how not to go fast

Racin' Campin' & Turnin' left

Even though I'm not quite finished with the building of the base miles, this week is filled with lots of races. It started last Wednesday with a trip up to Houghton, MI for a JR mtn bike camp. Doing the camp was the best decision of my season so far. I had a blast and we rode some awesome trails at Michigan Tech and in Copper Harbor. The campers also had a blast, learned a lot in the lectures and killed it in the race. Some of the juniors had better bike handling skills than me! I really hope to do it again next year. The area is perfect with 4 major trails systems in the immediate area, and the lodging in the dorms at MI Tech. The cafeteria food on the other hand leaves little to be desired....

All except 2 campers participated in the Keewenaw Chain Dr race including myself. It turned out to be another battle royale with another sprint finish! This time I think it was even closer than Wausau with my ankle chip timer crossing just ahead of Mike Andersons ankle chip.....the chip time was actually identical in the results and it was sooo close that I actually might have got the 'W' because the 'B' in Brian comes before the 'M' in Mike in the alphabet.

The race course was amazing, but it was a shock to the system to race full speed ahead at the end of a rest week and after cruising around pretty slow all week working with the jr's more on skills than fitness. It took me more than half the race for the shock to subside as I hung on to Mike's wheel for dear life. He was killing the fast technical singletrack and I could tell he had ridden there many times before. Once I hit the last 10 miles I was much more confident as I had pre-rode that section of trail with the JR the previous day. With 6 to go there was a huge descent to a slippery river crossing....Mike took a bad line, I took over on the climb out of the river bed then crushed the 2 track for the next 4 miles, I couldn't drop Mike though and I didn't really like my odds in the up hill paved sprint. We came out on the pavement...I gave Mike a few words of advice and then bit down...the rest was history.

Saturday night after the race we watched some fireworks in downtown Houghton to celebrate a succesful camp. I came home Sunday night blown out after one last ride with the Jr. campers. Monday was a busy day at work preparing for the downtown Sheboygan TOAD race. Tuesday was an even busier day with lots of racers stopping by the shop for last minute repairs and the regular customers who were buying bikes for the summer. At the last minute I decided to jump into the race and help out my old buddy Jonny Sundt and his team mates on the Kenda pb GearGrinder Team regain the yellow jersey....I think I turned left over 200 times. The Fisher Cronus killed it and with the Easton Wheels it must have weighed in right around 14 lbs!

This weekend is the NORBA at Nordic MTN...can't wait to see some old hommies....last time I did a NORBA was 2004!

Showdown

I'm always a little bummed when I can't be part of a good battle. I know that Barry showing up to a WORS race is a good opportunity to race against another fast guy. Tristan and Barry were battling it out and I could only watch from 6 switchbacks away. I know that I'm on track with my training and I wasn't expecting much after my final week of Base 2 riding, but you always want to battle and always want to win every race you start, but you can't. I'm keeping my sights set on the big picture.

I had enough gas to stay with the guys on the first lap, but over the top of the climb on lap 2, in the energy sapping mud, I went over the limit....

After that there was nothing I could do....I had reached the end of my energy tanks for the month, and Sunburst is not a course where you can fake it....

I tried to recover and stay steady, but I was only going steadily slower and slower as the race progressed. Nathan G finally dropped my on the start of the last lap and then I rolled it in for 5th. One more month of base riding and then hopefully I can show up to some races feeling fresh!

Andrea just finished her base training and is now ready to start killing some intervals. Elicia did her first mtb race of her life and killed it in the sport class! Watch out she might get really fast if she can tune up her technical skills.

I'm really pumped to have a rest week, and really pumped that half of the week I don't have to work, and I'm going to the UP for some fun trail riding and a JR camp.

ATTENTION JR's you can still sign up today and tomorrow. CLICK HERE for info

Time for a massage...

UPDATE

Lots going on in the past week. First off, I'm now 32 years old. Spent an awesome birthday weekend last week with Mom, Dad, Andrea, Rosco, Elicia, Bennett, and my Uncle Ted and his condo in Clear Lake Indiana. Lots of riding and relaxing!

The Gary Fisher Cronus is racking up the miles and is awesome. 18 hours in the last 6 days. Just shy of 400 miles. The best part about the bike...besides the super stiff headset and BB has to be the old school Flight Ti saddle that I found in the basement....fits like a glove!

When I got home from Indiana I picked up the new Gear Grinder team car. The 2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring. This is the perfect car for cyclists. Its not super expensive, gets 30 mpg on the hwy, and you can fit a ton of stuff in the back. I can't wait to take her on the maiden voyage.

Speaking of trips, next Wed 16th - Sunday June 20th I am hosting a JR. Mountain Bike Camp in Houghton MI along with the athletic staff at Mighigan Tech University. It's going to be awesome! I can't wait. There is still time to sign up, so check out this link if you or any other aspiring JR mtb'ers want to rip up some UP singletrack next week and you also have the opportunity to participate in the Keewanaw Chain Drive Race the same weekend.

Other than that I am trying to glue up some tubulars on the new Easton SL's for TOAD and cutting down the steerer on the new ROCK SHOX SID CARBON WORLD CUP!!! Thanks ROCK SHOX! Then I have to fix the flat from Wausau(haven't touched the bike since I took it off the bike rack after the race) Sunburst this weekend might be a spongy one!