This was my first road race of the year, I don’t really race a lot on the road. Hotter ‘n Hell Hundred. Held in Wichita Falls, Texas, If you live in Texas you’ve probably heard of this event. It’s probably the largest cycling event in the state all year. This year over 14,000 riders showed up.

I have ridden the event twice previously but had never participated in any of the USCF races. This year I decided to give it a try. I have to say that it is much more enjoyable to race it than it is to ride it. The pace is higher and you get pulled along by the pack. If you play your cards right you can go pretty fast and not really have to work very hard to do it. I played it right this time and by mile 80 I could tell we were going to finish this thing up in right around 4 hours. That’s around 25mph average speed for 100 miles. Not bad. We started getting close to then end of the loop and the pace started to ramp up as everyone was trying to maintain a spot close to the front. I did the same. I kept moving out to the left side of the group and working enough so as not to get boxed in. There weren’t many real attacks but if one came I tried to cover it and by doing so I managed to stay around the top 20 riders in the front of the group.

As we neared the overpass just before town I knew from previous experience that we were close to the finish area. The overpass is like a little hill and as I came to the top of the hill I see a right hand turn coming up and I also saw the 1K sign. 1 kilometer to go to finish this race. That’s not very far and I know I can suffer through any pain for a minute or two, so I switched to my tallest gear and threw down an attack with all the strength I could muster, pulling on the bars and jamming on the pedals. I took the corner going about 35mph and leaning the bike over. I kept the pressure on and as I went around the next corner I took a peek over my shoulder and I could see the group. Suprisingly, nobody was even close but I could feel that they were starting to gain some ground back. I could also feel the acid starting to build up in my legs and it became harder and harder to maintain that speed, but I didn’t let up, I didn’t let up until I crossed the line in 1st place. I couldn’t believe nobody countered and the pack didn’t know what to do about my attack.

Looking at my power data was pretty cool. You can see the big spike and then it drops down as I stop pedaling to round the corner. Then maintained about 500watts to the finish line.

Now both of the bikes in my garage have been ridden to a win

Results by Cadence: http://www.cadencesportsonline.com/pdf/144_divisions.pdf

03/2009

Saturday:
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I took a little trip out west to visit my parents and get a little riding in at the same time.  Rented a Madone 5.2 out there so I wouldn’t have to ship or fly with the Lynskey.

I got to SD roughly 9am Saturday morning and we went to the Trek store and got my bike, went home and dropped off my luggage and got my bottles ready and it was off to Pine Valley.  After a quick stop at Major’s Diner I suited up and started my ascent up Mt. Laguna.  2000ft of climbing in 8 miles or so on Sunrise Highway gets you to the top at 6000ft (not too steep really).

I tried to take it all in and enjoy being amongst the pine trees.  The views East from here are incredible

Then I headed down towards the lake on the other end and turned around to do the whole thing again in reverse.  It’s interesting how your sense of smell seems heightened while riding.  On the lake side my nose was filled with sage but toward the top of Laguna you really start to smell the pine trees.  Sunrise Highway was an excellent start to a few really nice days of riding.

Sunday:
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Sunday started out rainy and nasty.  We had planned to go watch my nephew compete in a Kayak/Canoe Regatta down at Fiesta Island so that’s what we did.  We all enjoyed hanging out together and watching Michael race against competitors from Ensenada, Mexico and Vancouver, British Columbia.  Michael did well and got 2 2nd place podium spots and a 5th in the tandem (K2) event. 

Here’s Michael in the K2 (tandem) event.

Later that day I took an easy ride down into the valley from my parents apartment and up Dahesa Rd to the Sycuan Indian Reservation near the Cleveland National Forest.  After arriving at the Reservation I turned toward home but came a different route back that going out.  There was plenty of hills on the way home but I took it somewhat easy on them because I was saving myself for tomorrow’s ride.

Monday:
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Monday my legs were feeling great and I was pumped.  After breakfast we were going to head up toward Escondido and hit Mt. Palomar.  Mt. Palomar is known as the “Alp de Huez” of California.  A challenge, a test for the climbing legs and an excellent warmup for the Ouachita Challenge coming up in 2 weeks.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to start all the way at the bottom of the climb but instead started at the beginning of the South Grade Rd.  South Grade is roughly 7 miles long and ends at the top of Mt. Palomar. 

Once you start up the South Grade there is no place to rest or take a break unless you simply stop. 

Here’s a view looking at the switchbacks below

Nice view from the top

I tried to make a good panoramic view from the top.  Click on the thumbnail pic for a larger image.

Since I didn’t get to start at the very bottom of the mountain I decided to make a 28 mile loop up the mountain, down the other side and along the base of the mountain and back to where I started.  I would do this loop twice just to make it interesting.

Palomar did not dissappoint.  I enjoyed every moment.  I loved the never ending switchbacks going up South Grade, the thick pines, the endless vistas off to the side and the eye watering descent!

This is a McKinney Velo route that I like.  They are using some different roads to avoid too much chip seal.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2407584

Piney Hills Classic Stage Race
10/26 & 10/27

Never done a stage race before so was not sure how the body would react to racing hard 2 days in a row like that.

The stages were:

Saturday @ 12:00 - Short Track (like a crit…only on dirt)
Saturday @  4:00 - Time Trial

Sunday   @  9:30 - XC Race ~ 30 miles
Kevin and I arrived at Lincoln Parish Park in Ruston, LA around 10:45am and started getting ready to race.  We checked in and got our number plates and proceeded to get dressed and start warming up.

The short track event was first, we got to the line and only 11 guys were in our class.  I can’t understand why the field is so small.  I mean this is an AMBCS tier 4 race as well as a qualifier for Nationals next year in Colorado.  Anyway, Jurgen (the usacycling official) informs us that we are going to race laps on a 1 mile course for 20 minutes and then they would ring a cowbell to signify 1 lap remaining.  Shortly after this he blows the whistle and ready or not the pain is about to commence!! 

Off we go and I am trying to keep myself from blowing up since I didn’t do any real warmup pre-race (this might have been my mistake…not sure).  I kept the pack close to me but didn’t want to lay down any attacks just yet. 

After the first lap I was starting to slobber a little…this means i’m starting to warm up ;-)  Jimmy was up at the front with a small gap so I decided to work my way to the front in case he tried to jump way off the front.  I moved by everyone and then proceeded to gap the field 20 yards behind Jimmy.  That’s how it would stay the rest of the race.  I would pull slightly closer to him at one point on the track and he would pull away at another point on the course.  I never could make up that distance.  I heard the cowbell and put it all out there for the final lap not worrying about how I would feel during the time trial in a couple of hours or the XC race tomorrow only trying my hardest for this one. 

When we made it back around I thought we were done but Jimmy kept riding and I second guessed myself and took off after him for one more lap….turns out I was right, but ended up doing an extra lap….wooops!

The next event was a 3 mile Time Trial.  This turned out to be ~ 11 minute effort at completely full blast!  Standing up on the pedals and mashing the entire time!  Again, Jimmy beat me by 4 seconds!  I was suprised that my legs didn’t feel too bad considering that I just did a 30 minute race effort a couple of hours earlier.

We went and got Cain’s for dinner and headed back to the Day’s Inn to shower and rest up, relax and drink a beer (Double Chocolate Stout, mmmm…).  Got a good night’s sleep and woke up in plenty of time to get back to the park for our 9:30 start.

I warmed up the legs and again, they felt better than I expected.  Everyone I was talking to that morning was expressing how much their legs were hurting so I figure we’re all in the same boat.  Once again the whistle was blown and off we go, around the corner, down the fast but sketchy corner, up the little hill and into the single track.  Immediately, Jimmy is on the front followed by Bobby Etheridge and Robert then myself.  This is how we ended up going into the singletrack.  We were in the singletrack for 5 minutes or so, weaving in and out of trees and dodging roots.  Then we pull a u-turn and hit a long open climb on doubletrack.  This is were I usually open up an attack.  I did and left everyone behind except Jimmy, he stayed in front back into the singletrack. We proceeded to drop the field and pick off all but 1 or 2 of the 19-29 field as well. 

This was a really classic battle between 1st and 2nd place.  Jimmy and I traded punches the rest of the race, passing each other every so often and basically trying to crack each other. 

I think I had his number in the woods, I was smoother through the corners and carried more speed than he did.  But when we got out into the open he could really turn on the jets.  I led the 2nd half of the 1st lap and then let him pass me on the 2nd lap and I rode his wheel the rest of the lap.  We came through the start / finish area side by side to start the 3rd and final lap.  When we hit that first slight uphill before the singletrack we were both up out of the saddle sprinting.  He beat me to the singletrack that time.  Again, I attacked him coming out of the woods and made it by him and was in 1st place going into the trail.  Coming out of the woods he attacked me and took the lead by 1/2 a wheel cutting me off…we both were laughing because we both appreciated the battle that was happening.  Shortly after that I began to slow and he stayed steady.  I ended up losing by 39 seconds.

Extremely good racing at a very fast venue.  Ruston remains my favorite race venue in the region and for good reason.

2nd place in each race
2nd place in the GC event overall
https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2008-2393

 photos by pappatop68 - http://pappatop68.smugmug.com/

I decided to try out ORAMM this year.  I’d heard it was a really good test of mind and body.  So I made plans to take the family and head to Old Fort, North Carolina which is just South/East of the Great Smokey Mountains.  I had never seen this part of the country before and was very impressed with the terrain and views available. 

We had a smooth trip to Old Fort and arrived just at 6:00pm… in time to pick up my race packet.  Then headed back to Black Mountain to eat some pasta and stay the night at the Super 8.  I woke up at 5:30am the next day and started prepping for the day.  The family and I got to the race venue at 7am and had 1hr to prep the bike, bottles and body.  Plenty of time.

My boys and I fixed a food bottle (6hr bottle of Hammer Perpetuem with the consistency of pancake batter) and two bottles of Gu20. 

Then stood in line for the porta potty.

I didn’t do much of a warm up….just rode around the block a couple of times to make sure everything was still working right.  I lined up as close to the front as I could and ended up on the front row but had no intention of leading the pack on the start. 

Okay, after a short speach by the race director we were off, following the pace car for a neutral start.  The pace car dropped us pretty easily, nobody wanting to punch the gas too hard to start the day out.  It was almost surreal heading down the road with the lead pack of 70 some odd mountain bikes with knobby tires buzzing. 

I saw Team Dickey coming up on my left as he was searching the pack for his competition and the pace lifted as we rounded the corner heading up Old Hwy 70.  The sound of tires rubbing together as we rounded the corner had me hoping everyone had brought their bike handling skills.  No wrecks though.  Okay, the course had been pretty flat up to this point but now we are starting up hill a little bit and the group began to stretch out a little.  I didn’t want to put out too much effort here but I remembered jjay’s advice that I should try to get to the Kitsuma switchbacks in the top 40 to 50 riders so I wouldn’t get stuck in the hike ‘a bike line going up the kitsuma switchbacks.  So, I settled in and drafted off of others and tried not to get passed up by too many folks as we headed up. 

My memory is a bit hazy but at some point we had to dismount and jump over a barracade and then onto some sort of cracked cement jeep road that lasted 4 miles or so.  It went left and right and always upward.  Every so often I could catch a glimpse of the valley below us and the endless flowing terrain.  Very beautiful.  I wanted to stop and look but this was supposed to be a race so I kept it moving. 

At the top it flattened out for a few minutes but we were soon on the killer Kitsuma switchbacks.  These aren’t that steep, but making each turn requires an acceleration and some good maneuvering with the upper body to navigate through the roots and rocks. 

You can put yourself into the red zone pretty easily if you are not careful.  In hindsight I was in the wrong gear going into these switchbacks and pushed too hard on the first 10 or so and ended up floundering through the rest of them.  Going in, I had no idea how many switchbacks there were and so had no good idea on how to pace myself.  Once you make it to the top of Kitsuma you have a couple of quick descents.  I didn’t quite have my mountain biking head on right and ended up losing control for a moment when I hit the first of the real rough stuff.  I ended up having to let 5 riders pass just because I didn’t want to cause anyone to wreck.  I jumped back on the trail and didn’t have anymore of that type of problem the rest of the race.  I did however blow through a couple of hairpin turns, no biggie though, I chalk it up to not ever having ridden there before. 
As the descent continued I really was starting to enjoy the trail.  Really fast and narrow singletrack, but really bumpy.  I can hold my own on trail like this and felt very comfortable.  We finally got to the bottom of the descent and back onto a paved road for a few miles.  Here I took the opportunity to try take in some food and drink and  put my ipod on.  Soon I was at the first aid station but realized that I was already behind by 1 drink bottle.  The aid station was well stocked and manned.  A volunteer filled my bottle and told me that I was doing well but warned of an upcoming climb.  The climb wasn’t anything bad at all compared to what I would encounter later on in the race.  At present I just put the bike in a climbing gear and tried to keep my heart rate at a managable level while climbing these switchbacks.  I admit to dismounting a couple of times going up these switchbacks.  They were very tight and no room for error.  Tighter than any around Texas area.  This went on for a while and then I came to probably the least impressive portion of the ride.  It looked like grown over jeep road.  Waist high grass covered most of the area here.  It would be flat for a while and then you’d hit a shortish climb and then it would flatten out again.  I caught and passed a couple of riders here because this type of terrain is what I’m used to I guess.  I tried again to catch up on my drinking and take an Elete electrolyte tablet.  Once again now we started to descend.  Back and forth.  I caught a couple more guys due to my descending skills.  After this things began to get very serious.

Unknowingly, I was beginning the toughest climb of the day which I found out was the infamous “Curtis Creek Climb” or as the Tao Duck Man describes it “Col de Sonofabitch”. 

This is an 8 or 9 mile climb that ends up taking most people between 1.5 - 2 hours to complete and has a couple of false crests.  It starts out simple enough.  Nothing too steep, so I just try spinning 1:1 gear ratio.  No problems.  Then after doing this for half an hour it steepens up a bit.  1:1 becomes a bit more difficult and the work is starting to catch up with me such that even taking an easier gear doesn’t allow me to recover properly.  I finally just stopped for a few seconds and got off the bike, changed the gear ratio and was able to continue on till the top.  Looking back though, I think if I would have paced myself correctly from the beginning I would have had more to give as the trail pointed up more sharply.  Who knows though, I may have just fatigued quicker.  But mentally this was the toughest climb on the course simply because I didn’t have a clue when it would end.  Every time I turned a corner and saw another section of trail going upward my hopes of “the top” were smashed.  When I finally saw the aid station at the top I was very relieved.  I filled both bottles here with HEED and took off, getting in front of quite a few folks standing around talking.

The next section was easy compared to the CCC.  It was straight down a gravel park road, my bike and I reached high speeds and I put my Magura Marta’s through the ringer braking before each corner for fear of washing out on the loose gravel on the outside of the corners.  After the descent I was in a valley and riding on flat.  My rear rotor had been rubbing and it was really starting to drive me crazy so I stopped and tried to bend it back.  I got it close but it was still rubbing a bit.  The thought of my rotor rubbing on my brake pads as I was climbing up the hill started getting into my head.  I could stand the thought of working any harder than I had to on these climbs.  About that time I came across a rider who was to my suprise going slower than I was.  I chatted it up with him about the trail and such.  He had just moved down to Black Mountain, NC from Breckenridge, CO and worked for a Solar Energy Company and told me that his wife was also racing.  He was battling cramps like I was so we rode together to the next checkpoint.  As I was nearing the checkpoint I heard someone behind me say, “Dallas Bike Works, hey, do you know jjay?”  Yea, sure I know jjay.  I think this was Luis Calderon.  He said he was going to look up John’s blog and give him a hard time for not coming to ORAMM this year.

Okay, after CP3 we headed up the Blue Ridge Pkwy for 1.2 miles and the took a turn and went straight up this freak’n ridiculous hike ‘a bike section.  I don’t think you could ride this section even if you were fresh as a daisy on your best day.  It was severe.  Everyone, off the bike and pushing.  It took me a good 5-10 minutes to get to the top but the payoff was worth it.  A good 30 minute descent down Heartbreak Ridge.  This one really gave my arms and calves a workout because you are standing up most of the way and creating suspension with your legs and arms as you go.  About now I’m thinking we have to be getting pretty close to the finish.  I heard someone say we had only 15 miles to go.  Hell, I can do that.  I checked my fluids…I had one empty bottle and one full bottle.  I’m good, so I skipped the final aid stating and went for it… BIG MISTAKE.  I should have stopped at that aid station and drank what was left in that bottle and filled them both back up.  The last 15 miles took me approximately 2hrs to complete.  I didn’t realize I had to do Kitsuma again before finishing.  When I realized what lay between me and the finish line I felt truly defeated.  I did something that I rarely do, I got off the bike, layed it down and sat down on the side of the trail.  My pride had been left back on the Curtis Creek Climb somewhere and I didn’t care.  My breathing was shallow and it hurt to take in a deep breath…not a good feeling at all.  It was getting on about 2pm in the afternoon as well and the air was hot and humid.  Somehow I managed to make it up the rest of Kitsuma for the second time and once I hit the downhill I started feeling better.  I was so glad to see the pavement again too, because I knew right where I was.  Heading down Old Hwy 70 back into town and to the end of my first ORAMM.  I was 101st to cross the finish line out of 400.  Nothing to get excited about but definately leaves room for improvement.  I grabbed a Red Bull and laid down in the creek as fast as I could. 

Here’s pic of my boys and I relaxing in the creek.

I think I need another crack at ORAMM.  I’m not happy with my performance there, so maybe next year I’ll go back and give it another run.  Who knows though.

Results:

http://www.blueridgeadventures.net/resources/2008ORAMMRESULTS.HTM

This is one of my favorite ~4hr routes.  Starting from my house in McKinney and riding out to Isle Du Bois State Park near Pilot Point, TX.  It’s roughly 72 miles.  I have a few variations of this route, I like the gravel road version but that definately slows the ride down so that you are pushing 6hrs to complete it. 

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2003388

 There’s plenty to look at out here.  Great wide open views of the land.   I was out there riding 6/25/2008 with Adam when we came across this…

He was crossing the road and I went right by him.  Adam came by next and I watched the Rattler strike at the bike but miss.  We then turned around and had a closer look (but not too close).  You couldn’t see the rattle on his tail but when we got closer you could definately hear the rattle.  The snake quickly took to the cover of the brush along the side of the road.  He just wanted to be left alone.

Sunday 5/25/08 - Memorial Day weekend

Adam e-mailed me the other day asking what ride I had planned this weekend.  I didn’t have anything except I had thought about doing a boring road ride up the service road.  He didn’t seem too impressed.  But when I told him I was going to try to make it to the Oklahoma border and back his perspective changed a bit as the challenge was now before him.  I decided to invite a few additional crazies on the ride to share in the adventure.  John Sanborn and Chris Ferguson.  John had mentioned riding his mountain bike and I said that should be fine because we weren’t going to be setting any speed records on this ride and Adam was bringing his fixed gear.  John was not enthused when Adam shows up on his geared roadie leaving him the only one on a MTB.  At least it was 29er and a light one.

I wanted to get an early start to “beat the heat” so I told the guys to get here by 7am or so.  I guess we should have started at 5:30am or earlier if we were going to beat the heat because we ended up baking our brains in the heat anyway.  We finally rolled out from the house at 7:40am and headed east to 75.  We jumped on the service road and stayed there.  You can’t just go straight up the service road all the way to Oklahoma like you can on the actual interstate.  There are a few spots where you have to get off and hit other roads and then jump back on.  Thanks to John’s GPS on his Blackberry we were able to navigate all of these transitions with minimal additional mileage (I think i’m finally sold on the Blackberry.  I need one now).

It was a very enjoyable ride most of the way to the border with the wind at our backs and the reasonable temps.  Everyone was in a good mood and cutting up and just having a good time.  This was going to be easy!!  Even though you couldn’t really feel the wind at your back I started noticing that the flags were blowing around pretty good and stiff and then I realized that the trip back was going to be real work.  Little did I know.

We had no incidents other than a flat tire 200yds from the Oklahoma border sign.  I stopped and put a tube in and blew it up with a CO2.  John continued the remaining 200yds and snagged a pic of himself by the border.

I continued working on my flat situation. But as I started to put the wheel back on POP!!!  It blew.  So, I knew there was probably something stuck in the tire.  I took the tire off again and checked the inside by running my hand around the inside of the tire but couldn’t locate anything.  Adam found the problem though.  I had rolled over a piece of glass and it cut a 1/4 inch slice in the sidewall of my Conti GP4000 (almost brand new tire).  The tube new tube had poked it’s way through the slice and the little bubble that had formed gave way to the high pressures.  So, we patched the sliced tire with an old ketchup packet that was laying along the side of the road, put a new tube in and pumped it up. 

Good to go.

After a brief stop at the border to snap this picture it was time to return.

Now, the work begins.  Heading back South into the headwind.  Our avg. speed went from 20mph to 15mph and below.  It was getting hotter too.  Let the suffering begin.  First John started to sag a little on some of the climbs.  Then me.  I think everyone was hurting a bit at this point about 5 or 6 hours into the ride (including stops).  Pain or not we were 50 - 60 miles from home at this point and had no choice but to trudge on and make it back.  Around 2pm we stopped in Howe, TX for some food.  They had a Sonic there.  Not really what you want but any place was fine with us at this point.  We sat down and ate and then took off again 20 minutes later.  Now the final leg.

By this time the sun was really beating down but we managed to make it back to my place at around 5pm.  8hrs of ride time, 122.25 miles, over 9hrs total elapsed time.  I can’t say I’d recommend this ride to very many people but it was an adventure and overall, I’d have to say that I had a good time.

This was our route: http://tiny.cc/bksEt

I’ve been going and doing the crits this year.  Never have in the past.  The first one I did I took off and ran hard like a rabbit for the pack to chase.  Not really the best tactic necessarily and I knew it but just couldn’t help myself.  Of course I tired out after a while and the pack caught me.  I sprinted for 10th I think… 

The next time I went out and sat on the back and got whipped around a little and ended up doing worse than 10th.  Okay, now I need a new tactic.  After 5 tries I think i’m finally catching on… i’m a slow learner.  I sat in for 2 laps and then pushed it a bit for a couple of laps and then rested again.  Then with 2 laps to go I just covered whatever attacks came while staying near the front.  Then pinned it in the last 1/2 of the last lap and sprinted for 2nd or 3rd.   I can tell that I don’t excel at these crits but they definately are a good workout.   http://www.fdmcycling.com/tuescritinfo.html

John, Chris and I arrived in Coldspring with just a bit over an hour to spare before race start.  We got ready and did a warmup with Larson, Boyd and Martin then headed over to the start area.  My group lined up and shortly after that we are moving.  I’m feeling pretty good and get the holeshot and go into the woods 1st wondering how long it would last.  One of my race goals today was to stay with the leaders as long as I could and I managed about 35minutes on the front (1 full lap) so mission accomplished I suppose.  After going through the big sandpit after the first lap they start to go by.  Chris Renshaw, then Wallace Groda, then Kevin Koen and Bonavita too.  Dang!  Now i’m in 5th place.  So I hold their wheel for a while but had to slow down just a bit and take a rest.  After slowing down I could hear a couple of other guys coming up from behind.  It was John Rigdon and a Subaru / Fisher rider.  Something happened in one of the corners and I went down.  I got up quickly and moved out of the way as Rigdon passed me.  I jumped back on and took off after him, quickly reeling him back in.  I made a poorly judged attempt to pass Rigdon just before going back into singletrack after a short trip down some fireroad and ended up aborting that attempt.  In the process I went off the trail and the Subaru / Fisher guy behind us went by.  So, now i’m in 7th.  I caught back up to these guys and sat on their wheel for a bit.  I’m pretty sure I could have ridden faster w/out them in front of me but so be it.  The Subaru guy passed Rigdon and disappeared.  I finally got around Rigdon and tried to catch him but I had let too much time go by before getting around.  I did catch up with the usual suspects in the 19-29 class though and caught all but the 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions in that class.  Not my best race by any means.  Disappointed?  Yes, a little.  But I do feel like a gave a good physical effort, just not my best day handling the bike or with the mental aspect of the race.  I did manage to move up to 4th in the overall standings after our first “drop” was calculated into the overalls.  This put me ahead of Bobby Etheridge by 1 point and moved me ahead of Dave Espers as well.  I’m sure Bobby will come out with guns blazing at X-Bar to try to take 4th.

6th place.  Nothing stellar but nothing to be ashamed of either.

Full USAC Results: https://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2008-790

I went down to Comfort with John and Chris.  We drove 5.5hrs straight to Flat Rock Ranch, changed and hit the trail.  The weather was awesome, nice and sunny but not too hot.  The trail was also in great shape and I knew that the race would be FAST.  I was feeling super strong for the first time in a while, this gave me a good boost of confidence that I have been lacking lately due to being sick for what seems like an eternity.  I thought to myself that things were coming together for me to have a good race.  So, back to the hotel now and we shower, change and went over to the “Cowboy Steakhouse” in Kerville, TX.  This place has some really good food and I would suggest it to anyone.  We ate like kings and let me tell you, the apple pie was better than any I have ever had (except maybe Mom’s) and that’s saying alot.  Anyway, enough about the food.

Okay, race morning.  We slept late so packed up, huried through breakfast and hit the road from Kerville to Comfort.  We arrived at the race venue with 1.5hrs to spare before the race.  Got changed, registered, etc. and rode around a little.  Chris and I rode together because we wanted to take it easy and not overdo the warmup.  I get to the line and look around.  Only 20 of us on the line this time…why so few??  Comfort is one of the best trails on the circuit!! 

The top contenders in my class were all there though.  Koen, Groda, Renshaw, Etheridge, Esper, Park.  Jurgen gives us the 1 minute, 30 seconds and then the whistle and we’re off FULL BLAST as usual and this is a long start before you hit single track.  We’re all out for at least 5 minutes before we get to the trail.  Koen, Renshaw and Groda pull away and gap Esper, myself and J. Park.  After a couple of minutes Park bridges up to the leaders leaving D. Esper and myself then a gap back to the remaining racers.  I probably could have spent the energy to catch them but thought better of it with the climbing that I knew was coming.  I kept them in sight though, just in front of me about 50 meters.  Once we hit single track I passed Esper and gapped him a little…Bobby E. did the same and I could see him coming up. Back and forth up the switchbacks in the upper loop.  And up up up through the rock gardens.  You have to be on your game in the upper loop.  It’s some of the most technical trail we ride in the TMBRA series.  It’s Very rocky, rooty and lots of steep climbs.  Also, there are plenty of tight little turns that come up just as you are gaining some good speed on the decents.  That’s what I was having trouble with have not ridden the upper loop durning our pre-ride.  I think it would have helped me to pre-ride the upper loop.

Moving along, I see K. Koen up there, he has gotten dropped by the 3 leaders, now I realize that he must be hurting a little because he’s usually up there in the lead.  I tried to catch him a couple of times and came really close to his wheel but one of those tight turns got me and I had to lay the bike down.  I Picked myself up but I was in kind of an awkward spot to try a quick remount.  I saw Bobby coming up and let him go by before getting back on.  I could never close the gap between Bobby and I after that.  But I did manage to get K. Koen.  This was on the lower loop right before the Pipeline Climb I came across Koen laying under a tree.  He had tweety birds and stars floating around above his head.  I asked him if he was okay and he said yes, so I kept on going.  That put me in 5th and that’s how it stayed.  The rest of the trail is really fast.  It’s some of the fastest best flowing singletrack you can imagine.  Once you get to this point on the trail it’s hard to make up time on someone because of the lack of climbing.

Fifth place though and I’ll take it.

Full USAC results: https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2008-838