Pack Fodder … And Loving It!

(Melissa Putzer photo)

What a great start for WCA cyclocross this year! We had pleasant weather, well-executed events, and spirited racing to get everyone fired up for the long season ahead. I don’t have series ambitions this year but I am encouraged by my results so far.

Flyover Silver Creek Cyclocross

On Saturday in Manitowoc, I made my Cat 3 debut on a course that was outstanding in every detail. As a non-series event in 2014, the Manitowoc race garnered high praise for its course design. This year it was even better. It kept the most popular elements from last year and added a long run on the sandy beach of Lake Michigan. Cyclocross is often described as a race of transitions: a discipline that rewards those who can dismount, clear an obstacle, and then remount quickly. Manitowoc succeeded in presenting a fun challenge.

Moving into a higher level of competition after a strong 2014 season, I knew I would be challenged enough by the other men in the Masters 1/2/3/4 field. But I had a good practice lap and I didn’t have any more than the usual pre-race jitters. I was pleased with my start from the second row. Team Pedal Moraine’s Jeff Melcher quickly sprinted away from me and took some of the other top contenders with him while I held onto the wheel of Greg Ferguson (Trek Midwest). Staying with Ferguson for any length of time is an accomplishment, but when a rider fell in front of us about a minute into the race, Greg got around on the left while I was pinned against a post on the right. Then I lost contact with Paul Warloski (Milwaukee Bicycle Co.), and then PJ Braun (Fiets Club Flahute). The next couple of laps felt a lot like a Tuesday practice race at Royal Oaks Park as I tried to power away from Jeff Wren and Brian Petted, both of Team Extreme. By Lap 3 I had run through the slowest of the 35+ guys who started a minute before my wave, but I also had lost ground to a couple of 55+ guys who caught me from behind. The latter included Mike Bown (Belgianwerkx), with whom I worked to stretch my advantage over the pursuers from my own age group.

When Melcher lapped me on his final trip around the course, I knew I had just seen the front of the race go by. That inspired me to lift my pace and stay with my team captain as long as I could. We were near the end of the lap when he passed, and with the sandy beach and some tight turns before the finish line, I could at least be someone his chasers would have to pass. But that possibility never presented itself. The winner of the 35+ group passed me at the very end of the race, but no one else did. Melcher enjoyed victory in the 45+ group while I finished 14th out of 22. Among the Cat 3s, I was 6th out of 9. It was the result I deserved. I was technically competent, I out-climbed many of my rivals on a grassy hill that is a long grind by cyclocross standards, and I settled into the rhythm of the 45-minute race. Racing in prior seasons as a Cat 4, all of my races were just 30 minutes. I have the endurance for the longer event … but I do need to get faster.

Sheboygan Bicycle Company Cyclocross Classic

Today in Sheboygan, the 35+ and 45+ age groups started together in the Masters 1/2/3/4 race but they would have benefited from a time gap like the one that was used in Manitowoc. With a big group of riders going into a tight left-hand turn early in Lap 1, I had to shoulder my way past a guy who got tangled in the course tape and was trying to remount. I had sprinted to that point with the guys who eventually would win the race, but that little delay allowed them to leave me behind. I wouldn’t have stayed with them for long anyway. Arlen Spicer (Belgianwerkx) was the class of the field and the easy winner. In fact, I was kind of hoping Arlen would be even faster. I’ll explain that later.

After losing the front of the race, I settled into a less frantic pace with Jeff Wren (Team Extreme), Chris McArdle (Colectivo Coffee) and Brian Wick (KS Energy / MOSH / Team Wisconsin). McArdle and Wick were part of the 35+ age group and good guys with whom to work. We stopped losing positions and then tried to claw our way forward. The course at Sheboygan was bumpy as ever but most of the corners were generous and everything was dry, especially the steep hill known as the Equalizer. For me—and, indeed, for almost everyone—the Equalizer is a run-up even under ideal conditions. On my first ascent I was running well with the bike on my shoulder when Wren stumbled in front of me. One of his pedals became trapped in the spokes of my front wheel and (it’s a good thing we’re friends) he resumed his climb at a steady pace as I worked my wheel free. The bikes were undamaged and we hadn’t really lost any time, but two incidents on Lap 1 were enough for me.

I was Mr. Clean for the rest of the race, riding away from Wren and McArdle after a couple of laps and then riding down Wick after he had pulled out a small advantage. Wick and I continued as a duo for a full lap and for the most part I was content to follow, but on the penultimate lap he was clearly fading. I went around and encouraged him to stay with me, but a gap soon developed. As I approached the finish line, I could see race leader Arlen Spicer overtaking Wick and I quickly calculated that if I sat up and allowed Spicer to overtake me, then my position would be locked in and I wouldn’t have to do another lap. As it turned out, I reached the finish line first and earned the dubious honor of being the last man on the lead lap. I could see no one ahead of me and the race was finished behind me, so I cursed my luck (verbally, to the delight of USA Cycling official Rich Weiss) and rode on. Late in the lap I chased down a rider who was clearly out of gas and I thought that perhaps there had been some reason to ride the extra lap as if it mattered, but the results later confirmed that I was lapping the poor guy rather than taking a position from him. When it was all over, I was 11th out of 20 in the 45+ group, 7th out of 9 Cat 3s.

Let’s Hear It For The Locals!

West Bend’s Troy Sable (unattached) won the Masters 45+ Cat 4/5 race in Sheboygan. Fellow West Bender Jeff Wren (Team Extreme) took third place and Germantown’s Scott Willms (Emery’s) was fourth. Wren, Sable and Willms then competed in the Masters 1/2/3/4 race where they finished 12th, 13th and 14th, respectively. It’s a big ask to give your all in the 30-minute race early in the morning and then come back later for 45 minutes against even tougher opponents.

What’s Next?

My worst cyclocross race of 2014 came at Lake Geneva on the morning following the 3-hour Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Bike Series race at New Fane. This year those events again fall on consecutive days, and I am committed to the WEMS race. I might skip Lake Geneva and then come back strong on Sep. 26-27 in Milwaukee at Cross-Shooshko and Velocause Cross. Lake Geneva will be the first event in the new Super Cup series-within-a-series that the WCA will try this season and the turnout should be huge. That’s exciting, but that’s not necessarily what I need right now as I continue to develop as a Cat 3.

Cyclocross Eve … Eve

A week has passed since I announced the successful conclusion of my job search, and while I haven’t gone back to work yet—my first day will be next Monday—I have been busy with a lot of job-related activities. I’m going to work in Brookfield, but I’m going to work for a Michigan-based company with no local human resources department. All of the pre-employment paperwork was done via fax, email, or the company’s website, and drug screening was done at a local lab with which the company has a contract. (USADA, if you’re reading this, I did not return a “non-negative analytical finding.” And who talks like that anyway?)

Time spent on pre-employment chores hasn’t come close to the time I would have spent on hunting for work, and last week I got back to high-volume training with a 13.5-hour, 216-mile block that ended on Sunday. I took a rest day on Monday and then was more-or-less forced into another one by rain on Tuesday. Conditions at Royal Oaks Park were unsuitable for cyclocross practice, so I called it off. I didn’t want to damage the grounds and my relationship with the city’s Parks, Recreation & Forestry staff. Monday and Tuesday were my first consecutive rest days since May 29-30.

I got back in the saddle yesterday with a fast 50 miles on the road. Today I did 32 more. I plan to do something fairly easy tomorrow, including a final shakedown of the cyclocross bike to make sure it’s in top condition for the opening weekend of the WCA cyclocross season. I have pre-registered for Manitowoc on Saturday and Sheboygan on Sunday. We’ll see how I like being a Cat 3. The later start time and the longer race duration should suit me, but I don’t expect podium spots or upgrade points. And, well, the USA Cycling race predictor doesn’t think much of my chances either:

I actually may be more fit right now than I was at the beginning of the 2014 season, but the level of competition is so much higher. Being a mid-pack Cat 3 would be a good accomplishment and probably the best I can expect for a while. Maybe I’ll reach the podium again in 2019 when I move up to the next age group!

Crisis? What Crisis?

I have a new job! The offer came yesterday, exactly seven months after I was laid off by my previous employer. With my cash reserves nearly exhausted, I worried that I would have to settle for something very humble. And it’s true that my paychecks will be smaller, at least for a while, but I am excited about the potential to grow my new position into something great.

During my job hunt I applied for more than 60 different positions and went through more than a dozen interviews. I investigated many career fields, but I will remain an information technology professional. IT has put food on my table since October 1995. I’m going to work in the Brookfield data center of a Fortune 500 company that had outsourced most of its IT operations and now is bringing them back in-house. The staff will grow as the workload grows, and with my management background I will be well positioned for a new leadership role.

IT jobs can have undesirable schedules. My hours—11 p.m. through 7 a.m., Monday through Friday—wouldn’t work for everyone, but they will work for me. I have worked nights before and I actually sleep better during the day. And just consider the implications for my cycling objectives: every day will be free for riding, every weekend will be free for racing. Sure, it might be hard to come out of the Friday night shift at 7 o’clock on a Saturday morning and get myself into race mode within just a few hours, but it can be done. My first night on the job will be September 14, so the first test of my ability to race after work will come in the WEMS race at New Fane on Saturday the 19th. But that’s a 3 p.m. start, so I should be able to get some sleep before the race. WORS races are always on Sundays, so they won’t be a problem. Cyclocross will be the toughest fit, especially if I want to attend races outside of the Milwaukee area.

If you read my blog frequently and/or know me in person, then you know the sometimes extreme attention I give to the subjects nearest my heart. I’m a meticulous planner who doesn’t like to leave anything to chance, and I’m always trying to see as far into the future as I can. I am immensely relieved that my employment crisis is over and all of its uncertainty is in the past.

Finishing August 2015 With A Personal Record

Today I rode 26 miles to finish August with a total of 826. That’s my best August ever, beating the 809 miles I rode last year. I also set new marks in January (241), March (538) and June (816), and so far this year I have ridden 4,565 miles. With four months remaining in 2015, it seems likely that I will surpass the personal-record 5,236 miles I rode in 2014.

Despite the mileage record, August ended gently. I had a streak of 200-mile weeks from July 20 through August 16, but then I tapered in advance of the Reforestation Ramble—just 143 miles that week, including the race itself—and last week I rode only 142 miles in 8.5 hours, my lowest saddle time since May 4-10. What can I say? The weather was a dispiriting string of obscenities:

Wearing thermal clothes and wondering if I should be using a headlight in the middle of the afternoon … not my idea of summer fun. Better weather will motivate me to ride more this week. Today’s miles were something of a bonus. Mondays are supposed to be rest days but I took last Saturday off. Tomorrow I will host another cyclocross practice at Royal Oaks Park. That’s an important workout, but it won’t produce a lot of miles. Wednesday through Sunday look pretty good right now. I will devote one of those days to mountain biking at New Fane, but otherwise I will be racking up big miles on the road. This could be the last week of 2015 in which we get more than one 80-degree day, and I plan to take advantage.

Working The Day Shift At New Fane

With rain on the way, I slipped two fast laps at New Fane into my Friday afternoon. Lap 1 was a very respectable 25:19. Lap 2 was a personal-best 24:41, a 3-second beating of the time I posted back on June 24. (If you follow me on Garmin Connect, Lap 2 looks like 24:45. I fumbled with the device as I completed the lap, failing to hit the correct button. Fortunately, I was able to use the website’s playback feature to pinpoint the moment I reached the finish line.)

In the WORS race on Sunday I had a body that cooperated and a bike that did not. Yesterday the bike got fixed: the new SRAM X9 shifter is a nice upgrade for the worn-out X7 that caused me so much trouble in the Reforestation Ramble. Today both body and bike did what I wanted them to do.

Last year I did 17 practice sessions at New Fane before competing in the Northern Kettles Fall Epic. This year the race is on September 19. Today’s visit to New Fane was my 17th of 2015, and with three weeks to go I should be able to do a few more pre-race practices. New Fane isn’t super technical, but like any mountain bike course it rewards those who ride it often. There are a couple of “home field advantage” spots where I can gain valuable time, and I’m not yet as quick as I could be.

2015 Reforestation Ramble

Top step!

Trips to the Brown County Reforestation Camp in Suamico always refresh my memories of winning a mountain bike race there in 2012. Today I made some new memories and came away with first place in the Sport Men’s 50-54 age group!

I knew I was fit, and I was hugely motivated to do well in what will be my only WORS race of 2015. After Saturday’s pre-ride, I thought a Top 5 was a strong possibility. But as the race began I wasn’t thinking about my own results; my main goal was to help my Team Pedal Moraine friend Larry Hipps, who entered the day in second place in the season-long points competition. I wanted to beat Mike Owens (the series leader) and Butch Piontek (third overall), and I had their bib numbers written on a piece of masking tape on the top tube of my bike. If I could take points away from them, then Larry would be closer to the series championship.

As series leaders, Hipps, Owens and Piontek were called to the starting grid ahead of me, so my first task was to bridge up to them from a disadvantageous position. That turned out not to be a problem. Early in the first lap I put Owens and Piontek behind me. I got up to my teammate's wheel, let him know I was there, and then helped him to consolidate his position at the front of the race. West Bend’s Troy Sable (unattached) was there too, as was Chuck Cunningham (Gryphon Velo). With Hipps doing most of the work on the front, we had a strong 4-man group that was quickly getting away.

Then I had a moment of despair as my rear shifting went away. I have had some shifting trouble lately and the many mud puddles left by early morning rain turned that little problem into a big one. When I found myself stuck at the bottom of my cassette, I was forced to run up a sharp little hill. Nobody who watched me finish the race could have imagined that I was a pedestrian at the midpoint of Lap 1. In that moment I thought Hipps, Cunningham and Sable would start to distance me. Fortunately I found that I could, at times, get the shifter to respond. I was all over it for the rest of the race, and it never worked without a fight. Front shifting was just fine … and that was going to matter later.

Yeah, it was a dirty one!

A couple of miles into Lap 2, Sable and Cunningham took turns at the front. I stayed true to the plan, right on Larry’s back wheel. At one point, Cunningham’s lead grew too large for comfort and I thought the race might be slipping away, but Hipps brought him back. I had thought, briefly, about bursting past my teammate to chase Cunningham down. But neither Cunningham nor Sable can threaten Larry’s series standing. If one of them had won today, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world.

As Lap 2 wore on, Hipps didn’t have the same snap in his legs that he had displayed earlier. Laps at the Reforestation Camp are long—the ever-changing course was about 11 miles this year—and the distance was starting to tell. I wanted Larry to be the first man into each section of singletrack so that he could ride at his own pace. Out on the cross-country ski trails I shut down a handful of attempts by Sable and Cunningham to separate us. Hipps didn’t need to worry; I wasn’t coming around him and the others weren’t coming around me.

Emerging from the last piece of singletrack, I positioned myself at Larry’s 5 o’clock: slightly to his right and back a few feet. Cunningham was on Larry’s wheel but would either have to pass me on the right—No!—or be content to follow a bit longer. Shortly before the last two singletrack sections, Sable had faded slightly and wouldn’t figure in the sprint. With 1 kilometer to the finish line, I was in the big ring and ready for whatever. I had practiced the finish on Saturday and knew I could let ’er rip all the way to the line. And that’s when strategy became tactics: Hipps was done. I could sit up, let Cunningham take the win, and roll in behind Larry to make sure he got the most points possible … or I could win. A split second of eye contact with Larry was all I needed, and I was off. Cunningham was well up for it, finishing just 0.8 seconds behind me. My winning time in the 15-man age group was 1:49:09.0. Hipps rolled in for third at 1:49:22.2, followed by Sable in 1:49:29.4. Piontek (1:52:06.4) and Owens (1:52:25.5) finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Overall, I was 37th out of 143 in the Cat 2 Sport class. Adam Altmann, a 16-year-old from Chippewa Falls, was first overall in 1:39:45.6. There’s no way I could have found almost 10 minutes to score an overall victory, but I rode a tactically brilliant race and overcame mechanical trouble to achieve a result with which I could not be more satisfied.

Looking Out For Number Two

Cheap, performance-enhancing, and UCI-legal!

In high school and for a couple of years after, I tried to turn myself into a runner. But it was fits and starts: I went through several rounds of committing and abandoning. The idea appealed to me more than the reality. I didn’t yet have the discipline I would acquire as a cyclist, that willingness to train even when I don’t want to train.

Rounds of commitment usually included new gear and a new training plan, but they always included new literature. Reading about running was motivational, and Dr. George Sheehan was the guru. His advice ranged from the metaphysical to eminently practical things like “Always compete on an empty stomach and an empty colon.”

Running and cycling aren’t the same effort. I can ride competitively with a little food in my belly and during longer efforts I can even eat while I ride. I’m not special in that respect; cyclists from charity tours to Grand Tours commonly take in calories during their events. But Sheehan’s advice about the empty colon is not just right, it’s almost self-evident. How many athletic efforts have been compromised by some sort of digestive distress? That kind of trouble should be easy to avoid.

For a couple of days in advance of a race, I eat bland. I don’t experiment a lot anyway, but as a race approaches I turn to super reliable things like breakfast cereal, scrambled eggs, pancakes, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and other dead boring meals. And what goes in must come out, so I load up on fiber supplement. There’s no delicate way to discuss this topic, but it’s important. Under normal circumstances I don’t have any problems processing food through my digestive tract. So, the fiber supplement is just insurance. It’s part of my pre-race routine, and perhaps part of yours … I can understand why you might not be discussing this. But I can assure you it’s not part of everyone’s. Pre-race nerves and bowel movements seem to be closely linked, and I have seen plenty of guys running for the porta-potties just minutes before their races began. I don’t need that kind of pressure.

Tubeless Debut At New Fane

In July I was turning solid laps on the mountain bike trails at New Fane. I was consistently below 26 minutes and even sub-25 minutes on a couple of occasions. But my tires were on borrowed time and when I turned a 27:05 on August 5, sliding through every corner and feeling lucky just to stay upright, I knew I had to do something.

Equipped with new tires and running tubeless at New Fane for the first time ever, today I completed Lap 1 in 26:12. On Lap 2 I followed a teammate who is new to mountain biking, and his pace wasn’t what mine would have been. On Lap 3 I followed training partner Jeff Wren, and we were flying. Unfortunately, I’ll never know how good that lap was because my Garmin turned off. I really think I made a run at my personal best of 24:44.

The important thing is that I rode well and the bike performed well. I’m confident on the bike again. That’s good in itself but it’s really important as I head into the weekend: I am registered for Sunday’s Reforestation Ramble in Suamico, which will be my only WORS race this year. With a good pre-ride on Saturday, I think I can challenge for a Top 5 in my age group.

Going Tubeless

Stans

Today I went mountain biking for the first time since August 5. That last occasion sucked. I completed just one lap at New Fane, slowly, and I couldn’t be persuaded to do another. The problem wasn’t my fitness; it was my tires. I knew for several weeks that they no longer were up to the task, and my confidence was just shot. I couldn’t corner properly and I had zero fun.

I didn’t want to spend the money on new tires, but I also didn’t want to stop riding. So, I upgraded to a set of Bontrager XR2 Team Issue tires and I’m running them without tubes. I expected my first experience with them to come at New Fane, giving me an easy head-to-head comparison with my August 5 ride. But today I couldn’t pass up the chance to return to Minooka Park in Waukesha, site of Sunday’s WORS race. I won’t be competing, but it was nice to see the course again. When I rode there on June 19 I got my first glimpse of tight, twisty trails that don’t suit my racing style. Even equipped with brand new tires that performed very well, I would not expect good race results. We’ll see what next year brings, but for now I will continue to regard Minooka as a fun place for a change-of-pace workout when New Fane gets a little stale.

With my new tubeless tires successfully tested at Minooka, I eagerly anticipate my next trip to New Fane. The Northern Kettles Fall Epic (WEMS) is just five weeks from tomorrow and, as always, I want to do well on my home course. But next weekend’s Reforestation Ramble (WORS) remains a possibility too. This week has given me some reason to hope that my employment crisis will be resolved soon, and even if it’s not I might line up on the familiar trails of the Brown County Reforestation Camp. That’s not a technical venue, so the chance of serious injury is low. My confidence in the bike has been restored, my confidence in my body hasn’t been in question all year, and my confidence in my job search is as high as it has been. Hopefully this sense of things moving in the right direction isn’t over-inflated.

I Can’t Get No …

"Where’s the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!"

Summer in Wisconsin is like tantric sex: it’s not what you really want, but it’s better than nothing. Take this weekend, for example. Friday was gloomy with rain scattered throughout the day. I took some unscheduled rest and got mechanical work done on my 29er, my cyclocross bike, and my little-used Raleigh road bike. Saturday was gloomy still—the whole day looked like 8 p.m.—and it was 10 degrees below normal, but at least it was dry. I knocked out a solo metric century in under 3.5 hours. I have done one metric century per month for the last five months, beginning in April with Cheesehead Roubaix. Today’s weather was a little better. On my 35-mile solo road ride I surpassed 4,000 miles, year-to-date. That used to be a big milestone but now it’s just another statistic.

I’m riding strongly and I’m putting up big numbers: 11-12 hours in the saddle and 200+ miles, week after week. And yet I am struggling to stay motivated because it seems like all this training is building up to nothing. I really want to race but I keep denying myself because I still haven’t resolved my employment situation. With no job, bad insurance, and dwindling cash reserves, I should continue to regard racing as an unnecessary risk and expense. But if this year ends and all I can point to is one mid-pack race result, then I will be very disappointed no matter how much riding I do.