It’s been some time since I last wrote about my racing experiences this summer. With a busy work load and a little vacation mixed in it has been tough to fit it all in.
After the last race report I submitted for the Breckenridge 100 I was fortunate to race a new marathon event here in Colorado, The Steamboat Stinger. This race was contested on a majority of single track and put on by my good friends from Honey Stinger. This was one fun race with tons of twists and turns on some A+ single track. I can’t say I had my best race of the season, but I managed a decent result of 12th Overall.
The next stop on the Calendar was the Laramie Enduro. This was one of my highlight races from 2010 and I had been looking forward to going back and competing at the event. My goal was to try to get in the first group and hold on as long as I could. As it turned out I managed to get in the first selection but soon found myself having to back it down a bit, to be able to finish without hitting the wall.
For much of the race I was in 5th place and felt pretty good, but feeling good can be a bad thing in marathon cross country racing; that is usually when you forget to eat. Sure enough now I was feeling pretty bad and loosing ground and I looked back to see if anyone was coming. There were a couple friends from the Honey Stinger Team (Dan Matheny and Peter Kalmes) hot on my tail. On a good side note, Dan and Pete later told me that they were talking as they were catching me and Peter had said he had caught me the previous year in the same exact spot. (I remember that well) Guess if I do this race again, I better remember to eat for that section. I managed to finish 7th overall and was happy about that even with loosing a couple spots. Good job Dan and Peter!
From the Laramie Enduro I took off for a little road trip to Montana, Washington State and Oregon, to see family go to wedding and really just enjoy some summer. It is always amazes me how busy summer gets with working, training and racing. It is real easy to forget to enjoy some of the other pleasures of summer.
Getting back to work after a vacation is always tough, there just seems like endless things to catch up on. I felt like I needed a little catching up to do on the bike too, but jumped right into a local series race and managed a 3rd and 6th overall. Not so bad!
The next race stop was the 24 Hours in the Sage. This year I got invited to be on a “Dream Team” of some of my best 24-Hour racing buddies (Dax Massey, Jordan Williford and Jeff Zurakowksi). We had been asked by KOA Dave to come down and win the thing. Dave was putting us up in the “Grizz”, a thirty-foot RV right at the start/finish. KOA Dave hooked us up with everything you could need at a 24-hour race, massages and food to name a few. Team KOA threw down some hot laps and took home the win! That was amazing getting taken care of so well at a 24-Hour event. Thanks KOA Dave!
Coming home from that adventure put a little confidence in the legs and I was starting to feel good on the bike again. I put in a couple of solid weeks of training in with my next goal set on PV Cycle Derby; the last race in the Rocky Mountain Endurance Series. I was currently in 2nd Overall in the Pro Open category and wanted to go get a good result and see if I could put a little pressure on the series leader (Brady Kappius).
The PV Cycle Derby was one of the best surprises of the summer; the venue was great and course even better! I would highly recommend checking this race out next year; it just is needs more folks to show up to make this and event to not be missed!
With the lack of racers, the Pro field was not a deep as you would like to see, but with ten or eleven guys and some good talent like Colin Cares, Brady Kappius, Taylor Sheldon, Rob Sousa and Russell Kappius the competition would turn out to be a good test.
At the start no one wanted to push the pace, mostly because only a couple of us knew anything about the course. I had ridden a short section of the beginning of the course and I decided to push the pace to the first section of single track. When I emerged from the singletrack, I looked back to see who was there. Colin, Brady, Taylor and Rob were close and I waited for them to work together in the next couple miles of prairie roads and singletrack.
Through the next fifteen or so miles we would stay together, each of us missing a few turns on the way and changing as the leader. This was by far some of the most fun I have had racing this season. There is nothing like riding fast with a group of talented mountain bike racers, ripping a course and putting time into your competition.
At about mile seventeen Brady put in a little attack and we were all able to regroup. Then Colin put in a vicious attack on a bumpy section of singletrack that only Brady could follow. From then on I was racing alone and was just trying to keep a solid pace. Taylor had a small mechanical before Colin’s attack and he came flying by me at aid station one. I briefly tried to keep him in sight, but he was flying.
The next lap and half were a little lonely but I managed to keep a good pace and hold off any rivals. I felt very satisfied with a 4th place finish and a great first lap hanging in the lead group mixing it up. I had wrapped up 2nd overall in the Series and one more successful race for the 2011 season.
Now on to Marathon Nationals and 24-Hour Nationals!
I want to thank all my sponsors who without them I could not have had as successful a season. Thanks to Santa Cruz Bikes, Honey Stinger, Kep’s Pollen Balls, Infinit, Stan’s NoTubes, Schwalbe Tires, Light and Motion and Formula Brakes.
