Expectations

Well its been almost 2 weeks since the Wilson Fat Tire Race. To say I was pretty pumped for this event is a understatement. Local trail knowledge is always an advantage, especially on a trail as challenging as Wilson and I know those 17 miles of trail like the back of my hand. Also adding to my expectations was the fact that I had rode a personal best lap of 1:42:45 the weekend before during a race tempo practice lap. So, needless to say I had set my bar pretty high.

As we lined up for the race, I had made the decision to start up front and stay with the lead group at least through the first technical section. We bolted out of the start and down the 1/4 mile of asphalt road towards the trail. The mass of racers had done a nice job of spreading out and we funneled into the tight singletrack without any problems and I was right where I wanted to be near the front. The pace was pretty fast and I hitched on the rear derailer of Brad Smith as we approached the first tight rocky section. Things were looking good for us until we encountered the one thing that every racer dreads, a rider that will not let you pass. Brad yelled out several times that he wanted to pass but this guy would not give an inch. Finally, after several attempts, Brad was able to find a slightly wider spot in the trail that allowed him to squeeze by. My attempt to pass also met with the same results but as we reached the first of the rocks I was able to take a different line and get around this rider. Unfortunately for me, Brad and the lead pack were long gone.

I settled into a good steady pace and was able to navigate up tower hill and through the rock garden without any problems. As we went past the second road crossing I felt good and my time was right on schedule. The next area is my favorite part of the trail and I call it the rollercoaster section. As you cross the road, there is an immediate steep downhill drop that ends in a sharp right had turn and from there this section is full of short climbs, sharp turns and afew jumps and boulders mixed in. I navigated Stegosaurus drop and Pine drop without any issues and headed past the Wilson Park office. After a short stair step climb and then the fast decent towards the third road crossing I began to navigate around the Marina section. At around mile eight, Steve Dutton and Dave Nily passed me and it was at this point I began to feel my pace had slowed just abit but I still felt pretty good.

I continued on towards the bridge and I noticed my time was definitely no longer on target. I was running about 1 minute slower than I needed to be. As I entered the newest technical section, Jeff Zook had pulled up behind and I slowed to allow him to pass. Around mile 11, I pulled even with a rider who was slowly walking his bike up a short climb. It was Brad, he had started to cramp up and was in pretty bad shape. Since there was nothing I could do for him I continued on towards the bridge. As I passed under the bridge I began to really sense my legs were feeling dead and after reaching the top of another short steep climb at the 14 mile mark it hit me, CRAMPS! They started in my left hip and quickly moved down that leg and then very quickly both legs were on fire. I coasted down the hill and when I came to a stop I was not able to turn my ankles to get unclipped from the pedals so I just fell over narrowly missing a cactus bed. After what seemed like forever, I was able to get unclipped and pull myself up to a kneeling position. This was my first ever experience with cramps and let me tell you the pain is excruciating. After slowly walking several hundred yards, the pain eased enough to allow me to get back on the bike. As I headed towards Cabin Hill, needless to say I was very concerned that the cramps would return. But, to my surprise they did not and I was able to finish the race.

The time I spent walking had cost me 7 or 8 minutes and it showed in my finishing time. My time of 1:52:30 was still good enough for 3rd place in my class. However, for me it isn't about where I finish as much as it is about meeting my expectations. Unfortunately, I was not able to reach that bar this time but I will keep pushing forward and looking to improve.

Until next time, stay "Clipped in and Crankin".

Primed and ready

Well, the race we all look forward to in this area is just about upon us. The Wilson Fat Tire race is just 5 days away (May 2nd). This is really a top notch trail and needless to say that I am very lucky to only live 45 minutes away.

I have been able to ride Wilson numerous times over the past several weeks in preparation for this event. Linda, my cute little biker wife, has also been putting in alot of seat time. This will be her first time to race Wilson and only her second MTB race ever. She has been riding extremely well and I think she has put herself in position for a good finish.

As for me, I am primed and ready. I have never felt as comfortable on that trail as I do right now. All the new stuff that Bob put in has really turned out sweat and for those who have not ridden at Wilson in the last 6 months, you are in for a real surprise. For my last several Wilson rides, I have really turned up the intensity and pushed myself to the edge. My times have been getting increasingly faster and tonight I shattered by record time and set a new personal best. I feel very good about where I am at. I will be racing in the Cat 2 category and this category and my age class are always the most competitive from top to bottom and it usually has the most riders. It is loaded with outstanding mashers so I really don't expect to compete for a podium spot. However, for me it is all about improving and seeing just how I stack up against my peers. The Great Bend area has a large number of really good riders and spending time on the trail with these guys has made me a much better rider.

Looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend and hope we all have a safe race. Until next time, stay "Clipped In and Crankin".

Squeezing in a ride or two

Well this past 2 weeks have been full of non-biking activities. The work load at the office has really picked up and I have an increasing number of family commitments. All of this has put a dent in my free time and caused me to miss both the "Lawrence River Trail" race as well as the "Battle at the Bird" race in OKC this past weekend. But, even with everything I have going on, I have still have been able to squeeze in a ride or two on the local Ark River trail as well as Wilson. A little seat time is better than no seat time at all.

My recent rides at Wilson have focused solely on getting Linda more comfortable with the 8 mile beginner loop. She is progressing nicely as we inch closer to the Fat Tire Race held there in afew weeks. Her confidence level is getting higher and she is a much better rider than she gives herself credit for. This past Sunday we were joined on our Wilson ride by Sandy Gilmore-McMullen and Karen Copeland.

I did have abit of a set back one week ago with one of those "how did that happen moments". On one of those Wilson rides, as I headed towards the base of tower hill, I reached the first road crossing and intentionally went air born as I jumped from the trail to cross the asphalt road. Not sure how or why it happened, but when I landed, my front tire was not lined up and I went down immediately. Needless to say, the human body is not built to handle a collision with asphalt at 20 miles per hour. The helmet really saved a serious injury but unfortunately my ribs really took the brunt of the impact. Luckily, the Superfly had no major damage. As many of you know, sore ribs are not much fun.

This week finds me in Perryton, Texas doing some business so I will miss that fantastic Tuesday night river ride. I will have to really pick up the pace the end of this week to make up for the 3 days off from riding. I need to find a job that pays me to ride my mountain bike. If anyone knows of anything please let me know.

Until next time, stay "Clipped in and Crankin".

Settling In

We have really been blessed with some great riding weather the past 2 weeks. This has helped me settle in to a good solid riding routine. It has been abit windy at times but one of the nice things about our local Ark River trail is that when the wind howls you don't even notice it down on the river. During the past 2 weeks I have been able to get in 6 rides on this trail for about 130 miles total. I have also worked in 3 plus laps at Wilson for another 60 miles.

The Tuesday night river rides are pretty intense with myself, Doug Chambers, Jon Shank and Jeff Stevens. Those guys are top notch riders and it has really raised my skill level with them pushing me to the limit for 25 miles each ride. These rides usually end with about 30 minutes of night riding which is a real blast. My two new Ameoba light set-ups have really enhanced my night riding ability.

Tomorrow Linda and I are headed up to Wilson and we will focus on getting her ready for the up-coming Fat Tire race which is being held there on May 1st. We will be focusing on the Cat 3 portion of the trail since that is what she will be racing. I look forward to riding Wilson now more than ever since I have my new Superfly 100. That is one sweet ride!

Well, that's all for now. Until next time, stay "Clipped in and Crankin".

The Big Tease

This time of year Mother Nature can be a real tease. We started the week with temps in the 60's and hopes of a great weekend of riding and we end the week with snow, wind and freezing temps. In addition to the training regiment, the race season is also feeling Mother Nature's wrath. The Battle at the Bird race in Norman scheduled for today has been postponed until later in the season. I have also heard that next Sunday's race scheduled at Lawrence will be postponed and I received an email from the Roman Nose 50 last night and it is looking like they may have to postpone that race also but they will not make the call until Friday.

Well, at least we did have afew days early last week for some serious riding before the weather turned bad. Two great rides on the Ark River trail, Tuesday and Thursday night, were just what I needed. I have said it before, we are really fortunate to have this 24 mile ride right at our finger tips. Bicycle Magazine spotlighted this trail last fall and here is the link to the web article,
http://bicycling.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/569408

Tuesday night was a pretty intense 25 mile jaunt on the West side. Myself, Doug Chambers and Jon Shank headed out with about and hour of daylight remaining. Both Doug and Jon are very outstanding and experienced riders and having those two on my tail really pushed me to the max. It didn't take long to reach the water crossing and then after a short stop for some mechanical repairs we were on to the Dundee bridge where the single track ends. Going on west, a ride over the bridge puts us into a really fun area of fast double track filled with lots of tight banked turns where it is just peddle as fast as you can for several miles until we reached the diversion dam and our turn-around point. After a quick recharge with a Clif Bar and a check of the my sweet Amoeba light set-up we were off again, retracing the trail back towards town

Thursday night ended up being a "chick night". Doug and I were joined by Morgan Stevens, Sandy McMullen and my lovely wife, Linda. We pulled out of the bike shop and hit the tight twisty east loop first. This part of the trail really helps you work on your balance and tight turns. This was the first time that I had my new Superfly 100 on this section and I was pleasantly surprised at how much easier it handled than my Paragon on this type of trail. After a spin through the East Loop, we headed for the West trail. A ride through the river bank section took us across the water crossing and then onto the "pinball section". Since everyone didn't have lights, this was our turn-around point. Thursday night rides are definitely much more laid back than those on Tuesday. But, they are equally enjoyable as it is always nice to have the ladies with us.

Well, that's it for now. Hopefully the snow will melt and the trails will dry out quickly this week. I need to get afew more rides in before heading down to Watonga to do the Roman Nose 50 on the 27th. I guess we will find out on Friday if Mother Nature will let us hold the race. Until next time, "Stay Clipped In and Crankin".

Spring is in the air

Wow!!! Is it ever great to get this winter behind us. It has been awhile since we have had a "real" winter but this one will go down as one to remember. Another real positive thing is the time change kicking in which means more riding time during the week.

We kicked off the 2010 race season down at the "Hills of Hell" race in Lawton, OK on March 7th and it was most definitely a hellish event. Doug Chambers and I headed out from Great Bend on Friday night and after a stop in Wichita to pick up Cameron Chambers and Dustin Burgardt we rolled into Lawton around 12:30. After a short night of sleep, we hooked up with Steve Dutton, Jon Shank, Bill Clinesmith and Chris Chambers and headed out Saturday morning to the race venue for a pre-ride. We had heard the trail was around 22 miles in length but about an hour into the pre-ride we took a wrong turn and ended up back at the start after just 12 miles. The trail was poorly marked and it appeared that they had added alot of trail just so they could say the trail was longer. Most of the new stuff didn't really make much sense and it is obvious that the people who marked the trail didn't really have much MTB riding experience. Cameron was able to get some decent video with his new helmet cam and we headed back to the Motel to watch the action and the evening ended with our traditional Saturday night dinner at Luigi's where we filled up on pasta.

Race day started with a carbo-charged breakfast at Cracker Barrel and as we were heading back to the motel to get loaded up it started to rain. None of us were very pleased with the trail lay-out and now that it was raining we were thinking about aborting and heading north to Roman Nose or Camp Horizon for some dry riding. After afew phone calls and some discussion it was determined that Horizon looked like a good spot so Steve, Jon and Dustin headed that way while myself, Doug, Chris and Cameron went to the race venue where we would make a decision on our plans. After an hour of watching it rain we had almost decided to join the others at Horizon. But, Cameron had not said much during this time and with just a half hour before the start of the race, he made it clear he wanted to race even if the condition were not going to be good. His decision to race was just the prodding that other three of us needed and we were off to get our timing chips and to get lined up at the start line.

The weather had really taken a toll on the number of riders with only around 80 of the original 125 or so riders taking a position on the line. This is a far cry from the almost 1000 racers that this race has seen in the past. After the traditional cannon shot, the race was on and we shot off the line headed for the first hill. As expected Cameron took the lead and was never really challenged. As the rain continued to fall I was surprised that the rocks really didn't get that slick. But, the mud was 6 inches deep on many parts of the trail and it was hard to tell just how deep the water was in many of the numerous creek crossing. After 2 hours on the trail, I topped the last hill and headed toward the finish.

At the finish line, I met up with Cameron, Doug and Chris. Cam won the race pretty easily, Chris ended up 12th, Doug was 13th and I crossed the line in 25th place. Considering my conditioning was not the best because of the poor training weather, I was happy with my finish. All of us agreed that we were very glad we stayed and raced even though the conditions were telling us not to. After hosing off the bikes and a quick shower, we loaded up the trailer and headed north. It ended up being a great trip, the riding may not have been the best but 3 days with the Chambers Clan is always enjoyable. Until next time, stay "Clipped in and Crankin".

Back in the Saddle again

Wow.....its been so long since my last post I actually forgot my password to log in and blog. Since Christmas my daily life has been in total chaos thanks to a major remodel here on the home front. The word, "Chaos", (derived from the Ancient Greek Χάος, Chaos) typically means a state lacking order or predictability. Man is that ever true. Trying to live in your house during this type of project is a real stress builder and will quickly put an end to your daily routine. Luckily it is complete and just in the nick of time.

The remodel project was a huge drain on my free time and that coupled with the extremely wet and cold weather really put a crimp into my training and riding. But, as the song goes, I am "Back in the Saddle Again". Lots of things have happened in my biking life since my last posting including a sweet new ride (Superfly 100) and the first racing road trip of the season (Hills of Hell). Nothing like a afew days of riding and camaraderie with Team Chambers to get everything back in focus.

I will have another post very soon updating the recent events and commenting on the 2010 season which is upon us. Until then, "Stay Clipped in and Crankin".