Racing for Team Clark Logic, and hopefully the arrival of consistent posts!

     Its been a couple years since my last post with numerous races and countless miles riding. The main change is riding for Team Clark Logic. I'm excited to learn with some of the best local talent in the area and hopefully add to the success of the team. Below are some of the race recaps for the first few big races of the season.

February 26, 2017
The Brewery Vivant Farmhand Fat Bike Race

      This race has always been a tough race. It brings out the best regional fat bike racers and this year was no exception. National Fat Bike Champion Cole House was there as well as Jorden Wakely, Matt Acker, TCL alumni Tyler Weston and more talented riders were there. Coming off an illness that kept me off the bike for over two weeks I didn’t have high expectations.  I went in there with the goal of getting a good three hour workout in and having some fun. I shot off the line with TCL teammate Dan Kannegieter. This year there was no snow except the icy manmade base on the Cannonsburg slopes. The first hill came up fast and I knew that it wouldn’t be wise to try and match my teammate, so I settled into my own pace. It was a lonely race for the most part. About two hours into the race I saw Cole House and Wakely banging bars on a climb. They seemed to be into a very heated battle for first. They soon left my sight bur around a blind corner I saw Wakely off his bike. I’m not sure what happened to him, but he wasn’t very happy. As it turns out only Cole would put me a lap down. To make a long story short I came in 11^th out of I think the 40 riders in solo male that would brave the ice. One person past me on the final lap, but I thought he was part of a team since his number plate would indicate that he was a duo rider, but it actually was just a late registration racer with a funky number. Moral of the story is I shouldn’t have taken the last lap easy. Dan made the podium in 5^th place.

March 19, 2017
Melting Mann Fat Bike 32 Miler

Camelbak under the jersey isn't very flattering haha.

     My excitement for this race was extremely high this year. I’ve had great luck  in the past with fairly strong finishes. Rolling into the race with Jon Ballema, Jamie Clark, and Dan Kannegieter  gave me lots of confidence that we’d have some fire power in the race. Lots of rain came down before this race and had me nervous. I’ve never been the strongest of racers when it comes to muscling through deep mud. The first few miles of the race was mostly road and fairly hard pack gravel roads. Our group of fatties was rolling together along with the rival team from Indianapolis. It was a tough pace as some single speed studs where placed in the same wave. About five miles into the race we hit a loose, muddy climb and that would seem to setup the first break. A single speeder got out of shape in the middle of the pack. My instinct was to dive to the edge of the road and keep my momentum, but in this case it was a terrible mistake. I soon found my fat tire bike in almost axle high mud. I fought with every watt of power I had to get out and jump back into the lead group. I spent the next two miles trying desperately to branch up to no prevail. I was riding solo, but looked back to see that Jamie and Jon had also been tangled up a couple miles back. I soft pedaled until they came up and we would work well for half the race until the next mishap. Mann road is usually the make or break point in the race. Taking the hard left onto the road was surprisingly drama free as the rain had setup the sand better than any other year I could remember; however cresting that first hill would reveal the horror show.

 An extremely fast downhill that was covered in the greasiest of mud was in front of me. I, surprisingly, was ready to smash this section with enthusiasm. Another racer seemed to share my enthusiasm as pedaled hard down the hill passing me. Bad luck would strike again as the racer soon lost control flying off his bike right in front of my line. Unfortunately I was on Black Floyd’s (fat bike road slick) and couldn’t avoid heading straight at him. In a last ditch effort to avoid a collision I jumped off the bike and drug the bike towards the side of the hill while surf sliding down the hill. The silliness of all that was as soon as I knew I was alright and had avoided hitting the other racer I soon looked up the road to see where Jon and Jamie had speed off to. I had lost 30 seconds to them. The rest of Mann road was a sloppy struggle as I clawed back time. I would catch Jon on the gravel headed west slowly headed back towards Vandalia.  We worked together for a few minutes, but I really wanted to run Jamie down, and I didn’t think Jon was quite ready for the effort of racing fatties after his extended time out from racing. I charged as hard as I could, but I didn’t have any fellow racers to work with. There were times when I’d look down at my speed and would barely be above 10mph and my heart rate was maxed. Soft and slow is an understatement. Two miles to go and I could see Jamie with his bright helmet in the distance. I put my head down and just powered as hard as I could on the last couple pavement roads. Ended up 39 seconds behind for a 7^th place finish. I’m not sure where my fitness is after this race. I felt like I may be able to contend, but with the bad luck and tough conditions I was several minutes off the pace for a podium position. Dan ended up winning the race with some help from our resident single speed monster Jake Grevenstuck (J Gravy) haha.

March 26, 2017

Barry Roubaix 36 Thriller Fat Bike

      The whole week leading up to this race had my anxiety through the roof. The forecast has been calling for a half an inch of rain for the two weeks leading up to the race. Lately the weather forecasting has been pretty spot on, but I kept optimistic that they wouldn’t be correct. A few days before the race they increased the amount and all but guaranteed rain at the launch time of 10am. I put in a decent week of training, although it is possible I over did it. It is hard to feel confident that I am where I need to be fitness wise after such a debacle the weekend before. It also is tough to know when I sold my reliable power meter and have been using my “smart trainer”, but that’s a story for another time. 

     Thursday was a recon ride with Jamie, Dan, and the newest member of TCL, and friend, Paul Bonar.  The course was absolutely perfect with firm graded roads, and Sager road was the best I had ever seen. I crossed my fingers about the conditions for sat. Friday night I packed my gear, and I brought almost every piece of gear I had because I wasn’t sure what the temperature was going to be. Different weather providers had temps from 30 to 50 degrees. My Garmin said the race temp was a balmy 32. Heading to the line and team tent I was excited for this race. I was a little too excited. I forgot to put my racing plate on my bike. Sadly this is something I had happen to me last year in the spring Lowell 50 race. I rushed to the car and then back to the line. Luckily I had plenty of time to get into the very front of wave 12. 

     Last year I was caught behind a wreck right at the starting line and had to bury myself to fight back onto the peloton which is extra brutal when your pushing a four inch brick of a front tire through the wind. This year went off without a hitch and it was our rivals and our team dictating the pace. Three sisters loomed on the horizion and traffic was already getting bad with slower racers from previous waves struggling up the hill. Each racer zig zagged through the openings on the first sister. I found a nice clearing and continued to roll my momentum hard up the second sister. I looked around and noticed my comrades and rivals were all behind me so I slowed up for a minute as I crested the second sister. At this point I expected things to get exciting and I wasn’t disappointed. Randy Coddington, the solo winner from the previous year laid down a devastating attack.  He had the momentum on me as we rolled into the third and largest sister. I got out of the saddle and powered as much as I could but Randy was pulling seconds on me and Danny had to make the jump to have any chance at besting Randy.  Towards the top of the hill the lactic acid had already claimed my legs for the time being. Paul, and Team Heroes teammate Alan of Randy’s slowly pulled ahead of me. 

     At this point I was sitting in 5^th which was where I hoped I would finish. I looked behind me to see the third and final Team Heroes rider Don along with a guy curiously with no team colors and a full suspension fat bike. I didn’t think much of it assuming he would shortly drop off.  This guy was Dirty Kanza 200 fat bike winner, and 40+ Iceman Fat Bike winner Roy Kranz lol. The next few miles I powered up the rolling hills and on occasion would work with Don. The amount of spray the fat bikes created was absurd. My glasses were rendered obsolete in no time. I took them off and rotated seeing out of one eye. The other eye would be watering profusely as I tried to blink out all of the grit. About 15 seconds in front of me I could see Paul and Alan. I wanted to branch up. Don took a hard pull then I took a hard pull and we got onto their wheel. It was about this point where the course was the softest it would be in the whole race. I was still recovering from the anaerobic effort when the two Team Heroes made an attack. I tried to advise Paul he should cover if he could, but between the soft ground, and traffic we didn’t have the fire power to hold on. The problem with starting in a late wave for these races is the lack of cyclists to work with. 

     Paul, Roy and I roared onto the pavement pounding out watts. However, unlike last year when I was part of a fatty peloton doing 30mph+ relatively easy it was a 25mph threshold ride on the fatty.  It was on the road where numerous racers would recognize Roy and scream his name. A few people recognized me and my blue wheels as we sped by countless racers on the road. I realized the name Roy from a friend of mine, Jody, who had lost to him at Iceman. Mind you, my friend Jody rarely loses to anyone; especially at a big race. I became slightly psyched out at the presence of riding monster, but soon tuned that out. I was on the more preferable race rig and with teamate Paul. A friend of Roy’s mentioned we were only about a minute behind third and fourth. Roy asked me if that was the case, and I noted that there were only four guys ahead of us. Powering as hard as possible we kept hoping to see glimpses of the next group. Strava Fly By’s says at one point we were only 20 seconds back. Getting demoralized and knowing Paul’s strength in climbing, I whispered to Paul it might be time for you to make a move and secure 5^th. The Wall was coming up fast and both Paul and I noticed Roy having to back off up the hills. Paul made his jump half way up the hill and soon had over 20 seconds on Roy and I. I proceeded to Ride on Roy’s wheel for the next 10ish miles not wanting to do work pulling him to Paul. 

Rolling in behind Paul and Roy.

     At around 30 miles left Roy closed the gap and it was again a three man show for 5^th. During the race it was so muddy and involved to ride that I had forgotten to take in any nutrition. Being so close to the end I gambled that it was too late. I believe on one of the last noteworthy hills in the race I ended up letting a gap open up, and as we crested the hill I was rewarded with a very strong easterly wind. With nobody else to work with and the legs on E I limped my way to the finish line. The results had me in 7^th place 18 seconds back from Paul and Roy. What was even more frustrating was 3^rd and 4^th barely a minute up on us. I was happy to bounce back and have a competitive weekend, but I can’t help but replay a handful of moments in my head. Dan ended up 2^nd, and newbie Paul out sprinted Roy for the final podium spot.