Took it Easy Yesterday...

...and it was wierd. Now I realize what I have been doing the last month or so. The heart rate moniter definitly helped, I was able to keep my heart rate at a reasonable recovery rate; max heart rate was 167 and averaged 132. Something I never would have done without it. I had been so focused on setting a pace that wouldn't "hold anyone up" before, that what was really happening was that I was dropping everyone. Not good, especially with racing that weekend. But now it's all sorted out, so I'll be able to get back on track. It's a nice change, riding at a slow pace most of a ride. You really get a different perspective on things. I'll be doing that for the next 10 days instead of really training. Above is an example of some of the things you can do with the Garmin (using the different software).

Over Trained

The previous post on this was very negative, so I decided to edit it out and just rewrite the whole thing once I had a little time to clear my mind.

The Guy's MASS race (more widely known as a word that starts with an N that I can't pronounce or spell correctly) was a great race. The course was very flowing, and although not too technical, there was one downhill that sent a few to the EMTs. I'll have to check my dad's Garmin, but the switchbacks had the potential to be over 45%. I raced my new Taurine (the owner almost gave it away, at a price that was extremely good. Like I could ride it hard for 2 or 3 years and still sell it for a lot more than I had origionally bought it for (yes, our bike shop likes us)), which felt great on the course, but was a bad idea. It was build on Friday and pretty much as soon as it was finished, we rode them (my dad got one too) that night, trying to beat the daylight and get as much of a ride in as possible. If you combine that hard ride with the Stoopid 50 and 2 weeks of overtraining, racing on Sunday was a suprize. And with the new crankset, a 29 44, found myself always wanting to be in the 44, and waysting energy. But a triple is on the way from Cannondale...

Where I live, a huge thunderstorm passed through the night before, and I thought that the trails were going to be very wet; much like the way Greenbrier was. But the storm moved north of the race and everything was dry and dusty. There were some showers in the morning, so I decided to race without glasses incase a storm did come through. Bad idea. It was so dusty that I was constantly getting dust in my eyes. From the start, I felt as if I was having a good day. Until we finished the prologue. Went back into the forest for our first real lap and I felt sluggish. All that training had built up and left me with no energy. Gunnar flew by me and I was in 3rd, and it stayed that way the whole race. At one point, Zach rode up behind me. He was pre-riding the course, and kept encouraging me. It really helped (THANKS ZACH) because the second lap felt much better. Cameron Dodge ended up winning (1:26) and Gunnar in second (1:29). I came in 3rd with a 1:30. I definitly learn a lot more from these races than from the ones that I do well in, so looking back on it now, it was a lesson that I had to learn sometime. Better now than at Mount Snow.

Stoopid 50

This year, the Stoopid 50 fell on Fathers Day. I rode it with my dad, as part of my w101 training. It was a good race, and a lot of people where there. Some 200 people showed up, including Brandon D., Rob L., Michelle Stopper, and other elite riders. I raced the Men Open category, but two other juniors raced it too. Like God (Jeff Bahnson) and Forrest Conrad.

The race started with a 15 mph moto paced start on a long dirt road with some paves sections. Then a turn, and up a steep (but short) climb to the Brush Ridge Trail. Interesting it's named Brush Ridge, as it never gets anywhere close to the ridge, always staying in the valley. Across some skinny bridges (a 25 footer, then a 100 footer). After Brush was a wall out of the valley, then the Lingle Valley trail; a roller coaster descent with some steep drop-offs and a sketchy drop into the valley. Bear Gap (crested the top, then first flat) took you back up to a road, then switchbacked back onto the Chicken Peter trail. From there was a sweet descent on Shitalka trail and a fire-road climb to the first Aid Station.

I fueled up at the station and then got ready to walk my bike up the Upper Sassafras trail. This is one of the best technical downhills on that side of the forest. Up on the ridge and down to a gradual uphill road, where we descended the Telephone trail, then Wallace trail. At the beginning of Wallace, I launched off a drop-off into a rock garden, and got my second flat. Many people have come to the conclusion that I ride wayyy too agressively for my race wheels, so I have decided not to race them this year. My rock wheels are much stronger. At the bottom, we turned onto a road, and climbed a very steep snomobile trail back to the bottom of Telephone. Continued on the snowmobile trail back down to the road, switchbacked, and climbed Lower Sassafras; a steep climb through mountain laurel and crossing a pipeline. At the top we crossed a road and continued uphill on Pigpile trail, then downhill on Pigpile through some fast turns and boulder drops. The technical lines were easily ridden around, but for some of the locals who wanted to have fun with the trail, the drops and jumps were really fun. A short but super fast downhill road sent chills through you, as the wind was very cold. The long jeep trail, named Flat road (if you ever ride it, know that it is not flat at all) took you back to the bottom of Upper Sassafras (the hike-a-bike) and then the course sent you on Sassex-X; another extension of Sassafras that lead to the second Aid Station.

After a twisty trail, then back up the road to ride another portion of Shitalka trail, you climbed Long Cut and Dear Tick. Once the climbing part of Dear Tick was behind you, it was a fairly easy ride back, but 3 rocky trails still stood between you and the finish. The top part of Dear Tick had a few rocks; same with Chicken Peter and Brush Ridge. After finishing up the Brush Ridge trail, it was a long and boring gradual climb on a paved road, then a turn, uphill, then downhill, then the last uphill to the finish. Then you ring the gong, and go to a shaded area to fall over.

It was a really fun race and I am going to do it next year and every year after that for as long as I can. If you're not doing anything, and aren't too far away, you should think about coming up. Forrest sayed that the trails were possibly the best he has ever ridden, and if anyone wants to come up and ride with me this summer, let me know.

Tour de Yikes

Today was the Tour de Tykes mountain bike race in Danville, PA. It was kinda wierd because of all of the life-flight helis that were flying in and out...I hope no one was in them. I got their pretty early (like 3 and a half hours early) because my mom wanted to race the beginner race, so we went down to help her out with stuff before the race. It got much hotter as it came time to start our race, but at least we were in the shade most of the time. The start went pretty good, and I was feeling strong in the beginning of the race. Gunnar and I were some of the first few people up the first climb and into the singletrack. When we hit the singletrack, I was ahead of Gunnar and was feeling really good. Until I heard a pop. I had slashed the sidewall of my tire on something and it was going flat really fast. So I got out my cO2 and filled it up again, thinking the stans would hold it. I had no idea how big that gash in my sidewall really was, and within 100 feet, it went flat again. This time, I was out of cO2 and had to borrow a pump from someone else. I must have been in dead last by the time I got the tire off, because absolutly no one was passing me. I got to cheer on Caleb and Jacob and some other juniors, but the struggle with that tire proved to be a hard one. I finally got the flat fixed, but when I started off again, I was shivering because of the fast start and the sudden stop. It must have been a really old tire, because about a mile later, I flatted again. I had just passed the person I had borrowed the pump from, and I gave the pump back, so I had nothing to inflate the tire. Thanks to another kind person, I was able to continue again. Until I heard screams coming from the valley below. Someone fell really bad, and by the sound of it, it was really really bad. It sounded like the person fell behind me, so I flew down to the bottom of the climb, but didn't see anyone. I continued on the course, and finally found the person. She had a compound fracture on her left arm (when the bone sticks out of the skin) and blood was everywhere. When some other people came down and stayed with her, I rode to the next aid station AS FAST AS I COULD to make sure medical got there as quickly as possible. By that time I was out of all of my energy, and had no motivation to continue. I was impossible for me to win, and a very small chance of getting top 3, and no one was depending on me to ride fast anymore (except for my friends, at least the ones who believe that I race mountain bikes). It was a constant battle against my mental self; I never wanted to DNF a race, but there wasn't any reason for me to continue. I finished anyway though, passing a few other juniors along the way, and making it into 4th place. Looking back on it, I'm actually kinda glad that I had bad luck, because Jacob was able to make the podium. He had always been 4th or 5th; so close but never top 3 in any of the Sport MASS races I've raced this year. I really wanted to win here, because I was born here, and it's the first time I've been back in my life. Gunnar was 1st, Julian Hinkleman was 2nd (I raced him at the Cat Classic), and Jacob was 3rd. I was about 20 minutes from 3rd, but everyone gave it their best. Oh and I hit a tree and can't type that well right now, but I have to type an essay anyway, so I guess I'll learn to type faster.