First Real MTB Ride Since Last Year

I rode at Pontiac Lake today. It was my first time riding an actual trail since last year. I've been sticking to the road and track all this year, so it was nice to change things up a bit.

I took it relatively easy for the first half of the first lap, letting John and Blaine ride behind me for a while. It took a few miles to get back into the rhythm of mountain biking, but it wasn't like I had forgotten how to ride or anything... I ramped up the pace a bit for the rest of the first lap and felt pretty good going into the second lap. I fell on the first left turn of the downhill after the first major climb, but got back up and dusted myself off, with no real injuries. Now that I think of it, that was probably the first time I've gone down all year.

The second and third laps went by pretty quickly, but I was feeling some pain in my right shoulder by the end of the last lap. I think my shoulder was still sore from the Madison races in the International 3-day. It was bad to a point where I had trouble turning the steering wheel on the drive back, and I could feel a tendon popping in and out of place. It got better, though when I let it rest for a few hours.

After I got back, I went over to Sam's house to film some of his movie, Devil's Night. It was pretty fun, but we didn't get done until 2AM after getting stopped by the cops once and Cranbrook security once for looking really suspicious while we were filming. However, we got all of Evan and Jesse's parts done, so it should be pretty easy to finish up the rest of the movie.

BTR Park Criterium in Kalamazoo

Today was the BTR Park Criterium in good 'ol Kalamazoo. I picked up Luke at his house and we carpooled out to the race. I was surprisingly not very nervous as I thought I would be for my first "fast" race in the Pro-1-2-3 field. When we got there, I ate a bagel and did a quick 20-minute warm up before the start. I regretted eating that bagel soon into the race because I felt like it was going to come back up.

The first four laps of the race were pretty fast, which was a good change from the 3s which seem to have a more relaxed attitude until someone attacks. A few small breaks went, but none got farther than a few seconds up the road before the field reeled them back in. Then a three-man break got about 10 seconds on the field. I didn't think much of it, and I just tried to stay in the top 10 in the field. Rider by rider, however, the break began to grow as small groups and solo riders bridged the gap. The next thing I knew, the breakaway had 13 people in it and 30 seconds on the field. At that time I was pretty much screwed - all the fast people were up the road, and all the major teams were represented in the break. This meant that nobody in the field was willing to do any work. That got really frustrating because a fast race turned into a slow train ride.

I tried doing some work on the front of the pack to pick up the pace, but nothing would stick. We probably didn't have any chance at that point of catching the break, but I wasn't worried - I was just excited that Luke had made the break. He had a good chance of pulling off a win, given the size and dynamic of the break. Unfortunately as we neared the start / finish on one of our laps, Luke came drifting back down the road. Evidently, he wasn't feeling really good and didn't have the desire to ride in the break.

The break did end up making it away, with Rob Dascewaaglidhsajh taking the win, with Danny Klein in second and Tim Finkle in 8th (finally a decent Wolverine finish!).

Overall, it was a good experience to race with a faster group. I finally got a reply from Paul Alman, and unfortunately I'm still a 3 (really frustrating), so that means I'll have to do some more slow races. At least that means I'll be able to gun for a win at Downer's Grove in the 3s.

Off-day Before Kalamazoo

I spent today off the bike since I'm going to be racing at Kalamazoo tomorrow. I kind of regret it now, because it was a really beautiful day and I could have done an easy ride out to Wabeek or something. Whatever.

The BTR Park Criterium in Kalamazoo tomorrow should be pretty sweet. It's not on the same circuit on which they held the Western Michigan Collegiate race, so I won't be familiar with the course. That could be a bit of a disadvantage since I'll be racing in the Pro 1-2-3 category (that's right, they combined the 3s with the 1s and 2s). I decided not to do the Category 3 race as well since it's before the pro race, and I want to have fresh legs for the pros. In all honesty, I should already have my upgrade to 2s by now since I submitted it about 2 weeks ago (right after the Make-a-Wish ride with Blair Dudley and Matt Scott). I knew I was ready to upgrade when I was giving Blair a hard time in the sprints while making Matt work on the climbs. Anyways, I'm really looking forward to racing in a fast category tomorrow. It's fun to race in the 3s, but I don't really feel like I'm pushing myself as much as I should be. A race doesn't really feel like a race in that category. I think I'll have a much harder time in the pro category, which is good - I'd much rather work hard to finish top 20 in the pros than pull off an easy top 10 in the 3s.

After an e-mail conversation with Dale Hughes, I've decided I'll be doing a track workout Sunday at noon. He tells me there is going to be a coach there who can help me work on my starts and get me ready for Collegiate Track Nationals. I'll probably bring my mountain bike as well so that I can ride the Bloomer trails afterward, perhaps with Luke.

So at the moment, my tentative schedule for the rest of the month is as follows:
Saturday: BTR Park Criterium
Sunday: Track workouts + easy MTB
Monday: MTB at Pontiac Lake (maybe with some U of M riders)
Tuesday: Six-Day at the Track
Wednesday: Six-Day at the Track
Thursday: Six-Day at the Track
Friday: Six-Day at the Track or rest for Downers Grove
Saturday: Six-Day at the Track or Downers Grove (depending on how some things go)
Sunday: Six-Day at the Track or nothing
Monday: MTB
Tuesday: Loose Spokes Ride from Birmingham
Wednesday: Points race at the track
Thursday: Easy MTB
Friday: Probably more MTB (I miss NAS-TRACK!!!)
Saturday: More MTB
Sunday: Leave for Mike's cottage
Monday - Thursday: U of M MTB pre-season camp up North
Friday: B-School Orientation + Ride in Ann Arbor
Saturday (Sept. 1st): Move in to 502 Catherine + Ride in Ann Arbor

Then school starts on the 4th (after Labor Day)! I'm really looking forward to the B-School and riding with U of M again, but I've got to stay in shape and stay focused on Track Nationals!

As fun as this summer has been, it's kind of nice that it's coming to a close.

First Ride on the New Giant Anthem

Today was my first ride on my new 2008 Giant Anthem 0. I started out at home, rode to Cranbrook, and did some random trails there. It started sprinkling a bit as I was riding back, so I decided that eating some dinner and then driving up to Pontiac Lake wouldn't be a good idea.

The bike felt pretty good. It's nice to have lockout in both the front and the back, despite the fact that it's manual lockout as opposed to TerraLogic lockout from Fox. The frame felt really responsive on the trails, especially on the halfway ridge trail that goes along the lake. It made me really want to go to a real trail and do some mountain biking.

The only thing I really regret about buying a full suspension as opposed to a hardtail is that it didn't feel as quick or nimble on the climbs. I think I'm a lot stronger than I was at this time last year, so the added 3lbs of weight wasn't much of a factor, just the "bobbing" feeling I felt as I was climbing.

Overall, I'd say I'm really happy with the bike (well, the color could be better), and I'm really looking forward to trying it out on some real mountain trails like Pontiac Lake and Poto. I'm thinking I might drive out to Pontiac Lake tomorrow and do one or two easy loops to keep my legs loose for the BTR Criterium in Kalamazoo on Saturday. That should be a tough race since I hear that there are some significant climbs, and I'll be racing in the Pro 1-2-3 category.

Sick of Waiting... Ready to Ride

Well, I got my wisdom teeth out first thing Monday morning and I haven't been able to ride since, so I decided to make a blog out of boredom.

Right now I feel pretty bad- I guess this is what cycling withdrawal feels like. My cheeks are swollen to a point where several people have told me I resemble a chipmunk, and my mouth doesn't feel really good. It's hard to eat a full meal as my jaw has not yet fully regained function, and I can't chew with my molars. Hopefully I'll be able to ride before the end of this week, especially since my new mountain bike just came in:

It's a 2008 Giant Anthem 0, size 20" and it just became available from Giant a few days ago. It's got a mix of X.0, XT, Avid and RaceFace components with Fox suspension and CrossMax wheels. I can't wait to finally hit the trail. I haven't had a mountain bike all season, so this will be a nice change to the road and track riding I've been doing. Without pedals it weighs 24 pounds even, and it will probably weigh a little bit less once I exchange the stock riser bars for the flat bars I ordered. They should arrive sometime Friday in the QBP order at KLM.

I spent this weekend plus Friday night racing in the International 3-day at the Velodrome at Bloomer Park. It was really fun to compete against some of the faster track guys in North America, but I didn't do to well. My partner who I was supposed to ride with ended up unable to come at the last moment so I had to ride with another partner. I feel like I would have had to do a lot less chasing if I had my original partner. After 2 days of pretty much constantly chasing the pack I started off day 3 pretty tired. I ended up crashing (well, sort of) when a rider tried to go underneath my exchange and knocked me off the track. Two of the nipples in my rear 404 broke, so I'm going to have to get those replaced. I ended up DNFing after the crash, but luckily Team White had withdrawn on the first day so I didn't end up in dead last. Overall, I still had a fun time, and I did pretty well in the Miss-and-Outs where I was able to use my pack riding skills to my advantage. Next year should be really good.

Tomorrow I'm going to call up Cannondale about my SuperSix which I ordered at the end of June, but which still has not arrived. Hopefully I'll be able to sort it all out before Elk Grove.

Which brings me to my next dilemma - I can either race all 6 days of the six-day race at the velodrome, which goes from August 14th - 19th, or I can skip the last days and do the Criterium National Championships at Elk Grove. I guess it depends on how I'm feeling. I'm expecting to get my upgrade to 2's pretty soon, so I think it would be pretty harsh to make the National Championships my first race as a 2. On the other hand, I'm feeling pretty fast this time of the season, so I might be able to make a splash. We'll see.

I also need to get Collegiate Track Nationals sorted out. At the moment I don't have anyone to go with, and I really don't feel like flying out to San Diego all by myself. I also need to find a place to stay when I'm out there. I've had a few people offer up their places, but I'm still unsure if I'm even going to get to San Diego in the first place.

Well, I guess this is pretty decent for my first blog entry. I've been meaning to start one of these for a while as I've heard they work surprisingly well as training tools. Regardless, I've finally done it, and I look forward to giving everyone updates