Month of Mud #5

(See attached file: MOM.jpg)

Finally it was here the final MOM race of the year at Moraine. I was excited and worried about being in first place in the single speed series. In the past I've been in contention for the overall going into the final race and always managed to screw it up somehow. I was hoping this year would be different. The morning went a little better than some but that would soon change. I only left 20 minutes later than planned and stopped to get a cup of coffee and everything was going good. Then with less than a half mile to go on 422 the day took a turn for the worse. I was more concerned about getting to the race than the speed I traveling. Luckily for me a nice PA State Trooper decided to stop me and point this out to me. So after that unexpected delay I was really getting there late. I hurried up got registered and then more bad news. When I got back to my car to get ready Team Echo was parked beside me. If you know Echo this requires no explanation. While getting dressed I heard 15 minutes to get lined up. So after a short quick warm-up I felt like crap and figured today was going to be a rough one. We lined up and rolled out on a neutral pace to the start.
It's always nice to get a call up so tried to make the most of it but came up short. After a short flat section we started up the first climb and I was feeling it and getting dropped. Then after a flat section we were headed up the second climb and I started feeling a little better and managed to be fourth into the single track. I worked my way up into third and felt like I was doing OK then it happened. I don't ride with headphones or listen to music much when I ride. Usually I can get a good song in my head and get in a groove. But today my mental playlist was broken. I got a bad song in my head and couldn't get it out of my head. The cover of Careless Whisper by Seether how does this song and group get any air time? Then I crossed the road and was headed into the big rock garden. I ride at Moraine at least twice a month and if I don't clear this entire section of trail I'm disappointed with myself. Not sure if it was the mental abuse from my playlist, the fresh leaves or the fact that I was running a tube in my rear tire but I couldn't ride any of it. After running and walking though it I got my playlist working again and caught up and passed to Tim. Then it came back and I'm not sure what happened but I crashed it was like I just fell over. Tim passed me and we rode together through the finish and headed out for the second lap. This is when I looked down and noticed my Garmin was missing and figured it came off during the crash. I started feeling a little better and past Tim then is was back. I got in the rocks and somehow took a really bad line and rock or something knocked my rear wheel out of the dropouts. While I was getting it straightened out Tim went past me. Then I crossed the road and was heading into the rock garden again. I was thinking to myself that there's no way it could me as much trouble as the first lap did. I soon proved that thinking to wrong and walked through it again. At this point I pretty much wanted to be done. I came to the area were I crashed on the first lap and decided to look for my Garmin. The only reason I stopped was because I was feeling lazy and knew it would be hard to get the motivation needed to go back and look for it after the race. But after some leaf picking I decided to move along and finish and come back for it.
By the time I reached the finish it wasn't great a race but it was OK 4th overall and 1st SS. I also had a huge relief because I knew that I had won the series finally. While I was waiting at the finish I was happy to Joe Fotia come rolling in he had allot of pressure going into this race. He was one point behind Frankie Ross at the beginning of today. So if he could beat Frankie he would have the tie breaker and the series win. I talked Joe into heading back with me to look for my Garmin and some leaf picking I got lucky and found it.
I was happy that the series turned like I planned for once. I also had a couple of other surprises waiting for me at the award ceremony. The big one was I got inducted into the Month of Mud Hall of Fame I'm really happy and honored about this. So that means I'm like famous or something now right? Almost but not quite my plaque has my name spelled wrong. So is it really me or someone else they meant to induct? Funny thing is that I like that it's spelled wrong. For as many races that I do my name always gets spelled wrong. It's my own fault for not listening to Sheriff Gary NO CORRECTIONS FOR SPELLING ERRORS PRINT BETTER NEXT TIME! I just want to say thanks to the Month of Mud crew and Rob Riddell who did an awesome job filling in some pretty big shoes. One more thing be sure to listen to the Sheriff.

J

Murrysville Cross

(See attached file: Murrysville.jpg)

I took advantage of last weekend being race free by doing a couple of long rides. Saturday I managed to get a nice 5 hour mountain bike ride in. Then on Sunday Ruth and me did a century on the Red Sled. Centuries are hard but I'm not sure why they seem even harder on the Sled.
The only bad thing about this weekend was that it was booked with local races. Saturday was the Murrrysville Cross which was cool but Sunday there was a conflict the MOM race at Moraine and the Raccoon Cross race. If I wasn't doing the MOM series I'm not sure which race I would chose. Saturday I was looking forward to the cross race even though I haven't ridden my cross bike since the Grove City race. I did this race last year and it was a blast fun course, well organized, muddy and cold. This year the biggest difference was that is was about 20 degrees warmer and I didn't do the Dirty Dozen the day before. I surprised myself and got there in enough time to get dressed and pre ride the course. The course was similar to last year with only a few changes but still seemed fun and challenging too. Using the I only have a single speed as an excuse I had decided early in the week to race the 35 plus race and if I felt OK after that I would race the 1/2/3 too.
It was finally time to get lined up and there was 23 people in my group and I got a spot on the second row. We took off up the pavement and turned into the muck and not long after that there was a crash which somehow I managed to avoid. I was in a group of like 5 people or so and getting close to the hill that I rode every time during the preride but as it would be no such like. The worst thing is having to dismount when your not planning on dismounting because your not ready and lose all your speed among other things. I continued to work my way through the field until Gunnar was the only one in front of me. We rode together for a little then I managed to get past him. I had a small gap after the first lap then starting into the second lap Gunnar past me. We traded places a couple of times on the second lap then that was it. I tried to catch him but never did and the only thing that changed was the lead he had on me. With two laps to go I was feeling pretty spent and was worrying more about getting caught than catching him. At the end I managed to stay in second and was happy to be done. Now it was time for the worst part of cross racing getting changed. It feels great to get out of the muddy clothes but it sucks knowing that you have to go hame and clean it up.
I came close to racing in the 1/2/3 race but decided against it with the hopes of saving a little for Sunday's MOM race. With nothing planned for the rest of the day I figured I would hangout and watch the other races that were going on. While waiting for the races to begin I ran into Gerry Pflug and he was planning on using his mountain bike for the race. I also seen Tim Carson and he was planning on racing a borrowed cross bike. Both of the decisions had me scratching my head. Both of these guys are super fast but after racing the course I thought a cross bike was the way to go for Gerry and felt Tim would be better on his mountain bike. Why the difference in bikes? Here's why it was a traditional cross course a little bit of road, some tight twisty turns, run ups, and super muddy. Gerry races allot of cross and practices allot too so I felt he would be better on a cross bike. Tim on the other hand only does a few cross races here and there and uses his mountain bike. So by not ever using this cross bike before I thought he would be a disadvantage. The race finally started and it was a pretty exciting race. Early on it was a two person race for first between Steevo and Mike Mihalik with other battles going on for the rest of the podium. Not sure when Gerry and Tim switched bikes but it seemed after they did they each made up a few positions. In the end Mike got Steevo, Gerry ended up 4th and Tim was 7th. Funny thing is I know some other people that race a little bit of cross and say there faster on there mountain bike than a cross bike. I tell them that might be true but that because they don't ride there cross bike enough. But now it was time to head home to get ready for Sunday.
Thanks to Fred Baldassare, Henry Dimminck, the Freddie Fu and AG3R teams and everyone else that was involved in the great time.

J

Month of Mud part #4

(See attached file: Grove City.jpg)
At this time of the year I feel like I should be taking a break from long rides and start focusing on cross. But with La Ruta coming up in November I feel torn between trying to race cross and doing long training rides. The hardest part for me about doing long training rides this time of year is the lack off daylight as I found out on Saturday's long ride. In an ideal world I would like to do my harder shorter workouts on Saturday then on Sunday do a long easier ride. But I'm still searching for that ideal world. I decided that I would do a long ride on Saturday and the MOM race on Sunday. After getting started a little later than planned I was out the door on the fixed gear at like 11:30. The plan was head down towards town then jump on the tracks and hit the Armstrong trail up to Tempelton and back. The idea of bringing a light never crossed my mind. Near Ford City I ran into Ruth she left about the same time but went straight to the trail. We stopped in Kittanning and got some water and food. I planned on riding north on the trail until for another hour or so then turn around and head back home. When I turned around it finally hit me. It's after 5:00 I have about 45 miles to get home it will take a little under 3 hours but it will be dark out in less than 2 hours. When I was getting close to Schenley I caught up to Ruth and it was getting pretty dark at that point. I told her that I would just ride ahead and get home first and come back with the car to pick her up. The worst thing about riding in the dark is finding that hole in the road that you for didn't know about and getting blinded by oncoming cars. I got home a little after 8:00 and was getting ready to go pick up Ruth (she thinks this makes her tough) but she called said she'd be OK riding home alone. After she got in it was time to start getting ready for the MOM race at Brady's.

Surprise I got to Brady's an hour before the start and was pretty happy about that. I got ready and did a pre riding to check out the course and then with little time to spare it was time to go. It's always cool to get a call up, but I also knew that it wouldn't help much. Because during the prolog around the horse arena I knew I was out gunned being on a SS. Just as I figured I think I was pretty far back in the pack when we started up the hill. I rode as hard as I could up the hill and passed allot of people. I think I was like 5th or 6th heading into the singletrack for the rest of the climb. At the top I passed a couple of more people and was in third. Funny thing was I figured after the long ride on Saturday that I would be climbing slow. But I seemed to be climbing good, but I was descending pretty slow. There was a few times I'd look back and nobody would be in sight then right after a downhill Joe would be right on my tail. In the end I got 1st SS and 3rd overall I was pretty happy with the results. This weekend I get a break from racing I was thinking about going to the Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die cross race but just going to stay home and put in some extra miles. Thanks again to the MOM crew.



J

Month of Mud part #3

The Grove City MOM race was the third of the series and the second and last cross race of the series. I really wasn't looking forward to this race because I was feeling crappy and sick all week. So I took is easy and reduced my hours but it didn't seem to help to much. The one thing that I was excited about was that it was going to be the Tandumb rematch. We got to the park with little time to spare as usual I was going through the over thinking of which gear to use. I decided to stick with the same gear as last week 42x19. It seemed to be a little heavy at Raccoon last week and was hoping it would OK here. At the start I found out that it was a little light on the road and got past by lots of people. After the prolog I started to make some up some ground and passed a few people. I could see Gerry and Steevo had a pretty big lead on everyone. I knew I had no chance of catching them. The gear felt OK in the woods and grass but I was getting crushed on the road. I was going back and forth with a few people on the first 4 laps. Then after about an hour it was over I finished 9 overall and was the first SS. I was hoping for a little better in the overall but whatever.

Now to the main event of the day the Tandumb rematch plus one more. It seemed like less pressure with three Tandumbs racing. Because when there was only two you could go from first to worst by one position change.The Shogrens learned something from the last race and had 26" mountain bike tires and wheels on. In the beginning on the prolog we were in third but passed Andrew and Maggie. It seemed like our barrier practice was paying off because we were keeping it close on the barriers. This race was going allot like the first race. We passed Gunnar and Betsy in the woods only to be passed on the road. There was one section that had a downed tree were we had a big advantage. We were riding the log on every lap and they were dismounting on it. But thanks to the hecklers the started riding it on the last two laps. We gave it our best shot and kept it close but in the end the Shogrens got the W. It was only by 12 seconds but as anyone that races cross knows that 12 seconds is allot. We never seen Andrew and Maggie after the beginning and found out later that they flatted. Now it was time to get cleaned up and head to the North Country Brewery for a few well deserved brews. Thanks again to the MOM crew and the rest of the fine sponsors.


J