2015 Buffalo 105

2015 Buffalo 105

The Buffalo 105 is a race I organize and promote which starts and finishes at the Newton YMCA.  This race was first held in 2011 on a 72 mile loop.  It has grown into a double race, 55 miles or 105 miles consisting of a 55 mile loop ridden by everyone followed by a 50 mile loop for the 105 racers.  The last Saturday of October seems to have stuck as the time for this race.  My job as a marketer will never take off because I seem to be able to draw only around 20 starters in total.  There is no entry fee and the entire registration is conducted via email.  Marketing consists of Facebook posts, events on bikeiowa.com and ridinggravel.com as well as flyers posted in bike shops.  To say this race is low budget is an understatement; there is no budget (ok, I print about 30 waivers on new paper every year).

At this late point in the season, I try not to take the race too seriously.  I am normally a little tired from racing and am busy getting everyone checked-in and started in the race.  I waffled a bit in the week prior to the race, but decided to ride my heavy (30 lbs.) circa 2002 hardtail mountain bike.  I wanted to give myself a challenge and save the wear and tear on my light race mountain bike.  There is about a mile of B surface road (also known as minimum maintenance road, or dirt road) which can cause problems with bikes.  How hard can it be to ride a heavier bike, I asked myself?  I should be in good shape at this time of year and tough enough to show myself the bike does not make that much difference.

The forecast a week prior to the race was for rain on Saturday.  As the day drew closer the rain ended up being forecast for Friday afternoon and night.  By Saturday morning at 2 AM the rain was to be gone and the skies were to become partly cloudy by mid-day.  The high was forecast to be close to 60 with a NW breeze at 15 mph.  I was checking the hourly forecast frequently the last 24 hours, and it did not change.  We did receive about .35 in. rain in the 24 hours prior to the race.  Since it had been so dry I was not sure this would affect the B road significantly.

Race morning finally arrived with one more check of the forecast.  It was holding, it looked like a good day for a fall bike ride.  There would be some wind; however, since these were loops there would be equal miles with headwinds and tailwinds.  It was cool at registration and I noticed there was a stiff NW wind.  As we gathered for my start line speech (safety crap, etc.) it was cloudy, windy and IT STARTED TO MIST!  Having dressed for racing in temps. around 60 I was wearing shorts, a jersey and a wicking undershirt.  I was shaking as I was trying to deliver the few words I needed to say.  I could not decide if I was cold, nervous or both.  I desperately needed to start riding my bike to get warm.

I cut my speech to the necessities and we were off.  Within a few minutes I was warming up and soon we arrived at the point on our way out of town where I raised my arm and declared “game on.”  After leaving Newton there a couple long and steep hills into the NW wind.  The hills were hard and a couple groups were in front of me.  I knew I had at least 100 miles to go so I was trying to conserve.  I was also thinking I did not want to ride the next 15+ miles into the wind by myself.  I was able to bridge up to one group by the little town of Metz and rode a mile dangling off the back before we turned south and they got away from me.  I was able to join them in the next three miles and ended up with a couple friends with me to share the work for the entire westerly section. 

The B road is found in the last three miles of the westerly section.  Just as we were crossing a road and entering the gravel run-up to the B road, a beat up pickup pulled over.  The driver rolled down the window to release a huge cloud of cigarette smoke.  He said something like “Fellas, you know this is a dirt road?”  We assured him we knew and pressed on, now a bit more concerned at what we might find.  The B road was wet, but not so wet it picked up on our tires.  Since I was riding a mountain bike the group let me lead.  I took it cautious to make sure we did not suddenly find our tires caked with mud and not turning.  It was about as wet as it could be without causing a problem.  Finally, I caught a break!

I was still with my friends and we were now a group of four.  We turned with the wind and the speed picked up.  I was feeling like the pace was just slightly over my 105 mile pace, but I knew I needed all the help I could get once we started riding the last 15 miles into the wind.  I pushed my legs to stay with the group as we clicked off the miles.  After we passed through the town of Monroe the route contains a few sections of north into the wind.  We were nearly to Reasnor, going down a large fast hill and I felt my rear wheel thump over something fairly hard.  Within a half mile I could tell my rear tire was going down.  I knew this was going to kill my chances of riding with the group to Newton into the wind.  The group was super nice and turned around to make sure I had what I needed to fix the flat.  I told them I did and encouraged them to go on without me.

I fixed the flat in no time and was on my way into the wind.  I was flying up the road at what seemed like 10 mph while watching my back for someone to catch me, which never happened.  With about three miles to go I began to realize I was getting hungry and started to calculate the calories I had taken in.  I had eaten 385 calories for nearly four hours of riding.  I should have taken in at least 600 calories, so I started eating another Clif bar.  It tasted very good and by the time I hit the Newton city limits I had eaten about half, so my total caloric intake was up to 510.  Still low, but I knew I could make up the difference before I started the 50 mile loop.

I rolled into the start / finish table at the Y as the sun was peeking out intermittently.  It felt so good on my back.  I was reassured to learn the race was going fine, volunteers Julie and Carrie had everything under control.  There was only one rider who needed rescued and others were rolling into the finish.  I quickly filled the one bottle I had consumed with Hammer Perpetuem and restocked my pockets with Clif bars.  I also grabbed a peanut butter and honey sandwich I had made and started nibbling on the first half.  On my way out I devoured a pumpkin bar one of the volunteers had made (let’s call her Carrie-Betty-Crocker).  I knew it would be difficult going back out, and I learned the 105 racer I was riding with in the group of four had a sick child and needed to go home.  There was only one 105 racer on the course and he was literally hours ahead of me.  I knew the longer I hung around the harder it would be to go back out, so I pulled on my big boy pants, said thank you and good bye to everyone and started riding the 50 loop.

Even though the first 15 miles were with the wind I was not feeling very spunky.  The longer I rode on the 50 loop, the worse I felt.  The issue was in my gut, not so much in my legs.  I began to think about what had happened at the halfway point and realized I had ingested too many calories in a short period of time.  I put myself on a liquid only diet and pushed on in solitude.  After the first 15 miles traveling in a SE direction, the 50 loop spends the next 30 miles going mostly north.  This left me with a lot of time to think about how tired my legs were and how slow I was going.  I needed someone else to talk with to take my mind off the ugliness.  I tried to occupy my mind with calculating, from memory, how far until I turned with the wind and how many hills were left.  I am not sure if it was a coincidence or not, but when I turned to go with the wind towards Newton, I started to feel better in my gut.  By this point I was quite behind in caloric intake, but I did start slowly eating again.  I continued to watch my back, sure the next rider would be passing me at any minute.

The finish was completely uneventful.  I pulled into the Y to find my faithful volunteers, Julie and Carrie had put everything away in my pickup.  They were faithfully waiting for me to finish.  Besides their cars, and my pickup, there was one other car in the parking lot.  I learned there was one other rider who started the 105 after me.  I thanked my volunteers (I hope I did, I was a bit out of it) and sent them on their way.  I owe them a big favor.  The final rider finished within what seemed like three hours, but was really less than an hour.  We chatted a bit and it was over.  Just like that, the Y looked like nothing took place.  The entire day was just a memory.

Looking back, we made mostly good memories on the day.  I delivered over 50 pounds of food to the food pantry.  I am sure there were good and bad memories for the 19 starters (hopefully mostly good).  My experience with an epic effort like this, over time, the memory of the pain starts to fade and is replaced by the realization of what I have accomplished.  I try to take this sense of accomplishment into the next event.  I believe it is a new confidence in my ability to survive.

 

The final instructions at the start line.  Think cold and wet!

2015 Perry 101

2015 Perry 101

 

The Perry 101 is a 101 mile gravel road race containing a moderate amount of climbing and about one mile of “B” road.  There are a few age groups providing the opportunity to race against my peers.  There is very little hard surface and only two towns to replenish supplies.  New this year is the option to race 101 kilometers (63 miles).  Participants make the decision on the race distance at the 18 mile point.

My training leading up to the race involved a couple very hard one hour rides the week prior to the race.  The Perry 101 is not one of my “A” races, so my training schedule contained more duration and intensity in the week leading up to the race.  My goal was to break 7 hours since I had completed this race in 6:55 last year and had finished the Lutsen 99er just under 7 hours earlier this summer.  To meet this goal my average speed needed to be at least 14.4 mph.

I was waffling on which bike to ride.  My choices were either a heavy hardtail mountain bike or my lightweight full suspension cross country race mountain bike.  The hardtail bike has good tires and two water bottle cages.  The full suspension bike is much lighter but the B wheels have a tire with a bulge and only one bottle cage.  In the end, the night before the race, I decided to race the full suspension mountain bike.  The final decision was based on the weight of the bike, the heavier hardtail would have been a large disadvantage.

The racers from the Newton area included Jim, Shawna and Julie, all long time training partners.  They were planning to race the 101 K distance, I was committed to the 101 mile distance as the fifth 100 mile gravel ride in the Cup O Dirt Challenge.  I was planning to ride the initial section at a slightly slower pace because I tend to go out too hard in the first part of races.

The race day weather forecast was for the temp to be around 50 at the start and warm to the 70s by the middle of the afternoon.  The biggest factor regarding the weather was the wind.  It started out very mild out of the SW, but was predicted to become around 20 mph out of the SSW by mid-afternoon.  This is significant because the course travels mostly west for the first 35 miles, north for about 20 miles, east for about 35 miles and finishes with 10 miles to the south.  The various directions of travel are significant because of the wind direction.

The start was uneventful.  The first five miles were on fairly deep gravel.  I kept trying to find a well packed section of road, but there was none to be found.  The three Wrecked’em racers worked well together for the first 17 miles.  I noticed there was a group of five ahead of us, but we could not stay with them because their pace was just above ours.  I wanted to find a group to ride with to stay out of the wind, especially when riding into the headwind.

For the first hour I was averaging 16.34 mph which felt within my ability for 100 miles.  As we approached the 18 mile split I decided to try to hang on the back of the group of five containing Dee, the first place female finisher from last year.  Races are rarely won by holding back, so I decided I needed to push my pace for as long as I could to ride with this group.

In the second hour I could tell I was working harder and hoped my average speed had increased (it was actually 15.53 mph).  Again, it was slightly faster than I wanted to ride, but my legs were still feeling ok.  I justified the increased effort by telling myself I was not working as hard as I would have been if I was riding by myself and going 15 mph into the headwind (which was starting to pick up).  At about mile 35 the rest of the group stopped at a water stop at the entrance to the Whiterock Conservancy area.  I had not finished my first bottle of Perpetuem, so I pushed on knowing there was about 3 miles due south, a couple miles west followed by 5 miles north to Coon Rapids where I planned to stop.  I passed one lone rider who looked like he was in my Grand Master age group before Coon Rapids but was caught by the two strongest riders from the group of five.  I will call them black jersey and green jersey because I don’t know their names.

I pulled into a convenience store in Coon Rapids to purchase a piece of pizza and refilled my now empty bottle with water.  I really needed to use the restroom but there was someone taking their time in the Men’s.  Since they were one-holers I decided to use the women’s to take care of business before I wet my shorts.  The two faster riders departed before I made my pizza purchase.  The remaining three were ready to depart when I emerged from the c-store.  I knew it was important to eat some calories so I turned them loose so they could ride on.  Dee politely said something about me catching them soon.  I was thinking, how nice of her to say that, but no way.  I checked my numbers and noted I had ridden 45 miles in slightly over 3 hours at a 15.8 mph average.  This was above my goal pace, but I was feeling OK and looking forward to riding with a tail wind.

Within a few miles after leaving Coon Rapids there is approximately one mile of “B” road.  This road was muddy and forced us to walk last year which added quite a bit of time.  This year the “B” road was dry and very easily ridden.  I was able to average around 20 mph through this section because I was also going north with a significant tail wind.  Shortly after emerging from the “B” road I was able to spot a group about one mile ahead.  I assumed this was the three containing Dee.

Through the fourth hour I slowly closed the gap to the three ahead of me.  I was not sure if any of the racers were 50+ making them Grand Masters and racing in my age group.  I decided to maintain my pace when I overtook this group so I did not provide a draft to the finish for a competitor.  Riding a mountain bike put me at a disadvantage from weight and wind resistance standpoints, so it was not wise for me to pull other riders to the finish.

My strategy worked to perfection, a few minutes after I caught the Dee group I looked back and no one was willing to follow me off the front.  In roughly 5 miles I realized I was approaching the city of Jefferson.  As I was riding through town I saw a couple riders in front of me.  I wondered who it was; not dreaming it was green jersey and black jersey (fast guys).  Within a few miles after departing Jefferson I realized I was catching the two riders in front of me.  Much to my surprise it was in fact green jersey and black jersey.  I learned they were trying to rely on tattered cue cards and had been lost / taken wrong turns several times.  This explains why I was able to catch them.  I was their new best friend because I was able to navigate using the route on my bike computer (Joule GPS).  We rode together working to share the load.  I noticed green jersey was not as strong as black jersey at this point.

In hour 5 I decided to get to know my new friends.  I began to market and promote the Buffalo 105 (the gravel race I organize taking place on Oct. 24), thinking I had a captive audience.  I learned black jersey lived in St. Louis and had driven up for the race.  I needed to know if these guys were in my age group (Grand Master 50+).  I could not think of a tactful way of asking this, so I said something about agreeing to help if neither of them were Grand Masters.  It turned out black jersey was my exact same age (54) and a Grand Master.

We were riding along at a good pace and came to a blacktop road to cross.  As I was crossing the road one of my water bottles bounced out and fell onto the road.  I told black jersey to go on thinking I would not see him again.  Just as I was turning back to retrieve my bottle a semi came along.  I realized he was slowing and about to turn onto the gravel road.  This was fine except my bottle was in his direct path.  Being the nice person he was, he stopped on the blacktop and motioned for me to get my bottle.  There are very nice people in this world.  It turned out; black jersey did roll on, but was soft pedaling allowing me to catch back on.  I decided if he was nice enough to slow for me I should help him for as long as I could.

I was trying to play out the finish and every scenario I ran seemed to favor black jersey.  He was on a 17 lb. bike with racing handlebars (making his position more aero.).  I remembered the finish involved several miles into the headwind.  I was just not sure how many miles we would struggle into the now strong headwind.  I was glad I had made a couple friends so we could share the work.

We came to the now unmanned second air station.  For some reason I filled only one bottle, moving the half full bottle of water to the holder behind my seat.  I ate only one small Clif Mojo bar.  Not long after leaving the aid station we made the dreaded turn into the south wind.  We all put our heads down and started working into the wind taking equal turns on the front.  I realized we had about 10 miles to get to the finish.  Within a few miles I realized I was fading and having a hard time holding onto the group.  I had also nearly finished the bottle I filled at the aid station.  I redoubled my efforts and was able to hold onto the wheel in front of me.

With about 5 miles to go, I could no longer hold onto the wheel in front of me.  I mentally said goodbye to my new friends.  I also now had a good picture of how the finish would play out with black jersey.  I was starting to bonk and wondered how bad it would be.  I started eating the last half of the second Clif bar I had brought.  I finished the bottle I filled at the aid station and began rationing my way through the half bottle of water.  As I was taking stock of myself I realized I was quite thirsty and somewhat hungry.  I think my largest issue was dehydration (I should have filled both bottles for the last 10 miles of the race).  I started watching for riders behind me like a nervous crack head.

The finish was much like stepping on a grape, not much of an event.  There was no one in front of me I could catch, and no one I could see behind me.  I rolled across the finish line in 6:48:17.  My mouth was so dry I could hardly speak.  Within a few minutes the Dee group of three finished.  It turned out, there was a Grand Master riding with Dee to the finish.  My moving average speed was 15.3 mph and overall average 14.8 mph, just slightly above my goal.

I was happy to learn Jim and Shawna had good races as well.  Jim was first place overall in the 101 K distance and Shawna was first female and fourth overall.  They represented the Wrecked’ems well!

Looking back I consumed two bottles of Perpetuem (135 calories each) and two full Clif bars (250 calories each), a piece of pizza (~300 calories) and one Clif Mojo bar (90 Calories).  This is a total of 1160 calories which is really close to my goal of 175 calories per hour (1225 total calories).  I also consumed only four large bottles of liquid which is a little over ½ bottle per hour.  This was likely my largest issue on the day.  As the temperature rose through the day and the dry fall wind increased I was caught off guard by not increasing my consumption of liquids.

The items in the preceding paragraph are why I keep racing.  I want to right the items which limit my ability to push my legs to be their best.  This is such an interesting paradox, my poor choices (mental) were causing limiters for my muscles (physical).  The seemingly easiest item turns out to be the hardest part while in the heat of the battle of a race.

Please learn from my mistakes and make good decisions while riding, and throughout life, my friends.

Wrecked'ems riding together last year (photo credit to Dave Mable).

My 2nd place trophy.

 

2015 Chequamegon 40

2015 Chequamegon 40

Prologue

I have focused on the 40 mile Chequamegon point to point race through the rolling hills of northern Wisconsin since 2001.  I have been racing either the 16 mile race or the 40 mile race since 1994.  I arrived in Cable, WI on Friday in time for the customary pre-ride of the final 4 miles of the 40 mile race course.  It has not changed in over 20 years, but this is the section I always pre-ride.  I found the course in good shape, not too wet, but wet enough to knock down the dust. 

Anticipating a wetter than normal course, I lubed my chain with a wet conditions lube after the pre-ride.  I aired up my new tires before going to bed so I could tell if they were holding air.  I had been working with them the past week because they were new and not yet holding air well.  They are tubeless and require a bit of tinkering to get them dialed in.

Upon waking on Saturday I learned it had rained lightly in the night.  This does not normally cause an issue because the soil contains a large amount of sand and drains well.  The forecast was for clear, sunny skies with a high temperature of 68.  It was cool early (mid 40’s), but predicted to warm up to the mid 50’s by the 10:00 AM start.  Nearly perfect temperature conditions for a mountain bike race through the beautiful Northwoods of cheese-head land.

I placed my bike in corral number 3 (earned by my finish time on previous races) at 8:00.  We spent the next hour and a half topping off nutrition and hydration stores and in nervous conversation.  There were several trips to the bathroom as the caffeine and nerves worked their magic on our bladders.  We were with our bikes by 9:45 as required by the race director.

 

Race

At 10:00 the race started with a neutral roll-out behind several quads.  The pace for the first mile is “controlled” at 20 mph, but once the leaders have made the corner onto highway 77, the quads hit the gas and the racing starts.  At this point the pace cranks up to speeds in excess of 25 mph while riding in a tight pack.  This is the part of the course which makes everyone on edge to avoid a crash.  Just when we were starting to thin the pack, I noticed everyone ahead was gesturing about something in the road.  I was able to move left to the center and came upon a rider in the middle of the right lane adjusting his rear quick release.  This seemed like a very poor decision regarding where and when to make this adjustment.  If this rider is reading this post, please note, it would have been much safer for everyone if you had gotten off the road before stopping.  There, it will never happen again!

At about the three mile point the race course takes a hard left off the only paved road into a hay field called Rosie’s Field.  I quickly learned the rain in the night had left the grass wet and dirt soft.  I was able to successfully navigate the few soft wet patches through Rosie’s Field and enter the Birkie trail.

The Birkie trail (named after the famous Birkebeiner cross country ski race which takes place on the trail) is normally a wide grassy path through the woods with an 8 inch wide track worn bare from bike traffic.  This year the grass was wet, the dirt under the grass was soft and the dirt path was greasy and slick.  The dirt path is normally the best place to ride because it provides the least resistance.  After several two wheel slides I decided the grass may be safer.  I was sliding much less in the grass, but expending much more effort because of the soft earth.  I continued to pick my line carefully to find a balance between easier hard packed bare earth and grass, where I could pass and not slide in the greasy mud. 

In the first few miles of the Birkie trail I heard someone hit the ground hard and the telltale sounds of other riders getting involved in the issue.  I was concerned my friend Jeff would be involved because I knew he was close behind me.  I was happy to be ahead of the tangle and pushed on.  At some point someone buzzed my left calf with their front tire.  This was a close call, but in racing you can’t worry about the things you can’t control.

I had created a handlebar card containing goal split times for each 10 miles.  At the 10 mile point I was roughly 5 minutes behind my goal for the split.  I could tell it was not going to be a fast year and told myself to relax and ride as fast as I safely could.

In about an hour I arrived at the crossing of the OO blacktop.  There is a ski hut (normally used for the Birkie) and the only official mid-race time check.  I normally meet my wife (Jenni) once we turn onto the gravel road about ½ mile after we cross the highway.  I was able to get another bottle (filled with Hammer Perpetuem – 135 calories) and she poked one of my home made granola hockey pucks (roughly 100 calories) into my cake hole.  I was off in about 15 seconds.

I was able to get onto the back of 20 rider pace lines through most of the race.  This allows me to conserve energy while maintaining a good pace.  As usual, the group would always pull away from me on the downhill sections, but I was normally able to catch back on once the course turned uphill.

The Chequamegon course is famous for wide water puddles.  The puddles are normally not more than six inches deep, but there is the potential for all sorts of bad things if you don’t ride the dryer route around the side.  There were a couple puddles I was unable to avoid because I was either going too fast to navigate around the side or there were riders beside me so I could not pick the dry line.  My chain took a bath of sandy water with each puddle.  I was happy I put on extra wet conditions lube so it would continue to shift.

I decided to try something new this year (totally out of character for me) and sucked in a caffeinated gel at mile 26.  I was having no stomach issues and figured the caffeine could not hurt me over the last hour of racing.

I have perfected a strategy for how to ride the Sealy Fire Tower climb after 12 years of racing the 40.  My strategy is to pick someone to follow who is steady and has a low chance of doing something stupid (i.e. spinning out) on the climb.  I will follow them at about 20 feet to give myself time to react if they did have an issue.  I executed this strategy to perfection and was able to ride all three tiers of the climb.  The Fire Tower climb comes at about mile 30.  After cresting the climb I quickly took stock of my situation.  My legs were tired, but showing no signs of cramping.  I decided it was time to leave nothing on the racecourse and ratchet my exertion up a notch for the last 10 miles.

I was pushing hard and passing some fatigued riders in the last 10 miles.  About one mile from the finish there are a couple short steep hills where there is not much of an opportunity to gain speed as you approach.  On the second climb I spun on a rock and had to clip out and run up the final 10 feet of the climb.  How embarrassing!  I continued to push hard and somehow found myself all alone for the final ½ mile.  This section contains two long rough grassy descents followed by off-camber turns.  Being alone I felt comfortable and let it roll (meaning I was not cautiously riding the brakes).  The last 100 yards contain a grassy uphill which seems to suck all your speed.  I gave it all I had and powered through this section to finish in 2:40, 10 minutes off my goal finish time.

Epilogue

I talked to several of my friends and everyone reported slower finish times than their norm.  I attribute this to the rain Friday night which made the Birkie trail greasy for the first 5 miles, made the earth soft and expanded the water puddles.  I was off the pace for each 10 mile section (however I was off pace by 7+ minutes in the first half of the race indicating the greasy mud was drying through the race).  My average power and heart rate were nearly identical to the numbers from last year, however my average speed was slower indicating I was working at the same rate but going slower because the bike was not rolling in the soft earth.

I have finished analyzing my numbers (a process which takes quite a bit of time, much to the dismay of my wife).  I am working to improve my weaknesses so I can go faster next year.  If I can’t go faster I sure don’t want to be slower.  I will also age into a new age group next year.  This is a bittersweet event.  I will be at the youngest age in my group, but the age group advancement will also mean I will naturally be losing top end capacity.  No one has found a way to stop aging (short of death).  The best I can do is be the best I can be.  This is true in life as well.

 

Ride on friends

Jeff and me at the start line.  You can feel the nervous tension in the air.

Me out on the course (Photo credit to Athlinks)

 

The finish line.  Notice the pain on my face. (Photo credit to Athlinks).

Julie finished the 40 for the first time.  Very proud of her.

24 Hours of Cumming - It's not porn

24 Hours of Cumming Race

 

The 24 Hours of Cumming is really misnamed.  It should be called the 400k Cumming Killer.  However, I do like the given name because it provides a nearly endless opportunity for tacky jokes and innuendos.  Nevertheless, the format is simple; ride four unique 62 mile, gravel, self-supported, self-navigated loops as fast as you can.  You must complete this task within 24 hours to be considered a finisher.  Did I mention there are Iowa “B” roads (roads without gravel, also known as mud roads or Minimum Maintenance Roads - MMR)? 

 

I had raced this race as a 2 person team in the inaugural year (2014) and found it challenging.  My Newton besties put together the same two teams, Matt and Jim on one team and Shawna and myself on another.  The plan was to ride alternating laps.  At our pace this would provide one daylight lap and one lap in darkness for each racer.  We suspected, and confirmed before the start, we were the only 2 person teams.  It was billed by the race director as the Newton championship.  We all had about the same ability, so it was going to be about who paced their effort the best.

 

Loop 1:  The race rolled out at 11:00 AM, right on schedule.  Matt and Shawna were the first two racers for their respective teams.  It had rained earlier in the day, but the skies were clear and it was not too hot.  The rain had settled the dust, but may have made the B roads a mess.  There was a mile section and another ¼ mile section of B road on the first loop.

 

Matt and Shawna rolled in together in a very respectable time (4:36:36).  Jim and I had been expecting them and were ready.  They reported the B roads were 99% rideable, only needing to walk around a large puddle on each dirt road.  I was able to learn Shawna was not feeling great in the energy and tummy departments.  As I was going out she said something to the effect of: “Be ready, you may need to ride some or all of the next loop for me.”  I could see in her face she was not feeling well.  I thought there was a chance she would not want to start the next loop.  Was I capable of riding three full loops (186 miles)?

 

Loop 2:  Jim and I rolled out together and began navigating the turns together.  I was having difficulty because I had my GPS bike computer (Joule GPS) set in the map mode where the turn arrows are too small for my 54+ year old eyes.  Once I set it to the correct mode I had almost no further issue.  We were rolling along nicely and were approaching a turn when Jim indicated he needed to stop for something.  I coasted to a stop to watch Jim quickly determine his rear tire was going down.  We were roughly 40 minutes in and changing a flat.  Jim had only brought one tube (very common), so we did not have many options if he had another flat.

 

I could tell Jim was not attacking the hills as he normally would.  I was riding away from him which was very out of character.  As we talked Jim shared he was not feeling great, not that he was ill, but just not feeling his strong self.  At one point he indicated his stomach felt worse with each drink from his water bottle.  We came to a couple monster hills and I actually saw Jim walking.  When I saw this I knew he was in trouble and began working on a plan.  Since my teammate was not feeling great, and Jim was struggling, I wanted to let Matt know where we were so they would know when to expect us.  I was also formulating alternative plans in case neither Shawna nor Jim was able to ride another lap.  My worst case plan was to jumble the teams where Matt and I made up one team and Shawna and Jim were another team.  This would reduce the pressure on those who were not feeling well.

 

I did not want to leave Jim in case he started feeling much worse, but I was also thinking we would need some time to formulate our strategy.  I finally suggested to Jim with approximately 15 miles to go that I could drift up the road and get to the finish a few minutes early so we three could discuss strategy.  I was also thinking he may be pushing harder than he should trying to keep up (this is normally not an issue for Jim).  Jim embraced the suggestion so off I went.  I made one wrong turn, rode ½ mile off course and was able to get back on course.  This detour took long enough for Jim to get ahead of me again.  I passed him within a mile and sailed to the finish with a time of 4:47:59.  On one downhill I had to yell at a deer to get it to hurry off the road so I did not hit her.  I turned on a headlight for the last couple miles.

 

Loop 3:  Much to my pleasant surprise, Shawna was feeling much better and was ready to ride loop 3.  Apparently she simply needed to eat a bit to get her tummy turned around.  We fiddled with lights for way too long and finally switched out Shawna’s main light because we could not get it to work.  They rolled off with significant lightning on the horizon and thunderstorms in the forecast.

 

I was relaxing in my tent (code for: I was trying to sleep) at 11:45 PM when my phone started ringing.  It was Matt calling to tell me it was lightning and raining hard (think monsoon) and they had pulled into a farm house out building.  They were 29.6 miles into the loop and were wet, cold and needed a rescue.  Luckily I had encouraged Shawna to load an app on her phone which allowed her to text me a link to Google maps with their exact location (the app name is My GPS Coordinates).  I had not tried actually navigating to a GPS coordinate, but I was willing to give it a try.  I stopped to check in with the race director to see if there was any status information I could gain so we could discuss our options on the drive home.  There was nothing new, the race was not being called, paused or anything else.  I was able to confirm, if you stop riding a loop, you can restart at the same point without penalty.

 

Google Maps was telling us it would take 33 minutes to find our friends, but I was thinking they could not possibly be that far away.  We had not driven far when the skies opened up.  It was raining and hailing so hard I could not go over 35 mph with my wipers on high.  At this pace it was going to take longer than 33 minutes.  Eventually we drove out of the rain and Google Maps delivered us to the driveway of the farm house where Matt and Shawna were taking refuge.  They were a few miles north of Winterset.  As we talked about our plan on the way back we decided we needed to start driving back to the rescue point at 2:30 AM in order to finish within 24 hours.  We also decided we would not start riding if it was still raining.  I crawled in my tent and laid down around 12:30 in my race kit with my jersey pockets full of food.  I set my alarm for 5:30 AM so we could touch base.

 

At 5:30, Matt sent me a text telling me they were not sleeping and were planning to pack up and drive home.  I realized it was not raining and the radar showed the rain was moving away.  Since I had only ridden 62 miles (loop 2), I wanted more miles (to complete another 100 mile ride for the Cup-O-Dirt Challenge).  Since we were going to be disqualified for not finishing loop 3, I decided my challenge would be to ride loop 4 by the 11:00 AM cutoff.  While I was preparing for the ride by filling bottles, stuffing some calories in my mouth, taking off my lights and lubing my chain I felt the call of nature in my lower regions (some will call this the launch window).  I decided I should take care of this need before I set out on my bike for a 4+ hour ride.  I went into the bar to use the Men’s room and found it occupied.  Thinking quickly, I discovered the Women’s restroom was dark.  Time was wasting so I took the chance and took care of business.  While in the opposite gender room I was preparing for what I would do if I was interrupted by a female.  Luckily, I never needed to enact my plan.

 

Loop 4:  Before I started I told the race director my plan to finish by 11:00.  He wished me luck but reminded me of the mile of B road and how much longer it would take after so much rain.  He also shared a fellow Wrecked’em, Chuck, had started with Lee at 6:00 AM.  I rolled out at 6:26 and thought I would not see Chuck for a long time, if ever, since he was 26 minutes ahead of me.  The early dawn was beautiful on the breast of the new fallen snow – wait wrong story, bazinga.  The morning was beautiful, there was no dust on the roads, the sun was behind clouds and it was cool.  I was giving myself a strong lecture about not going out too fast so I could finish strong.  I needed to eat and drink the proper amount and pace myself through the 62 miles (62 miles @ 14 mph = 4:26).  Much to my surprise, I caught Chuck and Lee about 5 miles in.  I wanted to ride with them for comradery, but they were going slower than the realistic pace I had set.  I was about to pull away when Chuck shared a story from earlier in the race about passing gas and thinking he had “shat himself.”  Apparently he slid to a stop and yanked down his shorts along the course to discover – false alarm.  As I was processing this disturbing story I politely explained my goal and excused myself to ride at my pace.

 

I pushed my tired legs in solitude on the wet roads.  At some point I recognized I was crossing the 4 lane road between Des Moines and Indianola and still getting further away from Cumming.  I observed at about the 30 mile point my pace had fallen below 14 mph and realized the roads were soft, causing me to work harder than on hard packed gravel roads.  I knew the rest of my ride and the B road would need to be fast if I was going to make it in by the cutoff.  My spirits always start to improve once I ride past the halfway point, which I was approaching.  There was very little breeze, but I was riding into a slight head wind going east.  Once I started going west I was expecting faster and easier sailing.  However, I did not detect any tail wind once I was traveling west.

 

From my foggy early morning memory from 2014 I knew I was close, when I finally made the turn onto the dreaded mile of B road.  My spirits were OK at this point, but I was a little down thinking I was behind pace to make it in by the cut off (average speed now 13.8).  I knew better than to ride even one foot of the muddy B road because my tires would pick up mud to where my bike would be 20 pounds heavier.  I quickly dismounted and began carrying my bike.  My feet were sinking into the Iowa mud causing each to resemble a snowshoe.  In about ¼ mile I was too exhausted to carry my bike any further.  I stopped for a brief rest and realized my heart rate was high and I was out of breath.  I decided a better option was to push my bike in the weeds at the side of the road.  This allowed me to get my breathing under control and keep moving a bit faster while expending less energy.  In the last ¼ mile I noticed I could push my bike through the mowed ditch allowing my mud-laden feet to slowly clean themselves.  At the end of the mud section of the road I spotted a person skimming his pool (which was conveniently located in the front yard).  As I passed him he commented “I guess you took a wrong turn.”  I tried not to be insulting, but muttered something about “No, actually I am sure this was the route mapped out by the sadistic race director.”

 

Once on the only slightly wet roads I took stock of my situation.  I was still 14 miles from the finish and was averaging less than 14 mph.  Even in my depleted state, I knew I was more than an hour out.  I had a full bottle and plenty of food, but my legs were shot.  It was also starting to get fairly hot.   Significantly increasing my pace was not likely.  Since it was after 10:00, I knew I was not going to make the cut off.  I slowed down and called Jenni (my wife and support crew) to give her an update.  I hung up and put my head down and pushed as hard as I could to the finish.  Officially I crossed the line at 11:33.  We were credited with a finishing time, but we did not ride the entire distance.

 

Epilog: With a little time to reflect I have come to terms with the race.  There were only 4 individuals and one team to ride the entire distance under 24 hours out of 17 400k starters.  We were the fastest of the “non-finishers.”  Would I do things differently if I had the chance?  Yes, I should have taken my bike and started riding at the point where I picked up my teammate.  Would this have guaranteed we finished the race before the cut off?  There are no guarantees with the weather or in bike racing.  I may have been struck by lightning.  There is one thing I am sure of, no one knows what the human body can do when faced with a challenge, but you can learn a lot when you challenge yourself with a daunting goal.

Race Director Steve Cannon giving last minute instructions.

Shawna, Matt and Chuck (L-R) at the start line.

Brad, Shawna and Matt at the conclusion of loop 1.

  

Chuck after riding 400k.

2015 Lutsen 99er

This was my third year racing the Lutsen 99er.  I had raced in 2012 and 2014, but these were very wet years.  I was beginning to think this was simply a wet climate and I should expect this much wetness.  The weather leading up to the 2015 race was much dryer (only  1/2 inch rain the week of the race) and the course was in very good shape.  There was talk of having added a new purpose built section of single tack for the last few miles.  I had raced well in 2014, but I knew there was room for improvement in my performance. 

As is normally the case, the race starts by descending a large hill from the ski resort.  It is to be a neutral paced roll-out and passing the lead vehicle is grounds for disqualification.  The pace last year was a painful 10 mph.  Things were much different this year.  I was still coasting and cautiously watching for signs of trouble ahead, but the pace was much faster.  At one point I summoned the courage and glanced down to see I was traveling 43.4 mph.  Once at the bottom of the hill and on flat highway 61, the pace returned to a respectable 24 mph. 

After roughly 2.5 miles on level highway 61, we turned north and began the long climb on highway 4.  This climb is not long by mountain standards, but is long for the Midwest.  It took me 16 minutes to climb the 3 miles to the top (average speed of 11.25 mph) with elevation gain of 775 feet.  At the top, there are a couple rolling hills before you say good-bye to the hard surface and start getting dirty. 

I arrived at the first aid station roughly 10 minutes ahead of my 2014 time and was feeling good about my pace and my legs were not blown yet.  The course contains a 17.8 mile figure eight loop which is traveled twice.  There are two sections of wide mowed rough trail covering approximately 10 miles of each loop in total.  There is also a short section of very overgrown double track.  The rest of the loop is gravel.  Jenni was to meet me on this loop at the corner where the course turns back onto gravel by Devil Track Lake.  I was feeling good and still ahead of my 2014 pace each time I passed an aid station or Jen. 

The last aid station on the figure eight loop is aid station 3 at mile 59.3.  I was riding in a pace line and feeling strong.  In the past, the 10 mile section from aid station 3 to aid station 4 gets long, I have tended to lack focus and have fallen off pace.  This year I was determined to stay with the group and maintain a reasonable pace to aid station 4 (mile 69.6).  I was still with the group at aid station 4, but was not feeling nearly as strong.  I refilled my bottle and grabbed a couple Fig Newtons to eat.  As I was pulling away I noticed there was a bike repair stand, pump and a couple individuals who looked like they would help racers get their bikes through whatever mechanical they may be experiencing.  Within a mile after leaving aid station 4 I noticed something was apparently stuck to the tread of my front tire.  I could see it every time it rotated around.  I ran through a list of possibilities for the apparent issue and came up with: a leaf, a gel wrapper, an alien finger, and on and on…  Stopping to investigate would not allow me to continue on with the pace group.  I also reasoned, there would be very little I could do about the issue other than observe.  I decided to keep riding as long as I could.  I watched the issue and observed it was growing with each mile.  Eventually I heard the pop of a tire and started to prepare to get myself safely stopped with a flat front tire.  I began watching the point where the tire contacted the road and, to my utter surprise the tire was not losing air.  It should not as my mountain bike utilizes tubeless tires with sealant.  I have survived thorn type punctures which have sealed up, but normally any puncture larger than ¼ inch will not seal with sealant.  I continued riding and watching the front tire carefully, but nothing ever became of the issue. 

I was starting to fade and made the conscious decision to let the group go.  I dangled for a while, but I did not have the legs to stay with them.  By the time I reached the 5^th aid station at mile 80 I was feeling the effects of the faster pace.  I still was ahead of my 2014 time, but I could tell I was slowing.  I was also riding by myself at this point which is not ideal because it helps to have someone to draft with and to help maintain a steady pace.  I was looking for a magic elixir, one which would rejuvenate my tired muscles and get me the remaining 19 miles.  I was desperate, so I guzzled down about ½ of a Coke.  The sugar and caffeine were sure to give me some turbo power, or simply get me to the finish.  

I left the aid station all by myself.  As I turned onto the Sawbill Trail (very wide and hard packed gravel road) I could see another rider ½ mile ahead.  I was surprised at how quickly I caught and passed this rider.  He must have been more tired than me.  In another couple miles I caught and passed another rider.  At about 15 miles to go I sucked down a gel for another sugar fix to get me to the finish.  Before long, the first rider I passed was actually on my wheel.  He seemed slightly stronger than me, so I allowed him to pull me.  In about another 5 miles the second rider I passed joined our group to make three.  It was not long until we made the turn onto the 2 miles of gravel which lead to the single-track of Lutsen.   

At this point my legs were tired.  They had a feeling where, if I did not push above a certain ceiling I was fine and could ride for a long time at this pace.  However, if I pushed them above the ceiling for very long they would start to feel like a cramp was inevitable.  I was flirting with the ceiling on every hill.  I could push up the hill, but I was in need of a recovery period to recharge my tired legs after cresting each hill.  I was very deliberate and careful to not allow my new drafting friends to get a gap I could not bridge.  At this point in the day it was starting to feel hot.  I also noticed some ugly looking clouds which would cool things off, but make the single-track very slippery.

There is an aid station at mile 93 which I normally blow through thinking I can ride 6 miles without water if necessary.  I was on the edge flirting with cramps, and wanted to make sure I had enough water to allow me to drink freely (not conserve) to the end.  I made a quick stop to fill my bottle at least ½ full.  I knew there was some new single-track trail and was wishing I had pre-ridden this section so I would know when to hit the gas and when to conserve.

In the last few miles I passed a guy who was nursing a very low tire.  I said something to him and he told me he had several gel packages in the tire as a boot.  I wished him luck and pushed on.  I think I was passed by 3 racers but I was able to pass a couple (OK, one had a low tire, but a pass is a pass).  We finally descended a hill and crossed the stream.  I knew we were at the low point of the last ½ mile to the finish.  My legs were very tired and crampy, but I knew I would need to push hard for only a few more minutes.  There were suddenly several other racers around me on the fire road.  I also saw a guy trying to finish the race on a cyclo-cross bike.  He was walking the steep sections.  I was determined to ride, out of pride and, because I knew riding was the fastest way to the top.  There were many people cheering and the adrenaline started pumping.  In the last 100 yards I spotted a fat bike and decided I needed to pass it before the finish (not sure why my brain decided this was necessary).  I gave one last huge effort and was able to get to the finish before the fat bike.  I was exhausted and could hardly walk away from the finish line.  Jen quickly found me and helped me stagger to a place to sit down.  I drank a couple waters and ate some fresh fruit.  I had planned to drink a packet of recovery drink but was so tired I forgot all about it.

I am disappointed to finish with a slower time than in 2014.  However, the course was a few miles longer, so my average speed was faster than in 2014.  In retrospect, I am happy with my effort, but am already planning what I can do to be faster in 2016.  For us old guys, getting faster every year is not easy.  Speaking of old guys, the winner this year was Steve Tilford.  He is slightly older than me and he is a legend in the bike racing world.  You can read his blog here: http://stevetilford.com/

He finished the race in 5:36:44 for a 17.64 mph average.  He has my respect, I’m not worthy.

I have watched this race grow and mature since my first race in 2012.  I was not impressed with the organization of the first race, but Lifetime has fixed their issues and is offering a well-organized event.  There are enough competitors to make it challenging, but not so many to make the start crazy or trail passing difficult.  The course is mostly gravel road or fire road.  There is enough grassy trail and a bit of single-track to make it a mountain bike race.  I plan to go back next year to contest it on hopefully dry trails.

 

Thanks for reading,

Brad



Crossing the finish line.

Finish line on Friday.

This is one sample of the beauty of the North Shore area.