Not looking good

This weekend is supposed to be the well attended Dino race at Brown County State Park. To say the weather is not looking very good is probably an understatement. Rain leading up to the event and a forecast for even more will have all the racers wondering if it will be raced or pushed off to another date. I really hate it when a race has to reschedule, but I completely understand why. It just makes it hard with the calendar mostly full already, when you start moving races there is some kind of overlap that is bound to happen.

I am not sure if pushing the race off would be good or bad for me. I have not been on a bike since the Ft. Duffield race last weekend. Way too much going on to squeeze in a ride. We have had 3 baseball games this week and with the holiday on Monday, I did a lot of work around the house that has been overlooked. My legs hurt anyway. I did think about getting out for an easy spin to try to work them out, but time and energy did not allow.

I thought about hitting the trainer or rollers a few nights, but when we get home after 10 from work and ball games, it is hard to find the motivation to get on the bike. I topped that off with eating bad all week, so I am sure my weight is on the rise. My legs should be well rested going in to this race, but with everything going on, my sleeping has been very sub par. I have been getting even less rest than normal. With that building up all week I am thinking that it will not be good. I just hope the legs can pull me through.

I hope to get on the trainer for a little bit tonight just to try and loosen up the legs. Or I could head out in to the rain and strong winds to try and do the same. Also I will be on my legs all day Saturday with a bowling tournament. I just hope to do well and win some more bike fund money.

Next weekend I plan on racing the White Lightning race in Kentucky. My plan is to change my gearing on the SS before then. The problem is I need to change it before Tuesday because I have a ride scheduled for that day and want to ride the SS. I also hope to swap out the front wheel, but if it is as hard to put the tire on as the back wheel was, I am not looking forward to it. I can only hope to squeeze it all in when I need to. Hope to see you Sunday at BCSP or I will be at home getting my bikes ready for next weekend.

Ft. Duffield

This weekend was the reschedule date for the first round in the Kentucky Point Series. It was at Ft. Duffield and the hardest trail of the series. This year the trail has had some work done on it and a more permanent loop has been put in place. While it may not be the longest race for the classes, you will not know it when you are done. Plenty of tough climbs, rock gardens and logs to cross to keep you on your toes. 

The race starts by heading straight up a steep, long road climb. The bright side to this is the first person to the top can grab a small bottle of bourbon. If you hold on to that bottle till the end of the race, it can be traded in for a larger version. Not sure that makes up for the pain to get there first, but it couldn't hurt. I knew it would not be anything that I would win, but it is nice for the fast guys. 

I was not sure how well I would do in this race. It had been a little while since I have rode the SS and knowing how much climbing is there, I did not have high hopes. I have been doing a lot of riding this year, but not enough trail riding or SS riding. I did so something I normally would not have done. I went out for a road ride on Saturday. A spin in it's self is not always bad, but the ride ended up a little harder and longer than I had figured. I was not really hard, but there was some wind that seemed to add up on some stretches. I didn't feel bad Sunday morning, but with all the climbing I really needed to have legs that were as fresh as I could get them.

I woke up that morning hearing rain coming down. I was not sure if the race was going to be cancelled or not. I knew it was dry late Saturday night and the trail can handle some rain with out too much trouble. I kind of figured the race would be on, but I really didn't want to get out in it so I hit snooze a couple of times. This got us on the road later than planned, but still in plenty of time. Just not enough time to get a lot of riding in to warm up to the point that I normally like. The good news was that all the rain didn't hit Duffield and the trails were in great shape. 

The start came quicker than I would have liked, but there was nothing I could do about it at that point. I just hoped for the best. I didn't start at the front of the pack since we were at the bottom of a huge hill. I tried to take my time and just work my way up the hill. I did actually pass some people and was not feeling too bad. The top gets really steep and hurt bad. The first section of trail has a few steep sections that are even harder after climbing the road. I tried to get the heart rate back under control and keep moving. I passed a few people in this section and was feeling pretty good. I had an eye opener in a rough rocky section that I thought was going to get me. I did have a water bottle eject from one of my cages. I knew I should have put one at the start finish to pick up in between laps, but I figured I would just save the trouble and carry both with me. 

I slowed down for a little bit and tried to pick better lines from there. I could really tell the difference from the 100mm fork on the other bike to the 80mm fork on the SS. There was some sections that the extra 20 mm would have been nice. The only problem with the other fork is it does not have a remote lock out. I used the one I had enough that I was wondering if it would wear out. I was glad that it kept working, because climbing is a lot easier with a locked out fork. 

Overall I rode better than I expected. I climbed a lot of stuff that I figured I would not be able to. I hate to admit, but I did walk a few more sections than I would have wanted. I really don't like having to walk, but sometimes I just can't help it. I felt good going over all the logs, but the new route seemed to have a few less logs than previous years. This is good, but it is also not good for me since in previous years I would pass people because they were getting off the bike to go over the logs. There was a tree down that was not something that anyone could ride. The SS class didn't have a huge turnout, but there were no slouches, well, other than me. The top two riders were battling it out for the overall win for the combined class. I had passed the guy in third part of the way in the first lap. I fully expected to see him pass me again, but it never happened. this left me finishing in 3rd place. Not too bad for me. I still have a long way to go to be able to try and keep up with the front of the class, but I do have hope that some day I will be close. I messed up my gps at the start of the race. I almost forgot to turn it on and didn't get a good look at it before the race started. It seems that I needed to reset it after the ride on Saturday, so both of the rides were combined.

There was tons of prizes to be awarded. If you are not racing the Kentucky series, you really should check them out. This is how I have seen several prize tables for this series that look just like this. Combine that with some great trails, good people and some fast racers. Do yourself a favor and get to the next race in the series!

This was also my first chance to try out my new Endless cog. It seems that all the reviews were spot on. That was the quietest my drive train has been in a long time. I didn't even have the chain cleaned very good. I never felt like I was going to drop a chain or have any issues. So, not only does it look great, it really does kick ass. I can see why so many people want to run a Endless Kick Ass Cog. So, if you are in the market for a different cog for your ride, you can't go wrong with one of these.

Next weekend is the Dino Brown County race. I am sure it will be a huge turn out. I will be back on the Niner for this race and hope to be able to do a little better than I did at Warsaw. I have not been to BCSP much the last two years, but I hope to remember some of it and be able to put the hammer down. I just need to be able to climb the road climb strong and get a good start. We have 3 games this week, so riding might be tough to squeeze in. I will have a little more time to hang around after the race. I hope to see you there.

The season has started

The new kits are looking good!

This weekend was the start of the DINO series at Winona Lake. Since I am trying to put a little more effort to this season, I had planned on making this trip. It had been several years since I have made the trip up there for the race. Other than the race, I have only rode there one other time. The weekend was very busy, but I was still going to make it for the race. Well, I thought I was going to have some issues with all of the road construction and even a road closed with a detour. I really need to update my GPS and I will spend less time with the car looking like it was in the middle of a field.

I did feel better when I finally pulled in to the lake road. I knew I would be able to find the trail from there. After I signed in, I went to get ready. That is where I found my next problem. It seems that I forgot to pack my shorts. Good thing someone helped me out with an extra pair they had. I may not have looked as good as I should have, but at least I was racing in bike shorts and not cargo shorts.

We did get out for some pre-riding. I didn't have time for a full lap or want to put that much riding in before the start, but it did help with a few sections. It also was good to get a little riding in before the race started. The only thing I could have done better is ride a little harder. What I did helped, but I didn't get my engine warmed all the way up. I didn't do bad on the start. I went a little hard to stay somewhat near the front, but not all the way at the front. I thought I was going good, but with some riders in front of me struggling, I needed to pass quicker and I was worried about going too hard too soon. This hesitation just might have caused me to do what I didn't want to happen.

As we hit a few sections that were tight and had some climbs, I was working harder to stay behind someone then I wanted too. He was not going at a speed that I should have been going. I started to feel my heart rate going up and this made me even more worried about passing some guys. I let some pass me in places that I should have passed the guy in front of me. After a few went by, I ended up passing him anyway. I am not sure if I would have been more aggressive on the passes if I would have been stronger or not. I did back off for a little bit to let my heart rate settle down some or I would have been worthless for the rest of the race.

There was a section that flowed a little better and I could turn up the speed and just let the legs turn pedals over. This section really helped me settle down and at the same time move along pretty good. All of this road riding I have been doing has me really liking this kind of riding. What I need to work on more is all the start and stops. The short bursts of power are not what I am currently strong at. Once I started to feel better, I could put more power too the ground and keep my pace good.

I felt as good as I would have liked for the rest of the race. I reeled in some riders and didn't let too many more pass me. I could not keep the speed up that I would have liked, but I was doing as good as I could expect. When I was passed by the Women's leader, I jumped on her wheel and really moved along good. Not knowing the trail really was not good for this race. The corners were very tight and it was hard to go full out and not sure if I could make the next turn. When she was in front of me, she was showing me the way and I was feeling good. This worked for part of a lap until I could not pass a rider she got by. I tried, but the opening closed before I could get by. I did pass him shortly after, but she was gone already and the legs were feeling heavy. I continued going well for the rest of the race and even passing a couple people very late in the race.

The official results are not posted yet, but the TV had me listed in 23rd for the age group. I felt like I might be a little farther up than that, but not knowing how many were at the line it makes it hard to judge if that was good or not. I do know I was about 10 min. down from the top 4. That is a number that I was not happy with. I guess the feeling of racing good may just not be good enough to actually be racing good. Overall, I am still very happy with myself. I had not rode much this week and was behind on sleep the week leading up to the race. I now know a few things I need to keep improving on and try to keep riding like I have been a day or so a week. That will be hard with the season started and I will have a lot of weekends scheduled with races. Maybe I will be able to race in to shape the rest of the way. I am looking forward to racing a trail that is not as tight or one that I know a little better than this race.

Only time will tell if I can actually figure something out, but it will not be long before I will be able to test the legs again. This weekend is the rescheduled date for the Fort Duffield race. I had planned on racing the SS for this event, but now I am starting to have second thoughts. I have some work to do on the SS before I would even be able to ride it. I just hope there is some time this week to get a few things done and squeeze in a ride or two. Hope to see you on the trail or at the next race.

Stay away rain

Well, this weekend might be the first MTB race of the season as long as the rain stays away. The previous 2 races were postponed for weather reasons and I really hope this one will work out. I have been wanting to see if my riding is coming around or not. My issue is that I am not sure it will be a good test to see where I am. I have a very busy week and will not have a lot of time to get out and ride. This is not all bad, but not all good either.

The end of last week was full of rain. I knew we were going to be at a bowling alley Saturday morning for the Middle School Regional, but had hopes of getting out between that and mother's day. On a side note, AJ finished 1st in the 7th grade boys and first in the team event!! Then Friday I got a call from his soccer coach. It seems there was another area team that needed some more players for a tournament. So much for having any other free time for a ride, but not a big deal. I actually could have gotten out Sunday morning before we had to leave for the game, but I was tired and figured the rest would be better. It was worth it for him to have the opportunity to play for another team and against some tough competition.

I have been too busy lately and the rain has made the grass really grow. I felt like I had to take the afternoon off on Monday just to mow the grass. I did that and some other trimming and things that have been overlooked. I should have done even more, but with the sun out I really wanted to get on the bike. I was limited on time so I hoped on the road bike to try and spin the legs out. It was nice out, but way more wind than I would prefer. This made some sections harder than they should have been, but my legs were not working well either. I was really feeling the ride from last week. I didn't do too bad on the flats, but anytime the road went up at all, I had no power.

This was very disappointing as I felt like I rode like a champ on Wednesday and here I feel like I have been sitting on the couch all spring. I hope to get them to rest some more and maybe get out for another spin to work them out before the weekend. But, it is not looking too good.  We have 3 baseball games this week and have to head north on Friday. The best chance I had was on Wednesday, but found out this morning that a rained out soccer game has been rescheduled for that night. Becky has something going on so it will be up to me to get him to the game. It would be easier if it was in town, but of course it is not.

The weekend will be full of driving, racing, bowling and soccer. Should be fun! We will be doing all of that in 3 different cities, 2 different hotels and a whole lot of rushing around. So, if you are looking for me I might be hard to find. I will not be spending a lot of time hanging around after my race. I have to get back to pick up my family in Lafayette and get to Terre Haute in time for a soccer game. Should be fun!

Wednesday night beat down

I think I am going to think of the Wednesday rides as more of a hammer fest than just a ride. That has been the trend lately. Maybe all the rides are turning in to that and it just happens to be the one I can attend. I am not sure, but I do hope it is doing me some good. It has to be doing something when my legs still hurt two day's after the ride.

Lets reel back to a day before. I worked it out that I could take Becky out for a little ride while soccer practice was going on. I think she had a good time. It was not too far, but just enough for her to get a little work out and still enjoy herself enough to want to go back out. I hope the bike bug hits her again and she will start riding more. I sure do miss the times that we were riding together just about every day.

As we were winding down, I thought that I could make the 7:50 hot lap. We were pushing the time, but I figured it would be close. After we got back, I made sure to have a few things I needed and off I went. When I got there, they were already gone. I figured they could not be too far as I was not that late. I took another route to try and intercept the train. I got to a place I figure I would be good and started riding the loop backward, but never saw them. So, I went my own way pushing it some as I could. I eventually ended up out near a section I knew they would be passing. As they went by I was shot and was not going to jump on. Then at the last minute I decided to try. After giving it everything I had, we rolled up to the biggest hill of the loop and I watched them roll away. On the down hill I was getting close to catching them, but another little climb and it was all I had. I did meet up with them and it turns out they started a little early. They also ran a pace that I am not sure I wanted anything to do with. No matter what I had a good little ride in.

Then the next day we had a little group that was going out for a ride. I never know what to expect or where Brian will take me, but I can always guarantee it will be a good ride. Well, it turns out we were going to head back to Ferdinand. But, it was not like last week was not hilly enough, I then hear something about hitting Ferdinand Forest Road. WHAT!!! I know what that road is like and it will not be fun. The ride started out fairly flat, but we were moving along at a good pace even going into the wind. We were doing good until we had a flat tire in Huntingburg. Brian was nice enough to change it.

It didn't take long to get moving again and off we were. The pace was still going good. I was a little worried about how well I would be climbing once we hit the bigger hills with the current pace. We seemed to be going a lot faster pace than we should have been for where we were going. I was not riding bad and actually keeping up on the sections that pointed up. I even had a section that I was pulling 24 mph or so and it didn't feel like I was even going 20. Of course it was right before a few hills and then all of a sudden I could feel the effort I just put in. I tried to keep the pace up as I climbed and didn't seem to do too bad, but I think everyone was just going slower so they didn't drop me. I was just hoping I was not burning too many matches this early. There was a good sized hill before we hit Ferdinand that I seemed to feel in the legs more than the previous hills.

Not long after that, we took a section to slow down to get some food down. The bigger hills were not far away. I was still riding fairly good and only got dropped a little on a really big hill. I was not the only one falling off the pack, just the one the farthest back. It didn't take that long to catch up and we were moving good again. At this point we did something that I don't believe I have ever done. The whole group passed a tractor and bobcat. I am sure he had not seen that too often either. It was interesting flying by him.

There were some more hills after that and I was slower than I was on the previous hills, but I think everyone was feeling it by then as I didn't get dropped like I thought I would. Some how I regrouped and was feeling better than expected. It seemed like the whole group was not looking to hit too many more hills, but we still had a ways to get back to the car. The flat sections were still moving at a good clip. I even took a pull up front that was pretty strong. Much stronger than I would have expected. I think we were all shocked that we averaged 19.5 mph for the route with all the hills. I sure was not expecting that, but it does make some sense with the speeds we were running on the other sections. I am also sure that little bit that I hit 44 mph didn't hurt either.

After the ride I was shot. I didn't have a lot left and was feeling nasty. It was all I could do to put the bike on the car. Why didn't I buy a hitch rack? It felt great to get home, hop in the shower and then drink my R4. I didn't get a lot of rest as I had said I would help seat up some tubeless tires for a teammate. I was very glad the first tire was a piece of cake, but it was the second one that was not very cooperating. I thought we were going to burn up my little compressor, so we headed in to my work where a much larger compressor has saved my tail several times before seating up non-tubeless tires as tubeless tires. It still struggled to get that tire popped on, but eventually it could get the air in there just right to blow it up and we were off to the races.

I then put the tools away, heated up my supper and had Basket Case Brewery Busta.... well maybe two. Overall I am very happy with myself. I seem to be getting faster almost every ride out. I really need this to continue. I need to put a more serious effort at loosing some weight and riding more than one or two times a week. I am not sure how it will all transfer over to the mtb for racing, but it has to be better than previous years. I need to put some more time in on the trails, but the weather has not been the best for that. Someday I hope to be able to step it up enough to be top 10 overall in Cat 2 on any weekend. I have already stepped it up from previous years. I noticed that this ride put me over 650 miles for the year. That is a lot for me. I know that most of them are on the road, but they are still miles and not junk miles. I just hope I can figure out a way to get it all worked in.

Catching up

This week has flown by. I have wanted to update a few different things, but never seemed to have the time. So, with the rain cancelling the second race in as many weeks, I figured I might as well get caught up. Monday night I was able to join the Basket Case ride. There was a good sized group and it was a blast riding with a large pack. There was a couple of hills that seemed to be unstated sprint points, but that was all part of the fun. I thought the route was a bit odd, but after seeing where the Duathlon went yesterday, it all made a little more sense. Most of the riders stopped in for a after ride beer and some good conversation.

The ride was a little short @ 15 miles for what I had wanted to get in. There was a group riding a fast loop right after the ride, but being off the bike for several days and seeing how the legs responded on the sprint points, I figured I would not be able to keep up with the group and passed on that ride and had a beer. When I was leaving, I figured I might as well get a few more miles in and headed out for another section. I found myself near where the fast loop would be heading, so I put the hammer down and tried to get as far out on the loop as I could before they came by. I found them and hoped on. It was a good hard pace and felt good. I rode just fine on the way out and once I got in the group that it made me wonder how I would have fared if I did join the ride from the start. I will never know.

Wednesday there was a group going for a ride. I did what I could to free up the schedule and made contact to go along. It was decided to head over toward Ferdinand to get some hills in. There was also a YMCA ride at the same time. If we ran in to them it would be great, if not it didn't matter. We thought we were pushing it on the time limit to get there in time. Probably because of me. There was no shortage of climbs and I did what I could, but I am still not the climber they are. I will say that I think I am improving, but some of the hills still get me. I can climb them with out a problem, but climbing them fast is another thing. Any hill that I have a raised rpm while climbing, I will run out of gas and be slow. If I can push a bigger gear I have a better chance of staying with the group. This is something I need to work on along with just climbing in general.

We did end up catching the YMCA group. There was a good amount of riders. There were even a few more than what was in the picture. There was also a smaller second group that was going to ride at a little slower pace. That ride is for all riding levels and is a no drop ride. It is great to see all these people getting out for rides. The YMCA group was taking a route that was going to take us pretty far out and had a few good hills itself. We decided to break off of the group and go our own way. It would have been a huge ride for us to do it all. The bigger group would have been nice to ride with, but we had a good group too, so it was all good.

I had to fight through some cramps in the middle of the ride. I managed to keep riding strong and get them stretched out and feeling better. Even after all the hills, we were moving along at a good clip for most of the ride. The moving average doesn't show it, but it was a fast paced ride. I have the auto stop turned off on my Garmin because of the mtb rides. I forgot to stop it when I stopped for some water. We also slowed the pace down a lot while we were riding with the YMCA guys and chatting away.


This weekend was the second weekend in a row that a race has been cancelled because of rain. This is a good thing for the trails and our bikes, but not a good thing for the racing. I have been ready to get out there and see where I am with my training in a race situation, but it has not worked out. I am not sure I will be able to hit the race next weekend because I should be a good dad and watch my son. I just wish Waverly was on Sunday, but that would not go so well for mom either. When we do actually get to race, the team will be looking good and easy to find. The new team tent is awesome looking!!!