25 Hours of Frog Hollow

For a long time I had a 24 hour solo race on my bucket list, that was until I met several riders at the BC Bike Race who had raced one.  They said it was the hardest thing they’d ever done and they’d never do it again.  So last year when I was invited to join a 4 man team to race the 25 Hours in Frog Hollow mountain bike race I figured it would be as close to a 24 hour race as I’d get.  We ended up having a great time and planned on doing it this year.

Towards the end of Summer I started asking my teammates from last year’s 25 hour race whether we were going to get a team together.  Nobody was sure what the plan was this year until unexpectedly several riders entered the race in the solo category.  I was stuck with the decision to either race solo or forget the race.   Since misery loves company, I decided to go for it and race solo alongside the others.

After forking out my entrance fee, I had to figure out how the heck I’d train for the event.  Not only will I be riding hours and hours, I'll climb over 1000 feet per lap.

By the third lap my back was killing me.  I couldn’t figure out why only three hours into the race my back would hurt but training rides up to 5 hours long didn’t cause any problems.  This also happened a few weeks before at the 6 hour race.

Laps 1/8

I kept telling myself that I would take a break after 8 laps or approximately 100 miles.  Laps 7 and 8 were tough because I didn’t eat or drink enough.  So after the eighth lap I was ready for a break and hopefully re-energize.  I decided to lie down for an hour.  Lonnie brought an extra cot so I wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor of the tent.  I unrolled my sleeping bag, hopped in, and tried to zip it up – nothing.  I could not get the two pieces of the zipper to stay together.  After several minutes of trying I gave up and lied down.  I was freezing.

Laps 9/10

Laps 11/12

The numbers:

12 laps

155 miles

13,000 ft climbing

18/29 riders

0 mechanicals

What I learned from my first 24+ hour race:

1. Make sure to pack warm sleeping stuff.
2. Drink two water bottles per lap
3. If you feel good keep riding
4. Bring a bike work stand
5. Never go out without both bar and helmet lights
6. PB&J works
7. Eat – stupid – 250 calories/hour
8. Bring 2 bikes
9. Start slower than you think you should
10. 5 hour energy worked

6 Hours of Frog Hollow

After Race

To prepare for the 25 Hours in Frog Hour race this year I decided to sign up for the 6 hour version.  I've ridden several 6 hour events in the past few months but not on a mountain bike.

I was interested in several items:

Which bike?
Should I the full suspension 26 or the 29'er hard tail.  The trail is not too technical.  I rode the 29'er which handled great.  It was much easier getting up and over the rock sections.

Nutrition
One bottle per lap along with a bar or a couple of gels.

Results:  5 laps in 5:30 hours

I definitely need to adjust my riding position.  After 3 hours my lower back was dang sore.  I'll probably bring both 26 and 29'er to the 25 hour race.

Bear Lake Monster Cross

16 riders for the 1st annual BLMX

I signed up for the Bear Lake Monster Cross to get an idea how a gravel grinder race would feel.  I'm really interested in riding the Dirty Kanza.  This ride would be the longest I'd ever done on my cyclocross bike.

The BLMX was initially scheduled for August but was postponed which caused most of the riders to cancel.

I was really excited to ride the dirt and gravel roads around Bear Lake and nearby mountains.  This was the longest ride

The temperature at the start was in the upper thirties.  The 16 of us headed south from Montpelier through gravel roads until we hit the causeway from the east side of Bear lake to the west.  After more dirt and gravel roads we hit the mountains at Paris, ID.  The views awesome.  The leaves were turning colors and there was snow at the higher elevations.

A view from some of the back roads

The ride was great.  I'll definitely do it again.  I could have used more gears for climbing and wider tires for the gravel roads.

Lotoja 2013

This was going to be my sixth and last year of racing Lotoja.  I was ready to move on to other adventures. The previous year was my fifth which qualified me for the 1000 club.   I didn't have any goals this year other than finishing.

On the day of the race, there was a chance of rain along the route.  The route had changed slightly for the race classes.  Instead of riding through Benson and the other farm towns we rode from Logan through Smithfield and on to Preston.  In addition, our first feed zone wouldn't be until the feed zone at the top of Strawberry - 60 miles from Logan.  I really liked the new route.  We were able to stay in a race group longer.

I felt great on the three major climbs and was on my way to finishing with my fastest time.  As I rode into Afton, WY in a pace line of 6 others, the rider in front of me quickly swerved.  Right in front of me was a large orange construction barrel.  I didn't have any time to react.  I hit the barrel straight on. I felt myself doing a superman through the air.  I landed partially on my head, face, arms, and knees. As I laid there on the ground, a pool of blood formed behind my head.

Several people stopped to help and call my parents who are waiting for me at the Afton feed zone only 5 minutes away.  As we're standing alongside the road another group rode by and hit another construction barrel which caused about 6 riders to fall.  After loading my mangled bike into the car, we drive to the emergency room.  I received 25 stitches around my eye but luckily no broken bones.  My front fork is completely destroyed.

Dang, I guess next year will be my last.

Red Hot 55k

I decided to run another ultra-marathon.  I heard the Red Hot 55K was a great run.  The route follows some of the mountain bike trails in Moab.  The race is in February so it may be tough to train outdoors. My longest training run was 19 miles on a treadmill.  If I can do that, I can run 33 miles through gorgeous views in Moab.

The trail was great.  We started at Gemini Bridges and finished at the Poison Spider trail head.  Running on the slick rock was hard on my feet.  I was in pretty good shape from running on the treadmill with the exception of running downhill.

55K Starting Line

I finished in 5:45.

BC Bike Race Day 2 Campbell River

Today we woke up early in Cumberland to eat breakfast and hop a bus to Campbell River.

2012 BC Bike Race Day 1 Cumberland

2012 BC Bike Race Day Zero

Hopped ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo followed by bus ride to Cumberland.

Last Training Ride

Did my last long ride yesterday at Snowbasin before BC.  Temperatures were around 90.  It will be great to ride in the 70s in BC.

Coast Ride Day 2

Monterey to Morrow Bay

LOTOJA 2011

Prior to race my goal was finishing under 10:00.

Buffalo Run 50k

32 miles and 5000 feet of climbing OUCH!  Previous longest
 run was 19 miles.

2010 Cycling Recap

Lotoja 2010

Great weather. Spent way too much time waiting in line for the Honey Bucket. 

Finishing time:  10:26
Finishing position:  12/53

Cyclocross (Heart attack on two wheels)
Probably my new favorite type of facing.


Mountain Bike
First career mountain bike race didn't end as I had hoped.  Tried the Snowbasin Bash.  Crashed on the first loop and bent my handlebars.

My First Cyclocross Race

I raced my first cyclocross race. I've been looking forward to this since I watched a few races last year. I had a hard time sleeping the night before I was so nervous.  I got to the fairgrounds 45 minutes early to warm up and pre-ride the course. The course had tons of weeds, I was very worried because the day before I got two flat tires.

38 guys in all shapes and sizes in the C class. The pace starts out crazy. The course consists of small hills, sharp turns, sidewalks, and several logs.  One guy turfs it in front of me on the transition between dirt and cement.  A second BIG guy is riding in front of me on a flat tire.  I hit my second log jump and don't un-clip from my pedal and crash right into the log.  Crowd loves it - not me.

After the race, all the kids could say was that Santa Claus beat me. A guy with a huge white beard in the 55+ class totally destroyed me. I told the kids that I would have gotten coal if I had beaten him.

Overall, I feel pretty good.  I passed a lot of riders in the more technical sections.  My heart rate monitor shows an avg HR 168 for 40 minutes - OUCH.

Result:  15/3

LOTOJA

Last year I wanted to see if I could complete the Lotoja. This year I wanted to complete against others.

Result: 24/42

http://www.milliseconds.com/participants/final_list/division/96935

Sanpete Classic

67 mile road race in the middle of nowhere. I've never heard of Fairview or Mo.

While unloading my bike from the car I hear this huge boom. Each race class begins with the firing of a cannon

200 racers and 4 Porta-Potties not a good ratio.

I've never ridden in a race in which you toss your water bottles out and get new ones.

Overall it was a bummer day.
1. I lost my cool DeathRide water bottle.
2. I suffered for 15 miles while trying to catch the group in front of me.
3. Hit the wall with a couple of miles to the finish

Result: 35/44

Meeting The Man

I met the man today. Bob Roll is great

Death Ride 2009

It was the hardest thing I've ever done. 16400 feet of climbing, 8000 calories burned, and one sore butt.

www.deathride.com

Frank did the ride twice.  He'd ride up a hill for a while and then turn around and ride back down to encourage me.

Trail Building

Started building my first mountain bike trail in the valley.

Antelope Island Road Race

Signed up for my first official road race. The 45 mile Antelope Island Classic. The weather is awful. It's raining with the temps in the upper 40's. I don't have any rain gear. I'm drenched before the race even begins.

I've never ridden in weather so bad. Between the rain and the water coming off the wheels from the bikes in front of me I needed a snorkel.

I read somewhere that the best recovery drink is a milkshake. I'm sure they didn't mean while you have a case of hypothermia. I'm stupid I stopped at Ronald's place and got a large shake and continued to shiver for the next 2 hours.

Result: Should have been 19th but some wingnut caught me at the line.

15th/25 racers

Notes: BUY RAIN GEAR