I made the trek across the beautiful east Texas woods and across the Sabine river into Louisiana with teammates Dustin, Fred, and g/f Colleen to get back into cross country racing. It was my first time to race this course and I was looking forward to the stage format with a short track race and time trial on Saturday and the main event Sunday. The short track was brutal. I maybe lasted 25 mins of the 45 minute race and got pulled. It was a fun little course though. The time trial went a little better. Didn’t place high, but didn’t get last, and I was happy with the effort. Some days I’ve got what it takes for these short races, but at heart I am an endurance rider. So the XC race brought a bit more redemption. Finished mid pack, had no mechanicals, and had a fun time. Ruston is definitely a course worth going to. It was Colleen’s first XC race, and she finished it! Next up is the season finale at Rocky Hill.

I had to ditch Big Tex for the steel hardtail for my second lap. It was a rough ride, and felt sluggish, but got the job done. It was a decent 1:23 or so lap, but felt longer. I felt destroyed, demoralized, and like I had let the team down. I told Jay I maybe had one more lap in me, which I should not have done. I drank a beer and hopped in bed for some rest. I was expecting a teammate to come wake me up when it was time for me to get ready for my next lap, but it never happened. Instead, I wake up and find my team gone. The team captain decided to throw in the towel and save themselves so they could do some cool riding around Moab in the morning. They went back to the cabin in town they rented and hit the hay. I decided I wanted to do a night lap and keep pushing on. So I layered up the wool and set out. The first mile or so was cold (lower 30’s) but the wool kicked in and I warmed up just fine once I hit the climbing. It was nice riding out there at night. Very serene, and it was neat seeing trail lights an base camp from certain areas of the trail. About mile 10, I came across an older female rider whose light had died. She was much slower than I, but I wasn’t in a hurry to get back, so I agreed to ride with her and light the way back to camp. She kept telling me to go on and not worry about her, but I insisted I help. As far away from the finish as she was, it would have really sucked without a light. People had helped me out earlier in the day, it was my turn to return the karma. That’s mountain biking. We made it back and I had gotten cold again from the slow pace, so I hit the sleeping bag for some more sleep and warmth.

Sunrise comes and Colleen and I walk around and get some breakfast tacos and beer for breakfast. I decide that I will finish what I started, team or no team, and do one last lap. I got Big Tex setup with some more trustworthy parts and used it for the final lap. It was all good until my seatpost broke around mile 8 where it connects to the saddle. It would’ve been a major blow had I still been competing, but I just laughed it off. Strap it to the camelback and start riding standing up. 3 miles of that crap and I was wishing I had a saddle. Then it hit me, I had a beefy rubber band around my spare tube. Maybe I could use it to hold the saddle down on the seatpost. It actually worked, as long as I didn’t bump it too hard. It got me to the aid station where some zip ties and duck tape fixed it even better. Into the finish tent I rolled with a sigh of relief. The race wasn’t quite what I thought it would be, and I hadn’t achieved the outcome I’d been hoping for. Sure, there were mechanicals, but I should’ve had better equipment for the job. I was unprepared. Not only that, but I really felt like the course kicked my ass. Even with my best lap time of 1:20 or so, the guys I needed to hang with were running 1:10’s or lower. It was a big slap in the face for yet another disappointing national appearance. But you know what, I stayed out there and didn’t quit. A cozy cabin would’ve been nice, but I didn’t drive 1200 miles to throw in the towel, and for not quitting, I am grateful. Who knows what my next big race will bring. But I will for sure be better prepared, better trained, and more mentally tough for the challenge at hand.

The winds continued throughout the night and into the start of the race. I had the privilege of doing the LeMan’s running start and busting out the fastest lap I could to get team in good position. The run really kicked my ass and left me pretty winded by the time I reached my bike. I get going and start passing the slow pokes who somehow out-ran me. Heading into the singletrack was a huge cluster-f. Some parts tighten down to only allow 1 or 2 riders in, but for the most part it’s jeep trail and you can pick whatever line you want. It’s not always the easiest line, but if it gets you around slower riders then it’s the best line. The climbing and elevation was absolutely killing me. It didn’t take much effort to get me redlining. Something just didn’t feel right. At least Big Tex was feeling good, and I was slowly making my way up. Going down some rocky technical descents, my front tire blew off the rim. I was in disbelief, but got to work putting a tube in. I brought a big air CO2, but not a hand pump. I had a hell of a time getting the tube to air up and went through all my CO2. It was enough air to get going, but I didn’t trust it from pinching in anymore technical drops, so I was having to ride extra cautious. About the same time my rear brake decided to poop out, so that made the descents even more fun. A drop snuck up on me and due to my equipment deficiencies I lost control and crashed. I did not realize it immediately, but the crash put a cut in the sidewall, and my tire would lose air slowly for about another mile before it got too low. Things were looking really bad now, because I only brought one tube. I came across a guy who had broke his chain, and asked if he had a hand pump. He did, so I got both tires aired back up and got going. Eventually the back tire succumbed to the leak and came off the rim. All I could do was start walking. There weren’t too many people behind me at this point and I remained optimistic that one of them could help me out. One guy threw me a tube, but it was schraeder and did not fit in my rim, so I kept walking. Another guy drops me a pump, but I still didn’t have a tube to fit. A chick comes by on a cool steel hardtail with the same Mary bars I run on my hardtail asking if she could help. I asked if she had a Presta tube. She did not think she did since her wheels ran Schraeder, but she checked, and sure enough she did, so I traded the one I had for hers. Got it fixed and finally got rolling again. The team was pretty bummed when I came in with a 1:50 lap time when we needed 1:15’s to compete, but they kept on going. I felt bad, but I had done all I could do, except leave my bad equipment luck with me in Texas

October 13, 2008

I had built this race up for quite some time. I was excited to be returning to 24 hour racing, albeit with a 4 man team this go round. I was confident in my health, my gear, my teammates, and our support crew (including my lovely cupcake). Colleen and I planned on driving up together, doing a little camping along the way to break up the driving, doing the race, and then doing some more camping/sightseeing afterwards since the race site is so close to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Dead Horse State Park. The long drawn out beat down realistically started before we even got to the race site. The drive from Austin to Balmorhea State Park in west Texas the first day wasn’t all that bad, and swimming in the springs Thursday morning was quite nice. After a crappy layover in El Paso to correct some issues we were having with Colleen’s little car, we headed west across New Mexico before turning north in Deming to take a scenic route through the mountains that straddle the NM/Arizona state line. It was very pretty, but very slow go, especially as we hit more elevation and twisty passes. Super hungry and tired, we came across this awesome little diner in Alpine, the first town you hit in Arizona driving west along US 180. After a half rack of Mesquite smoked ribs, a baked potato, salad bar, garlic toast, and some rabbit food for Colleen (she’s vegetarian), we were ready to hit the road again. The drive up 191 to the Utah border seemed like it would never end. Mile upon mile of dark, empty, desolate Arizona Indian Reservation wasteland made that drive much longer than it should have been. We hoped optimistically that we would make our Hovensweep National Monument campground in Utah at a decent time, but no such luck. Instead, we found an RV campground right north of Bluff, UT at 3am in the morning. After an exhaustive day of driving, we called it a night and setup camp to catch about 4 hours of sleep before waking up and finishing the remaining 100 miles or so. We arrived at the team area to find very high winds, and no team. I had made a good effort to make it there before noon to pre-ride the course with the team, but here it was not even 11am and those jokers left without me. Oh well. First priority was to raise ‘Ol Glory and the battle flag, then change and pre-ride. I brought with me the rigid steel 29er hardtail with a 2×9 gear setup (30/42) and Big Tex, the fully 29er. I was hoping to ride the hardtail for the early laps and then switch to the squishy for the more fatigued laps. The pre-ride started out promising for the hardtail, but shortly let me know that it wouldn’t be practical for that course. You see, the trail they use for this race is not really mountain bike single track. It’s mostly jeep trail, and moto cross trail. The locals will tell you that no one goes out there to mountain bike, instead they ride ATV’s and dirt bikes. It is one hell of a mountain bike course. When it’s not rocky and technical, it’s deep sand that sucks the life right out of you, not to mention the 30-40 mph winds we were having to deal with. Compared to my home turf, it also had a lot of elevation gain ( 1400 ft, and base elevation is 5,500 ft)

Well, it was about time I sat down and created a website to track achievements, honor my sponsors, and write long drawn out mini-sodes that honestly, 10 or so folks might read. At any rate, here it is! I hope you enjoy it.