Lyons/Pueblo/Moab/Fruita

I know this post is really late so I'm not gonna bore you with my words - here is a link to all the pictures from our trip. If you ever get the chance to go on this trip we highly recommend it. Thank you again Dave from Redstone Cyclery for tuning up my bike and for the hospitality.

https://picasaweb.google.com/fattypatty17/BikeTrip2011COUT?authkey=Gv1sRgCNSn_aKnjbrABQ&feat=directlink

Voodoo Fire - Pueblo, CO

The Voodoo Fire race in Pueblo, CO was the start of an epic week of riding in Moab, UT and Fruita, CO with the RF's and Eyberg. We all decided to to the half-marathon race which was a 35 mile course. Looking online at some posts from local riders showed it was gonna be a fast course with not a lot of technical rocky terrain except for some shale rock. The race started with a nice paved hill climb to seperate people out before the singletrack. Once we hit the singletrack I found out quick that cornering was gonna be a bit tough, they consisted of some loose dirt and small rock. I started making moves early to work my way up front and was moving thru successfully. I came across Ryan on the side, asked if he was good and he just yelled "GO GO GO" ok onward I went - found out later he cut a sidewall and went thru 2 tubes and that ended his day. The shale rock was taking a toll on a lot of riders, as I saw changing tubes on the side of course. Then it was my turn I was on some doubletrack and felt the rear of my bike start moving around a bit so I looked back and sure enough my tire was going low. I stopped off to the side of the course and found out that I had a cut in my sidewall also, which ended my day. Eyberg finished 7th out of 36 in the age group and Roxy took home 1st in her division. Great job. On the brighter side if you check out this link there is a cool link to a picture of me in Mountain Flyer magazine http://www.mountainflyermagazine.com/view.php/voodoo-fire-rocky-mountain-endurance-series-race-1.html

Bone Bender 2011

Bone Bender 2011

Bone Bender, name is fitting for the course in Lawrence, KS Clinton Lake, lots of rocky terrain and for us Omaha peeps not something we are accustomed to. Platte River is the only course with some terrain similar to it, Clinton Lake is Platte x 100. I decided to do the 3hr race and was very glad I did as it really turned into almost a 4hr event. The race began with a LeMans start, we had to run up a hill to find your bike, hit some pavement and then onto the singletrack. I saw one dude fall while running at the beginning  he probably got trampled by the mob of racers, felt bad for him. I had a descent start but we got backed up a bit and had to jump off to get over a rocky hill section because if you didn't have any momemtum you weren’t going to make it. I broke off from the madness pretty quick and put some distance on the pack which was nice, I could ride my race without having someone breathing down my neck and make silly mistakes since I had no idea what was to come. I came in after my 3rd lap around 2hr 48 minutes so... 4th lap here we go thanks to Rafal yelling at me"get out there and do the 4th lap” - much appreciated as it would have dropped me in final spots if I hadn’t gone. The course had a little of everything some rocky areas, some nice flowing big ring sections (which I took full advantage of) water crossings and some hills. The course was in perfect condition considering Thursday they had bout 2" of rainfall. The trip was a blast, I have to thank Ryan and Rox for the ride down and back and Kevin for the hotel room on Saturday night, it was nice not having to get up and drive 3 hours Sunday morning and race. To cap it off we all took home some hardware as Ryan took 2nd in the Cat 1 Open, Rox took 3rd in the Cat 1 Open women and I took home 1st in the Cat 2 Open. Next up the Voodoo Fire 35 miler in Pueblo, CO on April 23rd then onto Moab and capping it off at the Rabbit Valley XC in Fruita, CO on April 30th.

Here is a link to full results: http://www.moto-tally.com/TWC/Results.aspx

Earth Day at Union Pacific

Wasn't there a song by some dude named Frank Sinatra that went something like this? Ok so maybe its slightly remixed but aren’t all songs this era?

Well this one is remixed by "DJ RICK" ha ha for you Mike.

Start spreading the news...about all that is THOR. I’m learning more today and want you to be a part of it THOR yes THOR, These cycling shoes are longing to ride... right thru the very trails that THOR prepares for you and I. I want to wake up in a city that is informed and find that we’re building these trails for you to enjoy, Theres this little trail called Jewell and its right on the way... to another great trail built for you by THOR yes THOR. If we can build it there we can build it anywhere its up to you to find out more about THOR yes THOR. ♪♪♪

Yesterday Union Pacific had their Earth Day in the building lobby from 10-1, a lot of vendors supporting health and wellness, Trek Store, and of course THOR. Roxzanne Feagan, Mark Herbst, Patty and myself all took some time out of our day to go and support this event. I think we had a great turnout, a lot of people came up and were asking questions on what exactly we do and where the trail systems are. We had a great display and brochures that we were able to hand out to everyone to make them more knowledgeable.

InVaSiOn oF SpAnDeX - Bellevue Ballihoo

InVaSiOn oF SpAnDeX - Bellevue Ballihoo

This past weekend was the Bellevue Ballihoo. Last year after racing the whole Psycowpath series in the Cat 3 Open class and taking the championship I had to move up to Cat 2. I am very excited to move up in class and get a chance to race against different competion this year. I was feeling good leading up to the weekend but I will admit on Friday as the time neared and I was getting registered the butterflies were there. This was also my first race after joining Elkhorn Valley Cycling Club. The race weekend was 3 races in 2 days, Jewell Time Trial, then Swanson short-track and then Sunday the Swanson XC race. Started the weekend off at Jewell for a time trial, I really like the course I just don't ride it very often so I was just looking to better my time of 22:00 from last year. After completing the 3.5 mile jewell of a course my time was 20:50 which placed me 6th out of 20, I was very happy as I shaved some time off and placed well but Jewell still kicked my ass.... took a good 10 minutes to get my chest from burning after race. After the race the family went to get some Subway, needed some food before the next race. Swanson was setup as a Crit, I didnt have much knowledge on how this was gonna play out I just figured pedal as fast as you can and good things will happen. I loved the course they setup much props to the RF's and Psycowpath the course was excellent. I finished 6th out of 15 and again was pleased.

Sunday woke up and the legs felt a little stiff but once I was up and moving around they loosened up. The Swanson XC is a 3 lap event so I knew I had to pace myself a bit and not burn up too early. My goal was to get out early to avoid the mass bottle-neck once we hit the singletrack, WELL..... that didn't happen. I really need to work on my starts this year and not fall back and have to work my way up to the front. Now back to the bottle-neck we hit the singletrack and second corner we got backed up a bit I slowed down and then when I went to go a root had a different idea, I hit it and down I went, as I'm picking myself and the bike up I watch 2-3 riders go on by. I composed myself and on I went, but in the back of my head I'm still thinking of the time and positions I lost so I was pushing it pretty hard,  and guess what I was taking a corner a little wide and my pedal hit a tree branch that was there and low and behold over the handlebars I went. Once again I watch 2-3 riders go by, as I get going a fellow rider has the quote of the day "If you keep it on 2 wheels you won't have to keep passing me" Great Advice. So not even 1/2 lap in I'm down twice... and I love this course outside of Platte my favorite and I ride it quite often so wasn't like anything unexpected out there. At this point I'm pissed and determined to make it up to

the front, I am passing quite a few riders, only bad thing is I don't know if they are in my class or in marathon, oh well just keep it up. I finished strong and ended up in 7th out of 26 riders, a nice field. So after all was done I was happy considering the start I had. The Psycowpath racing weekend had a great start with over 200 registered riders on Sunday and also the Omaha DEVO first kids race also took place, great job to them also. Great weekend of racing and the weather  held out for us and as always I couldn’t do it without the support of my family. Thank you! Next up is the BoneBender at Clinton Lake in Kansas on April 17, hope to see all there!

Quoteof the day: Fellow competitor to me, Keep it on 2 wheels and you won't have to keep passing me.

Quote of the day from Alicia: “DAD FIGHT LIKE YOU WANT IT” this was yelled at me as I was going onto lap 2. Ha Ha good stuff.

New CX Bike

I have wanted a CX bike for quite some time so that I could get some good long miles in. I found a good deal on a Scott Team CX Comp bike that I jumped on. Went out on Saturday and got in 30 miles, felt good to get back on the bike I haven't been out since Thanksgiving morning. Here are a couple pics... just for you Mike.

Happy Thanksgiving

Bike Bash 2010

Going into the 2010 racing season my goal was to take the championship and get some good racing experience. I was able to attain my goal with some stiff competition in all races. Went to Bike Bash 2010 put on by the Psycowpath Racing Series, great turnout approximately 75-80 people attended. I took home the 1st place medal for the Mens Cat 3 Open division. I am really looking forward to the 2011 racing season in the Mens Cat 2 division with EVCC. Fellow EVCC riders Jeff Hoff and Jon Downey also took home 1st and 2nd in the Cat 3 45+, 3rd place was taken by Brian Hromas. Alex Sanchez also took home 2nd place medal for the Mens Cat 3 35+. Congrats to all who raced this season. A big thank you to all the volunteers and to Ryan and Roxy Feagan for putting in the time without them none of the races could go off smoothly.

Here's a link provided by Psycowpath to a video they put together: http://www.vimeo.com/16747701

Brian Hromas, Jerry Hoff (EVCC) & Jon Downey (EVCC)

Alex Sanchez

Elkhorn Cylcing Club and Week of Riding

This was an exciting week for me, I joined Elkhorn Valley Cycling Club on Tuesday. Going into the 2011 season I was looking to join a race team and Jon Downey and Dan Spray approached me on joining Elkhorn Valley. I talked it over with the family and decided it would be the best fit for me. Everyone from the team have been welcoming. Here is a link to the announcement http://nencycling.org/wixon_evcc I cannot wait for the 2011 season to start. I have a lot of events planned including Xterra Triathlons, Psycowpath races, Dakota 5-0 and possibly a 1/2 Ironman..... hopefully.

Thursday was a great day, per KMTV a top 10 day of the year, this was great news since Cory and I had decided to make it a MTB day. We started out going to Calvin Crest in Fremont, NE for a couple laps. The highlight was riding Cory's Stumpjumper 29er. I had not spent much time on a 29er bike so it was nice to be able to ride one. After riding CC we needed to load back up on some carbs so.... CiCi's pizza was calling. After downing too much pizza we moved onward to Swanson in Bellevue, NE. We did 2 laps there also. Swanson is such a fun course, it has a little bit of everything. It was now time for Cory to pick up the kids from school and me to pick up Alicia, but I was not done yet. I went over to Tranquility for a quick lap. Total for the day was approx. 25 miles of singletrack sweetness between 3 different courses.

                                                            $3.99 Buffet can you beat it??

                                                        Picture taken at Calvin Crest

                                    
                                                      Swanson back course closed off

Officers training

Swanson Trailhead

On Friday Patty tells me she has a meeting after work and can take Alicia with her if I want to call the boys and go for a night ride. I didn't hesitate and text Mike asked if he wanted to do a night ride at Tranquility. We rounded up the troops and Mike, Dave N, Brian H, Dale, and myself headed out to TQ for a lap backwards with the lights blazin'. Unfortunately I was only able to do little over 1/2 lap since my Magicshine light was not fully charged - oops - since it was a last minute decision to ride.

Saturday was family day, we went to lunch at the Old Mattress Factory, then to the Creighton Women's soccer game with Alicia and her Toro Soccer team. Creighton vs Evansville, I am not a soccer fan but it was fun to see a live game, Creighton won 3-0. I still would not turn on TV and watch a game but live was OK.   After the game we had planned to go to Manawa for the THOR event, take your kid mountain biking day.  When we got there things were wrapping up, but it sounded like they had a good turnout and plan to make it a tradition. Saturday night I watched my Florida State Seminoles take care of Miami FL. They needed the win to stay in the top 25.

Sunday slept in...well needed. I was able to squeeze a lap in at Tranquility, while there I ran into Chris Price working on the inner loop hill climb. He has done a ton of work on TQ over the last week or so, if you have not been out there check it out and I promise you will not cuss out the inner loop anymore. Make sure you let Chris know how much you appreciate his hard work. Thanks Chris!

             Picture of the Day! Paul with his rolled up Dockers, Button down shirt and work shoes.

Dakota 5-0 Official Results

http://dakotafiveo.com/10racetimes.html
Official results just posted

Branched Oak Psycowpath Race

This is a course that I'm pretty familiar with since I competed in a couple of the Flatwater Training races here earlier in the year. I was somewhat  concerned since I just completed the Dakota 5-0 a week prior, so wasn't sure

how the legs were gonna feel. At race time they informed us it was gonna be a 2 lap race equal to about 10 miles. We lined up down the hill on the gravel road, I stuck my wheel on Clint Robinson off the start and was 2nd into the singletrack. I stayed in 2nd for about 1/2 lap then made my move. After making pass I put some open dirt between myself and rest of pack, I looked back periodically and saw that Aaron Schnee had made his way up to 2nd, he is a  fast rider so I knew I had to keep my "A" game up and keep pushing it. I was able to hold Aaron off and get the victory. Great job to both Aaron and Clint as they both ride single speeds. Only 1 more race to go in the series at Swanson since Lake Manawa is still under water. Swanson is one of my favorite courses so really looking forward to it on the 25th. Thanks again to Psycowpath and all the volunteers that make these races go as planned. Full results can be found at http://www.psycowpath.com/images/stories/Branched_Oak_Results.pdf

Dakota 5-0

                                      

I just want to start by saying if you have not done the 5-0 then shame on you! This is my first year doing the race and I'm already looking forward  to next year. The race is a must for anyone that enjoys mtn biking. We drove up on Thursday morning so that I could pre-ride a part of the course and to just enjoy the beautiful town of Spearfish. I decided on Friday to ride the new section of the course so see what was in store for the  race. The section starts on an uphill doubletrack section and then goes into some nice singletrack. I ended up riding approx 12 miles, a nice warmup for the upcoming race. Going into this race my keyword was "PACE" not the picante sauce kind but pace myself so I don't burn up too early. I am a rookie at the endurance events, prior to this my only other long race was an event put on by Jim Craig (angrycowadventures.com) Panama which was 35 miles at which I cramped at mile 20 and limped my way to the finish line suffering the whole way. At this point I vowed to never let this happen again, so this was in essence a redemption race for me.

Race morning arrived, woke up at 4:30am ate some food, gathered up a few items for the race and then layed back down for a bit. The pre-race jitters were flowing now, going over everything in my head making sure I have all that I need along the way. I rolled up to the starting line, positioned my start behind the expert and pro classes. Smokey the Bear led us out of town and race is on. The first 3.5-4 miles out of town is a gravel road, on the way up I passed a few people and a few passed me, my competitive instincts were trying to kick in and say kick it up! Wisely I did not. PACE PACE, you will catch them later in the ride. I hit the singletrack and it was wheel to wheel for the first 8-10 miles then people started to make moves and seperate out. I had planned ahead of time to skip aid station 1 since my wife Patty and daughter Alicia would be at aid station 2 with full water bottles for me. This worked out perfectly as I rolled into aid station 2 I quickly scanned the crowd found them changed bottles out and I was off, no time wasted. Continuing on I just kept a nice pace trying to stay hydrated with water and also using Hammer Perpetuem. After aid station

2 it was some nice flowy downhill singletrack. I made my way to aid station 3 and made a decision that I would continue on as water bottles were still good. I tried to conserve some energy at this point because after aid station 4 it was a long uphill climb on some new cut in singletrack. I was able to stay on the bike for most of the uphill, couple times I felt my legs cramping so I jumped off bike. Bacon station/PBR was up next and this is where Patty and Alicia were with some full cold water bottles. As I rode up Patty yelled out "do you need the bottles" I said "no I'm good", this would come back to haunt me later....ugggghhhh. On the last uphill dirt road I started to cramp pretty bad, I jumped off bike and started walking. Another rider #92 was having same problem and offered up some Hammer Electrolyte tabs, only thing is I only had a swallow of water left, just enough to get them down. Thank you for the tabs #92!! Finally I was on the homestretch some really fun downhill leading out to the gravel road to finish. I pushed it pretty hard, made my way out to the gravel road and went on to the finish line. My time was 5 hours 22 minutes 59 seconds which put me 64th in my age group 30-39 and 143rd overall. For my first time riding the race, it exceeded my expectations, I was looking for around 6 hours pre-race. I am really pumped for next year already.

Few things of note:

I could not have done this without the support of my family.
Spearfish campground was beautiful and so is the town
11 year old boy was killing it out there, finished somewhere under 6 hours
Met some great people from Minnesota, one of which who lead Patty & Alicia to aid station 2 and the bacon station, thanks Renee
20+ riders from Nebraska, great showing

Pictures from the Five-0 can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/fattypatty17

Maskenthine Psycowpath XC Race

Maskenthine was the 7th race of the Psycowpath series. Going into this weekend I was 1st in Cat 3 Open points, so a good finish was needed to stay on top. The course is a 5 mile loop and the race was 2 laps. I went out on the course early with Alex to get the blood flowing and get legs warmed up. The race starts out down by the marina on a gravel road then makes a left turn up the hill and then into the singletrack. I took off strong but as we made the left turn up the gravel road the legs were not l00% so going into singletrack I was 7th. At this point I was a little worried as I didn't want the leaders to get out of reach, the race had a lot of good riders. I made the turn into the singletrack and coming down the hill I made my first move passing a rider, and as I made a corner my rear tire burped... OH NO not again, if you know my prev history on my rear tire going flat you would understand why I was worried!. I took a quick glance back and everything seemed OK so on I went. At the end of the first lap I had worked my way up to 4th with 2nd and 3rd in my sights. As I made my way down the hill right after the start/finish line of 1st lap the 2nd place rider bobbled a bit and that slowed down 3rd place also, I was just far enough back I used my momentum and took the grass on the outside and made my move. Now not only did I have to set my sights on 1st I had to hold off the 2 riders I had just passed. I pushed hard thru the technical section and put a couple marathon riders in between for a bit of a cushion. I could now finally see the 1st place rider, at about 1/2 way point of 2nd lap I caught up to him and made the pass, I still had some left in the tank so I pushed it hard to again put a gap in between us. At the finish I was 1st, Kyle Blair of Norfolk took 2nd, Michael Dixon 3rd and Clint Robinson 4th. It all worked out in the end even though my start was not what I was hoping for. Great race and thanks to the Elkhorn Valley Cycling Club for putting it on and a great race course. Also thanks to all volunteers. Full race results can be found here: http://www.psycowpath.com/images/stories/Maskenthine_results_2010.pdf

Xterra B.O.L.T - Round 2

This would be the 2nd time that I have competed in this event, last year I placed 52nd out of 100 entrants, not bad for my first ever triathlon event. I was really looking forward to this event for a couple reasons, first my good friend Cory was entered again (51st last year with same time as me 2:59:55) and second it was close to home, only 45 minutes away. Cory and I had set a goal of top 20 for this event, and set out a training schedule that would hopefully allow us to attain our goal. Training started out great, for the first 6 weeks or so we were dead on with the training feeling like we were far above the year priors training. At around week 7 or so the wheels fell off for both of us, seemed like something always came up and training got pushed off to the side. I am also competing in the Psycowpath MTB racing series this year for the first time and bike training took precedence over everything else. As the Xterra got closer and closer I squeezed in some running here and there, and kinda put the swim on hold figuring it would be as it would.

Even though Branched Oak Lake is only 45 minutes away Cory and I had decided to stay in Lincoln the night before, we went over to Cycle Works to check in and get our packets and off we went to get some carbs. We hit up the Garmin for restaurants and Valentino's popped up and only 1 mile away...SCORE. Except for it was a carry-out only...grrrrr so again Garmin was put to use, 2nd Valentino's was not there anymore, at this point I told Cory anywhere would be ok. He was determined to find a Val's so a 3rd try and low and behold we found it and the buffet was incredible, hard not to over eat. 

Race morning came and we headed out to the Lake, this years event was different in that there was 2 different transition areas, 1 for coming out of water to the bike (helmet,gloves,shoes,sunglasses) and second one off the bike into the run (vibrams). This was somewhat hectic making sure that you have all the right equipment at each area. 

Gun went off and off we went, the swim went as planned - just get through it - as I was nearing the beach I looked to see where Cory was and sure enough he was right next to me, we got out of  the water only seconds apart. On to the bike (YES) I started off pacing myself even though I wanted to put the pedal to the metal, the first part of course was through a mowed field and then into the singletrack. My game plan was to wait til the singletrack and then hit it hard. Going through the singletrack Cory was just ahead of me until a rider slipped up on a rocky section and that's when I made my move, I  passed couple riders and on I went picking off rider by rider. When we hit the paved portion of the course (not fond of but watcha gonna do) heading over to Area 7 Cory caught up with me and we rode Area 7 nose to tail and again hit the transition area seconds apart. Now onto the run (uggghhh) my weakest part and knowing I just did a tri 2 weeks prior and competed in 3 short course Psycowpath races the weekend before all in the back of my head. I started off with a slow pace just trying to maintain and not get passed, as I kept going I got in a rhythm slow by standards but to me it was good. When I finished I was happy with my run overall. Cory had a better pace than me in the run and finished a couple spots ahead of me under 2 minutes ahead. We unfortunately did not attain our goal of top 20 but we did fair well Cory finished 34th 3:00:19 and I finished 36th at 3:02:13 and 6 out of 13 in age division. Looking forward to racing again next year. Full results can be found here: http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=15572&relist_record_type=result&lower_bound=0&upper_bound=70&use_previous_sql=1&group_by=default#racetop

Cory & I after going thru the finish line

Xterra Sugar Bottom

Last August I competed in my first Xterra Triathlon ever at Branched Oak Lake, Malcolm NE. After finishing I told my wife it was the hardest thing I have ever done. Just to give you a quick background up until I was asked (told) by Cory that we were entering my extent of swimming was oh bout 100 yards or so, I don't like running and at the time I didn't even own a bike...hmmmm. After a few hours of completing the triathlon I was already talking about next year. I am always up for a challenge so planning began. The Xterra BOLT was already on my list of competitions to do, as I was looking at the Xterra Planet website I saw there was a race in Coralville, IA which is only 3 hrs away. The only bad thing is that it was only 2 weeks prior to the BOLT. I debated back and forth and then my decision was made for me (yes again) not by Cory this time but by me winning a free entry to the event through a contest on Facebook. Thank you Pasha. The course consisted of a .93 mile swim, 15.9 mile bike and then 6 mile run.

A little inspiration from Alicia

The race course had to be altered a couple different times because of all the rain that they have had in the area, which meant some pavement riding. We started off on the swim and it was an out and back, about 1/2 way out my goggles fogged up, hoping this was not how my day was gonna go I was able to get 1 eye cleared and off I went. After making the turn and coming back towards the beach I was able to pick up the pace, just being able to see land. Onto the bike which started out on some pavement, along the way Patty and Alicia were volunteers at a run aid station, I passed them and got an encouraging yell from Alicia "go dad you can pass them" I was able to get in a really good rhythm even though I have never ridden the course before and had a top 25 time. The run was a 6 mile half trail/half road run, it would be a very difficult run for me. I was able to get thru it since Patty and Alicia were at an aid station that I passed a couple times during run and hearing Alicia yell at me "Go Dad you can win"... I had to laugh to myself  "win" wasn't gonna happen but I was a winner in her eyes and that is all that mattered. Thanks for the support to my beautiful wife Patty and beautiful daughter Alicia. :-) Love you both.
 
When it comes to these triathlons it is a roller-coaster ride for me throughout, I start the swim and along the way I look around and there is nothing and it feels like I'm doing a lot of work and not even moving, it is deceiving. Then I jump out and get on the bike (my favorite part) and the place where I feel I can make up some valuable ground on everyone. The run is last and is the hardest, I usually get passed by some competitors which is discouraging because all the work I put in to pass on the bike goes away on the run.Then the end and seeing the final results put me back to a high again! I definitely feel part of an elite group of people, as my motto states "If it was easy, everyone would do it".

picture form press-citizen.com

I finished in 36th place overall and 9th out of 18 in my age group with a time of 3:20:24 Full results can be found here: http://www.pigmantri.com/jmsracing/results10/xsugar10b.html