Woodstock Wrecker

3/18 Endurance Open Male
5 Laps; 42.5 miles
4 hours 2 minutes
Official Result

Strava Link
Strava Flyby 

Third place was first in my books for this race. When it comes to racing endurance races, as I relearned last race, you must race your own race. I knew going into this race that while anything is possible, going up against Pat Blair and Kevin Carter put me racing for third. I held my race tactics true and all turned out great; don't go out hard, race your own race, if these rules are followed then you can really start racing when it really counts. I need to remember, at the beginning of a race, there are two people up front, people who can hold what they got, and those that are hoping to have something they most likely don't. One person's zone 2 is another zone 5.

I went out knowing Johnny May was out again for this race and I wanted to finish in front of him. Mother's Day Mauler was a rough race for me, but Johnny came flying past me while I was bonking and I had nothing to stay on him. I felt we were an equal competition if I raced right, so I decided to stick with Johnny until the racing began. Johnny races smart, he has a nice slow burning fuse and Johnny knows how to hold back until he needs to go harder.

Race roll out was another casual endurance start. Pat and Kevin quickly moved up front. I let Johnny go in front of me and then we started rolling our laps. We rolled a nice casual first lap, everyone was having some nice conversation. My buddy John Stavlas was hanging out with us rolling strong, and two other guys; David F and a dude I rolled with for a while, Strava has his name as Vladimir Draco. About halfway into the first lap a gap started forming, I know Kevin and Pat's zones don't match mine so I let them go. I kept my original plan and just rolled with Johnny, Stavlas and Vlad. David took off with Kevin and Pat, I had a good idea that that was his mistake, but maybe he had it in him.

My plan to stick Johnny's tail quickly went away when he had to stop to fix his derailleur. It ended up being a quick fix and put him about 30 seconds back. Vlad and I rolled through the start finish and got the announcement that we were the first racers through. Very confused we kept rolling, I figured Kevin and Pat took a wrong turn somewhere. I knew this was going to light a fire under those two, I felt that if it did kick up their pace that David was going to get dropped real quick.

After coming through the second lap I saw Pat coming up on me. I talked with him for a bit, found out that he and Kevin did take a wrong turn, Kevin and Pat had dropped David, and Johnny was about 30-60 seconds back. Kevin was about 15 seconds back on Pat and made some jokes about Pat racing like a shark; once he smells blood he goes hard. I let them go, and go they did, they were quickly out of my sight. I found out Stavlas had taken the same wrong turn and also he got a nasty flat and his tire valve was stuck, super bummer! Stavlas ended up DNFing endurance and racing 40+ Elite to come in 5th, super kudos!

The gaps were now set, Kevin and Pat were up front doing their thing. I as on my own and wanted to keep the gap between me and the other racers. I had to try and keep this while keeping my pace my own. I rolled a couple uneventful laps just having a good time out on the trails in the awesome weather. During my fourth lap someone came up on me moving fast and wanting to pass. I knew it wasn't a sport racer so I thought some endurance racer had really started to pick it up. He passed me and was moving strong. I started keeping pace with him, knowing it was late enough in the race that I might be able to hold this pace for the rest of the race. We went up a climb and he started going harder. I looked at my heart rate and felt my exertion and knew he was going to hard for me to keep this pace for the rest of the race. I had to let him go and hope for the best.

Shortly after this racer shot past me another two racers passed me, one of them being Danny Atkins, this confirmed my suspicion. These guys were the elite racers on their first lap. I found some guy that I started holding good pace with and went the rest of the lap with him. I started having troubles with my chain and knew I needed to stop and lube it, I was having chain suck and I did not want to have a repeat chain incident from last race. I pulled into pit and spent a quick 50 seconds cleaning and lubing up my chain and took off to hit my last lap hard.

I had been ramping up my pace during my fourth lap and continued to do the same on the fifth lap. I was having an awesome race and had done everything like I should and now I was able to hit climbs hard and finish strong. I was getting close to the line and was noticing that I might possibly be going out for a sixth. I didn't really want to go for a sixth. I had thought this was going to be a five lap race and had put my push on harder for the last two laps and didn't want to go out for another lap, specially if all I was doing was chasing Pat and Kevin. I rolled across the line at four hour and two minutes, perfect!

This race was a ton of fun. We had great weather and good racers. I was very excited to have such a good race and come out with the results I did. Each lap was faster than the previous and that is an awesome way to roll. Thanks to my wife Leesa for coming out and cheering me on! Thanks Ty Long with NoFilm Photography for the great photos, you always cover an event amazingly! Thanks to an awesome team that continues to push me and provide great racing advice.

Mother's Day Mauler

5/14 Endurance Open Male
9 Laps; 40 miles
3 hours 53 minutes
Official Results

Strava Link

Everyone has to have their bad races and MDM was one of them for me. I had a nice dinner of a salad, chicken breast and spaghetti. Got to bed at a decent hour with my bike and everything all ready for the next day. The race is local on trails I know pretty well. I am trying to put my major focus on the NUE races, but a nice 4 hour MTB  ride is perfect Saturday training. I went to bed, but didn't get to sleep or stay asleep very well. I woke up the next morning not feeling that great, eating breakfast was a good indicator of this, I barely ate all my oatmeal and banana. Oh well, off to the races.

John and I setup a prime location for our pit stop which was halfway through the lap at  the top of a climb. Leesa and Ginny chilled up there playing music, dancing and cheering on racers. We got all setup and headed down to the race start. Besides not feeling the best in the stomach I was feeling great. We lined up on the start line and got ready for a good 4 hours of racing.

 

 

Four hours of racing is pretty short for me and I wasn't completely sure how to go about it. I remember doing my six hour race last year and going pretty hard for the whole thing so I figured I could push it a little more than my NUE races for four hours. Ten seconds before the race started I noticed I didn't have my glasses on, they were on my helmet, but being in the front row didn't seem like the right time to put my glasses on. The endurance rollout was the most casual race start I've ever been in. We had a small climb up to the single track but nobody took off anything close to a pushing pace to hit that single track first. We were going so casual that I sat up and put my glasses on and still was sitting up front. I didn't want to pull everyone up to the single track... I didn't want to be that guy. I even took time to give Ed Dixon a good high five as I rolled past him. John Stavlas was an awesome friend and teammate and he jumped up front and pulled us up. He said he knew he wasn't going to win but he wanted to pull me up there to get us started, super kudos to you my friend!

First Couple Laps Make It Look So Easy

Single Track with John leading our fun ride, we weren't pushing anything hard and enjoying the beginning of our four hours. once we hit the open climbs people started wanting to pull around so I did the same. I said farewell and thanks to John and took off. Tyler Monroe, Chris Newell and I sat up front for the first couple hours taking turns, but mainly Tyler was happy to sit up front. Tyler seemed pretty strong and I knew the pace was a little easier for him; I was worried about blowing up. The pace didn't seem hard to me and I wasn't feeling in the red, but when I looked at my heart rate it did seem a little high at times.

We rolled steady for about the first 2.5 hours together and I felt myself start slipping back some but I was doing alright. I was starting to see that I was going to be fighting for 2nd or 3rd as Chris and I took turns dropping back and then catching up. This is when Rob Campbell caught up and blew past me, I was in the middle of bridging a gap that had formed when I dabbed on a climb and had a big gap form. There was now a new pace for the front pack and I watched them leave me. I knew that it would be wise for me to let them go, I didn't have it in me to hold that pace for the next two hours.

This is where things took a turn for the worse. I saw Johnny May pass me shortly and now I was sitting 5th. I was hurting some already and I knew I had blown it. I was now the guy I try not to be; I had gone out strong and now struggling while watching the smart guys pass me. I just wanted to hold my position at least and maybe pick someone off. I did manage to catch back up to Chris and I was worried about passing him because I wasn't sure if I was pushing too much again just to gain a position to far from the finish.

There were three major climbs in this course, but two that I really cared about. One was a waterbars climb that was gravelly and fairly steep, the other was longer climb that took us to the end of the lap. I thought this final climb would be a strong point for me, it is a climb that I would normally excel at. This climb ended up being my nemesis, I could climb the waterbars, slower and slower but I was doing fine on it. The final climb I started cramping on every lap. I tried high cadence spin one lap, I tried low gear grinding another lap, I tried standing high cadence, then I found what worked the best, but still was very painful. Standing stretched over my bars climbing single speeder hunched over my bars so my legs were stretched the most was the best answer. I still had to fight hard to keep the cramps from completely setting in.

I had been drinking through the day and eating, I felt like my nutrition was on, but the temps were still a lot warmer than I am acclimated to so far for the year so I think this was some of the issue I was having. I think some was also attributed to whatever was going on with me not feeling well, and of course going hard in the beginning didn't help. I felt like I was bonking much harder than I should be though.

I held my 4th place and was dreading the 10th lap. I was hoping I would come in close enough to the cutoff that I wouldn't have to go at and still keep my 4th. I rolled through the lap with 10 minutes to spare, time for one more. I hit our gnarly rocky technical spot nicely and hit our hard corner into a climb and started pedaling.... no chain. I jump off and see that I still have a chain, but it has broken. I inspect the chain to see that I would have to pull out my chain tool to fix this. I was not about to fix some chain to fight for 4th or 5th. I didn't have it in me to fight for anything if I did get the chain fixed quickly, but I knew I would have to do it in less than five minutes. I turned around and walked my bike up the climb and finished with nine laps. I ended up only dropping to 5th and was happy with that.

I had chose dry lube for the race and don't know why I went that route, I really should have gone with wet lube. Halfway through this race my chain was super dry and gritty, I am sure this helped in my chain breaking.

Elite Racer, Lance Byrd, killing it on the rough mucky trails

All in all, it was not my day. I still fought hard and pushed on when it got tough. I went back and hung out with friends and waited around for the Elite race to take place. These guys battled it out in a mudfest that we didn't have because of 15 minutes of downpour before their race started. I recognized it wasn't my day but still gave good credit to the guys finishing ahead of me. I look forward to Woodstock Wrecker and hope to be feeling better that day.

Go Home... Your Done :)

Thanks to Leesa Tarter and Ty Long with NoFilm Photography for the awesome photos! Thanks again as always to Leesa for being the best pit boss ever and enjoying this sport with me!