La Ruta de Los Conquistadores 2012, Finished 4th overall on a singlespeed in the 40-49 geared category

La Ruta de Los Conquistadores 2012, Finished 4^th overall on a singlespeed in the 40-49 geared category.   http://larutadelosconquistadores.com/ruta2011/

Finished 3^rd on the first day.  It was extremely hot!  Probably the hottest weather I have ever ridden in.  There was a long muddy section that was very muggy but some sections were ridable.  The mud was not deep, just extremely slick.  I typically have not used the optional spikes bolted onto the front of my shoes but they would have been really handy.  A large part of the climb was on pavement and the temperature was much more tolerable at the higher elevations.   This was the toughest day.  They had showers, food and the finish was very festive!  Check out the day 1 stats here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248054107

Day 2 I finished 4^th. There was a bunch of climbing but a majority of it was on pavement.  The downhill was pretty rocky and slick because of the constant rain.  I found myself wanting a little uphill so I could get a break from standing on this section.  Visibility was minimal as well toward the top.  After the initial drop off the volcano the last section was a fast fun downhill on pavement.  At times I was spun out with my climbing gearing on the descent.  There was a flat section toward the very end where I ended up getting passed by numerous geared racers and that’s where I think I got bumped out of 3^rd place.  They had great amenities again at the finish which included some hard earned grub.

Day 3 was much shorter and very flat.  It started out with rafting in the morning which was a blast and totally worth doing!  I got completely blown away on the flats with my gearing.  I should have put on a tiny rear cog geared for flat to slightly descending pavement.  This gearing would have been tougher on the railroad track section but you can’t pass there anyway.  There were also racers who put in a huge effort on the beginning road sections and were blown by the railroad track section.  They were holding traffic up.  There were significant waits to cross the rickety old bridges as well.  Would have been nice to be ahead of that scenario.  Apparently the end could be sandy but due to the downpour it was fast as well on race day.  It was great to ride straight onto the sandy beach and drink some cervezas on the beach.

In the end it looks like day 3 only possibly cost me one spot (a podium spot) since I had such a lead from day 1 and 2.  I’m happy with the way the race went.  It would have been handy to speak Spanish but they were accommodating to English speaking racers.  Great experience and I met some super people! 

Prerace meeting

View from the first climb

Day 1 finish

Day 2 section

Finish on the beach

Finish on day 3

Jeff in the food line at the finish of day 3

Finish line venue

 

Jeff on a preride of day 2



Crested Butte 100, CB100, 1st singlespeeder, 13th overall.

Crested Butte 100, CB100.  Fastest singlespeed time and 13^th fastest overall with geared racers at 9:20.  Awesome race on some of the best and most scenic singletrack anywhere.  Tough race!  http://coloradoes.wordpress.com/swes-event-list/cb-100/  Check out the stats at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/226333204 

Chilly start but I warmed up fast on the climbs.  The aspen trees were changing and were peaking.  The scenery was epic.  Lots of fun, fast singletrack.  Weather was perfect!

Great finish at the Brick Oven for beer, pizza and hinging out with friends!

 

The 2012 Leadville 100 mountain bike race. Finished 3rd place in the singlespeed category

The 2012 Leadville 100 mountain bike race.  Finished 3^rd place in the singlespeed category.  103 miles and 12,170' elevation gain in 9 hours.  This race was huge!  Lifetime Fitness did an excellent job organizing such a big event.  The course is an in-n-out that is mostly dirt roads with a little bit of singletrack and some pavement sections.  The route takes you through some awesome Colorado scenery.  I can see why road bikers tend to like it, there is not a lot of technical riding ability required but you defiantly need to be super strong just to finish the race.  There are some long big climbs on this course with some steep and chunky hike-a-bike sections.

With around 2000 racers I was happy to have been assigned a spot lining up in the first few rows at the start.  Once the race started is seemed like almost everyone passed me while I was completely spun out on the road section.  When we got to the first climb I start passing a ton of people back.  It was very crowded and hard to pass but I was happy everyone was still riding.  About ten miles into the race things spread out just enough to make the passing easier.  I was doing a ton of passing on all the climbs and felt good at that point.  At about ¼ of the way through the race we got on a flatter road section that was long.  Huge groups of racers were passing me drafting each other.  This section was a giant disadvantage for a singlespeed.  I’m not into drafting in a race anyway, but even if I could have jumped into a group I didn’t have the gearing for it.  On that road section I think I moved into 1^st place for a while then dropped to 2^nd.

We dropped into twin lakes which was beautiful!  That’s where Dan Durland was waiting with my first resupply.  There was a pretty cool section of singletrack just before the pit stop that was nice.

This was the start of the big climb.  It’s long and grueling with some false summits and steep rocky sections towards the top that most racers were hiking.  There really wasn’t any breaks, just up up up.  I was able to pass a significant amount of racers on this climb. Towards the top the fastest geared riders passed us coming back down.  Since the race route is an in-n-out this section of the course had a particularly dangerous element that you don’t have in looped routes.  There are racers bombing down the mountain and tired racers climbing up the same road weaving and trying to pass.  I only had to deal with the downhill traffic towards the top but a majority of the racers behind me had constant traffic coming downhill which had to make passing difficult since it meant moving into oncoming traffic.

The downhill was a nice break but when I got back to the road section we had a strong headwind and the geared racers were flying by me again in large groups.  At the end of the road section there is a mean climb that a lot of people were hiking.   My stomach started killing me on this section which was about ¾ of the way through the race.  I was defiantly suffering and about half way up I got passed so I moved into 3^rd.  I tried to keep up his pace but my stomach was really hurting.  Even when we crested the top of the climb the downhill I didn’t feel any better.

On the last bigger climb I was starting to feel a little better.  When we crested the top of that climb I was able to ride harder and continued to feel better.  Climbing back into Leadville I thought I saw another singlespeeder behind me.  I felt pretty strong again and hammered the last five miles out without getting passed.  It turns out there were four singlespeeders within five minutes behind me.

It was great rolling into the finish line and getting my belt buckle.  They had a sweet setup with a beer garden and free food at the finish.  There was a grand awards ceremony which was probably the biggest I have ever been to.  Great to see all the other racers get their awards and I was happy to be up on the podium myself as well.  Good times!

http://www.leadvilleraceseries.com/page/show/315773-100-mile-mtb-race

The Rico 100 mountain bike race. 1st place overall on a singlespeed.

The 2012 Rico 100 mountain bike race.  1^st place overall on a singlespeed.  96 miles and 14,000’ elevation gain in 12:07 hours.  Super tough race based out of Rico Colorado!  Epic singletrack and some serious hike-a-bike above timberline.  Awesome views! 

The racers rolled out of Rico early in the morning and climbed up to the Colorado Trail where we got on some sweet singletrack that took us over Blackhawk.  We rode it all the way to the Grindstone trail.  Grindstone is a ridable, but technically challenging, steep downhill into the Bear Creek basin.  Then the route took us down the Bear Creek trail which is a bit rocky and technical but almost all ridable.  At the bottom there was an aid station.  Took me about 8 hours to get to the aid station.  I knew I was in first there but they were not far back. 

From the aid station another monster climb started.  I rode up the Taylor Mesa graded road then had some serious hike-a-bike on the Calico trail with some amazing views.  This is when the rain really started coming down on me.  After riding/hiking on a long section of Calico the route drops down West Fall Creek trail.  This trail is usually a fun fast downhill but the wet condition made it treacherous.  Just before getting to Dunton the route turned onto the Winter trail which was a mucky mess.  Normally a mostly ridable climb.  Today is was so greasy it was hard to get traction and even ride much. 

At the top of the Winter trail I got on a dirt road that was mostly downhill to the highway then took that back down to Rico with the rain dumping on me.  The finish was at the Enterprise bar and grill in Rico.  A beer and burger was waiting for me.  Nice job to the other podium finishers: Doug Byerly 2^nd and Jeff Hemperley (SS) 3^rd.  Great race!

 http://coloradoes.wordpress.com/swes-event-list/rico-run/

The Rico 100 podium

Epic 2012 Bailey Hundo race!

It was another epic race at the 2012 Bailey Hundo with some tough competition in the singlespeed category.  I beat my previous years’ time at 100 miles in 7:47.  After starting back in fifth, then moving to 2^nd with 1^st in my sites for quite some time I ended up finished 4^th.  This year I chose to use a front suspension fork which made the awesome singletrack exponentially more enjoyable.  I ran 32x19 gearing on a 29r with Schwalbe Racing Ralph tires front and rear.  This course is awesome!  Epic singletrack!

Results: http://my3.raceresult.com/details/results.php?lang=en&page=6&eventid=11591&contest=1&name=Result%20Lists|Category%20Results&CertificateLink=1&format=view 

Bailey Hundo website: http://www.bailey100.com/

Race day started with a 4:45 alarm, quick breakfast, suiting up then riding about 15 minutes to the race staging area in downtown Bailey from the new riverside camping area by the finish line.  Everyone lined up, talked a little about past races and then with the sound of a shotgun blast we all took off immediately climbing up pavement.   The start has some pretty good climbs with a few descents and overall is not too bad on the singlespeed. 

When I got on the Colorado Trail singletrack I thought I was probably in 4^th place after trying to keep track of all my competitors during the road section.  I felt good and the singletrack was really fast and fun.  I caught up and passed 3^rd and 2^nd about 20 miles into the race.  Shortly after I got a glimpse of Jeffrey Carter who was in 1^st.  Last year I passed him which started a dueling match for the following 80 miles so this time I thought I would just hang back and keep him in my sites.  I was feeling really good at that point and thought I could have passed him but I ended up stalking him for the next 30 miles.  On a few climbs he started to pull away but I could still see glimpses of him by the time we got to road section at about 60 miles.

The road section is brutal on a singlespeed.  When racers with gears passed me they were flying and out of site in no time.

On the road section I must have slowed down, or everyone around me sped up.  At the start of the Stony Pass climb Jeffrey was nowhere in sight and another singlepeeder Jason Hilgers passed me toward the bottom of the climb which moved me to 3^rd.  My stomach started bothering me around the bottom of the climb as well and progressively got worse as I climbed.  I suspected that I might be slowing down a bit. 

Stony pass is kind of a weird climb.  After two years riding it now I’m still not sure of where the actual top of the official pass is.  The first climb resembles more like what I’m used to seeing where you obviously top out then start descending but that is just a small portion of the climb.  It’s a little deceiving because there are no trees as a result of the fire but it gives a feel like your above timberline and you definitely go over what feels like a pass and not a false summit.  But after dropping I made a turn on another road where there was an aid station and started another significant climb.  When looking ahead on this climb there is nothing but a big mountain in front of me.  After climbing for quite a while I turned right on another road and shortly after started descending again but it was not an obvious pass I had gone over.  At this point it still looked like there was a mountain in front of me and another climb started but it was a much easier grade.  At this point it’s like slowly having your teeth pulled.  After climbing for a significant amount of time the road topped out and there was an aid station there.  Finally there was a big downhill and it felt great.

I could see the clouds moving in and was hoping to miss a storm since it was less than 10 miles to the finish.  It kept getting darker and darker and after passing Wellington Lake with less than 5 miles left it started to sprinkle.  Then is started to dump rain.  Then I was getting soaked by the dumping rain and the water all over the road.

Suddenly Jody Elovitz showed up on a singlespeed and passed me.  I kept him in my sites but just could catch him.  I was soaked, cold and riding as fast as I could suspecting Jody had just bumped me off the podium.  I rolled into the finish about a minute behind Jody to end up 4^th place.  Great race!

I congratulated Jeffrey and Jody on their ride at the finish and we swapped some race stories then I went and got a full dish of free food and a beer.  It’s a great setup at the finish with a band right next to the scenic river adjacent to the designated camping area.

Great job on the win Jeffrey Carter 1^st, Jason Hilgers 2^nd, Jody Elovitz 3^rd and Andrew Carney 5^th!

Nice Video on the Cortez and Dolores mountain bike scene

12 Hours of Mesa Verde 2012 1st place overall solo finish on a singlespeed

This year at the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde in Cortez Colorado I was able to get the overall solo win on my singlespeed.  This is my hometown trail which I helped build so I guess there is probably some advantage but that didn’t seem to make the climbs any easier.  I wasn’t the first to get the overall.  Dave Harris crushed it in 2009 beating the geared rider by just a few minutes.  www.12hoursofmesaverde.com

This is a great course and race venue.  Phil's World is a true mountain biker course with technical riding.  It would be difficult for a mountain biker impersonator to make it on the podium here relying only on fitness although fitness is obviously a huge factor.  The course is so much fun and has a ton of ups and downs without any huge sustained climbs.  This is one of the reasons that fatigue sneaks up on you and then just kicks you in the teeth at some point during the race and you just need to power through it or your done.  Most podium solo efforts end up with over 11,700' of elevation gain!

The event is based at the fairgrounds in Cortez Colorado which is conveniently connected to the Phil’s World mountain bike trail system.  100% of the proceeds go to local non-profits that serve our youth.  The entire race committee are unpaid volunteers.  This year the race sold out in 36 hours last winter.  There were over 800 racers that were either solo, duo or 3-4 person team members.  There was 2000-3000 people at the event overall this year!

 

I rode a total of 8 laps (131 miles) and ran 32x19 gearing on my 29r singlespeed with Schwalbe Racing Ralph tires front and rear.  Setup worked great!

The race started with a short run to where a mess of bikes were laying everywhere.  From past mistakes I knew that bike placement was important.  I saw one guy just looking around confused unable to find his bike after a huge effort in the run.

The course is almost entirely single track but the first lap utilizes roads around the fairgrounds and some 4wd roads bypassing the typical singletrack start in an effort to spread racers out.  Once on the single track, passing is difficult for the first half of the first lap.  I made an effort to get a good spot in line with a strong effort (for me) on the road sections.  For a solo attempt the congestion isn’t terrible and I think it helps me not to go to hard initially.  Half way through the lap the congestion seemed to dissipate and passing was easier.

After the second lap I was in second place and shortly after caught up to Mike Scott and passed him to move into 1^st place on the stinking springs loop.  I thought I’d established a decent lead on him when I was in the rib cage section but he showed back up on my tail at the end of the lap and passed me at the check in.  I caught back up to him not far into the 4^th lap and stayed a short distance behind.  When I was comfortable that I could get by him again and go faster than the pace he had been setting I made the pass.

On the fifth lap I had a teenager I had just passed give me a cheer when I caught some pretty good air and whipped a pancake off a jump.  Not too often a 41 year old can impress a teenager.  That was pretty cool!

I had been going back and forth with the guy who eventually ended up 2^nd in the geared category.  On the 6^th lap just after I passed him I flipped straight over the bars on a tricky rock drop and hit my knee hard.  It really hurt and I felt like throwing up.  After getting back on my bike my knee was in pain, my stomach was queasy and for some reason my legs really cramped up.  I just rode through it and over the following ten minutes it gradually felt better until I was able to hammer it again.  I passed him back up and that was the last time I saw him.

On the 7^th lap I passed the 1^st place geared solo Yuki Ikeda who was alongside the trail.  He had put in a phenomenal effort up to that point and then apparently never finished that lap.

This same lap I was taking my typical route down the center of the big rock drop after “Bead Tree” when something made my rear wheel fly sideways.  While I was inevitably going down I somehow grabbed a large tree limb at the bottom of the drop just before hitting the ground which prevented a potentially bad crash.  I had a difficult time actually getting back upright because of the precarious position I ended up in but managed to do it and rode away luckily unscathed.

I really had to give myself a little talk at this point to ride conservatively for the final 8^th lap.  I had ridden around 115 miles by that point and was starting to make some mistakes.

By the 8^th lap I was pretty sure I could win the race as long as I didn’t make a mistake and put in a strong effort.  I wasn’t sure how far back Mike was but I rode the lap like he was on my tail.

It was great to roll across the finish getting first place in my hometown.  Hat’s off the guys I was racing against.  Nice job to everyone on the podium Jody Elovitz, Mike Scott, Steve Reiter and Matt Turgeon!  Strong effort and tough competition!!!  

Congratulations to my Kokopelli Bike & Board teammates:  Cat Morrison 1st singlespeed female with 7 laps http://www.girls4dirt.blogspot.com/, Jeff Fox & Terry Gorsuch 3rd in Duo singlespeed, Tr Larson 6th in singlespeed solo, Jeff Hemperley 10th in singlespeed solo, Paul Adams 14th in singlespeed solo, Jess Arie 20th in singlespeed solo.

Nice press at http://www.cortezjournal.com/article/20120515/SPORTS07/705159949/Bikers-endure-12-Hours-of-Mesa-Verde-race and http://www.mountainflyermagazine.com/view.php/12-hours-of-mesa-verde-2.html

My wife Dani (The race director) and everyone else who generously volunteered their time did an excellent job on the race which continues to be one of the best organized and fun events I have done!!! Good times!

The singlespeed podium: (left to right) Dani Gregory (Race director), Shawn Gregory 1st, Matt Turgeon 5th, Steve Reiter 4th, Mike Scott 3rd, Jody Elovitz 2nd.  Thanks for the pic Simon Zmyslinski

Part of the venue, Phil's World trail is in the background.  Thanks Linda Robinson

Great pic by Stacy Smith from Wildcat studios