Oil & Water- Vermont 50 Race Report

This year’s Vermont 50 was much different than I had prepared for, and much harder than I was anticipating. Maybe I should have gone out for drinks on Friday after all.

My last crack at the 50 was in 2004, and the course featured some singletrack but was mostly dirt roads with many long, diesel climbs. I had spent the summer racing XC events and had good top-end speed, but in the weeks leading up to the event I short-changed endurance training because I felt that I needed to get that last result that eluded me all season.

The course has changed quite a bit since then, and so did the organization. The 6:00 AM start wasn’t as cold as I was expecting, but it was literally 40 minutes in before I felt like I could really see what was going on around me. There’s nothing like descending at 30 miles an hour surrounded by 40 of your competitors with your eyes half-open. I didn’t know it at the time, but that odd, disconnected feeling would stay with me for the next 35 miles.

As I pushed the pedals I never could get comfortable. The right gear eluded me and I handled every technical section with nervous and erratic line selections. Everything that worked for me at the Hampshire 100- the seemingly endless ability accelerate on demand and glide through technical sections was somehow gone. I knew why, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself.

In retrospect my build up was flawed. Work had been stressful as we closed out our fiscal year, and although things calmed down later in the week I was too tense for my own good. I also tried to fit in some practice ‘cross racing, which was probably what did me in.

When I prepared for the Hampshire 100 I dedicated myself to it. My rides were done on similar terrain, I focused on offroad skills twice a week, worked on muscular strength and spent hours climbing at tempo pace. None of those things were part of my VT50 build up.

In my defense, the 50 of yore was always a dirt road event where fitness and rolling resistance trumped climbing torque and traction. In the 6 years between then and now the 50 became a real endurance mountain bike race when I wasn’t looking.

Somehow I rolled past the first drop station, so my tough day in the saddle looked like it was going to get even tougher. Without my race fuel or the ability to push the pace my only option was to maintain my pace as best I could. This wasn’t going to be about a fast start or trying to break a PR - it had become purely a push to finish.

Many times along the way I thought about dropping out. I was sure that my friends that started behind me were going to roll by me at any minute. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get my head in the game, and all I could do was to keep pushing.

As I approached the second rest stop I could hear vigorous cheering and cowbells clanging away. When I rounded the last corner at the crest of the hill I panned across the crowd and saw my coach shouting for me. He was standing by himself and wanted to make sure I saw him. As I slowly approached he kept shouting. He had my drop bag there waiting for me. I fumbled for my remaining GU packets and chugged some redbull as he ran over and refilled my bottles. At that point I had been spotted, and I knew I had to keep going.

I got pedaling again and began the next leg-burning climb with full pockets. A pair of elderly women wearing reindeer antlers rang sleigh bells I slowly passed. I tried to wipe the snot out of my beard to look presentable.

Not 5 minutes later things had changed. I had stopped to let some more air out of my tires and found myself blasting down a fast downhill. The day before I borrowed Ben’s Slash CD, and the track “Back from Cali” with Slash and Myles Kennedy started playing in my head. 35 miles into a 50 mile race the tide had turned, and the five words I remembered from “Back from Cali” would play over and over again on a loop all the way to the finish.

My attitude finally clicked into place- I didn’t feel strong, but I felt able, and I was riding steep climbs that others had to walk and making up time on technical sections. Slowly I started to reel back some of the riders that had slipped by me before. My time spent riding barely at target effort meant that I had perfectly metered my energy so that I was able to ride a consistent race and gain back some of the places I had lost as I faltered on the steep gravel climbs earlier in the day. When I got to the “5 Miles to go” sign I knew I could finish strong, and thought I stood a chance of finishing within my goal of 6 hours.

After all of that self-doubt and poor riding I was salvaging my race, and in the closing miles I picked off a few more stragglers. My finishing position wasn’t spectacular because there was one category for Experts and Pros. Jason Sager took home the win over an hour and half before I rolled in, but I felt like I had accomplished something when I stopped the clock fifteen minutes under my goal.

Sacrifice, Decisions

For me, this is the hard part. I've committed to race- I've trained, I've tuned, I've stretched, I've packed, I've stressed, I've planned, I've analyzed and reanalyzed my pacing strategy, fueling plan and equipment. But the issue at hand isn't about the race, or at least not directly.

Being a competitive endurance athlete is hard, and not always in the ways non-athletes would expect. Pushing through training sessions and ignoring the pain are remarkably easy once you've broken them a few times. What's hard is fitting racing, training and all of their trappings into your life without killing your job, your relationship and your finances.

Tonight is one of those nights that should be easy. The training is finished, my bags are packed, my bike and body are ready, and as much as I want to go out with some friends and unwind I know that it's not the right time. Deep down I know that having a few drinks and staying out late tonight would be a setback at 4 AM on Sunday when I need to wake up, shotgun some clif bars and red bull and get ready for the 5:15 racer meeting.

My solution is to feel sorry myself now, and to know that when it's time to drop the hammer on Sunday I'll be ready. As my phone lights up with text messages that try to pry me out the door for just one drink I'll politely decline and take the heat for being a bike nerd.

Sorry guys, not this time, but I'm in for next Friday.

VT 50 Last Push

This week is all about the build up- it's the last push to get ready for the Vermont 50 on Sunday. It's been six years since I last did the 50, and I suffered miserably the last half of that event. That summer I was doing mostly standard (or Olympic distance if you prefer) XC events and tore through the first portion only to hit the wall and crawl to the finish.

This season is a lot different. I've been focusing on enduros and have some serious base mileage to back it up, I just hope that my mid-week 'cross racing hasn't made my legs forget how to ride tempo for 6 hours. As I've said in other posts, I guess I'll find out how good my prep was on Sunday.

The start is ridiculously early, and the 5:15 AM racer meeting is just painful. The temperature will be in the low 40's and we're going to be standing around freezing while we listen to some grandstanding about how great the volunteers are. I'm all for being thankful, but that's not the time. With that 45 minute pre-start lockdown I've been debating about when to get up, how to fuel, how to warm up and how to stay warm waiting for the gun to go off.

What usually happens is that I get a minimal warm up, the start is lethal fast with non-pack friendly mountain bikers and not pack-friendly bar ends all jockeying for the holeshot onto...the first few miles on paved (then dirt) roads. I'm so cold that I freeze for 10 minutes, then start to warm up, burn too many matches trying to ride with the fast starters, overheat, pull off some clothes, remember that I need to ride my own pace, then settle in after about 45 minutes with my pockets stuffed full of food, clothing and tools. At least I know what I'm in for.

Back To It

Somehow no matter what happens on the weekend I end up being pretty worthless back at work on Monday. Maybe it’s the lack of focus, maybe it’s the fatigue, or maybe it takes a day or two for my brain to spin back up to optimal processing speed.

What’s funny is that the more I race and train the more I realize that it’s really a game of compromise. In one way or another you’re lying, whether it’s to yourself, your teammates or your boss.

A lie to yourself is something like “this isn’t a big deal- I can drive 4 hours back home after the race by myself,” or “this isn’t affecting my work at all- I’ve totally got it balanced.”

A lie to your boss would be along the lines of “so I’m traveling this weekend and I know you might need me but totally call my cell if you need anything. I should be available all weekend.”

And finally, a lie to your teammates would be “so work’s been kicking my ass, so I’m probably going to be worthless today.”

Being honest would be to tell yourself that you should try to carpool or skip a race if it’s too far. Being honest with your teammates would be to say that you’ve been staying up late worrying about whether or not your race bike needs new white tape and which embrocation you’ll use on race day. Being honest with your boss would be to tell him that you’re going to be total rubbish until Monday afternoon when you’ve gotten a mid-day nap and enough caffeine to kick start a hippopotamus.

So in the spirit of being honest, I'll be counting down the hours until I can go home and find a nice quiet spot on the couch to curl up and die.

Mid-Race Thoughts and Inappropriate Music

It would seem that racing brings out some very strange attributes of my psyche, and the mid-race soundtrack is a great example of this. When things are going well I'll be rolling along pushing the pedals to something fairly upbeat and motivating. When things aren't going well it's anybody's guess what might pop into my head.

This season the race soundtrack has included
"Atlas Air" by Massive Attack
"Stronger" by Kanye West
"Demon Seed" by Nine Inch Nails
"The Becoming" by Nine Inch Nails
"O-Saya" by A.R. Rahman

and recently
"Blindess" by The Fall
and
"War Pigs" by Cake

I should say that when things are going well some parts of those songs are on repeat.

Finding the groove and racing at full throttle is one of the most fulfilling things I've ever experienced, and it's one of the biggest reasons why I keep racing. I know I can control my thoughts, but sometimes I slip, even if it's only for a little bit.

When things haven't gone well this season the soundtrack has been far more eclectic, and frankly embarrassing. I think these songs were playing at grocery stores, gas stations and other places where you'd expect to find shitty music. When my guard is down they sneak into my subconscious and manifest when I'm weak and start to doubt myself...like yesterday when I saw the 3 laps to go sign and I thought I only had 1 more in the tank.

So without further ado, here are the songs that marked poor or unfocused performance:

"Tonight Tonight" by Phil Collins
"I'd Drive All Night" by Celine Dion

and the all-time best

"Paint With All the Colors of the Wind" by Vanessa Williams, the theme song to Disney's Pocahontas.

Dean Stockwell Double Feature

In an effort to make this blog look more "pro" I added the Amazon Contextual Ad gadget...until I saw that one of the featured items for me was a Dean Stockwell double feature DVD from Amazon. No one should be subjected to that torture, let alone have it recommended as something for you to buy.

So if you saw that, I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I've pulled that stupid bit of commercialism in favor of more rants, slanted reviews and off-track diatribes.

Catamount Pictures, Elite Men

Photographic skills aren't my forte. My effort to take quality pictures of the Elite Men's race was a total bust. In my haste to get several images I switched the setting so that everything came out blurry and terribly washed out.

In the spirit of making lemonade out of life's lemons I fooled around with the images a bit in photoshop and came up with what you see here. I find it annoying when people try to play things off like they planned to take crappy pictures, so this isn't some thinly vieled attempt to be artistic or show people how the world looks through my eyes. Fortunately the world has only looked like this a handful of times when I've been too drunk to stand up.

Verge New England CX Opener- Day 1 Race Report

Well that was hard. 'Cross is always hard, and somehow I always forget that. With my recent focus on endurance racing I haven't been spending much time at or above anaerobic threshold, and although I'm glad I raced it was pretty much pure unadulterated suffering.

Next weekend in the Vermont 50, the second and final objective of my mountain bike season. It's a great event, and both times I've done it in the past (2002 and 2004) I had a great time. Some years (2003, 2009) it's horrible muddy mess so I'm really hoping that it stays dry for us this time around. I got rained on for most of the Hampshire 100- does that count for something?

With the 50 on my mind I was heavily debating whether or not to race this weekend, but considering the race was under 50 minutes and 20 minutes from home I went for it. Recently I've felt like my form has been coming around and I wanted to test it. 'Cross is great prep for 5+ hour mountain bike race, right? I guess I'll find out on the 26th.

Catamount was the host venue for the first stop of the 2010 Verge Series. I'm lucky to be able to race their weekly training series events over the summer. It's pretty cool to be able to race mid-week on a good course with solid competition.

The course was a modified version of the usual Wednesday Worlds 'cross course that we'd been riding this season, and the changes were welcomed. Grass and hills made for tough going, and the sprint up the table top jumps on the mountain cross was a total pain cave every lap.

For whatever reason I debated about signing up for the event, so when I got around to it I had secured myself a last row spot out of a field of about 120 racers. Did I mention that they're staging the juniors in the same race as the 3's, and starting us together? There are some well renowned fast kids in New England that are very strong racers, but for the rest of the juniors field and all of the 3's starting after 20th position it's pretty miserable. It was full gas and wait for the whole first lap and the only places to move up were sketchy and already occupied with sketchy riders when I got to them so I had to sit tight and let the leaders put a solid minute on me before the end of the first lap.

Realistically if I had a decent start spot or at least room to pass more safely I would have finished a little better, but not enough to whine about. This was for training anyway, and the start staging just reinforced that. I felt good that I was holding the same gap to some fast riders once I was able to start my race on lap 2, and that was encouraging.

We'll see how intermixing 'cross and enduro racing works out. I might take a different approach next year. What happened to the New England season opener being the first weekend of October in Pittsfield?

Review- Rudy Project Genetyk Sunglasses

While I'm on a sunglasses kick I'll review the Rudy Project Genetyks. They're a fairly new model and were featured by some of the athletes during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, not to mention the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia.

Rudy Project has a great customer service reputation, and through my sponsorship support I've gotten several scratched lenses and cracked frames repaired or replaced promptly and for small dollars.

The Genetyks are Rudy's updated take on the popular single lens sport shield style that traces its lineage back to the Oakley Razor Blades. The Genetyks offer adjustable temples and a great soft rubber nosempiece that allows a great range of adjustability to fit many face and nose shapes. The frame runs across the length of the lens and provides a stable platform for the interchangeable lenses.

One of the interesting features about the Genetyks is that the nosepiece is attached to the lens, not to the main frame itself; every replacement lens has its own nosepiece attached. This nosepiece is an easily overlooked feature, but for my wide face and comparatively narrow nose bridge it means that I can comfortably set up these glasses so that they fit comfortably.

I've used these glasses in most conditions and I have to rate them among the most comfortable eyewear I've ever worn. Although they're heavier (and more durable) than the Sport Masks, their sturdy frame fits more securely and they don't move around in rough terrain when other are inclined to rattle. The interchangeable lenses allow for condition-specific protection and the rigid plastic carrying case keeps them all securely together.

If I had to choose one pair of glasses to take on a trip these would be tied at the top of my list with the venerable Freeon. The Genetyks offer an updated take on a classic sport style and pack enough features to make them worth a long look if you're in the market for high performance glasses.

Review- Rudy Project Sport Mask Sunglasses

My earlier post about the Rudy Project Sterling helmet tipped my hand that I'm a Rudy fan. Their glasses have protected my vision and provided me with Euro styling for many seasons, and their customer support is second to none.

Fortunately for me they are a sponsor, so I've been lucky to reap the benefits of their support.

This review focuses on the Sport Mask Sunglasses. This model is the black gloss frame with the Racing Red lenses.

The Racing Red lens allows approximately 28% of visible light to pass through and I've found it to be the most versatile lens in the Rudy Project Catalog. Unless I'm out on the road on a bright sunny day in July or if I'm in the woods with thick canopy cover in the evenings I find the Racing Red to be the right choice. It's my go to lens in all but the brightest or near-dusk conditions. Offroad it's a good choice for mid-day summer rides or even later in the day once the leaves have fallen off the trees. If I had to choose one lens, this would be it.

The Sport Mask is an interesting model, and its design is as much about style as it is about function. The frameless single lens makes for great optical clarity and light weight, but the catch is that it's also not a very sturdy or interchangeable design. This is one of few Rudy Project glasses that does not allow readily interchangeable lenses. The lack of a frame also makes these glasses feel less secure on your head if you get very sweaty or are riding in rough terrain.

So what are these glasses good for? Most of my mid-week riding is on the road and after 5:00 PM, and these glasses are perfect for that. I find that unless I'm riding straight into the sun after work that the Racing Red is the right lens to wear until it's approaching desk when they move from my eyes to the lower vents of my helmet. In other lens colors they'd be great in different conditions, of course.

The nose piece is exeptionally flexible and allows for a very wide range of adjustability. I had a nose injury recently and for over a week the featherweight Sport Mask with its flexible nose bridge was the only pair of glasses I could wear.

I have to say that I really like my Sport Masks, and the style element is no small part of that. I've found that they work the best when run under the helmet straps, rather than over like I do with most other sunglesses like the Genetyk or Freeon. If I'm wearing a cycling cap under my helmet I'll even try to tuck the temples inside the hat and run them under the helmet straps.

These are great sunglasses, though if I had to pick one pair for I'd likely choose something else like the Genetyks (look for a review on those shortly). The Sport Masks offer light weight, style and performance that warrants serious consideration if you're in the market for sport eyewear.

For more information visit www.rudyprojectusa.com.

Review- Kenda Karma

Tires are something that I obsess over. Weight, rolling resistance, casing, size, pressure, and course conditions all contribute to defining what makes the ideal tire on a given day. Sheldon Brown said that tires affect ride quality more than frame material, and I have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with him.

This will be the first of many tire reviews that I'll be posting, with several tutorials about what makes a good tire along the way.

This post is about the Kenda Karma. The particular model that I've ridden is the 26 x 2.0 Stick-E version.
The Karma is a well-known and respected tire. The tread pattern is a fairly simple square block pattern, but that's only a small part of what makes this tire a good one.

To be fair, Kenda is a sponsor of mine, and their tires have been a great asset. I've enjoyed their support for two seasons now and have been grateful to have access to their full catalog of models and sizes.

The Karma is a fairly round casing with low, reasonably spaced and square-edged knobs. The round casing means that it takes the middle ground of rolling resistance between parabolic (like the Small Block 8) and square (like the Nevegal) tire profiles. That means it's lugs hit the ground when leaned over marginally and strike a 50/50 compromise between grip and rolling resistance.

The square knobs do well in soft soil as they provide consistent bite. The round shape keeps the center and some of the outside knobs in contact with the ground to provide moderate traction in softer conditions without putting too much rubber on the ground to slow things down.

There are no special cornering knobs, so you really need to lean these over to feel like the outer treads are working for you.

In mud these tires are decent at normal pressures but better at lower pressures. I found that I was the most comfortable on them at 3-5 psi below my normal 28-32 psi range. When run at 20-25 up front these provided decent cornering traction and good rolling resistance, but if I were in consistently slick conditions with lots of corners I'd probably choose something else (like the Nevegal 1.95 or Blue Groove 1.95- look for reviews on these shortly).

In pure hardpack these tires were predicatable and spun up fast because of their low weight, but they felt like they skated slightly at higher speeds when I would have liked to get a bit more grip. Again they were fine, but if I were rolling on pure hardpack I would prefer the excellent Small Block 8 instead.

So what are these tires good at? Well, they're good in intermediate conditions, especially in soft, loamy soil when climbing is a big part of the agenda. Their light weight makes them spin up very easily and the lack of mass is palpable when climbing. The downside of that is that the light sidewalls are less resistant to sidewall cuts than heavier tires, so if you ride in rocky terrain you might want to run something more substantial. The round casing does well to keep just the center knobs in contact with the ground when pedaling a straight line, and the square knobs do well in softer soil where they can bite. The knobs are fairly shallow keeping the rolling resistance reasonable and they're spaced far enough apart that they clear mud easily.

At the rain-soaked Bromont World Cup in 2009 I noticed that Nino Schurter ran a Karma (with the logos blacked out) as a front tire. They aren't a pure mud tire, but they are predictable and a reasonably good jack-of-all trades option.

In short these are great intermediate ties. In my perfect tire quiver they sit between the Nevegal (for moderate t0 wet/loose conditions) and the Small Block 8 (pure hardpack) and provide predictable traction in most conditions. These are a great choice for intermediate conditions that will feature a bit of everything, especially soft, loamy soil. Hills are easier due to their light weight, but be cautious of sharp rocks as they can be cut fairly easily.

More information is available at www.kendausa.com.

Review- Rudy Project Sterling Helmet

One of the recurring features here at pro-35 will be the gear I'm using along the way. I'll be up front about how I got it, and I'll mention if they're a sponsor so you can take my comments accordingly.

First up is the Rudy Project Sterling helmet.

Rudy is has been a long-time sponsor, and they've been good to me. Their repair/replacement policies are excellent and I've been able to get severely scratched lenses replaced for a nominal fee.

Recently Rudy Project has put a lot of attention into their helmet line, and their efforts have been well publicized in the mainstream cycling press. In the late 90's and early 00's Rudy Project helmets weren't allowed to be sold in the US because they didn't have the necessary safety certification. Most of us only got as close as the pictures in VeloNews.

I got my first one around 2005. At that time the major selling point for those helmets was the Euro-cool factor because it was the same model that Cunego and Simoni wore throughout their epic inter-squad battle during the 2004 Giro d'Italia. Beyond aesthetics that appealed to a select few (namely bike geeks like myself) the helmets were heavy, poorly vented and ill-fitting.

Last season I did all of my racing and training in a Rudy Actyum, and it was a great helmet. The design offered enough vents to be as cool as the Lazer Genesis and Giro E2 that I tested and the removable visor and bug screen were great additions. The visor was short and offered about the same amount of sun and rain protection as a cycling cap; it nearly perfectly covered down to the top of my sunglasses providing the right mix of ventilation, forward visibility and protection from the elements. To date that visor is my favorite, and I don't normally like visors.

Now on to the Sterling. The first thing you notice about the helmet is the exoskeleton that protrudes from the foam shell. It makes for a unique and very engineered-look with large vents and muscular styling. The same treatment is given to the strap carriers that sit under the jawline. Although they look minimal they have been trouble free so far, though if you're worried about it you can order spares from Rudy and keep them in your gear bag should one fail.

The fit dial on the back does a good job of snugging the helmet so that is stays put in rough terrain. There's a nice pad that allows it to sit comfortably without digging into the back of your head.

A full bug screen comes installed, but I preferred to remove it in favor of the smaller individual pads. The bug screen offers great sweat absorption and I found it comfortable against my shaved pate, but I only use it when the temperature is below about 65.

Also included is a visor that snaps into the front of the helmet. Small tabs on the visor fit into mounting holes in the exoskeleton. Some short, finger-like braces keep it from shifting around. As I mentioned before, I'm generally not a fan of visors, and I found the Sterling visor to be short and moderately effective. The setup isn't as neat as the Actyum, and I ended up using the helmet without the visor unless it was raining and too warm for a cycling cap.

The two most important aspects of any helmet are fit and ventilation. It needs to stay in place comfortably and keep you cool, or at least keep you from unduly overheating. The fit of the Sterling is great and the ventilation is as good as anything else I've tried. This really is a step up from the Actyum and I found the Sterling to be noticeably cooler on the hottest summer days when the temperatures were in the low 90's. On those rides helmets don't feel cool, but having one with good airflow is critical to for optimal performance.

The Sterling comes in two sizes, and the L/XL was the right one for my large, bald dome. Although I never felt like I could get a good fit in Giro (the Medium was too tight, the Large was enormous) the Sterling is nearly perfect without any modifications or fiddling. Right out of the box I cinched up the retention dial, set the straps and was ready to ride.

How much did I like this helmet? Well, I bought a second one so that I'd have more mountain-bikish black color in addition to the standard gray matte/red that I've used all season. I decided to go stealth, but there are new limited edition fluo models that are certainly eye-catching.

The Rudy Project Sterling is a great helmet worth considering if you're in the market for a high-end helmet. I've used it both on and off-road and found it equally at home at either.

For more information visit www.rudyprojectusa.com.

The First Step

Last night my wife and I went out to dinner. Over dinner and a few drinks we talked about our families, her upcoming trip to Portland and how we thought my brother's new relationship was going. As the conversation wore on I thought about my rides earlier in the weekend.

The day before I was out on a ride and stormed up a climb where I normally suffer. I felt that the strength and speed that I've been training were really starting to show through. This season I've put in a lot of hard miles, and I felt like it was all coming together as I turned the pedals over and made the short but steep climb up to the Trapp Family Lodge.

All I could think about was that feeling, that incredible power that comes when you're on form and that the gratification you've been delaying has finally caught up with you.

That improvement has come from sacrifice. I've weaseled out of family responsibilities, delayed repainting the deck and been guilty of being entirely single-minded at the expense of those around me, namely my wife, Carrie.

With all of that in the background I brought up an idea that I thought was sure to be a dud. "You know, I've been thinking about wanting to turn pro, and I want to write about it." I've needed a creative outlet and this seemed like the a perfect solution to incorporate that with my cycling goals. What happened next was unexpected, and showed me one of the many reasons why I married Carrie. "I think that's a good idea," she said. "And I think if you're serious about it you should take a writing class. And you need to read more."

All at once she was supportive, honest and matter-of-fact. It was as if I'd just gotten my driver's license, wrecked Dad's Ford Taurus, then asked my parents for a Camaro.

If she was on my side, I knew I could do it. At 30 I was getting a late start. I've been at the Expert level for 8 years and until recently struggled to maintain it. Making the jump to pro was the next rung up the ladder. On paper it seems so close, just one level above Expert (or Category 1) but anyone who has made that jump will tell you that it's a quantum leap. It's not just an upgrade, it's a lifestyle change and monumental shift for you and everyone close to you.

This is the first step. This is my story of how I'm going to make it to pro before I turn 35. I know that if I work on the steady improvement that I can do it.