Show-me Games

Columbia Rockbridge MTB Race - Part Deux

The Show-Me State Games Rockbridge MTB race would be my first Midwest Fat Tire Series race since Lost Valley in March, so I wasn't sure how things would go since I have been focusing more on road racing over the spring and summer months. I did get a chance to pre-ride part of the course after I raced the Show-Me State Games Road Race last Saturday, so I wasn't as apprehensive as I might have been. The course was a good mix of terrain and not too technical, so I was good to go, although I did not pre-ride the starting loop of the race course. My first lap did not go well. I missed the huge, red right hand turn arrow on a tree at the bottom of the first long downhill and went with the flow of the trail left. I went about a mile or so off course before running into a dead end & a good samaritan non-racer who took me back to the missed turn. I was pretty discouraged at this point. I decided to ride conservatively & aim for a safe finish. With only 3 in Women's Sport, I could do no worse than 3rd & would never catch up after being so far off course. However, if I ended up injured or with a major mechanical, I could DNF & not get any points for the race. The first & only major climb, I did not gear down in time & lost my chain. After fixing that, I road slow & steady, but really enjoyed just riding for fun. I stopped and chatted at the water stop, checked my time, and figured I would not have to go out on a second lap. The only other issue I had after that was a bee in my helmet that I had to stop for. The last 2 or 3 miles went very fast, and when I pulled up to the line, I still had about 15 minutes to kill. I sat for a few more minutes. I wasn't tired & my legs felt good because I never reached race effort. Finally, I decided to go on back out & ride the loop again. I really enjoyed the flow of the trail this time without as many errors. I still made a tactical mistake on the longer uphill section and did not downshift in time, but other than that, road the loop much cleaner & faster. I was still careful, as I wanted to make sure I finished. I hope that my confidence will improve over the next few months as I mountain bike race again, but no matter what, it is always a joy just to be ridin' in the woods!

Great job to Jay & Jason for fighting hard to overcome their mechanicals and finish so well. Brian just wasn't having a good day and that can be hard to overcome. Keith stepped up and did well in his first Sport race. He would have been assured a top spot in Beginner based on his time, but he's already prepping for next year. I could learn a thing or two watching my fellow team members. Physically I could have done much more in this race as I felt very good, but I played it conservatively & don't feel I gave it my best effort once things began to unravel. Lesson learned. Clean slate for Castlewood.

Columbia Rockbridge MTB race

This past Sunday was the Columbia Rockbridge mtb race. I was pumped up for this race thinking we had about 5 team members going. Well one by one, everyone backed out except for myself and Jason Pryor. Brad was unsure if he was going until 7:30 Sunday morning he sent me a text telling me to go without him. So I headed off to Columbia, by myself.
I pulled into the parking lot to see Jason and Keith Weinkein. Went to the registration table and decided to get a little warm up in. Keith and I rode about 3 miles or so and turned back around because we had a prerace meeting. I timed it really well, only having 20 minutes to get a drink and start the race, so I had no time to sit around and get tired.
We lined up at the start, Jason and I in the middle. I asked him what his strategy was and he said that he really didnt know. So the horn went off and we took off. Jason immediately sprinted out of the gate, shit now i have to play catch up. I was in the middle of the pack around the first turn when we hit a little rough spot and my chain locked up. I couldnt move my peddles at all! I had to jump off of the bike and figure out what the hell went wrong. I fixed it in a minute or two but now I am in last place, dead freaking last!!! I now had to weasle my way through some very slow traffic, and some guys wouldnt let me pass so I had to take the hard way. About 5 miles into it I started seeing the guys in front. I was probably in 8th or so place when there came a long grass uphill section. Obviously the people in this pack were starting to fade quickly. I pulled up on their rear wheel. There were about 7 guys in a straight line. Some from other age brackets. I decided this was my time and my legs had been feeling awesome all day. I pulled to the side and passed every freakin one of them, with authority. I blew right by them and never saw them again. Now I felt really good! I got some extra energy by blowing past them, so I opened up a GU energy gell and swallowed it whole. I knew in about 10-15 minutes I would get the extra kick i was looking for. There was then another stretch of grass and I passed a few more people. I was holding my spot for a long time when we came to a pretty technical climb. I saw 4 guys walking up the hill breathing very heavily. Since I had been feeling so good all day, I decided to hammer through. I passed them with ease and slammed up the hill and never looked back.
The start of the second lap I was in 3rd place. I had given everything trying to catch up to Pryor. I turned the corner and saw him with a flat tire. Well shit, now I am in second but I didnt want to pass him that way! I pushed on by myself for a while longer and saw another busken and another girl on the same long grass section that I passed so many on the first lap. I passed them two and asked Brian if he was ok, he said it was one of those days! I rode the rest of the lap by myself trying to catch up to the first place guy. Never caught him.
I ended up in 2nd, best finish yet for me! Took home another medal and now I have to get ready for Castlewood this coming Sunday.
Jay

Thursday Night Dirt Crit

I finally made it out to Castlewood last night to see what the Thursday Night Dirt Crits were all about. You can choose to race A, B or C level or race multiples if so inclined. The loop is non-technical, but fast & furious. Lots of cowbell ringing, cheering and beer hand-ups for racers made it not only fun to race, but great to watch as well! A-racers were muddy head to toe as they raced right after the downpour. It was so slick, that a few of my friends doing B race advised me not to take the chance. However, as I watched the B-racers, they didn't have nearly as much mud on them as A, so I decided to go for it. Great job to Brian Busken who finished well in a loaded B race! The dirt crit was good training for me - you push hard from the start & never let up. Sprinting is not my forte, so I definitely could use more of this type of racing to make me faster. The C race was stacked with some strong female riders, so I was happy to finish 4th out of the women. Next week is the last week for the dirt crits. I hope some of us can make it!

Schlafly Cycling Team in New Jersey!

This past month my wife and I decided that we were going to go back to New Jersey, for a little vacation. I am originally from there, and my brother Damon, Mom, & Dad still live there. So we packed up the van with the necessities. Our daughter, dog, clothes, bike, & and of course some great Schlafly beer. After 15 hours of driving we arrived at my parents house in Sparta, NJ. That area of New Jersey is really beautiful, with lots of rolling hills and pretty scenery. It is nothing like what most people see when they fly into Newark International Airport.

I was very excited to get to New Jersey! I was also kind of nervous about the hills. Being the most out of shape and heaviest (fattest) member of the Schlafly Cycling Team, I was wondering if I could climb the hills upto my parents house.

We arrived in NJ on Sunday afternoon. We promptly filled up a cooler with some Schlafly and went out on the boat. We ran into some friends out there, so I passed out some of the Summer Lager. It was a hugh hit!

Monday was a day of relaxing from the long drive, and the night before. The Summer Lager went down very easy, and I was feeling a bit hungover.

Tuesday I was feeling much better so my brother Damon and I put on our Schlafly gear and set out on an 11 mile ride around the lake. I was trying to think when the last time was that I rode a bike around the lake. I think I was 11 years old, and I did it on a bmx bike. Which might be the reason why that was the last time I did it. When we set out I was wondering if I would be able to climb the hills. I don't know what I was thinking, but they were never a problem. I don't know what it is, but the hills look a lot worse when you drive them in a car...

Wednesday I wanted to climb Snake Mountain. It sounds really mean and looks that way. It is only 1/4 of a mile long, but it is straight up hill with a grade of 25% so it is really steep. It also has a few switchbacks in it. When I was riding up to it, I felt like I was going to run into a wall. I figured if I could climb this, then there was nothing that was going to stop me. I flew up the hill I wanted to get up it as fast as possible. I averaged 10 mph up it, which I thought was good. I was thinking the rest of the Schlafly team would have probably done 20 mph up it. But I thought it was a great accomplishment and was proud of it.

So after that my brother and I hit the rode again. This time we were going to go a different route with a lenght of about 15 miles. He told me that it was going to be flat. I think his idea of flat and mine are a bit different. It was pretty flat for most of the ride, but the last 3 miles were very hilly. I was feeling really good, about the ride until we made a right onto Current Drive. There was a very steep hill, that caught me of guard. So I put my bike in the lowest gear possible and just started peddaling. I sure was not going to break any land speed records up that hill, but we made it to the top. Just when I thought we were done there was another steep climb. This one was short, and we knocked it out. We were not done though, we had a little flat area before we had to begin the 1.25 mile climb up to my parents house. My brother set a nice tempo that I could keep up with and we went at it. My brother was in the lead the whole way, when we got near the top I said I was going to run him down and pass him. Being twins he must of read my mind because he stepped it up as well. I never caught him!

Friday we decided that we were going to do a longer ride. The longest ride that I have ever done was 25 miles. I wanted to do at least 30 miles, and the goal was to do 40 miles. We picked out a pretty flat route. So we set out on our way, each taking turns breaking the wind. At about 17 miles I was starting to feel crappy. So I had a bar and a drink. I started to feel better, but never really felt 100% after that. When we got to 25 miles I could feel my legs starting to cramp. So we made the decision to lower it to 30 miles. We did it, and I had reached a personal best! That was our last ride of the trip, because it was time to head back to Missouri the next day.

I learned a few things from this trip:

1. That I should never second guess my ability. I am not the fastest Schlafly team member, but I can get it done. "Whatever YOUR 100% is, GIVE IT" As long as you give your all you can be happy.

2. Riding with my brother was awesome! I can't wait until the next time!

Aaron

STL Traditions

Schlafly and Maull's!

Trifecta

Rode the Trifecta on Friday. Well, that was the plan. Started MTB at the mound and headed down the Hamburg. Rode Lost Valley and double flatted on the rocky downhill before the double track. Messed things up completely. Turned a 3 course meal into a salad and a appetizer. So I thought. I rode back to the car for more supplies while Keith and Christian Stitz finished the second lap at Lost Valley. We met up on the Katy Trail and headed for Klondike Park. This was the first time I ever rode Hogsback, wow, what a trail. All uphill. It put me in the red for the rest of Klondike. After finishing the trails and fueling up our bottles we hit the Katy back to Lost Valley. We skipped Matson Hill and turned our Trifecta into a Double and then team time trialed home to the Hamburg and the Lost Valley upper lot to enjoy a Helles Summer Lager and the coolest 3rd of July I can remember.

St. Joe MTB race pics