The Dark Side Of The Force

Blocking the wind for the 40+ field in the crit.


Not a whole lot of excitement to report from last weekend. It was a typical road race for me in the Cat. 1/2 field, keep it rubber side down, don’t get dropped and get a good workout in. Mission accomplished. Same deal for the criterium…mission accomplished.
For the road race, I think that it was raining everywhere in Iowa except at N41.54, W91.67. On the way to Iowa City, it rained on and off and I wasn’t planning to race if it looked like it would rain during my race. It was a pretty atypical race for the Iowa City road race, very light wind and somewhat decent temps for this time of the year. Good fixin’s for a ‘no break away’ race.
Julie and I got off to late start in the morning and I knew that I’d be cutting it kinda close. I do this every year for this race, I get up in the morning, fix a pot of coffee, pancakes, bacon, eggs, etc. and sit down for a leisurely breakfast. Next thing I know, it’s 2+ hours until race time and I’m still sitting around the house in my drawers. Then the mad scramble ensues to get my carcass to Iowa City in time for the start. So I chamiox’d up in the car while Julie was driving. We arrived about 15 minutes before the start and I managed to get in a ‘good’ 5 minute warm up before the ref blew the start whistle. I saw Steve Tilford and the Tilfordettes warming up as we pulled into the parking lot. They always put on a clinic in road race strategy and it’s always fun to watch their strategy unfold from my ‘front row seat’.
The pace at the start was fairly calm, however the attacks throughout the race were pretty thick and fast with none of them succeeding until the last lap. I even threw in a half hearted attack that was quickly reeled in. As mentioned above, I kept it rubber side down, didn’t get shelled and I got a good workout in. We also had a couple of incidents with motorists, that were fortunately of no consequence, that reinforced the fact that there are some amazingly stupid people in this world.
After the race, Julie and I headed to the QC to pay a visit to the fam. We had dinner with Julie’s folks and then headed to my folks where we were greeted with offers for some French silk pie. Julie and I reluctantly declined as we were both still in the midst of a food coma from dinner.
We headed out the next day for Iowa City with thoughts of doing the Old Capital Crit if the weather was good. Once again, it rained on the way to Iowa City, however it cleared off when we arrived. About an hour before the 40+ race, the temps were in the mid 70’s and the skies looked pretty good. So it was game on for the old man’s race. It was only a 15 lap race that lasted about 30 minutes, so the race strategy was pretty simple. Go hard and get a good, high intensity workout in.
I started near the back of the field and gradually worked my way to the front. I made a few attempts to get away, however each attempt was quickly reeled in. There were a few other attempts by Clarke Priebe as well as a few others that were equally unsuccessful. On the penultimate lap, Dewey Dickey took a flyer going up the hill and managed to stay away for a well executed win. Clarke got away shortly after Dewey, but came up short in the end and held on for 2nd. I tried to bring it all back on the last lap, however about midway through the last lap, I looked back only to see the remnants of the peloton firmly attached to my wheel. I could tell that I wasn’t going to have enough gas in the tank to finish well, so I pulled the plug and opted to keep myself out of the melee that typically ensues at the conclusion of a crit. Despite my futile efforts, I still had a lot of fun, so it was all good.


Downhill racin' roadie style.


The dynamics of criterium racing have always been somewhat of an enigma to me. I suppose that is largely because I am a mountain bike racer and spend little to no time thinking about criterium race tactics. Guys like Dewey and Clarke were clearly the favorites and should have been marked men. However when they chose to go near the end of the race, nobody really put the effort in to chase. I would have sooner than I did, however bad positioning at the time of their escape prevented that from happening when it should have. When I did go after them, I was followed closely by the remainder of the peloton. Maybe it was because I was also a marked man, or maybe it was because my flyer didn’t contain the same sting that Dewey or Clarke had inflicted on the peloton. I’m going to chalk it up to the latter because I didn’t really have the punch in my legs that would have been required to get away from a field as strong as this was. Yes, there is such a thing as a strong 40+ field when have guys like Dewey, Clarke, Cochran, Moraniec, Thompson and the Diesel toein’ the line!
I’ve had my new 2009 Orbea Orca for about a month now and have had enough riding and racing to convey my thoughts. Orbea claims that the 2009 frame is a substantial 20 percent stiffer and, by losing nearly 90 grams, also 10 percent lighter than its’ 2008 predecessor. After several rides and some racing, I believe them.
According to Orbea, improvements were primarily made by fine-tuning the carbon lay-up schedule as well as the mix of high modulus Toray M40J and high-strength M30S fibers that was used. Previous Orcas used a 50/50 mix of M40J and M30S; the 2009 model now uses a stiffer 70/30 blend.
The significant increase in stiffness was noticeable on my first few rides yet still remaining was the same comfortable ride, light and maneuverable handling, and reassuring high-speed stability that I was accustomed to with the 2008 version. The increased stiffness was even more apparent during the road race and criterium, especially when powering up the hill in the criterium. The 2009 Orca is a frame with the stiff, fast and light ride of a Formula One car plus the eye-catching good looks to match!

Next up, if the weather holds this week, is the first Psycowpath race of the season at Swanson Park in Omahole. The last few races that I’ve done there have resulted in some pretty epic battles with Nebraska’s top dog, Kent McNeil. This weekend will be no different I’m sure!

Thanks for reading,

CK

Sylvan Island Sludgefest

Winter time is officially over, trainer rides on El Diablo are far and few between and I am ready to do some racin'!



Preseason pre trainer ride breakfast of champions.




El Diablo with a lot of towels to soak up the sweat.




The view from the cockpit of El Diablo



The 2009 racing season has finally begun after a few ‘false starts’ due to uncooperative weather. And once again, the weather made another attempt at furthering the delay of the 2009 season. However the nature of the soil / rock / concrete / brick / oil slicks at Sylvan Island is such that the course can take a lot of rain and still be very rideable. And rain it did!
Julie and I arrived at the course the day before the race and the trail conditions were pretty close to perfect. I did the first recon lap with Julie to show her the lines through the tight, twisty labyrinth of trails. I could tell by the smile on her face that she was good to go! I did three more laps on my own to get the course dialed in and had a blast!
After the ride, we went out to dinner with my stepdad and Julie’s stepdad… then went to Whitey’s for some pre race carbo loading of a size large Oreo malt. Yes, I had a very weak moment. We were driving to my sisters house, Whitey’s happens to be along the way. As we approached Whitey’s, my car started to slow down and the stupid thing turned into the Whitey’s parking lot. It was one of the craziest things that I had ever experienced…I was not aware that my Jeep had an autopilot option. So, we were there in the parking lot, I looked over at Julie, she returned the same look to me, we shrugged our shoulders and exited the car without a word in pursuit of some Whitey’s goodness. After our refueling, I managed to burn it all off within the span of an hour with a little help from my niece by tossing her in the air or chasing her around the living room for a couple of hours.



Kennan informing me of the house rules. "No strutting around in your underwear, no belching, no farting, no drinking from the milk carton, no drinking out of the toilet and do not use my kiddy toilet!"




Kennan informing Cowboy of the house rules.



We woke up the next morning and the area had yet to receive any rain…until around 8:00. Julie took a look outside and the streets were wet from a steady, light shower. And that was pretty much the weather pattern for the remainder of the day.
We arrived at the course right before the start of the beginners race. I heard the starters whistle and looked towards the start area only to see 70+ hearty souls forging their way through the rain and muck! It was pretty amazing to see that many beginners, a lot of which were most likely first timers, enjoying themselves in the rain and mud…including my mom. Watching the beginners race here is always a great time because you see all kinds of crazy stuff. This year did not disappoint, people racing in the mud with blue jeans, hooded sweat shirts, full body armor, full faced downhill racing helmets, platform pedals and tennis shoes, bikes with luggage racks on the back. After their race, the only comments that I heard were all about how everybody had a great time! It was a classic example of what mountain bike racing is and should be about, people having a great time!



You tell me, does she look like she's having a great time?




Mom exiting the Forest of Ahrenburg.



Earlier in the morning, Julie had indicated a couple of times that she was on the fence as to whether she was going to do the race. While we were watching the beginner’s race, I had made the comment about how my 60+ year old mom was out there splashing around in the rain and mud with an ear to ear grin on her face the entire time, as did most of the other beginner’s. It kinda hit home, in that mountain bike racing is all about embracing the conditions that are given and enjoying the fact that I am riding my mountain bike. It was pretty motivating to watch and it pretty much kicked Julie off of the fence and refueled my enthusiasm for racing in the mud.
Shortly after the beginner’s race finished, the Category 2 and women’s open race started. Julie had never really ridden a course as technical as Sylvan, nor had she ever experienced mountain biking in mud. So at the start, she stayed near the back of the pack and took it easy until she was able to get a feel for the situation.



Julie exiting The Forest of Ahrenburg.




Looks like Julie is having a good time too! She's good at avoiding exfoliation.



Throughout her first lap she maintained a good, comfortable pace and managed to keep it rubber side down. If there would have been an award being the cleanest racer on a muddy day, she would have been a ringer for the award. As the field went by, everybody had a nice coating of mud on their front and backs. Julie went by and she had a few randomly placed splatters here and there. For whatever reason, she got pulled from the race after 2 of 3 laps. There was another woman behind her that did not get pulled, so I’m not sure what the deal was. Julie was pretty disappointed, she was having a great time and didn’t want to stop.



The tifosi.



As my race approached, the rain continued to fall. The trails seemed to be holding up really well and it appeared as though it wasn’t going to be as nearly as difficult as a typical mud race might be. We lined up for the start and I managed to get the holeshot. I got snaked by Ryan Nenninger going into the singletrack, so I settled into 2nd wheel behind Ryan and played follow the leader for the first half lap. I didn’t get to do a recon lap before the race due the conditions, so I was OK with letting Ryan test the muddy waters. Most of the low lying areas contained several inches of water and in some cases, it was like riding through a small pond with a nice coating of oil floating on the surface.
We hit the biggest hill on the course, a soaring 10’ in total height, and it was pretty slimy. Ryan didn’t carry enough momentum and faltered as he approached the top. I was able to get around him for the lead and took off on one of the longest open sections of the course. On the same lap, I hit one of the many corners with a little too much heat and my front tire washed out on me and I hit the deck. As I was trying to get up, I slipped in the mud and fell again. During my snafu, Ryan caught up to and retook the lead. I was able to catch back to him pretty quickly and when we hit the next open section, I retook the lead and never looked back.



Heading into the Forest of Ahrenburg.



As soon as I felt that I had established a comfortable lead, I backed it off a little and put it preservation mode. A muddy race like this is all about taking care of your equipment and keeping it upright. Among my biggest concerns were my brakes, shortly after the race had started they were rubbing and making all kinds of noise. As the race progressed, the course conditions worsened and my brakes began to fade to the point where I had no significant braking power during the last two laps. If I needed to slow down, I had to go offline into softer ground to scrub off speed. It’s a good thing that Sylvan is pancake flat because I would have probably had many off line excursions into the wild on any type of descent.



Playing in the mud like a pig.



The course doubled back on itself quite a bit, so I could tell when somebody was getting close to me. During the last three or four laps, I could see that Aaron Robinett was within a minute of me. So I did what I needed to hold the gap and managed to keep any further mechanicals at bay. I ended up taking the win with a time of 2:08:33. Aaron took home a well deserved 2nd with a time of 2:09:15. Ryan Nenninger came in 3rd in 2:13:04, Kevin McConnell came in 4th in 2:13:59 and Ben Shockey held on for 5th in 2:14:15. Each of these guys made it through tough race conditions and a pretty tough field of racers to finish in the top 5. So a job well done to all of them.
With the Pro / Cat 1 race being the last race of the day, the trails had already weathered the traffic of 120 racers. Add an all day steady downpour to the mix and you’ve got the ingredients for some pretty difficult, but fun racing conditions. Though I have to admit, I was ready to be done during the last two laps of the race. It was a pretty major accomplishment just to finish the race let alone place well.



Dirty old man.




This is what I would look like if I were to grow a beard.



I might do some road ragin’ in Iowa City next weekend, it depends on the weather. One race in the rain is enough for me and road racing is all about getting a good training ride in with little to no concern of results other than a good, quality workout.


Thanks for reading,

CK

Maui Training Camp

It’s pretty amazing at how time can fly by so quickly at times! Here it is, January already and it’s time to get back on the horse and begin preparations for another season of mtb racing. A couple of pretty cool things happened over the off season. I’ve furthered my commitment to Rasmussen Bike Shop despite offers from other teams. My commitment to Rassy’s was never in question however, as I am 100% committed to Rassy’s until I am no longer able to ride a bike and beyond. The amount of support that Rassy’s provides to myself and the other members of the Rassy squad goes above and beyond any expectations. They’re the best! I’ll once again be using the Orbea Oiz Carbon and the Orbea Orca as my weapons of choice, both 2009’s. Oakley Rob has been supporting me with Oakley eyewear for as long as I can remember and, as always, I’m pretty excited to see what kind of new Oakley products I’ll be sporting for the 2009 season! I’ll also be on board with Louis Garneau, Probar and Sockguy. I am truly blessed to have the support that I have, all of which are the best products and services in the market.
As most of you know, USA Cycling had a pretty big shake up in the mountain bike racing categories. Expert, Sport and Beginner categorizations no longer exist and they have succumbed to the Dark Side. We dirt lovers are now categorized the same as the roadies. Pro, Cat. 1, Cat. 2 and Cat.3. With the shake up, I ended up upgrading to the Pro category. Being a ‘Pro’ doesn’t really change anything for me, other than my USA Cycling license fee increased from $90 to $150. Oh, and I’m also subject to the same doping controls as the real Pro’s. I guess that means that I’m going to have to give up my poppy seed bagels…
I had a great season last year, my best ever. And so I decided to reward myself by starting the 2009 season off with a bang. Julie has two members of her family that own time shares on Maui, and as luck would have it, they happened to be vacationing on Maui during the first half of January. They were generous enough to offer other family members a place to stay if they wanted. So Julie and I threw down for the airfare, boxed up a couple of road bikes and spent 10 days on Maui. As an added bonus, we missed out on some of the worse weather that Iowa had ever experienced…that truly breaks my heart.
I didn’t have time to keep a daily journal while on Maui, so instead, here’s a ‘brief’ summary of what went down on my sweet 10 day training camp.

Day 1

I decided to start the trip off full throttle by riding up Haleakala. Haleakala is a dormant volcano that tops out at just over 10,000 feet. With our condo being about 1/8 of a mile from the beach, I knew that my total elevation gain for the day would be over 10,000 of climbing…sweet! The short version of the story, it took me 4 ½ hours to get from the condo to the top and it was probably the most difficult road ride that I’ve ever done. The first hour was relatively flat, at about mile 20, the pitch kicked up to a grade that varied between 6% and 8%. The toughest parts of the climb were between 5,000 and 6,000 feet, where the pitch varied from 8% to 12%. The last ¼ mile or so, the pitch kicked up even further to close to 20% in some spots…and it was a severe kick in the groin after having been climbing for the last 3+ hours.


Haleakala from afar.




Halfway up, looking up.




Halfway up, looking down.



Once on top, I chilled, ate some food and enjoyed the amazing views of some of the neighboring islands, including the peaks of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, two of the tallest volcanoes on Earth. After a 15 minute break, I put on some arm and knee warmers and began the descent. Once the actual climb began, it took me about 3 ½ hours to reach the top. It took me about an hour on the descent and it was a blast! I counted 32 switchbacks on the way up. At the top, I was above the clouds and it was pretty cool riding back down as I went through the clouds, ripping through the switchbacks as quickly as I dared.
It took me 2 hours to get from the top of Haleakala back down to the condo. Some ride stats: total ride time – 6 ½ hours, total elevation gain – 10,350 feet, average heart rate for the ride – 147 and a total distance of about 96 miles.


Looking down into the crater of a dormant volcano...kinda creepy lookin' eh?




That's not a moon, that's a space station!




The peaks of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea off in the distance.




Plunging down into the clouds.



Day 2

I was pretty cooked after yesterdays ride, so I decided to do what I thought would be a fairly flat ride around the northern part of the island, what I called the Lahaina loop. Flat it was not, there were no long sustained climbs like Haleakala, however there were an endless amount of ‘rollers’, one of which averaged about 18% for a little over ¼ of a mile…another kick in the groin! The road was absolutely beautiful and pretty much paralleled the northern coast of the island. From the condo up to Kapalua, the shoulder was about a car width wide, plenty of room for cyclists, however the shoulders were littered with a lot of broken glass in places. I didn’t get a single flat while on Maui and I rode through a lot of glass. My tire of choice, the Continental Dura Skin.
As I passed Kapalua, the road began to narrow and became more serpentine, the hills became more severe and the scenery even more amazing. As I approached the small village of Kahakuloa, the road narrowed to a single lane and the blacktop was pretty cobbled in a lot of places. The cliffs became more abundant, and often times I had a shear cliff going up on my right and a shear cliff going down on my left.
As I neared the town of Waihee, the road gradually began to widen, flatten and straighten until it turned back into a state highway with better quality blacktop and a little more shoulder. One of the cool things about this ride was that as the road narrowed, the amount of vehicular traffic decreased. I saw maybe 5 or 10 cars while the road was one lane wide. At the end of the day, I ended up with the following stats: total ride time – 4 ¼ hours, total elevation gain – 4,560 feet, average heart rate for the ride – 141 and a total ride distance of about 80 miles.


One of many sweet views along the road.




Checkin' out the mother of all rollers, carved into the side of a cliff, 1/4 of a mile long at 18%.




Checkin' out Kapalua, where the rich folk throw down $300 for a round of golf.




Serpentine, steep, cobbled blacktop waitin' to put the hurt on me.




A sweet view of Haleakala near the end of my ride.



Day 3

As if the two previous rides were not enough, I decided to head out for another epic ride on the famed Road To Hana. The Road to Hana consists of a 52 mile long stretch of highway / road from Kahalui to Hana, on the eastern and southern coast of the island. The road is very windy and hilly and passes over a total of 59 bridges, 46 of which are single lane. Most of the road passes through lush, tropical rain forest and has approximately 620 curves, a lot which are very tight…perfect for a road cyclist! A lot of the road was carved out of some of the cliffs that drop off into the Pacific Ocean and make for some pretty spectacular views.


Typical view from the road.




If you overcook a corner, the consequences will be less than favorable.




A picture of another cliff that would kinda suck to fall off of.



As the ride progressed, I could feel the effects of my previous two rides in my legs and began to realize that I probably was doing a little too much, too early. During yesterdays ride, I had a pretty sharp pain in my right knee that persisted throughout the last half of the ride. It bothered me again on this ride, but it wasn’t quite as severe as it was yesterday. I was on Maui after all, and with the temperature topping out at around 80 each day, I had no choice but to take advantage of it and get outside.
My initial thought on this ride was to log about 5 hours of ride time, however it was one of those rides where I didn’t want to turn around because I wanted to see what was up ahead. I hit 52 miles in about 3 hours and decided that I better turn around before I put myself into the pain cave.
Stats: total ride time – 6 hours, total elevation gain – just over 7,000 feet, average heart rate – 136 and a total ride distance of about 104 miles.

Day 4

Today was a much needed recovery ride of about two hours with Julie through the towns of Kihei, where we were staying, Laie and Keawakapu. We also took a short tour through Makena State Park. My knee felt great throughout the ride!

Day 5

When I woke up, I felt good enough that I thought I’d take another trip to the top of Haleakala. My knee felt fine throughout the ride and the ride to the top seemed much easier this time around. Once at the top, a monk dressed in a Hare Krishna looking robe walked up to me. He ended up being a very nice person that used to race road bikes in Florida. Turns out, he’s a monk attending a two year stint in a meditation center on Oahu. I worfed down a couple of poptarts while we talked about cycling for about 20 minutes until I started to get a little cold, the temps at the top of Haleakala were in the 50’s, and I decided that it was time to boogie.
On the way down, there are several blind corners. As I was rounding one of the many blind corners, I came face to face with a massive cow that was hanging out in the middle of the road. I saw it early enough that I was able to slow down. I guess I freaked the cow out, because it started bucking like a bronco and took off for the side of the road. As it was running, its’ hind hooves broke loose and it slid out and fell on its’ arse…I thought that was pretty funny.
Stats: 6 ½ hours of ride time, 10,300 feet of climbing, an average heart rate of 136 and about 96 miles if riding.

Day 6

Today I did the Lahaina loop in the opposite direction to what I had previously done. It was a little easier this time around as I was descended some of the steeper climbs. Julie, her cousin Mike and her Uncle Jeff did a part of the loop in the opposite direction and turned around just north of Lahaina. As I was cruising through Lahaina, I saw three cyclists up the road and recognized Julie from afar. I caught up to them and I gave Julie a tow for about 30 minutes before she dropped off for fear of putting herself into the hurt locker. She is becoming a beast of a cyclist and will most likely do some damage to the competition this season in mountain bike races and triathlons! As I approached Kihei, I turned around and retraced my route until I ran into Julie. We were both pretty wiped out from the ride and helped each other survive the remainder of the ride back to the condo.
Stats: 4 ½ hours of ride time, 4,600 feet of climbing, an average heart rate of 132 and a total distance of about 80 miles.

Day 7

I woke up in the morning and felt absolutely cooked. My plan for the day was to ride the road to Hana, however about 5 minutes into the ride, I knew that another hard ride would lead me straight into the pain cave. So I shut it down and did a 2 hour recovery instead. I pretty much stuck to the flat roads in the valley area.

Day 8

I still felt pretty cooked when I woke up. The weather forecast called for scattered rain all day with high winds of around 20-30 mph. The weather was such that they cancelled school and government jobs for the day. It seemed like a great day to scrap the ride and hop in the car and go for a long drive....so we did.

Day 9

I didn’t have much time to ride today because we had to move out of one condo and into another before noon. So I took off for Lahaina with the intent of turning around at 90 minutes and heading back. My legs felt a lot better today and ended up getting a great ride in! The computer on my bike decided to take a partial dump on me and it quit tracking my mileage, however it still tracked my speed and altitude along with a few other functions.
I ended up logging 3 hours, 1,200 feet of climbing and an average heart rate of 145 for the day.

Day 10

My last day on Maui. I had originally planned to ride to the top of Haleakala again, however I didn’t really want to spend my last day on Maui on my saddle. So instead I opted to do the Lahaina loop again. Like yesterday, I felt great throughout the ride and had an awesome time! I ended up logging 4 hours of ride time, 4,600 feet of climbing, an average heart rate of 146 and about 80 miles.
The remainder of the day was spent with Julie, basking in the sun on the beach until the sun set. That was pretty much the M.O. everyday, ride in the morning, relax on the beach in the afternoon and watch the beautiful Maui sunset. After the sunset, I'd go eat four of five meals for dinner. It ended up being pretty close to the perfect training camp, especially in the middle of January. I need to offer a huge thank you to the Klein and Duecker families for allowing us to stay with them, they were amazingly gracious hosts and were a lot of fun to spend time with!


Julie and I chillin' by the seaside.




The end of another beautiful day on Maui.



I plan to do periodic posts on how training progresses throughout the remainder of the winter, so if you’re interested, stay tuned!

Thanks for reading,

CK

2006 Orbea Oiz For Sale

I've procrastinated on this long enough. As hard as it is going to be, I need to sell my beloved 2006 Orbea Oiz... I love this bike, however I love my newer bike a little more and one of them has to go.

The skinny:
Full Shimano XTR componentry including:
- Dual Control shifter/brake levers.
- Hydraulic Disc brakes.
- Rock Shox Team front fork.
- DT Swiss XR4.1d wheel set, tube.
- Thompson seat post and stem.
- Selle Italia Genuine Gel saddle.
- Zeus aluminum straight handle bar.
- IRC Serac tires (new).

Asking price: $2,500 (retailed for $5,500 back in the day). I would be willing to drop the price substantially in exchange for a good quality Chewbacca costume.

Feast your eyes below:


Good looking ride.




Manitou S-Type rear shock complete with lockout (non-remote).




Shimano XTR hydraulic disc brakes.




Ditto.




Ditto.




Shimano XTR rear drive train... the best of the best.




Shimano XTR front drive train... again, the best of the best.




Shimano XTR Dual Control shifters and a remote lockout for the front shock.

Contact me at: ckirkpatrick@cbi.com if interested!

Dirty Du v3.0

Photos courtesy of Fry Guy, Ken Sherman and Justin Bruce.


Peace dude.


Last weekend, the Central Iowa Trail Association (CITA) hosted the 3rd Annual Des Moines Dirty Duathlon over at the old Science Center of Iowa trails. At last years Dirty Du, Kristy Feldman and I teamed up and took the relay title by less than a minute over the team of the Mighty Bison and Marc Hollander. I’m coming off of the best year that I’ve ever had on the bike and Kristy is also having a great season, so we both felt pretty good about defending our title! Julie had originally planned to do the solo category, however after we spent the last couple of days riding the Hillside and Rollercoaster, she decided that 2 laps of running along with 4 laps of riding might be a bit much. So she enlisted the running services of our good friend Jan Mohs who happens to have a diesel engine when it comes to running.
While getting warmed up, I ran into local pro triathlete TJ Tollakson. He had borrowed a buddies old Trek Y frame mountain bike and decided to partake in the festivities with running studette, Ashley Tousley, who was fresh off of a stellar sub 3 hour marathon at the Des Moines Marathon a few weeks ago. I took TJ out for a short recon of the Rollercoaster section where he quickly discovered the differences between mountain biking and riding a tri bike. Thankfully he was cautious enough to avoid any altercations with trees, rocks and the man eating ditches that lined the trail.
The race started with a 2+ mile run and nearly 100 participants took off up the short initial climb. As the group began to thin, Kristy had slotted herself near the front of the line and maintained a comfortable pace and finished the run leg in around 5th overall. I took the baton and within 30 seconds I had my HR into the red zone in pursuit of the leaders. I reeled in all of the leaders and eventually caught and passed the leader, Louis DeWild, who was crazy enough to do the ride on a cross bike as we approached the trailhead to the Hillside.


K-Dawg and Ashley fixin' to put the hurt on most of the field.



K-Dawg takin' charge of the situation.


For the first lap, I had nothing but clear trail ahead of me and I was able to focus on taking clean lines through the freshly raked trails. I was already hitting lapped traffic about midway through the 2nd of 4 laps and never encountered any real problems in getting by people. There were a few that didn’t seem to understand mountain biking etiquette, however that was to be expected as there were a lot of folks taking part that were new to the scene. I am totally fine with all of that, it’s a lot more important to me to see a bunch of new cats taking part in the mountain biking scene. Working through traffic is always going to be a part of mountain bike racing and I enjoy the challenge of getting by lapped traffic as quickly as possible without forcing somebody into a lasting relationship with a tree.


Cresting the creek crossing climb.



My bro Wade Thompson sporting a sweet jersey.



Cruisin' down a hill next to one of those man eating ditches.



Displacing a little water.



Julie was going fast, can you see the plume of smoke comin' off her wheel?


I finished the bike leg and provided Kristy with about a 7 minute cushion between her and 2nd place. She was able to put it into cruise control and bring home another win to the tune of about 13 minutes over team Sea Biscuit. After I finished the bike leg, I went back out on course to cheer on Kristy and Julie. Julie was still in the middle of the bike leg and she was riding the wheels off of the bike! As she began her last lap, I rolled down to the water crossing on the Rollercoaster. The water crossing consists of a small, shallow creek crossing laced with small rocks that like to knock unsuspecting riders off line and into the drink. After the creek comes a small, technical, twisty climb to the top of the hill. The section is technical enough that it has tested the will of even some of the more experienced riders in the area. Julie and I had spent a little time going through the section over the last couple of days, however she’s never been able to clean the section. As she approached the section on her last lap, I could see the look of determination on her face. She rolled through the creek like a veteran and then powered her way to the top of the climb like it was second nature! My excitement for her so much that I even had a few other spectators cheering for her as well! Saweet!


Julie maintaining her focus near the top of the creek crossing section.



Pro tri-geek TJ, the beginnings of his transformation from triathlete to full time mountain biker. I'm using The Force on him.



Sea Biscuits team got chicked by my team mate.



Duffy rippin' it up through a water crossing.



Men's solo champ Mountain Man Andy.



Ale' Jet is pretty in pink.


The Dirty Du is quickly becoming one of the more popular off road events in the Des Moines area and the folks of CITA do a stellar job with the event. Of course it also kinda helps when we have a day when the temps are in the mid 70’s in November!

So as I approach the end of the hamburger season, I’ll soon begin my transition into the weight lifting phase in preparation for next season. It’s gonna be pretty difficult weaning myself off of my hamburger and beer diet, however I have a great support group to lean on and I’ll get through it.


2006 Orbea Oiz, this could be yours!


I’m also planning to put together a little garage sale of several items, mostly new stuff, that have been cluttering up my garage. One of the items, my 2006 Orbea Oiz that I raced on for a couple of seasons. I hope to have it all put together by next week, so stay tuned if you’re on the market for a sweet mountain bike or other components.

Thanks for reading,

CK