Last race of the season, so I figured I’d head down. I had done the two early in the season I had planned on. Things were going well with debt reduction, so I splurged and went for the race.

The drive out there was super long. 360 some odd miles and over 5 hours. Damn, and what a day to find out my AC no longer works. The day we drove down was mild in temperature, so it wasn’t bad, but the way home was annoyingly hot.

The pre-ride on Saturday was good, 12 mile loop, we session-ed a few bits because they were full of rocks so we kept trying to find the best line of approach. I would say the preride was uneventful, except that I fell while we were deciding where to go, really dumb mistake. It hurt my knee a lot, looked like I hit it right on a rock, it swelled up pretty good. Got back to the truck put some ice on it, ate some food and went to register for the race. After that we headed to fellow racers place to stay the night, which included Guitar hero, which I sucked at.

Sunday morning we headed back to the course, warmed up, got our legs marked and sat in at the line waiting for the P/S/E-s(pro semi-pro elites) to take off then we would leave 3 minutes after that, usually the juniors start with us, but with the way the course was quite technical/rocky off the start they spaced us out. I was last off the start, and 3rd to last into the trees, which I was ok with cause I knew most everyone would bunch back up with the upcoming tech sections. We made it through most of the tough part, with little to no incident and some Juniors caught me, as I wasn’t racing them I let them pass. I’m gonna try not to do that anymore as they for the most part didn’t pass me and just sat in front of me on the trail. They kept good pace, which was nice cause it kept me focused but there were spots the slowed for which in turn slowed me. They caught another racer in my class and sat in behind him for a bit.

Some of the 30-39 men would eventually catch us, so we would let them by, and Tom from my team, came up behind me, so I let the guys in front of me know someone in another class wants to get by. Not far goes by, and the line of 5 of them STOP and pull over to the side. I had not planned on this, so I just kept rolling on. I felt kinda bad about it because the guy at the front of the line was in my class, so I kinda got a free pass out of it. I let Tom pass and kept riding. If Kyle had caught back up with me I would have without a doubt let him get in front of me. Fortunately I never saw him again.

I followed Tom for a bit, we caught a few folks including Spears, who I ride with frequently, and who should have been much farther ahead. Said he had wrecked, so that would slow him down for sure. Alot of people wrecked at this race, I’m glad I had gotten mine out of the way a day earlier. I passed him and a few others in my class, and some of the sport/older experts, as they didn’t do the whole track and now were in front of me. Then all of a sudden I couldnt pedal anymore. Hmmm. My rear wheel had come out, I stopped put it back in, and continued on. In the process of this all the people I had just passed were in front of me again. Suck. I had also lost one of my disc brake pads, making them un-usable. So I did a lap and about a mile without rear brakes. I skidded out my front tire a few times on the front sections where there were drops. Definitely sketchy. I kept riding, knowing that I was in a decent place, what from passing some, and seeing others on the side of the trail with mechanicals. There were some nice long open sections, where I was able to open it up, cause I didn’t need to worry about my brakes, and my 29er wheels allowed me to keep a fast rolling pace. I passed two other riders in the flats, and kept them off for the rest of the race.

I cramped with maybe 3-5 miles left, so I downed all the rest of my Perpetuem, and what I had left in one Elete water bottle. They cramp subsided until there was one mile left then I felt it again, more water, and just tried to ignore/placate it, as I knew there wasn’t much left and not much between me and the guy behind me.

I came across the line 5th place. The best I’ve ever done in Expert(of 3 races), the other two being 10th and 13th. I’ve got alot of work to do if I want to put up numbers like this race in the fall/next spring.

More later.

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Hit the trail this morning for a total of 36 miles. The trees had some residual wetness for the first two laps, which was kinda annoying, as well as there was some face slappers, which I took care of. Some buddies showed up and I rode with them for a lap, trying to keep up, and gave it a good push. Burped my front tire this lap towards the end, and probably should have put a little more air into it.

It was starting to get later in the day, but jjay talked me into it, told me it would be good for me. I tried to keep up with jjay and larson, but it was my fourth lap, and their second, so they just went on ahead. I felt pretty strong for pretty much the entire lap, no numbness anywhere, but my recovery after a few hills could have been much better.

Towards the end of this lap I heard the infamous tire releasing air noise. I check it out, pretty small hole, put it towards the bottom, to let the stans plug it…uh oh, no stans left in the tire. Yuk. I just packed it with a little dirt and kept on rolling. The tire was definitely softer than I wanted, but I slowed down, made sure not to get off the trail, and finished up. Guess I’ll have to get a syringe and put some more stans in that tire.

Lately my legs have been going numb/tingly after a day of hard riding, we looked at my saddle, raised the seatpost, move it a smidge forward, and then realized one side was LOWER than the other. Bummer. Bent it back, and during the ride today noticed it was back to its previous position. Luckily I got a new saddle, that Im gonna put on this week. Said saddle is almost 6 ounces lighter than the one I was currently riding. DAMN. Getting a new stem soon that should shave another 2 ounces as well.

I had planned on doing two TMBRA races this spring, Bar-H, and Waco/Cameron Park. They are some of my favorite races in the spring series, possibly because I haven’t done any others in the spring, but regardless.

I decided to buy a new frame the week before this race, as my old one was bent, had bottle cage issues, among other things. So this race was the first time I would put it to the test on dirt. I had done a gravel road ride on Thursday, and it felt pretty good, the Fox fork performing seemlessly.

We headed down from JJays in what looked to be a Vassago Team Vehicle, the three of us each had a Vassago frame with Fox fork. We got there, registered and watch the sport racers take off. It was a little bit chilly when we started warming up, but it was not noticeable once we started moving. There was plenty of time for warm up, and it started to get cramped/hectic towards the start time of the race, as everyone was riding the same small space of road.

Got to the start line, and then we had a long wait in front of us, to allow the womens class to have a decent head start so we weren’t running them over. This made for a cold start. I was on the inside side of the line, not where I wanted to be with the u-turn in the middle of the start loop, my confidence just isn’t that strong yet, unfortunately I realize this too late. So off the whistle I try to manage my way to the outside, this pushes me off the back of the pack, and I’m the last one on the trail. The same thing(last to the dirt) happened to me the previous year in Sport.

I try to set in, and I’m just playing it cool for bit trying to get my rhythm. Im behind Ferg, and a few of the JuniorXes for awhile, eventually one of the juniors dabs on a hill and me and Ferg pass him. Eventually Chris slips away from me, I just don’t have the legs, or the lungs. Im fighting a cough/congestion so thats part of it.

The rest of the first lap goes decently, I pass a few people on the hills, just keep pushing it out, instead of walking(so far). The 30-39 group starts to catch up and I let them pass when I have the chance.

I come through the start loop, pass on water because I didn’t realize the Ozark water bottles are for us, I was expecting something else completely. I see Tom Brandish tangled up with someone from my class about the start of the second lap. I catch Brian McGrath and stick with him for awhile, eventually passing him on a hill.

My legs start to feel a little tight at this point, almost cramping, I end up having to walk the big hill towards the end of the lap(the one that opens into the field), just so I don’t kill my legs for the rest of the race. It had been a long week at work and I had been running alot, so I think that was a major factor in my leg failures.

I was trying out “Perpetum” this race, and I consumed most of one bottle on the second lap, and I could feel the difference, that I had some more energy, and didnt feel like my legs were about to fail just yet. Picked up the second bottle between the second and third laps. It seemed to keep me going, but I ended up having to walk that same climb this lap as well.

I didn’t catch anyone, but didn’t loose any places after I passed Brian on the second lap, and finished 13th. I’m gonna have to be more careful at work the week of the OC, as I don’t need sore legs for that race.

It was warm at work today, enough so, I almost took off my hoodie. I was gonna stay late, but was feeling the warmth so I decided to head home and get on the bike.

Even though the sun was still out, it was much colder than I had expected. I left the house, and quickly turned back and grabbed a pair of warmer gloves, almost grabbed the ear warmers too, but decided not to unfortunately.

Headed out and went a route I thought I knew, but missed the original turn so it added a mile or two.

Got onto Sherman, wide open road with alot of headwind, this sucked. I did this for a bit, getting colder and colder as time went on, regretting my decision to get on the bike with every pedal stroke. Arrived at the 428 Greenbelt and headed north towards IDB, welcoming the slight protection from the wind, as well as no longer being buzzed by the evening traffic and various large trucks.

The hum from my tires over the semi-gravel was all there was to be heard, and I just hit a zone. It felt good, I’ve been in a rut lately, fell off the wagon so to say, but this almost renewed me. I couldn’t feel my toes, but I felt good.

Heading home was quicker than expected as I caught the tailwind from earlier. Ended up with 32 miles in just right at 2 hours.

I don’t know what Im doing yet for the season. Im in no way competitive enough for expert, but feel it would be awkward to do sport. Who knows. Im gonna be working alot anyway, so I’ll probably only be doing maybe 2 or 3 races this season.

Went out today, did approximitely 34 miles in 2 hours and 15 minutes, while my truck was at the dealer getting looked over.

I did about 30 minutes of warm up on the Denton Branch Rail Trail(DRT). Then did some intervals, 30 seconds, 45, and then 1 minute 30 seconds, with corresponding time off between the times. I did this, up the ladder and down, break and then up and down again. The first half of set 1 was really smooth. not many interruptions, and was out of breath at the end.

I started to turn back down the ladder, and boy did it hurt. Then 20 seconds in I hit the END of the DRT. That was a major kink in the plan. I turned around and started to head back up the hill, trying to regain my speed. I ended up only doing a 1 minute section of time. The 45 second time got interupted as well, and then i decieded to hit the roads of Corinth. This made for some hills, and definitely a headwind. By the end of the second set, I really couldnt get a strong focus on my time sections, and was going as hard as I could. At least I thought I was. The whole set, tookmaybe a bit over 10 minutes, and rest for 4 made for 15 before I did the second.

Doing the second set seemed easier to keep decent pace, possibly cause I was on Paved road, where I could be more aware of who was going to be crossing in front of me. The second set seemed smoother, but I didn’t feel like I was putting out as much power. This is easily possible, but something I’d like to work on, recovery time between high endurance pushes.

After the intervals, I cooled down for 10 minutes, and did another 15 minutes of hard riding with small hills involved. Followed up by 45 minutes or so of  cool down/base riding.

Starting the second half of the set is always a WAY harder to get up to a decent speed, and feel like Im pushing super hard, so today was especially tough with all the interuptions. Any suggestions, as to why this is, and how to overcome it are welcomed.

This will probably be short and sweet, as there unfortunately much riding that got done on race day. DNF’d. Slash Frown.

Off the start, I missed my pedal, so I wasn’t where I wanted to be in the line. Probably around 6th. Andrew, who sometimes rides his single speed in our class, was hot off the line and hit the trail 1st. He held it until we got out of the first section of woods, and got onto the levy, where we all pretty much flew by him. He had a climbing gear on, so he was pretty spun-out up there. I did an interval to get myself where I wanted to be, around 3rd place Im sure. Did pretty good for what was left, made sure I didn’t run into the tree again, as I did during the pre-ride. The part where I crashed, was a downhill sandy bottomed turn, into an uphill. Folded my wheel all the way around over the top tube, and ejected. I had enough time to get up, get my bottle, and get to the top of the dip, before I would see anyone else.

The major factors in this crash, are to believed to be the shock being locked out, from when I was on the levy, and the un-knowledge of my tire pressure. Which had been set up a day prior, and might have lost some pressure overnight, and then without checking the pressure, I released some, thinking that would be a good idea. Digital presure gauge, is on my wishlist for sure.

I crashed, burped my tubeless, couldn’t re-inflate it, tried a tube, it slipped everywhere due to my HR being sky high, and Tubeless liquid being everywhere. Thet tire slid off the rim, twice. Finally got everything situated, and used my Co2, and it popped it, not sure if it was twisted, already had a hole, or what happened, but I didnt have any options at that point. Had to “walk it out”.

I tried to cut some trail, and ended up wandering around for 15 minutes. Made it back to the levee, told the officials I DNF-d, and watched the rest of my class finish. Luckily, I only moved down one place in the standings, still coming in at # 2. Just gotta stay solid the next two races, and I’ll have a top 3 on lock down.

Walked a whole bunch, and did feed zone for the expert race. That certainly is one thing I do enjoy doing.

Tonight Michael and I went out west, and did some base miles. We did 35 miles in 2 hours and 21 minutes, keeping a decent pace, but not so much that we couldn’t keep casual conversation. Nothing too exciting, chatted about what we expect to do in the spring and other plans that we had for the future.

Towards the end, it felt like I picked up the pace, as we hit a couple hills. The final push was from a train about to cross a set of tracks that we jetted across before it arrived.