Comfort

Short Track
On Saturday, the day before the XC, was the short track. I originally wasn't going to do it, but David Wenger, my coach, said I needed a hard workout the day before my race to train for the upcoming US cup race. We arrived earlier than planned at Comfort and before I knew it, the race was off. At the start of the bottom of the first climb, I was about 9th and at the top of the climb I was first. It wasn't really a planned tactic but I went with it and led out the first lap. At around lap 4, it was me, Fawley, Scott Henry, and Will Rader. After I had led a decent amount, Will on the 4th lap got in front and countered a move by Scott. After getting dizzy from looping around on the sub 2 minute short track for so long, there were 3 laps to go and it was down to me, Fawley, and Scott. After leading for quite a lot of the short track, I didn't really want to lead the last 3 laps - but I ended up doing just that. After leading the final 3 laps, Scott and Fawley got by me and I just sat in right behind them. Unfortunately it was way to sketchy and curvy on the downhill from their to the end, so I wasn't able to get by them. I almost got Fawley, but he inched me out by about a tires length and Scott won by around 1 second over Fawley and me. Also my friend Will Rader did great and was around 20 seconds behind in 4th. In hind sight I could have definitely been smarter with my tactics, but it was still lots of fun riding with those guys and great training.

XC Race
Comfort was quite an interesting race. Even with my mechanical, it was a blast and I got in a hell of a workout leading up to Fontana. Off the start I was lucky enough to miss a crash and Scott Henry's broken chain, and I zipped in right behind Fawley. I was feeling great and Fawley and I were in the lead, about 15 seconds ahead of David Hanes and Rick Wetherald. About 15 minutes into the race, still right behind Fawley, I unfortunately rolled my tire and flatted. Annoyed as I was, I got off and fixed the flat. Finally, I got on my bike in second to last, ahead of Scott Henry, who at the time I thought had dropped out. This is when I put on my huge effort to pass the whole field. By the end of the top loop I had passed around 20 pros and was somewhere around 9th place I guess, and I think 3 minutes behind Fawley and the leading squad. Also on the top loop, Matt Gordon was up with the front guys but he flatted too unfortunately. At this point my legs were really hurting from the huge effort that I had put into gaining back lost time, but I still just kept the hammer down. On the lower loop I passed 5 guys and was up to 4th. I was hoping I could catch Fawley and the leading guys, but I figured I had lost too much time. About half way through the lower loop I was surprised to see Scott Henry killing it right behind me. He had broken his chain off the start and had put in a monster effort to get that far up to the front. From then on Scott Henry and I, worn as we were from our huge efforts, worked together and tried to gain as much time as we could and not get slowed down by the other Cat 1 groups we were passing. We weren't able to catch them and rode to the finish together with Scott 4th and me 5th. While I was feeling super strong at the start and bummed to flat, it was great riding in "attack mode" with Scott for the last half of the loop.

Results:
https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2010-510

The Mellow Johnny Classic

This past weekend I was lucky enough to have the great experience of racing in a group of around 60 pro men with racers, like JHK, Lance, David Weins, etc. Needless to say the pro class was stacked and I was excited to race! The race ended up being an absolute blast. I had a great race and got 4th out of the huge field! It was definitely a good way to end the last race of the season.
So here's how the race unfolded. From the gun it was fast and furious. JHK got in front of the huge field and immediately hammered it. Going into the singletrack I was in around 8th. I was feeling good pushing it, but I didn't want to blow myself up on the first lap. Eventually after about 5 minutes into the singletrack I pulled my way up to 7th , right behind Scott Henry and Will Black who were around 15 seconds behind JHK who was leading Fawley and Lance. Mid way through the first lap I let Scott and Will go just because the pace was just a little to hot. My legs were feeling a little stiff and needed to take it a little easier so I could blast into the 2nd and 3rd lap. Three fourths the way through the first lap I passed Lance who had a flat. What a bummer for Lance. By the end of the first lap I was in 6th with Wiley Mosley close behind. The second lap was where I really opened up some time. My legs started really coming around and I then put on the afterburners. Mid way through the second lap I had dropped WIley off my wheel and I could see I was reeling in Will Black at a high rate of speed. Three fourths the way through the second lap I finally caught Will Black and passed him, only to see Scott Henry only thirty seconds ahead. By the start of the third lap I had already passed Scott and gained around ten seconds on him. At this point I crawled my way up to 4th and around a quarter of a way through the 3rd lap people were yelling at me saying I was only forty five seconds behind Sager. When I heard this I just laughed cause I knew Sager was going to put the afterburners on and my legs were starting to feel some fatigue. Three fourths the way through the last lap I started cramping, but just tried to bite the bullet and push hard and fend off my position. Finally after what felt like an eternity I finished the race and got 4th!

A picture of the pro men podium from left to right. Matt Gordon, Jason Sager, JHK, Bryan Fawley, and Kevin Fish.


Here is a write up of the race by cycling news and the results.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/mellow-johnnys-classic-ne/results

Thanks again to Lance and all the people at Mellow Johnnys who made this race possible. I had a blast and hope to do it again.

Now it's time for the off season!

September And Things to Come

Well I feel awfully lazy. It's been quite a long time since I have updated my blog. Just recently about a week ago I got an invite to the USAC Invitation only ID camp at the Olympic Training center in Colorado Springs. I was pretty pumped when I got the invitation. Getting to go and train at the Olympic Training should be a blast! Ironically though I had finished my season about 2 days before and was taking the week off, when I got the letter in the mail. "Well I guess it's time to start training again." Time to get back into the saddle and push some power. :) I can't wait till Colorado Springs in October.

Besides the news of the ID camp, it's been your typical month for me. Lots of school, hard specific workouts, play drums, and some chill time. :) It sure is nice to get some rain, but I didn't expect this much. I was stoked on Friday when I saw the rain coming and our long draught finally coming to an end, but I didn't want it to rain all weekend. Everyday this past weekend I would wake up and want to fall right back asleep. The dark overcast atmosphere just made you want to bundle up by a fireplace. Even though I didn't get in a mountain bike ride this weekend, I got in some great trainer workouts. Even as boring as a wind trainer can be, it always feels rewarding when you get in a good workout. That pretty much wraps up September so far and things to come.

Windham Mountain Race Report

Windham was just another great solid race. I ended up getting second. Unfortunately Seth and Emsky did not show up to the race today. Little did I know though that a Canadian Team was there and a guy on the New Zealand team also showed up. The course was awesome with lots of climbing and fun fast descents where you can really get a rhythm. The laps for the course were very short to make it more spectator friendly. My lap average for the race was a little over 19 minutes and we did 4 laps, so this ended up being a very short race overall. This morning at 8 on the foggy slopes of the Catskills, our race had begun. I immediately took the lead and started hammering it. I was scared of the Canadian Team guys coming up behind me the whole time. Around mid way through the climb to the top on the first lap, one of the guys caught me. He was absolutely hauling. I stayed with him just about all the way up the top, but I let him go because I knew I was going to blow out if I kept that pace up. He came through the first lap at about 18 minutes and I came around at about 18:20. I was kind of feeling the effects of going out hard on the second lap and sure enough the New Zealander caught me. I stayed with him till around the top when he gapped me by a little. I caught him on the downhills by the start of the 3rd lap I had caught back up to the New Zealander. At this point the other 2 Canadian team guys were about 15 seconds behind us, so they were closing the gap. The New Zealander though passed me once again and by the end of the 3rd lap had about 30 seconds on me. At this point I was probably about 3 minutes behind the leading Canadian. On the 4th lap I started coming on strong and was catching the New Zealander and leader by big chunks. By the time we got to the start of the downhill on the last lap, I was 15 seconds behind the New Zealander. I bombed the downhill like my life depended on it and caught him before the final flat and climb at the end. At this point it became mano y mano and tactics came into play. I knew there was a climb right before the finish so I tried to draft behind him on the flats to the end. He tried to shake me off but I was just stuck to his tire. When he realized this, he eased off to get some energy for the last climb up to the finish. I knew I couldn't let him ease off, so right then I hit it hard and just sprinted for my life up the hill and on the flat to the finish line. It hurt so bad and was an all out sprint. I beat him by one second. After the race I was happy to find out that I had cut down my 3 minute gap from the start of the 3rd lap all the way down to 2 minutes! I was catching the leader at a high rate of speed and if the race was definitely a little longer I think I could of caught him. The winners time was a 1:14:45 and mine was a 1:16:45, so it was one short race. The officials didn't expect us to crank out near that fast of lap times. This is most likely why they made the pro women's race 5 laps long when it was planned to be 4 laps. So in Cat 1 17-18, a Canadian won, I got second, a New Zealander got 3rd, and a Canadian got 4th and 5th. After me and the New Zealander, there was around 2 minutes to the 4th Canadian and then another 2 minutes back to the 5th Canadian. In 6th was the second best American who was 12 minutes back from the winner. I'm not totally sure on the times but I'll post them on twitter when they get announced. After the race I chatted with the Canadians and the New Zealander and they were all great guys. What a fun race! It was a short all out slugfest between us. Overall all a great way to the end the season. I can tell I'm gaining lots of speed quickly and can't wait for next year. My time was 2 minutes faster than the fastest Cat 1 adult.

Mount Snow Vermont Race

First off this was an overall great race. The group had very good racers and it was a full brawl out there. The course was very technical, rocky, and muddy. I ended up using my mud tires for this race. I was passed right at the end and got 4th. Vermont though for Seth, Eric, and Joseph, were all their home course. By the way, the Joseph guy who got me right at the end is an 18 year old cyclocross racer who lives in New England. He went to World's last year and was one of their top guys. Also we did 4 laps of around 4.1 miles. At the start of the race immediately Seth and Emsky took off the front of the group. Oh, also they started the 15-16 year olds with us. So Joseph and I took off with Seth and Emsky. Also Chase Dickens joined along for a second but immediately fell off the back. I tried to stay with Seth on the first lap but I could tell he was just pushing way faster than I could go. Also on the first lap Seth dropped Eric Emsky. So I let him go and just kept pushing it hard with the cyclocross guy, Joseph, behind me. I was about 1.5 minutes behind Seth on the first lap. The second lap we kept pushing it hard and lost around 1.5 minutes again to Seth. Joseph and I were turning very consistent lap times and actually on the last lap I think we gained a little time or stayed even with Seth. For a while I thought Emsky was hurting and we were going to catch him but he was just a little too far away. So for the rest of the laps we had the hammer down staying consistent. Every time we would come to a big climb I would get a little time on the cyclocross guy, but on the very technical descents surprisingly he would catch back up. He was probably catching up well because of how muddy the downhills were, and we know that cyclocrossers are good at mud. :) On the last lap on the climbs I really put the hammer down and dropped Joseph by about 15 seconds on the last climb. Unfortunately though we were catching other cat 1 group's and on the single track super technical downhill it was so hard to pass. So Joseph ended up catching back up to me, after I had just blown my leg dropping him on a climb. At the bottom of the downhill he eventually got around me and got me on the final flat to the finish line. My legs just weren't able to react from my interval I did on the previous climb. So it ended up that I was 4 minutes behind Seth and we think around 2.5 minutes behind Emsky. I'm not totally sure on Emsky's time though because he didn't have his timing chip. And then I was 4th right behind Joseph the cyclocross guy. Sorry I don't remember his last name lol. From me to 5th there was a 6 minute gap. There were some other decently fast guys in the group but they were a ways back. Also Chase Dickens who started with us won 15-16. He was 10 minutes back on my time though and 14 minutes back on Seth. On that course 4 minutes is nothing though, and I think if I have a great warmup and everything totally comes together, I could pull a rabbit out of a hat and beat him. But Kudo's to Seth. He's fast. I felt a little stiff on my first lap, but not to bad. I started feeling much better for the next 3 laps though. I'm excited for Windham!

Taeler Cup Freiburger Race

This was the last race of the USA cycling camp and I was really hoping to perform well. Luckily it did go very well and I won! This race, unlike the other races I had previously done was at 2:30 in the afternoon. Because of this late start time I had a lot of time to warmup. Off the start I could tell that my legs were feeling good. A german junior was leading initially up the climb and I was able to just power by the whole field and catch him. I wasn't really planning on getting to the front of the race at the very start, but because of how good my legs felt I ended up leading. Once I had passed the leader I just kept pushing it and gapped him immediately. From then on for the next 6 laps I led the race and was able to push it hard. This race had tons of climbing and I just felt like I never had to back off the gas. My legs were just feeling incredible. Even into the first lap I started catching the back end of the pro field who started 2 minutes in front of us. From then on I just kept the lead and kept passing lots of pro's. On the 3rd lap on one of the hills, I looked back and saw that actually one of my American teammates, Will Curtis, was only 10 seconds behind me. I knew then that I had to put on the gas for the next 3 laps. From then on I gapped him pretty dramatically and came into the finish two and a half minutes ahead of second. The race was pretty short. My time was 1:09:31. Also I figured out that by the end of the race I got all the way up to top ten in the pro class who started ahead of me.

I was really happy to have a race where everything finally came together. The nutrition, technique, and the power all felt stellar. I think the long warmup before the race really contributed to my legs feeling so fast off the start and for the remainder of the race. Regardless of how I finished, I was really happy to see that my form is there for the next national races to come in the states.

Engleburg Race Report

This weekend we had another Swiss Cup Race in Engleburg. We knew this was going to be a tough one from the race profile. The course went straight up and straight down. Unfortunately at the same time it was horrifically muddy. On top of the mud, the downhills were super steep and had lots of roots and rocks. The mud was that caky stick to your tire stuff. These downhills were much more treacherous than anything in the US. Also the uphill was very long and we had to do 8 laps of it. In this race I crashed 3 times, which for most of the racers was nothing. People were crashing all over the downhill.

So I ended up getting 27th, which was a big improvement from the first race. I was the first best American. Once again all of us Americans started in the very back of the group. I was happy for the improvement though. These races are much different than any of the US races and every Swiss rider is at the top of their game and super fast. As I said before, mountainbiking for the Swiss is like football for the US. My one down thing though is I did not know how many laps I had left. Because this course was I think a little under 2 miles a lot of people got lapped. Unfortunately I got lapped too. The first race I was down 18 minutes on the leader, when this race I think I was down like 14 minutes. Because of the shorter course like half of the riders got lapped. So as I said I did not know how many laps I had left. One guy told me two and then another told me one lap. I wanted to blow it out on the last lap but I was not sure if my 7th lap was my last lap. I ended up pushing it a good bit more on the 7th lap, which did end up being my last lap. When I looked at the results I saw that if I like even got 2 minutes off my time, I could have jumped like 5 spots, because the gaps between riders were so small. So if I knew it was my last lap, I think I could of gained some spots but that is kind of irrelevant. Overall it was a decent improvement and I hope to improve much more in the future of Euro racing. As I said before this type of racing over in Europe is a totally different thing. The intensity throughout the race is much higher and there is much more competition.

Next weekend is another race in Frieburg, Germany.