TDD - Blackwell Beatdown - 15th September 2019

Another week another race and boy was it a hot one! Sure it wasn't as hot as last weeks and we were fooled into thinking it may be cooler with the shade however there was very little breeze in the trees and I definitely over heated.

Lake Carl Blackwell

Lake Carl Blackwell is near Stillwater and has a 5mile ish singletrack loop which has a little bit of everything. There are a couple of rock drops, a flow section, a little climbing, loose turns on the pine needles and even a dual slalom course. I really enjoy riding there as it ticks a lot of boxes. The newly opened section is a great addition too.

Looking back at the new wooden feature
- photo from preride

My Race

As usual we set off at 1 million miles/hour, I maintained pace down the dual slalom but as we turned the corner and headed up to the finish line I was spit out of the back. Oh well time to individual time trial again and see what I could salvage from the race. I did manage to pass a guy on lap one and we rode similar pace through to the end of the lap where he blasted away from me on the climb up to the finish. I saw him briefly on the remaining laps through the trees, it was nice to have someone to and chase. 

The course was a fun one and I thought I was doing ok on laps one, two and even the first half of lap three then I started to get some twinges in the legs which went on to full cramps on lap four.  

The great news is I finished. Although I definitely didn't finish strong with some good old leg cramps on lap four. I did use bottles with EFS which has been previously working great. I also took a shot of pickle juice during my last lap which although helped i'm sure. Even so I still had to walk a couple of sections on the last lap. Oh well keep working on that whole nutrition and hydration strategy until I get a perfect solution. 

Oooophs crampy lap four

We only have two races left in the season and I have no idea where I am points wise. Today I finished last again which was 6th place I think. I am unsure if I will race next weekend as I have a gravel race on Saturday and the course is another technical one, though I do really like that. The last race of the season is at Turkey Mountain in Tulsa which I am sure will be tough.  

The Strava

TDD - Western Okie - 8th September 2019

After a summer off from mountain biking and well any real biking for me I knew that the remainder of the TDD series was going to be a tough call, four races in four weekends, I really shouldn't have taken the whole summer off. But I did and life goes on. 

Kids Cup

As with previous events Fiona is the first in our family to race, her warmup/sighting lap didn't go well. There was a kid in front of her who kept crashing and it pretty much wiped out any confidence she had. Oh well live and learn, next time I will ride that lap with her.

The course consisted of a grass climb, a dirt/rock singletrack section with a tough push up then a little more singletrack before a grass descent to the finish. Her age group did two laps.

Top of the first climb

Although she wasn't wanting to race after the practice, she did line up and race and ended up taking home 6th place. Her second lap was a significant improvement over her first one as she gained confidence on the course, more practice next time I hope.

6th Place and a bag of swag! 

The Course

People think that its flat out west and in most of Oklahoma to be honest however, my legs were destroyed after the race. There wasn't a lot of elevation change on the course however there was a lot of power sapping grass, rocks and a few ups that I couldn't ride up. I even had to walk one small drop as I completely had a mental block on riding it lap one and didn't improve that on lap two. 

The first part of the course took us across the dam, then we were into a section called the pits which had all the steep ups and downs. After that is was mostly a double track around the lake with some soft sandy corners. We then crossed a metal bridge after which followed a sandy singletrack section which was my favourite part on the course. We then had around 1.5miles to the finish on some more singletrack with a couple of steep downs. 

My race

To reiterate I really hadn't been riding over the summer with travelling and camping so my expectations were low for the race. It was also warmer than I like it to be when racing, however I have at least been riding some evenings in the heat so that I was less worried about. Due to the heat, our race was shortened and I was thankful for this. At the previous race I actually started to feel like my racing was coming together, sure I didn't get close the the podium but at least I was racing with people..

The race on Sunday didn't feel like that at all. Almost as soon as we started I was way off the back.  Oh well, I pushed the pace for my solo ride around the lake two times. At the end of the first lap, a Single Speeder caught and passed me, they started 10 min behind me, next one of my teammates Jeremy Black and a guy he was racing caught me along the dam. I pushed on as hard as my legs would take me and set a new Heart Rate Threshold rate according to training peaks, I haven't updated it. :)

Errrmmm yey?

The best thing from the race, finishing my second lap to the cheers of Amanda and Fiona.

The last technical section.

It was a tough one for me and they stuck it out in the heat to cheer me on which I really appreciate.

Where did I finish? 4th place which is my best TDD result ever though there were only four people in my category.

Yep it was a tough one for me.

Great racing by Eric, Victor and Chad.

Due to the four races in four weeks I can foresee a similar couple of races coming up. Oh well pedal on and keep trying.

The Strava

Upgradeitis - Garmin Edge 530

I have been using Garmin GPS devices since 2007. I have had a number of them from hand held devices, watches and cycling specific computers. 

When I saw the release of the Garmin Edge 530 it ticked a lot of boxes for me. Finally after a summer of working and justifying (to myself) replacing my Garmin 510 I ordered one through The Bike Lab. 

Why did I change?

Mostly because I wanted better navigation/maps and I liked the look of the integration with Trailforks. 

First impressions 

The unit looked fantastic although I wasn't sure on the start/stop and lap button placement (I need not have worried). 

The unit startup is significantly faster than all of my previous units. 

Setup was simple as was connection with my phone. 

The screen is clear and now not a touch screen like my Edge 510 so I can wipe the dirt off when riding. 

The unit now has a sensor pool so that when I switch bikes it doesn't matter about what sensors I have on the bike or selecting the right bike to pick up the correct sensor. 

After using the unit for a couple of weeks what are my thoughts. 

The Garmin Edge 530 provides a lot of data, significantly more than my previous Edge 510. 

When connected with a heartrate monitor I can get a respiration rate. It tells me what my workout was doing for me. Aerobic or Anaerobic. It also suggests hydration and feed rates during the ride based on temperature and exertion. 

more data than I will ever need

Post workout it also suggests a recovery time. I will say I mostly ignore these :) 

After two laps of Bluff, I think not Garmin

Navigation - I have only used this once so far but I was impressed. It was a significant improvement over the course following on my 510. It warns of junctions as you approach them and puts up a map with the road name (although some of the road names are different when in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma). I believe It will also navigate to places but I haven't tried that yet. 

To add a route/course you use the Garmin Connect website to create it or import the route if you have a file. The route can then be added via a cable connection to the computer or through the Garmin Connect app and a phone. I think if I paid for a Strava account I would be able to add routes through that via my phone directly but since I don't have that sort of account I haven't looked into it. 

I have yet to fully utilise the Trailfork function but when you stop at a junction it switches screens to show you the trails that are around you which is fantastic, or will be when I get to new trail areas. 

Ahhh so that is where I am :)

Battery life seems pretty good but I have yet to test it like I did with my computers in Alaska. I can confirm my previous computers Edge 705, 500 and 510 all worked down to around -20F although the screens did get a little sluggish. This computer can also be charged via any power brick on the go unlike my Edge 500. 

Overall for me this is a fantastic addition to my bike and riding information gathering. I am sure if I follow the information that it gives me I will become a stronger rider.  Will I do that? That is yet to be seen but I will try to keep ontop of my hydration and nutrition at least. 

Should you buy one, absolutely it is quite simply, brilliant!

MTB Marathon Nationals - Palo Duro TX - 10th May 2019

This year the 2019 USA Cycling MTB Marathon Nationals were held at Palo Duro Canyon State Park TX. Given the proximity to Oklahoma City (its around 4 hours away) and the fact I like to challenge myself on longer distance races I decided to pay my entry fee and give this race a go. 

As usual I didn't plan my timing correctly in the weeks before the race so didn't get to preride the majority of the course. Fortunately I did get to preride the trail called Lower Comanche the day before the race, I am glad I did as it had the most climbing and steepest descending of the whole event so it was nice to know that was coming up on lap 2. 

The course 

The course was around 47 miles (to be classed as a Marathon it is required to be between 37 and 62 miles) and made up of mostly singletrack and some double track. 

Course Map

The weekend

Unfortunately due to Amanda's work schedule she was unable to join me on this trip, she did look after Fiona though and I really appreciate that. It then meant I could give a ride to one of my teammates Saxby. We left Oklahoma on Friday morning and rolled through a couple of rain showers to arrive at the park in the afternoon. We picked up our "packets" which consisted of a number and zip ties. Yes this isn't a sponsored event and you pay more money for it hmmmmm...
Then we headed further down to the canyon to ride a little of the course. Saxby has ridden an endurance race at the canyon before but I had not ridden there. I had been looking at trailforks and decided that I wanted to ride one of the more technical sections of the course so I at least had an idea what to expect. Since Saxby hadn't ridden this section of the course either it was perfect for us to scope it out before the race. We were both glad we did as it had the most climbing of the course and a fun downhill with a few tight blind hairpins in. Saxby informed me that a lot of the rest of the course was flatter with more open turns, he was absolutely correct as I found out the next day. 

 A quick photo stop on Lower Comanche

It was pretty cool on the pre ride

The weather

The state park is usually classed as a desert and as such many of the riders were expecting warm/hot conditions and very dry when we signed up to race. As always the weather can be a cruel and fickle beast. In Texas this year there has been a lot of rain, so much in fact that many of the trails across the state are closed.  After we finished our pre ride it was raining again. The trails had been closed Thursday due to rainfall on Wednesday already this week. We headed over to the pre race meeting 17:30. At the meeting we were informed that USA Cycling would be talking with the park rangers immediately following the meeting about how the rain would effect the race, they would then inform us of the outcome following this. As it stood when we left the meeting we were going to be starting the race as planned at 10:00. 

At 21:56 we received an email informing us that the race start was delayed 2 hours to allow the course to dry out a little, they would also reassess the course routing in some sections.  

Race Day

Saturday morning rolled around cool but at least dryer than the previous days. We headed down into the canyon around 8:15 so that we didn't get stuck in traffic. 

This is a cool place

We paid our $8 per person to get into the canyon, no race day discount which was a little disappointing and parked baby groot then set about having breakfast. 

At least the view was nice and the sun was out. 

We relaxed with teammates and tried to find out any more information about if the course changed or start time changes. The course we heard would be rerouted at the far end through one of the camp grounds to avoid some flooded/wet trails. At around 11am everyone was busy warming up and finalising gear before our starts at 12:00. At around 11:45 I heard that the starts had been delayed again to 12:45 to allow people to enter the park. This was very frustrating to me since at the pre race meeting we had been told, "we are not delaying the start if you can't get into the park, be here early." But the races were delayed and there was nothing we could do about it but suck it up. 

My Race

My race started at 12:58. Just like the XC races in the Oklahoma Tour De Dirt series the pace was hot. I was off the back of the pack trying to draft on the road section, my legs felt like they had no power but my heart rate was good and not sky high. I passed one guy before we entered the singletrack but from the magic of post race data analysis I can see that I rolled through the parade lap in 9min 30 seconds and in 29th of 31 places in my age group. 

I wasn't worried though and tried to be smart and ride my race. I was doing well managing my effort so as not to blow up through the first full lap. Around 15 min in I started to be passed by people in the following groups, again very similar to my TDD racing experience. After we crossed the road there were some very cyclocross style sections on lap one which made the riding interesting and challenging. After a friend Keyth passed me I got my line wrong through one puddle and promptly put myself into a bush, fortunately it was not a cactus. 

I continued to be passed by people but most of them were not in my age group which was nice. 

Soon I had arrived at the mid lap feed and tech zone on the course and there Steve Cordes and friends were cheering everyone on. I really appreciated the support. 

A little further on and Angela Cordes (Steve's wife) was out taking photos and cheering people on too. The photos are fantastic. 

Seeing a friend always makes for a bigger smile. 

Making me look awesome thanks Angela!

At around 2 hours into the race I was entering the feed zone before crossing the finish line to go out on my second lap. This is when I realised I had not been doing so well on the nutrition side of my race ooophs. I had only drunk one bottle over the two hours which wasn't really enough. It had been so slippery for part of the lap so I had not been eating, then the trail turned into flow but due to the tacky nature of the course we were having to work pretty hard. Oh well, I drank an ensure plus and stuffed some stinger gummies into my mouth and set off for lap two. 

I finished lap one in 26th place in my age group.

Lap two followed the same route as lap one at the start. I tried to eat more and drink more but my stomach was full and saying no more. I once again failed to make the switch back climb on the first part of the course though I did get further up compared to lap one. Once we hit the trail I had pre ridden (Lower Comanche) I was really settling in and enjoying the course. I didn't make a couple of the climbs without putting a foot down/walking but I caught and passed a couple of people who were really struggling. I was passed by a couple of people but all in all I was feeling good.

After Lower Comanche we had around 1.5 miles of road where I hydrated and ate more food, once again so much that I felt bloated, though I had been eating and drinking a little along the previous trails from the start finish line. 

As we joined back onto the course we had previously ridden on lap one the mud and softer trail had mostly firmed up and dried out. This meant that the flow sections were now hero dirt. I was passed by a couple of people on the uphills but on the downs I was able to let off the brakes and catch up with people ahead of me. 

A little further along the trail after passing the feed and tech zone again, I was passed by a guy on a climb. I was not able to climb that fast but was keeping him in sight on the descents. After another climb he was out of sight. A few minutes later and at the bottom of a descent I saw his bike and him sprawled out across the trail. He was telling me to go on but I stopped and moved his bike off the trail and helped him up, he seemed to be in a significant amount of pain and bleeding from his left arm. He told me he was trying to pass a guy and said passing on the right at which point the guy moved right. 

He got rolling and still had some of his power on the climbs but seemed a lot more cautious on the descents. I soon passed him and then myself and another guy were almost at the end of the lap and race. The last 3 km seemed to drag on for ever as we followed the river to the start finish line, my legs were starting to cramp also by this point. The guy dropped me on the flats and I rolled solo into the finish after 4:13:57 of racing and in 22nd place. Which I am very happy about.

Full results here

happy with that one

Post race thoughts

I had a solid race though my legs felt heavy and lacking in power for the whole race. I had no expectations for the event apart from finishing. I do know a couple of the guys I race against in TDD were at the event and in my category or in different categories.
In my category Brandon Merlot once again sealed the deal and took home the national championship jersey. Chris Drummond placed 3rd. In Single Speed category, Aaron McDaniel took home the Stars and Stripes Jersey. In the 17-18 Category Kye Cordes took 4th place and Malaki Caldwell took 5th place. So when I get beaten at the TDD races at least I am being beaten by some fast gentlemen. Congratulations gentlemen.

I once again found I didn't quite nail my nutrition but as always I learnt a little. I think that for longer races, hydration mix in my hydration pack may be my future plan. I love honey stinger waffles but on MTB events they don't work for me during the race. I think I am going to go back to shot bloks rather than the honey stinger chews as they are easier to deal with whilst riding off road. 

The Strava

Thoughts on USA Cycling and the use of this location for the event 

• Communication from USA Cycling would be best described as poor.
• When you pay over $100 to enter an event at a venue, on race day the entry to the location should be free.
• The venue should have had both entry gates open to enable speedy entry of racers I heard the line was over 1 hour long. 
• Mountain bikers love a beer but alas at the state park you can't have one. 
• The awards should not have been plagued by inconsistency and protests. 

Having said all that....

• The trails there are fantastic
• The views were spectacular
• It was close to home :)

Thanks for reading all, until next time. 

TDD - Red Dirt Redezvous - 5th May 2019

The next instalment of the Tour De Dirt series took place on Sunday 5th May at Draper MTB Park. There was a significant amount of chatter online before the race due to some significant rainfall throughout the week preceding the event. Draper has lots of sand rather than clay so does drain pretty well however, I think they received 4" of rain throughout the week. The go ahead for the race was finally given before the midday Saturday cut off for cancelling a race. I'm glad we did the race though it was definitely wetter than I was expecting on course in some sections. On the plus side all the local bike shops should be happy with the extra drive trains and bearings they are going to sell :) 

A little about Draper

Draper trails have a lot of flow. So unlike the previous three races, with there endless rocks and technical sections, Draper trails are all about carrying corner speed which I will fully admit I'm not the greatest at. It also has lots of turns, some of which are bermed and some are flat, some start out bermed and end up flat and some start flat then have a berm. If I rode there more frequently I am sure I would get better at remembering which corners I can brake less or not at all for. Anyway it is what it is and here we were on race day with me having not ridden Draper since Thanksgiving. 

Kids Kup

As always with these races for our family, the day starts for us with a Kids Kup race. Fiona is growing more and more in confidence at these races definitely spurred on by getting on the podium. The Kids Kup use a short course track format and all happen before the Cat3 races. 

Todays course was a grassy climb followed by a singletrack descent then back to the grassy climb. The course was 0.29miles long and Fiona's age group did 4 laps.

Waiting to get going. 

Made the podium again
Way to go Fiona!

My Race

After the excitement of the Kids Kup race Fiona and I hung out and ate before my race which is later in the day. This week Fiona's race was all wrapped up by 10:45, I wasn't racing until 12:30 so we had plenty of time to relax and cheer on some cat 3 racers. 

At 12:30 it was go time for me, as usual I am in a very competitive field and once again completely failed to get the wholeshot. 

No wholeshot this time....
I'm far left at the back in this picture

The pace of the guys I'm racing against as always blows me away. There are some seriously fast guys in my age group and the group behind me come to think of it. 

We set off along the trails at warp speed however this week I was able to hang with a couple of the guys (at the back I might add) before the end of the yellow section (first trail we do) I had passed two people. 

I then caught up with another guy and followed him for around 2/3 of a lap as we were similarly paced. I passed him on the orange trail and he followed me for a while before I lost him on a couple of corners. 

I then had around 1/2 a lap riding solo but due to the twists and turns I could see I was catching up a group ahead of me.

One of the best things about having family and friends at these races is the support we as racers receive on the course. Here is a short video of Fiona giving me a cheer at the start of my final lap. 

On the final time through the yellow trail I caught and passed two more riders who were really struggling. I was feeling good and hoped to catch Victor who has on previous courses faded pretty badly looking at his lap times on the final lap. The problem was, I was starting to feel some crampy twinges in both legs. 

I finished my bottle but this time it wasn't helping. As I crossed into the blue trail I stopped to take on some pickle juice. This helped for around two corners but I was still cramping up. I reduced my effort and tried to limit my losses as I rolled the remaining miles to the finish. How much did I back off? There is a Strava segment from the parking lot up a climb and down back to the parking lot.

Here are my times from each lap :-

Lap 1 - 3:55

Lap 2 - 3:58 

Lap 3 4:40. 

I pushed as hard as my legs would go and finished with a smile or was it a grimace, nah it was a smile as Fiona rolled the last 100m with me. I finished in 7th place which is better than I was expecting on the start line. To be honest I am stoked about that, mostly because this race I was actually racing with people not just taking part in a solo time trial, all this training seems to be paying off. 

The Strava