Jshort’s bike thread

Mountain Bike Mike

Well-Known Member
Good read... I was hoping to see how the Mark / Jeremy battle panned out.

Three races in to this 40-49 class and I’m loving the competition. There are so many guys that can contend for a spot on the podium at any given race. I’m finding myself racing with people most of the race which is better than being stuck in la la land once the field stretches out.

I can tell you, chasing you and Mark put me in the hurt locker. Its motivating to keep training hard to catch you guys.
 

JDurk

Well-Known Member
Great job. Very few places to recover on that course no matter what direction it's running. 3 more MASS races are 3 more opportunities to race Mark, though I think 1 conflicts with an H2H weekend.
 

jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Great job. Very few places to recover on that course no matter what direction it's running. 3 more MASS races are 3 more opportunities to race Mark, though I think 1 conflicts with an H2H weekend.

That big elk at fair Hill may work. But by 8/25 I may be fried and thinking about cross. ;)

I'll pencil it in though.
 

jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Good read... I was hoping to see how the Mark / Jeremy battle panned out.

Three races in to this 40-49 class and I’m loving the competition. There are so many guys that can contend for a spot on the podium at any given race. I’m finding myself racing with people most of the race which is better than being stuck in la la land once the field stretches out.

I can tell you, chasing you and Mark put me in the hurt locker. Its motivating to keep training hard to catch you guys.

Both series have good competition this year. The combining of classes in h2h worked and mass is always stacked.
Last few years I had races that ended half a lap in. Not this year
 

Jeffreywoliver

Well-Known Member
Sizzler Recap

Slow day at work today so here’s a quick recap:

This place is 1:40 from my house, so an 8:30AM start had me thinking about bailing. Especially the night before while I’m at my neighbors BBQ, at 10PM lighting off fireworks and I see my kids eating smores. All I could think was that there is no way these kids were going to sleep at a reasonable time, and let me get enough sleep to wake up at 445 AM. Luckily my wide read my mind (after a few subtle hints) and I went home and went to bed. She came home with both kids a little while later and I didn’t even hear them. I managed a hair under 6 hours of sleep which isn’t perfect, but it was enough. I woke up and didn’t have that fog which usually accompanies a poor night’s sleep so I thought I was ok.

I get down in plenty of time and park next to Dan Larino …who is a force now. When I saw him at the first race in CT (when it was 32 degrees) he was on some old ass hardtail with 9 (maybe 8) gears and asking how much tire pressure to use when running tubes. Now he’s on a new Giant and winning races. Strong dude who luckily signed up for the 40+ Elite class.

Anyway, I reg, get my gear on, talk to @BrianGT3, @muddybike, Dan and @RichW, and of course @Mountain Bike Mike for a few and then it’s time to warm up. The descriptions I got were that the was twisty, flowy, and had lots of punchy little climbs. And that they are running it backwards which was apparently throwing everyone off. Lucky for me, I didn’t know backward from forward because it was my first time there.

I line up and spot Mark, who wins every Cat 1 40+ race and that the guy I want to follow. We go off and its Werner leading us into the woods and I am sticking to Mark’s wheel not wanting to let anyone sneak in between us. The first section is really tight and twisty with…you guessed it .. punchy climbs.

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There isn’t anywhere to pass so I just kind of set it on auto pilot and rode the trail. Once things opened up, Werner was still in front and riding a pretty easy pace. I do the same thing when I’m leading and know there’s fast guys behind me. It doesn’t take long for Mark to make a move on Werner and I follow. Soon, Mark and I are off and working on a gap.

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I am super comfortable sitting behind Mark. He’s smooth and knows the lines and I have no issues keeping up. My HR is way below threshold and I feel great. I know it’s going to get harder and hotter (it was already 85ish at the start) so conserving was the name of the game, especially when I was completely unfamiliar with the loop. Mark made a few passes and it may or may not have been intentional, but he would pass in spots where I was hard for me to follow, and then he would seem to accelerate. No issues with that, I would do the same thing. I was able to latch back on each time without burning any matches.

Going into the second lap is when things got a little interesting. Mark waved me by at the S/F meaning it was my turn to do a little work and set the pace. Ok, I felt fine. I kept a similar pace, maybe a hair slower because of my unfamiliarity with the course. We passed a SS and he asked mark what was going on that he couldn’t break the win streak.

Then we were going downhill, into a sweeping right which ends with a little climb. I heard Mark go down, I think he clipped a pedal. I didn’t look, just kept looking forward and trying to pay attention to the flow. The SS guy said “did you drop a turtle shell”? I lol’d then tried to accelerate and put a gap on assuming Mark would come charging back.

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This slightly heightened effort was kept up for the rest of the second lap. I was still concentrating on form, good lines through the turns, and conservation, but without a wheel to follow I was not nearly as efficient.

Going into the 3rd lap and through the S/F line I saw Mark on the sidelines… he was out. He said he went down hard and pulled out.

I had no idea how close the 2nd place rider was so I kept pushing, and shortly after, I got a little sloppy and inefficient. I could tell it was happening, it was like slow motion. I was braking late, pushing too hard out of turns, taking bad lines, and definitely feeling the heat. By the end of the third lap I was coming unraveled. I was good on water, taking about ¾ a bottle per lap. But then I ate a GU and my stomach almost immediately rejected it. Looking back, that damn Gu was when things went downhill. I don’t think it had anything to do with the Gu itself, I think my nutrition mistakes happened many hours before the race.



On the little hills right before the 4th lap was when I got caught. I thought I had better climbing legs, and I would gap on the climbs, but right after that section this guy flew by me. I could hear him breathing real heavy and I knew he was working hard. I was hoping that he was shot from the effort to catch me. So when he went by I tried to hold on.. but I could not. His lead got bigger and bigger and eventually he was out of sight.

Into the 4th lap I was not exactly zombie heat exhaustion level, but I was ready for the race to be over. It was getting hotter and hotter, and my legs were letting me know they were just about done. Luckily the 4th lap was uneventful except for the occasional traffic. Everyone I passed was at a similar mindset. We had it on cruise control and were just trying to finish out the race without making any heat induced mistakes.

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Near the end of the lap I thought I was making progress on catching first. I thought “finally, this guy popped”. I turned it up knowing it was almost over. As I came into the S/F straight away I saw him, so I locked out my suspension, stood, and began to get the cadence up to max, shift, wind out, shift, wind out, shift, etc. I was thinking “holy shit, a sprint finish 2 weeks in a row!”. I was making up the gap so fast, and I was sure I was going to win. With about 20 yards to go I pass him and that was when I realized it was NOT the guy I was racing. It was some Cat 2 racer warming up. Fuck…. Me….. I smacked my handlebars, crossed the finish, pulled over and collapsed. That huge fucking effort which practically killed me, was for nothing. I think I scared the shit out of the guy and he was wondering what the hell I was doing. Whatever. I was dying on the side of the course. It took a few minutes to catch my breath and HR to come down from the 190 it just hit.

2nd place is an solid finish. I should be happy, but I’ll have mixed emotions looking back at my first summer sizzler.

On the positive, I am be happy with a podium, especially in the MASS series. Good racers bust their asses and don’t sniff the podium.

On the negative, I would have liked to had the opportunity to race Mark the entire race. It would have been nice to know how that story ended. But that was out of my control, so I won’t dwell on it.

I also made a lot of mistakes which I can be mad at myself about, starting with the poor night’s sleep, to pre-race nutrition, to race strategy. I’m left wondering if I nailed those things, like I should, if I would have done a little better.


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And now, here I am on Tuesday, still feeling a little off. A little bit of a fog, a little bit of a headache….. Hopefully it’s all in my head, and I just need a good night’s sleep which I haven’t had since last Friday.

To Be Continued….
Very nice ride
 

jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's

I just re-read this post and the memories of being sick right before Nationals is freaking me out.
Last week (after sizzler) I had a similar feeling of cloudy head and then a bad workout. Luckily, it went away and I'm contributing it to the heat and dehydration. This week's workouts have been fine, and I did them on the trainer just so I could get a good feel for power output vs HR effort. Seems fine and where I want to be.

I remember that lap at Stewart like yesterday. I could hardly finish.

With a race on Sunday at KVSP, Natz are next Friday... Hopefully I can line up and feel as good as I did for the last few races.

This sport can be such a mindfuck
 

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I'm glad u reposted the Nats recap from last year. @Kirt and I where having this conversation on way home from VT and I remember u having Lymes at Nats, Kirt thought u weren't felling well.

The July heat is my Lymes disease. After KVSP Sunday I'm done.

Stay strong and kick but at Nats this year.
 

jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
KSVP Recap

Historically, this race has always been pretty adventurous. I had a race where I double flatted, but didn’t realize it until after fixing one of them. And this was back in the day of GEAX Saguaros on Stan’s rims (anybody remember trying to mount those tires?). Another time I went OTB on the now closed technical trail, lost all my water bottles and almost passed out from dehydration. Last race I had a top ever all-time first lap, settled in for the second lap, had a decent lead until I had front flat which I fixed with a quick burst from a CO2, but by then it was too late and I got passed and came in second. I guess if you race anywhere enough you know to expect anything can happen.

When I saw the weather, I saw Andover was getting pummeled with a rain storm so I knew it would be wet, just a matter of if it would still be raining or not when we got there. It poured on the way there but as I got a little closer, It stopped. There were plenty of puddles confirming that the area got its share.

I got there a little early and my first objective was deciding to ride my Vittora Morsa (burly , almost enduro tire) or ralph in the front. The more I asked around, the more it seemed the Vittoria was the way to go. I rode it at bear creek in similar conditions and definitely felt it was an advantage. Reports were that the trail wasn’t really muddy, but very slick in sports and the rocks were full on slime. Because of the tree cover it wasn’t drying out in time for our race.

@pooriggy and I headed out for a pre-ride and did the first half. The trail was as advertised with mostly decent conditions, but plenty of slimy spots especially in turns and then the rocks were just super slick. The Morsa was the right tire for this race. We both agreed the right strategy was conservative in the rocks, and open it up where it was possible.

I got to the line a little late and as stuck at the end of the pack. I was already thinking about a strategy to get to the front ASAP and beat most of the pack to the singletrack where there was sure to be a clusterfuck of guys screwing up in the little rock garden. But then, Brian L from Bulldog did the best thing ever…. CALL Ups!!! I’m currently in 4th in the series so I got a first row call up… boom. The 3rd guy declined the front row so there were only 3 of us… even better with less traffic.

Once we’re off, the first 15 seconds seemed like we were either in slow motion or we were just going slow. Half way to the singletrack and I opened up it bit and had a gap going into the woods. I navigated the rocks not exactly with grace, but I got through them clean and then was able to enjoy the yelling behind me. They were all backed up and I had clear trails in front of me.

I kept the hammer down and tried to give myself some margin for error with the punchy climbs that were also littered with slimy rocks. I heard someone yelling my name but they were too far back to know what they were yammering about I had 1 goal and that was to keep it smooth and fast. Everything and everyone else was background noise.

Halfway through the lap I got caught by Will. Will was pretty friendly and he right away wanted to work together to work on the gap. I sat on his wheel for the rest of the first lap, riding everything cleanly, [passing the back end of the open class here and there. Every time we passed someone, he said “that’s another spot between us and 3rd place”. I knew what he meant, but I wasn’t as optimistic that 3rd place was losing ground. I told him, Piotr was fast and would probably make an appearance. Sure enough, as soon as we got onto the fire road Piotr flew by us and attacked. He must have been a little gassed from bridging and we caught back up immediately.

At this point we were half way through the race and I felt pretty good.. HR was up there when it should, and I was recovering when I had a chance. When my HR responds this quickly, I know I am in a good place. Just this alone was a good sign and I was almost happy with sitting in third. Will and Piotr were gapping me a little, but I was able to bridge without too much effort. I as keeping them in sight but not killing myself. ¾ of the way into the 2nd lap I looked down and my HR monitor was getting flaky. It was showing a HR of 190-210 which is way way higher than It should. I hate to admit it, but it got in my head a little. I should know better and I do, but there was a sliver of doubt that something was up. So I switched to a screen that didn’t have my HR on it to get it out of my head.

As my mind was fucking with me, Piotr attacked again and will responded. This was at the bottom of that one climb towards the end right before the switch backs. I had good climbing legs and was able to cut the gap in half. When I got the switch backs, Piotr was off the bike trying to fix something. Will was riding away.

In the fields I caught back up to Will and we started doing our thing again. He definitely seemed stronger but I was more familiar with the course and was able to recover and knew when to carry more speed. This was a big help and let me stay right on his wheel.

As we went up a little hill that loops back, I saw @BrianGT3 coming up. Oh Shit was all I thought. Brian is a second half racer and I knew if we didn’t keep pushing , he would catch up. I had lost a little space to will, and this was the motivation I needed to catch up. All that thought about being ok with finishing wherever was out. I was locking in and looking for a win.

Once I caught him I told Will he had to move faster, someone fast is coming so he turned it up a little. We both dismounted and ran up that little rock wall… as I remounted I was worried I would cramp.. that would have been the end of it there. But I remounted clean (Cross muscle memory!). We got to the fire road and TT’d it to the woods.

Once on the second half I was hoping we could open the gap on Brian on the climbs. That seemed like that worked. I would see him in the spots that backtracked but after a little bit, I didn’t see him anymore. We attacked every climb and I was right on Will’s tire. Down the switchbacks and to the gravel path we knew it was about to be go time. We both told each other it was great racing and were looking towards the finish sprint.

Once we crossed the road, will went into TT mode. He had lots and lots of power. I stuck to his wheel as best as I could. I must have went from thinking “I can’t catch”, to “I can catch” 100 times in 15 seconds. As we went around the left bend, the finish line became visible and was right there. I am not sure how, but I swung left and powered past 10 feet from the finish line. Another Sprint finish… and this one counted and was for a win. Fucking A that felt good.

Brian came though a few seconds later for a 3rd.

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JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Awesome job! That must have been a pretty exciting finish to see for any spectators that were hanging around the finish line.
 

Magic

Formerly 1sh0t1b33r
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Awesome work Jeremy. After @BrianGT3's Instagram post the day prior about getting the bike dialed, I could see a good day on the bike for him. That was CLOSE.

Awesome job! That must have been a pretty exciting finish to see for any spectators that were hanging around the finish line.
The finish was in the middle of a field of tall grass. Not really spectator friendly, at least the timed finish line where it counts.
 
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