Arthur at the Park

If you can turn this into this, you know you have done good.

We went to Arthur at the park in Forest park on Saturday. Other than the lines being really long it was a lot of fun. Its amazing the feelings you get out of a simple smile. Happiness comes in different forms, Saturday it was seeing how happy Lucas was sitting on Curious Georges lap, Sunday it was 4 laps at Council Bluffs including a early morning night lap to get ready for the 12hr in a couple of weeks.

24hrs of Mohican

This race was tough, from the time we left on Friday til we got there it rained, it down poured when we arrived. After we talked to the promoter asking what the trails would be like and he said its Mountain biking, I was thinking he took it the wrong way. I mean we didn't just drive from STL in the rain to hang out in our tents. So me Mitch and Chad were stoked, we got the tents and everything set up between the rain drops and were off to Pizza hut for some serious food. By the time we got back it was time to go to bed. I don't think sleep was a problem for any of us.

When we woke up it was still raining a little, Mitch did up some killer bagels for us for breakfast. I stacked up what I thought would be the perfect amount of energy for the next 24hrs. Getting everything ready for a 24 isn't easy we spent a good part of the morning getting everything ready. I went for a little ride on the trail and figured out pretty quick that the trail is mostly rocky and rooty with pretty much no mud build up on the bike. I had a good feeling this place was going to rock. O yeah I almost forgot about Mitch's crud catcher he maid for us before the race that was helping big time!

The race meeting went well and we decided we would ride the first lap together. The run is always a pain in the butt but luckily it went quick and we were off into some killer single track, I am still amazed at how many people were walking the first little climb because there were a lot more bigger climbs to come so I find out later. The first lap was good we passed a lot of people and got the course dialed in. With the first lap out of the way and the field pretty spread out it was cool to just cruise the course. The only thing I noticed that would become a big issue later was the humidity and the effort you had to put out to get up some of the climbs.

The first half of the race went by quick, at some point I had a lap lead over Chip Meek but he made it up pretty quick while I took a little nap and tried to deal with some stomach problems. Mitch was pacing himself good and riding very strong. Chad had some early issues with a tire, and a small dear that kicked him pretty good, it was to early to be hallucinating so I was buying his story!! Anyway he seemed to still be having a good time. Through the night was fun but could of been a lot more fun if I could of got rid of the stomach problems. never could really eat much and at this point soaked three jerseys from sweating, weird stuff.. Me and Mitch rode some killer night laps together hard to believe we were riding some of the technical stuff just as fast as we were in the day time.

Coming in off of one of the night laps around 4am my light went dead not a big deal I was on the last little down hill back to the campground, but the stomach issues were still there and my motivation had been gone for some time now, that doesn't happen to often and pretty much never happens on the bike. If I remember right Mitch was there and we decided to sleep and wait for the sun to come up before going out on another lap. I think Chad was there but don't remember! Well the sun finally came up and it was nice to not have to use lights. The rest of the laps went good, Me and Mitch ended up riding a bunch of laps together which helped me out big time. You cant complain when you take second in a tough race like this, Mitch took a super strong third and I was stoked to make it through another 24. Looking back on it I stayed hydrated enough but wasn't taking in enough calories. In a 24 hr race one little thing can change everything, and everything changes everything!! This place is and was a great place to do a 24hr race, good food great showers and a super tough course. what else could you possibly ask for!

Greensfelder race.

This race went great. Last year I did 12 laps in 3hrs and had enough time to do another but with the rain set in I chose not to. This year the goal was to do 13. Brad and Zach were there and ready to race and I knew these guys were going to be tough. My strategy in a race is always to try and set a good pace and stay consistent. In this race that kind of went out the window off of the start line. Took the hrt rate to about 175 and kept it there for probably the whole first lap. The warm up lap helped big time, all of my lines were pretty dialed in and everything felt great. The first lap I got a little bit of a lead but not as much as I wanted so I went out on the second lap with the same effort as the first. This is never a good idea in a endurance race and I figured i would pay for it later. Later never really came and I ended up just having enough time to do 13 laps. Brad and Zach were never that far behind I dont think they missed the cut off time by much, great race guys.. Cant complain when a race goes this good. It was awesome having my Father in law and the rest of the family there cheering me on on every lap thanks big guys!!. stats from the race.

simple motivation

What motivates you! This has been beating in my head for a while and has given me the conclusion that for every reason I have to give up there is ten more not to! Ride on...

Fun stuff!

Its amazing how busy you can get, I got in like 55hrs or something at work this week. I hate passing up money more than a bike ride and when its there you have to take it. Worked 13hrs yesterday, I like to think of it as endurance working! Building houses is like a giant 3D puzzle there is nothing real hard about it once you understand how it goes together. Picture of the garage header and the trusses for the second floor. This picture is of a second story walkway overlooking the great room. This house is going to be pretty sweet... Anyway as for as riding goes just been doing the usual stuff to get ready for this .

Wed. on a Thursday

The usual Wednesday ride got rained out so we went out on Thursday. The guys at
The happiest place on earth hooked me up with some new sram stuff for the road bike, pretty awesome stuff. I could say this was just another normal ride but with Jim that doesn't exist, there is either hard rides or really hard rides! This one kind of fit between the two, Ron split early and the rain came. Ended up getting pretty wet but still another great ride. I am still amazed at how well I felt after all of the riding last weekend. I am thinking of something pretty big coming up!!

2 ways to hell. Landahl 12hr, Cape 3hr

Rapture in Misery 12hr solo

Thought it would be something fun to try. Do the 12hr race Saturday heartland mtb race series. Then do the 3hr race Sunday August 17, 2008 - Cape Race, Cape Girardeau, MO. The biggest issue was the 12hr race ended at midnight and the Cape race started at 9am. Also the 340 miles between the two! So I packed up Friday night and left early Saturday Morning for the 4hr drive to Landahl. The idea for the 12 was to keep the heart rate in the 140s, keep a comfortable pace, stay hydrated and try and save something for Sundays race. The 12hr race went perfect, no mechanical which on this technical course is awesome. Took a good few minutes between each lap to eat and drink even though I disappointed the guys next to me ringing the bells cheering everybody on! (you guys rock) The first 5hrs went by really fast, had no idea were I was as far as placing goes, for all I knew I could of been in dead last and didn't give much thought to it.

I am thinking it was going into the Sixth lap when I found out I was in third overall only a minute back from second. This was cool but what was even better is I had a really good average speed and was keeping the heart rate exactly were I wanted it to be. Going into the seventh lap most of the six hr racers were finishing up. Getting towards the end I saw The Itch... up ahead, riding super strong and finishing his race up in style, great job Zach, and also killer performance to Matt Keeven for dominating the 6hr race. Pretty much from this point on I felt great had the course dialed and was getting stoked on some night riding. The night was good but I haven't ridden on the mtb at night since the Bluff 12hr race last year so it took me a little bit to get used to again. Amazingly before I knew it I had 10 laps done in a little over 10hrs, way faster than i thought that would happen. Going into the 11th lap I knew this would be my last lap, at least if I really wanted to be driving back and racing the next day. The guys at the desk said second place wasn't that far ahead but Cameron was pretty much gone. Talked to Chad for a bit then went back out for a nice last lap. Finished up the race feeling way better than I ever have at any previous 12hr races. The biggest thing I noticed from the results is how close me and Graham were at times, would love to hear how his race went. The kid rode amazingly strong for what I think was his first 12hr!

Finishing up the race I got everything packed up pretty quick and got some seriously cool north face stuff from the heartland guys. The heartland crew put on a perfect race as usual! The only thing that would make this race better is if they would add a 24hr race for next year!!

The drive was tough but not as bad as I thought it would be. It was close to 1am by the time I hit the highway, spent to much time in the Mc Ds drive through for a crap burger, at least the shake was awesome. Did the rest stop thing for about an hour. Made it home by 5 30, unpacked all of the stuff i didn't need and got the truck a little organized for the wife and kid to go down to the Cape race with me. By the time I made it in and got a shower and was thinking of taking a nap, I figured out the little guy snagged my side of the bed so it was off to the couch. That lasted about 5 minutes when my wife's alarm went off and we were up and eating breakfast and packing up all of the necessities for bringing a family to a mtb race. So at this point it had been 25hrs since I left for Landahl and I was back on the road driving down to Cape, I think my wife would of rather been driving and don't worry she drove us home! But on the way down I needed to make some good time, wanted to get there and check over the bike again and spin the legs a little bit.

The start of the race I did what I usually do off of the start, go as hard as I can. With Andy Gibbs, Brad Brown, and Mitch just out of the picture at the race, all three of these guys really fast.I knew it was going to be fun to see how long I could last on this very fast course. Stuck with Brad for the first 1 1/2 laps and then he was gone. I rode the hardest pace I could for the first 3 laps, and then just set a pace I thought I could hold for the rest of the race. In the end a big Congrats goes to Brad who beat up on all of us pretty good, And to Mitch also who was coming off of the Moonlight ramble and being up all night too stuck second place solid beating me by 2 minutes. Between trying to catch Mitch and stay ahead of Andy I think I fought for third place more than I have for any race I have ever won. Great times!! Thanks to John of Cyclewerx for putting on another great race on a super fun course...
Thanks Dustin of Cyclewerx for the massive burrito!

coming around one of the last corners to the finish... Up for most of 30hrs at this point and still feeling good.