Ft. Duffield

I didn't go either. I had an appointment at the beauty shop.

Ft. Duffield Race Report

Got up, checked the weather, went back to bed.

Looking forward to DINO Muscatatuck next weekend.

I'll be there signing autographs before and after the race.
There will also be photo opportunities with my awesome
Cannondale Scalpel from Clarksville Schwinn. Mine is cooler
than Rowbears'.

can i get some presidential defeets?

reportedly taken before dubya's ride

Ferdinand

The race started out by doing a lap and a half around a field then we made a left into the woods crossed a creek and then started up a short technical climb which then mellowed into a long sustained fire-road climb that took a few minutes to get to the top of at which point we made a right onto single-track and began the steep quick descents which were followed immediately by quick ascents with a fireroad section thrown in every once and a while. There was one or two climbs that I think the majority of riders were dismounting and walking up and there were a couple other longer climbs on the course that really took the energy out of the legs. I think it's a really tough course and I was definitely worried about blowing up at the start.

So, I settled in for a long day at the start. Not really long so much as draining. I let 4 guys get away on the first long climb up to the single track. I was thinking that they would blow up and slow way down before the race was over. I wanted to take it kind of easy on the first lap (which was only half a lap), second lap was a full lap (10 miles or so). Problem is after the first half lap I was kinda over that trail system because there isn't much fun to be had and it just seemed so unrelenting. So on the second lap I didn't really step it up like I planned and found myself reverting to granny gear often. About half-way through that lap I basically gave up and began to not be able to give a crap whether I went fast or not. With a few miles left Trevor Stith came around me from the 30-39 group and I felt comfortable with his pace so I tried to keep him in eyesight. When I realized that the end was near I started to actually push the pedals again but it was getting a little too late. I caught one guy from our group that was in with the 5 that got away on the first climb. he was walking his bike, I'm guessing cramps.

So I ended up finishing 4th in my age group. I was beat on the starting line though so it wasn't a satisfying race for me.

Now was that so bad?

Yes, it was.

• 26th out of 50 in the Sport category.
• 4th in the 40-49 men. I could have been 2nd if I hadn't screwed around. I let the 3rd place guy in my age group pass me with about 3 miles left, and we both sat on the 2nd place guy for the last mile. I should have passed them both when I had the opportunity. That would have moved me up to 24th overall, but at least then I'd have been in the top half.
• I was doing OK for the first hour. I climbed well, descended OK, kept it moving. The last 45 minutes were in survival mode. Not a race to be proud of. I seriously thought about quitting, but never got around to it.
• Just like always....I'd gap guys on the the climbs just to get reeled back in on the descents. I need some bike-handling skills bad.

Ferdi's Bullets

So rather than a whole long report, the highlights (or lack of) -

• Eric Pirtle has 18lb Scott Scale. Pretty Cool
• He DNF'd
• Eric, Jean-Luc Serriere and myself led from the start (in that order)
• Jean-Luc passed Eric and attacked on a singletrack climb about 3 miles in
• Eric didn't respond and I was stuck behind him
• We got gapped
• I passed Eric when the trail opened back up
• I dropped Eric, but had no legs to chase hard and got beat like rug by a 41 year old with a cool name

Better luck next time.

hasta manana

about that entry I made a few days ago, yeah, I take it back. The ferdinand course is brutal and has no flow to it. I'm scared. I need Jens Voigt to sit me down and have a talk with me. I need coach Dave, www.everybodysbikecoach.com to hold my hand and tell me it's gonna be okay. :) Seriously though, I just hope I get up front early so I can dictate the pace.

yaaaay

Yay! We got our shorts back! Yay! My cheeks will be more comfortable! yay! Now we have a matching kit! Yay!

Ghost of Mohican

butterflies already?

It's crazy how much attention Curtlo/John Hughson is getting because of his accomplishments at the 13 hours of Fleur

So, big race this weekend for me at Ferdinand, IN. Big because I'm already getting nervous, I have the eye of the turtle right now. I hope I have it Saturday morning. What is the deal with me normally being psyched up to race a few days before but then come day of the race I don't have the desire? Ferdinand is a tough course but I'm anxious to try to push it to the limit.

I mainly just wanted to make a new post cause I've made a few subtle changes to the blog including a hit counter. Talk about exciting.

This one is cooler

why dont you people do this race? it rocks.

anthony leading the pack at Mohican 100

http://www.cyclingnews.com/mtbphotos.php?id=/photos/2007/jun07/mohican100_07/mohican_100_07_start1

Mohican 100(k)

I am a sandbagger, but the promoter encourages me to enter and win this event, so I guess he is my enabler.

The dryest Mohican yet, (for me anyway since the skys opened up on part of the course about 20 minutes after I finished), saw a talented bunch battling for the 100 mile and the ultra-endurance series. Chris E, Tinker, last years winner Harlan Price and Mike from Bells brewing set a good pace to start. Tinker had his hands full not being real stable on the slick east coast rocks and roots, eventually dropped out. I stayed up with them for the first 14 miles or so until i decided I need to back it off. having just ate my huge mound of mush only 30 minutes prior to the start, little chunks of it were workin their way back up. So then it was just me and a local boy battling it out for the 100(k) crown. A week of sleep deprivation is no way to prepare for a race like this and may total inability to handle my bike was the result. About 18 miles in, over a series of 6 foot or so tall camel humps, i got all ass over ebows and managed to plant myself into the apex of the next little hill, face first. It was pretty good too, blood was oozing at a pretty good rate all over my stem and GU flask (which i later took a delicious shot of blood and chocalate outrage GU, perhaps count chocula's prefered mix, but not mine). I pulled over at a road crossing a mile or so later to have Garth check me out since I had no idea how bad it was (my lips felt like Rudy from Fat Albert, only bloodier). He called me somethin that sounds like wussy and got me goin again, thats my boy. The buckeye i was with took advantage of the situation and had attacked (good move btw, attacking 20 miles into a 65 mile race). I didnt care. I was bloody and tired, i was just gonna ride. If I was caught, fine. If I caught him, fine, but my motivation to go fast was gone.

Of course you all know the story; the tortise caught the hare. At aid station 3 I came around a corner to find buckeye doubled over with cramps. It seems his excitement to unseat me as the king of sandbaggers was his own undoing. So, I kept doing what I had all day and ticked over the pedals at a comfortable pace and came across the line with a decent margin over second, an expert riding for Rays MTB park in Cleveland.

The after was awesome; Kiersta and her husband popped by for a visiit then I sat up on the deck with some folks from the Cinci and Bio-Wheels crew. Got to meet some new faces and caught up with other old ones while the rain fell lightly off and on as we watched folks cross the finish line in a celebration of a hell of a day on the bike. As the afternoon turned to evening, we all drank way too much Sierra Nevada and Bells and stuffed our faces with the TON of food provided. Its a great event that keeps getting better, so next year, dont miss out. Who know, you may end up with a split upper lip the ladies think is sexy. ;)
http://www.mohican.net/100.alpha.htm

Brown County hates me

I guess it's understandable. I'm a pretty detestable guy.

Start of the race was near the entrance of the park in the flat grassy area where the trail dumps out, sort of near the pool. Laps did not come through the start finish area.

So we start out in the grass area hang a sharp right onto the pavement and immediately begin the really steep but pretty short climb which then flattens out and then kicked back up for a longer climb on the pavement towards the tower where we took a right at the top of onto the singletrack. About 50 yards into the woods was the connector and feedzone. It's all really fast through there and the first climb came after about a mile of singletrack, actually probably not that far but the first climb was pretty mellow, nothing i needed to stand up for. then we cruise along for a while on rolling fast trail down to an area were there is traffic going both directions at pretty much the bottom this area is normally wet, but not this weekend. Next we start the longest climb of the day, which is also not that steep but does seem to go on forever. We ride around on the ridge for a few miles and then go back down to the bottom, hang a left and go out on the double track we were riding on a few minutes before then up a little bit to some more fast stuff rolling along till we get to the split for lap or finish. Hang left for the laps and bare straight on for the finish. The lap trail takes back along on a trail near the road that then has a small up to the feed zone. The finish is the trail that goes fast down right behind the bathrooms on top of the hill all the way down and dumps you out in the area we started in.

Okay, now that you have that all straightened out.

Before the race started I was hoping everyone would chill on the first steep paved climb and new things would split up on the second longer climb.

We line up and it looks like a pretty good showing. I'd guess at least 20 in my class but I'm not sure since I didn't look around too much. We take off, make the sharp right onto the road and start the first steep climb. I get up front immediately with 2 or 3 others and gear down. Since I'm hanging on a wheel and noone else is coming around me I figure I'm going fast enough. At the top my legs are feeling it a bit. I noticed the other two in front of me didn't stand for the hill but I did. At the top noone immediately took off or attacked so that's good cause it would have been a pain in the ass. Things speed up and I get behind a kid that looked like he was taller than me and held onto his wheel the rest of the way up. On the last 50 yards are so before singletrack the guy in front attacked and got a gap. I was fine with that and I guess the kid in front of me didn't want to do anything about it either. I was worried someone else might try to come around me but noone did so I go in the woods third. Which I was fine with. I heard that our class had split up into 3 groups by that point but I didn't look back to see any.

Once on the singletrack I noticed that I wasn't having trouble keeping up in the fast stuff. I did feel like if the two guys in front of me were going to get away it would be in some of the climbing stuff. We stay together for a while and. Some short kid up front, then the tall skinny guy in front of me and there were probably 4 riders or so behind me. We had a gap on the rest of the group. I'm not sure how big or small though.

After about 15 minutes the trail opens up for about 30 yards on a bit of an up. #2 attacks and goes around #1. #1 responds to the acceleration and someone comes around me to get in the gap that opened up from the acceleration. The get about a 5 second gap on me and the rest of the group which is where it stayed until we are in the bottom section just getting ready to start the longest climb. On one of the last few turns I notice my rear tire feels squirrely so I ask the guy behind me if it looks flat, he said it looked a little low. so I stop as probably 3 riders come around, and put some air in, the tire didn't seal though because I didn't have enough sealant left in my tire. which is sucky cause the night before I knew I needed to put some stans in my tire but was feeling too lazy to deal with it.

Since the tire wouldn't seal, I have to take it off to put a tube in. Once I get the tube in I realize my CO2 is out and by this time everyone in my class has come around although I was surprised at what a big gap we had on the rest of the field. So I walk about half a mile back to a little feed/assistance area and borrow a pump. Then I cruise around the rest of the course and finish about 30 minutes or more after everyone else.

Last year when I raced at brown county I had some tire deflating issues too. That's why Brown county hates me, but I still love it. Story of my life

To heck with racing

OK, I don't really mean it. But my fork isn't back from Cannondale yet, so no racing for me this weekend. Good luck to the rest of you guys. Besides, it sounds like Ferdinand (2 weeks away) has so much climbing that I'd better start resting up now.