17.6 HR, 237.2 Miles, 13700 FT

What does the random numbers in the title mean exactly? It represents my hardest week on the bike I've ever been able to pull off. 17.6 hr of saddle time (53% Mountain bike), 237.2 Miles ridden(37% Mountain bike), and 13700 vertical feet of climbing all in one 7 day time frame. During this time I learned a few important lessons, and looking back I wonder how I got myself into/through this crazy week.

What happened to the Trail?

Swapping out bikes, 4 hr on Road, 2 hr on MTB!

The first, and by far the most important, lesson I learned is that my body can physically cope with that much training stress. Up until last Saturday (17 Aug 13) I had only been able to put ~15 hr into my legs without getting dog tired, and quickly becoming  sick. It's strange to think about it, but when you have nothing to do but ride, rest, and go to work , you can get some insane miles in. The few friends I have  in Fayetteville are all crazy about riding, just like me, which also helps add on miles!

The second is that when weeks like this happen I need to make recovery just as important as the workouts. I would go on a ride with friends (or even on my own) the stay up way too late eating and drinking. I made it through the week, but had to take a few days off last week to keep some pep in my step.

Third, I need a new bike. I've been saying that for years now, but I think its officially time to take a serious look. On Wednesday (14 Aug 13) I had one of my water bottle cages decided it was tired of living on my bike. But not just the water bottle cage, the bolts and grommets that hold the cage on!

This is where it Happened.

Found it a few days latter

So why all the major miles? Mostly due to boredom and the drive to take my fitness to that next level. I really want to do well next year, as I hope to have a full session of endurance races lined up. I only have about 3 months of saddle time in my legs after taking nearly a year off. And I also have a race coming up this next weekend.

After 3 years of wanting to re-race it, I am finally returning to the Noxubee Hills Trail System for the Skool of Hard Nox 50! These are the trails that got me hooked on MTBing! I'm supper excited to return to these trails. It's going to be a hot, but shortish race for me. My goal is 4:15 for the 50 mile course. This race was my first endurance race to finish, and was also the location of my first ever MTB race. Its 50 miles, 75% single track, 25% grated forest roads and about 4800ft of climbing. Can't wait to mix it up with some fast guys. It's starting to look like this race will grow in the years to come. I've been hearing people in Fayetteville, AR talking about this race!

Anyways, I know it's been a long time since my last post, but I hope to make this a weekly deal.  

Road to a Comeback: Week 0

Well it's been a long time coming, but I'm finally to the point that I want to start bloging again. Over the past month I have reread my older posts and came to an interesting conclusion. I'm writing this blog, first and foremost, for myself. At first I wanted to get a following so that when I approached companies about sponsorship I could quote how many flowers my blog had. But now it's mostly for me. Be for warned, for the next 2 months the blog is going to be very boring and contain very little (if any) cycling related activities.

Well what has brought me to this point, what have I been doing since my last post (the day before Tour de Rock)? What happened to the promised post about Tour de Rock?

It's simple, I put away my road bike, rode the Mountain bike for fun only, visited Colorado for a week, then got shipped to Fort Benning, GA for Army Basic Training. The one thing I can say about Army Basic Training is that it has been the hardest endurance race of my life. The easiest endurance race of my life (Skool of Hard Nox) was harder than even the hardest day at basic. But the day in, day out, every day physical punishment took quit a toll on my body.

In short I had an injury during my 2nd week there that I'm just now (5.5 months latter) getting over. I sprung my ankle which led to a stress fracture in my lower left Fibia. I finally got it checked out about 2 months ago and was put on a no physical training (PT) profile for 2 months. Over that time my weight had gotten up to 160lbs (20lbs over my race weight).

154.5lbs, 16.9% BF

All measurements will be taken Monday mornings using this scale. Posted values are an average of 3 runs.

Now I can go back to PT (just no running or jumping) and will be looking to lose weight and keep my ankle healthy. Will be returning to company morning PT tomorrow (26 Mar 12) and will be working out on my own. Plan on doing core work Monday-Thursday, morning PT Monday-Friday, and some Sufferfest on the weekends.

So what about Tour de Rock? Well I had a great start. Got in with the lead group and was having a blast as we averaged 27+ mph over the first 30 miles. Then I notice my wheel set flexing more than usual, WTF was going on. Took me a few min, but by time I pulled over my back tire was completely flat. During my change I watched group after group past me. Once back on the bike I proceeded to suffer, mostly on my own, for the remaining 70 miles. O well better luck next time I guess.

So what's with the Title of this post? What race is your "comeback"? How many weeks left?

My comeback race will be Fools Gold 100 on 8 Sep 12. I believe that gives me 24 weeks for my comeback. I still have 8 weeks before I can really get back on my bike, so that will leave me with 16 weeks to train for my first ever 100 mile mountain bike race! Should be a fun road to a comeback! 

What A Wild Month

On April 29th I finally graduated MSU with a BS in Aerospace Engineering. That's right, I'm officially a rocket scientist. This was an exciting steep for me, but a sad one at the same time. The next day I was packing up my apartment to move home. Yep, I'm a poor unemployed college grad living with mom and dad again.

I then spent the next few week trying to focus on finishing my training for Syllamo's Revenge 125k. The week before the race I did a pre-ride of the 25mile loop that we would ride twice during the race. During this ride I had several first: first time being completely lost on the mountain bike, first time seeing a black bear, first time seeing a beaver run down a trail, and my first time to run over a field rat. Then came the race, most mentally draining thing I have ever done, my body felt great all day but it mentally hurt. This race deserves a dedicated post.

The next few weeks brought no riding at all. I was focused on jumping through the hoops to join the Arkansas National Guard. That's right, I'm officially Specialist McCool (and a rocket scientist!). I'm going to basic on August 15, 2011, then AIT. My MOS will be 94D.

Once everything for the Guard calmed down I decided to start back riding. Went on a short ride out at Big Dam Bridge, Emerald Park and Burns park. This ride was ok, the worst part of it was not having riding gloves (lost one at Syllamo). Swung by one of the LBS to pick up some gloves and noticed that the Tour De Rock was the next weekend (tomorrow, 20110611). Ran Monday morning (I need to get in some running before basic) then registered for the Tour Monday night. Although the run destroyed my legs I decided to ride the ATV trial around my house Tuesday. Then Thursday I went out to Camp Robinson to get in some real mountain bike fun.

The legs are waking up nicely and I feel strong going into tomorrow. I've heard of people training for months for this tour (that's right, this is my first tour) but I'm just jumping in last minute to do it, is this a good thing to do? We will see.   

I have more on my mind but will be updating again tomorrow night and some more next week. Stay tuned for more. 

View from the top of Emerald Park

More from Emerald Park

And more

And more

Had to bail on the way down due to downed trees.

Sounds like fun!

View form bottom of Emerald Park

Mud hole in ATV trail

View form top of ATV "climb"

Same spot, other view

Can't seam to start a ride when its below 90*.

    

Burned Out? Time to Reset.

It's been 3 weeks since Ouachita Challenge. I've had a few post that where up-beat since OC, but I've had something lingering issues. The week after OC I did 2 days of Zone 2 riding followed by back to back 3 hr days down at the Nox. A low volume, low intensity week for me. But I never got to feeling "normal." The next week I started off by hitting it hard and long. On Tuesday and Thursday I did a long hard rides (zone 4 or low zone 5) followed by group rides (3 hr total). On Wednesday I did WNW.

Saturday I did 2 hr of just riding. At this point I should of steeped back and took some time off. I was tired, bad tired. On "just riding" days I usually ride at zone 3, on this day it was Zone 1 peaking Zone 2 on hills. Then on Sunday came my Mini Burn Out. Waking-up at 5 am I was tired, very tired. My legs, my brain, everything. I pushed through my tiredness and got on my way to the trail. Less than 20 min into my drive to the trails my car started to have an issue of 5th gear poop-out. This was the last straw, I quickly turned around, drove home and slept till I awoke naturally.

After this Mini Burn Out I made a deal with myself to not touch a bike until WNW. Rain started on Monday and did not let up till Friday morning. No WNW, no early start to my Peaking Block.

Friday I went on a nice group ride with David and Kevin! We met at 6:30am and rode out to the Noxubee Refuge to do hill repeats on Bevil Hill, the biggest hill around Starkville. 100ft of climbing in 1 mile. The ride to Bevil Hill, 5 repeats, then the ride back totaled 3 hr. I finished out my ride by doing an additional 1 hr solo. A good 4 hr ride with a several hard race pace efforts.

Bevil Hill

Seen this guy more than a few times out at the Refuge

 I'm feeling good again. My Peaking Block started good and will continue up until 7 days before Syllamo 125k. The plan is to do a 4-5 hr ride every-other day (with the exception of graduation day and the day I move). What caused the Mini Burn Out? I would like to think it was the stress of graduation, moving, and searching for a job. I hope that I will be able to avoid Burn Outs once this school thing is done and I get a chance to settle down.

Tomorrow will be fun, 5hr out at Lake Lurleen!           

I Have Tasted The Cool-Aid That Is An Epic 29er. And Now I Want A Pitcher To Myself!

Over the past few years I have been able to test ride several bike at my local trails. And during this time I have never found a bike that I liked more than my 09' Stumpjumper HT. Well I finally found something I do like more.

Last year I try the 29er cool-aid but was not excited about the results. I test rode the 10' Stumpjumper HT 29er test bike that we had in the shop. At 2lbs heaver than my Stumpy it felt sluggish. It was not just the extra weight, it was also the 29er wheels. Being an Engineering student I understand that even at the same weight it will take more energy to accelerate the wagon wheels around turns, up hills, and across flats. More over I was use to running 20-25 psi in my tires but had to run 30psi in the test bike. I believe that the difference in tire pressure negated most of the advantages that people associate with 29er wheels. This one test ride turned me off to 29ers completely.

Then this year I had a chance to test ride the new Specialize Camber. I was highly impressed with the way that the Camber rode. Quit plush while still having quick and snappy handling. It felt like it was much faster than my stumpy, but the stop watch said otherwise. At more than 3 min slower over a 3 mile loop it was clear that, although a great trail bike, this bike is not designed to be a race bike.

This Wednesday I got a chance to ride the shops Epic 29er test bike. Boy that little test ride opened my eyes. Even after Ouachita Challenge, I've always thought that a 29er full suspension bike was overkill. If I was able to ride that trail, at speed, on a 26in HT then why would you ever want/need a full suspension 29er? Well it's simple, there bad @ss!

I did my test ride on the first Wednesday Night Worlds that Starkville has ever had. During my ride over to the trails I notice one of the small quarks that the new epics have. While seated the suspension boobs though its suspension sag. Nothing major just different than my Stumpy. Then during the parade lap I notice another quark. This quark involves the brain in the rear suspension. The brain engaging and disengaging was noticeable over small low speed bumps. Again nothing major, just different.

During the "race" I never notice either of these quarks. I was able to stay on Kevin's wheels though some really tight trails and was able to pass him for the "win". The momentum that the 29er wheels produce was very welcomed (and noticeable) and was produced without slowing the steering. This momentum helped me keep speed and smoothed-out my power output. This quality would be very welcomed during an endurance race. As I followed Kevin, I told him that the Epic seamed to force me to ride smoother. "Smother? Are you crazy?" Maybe, it's just the feeling that I got during my short time on the bike. Could I Monster Truck over everything on the trail? Sure. But did I? No.  I was able to produce the same time over the same trails as I use to on my Stumpy. But this was on a longer course and the day after pushing myself for 2.5 hours just under LT.

So do I want a Epic 29er? You bet. Even at 5lb heaver than my stumpy, and having wagon wheels, the bike never seemed sluggish. Not once, going around turns it felt snappy, accelerating out of turns it felt smooth, and it hid it's weight quite nicely up the hills.

The only things I would change about the bike I rode would be the handle bars (replace with my carbon ones), the grips (replace with my Ergons), the wheels (build up a light weight racing wheelset), and replace the crank with a XX unit. I think that with these upgrades that the bike would only be 2lb heaver than my Stumpy, but over all a better endurance racing weapon.

       

Ouachita Challenge Race Re-Cap

As noted in my last post, me and Kevin drove 7 hr form Starkville to Oden Saturday, then went on a short pre-ride of the staring single tack. 3 miles in, 3 miles out. My legs felt ok at best and my technical skills were vastly lacking. I decided to stick with my racing plan and see what panned out.

The plan was to do whatever was needed to hit the single track at the back of the lead group then find my rhythm for the remainder of the race. On Sunday I tried my best to make this plan a reality.

After the short 1 mile naturalized start the pace quickly picked up to an uncomfortably fast pace. About halfway up the next to the last hill before the single track I decided that it was costing me too much energy to keep up with the lead group, so decided to fall back and start searching for my rhythm.

I hit the single tack about a minute behind the leader and immediately started to get passed by people. For the first hour I would have group after group catch and pass me. Quite frankly I was embarrassed with myself. I felt like I was in way over my head and was going to wind up DFL.

After about an hour I started to feel better about my situation and started riding stronger. Just a few minutes later I blew past Aid Station One.  Then I started climbing up the single track of Blow Out Mountain. After a few miles of climbing I was thinking to myself "This is not nearly as bad as people warned." Less than 5 min later I was off the bike walking up this hill. This hill was extremely steep and coved by nothing but loose rock. Once over the top of this climb there were several sections of ride-able rock gardens that I had to hike-a-bike over due to other riders walking in front of me. After walking for a total of ~1 mile on Blow Out Mountain the trail turned downward.

My technical skills had been improving all day and hit a high point during the descent off of Blow out Mountain. I was quickly catching and passing people on every type of bike: 29er, 26er, hard-tails, and full suspension. This got me pumped as I worked hard to pass several people on the short road section leading to the last bit of the Ouachita Trial.

I had 1.5 bottles of Cytomax left by the time I reached Aid Station 2. I decided to stick with my nutrition plan and take on more Cytomax at this Aid Station. This turned out to be good on the nutrition front, but not so good on the racing strategy front. As I was getting my bottles refilled I was passed by a few of the riders I had passed on the road. I quickly caught up to a slow group of 3 rider going up the next hill. They were going so slow that I was turning an uncomfortably slow cadence in my lowest gear (22-34 on a 26er). I was behind these riders at the worst possible time, the trail was steep and narrow with no room to let anyone by. For 2 or 3 miles I was stuck behind this group bobbling every time I would hit a root or rock. Finally at the top of the hill I made a quick pass and railed a sick downhill to the end of the Ouachita Trail.

I was happy to see the Ouachita Trail end, but sad at the same time. It was a stupid hard and fun trail, but its end brought ~8 miles of road leading to the Womble! The road section was not a time to rest at all. Sunday saw strong winds that seemed to always be right in your face. I took it easy on this section hopping to be caught by a group. With a few miles left to the single track I joined a group of 3 riders and took short turns pulling at the front.

Blowing through Aid Station 3 I knew the Womble was just a few minutes away. After about 10 minutes of hammering gravel roads I turned onto some sweet single track! The Womble is very similar to what I normally ride on. Show me roots and I can tell you how to ride them, show me rocks and I'm lost. I just could not help but smile as I flowed through the flat section of the Womble (not to mention catching and passing several people on this section).

Then going up the first hill of the Womble I hit a point where I was done (about 45 miles in). My core and upper back was killing me (legs still felt strong) and I started to get a headache (my typical first sign of dehydration setting in). There were several times between Aid Station 3 and 4 that I thought I was going to quit once I reached Aid Station 4.

Then just before I reached Aid Station 4 I popped my first caffeinated Gu. Once at Aid Station 4 I asked for water in my bottles and had some cool water pored over my head. Boy what a boost a little caffeine and a cool head can give you. The thoughts of quitting were firmly out of my head.

The remainder of the race was a blur. All I really remember was finding a new corner of the pain cave I never knew existed and dumping most of my water over my head. I finished the race strong with a time of 5:37 and placed 33rd over all. Despite thinking I was DFL most of the race and having some issues, I still met most of my goals and had a finishing time that made me happy.  I indentified some of my weaknesses and had a fun time in the woods!

My nutrition was spot on for a race of this length but could use some tweaking. When drinking just Cytomax I was wanting more electrolytes and when drinking just EFS I was wanting the lactic clearing properties of Cytomax. My core and upper body strength needs working on, as well as my ability to climb long hills. Time to tweak my training and nutrition over the next 6 weeks before my A priority race, Syllamo's Revenge 125k!

On a side note, Kevin killed it all day and placed 4th, less than 5 minutes behind 1st! Congrats Kevin and everyone ells that finished this year's Ouachita Challenge.             

Ouachita Challenge Pre-Race!

Just got done driving 7 hr to Oden, AR. Once here me and Kevin picked up our packets then took a short Pre-ride. We rode in 3 miles from the start of the Ouachita trail then turned around. This section of trail can only be described as ROCKY! Over all my legs felt OK at best, and my technical skills are definitely lacking. Going to stick with my plan of attack tomorrow and see what pans out.

Photo dump:

Spent some time here this week doing taper rides.

Had some break issues on Thursday.

Packing!

Kevin having fun at Arkansas Cycling and Fitness. Maybe we should do something like this in our shop!

Start of Ouachita Trail

Small sample of the rocks!

Only in Arkansas! (this coming form an Arkansas native)