Humble Pie (Attila the Hun XC Race)

Heading into this weekend I started to get a little big headed in my ability to ride the bike fast. I had a few really good ride in on the new bike, and had to rethink how long MTB rides would take to complete.  I started to think that I had a chance to, finial, win my first MTB race.  Instead I had one of my worst races to date.

I spent the day Saturday cleaning the apartment and getting things ready for racing on Sunday. Got to bed kind of late at 2230 and had troubles getting to sleep. After a short 5.5 hrs of light sleeping it was time to get up, eat, and hit the road. I knew I had a long cold drive down to Hot Springs. I did not know the conditions of the roads, so I gave myself 4.5 hr to complete the 3.75 hr drive. During the drive I watched as the temperature dropped from 23F down to 19F. Man, I might just pull the plug on this one.

0448 and 21F

Finally, after only 4 hr, I arrived at Cedar Glades park and started getting ready to race. Registration was fast and well ran, and with my SWAG and plate in had I started to prep the bike, and myself, for a very cold 30F start. I set out on the last 2 miles of trail to get in a warm up, and scope out the trail. I was afraid that the course would be a frozen slop-fess but was surprised to see it nice and dry! I was even shocked at how much grip the trails had.  I felt good and bike felt good. Maybe today really is going to be my day!

The starting official called the Cat 2 19-29 starting list and did not call my name. After taking down my info, he stepped back, gave the 15 sec count down  and blew the starting horn.

Crap, cant clip in!!! Between the shoe covers and the new pedals, I was having a very hard time clipping in.  Once I was finally clipped in I started to move up the field trying to get in position to hit the single track 2nd. 

Well I was not the only one with that ideal, and not really wanting  push it too hard at the start,  yielded to some guys.  I hit the single track 4th, right behind a guy that seemed to be having trouble keeping a line. (Found out later on that he was use to a fat bike, and was riding a loner bike). This proved to hurt me quit-a-bit during the first 2 miles of the race. There were several times that he would lose traction, taking both of us off the bike.

We quickly left the dry starting loop and headed into some very wet climbs. At this point (less than 5 min into the race) my legs decided they did not want to go fast. I was quickly caught by the guy behind me (a 15 year old form LA), and I told him to let me know when he wanted around. As soon as I lost sight of Fat Bike Guy, the kid asked to go around. The rest of the first lap was a big blur to me. What I do remember is the muddy double track climbs, lots of pain, and fighting my bike for the first Hr.

1 hr to travel 1 lap is not good news. Not on the same course as the Spa City 6 hr. And defiantly not good when I felt like I was riding at my max. Disappointed, and tired, I decided to slow it down and just ride at my endurance pace. Wow, what a difference SLOWING DOWN can make. I started to feel good, I was no longer fighting the bike, and I started to pass people. After another 55 min of racing I crossed the finish line in 5th. 

The double track really was a muddy! 

I was extremely tired, cold and upset. What had happened? How did I put in a faster lap going slower? 55 min for an endurance pace laps is right on the money! But why was I so slow on the first lap? What just happened?

I had plenty of time to think about it on the way home, and I have discussed it with a few people today. One thing I learned from this weekend is that the old Auto X saying "Slow is smooth, Smooth is fast" also applies (at least for me) to XC MTB racing. I also realized that at one point of time (Before I discovered Endurance Racing) I had the legs, lungs, and desire to be a fast XC racer (for a Cat 2 in Mississippi that is). But now I just don't enjoy that type of pain as much, I would much rather enjoy the slow burn of a 5 hr ride.

Well my thoughts are all scrambled up now, so its time for me to sign off. One thing is for sure, I'm still training to be the best ENDURANCE MTB racer I can be, and I'm extremely excited for my first race next year!

As always I just need to Ride More, Ride Harder, and Get Faster.

Lots to update, little time.

So the fast and quick of the past few weeks.

I spend the second weekend of October driving across the state of Arkansas to pick up my new bike. Yep, I got a new bike! I'm one of the first people to throw a leg over a new 2014 Epic Comp. I'll be posting up an impression of it once I get the SWAT gear for it and put in 500ish miles on it. (probably around the first of the year)

First New bike in 3 years!

The fourth weekend of October was spent doing the Bentonville epic. I was promised 34ish miles of the best  trails that NWA has to offer. What I received was 10ish miles of great single track and 25 miles of rouge trails that are not developed but have great potential.  I really like the rouge trails for the first 5 miles, then I grew tired of it and just wanted the ride to end.  After 2 hours of riding with the group I went into endurance mode and finish as quickly as I could.

Great group of fast riders. That's exposed bed rock in a creek bed, not snow. 

During this ride I had a slow over the bar (OTB) crash. On my way down I tried to catch myself, bad idea. I heard my bad (left) shoulder pop, which was followed by  pain flooding in. The caller bone defiantly moved, but it looks like it's in a position that will cause less long term pain.  I was able to finish the ride and took a week off to let it heal up. It does not bother me when I ride, but bothers me anytime I allow it to sit still too long.  I looked up rotator cuff tear and my symptoms are consistent with that type of injury. I'm going to continue to ride until it start to bother me on bike. May it heal up quickly and be a thing of the past.  

The second weekend of November I decided to try out the Saturday Morning group ride. Man, I lose fitness quickly when I only do 2 rides a week for 1.5 months. I hung with the group for the first Hr then quickly fell off the back of the pack, and finish up the ride with Gustavo. 4Hr, 63.1 miles and 3307 ft of climbing will sap the legs of all energy. I got home and supper rehydrated to prep my body for my long ride on the MTB Sunday.

Gustavo getting it done up 4 Corners Road!

I don't know how, but I woke up Sunday tired, started the ride tired, but as soon as the tires found dirt I came back from the dead. Everything felt right, everything felt fast, I was one with the bike. For the first time I felt 100% comfortable on my new 29er FS rig! Sadly this ride would end, only 2 hrs in, with a broken chain. I don't blame the chain or the bike, but me. I shifted a few gears and needed to do a quick pedal kick to get over some stuff. The bike leap over the obstacle, but I had no more chain. I guess it was not finished shifting when I need to clear the obstacle.

Saying good buy to Mt. Sequoyah on my way over to Mt. Kessler.

Top of the first step on Mt. Kessler Road. Already climbed 200 ft, ready for 300 ft more? All in one mile?

The tunnel of color that is riding in the Ozarks in Nov. 

This past weekend was full of trail building and a much needed long MTB ride. We had 15-20 people out bench cutting 2 miles of trail on Saturday, and man did they ride fast on Sunday. If you did not know any better, you would think these trails have been there for months.

Awesome rock feature. Be sure to check your speed, or be prepared to go flying!

I ran into several familiar faces on my long MTB ride, as you would expect on a 70F Sunday in November! It was nice to ride for a while, run into someone, chat on the trial side for a while, then continue riding.

Over Look on Mt Kessler, 2 weeks into "No Shave November" 

I am now back to training, and for the first time in years I'm doing specific workouts. Not just go ride for X amount of time, but real intervals and hill repeats. After only 2 weeks I'm already seeing big improvements!

Why did I start back training so early? Simple, the Arkansas Mountain Bike Championship Series has announced the dates of 4 of the, now, 5 endurance races for next year. The first race is in just over 3 months which leads me with little time to regain fitness.  I'll be putting my goals out publicly once the dates for all 5 races are announced. But as one thing changes, so another stays the same. My first race next year will be Iron Mountain MTB Endurance Race on 23 Feb, but Ouachita Challenge remains my big A race for next year.

As always I just need to Ride More, Ride Harder, and Get Faster.

Serfas True 100+ Review

A few months ago I noticed a disturbing trend on my rides.  The more I rode, the shorter the days became. I knew it was time to look for a light that could help me ride on the trails long after the sun has set. I already owned a Serfas True 500, but 500 lumens for 1.5 hrs would do very little too wet my mid week craving for dirt.

Last month I decided I need something sooner than later. The days were getting 3 minutes shorter every time I decided it was safe to go to bed. With this in mind I started doing my research on the current crop of cycling lights. Right now cycling lights are improving much like suspension designs did in the late 90's early 00's, so I knew what I bought this year would be "out dated and old news" next year. All the same I set out with a check list of "Needs" and a list of "Wants".

My needs where simple, 1000 or more lumens, an advertised run time of 3 hr or more, but I only had a budget of $200. I wanted something from this year's batch of lights, fairly lite and compact, and something that has the potential to last several years.

So I narrowed my search to 3 different lighting systems. One had mixed reviews online about both build quality and longevity, but I could buy 2 lights for $200. I decide that I really  wanted something that could stand the test of time, so that brand was out of the picture. One was relatively new to the cycling market, but had a long history of off road vehicle lights. I was hours away form pulling the trigger on that light when my mount for the True 500 broke on me, so I decided to order up another Serfas light. This way I could have two working mounts to run both lights at the same time.

After a sort search I landed on a great deal for a Serfas True 1000. There are very few reviews of this light out there, but I decided to give the light a chance. After 8 or so night rides I can now give it a good review.   

Packaging: Its nice, everyone who has ever bought a Serfas product knows this. But in the end, what dose packaging really mean? If the product is not up to snuff, then the package does not matter.

Lighting system (less 1000 battery/charger). Helmet mount, bar mount, 1000 head, 500 system

Brightness: This lighting system is a true performer in the brightness department. I have seen independent test online that confirm the claim of 1000 lumens. Heath commented that he could see the trail better using just the over throw from the 1000 then he could using his older 600 lumen lights. And this was at speed with me 10-15 feet behind him. Last night I did my first nighttime road bike group ride. A few other riders had the True 1000 with them and I was amazing at how bright these light were off in the distance.

Beam Pattern: For southern single track rides it has more than enough width and throw to keep you riding as-fast-as-your-legs-can-carry-you. I ride with my 500 on the helmet (to look around corners) and the 1000 on the handlebars. With this setup I can ride just as fast at night as I can in the day. The 1000 produces a bright "hot spot" right at my visual focal point, and cast off enough side lighting to see what's going on around me.  It's not the best pattern I've ever seen (I used a Light & Motion Seca 700 in 2011 that was marginally better), but it is by far the brightest.

Heat buildup: I always turn my lights off when I stop for longer than a few seconds, this saves battery and the head unit from building up heat. With that said, the head unit was only slightly warm  after 2 hours on full blast (doing 8 MPH avg on single track in 60 Deg weather).

Battery life: My longest ride to date has been 2.5 hr on full blast. I have yet to see the power button go red (low battery indicator), but this is far shorter than the 4 hr advertised battery life.

Gripes: The charger dose not blink, change colors, or otherwise indicate that it is charging/finished charging. The manual indicates that it should change orange when charging, then green when fully charged. I called Serfas (phone was answered by a real person!) and asked them what was up. They could not explain what was going on, but asked me to call back if it appeared that the charger was not charging the battery.  I've been charge after each ride for however long the ride was. So far so good.

Would I recommend this light? You bet!

As always I just need to Ride More, Ride Harder, and Get Faster.

Crank Brothers Fail

My very first pair of clipless pedals were Crank Brothers Eggbeater SLs, and every set of pedals I've had since where also Crank Brother Eggbeaters. Over the years I've looked at trying other brands, but that would require me to buy two sets of pedals. (I only own one pair of functional cycling shoes)

Well after 2 years of service (only ~6 months of usage) my Eggbeater 3s fail on me. How? Just look below. I was "just riding along" (my inner bike mechanic just shuddered typing that) and the pedal slipped off the spindle.

At this point the pedal had less than 1 hr to live

Everyone told me that it could be rebuilt, but I knew deep down that it was done. Like "stick a fork in it", it will never work again, done. But, being an engineer, I had to figure out exactly why it had fail. Let's say I had a "need" to reverse engineer the failure to identify the failure mode. 

"Heath, I think something is wrong with my pedal". I though I had just unclipped suddenly.

The newer Eggbeaters have 2 peaces that make up the main body. The last pair of Eggbeater I owed had a one peace body, so when I saw threads showing near the inner part of the pedal, I would just ignore it and screw it back in next time I had the bike on a stand. 

 

 Well as you can see on the bad pedal, when the two half's started to separate they became miss aligned. This put the outer bearing in a bind. Over time this bind caused the outer bearing to eat itself, thus leading to the body have nothing to keep it on the spindle. This was completely an issue of user error, not a manufacturing issue.

Top: (L to R) Spindle, Body A, Inner Clip, Spring, Outer Clip, Outer Bearing, Locking Nut, End Cap Bottom: Spindle with Locking Nut, Miss Aligned Body unit, Inner race of Outer Bearing

This leaves me with a sticky situation, buy another set of Eggbeaters? Or try something new?

The main reason to run Eggbeaters over their main rivals is mud shedding. Eggbeaters are by far the best pedal on the market for muddy races. But here in NWA we don't have issues with mud, it's far too steep and rocky. The rockiness also leads to lots of pedal strike with wire type pedals like the Eggbeaters. So it was clear to me that it was time to try something new.

Sometime this week I should receive my new set of pedals. Shimano M520, the cheapest set of SPD pedals I could find. Shimano was one of the first companies to produce clipless pedals, and have very high quality bearing on all their pedals. I also have never heard a single complaint about Shimano SPD pedals. (With the exception of races/rides that involve "peanut butter mud") So I shall see if I agree with the masses, or if I'm just a Crank Brothers fan boy.   

As always I just need to Ride More, Ride Harder, and Get Faster.

Trail Work, Hip Pain, Strava and Rock Climbing

I know it's been a few weeks since my last post, but I haven't had much worth posting about. I've been riding, but not as much as I know I should be. It hard to stay focused on training when your next race is nearly 6 months away. So I've decided to go into an off session of sorts.  This has been brought on by 3 major factors: 1. The days are getting shorter. 2. Most of my training for next year's races will take place in the coldest months of the year, so I need time to mentally and physical relax. 3. Somehow I have injured my left hip.

This week we will lose about 2 min of daylight/day here in NWA. That means I have 2 options for riding during the week. Only ride for 1.5 hr or strap on the lights. So it's time for me to slow down, ride less and get in some cross training. This will allow me to hit the training hard next year, especially in the important months of January and February.

So what type of cross training? Simple: Building trails, Rock Climbing and running. Don't worry, I'll still be riding, just not as much. One good ride during the week and 2 rides on the weekends will be enough to keep me in some sort of riding shape. The trail work I have planed has already started. My favorite local trail will double in size over the next few months. Mt. Sequoyah is less than 15 minutes (on the bike) away from my apartment, has 4 miles of trails that drops 350 ft over the first 3 miles.  They have the perfect mix of rocks, roots and flow that put a smile on everyone's faces. Then makes everyone  grimace as they climb back to the top.

Heath going full ham using the rake to clean off the newly cut trail

4 hr of work in the rain will wipe you out!

Cutting the riding tread the quick easy way!

Thanks to Heath, I've started to track my riding using Strava. I've always thought it was stupid, but now I'm hooked. It's a very simple way to quickly determine if you're getting fast over the same sections of trail. On one of our easy rides me and Heath put down the 2nd and 3rd fastest run down Mt. Sequoyah, and two days later I rode a time nearly 5 minutes faster than first! I'm sure that will quickly fall, but it was fun. Also Strava will be a good tool to get people out on the new sections of Sequoyah as they gets opened.

So on to the hip pain... I have been having issues with pain in my left hip for the past few weeks. I was out riding Sequoyah when my front wheel washed out on me. I was laughing on my way down and thought it was no big deal, until the next day. I had some very tight Hip Flexors and Gluts leading up to Skool Of Hard Nox 50. This tightness eased up when I lessened my training load, but never really dissipated. I guess as I went down something pulled/pushed/tweaked itself just right way to cause this pain. I hope it will work itself out with a lower training load and lots of stretching.

The new epics, I hope to have one soon!

As always I just need to Ride More, Ride Harder, and Get Faster.