The Beginning of 2017

It’s been an interesting year thus far. I have decided to put everything from a cycling perspective into cyclocross season, so this year has included much more MTB riding than I’ve ever done. A weak point for me in CX is my handling, so I’m hoping this will help to address that. I’m also working in other gravel and road events for the sake of racing, so I should have a pretty well-rounded lead up to the fall.

It is pretty exciting that my time in Iowa will soon be coming to a close. I’ve enjoyed the cycling aspect of it for the most part, ranging from convenient cross races (Jingle Cross was a 15 minute drive, for example) and excellent gravel roads. But road riding is pretty much nonexistent compared to what I’m used to, and the limited roads I have access to are mostly in terrible shape. In general, I find it to be a bit of an odd place. It is hard to explain, but I always feel like an outsider. One common example is when Michelle and I eat at a restaurant. It doesn’t happen every time, but it is pretty common for people to just stare at us while we are taken to our table. I don’t know if we look funny or what, but it is awkward. Going back to the outsider comment, it probably doesn’t help that I know my time here is temporary and I’ll be gone soon, but I’m not just imagining it based upon my restaurant example. I’m also really sick of Michelle’s fellowship. She is severely underpaid for the work she does, and frankly she just gets abused since that is part of the role apparently. As an example, she is literally on call 24/7, and if she wants to do anything she has to find someone to cover it and ask permission. It sounds easy enough, but it is often like pulling teeth to make that happen.

I’ve been involved in a few races this year. The first one was pretty low key, and I don’t think I was quite ready for it from a mental perspective. It was a 50-mile gravel race called the Iowa Spring Classic in Colfax, IA. It was cold and quite windy, which pretty much explains Iowa in the winter (another reason I don’t love it here). I expected a fast race since 50 miles isn’t the longest of gravel races, but I didn’t expect the hammerfest that ensued when the race started. One area where I suffered was a lack of a solid warmup. I did get to ride around a bit, but I wasn’t feeling loose by any means. As a result, when the A race I entered was fast from the gun I don’t think my legs were quite ready for the intensity. I stayed with the lead group for the first of 6 laps, but when the lead three attacked on a big hill during lap 2 I missed the boat. One problem was that I wasn’t paying great attention to what was going on, and I missed the move. On the other hand, I’m not sure I would have been able to stick with it since by that time my legs were still not feeling completely awake. I ended up riding with another guy for a lap or two after that, but he ended up falling off since climbing wasn’t his strong suit on the day. It was a nice, intense early season effort, but not the most outstanding result.

The next race I did was a very short gravel race during a weeknight evening. The Iowa City Cycling Club puts on a race series in various disciplines throughout the year called the Chamois Time Race Series. This was the gravel race, and it was a brief 13-mile event that included 2 laps of a circuit. This time I knew the race would be fast, and it essentially turned into a road race on gravel. Several super-fast cat 1 road people toed the start line, so I knew it was going to be intense. Coach told me to make it a hard day and to not be afraid of pushing myself, so I didn’t hesitate to do work, bridge gaps, etc. during the first lap. On the second lap, I decided to tuck into the group and save some effort for the finish. This worked out nicely since I was feeling good and sticking with the lead group just fine, but near the end I somehow found myself at the front. I decided to put in a hard effort with about 0.5 miles to go to see if I could make something happen, but I basically just served as a nice start to a leadout for the group. They passed me by, and I finished near the back of the pack. It was a nice workout and a good learning experience, so not all was lost.

The other race I’ve done this year was just this past weekend in the Quad Cities area. It was my first MTB race of the year, and I rode my new Niner Air 9. When I decided to pursue more MTB races this year, I knew I wanted something more than the singlespeed I have available. I sold my endurance road bike to make room for the sweet new Niner. I’ve quickly learned that having gears is quite nice while riding rolling trails! The race was the Illiniwek Abermination in Hampton, IL. Due to my severe lack of experience, I opted to avoid the expert race and signed up for the comp race, which the promoters tagged as a cat 1/2 event. I’m technically a cat 3 in MTB, but that is primarily due to my lack of racing and I hoped my fitness would help bridge the gap that I knew would exist between my technical skills and those of the other racers. The race started quite fast, as expected, and was pretty reminiscent of a CX race for the first 30-60 seconds until we hit the singletrack. I got a decent enough position near the front of the group, and away we went. It was quickly confirmed that my handling skills were going to be my downfall, and people slowly pulled away as they carved technical turns while I probably used my brakes way too much. The course was comprised of two similar sections, which both included a healthy climb, windy and a bit technical singletrack on the sides of hills, and then pretty fast descents. One of the descents included crazy berms that were wooden bridges that curved upward to allow you to really fly through them. My courage is lacking in that area, so I was a bit more ginger going through them than most. My crash that led to broken ribs, a partially collapsed lung, etc. a few years ago doesn’t help me there! But I excelled on the climbs and was regularly able to reel people in that were superior to me from a technical standpoint, but then on the other sections they would pull away. It was a bit of a yoyo effect until I was finally alone in what I thought was 5th place for much of the latter part of the race. At that point, I did my best to make it a good practice session of intense MTB riding while trying to improve in the areas I struggled in lap after lap. I thought I had ended up 5th out of the 13 that started based upon keeping track of riders in front of and behind me, and that is what the posted results after the race said (at least I thought so). But the results posted online the following day indicated I was 6th. I’m guessing there was a change after I saw the results posted and left, and I wasn’t there to sell my case. Either way, I can’t complain too much even though I didn’t set the world on fire. My goals for this year extend to and focus upon cross season, so one MTB race result isn’t going to make or break my year.

I have my first road race of the year coming up this weekend (with rain forecasted), and after that more MTB events. As with MTB, I haven’t done a ton of road racing in my life, and I’m also a cat 3 there. Outside of cycling, I’m just a little over 2 months away from moving from IA to NE, so that is exciting. What is more exciting is that Michelle will no longer have everything dumped on her as the low person on the totem pole, but she will actually be treated like a real employee who is equal. Therefore, no more dealing with every little problem that comes up, having to ask permission just to leave town for a weekend, etc. We won’t know what to do with ourselves!