Race Report: State XC Championship

I was unsure how this race would go. I hadn't been feeling too good on the bike the past few weeks, unable to put out consistent power, and I haven't mountain biked much at all this year. I think the race was actually only the 6th time I've ridden my mountain bike all year. My roots are in mountain biking, but I haven't watered those roots since my devastating mechanicals in the ITU Cross Tri World Championships last May. Nevertheless, I pressed on and decided to do the race since it was in my backyard. The race would cap off my 6 week stay in Memphis this summer for an acute care rehab rotation for PT school.

I decided to not make the same mistakes I made in the first race of the season at the Pick Your Poison XC here in Chattanooga. The guy that beat me at that race would also be on the start line in Memphis, along with good friend and former co-worker Matt McCulley and one more racer.

We started hard from the gun, but I made sure not to be the first one to hit the trail, I did not want to lead everyone. I fell in behind Matt for second wheel. Taking an alternate route on a steep downhill section, I fell back one place and was now sitting 3rd wheel. A few miles later, I heard the guy riding in 4th crash. After a few miles of him not catching back on, I figured we had dropped him and he would no longer be in contention for the race. The 3 of us rode through the start/finish to start lap two. Matt attacked hard through the technical section of trail and stayed away for a few minutes. We caught back on after the steep section and continued to pedal on in our 3 man formation. The two lead riders gap'ed me a few times and Matt was even out of sight once or twice. I keep pushing on calmly and usually made up the ground when the trail went up.

In tight 3 man configuration.

About mile 6 into lap two, the rider in 2nd wheel attacked in an open section. Matt, who had been leading the entire race, sat up. He asked me if I was going to chase it down. I then realized Matt had no intention of chasing the rider breaking away. I had to jump. I closed the gap down pretty quickly and was on the lead rider's wheel by the time we dropped back into the tougher trail section. The pace had picked up. The trail was more fun and dangerous now. The two of us rode together through the start/finish again and started lap 3 together.

Railing a corner.

I had noticed this rider wasn't racing with a camelbak, but using one water bottle. I also noticed he hadn't been drinking much and he actually dropped his bottle at about mile 10 of lap two. I was expecting him to fad before the end of the third lap, especially if we kept up the pace we were setting. And this is exactly what happened. This is where I must credit and thank the people at BRL Sports for their awesome drink ENDURAFUEL. It kept me moving, hydrated, and fueled with amino acids and complex carbs in the hot and muggy woods of Nesbit Park. There was no fading or cramping for me. Anyway, riding through the steep section at the beginning of the 3rd lap, this rider went off course a bit and barely caught himself before crashing. I slowed up a bit and waited for him to get his feet back in the pedals and moving on the trail. Instead, he told me to go on, that his "leg had locked up." So I took off. I shifted up and darted down the trail trying to get as far out of sight as possible in case he was only sidelined for a few seconds. I rode the rest of that lap solo, getting to push myself as hard as I wanted and really enjoy the whole trail. I took a few more risks, and then would back off a bit. My riding was getting a little sloppy and I knew the most important thing was not crashing, not having a mechanical, and most importantly not flatting. I railed corners and hopped over roots praying not to hear that hissing sound that can and has deflated my heart in the past.

Up and Over.

Closing in on the finish, I finally felt comfortable about my position around mile 9.5. I settled in and railed the last downhill section and cruised across the bridge into the finish for the solo victory. It felt great to come away with the mountain bike state championship, something I wanted to achieve but hadn't fully committed to. Goal #5 check. And it also puts me in the lead for goal #1. A good showing in Memphis for the Chattanooga based road and cyclocross HUB Endurance Cycling Team. BTW, Matt came back to catch the 2nd place rider 50 meters from the finish and beat him for 2nd place in an awesome sprint finish with a bike throw. Awesome job and congratulations to Matt McCulley. Oh, and unfortunately I think somewhere along the race course I might have cracked my Niner Air 9 Carbon frame around the seatpost. Haven't heard anything back from them yet, but hopefully they work with me on this.

The next big challenge will be the State Road Race Championship. Thankfully my performance has been coming back over the past week and a half with some good power numbers for the times I think it will take to complete the climbs on the course. With 5 mid race climbs, it will still be a hard and challenging race. May the best rider win. I must admit that my real focus has already moved away from the road and is centered on the track. I've been enjoying my time in Atlanta and have a few big races and a training camp lined up for the rest of the season. I'll say bye to long endurance rides and pick up on all intervals of 5 minutes and less.

ITU Cross Tri World Championship

I did not DNF. That's the first thing that I was able to say to people. It still bothers and upsets to write this because it means I have to go back and relive the race; walk through it step by step which brings on so many emotions and frustrations. So far I've just been trying to not think about it, because if I do, then I get too distraught and emotional with what could have been, what should have been. That being said, here's what I recall from race day.

The days leading up to the race were good. I had a good "taper" with some short efforts, my legs were feeling good, and my nutrition and sleep were great. Friday I skipped school and drove down to Pelham for packet pick-up, pre-race briefing, one last look at the course (which got changed the day before), and the opening ceremonies. The course change shortened the bike course by a few miles which was to my disadvantage because I knew if I was going to beat these guys, I was going to do it on the bike. More distance on the bike gave me more time to make up time. Anyway, I scouted it out and heading back to the hotel to relax and take an ice bath.

I fell asleep relatively easily and was set to get almost 8 hours of sleep. Everything went accordingly race morning: breakfast, coffee, transition setup, body marked, timing chip in place, and swim warm-up. I was ready to rock. I couldn't wait to get the swim over so I could rocket the amazing trails of Oak Mountain. Not only was it going to be a blast, but it should feel emotional to pick people off one by one on the trail.

It was one of my better swims coming into T1 in under 25 minutes. It was the most congested swim I've ever done: getting hit in the head, ankles grabbed, pushed aside, and at one point I kissed someone's big toe. I guess that's what you get when you swim faster and stay with a bigger pack. Running into T1, my mom informed me I was in 4th position. Not what I was looking for, but hey, my part of the race was just starting. I spent the short time on the road tightening my shoes and putting my gloves on so I'd be ready to hit the trail as soon as I got there. Fifteen feet after diving into the trail, my chain dropped and got wrapped around the crank and jammed up against the frame. I stood on the side of the trail pulling and yanking on it trying to free the chain so I could continue. After about 2 minutes, it came free and I could start riding again. My time on the side of the trail put me further down in the race which means I have to pass more riders on the bike. Not an issue for a road tri, but here in the single track, it was going to take time and slow me down even more trying to finagle pass people. I took some dangerous and really aggressive lines to pass people, but methodically I was making my way up the field. I passed one guy in my age group who I'm pretty sure must have passed me when I was on the side of the trail, so back to fourth position. A little bit later I passed Ian King who was repairing a flat on the side of the trail he sustained from crashing into some briers. 3rd position. As I exited the single track to start the climb to the top of the mountain, I passed the Mexican, Bobadillo. 2nd position. I hammered on the climb. The riders behind me disappeared. I kept pushing and didn't realize when I had made it to the top; I was still looking for one more steep incline. I had completely zoned out and destroyed it. I knew I had been climbing better on the road which I accredited to my new supplements from Biomedical Research Laboratories (http://www.brlscience.com/SERVICES.html) and was thrilled to see it carry over for this race. I rolled along the top of the mountain for a bit before I saw him. I was catching Seavey. My heart jumped, increased its rate, my body released a massive amount of adrenaline and my emotions soared. I almost teared up. Passing him this early on meant I was killing it on the bike and no one was going to be able to touch me, let alone catch me. I still had several miles to build up a substantial time gap. The rest of the trail was more technical which favored me immensely. I was on my way to a World Championship victory. I passed him with force to discourage him from jumping on my wheel. I continued to hammer and dropped back into the trail towards Blood Rock blazing. I rolled through Blood Rock like a champ taking the perfect line. Now it was time for fun on the wicked descent. I had just caught another rider and told him he better be ready to rocket it if I was going to be behind him, to which he responded with a go ahead as he pulled to the side. I let it loose. Launched over the first set of rocks and continued on. I think it was the third set that I didn't come down on too well at which all my fears became reality. I heard the hissing of my rear wheel pouring air. I tried to deny it and say it was just the freehub clicking and spinning. Bump, bump. I was flat. Dead flat. It was the feeling you get when you just finished a 12 pack and the blue lights start flashing behind you, when you're 6 weeks in and she's 3 weeks late, when the phone rings in the middle of the night and your child still hasn't made it home, when the doctor himself calls to give you the bad news. I wanted to cry, I wanted to throw my bike down the side of the mountain, I wanted to bang the wheel on a rock until it was properly broken, but most of all, I wanted another chance. I pulled the valve stem and put in my spare tube. I could see the rim was bent in a few places which made me question how long I would make it on this tube. I didn't even look for the hole in the tire. For all I know it could have been a big gash in a sidewall which the tube would poke out waiting to get punctured. I fiddled with my canister of CO2 and finally got it to work. Enough air in the tube and I packed everything up to get back in the saddle. While I was on the side of the trail, Seavey and Bobadillo passed me. I started back down the mountain and made it probably 3 miles passing Bobadillo again and moving back into 2nd position. Then my fears became reality again: another flat. I was SOL for this one and just started walking and running it out, having to stop and move off the trail every time a rider still on his bike came pass me. I was devastated. I never imagined this race would go like this. I was not going to DNF though. I'm not sure how many miles I had to walk and run in my carbon mtb shoes pushing my bike, but I'm guessing it was around 4 costing me close to 25 minutes on the bike leg. Another guy in my age group passed me about a half a mile before T2, 5th position. I continued running my bike in and the officials at the dismount line jokingly said there was no need for me to dismount. I'm glad they found some humor in my misfortune. As I changed shoes, my Dad told me I was over 18 minutes behind Seavey and almost 3 behind 4th place. I was running mostly to finish at this point and just wanted to complete my two laps and be done. My legs didn't feel great, but not bad either. Coming around for my first lap my Dad told me 4th place was only a 1:30 ahead now. I wanted to catch him, but I wasn't going to kill myself to do it. It was only racing for 4th place after all. I kept progressing and was actually passing people, something I rarely do late in the run portion of a race. With about a 1.25 miles left, I spotted the 4th place guy. I was feeling good and running pretty well actually so I knew I was going to take it from him. At first I couldn't decide if I wanted to sit on his heels and wait til the end to jump or just storm on past him. He wasn't looking so hot and I sure wasn't going to slow down, so I flew on past him and some other racers. I took a glance back to see if he tried to pick it up to stay in contention with me, but he was gone. I came around the lake and finished strong for a sub 46 minute 10K. Not great, but given the circumstances I'll take it. So, probably my best chance at a world championship ended like that. This race is in the Netherlands next year and Xterra Worlds is always in Maui; terrains that aren't my backyard and suited for my strengths. There will probably never be a world championship in the Southeast again in my lifetime. A chance well wasted.

I can't forget about this race because there is plenty to learn from it and take with me, but there is a lot I'm trying to put behind me. I have to let it go and focus on what's next. This Saturday is the TN state time trial championships and then Sunday is the first crit of the year. Really would like to bring home a win, especially after the disaster of last weekend.

Coming out of the swim strong

Beaten and broken, doing all I can to not give up

Found something in the legs to pull back 4th

The future of Xterra elite men

With my biggest supporters