Marysville. Swimming. Running. Time trails. Commuting. Fatigue. Joy. Surprises. Hidden strength. Realizations.

Its been a long week, and with a new weekend rapidly approaching my mind begins to wander. It wanders in retrospect of the Marysville stage races, with excitement for the Steelman triathlon, and with the satisfaction of a week that I can honestly say blew my body apart in the best possible way.

For those of you who missed it, Marysville is the premiere stage racing weekend on the MASS schedule that includes three days of racing in five different formats. The weekend started off with a dreary drizzle and fog, perfectly slimy conditions for a night time trial. A 3.7 mile course was laid out around the Oesterling farm and at 9:15 the race began with Kuhn taking the opening run. Every 30 seconds another rider saddled up, lit up, and rode into the foggy night. Lights reflected back to your eyes in the misty-mess, tires squirmed around for traction, and in the humid night air people rode the ‘race of truth’  through a tunnel of wet darkness that led both through the forest as well as through themselves. I loved every second of it. Saturday morning clouds opened the racing for the beginners and endurance riders, but were soon burned off for sport and expert. Heat was high, humidity was higher, and the race became one as much about survival as it was about speed. My first lap was fantastic with a low time and a strong feel. My custom tires threw the mud off perfectly and when leaned far into a corner clawed at the tacky earth to find a wonderful amount of grip. And they made fun of me for cutting knobs. Amateurs. My second lap started just as strong, but about 2 miles from the finish I cramped. Hard. Both sets of quads and both hamstrings decided I hadn’t had enough to drink and outright stopped me from riding for about 10 minutes. Ouch. Again I am reminded that my body doesn’t perform well in heat. Oh well- I refused to take another DNF so I soft-pedaled the rest of the race and didn’t come in DFL. Sunday started early with the hill climb so knowing this wasn’t a strong event for me my goal was to just get some finish points and save myself for the short-track. Im glad I did because by the time the STXC came around I was fired up and ready.

My legs ached on the fast start. Mike Melnick yelled for me to pace myself. I hung onto the lead group. We made our way down the soft grassy area and into the only real climb of the course which was just long enough to sling me off the back of the lead group. No worries, dig in, corner well, and make power in the flats. Each lap the leaders got a little farther in front of me but it didn’t matter- we had 20 minutes to suffer and I was going to pour everything I had left into the pedals no matter where I ended up. I learned more and more about the course and how deep I could corner, where I could accelerate, and what was going to make me suffer a little more. I kept losing time on that climb, but was enjoying the corners more and more each lap. On the last lap, the leaders came around- Matt needed some passing room going into the big downhill sweeper turn right in the main spectator area and I knew we could go two wide in it. I told him to take the inside line (the grippiest part) so if I slid I wouldn’t take him out. We hit the corner at full speed and I went to the outside- my front wheel washed out a little so I pushed the bike over kicked the ground hard and kept pedaling. It was sweet!  I chased them as long as I could but they pulled on me again on the hill. I finally got my opportunity to pull on someone else in the last corner where I knew my tires would stick and he was unsure, so I sprinted for the line and took it. It was a great end to a great weekend.

After coming home and unpacking, it was time to settle into the training rhythm again since the Steelman is only 5 weeks away. With the confidence of two open water swims under my belt and a rest day on Monday I took to the pool on Tuesday over lunch. I was able to swim the entire 800 yards in one go- plus some. I totaled 1100 yards in a single session and then followed that session with a 26 mile bike ride that included about 13 miles of TT/LT effort. Surprisingly my legs still felt like they had power in them and I was able to maintain 22mph average over rolling terrain. Wednesday was a four mile run, and then Thursday was my day to bike commute for the week. I took the long way, but by then my legs were screaming ‘uncle’ and my body longed for some real rest. So here we are- into Friday, resting today and tomorrow….but still contemplating a century on Sunday.

Something that a week like this does for me is makes me realize how lucky I am to be doing this, as well as realize that my strengths seem to lie in different areas from where I have been focusing. That said, it looks like next year will be pretty different from this year yet again with endurance races early, then transitioning into short events in the fall….we will see how it goes, but Im sure it will bring a smile to my face.

Ride fast, take chances,

/Dan

Race report will be coming, but for now enjoy the show! Pics are around the farm, Beginner and Expert XC plus Enduro from Saturday, and Expert STXC Sunday.

My head has had another reset. Im not sure if its because of Matt kicking me in the ass, or if it’s the time of year (I had a similar reset about this time last year) but whatever it is, Ill take it. Last night was the third Bear Creek STXC race of the series, and I showed up ready to go. I forgot about any expectations but did resolve to push myself into the red-zone (read::puke) and ride with everything I could muster. The course was layed out on both sides of the road and the start would take us around about ¾ of the lake to separate us out before hitting the singletrack. I don’t know how many starters there were, though. Maybe about a dozen. It didn’t matter becaue when Chuck said go, I went. My start could have been better with a different gear, so I snapped a few up and stood to get a few good cranks in to hang with the front group. Matt, Gunner, Luby, Evan, Dave and I took off with the remainder of the riders behind us. I tucked in behind Luby and Gunner when the lead group split off and hung on his wheel. Luby is one strong dude who knows how to choose lines. I hung onto Luby and Gunner as they traded spaces a few times for two and a half laps but eventually started drifting back when I bobbled a little in the climb up the back of the lake area. No matter, I wasn’t gong to pass those two anyway but in any case I noticed someone trying to bridge up to me. With my HR pegged and some verp in my mouth I stomped on my pedals to clear the parking lot to give myself some breathing room up the final climb and rock garden sections. I don’t know how close he got to me, but what I do know is by the time I was crossing the road for the second time I was away, and felt like I was flying with a great big smile on my face. Jess and Gray cheered each lap and I was proud to have put on a good show.

Round two was a gravel-lot miss and out with a kayak finale and was pure win all the way around. We had a staggered start to give everyone a chance and somewhere in there my front wheel washed out. I made my best cross-remount and kept going but my knee/foot got a little jacked up in the crash so I just didn’t have much left. Matt tried to pass me, but hung up on my rear wheel and went down himself. Somehow he thought hugging my rear wheel would keep him upright, but all it really did was give him some good raspberry burns on the inside of his arm. Ill need to make sure I hook him up with some tasty beverages at Marysville to ease that pain.

All in all I don’t really think I was much faster than I have been all year, but my head is good and the fire is definitely lit for cross season. Now when I ride I will honestly remember the words of wisdom given to me by Vegan Rob- “I don’t think you’ve found the next level of sufferning yet.” I still don’t think Ive found that level, but now Im feel like Im ready to try.