part of the 2010 season.

part of Team Redemption 2010!!

STALLIN AND GET TO IT.

rockin the 2x9 awesome stuff. Finally updates will be more frequent as when I update my blog at mtb424.blogspot.com this will be updated as well......thank you feedburner.

first race back from my knee injury and broken bike.

 So the 2008 WEMS Series came down to the 12 Hours of John Muir with only 1 point separating myself and Chris Schotz.  Going into this race the points scenario worked out in which I would have to win and Chris would have to place 3rd or worse.  

Saturday morning was absolutely frigid, just a hair over the freezing mark with frost turning the grass white.  The start was chaotic as some straglers got to the line late and were coming at us as we took off on the short run to the bikes and after some confusion I finally was on my bike stuck in a train of slow riders in which a break didn’t form until about a mile into the lap.  So upset, pissed off, and totally adrenalized I just shot around a corner and gave chase to anybody in front of me and that was my attitude for the first lap.  What awaited me on the second lap had me a little freaked out as I did some good work on the climbs and started to get a feeling for the lines in the rocky descents that proved to be fast but came head on to a semi coming out of the woods after picking up a load of timbers....nice so here I was again angered by the hold up as I had no room to squeeze by found myself trying to make up lost time again.  The 3rd lap I finally shed my arm warmers and keep on bringing the ruckus rode a smooth lap but with the cold temps and not much sweating it seemed like I was peeing every lap from 3 to 7 and after I made my 1 self sustained real pit stop with no update on result other than what I could pick up from people I would pass so I downed some ensure, slammed a 5 hour energy, took a couple of alleve to ease the pain.  which may have taken about 3-5 minutes.  I went for lap 8 feeling a little bit better and refreshed and lap 9 was a prep lap intended for anybody that decided that they were going to try and bridge the gap on me and it worked out perfectly.

The final lap I stopped by the pits on my way out to drop the camelback and eat some blocks I saw what I found out to be third place go by at a rather moderate pace with nothing but pain labored pedaling worthy of noting to my memory for future use allowed me to begin riding so fast until my veins started pumping battery acid to my muscles and said F@ck it and did it some more on every climb and put the Turner into the big ring and kicked it in on the final 3 miles to put in a minute plus gap before the finish for 2nd place and over 100 miles in 10 hours plus not being completely destroyed at least not until Sunday morning was a plus as I had a 3 hour drive to deal with before I could get some sleep.

Hats off to Chris for being such a great competitor this year.  He’s a great racer and also designed the Underdown course which was a great challenge this year I look forward to some trail building out there this fall as that will be a good chunk of where I would Ideally like to ride next spring and summer.  All that want to assist and ride some great trails are invited to show up and lend a hand on November 1st.

A great season must pass in order to prep for the upcoming season as 2009 brings many opportunities.  Maybe a race in sheboygan may be in order this weekend, but weather is going to play a factor in which I will pull the plug since it’s not something I “need” to do.  We’ll see.

So for Labor Day weekend I started off with a drive to Green Bay and woke up Saturday morning at around 5 am to get over to the venue for the next stop of the Wisconsin Endurance Mountainbike Series.  I had enough time to get a decent pit and shared it with some of the guys from Performa Cycling.  Bottles were filled, Kenda tires were checked for air, and the Turner was ready to go.  I made sure to get all of my Evomo gear ready and headed to the start line.  



So from the second they yelled go we took off on the short run to our bikes I was mid pack cause I mis-judged where my trusty steed was and was stuck for the most of the first 2 miles of the 9 mile course.  I made a desperate move and pass going into the singletrack and did a good job of wrecking people granted I didn't want to and felt kinda bad for it, but I had to get going as the leader built up a huge lead.



Laps ticked off from 38 minutes on the first lap to staying a consistent 40 some minutes on at least the first 6 hours or so even after my non-drive crank arm came off.  I found myself riding a very hard pace with Lee Unwin as well as Seth Lenss for quite some time.



So 6 hours goes by with no idea how I was doing other than staying consitent on my times.  I slam 2 slim fasts, grabbed a new camelback and new bottle.



So with about 3 hours to go I get a view of the lead rider and I try to stay one corner behind, but I caught him quicker than I originally had planned and we talked for a bit, he tried to hold my wheel, but then as I got to the start finish he wasn't behind me and at this point I stopped re-fueled and jumped out ahead of him again and continued to drill it.



I heard I was in the lead I also heard I was still in second as I saw another rider from his team who must have been on a relay flew by so fast I couldn't ID him and I had no idea who was chasing me and how far back they were.  I had no choice but to go as hard as I could and finish strong since I thought the guy who went on the flyer was the guy I battling and I knew 16 laps were going to win it so after finishing lap 15 I strapped on my lights as it was getting dark in the thicker sections of the course and rode my 2nd fastest lap of the entire race.  



All in all, my best race EVER.  I had the mental game down, rode fast but in control, and used strategy towards my advantage.  It was a moment where everything finally clicked I can't believe it took 16 nine mile laps in just under 12 hours for the lightbulb to go off. I finished a lap ahead of second place and celebrated with a nice cold can of PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon)



I would like to thank EVOMO and the rest of my great sponsors for their support this season.

No bike racing this weekend as I had to make a trip up north to Tomahawk Wisconsin for a wedding and I figured while I was up there I would participate in a 5k alumni race. 



I probably picked a bad time for my first run of the year other than a LeMans start to get onto my bike.  I went out with the leaders and hung with them for about 3/4 of a mile but I felt I needed to back it off or suffer the consequences.  So the first mile was pathetic at best around 6 minutes and I crossed the 2 mile line in 13 minutes and I laughed histarically as again I wasn't impressed.  So finally as more runners got shot out the back and I put them behind me, I finally crossed the line in something like 21:28.  I was a little dissapointed at my result, but then again I haven't run at all this year and I know if I were to actually train for it, I could easily run a sub 18 minute.  I didn't think I would be this sore after a short run like that, but wow that may be a sign of age.



Some really good news coming down the pipe has me excited and looking forward to 2009, but I will be sure to further ellaborate on that a little later.



This weekend is the WEMS race in Green Bay as I look to take back 2nd place in the overall standings.

Headed out late Friday night to LaCrosse for a 12 solo event at the Human Powered Trails.  These guys put together a very tough course quite possible the toughest to date.

 

As riders started rolling in, the usual suspects were in tow.  Friend and fellow EVOMO teammate Tim Ek was there and of course Schotz and C. Farrow were there as well to give me a rough time the whole ride.

 

I had a great start one of the first to hit the bikes and race around the parade lap, having a close call with Tim woke me up as he slid across the off camber grassy hill which was very wet from the colder night temperatures.  I made sure I didn’t drill him and continued on my pursuit of a couple of guys pinning it from the start and made sure I kept them in sight without going overboard.  I wasn’t sure what was to come out of Sunday with the lack of sleep Friday night and poor nutrition Friday as well.  To add to that I wasn’t sure where I was at after 24/9, but pushed on.  The first few laps ticked by with me getting a feel for the course and the what seemed like dozens of switchbacks and what seemed like endless climbing at this point I was only stopping to update my GU stock.

 

At around 5 hours into it my first longer stop took place to get some calories down which was well needed and I was definitely in the hurt tank from the beating I took on this 90% singletrack course.  At this point I really wanted to pull the plug and call it a day, but as I took an easy lap I gave my body enough time to reorganize itself and felt fresh again going into hour 7 or 8 well after my crashing into fixed objects was finally done as well.  I along with many others got stung by a bee, but I continued and started to develop a plan for the finish which I don’t think I could have planned any better and started pushing my pace going into lap 9.

 

I could always hear some braking squeals other than my own and knew that charlie and tim were in my reach as they were riding together I knew I had enough gas to really go.

 

So right before lap 10 I roll into my pit as Tim took off.  I took one can of slimfast down popped a gu and began the chase thinking I was in 2nd (more on that later as well) and as soon as I heard tim talking to charlie “Justin is right on my ass” I got a little burst and really stepped it up and had a conserved yet smooth lap leaving just enough for one more should it come to that.  Well as “fate” would have it I pit another rider goes by and I just about crap myself considering that fact that I have seen this rider going backward on the course earlier on in the day and couldn’t believe he was on the lead lap.  So then I basically dropped the hammer riding aggressively pissed off (yes a new phrase) to catch 2 people now only to find him fixing a flat half way through the lap and rode hard in case he was just about to put the wheel back on.  So more energy in the tank gone as I hit the grassy field for what would be the final time 11th and final lap I could see Tim and I yelled “Let’s go Tim” as I wanted to finish this hard for the win, but he pulled in just to make sure we had what we needed to discuss the outcome and also I wanted to make sure I had more calories in case what I thought was third came strolling through, but we agreed he wasn’t going to make it in time to have a fast lap count before 8 and we rolled in 1st and 2nd or so we thought.  After handshakes and victory brews were exchanged and updated paper results confirmed our EVOMO dominance, the awards ceremony listed me as 3rd and Tim as 2nd.  Somehow a rider was off the front but wasn’t on the printouts the entire day...hard to digest, but still a dominant EVOMO performance with Tim taking 2nd and I rounding out the top 3.

 

This course was by far the hardest most technical course to date and makes Levis look like a ride on the green circle, but I’l l be back. 

Roastery!!! om nom nom nom.