Ouachita Challenge Here I Come

I needed some motivation to train so I got up early this a.m. to sign up for the 2010 Ouachita Challenge. Entry is limited to only 275 spots for the race and it will fill up fast. The Ouachita Cycling Club does a great job with the event and they always have the best rest stops. Maybe this year I will stop and enjoy them some. For the past two years Carolynn has been at each stop with our own food. I think this year will be a time to enjoy the event and trails a little more. It is not like I will be on the podium or anything with the likes of this guys/gals showing up.

Last year I raced the single speed division on a Haro Mary SS Rigid. It handled great on smooth single track, but on sections like Blowout Mountain it about killed me. The downhills on a rigid are the worst. I can still feel the fatigue and numbness in my arms from last year. I found some good YouTube videos from last year bu Amdreatdg - OC on Video.

Still unsure what bike I will ride this year, but I am sure it will have gears and at least a front suspension. I will also change my race day diet. Last year I experimented with an all liquid diet which required that I not eat anything prior to the race. I did use this same product in training with good results, but the distance and intensity was not the same. Plus, sometimes you just need some solid food in your stomach.

Missouri State Cyclocross Championships

The 2009 Missouri State Cyclocross Champions were again held in Hermann, Missouri. Jeff Yielding and crew did a nice job again with the state championships. As you would expect for December, the weather played a part in the course. Conditions early on were good when the ground was frozen. After the first race the conditions changed and by my noon start time for the Masters is was a slippery mess.

After a couple of weeks of very poor training, I was not actually going to go, but I decide to go support Jeff's event since he came over to support the De Stad series several times this year. Early Sunday morning I heading to pick up Chris Hudson and Chris Thomas. Because of this, I decided to just take one bike and only race the masters. If I would have know that we would have made it in time for the 10:00 am Single Speed start time I would have brought my single speed, but I ended up only racing the Masters 40+ on my old Jake the Snake.

My race was nothing special by any means. Form is way off and I was just not dialed into the Snake on the slippery course. My type of conditions are wet soupy mud. If it is raining all the better. The ground under the mud was still a little frozen and made for a traction less ride. Plenty of crashes and near slide outs. End results after my effort was a 7th. Not really how I wanted to end my season. If I feel better by next weekend I will head to the Barnyard Cross in Manhattan. Otherwise, I am done for the year.

Results can be found at MO CX Results

Some pictures of the SS, Cat 4 Men, Juniors and Open Women below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/multisportmarketing/09MOStateCXChampionships?feat=directlink

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Get your own

Happy Birthday Christopher

Happy Birthday Son. 14 years sure does go by fast. I still remember being at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado back in 1995. I was there for a cycling clinic and during one of the presentations in front of about 200 people in walks a member of the USOC. They interrupt the presentation and call out my name telling me that there has been an emergency back home in Florida.....Carolynn had come down with the HELLP syndrome and I nearly lost you both. You were born 9 weeks early and only weighed about 3 pounds. The doctors and nurses at the Melbourne hospital were great and kept you going. It was close a couple of times, but you had a strong heart and set of lungs.
Sorry I was not there for your birth. It figures I was at some darn cycling function, but you were 9 weeks early so I have a good excuse. Soon we were able to start feeding you. We missed all those midnight feeding during the first month because you were in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, but let you till you this you made up for it when you we were finally able to take you home.

Thanksgiving Break

This Thanksgiving was supposed to be spent with my mom, but she decided she was not able to come up to Kansas City. Some things never change. The question is, should I expect them to? Enough about that. Nothing I can do but move on....

Well I have 5 days off. What to do? First up, head to Swope Park and try out some new trails. I have heard some good things about Swope and was eager to try them out for myself. I ended up meeting Rich Anderson, JP and his daughter Karen. JP and crew were sporting new 29er hard tails. They looked sweet. Good ole Rich is back riding after his surgery and by the looks of things he has not lost any of his "Skills". Watch out for him once he gets his fitness back. As for the trails, they were nice. I was still getting used to being back on my MTB after a season of cross so I was not flowing too well. I plan to ride them again Sunday with Christopher and should be able to judge them better.

Thanksgiving Day was Gerard's 20th Annual Thanksgiving Day MTB Ride. He started this tradition back in Pennsylvania and has kept it going. A good group of guys showed up for a rather chilly start including several Cow Towners, Lawrence MTB members, Telford and Rasta Rider. We quickly broke into several ability groups based on ability level. Christopher and I ended up riding alone for most of the ride, but we mixed in with several other groups in route to the Clinton Skills Loop. Christopher and the others looked like they were having fun riding the teeter totters and boards. I will tell you up front that I can not ride anything slow. I need speed to clear any technical stuff. The trails out at Clinton Lake were in very good shape especially with some new trail work done by Mike Goodwin and friends. If you have not been out to Clinton recently you should make the trip. Well worth it.

The annual Black Friday MTB ride was up next. While Carolynn and Christopher were out the door early to hit the sales, I hit the Landahl MTB trails with Rich Anderson, Mark Krause and Brian Prosser. The trails were in great shape. It had been awhile since I had ridden them and it was a blast. I got out there a little early to warm-up and adjust my bike. Still playing with the set-up but it is getting better. The group rode for about 2 hours and we basically hit every trail at Landahl. On the technical trails Rich or Brian took the lead. Those guys are good and I like learning from others. It was fun riding with everyone. Be sure to put the Black Friday MTB ride on your calendar for next year. I ended up getting in an extra hour of riding after everyone else headed home. On my post cool down ride I ran into Aaron Browning. We chatted about the new section that he had just flagged. Looks like more technical stuff to come out at Landahl.

Saturday was a great day spent alone with Carolynn including our first tandem ride since the Ride the Rockies ride back in June. I can not believe we were able to ride in shorts and short sleeve jerseys just 4 days from December. I think I actually got a sunburn....

Sunday the weather is heading South and I will be following her down as we hit both the Swope and BuRB trails. Christopher needs to break in his new ride. I was able to get his new Anthem built up that he got from The Wheel Cyclery. He now fits a 16" frame very nicely. Included in the build is a very sweet Crank Brothers bottom bracket as his old one was totally shot, a set of Maxxis Advantage UST tires and and new chain. Hopefully he will get at least a year out of it, but at the rate he is growing this year I doubt it.

Haven's Wooded Trail 5K Race Report

The Haven's Wooded Trail 5K promised muddy shoes, mud pits, logs, obstacles and awards for the top three in each division. I guess 4 our of 5 is not that bad....

Christopher and I took a break from repairing the USM course (we got there extra early to get started with Damian) and heading over to participate in this first annual event held at the ultra hilly Haven's Park in Leavenworth Kansas. When I say hilly I mean it. Neither of us are much in the way of runners, but we both enjoy the woods and getting dirty.

The race started with an uphill start. I lined up on the front row for some odd reason. As I looked back at the 60 or so other participants and their skinny selves I should have just walked to the end of the line and saved myself the embarrassment. Knowing full well that my body does not climb well. However, when the starting gun sounded I shot to the lead with the full intent to use my body mass to keep everyone behind me in the trail. Only problem was there was not single track trails, just hilly double track roads with plenty of room to pass. To my amazement, I actually lead up not only the first hill, but the next two as we reach the top of Haven's Mountain. At this point a couple of those skinny runners came by, but not as fast as I expected. I think all intensity of racing cyclocross this past 6 weeks has started to pay off....

Christopher beginning of his race did not go as well as mine He started in 3rd and fell back to close to 50th place by the top of that first climb. He was a little discouraged, but did not give up and slowly started to pass some other runners, namely the 50 year old lady who he really wanted to beat. She was a stealthy elder runner with plenty of years of experience on Christopher, but he had youth on his side. At least that is what he kept telling himself....

As we approached mile 2 I had fallen back to around 10th place, but I still felt good and started to bring back some of the guys who went out to fast and passed me earlier. One of those runners was my old friend John Schlesselman. I was happy to pass him back because he is a solid runner and usually runs faster than myself. As we approached one of the steeper washed out trail sections, I picked off a couple more guys as they opted to use the ropes for safety. I threw safety out the window and just ran like old Good Ben would down hill - WFO. Ben you would have been proud of me. I could see the leader up ahead of me as we approached the end of mile 2. This is were things went south for all but a few of the leaders. Most of us missed this turnoff and kept running down this road. I for one never saw any signs and there was no one there to direct us. There we were were running lost in the woods. We finally came upon a volunteer and ask where the course went. She was really no help so I just ran back along part of the course that was already used in the first section of the run. This brought us back toward the finish. At this time we had already ran well past the 5K distance so we went to the finish where it was a little disorganized with runners finishing in both directions. Kind of funny when you look back on it, but also very frustrating. I ended up getting 2nd in the Male 40-44 division and 7th overall. The sad part is that the guy who I passed earlier on (#45 in the picture in the picture on the right - pics by Mr. Harrison) won the overall and my age-group. He knew Haven's Park and found the right course and finished with the winning time. I found this on Garmin Connect - Haven's Wooded Trail 5K Course. Looks like lysernix got lost also....

Christopher finished in 40th place overall so he picked off a dozen or so runners. Not bad for a kid who does not run at all and as big ole feet the size of swimming fins (size 45 already). Maybe he should take up swimming with those things. He could be the next Ian Thorpe if his feet continue to grow.

We were going to stay and pickup my award for my age-group, but we were told that only 1st place would be getting awards. I am looking at the flyer now and it says "top three finishers in each 5 year age category". I hate when that happens.....

After the event we headed back to the University of Saint Mary to help Dave, Mark, JP and everyone else work on the course. We got a lot done and things look much better. Still need to pay USM another visit or two, but everything should be back to normal by early next spring. More on the repair later.