Skipping race 4

Going to the OC Challenge instead.........a 64 mile ride through the North Arkasas mountains. I wish all my fellow racers a safe race and I'll see then all at Reimers Ranch. I'll post up a review on the OC as soon as I get back.

Race 3 Outback Blowout

Week 3 finds us in Waco, a really sweet, fast, technical trail. I'm currently sitting in 1st place after 2 races and feel pretty good. I was on a shoot the last 3 days....most of that spent standing, but I still feel pretty strong. The geared bike is still down, so I will be on the single speed again. This could be a problem as this start is more suited to the guys with gears.

As I predicted.......the start killed me. I did get the jump...off to an early lead......for about 50 yards. The feild starts to catch and pass me and I enter the single track around 10th. This first part is very fast with no places to pass. I have no trouble hanging with the lead group, I'm actually trying to get by a couple of guys that are holding me back in the tight stuff. I start to get more aggessive, and pass a few guys in the trees......then pass a couple more during a rocky climb. A guy goes down in front of me and I get past him.......another climb.....I pass 3 more before we reach the top. Now, I'm on the tail of the second place dude. I've caught up to him and am hanging on his rear tire...........we hit a climb with a technical turn at the top. He takes the easier outside line.......I dive in tight and pass him. After a little while, I can see the first place guy through the trees and am gaining on him. SisSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, front tire starts spewing air. I ride it till it is almost coming off the rim........pull out my CO2 and hit it. I try to mess with where the air is leaking and get it slowed down. So I hop back on, but I have just watched most of the guys I passed fly by.

The tire is still going down, but more slowly, and I manage to finish the first lap and come into the feed zone.....again riding the rim. Do I put in a tube.....naw, lets fill it and see if I can get it stopped. I do get it to seal.........the tire is a little softer that I'd like but I'm out of CO2.....and I do not have time to mess with it. So, off I go trying to retake those that got ahead of me. I hit a lot of traffic but am making good passes.......some of them even in my group. I now have no idea of where I stand but just keep hammering it. I do pass a couple more Sport 50+ guys and finish in 6th place, just 4 minutes out of 1st. This is a 1st or 2nd place finish that got away, but I am happy I did finish and got some points!! I am still in first for the series......but only by 7 points instead of the 13 I had going into this race. The guy in second place overall took 4th today......good job dude.

There are 3, maybe 4 guys that could win this series. Luckily I'm one of them. I really have to stay strong and problem free for the remaining races. My good friend Steve finished 3rd and moved closer to me.....he also missed the first race and I'm skipping the next. If he does well there........could make things interesting. I wish him the best as he is a great guy and has gotten alot faster since last year. This is my best shot at the Championship Jersey, (most likely Steve's as well), if we have 5 top 5 finishes....we will both be moved to expert. No matter how I finish the series (be it 1st, 2nd, 3rd....hopefully not worse.....LOL)......if I have my place locked up......I will move to expert for the last race of the season.

Race 2....Bar-H Bash

Terlingua was Feb, 16th.......2 weeks later comes Bar-H on March 2nd. Then Waco in two weeks, these are 3 of the hardest trails and we hit them....1-2-3.....whew!

I do a nice pre-ride on the SS of course, in right at 1 hour. Sat. afternoon I help with the registration for a few hours, then head over to get the Paragon ready. I'm dusting it down and find a crack going 3/4 of the way around my bottom bracket. I only ride it at races, and hadn't been on it since Terlingua. I guess the rocky downhill took it's toll, probably had a small stess crack that I hadn't seen. Well, I'm out on the geared bike but thankfully have the SS. Of course this trail has a ton of climbing, much of it loose and rocky, and all my competition with have gears. But I still feel I can get a top 10, maybe squeze out a top 5. My biggest fear is the mile long downhill start......everyone will be in the bigring and I'll be lucky to hit the singletrack towards the back.......fighting my way to the front.

So, there are 17 of us lined up as the whistle blows, and I stand up and hammer it with all I've got. I take the hole shot, and hit the first turn (about 50 yards out) in first, sweep it and pedal till I start spinning out. At this time all I can do is lean forward and try to pick up momentum. Thanks to not being afraid of downhills, or loose dirt, I stay well in first place all the way to where it flattens out. Un-able to gain any more monmentum, 4-5 guys pass me as we get with-in 100 yards of the single track. I re-take 2 of those before we hit the first climbs, then catch and pass the others with-in the first mile of singletrack. Shortly after this I start to catch racers from the groups that went off before us. Usually this takes a little longer, but we used 1minute splits as opposed to the normal 3 minutes. This is one of the places I shine....passing, some people are to timid.....I charge and pass aggressively. I got to do something here I've never gotten to do before. Yell "lead rider coming though" as I passed. It's not much, but man, did it feel good. Next we hit Hole in the Tree, a really fast rolling downhill section that I know will help we extend my lead. This is pretty much how the next several miles/minutes go......catch riders, pass riders, catch riders, pass riders.

I am now on my second lap, I've made the first 2 hard climbs and am pushing it up the final climb on Horseshoe to the overlook. Another racer in my class rides past me......crap! I knew the climbs would be my undoing, but figured if I could keep the lead till after Splitears and BOIA, no-one could catch me. At this point there were still quite a few hard climbs to make, and I had no way of knowing how close the 3rd place guy was. So, do I hammer it and challege this guy, maybe blow-up and be overtaken by someone behind. Or, hang with him best I can, protecting second place, and challenge him toward the end. I stayed with him, which was hard as he had the gears for climbing. I never let him get out of my sight......even pulled to with-in 20 yards several times. I thought I could make up ground on the downhills coming up. When we hit the end of Hole-in the Tree, he was like 30-40 seconds in front. Dang, he was a good downhiller as well. He kept that distance all the way to the end and finished 35-40 seconds in first. Again, gears at that last section might have made a difference......but still second place on a SS was sweet. Turns out, the 3rd place racer was a good 2.5 minutes behind......I could have challenged him sooner without the fear of being caught, even if I did burn out some trying.

Monday morning, drop bike at B&B Bikes so they can send the frame to Fisher. It looks like I will most likely be racing Waco on the SS, unless, somehow they get the frame back in time. But I am very familiar with the trail and have done it with a 34-18 and will run a 34-20 for the race. I am now confident that I can hold my own even on the SS......but as the climbing is substantal there, I'm hoping for the 1x9er to be ready. But that is part of racing......you do what you have to get to the finish line.

First race of 08

Terlingua, Tx. This one is a marathon, sport racers do one lap of 31 miles. Our usual distances are more in the 18-22 mile range. I signed up for the 100k, or two laps, with my first lap counting towards my TMBRA points.





The weather was great this year compared to the last two. It was mid 40's at the start, and quickly jumped up from there. I did run with leggings and a long cotton shirt.......was only warm and uncomfortable for the last 1/4 of lap one. I started strong at the front behind the pace guy and ran in the front group most of the way to the singletrack. Knowing I was going to do 2 laps, I did back off a little. Hit the feedzone at the airport feeling good, should have kept moving, but took a quick break. I ate a PB&J, drank a sport shake and refilled my water bottle......took like 3 minutes. I hit Tres Cuevas refreshed and strong, making everything except the 40 yard section of babyheads towards the top. As usual, I flew the downhill at top speed......this is where I pass a bunch. Many riders are very uneazy and timid on this section, and rightly so. You really have to trust your skills and pay solid attention.....or you will pay the price. I saw a couple of riders go down on some of the sketchy turns, and I managed to avoid them.

I stopped at the start of lap 2 to drink another sport shake. I wasn't looking forward to doing the second lap. To be truthful, I almost bailed 3 times. Once, mile 1, before I even crossed the highway to enter the desert. Second, mile 7, where the split for the 30k-50k takes you straight to the airport. Then again, mile 20, after arriving at the airport. But, I was still feeling OK, even though the temps had dropped and the headwinds were in the 35-45 mph range. Another sport shake and I was off to challenge Tres Cuevas again. Surprisedly I only walked a small section of the first switchback, and the 40 yards of babyheads. This really made me feel good as I rode a 1x9 with a 34 ring up front. Not the best choice but I seem to be able to mash it OK. The winds on the climb were unbarable and so cold that it was actually hard to breath. They were so bad that several riders told of being knocked over by them. Then a lite rain/drizzle started........and it was coooooold.....nasty cold. At this point, all I could think of was, I've passed the hard stuff, all that's left is the sketchy downhill back to the finish. I hit it as hard as I did the first lap, just slowing in some of the corners due to the wetness. Luckily, the mist stopped and the temps came up a tad with about 2 miles to go. I came down the last piece of single track, hit the finish line, and hammered it all the way across the line.

Results, I finish 5th in my TMBRA group for the 50k, and 15th in the 100K. And I could have done another lap.............NOT!!! LOL!!

To much today

Started out doing about 4 miles riding OCNP backwards and marking it. I switched the direction of travel to make it interesting, it will be this way for 2 weeks. Then Jeremy and I did 50+ miles thought south east Dallas. Started in Hutchins, west to Lancaster, southeast to Ferris, southwest.....then southeast to Palmer, ALL INTO a stiff 30-40 mph wind. Finally, after crossing 45, we headed northeast will the wind at our backs. Good to great roads for the most part, just a couple of bad sections. The finish was downwind along the railroad tracks from Ferris back to Hutchins. Much of it has been recently repaved, and man, was it smooooooooth.

Then, after picking up my stepdaughter from school, I head to OCNP. Probably not the smartest move.....but I did it backwards in 44:32. Still pretty good, but I was still hurting from the road ride.

Frozen Four Hour Race

We held the 3rd FFH race at my trail, OCNP, on 02/02/08. We had the largest feild with 169 racers entered. The fastest lap was 36:02 by one of the elite/pro riders. He completed 7 laps......only 6 people got in 7. My asst trail steward and good friend Jeremy turned in the 3rd or 4th best lap with a nice 36:42. Most riders were in the mid to high 40 minute lap times. I videoed a lot of it.....like about and hour and a half worth. I edited into this video....check it out, this is my trail. This is the first half........I had to split it for it to upload to photobucket properly.
http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p66/shadowjohns/?action=view&current=OCNPFFHbest.flv

Second half.
http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p66/shadowjohns/?action=view&current=OCNPFFH2ndhalf.flv

Tomorrow I'm going to switch the direction of the trail. I do that from time to time, usually 6 weeks in the normal direction, then 1 or 2 weeks backwards. It is like riding a completely different trail.............and a nice change of pace.

First timed time

Funny title, but I ran an almost all out race pace lap today. I say almost, because I never maxed out my HR, and ran at recovery pace for too long after 2 climbs. I still ran a 40:25 lap, which beat Racer99's 42 minute lap of last Sat. Next time out, I will break 40 minutes.

Loop 4 is really turning into one of the best loops out there. It has everything, tight trees, good climbs, fast downhills, open fields. It is 1.62 miles from where it starts to where it rejoins the main trail. The ridge at Jeremy's Playground is the halfway point. Once I get final OK from TLC, we will finish the other downhill runs.