to take this guy out. And let me tell you, I was on that guys a$$. He didn’t get more than 12 inches from me until we reached the finish area. I tried to beat him to the chute, but I lost my front tire on the gravel. Oh well. A few months ago if someone were to tell me that I would place 17th overall in a comp race, I would have kicked ‘em in the jimmy. I attribute my success to two factors:
One-Kelson’s cheering skills…forget vet school man, you should be a motivational speaker!
Two-Reddington making me stand in the sun all day to park cars so close to each other that they can’t leave. Now that’s a warm up. Good race everyone.
I love Alpine Valley! Last year I had a good race without knowing it until the line. This year I knew from the GOOOOOO that I was on a good ride. I think the single track here is so fun, you just forget about the pain. Thanks to all those who yelled, I hope the sport riders enjoyed me yelling at them. Check out some pictures from the race here: http://kelsonandjen.smugmug.com/gallery/1483485 . Great job to all who raced, we had a really strong showing, both in numbers of riders and placings. Go Chainsmokers!!
I need to find a wedding to attend every Saturday.
Was there a bear at the side of the trail on the back loop?
Dr. Paul can scare the hell out of you when he starts screaming at you in the woods.
If I say “I’m coming by on your right,” and the trail is 20 feet wide, you don’t have to ride off the trail on your left and crash yourself in a monster rut. Seriously, it’s ok; I can get by in the 15 feet of trail that’s over here. And I’m not talking about Garett.
I’m trying to kill Garett. But on an unrelated subject, why is it that everyone I know decides as soon as they see it’s me about to pass them, that it’s time to stand up and hammer as hard as they can?
Officer Beatty has an incredible two-week training plan.
If you aren’t struggling to hang onto the group you’re racing with, you probably aren’t going fast enough. But going fast really hurts, and I’m a wimp, so I think I’ll just stay with this group for a while.
I hate stupid little stumps in the middle of a switchback.
Jess went into the house before I could drag myself out of the car, so when I did and my hamstring immediately cramped, I was left to writhe in pain by myself in my front yard. Luckily, Mark was not at home and didn’t witness the spectacle. I guess I shouldn’t wash down the race dust with four beers.
