It’s been 2 weeks since that fateful day in Smithville, TX. I wasn’t really motivated to write this race recap. For the first time in 4 attempts, the solo winner of Rocky Hill did not read “Caveman Productions”. Rocky Hill has become the single biggest race of the year for me. It is the race that has built my Caveman reputation and spread the word about the power of paleo diet and living. I feel like I have not only fallen short of my personal potential, but have lost credibility with all my readers and supporters. I feel like I have let down my sponsors. My caveman diet and training tactics were overshadowed by more modern approaches of preparation. I was really hoping for a better outcome to give me mental boost and finally get some kind of positive achievement for the year, but instead my year of setbacks and failures continues…

All Race Photos Courtesy of Bobcat13 Photography.Thanks Joel and Bob!

I don’t like making excuses, but in the midst of such a failure, it is useful to look back and try to pin point where things went wrong so I can avoid such mistakes in the future. I knew going in my fitness wasn’t anywhere close to 100%, but I think I still overestimated my abilities just a tad. Confidence is important, but it is not what a Caveman thrives off of, and I feel like I was maybe a bit too cocky going into the race. It’s easy to do when you’ve won the thing so many times. A true Caveman excels with instinct, and I will never confuse the two ever again.

I underestimated my opponents, the course, and the weather. John Russell had improved quite a lot since last year, taking second place in 24 Hour Worlds up in Canmore, Canada earlier this summer. That is a major accomplishment. He said he was just out racing for fun, but I knew he would be the fiercest competitor I’d faced yet at this race. The course was a little more difficult than last year, owing to some rutted out parts from a race held in the rain the week before.

The biggest factor had to be the weather. Even those that had spent the sweltering summer in the brutal Texas heat were complaining how hot it already was by noon Saturday. Heat tolerance used to be something I prided myself on, and even thrived on, but no more. Durango had already received snow the week I left. Our daytime highs were peaking at maybe 60 and going to 26 at night. The humidity is low since it is almost a desert climate. I don’t know if anyone got a reading that day, but we probably started out around 89 and creeped up to 93 by midday. Plus it was humid. Had it been a XC or 6 hour race, I could have handled it, but not a 24, at least not at a pace needed to win.

In the end, I really didn’t have any excuses. I was unprepared physically. I got beat fair and square, badly. I tried to overcome all the obstacles I’ve dealt with the past few months, but just had to face up to the fact that I’m human, and even the toughest cavemen have their limits.

I started out well, in the lead for the first 4 laps. Probably a little too well though. The heat was just killing me at that pace. I was stopping at the water stations and dousing myself with cool water to try and bring my core temp down. It helped, and for a while I thought it would keep me going strong into the night, but by lap 5 my body began shutting down. I had to take some breaks on the trail. On one of them, John passed me, and tried encouraging me to keep going, but I couldn’t. My blood pressure felt extremely high and my lungs were aching.

I took a long break at the end of that lap and watched as more solo riders came in and I fell to 5th place. My body might have been failing, but my mental resolve wasn’t ready to give up yet. I’ve been down before, and have found ways to fight back. I mounted a rally on the 6th lap and was able to pull back up to 2nd place. Lap 7 was slow, but steady. Lap 8 was the first night lap. I was having a hard time getting any calories into my system, and I knew this would be a big problem. For this race, I was not using a sports drink as I have in years past, just water. Even trying to keep water down was hard.

On lap 9, I was hanging on for dear life. I pulled over after cresting a climb to let a racer pass. A few seconds later, John blew by at a blistering pace. I had just been lapped by the leader. This was the nail in the coffin for me. There was no way I could erase that lead. At that point, I wasn’t sure I could even finish the race. My body was broken, my will was broken, my spirit was broken. I’ve faced great adversity in races before, but once the spirit is broken, there isn’t much more one can do.

I scanned in to complete that lap, but did not scan out to start the next one. I changed into some new clothes, tried to eat whatever I felt I could hold down, drank a beer with the YBS boys, and then fell asleep for the rest of the night. The thought of quitting crushed me horribly, especially having invested so much to have been here, especially having been a 3 time champ here, especially with everyone pulling for me like they were, but when you can feel your organs and motor skills failing, it’s best to live to fight another day, and this is what I chose to do.

Sunrise brought a new day and some renewed energy. I wasn’t content to sit by and watch the race go by from the sideline like I did at Warda earlier this year. I thought maybe if I could put in 5 more laps I could get back in the top 5 (I had fallen to 11th overnight). I ate some breakfast, put my stuff back on, and swapped out my gears for a singlespeed. This year, I decided to race with a 1×6 drivetrain so that I wouldn’t have to walk the steeper climbs later in the race. I’m convinced this was a bad idea, although I’m not sure it would have changed the outcome much. I am sure that on this course, I do seem to ride better rocking the one cog.

I ripped a 48:37 lap, the fastest solo lap all day (although it didn’t count for awards since I was out of top 3). I followed that with  52:00 and 53:40 laps. These were the kind of laps I should have been turning the whole race, and would have for sure won the thing had my body not failed me the night before. I had finally reached that “sweet spot” where riding is still painful, but you don’t really notice it. You can go at that pace for a long time. I kept waiting for the sweet spot to arrive around lap 8 or 9, but it never came, things just got worse.

Starting out on my 4th lap of the morning, I knew I would make it back in time to start a 5th, and if I would have any chance at all of making the top 5, I would have to go for it. I contemplated whether or not I wanted to. My 57:47 lap brought me in with about 20 minutes to spare. I felt pretty trashed at this point, but could have gone another lap. Something inside just told me it wasn’t worth it though. I wouldn’t have much to gain, but possibly a lot to lose. Throughout the race I had a few close brushes with trees against my bad shoulder. It had held up amazingly well the whole time, and I didn’t feel like pushing my luck, so that was the last lap of the race for me. In hindsite, I regret this decision too and wish I’d gone out for one more lap. What you have, give, because what you save, you lose forever.

Despite falling apart and coming no where close to the win, the morning effort was at least a small moral victory for me. To get back out there on tired legs with only one gear and rip some really fast laps was not only fun, but reassuring that my Caveman mojo was still intact. Rocky Hill is and always will be dear to my heart, but looking forward I want to be part of the bigger picture. Moab. Tucson. Nationals. Worlds. Some places with more climbing, longer laps, stronger competition, and perhaps a little less heat

Fortunately, coming down for the race wasn’t the only reason for making the trip. Unfortunately, the main reason was no less comforting. What belongings I didn’t take with me the first time, I had to pack up and take with me on the long drive back to Durango. Other than a rental house, I now have absolutely no material stuff in Austin. I’m sure I’ll visit in the future, but this trip felt like a long goodbye. It was very difficult saying goodbye, not so much to the town I called home for 11 amazing years, but mainly my friends, and the woman who I loved so much.

This trip exhausted me physically, mentally, financially, and emotionally. I’m tired, I’m sad, I’m deflated. I just want to put all this behind me and pick up where I left off here in Durango. Things here are finally starting to come together with some new work, new friends, and new adventure.

I want to thank to all my sponsors for helping make my opportunity to race what it is- YBS Bikes, Performance Wellness, Zoe Fitness, Bobcat13 Photography, Ayup lights, and MTBtandems.com. I’m so sorry I couldn’t represent you better this go round. Thanks most importantly to everyone who threw their support and encouragement my way. It was especially cool to meet a lot of new faces who follow this blog that I’ve never met before. I put a lot of heart and soul into this website and always wonder if it is worth it. Hearing your stories lets me know that it is! Congrats to John Russell, the new sheriff in town. He rode hard and smart and his patience early in the race definitely paid off. His “second place curse” is finally over! John and I are good buds so I’m glad he was able to take home the W, he deserved it.

For now, bike season is over. I have no desire to race for quite a while. Since moving to a mountain town with real mountain bike trails, my priorities have shifted more towards just riding and having fun. And not just riding. Hiking, trail running, and maybe within a month, snow activities. I enjoy racing, but the competitive nature of it seems to dilute the most important aspect-fun. It was nice to come back to Texas, but for the time being I don’t really miss it. I wasn’t born in the mountains, but I was born for them. My soul longs for big open spaces, small town life, and adventure.

Thanks for reading.

-Caveman

 

It is hard to believe that 24 Hours of Rocky Hill is now less than 6 days away. I’ve trained as much as time, finances, and life have allowed. Yet, I still feel unprepared.

Earlier this week I injured my bad shoulder doing a full body plyometric workout. Up to this point, I have done some heavy lifting and hard physical labor, with my shoulder seeming to take everything just fine. However, it wasn’t ready for the intense explosive nature of this plyo workout.

The resulting pain was severe. It almost felt like the arm came out of socket again (it didn’t), but that workout was over as well as anything the day after (which was yesterday.) Today, I woke up and it felt much better. The sun was back out too after a week of rain and snow. I was very anxious to hit some trail for my last hard long workout before I begin a taper.

It just so happened that the biggest football game of the year was today though, TX vs. OU. Kickoff was a 10am, so I made it over to Carver’s for breakfast and watched the first half. That was all I needed to see. Texas was getting spanked, and I had better things to do than hang around and watch this thrashing, like ride a bike.

By the time I tweaked the bike (I upgraded the prototype 1×5 drivetrain I was testing out to a 1×6 ), and got dressed/packed, it was already close to 2pm. I wanted to ride the Colorado trail up high where the fresh powder was, but I knew this would be a 6 hour + ride and that would have me pedaling home in the dark, and cold. If something were to go wrong, I would probably be stranded too close to dark, so I decided against a long CT ride and rode up to Horse Gulch instead.

The time off the mountain bike from rain and injury gave me a boost. I was absolutely shredding the trail out there. It was barely dry enough to ride following all the precipitation earlier in the week. Some places were a tacky peanut butter that zapped your energy. Definitely slowed me down, but this wasn’t such a bad thing. More saddle time and a little bit of resistance training.

The views from Telegraph hill and Raiders Ridge looking towards Silver Mountain to the NW were amazing. The glow of snow covered peaks this close to town this early in the year was just spectacular. While dropping down into the meadow from Mike’s trail, I ran over a 4 foot snake in the middle of the trail. Scared me at first, but I went back to check it out and the snake was fine. The cold must have slowed him down, so I picked him up and carried him a few yards into the woods.

I rode for about 4 hours before deciding it was close enough to dusk that I better head back. I made it off the trail just as the temps started to dive. I had all my wool get-up this time, so I stayed nice and toasty.

This cold mountain air actually felt refreshing for the first time since my move here. I have adapted quickly to the cold and am actually beginning to embrace it. I find myself wanting to venture deep into the wilderness and near tree line where the heavy snow fall has already accumulated. I long to leave the modest comfort of the RV to spend a few nights in the snow.

I need to save up a little money to buy some nicer gear before I do this though. I don’t own any technical fabrics that make snow hiking comfortable. I only have a 3 season tent. My sleeping bag is only rated for 20d. I have some warm hunting boots, but no snow shoes or skis. In a perfect world, I would Jeremiah Johnson it up, and go hunt some animals with a thick fur coat, but this isn’t really an option, so I’ll just have to wait until I can buy a nice down jacket.

But I digress. I’m leaving Durango for Austin Tuesday evening. I’ll spend the night somewhere around Sante Fe, then finish the long arduous drive across eastern New Mexico and West Texas on Wednesday. I’ve got stuff to take care of during the day Thursday and Friday, but my evenings might be free. Get in touch if you would like to hang out. Otherwise, I’ll be at Rocky Hill Ranch Saturday morning setting up camp and getting ready to ride the race of my life.

Last year, I won, but I only did 21 laps in about 21 1/2 hours. There was still 2 1/2 hours of ride time left. This year, assuming bike nor body aren’t seriously damaged, I ain’t stopping. I’m going the distance-the full 24 hours. Not only that, I’m going harder. I think I probably said the same thing last year, and I did go harder, but after I realized it wasn’t necessary to go longer in order to secure victory, I didn’t. I wanted off that bike ASAP.

There will be no such backing down this go round. If no Solo competitor is still around to push me to the limit, then screw it, I’ll race against the teams. The fastest solo lap would be nice, but the fastest overall lap would be even nicer. The fastest LeMan’s runner would be cool too, although unlikely. These are all lofty goals that will require a level of execution and mental toughness I’ve never accomplished before. Just because I haven’t done it, doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

Texas, I’m coming home. Can’t wait to see all my friends and feel that warm sunshine upon my face.

 

 

We’re having another wet spell here in Durango. The trails are too wet to ride. It’s in the mid 40’s out. Rain comes and goes, but the skies stay gray. I needed to hop on a bike to ramp up my last week of intense training. Don’t have a bike trainer, don’t have any rollers, don’t have a gym membership.  Time to suck it up. Pull out the wool, take out the rain jacket, hop on the skinny wheels, and head for the mountains.

I generally like to knock road riding, but in times like this, it’s all I got for putting in some miles. I did do my first Insanity Asylum workout today, and it was pretty killer, however,  my arse and legs need some serious saddle time to toughen up for the beating they’re gonna take in 10 days.

It was nice to change it up with a road ride. I decided to do an out and back route to Lemon Reservoir. Never been up that way, but always heard it was pretty, along with Vallecito a few more miles to the east. Heading out of town on Florida road, I could see the high peaks to the west were getting snow. It probably won’t be too long before we get snow in town.

Fall is in full swing here. All of the deciduous trees are turning from green to vibrant hues of reds, yellows, and oranges. It is quite spectacular, and I must admit, best appreciated from the steady clip of a road bike. I wanted to take a camera, but I was afraid of getting rained on.

Water didn’t start falling until I got close to the CR 240/243 fork. Up to then, my upper body was nice and toasty in a wool jersey and wool arm warmers. I didn’t think it would be cold enough for wool leg warmers, so I just brought my lycra ones. Big mistake.

I stopped and threw my rain jacket on and that kept everything dry except my legs and feet. It’s a little bit of a climb to the dam from the fork in the road, and even though I was getting pretty wet, I was working hard so it didn’t bother me.

Once at the top I took a few minutes to enjoy the view. I turned around and started heading back to town. The descent was bone chilling, and kicked water all over my shoes soaking them completely. My core was still warm, but everything from the thigh down was painfully cold. It did not help that the ride into town was mostly downhill and I would clocking 35-45mph quite easily. Well, moving at that pace did get me back quicker, but just made the cold worse. Strangely, I yearned for some climbs since they would slow me down and help me build some heat back up.

There were a few climbs, but my momentum pulled me up and over most of them. The cold got to me mentally, at first. This was a good thing. I took those wussy thoughts and buried them deep in the hurt locker. It was very uncomfortable, but nothing life threatening, I knew some dry warm clothes were only a half hour up the road. Thinking about how nasty the weather was only wasted precious energy. Instead, I chose to enjoy the changing leaves, the smell of smoke coming from mountain cabins, and the thrill of spinning 125 rpm in the 53×11, in the rain.

I didn’t have a camera, but here is a pic I stole from another site:

 

 

This past weekend I made the 1 hour trek down to Farmington, NM with friend and pro racer Sage Wilderman to try my hand at a cross country race. This would be the first XC I’ve done since the painful experience at Rocky Hill back in June (my return to racing following the dislocated shoulder), and only the 3rd XC I’ve done all year. The Road Apple Rally is the longest continuously run mountain bike race in the country, turning 31 years old this go round.

XC used to be my bread and butter, but I don’t eat bread anymore, and consequently, it would seem I don’t enjoy XC all too much anymore either. At least, on this course, with the level of competition in this part of the country. The course sits at about 6000′, has rolling hills, lots of road portions, lots of sand, and hundreds or berms or g-outs that really beat you down after a while. The course description said “minimal climbing”, maybe by Colorado standards, but still probably twice as much as most Texas courses. The only sustained climbs were on the road portions, but the course was full of short kickers, some very steep. There were hardly any technical sections at all. This would really be a great course for a roadie, which is probably why I didn’t fare so well…The most difficult task at hand was learning how to roll over all the berms at high speed while maintaining control. It’s much harder than you think and requires a little bit of BMX skills. I almost wish I had ridden with at rigid fork because the suspension rebound over these undulations was hard to predict and resulted in a few washouts, one that sent me flying off the bike.

Anyhow, there was a mass start for Pro, Cat 1, Cat 2, and singlespeed since we were all doing the 30 mile loop. There was a lot of road riding and doubletrack at the start that allowed everyone to get seeded properly before the singletrack. I don’t have a Pro license yet and didn’t think they would let Cat 1’s race the Pro cat, so I entered the Cat 1, racing my new age group for the very first time, 30-34. Good thing I didn’t overestimate my abilities…The Pros and Cat 1 studs started with a blistering pace out of the start line onto the road. I found myself quickly winded, and having to slow down to something a little more sustainable. I’ve been training a lot the past few weeks, but nothing close to this intensity.

Several racers passed me before entering the singletrack, but I had no choice but to let them go and just do the best I could. Besides, 30 miles was a pretty good loop and I usually get faster as I go.

I was pinned for the entire race. 95-100% max heart rate. There weren’t many places to recover, and the places that did offer a little relief from pedaling did not offer much relief for the rest of the body. I can’t emphasize how much those berms sucked after about 20 miles.

Eventually, my 24 hour stamina kicked in and I was able to push it hard for the last third of the course. I picked up about 10 more spots, but still got schooled by 30 or so other racers, a lot of whom were older Cat 1’s and singlespeeders. It was really humbling having spent so much time training and have finished this far back. The winner, Travis Brown, finished a whole 21 minutes ahead of me. Talk about smoking fast!

Whatever. I wasn’t training for this race, but rather using it for training for the real race, the Republic of Texas  24 hour Championship, Rocky Hill. I’m still obviously playing catch up with my fitness, but I should be in decent shape come Oct 15. I couldn’t track down any race photos, but here is one I snagged from last year’s race.