Epic Racing around the World

Blake after his last morning lap.

Me and my dirt melting lighting system.

Apres’ lap Alders.

Mike Cotty and Matt Ohran starting their run in the solo division. On Thursday I’m catching up with Mike and his experience after finishing 2nd in the 25-29 Solo age group.

The day after the race, on Monday, we all went for a hike at Moraine Lake near Lake Louise…

I bumped into this solo competitor proudly showing off his backpack…

complete with Tinker autograph. Small world, eh?

Wow.

Words and photos do little justice to our experience in Canmore this past weekend.

I’ve always held 24 Hour solo competitors with a certain level of esteem..it was part admiration, part bewilderment, and part astonishment that a rider, a person, could and would push themselves to such limits…and this was based on the fuzzy warm and butterfly filled picture I saw at Moab in the Fall of ‘07.

This was not a sandy path on a mesa in the Utah desert.

Fast forward from then to last night, when I’m taking my 5th lap in the rain, wind storm, lighting, and fighting peanut butter mud, a lattice work of roots and rocks, poor visibility, and only sampling a tiny fraction of their fatigue as we pass rider after rider racing in the solo category - their identities easily recognized by both the steady and measured pace of their movement as well as a behind-the-seat number plate, much like our childhood bicycle license plates we used to all mount.

It was a muddy affair and one held on a course wedged between some of the most amazing views of the Canadian Rockies. Not that anyone had pause to soak in the scenery while on the bike…but, for us at least, in between laps we were able to admire what we previously were oblivious to.

The only dry laps were the first two - I, unwisely, led out the race, including the lemans run and following prologue loop into downtown Canmore before heading back up the hill to the nordic centre and the race course loop proper. From there…it rained. Often, frequently, and many time.

Tinker was on his way to likely another world title, but, as I can not even fathom, the solo riders were facing the challenging conditions without respite. Lap after lap of grit, mud, water and debris…flying, caking, adding a mask of earthen material to their already etched mask of pain. One of the particles fell ill of Tinker and caused a loss of vision in his right eye. On site medical attention was unable to render the eye usable and he unfortunately had to remove himself from the event in order to seek proper medical attention.

Each of the solo rider’s efforts pales and eclipses anything the team riders did, ours not the least included. We rode 27 laps of the 10 mile course, 4 more than the next fastest team…but I’ll say it again: That’s only seven laps each…and with 2+hours between each effort. I can not imagine doing that race solo. Matt Ohran, who competed in the 1999 event here in Canmore gave it a go in the solo category again in 2008. Conditions, physical effort, pace and old man time took the better of him and he also retired by night fall. These are tough cookies racing solo.

I was proud of my crew this weekend. Bart has almost a dozen 24 hour team experiences under his belt, but Bryan Alders and Blake Harlan are new to it and both guys exceeded any expectations we had. Amazing lap times, unbridled energy, and zero mechanicals was the name of the game for the entire event. Good on ya, boys.

I can’t walk without pain from the silly Lemans’ run…maybe during my down time on Monday we’ll find more photos, video, and stories of bear sightings.

The views from the 24 hour world’s course aren’t too shabby…

But it is the height of summer here in Canmore, Alberta…and there’s plenty of Touron traffic to go with it (you know, tourists and morons put together. We’re part of the problem, not the solution.)

Just a head’s up.

Everywhere you go.

This situation cracked us up. It was like a Strong Man Competition….except on the female was swinging the sledge hammer for 30min trying to drive these stakes into the granite filled earth.

We’re off to start this shin-dig. Tinker’s in the zone, and he’ll need to be - the course is brutal and unforgiving. I’m leading off the 4-man team, followed by Bart, Alders, and with Blake running anchor. Its a fast lap - likely 45min per loop or so…which makes it all the more difficult - that’s more climbing and less rest, for everyone involved!

Thursday was pick-up/unload/assemble/and decompress from travel day. Once that was done over a tall cup of coffee and I’d declined an order of maple bacon-infused pancakes, it was time to visit the largest bike shop I’ve ever seen. Anywhere.

Bow Cycles.

They were generous enough to let us set up in the shade before the crowds arrived.

In a part of the world where its snowy quite often and cold even more often, its awesome to see so many bikes being sold, fixed, ridden, and talked about…this shop reminded me on some levels of the Nike World Campus - a labrynth of rooms, features, organization, and an endless stream of employees - over 100 - purely for the purpose of putting and keeping people on two wheels. I compare that to some of the ghost town bike shops we’ve seen in various places, and I wonder….what’s making the difference for these businesses and communities?

You know you’re in bear country when there’s a shelf with several bins of bell ping’ing pleasure for sale.

It was a warm welcome into the Calgary cycling community and a great chance to meet the people behind the area’s cycling energy and enthusiasm. Several athletes from around the world (Austrailia, UK, Germany) stopped by and shared stories of 24 hour race solo death marches they’ve experienced.

Friday we’re off to the Canmore nordic ski/race venue. Perfect weather and a chance to ride a few hours on some of the area’s other trails should make for a nice day…at least for those of us who aren’t racing solo!

Its about that time…time for Tinker to defend his Solo World Championship title in Canmore, Alberta.

We’ll be doing live updates throughout the weekend with updates on Tinker, his competitors, and as well - the 4 person MonavieCannondale pro team, all who will be competing multiple laps at the Canmore Nordic Centre -a mix of climbing (37%), descending (43%) and flats (23%). The length of the course is ~ 20 km or 12.25 miles, including a solo rider-only section of nearly 5 km.

I’ll be writing live updates for the 24HoursofAdrenalin.com site inbetween racing laps with Bart, Alders, and Blake..so stay tuned over the upcoming days as we arrive in Canada and set up the MonavieCannondale.com base camp and prepare our soliders for battle. The Canmore course, site of mulitple world championship events, olympics, and world cups, has seen everything from baking heat and dust to summer time monsoon deluges of hail, lighting, freezing temperatures, snow, and flooding. I’m hoping for mid 70’s, sunshine, and butterflies hovering in the meadows and clover fields, personally.

If you’re in Calgary on Thursday afternoon, stop by  Cannondale’s Bow Cycles for a meet-and-greet with Tinker and the team from 4-7pm. We’ll have posters, refreshments, team gear and schwag available as well as the athletes in a relaxed environment as we enjoy Calgary’s warm welcome.

See you there.

Some are more betterer than others.

Sue had a great weekend…held her ground in the XC and in exciting news, is a hair away from making the final selection in the STXC. Short track racing is a battle. There’s little to zero pacing involved - its full gas, all the time. Because of this, tactics, instincts, and positioning become the difference between winning, losing, and finishing 8th. Tiny moments of hesitation or aggression can come back to haunt you…and what works last week might not work next week. Or maybe they do work. Either way, it makes for a good show, and bodes well for Sue’s cyclocross season.

On the flip side, after a solid XC placing on Saturday by Alders, STXC is a tough go for most guys. The younger you are, and the less consistent your results, the tougher your day will be in STXC.

Short track success is made far more obtainable by having a solid start position. From the front you at least the position is yours to lose, rather than having to gain time on the leaders from 5 rows back! But…such is the nature of the game. It takes massive and instant horsepower, aggressive positioning and maneuvering, and cojones. Not to say Mitchell or Bryan didn’t have these attributes on Sunday…but you either have a great STXC, or you don’t. There is no middle ground.

XC allows you to find your race…STXC demands you have instantly.

I altered this photo, obviously. Thin and Thinner, the Peterson brothers, couldn’t find the proper color thongs for their day cheering in the feed zone. If they’d have given me a heads up, I have a great purple T-back with sequins I’d have been more than happy to loan out.

There’s a saying….Scared money don’t make none.

To some this brings up images of irresponsible gambles and risks. To others it says if you repeat what you’re doing, you’ll get more of the same. To risk or not…neither strategies in life are without their respective caveats. I’ve been victim to both situations and while coming up short is never without its particular sting and residual bad taste, I think the flavor of having not tried lingers longer…and the taste is far worse.

Thursday was the U23 XC national championship race in Mt Snow, Vermont. Two youngin’s from MonavieCannondale were contesting the event, and each rider came in with drastically different goals, and preparation. Before you size up either their goals or the path the two athletes took to get this race realize that both journeys were an example of going big, living, and wanting it all.

Mitchell Peterson, like most of us that went to the BC Bike Race, dug deep during the event.

He, with a freshly minted ID that states his legal age of 21, likely dug deeper than the rest of us…but the BC race was as much a race for its pure experience as it was a massive gamble in training….you’ll either emerge unable to get out of your own way…or pave your own way off the front once recovered from the intense week-long effort.

And forge his way into the lead he did. Eyes on the big prize, THE jersey. The Stars and Bars of a national champion aren’t very often available, and even less frequently obtainable. Mitchell put every chip he had on the table on Black #5…the dead man’s gamble. Lead the race from lap 1 and see if you can hold on to it. That’s a strategy I wish I was capable of implementing at a national championship event.

Lap 1. Lap 2. Lap 3….Neither the baking grades of Vermont’s ski slopes nor the rooted and dank and dark forest downhills would compromise his lead…but the scent of betrayal was in the air. It could be tasted…chewed…but not spat out.

Lap 4….Fatigue.

A desperate man’s gamble, where you bet it all, and while you have nothing to lose…you have everything to lose.

Mitchell was caught. His lead, evaporated. Where empty space formerly existed…now it was filled with another competitor.

A revolt of massive proportions was brewing. Lactic acid. Low blood sugar. The taste of iron, of blood, dirt, and of the labor of an failed effort became harder to ignore. And then there was empty space ahead of Mitchell as the jersey rode away and into someone else’s dream, another man’s gamble. That silver medal might look not-so-bright in that moment, Mitchell, its an effort and result you should be proud of. We all are.

Blake…touring Europe for 5 weeks.

Epic rides, drives, views, experiences, and amounts of nutella…I’m sure you remember his photos. Not the best way to prepare for a mountain bike race, but would you hedge your bets on a mountain bike race against a trip of a life time? So travel and vacation he did…he trained, he traveled, he lived the life any of us would dream of…if we were brave enough to dream of traveling Europe on our own…getting lost, bikes stolen, boundaries challenged and obliterated. Which is the better experience? Which is living?

Both.

But I’ll say that either you pay the piper now…or later, when it comes to racing. The piper wants his training and Blake wasn’t enjoying having his time clock punched today.

Obviously, these days, anti-doping efforts are something we’re all supporting. Clearly, riding slow is a good way to catch the eye of USADA. “Sir..I’ll need you to provide a sample, please.“

Both stories inspired me while they were happening. Blake’s travels and Mitchell’s effort and aggressive racing…both should remind us of choices we’ve enjoyed, regretted, or wished we’d gone after…and the beauty of it all is that its only bike racing and there’s a sweet swimming hole not to far down the road.

Huck it!

Last weekend Bryan Alders and Sue Butler packed (did they ever unpack?) their bags and headed ‘back East for a little warm up at the NMBS event in upstate New York.

Going to the East for those of us that live west of the Mississippi is a return our roots on some level…and typically it involves the same things each year - sweating, some rain, bug bites, jet lag, and nasaly accents. That rather sounds like any random night in ‘Vegas, but back to the trip…and racing.

The Windham Mountain resort was a new course for the national circuit and from most accounts…was fun. An old pro once told me there’s no room for fun in mountain bike racing…but things seem to be changing.

Typically racing at a ski resort involves A) riding up steep gravel roads B) blowing up and going into oxygen debt (bonus points for any ski resort below 6000′)  and C) putting your race back together.

Sue and Bryan both found the going rough in their respective XC events. Sue gets a pass on her dead legs as a quick scan of the results sheet for both the men and women’s races shows that anyone who did the BC Bike race and followed it up with the Windham event suffered with tired legs. I’d say Sue’s 15th place was pretty good for doing a 30hour training (racing) block the week before to be pretty dang good. Alders…well 27th is better than finishing 57th, and both made progress in the following day’s STXC - 8th for Sue and 15th for Bryan…who was the last guy to get pulled. There’s little worse than being pulled…all that suffering and riding in circles in the dirt and dust only to not be allowed to ride three more laps under said circumstances…only to never catch the guy just ahead.

Looks like I was working with some bad information here. Alders got waxed and finished 22nd.

This week Alders and Sue have been joined by Mitchell Peterson and Blake Harlan, who will be racing in the U23 event on Thursday. Pro XC for the men and women is on Saturday.  On the Oregon front, I’ll (sager) will be racing the Gorge Games in Hood River, OR…STXC on Friday, XC on Mt Hood’s Ski Bowl is Sunday. In between we’ll be checking out the skatboard, kiteboard, and windsurfing events. I’m thinking wind power might be something to suggest to the Cannondale R&D department.

Rip it!

Blake Harlan checks in after his month-long tour of the Continent Europe:

Well now that the gelato coma is fading and the jet lag is wearing off, I think I can take a quick recap of the coolest places I rode in Europe. It started in the Czech Republic…..

Shredding Czech single track…

From Prague, we headed west into Germany. Wurstberg is a pretty amazing place.

From Germany we headed south to Switzerland.

Our second stop in Switzerland was to Speiz, one of my favorite stops of the trip. The riding was amazing. Story book views and roads.

From Speiz we headed south to Locarno, Switzerland. Here I did an epic mountain bike ride and even made it to the 2003 Mountain Bike World Championships course.

The view from the top of the world.

Euro 1 Track.

We also watched a stage of the Tour de Suisse. The vibe and energy at a European pro race is something that can’t be described…but I’d relate it to something along the lines of the NBA finals, but outside. And with shorter guys on bikes.

Next it was off to Italy to cheer on our friends and teammates at Val di Sole for the 2008 World Mountain Bike Championships.

From there it was south to La Spezia, one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

After Italy we made our way to Andorra, in the heart of the Pyryness. Duty free shopping, for those into Cosco-sized boxes of smokes and liquor.

And then it was time for Spain. First stop, Girona.

Then Barcelona….the riding here was minimal. Too many siestas.

With three days to go in our trip we arrived in Valencia. Unfortunately, in the 15minutes it took for us to check into our hotel, our car window was smashed and all things cycling related stolen…including my MonavieCannondale custom painted scalpel. Keep your eyes open on ebay.eu for one of these floating around.

However, the squad came to the rescue…with only a hand full of days before National Championships in Vermont, I arrived home to a replacement bike. How’s that for service?!

Recap and the obvious: the trip was awesome. So many experiences, so many stories to tell. Thanks to the team for helping me out! I leave tomorrow for Vermont to race with teammates Mitch Peterson, Sue Butler and Bryan Alders in the US National Championships, should be fun….but I plan on taking the bike inside with me this time.

Leana writes in from the Deer Valley NMBS in Park City, Utah.

I raced my Cannondale Rize for the first time this past weekend at the NMBS national at Deer Valley. The national featured a dual slalom race on a new course built yards from the resort, which combined with the evening scheduling, drew in large crowds of spectators.

I qualified as the second fastest on Friday only beaten by the current World Champion, Melissa Buhl. The course was fast and boasted loose corners and a variety of jumps and obstacles, and qualifying times were around 20 seconds so times were close.

In the finals, I breezed through her first round against the 7^th seeded woman, and moved onto the semi finals were she was up against Lisa Myklak. The races between the two were some of the best of the night with the girls battling in both heats all the way to the finish. Lisa won the first heat by a knob on a tire and I won the second heat by about the same but in the end it was Lisa who took the win to move onto the finals by .004 of a second.

In the small final heat I was paired against South African Joanna Petterson, whom I typically battle back and forth with. Aboard the new Rize, I  was able to take both wins in the heat to secure 3^rd place finish at the event.

I had such a blast racing today, I may not have done as well as I had hoped but the heats were close, so I know I am in there. As I ride my Rize more, I can only get better and hopefully I can get a few wins at the upcoming nationals at Windham [New York], and Mount Snow [Vermont]. The Rize worked so awesome, we got it down to 26 pounds and it accelerates so well, I just wished the course had more corners for me to pedal out of.

I also competed in the downhill event, on a very challenging course and placed 5th.