BoCoMo 1-2-3

I guess I have the last 2 Bubba races to talk about here. Last week (Bubba #7) was my favorite course of the year, very mountain bikey... and I thought I was going to get shot driving there. It had some super fast sections, some good climbs, double sand pit, and a good mud section. I attacked on lap 2 or 3 and managed to build up a lead close to a minute... mainly because Breslin and Alex Grman had some bike trouble out of the mud. I held the lead for about 45 minutes and saw some angry guy in a Ultra kit pushing poor little kids into tree's with cross hairs pointed at the back of my head. He managed to catch me with 1 lap to go, but I have to say it was an impressive ride on his part, I can live with 2nd. Here is a vid thanks to the PBR drinking Segal dudes: That's me right at the start, with a 30 second lead.



I have to thank Ethan for ripping up on me and Josh the Saturday before each of these cross races, it helped getting our legs ready for some thrashing. My initial thoughts when I looked at the course were pretty simple... fuck me. I think everyone had this idea when they looked at the course and pre-rode it. I put in a couple practice laps and the course was very slow, the ground was very soft and zapped your energy everywhere you rode. There wasn't a big enough area to make a long fast lap, so there was a lot of zig zagging on the side of a hill, with lots of sketchy off camber descents. Not to mention there was a ginormously steep climb straight up one of the hills. However having this course right below the winery on a small plot of land meant there were fans everywhere screaming at you, which kept the encouragement to the max.



At the start, as usual, everyone punched each other in the face to get on the starting line. I started in the 3rd row, out of 28 people or so. Josh decided to start about 15 feet behind the 2nd to last person. I took the first lap pretty easy, slowly rode by a few people and took off on the 2nd lap. I caught up to Dan Miller, who was absolutely killing it the whole race. Going into the 3rd lap I passed Dan and started my mission. I built up my lead to about 30 seconds or so and turned on the cruise control for the rest of the race, keeping an eye on Butthead and Dan. I was able to ride the steep climb/run up every lap, which was HUGE time builder. At the end of the day it was a bocomo 1-2-3, which is awesome.


Thanks to Mike D and GoPate for awesome pictures as usual! Also thanks to everyone screaming during the whole race, that's what makes these races so awesome!

Time Out

After I thought I was in the clear from that creek water, I was struck down by 3 days of cuddling up next to the crapper. A doctor visit and some antibiotics later, I can actually do stuff. I took a few days off last week to rest... then did a 5 hour gravel ride, then Giardia hit, then more days off the bike and eating hardly anything for 3 days. I did my first ride today and flatted a half hour out with a broken co2 dispenser and had to get a ride back... not the best start back. It will take a little time to get my fitness back, but I will be returning with a super sweet matching set of cross bikes. I have next years racing plans 99% figured out now... more to come about that later.

All good

My swollen knee felt a little sore this morning on my ride, but it is all good now, it even stopped bleeding tonight. The fury is building once again, I will rip legs this weekend.

Also enjoy this video... you thought your day at work was bad?

2 bikes and a DNF

Well I had a race a week ago with very little problems, so it was about time for something to go wrong. Raced Bubba #5 today in St. Louis against all the local fast dudes. I opted out of the 10:30PM race the night before so I could go socialize (heavy drinking) and enjoy the scenery that Halloween offers.

But anyway, I started near the back and watched everyone hurt each other as I mozied towards the front. After about 4 laps or so and $1 later, I was feeling good and ready to pick up the pace. Butthead was back in the lead group and I knew he didn't feel like sitting on, we attacked on either side of the group and lead into the first turn of the lap with BH about to rip his leg off as he nearly slid off the course. We managed to pull a gap on the rest, riding the railroad tie section ($1), and riding pretty clean, making up some time in the corners.

After about 3 laps of riding with BH we rode the railroad tie section again and my front tire slid out coming off the first and I rode straight into the next and smashed my knee into my handlebar. I tried to get back on and start going but noticed I couldn't feel anything from my knee down. I sat up for a second and made sure I had movement and tried to keep going. Some feeling came back in my knee and the pain felt deep, not superficial. I thought I may have messed something up so I walked down the course as everyone passed by and decided it wasn't worth risking it. I pulled the plug to prevent further injury. It is pretty swollen tonight, I will try riding on it tomorrow morning.

On the bright side, I found $40 in the parking lot and won $2 from being awesome. The new cross bike felt comfortable and fast... no back pain either.

BTEpic Domination

I decided to do the Berryman Epic mountain bike race after Green Bean's inspirational pep talks about how I might be able to do well. It is a 56 mile race with about 40 miles of single track... all one big loop. Over the last few weeks we have been pounded by rain, which stuck around in a lot of this trail. Whoever told me the Berryman drains really fast and well is a dirty liar.

I lined up next to Steve Tilford, Bill Stolte, Eric Pirtle, Josh Johnson, Dwayne Goscinski, Mike Best, Garth Prosser (Cannondale Factory Racing), and Green Beans (going for 112 miles in 2 days), as well as some others. About 1/4 mile into the race we ran into a flooded river, but the promoters parked a fifth wheel trailer over the river to give us a bridge. I managed to be in 5th position over this bridge so I didn't get caught up in the traffic. There was then about a 3-5 mile gravel climb to the single track with. We had a pace line of 5 guys going up the climb at a pretty good pace with a sprint for the start of the single track. I let Tilford and Pirtle go so I could follow their secret pro lines. We had a decent pace going through the single track with Pirtle leading, he was putting time on us in the descents but it was made up in the flats and climbs. Right before the first checkpoint he hit a mystery rock and flew over the bars into a tree... we thought he broke his back and told people at the checkpoint (bottom of the hill) what happened, but thankfully nothing was broken, but he did severely bruise everything from his ass to his neck, he will be recovered in a few weeks... very lucky.

Back into the single track I passed Dwayne and then got back on Tilford's wheel, which then started to flat. For the next 20 miles I turned up the throttle and didn't look over my shoulder once. I managed to run up a bigger and bigger gap each checkpoint... until I got past checkpoint 4. At this point I had about a 7 minute lead with 15 miles to go (I had no idea what my gap was then... the downfall of running 1st). I forgot to fill up my 2 bottles I have been carrying along and began to get dehydrated. All I could think about was water and how much farther I had to go... I wouldn't be able to make it without any. I began to slow down considerably and take some pretty bad lines, losing huge chunks of time. I ran my options through my head and decided I wasn't going to blow this race because of another mistake. I found a clear flowing creek and dropped my bike and filled up my bottle, chugged it, and filled it up again and took off. I figured I could either get sick, win this race, make some serious cash... or completely blow up right then and have everyone pass me and continue my season of disappointments. How bad could the sickness be anyway?

I got some power back after all the liquid and ate some more food and managed to pick up the pace for a little while. At this point I began looking over my shoulder pretty frequently just waiting to see Dwayne or Tilford chasing me down... I had no idea of the time splits. The whole race, especially now, I was talking to myself to keep myself going, only a little longer... just keep pushing it. My pace was slowing down considerably, I was losing my legs and my heart rate began to slow down a lot.

Up the last climb I heard an unnerving disc brake squeal coming from somewhere in the woods... which picked my heart rate back up. At the top of this hill there was about 6-8 miles of gravel back to the finish. I was struggling quite a bit on this road, tucking on the descents and just trying to keep my legs turning over. The single track was done, all I had to do was pedal pedal pedal, almost to the finish.

After the final gravel descent I got back to the camp ground and flooded river and I lit up... I just won this shit. I started riding through the river, which was a hell of a lot deeper than I thought... and it threw my bike out from under me and I started running through, then mashed through the super soggy and loose rock to the paved road. I can't remember the last time I felt this relieved and happy of what I accomplished. For some reason while riding up the last paved climb of the ride I decided to look over my shoulder just to make sure I was alone and I saw a green jersey out of the saddle with a very angry face mashing like crazy... coming at me quick. I completely freaked out and got out of the saddle and let out every ounce of strength I had left to sprint up the climb... which was enough to keep Steve Tilford from catching me. I was thinking there was no way I was going to lead for 50 miles and lose in the last 50 meters.

I rolled through the finish completely trashed and torn up... and they told me I set a new course record. I just thought to myself "wtf, holy shit, cash monieezz." I talked to Steve after the race, he had multiple flats and was able to bring all the time I built back in the last 15 miles. I could have been a little bit better prepared with more calorie consumption and some bottles at the last check point... this could have kept my lead at the finish and prevented the nasty bonking. But I was still able to pull it off... a win and the new course record, taking home $1,750... time for cross bike #2.

Everyone was saying there is no way anyone could set a new record with how bad the course conditions were... it was just too muddy and slow. I beat the record by 3 minutes, along with Tilford and Dwayne. This race was very vicious and competitive... I have never pushed myself that hard for that long, definitely a good experience.

Also, props to Dwayne for finishing VERY closely behind us... I was not expecting times to be this close after 56 miles. Nice work Butthead for finishing an impressive 7th with about 3 mountain bike rides this year, not bad for a roadie. Congrats to Mike Best for rounding out the top 10... the BOCOMO peloton had a very strong showing. Nate Means completed the Tour and the Race... 112 miles of mountain biking, which is totally nuts, there is no way I could have done that.


Also, it has been over 2 days since the creek water... no rocket shits. But my legs may not be recovered by this weekend.

CX #6

First Bubba Cross race of the season, at night. I felt like crap the whole time, my legs never opened up, I had no technical skillz, it was a bad day. I felt more comfortable at our first cross practice than at this race, oh well.

I will be ready for the Berryman Epic next weekend... there will be plenty of anger and frustration to unload for 55 miles. I would not recommend riding near me.

CX 4 & 5

Raced in Parkville, MO this weekend for the first two Boss Cross events. Felt good and confident going into the races... hoping to get a similar result to last weekend. The course was very bumpy, tight, but fast. There weren't many places to pass, so I burnt a lot of time sitting in groups that I should have passed. My legs felt great both days, but my lower back blew up half way through both races, which totally sucked. I also had some trouble keeping my tires on the ground... washed out my front tire a couple times during both races, which is what everyone seemed to be doing. The crashes happened pretty early in both races and I tweaked my derailleur hanger pretty bad, giving me only a few functioning gears. Needless to say a pit bike would have been super duper... or more mad skillzz. Time to scheme. Results weren't what I was hoping, 7th Saturday and 10th Sunday, but still not bad considering who showed up.