MSU/GAS crossed, Thunder struck, and Kali bound

As expected, it's been a while since I've made time to post on the blog. The last few weeks have gone by pretty fast, with lots of racing, a little training, and the other usual life events. I've found that if I don't post this stuff right away, it just doesn't get done.

By now, everyone who cares about the Bozo cross weekend and rolling Thunder knows what went down. Both events were great. The GAS and MSU guys put together a great two day race weekend in Bozeman at an exciting new venue. The courses were tough, yet fun and led to some good racing. For me, it was a tale of two days. Day one I started fast, took the hole shot, and almost immediately began to fade rapidly through the field. The beach section was killing me, and I just felt like I had nothing. I was totally disappointed with my ride/fitness that day. If my kids had not been there, I'm pretty sure I woulda threw my bike into the pond and possibly left it there for good, never to utter the word cyclocross again as long as I lived. Again, saved by the kids. Day two turned out much better for me. I again took the hole shot, wanting to be near the front as we hit the beach. After the first lap it was just Curry, Doll, and myself then a good gap to the chasers. I held on for a while, but again was foiled by the sand section, as I bobbled the tough turn coming off the beach. Curry and Doll got a gap, I tried to chase back, but with Curry drilling it around the pond, getting back on their wheel was pretty much a lost cause. I did my best to stay close, and eventually Doll slid out on a tricky gravel corner, allowing me to overtake him for second. JDoll suffered a mechanical in the crash, and was out. Curry was long gone, then me with Scott Herzig in hot pursuit. Either I began to fade again, or Herzig picked it up, because he was coming fast. It was beginning to look like a good battle for second, but with maybe two to go, Scott pretended to have a pedal problem so that he didn't have to get beat by me. I woulda waited for him to fix the pedal, but I had already waited for about two laps to allow him to catch me in the first place! Just kidding Scott, I think we both know you were gonna get me, but I was sure gonna try! Anyways, thanks to Doll and Herzig I was mostly gifted second place, but at least I felt like I had a descent ride for the first time this season. Plus, I won some cool gloves and a doughnut! Thunder was looming....

Thunder was great. Congrats to Radley and the crew for another super day of racing. The day started early with Mariah, Benji, and Griffen all repping GAS in the junior race. They all raced hard. Benji is getting faster each year, and I saw Griffen killing the tricky s turn descent, riding it fast and clean, just like eventual winner and pro mtb rider Sam Schultz-watch out Sam, in about seven or eight more years he's coming for you! And, Lisa Curry wasn't the only GAS rider to win at Thunder. Mariah was again crowned junior girls Thunder Champion. Way to go, Mariah! It was a tough course, imagine trying to ride it as 9 yr old girl (OK, I rode it LIKE a 9 yr old girl, but not AS one, there's a difference there). Mariah then hoped into the kids race. With a giant field of 20+ kids, Mariah and trey went one-two, both showing off their hard earned remount skills in front of a good crowd. Then, they got candy. It was a good day to be a kid. Heck, it was Rolling Thunder, it was a good day for anybody! In the 4/5 race, PURE athlete Aaron Johnson fought hard to finish second. He had a great ride, and is looking forward to this weekends racing up in the Flathead, where second place just won't do..... Once darkness fell, it was time for the elite race main event. I was surprised to get a front row call up, but took advantage of it by again getting a solid start (those short, hard practice start efforts are paying off) and was beat to the first corner by only Sam Schultz. He went fast, and I stuck on his wheel...for a while. I was a bit distracted by his acrobatic entrance and high speed going into the tricky s turn descent. Trying to match his speed on that feature was a bit much for me, as I bobbled a bit at the bottom and had to put a foot down. I had trouble clipping back in while powering up the off camber climb. This allowed Toby to get by and a gap to open. So much for that $220+ 1st lap prime ....From there I again began to fade. The fitness actually felt pretty good, but the tight loose turns were killing me. Too much time on the trainer, not enough time in the dirt...something for me to work on. I fought hard, but lost a few places over the next few laps. I was still comfortably in the top ten with four to go when I broke a spoke on the s turn and had to run about a half lap to the pit. The spectators were awesome. Some cheering me on, saying there's just no quit in him, great job, etc. while others said it was over. I should just quit and have a beer, it's the American way-hilarious. I ran it out, got lapped, got a wheel, and finished Rolling Thunder dead freaking last. Not what I had in mind, but that's racing.

OK, now we're up to date. I spent the last week working, got a couple good training rides in (trying to address this mid race fad, we'll see if it works) and looking forward to the Kalispell weekend. Woodland cross tomorrow am, with Heron Park on Sunday. I'm not sure who all is going to be there, but I don't think Mr. Curry will be, so we all get a chance to race for first overall, instead of first behind Curry! Who is gonna step up and take advantage? My money is on PURE athlete Jesse Doll. He had a great ride at Thunder, and just took another W last week at the Missoula Wed night series. So, if I was a betting man, I'd go with him. But, my heart says I can take him. See you in the morning, Jesse....

MOOSECROSS, FUEL TO THE FIRE

The boys from Victor Velo once again put on a great weekend of racing at MooseCross. Great courses, top notch competitors, food, beer, prizes, movies, and even a place to crash (stay the night, that is, there are plenty of places to "crash" on the course and I found a new one again this year)-pretty much everything you could want from a cyclocross race. The GAS/Intrinsik team showed up in force, and a great weekend was had by all. Victor, Idaho is a pretty cool little town just outside of Jackson, Wy. It has small town charm and beautiful scenery. I wouldn't mind living there if it weren't for the crazy reverse angle parking on Main Street. I don't know how they ever got that passed. The city council must be out of there mind! (just kidding Dave, we pretty much all agreed the reverse angle parking was a sweet set up).

I hitched a ride down in the Curry van. I secretly hoped that just being in close proximity to Mr. and Mrs. Cyclocross, as well as Mrs. Freight Train would somehow make me faster. I tried to absorb all there 'cross secrets and knowledge on the ride down. Turns out even all there secrets and knowledge couldn't make me any faster. In fact, it seems to have made me slower, if that's possible. Thanks for nothing, John, Lisa, and Amy. Guess I'll be getting my secrets elsewhere in the future.....

Some highlights from the weekend, other than what mtcx.com already listed include:

* A dramatic crash by Tomas. He slid out at high speed as he hopped onto the sidewalk. I was right behind him, and it looked BAD. Kudos to Tomas for dusting himself off and getting back in the race in a big way. There's no give up in him.

A probably almost a s dramatic crash by your truly as I somehow managed to step into my front wheel while dismounting. This resulted in me flipping over into the barriers (ouch!) nearly taking out JDoll in the process, breaking spokes on my carbon tubular wheel (sorry Aaron, I know I promised to take care of your babies when I purchased them from you, hopefully it can be brought back to life with some new spokes and some TLC). Once I got my bearings about me, I had to run over 1/2 lap to the pit for a spare wheel. Needless to say, the race was over for me, but I decided to stay out there and at least get a workout and some much needed practice. The cool thing was I ended up back in right where I probably would have been without the crash. I caught a couple people, then had my sights on PURE coached athlete JDoll, but he proved to be to strong, and simply rode away from me the last few laps. The results show me in 6th place, but I was a lap down, and should be listed DFL.

*PURE coached athlete Jim Nallick had a strong ride in the Masters race. Turns out some of my ignorance must be rubbing off on him, as he chose to then hop into the CAT 4/5 race for another strong showing. Way to use that hard earned fitness, Jim.

*Junior GAS/Intrinsik racer Benji Nallick takes the hole shot, and holds on for the W in the junior race. Way to go, Benji!

* Day one ended with food, beer, awards, raffles, movies, and keg tossing. My right arm was a bit sore from my crash, otherwise I'm pretty sure I coulda took the keg toss W from Eric Horn. Next time, my friend, next time.

*Day two had an epic three way GAS/Intrinsik battle for domination of the masters race. Tomas, Alex, and Jared duked it out for the whole race with Alex coming out on top.

* To hop, or not to hop? There were some cool "shorty" barriers in day two's course. Racers were practicing and nervously deciding whether or not to risk hopping them. Hopping them proved to be faster, but a bit risky. It seems it turned out to be about 1/2 and 1/2 as far as hoppers vs. runners. LCurry showed up the women's field, as she was the only one hopping. It worked pretty good for her, except for that one time, whoops....

* PURE coached athlete Jesse Doll once again put the hurt on the coach as he rode to a strong 4th place finish behind some very fast dudes. I didn't crash this time, and at one point early I was right on his wheel. He simply rode away from me again. The student becomes the master...Guess we know who's doing there work and who's slacking.

It was a great weekend of racing. I gotta admit that I left there a bit disappointed in my performance. I feel like I have been training pretty hard, and thought the fitness should be coming around. It seems I'm right about where I was last season- just a touch behind the fast guys. Oh well. I will turn the disappointment into desire and train a bit harder. The season is long, and I still have time to make some improvements. I skipped out on work today and got in a solid workout of 5 minute VO2max intervals, which actually felt not to terrible. Now I'm off to GAS/Intrinsik Tuesday night cross practice to see if I can improve the skills enough to at least not crash into the barriers this weekend. Bozeman cross weekend is coming, will you be there?

TRAINER BOUND.....

Man, can you believe this weather, It was incredibly nice here in Belgrade today. Not very "cross like", but I don't hear to many people complaining about it. Unfortunately for me, between work and shuttling kids, I didn't get a chance to enjoy it with a ride. So, another trainer session for me. As much as I complain about riding the trainer, it sure is an awesome training tool. You can really cause some serious self inflicted pain on those things. Since you don't have to worry about traffic, running into a tree, or even keeping your balance, you can really put the hurt on. At the end of some of the intervals, it's all I can do to keep from falling off the bike. I tend to make a few moaning, groaning, even cussing noises when I really push it. My wife said it sounded like I was having a baby down in the PURE coaching studio tonight. I told her what I was doing was probably much harder than having a baby. I don't think she liked that. But man, if having a baby is harder than what I was doing on the bike tonight, it must be pretty intense! OK, for all you mothers out there, I am sure having a baby is much harder than my little trainer ride, just saying I was hurting....I know you can hurt yourself out on a ride as well, but on the trainer, at least for me, I can take it just a touch farther it seems. I'll still complain about having to ride the damned thing, though, probably as soon as tomorrow if I'm unlucky.

KROSS KICKOFF- VICTOR, ID

I spent last weekend down in the Jackson hole area. We headed down there for a soccer tournament that my daughter, Mariah, was in. It was a great weekend. Mariah got to play tons of soccer, I got to do some riding AND racing, Trey got to fish, Tawnya got to see one of her bestest friend in the whole world (besides me, of course) and we also got to make some new friends with some of the other soccer families. Awesome.

Like many great weekends, it started with some time in the car. Not always fun, but at least we were traveling through some of the most incredible places on the planet, so it wasn't all bad. We took a short break along the Gallatin so my son, Trey "Fishbrain" Morgan could wet a fly or two. He though he may have had a couple nibbles, but alas, no fish for dinner. Bummer.

More car time. We headed down through Yellowstone, saw a few critters, herd some bull elk bugling, and generally speaking had a grand old time. Everyone was impressed, as always, by the sight of the Tetons. Once in Jackson, we had a few hours to kill before meeting up with friends at the hotel, so we did the tourist thing and walked around downtown a bit. Fishbrain spotted a fly fishing shop, as usual, so we spent some time in there. The proprietor of the store was so impressed with Fishbrain's excitement for the sport, that he gave Trey a free fly box. Talk about making a kids day. Other than the fly shop, we pretty much decided downtown Jackson was crazy, expensive, and overly crowded, even this time of the year. If anyone is interested, we did spot a T-Rex skull fossil for sale. The sign said it was real, and only $375,000. Everyone should have one of those, right?

Next up was dinner, hotel, visiting, and sleep for an early am start to the tourney. Although the weather was awesome all weekend, being on the soccer fields at 7 am on frosty grass made for a chilly morning. The u10 Bozeman Blitz girls did their thing and played hard, coming out on top of game one, with Mariah scoring the winning goal. Next came about a 30 minute wait to get McDonald's for breakfast. The town was SO busy we couldn't get in anywhere without a huge wait, and even McD's had a line basically out the door. Crazy.

After that we headed back to the hotel, where I prepared to embark on my adventure. There was a 'cross race in victor, home of Moosecross, that I was interested in attending. To make it into a solid training day, I decided to ride to and from the race as well. Google said it was 27 miles from my hotel to Victor, but google didn't tell me about Teton Pass! Wow, that is a great ride. I think the sign said 10% for 5 miles on the Jackson side, and 10% for three miles coming back over. The climb up and over was great. I tried to keep it dialed back a bit with the racing ahead of me, but it was steep enough that I had to go fairly hard just to keep moving.

It really doesn't look like much in the photo, but that is a solid climb. Then, descending the other side was scary. Steep and fast, and the first time I'd done something like that on the cross bike. It felt like I could feel the lower psi tires just rolling around under the rim. Needless to say, I had to take it kinda easy on the way down.

Now the (supposedly) fun part, cyclocross racing. Lucky for me (or not) I arrived early enough to do the Masters race first, then the 1/2/3 race later in the afternoon. Shortly after arriving, I met up with Peter, another one of the "soccer dad's" from Mariah's team. I had told him about the race just that morning. He had brought his cross bike, and hoped to do a little riding over the weekend. Since he is a cyclist, and therefor slightly less intelligent than your average person, he, too, decided to come on over and do some suffering (HE was smart enough to drive over, though). I registered, dropped off a bunch of crap from my "commute" that I didn't need for racing, and went out to check the course.

The race was at the same venue as Moosecross, and the course was mostly the same as last year, with a few tweaks here and there. Next weekend is the annual Moosecross race, and anyone who goes can expect a good course with some of the same features as in the past, including the double barrier into the run up, the "narrows" (a twisty bermed section), a triple barrier section, the green monster (slightly different, and I'd say tougher than last year with some tight and off camber turns) and of course there will be loose dirt and plenty of bumps to contend with. There is a little more pavement added, as well a a trip around the brewery on some sketchy gravel to keep things interesting.

First up was the masters race. I started a bit conservatively, giving up the hole shot so I didn't have to be the early leader. After about 1/2 lap, I couldn't stand following anymore, and put in a solid dig. When I finally took a look back, it was me and one other guy, Troy Barry, WAY off the front. Near the end of lap one, troy got tired of following and took the front, I was quit content to sit on him, as I new he was super strong from previous years at Moosecross. He put in a few digs, but I stayed glued to his wheel for a couple laps. He was faster through the double barrier/run up than I was, and eventually opened a tiny gap there. But, once he had the gap, he took advantage, and I was unable to close it. I dug deep, and tried to limit the loses, thinking he may fade near the end. I stayed close enough to apply pressure, and he eventually went down in one of the corners. This allowed me to close the gap a bit, and I continued to push hard. Troy fell again over the green monster, and when I overtook him, he told me he was done, broken derailleur. With Troy out, and the next rider maybe 2-3 minutes back, I was able to cruise the last couple laps and save a little for the 1/2/3 race later in the day. This ended up being my first ever cross victory. I've been close, but never got the W. I always joked that the only race I would ever win with knobby tires on the bike was the dirt crit in Helena. Since they aren't doing that race this year, I figured I might go win less. My goal is still to win one of the MT races, but damn, some of you guys are freaking strong, and I just don't know if I can make it happen. I will try though, oh, I will try.....Also, great ride by soccer dad Peter from Bozeman. He rode strong, and held on for fourth place. Way to go. He was then smart enough to get in his truck to drive back over the pass to watch the girl's next soccer game. OK, so we know he's smarter than me, but does that make him a better dad, too?

The 1/2/3 race didn't go so well. Troy was able to get his bike repaired, and apparently didn't want to toy around this time. He took the hole shot, and went HARD from the gun. I stayed glued to his wheel, but this time only for the first couple laps, then he was GONE! I cracked big time. I went from "this aint so bad, I can do this all day," to "holy crap, I think I'm gonna die" in about one minute. Instantly I was done, and basically soft pedalling around the course. It didn't take long for Dave Bergart from Victor to fly past me, and eventually another racer rolled easily by as well. I did find the strength to put in one last hard dig to keep fourth place, but all in all it was a pathetic showing on my part. I can only hope it was a product of a hard week of training and the hard riding that day, because I'm gonna have to be MUCH better to battle with the MT boys. Time will tell.....

I knew as I struggled to the finish line that I had a good ride ahead of me to get back to Jackson, and I was worried. I figured I could manage, but the thing that worried me was that I didn't have a lot of time before the sun went down. So, not only did I have to drag myself back over the pass, but I couldn't do it leisurely or I would be caught in the dark. I probably could have scored a ride back, but what fun would that be, and again, I'm not that smart. So I put my bottle cages back on and set off. Nice and easy. Ate some bars, drank some water, felt...ok, until the road went up. That was the hardest climb I have ever done. I seriously had to stop, lean over my handlebars, and cuss outloud about five times before finally cresting the top. I was cold and hungry. I think the bonk caught me about half way up, and I'm not sure if I've shaked it yet. I have never been so glad to be done climbing, never. I took a short break at the top, added some layers, took a few photo's, and wished I had some more food....

From there I pretty much had it whooped. A screaming, scary 5 mile 'cross tire darn near rolling off the rim descent, trying not to kill myself, but chasing the sun at the same time. Once off of the main descent, I was able to ride the final eight miles or so on a bike path. This allowed me to slow a bit, as darkness wasn't quit as big of an issue since I was off the highway, but I still had to get back before I couldn't see where I was headed. I rolled into the hotel/resort area just after dark. Tawnya and the kids hadn't made it back from dinner, so I was locked out of our hotel room, still cold, and still hungry. Luckily there was a gas station near by, with some much needed calories to bring me back from the brink. The gas station attendant asked me how long I had been riding. I said, "To long." To which he replied, "Ya, it looks like it." A Snickers bar and some chocolate milk never tasted so good. Eventually, the family showed up with some dinner for me. Tawnya asked how I enjoyed my ride back. I lied and told her it was great, but I don't think she believed me.

Turns out Mariah's team won game 2, and she scored two goals while I was being a bad dad and racing my bike. What can I say, it's a sickness. Tawnya said it was the best game her team had played. They were in the championship game for sure, but still had one more bracket game before that. Both games would be against the same team from Boise. Bozeman started strong, but you could quickly tell the girls were outmatched by the Boise team. Those Boise girls played some great soccer. The spread the field, passed with precision, and made our girls chase the whole game. Although Bozeman fought hard, they were beaten handily by the Boise squad. The girls had a couple hours to rest and think about what to do different, and then they had to play the same team for the championship. I'm not sure what changed, but the Bozeman girls battled hard and made a game of it. They were led by a super effort from Alla "The Wall" in goal, but all the girls contributed and fought hard to stay in the game and keep it close to the end, finally losing a close battle 4-1 after a couple late goals from the other team. Mariah scored the Bozeman goal, and hustled her little butt off trying to help her team. Even though they lost, that was a great team performance, and a blast to watch. Great job, girls.

Well, that was about the end of the trip, with the exception of some more less than fun car time on the way home. We all had a great time, and can't wait to go again next year (I think I'll bring more food on the ride next time!) Next up, right back to Victor, ID for Moosecross next weekend. I'm excited to try again, this time focusing on the 1/2/3 race, with no master race or Teton Pass to wear me out first, hope it makes a BIG difference!

AND SO IT BEGINS

Cyclocross season is finally here! I know there have been races going on in other places, and some hardy Montana racer have even travelled many hour to suffer with the best, but the Montana season starts tomorrow! The traditional (at least as long as I've been racing here) opening weekend in Butte gets thing rolling once again this year. Psyclocross and Copper Mountain Cross are both great races. I'm assuming most of the serious MT racers will be on hand to mix it up and see how they stack up against the competition this season. I know most of the racers are stoked and ready to get racing. Should be an exciting couple of races. I, for one, am ready to get the racing started. Unfortunatly for me, I will not be there for the Butte races this season. Mariah has a big soccer tourney in Jackson Hole, WY so we're headed there instead. Should be a good time, but I'm gonna miss throwin down with the boys and seeing how I stack up (or if I even stack up!) so far against the fast men of Montana. If I am lucky, I may get a chance to do a cyclocross race in Victor, ID (home of Moosecross) this Saturday while I'm down there, so at least I'll get some training and a little race experience under the belt. Good luck to all you racers, and especially to the PURE coached athletes that will be mixing it up. I'll see some of you next weekend, back in Victor for Moosecross, and many more of you the following week in Bozeman. Race hard.

Brad

BIG PLANS, BUT DENIED AGAIN

Well, it turns out that at least Tomas reads this, so I better keep it going. Had big plans for today, but they didn't happen. Originally, a few weeks ago the plan was to be at Starcrossed/Rad Racing this weekend getting dirty and with the big boys of cyclocross, just to see what it's like. I trained pretty hard so I could at least not totally embarrass myself, but I just couldn't totally commit due to work, family, etc. Turns out my daughter Mariah had soccer games in Helena Saturday, so as soon as I found that out, the Seattle trip was off. At least I'd have one more good weekend of training before the racing starts, with one last chance to get in a solid long ride to boost the base fitness before changing things up to more short, high intensity cyclocross type efforts. Best laid plans.....

Mariah had been sick most of last week, but started to feel better Friday afternoon, conveniently enough so she could play soccer Saturday. She awoke Sat am saying she felt great, let's go play some soccer! I, however, woke to the beginnings of a sore throat and a bit of congestion, not good. Turns out that Mariah was also still feeling it a bit once she started running for the game. It slowed her down quit a bit, but she was a trooper and fought through both games, even scoring three goals along the way (she's a total stud) I actually didn't feel to bad for most of the day, and thought I may have gotten off easy, so I still planned on going for a long ride on the 'cross bike from my house out in Belgrade, up and over Flathead Pass, down Bridger Canyon, and back home. I did it last summer. I think it was about 90 miles, plenty of which is on gravel, with some solid climbing along the way. Well. no such luck. I woke up feeling much worse this morning. I was far from being on the death bed, but had a pretty bad sore throat, congestion, and headache to boot. No way I was dragging myself out of bed at 7 am for a long ride. I chose instead to try and sleep it off. I lazed in a few more hours, but felt pretty much the same as the day wore on. I was up and functioning, and thinking I could probably go for a ride, and I really wanted to. But, I knew what advice I'd give to a client in this situation. Rest and get better. Do not dig yourself a hole by training hard while your body needs the energy for healing. It's a long cyclocross season, and though it's frustrating to miss training days when your motivated and feeling strong, it's much smarter to take a few days off/easy and get over the sickness. If I can get through from now all the way to Nats in mid December with just this little sickness as a set back, I'll feel pretty lucky. Chances are I won't be that lucky. So, no training the last two days and probably nothing for tomorrow. Hopefully I'll feel better in time to go play with the rest of the GAS crew and other Bozemanites that are crazed for cyclocross on Tuesday evening for the GAS cyclocross practice. Good times practicing the skills and drills, and chasing Curry around for some practice laps, should be fun.

I'm back.....hopefully

Ok, I'm obviously the worlds worst blogger, no surprises there. Time for the David EEEEEE time capsule to get pushed aside. My guess is there will be more to write about Mr. E in the future! I've been meaning to start posting again for about a month or so as I, as well as many other hardy Montana racers began preparing for the greatest time of the year, cyclocross season. I was stoked, training hard, and wanted to help get MT racers fired up for the season. Well, it just didn't happen. Now cyclocross season is basically here. Good thing Radley over at mtcx has been stoking the fire, 'cause I sure haven't been. Work, life, kids, training, etc is a full plate, and finding time to write useless crap no one really cares about is the easiest thing to put off, so that's what I do. I'm sure no one really missed my once a month ramblings, but I'm gonna try and bring them back. I'm going to try one last time to see if I can come up with some semi frequent blog posts throughout the cx season, and if I can't, then I will put this little show to rest for good. Ok, that's it for tonight. I don't want to use up all my ideas in one post, plus I gotta get up in five hours for some serious training. Tomorrow is gonna be some hard, fast(hopefully) practice laps, followed by a solid threshold session to finish things off. Then, as luck would have it, I get to go to work. Anyone care to sponsor me so I can quit my tile job? I need lots of money, and I'm not that fast. Just checkin'.

Keep it PURE,
Brad