4th at the Fools Gold 100

Next up on the NUE series was the Fools Gold 100 in Georgia.

Heading down, we had chances of showers here and there - and during pre-ride, we got hit with some heavy sprinkles and thoughts of pyrite and mud mixing in with my brake pads and eating them slowly away like they did at last years event flashed before me.

Shortly before heading to sleep and a 4AM wake up to eat, I watched a cyclist's most "favorite" of past times when not riding - watching the weather channel and obsessing about the next days venture. Somehow, right before 10pm, a storm that was headed right for us died out and just missed us. Went to bed hoping the same would happen thing would happen again for the mid-day showers that were supposed to hit race day.

Race day comes, a small but stacked field was in place for the 100 mile event. It was surely going to be painful and the temperature was going to be hot.

Race starts off with a neutral start for a bit, then Eddie pulls off and the pace is slowly lifted up. 6 miles to the big climb and all the fast dudes are all there in place...

Up the first climb and immediately the pace is hot and the lead group starts pulling away. I stick with them a bit, but with temps already hitting 80 degrees, the pace blistering and with 94 more miles to go, common sense takes over and I settle in to a nice hard tempo that I can hold.

Up and over the hella long climb, into the single track. I am with a few others for a bit, then I am off on my own in no mans land for a long while, and then I start reeling riders back in.

Up the climb the second time, I reel more riders in but I am not feeling too swell. I switch to just drinking water and backing off on my pace a bit until I start feeling better. Heart rate is good, legs feel awesome - better yet, no asthma issues due to my new meds. Ah, it is so nice to breathe....

Into the last stop on aid 2/3 on my last lap, I get inspired by learning I am sitting in 3rd spot. My stomach is starting to feel a lot better, I am getting nutrition in and I feel great - the temperature is cooling off a bit too, so I up the pace and hope that the darkening skies do not unleash any rain.

Miles are ticking off, pace is going up and I am passing up a lot of 50 mile riders. With about 12 miles to go, all rain hell breaks loose and things start to get sloppy.

I am making a mess of the mud riding, can't see to good and I felt like I was riding too slow - just about then I slid out pretty hard. Hoping that the single track would end around the next corner, I press on.

About 2 miles from the end of the single track, the 4th place rider catches me and flies on by. He's riding the single track well when I am not.

I am soon out of the woods, onto the road back to the finish. I use the last of my water in my bottles to clean off my drive train and pedal on. I look back about 30 times in the last 6 miles to make sure nobody is sneaking up on me.

Would finish up the day 4th with one more 100 miler to go in the NUE series, the Shenandoah.

Sologoat out

(PHOTO CREDITS: Dean Thorton, Ryan O'Dell and OutdoorEventPhotos.com)

2011 Fools Gold - short post

2011_NUE_FoolsGold, originally uploaded by solo_goat.

tough day, sitting in a hotel just about ready to head back north and i feel like i was in a fist fight last night and had a couple of kidney shots.

ended up the day in 4th, just loosing 3rd place in the last few miles of single track after the late race rain made a mess of the trails.

stay tuned for the longer write up, hopefully tonight.

sologoat out

pierre hole 100 part 2, 24 hour nats pre-ride and ernesto update

Saturday was the start, freaking early start at 6am, but at least that meant an early finish to soak up the atmosphere.

Gun went off, and the pace went up immediately. I settled into a pace I could hold for the next 8'ish hours and by the first downhill, I was catching riders already who had flatted on the very first descent.

about half way through the first lap and i picked off a few more here and there. i was moving up and felt good.

2nd lap, all is still going good and i am settling in and picking off riders. seems like i am riding alone a lot at this point, but the heart rate is still holding strong.

somewhere in lap 3'ish, i start to come unglued. heart rate is dropping and i am having difficulty breathing. asthma is starting to kick in slowly but surely and i try not to panic, but i am dropping places and speed. eddie o catches me on the long climb and is out of sight pretty quickly. i try to take in some caffeine to fight off the asthma, but it's too late.

lap 4 become hellacious at this point and i have slowed way down right along with the heart rate. i come through the pit area with 7 miles to go and have to sit down to catch my breathe, but continue to push on. the last miles seemed like an eternity as i had to push my way some little pitches i was flying up just 3 hours before.

i make it in under the time limit to get the belt buckle and somehow still manage a 12th on the day when i was sitting top 5'ish. very disappointing, but happy i pulled it out.

would suck down a few puffs from troy's inhaler along with a few brews before we called it a night.

the next day we would drive straight back as i think the race hit us all pretty hard and hella big breakfast we had in grand junction was enough food to feed us for an entire day, so we rolled on in back into golden colorado the next day....

and then hit up the 24 hours nationals course the day before the rough course layout came out.

behind jon's arm is the pit area, which will be a different spot then compared to other venues out there as you can literally run across the street for brews in case you run out during the night.

otherwise, the course is going to have very little climbing and what rocks they do have on it are going to be very techy and ouchy if you happen to decide to inadvertently eject yourself off of your bike. hope you find a sandy spot if you do.

after that, rolled out, had some awesome Chinese food compliments of Jon - which i have to say mucho thanks to for his and his families hospitality for my week long adventure out west.

and up this week -

reassemble bike 1, bike 2 and 3 repairs and new treads - done

interbike registration and flight - done

asthma doc and new (hopefully) "working" meds - tomorrow

another 100 - this weekend

sologoat out

My Pierre Hole 100 adventure - Part 1

Sorry for the lack of bloggage lately, been out of state and internet access for the past week or so, just getting back from the Pierre Hole 100 race which was the latest stop on the NUE 100 miler circuit.

Flew out solo to meet up with Jonathan Davis from Colorado, along with some of his pals, Kurt and Brandon to head up in his RV to roll up to Wyoming for the 10'ish hour trip.

First day would see me put together my bike which arrived safely from FedEx sent through my pal Billy A and BikeFlights.com. Shortly after we got the bike together, I shot up to Jon's home at 9000 feet and immediately began sucking air as the altitude hit me pretty hard. Felt like breathing through a straw.

Would sleep the night there, then go out for one more cruise around Golden Colorado before heading north to Alma Wyoming.

Driving and resting and eating was the plan for the next 10'ish hours or so and we would make it almost to Jackson Hole before we would crash out along the only spot to stop along some random back road we were on.

Woke up and found a beautiful landscape of mountains and a roaring stream next to us. Surely was not in Ohio anymore.

Huge breakfast in Jackson Hole, a few stops at grocery stores for some supplies, then up to the Grand Targee resort near the Grand Tetons. We would be around 7200 feet, race course would max out around 8200'ish.

We would ride the last 7 miles of the course. The near the basic figure 8'ish layout of the course would allow us to have our RV right on course and easy for us to grab our feeds.

The last 7 miles was rolly, going up and up, down somewhat, then back up and then back down. And don't forget lots of rocks along the way and a fun downhill to the finish.

The first 25 miles would have to wait, but we hear from others - a fast descent, and lots of climbing after.

It was going to be a tough 100 miles.

wilderness 101

or should i say, mechanical 101?

race day saw a pretty stacked field for the 2011 version of the wilderness 101, which saw a couple of ex-pro roadies along with the normal super fast riders.

going up the first climb it was all out, we were flying and there was not many with us, but by the top i was maxing out. not really knowing how much further it was until the end of the climb, i backed off and got into a little group.

we were about 8 strong, and were in a pace line - somewhat. i don't think the majority of them had ever ridden a pace line and it was breaking up with every rotation, but somehow we were closing the pack on the main pack that had slowed. as we neared them, some of the guys surged and then 4 of them popped off the back. 4 or 5 of us made it to the main pack around mile 20'ish and then they decided to up the pace again. damn. popped off again.

a few miles later and into the first real single track and some hellacious rock sections. i hit the section pretty hard, i think the chain jumped off a little and then i cranked down hard. not good. the chain had twisted around somehow and when i pedaled down, it bent the chain.

it was skipping bad, no way would i make it another 70'ish miles like this. so i jumped off, looked at it and the bent link was right before the master link. sweet - out with the chain tool, a quick fix and back on the bike.

10 feet later - snap! don't know what happened, but it snapped for good this time, and bent the master link too. somehow, i got it to bend back - but i had lost considerable time fixing it and damn near lost my cool a few times.

back on, i made it to the next station and had the mechanics bend the master link as best they could. more lost time.

now, the chain was cut short and i was not able to make it into the biggest two cogs when in my big ring. i would have to remember this or i would probably damage the rear derailleur. something very hard to do when your heart rate is averaging about 150 and you have 60+ miles to go.

up and down, up a climb and then down, and then - a sliced front tire and stans all over me. cut was so bad, there was no way sealant would fix it. and chris beck was right next to me, having the same issue.

so i gave him one tube that i had, i used the other. and off we went.

he would drop me on a climb, i continued on and flatted 3 more times on the same tire. at one point, i would walk for over 20 minutes waiting for somebody to pass with a tube. oh the futility.

finally, got a tube from a passing rider. at this point, i was sort of in a bewildered state from the mechanical mess of a race i was having. i ended up catching up with robert who rides for tomac and we would ride together the last 10-15 miles of the race. he was not having a great day either, so it was good to ride in together, bs along the way and forget about the issues that lay on the trail behind us.

their will be other days, and besides, got to ride on some nice trails and enjoy the day with 300+ plus mountain bike enduro freaks.

see you in wyoming.

sologoat out

3, west and 101

been a hectic week of sorts, so the lack of free time has cut dramatically into bloggage time.

here's the past week wrapped up -

3
- or should i say, the westlake disaster.

ok, got to admit, prior to this year, maintenance on my road bike has been somewhat non-existent. my stuff is just beat down in general to the point i am going to the point i will be needing a new road bike next year.

1 - anyhoo, got to the crit. 120 pounds of pressure in a tire does not fare well in 95 degree car. so boom goes the dynamite and my first tube of the day.

2 - new tube, pumped it up and the pressure seemed a little high. got distracted talking bike stuff, tire slipped off the bead as it wasn't seated, boom goes the dynamite again. damn.

3 - new tube from marshall. warmed up, did about 45 minutes of racing and hit one of the various ruts on the course super hard with my front and rear wheel. front wheel with the new conti wide clincher came through fine. rear wheel didn't and flatted by the first corner.

out of tubes, ticked off and i have always had a notion in my head that when you get your third flat of the day that it is divine intervention telling you not to ride any more. so i bagged it....


WEST
....and went home and packed up one of my pivot 429's to head west. i'll meet up with her in golden colorado with jonathan davis where we will head north to the pierre's hole 100. it is a new edition to the NUE 100 miler series.

25 miles loops, at high (but not stupid high) elevation, and has a lot of climbing. so, on paper, should be a good course for me - and i have always wanted to race in wyoming, so why not?

got the bike to fedex, rested and rode a few days and now....

101
headed 4 hours east to hang out with the stans gang for a bit before our early AM wake up call tomorrow for the start of the wilderness 101.

it's been a few years since i have done the 101, and i am excited to get back here to my home state and to check out the new course design that chris scott came up with. it will be to catch up with old friends and to say farewell to billy a as he heads west with bikeflights.com.

oh - and if you think i am nutty for riding 100 mile mountain bike event...

how about the burning river 100, a 100 miler RUNNING event in akron ohio. winning time last year was 15 1/2 hours. ouch. saw this event a few years back and caught up with runners at 70 miles. they were looking "slightly" rough.

and just to note - they will have 309 runners tomorrow.

either way, good luck to them and everybody else doing a 100 miler tomorrow. see you on the trails.

sologoat out

two crits

crit one - tuesday night worlds at westlake

was bound to be a fast one as panther duo andy and paul came out to dish out some pain. usual early attacks went down and i stayed back watching...

as laps dwindled down a little, i was sitting behind paul and noticed he looked twitchy just as we were about to catch a small break group. i stuck on his wheel, he ramped it up 30mph+ and immediately we had a small group of about 10'ish riders.

some were working, some were not, gap grew, gap got smaller. and then we were caught again.

so it would be a sprint. i was originally in bad position, getting boxed out early, but found my way around and wound up dead center of the pack and sprinting all out. i would get the rgf sandwhich - dave got first, i ended up second and bob wound up third.

chapel hill - thursday worlds
crazy corner course with crazy high temps. race start saw the temperature well above 90 and made the pavement seemingly slippy. i have always adjust pressure down in the tires for better grip, but never thought of doing that for a crit. got to think these things out.

45 minutes plus 5 laps.

one neutral lap, then through the start finish and i had a brilliant idea to up the pace. that was immediately countered and then it seemed like a series of fast bursts and attacks came.

i got caught out, but was in small group with two riders chasing the main pack. a lap or two chase, the gap was close but the others cracked. head down, i powered to the main group and decided i would hang out for the rest of the race. just didn't feel great and it seemed like it was a little hard to breathe.

more surges, more gaps, one grew out a little far on the last corner. bob and i almost made it, then a surge came from the main group and they were off.

goal at this point was not to get lapped, just ride steady - and so we did. most of the riders in the main group got popped off leaving jeremy, phatty and shawn up front where they would eventually finish 1/2/3.

our group got a little bigger, then some riders got popped or pulled out. i seriously thought about dropping out myself about 1/2 way through.

dan got back in after a mechanical, pulled us around for a bit and then i snuck around him just before the corner after the start/finish to get a good gap which i held onto to the end for 4th. tough day in the sun.

sologoat out

6 hours of power

last sunday brought the 6 Hours of Power in ellicottville new york. loop starts off with a climb and then is ridled with single track, short little climbs and drops and then concludes with decent on hard packed and rocky and rutty trails.

gun went off, and i made the lead 4 man break with two team riders and fellow solo competitor steevo cummings. we pegged it several times before the little turn at the climb, then they pegged it again right before the single track. with about 5 hours and 55 minutes left in the race and my heart rate at 185, i backed off and figured steevo would chase and eventually burn out with the pace and the heat.

lap 1 would have me hot on the heels of steevo and i could still see him for most of lap 2.

on lap 3, steeve kept the pace up as the temps went up and his gap grew.

on lap 4, a team rider finally caught up to me and i was passing more and more lapped traffic which was a nice break as it seemed like i had been riding by myself for a long time.

on lap 5, coming down the decent on the backside, i hit my front wheel sidewall and sealant starts squirting out. hoping that it would seal up and hold pressure, i continue on and near bite it about a minute later. i hit with some CO2 to get me through the start finish and then switch out my front wheel. steevo now has a pretty solid lead at this point.

lap 6 i decide to hold a steady pace and stay safe. all is good and i roll through the start finish with about 45-50 minutes to finish up my last lap. 3rd overall is close behind, but i hear from my pit crew that he is cramping up.

so i roll out on my 7th lap with little chance of catching steevo so i stayed safe and rolled through the techncial sections not taking any risks figuring i would up the pace if i caught site of my chaser and force him to do another lap.

with my garmin pretty much dead on tracking my overall time, by the time i reached the start of the last decent, my time was almost at 6 hours - and i would roll through the finish line a few minutes past 6 hours for 2nd overall.

sologoat out

a little late - tuesday worlds

tuesday was yet another installment of pain train fun at westlake and it was my debut of my new setup - a standard dura ace crank with new 53 tooth big ring. Crank came from one of my older Moots cross bikes running a standard crank with a single ring as the inner ring would hit the stays. In a moment of bike work geniousness, I finally figured out that most of the newer style cross bikes run compact cranks. So oddly enough, the swap of cranks between the cross and road bike worked out well - now i can run a double setup on my cross frame and then "upgrade" the road bike to a 53 to help me out a little more in the sprints and higher end speed.

first few laps went down as usual, i pulled a little after the first corner and could definitely see a difference in how the pedals were turning over and it was a lot easier to get up to speed. pulling back the gaps seemed a lot easier.

roughly half way through, i put down some efforts, some others joined in the fun and the pack was split in half. i was now in a break with about 15'ish or so riders, maybe more. it was good to shed the field, but it was too many riders.

spin and carbon seemed to be throwing a lot of attacks together, so i chased the first ones down from our pack group. after about 5 or 6 of them i decided that chasing each one down was a little ambitious, so i waited a bit.

dave and brian went, so did cameron. then i jumped. we got a gap pretty quick, we were going at pretty good speed until the closing laps. as the speed went down, so did the gap. i put down some longer pulls at higher speed, cameron returned the favor. a few turns with the guys and the gap went back up for the last lap sprint.

going into the stop sign right turn, had a little gap and i faked a seated attack - they jumped on my wheel.

we got into the straight and it spread out. i was to the left, cameron to the right - dave was behind cameron and brian behind me. at 150 meters, i jumped hard, but cameron was a little quicker - he would take the win, i would grab second, brian would grab 3rd and dave 4th.

next up - a little enduro. stay tuned.

sologoat out

chapel hill and stuff...

2011ChapelHillRace1 (4), originally uploaded by solo_goat.

this past thursday brought up the start of the 4 race chapel hill series which brought a small field in the A race as tour of the valley was starting the next day...

jeremy was there, so was bob, pete and shawn, so the pack was small but pain level was going to be surely high.

45 minutes and 5 laps, we shed a few guys here and there. twist and turns and speed were all good, everybody seemed to take a turn on dishing out some pain.

i dove into the last corners on the last lap and lead out the sprint after getting a good jump on the field. jeremy would take the win, pete took second and i came in 3rd.

another great training race topped off with a little bit of cash and free subs and cookies from subway. sweet!

saturday and sunday brought up 4+ hour hard tempo days along with a new addition...

yes, a 53 chainring is now on my bike and is officially NOT skipping.

up next, a few more training crits, an upcoming enduro and a trip out west for another 100 miler on my Pivot 429 build up.

with that, time to depart - it's tuesday worlds.

sologoat out

tuesday worlds and such..

0707_2011ride, originally uploaded by solo_goat.

another tuesday and another pain therapy session.

this time, early break went and got a good gap. worked with paul and bob to pull things back, held back a little at the end to try to reserve some pop for the inevitable 35mph paul attack but alas, didn't have the snap when he went with aussie rob.

several strong efforts were put down, and i know i took the more aggressive approach to those trying to slow the speed at the front,and a few others got up the road. sorry for any bumped elbows.

bob decided to help out a brotha' at the end and gave me a lead out, but had to battle pete in the end for his wheel - which was my "good-bye" gift to him as he departs for the west coast. (somehow things always seem better on the west coast)

bob jump at warp speed, i duked it out with pete and he would win the battle for 5th.

also - mucho thanks goes out to mr brink for allowing me to borrow that sweet Zipp front wheel.

next up, thursday night chapel race training crit - and a search for a weekend race.

sologoat out

All aboard the Tuesday night pain train

Another tuesday, another night of pain at westlake ohio.

yesterday's event started off a little slower then usual which i didn't mind as my legs were feeling a little beat up as of late. several times i saw the pace go down into the low 20's and then it would pop back up again.

i decided i would continue my tactics of racing smart and not taking any hella long pulls or do anything that would put me in the hurt locker for too long until the time was right.

usually the pick up in pace was from paul, and he was looking exceptionally twitchy and fast. he was pulling back a ton of breaks in no time at all.

laps were counting down and i was thinking that paul was going to unleash a late furious attack. and so it was written in the history of westlake worlds my prediction....

he attacked with about 8 to go and i went with jp to try to chase him down. it hurt like hell - and according to my garmin, we hit around 35mph+ chasing him and my heart rate hit around 185. ouchy.

with a 3 man break established, we were taking pulls, but clearly paul was the strong man. we would all take pulls and i was just starring at my garmin counting laps, looking at my heart and for the field behind us.

gap grew, legs started cramping.

2 laps to go, right before the 2nd corner, paul jumped us, cramps twinged and he got a good gap. we would hold him steady to about 100-150 feet, but we were both pretty cooked from our efforts.

we did not sprint and would finish side by side, i was scored second on the day.

sologoat out

Monday's Topeak 4 pack

Four pack of Topeak products coming at you on a Monday evening...

JoeBlow Mountain Floor Pump

Mountain bike specific floor pump designed to deliver high volume and is built to last. Note the max 75psi capacity and twin head. And don't forget my favorite feature - a nice built in air release button.

Overall great pump that inflates tires quickly and has some features not found on most other brands.


RaceRocket MT

Compact aluminum pump weighing in at only 85 grams and can inflate tires up to 90psi. It's small enough to stick in your back jersey pocket, but I actually prefer to run mine with included side bottle cage mount.

Pump has some really nice features like an integrated dust cap to keep dirt from getting into pump head and an extendable hose that hides inside the pump. I have found that the hose actually makes it a little easier and safter to pump up tires as you don't have to put so much force into pumping and you are also not having to brace the valve stem with your other hand to avoid ripping it off. And - don't forget that SmartHead allows for either Presta and Shrader valves.

Also, with a max pressure of up to 90psi, it would also give you enough pressure in a road tire to get you home in a pinch.

Light, with a cage mount, presta or schrader and works really well - now you don't have an excuse not to carry a pump.


SmartGauge D2

The 2nd generation digital gauge that reads both presta and schrader valves and runs off of one CR2032 battery.

LCD display reads in psi, Bar or kg/cm.

Reads very quickly and I have found it especially useful when using my older road pumps with pressure gauges that have seen better days. Was quite suprised to see my old pump's gauge was about 10psi low.

Would be a nice accessory to take with you on race day where you may not room to take floor pumps with you - at least you know you will have consistent air pressure if you are as finiky about tire psi as I am.


Pocket Shock DXG

Shock and fork pump that delivers up to 300 psi.

Well built and very sturdy, features include a rotating hose, engage/disengage valve knob with an anti-air loss knob and an air release button. Pretty much all the features you need in shock pump.

Preliminary results are good - pump action is very good and I have seen only minute air loss when removing the pump.


Sologoat out

westlake worlds - 6.21

another tuesday, another westlake training crit.

race started out casual as usual, then picked up after the start/finish on the first lap. nothing of note went down, until a few laps later when i got into an early break.

the group was a little bit bigger and eventually the pack would catch back up. figured at some point a break was going to go, and it would probably involve jim b, so i focused my efforts to staying up front and near jim.

another small break goes and i sit back and eventually i would take some harder pulls to keep their gap in check. about 100 feet from catching them, i back off and wait for the attack.

a few laps later, i roll through the front and am sitting towards the front - then it goes down. rob rolls off the front seated and hitting the pedals hard, jim makes quick work up to close the gap. i hesitate for a moment, nobody chases - and i decide to go. heart rate hits about 185 as rob kicks again and makes my life painful... we hit the first corner and i on their tail, i look back and matt is about to catch us. robert would also eventually come up as well.

with the group established, we are all pulling through pretty good, but then a car comes on course and causes us to slow down. at the front again, i pull after the first corner all the way to the 2nd corner at around 31mph. gap goes up again.

robert cracks, matt is not feeling well, and it looks like the field is attempting to chase. i decide that hard fast pulls between corner 1 and 2 were going down every lap until the field decides to stop chasing or the gap goes up. with 2 to go, the gap is good.

rob leads it out from waaaay out, jim sitting 2nd, me in 3rd, matt in 4th. jim comes around and takes the win, i close the gap on rob but he beats me to the line - he takes 2nd, i grab 3rd and matt is close behind in 4th.

nice way to wrap up a tuesday night before the rain hit.

and i did officially get new 53/39 rings a week or two ago, but at this point i am not going to jinx myself with new road gears.

next up - this weekend, hmmm... deciding on a potential first for me in a long time. i see a potential real deal non-training race criterium in my future....

sologoat out

2011 Lumberjack 100 - 10th place

2011 Lumberjack 100 - 01, originally uploaded by solo_goat.

10th place at the Lumberjack 100. Here's the down-low on how things went down...

1rst lap started on the road, hella speed into the parking lot bumping elbows into the first section of single track.

Soon, a group of about 20'ish or so of us would form off the front of the field, putting in some serious gaps on the others.

Ripping through the first 33 miles was surreal, we would drop a few, but for the most part we were all riding about 5 feet apart for the first lap.

Through the start/finish, pace shot up as riders got quick feeds. I tried to keep up the pace, but the leaders had a gap I could not close. Time to settle in with another rider who I raced against in Arkansas, Kip.

We ripped up most of the lap together and parted ways up the steep hike a bike section, I would roll into the end of my 2nd lap alone after slowing down a little and going through a little bit of a rough patch as the heat set in. About 4 riders caught me in the start finish... Damn.

Caught them all pretty quick, but Kip got by me and was rolling fast and would eventually finish 9th on the day.

I rolled by myself for the most part, looking forward to the cold Coke and water at the mid-way point at mile 17 on the loop.

Refreshed, I pedaled on, but felt some slight twinges of cramps in arms and legs. Luckily, they stayed away - for the most part.

Closing miles had one rider in front of me that looked like he was a little cooked. I got around him, just in time for the last climb and decided I would jump on the pedals one last time around the switchback starting the last climb.

Out of the corner, stomping on the pedals, and I catch sight of Eddie and another rider in hot pursuit - but I don't think they saw me. Time to stomp a little harder on the pedals. Immediately my legs and arms start to cramp and my lungs scream from the little bit of asthma that hit me around mile 70. Time to suck it up and get over the climb.

At the top, around the last bend of the climb,I glance back - I got a good gap on my chasers that are nowhere in sight.

Would finish up 10th on the day with a time around 7:15. And just to note, that my time would of got me 5th'ish about 3 years ago... you've got to earn your finishes these days enduro freaks. Fields are bigger and faster, and I think the racing is a lot more fun these days with the big fields and top notch racers.

Sologoat out

tuesday night worlds and coming up...

2011_0616, originally uploaded by solo_goat.

as, tuesday night worlds at westlake.

got in an early break that was brought back and then rolled off the front after andy went down hard and then rolled off again with a small group later in the race.

gap went out quick, looked good, but one thing was missing - paul.

with field gasping for air, paul muscled his way up to our break with about 1/2 lap to go. somehow i managed to keep my position and tucked in nicely to come up with a half way decent sprint for 5th. good way to wrap up the day.

next up, the lumberjack 100. 3 laps at 33 1/3 miles. mostly sandy, small rollers with no real climbs. excellent single speed course that will be cool this year as opposed to the hella hot of all the years past.

will be searching for a good result and to get the monkey off my back from last years dnf at this event after smashing my knee into the ground - which did not feel to good as i had recently just came back from a broken leg.

with that, time to get in a short spin and get packed up. see you in michigan.

sologoat out

big bear 2x12

2011_BigBear2x12_(103), originally uploaded by solo_goat.

big bear was setting up to be an epic battle, nick waite teamed up with jeff schalk - and a few other teams joined up fast guy forces to make the top 3 spots hotly contested. it was not going to be a race to hold back on.

pre-ride on friday was great and course conditions could not be better - was the best conditions i have seen the course in years, guessing that the mini dry spell we had the week before really helped. it was going to make it a fast race.

rain came in after the pre-ride and more rain came early the morning of the race, but nothing to really change the conditions.

dave would start off first. gun went off, dave was at the front with the leaders. awesome. i went back to start gearing up.

not 10-15 minutes later, dave is running back. not awesome. looked like the chain jumped off, landed on the outer plate of the derailleur and when he pedaled, it basically torqued the upper derailleur bolt so much that it actually snapped inside the derailleur.

not thinking straight, we yanked a derailleur off a bike, got it going and sent him on his way. in hindsight, i should of either given him my spare bike or i should of went out.

so, dave went off in speed. on the downhill about 1/2 way through the course, he cut a tire. not awesome either. he would have to run about 6 miles.

far back at this point, my mind was determined to do some fast laps. my race at this point was to try to better my lap times.

first lap was fast, but my garmin decided to turn off - later i would change the "auto turn off" "feature" on my garmin.

dave's next lap was 1:04.

my next lap would be 1:03, dave's was somewhere around 1:08'ish - no doubt due to a ton of running.

i would wrap up the day with a last lap at 1:02.

not the day either of us planned and from the lap times we were turning, we would of been mixing it up with 1rst and 2nd - as odd fate would have it, nick also cut a tire and lost major time.

at the end of the day, stuff like this happens - it's racing and it's going to happen. better to get past it, enjoy the event, get some great fast laps in to hone up for the next event, eat an awesome bbq sandwich and drink a few good pints of brew.

i'll be back in 2012 to get the mechanical monkey off my back. also, need to get the word out to race organizer mark that he needs to get a solo class in this event.

sologoat out

big bear pre-ride

2011_BigBear2x12_09, originally uploaded by solo_goat.

course for the big bear 2x12 is running that same as last years event, only this time it is a lot drier.

ran hit yesterday and today, with some being expected to hit tomorrow. either way, the course is holding up great and it looks to be an epic weekend.

nick waite has teamed up with jeff schalk so the pace and speed of the race is going to be blazing.

i will be teamed up with fellow ohio rider dave walker who's sure to turn out some super fast laps.

time to rest - tomorrow time to race and enjoy some post race brews.

sologoat out

tuesday night worlds and update

tuesday night, another westlake worlds event went down. heat was high and so was the speed.

paul got a gap with about 15'ish or so other riders - jayson and i tried to close the gap, got real close and the efforts from mohican was just too much to close the gap at 20 feet. jayson got to within about 10 feet and popped as well.

back in the pack, heart rate went down and the gap went up until bob and i decided to pull the entire field back to the break. consistent steady pulls got us to within 5 seconds and then the field decided to finally work with us and pull back the remainder of the gap.

but - as soon as we closed the gap, a few riders snuck away from us.

laps would tick off, we couldn't close. a gap formed on the last lap in the s bend section with shawn pulling hard. i jumped the gap, pulled with him and we distanced ourselves from the main pack and would work with each other to just hold off the main pack at the line for 6th'ish and 7th'ish. nice work at the end to pull something off, but i still think i need to get some new cranks and rings as the 50 tooth big ring is not cutting it at westlake.

next up - big bear 2x12 where i will be teaming up with hella fast ohioian dave walker under the team name of "team liger" as it is pretty much my favorite animal.

and - good luck to all my two wheeled road friends this weekend as well - ohio master road champs and a hella long road race up in michigan this weekend at 128 miles. now, if that was on dirt roads, it would be real fun.

sologoat out

1rst at the Mohican 100 - ah, wait - make that 12th

Next stop on the NUE circuit, the Mohican 100. Conditions in Ohio cleared way for a dry and fast course.

Straight shot out of town, up the $200 prime hill where two riders went for it. They both sat up after the sprint and the lead group reformed. I looked back before the last few rollers before the first single track section and the group of 15'ish or so I was in already had a gap on the rest of the field.

Into the first section of single track, things started to thin out and by the time I got out onto the first short road section, my Garmin 500 turned off. Awesome. Guess I left it on all night, so the next 90 or so miles would be without no heart rate, distance, temperature, etc. Maybe that was for the better.

Into the first hella hike section and out of the park and into the fun roller section of single track with nobody behind me in sight. I started picking off riders and making good time.

Caught a group of 4 or 5 riders on top of the roller section and proceeded to pull away from most of them, taking one rider with me. Through aid 1 and through aid 2 we would roll along.

Right before aid station 3, I gap the rider with me and come up hot on a turn - not initially seeing a sign or marking, I stop about 30 past it in confusion. Mike catches up to me, we decide to go "this way" after some initial standing around and proceed to start riding again. Some 5-7 minutes later, we are right back where we were previously. I am guessing I lost somewhere around at least 10 places and 10 minutes. Frustrating to say the least, but my head was down and I wasn't fully paying attention. My bad.

I roll on, catching a few riders here and there, and catching back up to riders I had previously dropped.

Onto the long rails to trail section, I am in a small group and we start rolling through pretty easy. Half ticked off at myself and half giving up, I roll easy after pulling through with decent power a few times with nobody putting fourth any effort. 15 or so minutes of this, more riders roll up and sit in. Finally, rider rolls off the front easily and I do the same, eventually getting a gap with another rider. 3 of us would roll into aid station 4 together.

In and out of station 4, the three of us continue on and we would eventually split apart on the rollers heading into station 5. I grab a quick coke and roll on.

Through the little rollers and the hella steep climb where I flatted last year, and then into the final sections of single track. The heat was kicking in pretty good at this point, so it was good to get into the single track shade.

Would eventually roll in first on the day.

Yep, I totally crushed the women's field by about an hour. Unfortunately, they "disqualified" me from first place after noticing my side burns and instead placed me in the men's field in 12th place. I filed an official protest, but was still relegated. Bummer. But the consolation prize was free post race pints, so it kind of worked out.

Time to forget about the missed turn and concentrate on the Big Bear 2x12 and the Lumberjack 100 - but not before Tuesday Night worlds tomorrow night.

Sologoat out