Mountain Massacree

6th Place Cat 1/2/3

Race Results

Strava Data

This was my first (and probably only) road bike race this year.  USA Cycling gave me a free Cat 4->3 upgrade awhile ago when I earned my Cat 2->1 upgrade in cyclocross!  This was great because it enables me to race in the Cat Pro/1/2/3 road bike races whenever I get the chance.  

I could not resist going to this Mountain Massacree race!  Looking at the elevation profile I expected little team tactics, and a race that was something similar to AFC's Wednesday Night Westside Worlds training ride but much much harder... and that is exactly what I got :).  The course was 3 laps with a Cat 3 and Cat 4 climb per lap, followed by a finishing section that was about 4 miles up a Cat 1 climb.

I am not a season road biker by any means.  I understand all of the rules and proper etiquette of road bike racing but the strategies at this high level are not something I have a ton of experience with.  Based on that I decided that my strategy would be to follow Jake Sitler.  Jake is a very fast rider, I have raced him in MTB and cross, I know that he rides like I do... he likes to go hard and make people work for it.  I figured that following him was my best chance for a good race and great result.

Right off the start we are going uphill and someone shoots off the front!  haha!  Oh man this is exciting!  Jake goes with them as well as a few others.  I am caught off guard and the pack of 6 or 7 guys is already down the road without me!  I sit there for a bit and think to myself... "what would Adam and Lance say if I go home and tell them that right from the start these guys got away and we never saw them again!"  I would be so embarrassed.  So I went to bridge back up to them, of course I brought he entire pelaton with me... a more savvy road racer would not have done that.

We were back together and this time I told myself I would not let Jake get away like that again... since I wanted to stick to my strategy.  Soon after that and before any of the major climbing even started Jake attacked and I went with him.  We got a gap with a few others and I asked him "hey.. so are we like going to try to stay away now?" (haha yea I don't know what is going on).  He is kind enough to enlighten me and tells me that "no I am waiting for Nick Waite (yea he raced in the Tour of California).  We all feared Nick at this race so this sounded like a good strategy to me.  Now I knew I had to stick with Jake, but I especially had to stick with him if he was with Nick since that would mean they would be attacking with the purpose of escaping and not coming back.

Soon after that we were all back together with the main field and going up the 1st of 2 major climbs.  Going up this climb I find that I can climb with these guys without too much trouble.  I stay near the front and we are going very fast, but the entire pack stick together for this lap (for the most part).

On the 3rd lap is when things start to get crazy!  Once we get past the feed zone Jake makes an attack and I follow.  A few come with us, maybe 3 or 4 at most.  We try to get a rotation going but the other guys don't want to work so Jake just attackers over and over until it ends up being him, Shawn (Battley racer), followed by myself going into the 1st climb.  I try to keep their wheels but they are both ahead of me.  I decide I need to settle into my own pace if I am going to survive.  I climb fast, as fast as the 2 in front of me, but not fast enough to catch them.  I can see that there is a solo racer behind me, Dan.  I am climbing just a little faster than him but he catches me on the downhill/flat sections.  Shortly after the 2nd climb he catches me.  When he does he tells me that there are 3 very fast guys coming from behind and they will catch us very soon.  I thank him for the info and prepare myself for when they arrive so that I can latch onto their momentum.

They hit us hard just before the super steep descent to finish this 3rd lap.  I am able to latch on.  Scott Giles is doing ALL the work.  He is racing for Team Bike Doctor and it is obvious that he is working for his team mate Ian Spivak who is also with our group.  Ian is a great climber and if Scott can get Ian close to the 2 that are down the road (Jake and Shawn) then Bike Doctor might get the win!  Scott is a machine... I am at nearly max heart rate on the downhill just trying to stay in his draft.. it is truly incredible.

Just as we finish the 3rd lap and start the 4mile uphill to the finish we nearly make contact with the 2 in the breakaway.  We are sooo close.  Scott finally lets off and moves to the back, his job is done, Dan takes a pull, Ian takes a pull, and then it is my turn.  It is hard to remember what happened at this point.  I know I took a short pull and I think that was what ended me.  A smarter racer would have not taken the pull.  I was in no position to pull.  I was at my limit.  After I pulled through I was not able to latch back onto the group of 3 and so they continued on without me.

I had already spent so much time above my threshold (see below from my strava data) that I was pretty much spent.

	Range	Time in Zone	Percent
Z1 - Endurance	0-120	18:00	10%
Z2 - Moderate	120-134	23:32	13%
Z3 - Tempo	134-141	13:28	8%
Z4 - Threshold	141-147	18:54	11%
Z5 - Anaerobic	147+	1:44:09	58%

I regained my composure and I continued up the hill solo... constantly worried that Giles or the pack of the rest of the riders in the race (probably being led by Nick Waite) would catch me on the final climb.  I did not go slow but I did not go fast enough to catch any of the guys who just left me.  I dug deep all the way to the finish and crossed the line with a respectable 6th place!

Crossing the finish line.  Picture enhanced by James McAndrew

Best road bike race ever!  If all road bike races were like this I would almost certainly be a convert... but unfortunately they are not all this fun and MTB is :)

Wildcat 100

2nd place SS
Strava Data

Results
MTB Race News Article
Greg Rittler's Report

I was watching the forecast all week and it never changed much... 60-80% chance of rain all day long but at least the temperature was to be 60-70 degrees so I figured I could handle that.  Below that would have been extremely hard, I race great when it is super hot but when it is cold I am weak and pathetic.

The race was in Rosendale, NY and my dad agreed to drive with me :)  He tried to talk me into going there the day before and spending the night but I always race better and feel better when I just go there the morning of... haha so I got up at 12:30am and we started driving to the race at 1:15am (4.5hr drive)!  Oh man these 100milers area always an epic adventure.. best sport ever!  Only bad thing is that I left my Cerasport bottles in the frig... man that was a bad move!  I had to rely on water only for the race.

Once we arrived we met up with AFC Teammate Greg Rittler who was the only other AFC'er racing this one with me.  He was kind enough to get my race packet and drop bags the day before. I was ready to race at 6:10am and the race did not start until 6:45am.... it is good to be early.  I also kinda love 100s because I don't have to do a warm up before the race, I mean who needs to warm up when you are going to race for 7-9hrs?  For a cyclocross race the warmup is super important, but it is always such a pain.

I lined up on the front row along side Kevin Carter (who has beaten me the last 2 times we have raced), Seamus Powell (SS a super star mountain biker who was definitely the favorite for the SS win), Ron Harding (SS), Christian Tanguay (who usually wins these races overall), Matt Ferrari (SS), Mike Montalbano (SS), and 250 or so others.

My dad shot this video of the starting line

At the start I never go too hard or too easy.. you want to be in a good position before you hit the single track but you don't want to go out crazy since it will be a long day and you need to save that energy.  I just kept my eyes on Ron Harding since I knew he was my biggest competition in the Single Speed (SS) category other than Seamus, but I figured Seamus was probably in a whole different league.. and he was.

Ron, Ferrari, Mike, and I entered the Single Track with a whole mess of geared riders, while Seamus was just a bit ahead with the select few of the fastest geared riders.  I never saw him again after that.  The Single Track was so much fun!  It was pretty impossible to pass and a lot of the riders were crashing often which made it slow going but it was so fun and so early in the race that I was not worried about it.  Afterall I was next to Ron, Mike, and Matt who I considered my main competition.

Matt and I separated from Ron when a geared rider crashed in front of him and he got tangled up in the wreck.  He had to stop to fix his bike and that was that.  Later he told me it took him nearly 20minutes to get going again.

There were 2 major hill climbs on this course.  I planned to attack each as hard as possible since I knew they would be my best chance of winning.

After the first hill Matt was still with me.  He was riding incredibly strong and it got me very worried that I would have a very hard time escaping him.  Before the 2nd (biggest) hill at mile 45 there was this AWESOME area of single track that lasted for about 10 miles.  In that section I was finally able to get away from Matt and then I attacked the 2nd hill with everything I had.

Wildcat 100 (1st 3rd) from Douglas Nikkila on Vimeo.

(video of the super fun single track at mile 40ish)

From then on I never saw another racer from the 100mile race.  I passed a lot of the 60mile racers but never another 100.  I thought that there were more guys in front of me but actually at that point I was in 5th place overall!!!  I had no idea until after the race was over that I was that high up.

The course was super duper awesome.  It was not very single speed friendly with all of the rail trail but the single track was beautiful... muddy... but beautiful!  It rained all day long but I kinda like it when the conditions are bad, unless it is cold which it wasn't.

At the very end of the race they sent us into 4 final miles of single track after passing right next to the finish line.  I could see 60mile racers there, hanging out, eating food and having a party... It was crule and unusual punishment to send us back out for another grueling 4 miles of crazy muddy and technical trails.  I wanted to sandwich soooo bad :( To make things worse I had Kevin Carter breathing down my neck.  I did everything in my power to hold him off!  I quickly downed another GU and 1/2 a PROBAR to give myself and extra boost of energy haha.  I would not let him beat me in the last 4 miles!! NO WAY!  I gave it everything I had and I was able to finish 3minutes before him, just barely.

These races really are an adventure.  Just finishing is a huge win and accomplishment!

I ended up 2nd in the SS and 5th overall!  One of my major season goals was to score a 5th overall at an NUE race on my single speed bike.  I could not believe it when I saw the results.

Michaux Maximus

1st place in Single Speed Category (4th fastest time of the day)

Strava Data

Results

I went to this race because it is one of the hardest (most technical) races in our area or maybe even in the entire country!  I went to this race to prove to myself that I can handle it, like a real mountain biker.  I went to this race to get better, because my technical abilities are my biggest weakness.

I had a great time!  This race was just crazy.  There were huge rocks, medium rocks, little rocks, roots, water crossings, cliffs, and some stuff that was just so crazy that I had to dismount and run but that I know some of the best guys were probably riding.  It was a true challenge and I loved every second of it.

I do not recommend this race to anyone who is new to the sport.  Practice for a year or two and then do this race to see what you are made of.  I almost never crash, because in general I err on the side of caution over going fast, but at this race I endo'd (went over the handlebars) 4x and crashed more times than I can count.  It was hard for me to type on the keyboard at work today because my right hand is swollen.  Oh man it was a fun race!  

Lance, who I train with, and I drove to the race together.  Both of us had aspirations of conquering this race that had (in previous years) conquered us.  We were equipped with Maxxis Ikon tires with extra Exo Protection.  They only weigh 570 grams and they are crazy durable.  Neither of us got a flat, which is an incredible feat at this race where flats are abundant!  

Maxxis Ikon with Exo Protection!

At the start there were about 15 or so SS racers.  The geared racers had a 1minute head start on us, it was my goal to catch as many of them as possible.  There was a long stretch of gravel road before we hit the trail.  Montana Miller took it out crazy fast on the gravel and separated myself, Topher, and Lance from the rest of the group instantly.  It was only the four of us when we hit the trails.  The first section of trail is a crazy rocky climb that is very long.  I was going too fast and I had to dismount / remount 2x on this trail but luckily the other guys were having as much trouble as I was.

Lance crushing the climb

sunglasses worked great!

 Eventually another racer from the group that started 1 minute behind us (geared 45+) passed us.  I thought he was a SS at the time so I was quick to get on his wheel and in doing so I got a sizeable gap on the rest of the SS racers, leaving Lance, Topher, and Montana to battle it out.  When I realized that the guy had gears I relaxed a bit and I was happy to have gotten away from the SS field.

From there I picked off a few of the geared guys who started ahead of me and was pretty much riding solo for most of the race.

I ended up finishing right behind the 4th place geared racer (Kevin Campbell) from the category that started 1 minute ahead of us, that means there were only 3 guys (Rob Spreng, Brandon Draugelis, and Keefer) who had a faster time on the course!  Oh man I have a lot of work to do.  Those guys are just so much better on the technical rocks than I am, I will get better and hopefully I will be closer to their times next time we race on a course like this!!

Lance finished 3rd in the SS not far behind Topher who placed 2nd!  So happy for him!  He crushed it!

Next race is Wild Cat 100 on Saturday.  My first NUE of the year... oh man!

Endurance MTB Racing Setup

For my endurance mountain bike races I always like to carry two tubes.  I do not want to get caught out in the middle of nowhere asking people for a spare tube because I already used my 1st one.  Usually if you have to resort to fixing your second flat you are pretty much out of the race at that point, but I always want to finish... DNFs are the worst!  So I carry a second tube just in case.

I just got the new Hypalon Series Straps from Backcountry Research!!  And they are incredible!  There is NOTHING that will be moving my tubes out of place... those things are basically glued to my bike.

My setup maximizes speed/ease/availability for getting to my tube and equipment for fixing my flats while at the same time keeping everything in order and secure while riding even over the rockiest/bumpiest terrain.

Setup is as follows:

1) If I get one flat I will grab the tube/CO2 that I have strapped, using the TUBE TOURNIQUET, to my top tube.  It is right there and it is super easy to access for a quick flat fix.

2) If I happen to get a second flat I probably won't be in quite as much of a hurry since my race will be pretty much lost at that point.  I will take the tube/CO2 that I have strapped, using the RACE II, under my seat.

3) I will be keeping my multi-tool, tire lever, tire inflator, and probably my car key in a TULBAG, that I will keep in my middle back jersey pocket for quick and easy access!

This is a winning setup!  :)