To help simplify coordination of the Triple D Winter Race (bike or ski or run), i've setup a blog site just for this race...
Saturday, November 13, 2010
New Triple D Race Site... link and Follow!
To help simplify coordination of the Triple D Winter Race (bike or ski or run), i've setup a blog site just for this race...
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Colesburg 40 Results
Thanks again to all the volunteers who help make this race run as smooth as it does. Big thanks to Karl and Traci who spent 6 hours marking the course the day before. Our Sag drivers Karl and Keith, race photographers PaulE and Cassandra (photos to be posted in a day or two). Jody & David for timings. Our grill masters, all those who brought beer and food.
New this year was the addition of a rugged level “B” with exposed bedrock and a rutted river bottom access road. It received rave reviews for the racers as it was “different” “fun” and just plain challenging – especially for the cross riders to negotiate successfully without flatting.
The preem (top of first major climb) was taken by Radio Shack team member and 2008 USA Olympian Jason McCarney. He would go on to win the race beating Pro Jeff Barnes by 4 minutes and the entire field of top local pro talent. While not a course “time” record, he did average the fastest speed on the course in the 19 year history. We will be discussing how the course records are handled and if we decided to switch to speed (allowing us to alter the route slightly from year to year as we did this year) Jason will receive the bonus $ for setting a new course “speed” record.
We awarded over $800 in prize money (not bad for little race with no sponsors) and raised $400 for Chain Reaction Cycling.
Thanks to all who showed up for one of the most challenging short course gravel races anywhere!
If you'd like the results in an XLS including the last 6 years just drop me an email at Lance.Andre at Hotmail dot com.
New this year was the addition of a rugged level “B” with exposed bedrock and a rutted river bottom access road. It received rave reviews for the racers as it was “different” “fun” and just plain challenging – especially for the cross riders to negotiate successfully without flatting.
The preem (top of first major climb) was taken by Radio Shack team member and 2008 USA Olympian Jason McCarney. He would go on to win the race beating Pro Jeff Barnes by 4 minutes and the entire field of top local pro talent. While not a course “time” record, he did average the fastest speed on the course in the 19 year history. We will be discussing how the course records are handled and if we decided to switch to speed (allowing us to alter the route slightly from year to year as we did this year) Jason will receive the bonus $ for setting a new course “speed” record.
We awarded over $800 in prize money (not bad for little race with no sponsors) and raised $400 for Chain Reaction Cycling.
Thanks to all who showed up for one of the most challenging short course gravel races anywhere!
If you'd like the results in an XLS including the last 6 years just drop me an email at Lance.Andre at Hotmail dot com.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Gravel Worlds 2010 - Long Race Report
I tried to keep it short... First I’ll thank Corey "Cornbread" Godfrey for conducting a flawlessly executed event and all his sponsors who helped make it FREE! The Pirate Cycling League, Jay Thomas and the Trek Stores of Omaha, Kansas City, & St. Louis, Cycle Works, Moose's Tooth, Screen Ink, Icon Graphics, Scott Showen and TMCO, Chad Hawthorne and Budweiser/Monster, Oso Burrito, Yia Yia's, The Skateboard Mag, the Colesburg 40 Race, the Rinkordt Family, the Schmidt Family, the Stamper Family and all the many volunteers who spent their day in 97 degree heat helping make this event.
My trip up to the heartland was short and sweet spent the night at a little bed and breakfast about 2 miles from the start line (but still managed to get lost in the dark and spend 20 minutes trying to find the start line). Here’s a shout out to the fine folks at the Prairie Creek Inn B&B that put me up for the “short” night, fead me breakfast and provided me a place to wrench on my bike.
My only strategy for the race was to “no matter what” stay with the lead group until mile 40 when we turned south out of the Northwest headwind… that was it, I knew if I could stay with the lead pack until then I could manage a top 5 placement… we started at 6 am in the dark, just a couple minutes before first light. I had opted to go without a light so I went right to the front to stay out of the dust and trouble. The pace was brisk but manageable, the gravel well… was like concrete… I had showed with a knife, at a gun fight… while my bike is fast, its still a mountain bike with 2.1” tires… it was a good choose for Dirty Kansa 200 with its large brutal rock, but not for this race, maybe 10% of the racers were on mountain bikes (if that), most were on skinny tired cross bikes and about a ¼ were on road bikes.
At only 7.5 miles in that horrible sound of PIST PIST PIST PIST was heard, as I looked around to see who was flatting I spotted Stans sealant flying up behind me… I let out a string of explicates well deserved for a race put on by the “Pirate Cycling” club… I worked my way to the outside of the group and began to slow to see if it would seal up… I would have thought the main field would be down to about 10 or so at this point, but no, there were over 25 still in the group, not good if I was going to try to catch back up, that big of a group would keep the hammer down. As the tire neared flat about 10 psi (started at 40) it sealed up, I slammed on the breaks threw a CO2 in (started to leak again), then got back on in hopes of it sealing (maybe took me a total of 30 seconds… as it started to ride Dennis Grelk – who had a chain issue a mile back came up in a furry, I had about 2 seconds to make the decision – jump on his wheel or keep looking at my rear wheel to see if it seals up… too late Dennis was gone in a near superman effort (I take that back it WAS a superman effort, Dennis bridged the 1 minute gap in only a couple minutes, it took me another minute or so to decide that now was the time to start chasing to get back on… into a 10 mph headwind… it was not to be done. Mad as heck the main group kept putting time into me. I was only averaging 1 mph slower that with the group, but for a race that's 149 miles long it was enouph to cause me to loose over 30 min, by the last CP.
I had hooked up with the only other mountain biker in the lead group during the short time that I could still see the main field as we worked together for a couple of miles, I then took the lead to pick it up a bit more… pushed my effort level way high at this point thinking that that big of a group would have a hard time getting through the mandatory checkpoint (possibly letting me catch up if i could keep their lead to only 5 minutes)… the flat, wasn’t my fault, however turning West on West Ashland? (vs. Right on West Ashland was), figured this one out one mile down a rutted up B road, had to turn around and backtrack (this cost me about 10 minutes and about 6 places)… only navigation mistake of the race. It was on that bombing off course downhill B road that I broke my 5th Carbon Frame (spit the integrated seat post at the seam) – it gave the bike a nice ThudBuster suspension seat post feel.
I passed about 10 riders at the first check point by just going in getting my ticket and right back out… the rest of the race would be the same pass a couple “shelled riders” and worked with a couple of mechanicalled riders, pass about 5-10 at each checkpoint…
As the race whent on the wet fog of the morning was replaced by 97 degrees of intense cloudless skies… the heat index was most likely about 105-110. On the black B roads the sun would cook you from both sides… I was dropping electrolytes and fluids at an incredible rate, luckily stomach distress wasn’t an issue (and wouldn’t be until mile 120), so I kept downing Gatorade to somewhat offset the losses.
The story of the day for all racers would be the heat and the near Genius route design that afforded zero recovery time, the course was a series of hills placed back to back to back to back in what was feat of sadistic and masochistic intension not witnessed too often in gravel racing… as you can see by the race profile there really wasn’t a single hill of substantial effort (although there were 4 hills/walls at 10% or greater) but the totality of all of them combined made this race extreme! Over 2/3’s the field would pull the plug from dehydration, cramps, and complete and utter exhaustion – remember these are guys (and gals) that eat gravel for breakfast with bacon and beer…
At the third and final checkpoint, I pulled in to find 5 guys getting ready to head out and only 3 riders ahead, I couldn’t believe it, I was getting back up there… oh wait, they had left 30+ minutes earlier you say… oh well… in and out at this checkpoint as quick as possible (after downing a half jar of pickle juice – had been fighting bad cramps since mile 70). Got out about a minute after two other strong riders (Dale Pinkelman and Kevin Burke), was able to catch up to them just as we turned on to stagecoach road (a 7 mile stretch of small hills strung together that would take us to the third highest point on the course), it took everything I had to hang on the wheel of these two riders during the climbs, but I knew if I didn’t I would suffer a long and painful death by myself… the one thing I’ve learned in endurance racing is that misery loves company.
About 20 miles out it was just Kevin and me, as we rolled threw a freshly rocked section I heard Kevin call out that he was done, it was his third flat of the day, he would get a tube for his road tire from Dale and finish only 10 minutes back.
I rolled the last 15 miles solo for a 4th place category and 4th place overall finish at 9 hours and 40 minutes at an average speed (including off the bike of 15.3 mph). While the flat at the beginning of the race changed everything, I’m not sure it would have changed the overall, I just would have been abit more fun for me to fight it out upfront than clawing my way back up for a 130 miles. I do regret not acting in that split second to jump onto Dennis’s wheel as I could have (maybe) gotten back on, also, possibly not showing up on a road bike, the course was hard and fast.
Had a fantastic time riding with lots of top athletes, gravel racing draws such a great group of individuals, Spent miles riding with Mark? (mtbiker), Troy Krause (sic individual – one of the route designers), Dale, Kevin, and many others (who I have forgot their names due to the heat and dehydration - lost 10 lbs during the race, but no $1200 hospital visit this time)… Congrats to Mike Marchand (who I KNEW would win this race, he is one fast gravel eating fool [and now has the “Gravel Worlds Jersey" to show for it], I’m sorry I didn’t get to draft that wheel). Thanks again for Cornbreads efforts in putting this event on and brining gravel racing to the “international stage”.
http://jedionabike.blogspot.com/2010/08/blog-post.html#comments
http://cornbreadblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/gravel-worlds_22.html
http://g-tedproductions.blogspot.com/
http://piratecyclingleague.blogspot.com/
My trip up to the heartland was short and sweet spent the night at a little bed and breakfast about 2 miles from the start line (but still managed to get lost in the dark and spend 20 minutes trying to find the start line). Here’s a shout out to the fine folks at the Prairie Creek Inn B&B that put me up for the “short” night, fead me breakfast and provided me a place to wrench on my bike.
My only strategy for the race was to “no matter what” stay with the lead group until mile 40 when we turned south out of the Northwest headwind… that was it, I knew if I could stay with the lead pack until then I could manage a top 5 placement… we started at 6 am in the dark, just a couple minutes before first light. I had opted to go without a light so I went right to the front to stay out of the dust and trouble. The pace was brisk but manageable, the gravel well… was like concrete… I had showed with a knife, at a gun fight… while my bike is fast, its still a mountain bike with 2.1” tires… it was a good choose for Dirty Kansa 200 with its large brutal rock, but not for this race, maybe 10% of the racers were on mountain bikes (if that), most were on skinny tired cross bikes and about a ¼ were on road bikes.
At only 7.5 miles in that horrible sound of PIST PIST PIST PIST was heard, as I looked around to see who was flatting I spotted Stans sealant flying up behind me… I let out a string of explicates well deserved for a race put on by the “Pirate Cycling” club… I worked my way to the outside of the group and began to slow to see if it would seal up… I would have thought the main field would be down to about 10 or so at this point, but no, there were over 25 still in the group, not good if I was going to try to catch back up, that big of a group would keep the hammer down. As the tire neared flat about 10 psi (started at 40) it sealed up, I slammed on the breaks threw a CO2 in (started to leak again), then got back on in hopes of it sealing (maybe took me a total of 30 seconds… as it started to ride Dennis Grelk – who had a chain issue a mile back came up in a furry, I had about 2 seconds to make the decision – jump on his wheel or keep looking at my rear wheel to see if it seals up… too late Dennis was gone in a near superman effort (I take that back it WAS a superman effort, Dennis bridged the 1 minute gap in only a couple minutes, it took me another minute or so to decide that now was the time to start chasing to get back on… into a 10 mph headwind… it was not to be done. Mad as heck the main group kept putting time into me. I was only averaging 1 mph slower that with the group, but for a race that's 149 miles long it was enouph to cause me to loose over 30 min, by the last CP.
I had hooked up with the only other mountain biker in the lead group during the short time that I could still see the main field as we worked together for a couple of miles, I then took the lead to pick it up a bit more… pushed my effort level way high at this point thinking that that big of a group would have a hard time getting through the mandatory checkpoint (possibly letting me catch up if i could keep their lead to only 5 minutes)… the flat, wasn’t my fault, however turning West on West Ashland? (vs. Right on West Ashland was), figured this one out one mile down a rutted up B road, had to turn around and backtrack (this cost me about 10 minutes and about 6 places)… only navigation mistake of the race. It was on that bombing off course downhill B road that I broke my 5th Carbon Frame (spit the integrated seat post at the seam) – it gave the bike a nice ThudBuster suspension seat post feel.
I passed about 10 riders at the first check point by just going in getting my ticket and right back out… the rest of the race would be the same pass a couple “shelled riders” and worked with a couple of mechanicalled riders, pass about 5-10 at each checkpoint…
As the race whent on the wet fog of the morning was replaced by 97 degrees of intense cloudless skies… the heat index was most likely about 105-110. On the black B roads the sun would cook you from both sides… I was dropping electrolytes and fluids at an incredible rate, luckily stomach distress wasn’t an issue (and wouldn’t be until mile 120), so I kept downing Gatorade to somewhat offset the losses.
The story of the day for all racers would be the heat and the near Genius route design that afforded zero recovery time, the course was a series of hills placed back to back to back to back in what was feat of sadistic and masochistic intension not witnessed too often in gravel racing… as you can see by the race profile there really wasn’t a single hill of substantial effort (although there were 4 hills/walls at 10% or greater) but the totality of all of them combined made this race extreme! Over 2/3’s the field would pull the plug from dehydration, cramps, and complete and utter exhaustion – remember these are guys (and gals) that eat gravel for breakfast with bacon and beer…
At the third and final checkpoint, I pulled in to find 5 guys getting ready to head out and only 3 riders ahead, I couldn’t believe it, I was getting back up there… oh wait, they had left 30+ minutes earlier you say… oh well… in and out at this checkpoint as quick as possible (after downing a half jar of pickle juice – had been fighting bad cramps since mile 70). Got out about a minute after two other strong riders (Dale Pinkelman and Kevin Burke), was able to catch up to them just as we turned on to stagecoach road (a 7 mile stretch of small hills strung together that would take us to the third highest point on the course), it took everything I had to hang on the wheel of these two riders during the climbs, but I knew if I didn’t I would suffer a long and painful death by myself… the one thing I’ve learned in endurance racing is that misery loves company.
About 20 miles out it was just Kevin and me, as we rolled threw a freshly rocked section I heard Kevin call out that he was done, it was his third flat of the day, he would get a tube for his road tire from Dale and finish only 10 minutes back.
I rolled the last 15 miles solo for a 4th place category and 4th place overall finish at 9 hours and 40 minutes at an average speed (including off the bike of 15.3 mph). While the flat at the beginning of the race changed everything, I’m not sure it would have changed the overall, I just would have been abit more fun for me to fight it out upfront than clawing my way back up for a 130 miles. I do regret not acting in that split second to jump onto Dennis’s wheel as I could have (maybe) gotten back on, also, possibly not showing up on a road bike, the course was hard and fast.
Had a fantastic time riding with lots of top athletes, gravel racing draws such a great group of individuals, Spent miles riding with Mark? (mtbiker), Troy Krause (sic individual – one of the route designers), Dale, Kevin, and many others (who I have forgot their names due to the heat and dehydration - lost 10 lbs during the race, but no $1200 hospital visit this time)… Congrats to Mike Marchand (who I KNEW would win this race, he is one fast gravel eating fool [and now has the “Gravel Worlds Jersey" to show for it], I’m sorry I didn’t get to draft that wheel). Thanks again for Cornbreads efforts in putting this event on and brining gravel racing to the “international stage”.
http://jedionabike.blogspot.com/2010/08/blog-post.html#comments
http://cornbreadblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/gravel-worlds_22.html
http://g-tedproductions.blogspot.com/
http://piratecyclingleague.blogspot.com/
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Colesburg 40 Flyer
Save great race, same great extended weekend... same suffering... but 2 miles easy pavement replaced with 3 miles of gravel+level b! Yes, you heard it here first, the Colesburg 40 JUST GOT BETTER! Because of this were doubling the course record payout (now $100) and preams $40... See you there, Lance A.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Dirty Kanza 200 - Post Race
This will just be the ride stats, I'll follow up in a day or two with my ride recap (this race had everything!).
Place: 2nd overall (on 2.1" mountain bike tires)
Total Distance 201.77 miles
Average speed (on the bike): 17.3 mph
Average speed including CP, & Bonk stop: 13.8 mph
Total Time: 14 Hours, 36 Min, 27 Seconds
Total Climbing: 12,013 feet (holly shi# KANSAS sure isn't flat) – that’s correct 12 THOUSAND FEET!!! Nearly half of that was just in the last 60 miles!
Removed my rear rotor at mile 165 as i noticed it was dragging, my guess from my Garmin Stats is that it was dragging from about mile 140 (about 10 miles before I bonked hard).
Number of water bottles: 20
Number of IV's at the emergency room: 3
Flats: Zero
Place: 2nd overall (on 2.1" mountain bike tires)
Total Distance 201.77 miles
Average speed (on the bike): 17.3 mph
Average speed including CP, & Bonk stop: 13.8 mph
Total Time: 14 Hours, 36 Min, 27 Seconds
Total Climbing: 12,013 feet (holly shi# KANSAS sure isn't flat) – that’s correct 12 THOUSAND FEET!!! Nearly half of that was just in the last 60 miles!
Removed my rear rotor at mile 165 as i noticed it was dragging, my guess from my Garmin Stats is that it was dragging from about mile 140 (about 10 miles before I bonked hard).
Number of water bottles: 20
Number of IV's at the emergency room: 3
Flats: Zero
Friday, May 28, 2010
Triple D 2011 - Jan 16 (Sunday This Year)
This will be a three day weekend for some of you. More information will follow in comming months.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
TransIowa here we come, like it or not...
I know the route that Guitar Ted has selected will test the riders this year not to make it a challenge to win the race but to simply make the cutoff times to finish the race. The conditions wont be as bad as TI2 but it will be close. Here’s a video from my first attempt at this race:
(I'm wearing the yellow raincoat and riding the same bike as i will this year. Was 35 d with 30 mph headwinds)
You can follow this years race via the live race radio at the TransIowaBlog site. Mark does a cool job updating the site in years past with updates every couple of hours.
We'll see if my bike makes it to Iowa without damage?
(I'm wearing the yellow raincoat and riding the same bike as i will this year. Was 35 d with 30 mph headwinds)
You can follow this years race via the live race radio at the TransIowaBlog site. Mark does a cool job updating the site in years past with updates every couple of hours.
We'll see if my bike makes it to Iowa without damage?
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
favorite reading
Killing some time tonight, I was reading other racers blogs on ITI and Sue100... a quote from my blog would go something like this "great scenery" or “incredible views from the course”, “good race”, etc... Guess I should have paid more attention in writing class... Here's a quote from Juneau Jill:
"The middle of the night is one of my favorite times to be riding during an endurance event. Before a ride, there is always the hope that conditions would be perfect, I would feel on top of my game and amazingly find the strength to pound all the miles out by midnight. But when that doesn't happen, I find the lonely hours of the morning to be the most revealing and memorable of the entire ride. In the clear night, the distant city lights of Anchorage burned deep orange streaks behind the horizon like remnants of a long-departed sunset. Craggy silhouettes of black spruce stabbed at the light and cast faint, far-stretching shadows over the purple snow. In the night, I think about a lot of things. I think about nothing. I habitually turn the pedals and believe I could do this forever, and never stop, even as my eyelids droop and shoulders burn. In the night, time makes quantum leaps forward, even as I move slower and slower. Entire hours will pass by. I will remember every moment, and it will feel like minutes."
"The middle of the night is one of my favorite times to be riding during an endurance event. Before a ride, there is always the hope that conditions would be perfect, I would feel on top of my game and amazingly find the strength to pound all the miles out by midnight. But when that doesn't happen, I find the lonely hours of the morning to be the most revealing and memorable of the entire ride. In the clear night, the distant city lights of Anchorage burned deep orange streaks behind the horizon like remnants of a long-departed sunset. Craggy silhouettes of black spruce stabbed at the light and cast faint, far-stretching shadows over the purple snow. In the night, I think about a lot of things. I think about nothing. I habitually turn the pedals and believe I could do this forever, and never stop, even as my eyelids droop and shoulders burn. In the night, time makes quantum leaps forward, even as I move slower and slower. Entire hours will pass by. I will remember every moment, and it will feel like minutes."
Monday, February 22, 2010
Pictures from Susitna 100
Sorry there aren't more but I didn't take my Camera along... won't make that mistake in Alaska again!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Susitna 100 – Ultramarathon in the Alaskan Wilderness – 3rd Overall, 2nd Bike
Back in Florida now and the temps are about the same (WTF). I usually talk about the race, how things worked themselves out, what went wrong, etc… so here goes, Got a good start took the lead about a mile into the race and with a hot pace to thin things out a bit. Pete, Joe, Erik and I were all that were left and were the lead group at about 10 miles in. From there Peter and I would trade spots often at the beginning and a couple miles from Flat Horn Lake it was just Pete, Joe and I. The three of us would battle it out Crit style with some shoulder checks, tire bumps and a couple crashes (literally would have been cool to have a helmet cam for the 10 miles on the river).
A while after Flat Horn Lake Joe slipped off the back after a monster pull left him little drained. Pete and I then rode together for the rest of the race with peter taking the lead a majority of the time. At each checkpoint we’d get a spit to Chet as we thought we could catch him before the finish. The conditions on Flat Horn Lake killed that goal as it was good skiing but very slow biking. We amp’d it up as we approached the finish testing each other on a couple of the courses only substantial climbs but we remained pretty much side by side… until about 2 miles from the finish when I bobbled a slick off camber section, Pete capitalized on this and unleashed a 2 mile sprint to the finish (or he started his sprint and I bobbled – can’t remember which happened first), try as I may I could not close the gap (I think it even got a little bigger by the finish). Kathi Merchant and I were talking at the last checkpoint about two hours earlier… I had commented on how fast Pete was after Luce’s when he was trying to catch Chet (the skier who had passed us near the halfway point), she said “ya, Pete always seems to have one more gear”… so I thought “well that’s cool, cause I got TWO more gears left in me”… I guess he had “three more left, Or, one more than me.”
Was a good race for me, no gear issues, no long stays at checkpoints, no physical issues (felt great all through the race and after). Finished the 100 miles in 15 hours and 12 minutes. 4850 calories burned; average cadence of 78; only 1770 ft of climbing (pretty flat course); max speed of 21.5 mph; average speed of (get this) 6.4 mph!!! Average HR was 73%. The best thing about my Garmin results is that none of my values (HR, cadence, etc) decreased at all during the race (arrowhead they did, but only because I was without a light for the last 5 hours). About 10 tire pressure changes, as the snow varied from hard and fast to soft and punchy. Bike was my Speedway Cycles FATBACK with a 100mm rear wheel and a new 70 mm front wheel. All my bags are from Epic Designs (especially like my new LARGE seat bag that fits my -20 Big Angus bag and -20 Big Angus foam pad and bivy sack). I didn’t use Eric’s pogies as the temps were too high, and the race was short enough I didn’t need the extra storage for food, used fingerless biking gloves for the first half of the race and some lightweight fleece gloves for the rest).
On a side note: It’s a small world; One of the 1049 mile award recipients “superAL” the man with the stash, is married to the engineer that I used to work for 20+ years ago in Des Moines, until they moved to Alaska. Who would have thunk… Meet a lot of great people at the race, the Burglunds, Brig Potnis, Ben LaVigueur, all the incredible checkpoint volunteers… The race was run with watch like precision (it’s like they’ve been doing it for years).
Being the first time in Alaska what I should spend my time writing about is the state… absolutely incredible; the view from the course was so astonishing I rode off the trail into waist deep snow looking at the mountains which completely surrounded the Susitna River… from Mt. Susitna to Mt. McKinley (Denali). After eating dinner with my dad at 2 am at Point Mackenzie General Store after the race, I took off on the Iditarod trail for an hour “cool down ride” and bivy’d under the stars on a hillside about 5 miles west of Knik. I can’t remember ever in my life seeing a sky so black and the stars so bright (was a new moon night). Saw a baby mouse (wasn’t all that small) on my way out, and a number of dog sleds. During the race we must have been passed by at least 200 snow machines… This area of Alaska must be to Snowmobilers what Moab is to Mountain Bikers… I’ll post some pictures soon.
A couple years back when I first caught the “snow biking bug” I found a blog by an Alaskan journalist who has the wonderful ability to put some spectacular vista in perspective with the human soul, and cycling to boot… also some pretty good photos too, It really inspired me to travel outside my Midwestern and now Floridian landscape to something bigger (MUCH BIGGER). If you get the opportunity, check out Jill's blog. I want to thank her for getting me that little taste of Alaska that I needed to make the trip (hopefully I’ll be back next year for something a little bigger).
If you want to experience Alaska in the winter (or summer) by bike; Bill and Kathi Merchant (the race directors for the Iditarod Trail Invitational) do bike camping excursions (they were out on the course with some fellow bikers the night of the race). Check out their blog, it's a great way to prep for the longer races like the new Tuscobia 200 mile and Arrowhead while getting a vacation in.
A while after Flat Horn Lake Joe slipped off the back after a monster pull left him little drained. Pete and I then rode together for the rest of the race with peter taking the lead a majority of the time. At each checkpoint we’d get a spit to Chet as we thought we could catch him before the finish. The conditions on Flat Horn Lake killed that goal as it was good skiing but very slow biking. We amp’d it up as we approached the finish testing each other on a couple of the courses only substantial climbs but we remained pretty much side by side… until about 2 miles from the finish when I bobbled a slick off camber section, Pete capitalized on this and unleashed a 2 mile sprint to the finish (or he started his sprint and I bobbled – can’t remember which happened first), try as I may I could not close the gap (I think it even got a little bigger by the finish). Kathi Merchant and I were talking at the last checkpoint about two hours earlier… I had commented on how fast Pete was after Luce’s when he was trying to catch Chet (the skier who had passed us near the halfway point), she said “ya, Pete always seems to have one more gear”… so I thought “well that’s cool, cause I got TWO more gears left in me”… I guess he had “three more left, Or, one more than me.”
Was a good race for me, no gear issues, no long stays at checkpoints, no physical issues (felt great all through the race and after). Finished the 100 miles in 15 hours and 12 minutes. 4850 calories burned; average cadence of 78; only 1770 ft of climbing (pretty flat course); max speed of 21.5 mph; average speed of (get this) 6.4 mph!!! Average HR was 73%. The best thing about my Garmin results is that none of my values (HR, cadence, etc) decreased at all during the race (arrowhead they did, but only because I was without a light for the last 5 hours). About 10 tire pressure changes, as the snow varied from hard and fast to soft and punchy. Bike was my Speedway Cycles FATBACK with a 100mm rear wheel and a new 70 mm front wheel. All my bags are from Epic Designs (especially like my new LARGE seat bag that fits my -20 Big Angus bag and -20 Big Angus foam pad and bivy sack). I didn’t use Eric’s pogies as the temps were too high, and the race was short enough I didn’t need the extra storage for food, used fingerless biking gloves for the first half of the race and some lightweight fleece gloves for the rest).
On a side note: It’s a small world; One of the 1049 mile award recipients “superAL” the man with the stash, is married to the engineer that I used to work for 20+ years ago in Des Moines, until they moved to Alaska. Who would have thunk… Meet a lot of great people at the race, the Burglunds, Brig Potnis, Ben LaVigueur, all the incredible checkpoint volunteers… The race was run with watch like precision (it’s like they’ve been doing it for years).
Being the first time in Alaska what I should spend my time writing about is the state… absolutely incredible; the view from the course was so astonishing I rode off the trail into waist deep snow looking at the mountains which completely surrounded the Susitna River… from Mt. Susitna to Mt. McKinley (Denali). After eating dinner with my dad at 2 am at Point Mackenzie General Store after the race, I took off on the Iditarod trail for an hour “cool down ride” and bivy’d under the stars on a hillside about 5 miles west of Knik. I can’t remember ever in my life seeing a sky so black and the stars so bright (was a new moon night). Saw a baby mouse (wasn’t all that small) on my way out, and a number of dog sleds. During the race we must have been passed by at least 200 snow machines… This area of Alaska must be to Snowmobilers what Moab is to Mountain Bikers… I’ll post some pictures soon.
A couple years back when I first caught the “snow biking bug” I found a blog by an Alaskan journalist who has the wonderful ability to put some spectacular vista in perspective with the human soul, and cycling to boot… also some pretty good photos too, It really inspired me to travel outside my Midwestern and now Floridian landscape to something bigger (MUCH BIGGER). If you get the opportunity, check out Jill's blog. I want to thank her for getting me that little taste of Alaska that I needed to make the trip (hopefully I’ll be back next year for something a little bigger).
If you want to experience Alaska in the winter (or summer) by bike; Bill and Kathi Merchant (the race directors for the Iditarod Trail Invitational) do bike camping excursions (they were out on the course with some fellow bikers the night of the race). Check out their blog, it's a great way to prep for the longer races like the new Tuscobia 200 mile and Arrowhead while getting a vacation in.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Arrowhead 135 Race Report
An incredible thanks to Pierre and Cheryl Oster who have grown the Arrowhead Ultra event to over a 100 racers in icebox of the US, and mostly of all organized it so well, they had volunteers helping volunteers. Joel Austin came along with me to take photos this year (Joel Finished 12th last year on a 26 inch “skinny bike” and will return next year on either a 29er skinny or a pugs). More photos of his can be found at: JOELSPHOTOS
My race reports are always a bit verbose (guess it’s difficult to condense 24 hour of racing into a paragraph).
The morning started off with -20d F and a minor 10 mph headwind for the first 8 miles. My first mistake was a classic rookie move of not getting my tire pressure dialed in before the race (at Tuscobia it took nearly 15 minutes to get the pressure just right). So for the first hour I stayed with the lead group of 10 but was working way too hard over 90% HR, so knowing that the trails wouldn’t change for at least another 5 hours and at that HR, I would only survive for another hour or two, I had to drop from the group and add about 3 psi to the front and about 5 psi to the back, made a couple clothing adjustments and back off I went (lost about 4 minutes on the group and the benefit of the pace line).
Although I had to ride a bit quicker to make up the 4 minutes, my HR was 10% lower as having the proper pressure now dialed in. Mistake 1 behind me... From there things were going pretty well, good trail conditions, manageable pace. About every 30 minutes I’d pass riders that had dropped from the lead group or had to stop to make gear adjustments. About 3 hours in I saw Dave Pramann (multiple year AHU winner and course record holder) ahead who was fiddling with some clothing changes. The two of us then worked together to close the gap to the remaining 3 of the lead group (Terry Brannick – 2009 AHU winner, Peter Basinger – Iditarod record holder, and Jeff Oatley – RAAM Racer and Iditarod winner) to about 2 minutes by the Gateway store checkpoint. We then finished the deal about 10 miles beyond the checkpoint on a couple of the long climbs.
Dave in his usual style, doesn't like to follow and then took the lead for the next hour, I would move to the front on a couple of the sections where I would amp up the pace a bit, on one climb about 6 hours in a monster climb hit, I punched back kicking it up to a 195 HR (100%) – not bad for over 40 and about 6 hours in. Between Dave and me we had whittled the lead group to the two of us and Jeff Oatley. Terry was having severe issues with numbness of his entire right arm. The three of us worked together until the Melgeorges CP at the halfway checkpoint. Upon setting my bike down I noticed that my headlight had turned itself on!! What a wonderful feature that some imbecile engineer thought would be a good idea – If you plug the light in, it turns itself on, and on HIGH. Estimated run time about 6 hours, it had most likely been on for about 6 hours based on looking at race photos… I believe the plug must have come loose on a rough section and then made contact again or I had pushed it back in (either way this will affect me as night approaches).
Here comes Rookie mistake number two, I had planned for a quick 10 minute in and out, but for a couple of reasons ended up putzing around and chatting at the Melgeorges CP too long and left the checkpoint 20 minutes after Oatley and Basinger, and 10+ minutes behind Pramann. I knew Pramann would attempt to and would most likely catch the Alaskans although the outcome would be for up for grabs at the finish. I thought I might be able to close the distance by the finish as I had paced myself much better than last year, but knew it would be difficult (making up 20+ minutes on those three would put me into a major pain factory! But, I did have much better bivy gear this year if I wouldn’t make it).
Picture of the three leaders comming across the lake (note my light was on...)
Back out on the trail things were still rolling good, and I was pushing the hill sections hard and fast and bombing the downhill’s at an absolute maximum speed knowing that earlier that’s where I was able to gap the group, also I knew my light (even on low), might not make it through the night, so I figured: run hard while there’s still some daylight left. Once dusk was over and I could no longer safely navigate the trail, I turned on my light on low and kept turning out a moderately fast pace.
My sprits improved as I saw the tail lights of the lead group of three ahead, about 5-10 minutes at the most. But within minutes of seeing them, and about an hour of successful night racing, the light went into SOS mode indicating that about 30 seconds of light remained. There I was 40 miles still to go and the only light was the stars. I fashioned my small LED work lights to my aerobars with some duct tape (never leave home without it) and off I went at about half the speed as before and the downhill’s at about 1/4 the speed. The two LED’s were just sufficient to see the trees about 10 feet ahead and could barely make out the leaders tracks immediately in front of me. One advantage of the slower speed was that the rest of the ride was enjoyable and gave me time to “enjoy the stars”. The only exception to the enjoyable finial run in was that the trail had hundreds of small trees that were hanging over the trail due to a recent ice storm and without a light I had about a half second to close my eyes and duck before hitting them, a couple were big enough the nearly knocked my off the bike. I waited at the crescent / teepee check point for about 30 minutes as the moon was going to rise soon and I knew at the pace I was riding that 1st-3rd was no longer attainable.
Unfortunately the additional moonlight didn’t help at all, ether because it was right in front of the trail (like driving into a sunrise) or was shaded by the plethora of pine trees that line the trail. I did catch a glimpse of #70 Dan Dittmer who at the point when I saw his headlight was only about 5 minutes behind, that was enough to kick me in the A$$ to get me moving at a respectable pace again light or no light.
Finished the race at 16 hours, 57 minutes and 23 seconds (just before midnight) – beating my PR by about 6 hours and obtaining my second highly coveted Arrowhead Trophy. Average speed was a whooping 7.9 mph, max speed was a 30.5 mph (may have trouble getting life insurance after that), and a total of 7150 calories burned. Total climbing of 7,012 feet over a distance of 133.99 miles, and an average HR of 151.
My race reports are always a bit verbose (guess it’s difficult to condense 24 hour of racing into a paragraph).
The morning started off with -20d F and a minor 10 mph headwind for the first 8 miles. My first mistake was a classic rookie move of not getting my tire pressure dialed in before the race (at Tuscobia it took nearly 15 minutes to get the pressure just right). So for the first hour I stayed with the lead group of 10 but was working way too hard over 90% HR, so knowing that the trails wouldn’t change for at least another 5 hours and at that HR, I would only survive for another hour or two, I had to drop from the group and add about 3 psi to the front and about 5 psi to the back, made a couple clothing adjustments and back off I went (lost about 4 minutes on the group and the benefit of the pace line).
Although I had to ride a bit quicker to make up the 4 minutes, my HR was 10% lower as having the proper pressure now dialed in. Mistake 1 behind me... From there things were going pretty well, good trail conditions, manageable pace. About every 30 minutes I’d pass riders that had dropped from the lead group or had to stop to make gear adjustments. About 3 hours in I saw Dave Pramann (multiple year AHU winner and course record holder) ahead who was fiddling with some clothing changes. The two of us then worked together to close the gap to the remaining 3 of the lead group (Terry Brannick – 2009 AHU winner, Peter Basinger – Iditarod record holder, and Jeff Oatley – RAAM Racer and Iditarod winner) to about 2 minutes by the Gateway store checkpoint. We then finished the deal about 10 miles beyond the checkpoint on a couple of the long climbs.
Dave in his usual style, doesn't like to follow and then took the lead for the next hour, I would move to the front on a couple of the sections where I would amp up the pace a bit, on one climb about 6 hours in a monster climb hit, I punched back kicking it up to a 195 HR (100%) – not bad for over 40 and about 6 hours in. Between Dave and me we had whittled the lead group to the two of us and Jeff Oatley. Terry was having severe issues with numbness of his entire right arm. The three of us worked together until the Melgeorges CP at the halfway checkpoint. Upon setting my bike down I noticed that my headlight had turned itself on!! What a wonderful feature that some imbecile engineer thought would be a good idea – If you plug the light in, it turns itself on, and on HIGH. Estimated run time about 6 hours, it had most likely been on for about 6 hours based on looking at race photos… I believe the plug must have come loose on a rough section and then made contact again or I had pushed it back in (either way this will affect me as night approaches).
Here comes Rookie mistake number two, I had planned for a quick 10 minute in and out, but for a couple of reasons ended up putzing around and chatting at the Melgeorges CP too long and left the checkpoint 20 minutes after Oatley and Basinger, and 10+ minutes behind Pramann. I knew Pramann would attempt to and would most likely catch the Alaskans although the outcome would be for up for grabs at the finish. I thought I might be able to close the distance by the finish as I had paced myself much better than last year, but knew it would be difficult (making up 20+ minutes on those three would put me into a major pain factory! But, I did have much better bivy gear this year if I wouldn’t make it).
Picture of the three leaders comming across the lake (note my light was on...)
Back out on the trail things were still rolling good, and I was pushing the hill sections hard and fast and bombing the downhill’s at an absolute maximum speed knowing that earlier that’s where I was able to gap the group, also I knew my light (even on low), might not make it through the night, so I figured: run hard while there’s still some daylight left. Once dusk was over and I could no longer safely navigate the trail, I turned on my light on low and kept turning out a moderately fast pace.
My sprits improved as I saw the tail lights of the lead group of three ahead, about 5-10 minutes at the most. But within minutes of seeing them, and about an hour of successful night racing, the light went into SOS mode indicating that about 30 seconds of light remained. There I was 40 miles still to go and the only light was the stars. I fashioned my small LED work lights to my aerobars with some duct tape (never leave home without it) and off I went at about half the speed as before and the downhill’s at about 1/4 the speed. The two LED’s were just sufficient to see the trees about 10 feet ahead and could barely make out the leaders tracks immediately in front of me. One advantage of the slower speed was that the rest of the ride was enjoyable and gave me time to “enjoy the stars”. The only exception to the enjoyable finial run in was that the trail had hundreds of small trees that were hanging over the trail due to a recent ice storm and without a light I had about a half second to close my eyes and duck before hitting them, a couple were big enough the nearly knocked my off the bike. I waited at the crescent / teepee check point for about 30 minutes as the moon was going to rise soon and I knew at the pace I was riding that 1st-3rd was no longer attainable.
Unfortunately the additional moonlight didn’t help at all, ether because it was right in front of the trail (like driving into a sunrise) or was shaded by the plethora of pine trees that line the trail. I did catch a glimpse of #70 Dan Dittmer who at the point when I saw his headlight was only about 5 minutes behind, that was enough to kick me in the A$$ to get me moving at a respectable pace again light or no light.
Finished the race at 16 hours, 57 minutes and 23 seconds (just before midnight) – beating my PR by about 6 hours and obtaining my second highly coveted Arrowhead Trophy. Average speed was a whooping 7.9 mph, max speed was a 30.5 mph (may have trouble getting life insurance after that), and a total of 7150 calories burned. Total climbing of 7,012 feet over a distance of 133.99 miles, and an average HR of 151.
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