Addison Back, Boyne Up

Last weekend was the first race in the Michigan Endurance Cup series, the 12 Hours of Addison Oaks. This race has loomed large on my calendar for nearly five months. Having not raced much the past two years, I was a bit nervous about how my body would respond to the rigors of endurance racing. Well, I am happy to report that things went well.

I like the Addison course which is a good thing. Riding a course you dislike for 12 hours can be a demoralizing endeavor. The course sets up well for a SS. I ran a 32x17 which was nearly perfect for 99% of the course. There are two short, punchy climbs that hurt a bit, but the rest of the course is twisty single-track and open two-track, so the gear was great.

I started fast as I wanted to get in front of the traffic going into the first single-track section. I was in the top 6 or 7 going in tot he tight section and settled in a bit. The SS was not giving up much, so it was not to tough to stick with the big boys. I saw Dave at the start and then again after he crashed. I never saw him again. He's just too strong to try and race with. I popped out onto the back two-track section and noticed that my HR was at 188. It was time to slow down! I backed off and got my HR under control and got comfy for the long day ahead.

I had some back pain, which is new for me. I hope that it was just an anomalous thing and not an indication of injury or age. From 1:00 until 4:00 I felt horrible. I wanted to stop and get off the bike. During this time the wind came up and there were branches crashing all around the course. It was scary. Around 4:00 the wind died down and the sun came out. The sun, mixed with some calorie intake, made me feel much better. From then on, I felt strong.

I had no idea where I was in the race, which is a bit unnerving at times. I dragged my feet on what I thought was my last lap, but I still came in at 9:46. I quickly checked off the course, scoped out the standings (which had not been updated) and decided that one more lap was in order. I think that last lap was one of my fastest! I was motivated to be done.

When it was all said and done, I won by two laps. I completed the same number of laps as the geared solo riders which made me feel great. We rode 21 laps, 140 miles, in 12:15.

Next up is The 24 Hours of Boyne.

Dollars, Disappointment and Racing

I have been reminded by some people that my blog is woefully out of date. This is as telling of what things have been like as telling you about them. I won't let that deter me though.

I'll start with the bad news. The Italy trip has been cancelled. The promoter cited the weakness of the U.S, dollar as the main reason along with low booking numbers. This just gives me one more reason to be absolutely disgusted with the current leadership in our country. How can people sit by while one man and his cronies destroy our country while waving the flag and talking about patriotism. I hope that there is a special place in hell for all of them.

On to the good news. I did my first race of the season April 20. Paris-Ancaster is one of my favorite races of the year. The race is 60K of paved/dirt roads, two-tracks, rail-trail, and farmer's fields. Anne, Jack and I drove to Ontario on Saturday afternoon. We headed to the packet pick-up in Ancaster. From there, I rode back to Paris while Anne and Jack headed to the motel. We had supper at a local restaurant and called it an early evening. Race morning dawned warm and clear. We drove to the start line and I started my warm-up. The start chute was the normal push and shove match, but I managed to get a reasonable spot in the first wave. The gun went off and the season was under way. I moved forward steadily through the first rail-trail section and was in the top 50 moving toward the first dirt road and two-track sections. I maintained a steady HR and Wattage output throughout the race. The wind came up to a steady 20 MPH headwind and I got stuck alone in two key upwind stretches. This cost me. I finished strong however, beating my best time by nearly 14 minutes, good for 4th in SS.

The 12 Hours of Addison Oaks is coming up next weekend. I am entering the solo 12 hour category. This will be a true test of my fitness and my stamina. The very next week will see me compete int he 24 Hours of Boyne. I have heard that the new course is very difficult, so gearing will be a real challenge.

Pictures and race reports to come.