Season's over

Well, for the standard races anyways.

This is the scene after my last race.
No worries, it was staged after the race in the parking lot.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure I've secured a top 5 age group finish in the points standings on the triathlon series this summer. Not quite the top 3 that I'd hoped for, but as I've told lots of people -- Damn...people are getting fast this year.


I have one off-road tri this weekend which should be pretty fun. I'm was out last night for the whopping 2nd time all summer on my mountain bike and had a frickin' blast despite my complete lack of skills. I went out to my favorite trail and rode relentlessly for 2 hours in the afternoon heat -- I used up an entire camelback.

I'm having drinks at my party room on Saturday. Let me know if you want to show and I'll send you the evite.

Cycling & Skiing.

In my progression away from the couch-oriented lifestyle, I initially jumped onto downhill skis, added a triathlon bike, then a mountain bike, and finally skate skis.

I've always drawn parallels between downhill skiing & mountain biking, and XC skiing and road biking. It seems intuitive:

Downhill and mountain biking are both "off road", require some amount of fearlessness, and involve flying through the air, sometimes at high speed. In both cases, little bit of finesse can compensate for a great amount of cardiovascular fitness. (you ought to see some of the guys in speedsuits at my downhill league--spandex nightmares)

XC skiing and Road cycling require smooth, maintained "trails",and emphasis is often placed on your ability to go uphill and your cardiovascular engine. We often talk about skate skiing's "gears" and their similarity to a those on my Cervelo.

But I've changed my mind.

I think XC skiing and Mountain biking are more analogous. Aside from the fact that the tatoo'ed crowd from what I can tell doesn't mix into the Nordic crowd:

Technique is paramount in either discipline--in mountain biking, this translates to more instances of flying over obstacles rather than into them, and carving singletrack curves at higher speeds. On skis, our coaches place highest priority on trying to find the best way to drill proper V1 & V2 technique into our neuromuscular motors. A perfectly timed V1 will take you much farther than an elite cardiovascular machine without co-ordination. (as evidenced by a hilarious foray at Elm Creek with an ultramarathoner friend of mine skate skiing for her first time)

Well developed balance is also way more important than cardiovascular fitness on XC skis. The more balance you have on skis, the more glide you achieve(efficiency), and the harder you can push yourself without kissing the trail. I started this ski season with one revelation: my balance sucks. Since then, the lion's share of my training has been spent skating sans poles and other balance drills. And despite many, many spectacular trips, slips and gaffs ending in a mouthful of groomed snow, I have my greatly improved V2 to show for it. A lack of balance on a mountain bike translates to more braking when you should be deep in singletrack nirvana, and the ol' "hike-a-bike" when confronting rock gardens. In downhill skiing, both feet are always on the ground....How simple!

Road biking doesn't have anything to do with downhill skiing aside from the higher speed, and the fact that road bikes perform offroad as well as my downhill skis work going up challenge hill at French Park.

In the end, all of this activity has developed into a personal motto--whether it's skiing, cycling, or life in general:

"If you're not falling, you're not trying hard enough."

Ouch. And REALLY OUCH!

So I've been feeding my mountain biking habit quite a bit this summer, and have been riding Theo Wirth quite a bit lately--mostly due to the fact that it's really close.

Theo is a tight windy course through trees--great for learning to handle a mtb bike. Since I've gotten back from scandinavia, the trees have grown out, hiding the trees a bit, and last week I smacked my left shoulder into a tree going at a moderate pace. This ripped the top layer of skin off even though it was underneath my shirt.

Yesterday I foolishly left my SPF "Vampire"-rated sunblock at home and got caught outside after the tri showing too much skin an sunburnt both shoulders, effectively sunburning the scabbed up wound.

THEN,

Today I went mountainbiking at Wirth again, and did the same thing on the right shoulder. This hurt pretty bad, since I tore off sunburnt skin. Since I was wearing a white shirt, it stained through my shirt.

Anyone wanna see pictures of the gore?

A new Obsession

Sunday was my first real Mountain Bike race, Erik's Spring Cup.

The race was to be 2 laps at Harmon Park in Inver Grove Heights. I signed up for "Citizen" which is basically the beginner class. (below Sport, Comp, and Expert) I did have the option for racing Citizen Clydesdale *for which, at 210lbs, I still meet weight requirements* :(, but I figured there'd only be one or two really heavy guys, and I wouldn't have any incentive to race hard. (To my surprise, the C-dale competition was fairly stiff)

There was a "prologue" which was basically a lap around the grassy open park area to spread everyone out before they dump you into the singletrack.

I was the second guy into the singletrack. I knew that I had to get up front early in order to compete in the front pack, and I was sucking wheel of the guy in first place. For most of the time, I was thinking, "I could pass this guy, but maybe I should sit back and see what happens," but this guy had some pretty poor cornering skills. I had 2 other guys right on my tail, and about halfway through the first lap, the lead guy bumped into a tree going into a wooded area after a short descent---I had my chance to pass him, but hesitated, and he got up & going. I'll chalk the fact that I didn't win the class to this rookie blunder.

I kept on his tail and decided to take my next chance to get around him. We wrapped through some more winding uphill/downhill, and started heading toward the last leg within the first lap. I knew there was a big rock up head of us on the trail, and I wasn't comfortable hitting it, and the lead guy went around it too. The 3rd & 4th place guys took it, and got around us. I was now in 4th, and they were pushing hard to get away from us. Now I really needed to get around this guy.

We wrapped around the last leg of the singletrack, and I lost hold of the new leaders, and the guy in front of me. I came through the lap gate, not paying much attention to anything but riding fast and catching up. I got back into the singletrack and after a couple well-executed tight turns, I was back in the mix. When things opened up, they were able to pull away from me, but when the track tightened up, I was there to reap their fear, riding up onto their tails. Finally we entered our last leg of the second lap, and I was right behind the 3rd place guy. There was a hairpin turn that transitions you to the last leg, and his bike flew out from under him. I hit the brakes, almost ran over him, dismounted and ran around him. I hopped on and was now pushing really hard to catch the leaders and distance myself from the guy behind me. A few more hairpin turns and some fast flowing singletrack with the adrenaline pumping, I did bump into a tree with a handlebar which caused me to put my feet down, but I kept going, and cranked up the last hill. I came out of the singletrack and put the hammer down for the last few tenths of a mile, the last turn was a tight sweep along a chainlink fence. I finished in 47:16, (a short race by my measure)11 seconds behind the wave winner.

There was a second wave with older people, women, c-dales, and singlespeeders a few minutes behind us. The fastest citizen time came from this wave; a guy from the 50+ age group....less than 1 minute ahead of me.

The Results
4th of 60+ citizen male riders
3rd in the 19-29 age group.

I got a medal for the 3rd place finish, but I was pretty pissed to see kids and the women on the podium getting free stuff (water bottles, cycling socks, jerseys, bike tools, etc) when I didn't get shit on the podium. I'd happily trade the bronze medal I got for some cassette & crank servicing tools.

I plan on doing at least 2 more MTB races this summer along with the 3 triathlons I'm signed up for.

Sidestory--I had my bike ready for the race in the nick of time--earlier in the week, I nearly destroyed it. On a practice run, I got an innocent stick jammed in my rear derailleur, yanking it off the frame and trashing the chain & some spokes in the process. Penn Cycle really did a good job getting my bike ready on time.

Both of my Children are in the emergency room

Tonight, for the first time in about 3 years, I'll be sleeping alone in my apartment.

I took my road bike in on Saturday morning to have it looked at. The bottom bracket was shot, 2000 miles on a $42 part, so I'm not furious. They needed a couple days to order parts and replace it, so I figured I'd ride my mountain bike and run instead. I'm picking it up tomorrow.

This afternoon, I took my mountain bike over to Harmon to pre-ride the course for Sunday's race, since I've never rode there before. I was about 50 meters into the singletrack when I saw I guy coming up from behind me and I moved over a bit to allow him to pass. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I'm pretty sure the cause was a stick getting caught in my chain right in front of the rear derailler.

The rear derailler jammed, and was completely torn off my the frame, and flew around, lodging in between the frame and the rear tire, twisting the chain and severing a few spokes on the rear wheel.

I walked my bike back in disbelief, the rear wheel completely seized. I think I yelled "Fuck" more times in the car ride home than I have in the last three years.

I dropped it off at Penn Cycle this evening to have it fixed. They say they'll have it ready in time for me to re-pre-ride the course and race.

I think the fact that I mentioned that I'll be racing this weekend bumped me up in priority for fix-it's at the shop, but they were really helpful, and if guys do a good job, I'm thinking a small gift would be in line. Anyone know what might be a good way for a demanding customer to show their appreciation in a totally non-homoerotic way? A tip? Can you tip a bike mechanic?

Anyways, my apartment is very lonely right now.

New Ride

Yeah right; Like I'd buy a new car.

Today I took my new(slightly used craigslist purchased) Gary Fisher Sugar 293 out for it's second ride at Lebanon Hills in Eagan. I have lots to learn, but I'm definately improving. I did two loops, which take me approximately 35 minutes each. On the second loop, albeit more fatigued, I made it through several technical sections (i.e. rock gardens) that I crashed on the first loop.

Don't worry about me crashing. On a road bike, crashing is a big concern, but on a mountain bike, you're not moving as fast (at least me, anyways) so you don't impact as hard--even if you happen to be colliding with trees and granite. Much like the reason rugby players don't wear pad, but football players do. You just get up, dust yourself off, and get going.
Just like skiing--if you're not falling, you're not trying hard enough.

It was interesting to see more experienced bikers on the course. As a beginner mtb'er, I can't fly through the tricky stuff like they do and they gain ground on me. But as an offseason triathlete, when we get to hills, I leave the garden variety mtb'er in the dust.

MIA

So I really haven't blogged this summer at all. I've been pretty busy. I haven't stopped writing, but here's a list of highlights from the last 5 months:

+Fargo 1/2 Marathon
+Memorial day on Lake Calhoun AND Lake Minnetonka
+Indoor Triathlon (2nd place overall)
+Beerfest on Hennepin Avenue, followed by a stay-up-till-you-pass-out post-party.
+Liberty Triathlon
+Kayaking with Jen, got a total farmer's tan
+saw Chuck Klosterman
+Rode my bike 60 miles to watch a professional bike race
+Hiked 29 miles on the Superior Hiking Trail
+Impromptu salsa dancing with Jen at La Bodega.
+Went roadbiking in my wickedly hilly hometown
+Birthday Celebration at Red Dragon
+Lifetime Fitness Triathlon. averaged 22.6mph on my bike.
+saw Muse (!!!!!!!!!)
+saw Jolie Holland
+saw The Raconteurs
+attended a relative's 100th Birthday party
+Went mountain biking for the 1st time at Theo Wirth. On a $5000 bike. We had to fix a wheel.
+St. Paul Tri. (1:20/100m on the swim)
+Mountain Biking on the river flats. had to fix a wheel.
+Rode my bicycle south from Prescott, WI. Somewhere on the 45 mile ride, I hit 49.6mph.
+Read Chuck Palahnuik's "Choke"
+Spent 4 days camping & canoeing in the Boundary Waters.
+Got dressed in a tuxedo and watched my sister get married.
+Mountain biked the Maah Daah Hey in the Badlands of North Dakota. (saw 0 Bison, rattlesnakes, or cougars; somehow)
+Lake Minnetonka Triathlon. (7:39min/mile run)
+Mountain biked Murphy-Hanrehan. had to fix a wheel.
+Rollerbladed around calhoun 3 times & harriet once in 1 hour, 3 minutes.

Just try and tell me you had a better summer.