West Virginia

I've spent the past two weekends racing in West Virginia.  Two weekends ago I did the Big Bear 2x12 team relay MTB race and I did the Hilly Billy Roubaix American Ultra Cross Series Race this past weekend.  It sure has been a blast doing these races in the State where I used to spend so much time racing, but now days cannot get there as much as I'd like.

For the Big Bear 2x12, I entered the singlespeed category with my Team CF Teammate, Rob Spreng.  Rob usually races with gears, but he owns a singlespeed also and does ride it from time to time.  Regardless of the bike he uses, Rob is fast in technical singletrack and I knew having him on my team would make us hard to beat if all went well.  As it turned out, things did go very well for us and we won both the singlespeed category and the race overall.  This is the fourth year in a row I've been able to win the singlespeed race at the Big Bear 2x12 Duo Race, each time with a different teammate.  I've had a great time each year I've done this race, but winning it with my Team CF Teammate and taking the overall win made this victory a little more special than my other wins there.

I was hoping my winning form from the Mohican 100 and the Big Bear 2x12 would carry into the Hilly Billy Roubaix.  After winning the very first Hilly Billy Roubaix overall on my singlespeed in 2010, I switched over to doing the race on a geared bike and never raced quite as well there as I did in 2010.  I don't think anyone, including myself, can understand how I am a faster rider on a singlespeed than I am on a geared bike, but a singlespeed does seem to be the fastest bike choice for me.  For this reason, I decided to switch back to a singlespeed for the 2013 edition of the Hilly Billy and for the 2013 American Ultra Cross Series.

Riding some of the early mess with my buddy, Jake.

Every year I've done the Hilly Billy it seems to start in the same way, with the most important breakaway happening on the initial gravel road climb a few miles into the race.  The lead group then gets cut down a bit more after traveling down the always muddy Indian Creek Extension section of the course a few miles after the initial climb.  Things were no different this year and I was fortunate enough to make into the early lead group again this year with seven or so other riders.

As in previous years, it was HOT at the Hilly Billy again this year.  This heat combined with a ton of  climbing over the short, steep climbs on this course does seem to take a toll on the riders.  The hills and the heat were a determining factor again this year and eventually split the lead group to only Adam Driscoll and me.  This final split of the lead group occurred when we were climbing out of check point #2, around 38 miles into the 75 mile race.  At this time, Mike Simonson was actually ahead of Adam and me, but we caught up to him after he had to stop and repair his second flat of the day at checkpoint #3.

After check point #3, Adam and I knew that more than likely one of us would win the race.  We still worked together for the most part, but we also took turns at testing each others legs for weakness.  Knowing the course pretty well from my previous attempts at doing it, I knew it would be hard to drop Adam on my singlespeed mtb when he was using a faster geared cross bike, especially because the last few miles of the course are relatively flat and much better to ride on a bike with multiple gears.  Taking this into account, I put in a hard effort on the last rough and muddy section on the course to see if I could separate myself from Adam.

My attack on this section of the course seemed to give me the gap I needed over Adam.  With only about 4-5 miles remaining in the race, I put every last ounce of energy into staying in the lead and not being caught.  When I'm riding in circumstances like this, the pain and discomfort my body should be feeling at this point in a long, hard, hot race seem to disappear.  The ending miles went by quickly and it was a great feeling for me to look over my shoulder and see nobody near when I turned into the finishing venue at Mylan Park.

After winning the Mohican 100 and the Big Bear 2x12 overall, I never expected to be the overall winner of the Hilly Billy Roubaix this weekend.  Winning a race always feels good, but being the overall winner of three consecutive big races in a row and doing it on a bike with only one gear is a bit overwhelming to me.  I'm not quite sure why I'm riding so well right now, but I'm going to do my best to not change anything.

Thanks to Mark Schooley, the promoter of the Big Bear 2x12 Duo Race, and JR Pesko, the promoter of the Hilly Billy Roubaix for putting on the great races they did.  I've said this before, but anyone that races should be doing these excellent events if having a good time at a well run race is important to you.  I also need to say thank you to all the volunteers that help make these two events run so smoothly.  Without the help from all these volunteers, these two races would not be what they are...great!

Happy Trails.........   Gerry

Thanks to Mike Briggs for the first two photos and Greg Flood for the finishing shot!

The Mohican 100 and Perfection

When I arrived in Loudonville, OH for the Mohican 100 registration packet pick-up on Friday evening, it was raining pretty hard and I had a flashback to the really muddy 2010 race I did here.  I was hoping things would not be that bad again, but the weather.com radar map I viewed on the morning of the race did not look good and made the threat of more rain seem certain.  With the course more than likely going to be muddy and wet, I decided at 5:00 AM on race day to take off my front suspension fork and replace it with a rigid fork.  I also put on a frame fender to keep mud from splashing in my face all day.  I don't like making game day changes, but I was positive these changes were the wisest.

After completing the work on my bike, doing my other pre-race prep, and rushing off to the race a little later than I would've liked, I had the "joy" of starting the Mohican 100 with its usual painful sprint straight up the wall-of-a-road-climb on the outskirts of town.  Since there was a $200 preem on top of this climb, the pace was fast and furious to the top.  The pace didn't let up from there and even though I was able to catch on to the tail end of the lead group of riders before entering the trails, I didn't hold the fast pace being set at the front for very long.  I found the trails to be a bit slick from the rain showers that fell over night and after losing traction through one turn and banging my shoulder off a tree, I decided to back my pace down to a more comfortable and controllable speed.  One thing I've learned over the years of doing these 100 mile races is that these things are long and it's better for me to not over extend myself too early in the race.

During this time of riding the initial miles of single track alone, I must admit that I did have some concern that the two singlespeed racers ahead of me, Ron Harding and Patrick Blair, might be hard to catch because they were riding with a fast group of geared riders.  But, I decided to stick to my game plan of riding a more steady beginning pace to conserve my energy for later in the day.  Eventually, the seemingly endless single track trail came to a hike-a-bike section about 20 some odd miles into the race and I was happy to see Ron directly in front of me and Pat not too far in front of him.  I caught Ron by the top of this steep hill and we rode together until the trail exited onto the roads leading to checkpoint two.  

I had a slight gap over Ron coming out of the trail and I could see Pat and four other geared riders perhaps ten seconds up the road.  I put in a hard effort to bridge the distance to these riders and was able to drop Ron in the process.  My legs still wanted to go when I closed this gap, so I kept my speed high to see if Pat would try to match it.  He was the only one to come with me and we rode away together into checkpoint two.  At the checkpoint, Pat requested a pump and I was able to sneak out of the checkpoint before him.  Luckily, a 100K racer, Brian Schworm, made a quick transition out of the checkpoint also and the two of us rode together to checkpoint three where the two race course distances split. 

After the two courses split, I rode the rest of the race alone.  There are so many fast gravel road and trail sections on this part of the course that I thought for sure I would be caught by some geared riders.  As a matter of fact, I was actually hoping to be caught by a geared rider, so I would have someone to help share my workload.  But, I would look back and see nobody in view, which forced me to keep my pace high alone.  At some point after checkpoint four, I received a time split of three minutes behind the overall race leader from some people watching the race out on the trail.  Before hearing this time split, I was pretty content to be the second place overall rider and the lead singlespeed rider.  But, once I heard the time split, I was motivated to push myself harder to see if I could catch the overall race leader, Mike Simonson.

When I eventually did see Mike in front of me, I could tell he was tired by the way he was riding.  I shared some words of encouragement when I caught him and then continued on my way.  I knew if I could maintain my lead heading into the last section of single track after checkpoint 5, I had a chance of being the overall winner of a NUE Race on a singlespeed.  I did make into the final section of single track first and had an absolute blast riding the final 8 miles of these buffed-out trails to the finish.  Riding across the finish line in the first overall spot was an awesome feeling and being able to do it on a singlespeed made it feel even more special.

It really blows my mind that I was able to win this race because I wouldn't consider the Mohican 100 course to be a very good course for a singlespeed bike.  This is because the 100 mile Mohican course has a lot of super steep climbs and also a lot of long, fast gravel road sections that make picking the perfect gear difficult.  Otherwise, the course is a pretty good 100 mile race course with a good mix of everything to keep it interesting, especially for bikes having the ability to change gears.  But, since I'm a singlespeed racer, I'm never too concerned about whether or not my one geared bicycle will be able to keep up with bikes having gears.  Instead, I prepare my bike to be the fastest against competition with other singlespeeders and not the fastest overall.  

The gear I picked (40x23) and my other equipment choices, including my day of race changes, had me feeling confident that my bike was ready to go.  Fortunately, my legs and body were also ready to race.  Over my many years of racing I've had a lot of good races, but never one that seemed almost effortless like this one felt.  It is probably as close as I will ever get to having a perfect race.  And, to make the day even better, the big radar blobs of rain I saw in the morning never materialized.  Yes, it was a perfect day! 

The Syllamo 125: All Is Good!

I had a few concerns about travelling to Mountain View, Arkansas this past weekend for NUE Series Race #4, the Syllamo 125.  The biggest of these was the fact that an infection I got from a tick bite at this race a year earlier was still on my mind.  Of course, I had to deal with all of the other normal  race concerns that are present before doing a long and hard National Ultra-Endurance Series Race.  But, in additionally to my normal race preparation thoughts, I had even more concerns with the Syllamo 125 Race than other NUE Races because of the sharp rocks on the course which can tear a tire sidewall and ruin a race very quickly.  To make the race even more worrisome, the hot and humid weather in the forecast for the day had me concerned because I've had very little opportunity to ride in warm temperatures this Spring.  There was certainly no doubt in my mind that Syllamo was going to be a hard race on my body and bike.

Preparation for a race can sometimes be more important than actual physical conditioning for a race, especially for a difficult course like Syllamo.  One thing I did special for this race, to prepare for the rough course conditions, was to put on the heaviest tires made by Specialize, the Grids. I also decided to use a heavier pair of wheels instead of my light Carbon Roval Racing Wheels, to add further insurance that the rocks would not give me any issues during race day. Additionally, I put in a little extra time studying the course map and route.  Not so much because the course is not marked properly, but because of the multiple lap and checkpoint format this course has.

Before beginning the endless miles of single track this course has, the course goes straight up for about a mile on a fireroad climb. This climb does a very good job is separating all the riders.  I was one of the top ten riders to make it into the single track and there were three other singlespeed racers along with me. My goal was not to go particularly hard at the beginning of the race due to the predicted heat, but that is easier said then done.  I like riding alone and having a group of competitors surrounding me was not how I wanted to spend my race day.  For this reason, I kept my pace a little higher than I initially planned through the opening miles of the single track.  This strategy seemed to work and I was able to get a nice gap over the other singlespeeders about 5 miles into the race.

Some of the Syllamo Sweetness!

Once I had my gap, my plan was to keep my power output at a more sustainable race pace.  Doing this allows me to pay closer attention to the trail features and the course markings, which seems to help me stay on course and also helps in preventing my bike from getting damaged by trying to ride too fast through the technical parts of the course.  My plan was going well until a new pair grips I installed began to loosen, which caused my right grip to become like a motorcycle throttle.  This was mostly an issue when I was climbing because the grip was moving all over the place.  At one point, the grip came completely of my bars and I had to pound it back on.  I thought about stopping to fix it, but I did want to waste any time doing this since I was not sure of what my time gap was over chasing riders and I figured it would do little good after diagnosing the cause of the problem.  Luckily, the rest of my bike worked flawlessly and I learned to deal with my motorcycle grip to keep the bike moving fast through the trails.

I was happy things were going pretty well and that my body did not seem to be feeling the effects of the hot weather conditions.  I was drinking a lot to stay hydrated and using every opportunity the trail gave me to force fluid into my body.  I knew this would be important to do on such a hot and humid day.  Unfortunately, my plan of drinking a lot the entire day was derailed when I arrived at checkpoint four and was told not to pick anything up because I would be coming back into the checkpoint.  I didn't think this was right, but I rode away from the checkoint with about 3 gulps of fluid left in my bottle.  A couple of miles later I realized the second lap of the yellow loop was beginning and that I would be riding for about an hour with almost no fluid.

Realizing this was not a good situation on such a hot day, I made a plan to ration my 3 gulps to one every 15 minutes so that I could limp back into the next checkpoint. I also kept my eyes open on every descent I went down for a bottle that may have fallen from another rider's bike on the first lap of the yellow trail.  Unfortunately, I did not find any stray bottles on the trail and my body was starting to feel the effects of not drinking enough fluid.  Once I notice my body had stopped sweating, I knew my situation was not looking good.  By the time I noticed this, I started catching up to riders riding between checkpoint two and three and I was able to beg a gulp of fluid from three separate riders heading into my last checkpoint.  I quickly re-hydrated myself at the checkpoint, grabbed my gear and hit the last section of the red trail before the finish.

It was amazing to me how my large consumption of fluid at the checkpoint revitalized me and allowed me to ride fast again.  I was completely pumped during my last ride on the red trail heading to the finish.  The red single track trails are just plain fast fun and a great way to end a hard race.  Since I was unsure about how much time I had lost during my time of riding with little to no fluid, I rode this last section of red as fast as I could to maintain my lead. 

The final miles of the race went well and I was able to keep my lead for the singlespeed win, which was also good enough for third place overall in the 125K race. One of the first things I did after finishing the race was to do a quick look over my body for ticks.  I was so happy to see none attached to me this year. I also showered soon after finishing and did a more thorough check for ticks on my body.  All checks were negative for any of those little pesky pests and the day was a good one for sure!

Happy Trails...  Gerry

The 6 Hours of Brady's

I wasn’t planning to race this weekend.  I figured it would be better to recover over the weekend by doing long training rides after competing at the Cohutta 100 last weekend and having the Wildcat 100 on the race schedule for next weekend. But, the 6 Hours of Brady’s was just too hard to resist doing with a great course design of single track trails, being close to home, and also having a very nice payout to all of the solo classes.  So, I decided to skip my rest weekend and do the six hour race instead of resting.

 

I signed-up for the masters class because the payout for all the solo categories was the same and I was hoping I would not have to go super hard at this race, so I could save some gas in the tank for the Wildcat 100.  I also had a major landscaping project planned at my new home for Saturday that I knew would kick my butt.  And, kick my butt it did!  I ended-up spending 14 hours in my yard on Saturday planting 17 shrubs and shoveling 4 ton of river rock.  My arms and back were spent after doing all of this and I wondered how I was going to feel at the race the next day.

 

I woke-up at 5:00AM to prepare for the race on Sunday.  While drinking my first morning cup of coffee, I noticed my arms were still pretty spent from all the shoveling I did on Saturday.  I came up with what I thought was a bright idea during my next cup of coffee and decided to build-up my geared bike real quick for the race instead of using my normal single speed machine.  First, I tried moving my suspension fork to my geared bike, but it didn’t work because the steer tube was about 1/8” too short.  Fortunately, everything else built-up pretty quickly and the thought of racing with gears for the day seemed like it would make my day much easier than using a SS bike.

 

With nothing packed for the race and the extra time I spent preparing my geared bike for the day, I ended-up leaving home about thirty minutes later than I had initially planned.  Additionally, I forgot to take into account that my new home was an extra 15 minutes away from the race venue I have been to a number of times over the years.  Needless to say, I wound up arriving for the race a little late, like 20 minutes before the start.  I like feeling prepared for races, but I was certainly not feeling this way when I arrived at this race so late.

 

The start was fast, kind of like an XC race start.  As a matter of fact, the whole race kind of felt like an XC race.  This may have been because the mostly single track course did not give riders much of a break, or because there was always somebody to “race” against with all the duo class riders on the course too.  I rode in the first group for the first lap and most of the second lap.  Eventually, I decided this was not wise when I remembered about trying to save some steam for next weekend and also knowing I had a comfortable lead over any chasing master racers.

 

Initially, I found my geared bike to be just the ticket needed to help me deal with my sore, overworked body.  But, as the race approached the 3 hour mark, I noticed my arms were feeling really beat up from riding the course with a rigid fork and I was starting to not enjoy the whole shifting thing.  Luckily, my SS bike was waiting in the transition area and I decided to switch over to it for the last three hours of the race.  I immediately noticed a difference on my SS bike and my lap times came back down again. 

 

The next three hours of racing was pretty much uneventful and I pretty much just rode at a fast training pace.  My legs never felt real good at Brady's.  I'm not sure if this was from doing Cohutta and a hard week of training afterwards, or from the all the work I did landscaping on Saturday.  It was probably a combination of the two.  I do know that I was happy about deciding to race with guys my own age at Brady's because I certainly would not have been competitive in any other category with the way my body was feeling at the end of this race.  I did hold on to my lead to take the masters win, but was pretty much completely spent after the race.

 

I can't end this blog without saying a big thank you to Chris Miceli and all the riders from Beaver Valley Velo that made the 6 Hours of Brady's race one of the best endurance races I've done.  The course was in great shape, well marked and everything about the event seemed to be organized very well.  I may have beat myself up pretty good this weekend, but I'm glad I made the decision to do this race and will certainly be doing it again in the future.

 

Happy Trails...  Gerry

 

Thanks to Mike Briggs for the photo!

The Cohutta 100: I wore rain pants!

I woke-up at 4:15AM for the Cohutta 100 this past Saturday Morning.  When I looked at the weather app on my phone, it was showing a current temperture of 49 degrees and I could hear the rain beating down on the tin roof above me.  Doing an off-road race in weather like this is never a lot of fun, not to mention doing one that is a 100 miles long. The other racers staying at the cabin with me were already talking about not starting the race.  I wasn't thinking these thoughts exactly, but I knew the day was going to be a long, painful one on the bike and I wasn't too excited about doing it.

At the starting area, I got my gear ready and saw a pair of rain pants in my bag that I use for warming-up at cyclocross races on cold, wet days.  I've never thought about racing in these pants for a cross race, nevermind a mtb race; however, knowing I would be in wet fifty degree weather for more than 8 hours made the thought of wearing these pants seem like a good one.  I wasn't even sure if these pants would hold up for 100 miles of non-stop riding in muddy conditions, but I decided to give them a go anyway.  In addition to wearing my rain pants, I also wore a long sleeve base layer, my Team CF racing jersey and a Team CF warm-up jacket in an attempt to keep my core body temperature as warm as I could for what I knew would be miserable racing conditions.

I was a little reluctant to race with all these clothes, but figured I could stop and remove them at a check point if the temperature warmed-up.  But, after the first couple hours of racing, I was certainly having no thoughts of removing any of my extra layers and was actually very happy with my last minute racing attire choice.  As a matter of fact, there were periods of time when I was feeling a little cold even with all the clothes I was wearing.  I saw other racers on the course wearing only shorts and a short sleeve jersey and I wondered how they were dealing with the cold, uncomfortable conditions.

Interestingly, my clothing choice didn't seem to be slowing me down too much.  I was able to attach myself to the rear of the lead group going into the initial single track section and stayed with the majority of them until the trails came out on fireroads about 15 miles later.  Things were blowing apart in the large field of racers and by the end of the first trail section, I was with only one other geared rider and sitting in about eighth place overall.  During this time, I did not see any other singlespeed riders and things were looking good for me with 25 miles of the 100 miles being completed.

Many of the Cohutta fireroad ascents on the course have sections where a rider can look down on the switchback turns below to see if anyone is chasing.  On one of these climbs, I saw another singlespeed racer, Mike Montalbano, chasing hard and judging from his pace I knew it wouldn't be long until he caught me.  When he did catch me, just prior to checkpoint 3 at about mile 36, I knew it was time to start riding hard again.

We arrived at the checkpoint together, but I was able to leave a little quicker than Mike.  He was soon back on my wheel, however, and it wasn't long before he was able to ride away from me.  This occurred at about the same place where Harlan Price rode away from me at 2010 edition of the Cohutta 100 and I started to have unpleasant flashbacks of that race.  Mike was climbing well and definitely riding harder than my legs were willing at this point in the race.  I was comfortable with my pace, though, and could still see Mike riding up the road about 30 seconds in front of me, so I continued my steady pace.  After less than fifteen minutes of riding behind Mike, I started closing the gap between us.  Eventually, I caught Mike and we ended-up chatting and riding together for about five miles. 

During our friendly ride together, I never forgot about the race we were doing and I decided to throw a little attack to see what response I would get.  Mike didn't seem to be too interested in chasing me when I looked back, so I stayed on the gas to increase the gap between us. Shortly after getting clear from Mike, there was a super long descent down to the race turn around point.  Even with all the clothing I was wearing, my body was still getting cold and I wondered how riders wearing just shorts on their legs would feel.  I like being warm and seem to ride better when my leg muscles are not cold.  I'm sure my race time would have been much slower if I wore less clothing and I also think my choice of clothing was one reason I seemed to be riding well in the nasty conditions.

I spent the last half of the race riding alone.  I knew Mike would be chasing hard, at least this is what I imagined in my head, so I never let up on my pace until crossing the finishing line.  For some reason, my body felt very good during the second part of the race and thankfully my bike cooperated with my high level of physical output.  By the end of the race, I was able to finish in the first singlespeed spot and in sixth place overall.  Needless to say, my body and bike were completely covered in mud at the end of the race, but I felt alright because of the warmth and protection my rain pants provided.

Happy Trails, Gerry

Greenbriar AMBC Race

Well, April has been a whirlwind for me.  After doing the Tuscarora Endurance Race at the beginning of the month, I finally closed on my newly purchased house and was off the bike for 1.5 weeks.  Not riding my bike for that long was killing me and I wondered how bad my fitness would be after taking so much time off the bike.  In addition to not riding much, I also missed two races I pre-registered to do: the Amish Roubaix and the MASS Michaux Endurance Race.  But, there really was no choice in the matter with so much to do at home.  So, with my lack of riding and preparation, I registered to do Greenbriar for a chance to qualify for USAC MTB XC Nationals.  I'm not even sure I'll be doing XC Nats, but I figured qualifying for them needed to be done just in case.

I like racing at Greenbriar.  The course has a good mix of technical and fast trails.  I've always done well on this course, but my lack of training had me concerned about how I would do at this showing.  Overall, the course was in pretty good shape on race day.  The final descent was a little sloppy, but it almost always is.

When the race started, I figured it would be wise to get the hole shot and stay in the lead for as long as I could.  This always seems to work for me and gives me a chance to figure out who the fast riders are.  I was able to enter the trailhead in the lead.  I stayed on the gas for the first lap and seemed to be feeling alright.  By the second lap, I had a pretty nice gap on my closest SS competitor and decided to ride a bit more conservatively.  The next two laps went smoothly and I ended up with an unexpected victory for the day, about two minutes up on second place.

It felt good to be racing again and I'm happy that my fitness didn't seem to be effected too much from my riding hiatus.  Well, I guess I'll need to give Nationals a little more thought now, since I'm qualified to do them.  Now I just need to decided on whether I should do my 45-49 age class or SS.  Maybe the races will be scheduled on different days and I'll be able to do both!

Next up is the Cohutta 100 this coming weekend.  I'm sure it will be a much tougher race than the 21 mile XC race at Greenbriar and I sure hope my body will be up for the challenge.  Check back next week for an update!

Happy Trails...  Gerry

Also, thanks to Abe Landes for another fine photo!

True Grit 100!

The National Ultra Endurance Series added a couple of new race venues this year and I was lucky enough to try one of them this past weekend in St. George, Utah. Since the True Grit 100 is new to the series, I wasn't too sure what to expect from the course or from many of the other singlespeed riders registered. Additionally, I was not too sure if my body was ready for such a difficult race this early in the season.

As the race date approached, I wondered if I made a mistake by deciding to do this race. I had a list of 101 things to do on my plate (including the start of a new position at work and the purchase of a new home) and felt like I was very ill prepared. I decided to think of the race more as a good training opportunity than the meaningful race if was. So, I jumped on a plane with my new Specialized Carve with a rigid carbon fork and began my True Grit adventure weekend.

Since I've raced pretty much every NUE Race with a full rigid SS bike, I figured this choice would be fine in Utah also. However, after doing some pre riding of the course, I decided that using a suspension fork would be a much better choice. Fortunately, my CF Teammate, Cary Smith, was able to hook me up with a spare Brain equipped Rock Shox he had. Cary also provide me with some much needed information about the course and how to best prepare for the checkpoints. Without the use of his fork and knowledge, I'm sure this race would have been much more difficult. Thanks, Cary!

The race started right at the crack of dawn. The promoter suggested using a light, but I decided against it. I really didn't want to be bothered with carrying a light for 15 minutes of riding during a 7 plus hour race. I will admit that it was a little tough to see initially, but I never felt unsafe. As a matter of fact, I was able to ride at the front of the pack with the fastest riders at the start just fine without a light. This lead group only contained about ten riders and seemed to be missing many of the folks I expected to be there, including no other single speed riders. I learned after the race that many riders had missed the start because they assumed the race would begin when there was more sunlight.

A shot from part of the Zen Trail.

It wasn't long though before the one SS rider I knew would challenge me came into view. When AJ Linnell caught me we rode together and chatted for a short while before he was able to slip away from me on the technical Zen Trails. During my pre ride of the Zen Loop, I decided it would be best to conserve my energy and do my best to protect myself from the consequences of crashing or having a major mechanical by going too fast on this section of trail. Doing this gave AJ a nice time gap over me by the time we exited this loop, but I knew there was a lot of racing ahead too.

The next section of trail known as Stucki was super fast and allowed for me to make up the time I lost to AJ.  By the end of this section, I was actually able to put a little extra time on him before we entered another technical section of trail known as Barrel.  I rode Barrel a little cautiously during the fist loop because it was pretty rocky and I didn't want to possibly get a flat tire or crash.  I guess AJ didn't ride the trails as cautiously because he caught back up to me by the end of the first loop of Barrel. I rode the second lap of Barrel much faster to stay a head of AJ.

After we finished the two loops of Barrel, AJ and I entered the fast Cove Wash Trails.  During this section, I created another gap over AJ.  Over the next few hours, I built on this gap until my fourth and final loop around Barrel.  With about 8 miles to the end of the race, I got a flat tire by tearing the front sidewall on a sharp rock.  At this point, I wasn't too sure how much of a lead I had, but knew I had to do a quick repair to hold off AJ.  Luckily, I had a fairly trouble free repair and was able to get back on my bike just as AJ came into view.

Racing hard during the last few miles of an ultra endurance mtb race is painful, but I knew this is exactly what I needed to do if I wanted to win the race.  I spun my cranks as fast as I could on the trails leading back to the finish and hoped my torn tire sidewall would not completely fail before I finished.  I was so relieved to finally see the finishing line in view and nobody chasing when looking over my shoulder one last time.

I must admit that crossing the finishing line in first place is always a good feeling for me, but the roller coaster ride of this race made this win feel a little more special.  Overall, the True Grit 100 was a lot of fun to ride and definitely a very good early season test of my fitness.  I was very happy with how my body performed during the race and with how nicely my new Specialized Carve SL rode the technical trails.  Also, I'd like to congratulate my other CF teammates at the race.  Cheryl Sornson took the womens open win, Cary Smith was second in the open mens and Charles Buki was third in the 50+ master men.  Let the season begin!

Happy Trails........  Gerry