12 Hours of Sundance

Now I know the answer. Duo is harder than solo. I teamed up with Mad Dog XC hotshot Tim Hodnet on Saturday for 14 exciting laps at beautiful Sundance Ski Resort in perfect weather. We finished 7th in the male duo category and called it quits early cuz we were just plain pooped. We left the race with enough time on the clock to put in 2 more laps, but neither one of us were that committed or excited to keep it going. And, by this time Chris and KC Holley were 3+ laps ahead of us! The powerful Holley's put in an unbelievable 19 laps on rigid single speeds and took top honors all around.

I raced my single spped for the 2nd weekend in a row, and it was tough. Each lap was 7 miles with 950 +\- feet of climbing on buff single track. The course was in excellent shape and well marked which made it fast, if you had the legs. John cut a new trail in the grass and rocks that proved to be quite a challenge early in the day. Seems like everybody was talking about the "grass" - that's so hard and slow! By the end of the race the trail was well defined and much more compacted and ready for the public.

My race went well with lap times between 43 and 48 minutes. It took a while getting into a rhythm since my rest time between laps was only about 40 minutes. I was being nice to Tim and rode slower so he could fully recover ;-) It's all about the team to me. About 10 minutes into lap 1 I got stung on the back of my thigh by a bee and that aggravation lasted all day. The bees bit a lot of people and made for fun chatter between laps. I rode real well on the 1st 3 laps with less than 1 minute difference in riding time between them. Lap 4 was a different story. The cramps I got last week came back, and stronger! I had all I could do to hold them off while I finished the last 5 minutes of climbing. Same thing on lap 5. I popped a bunch of e-lytes and ate some chips, a PB&J sandwich and all was well after that. Only now the engine was running out of gas. As is normal in long events like this, my perceived effort rose and my heart rate sank. I'd call the control room for more power, but there was no more to give. Damnit Scotty! Tim finished his 7th lap and convinced me we were done. It didn't take much effort on his part - I was an easy sale at this point. I went out on my 7th lap and rode with Karl Vizmig who was riding solo. I rode the entire lap with him and it was the most enjoyable lap of the day. Karl was riding strong and his spirits were high. I finished my lap and he went out for 2 more! I think he finshed in the top 5 for the solo category - way to go Karl.

This was a way fun event with many of my favorite biking buddies and buddettes in attendance. I like the team idea because it's fun visiting between laps. I don't like it because starting and stopping is hard. I'm not sure I'd do a dou again, although if I were on a gear bike it may be more enjoyable. Solo? I love solo because it is slower and easy to keep in the grove all day, but I would miss the visiting and exciting atmosphere in the pits. So which is it, team or solo? Well, both.

Next up is the 24 Hours of Moab, my favorite race. This will be my 6th time on the fabeled course and our Grand Masters team is up to the challenge. Hopefully well have some competition this year. Old dudes - where are you?

Sundance SS Challenge

Action shot by Adam Lisonbee. Thanks Griz.

That's Chris showing me how big his calfs are. They're huge!!!

Yahoo, I did it and I met my goals. I finished 3 laps and was not last. I'm like a fine wine, I just get better with age. And the nice thing is I only got chicked once! Well, only KC showed up on the girl side, and you know how fast she is. Losing to her is an honor, and a given.

The thing that pleases me is all 3 of my laps were within a 1 minute spread, 34-35 minutes. I felt pretty smooth on the course, but the 29er wheel is different and is something I will grow into. Lifting the front wheel is harder and the hardtail is way different than I'm used to. Physically I was fit and felt strong, but both quads started to cramp at the same time on the last climb of the 3rd lap. Fortunately I was able to fight them off and finished in smiling fashion. Really, I didn't think I could do 3 laps!

This was a really fun, low keyed raced that has a real nice vibe to it. If you are into no-pressure, low key SS racing, give this one a try next year. I'll be there again with the same goals in mind.

Up next is the 12 hours of Sundance on Saturday. I wasn't going to do this race but Mad Dog temmate Tim Hodnet needed a partner, he was way desparate and I was his last hope, so I'm going to dou with him. Tim's way fast, and I'll be SS'ing it, so this should be quite interesting and fun. I've never raced duo before and am somewhat apprehensive. I hope I can recover adequately between laps and that my legs won't set up into concrete by mid-day.

Back in the saddle

Life after Leadville has had it's ups and downs. I picked up an upper respiratory and sinus cold at the race and was off my bike 7 full days. When I tried to get back at it I rode for 2 days and knocked myself down a couple more pegs. Not good. I took more time off and decided I was better and hopped back on my road bike last weekend. Last Sunday I rode and out and back from East Canyon Store to Lost Creek Reservior and felt strong, for the most part. My riding mate, Dave Knoop, is the kind of guy that picks up the tempo as the road pitches upward - he loves to climb and mash the gears. I held his wheel on all the climbs, and even lead him up a few, until we hit the long climb back from Henefer, which I love. After about 5 minutes of over-the-top tempo, I fell apart. I had no go juice and had to back it down. After summiting I was strong on the ride back to the store. I was encouraged.

On Tuesday I rode Emigration Canyon and felt like crap and was discouraged. I surmised my legs had not recovered from Leadville and the lack of riding was catching up to me. I took Wednesday off and hit Emigration again on Thursday with the hope that I could push through my lack of energy and get back in the grove. I couldn't believe it. My legs felt strong and snappy for the first time since June! I don't know what happened, but all is good now. If only I could have felt like this for Leadville. But, being a life long Cubs fan, I'm used to "wait until next year"!

I rode with Bill Dark and Dwight Hibdon yesterday as they prepare for LoToJa next Saturday and put in a solid 87 miles in heavy winds and high temps. I rode real well for the most part and took several strong pulls into the wind. I had good zip, until Brown's Canyon where the wind, lack of water and a poor choice of fuel started to catch up to me. I was experitmenting with a different type of fuel and it did not work out so well. And I was way behind on water, like always.

So, I'm feeling better and back in the saddle. I'm going to give the Single Speed Challenge at Sundance a go next Saturday with a goal of finishing and not being DFL. Believe me, that is a formidable challenge. I'll be riding my 29er Rig and look forward to my full conversion to the 29er family. More on that later.

Cyclist Intentionally Rundown

My fellow Mad Dog teammate Bill Dark has penned an excellent cycling awareness article that appeared in the Opinion section in the Sunday, August 24th edition of the Salt Lake Tribune. If you haven't read it, please click here, read it and give me some feedback. I want to write a follow up letter to the editor and am interested in your thoughts - if anybody is out there ;-)

I want to take a work together attitude, like Bill has, and not attack. I have a few ideas but could use a few more.

Leadville - 1 week after

The Leadville split times are in and it looks like I was on pace for a 9:50, if I could duplicate my final leg time from 2007. I ran out of gas and rode 25 minutes slower. I've looked at my data and it looks like dehydration may have gotten the best of me. I could not get my HR out of zone 1 (!) during that leg and had no zip whatsoever. After the race when I checked my Camelback that I filled at Twin Lakes and carried to the finish, only a few ounces were gone! I'm one of those unfortunates guys that does not get thirsty, so Camelbacks are not a good choice. I've got to go back to bottles so I can see what I'm (not) drinking. Given my splits, I'm encouraged for next year and I still think 9:30 - 9:45 is possible.

I've taken the entire last week off and hopped on my single speed yesterday for my 1st ride since the race. I have mixed feelings about my ride because I felt good for about 45 minutes, then I tanked. For one thing, the SS is a different animal and I worked much harder than I anticipated. The other issue is my lungs. Seems I must have picked up something no-so-good at Leadville and catching my breath and coughing has been a challenge all week. Hopefully things will clear up soon and I can get back at it. This may be stupid but I think I'll ride Emigration Canyon later today.

Someone asked me if I thought the IHE sessions I've done this year made a difference. Without a blood test to determine my hematocrit levels before and after the sessions, it's hard to tell if there was an actual physiological improvement. I did "feel" stronger though. It may have had a placebo effect because I really felt much better hiking Cloumbine this year than in 07. That said, my 08 time was only 2 minutes faster! On the other end, I rode the entire race about 8 minutes slower and I tanked during the last 30% of the race where I'm typically stronger. So, my answer is probably, but I'm not sure. Would I do it again - yes, why not?

So, now I can sit on my butt, guilt free, and watch the Olympics. Heck, if I can't breath, I can't ride, so I might as well get fat...