The Wayne Ultra

Wednesday evening I decided to do this 45 mile XXC race.  Thursday I pulled out the mountain bike from it's month and a half hiatus, and put some pedals on it.  Sunday rolled around, and while I wasn't yet comfortable back in the woods, I was hoping my fitness would be able to make up for it.  On the neutral rollout the lead dirt bike slammed on it's brakes, and we all received a fleecing for going in front of him ("Don't make me pull this thing over again!").  We proceeded to ride the next three miles at about 5 mph. I even had time to pull over, go to the bathroom, and catch back on without trying!  

I was riding in third place behind Gerry Pflug, got gapped, crashed trying to catch back on, and tweaked my hip.  Soft pedaled for a little bit, decided it was stupid to keep going (and zero fun!) and called it a day. Am I super bummed?  Yes.  But this is racing, and things will not always go smoothly.  Congrats to Gerry for winning, he was killing it.  I kept waiting for him to ease up a little, but it never happened!

Next up:  Five days away from the bike (I'm pretty tired and beat up, physically and mentally), and then start some training before the Renfrew Ra's.  It's going to be an awesome course, so make sure you come out and do it!

Camp

Another thanks to Fred Jordan for the picture!

I'm behind on blogging. Very behind. I'm sorry.

Oxford Road Race:

50 some miles. It started out nice and sunny out, and got darker and darker as the race went on. With about 15 miles to go the group was still all together and it started to rain a little. I moved to the front, and then it started to really come out. At the base of one of the climbs it started to hail, and a guy was up the road so I did my best to catch up, and another rider went with me and we got a three man break going. The field seemed to have no interest in chasing us down in the hail so we were able to stay away until the end. I finished in the middle on the sprint.


USAC Camp:
This was all last week, and it managed to rain (atleast a little) every day. Riding was still done, skills were learned, I didn't crash, and the food was really good. It was a really fun week.


Fort Cherry Road Race:

Ouch. I thought the second to last lap was the last lap. Ouch. Seventh. Happy with that finish.

Up next:

PA Elite TT States. On my road bike. Praying for a hilly course. More importantly, looking to have a good time and support the real TTers on the team.

Epic Weekend

Photo by Fred Jordan.

Three races this weekend.

Tour of Tucker County, Mill Creek Crit, and the Oakmont Grand Prix. Didn't win, but didn't lose that bad either. Really tired now.

All in all it was an awesome weekend of racing. Next weekend is the Oxford RR and the start of the Mid-Atlantic USAC Development camp.

What happens when you don't work on your bike...

...and have housing that hasn't been replaced in two years.

Aliquippa

It was my first race in about a month with almost no hard riding in between, so I didn't expect much.  I sat around the first few laps, got bored and did stuff at the front for a while, then got tired and went back to sit around.  Good time.  

Thanks to Fred Jordan for the pictures.

There

Prom was ok.  The actual dance was cool, everything else seemed like major overkill.  A good experience.  My face almost cramped from smiling for pictures.

I went for a ride today with my brother and my original riding/racing friend Jamie.  Ben and Jamie were crash-tastic, woo! No one got hurt, and I got to see at least 5 endos.  Sweet.  Ben crashed twice on the same log and required assistance untangling from his bike BOTH times.  They were both good sports about the whole thing.

Aliquippa tomorrow.  I WILL get dropped.  No hard riding since forever, still nursing the lungs.  But it will be a fun first time getting slayed as a Cat 3.

Double Crash

And now...

Still no racing.  Did a 55 mile mountain bike ride yesterday.  It felt great.  

Moving away from road into the XXC part of the year.  

12 Hours of Creek to Peak (Solo pending on doctor visit tomorrow about the breathers)

Maybe Rocktober 100k

Mohican 100 NUE

Massanutten XXC

Big Bear 24 Hour with the boys from Pro Bikes

I decided to not do Big Bear solo.  I didn't want to take that much time away from racing to get some proper long rides in.  Seeing people talk about training for solo is making me kinda miss it, but I think 4 person will be super fun and rewarding.