Sandy Beach Cyclocross

Sunday, 9 Oct, I stepped back into the cyclocross race scene at Sandy Beach on Lake Tobesofkee. I raced several races a few years ago and enjoyed the scene and suffered from the short (45 minute) intense effort after mostly training and competing in 6 hour mtb races. This year was no different, except that I helped set the course up on Saturday and pre-rode it as well.

Ga Neuro team was well represented with Robert, Trey, and Gabe in the "C" race, Jake and me in the "B" race and me in the masters 45+ race (glutton for punishment). There were also some other Macon-ites including Charlie Putnal , and Keven Roberts and Auston Sholly representing Mercer U. Cyclocross (cx) is a great spectator sport and cheering/heckling is a big part of it. Some races locations are also known for plenty of libations...probably to better keep the spectators (and racers) there, especially in regions with cold and nasty Fall/Winters. Things started out with 45+ race in which I raced Van Mixon's 29-er mtb. A mtb definitely corners a bit better in loose/rough terrain than a cx bike, but loses out in the grass or climbs. The course didn't have much rough/climbing but it had plenty of grass. I slipped to mid-pack pretty quickly, but through the rest of the race picked off riders coming in 5th. I felt pretty good to have beat the other two mtb bikes. I was debating whether to race again, but after watching the "c" race with Gabe taking 2nd, and my buddy Joey Stanley offering his "rocket ship" cx bike for me to race, I went for it. I got a pretty good start, entering the first turn in the top 25%. I didn't want to go too hard and wipe out on Joey's bike, so I didn't take chances while the pack was still together. After about a lap a small group had gotten about 30 seconds on another group of four which included Jake and me. We kept a good pace and passed a couple of riders that fell out of the group ahead. After a couple more laps Jake put in a good effort and the two of us dropped our companions. We picked off a couple more riders and the every present cheering/heckling spectators kept us pressing on. As circumstances would have it, I led most of the last couple of laps (each lap was a bit under 8 minutes), but I hoped that we would catch a glimpse of riders still ahead and Jake could come off my rear wheel and attack them. It was not to be, so I figured I would be sprinting against Jake on the short pavement section to the finish line (good luck Jeff!). So imagine my surprised when 2/3 the way up the last steep switchback climb up to the pavement, I heard a terrible racket and saw Jake pull up along side me and then promptly deposit himself on the ground. Nothing to do but pedal to the finish as Jake picked up his bike and gave chase. I'm not the greatest bike sprinter, but I can outsprint Jake running with his bike! I was pleased to find out that I'd taken 3rd, my first cyclocross podium.

Jackrabbit Trail 6 hr mtb

On 24 Oct I raced the Chainbuster 6 hr solo at Jackrabbit Park near Hayesville, NC. This was my forth endurance race in a month. I did cut back on intensity in my weekday rides lately, but I still had a bit of latent muscle soreness. I've heard and read great things about the trails, the weather looked to be great, and I was looking forward to camping by a lake and then possibly riding some of the annual big 6-gap ride in N. GA the next day with some friends....a biking in the mountains filled weekend.

Two guys that I never beat in 6 hr races were in attendance, so I figured that I'd likely be gunning for 3rd at best....I certainly didn't recognize everybody. Joey Stanley, my longtime racing adversary/buddy graciously loaned me his 2011 Scott Scale Carbon 29er to race, but despite being my first ride on it, I had confidence in having a great race.

The race started at 10 am with the usual mass start. The first 1/2 mile was paved, so it quickly turned into a single file draft which continued for miles on swooping trails. I've often felt the similarity between riding a swoopy mtb trail or a sweeping-switchback-filled road descent and flying the F-16 fighter. The g-forces are obviously much higher in an F-16 and you can swoop going straight up, but the effect is similar. Even non former fighter pilots sense this. From David Muse's blog (he doesn't know me, but I doubt he'd mind) "Yep, flattish trail for a while. I was bound up in traffic but we were fighter-jetting through the woods at incredible speeds. I can't overstate how fun these trails are at race pace, following other fast riders. A hollywood-style fighter jet dogfight is the only worthy analogy. You're just flying, banking hard, climbing and diving and pushing the envelope to hold on to the rider ahead of you. If I ever get to where I can't do it any more, it's the kind of thing I'm going to remember fondly." I raced very well; ate and drank when I should, paced myself, rode efficiently. I knew Josh Fix was way out in front of me (and everybody) and David Sagat passed me on the second lap, but other than that I was passing a lot of riders and in some cases "towing" then on every lap--I guess they thought I was just the right pace because they didn't want to pass. I managed to pass one gal on a husband and wife team on three laps at almost the same spot. One guy I figured was a threat was in a Litespeed BMW kit on a cross (!!) bike. He was just leaving the pits every time I'd roll in. It was not a particularly technical course, but after I followed Shane Schriehart, who was also on a cross bike, bouncing all over the first lap and seeing him crash hard, I couldn't believe anybody could last 6 hrs on a cross bike. Sure enough Litespeed BMW either flatted or crashed (or both) and I passed him for good on my 6th lap. I came in on my 7th lap at 5:17 clock time that gave me 43 minutes to try another lap...or it wouldn't count...so being a realist, I was done. It turns out that James Wiant finished his 7th lap about one minute ahead of me!! This is a frustrating aspect of mtb racing. I always race hard, but over the course of 5 hrs I'm sure I let up/get distracted a little bit--one minute...I think I could have found the energy if I'd known! Forth place for me. Still, I really enjoyed the bike, the course, the scenery and the competitive fun.

12 hours of Dauset 17 Sep

This was the longest cycling only race I've done yet--I've done a 30 hr adventure race. I've raced the solo 6 hr dauset race three times before, so when Van Mixon asked me to race with him in the 12 hr as a two man team, I thought it would be fun to try something different. My concerns were how the go intense efforts followed by sitting around repeated over 12 hrs would affect me, and how well I would race at night. There was a big home town turnout with another two person team, a couple four person teams, and a couple of solo twelve hour racers. The weather was pretty much perfect for the 10 am start and all day/night. Our strategy was for me to lead off with two laps and then alternate two laps each for as long as we could. We felt that our fitness was good enough to go really hard for the ~1.5 hrs two laps would take and then have a good recovery, rather than getting only a little rest alternating every lap. This seemed to work well as we quickly built a lead, and were about 30 minutes up after ten laps at which point we went to alternating laps. It was pretty cool to go as hard as I could every time, knowing that if I did burn out after a lap that Van would be ready to go. I didn't eat quite enough though, because I didn't take into account the hours spent not on the bike. Luckily, the promoters (Gone Riding's Terri and David Berger) had a big pot of spaghetti cooking for the racers and I overcame my calorie deficit as Van was riding--just in time to avoid a serious bonk. My only crash of the day occurred when trailing local Mark Paugh as he jinked around a small tree and I didn't have time to avoid it--that's what I get for following so close! I ended up with 1 1/2 night laps, and it wasn't so bad. One way I could tell when I was coming up on another racer by the sparkles of dust in my helmet light beam. The light forces you to focus entirely on the trail, though the experience of having multiple laps already helped me avoid any more crashes. When it was over we'd done 15 laps total, one lap more than Macon-ites Tim Hargett and Mike Brown in second place. Burgers and beer and a campout followed the award ceremony for many of us.

Black Bear Rampage

On 11 Sep I competed in the Black Bear Rampage, held on the Tanasi trail system and starting at the Ocoee whitewater center near Copperhill Tn.

I hadn't planned on racing this one, but after taking Labor Day weekend off from racing and with fantastic weather forecast, and knowing some of my good racing friends were going, I signed up. This is one of my favorite trail systems to ride/race so win or lose I hoped to have fun on the 40 mile course. Arriving at the parking lot at 7:45 with my good friend Trey Woodall I had plenty of warmup and visiting time...maybe too much with 49 degree temps! We lined up to do a mass start with the pros, but for some reason they (all four of them) were sent off first, followed 2 minutes later by the singlespeeders, and 3 minutes later by we experts. The race started with about 3 miles of rolling-climbing pavement, and we caught the singlespeeders before even turning onto the singletrack. Four of us had split from the pack of about 20 experts by then. I set the pace for the about first 20 minutes of trail before letting two of the guys come around in some rougher descent. Perry Thomas was doing a great job leading over the rocky rough but fast Copper rd section when he suddenly crashed into the trees...ok, but shook up. Erik Carlson then got a little gap on me, but he took a wrong turn...too far to hear me yell and I don't know why the course marshals didn't stop him. That left Travis Fowler and me out front. Travis and I would ride with eachother the whole race, pretty much marking each other while keeping the pace high enough to hold any chasers at bay (at least we hoped). We passed one of the pros and the leading singlespeeder on our way. After completing the last big climb up Boyd gap to the last section of rolling singletrack Travis' support guy offered him a drink bottle, which he declined. I asked "can I have it?" and Travis said "sure"....I think that's really cool that Travis, knowing we'd be battling for 1st, would do that. That's a style that seems very common in mountain bike racing too. After a bear sighting--very appropriate given the race name--we were still nose-to-tail approaching the finish. The course was altered slightly, so we both had to guess where it would be, but coming on to a gravel doubletrack we both guessed it was near and went full sprint side by side. I had just enough punch left in my legs to beat him by about 3 feet for first place in 3hrs 8 minutes. It was my second win in as many races at BBR, so I guess I'll put it on the schedule for next year!

Chainbuster 6 hr mtb race Lawrenceville GA

On 27 Aug I competed in the 4th race in the Chainbuster endurance series. I raced the expert 6 hr solo category. These races get a pretty large turnout, with many folks racing on teams (2-3 riders mixed and same gender). There is also a 9 hr category...and all racers start together! As a consequence the first 15 minutes or so is always a sprint to avoid the clog of riders when the trail turns to singletrack. It does string things out, but seems crazy when you are maxed out in the very beginning of such a long race. I started well and felt great for the first two hours--chasing and being chased by a couple of friends who race against me in the GSC series but were racing different categories at this race. I also was only a couple minutes behind the guy leading my category. Looking at my heartrate monitor for the first time (oops!), I realized that even feeling good, I needed to throttle back or I'd never make it--it had been awhile since I'd done a 6 hr race, and my mindset (and ego) were still in 2-4 hr race duration mode. A combination of it becoming very hot, and getting behind on hydration caused me to start really suffering and thus having to slow even more. Next, my rear tire got very squishy. I made it back to the pits on 10 psi, couldn't find a leak (I run tubeless w/sealant), so pumped it up and went--that worked for about 1.5 laps and then got even worse. After stopping to inflate the tire on the trail, I started to think about putting tube in, but finally the leak really manifested itself as sealant began to spew out. By stopping and facing the leak downward, I got it sealed and rolled on. About 4.5 hours into the race I began to feel a little more energetic, and picked up the pace and finished pretty strong although my arms were very sore (bumpy trail) by then. I finished a pretty far behind first place managing to hold second place with 7 laps (about 61 miles), and well ahead of 3rd place who completed 6 laps.

Fool's Gold 50 and Grant Park Criterium

Fool's Gold is a 50/100 mile mountain bike held in the mountains of N. GA. Aug 20th 2011 was my 3rd consecutive year racing the 50 miler. This year the start/finish venue was moved to the Montaluce Winery NW of Dahlonega. Actually, it wasn't on the winery grounds, but close by in an unfinished subdivision (roads, lot clearings, but no houses) courtesy of the housing bubble bust. This was a much better, more open venue, and it had a pool! Seems that the developer put in a pool for all the (non-existent) homeowners to use....it was very nice for a long post race dip!

The race started at 7:50 (100ers went at about 7:10) with a neutral rollout on paved road through the rolling hills. With something like 250 starters, I made it a point to stay in the top 20 so that when the race was on, and we turned uphill, I wouldn't have to fight my way forward. This worked well, and within the first ten minutes there was a group of about ten of us at the front. Dan Holt, pro roadie on Team Type 1, eased off the front and then things really split up. Tim Smith went solo, and then Eric Smith and me. After about five minutes Eric and I settled in about 30 seconds behind Tim, and Dan went out of sight. We must have established a big gap behind us because I couldn't see anybody even on long straightaways. This fit nicely in my strategy, because this climb was over ten miles of the race and a great place to establish a lead. The descent on Winding Stair road was very rutted and required equal amounts of courage and skill to go fast without crashing. The turn onto singletrack trail was so welcome, especially since the trail was in great shape after much hard work by volunteers. I continued to ride well, moving up into 2nd place on the trail by about the halfway point. But....in mountain bike racing many things can go wrong. On a fast descent I made the error of not shifting into an easier gear as the trail turned and went back up over some big rocks. I then tried to shift down and pedal and things jammed up in my gears. Rather than fight it there, I shouldered my bike and ran 150 feet to the top of the rise and got on and pedaled. We have an expression in bike racing of "no chain"--that means you're so strong it feels effortless. In my case it meant NO CHAIN! It was gone...so I ran back downhill where I found a kid holding up...my chain. His dad helped me to secure a chain link and reassemble it. What luck having them there! It did cost me about 7-8 minutes and several of my competitors cruised by. From then on my race was "full throttle"--I was determined to make up my lost placings or blow up trying. I started passing riders almost immediately, one (Jason Betz) who took my challenge to heart and stayed pretty close behind. This in combination with some great trail bolstered my determination. One goal I had set before the race was to "catch" Mike Brown and Asa Marshall, who started about 40 minutes earlier but were racing the 100. When I caught and passed them (in good spirits and good shape) I really gave it everything, and finally dropped my pursuer. I wasn't sure how many more 50 milers I had in front of me, but when I passed Maria Brown and Debbie Blankenship at the junction 3.5 miles from the finish (there to cheer the husbands and hometown boys on) they said there was only two racers in front of me. I got into road race time trial mode and lo-and-behold I got sight of Tim Smith. I did my best to sneak up on him, and gunned it up the hill as I went by. He appeared to not be able to respond, and as I turned onto a grassy road on the winery property I felt good about keeping him at bay...which was good as I was pretty much spent. At the bottom of one last grunt climb he reappeared a few hundred feet back so I had to sprint up the final climb, and cruised to the finish about 20 seconds ahead of him. Dan Holt finished about 11 minutes ahead of me, so even if I hadn't broken my chain he'd have won. Now if I had a 29er bike.....Results

I brought my road bike on the chance that Sunday I might race the Grant Park criterium in downtown Atlanta. It was almost right on the way home and the Masters race (35+ and 45+ combined) started at 2:15--plenty of time to sleep in and have a relaxing morning and a big breakfast with my Fools Gold companions. So, I rode a few laps in my gym shorts before paying my entry to see how my legs felt...good enough to try! It was a pretty big field (~50 racers) with some very strong crit racers, so my hopes weren't very high. My plan was to stay toward the front and try to go with any moves...until I blew up and got dropped. As things went, I did get into and stay with an 11 rider break, and had enough sprint left to take 7th and 3rd in the 45+ class. Results

Oak Ridge Velo Omnium

Four Neuro teammates raced the Oak Ridge Velo omnium on 6-7 August: Ron Hill in Masters 50+ and Jake Andrews, John Stowe and me in the Cat 1/2. I'll report on the 1/2 race since that is the race I was in. The race took place in Oak Ridge Tn, which is famous (or infamous depending on your view) for pioneering research in the development of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. The town has an interesting feel, with a mix of high tech facilities and dated 1950s military/government type of houses and neighborhoods.

Saturday's events started at 8 am with a neutral rollout from a pretty lakeside park; it was race on a few miles later as we started up a one mile climb. As usual, there was a flurry of attacks, and a 3-man breakaway formed within the first few miles. Jake attempted to bridge solo, but was swallowed by the surging peloton in a few minutes. With the two biggest teams represented in the break, every attack from the field was quickly chased down. The pattern of surging and recovering was repeated for four laps, with some riders getting dropped on each lap. We responded to most attacks but minimized attacking ourselves with the strategy of not burning too many matches so we would have a strong finish on the last climb. The break shrank to two riders but still had a two minute lead with five miles to go when a lone rider attacked and got about a 30 second gap on the peloton. The Hincapie Green team went to the front with some help from Friend of the Smokies (the two teams in the break) and drilled it, causing the peloton to stretch out and begin to break up. As we absorbed the lone rider mid climb the peloton splintered and a group of about five surged off the front. John and two other riders chased on the descent and were joined by me and another rider as they began the final climbing stretch to the finish. Just ahead of us 30 seconds was the lead group. Even though I was already maxed out, I took a long pull at the front to try lead John out and maybe get him to within striking distance of the lead group ahead. As it turned out the lead group caught the two breakaway riders within a kilometer of the finish--thanks in part to the (misguided) efforts of their own teammates a few miles earlier. John sprinted early and finished ahead of the group he and I were in, but just barely missed catching the lead group. John finished 8th and second cat 2. I was 12th and Jake was a little further back.

It was then time to recover for a few hours before the afternoon time trial. Things weren't looking good an hour prior to start with a huge thunderstorm downpour, but luckily it quit by race time. Jake was the very first to go at 5 pm followed in two minutes by me and a couple minutes after that by John. We all were still felling the effects of 80 miles of racing earlier in the day, and so despite a pretty flat and short course weren't too confident about our results...and the feeling was justified as we pretty much stunk, taking the worst two times and the forth worst time!

Saturday night we had a nice meal and took in the sights in Knoxville. Sunday morning we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast as our criterium race wasn't until 4 pm. We felt good about our chances on a fairly flat, fast course. The goal was to keep John on the cat 2 omnium podium and get Jake on the crit podium. Jake had some bad luck 30 minutes from the start when his rear shifter lever broke! The solution was to pick a gear and tension the derailleur in the position. The two big teams took turns attacking for the first 20 minutes, with two riders eventually getting a small gap on the stick attacking field. I was attempting to cover every attack and was beginning to wonder if I'd survive the race when John did a massive attack that was covered by the two big teams and one other strong rider. They quickly got a gap and things settled down in the peloton....thank goodness! Jake, after stopping once to try a different gear, called it quits...but not until he'd made one last effort to sprint for a cash prime! John did a great job conserving energy and finished 6th and first cat 2. I ended up leading out a chase by the remaining peloton to catch an escapee and had no energy for the field sprint.

Even though we didn't always play our cards perfectly, we worked well as a team, and John finished 7th in the omnium and 2nd for cat 2. Oak Ridge is long way to go to race, but I think it was well worth it.

Georgia Gran Prix

GA Neuro Cycling Team's Jake Andrews, John Stowe and I raced the GA Gran Prix, an omnium format road race in the Covington GA area on July 22-24. Friday's race was a rolling course of about 10 miles which we raced 7 laps in the Pro,1,2,3 field. While we always want to race well, our primary concern was surviving the heat with the race starting at 2:30. Temperature was 93 degrees with a heat index over 100! As is usual in the P,1,2 races there was a flurry of attacks and some short-lived breakaways, and about halfway through the race a 3-man breakaway built about a 2 minute lead, chased by a few more and then the remainder of the field. Normally, there would be a concerted effort to bring back such a small lead, but I think the heat caused a lot of lethargy and so the gap continued to creep upward--my post race analysis of each lap did show a general slowing trend, and about 1/3 the field didn't finish the race. Our team had done a great job of attacking and getting into the early breakaway attempts, but we didn't have anyone in the two small breakaways, so I took advantage of opportunity when a rider made a move to sprint up to an 8-man group that was dangling about 200 meters in front of the peleton. He towed me all the way there, and had such overtake going that I thought he'd keep going. He didn't, but I did. I got an impolite yell from the group as I flew by, but I figured I was committed, and if they had the legs to join me, then they should. I kept my pace going up the gentle rise, and set my sights on a rider that was a few hundred meters ahead. He jumped right on my wheel, and we were off. We collected a rider that had been dropped by the lead group, but unfortunately he wouldn't/couldn't help. After a lap we were caught by a strong group of about 6 riders and 9 of us set out to catch the four riders up the road or at least keep from being caught by the remainder of the peleton. I knew that I would be largely outgunned at the sprint anyway, so I made an attack about 500 meter out...and then got passed by all but three of our group. That put me in 10th which I am still pretty happy with. John finished with the peleton, and Jake had an unfortunate mechanical when a plastic bag got stuck in his rear wheel, and he had to drop out.

Saturday, John raced both a short time trial (finishing mid-pack time) and a criterium in downtown Covington. The crit was a 6 turn L-shaped course, so accelerations were the name of the day. Team Type 1 almost immediately got a breakaway group of about 7 riders going and the rest of the 90 minute race was characterized by failed attempts of groups ind individuals to bridge to that breakaway. Fun to spectate, but probably aggravating as a racer unless you were in the breakaway. John made a few mid-race attempts himself, but ended up finishing with the field.

Sunday, all three of us raced again in a 25 lap circuit race of about 1.7 mile laps...again in the heat of the day. The course had two punchy hills that served to break up the field. I managed to bridge to a strong breakaway early on, but we got caught after about 2 laps. Jake and John went with other moves, and it was John that got himself in the successful move of the day. About 15 laps into the race I attempted to bridge to a chase group that had gotten away, and had almost made it when I just ran out of steam. The next couple of laps were tough for me, and Jake did a good job of sticking to any move that looked serious. Jake took a flier with a few laps to go, and I caught a two man flier with one to go, but the peleton chased us down. John finished a respectable 13th and Jake and I finished in the main field.

Clemson MTB Race and mountain road riding

I competed in the Southeast Regional Championship Series (SERC) mountain bike race outside Clemson, SC on Sunday 26 June. I like the course because it has a fair amount of climbing and ripping fast descents. There always is a good turnout, and this year was no different despite the low 90's temps and ridiculous humidity. I was fortunate to have a Twenty Niner Air bike to race courtesy of Shey Lindner of C-Town Bikes. Test riding a bike is good, but test racing one is a great way to see if it works well for you. There is a lot of debate on the merits of "29ers" as the big wheeled mountain bikes are known vs "26ers" as the traditional smaller wheeled bikes are known. I can say that I am officially hooked on 29ers. I'm just plain faster on them. My race went well--chasing and passing racers in my class and after a back-and-forth battle with the guy leading the SERC series, eventually finishing in 2nd place.

Being a relatively "flatlander" in Middle Georgia, I decided to make good use of a couple of days after the race and get some climbing (and descending) training in the mountains of SC/NC. Monday's ride was a 75 mile loop that included climbing Caesars Head and then several "grunt" climbs on East Fork road and a return over the Eastern Continental Divide. Tuesday I rode with my brother Tom who can't seem to get enough climbing. We did a beautiful route which you can see here: twin falls/whitewater falls loop. Photos by Tom here: twin falls/whitewater falls.

Newton Omnium

Team Neuro fielded 8 racers for the 11-12 June Newton Omnium. I was excited to race because I hadn't raced on the road for awhile and because it was a "grass roots" race put on by an individual to raise money for local trail building.

I had only ridden my time trial bike once for 30 minutes since I last raced it in July 2010....I don't really like time trialing. We had a good inter-team battle since most of us started about the same time. No surprise that Big John and his ultra-sleek machine blew by a few of us. I felt good about my race, and averaged about 25.5 mph...that was good enough for second to last in the P12 field!!

The criterium started at 7:45 pm--about 11 hours after my TT ended. I guess I should have been refreshed, but I was groggy and worn out from the TT effort and 90+ heat. The course was tear-drop shaped, with one 90 degree turn at the top of a stout climb in a heavily wooded area. About 30 racers started the P12 race, and that number started shrinking pretty quickly due to the gaps formed on the climb. At about 17 minutes into the race a freak event happened--a deer bounded out into the middle of the peleton just as we were hitting 35+ mph. The poor guy that got hit ended up with multiple serious injuries; a few other riders were taken out as well by the deer and/or other riders. I managed to escape by riding over 2 bikes and maybe one rider...if I had locked up the brakes I would have gone down for sure. The race was stopped to allow medics to attend to the wounded, and due to approaching darkness it was then cancelled. This is the second race where a deer took out a racer right before my eyes!

The main issue on my mind for Sunday's road race was heat/hydration. Thankfully Betty Jean Jordan graciously volunteered to hand out bottles to John , Jake and me at the 60 mile point of our 90 mile race. The course was fairly flat, but with 22 turns per lap so it was pretty tricky as there were no signs and few marshals. My role for the team was to go in or chase down any serious looking breakaway early in the race. Luckily for me nothing serious went during the first lap. By this time I was back in the groove of racing and ready for action. I ended up rolling to the front and then following a strong surge off the front by Jafer Beizer. We ended up forming a five-man breakaway with a couple of the bigger more powerful teams represented. We worked pretty well together, though I felt that we would probably be caught as we had 50 miles or so to go and a couple of the strongest teams (RealCyclist and Aerocat) were not in with us. At about 15 miles to go we were caught by a group of eight. Unfortunately John and Jake were not in this group having ended up on the wrong side of a split from an attack in the feed zone (not an ethical race tactic especially on a 95 degree day). I was on the front as this happened and Caesar Grajales of RealCyclist and a Hincapie devo racer went zooming by in a counter attack. Unfortunately nobody reacted and they were gone in no time. A flurry of attacks dwindled our number by a couple. I felt strong but had fought off some muscle cramping earlier and so I didn't attempt any attacks. I misjudged the distance to the finish and ended up in the very back as the group started the final sprint to the line. I managed to pass a couple of racers for 9th place.

Bump and Grind

Bump and Grind is a race held by the Birmingham Urban Mountain Pedalers (BUMP) at Oak Mountain State Park. This year marked the 17th annual edition, and due to popular demand was a 3-race omnium. There were two races on Saturday--Turn-and-Burn and Super-D. Turn-and-Burn was a 20 minutes plus one lap race that twisted and turned on a somewhat cyclocross style course. In the name of "fun" there was a couple of surprises--everybody raced together (beginner through pro, men and women) and we were lined to start up opposite the direction that we had been told it would go...then after a strange start--"go on the horn...ready, set , GO!" (but no horn?!), we were turned around 50 feet later and headed back the original direction. Result: I was now in the very back of the race with about 50 beginner/novice riders in front of me. This resulted in a crash for me and many near misses for the next 15 minutes. Needless to say, the faster riders that knew the plan lined up toward the "back" and were never seen by me again. I raced angry--to me the concept wasn't "fun" it was stupid! At the very least, they should have split the racers up by ability. As it turned out, since I was first in the "old guys" (40+ years) division, I won my division anyway. A few hours later (and many quarts of sweat in 97 degree temps) we lined up for the Super-D. It started up on a mountain ridge, and after a shallow jeep road climb plunged down a rocky, technical, trail that included aptly named "blood rock". This spot has been a place of grief for many riders for years and so was a popular spectator point. I wimped out and walked over blood rock! The course then got very fast, but still technical--some racers got flats from high speed tire impacts on sharp rocks. There was also a fair bit of climbing in the middle of the 5.5 mile course. I was passed by two racers (we went at one-minute intervals), but I could tell they were exceptionally fast. It turns out they were #1 and #3 overall. I was 7th overall and 1st in "old guys". Sunday was the main event--a 32 mile race that had it all--rocks, roots, sand, swoopy trails, twisty trails, long and short climbs, screaming fast fire road descents, paved road, and "blood rock". The 40+ expert field had some very talented racers, including Terry Duran, a local AL racer who happens to be the 50-54 National Road Race Champion. The race started very fast, and quickly there was a group of five that separated off the front. I was the tail end of this group and just hanging on. The group started to split as we approached the major climb of the race and soon were strung out on the climb. The initial leader suffered a flat--the consequence of sacrificing a light speedy tire for a heavier durable tire. That put me in third position, and I raced alone for a good 20 minutes before catching up to Terry back at the parking lot area. Terry fell in behind me for the next 15 minutes or so. This was fine for my strategy...conserve energy and at the right moment...attack! I attacked as soon as I had passed two riders from another category, giving me a good gap on Terry. I went hard until I got caught behind a large group of riders. This is a fact of life in mountain bike racing, at least at the amateur level. I made the mistake of not keeping tabs on behind me, and at the last hairpin corner before the finish straight--Terry came flying around me to take second place! Even more disheartening was that I was only 7 seconds behind first place and had no idea--and he was cramping! Well, that is the nature of mountain bike racing. It was a very hot, but fun weekend of racing and socializing--I will probably be back next year.

GSC Dauset Trails

Sunday, may 29th, I raced in the Georgia State Championship Series race at Dauset Trails near Jackson, GA. I'd been in a bit of a slump this year and hadn't podiumed, so that was my goal. I seems to always be hot and humid at Dauset races, and this year was no exception. I had a much better start than usual, no doubt aided by the knowledge that there was $100 award to the fastest lap. That proved to be elusive for me, but at least I was in the running for a spot on the podium after the first of three laps. I wasn't really sure how I was doing until I started my third lap and the announcer stated that I was hot on the wheel of the guy in first....so I found his wheel and passed it. Despite losing time to a mishap and bonking a bit due to poor nutrition, I held off the competition for the best spot on the podium.

Senoia/Brooks GA Cup

I joined the large Macon-area racer turnout at the Senoia/Brooks races 4/16-4/17. Saturday's crit was transformed into a road race of four ~8 mile laps for the 35+ masters. We also got to race with the P12 field. Within the first 10 minutes a 3-man breakaway had formed (which I was not part of) and the rest of the race was characterized by a disjointed chase. Eventually a 4-man chase group formed (which I was also not part of!) and an even more disjointed chasing peloton. By the 4th lap I decided that instead of continuing that "game" I would pretty much sit at the back...where I found company in the form of Emile Abraham, a potent pro sprinter. I decided that I would "let" him lead me out in the group sprint. He ended up making what I considered a crazy (dangerous) move in the sprint and so I didn't quite come around him to win the sprint...ok I wasn't even close. But, I did have a pretty good sprint taking 5th out of about 13 riders in the group and surprise--I was 1st place for the 35+ racers!

Sunday's race was a 67 mile, 4 lap race with lots of turns and pretty flat topography. I raced in the P12 category with teammates Jake and John. John threw caution to the wind from the very start by blasting off solo. One rider bridged, but the field was having none of that and reeled them in w/in 10 minutes. I soon bridged up to a 3-man break, thanks to Jake controlling on the front of the peloton and soon we were joined by a fifth rider. Unfortunately, we were stronger of spirit than of body, except for a BMC-Hincapie devo kid...sorry kid. We lasted maybe 10 minutes. Shortly after that, Jake was part of a strong 4-man break, and they quickly made time on the field with John and I covering the few surges over the next 1 1/2 laps. Their advantage maxed at about 2 1/2 minutes and started to reverse due to the chase gaining momentum...the P12 class is pretty good at patiently reeling in a break. Jake did heroic work in such a talented break, but eventually he was dropped. No matter, since the peloton was starting to seriously eat into the break's advantage. Superman John (or is that Suicide John?) took another long solo flyer and ended up catching the break right as the peloton did with about 1/2 lap to go. Thing got faster then and the peloton was strung out single file a lot. Jake had recovered quite a bit and motored on the front some. All three of us stayed up toward the front so we could go with any moves. Predictably, things ended up in a bunch sprint. Normally, I would not try to contest a large P12 sprint, but I felt like I had some "snap" in my legs. John and my plan was that I would lead John out for the sprint (that he still wanted to sprint after the work he'd done!). I was a little "boxed in" until the full road was available (at 200 meters to the line) and when I pulled out and accelerated I actually actually blocked John some--sorry! I sprinted well though and finished a respectable 14th. John and Jake were a few spots back. It was a fun race with great use of team tactics.

GA Cup Rome 4/2-3

There's nothing like racing in the mountains to build fitness...and shatter a peleton. The GA Cup Rome race took place in town (tt, crit) and in the mountains of NW GA (rr). I decided to race the 45+ crit--my first of the year, and 35+ road race--I wanted the challenge of a 3-lap rr race vs 2-laps for 45+. The promoter decided to combine the 35+ and 45+ crits, resulting in a still-small field of about 18. But, it also resulted in a talented field with several racers using this as a warmup for the P12 race later. The race hadn't even gone 1 lap when there was a powerful attack that resulted in three riders (including me) getting a small gap. It was brought back within 1 lap, and subsequent counter attacks resulted in tongues dragging w/in the 1st 5 minutes of racing! The day was already over for several racers including my teammate Chad. I was doing some "active recovery" at the front when I heard about 3 rapid gear clicks and watched with fascination as Chris Brown (BMW-Litespeed) went by the group in an instant. He may as well have been a fighter jet as far as me being able to respond. Only one racer (Igor the Brute) was able to make the break, and poor Igor was dropped after several laps. A few strong racers put on a strong attempt to chase and to further break up the field. They succeeded in the latter, but not the former. Mr Brown not only soloed away...he caught the field (at almost 29 mph average speed)! If that wasn't impressive enough, he then worked to stymie any attacks in order to protect his teammate. The field was pretty small by then, so even though I had little sprint reserve left in my non-sprint legs, I managed 3rd of the 45+ racers.

Sunday's road race start held yet another surprise--the 35+ field would race with the P12 field. I looked forward to this, but it would make it much harder to keep tabs on the 35+ competition. It was a cold start, but soon warmed up nicely--3 bottles was just right. After a flurry of attacks, a two-man break got away. I believe they stayed away the entire race (impressive with over 3 hours of racing ahead). The peleton split up on the 700' climb over Horn mtn. I knew my limits and rode at them, watching some impatient racers surge and then flounder. A lead group summited with several small chase groups. I was in a group that coalesced with a couple groups ahead to about 20 racers. We never caught the lead group, but were only about 1 minute back as we started the 2nd (of 3 total) climbs up Horn. The group completely fractured this time and I crested the top about a minute off of several at the front. I can descend pretty well, and if it had been a long descent I might have caught them. As it was, I did everything I could to bridge up to them in the rolling terrain, and got within about 30 seconds but could get no closer. After awhile 2 riders came up from behind and while one of them sat-in, two of us powered on, eventually catching two more racers that had been dropped. The last climb up Horn was tough, but I made it without any cramping and beat the 4 other riders I'd been with for a while. I had no idea how I'd done, but ended up 4th in the 35+, just off the podium.

GSC #1 Oconee Heritage Park

On 26-27 March I raced the first Georgia state Championship series race of 2011 at Heritage Park, Farmington GA (20 min south of Athens). The big question on everybody's mind going into the weekend wasn't whether it would be a wet race--that was a given, but whether the trails would turn into complete muck. Saturday was a 4 mile time trial, and conditions were pretty good for the first 30 or so riders. Lucky for me the expert class went first, so I was in that first group. The rain started to come down just before I started, so the roots and turns were getting plenty slick. Not 5 minutes after I finished the heavens opened up, and the trail started to turn into a stream. If that wasn't enough "fun", a deafening thunderclap struck, taking out electrical power, accompanied by dime sized hail. The time trial was on hold, and then eventually stopped for good as the storm continued to rage. It was a fun warm up for the next day's race.

Thunderstorms raged throughout the night, and Sunday morning started with continued heavy downpour. I've never seen a mountain bike race cancelled for weather, but was thinking that this one might be. I got to the park a half hour before race start and found things in full swing--no cancel. I had a terrible time deciding whether to ride my old hardtail bike with a flimsy fork or my newer dual suspension bike that I'm tired of destroying in muddy races--and which had not much brake pad life left. I decided on the old bike--a decision I regretted in the first 5 minutes of the race. The race started with the usual full throttle blitz into the woods, with every inch of ground some degree of muddy slickness. I was just not mentally prepared to start so fast, and neither was my bike as my chain popped off twice in short order and control at high speed over slick roots was tenuous at best. I found myself near the back of the group and the leaders were quickly gone. I really felt like quitting right there, but I didn't. After a while my old racing nemesis/buddy, Joey Stanley rolled by (he started about 2 minutes back in the singlespeed class) and I stayed on his wheel. This gave my a little morale boost, and when we caught John Hoover, another perennial adversary that gave me another boost. I started to get into a groove and eventually dropped my two companions and actually started to pick off other riders. I finished going as hard as I could knowing I was getting faster each lap. I didn't really have any idea of my finish placing and was pretty surprised that I finished 5th. Not a podium finish, but better than a "Did Not Finish"!

Chainbuster 6 hr mtb conyers ga

ChainBuster 6-hr solo mountain bike race, Conyers Intl Horse park, 19 March

Van Mixon and I made the trip to the site of the 1996 Olympic MTB race on Saturday. It was quite warm by the 10 am start, so I was glad to have 10 water bottles at my pit (I ended up using 9 of them). I had never ridden any of the trails at Conyers, so the first 8 mile lap was full of surprises. The course was eclectic with multiple muddy stream crossings followed by steep climbs, sticky mud, newly cut trail (off camber with lots of sticks), sandy sections, rooty sections and grassy hilsides....and about 1 mile of gravel road. That gravel road strung the peleton out right away and got my heat rate sky-high. I managed to make my way through the first lap without crashing, and then set a sustainable effort level while getting more proficient on the technical sections on each lap. Nutrition and hydration are critical in endurance races, and I managed them well, drinking over 1 bottle per 45 minute lap and eating an energy bar every lap. Midway through the race it was evident that many racers were not hydration and feeding enough as more and more were slowly walking hills, cramping, and even vomiting. The race is run such that you do as many laps as you can in 6 hrs. 1 second over 6 hrs and the lap doen't count. My lap times crept up to just over 45 minutes per lap, so there was no way I could complete an 8th lap at 5 hrs 24 minutes into the race--so my race was over at 7 laps! This is quite common at endurance races--in fact racers often quit even earlier because they don't have the physical or emotional ability to continue. I had some great competition and ended up in 3rd place for the 6 hr solo expert category.

North Georgia Adventure Race

North Georgia Adventure Race (NGAR) Summary March 12-13, 2011:  Lots and lots of gear required for adventure racing—kind of a pain, but I’m sure you develop a good system of organizing/packing with experience.  5 of us (3-man team and 2-man team) went in a big Chevy and a big trailer loaded with bikes, canoes, packs and other gear.  Tons of Friday afternoon traffic and a late start meant we got to the Global Retreat Center mountaintop inn on hwy 52 west of Ellijay at about 7:30 pm and very hungry.  Luckily they had a big buffet.  We were given our maps and a briefing at about 8:30 pm and then we plotted the checkpoints and reviewed the notes, warnings and cautions.  I would have liked to have had more time to plan, but we needed to get to sleep—10:30 before we turned in as it was.  Most teams did their planning before dinner.  My buddy Trey decided to wake my room up at 5:40, even though breakfast didn’t even start until 6:30 and the race started at 9 am!  Glad I slept well, if not long.  The race started with running up a steep road where we picked up and then portaged our canoe back downhill to Carter’s Lake.  We then paddled about 7.5 miles to a checkpoint by a dam and back 7.5 miles.  3 guys kayak paddling in a canoe makes for a wobbly ride.  We must have had a very inefficient canoe as many teams beat us even though I calculated our stroke rate at 33% faster.  No big deal as the fastest team was maybe 20 minutes ahead. Some teams skipped the paddling altogether as it only was one checkpoint (out of 25 total).  That just seemed to me to defeat the whole point of an ADVENTURE RACE.  We got our biking stuff on and rode a dirt road route about 15 miles (and 1500 ft up) to a backcountry resort at Mulberry Gap.  I had an individual task on foot to do (in my cycling shoes as our support crew had not yet showed up—blisters!).  Three checkpoints to find, all up steep ridges.  I found two, but couldn’t find the third…blisters starting to form and I hadn’t even done the major trekking part of the race.  Didn’t figure on getting every point in my first AR anyway!  We rolled out again, this time on some serious (and seriously fun) trail.  The weather was just absolutely perfect and the scenery was great.  One of the two-man teammates (we raced together with them since they are friends) was having serious cramping issues which slowed us down—eventually he threw in the towel and the two-man team rode back on a road to the resort.  We made good progress despite some steep terrain…it was a blast.  As it was getting dark (beautiful sunset from a high point known as potato patch) we made the (fateful) decision to ride a jeep trail to a hike-a-bike trail to another jeep trail to the dirt road to the resort.  We knew it probably wouldn’t save any time since the longer route was all just dirt roads, but this was an ADVENTURE RACE.  Well, the 1^st jeep trail was very rough but ok, the hike-a-bike was rough with multiple stream and log crossings but ok.  The 2^nd jeep trail was fine, lots of climbing and descending but ok.  Except it kept going and had offshoots and we kept coming on dead ends.  We started to meet other teams and commiserated on our apparent predicament—we were lost!.  After literally almost 3 hours of this I called a “time out” and came up with a new strategy—head due east until we came to a road or some form of civilization.  It was about 11 pm, and quite cold, and we were long out of food and water…and it would be through rough terrain in the dark (we had headlamps but not the best).  Good news is by my calculations it would only be about 1 mile.  We took lots of rests (pushing bikes through streams, over logs, up 45 degree pitches is tiring) but eventually came onto a rough path toward a light.  Then the barking dogs started.  My teammates insisted on a retreat until I convinced them that it could mean another hour of walking.  The dogs were big, and they were loose, but luckily kept their distance (and no shotgun blasts or N. GA hillbilly Deliverance type of encounters either).  We got on our bikes and skedaddled down the long driveway to the dirt road and were home w/in 15 minutes.  Food-then-sleep (in sleeping bags while sitting in lawn chairs).  A teammate (John) was supposed to do another solo task….well he woke us at about 5 am but kept going on about how cold it was.  We fell back asleep… and so did he!  At about 6 am we all awoke and decided we’d better eat and do our team trekking portion of the race.  We got started just before sunrise and it wasn’t very long before we were sweating.  Beautiful scenery again but now came the thorn filled bushwhacking.  Our solo-leg-skipping teammate made up for his earlier deficit by his superb navigation and by leading the pace jogging much of the time (I was the anchor as opposed to easily leading on the bike legs).  We only skipped one more point way out in the woods, but trekked probably 18 miles in 7.5 hours.  We arrived at the mountain top Retreat Center finish with about 1.5 hours to spare in the 30 hour limit and 5 points shy of 25 possible checkpoints.  The pizza was cold but welcome.  Didn’t even know what place we came in our category (3 man) or overall, but we still felt a great sense of accomplishment. What an ADVENTUROUS way to see North Georgia!

Jeff

Snake Creek

Stony at Stake Creek with Charlie and Van













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Albany Masters RR

Ron, Bill and I raced in the combined 45+/55+ Masters road race in Albany.  There were about 15 starters, including a few teams with 3 racers each.  We were still sitting around for about an hour after our scheduled start time because the race director apparently thought it would result in chaos if the p12 field and cat 3 and masters field were to be passing eachother on opposite sides of the road! The race literally started with a 4-man breakaway!  Team Sfatto and a Florida team sprinted away into the crossing headwind.  I managed to bridge but was dropped when they surged again—going from resting HR to max and holding it is tough…..I’m sure that was why they did it.  We (team Neuro) attempted to get the remaining racers organized to chase, but there was a little active blocking from the one remaining FL team racer and lots of apathy and dragging tongues in the rest of the peloton.  We continued to drive the chase aiming to at least rip the “dead wood” off, which we mostly succeeded in doing.  By the time we got onto the long downwind leg of the course it was the 3 of us Neuros and two McCafe’ racers.  The McCafe’ racers had done almost no work on the front (one of them literally none), so when we sat up the pace slowed considerably.  The next lap we rolled at about 21 mph average, knowing the break was gone for good.  After many unsuccessful attempts, we finally isolated and dropped the primary McCafe’ sandbagger on the short tailwind leg of the course—he claimed to be weak/tired/out of shape as though that would gain some sympathy!  He was tough to drop because he wasn’t all that weak or tired or out of shape.  Ron and Bill then proceeded to keep a good clip going, punching it on the short, shallow hills to try and work over the remaining McCafe’ rider (who was in the 45+ class).  I got to draft on the back, a welcome change from the first lap!  Unfortunately McCafe’ wasn’t showing any signs of weakness.  The plan was to have Ron do a hard surge up the first hill on the 2 mile finish stretch and then I would attack.  My attack didn’t shed our adversary, and Bill countered to keep him working.  I attacked again on the last rise, but McCafe’ was able to stick with me.  About 100 meters from the finish he jumped and easily sprinted away for 4^th place in 45+ (the 4-man break had a 55+).  Bill and I were a photo finish, and Ron rolled in right after us.  Training and competing in 6 hr mountain bike endurance races are not helping my legs with snap for breakaways and sprint finishes! Bill was 2^nd and Ron 3^rd in 55+, while I took 5^th in 45+.  It was frustrating to not make the break and not catch them (if only the McCafe’ guys had worked with us), but it was fun to work together as a team.  

Jeff

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Race Report: Greenville M45+ Win

In 2010 my Greenville Spring Training Series races consisted of my first P/1/2 race on Saturday and then the Masters 45+ race on Sunday.  Needless to say, my legs were pretty trashed come the Sunday race, though I had somewhat of a psychological boost from knowing I was very likely the youngest racer having turned 44 in November (racing age 45 starting Jan 1, 2010).  I was happy with my result, taking 5^th out of a field of more than 45 racers.

This year I opted to spend Saturday Kayaking, watching Lizzi play soccer and driving to Greenville with my parents—in other words no riding.  About 50 riders toed the line, albeit briefly as the chief referee no sooner had said “45+ to the line” when he said “go!”  This put us only a minute or so behind the 35+ who we had in sight almost immediately.  On lap 2 the moto ref neutralized the 35+ field by making them stop off the road—harsh, but effective.  What wasn’t so effective was his deconfliction of a 8-ish rider breakaway group of 35+ that caught us and then proceeded to intermingle allowing four 45+ riders to slip away unnoticed by most of us.  Eventually we convinced the moto ref to allow us to run down the four riders.  Once we caught them it was back to us being held back so that the 35+ break could escape us—complicated.  Amidst all this fun we were passing riders constantly from other racers who sometimes tried to join us. 

With two laps to go in a six lap race we were “groupo compacto” and the fireworks started in earnest.  A few of us started to string things out in a four man rotation at the front.  By one lap to go many riders were off the back, but there still was a peloton of 25-30.  After a particularly hard dig up the hill on the backside of the course, I sensed that the group was ready for a break…so I gave them one:  me breaking away.  I knew it was a crapshoot since I’d have a strong headwind and then crosswind before the finish stretch, but thankfully two guys joined me and we worked well together, putting time on the chasing group (and re-passing the 35+ break!).  As we turned on the crosswind portion one of my mates quit doing pulls and I could tell I was the strongest.  Not really wanting a sprint finish, I attacked and rode the last 1500 meters solo to victory. 

As I rolled out I noticed “Big George” Hincapie chatting with some folks and so I asked “Hey George, I just won the 45+ race, can I get a picture with you?!”  Of course, true to form, he graciously said “yes”.  I relish those photos more than the non-existent podium shot.

Illness report—101 fever.  Looks pretty unlikely I’ll do any racing this weekend.
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Jeff Clayton Race Reports

Check here to see 2011 race reports by Jeff Clayton.