2017 - Another year gone by

It is crazy how fast the year can fly by. It just seems to keep getting faster and faster every year. I sure it has to do with how busy I always seem to be. If it is not one thing, it is another. 2017 turned out to be a pretty good year for me. I ended 2016 feeling pretty bummed about my performance at the Gravel Grovel after feeling like I was having a good year. I know that I didn't feel good and that played a big part in my ride, but that did not really make me feel better. This year I came out swinging pretty good and had one of my most successful years that I can remember.

It started out with the early season trip to Georgia for the Snake Creek Gap The first event was an adventure with all the snow and all classes changed to the 17 mile, but was still a lot of fun. I didn't really race it since the time was not a factor, but I still felt like I rode most of it pretty good until near the end. The second race had a lot better weather and I rode pretty well for what I wanted, but came up a little short from my goal. Either way this race is always interesting.

Next up on the schedule was the inaugural Dirty South Roubaix gravel race. It was somewhat of a last minute decision to attend and I really was not sure what to expect. The route had a lot of nice places to ride and also a very painful levee. I ended up riding better than I thought I would, even with feeling like I was dying on the levee and also nursing a leaking tire near the end. I was very happy with myself with I figured out that I finished 5th in my class and just off of the podium.

I went back to Big Frog to try and improve on the last years time. Well, I failed pretty bad at that finishing even slower than the previous year and a lot of cramping to go with it. I came out of this race felling pretty low on myself and how I was riding. I will have to go back and see if I can figure out where I go wrong out there on the gravel loop. 

I then attended my only DINO XC race of the year at Griffin Park I have not been doing many XC races, but things just worked out for me to attend and this race turned in to my biggest surprise of the year. I didn't have any expectations and was pleasantly surprised when I figured out where I was running and was able to improve upon that to finish 2nd and my first podium in a long time.

I finally didn't have any conflicts and was able to attend my first Tri-State 6hr race at East Fork I didn't feel like I rode too bad, but faded pretty good late in the race. Not horrible, but not the performance that I would have liked. I did figure out that I really do like these events and the atmosphere and want to attend more.

I'm not sure what all happened between these two 6 hour races, but somewhere in the middle of me not being happy with how I am riding and how I seem to do better on a SS bike and then Bushong trying to talk me in to racing Fools gold on a SS. I came in to this second Tri-State 6hr race at England Idlewild making an unexpected change. I had not been on my SS in a long time and here I found myself lined up to race it for 6 hours. Needless to say I was not prepared for this at all, but it turns out that maybe there is some connection between me and my one gear friend. I raced this with a bigger gear than I used to run and rode awesome! I pushed myself to hang in there and ended up finishing in 4th place and my second podium of the season.

Needless to say after that performance it was easy to talk me in to doing Fools Gold in the SS class. I still had doubts, but no turning back now. I had another great day on the bike. I was riding better than I think I have all year and even with a mechanical that ate up some time I was still happy with finishing 11th in a stacked SS class.

I was happy when my conflicts ended up working out for me to attend the Pedals Helping People mtb race. This is a great event put on to help people affected by cancer. This was an awesome day to ride in the woods and for an even better cause. The icing on the cake was getting myself another podium appearance.

This had me closing in on the end of the season with my favorite race of the year, Gravel GrovelSo, continuing the trend of riding one gear, I did this race SS again. I have done it SS several times in the past and always thought I needed gears to get faster times and finish where I wanted to. That makes sense and all, but I have found that I do not make sense most of the time. I ended up having another great ride and destroying my fastest finish to date by 45 min and finished over an hour faster than last year. What more can one ask for to end the season. Yea another podium would have been nice, but maybe next year. My finishing time would have been 3rd last year, so I guess I'm not completely out of reach.

I also ended up my year with the most miles that I have ever put in for a single year. I rolled just over 5300 miles for 2017! I am very happy with that. I just hope to continue to move forward and give myself as much chance for another good season in 2018. Hope to see you from behind bars.