Greenbrier Challenge Mountain Bike Race

I woke up Sunday morning with a high degree of uncertainty about the Greenbrier Race. The days leading up to the race were hectic, but with or without a bike I was in Maryland. I was nervous and excited. It would be my first race in the Phoenix Multisport jersey. I haven't posted much about Phoenix Multisport, but it is a great thing to be apart of and I am super grateful to be able ride for them. You can read more about Phoenix Multisport by clicking Here.

Saturday, Doug and I spent 9 hours trapped on an airplane, 6 at the gate while it was being fixed and 3 in the air. We arrived in Maryland at 9pm. My bike was stuck in Cleveland and a bike I tried to buy didn't work out either. Lee offered to lend me his bike, but he hadn't ridden it in months and wasn't sure if it was in racing condition. Our start time was 11:30am, we planned on getting there at 9:00am. That would give me 2.5 hours to register, get Lee's bike sorted, pre-ride the race course, meet up with the family and friends I had invited, and make my start line up at 11:15am.

We rolled into the parking lot at about 9:30am, Chris showed up about the same time with Lee's bike. It was great to see Chris, when he pulled a tiny child's bike out of the back of his truck I laughed but was on to his prank. Lee's bike was a Cannondale hard tail with hydraulic disc brakes, tubeless tires, and a solid drivetrain. My first order of business was to head down to The Bike Lane tent (a local shop) to see if they could give Lee's bike some love. If so it would be a good bike to race on. On the way down I took an inventory of what needed work: a rusty chain, sticky rear shifting, bent brake lever, broken fork lockout, and some seized bolts. Adam, the manager of bike lane put in on the stand, took one look and shook his head. There was no way he'd have time to get it sorted before the race, but he had an alternative.

I was super grateful to Lee and Chris for going out of their way to lend and deliver me a bike on such short notice. I looked forward to the future conversations about the time I called Lee in the middle of the night and then won a race on his bike, but Adam offered me an alternative I couldn't refuse. A Trek Top Fuel 69er demo. The 69er was designed by Travis Brown, it has a 26" wheel in the back and a 29" wheel in the front, supposedly combining the agility of a 26" wheeled bike with the rollover and traction of a 29er bike. Adam got me set up on the 69er just in time for Doug and I to pre-ride the course.

The Trek Top Fuel 69er

Doug and I set out on the course about an hour before our start time. The course was typical Maryland riding loaded with rocks, logs and mud. It was perfectly suited to my assets of power and tech skills. The start was a grassy stretch followed by a short climb and a technical section filled with "shark fin" rocks jutting out from the mud. This lead to a long, steep muddy climb called Heartbreak Hill. Then the course followed a ridge line for about a mile into a super technical descent. The same line of storms that had caused my bike to be diverted to Cleveland hit Maryland the night before. Inches of rain had dumped on the course making the descent more like like riding down a rocky creek than a trail. At the bottom, the course finished along a lake which had flooded its banks onto the trail in a couple places. I hadn't ridden in mud like that in years, it was going to be an interesting race.

Flooded Trail

All the family and friends who came out were waiting when we got back. I caught up with everyone for a bit and then it was time to line up. On the way I made a minor adjustment to my seat height which would come back to haunt me later. I started before Doug because we were in different age groups. I choose the inside slot right at the front. My competition looked diverse, from strong riders to weekend warriors. My initial thought was " I'm coming from the fitness Mecca of Boulder, these guys have got nothing on me." This may have been true, but I didn't want to be humiliated by overconfidence so I just tried to focus on riding my own race. We got a quick brief by the race director and before I knew it we were down to thirty seconds.

There was no count down, the timing official just said "Go!" I missed clipping into my pedal on my first attempt, not a good way to start a race. I got it on the second attempt and exploded off the line. It surprised me how much power I had in my legs. By the time we hit the gravel double track at the base if the initial climb I was in first place by a half dozen bike-lengths. At the top of the first climb was so far ahead I couldn't see anyone behind me. I knew I couldn't keep it up, but I wanted to put as much distance as possible between myself and the pack. As I progressed up the climb the bike felt less and less right. It was a sinking feeling, like my tire was going flat or my rear shock was leaking. Indeed, I was sinking, it was my seat post. I looked down to see that my seat post clamp had popped up off the frame. There was nothing holding tension on the seat post to keep it in place.

Alex's Break Away

Doug in the Lead

With every sinking pedal stroke I felt my race aspirations melting away. I screamed "Nooooo!!!!" to the puzzlement of a couple spectators, but there was nothing I could do. It had sank too low for me to produce any power sitting down. Worse yet, my multi tool was in my bike box which was stuck in Cleveland. I pedaled standing up for about half a mile until I encountered another racer walking his bike. He was out due to a broken chain, but luckily he had a multi tool. It took me about 2 minutes to get the seat clamp back on, seat height adjusted and tightened. In that time my entire age group passed me. I went from 1st place to last place, ARGH!

Suffering to Re-Gain Position

I was determined not to let this cost me the race. I spent the rest of the first lap anaerobically regaining ground. The technical "shark fin" section was a blessing in disguise. The jagged rocks had created a log jam of carnage. As I approached I could see people crashing, being ejected from their bikes or just dismounting and running. After pre-riding, I anticipated this which was one of my motives for trying to get out in front off the start. I used a strategy which worked in The 24 Hours of Moab last year and picked lines over the rockiest sections of trail which most people were avoiding. It worked and by the end of the section I was through most of the pack.

More Suffering

I had been riding at 100% effort since the beginning of the race began to fear I might "crack" on the muddy climb up heartbreak hill. I tried to channel all of my pre-race frustrations into my legs and lungs. The bike being stuck in Cleveland, the flight delay on Saturday and my seat post were all fuel to ride faster. The muddy slog up heartbreak hill was hell, but the dense sea level air allowed me to suffer at a level that I can rarely reach. It was most noticeable in my recovery time which was almost nothing, it was amazing. I was able to level my heart rate off at threshold almost immediately after being completely anaerobic. After the climb I hammered the wet rocky descent and the muddy river flowing down it. I couldn't see clearly enough to pick a line in the flying mud so I just pointed the front wheel down the hill and held on for the ride. The 29er wheel happily rolled over stuff that would have sent me flying on a 26" wheeled bike.

And More Suffering

At the end of the first lap I made a B-line across the finish line straight to the tech zone in search of a tool to fine tune my seat height. It was about 1" too low from when I fixed it the first time. This cost me another minute, but it was a necessary adjustment to be in proper climbing position for the last two laps. The last two laps went about like the first sans my seat post drama, just pure suffering. I continued to be surprised at how much more I could suffer and how quickly I could recover in the sea level air. It was like free energy. Everyone was covered in mud making it impossible to tell who was in my class. My strategy for the rest of the short race was to keep the pressure on and not get passed by any one. It worked, the only time I got passed was by a guy on the last lap climb up Heartbreak Hill. After he passed, I hung on his wheel and let him pace me up the climb. It worked, at the top he cracked and I regained my position. By the last descent of the race my sun glasses were so muddy I was riding blind. I threw my glasses to Chad who was at the base of the descent taking pictures as I rode by.

Surfing the Lake

Last Bump before the Finish

I passed two women riders on my way to the finish, but crossed it alone. It was great to be greeted by family and friends, although my post race hack got in the way of conversation and caused a little concern. I had no idea how I did, I could have finished in first place or last place. Everyone was covered in mud making it impossible to recognize the people who were next to me on the start line. Doug finished shortly after me covered in Mud as well. While I was rinsing off in the lake Anna said I finished 3rd out of 22! I finished the 15 mile course in 1:38:08, 1:45 behind the leader. My seat post issue cost me 3 minutes, but is also forced me to ride harder so I'm not sure how much it hurt me from getting first. I was elated at working my way back from so far behind and representing Phoenix Mulitsport well.

Alex After the Race

Doug After the Race

On the Podium

You would think by this lengthy post I had just competed in a UCI World Cup race instead of a 15 mile NORBA race, but other than the 24 Hours of Moab this was my first real attempt at a race since my injury in 2005. Speaking of which, my knee is sore but not as bad as I thought. It was great to see everyone who came out and to have their support. Thanks to Jo for supporting and putting up with me being gone, Doug for motivating me to do the race, Lee for lending me a bike, Chris for delivering it and taking pics, Adam and The Bike Lane for lending me a bike, Marshal for taking Pics, Mom, Andrew, Anna, John, Becky, Mike, and Chad and his kids for coming out to support me.

Post Race Update

The epic is over, at least the race part is. I still have to manage to get back to Denver by 2pm to work and all the flights are oversold. I managed to get a bike and the race went well. I'm not going to give anymore details yet as I won't be able to upload my pics to do a proper post until the end of the week. I've got post race hack and muscle stiffness bordering rigormortis. Stay tuned for a full report soon...

4 Hours to Race - In MD Think I Found a Bike

After a 6 hour delay Doug and I finally made it to Maryland. In the search for a bike I actually bought a race bike through a store in Boulder and was going to pick it up in MD. It looks like that plan fell through too. Plan D - Lee agreed to let me ride his bike and Chris is going to meet me at the race with it.

20 Hours to Race - No Change

Still on a broken plane in Denver, still no bike...

23 Hours to Race - No Bike, Broken Plane

It's now 1:00pm mountain time, I've been sitting on a broken airplane at the gate in Denver for two and a half hours. The left main brake is broken and is supposedly being fixed, but I'll believe it when I see it. FedEx has confirmed that my bike will be spending the weekend in Cleveland, I hope it has a good time seeing the sights. I'm very proactively seeking out "other options" and have a potential yet financially debilitating option in the works. Time will tell...

Cleveland, OH

It's 7:21am mountain time and my bike is in Cleveland, OH. If you look closely you can see it in the back ground of these pictures having the time of its life!

FedEx told me to call back in 3 hours. In the mean time the search for a replacement bike in MD is on!

36 Hours to Race - No Bike

The Greenbrier Race is this Sunday and I'm sure all of you regular readers are sick of hearing about it. If not and you want to find out more you can click Here.

I've been haunted the past couple weeks by massive unknowns going into this race. After two knee pain riddled seasons this year I really wanted to try to break out of the shackles of my injury. So far that hasn't gone as planned. My knee actually feels worse than it did last fall and my fitness is questionable. Most of my friends are dumbfounded as to why I even want to do this race. My answer is that I'm stoked to race where I grew up, but I'm not sure that is entirely what is driving me. There is something else I can't quite put my finger on. Either way the whole thing just got a little harder.

I sent my bike "guaranteed deliver" overnight by FedEx yesterday and it didn't make it. There are no guarantee's in life and I guess I was naive to think FedEx would be any different. Right now it isn't guaranteed to arrive until Monday which will be 24 hours too late. There is a chance I can pick it up at a delivery center on Saturday, but I have to call at 5:00am mountain time, exactly 4:51 minutes from now as I type to find out. If I not I have faith that I'll be able to find a bike, it just might not be an ideal race bike. I'll guess time only time will tell - literally!

Jasper of the Night

Rusty and Jasper make up the feline contingent of the zoo that resides in our house. Of the two, Jasper is the more timid while Rusty is generally more social and adventurous. At night when the house is quiet Jasper comes out of his shell and adventures out of the safety of my office. This has earned him the nickname "Jasper of the Night".

Last summer I installed a dog door in the back door. I found the biggest one I could with an extra heavy flap so our biggest dog Nana could get out with no trouble and it would be harder for wildlife to get in the house. The door is about 30 inches tall with a magnet in the bottom that keeps it closed. It takes considerable pressure to break the magnet and open the door.

During the day we open the back door to let the cats adventure in the back yard. They usually go out, but stay close and startle easy. A slight gust of wind will send them tearing into the house and upstairs into my office. The other night I forgot to close the door before it got dark and soon noticed Jasper missing. After a searching Jo and I found him outside through the fenced backyard in a neighbor's front yard. In the past he's gotten out at night and not come back. One time I found him the next day perched at the top of a 30 foot tall tree howling in fear. At the bottom was a geriatric blind and deaf dog that wouldn't hurt a fly. It took an hour to climb the tree, wrangle Jasper into a duffel bag and lower him to the ground with a climbing rope.

Not wanting to repeat the events of that cold morning I made sure the door was shut and got ready for bed. After a hour I noticed Jasper was absent again. I tore the house apart searching for him, but he was no where to be found. Rusty was meowing a distinct meow that both cats use to inform me when the other is missing, locked in the closet, etc. Surely Jasper couldn't have gone out the dog door. It was a typical Colorado Spring night with very strong winds (gusting to 40mph) and while brainstorming as to where else he could be I noticed during a gust the dog door blew open. There was no way he could time it right to make it out and if so the wind would scare him away from the door. The slightest gust terrifies him during the day.

Having failed to find him anywhere else I decided to look outside, sure enough he was two houses over exploring the bushes in their front yard. I locked the dog door and fixed the hole in the fence he was going through. Problem solved right...

Wrong. Last night, when the wind was calm and the dog door wasn't being blown open I caught him doing this:

He would ease up to the door and use all of his body weight to break the seal, then quickly squeeze through the hole. There was no way he could open the relatively huge door on kitty strength alone. It required a skillful technique that must have taken hours of trial and error to perfect. He could go in both directions and seemed to have the technique down. I couldn't help but think of how many nights of adventures he'd gone on without my knowing.

As I finished writing this I happened to look up at where Jasper was sleeping and he was gone. I found him in the back yard trying to get through the patched hole in the fence, I guess I need to start locking the dog door at night.

Bike Packing

I'm leaving Saturday for the Greenbrier Race on Sunday, but my bike has to leave by 10am tomorrow if it's going to get there in time. It's almost 1am and I'm beat. I've spend the past couple hours trying to fit this:

into this:





My narrow road bike fits in this box no problem, but the mountain bike is a different story. After test fitting many times to find the most space-saving position I took a note from Jeff's hang glider short packing posts and cut up an old foam bed roll for extra padding. With the wheels nestled just right in the frame nooks I still had to use significant force to get the lid shut. Being paranoid about bending my brake rotors I took them off. That 1/8" of room made everything fit snug, but not too tight. Okay it really made no difference, but at least my rotors won't be bent.








Done. Off to bed...

Broken Chain - OUCH

You can see where this went - OUCH!!

Training Update 4-21-08

It's been a good week. With 7 days left until my race I've been able to stay on track and get consistent riding in. I normally would have been tapering last week, but due to my late start this year I needed it to bump up my fitness and intensity in addition to getting used to the mountain bike. Tuesday was a beautiful 70 degree day, the warmest of the year. I had my bike built up by mid-afternoon and loaded it up on the Midget using a makeshift rack clamped to the convertible top frame.

For my first ride on the dirt I headed to nearby Marshal Mesa. The riding is short and leaves much to be desired, but it's good training and newly opened trails were calling my name. More importantly I wanted to be able to stop by the Midget on each lap to tune my the new Fox F100 fork and make other adjustments. It was monotonous, but I got the bike dialed and enjoyed the new trails and warm top down weather.

Wed, Thurs, Friday and today were all high intensity mountain bike rides. Five rides isn't ideal for getting race-ready on the mountain bike after a winter of road riding, but it's all I have. My tech skills are still being awakened, but for the circumstances I feel good. I'm digging the F100 fork, but am still finding the edge of my new tire. I'm at a complete loss as to how I'll stack up against the competition in Greenbrier next weekend. In the grand scheme of things, this race is really nothing more than an exaggerated training event, but I am having trouble not caring about my results. The many unknowns including my own fitness level, inflamed knee, and competition have been haunting me.

Forks and Tires

It took hours, but I finally built the mountain bike up yesterday. I hadn't touched it since November. My bottom bracket was filled with sand and grime, I'm surprised of didn't seize on the White Rim last year. With about ten days left until my race it wasn't a moment too soon either.

I'm going to focus on cross country (XC) this season so I made some changes to the bike. My plan B to race Super D didn't work out last year. The Santa Cruz Superlight frame just isn't the right geometry for a downhill bike. The Fox Talas fork I mounted in August gave the bike too much rake in the longer travel settings resulting in carnage on more than one occasion. I've changed back to a straight 100mm (4") travel Fox F100RLC fork which is lighter and is without a doubt the best fork I've ever ridden.

After the non-tubeless 2.4 front tire I was running tubeless last year catastrophically failed as I landed a jump on an off camber piece of Moab slickrock I switched to a 2.1 (smaller cross section diameter) tubeless tire up front. I felt confident the bead wouldn't "un-zip" on me, but the smaller volume hurt my confidence and speed on technical descents. So I found a new tubeless 2.4 Specialized front tire with a tread pattern similar to my old 2.4 and have my confidence back.

Although it should survive the next couple weeks and is running relatively smoothly my bike and it's components are the victim of many miles of abuse and in need of many new parts. This picture of my zip tied and electrical taped seat is a good example.

After the Greenbrier Race next week I'm planning on tearing down the bike, repainting it, and rebuilding it proper as a true XC machine with new shifters, drivetrain, and wheels. Just like it's owner it needs to shed some weight off it's current form to be competitive! I'm going to have to make some trade offs to be competitive the most dramatic will be new tires. I've always favored big volume high tread, but high rolling resistance tires to accent my technical riding style, but on the mostly hard pack and climbing courses most races are held on in Colorado I think these hurt me. It's time I bit the bullet and switched to a true race tire on both wheels. This is really going to initially hurt my technical riding, but I'm confident I can adapt over time.

Training Update 4-14-09

I was able to get enough breaks in the weather to get back on track last week. I had to suffer in the cold, but including my urban assault ride I was able to ride 4 days for a total of 138 miles. I was also able to incrementally increase my climbing a little too and am starting to feel some strength in my legs as a result. It's a fine line with my knee. I feel it after every hard ride, but I've been religious in doing 3 dimensional stretching every day. If I can walk this line just right I think I can be pretty competitive by mid-summer. I'm about 15 pounds heavier than my ideal racing weight, but eating right consistently has been hard for me this season. That is my next big area to focus on.

My first race in is 12 days and I have yet to touch my mountain bike this year. The last ride was the White Rim trail in early November 2007. I'm going to rebuild it into more of a cross country machine instead of the Super D machine I built it up last fall. More on that soon...

Urban Assault Ride

Yesterday I delivered Jo's old Saturn to it's new owner in South Denver. The buyer needed the car this week and I needed to get a training ride in - I saw an opportunity. The problem was, yet another, winter storm looming in the mountains. The rain was supposed to start around noon and turn into snow later in the afternoon. As I walked out of the house I felt a moist chill in the air, that could only mean precipitation was on the way. It would be a race against time.

The buyer's house was deep in the South Denver Suburbs. This was good because it would mean a 40 to 50 mile ride depending on how straight my route home was, but bad because it meant I had to cover those miles before the rain and snow hit. I packed a base layer, mid layer, shell, rain shell, arm warmers, knee warmers, toe warmers, two pairs of socks, and a wool hat. In the short time it took to replace a marker light on the Saturn and load the bike up I could feel the temperature dropping.

Proper route finding would be huge in preventing my urban assault ride from turning into an epic. I know both major bike paths in Denver and felt confident I could navigate to downtown, the hard part would getting from downtown to Superior, just south of Boulder. The area North of Denver is an "industrial no-man's land" in my mental map of the area. I was armed with my new phone, sporting Google Maps, but the battery was low so I could only depend on it as a back up. Before I left the house I spent a solid 20 minutes trying to memorize the area on my laptop.

I dropped the car off in the buyer's driveway, but nobody was home. I raised quite a suspicion with the neighbors as I took the license plates off and then shocked them all by changing into my biking clothes right there in the drive way. I could just hear the phone call to the police, "Help! There is a naked man abandoning a vehicle in my neighbors driveway."

Once I got suited up, I headed out of the neighborhood to the main traffic artery I came in on. I knew if I continued West I'd eventually get to the South Platte River and Bike Path. After a short jog South and then Northwest I saw the river and then the path which would take me straight to downtown Denver. The South Platte Bike Path runs through the ruins of Denver's industrial era, its a stark contrast to Boulder's country roads. I enjoyed the path and foolishly used precious cell phone battery power to take pictures (sorry for the poor quality). Although cold, the sun was still out and my spirits were high.

South Platte Bike Path

Downtown

I rolled by the REI flagship store downtown after just over an hour. I was feeling strong and ready for the unknown that lay ahead. I headed Northeast through the Highlands, but as I crossed over I-70 the weather started to turn. Within about 10 minutes the sun had disappeared, gust front winds pelted me with street trash, and it started to drizzle. I kept my focus and headed North into the "industrial no-man's land". I made it about a mile before I hit my first real obstacle, a wall of train cars 2 deep. I waited at the crossing for about 15 minutes before cold and impatience drove me to seek a new route.

Highlands

I jogged South then West which spit me out on Federal Blvd. Federal is a 3 lane thoroughfare that is not safe to bike on. After about 5 minutes I saw salvation, a bike path to the West. I busted a quick U turn in the next traffic break and rode towards the path. It soon became evident that I was on the wrong side of the creek that the path followed. Luckily, the same train tracks that stopped me earlier provided a solution in the form of a bridge. Just walking in road cycling shoes is hard, so jumping a fence with my bike, hiking up the steep grade to the tracks, crossing the railroad tie bridge, and stumbling down the other side was a huge expenditure of energy. It would have been worth it if the path lead me somewhere useful, instead it took me right back to Federal Blvd! Argh!!

My Route

Problem & Solution

There isn't much of a story from this point on. The constant sprinting and stopping of riding in traffic was taking a toll on my legs. I tried to use my cell phone to Google Map my way home, but the battery was dead. I suffered in cold, wind, and occasional rain through an endless maze of industrial areas and old neighborhoods until I found my way to Indiana Street. In my mental image Indiana was the straightest route North, it wouldn't take long to leave the residential areas for open prairie and cross a couple ridges. In reality, Indiana proved to be a horrible choice compounded by my own underestimating the distance I would have to ride on it to get home. It was a seemingly never ending hell of wind, hills, no shoulder, and constant traffic. I was too cold and exhausted to celebrate as I crested the last hill into Superior, but I was happy to be home. I'll never ride on Indiana again.

Total time including lights, traffic, trains, fences and train bridges: 3:02. Distance 51 miles.