Charm City Cross!!! Men's UCI Day 1 and Day 2

I have lots of endurance from the 100s but my top end is lacking!  Charm City was a little slower for me this year than last, but coming off the NUE races I had expected that to be the case.  I am confident that I will be able to turn it around and have a very strong November :)

You gotta check out the Charm City Day 1 race video from In The CrossHairs!

 

Killer Cross Cake

This is a modified popcorn cake recipe to make an awesome and somewhat healthy treat for post cross racing!  

Melt in a pot on stove over low heat

1. 4 cups small marshmallows

2. 1/4 stick butter

3. 2 overly ripe bananas

4. 1 pack Truvia (or Splenda)

In a mixing bowl:

1. 3 bags microwave popcorn

2. California Trail Mix

3. a lil extra salt

4. 2 scoops vanilla Whey Protein 

- melt the ingredients of the pot

- once melted mix it into the bowl

- pour contents of bowl into a brownie pan

- put in fridge to harden

- cut + serve

BCA Cyclocorss... First Race Of The Season!

Oh man!  I was really worried that all of the 100mi MTB races that I have been doing lately would seriously delude my top end speed needed for cross racing.  That being said, I was not at my best but I also was not too bad at today's BCA Cyclocross race.

This was my first race riding Stan's No Tubes tubeless rims with Vittoria TNT tires.  It was awesome!  I had 100% control.  I felt just as good as I have on any of the best tubulars.  There is no going back now.

Pre race food was a turkey sandwich and 1 PROBAR Nutty Banana Boom (awesome flavor!!!).  Always eat a ton 2hrs before the race.  Any close to the race than 2hrs and the food does not have enough time to digest.  2hrs gives just enough time to get the food ready to be used, in my experience.

This was the 1st of the Sportif Cross Cup Series of races.  I am a Cat 1 and they don't have a series for us, but they still let us race against the Cat 2s and 3s and we get scored against them... we just don't count towards any series.  

At the gun I found myself in a decent position and I saw Nick Taylor get a 5 second gap immediately!  Whew!  I worked my way into 2nd position with a ton on guys right on my tail and with Nick slowly adding the seconds to his growing lead.

I chased hard but Nick kept growing his lead and I was starting to fade...  at about 1/2 way through the race Greg Capelle caught up with me and I worked with him for about 1 lap.  This gave me time to recover/relax...  With about 3 laps to go I attacked Greg and went to bridge the 24 second gap to Nick.

On the last lap I caught Nick and then I attacked him.  Unfortunately for me Nick was not out of gas and he matched my attack.  Then on a technical downhill section my chain dropped for a few seconds... it was just enough for him to get a little gap.  

attacking after catching Nick

I could not close that gap before the finish.  

2nd place was not too bad.  It was certainly wayyy more than I expected.

left to right: Sunny, me, Nick Taylor, Eric Krauss, Greg Capelle

Can't wait for Charm City next weekend!!!

Fool's Gold 100... so fun but a long day.

Strava Data

Watch more video of 2012 Fool's Gold 100 NUE Series Final on thom.cyclingdirt.org

The Fool's Gold 100 is the last race in the National Ultra Endurance (NUE) MTB race series.  It was my 4th race in the series in the Single Speed category which is the minumum required to place in the series.  If I had gotten 1st I would have finished in 2nd overall in the series.

The race started with a 10mile uphill!!  Awesome!  Gerry Pflug, Dwyane Goscinski, and I were the 3 Single Speeders with the group of top geared racers (including Jeremiah Bishop, Christian Tanguay, and the rest).  Once the road turned downhill/flat most of the geared guys got away.

Gerry put in a few hard efforts and he eventually gapped me at about mile 20 or so.  I learned my lesson at New Hampshire... never go to deep to early or pay for it later... if Gerry was that strong then I would have to let him get away and hopefully catch him later.  100miles is a longgg race.  Dwyane was only a bit behind me in 3rd.

For the rest of the race I was pretty much riding by myself.  That was okay because this course was AWESOME!!!  It was either epic climbing or totally rad single track. 

Somewhere near the end of the course I somehow got lost... Oh man!  Getting lost added 10-15 extra miles and about 1 extra hour to my ride... Ouch!  I went from 2nd place to 4th place in the Single Speed category.  Finishing 4th put me in 4th overall in the series instead of 3rd.  Thats okay.  It was a great day and a ton of fun.  Can't wait to race this one again next year, it was definitely one of the best courses.

Shenandoah Mountain 100... What An Adventure!!!

Strava Data 

Results/Report - Cyclingnews.com

Watch more video of 2012 Shenandoah Mountain 100 NUE on thom.cyclingdirt.org

The forecast called for a 50% chance of showers and that is exactly what happened.  It rained on and off all day long.  Sunny to torrential down pour and back again.  The puddles were deep and the rocks were slick.

I woke up at 12:30am and I drove to the race from my house at 1:30am with my dad!  He and I had an awesome adventure together.  It is fun driving down the morning of, racing, then driving back.  While I raced, he worked as a race volunteer and took a hike in the woods.  It was a great day for both of us!

All of the single speeders started together.  Quickly after the start I was with Matt Ferrari, Justin Pokrivka, Gerry Pflug (read his Race Report), Ron Harding, and Lance Byrd.  Soon after that Ron, Gerry, and I were able to get a small gap on the others and we got into a group with a few geared riders.

The course consists of 6 major climbs and lots of technical single track.  The second climb was mostly walking/running.  I got a small gap on Gerry and Ron but they easily caught me on the following descent.  The 3rd climb (mi 35-40) was a brutal one!  Ron and I got away from Gerry and we didn't see him again.  After the race I found out that Gerry DNF'd shortly after that climb.  He is the leader of the series and the championship is next weekend.  If Ron won at SM100 the tie breaker would be between him and Gerry next Saturday at Fool's Gold.  Gerry was smart to call it a day and save his energy to be fresh for the showdown at Fool's Gold, if Ron were to beat me for the win.

After that it was Ron and I battling for 1st.  On the 4th climb Ron made a move.  I promised myself that I would not let Ron take me outside of my pace like he did to me at the last race.  There are only 2 things that you have 100% control of in these races: pace and nutrition.  I was going to make sure that I did both of those perfectly.  If I lost after that then so be it.

To keep pace I never allowed myself to go above a Zone 4 heart rate on any climbs until the last 15miles when the race really starts and you can let it all out.

My nutrition plan was to eat extra (healthy) food at every meal the day before the race.  The morning of the race I at 2x normal breakfast and a PROBAR 2hrs before the start.  During the race I ate 1 PROBAR every hour for the first 5hours and then GU and HammerGel for the 3hrs after that.  The reason for this strategy is that PROBARs take longer to digest but they give you sustained energy... eat them in the beginning.  The GU and HEED get into your system fast so eat them towards the end.  I drank 3 bottles of water and 3 bottles of CeraSport... no bonking.. no cramping.

After Ron got away from me, we entered the most epic/longest/hardest climb of the day... It was a 20mile climb with the last 10 being totally ridiculous, especially with the wet conditions.  As I caught geared racers going up the climb I always asked them how far ahead Ron was.  At the start they told me 5 minutes!  Towards the end someone told me 2 minutes!!  I was hesitant to believe I was catching him, but I just held my pace and with only 1 or 2 miles before the top I caught him.  I passed him going extra fast and trying to make it look like I was not tired.. hehe.. I was hoping to dash his spirits so that he would not want to chase after me.  I was able to get a gap on him but he rallied and never gave up... that's for sure.

Passing him gave me a huge boost of energy!  I was < 20miles for the finish so I could let go of my pace and really go as hard as possible... ha... well at mile 80 of 100miles 'as hard as possible' was about the same pace as I was keeping all day, I could not go any faster.

I thought the major climbing was over after the 20mile climb but I was wrong, there was a significant 5ish mile climb right before the finish!  This was actually kind of good for me because I was feeling good.  I passed 3 more geared riders on this last climb.

With just 1.5miles left on the final descent I cut the sidewall of my back tire on a rock!!!!  I could not believe it... after all of this!  I was going to loose because of a flat tire.  NO!  I would ride the flat to the finish, surely destroying my wheel in the process, but it would be worth it to win.  Fortunately the Stan's Sealant did its job and after only 30 aggonizing seconds of listening to the air hiss out of my tire it stopped!!  Magic!!!  Wow!  I lost < 5psi and I was rolling again.  I <3 you Stan.

I crossed the finish line as 1st place Single Speed and 12th place overall with a time of about 8hrs and 8minutes.

Ron finished just 3minutes behind me... that guy is freggin tough.

Teammate Lance Byrd finished his 1st 100miler, he was also on a SS.  He was 8th placed in our category!  Congrats Lance!