Final Winter Short Track - The MuDDy One

I got a Fat bike about month ago and had planned on riding it the last race of Short track about 3 weeks ago. With the freeze/ thaw cycle we are in and with the rain we got Saturday night I knew the course was going to be very slick. I knew it wasn't going to be the fastest - I was planning on it being fun. The bike is pretty much stock except for a carbon flat bar and switched to a Surly 4.8 Bud on the front tire. With the 4" of soupy mud the fat bike may not have been the best choice. The front tire was throwing so much mud into my face I had mud in both eyes only 1/2 way through lap 1. That being said it was still fun and definitely got some looks!

For the series I ended up in 8th in Clydesdale and the team finished in 12th place in the team competition. After the race I gave out a ton of Mountain Khakis Freebies! Not much time to write as much as I'd like because I've got mud to clean out of my ears, nose, eyes, and ....... (sorry TMI?). And replacing drive trains! Here's some pics from last weekend provided by the wife.




I'm on the far end with the 4.8 Fat bike tires



Slipping and sliding on the Fat Bike

The fat was fun in the corners

What Rock? BRAAAPPPP!



After: A Muddy mess!
 

 

North Carolina Cyclocross - Biltmore Estate - Thats a wrap!

It's been a long season which all started 5 months ago at the Cycle Smart Cross camp in Columbia, SC. Which, by the way, was AWESOME and I highly recommend! I learned a lot from Adam and Jacob over those 2 days but I also met a ton of passionate cross racers. These same people were the ones cheering for me (seemed to be at every corner) at the races. The cheers and relationships have fueled my season and have pushed me to go further.

During the season my goal was to race, to race as much as possible. Early in the season I decided to double up on some of the NCCX races and race the Master's and the Open 4/5's. Although this pretty much killed me the rest of day, I think it was a good move early in the season.


The run-up from the bottom

The run-up from the top

Coming into the last race of the season had a lot of mixed emotions. I was exhausted and worn out from traveling and racing every weekend. But I also knew that if I didn't go to Biltmore I'd regret it. The course was very difficult and very different from last year's flat, straight, and bumpy roadie course. Be careful what you ask for because this year had a lot of climbing, more tech, and some very fast sections. The first 1/2 of the course was climbing and technical. The second 1/2 was all power, strategy and race tactics.

Saturday I had a great start and had a few guys to race. They would drop me on the climbs and I'd claw my way back on the power sections of the course. So going into the last lap I tried to keep those guys within eyesight. I was able to pass 1 of the racers on the technical descent. Then I passed another at the start of the power section. The course doubled back on itself and could see I another racer with a pretty good gap. So, trying to stay away from the 2 racers behind me and wanting catch the guy in front, I put my head down and mashed. I was closing in on him and got within 50 feet at the barriers. From the barriers I followed him on to the pavement and got on his wheel just before we made the last turn to the up hill finish line. He went wide through the corner and I pushed the bike to the inside and hammered as I passed. I got far enough in front that he couldn't sit on my wheel and I pulled away. I finished just behind teammate Bob.



The cold front moving through



Look at that Big Blue Sky





Bob finishing strong on Saturday



Sunday the course changed to more climbing. The course changes consisted of a long uphill section of single track just after the brutal run-up, I mean walk-up! Funny, for me Sunday was a repeat of Saturday including out sprinting the same guy at the same corner. After the race the announcer gave me a free NCCX T-Shirt for my effort. Pretty cool since I've never won anything at a bike race before. I then found the guy I raced both days for the finish line and we talked a bit. Super nice guy visiting Asheville from Ohio.




Love this pic of Bob and me- We finished both days in this same position

 

After shot- we're both very tired!



Crossing the finish line on day 2- No wins but I had a very successful season

After the race we headed over to a nearby restaurant to celebrate a great Cross season- 37 races for Bob, Layla and myself. All in all I think it was a successful Cross season for the team as well as myself. It was a long season and I'm definitely looking forward to a break but I'm going to miss my cyclocross family! Already looking forward to next year.

NCCX- QueenCity Cross - Charlotte!

During the weeks leading up to our home cross race here in CLT, I was really looking forward to racing first thing in the morning then hanging out and cheering on friends, teammates and fellow racers the rest of the day.  However, when the weatherman said it was going to rain all night Saturday and Sunday I was pretty disappointed.  I was hoping for a sunny beautiful day to hang with friends. Despite the rain, this race turned out to be better than I had hoped.

 

With the parking issue in mind, I got to Veterans very early on race day- 2 hours before my race was to start.  I warmed up in a light drizzle.  The course was in good shape with a few muddy slick spots.  It was a really tough course with a lot of elevation loaded near the finish line.  The race started and I had a great start, passed a few people and was in the front 30ish people.  The park must have just been mowed because there were rooster tails of dead dry grass being thrown over my head by the racers in front of me.  For me, the highlight of the race came at an unexpected point.  I followed someone into the twisting turns into the steep run-up.  He tried running up the right side, I took the left.  I passed him at about 4 steps into the run-up.  Got to the top, jumped back on the bike, clipped in as fast as I could and coasted down the off-camber side hill- NO Brakes!  Then immediately back up another hill and passed another racer on the way up that hill.  As I made the second pass the racer commented, "great job!".  I finished the race, cooled down and changed into our freshly printed Slippery Sasquatch team T-shirts.

The spectators and fellow racers were encouraging.  During my race there was someone cheering for me by name it seemed like every other turn.  It was AWESOME!  My wife and son were also there cheering me on and pushing me to keep pedaling.

 

 

 

 

 



During the 3's the sky opened up and it began to pour.  The course went from wet to soaking! That's when the fun started. The crowd was out of control. There was a big crowd with great heckling, creepy baby hands, megaphones, beer hand-ups, and loads of crazy half-drunk fans. The crowd started chanting "SLIDE SLIDE SLIDE SLIDE....." eventually the racers gave in and started giving the crowd what they wanted, sliding down the muddy embankment.  But no one could top, the now local legend, Ben. He took sliding to a whole new level- sliding every chance he got. Eventually wearing a 4" round hole into his skinsuit.

 

 



weldonweaver.com

 

 

 

Brian got the lucky job of pinning Ben's Skinsuit back together in order to avoid being taken to jail for indecent exposure.



CX PreSeason - Spartan Cross

I've been pretty tired the week leading up to Spartan Cross. The wife was out of town and I've been playing Mr. Mom for the week and haven't had a decent nights sleep for quiet a while. So along comes Sunday Morning and I wake up at 6:53 and I'm meeting Justin and Jason at the shop at 7:30 which is about 30 minutes away.

I quickly throw on my bibs, some shorts, and a t-shirt all while brushing my teeth. Run out the door load the bike, bottles, pump, gear bag, and a extra large cup of coffee. As I'm loading the gear into the truck the thought crosses my mind "Why I'm I doing this? After all, I really needed some rest, the bed was so warm, I'm late, and I don't feel prepared at all to race today. I head out anyways.

I get to the shop and load up my stuff and grab some coffee and pastries from Starbucks and head to Spartanburg. We get to the race, register, and start warming up. It's a fun course with a lot of off camber sections, flowy single track, and a long stretch of flat pavement. AWESOME!

I do my warm up lap and head over to the starting line. The race was going pretty well except for the run up stairs. A guy falls just before the barriers, I go over the barriers just behind him. I basically sit on his wheel until........... I hear Ben yelling "Go Mike! Granted I was very happy to just sit on this guys wheel until the finishing pavement and out sprint him. But when Ben said "Go Mike", I did just that. I over took him just before an off camber section and took off as best as I could. I finished that lap with the bell ringing for the final lap.

I stayed on the power and didn't let up. As I got to the top of the hill I could see Justin a good ways ahead of me. I pushed harder, I thought I might be able to surprise him on the finishing paved dragstrip. Unfortunately I didn't see him again until after the race. We hung out and cheered on some guys from the shop in the Cat 3's race. Then we headed home after we found a decent Mexican restaurant and ate too much!

team page

If you are looking here why not look at my team's page.

http://slipperysasquatch.blogspot.com/

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Thanks!
Mike

Cross Camp- Thanks Cycle Smart & KindHuman

So I traveled to Ridgeway, SC located just outside of Columbia last weekend. Yes, cross camp in the SC in the middle of August. I'm not sure what I was thinking but it actually wasn't nearly as hot as it could have been. I had just meet BC, at the shop, and asked me if I wanted to drive down with him. I thought it would be fun to get to know a new friend and talk cross on the way down so I said "Absolutely-YES!". So we went down early Saturday morning, registered, and proceeded to kit up. We all gathered up in a picnic area and waited to hear what the weekend was going to entail. Adam was introduced and then we all introduced ourselves to the rest of the group. Attendees were everyone from newbies who just bought a cx bike to 3rd place finishers in CX Nationals. Needless to say a huge variety of backgrounds and skill levels. I'm not going to talk about what I learned, because I think you should go pay your own $300 and learn from Adam, It's well worth the money!

I was blown away by the 30+ people who sacrificed their weekend with family, friends, and rest to drive down to Columbia, SC to ride a bike 6 hours a day in the close to 100 degree heat. You see I thought I was the only that crazy! But as it turns out I'm not! The cross season is still 2 months away but don't tell a cross racer that. We typically start thinking CX a couple weeks after our last race. It's our fix, our addiction, it's our.......religion. It was awesome spending the weekend with other like minded people like me. See you all at the races!

2014 - Ambition or Stupidity?

This year I'm going to try my hand at some things I've never done before. such as Gravel Grinders, Endurance Mountain bike races (4 & 6 Hour races), and maybe an Enduro. Also going to be supplementing in some local cross-country races.

So here's my proposed schedule for this year-2014.

January 12 - Winter Short Track - Race #1

January 18&19 - NCCX- Biltmore Race

January 26 - Winter Short Track - Race #2

February 9 - Winter Short Track - Race #4

February 16 - Winter Short Track - Race#5

March 2- Maxxis Southern Classic - The Knot

March 9- Tom Dula's Revenge or Maxxis Southern Classic - Shootout @ Angler's Ridge

March 22- Tour de Charlotte with Faster Mustache

April 5- 6 Hours of Warrior Creek

April - Charlotte Mountain Bike Summer series (15 races)

April 26 - 6 hour Gear Grinder - Hendersonville, NC

April 27 - Maxxis Southern Classic - Stump Jump

May 4 - Maxxis Southern Classic - Harbison Race to the River

May 18 - Maxxis Southern Classic - Riverfront Classic - USNWC

May 23 - Mountain Sports Festival - CX Race

May 25 - Maxxis Southern Classic - Uwharrie

June - Tree Shaker - 4 Hour

July 26 - Jerdon Mountain Challenge


There will also be some local Wednesday night races at the Anne Springs, Whitewater Center, Fisher, and maybe North Meck. June and July is about have fun- trips to the mountains, long road rides, and riding for fun. Then after Jerdon I'm going to be resting until CX Season - Hopefully a month or more.


September - may be bring something new from Slippery Sasquatch Racing to Charlotte

September - Asheville Cyclocross Series (4 races)

September 28 - 6 Hour Grind on the Greenway

October 5 - Wilson's Revenge CX

October - North Carolina Cyclocross Series (15 races)

November - North Meck  Cyclocross Series (4 races)

I'm expecting this year to be a very fun year! With the new team, new races, more races, killer bikes, and new friends! I'm also hoping to be at a reasonable fighting weight before CX season.