Race Report: Xterra Ft. Yargo and SERC #4 MTB Race

Three weeks out from ITU Worlds, I decided to test myself and see what condition I was in at the Ft. Yargo race in Winder, GA. I’d never done this race before, so on Friday after I finished my last final exam for the spring term I headed down for a pre-ride. Atlanta traffic delayed me a bit so I missed packet pick-up, but I still got my pre-ride in before dark. The course was fun and fast. It included a lot of diving in and out of trees, semi-banked corners you could thrash, and some gnarly, deep double jumps. It was going to be a fun day. I packed back up to head to Athens where I was going to stay with some UGA friends for the night.

I didn’t make it to the race site as early as I wanted, but I also didn’t plan on standing in the packet pick-up line for 15 minutes. The longest I’ve ever had to wait outside of the Ironman venue. By the time I finally made it down to transition, I was scrambling to find any spot left in the cramped 175 racer field. I then scrambled to get my wetsuit on which I’m not sure if it occurred in my haste or because the suit was stuck together with residual water, but two spots on the right leg tore. Getting into the water, I saw Craig Evans and said hey to him. It was good to see a familiar face, but now I knew I didn’t have a chance at winning. My goal now was to take the 2 or 3 spot and make it on the overall podium with him.

No warm-up included, the race was underway. I felt tight and like all my mechanics went out the window as we dashed for the first buoy. I just kept pushing forward and finally felt decently good and like I was in some rhythm with about 300 meters left. Perfect timing, right? Maybe it will work out in my favor at ITU, or if I were to warm-up first. Going into T-1 I lost it. I was fidgety and panicked. I put on my bike shoe before taking off my wetsuit. Fail. I then had trouble getting the suit off making it just an overall crappy transition. But it was time for the bike; time for me to shine. Trying to find my groove, some old guy passed me. WTF? I don’t get passed on the bike! At least not at a non-championship race. Who did this guy think he was? About a mile later, I passed him back and left everybody else behind; I wasn’t going to depend on my run game for the win. Closing in on the finish I was still in 5^th place. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Was my swim really that bad, and who were these guys that were leading the race? I knew Craig would be sitting 1^st, but I wasn’t sure who was sitting 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th. I caught 3^rd and 4^th right before entering T-2. The three of us started the run together until I got left about .75 miles into the 5 mile run. I wasn’t feeling good on the run, but I wasn’t feeling like total crap either, which was an improvement over all except one of last year’s runs. About 3 miles in, another set of two runners passed me after a little hill. I was hurting. Heading back towards the finish, I got passed again with one mile left. I was stuck with 8^th place overall, 3^rd fastest bike split with less than a minute behind Craig’s, and a sub 37 minute 5 mile trail run. (Results here) Not terrible, but not exactly what I was expecting or where I was hoping I’d be by this point. I got my age group points and for the prize I got a Maxxis Ignitor tire and a Cannondale jersey. Pretty sweet swag for a race. Too bad I forgot to pick up my biking gloves from where I threw them off on the run course. I looked for them the next day, but no luck. However, someone did turn one in. Who the heck turns in one lost glove and keeps the other?

Somehow I got convinced to do the MTB race the next morning instead of going to the Braves game that night. So the plan was to rest a bit, hit up the Athens Twilight Pro Crit that night, and then race again in the morning. The crit was amazing. I’ve never seen a race like that with such a huge strung out peloton and amazing speeds. Past and present Olympians were in attendance as well as the reigning USA National champion, stood by his mom for most of the race. With over 30,000 other spectators, it was definitely an event not worth missing. Although, I might have spent a little too much time up on my feet and not hydrating enough. The situation was made worse once I got back to the place I was staying to find out they were having a party; I mean it is college. I was trying to sleep in the back room on the floor on top of my sleeping bag and in my tights. It wasn’t a great night’s rest and I sweated my butt off leaving me pretty dehydrated in the morning. The race was fun though: fun in the sense of hurting a lot, pushing myself, and of course the super fun thrill riding of catching air, diving around trees, and railing sharp corners. I hung with the front group for the first few miles of lap one then faded back as they attacked on a hill. I was sitting 5^th and there was one position change where I passed 4^th and then 6^th passed me so still sitting 5^th. Towards the end of the lap, I went down in a corner I took too aggressively and then had to wait for the riders coming in hot to pass by before I could remount my bike and carry on. For lap two, I latched onto on the guys in the 39 year old age group and rode with him for a long time. Shortly into lap 3, I had to leave him though. I was feeling better and really wanted to pull that 4^th place guy back in. It didn’t take long and he was back in my site, as well as many others that had passed previously. Lap 3 was going great for me. I got a second boost of energy and was back to railing the course and having a blast making up tons of ground. I finished 4^th and closed the gap to 3^rd down to just 24 seconds. I’ll take it I guess (My results on page 10). I didn’t make my money back for the race, but it was a good experience. One thing I would like explained is how the Cat 2 riders get better prizes and awards for their entire podium than I did for getting 4^th in Cat 1? I’d much rather take a free Maxxis tire and some HEED over $20. Cool Racing Photo

My original plan had been to do the racing there in Georgia and then head over to Pelham for some more training on the ITU Worlds course, but after those two days, I didn’t think my body could handle it or that it would be worth it with the state I was in. My gooch was pissed at me for forgetting to grease up two days in a row, my lower back was killing me from the 32 mile mtb race, my shoe was soaked in blood again from a nagging heel abrasion, and I had developed a few more blisters on my feet during the tri. I wouldn’t have made it to Pelham until almost 7 o’clock too, so I just decided to bail on the whole plan and just head back to Chattanooga. Once home and unpacked, I tried to go for a run. My body quickly told me no in the .5 mile that I made it. I’m glad I didn’t waste my time in Pelham. Monday I went out for intervals and bonked before the end of the ride. Tuesday morning I went for a run and bonked before the end. I ended up drinking from a house’s water hose and sitting in someone’s yard just chilling for a while before I made it back home. Tuesday night however, my legs decided to show back up and I had a killer mountain climb on the road with the Tuesday night Red Bank group ride. I peaked second over the mountain and felt really good about my performance on a blind course and without my computer to tell me any data. Seventeen days and counting. Let’s hope everything works.

America

America: The first team to ever pick me up.

I guess I can deal with that. Hopefully, it won't be the last team though. I'm honored to get to wear the Team USA kit in a race. It should be an amazing experience. I've also bumped up training ever since I got the news in order to better represent; and you know, kick ass for myself. I took a camping trip to Pelham last weekend to do some training on the course. The run course has changed to eliminate the last of the death march hills. That's good for me and my running game, but it helps everyone else too. The trip was two days of ups and downs. I planned on doing two laps of the bike course and then a full run through of the run course for a solid brick workout. Two-thirds of the way through the first bike lap I noticed my crankset was loose; therefore, sliding back and forth on my $220 ceramic bottom bracket. The trail included a few creek crossings too which is great for it I hear. So I found a road out and back to the car where I got out my tools in an attempt to fix the issue. Satisfied with my work, I headed back to finish the course. Once complete, I wasn't really feeling another lap since I was still a bit tired from road intervals the day before and still needed to set up camp and get wood before it got completely dark. The post-ride run went decently well and I could tell some of my weight training was paying off on the short, steep hills.

Rain during the night made for a muddier trail system the next day which was topped off by rain at the beginning of my run and the end of my bike. I swapped up the order to get a better quality run on the course. Overall, I wasn't really thrilled with the trip or my performance. I expected more and was a little down about not living up to it. It made me question my training and progression towards my goal. It made me question my ability, skills, speed, and the qualifications for making Team USA. I wondered why I go through all of it if it's not ever going to really amount to anything; why I sacrifice the things I do in pursuit of this dream. I know I am doing damage to my joints, especially the ones I've already damaged and continue to hurt. These are some of the things I think about on long rides and runs. They get emotional and have extreme highs and lows. Not emotional in the way that I'm going to break down and cry, but that feelings towards people and objects come from nowhere and I feel I must express them and talk to people about it. Thoughts race through my head more during those long rides than any other aspect of my life. It's one of the reasons I do it, and love it. Then once I step off the bike or out of the shoes, the conviction fades. Things go unsaid and feelings just sink back down; the words that say the ideas and feelings so perfectly simply disappear. If I could dictate my thoughts during my rides, I'm sure most people would think I'm crazy, but in an oh so eloquent way. On the other hand, some rides I feel awesome and think I'm flying through the trail or on the road. I think I could win any race and am practically uncatchable on the bike, especially in a sprint. Those are good rides.

So coming off this low, I looked through my book of notes and saw some stats from last year's training trip in Pelham. This year my average speed on the bike was up over 1 mph and the max speed was up over 5 mph. I also saw a note saying that my shoulder didn't bother me when I swam down there. I didn't remember having any shoulder problems last year and was now curious if it was the same issue I've been having this year. I couldn't find any other notes in last year's training log though. When I was scrolling through the log, I saw some impressive runs. I was running much faster last year posting a 46 minute 10K after a 26 mile road ride and a 44 minute 10K during an 8 mile run. I also weighed 178 four days before the Southeastern Championship race. I am nowhere near those times or that weight, which might not be a bad thing since I am still so far out from the race and last year's runs pretty much all sucked except for the one Casey Fannin and I did head-to-head the whole way at Xterra Lock 4 Blast. Plus my weight is different this year. I've been hitting the weights like I never have before. I've put up some serious numbers and feel stronger than ever. Ultrasound analysis says my body fat is only at 9.2%, making 178 almost unachievable. I'll get further testing done over the next few months since I'm signed up for some research studies that include BodPod body composition testing and several VO2 max testings in various environmental and hydration conditions.

So, some positives and some negatives. Overall I'm going to assume it's a positive, which could be reassured with a dominating and definitive win this upcoming weekend. It will be the first race of the season and will be a collegiate cycling race at Dalton State. So I'll take advice and perspective from a more seasoned veteran in the ups and downs, Andrea Wilson, and "cheer up emo kid." I mean it's not all bad.

The technical section of the course: Blood Rock. Crazy fun to rock on the 29er.

I now have a way to make coffee when I go camping at races.

Great scenery. Unfortunately to see most of the good stuff, you have to actually go yourself.

Albino Turkey Vulture

Red-Tailed Hawk. I think he wants to eat me.

Turkey vulture eating food court Chinese, I mean chopped rat. Sorry

I don't know how this came out so well. At the campsite as I was packing up.

4 Day Weekend

It's 30 degrees outside. Might as well go mountain biking. A quarter of a mile into the ride, mostly uphill, I could tell my legs were still pretty shot from the 100 miles Thursday and Friday and the all day snowboarding Saturday. So, what do I do? Put in a two and a half hour brick workout. First one of the year. That will show that scar tissue in my foot who's boss.

Since I had deleted my iHeartRadio app, the ride was done in complete silence. Not originally how I wanted to do it, but I think it was better for it. I got to pay more attention to the trail and immerse myself in it. I've noticed that sometimes when I get going, my vision blurs and I have to back off the power. I wish my eyes could see and process the trail as quickly as my legs and bike want to ride it. Come on Brodman 18 and 19. Can't you work a little faster back there?

On the last leg of the ride, I dropped into the pump track. I made it around 8 times without pedaling before my arms started to get tired. Pump track for the win! A lot of the trail has big humps and jumps like that so integrating it on the trail was fun. I felt like a moto-cross or a downhill rider. It sure was a lot of fun, and of course some of them I just launched for air to have even more fun. Overall, it was a wonderful ride. It was great to get back on the mountain bike and fly by trees, roll over rocks, splatter mud, catch air, and fish tail in some corners.

It's sad to say that I enjoyed the 2 hours of riding on Sunday more than the day of snowboarding on Saturday. Although, I guess if it were the other way around, then I've been investing all my time and money into the wrong sport. It's fun to mix it up though. It's not often that you get frostbite on your face or the chance to put on snow chains for a commercial van.

After the ride, I went to walmart to get this week's lunch meat and nutella. Can't function without that. To entertain the people, and just because I didn't want to get my sweat pants dirty with the mud from the trail, I went in with my Under Armour tights on over my chamois. I got some looks, but they got the show.

So this nice four day weekend left me with 13 hours of training for the week. It's a nice little precursor for what I have planned for spring break. The chance of being on Team USA is motivating me even more right. I hope they make the right choice and I get the chance to wear those stars and stripes in Alabama this May.

And as always, P.E.M.D.A.S.

Ambitious 2012

Just like everybody else, the new year brings new goals and ambitions for me. Unlike everybody else, I will actually follow through with them. Heck, I've already made progress on three of them.

So here are a few of them:

#1 Win Xterra Southeastern Championships, this is largely dependent on a good run which is where goal 2 comes in
#2 Put up a sub 45 min run split at Southeasterns

Now goal three is a little tricky. Yes, I want to just go ahead and commit to it, but I don't want to show up and be embarrassed and waste the money and time and time away from school. So goal three is dependent upon completion of goal 1 and 2

#3 Race (WIN) Xterra USA National Championship
#4 Claim the Xterra Regional Championship Jersey
#5 Race at least 3 crits
#6 Win the TN crit state championship
#7 Take a girl out on a real date, not just hang out at some party
#8 Eliminate irresponsible nights of mayhem
#9 Under social obligations I guess I must include do well in school and my first rotation coming up this summer

I found this article/list of pretty good resolutions too. Not saying I'm shooting for all of them, but I think numbers 4, 9, 11, and 15 are pretty good ones that I have incorporated into my life. (Supposedly there has been some confusion. I do know my math and that I haven't listed 15 goals here. The numbers are a reference to another article that you can find by clicking the hyperlink at the beginning of the paragraph, "article/list".)


There. So now that they are down on paper and displayed to the public, they are real goals. I can be held accountable and will hold myself accountable.


Forgot to put the goal of riding 5,000 miles. I did a rough collection of my actual miles from 2011 and came up with 3,125 miles ridden. I didn't set up my training log to tally this so this is what I could come up with retrospectively. It had to be at least this much. Should make for some fun time in the saddle.

Race Report: XTERRA Dawg Dayz

Venturing over to Little Rock for my fourth race of the season was a little rough. I had gone out the night before and was still feeling it on the car ride over. Thankfully my mom was driving and I could "rest" in the passenger seat. The effects were obvious when I was pre-riding the course. It was a sloppy ride, but I also wasn't the biggest fan of the trail. It was really dry and dusty and had many off camber sections with loose rocks. Combine this with the dust and mountain sides and it gets a little hairy. I slide out a few times and dropped my chain twice. The ride could have gone better.

Pre-ride done and packet picked up, I was headed to Luke Porter's house in Conway. He so graciously offered to let my mom and me stay with him for the weekend while we were racing. What a house! His family was very welcoming and made the trip a really good time. Everything I needed was taken care of and it was great. Dinner was awesome and the concoction of powdered peanut butter, almond milk, agave, banana, and oatmeal was a delicious post dinner/ pre race snack.

Up at 5:15 and we were ready to race. I managed to still get a good spot in transition even though I only got there an hour before the start. Having set up, kitted up, and hydrated, it was onto the warm up. I started by pre-riding a section of the run course. There was a pretty good hill at the beginning that would later come back to haunt me. Anyway, it was race time. Treading water for about 7 minutes while the race director talked wasn't the best way to start out, but I still managed to get off a good swim despite my lack of swim training since Southeastern's over a month ago. I came out of the water right behind my friend Steve Coal. I gave him a pat on the back and helped push him up the boat ramp so we could get out and onto the second part of the race. Running into transition, I saw Boomer Leopold putting on his shoes and getting ready to ride out. As I ran passed him, I gave him a slap on the butt and told him "Let's get after it." He made it out of T1 before I did, but as he went to mount his bike, his shoe stayed on the ground. He had to stop and re-lace the strap. I was off. When I covered the mile on the road and was hitting the trail I could see two people behind me and I asked the marshals how many were in front. Only One. Sweet deal. I started the ride out pretty hard and settled into a good pace. I had sections of fast pumping and sections of recovery. I could see the dust fill the air on the corners and knew I was closing in on the guy in front. I passed him before half-way through and was then just building on my lead. I knew the guys behind me were gunning for me though. There were several sets of switchbacks and I could hear and see people closing in at different times. It didn't matter. I kept them at bay and managed to have the fastest bike split of the day. More importantly, I accomplished my objective. Mission: keep the bike tire side down was a success. Amazing how fast you can go when you aren't stopping on the side of the trail to put yourself back together. I came into T2 by myself and headed out on the run in first place.

Starting out on the run was rough. It was hot and I was getting dehydrated. When I approached the first aid station at the top of that long climb, the person working the station was sitting in his chair across the road telling me which way to go as I was yelling at him where was the water. I had to grab my own cups and fill up my own water. The same thing happened at the next aid station too. Wasn't very happy about that. I kept trudging along though. I was suffering though and stopped at all the aid stations and dunked my head under the coolers and drank a good amount of water. I was over-heating and crashing. My lead was dwindling quickly. About 2 miles in, Boomer passed me. He was running well and I couldn't. I was starting to have to take walk breaks. I hadn't had a run this bad since Southeastern's. As I continued to get passed by more and more runners, my hopes kept dwindling. After I got passed by three people and I knew I wasn't going to podium, I really started slacking. It was hot and this was just not my race. I killed it on the bike and it killed me on the run.

I ended up finishing 5th overall. Not my best, but not terrible. I had a 36 minute run. That was pretty awful, but I felt like crap. I really have to focus on that if I want to be a contender in the future. This year just wasn't a good year running wise for me. I need more winter base miles and to not have surgery that takes me off my feet for two months in January.

After treading water for about 7 mins...

Not too shabby on my form

Riding side saddle

Host and competitor, Luke Porter

Race Report: XTERRA Lock 4 Blast

Lock 4 BLAST is absolutely right. I feel pretty confident saying this was the most fun I've had doing a race. Mostly because of the thunderstorm that occurred during it, but also the great trail systems and just having an all around good race.

Saturday I got off to a late start and didn't leave Cordova until 3:30 pm. I was pushing it to get there by 7pm for packet pick-up. I made it. Barely. I almost peed myself twice. After packet pick-up, I changed in the porta potty and headed out for some pre-riding. I felt kinda bad because it had been raining and I was expecting the trail to be pretty muddy. It was, but not as bad as I was expecting. It was fun to slide out in corners and in switchbacks. The few rock drops were a blast and super cush riding on 25 psi. I rode the bike course and the run course so I could refresh myself of what to expect. I rode up to my car at about 8:15 and was ready to load up, clean up, and grub. Damn.....I checked my saddle bag and it had come unzipped and my two gu's and my keys were gone. I usually carry my keys in my jersey pocket or leave them under the car, but I figured to be safe I should zip them in the saddle bag. Wrong. I started riding around the peninsula and looking for the white rubber keychain that held only two keys. It was quickly getting dark and I was getting desperate and about to panic. No luck, I headed back to the trail to start riding the first part again in hopes of finding them. About .5 mile into the trail I found my first gu. My hopes grew. I kept riding and searching the ground. About a .25 mile later, I found my other gu. Hope is rising. At this time it is too dark to ride and look, so I begin walking my bike leaning over the bars so I can see the ground as best I can. I kick or touch everything that appears white on the trail. I'm not going to miss them. As the music goes off at the race site and he is packing everything up, I finally find my keys. I am thrilled and so relieved. I start biking back out which at this point is night riding without a light; somehow, I was successful. I got back to my car just after 9 and began to load up. I washed the ridiculous amount of mud off my arms and legs with the water from the spicket of the water buffalo the director brought since there is no running water on the peninsula. Having done this, I stripped down by the car, dried off, and put my clothes back on. That was my shower, and I was off to Subway for some dinner.

My great pre race night of sleep was going to consist of whatever hours I could grab sitting in the front sit of my car at the entrance of the park. I had a friend I could have stayed with, but I didn't realize he lived an hour away from the race site. It just wasn't going to be worth the drive and getting up that much earlier for a real bed. I brought my camping stuff, but the place I was at had high grass and was already wet, more thunderstorms were supposed to be coming in too. So I leaned the seat back and turned on the ipod. Sleep didn't come easy. Between the heat, uncomfortable position, car headlights that tried to get into the park after hours, the storm that came through and having to get out and pee twice, I somehow got enough sleep to still race well.

I was up before 6am with the sunrise and the director coming into the park to get things rolling. I loaded up my stuff and headed down that way. I was the first one in transition. SCORE. Huge perk of sleeping right there at the race site. I took care of my pre race business and was set to go. About 30 minutes before the start, the director announced that the swim was going to be wetsuit legal. Score again. I hurried back to the car and grabbed my wetsuit. The rain was good for something at least. As the morning storm was approaching, the director hurried through the pre race meeting and got us into the water in hopes of finishing the swim before the lightning and rain started. It worked. I had a pretty good swim with the wetsuit. Saw just a few people beat me out of the water.

Now it's on to the bike. Being a wet trail and trying to ride too aggressive, I went down....quick....hard....and several times. I laid my bike down pretty hard 3 times within the first 1.5 miles. I would pass people only to crash and get passed right back. I eventually passed them all back except for one, supposedly he's going to be racing for the US team in Switzerland for World's. Who knows. So, after that last crash that moved my shifter and brake lever to the underside of my bar as I hit a tree and almost fell down into the lake, I decided to cool it and not break my bike, save something for the run. Well, I still went down two more times on that lap, but not quite as hard and mostly just because of the water and mud. On lap number two the storm was really hitting. And it was AWESOME. It was like being a kid and playing in the water and mud. The trail was flooding in some sections and it was just a blast. I went down once on the second lap in the same spot I went down the last time on the first lap. It was a tight, slick corner.

Anyway, coming into T2 I see another racer right in front of me. He enters before I do and I can hear him talking as he is changing shoes. "You're moving slow. You're moving slow." I'm pretty sure he was talking to himself. I hope. I beat him out of T2 and lead him on the run to the trail. At which point I expected to start losing it and watch him run on by. He didn't We kept running and splashing through the mud and twisty trail. As we exited the first lap, I was shocked that he was still right behind me. I don't run this well. How am I pacing this guy? We are side by side on the pavement to transition when I asked him who he was. Casey. Yes! I was hoping this was the famous Casey Fannin. I was pacing a great Xterra athlete the whole way on the first lap. I didn't expect it to last though. I figured he would run off around the peninsula and leave me behind. He didn't. We stuck together. We saw Craig exiting the woods and heading for the finish as we were heading back up the hill to hit the top of the trail for lap two. He was pretty far ahead. Casey and I chatted a bit and decided we were running for 2/3 behind Craig. What a race. Somehow I was still pacing him and he never made a move. I tried to play it smart though and hit some parts hard, climbs some hills fast on the balls of my feet, free fall down some hills, and slack and recover on certain sections. I wanted to have enough to out sprint him at the end. We splashed through puddles all the way out of the trail. I was beginning to feel confident. I had felt my quads starting to go towards the beginning of lap two and thought that was going to be it. It wasn't. I felt my right pinky toe begin to blister and the skin rip off. I thought that was going to be it, but it wasn't. I was running awesome. As we closed in on the finish line I began to pick it up. I looked back and asked him if he was ready to go. He didn't have it. He said go on and take it, so I did. I sprinted up to the finish and was uber stoked.

The final results: I won, well not really. I thought I was going to be, but Craig beat me. Officially he is a pro and doesn't race in my category, but not having a pro cat at this race, I consider him winning. On the podium it was Craig, me, and Casey. Great podium. I'll have to wait for another race to try for the ever fleeting overall win. Second for the second time this season. It's okay though. They didn't end up having a cash purse or even any special awards/plaques for the overall winners. I did win a free pair of Xterra trail shoes though. All in all, it was a great time.

Shout out to Blake Amos and his family for hosting me for the afternoon and feeding me. It was some great family time with someone else's family for the Sunday afternoon.

Back on the Horse

It's been a while since I've ridden my mountain bike. She has been neglected since the Southeastern race: over three weeks! However, it was a great time riding Azriel today. I also tried something new. I road with 5 fewer pounds of pressure in the tires than I ever have. It was pretty weird at first. It felt really squishy, but I was really digging it by the end of the third lap. Not sure if it was my time away from the trail, or if the lower pressure actually made me faster. Either way, there were times it felt like I was flying through there. Definitely, will stick to this pressure on future rides and see if my times improve; cornering felt a little more stable too, but then again I didn't push it too hard, i.e. I didn't crash.

I will note that I might have been poisoning myself on the ride just in case I get sick later tonight. The camelbak I took with me had been just as neglected as Azriel. I hadn't touched it since I brought it home from the race in Alabama. It was still sealed up with the remaining HEED I drank that day. I didn't see any large spots of mold in it, but for good measure I rinsed it out a few times and then put some bleach in there. After shaking that around for a minute, I began rinsing it out again. I don't know if it was the stagnant condition, mold in the bladder or bite valve, or too much bleach left in the bag, but it tasted pretty funky. I didn't care though. It was cold water and it was hot. My clothes were soaked and after three refills and a Powerade I still didn't have to pee.

And as always, I take note of the animals I see. I can't help it; if I see a snake on the trail, then I always get off and play with it for a bit. I saw two turtles in the middle of the trail too. The second one was as I was coming around a corner and had to pull some quick maneuvering skills to avoid him and not crash. On my "run" I saw a rotten out turtle shell and eventually a tick. The tick was lodge into my right thigh. I let him get his fill while I traveled back home, then I roasted him and picked his dead body off with some tweezers .

After the great training I fired up the grill and made some dinner. Uber success. The grilled squash and zucchini brushed with extra virgin olive oil, season salt, and fresh crushed pepper was amazing. The fish was pretty good too.

After I fried him with the lighter. Hair was collateral damage.

Race Report: XTERRA Southeastern Championship

Well it's been a few days since the race so I've had some time to look back and think. I've also had time to forget. Always a nice thing of endurance racing. I raced hard, it could have been better, but it always could have been better. The swim was pretty good; I came out about 50 yards behind the first guy in my age group. Somehow, I made it out of transition faster than he did though because I saw him on the road before we ever hit the trail. So, the race was on. If I was going to beat this guy, then I had to do it on the bike. I knew the course and hopefully he did not. There was a pack of three riders on the trail together. Pro Matt Boobar was leading the pack, next was Michael Keith, my competitor, and then me. Keith found a way around Boobar at a spot on the trail. I was still behind. I couldn't get around and Keith was taking off. I finally found a spot to pass and laid down the hammer. Too much I guess because I took a corner too hot and slid off the trail a little bit. I allowed Boobar and another rider to pass me as I remounted my bike and got back on the trail. Now I had some time to make up, but there is still a lot of racing left to do. That's what I kept telling myself. I got to the fire road climb and started picking people off one by one. I made it to the top of the mountain successfully and was ready to take the plunge down Blood Rock and the rest of the mountain. I passed two more people struggling through Blood Rock and a switch back before I aced it! Score! Now the the white knuckle, death grip, downhill bombing. I cut both of my thumbs on my shifters because my hands were bouncing around so much.

Boobar climbed better than I did, but I caught him again on the last 6 miles of trail. I was on his wheel for bit before he let me pass, at which point I hopped over a log and dropped my chain due to some front derailleur issues/ bad timing. I came off my bike and Boobar went back in front. About 1.5 miles later when I caught back up with him, I hollered "I sure do know how to yo-yo," as I passed for the third time. I came hauling into T2, but I never passed Keith again. I was told I was in first in my age group, but I disagreed. I started out on the run hard. I was feeling pretty decent for the first 2 to 2.5  miles. Boobar caught up with me around 1.75 and never looked back. He told me that an athlete crashed around Blood Rock. I was beginning to think this was Keith. I felt a little better about myself. That feeling was quickly replaced as I got to the first death climb. It was walking time. It was the better race strategy: don't blow up on this and run hard at the end around the lake. It never got any better though. I met up with Blake Voges the soon to be winner of the 25-29 age group. We stayed together and encouraged each other for a bit. I kept having the fear that Keith was going to be right over my shoulder though and it would have all been for nothing. I had to keep pushing on. It was really hot. It was really hurting. I knew I was really giving it out there when all I wanted to do was lay down on the side of the trail for an hour or so and then walk the rest of the way in. I never stopped though. I kept moving. Some, okay a decent amount was walking and I finished with a longer run split than I posted in '07 when the course was "harder" and supposedly longer. It was rough.

I finished and knew that I had not won. I could just tell. Keith had not crashed. Seth Wealing had and pulled out of the race. Keith left T2 before I ever got there; my spotter just missed it. So I got second in my age group, 11th amateur, and 29th overall. Results I was pretty disappointed at first and am still not really satisfied, but I have accepted it. Keith is a great athlete and if I had to lose, he was a worthy competitor to lose too. I talked with him after awards and found out he just moved here from South Africa on a student visa so he could race in America. He won the Xterra World Championships in Maui last year in his age group. So, I guess he is pretty good. He was a nice guy too. Glad I met him. South Africa went 1-2 in the pro race and Keith wrapped up 3rd amateur for the 1-2-3 for RSA.

On another note, I did win something that weekend. I won an Xterra Wetsuit Transition bag by winning the post race push-up contest. We went on the director's count and I racked out 59. Two more than any one else. Keith was also in the competition. Not to brag or be an ass, but I was not going to lose that competition. Not to Keith. I wasn't going to lose to him again. Around 35 to 40 I looked over at him and gave him "the look back," challenging him to go the distance with me. After a few reps of staring at him, I went back to ground and continued on to victory. It kinda made me feel like a badass for a few minutes there. Then I remembered he still one and I was only going to have 90 points from the championship race.

Oh well, another month, another state, another race, another day. Live On, Live More, Ride Hard

You can find the rest of the photos on my facebook here: race photos

Race Report: XTERRA Gator Terra

It hurts me to write this. Literally. My hand is still very swollen and painful from my crash on Wednesday afternoon. I had Tuesday and Wednesday off work last week, so I decided to go to Pelham, AL, and do some pre-riding and training on the XTERRA Southeastern Championship course. I wanted to train just as much time as it took me to drive there and back. I didn't quite make it, but 6.5 hours for two days is still not bad. I rode the bike course three times and aced Blood Rock the last. That was pretty exciting. I swam in the lake twice and did more than the course there. The run course I struggled on a bit. I still couldn't find the new course that was supposed to remove some of the terrible hills this course is known for. I also walked most of it. I lost a lot of my steam on the last half mile of the bike course where I came into really sharp corner too hot and the front of my bike flew out from under me. My right hand braced my fall as I watched my fingers bend backwards as I flipped over. My knee got a pretty decent cut too. I can't believe I do all that riding over two days and make it through Blood Rock 3 times and past all the gnarly, rocky downhills and then I crash on the last two minutes of the bike in such an easy section of the trail. Although, I guess that is typical for me. The camping/training trip to Alabama was still a great one. I had a blast and those trails are so much fun to ride. I hope that remains my opinion after I race there next weekend, haha.

So, going into my first race of the season I have a badly damaged hand. I went to the doctor where he thankfully said it was not broken. I knew the only way I was not going to be racing was if he put a cast on it. So, when he said I had sprained my thumb and the rest was a hematoma that made it impossible to clinch my fist and turned my palm blue, I was ready to race as hard as my hand would let me. And I was hoping I could hang onto the handlebars well enough for the 10 mile ride.

I drove down to Ruston, Louisiana on Saturday afternoon with plans of getting there, riding the course, and then camping out. The park looked nothing like I remembered from the race I did there in 2005. Gator Terra 2005 was my first multi sport race I had ever done. It was pretty awesome to go back after 6 years and see how much progress I have made. The trail seemed completely different, but it was an awesome trail. The bike is really fast and fun with tons of different sections including switch backs, 33 mph downhills, fire roads, multiple creek crossing, tight single track, and several water bars to launch over. The pre-ride went well and my hand did as good as I could ask for. So, I packed up my stuff and headed over to the camp sites.

After setting up camp, I headed over to the bathhouse for a shower. The temperature was starting to drop quickly and I could see many people were scouring the forest for fire wood. Instead of trying to find my own wood, build my own fire, be anti-social, and clean it all up, I decided to walk to the neighboring camp site and offer to help break up some wood in exchange for letting me hang out with them by their fire. The guys ended up being some students from LA-Tech and were very nice. They had camped the night before and were getting ready for another long night of roughing it and keeping warm by their huge fire. Most of the guys were aviation students and one was an ME. They even treated me to some homemade, campfire jambalaya. After several hours by the campfire hydrating and fueling up, I headed in for the night. The weather was perfect to snuggle down in my sleeping bag and be perfectly comfortable. I fell asleep pretty quickly watching the moon slowly move over the sky through the trees above my tent. It was a pretty amazing scene.

Right on cue, I started waking up around 6:30, about 25 mins before my alarm was set for. Race prep was going according to plan and I was the first one to set up in transition. Score! Love getting the first spot, but it usually doesn't happen. Sleeping right by the race site and transition helps though. I was set and ready to race my race. I had done everything I could to prepare and all things seemed in order. Then, just like in 2005, the gun went off and we sprinted from the flags on the beach to the lake and began our .5 mile swim. Race morning goes by too quickly to really get nervous. I remember that from 2005. It happens so fast.

I came out of the water shoulder to shoulder with Kyle, he had won the Epic race the day before in a blazing 4:08. I knew he was going to be good. I got out of T1 first though because he had some trouble getting his bike shoes on. I was storming off on my Air 9 Carbon. I quickly passed some people that were on the course for the du and then got stuck behind some slower riders. This gave Kyle the chance to catch up to me. We passed this group and the race was on. I was riding his tail, too close. I didn't see the line as we went over some drops and roots and came unclipped and dropped my chain. He took off. I had to hammer to catch back up, but I was determined. As soon as I made his back wheel again, I made another mistake. I was focused on him instead of the trail and underestimated a descending curve in the trail. I went over the bars as I heard air hiss out of my front tire. I thought I was done. Thankfully, either the stan's sealed the hole or I just burped air out. Either way, after assessing things on the side of the trail, I decided the tire had enough air in it to finish the ride, maybe 15 pounds? I wasn't going to be able to push it any more. Now I was far behind. I figured he was going to be gone by now, but come mile 7 I could start catching glimpses of him through the trees. I was closing in. I finally caught him again at mile 9, at which point I nicked a tree with my bars and off again he went. My opinion of me being a good rider is starting to get questioned at this point. A few downhills and a huge water bar later and we were standing in T2 together. He headed out before I did and was gone! I looked back at transition as I was heading out and realized only our two bikes were in transition. We were leading the race neck and neck. Unfortunately, I just didn't have it on the run. The first mile was hard and it took me a bit to settle in. He established his lead in about that first mile and held it the rest of the race. I knew I was locked into position when I was running on the paved trail around the lake towards the finish line. I could see two guys a good way back that were going to be battling for 3rd, but my 2nd place was secure. All in all, it was a good race and a lot of fun. Props to Kyle Grieser for a great race, two days in a row. My hand is definitely hurting more today, but hopefully it will be better by this Sunday at Southeastern's. That course requires a serious grip on the bars to maintain control of the bike.

Stubborn Man Work

Well I finally finished it. Friday morning I went to Uhaul to pick up my hitch receiver for my new car. After four days of working on installing it, I have finally completed the mission. I knew I didn't need to pay them that $50 to install it in 30 minutes. I realized I had misjudged my car's situation when I found out I didn't have threaded holes in the frame and I would have to drill 1 inch access holes into the frame to get bolts and spacers inside of it. This was a very hard task. Drilling into the frame was hard work. My shoulder is still sore and aggravated from pushing on it. My eyes and face have endured many metal shavings. Digging them out of my eyes has become a common thing, even after the drilling stopped. During the drilling the metal was very hot and burned my arms several times. I had to cover my whole upper body in aprons to try to keep them off. It didn't always work. When I was done drilling and I had the bolts in place, I thought I was home free. Then, I realized that some metal was still in the way of putting the hitch up in its place. Luckily, the cable cutters I have snipped through this pretty easily. After bending this out of the way I figured it would go up in there smoothly. Wrong. When I took the nuts off the bolts to place the hitch onto them, two of them fell inside the frame as I only got one on. Failing to fish them out of the frame, I gave up and went over to the other side of the hitch to see what I could do there. I wrapped some rubber bands around the bolts after I took the nuts off in hopes that this would hold them in place while I placed the hitch over it. It worked. Awesome! Score one. Now back over to the other side. I had to dig around in the house to find a strong magnet to fish the bolts and spacers out of the frame so I could re-fish them through the frame with the metal spring. Re-doing work I thought I was already done with. I love doing that. I'm just glad I remembered to put on some locktite when I did the final threading of the nuts. A few twist of the socket wrench and I was done.

Now I have to find a bolt or locking hitch pin that will fit the 1 1/4" adapter that I have to run to accommodate my 2 inch bike rack. The receiver is nicely hidden under the car and would probably look really pro if I had a 1 1/4 inch bike carrier. Instead it has to stick out an additional 6 inches and I'm praying for clearance on elevation changes like driveways and dips in the road.

Since writing the first part of this post, I went and rode my bike, utilizing the new hitch. It works. Not going to lie, I was staring the bike and hitch down the whole time I drove to Shelby Farms. I was pretty paranoid about putting my brand new Air 9 Carbon mtb bike on the rack for its first test. The rack worked well and the ride was awesome. I love the new bike. It is incredible stiff and the 2x10 X.O group is rocking. Now that I have this task completed, I'm going to trek down to Birmingham tomorrow to do a very intense 2 day training camp. I'm hoping to get about 4 hours of training on Tuesday and at least 3 hours on Wednesday. I'll do all three sports both days and do the complete race course several times. Hopefully, this will really help me do better at the race in two weeks. Knowing the course will definitely help.

First Race Week

It's race week and I'm ready. I've been itching to get out there and see what I've got; see how good my training has been going and see what I can do. I took the TT bike out on Sunday for a brick workout as part of race prep. Before the ride, it fell down by the garage and scraped the clear coat on the top tube. Crap, haven't even ridden 100 miles on it and already scratched it up. The ride didn't seem to be going that great, but I still gave it what I had. I did the local tt road, C.D. Smith in 4:10 which is fast; I think. I didn't look at the distance, but I think the road is supposed to be like 2.25 to 2.5 miles long, which would mean I was hauling. Let's hope I can do that next Sunday. I didn't realize I averaged 21.2 mph for the 40 mile ride until I looked at the computer the next morning. Dang, this bike is fast! Didn't even fell good about it, yet still managed to ride fast. I'll take that. The run didn't go quite as well, so be it.

Monday I struggled through another swim workout and then headed to the gym to prove something to myself. I was going to try to lift a lot. A lot more than I ever had. I started squatting 245 back in February as part of my strength training. From there I moved up to 265 for a while and then 275. Last week I tried 295 and then 3 sets of 20 reps of 315 last Wednesday. Success. So why not push it, right? I started out with a warm-up set of 20 reps of 315. Then I put on 355 and did 15 reps of that. I asked a guy I've met at the gym this past semester to come watch me while I tried this next one because I had no idea how it was going to feel. I put on 405 and got out 6 reps before I dropped it. I was pretty happy with that. I then backed off and did another 20 reps of 315 and called it a day. You could say I've been feeling it in my legs and back today, haha.

Today, I threw the Cannondale Slice back in the trainer and did some adjustments to it. I wasn't quite happy with the fit I was riding on Sunday. I also mounted my Profile Design aero bottle and made it race ready. I started out doing some easy spin work to loosen up, then tested out the new aero position. Then I started practicing putting my shoes on and off while on the bike with them clipped in. Not quite as smooth as I was hoping it would be. The real test came when I took the bike out on the road. It's fast. Easily hit 36 mph while I was cruising around the neighborhood making sure I was comfortable on it and practicing taking my shoes on and off. I probably looked really weird wearing a Giro Advantage 2 helmet, 2" inseam swim speedo, and no shirt. Oh well, practice how you race.

Even better news is that my Niner finally came. I now have all my parts for my new mountain bike.....almost. Sram is still falling behind and failing to send out all my items. Who knows what's going on over there? Anyway, off to the bikeshop to put together what I have and hope that somehow I can scrounge together a complete bike to race on this weekend. Either way, I'm ready to let it rip and give it all I got. Hope it's not a complete swamp over there after these storms.

Looks better than my Ironman position. Man if I'd had this bike.....

Ceramic Bearing Press Fit 30. It's legit

Okay, maybe the bar isn't on right yet. Give me a break; there was a tornado.