BMX Racing?

Trey getting ready to rumble

My son started racing at the bmx track last fall after we saw it on the Olympics. He loves it, and now that the weather has finally gotten better, the racing has started for the season again. My daughter has decided to give it a go as well. They race on Tuesday, Thursday, and most Saturdays throughout the summer, so we spend quit a bit of time at the track. The local bmx organization is awesome. All of the people are super nice, and it's just a great atmosphere. It's all about the kids. That said, they let the old guys play a little, too. Some of the "older" racers knew that I was "sorta" into biking, and have been trying to get me to do some racing. I thought it looked like fun, and besides, how hard could it be?


First off, thanks to Mr. All Things BMX, Bill Drysdale, track director at GVBMX for letting me borrow his sweet bike. I threw my Time mountain bike pedals on it, clipped in, and headed out around the track. Turns out it actually is pretty hard. I was always wondering why everyone was breathing so hard after their races, now I know. It probably only takes about a minute to go around the track, but it's all out, standing up, and for a newbie like me, pretty much wrestling with the bike and hoping to not end up on my head. There are definitely some skills involved, and I don't seem to have any. Everyone said I looked pretty good, but I felt like the old fish outa water, that's for sure.



After a few practice laps, I started to feel a little more comfortable on the bike. Balancing and coming out of the gate is a little awkward at first, but I got better as the night went on. Still, most times during practice the 12yr olds could get the holeshot on me, nothing like being schooled by a kid! Eventually, practice time ended and it was time for the motos to start. I raced in the old guys Novice division. It's just like road racing, in that you start out as a novice, win races and upgrade to race with more experienced and faster racers. Luckily, there were only three racers in that division, so I didn't have to worry about it being to crowded out there. Since I don't have any skills to speak off, I had to rely on my fitness to get me around the track. I was able to power away from the other racers in the few areas of the track that I could actually pedal through. We raced three motos. I was 1st, 2nd, then 1st again, for 1st place overall. Mariah also raced for the first time, placing third, and coming back strong after a hard crash in her first moto. Awesome.

Mariah's first race!

I'm sure I'll be back for more. It was a blast, and good training, too. I figure ripping around on the dirt can only help my bike handling skills when 'cross rolls around again this fall, not to mention the benefit of the short, all out efforts required to get around the track. I think it seems like a fun way to get some sprint efforts in, so I can be ready for the Downtown Sprints at the Tour of Bozeman this summer, unless I skip it to race BMX!

Rockin' the GAS jersey and the wranglers on the bmx track, but I am in the lead

Trophys for the first time racers. Since I got 1st place in my first race, they gave me a huge trophy. Trey was jealous!

Once a week?

Well, so much for updating the blog every week. Things have been a little hectic around the Morgan household lately. Between work, family, trying to get some training in, and helping a couple cyclist with their training, the blog seems to be the thing that gets neglected. Oh well, guess I'll have to try harder.

So, what's happened since my last post. I think I was whining about not being able to go race at Walla Walla because I had to work. Well, as usual, I found a way to put off work for a long weekend and make it to the race (it's good to be the boss!). That race is brutal. I thought I was pretty fit, and I got my ass kicked. Wow, some of those guys are fast. I rode what I think was the best TT of my life, I felt great, the watts were way up there, and it was only good for like 38th place, bummer. The crit just about killed me, and then I had a mechanical right at the start of the final road race. Got the big DNF.

Roubaix was a little better. I suffered mightily after having a couple flats and having to chase back on. I managed to get back on and try to help the team by following a late race move by Verticle Earth, only to flat again after we had a good gap. The team got the overall win with Brian Frykman. He kinda just rolled off the front after the first lap and rode away with the race. I noticed at Belt this last weekend that no one wanted to let him roll off the front again. Lesson learned I guess. John Curry ended up in the pink leaders jersey for finishing 1st in the CAT 2 competition. The win was a team effort, with both Sebastion and Jason stopping early in the race to help Brian when he flatted. Sebastion gave up a wheel, and Jason killed himself to help pull Brian back into the race. Tomas later stopped to help me when I flatted, giving up his wheel and ending his race so my suffering could continue. Thanks Tomas, next time can I get in the car?

The Belt Omnium this last weekend was another great race for G.A.S./Intrinsik. This time, I got the W after riding a pretty good (very painful) TT and getting some great team support in the road race. Shaun posted a great report on http://montanacyclocross.com. Seb, Brian, John, and Nate all took there turns attacking, pushing the pace, and covering moves so I could basically sit in and enjoy the ride until the time came to put the hammer down. Thanks for all the hard work guys, it was a pleasure, except for the last 20 miles or so anyways. With the win, it puts either myself or John C in the series leaders jersey for a few more weeks.

Also this last weekend was the season opener at Gallatin Valley BMX. Nails Jr. swept the 5 yr old novice class, winning each heat and the main event. A couple more wins and it's time to upgrade to the intermediate class. Way to go Trey. Not to be out done, Mariah scored two goals during her soccer game the following day. My kids are studs.

So what's next? Probably just some more racing here in Montana. Hopefully, I can keep up with the training. It seems in years past once the racing season got here, all I did was race and recover. This year, I hope to remain a little more focused on the training. A couple races are probably really going to hurt, as I will come into them with a high CTL and low TSB. What's that mean? I will go into that in a future post, but basically means I'm not going to rest before every race. For some, I will come into the race basically wasted, probably working for other teammates as my form just won't be there. I won't be giving up precious training time to come into each race fresh. I will continue to push the fitness higher, resting on a scheduled or needed basis, and peak for a goal event later in the summer. Only time will tell if my plan will work, but so far, I seem to be ahead of where I usually am at this time of the year. Having a good training plan, and following it as best I can with minor adjustments here and there due to life getting in the way seems to be working for me, and it will work for you, too. Shoot me an e-mail at coachbrad@bresnan.net if you need help developing your training plan, and I'll see if I can help you with your Pursuit and Understanding of Racing Excellence.

Keep it PURE,
Brad