2014 CIRREM Report

My 2014 race season began yesterday with the annual CIRREM gravel race.  This 100K gravel road race has become very popular.  It usually sells out in a few minutes when registration opens.  Why is it so popular?  Why do people what to ride their bikes on hilly ass gravel roads that during this time of year can be frozen, slick as owl shit and so muddy that it take a small part of your sole to drag your bike up them?  The answer can be found below.

 

Truth be told I did not really want to make the 3 hour drive up to Cumming, Iowa for the race. My longest ride so far this year was only 45 miles and that was in friendly gravel grinding conditions. The area got a few inches of snow during the week.  Most of it was either packed down frozen or quickly becoming a muddy energy sapping nightmare. 

Bike setup and gear choice is always hard to do on days like this.  I wanted to ride my Single Speed, but the bottom bracket was all frozen up on it and needed replacing. Should I bring my old MTB with disc brakes?  Would I need the tire clearance?  How muddy was it going to get?  Would we get lucky and the temps stay cold enough to keep the ground frozen?  I decided to ride the Ritchey Swiss Cross.  I knew it was going to get a little muddy and wanted to test the bike in some adverse conditions.  I did not dream the conditions would deteriorate so much out on course. I am glad I rocked the Komando 700 x 32 tires instead of larger tires.  The added frame clearance helped. 

If you had a good pair of legs and could climb today your old challenge was how to deal with all the mud and spray.   The leaders were rocking the course. It was like they were just floating on top of the mud.

 Early on I got into a group with about 6 riders.   I tried to stay out of the wind as much as possible and save energy.  The problem with following riders was the mud spraying in your face.  My glasses were covered after the first hour.  I know first hand what damage gravel and dirt can do to eyes so I tried my best to keep them on. 

The check point offered a chance to refuel, fill up those empty water bottles and have a beer.  I want to know where the bacon is?  The Dakota 50 has bacon and bear.  Is that the best combination or what?

I arrived at the check point ready to call it a day.  My legs were already tired, I could not see out of my glasses due to the mud and my back was starting to hurt.  Carolynn said I was doing great and looked good.  I personally thought I looked liked hell.  I sure as heck felt like hell. 

I started to eat some and drank an entire water bottle. I had drank two full bottles and was started to get some leg cramps.  I cleaned out my frozen gears an and decided to keep going.  I knew if I quit I would be very disappointed with myself. How much worse could it get?

I rolled out from the check point with clean shifting bike, three water bottles and a new attitude. 

What does a wife do while her husband is suffering like dog?  Mine goes to sample the local Moon Shine.  Here I thought you were all worried about me.

Conditions really deteriorated especially on the hills where the sun shined on them.   The flats were really not bad.  Those bastard climbs were a different story. Trying to find the best line, one that would not cause your tires to sink down in the peanut butter mud, was very hard.  Usually it was best to ride in the wet mud.  If you got in sections that were drying out it collected on your wheels and you soon stopped rolling.  On some of the climbs I actually thought I was going to snap a chain.  

The last 25 miles I had no rear brakes.  This is not always a bad thing.  When you are flying down a frozen road the last thing you want to do is hit the brakes.  If I was with a group of riders I always made sure I was in the front if it was shaded which normally meant it would be frozen.  I lost the front brakes a few times but reached down with my water bottle and beat off the frozen mud off.  This worked to a degree.  Riders with disc brakes had the best set-up for sure.  If you had the legs to climb I think a single speed would have worked well also.  I only had three gears that would work anyways :-)

The last 10 miles was a suffer fest.  I started getting very cold and was out of water and food.  Not a good thing.  Not really much you can do other than keep pedaling.

I rolled into the finish line a happy to have finished.  I passed many riders that had given up or their  bikes had broken.  On one climb I bridged up to 3 riders who had just made it up the very muddy hill.  At the top they stopped and put their heads down on their hand bars.  I waved as I passed and wanted to say to keep going because if you stop you may just not get going again.  Endurance racing has a large mental part to it.  It is easy to quit.  That is one reason I felt so good about today.  I pushed past my current physical ability, powered through all that thick mud, used every muscle I had to make my bike keep rolling. Those last two miles worth it. Lately my mental attitude has not been the best.  Pushing past the pain and suffering through tough times does a lot for you. 

Results got posted.  Some interesting results.  I rolled into the first check point at 2:05. The last 2 times I participated in CIRREM I rolled that same check point in 2:05 and 2:08.  This year I lost over and hour on the back side of the course.  My best finish was 4:20.  This year it was 5:19.   Mostly due to conditions but it just shows how important conditioning is.  You can fake short events but once you get past the 3 hour range fitness really stands out.  Looks like I need some more saddle time.

Lost Athletic Goals

 After Saturday's Sweetlove Gravel Grinder I spent the rest of the weekend cleaning up the garage and getting our bikes ready for our trip to Bella Vista, AR.  I found a few old items including the below water bottles.  They reminded me of some of the crazy stuff I used to dream about doing.  Some I was fortunate to achieve but most lost.

The Western States Endurance Run. A 100 trail race in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  I somehow caught this trail running bug back in 1992. It was around the same time that I started doing all these insanely long rides and runs.  Not to mention a few Ironman Triathlons.  I worked my way up to 50 mile trail runs, but never did make it to Western States.  That is one goal I am glad I lost.  One thing I was never good at is running.  Then again most slow runners do make great Ultra marathon runners.

Over 30 years ago I had some big athletic goals.  I actually believed that I had the skills to become a professional motocross racers.  I did have some talent and was crazy enough as a young man, maybe too crazy and sustained some serious injuries. It took me many, many years to ride that fine line between going extremely fast and crashing.

I can remember racing with my brothers like it was yesterday. We all did some stupid insane stuff.  I am not talking about having race numbers #911 and #666.  What that heck were we thinking?

I wish I had pictures of some of the things we used to do as kids.  I found this gem when I had this great idea to become a dare devil. That was my big goal back in 1980. I failed at that.  No one wants to see a kid jump a Kubota tractor.

That is me in 4th position.  Keeping up front in a road race in Tampa, FL.  My road racing career was hit and miss.  I got into it really heavy for a few years.  Won a handful of races.  I think if I had stayed single I would have continued up through the ranks.

It is kind of sad to think of all the goals you have had over the years.  Most are never reached - with me they were lost to injuries, lack of support and some really bad luck (if I just had tubeless tires when I raced mountain bikes seriously).  Some goals kind of just faded away slowly.

 You keep trying to reach them but most of the time seem to painfully fall just short of reaching them.   The one thing that keeps me going is that every once in awhile you reach your goals. You have that perfect day. I am hoping in 2014 I can have a few of those days.

I only bring all this up because this may be my last year of racing.  Christopher is all grown up and has lost interest in riding all together.  Carolynn and Christopher have both competed with me over the years.  It has been one of the things we have done together.  Carolynn still really enjoys riding but racing not so much.  She would like to do a triathlon and maybe an adventure race but it would be more for a personal challenge.

Back to goals.  I really do not have many this year.  Many are just completion type goals.  For example I want to finish the Ouachita Challenge and I want to finish a tandem cycling tour with Carolynn.  If my summer goes well I may just line up for  season of cyclocross this year.  Next year in cross I will be racing with the 50+ guys.  Damn I feel really really old.  Maybe it is time to give all this racing stuff.  But then again they say your racing career starts over once you hit 50 :-)

Changes to God's Country and Bone Bender

I sit here on this Sunday morning working.  Little bit of everything.  I usually have my year all planned out by now, but this year I have really been contemplating several changes and I am behind. Most of these changes are in what I do for fun which is usually outside riding - bicycles, gravel, motorcycles, single track, snow, etc. It doesn't matter what form, I enjoy it all.  As you know one of my biggest passions has always been racing.  You need people to put on these races and this is why I have been promoting races for over 12 years now.  There are only a few that will actually step up and make an event happen.   I mostly do it to give back to the sports I love.

The first change would be to one of the first events I ever helped promote - God's Country.   Gerard and I put on the first God's Country Off-Road Duathlon in 2001.  The turnout was very low.  This was most likely due to the torrential storms the night before and that the course was very technical since it was at Clinton Lake.

 Back then I knew a change in location was required for this event to succeed.  We moved the event to its current home of the Lawrence River Trails.  Long and Short course options were also added.  These changes proved to be very successful with nearly 225 participants in 2002. To this day Anita will still not help with race day registration due to all the people we had signup on race morning.

A couple of years ago we changed the name of our event to God's Country Fat Tire Festival.  The plan was a weekend of fun with several events.  Last years duathlon was again a success, but the cross country race was not very well attended as in previous years.   Was it due to lack of demand for those type of events?  Is March too early for a traditional cross country race?  One very important thing that must be present for an event to succeed is passion for that type of racing.  Luckily there were riders with passion that did come out last year and this is the only reason I am continuing on with this event with a little change this year.  The festival will be reduced to one day.  Our two main events will be the off-road duathlon in the morning and a mountain bike time trial in the afternoon. We also have plans for a short track mountain bike race to be added in the future if demand for early season mountain bike racing increases.  There are a lot of people in this region that enjoy off-road running and cycling.  We just need more of them to come out and try racing.  Hopefully these format changes will encourage more participation.

The second change will be the format of the Bone Bender mountain bike race.  Traditionally this event has been a 3/6 hour mountain bike race with solo and relay teams. The demand years ago for these timed events was high, but over the last couple of years timed distance events have fallen in favor of distance events.   This was actually my original idea when this event was created anyway.

The 6th Annual Bone Bender Mountain Bike Challenge will be a 50 to 60 Kilometer race (depending on final course).  Heather and I decided on this distance based on past demand and how long it would take the typical mountain bike athlete to complete this distance on the North Shore Trails of Clinton Lake State Park.  We will have a shorter course option available for beginners.  I believe this change will be positive and allow participants to set a personal challenge to meet. Complete details with be coming out later this month. 

2014 Hare Scrambles Awards

It has been 25 years since I participated in a year long motorcycle racing series.  The last one was back in 1988 - Florida Winter Am Series. In 2013 I raced the entire Forward Motion Hare Scramble Series.  Going into the year I had no intention of racing all the events buts felt at home and was having so much fun.

 Saturday night was the FMHSC Awards Banquet.   It was very cool to see so many families.  That is one nice thing about motorcycle racing it is one big family.  The line for the dinner was very very long.

I remember when the Midwest Fat Tire Championship Series was still going on. We had an end of year awards and party.   Being part of that family was very cool also.  Check out the shirt I am wearing above.  Looks like a night shirt?  I somehow forgot to bring my dress cloths for the awards back in 2007 and had to where my pajama top.

Christopher showing off all the cash we won.  Yea, it was Monopoly money to be used to bid on auction items later in the evening.  We ended up getting out bid on everything.  We should have bid on smaller items early on and not wait for the big ticket items. 

Carolynn enjoying the evening.  She was just happy she did not have to bring food for a couple of hundred people like she does during MTB events. 

Jason working hard at training for the 2014 season.  After analyzing his diet, Jason found out that more protein is needed.  It just so happened that Carolynn made her world famous Peanut Butter Cream Pie - 10 grams of protein per wondererful slice.

The #1 Bike of Macon Ezell was on display.  I got to watch the top AA riders a few times while I did some course patrol.  It is amazing how smooth and fast those guys are in the woods. 

The crowd enjoys dinner and eagerly awaits for the awards ceremony to begin.

Christopher ended up 3rd place overall in the Trail Riders class.  Not bad for his first year of racing. Despite never winning a race and still having a percentile that qualifies for the Trail rider class he is moving up to Sport class next year.  One way to get better is by riding with more experienced riders.

The old dudes class.  It was fun racing with the Senior 45+ guys. I developed what I hope will be some lasting friendships.  I will miss racing with them this year.  Moving up to the Vet Advanced class for 2014.

Christopher and I showing off our awards.  Is it just me or is he taller than me?

This year I will be running the #518 in the Vet Advanced class.   I chose a black background color this year so I can participate in some MORE events next year.  Besides, I think the black backgrounds look cool.

The day after the awards banquet we headed out to Challenge Trax to enjoy a day of riding their MX track.  Due to the warm weather they opened up the track for practice.  Christopher is showing some improvement in the whoops. 

Jason came along with us to get some saddle time in on his KX 450. 

Jason let me ride his KX 450. That thing is a beast.  I started getting arm pump after only a lap.  I went out with the Expert/Intermediate riders and felt at home for the most part. 

Jumping is starting to come back to me. Riding Jason's bike really made the jumps easy.  I have to push my little 250X to make the big jumps, but with the KX 450 just sack up and hit the gas.

The Challenge Trax was fun.  The jumps were relatively safe. I can could see myself getting into trouble on that 450 so I only did a handful of laps.  It was very fun riding a MX bike instead of a bike setup for woods.  Suspension was very stiff.

A Look Back on 2013

I sit here this morning thinking about 2014 and what path I want to take for this new year.  First I wanted to take a look back on 2013.....

 You have to start the year off by riding in the Lawrence Mountain Bike Club's New Years Day ride.  Last years ride was one of the best ever.  We got to ride in near perfect snow riding conditions.  Yes it was very cold, but darn fun. 

The year started out good with plenty of training rides on local trails and several well attended Gravel Grinders.  The family even found a weekend to head to Arkansas for a family MTB Training Camp - Carolynn found a new favorite place to ride in Blowing Springs and Christopher tried to break his new rig

Early in the year while out riding with Christopher I crashed while trying to hop over a log.  I caught my pedal on the log and the force sent me over the bars.  I hit my head really hard and got knocked out.  I can not tell you how many times I have hit my head.  I wish I had someone to sue like some NFL players have for "repetitive head trauma" or otherwise known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.  If Pro Motocross or mountain bike racing had a Pro Union maybe, but neither do.  Besides hitting my head I injured my wrist.  At first I thought it was just a sprain, but it turned out I torn some ligaments.  Surgery was an option, but after visiting the doctor(s) and with a 50/50 chance that the surgery would even heal (lack of blood flow in that region) I decided to live with it and start rehab.  The good thing about it was Carolynn and I got really good at taping injuries :-)

I had to take a break from mountain bike riding but I was still able to ride gravel.  We had a good winter of gravel grinding.  I put in some good base miles and was planning to race the Ouachita Challenge

As it turned out I would have to sell my entry.  My wrist was not healing very quickly.  At this point I did not know if it would heal at all.  I could still ride road and some smoother gravel but I was also experiencing some knee pain after rides.  I kept thinking it was my position on the bike but after fits and adjustments no change.  I have had this problem off and on for the last couple of years.  Maybe this pain is just part age?

 For Spring break we headed down to South Florida.  A nice visit. Spent some time with my parents, hit the beach, rented some scooters, swam, kayaked and played on one of my new favorite water toys a SUP.  One of the highlights of our day on the Stand Up Paddle boards was Christopher and I had a cool encounter with some Dolphins.

 After we got back from Florida it was time to focus on the first event that the team was promoting for the year.  The 11th Annual God's Country Fat Tire Festival.  Saturday was the off-road duathlon.  It usually draws a nice turnout and is the kick off to the multi-sport season.  I can usually race the short course and was able to jump in this year.  I was surprised how my wrist held up and was able to take the win in my age-group.   Sunday was the UFD season opener.  That was one hell of a day!  If it were not for some great volunteers, that day would not have happened.  We got hit with 6 to 7 inches of snow.  I guess everyone thought we were going to cancel the race because we had a terrible turnout.   Those that did come out got to enjoy a great day of racing in the snow.  It is not often that you get to race in the snow.  After the event it makes you think really hard if promoting a race in the Midwest is worth it, if the majority of participants are going to stay home when the going gets a little hard. I can tell you from a financial standpoint it is not.

After a few postponements due to bad weather, the 2013 Forward Motion Hare Scrambles Series got underway over in Milford Lake, Kansas.  At this point in the season I had planned to race just a few rounds with Christopher and focus on MTB/Triathlons as usual.  We only got to ride once before the race.  I knew it was going to be a long hard event especially with my wrist.  The good thing was it is my left wrist and not my throttle hand.   I was more worried about Christopher since he didn't train very much leading up to the season.  Racing hard on a motorcycle for 2+ hours is very demanding.  Christopher found out just how demanding it was when he had to pull off before the end of the race.  He was totally exhausted and could not safely hold onto the bike anymore while riding.  His hands were all bloody after the race and even paid a visit to the EMT.  I was fortunate to have a great event and took the win in the Senior 45+ class.  I must be honest, I had a lot of fun out riding. It is something I grew up with and have a lot of passion for.

Bone Bender MTB Odyssey was next up.  We got good local support for this event as well as plenty of out of town racers.  Bone Bender is always a fun event.  With all the support from Cow Town, LMBC and The Wheel Cyclery the event was a success.

 The rest of spring and early summer was spent racing our dirt bikes on the weekends.  Christopher started to improve as his fitness came around and he built up enough strength to ride his CRF 250X.  At the Cole Camp round Christopher was leading the race, but got a flat tire on the last lap.  He still finished up 2nd which was his best finish of the season so far. 

I tried to train as much as possible to get ready for the 2013 Missouri State MTB Championships.  I had the speed, but not the stamina. Tige went with Christopher and I to race as the event was a qualifier for the MTB National Championships.  Cycling is mostly an endurance sport.  You can have awesome technical skills, but if you can not put in the hours of training you will not succeed. It takes hundreds of hours of  training each year of training to win at at the higher Cat 1 level. A person needs to be physically and mentally able to put in those hours.  If I am honest with myself then it looks like I had neither this year.  Every time I started putting in serious mileage my body would not respond well especially my knees.  When you have to ice down your knees and joints just to keep training it really makes you think is it worth it.

Carolynn participated in her first duathlon this year.  She trained for a month or so for it and the results showed.  1st place in the Female 50+ division in the Sedalia Duathlon and 2nd overall in the Short course. The majority of the women on the day did the short course so I think she did very well.  In 2014 there may be a triathlon in her future.  I only did one duathlon and one triathlon this year.  I just could not put in the run time to be successful at triathlons.  My swim and bike were good, but you are not going to run fast if you do not put in the miles and reduce your weight.  My knees just do not like running much so I decided to forgo multisport for the rest of the year.

The bulk of the summer was spent racing Hare Scrambles.  Christopher improved a lot and worked his way into the points lead for the Trail Rider division.  That elusive win for him never came due to poor starts and/or not having the ability to pass.  I think it is lack of aggression which will come with more confidence and experience on the bike.
 

We headed out to Colorado again this summer and spent a week with the Reeves'.   Plenty of riding, but I think the best part was climbing Bierstadt Mountain.

Christopher was involved in his first crash of the year.  He totaled Carolynn's Matrix.  I do not mind him crashing his bike or motorcycle.  It is all part of the game, but crashing a car is another story.  I personally have never been in an accident and do not intend to be in one...

 My little man is a Senior in High School now.  He sure has grown up quickly. Off to college next year (if he graduates :-)).

This summer while inspecting our house I found some rotten wood.  Turns out I have termites.  Those bastards set us back several thousand dollars.  We saved a lot of money by doing most of the repairs ourselves.  I can do a lot of things well, but working with wood is not my specialty. Luckily Christopher is good at that.  

The remaining of the summer and fall was spent racing our dirt bikes.  I started to really feel good on the bike.  Getting my old grove back.  A couple of times I almost got myself in trouble by riding outside my current ability level.  I quickly settled back down and realized that I am not a crazy 20 year old anymore.  I locked up the Forward Motion Hare Scrambles championship with a few rounds to go.  Christopher also had a chance at winning, but his results the last two rounds were not enough.  He finished 3rd in the series which was his goal going into the year.  Overall a very successful year for both us.

Carolynn and I celebrated our 20 year wedding anniversary.

Cross season came and went with me only racing one event - Cross Out Cancer.  Ironically I ended with skin cancer after this event.  Well, it was discovered after the event while I had noticed the section on my arm for the entire year, but never went to see the doctor.

We had two events at Wyco in 2013.  Mason's Midsummer Meltdown and Wyco's Revenge.  Christopher earned his only win of the year and I took 2nd place in both events. 

 With Christopher growing up fast we got some family photos taken.  Bart Cox did an awesome job.

Take away the injuries 2013 was good to me.  One important thing I learned in 2013 was that I need to take it easy on my body.   My body is o.k. with shorter easy rides, but every time I try to put in a hard training block my body does not respond well especially my knees. I also discovered that my body holds up better when I work out with weights more.  This past year I gained 15 pounds with all the weights and physical therapy that I did.  Unfortunately sports like Triathlon and Cycling tend to reward the lean athlete.   I need to accept that my days of competitive cycling/running are over.  How many 190 lbs cyclist do you see on top of the box?  I still plan to do some cycling events, but will focus more on "skill" based events and events that do not reward the featherweight or the athlete that that willing to sacrifice his body.  Been there done that....