just use a bigger hammer

After two weeks lacking real training I'm more than pleased. Friday I drove over to CamRock for some actual trail time but after an hour I was done. Saturday morning I worked for 6 hours only to lack focus when it came to packing the 4Runner for the trip. After getting gas, ice, beer and food it was easily 3pm with a two hour drive ahead of me. I had set the cruise and settled in only to find an 18-wheeler to draft. It pulled me almost all the way to Green Bay before it exited. When I arrived it was a beautiful day for a ride. Once I registered I asked a couple other single speeders what they thought about gearing. The consensus was 34x17 but a few suggested a 34x16. Since I don't have a 16t I thought I'd try the 15t. So I quickly changed it and pushed off in such a hurry I forgot any water. As I did the 12.05 mile lap I began to think of that 18-wheeler. Since we would be mass starting I would have the luxury of a multispeed infested pack to sit in, if I had a gear that I could push. There were no real climbs to speak of, just minor rollers which momentum could carry. As I finished the lap I decided I would run the 34x15 and be happy.

Then I went to dinner with Liz, Rick, Dave, Ben and two other guys whose names I've forgotten. I gotta start writing names down. The pasta at Luigi's was okay, but since it wasn't promptly served it allowed Ben some time to decompress. Ben's the driving force behind the event at the Reforestation Camp. He had the usual political headaches as well as others but he did an excellent job and in the end the event was Grade A-plus. I hope he does it again and is able to show us more than the 2.5 miles of singletrack that we rode because the Camp is a great trail. After dinner I set up my tent in the dark, grabbed a beer and went for a walk. I did the usual socializing and encountered a teammate I hadn't met, Scott Shapiro and his wife. His first SS race had been the Wausau marathon event and he'd placed just ahead of me in 7th, but 7 minutes faster. He had borrowed a Ferrous set up as a SS from a friend and we talked for some time. I started to lose it so I excused myself and went off to the tent for some sleep.

Race day.

Again a beautiful day. After a light pancake breakfast made by domestic goddess Rick I had a little more than an hour to get ready for the race. After doing the various rituals I attempted to spin the 15t out on the paved road. Once warmed up it felt good, on the road. I was a little worried when all my BKB brothers were running 34x16 or 17. Oh well, no worries, just deal with it. Everyone stages in their massive fields Expert, Comp, Sport and Citizen. Each left at 4 minute intervals in a "controlled start" across the paved parking lot led by an ATV. Right. Everyone was pinned as soon as we hit the pavement. I was spun out in the pack all the way to the first singletrack, which may have been 4 miles or more. It was 4 or 5 riders wide at times with all the multis pushing big gears. I just kept remembering the 18-wheeler and sat in the draft. I could see Ryan at times and on the longer straights I could see Stuart, mostly because he's so tall. Rick was busy checking out on us. I didn't get a chance to talk to Ryan after but I'd love to know how long he paced Rick. As we neared the first singletrack, I was behind two SS's, Roger Eckes and another. I could see two teens just ahead of them but I really didn't want them in front of us in the singletrack. So I punched it and passed them all, and with maybe 10 feet to spare I entered the singletrack first. I hit that section as hard as I could and by the end of it I couldn't see them behind me. I was hurting on the first lap. I hadn't found a tempo yet but I wasn't totally hating the 15t. On the ski trails I was able to draft the 6-8 multis with me and just before the singletrack I would repeat what worked the first time and jump them all to ride at my own pace. I kept leap-frogging groups of multis because I was able to latch on to new groups as I exited the singletrack. As I came out of the first lap Liz was standing in the feed zone with my water bottle kind of like the torch of the Statue of Liberty. As I grabbed it I startled her... she hadn't seen me coming at all. She just had it ready and was either daydreaming or looking at the earlier part of the trail. Midway through the second lap Spencer Strigel pulled up along behind me and "pushed" me up a small roller. I was happy to see a familiar face even if he was on a multi. We formed a group of 6 or so and took turns pulling the flat sections. Spencer must have figured out what I was doing leaping into the woods first because he followed me every time and by the start of the last lap he looked fresher and pulled away with a thank you and a wave. I was feeling good but I just didn't have the ponies in the motor to stick with him. That left me and a 21 yr old from Kentucky, Matt. He seemed to be suffering as much as me but he was willing to work together. The packs had dwindled and now we had to go on pure motor. He pulled most of the first straight while I pounded my hand-up from Liz and a Gu. We stared working together and were catching riders pretty steadily. Early into the last lap I saw Dan Schneider and John Bogdanski. I told Matt I needed top pass them and make it stick so I was going to give it the berries for a bit if he could hang I'd still work with him. He smiled and led the attack. We went wide and flew past and I didn't look back for a few turns. It had worked. A guy from Appleton joined us quietly but shared the load all the way to the end. I had been fighting off calf craps during the last 6 miles or so so I didn't bother to contest their sprint to the line. My final time for the 36.15 miles was 2:28:49.8 roughly +7:56 behind Rick, who won again. Ryan was 2nd at +2:38 back and Stuart 3rd at +6:12. Oh, I managed to come in 4th. Scott was 8th at +13:30.

Avg HR 156, 168max
1st lap 52:15.1 157av
2nd lap 45:14.9 156av
3rd lap 51:20.8 158av

A great big hug and thank you to Liz for the hand-ups. An even bigger hug and thank you to Ben Griggs for putting on a well run event that I will look forward to doing again next year.

As we were leaving there was a pair of young girls walking a bike with a dropped chain. It needed a deep 15mm socket to unjam the rear wheel from the stay but nobody had one. I didn't like the idea of them walking the mile or so home so I grabbed my dead-blow hammer and gave it three sound smacks which moved the foot peg back enough the tire was unjammed. When I finished they politely asked if they could ask me a question. "Sure" "Sir, why do you have one black Sun-Ringle sock and one white sock with flames?" My answer... "because Russell Jobs pays 50 cents a foot for Sun-Ringle socks on the podium and I still wanted to wear my good luck socks" ... as I showed them the two quarters Russell had paid me after the race.

Sometimes a bigger hammer fixes things just fine.


Now for my "what the fuck was he thinking" award. At Phillips the Comp riders had to do 4 laps of a course before turning off for the last 2 or so miles to the finish. Jim Liesen had managed to win the Comp SS event but the other SS riders never saw him pass them and he had no history of riding that strongly. Since nothing could be proved they let it slide but everyone knew he had missed a lap and finished early. Today he did it again. When he finished roughly 8 minutes before the first multispeed and maybe 15 minutes ahead of the next SS, even Don (Mr WORS) knew it wasn't right. When Jim Liesen didn't answer repeated pages over the PA system they did what had to be done, they disqualified him. Did he really think he could pull a Rosie Ruiz and get away with it? I hope he's DQ'd from the series/rest of the year. What an idiot.