Brighton Rec Repeat

Brighton Rec Repeat – July 13th, 2013 – Howell, Michigan – Brighton Recreation Area

After the Bloomer Park Daze race, I found out that I was leading the Tailwind Racing series in the Sport SS class.  At the beginning of the race season, I was only planning on participating in the MMBA Championship Points Series, but the scheduling of the Tailwind races made it convenient to compete in that series as well.  The only real scheduling conflict between them was on Saturday, when there were races at Boyne (MMBA) and Brighton.  I was in 2nd in the MMBA series prior to Saturday, and Eric Wolting, who is leading that series, had a pretty big lead.  So instead of trying to gain points in the MMBA CPS, I opted to defend my Tailwind points lead.

Having never ridden Brighton before, I did a bit of quick online recon which showed only about 200 feet of climbing per 6.5 mile race lap.  Based on that, I decided to run 38 x 18, which is what I usually run at the Fort, which has a similar amount of elevation.  At the park I ran into the usual east side crowd, but it was a relatively small field of just 6 participants.  We lined up around 1 p.m. with temperatures in the mid-80's, and hit the course.

I was first off the line and into the woods leading Tim Fargo and Nate Layle.  Tim and I dropped Nate after a mile or so, and after passing a few other riders from other classes, I dropped Tim about 2.5 miles into the first lap.  From this point in the race, I just kept my pace up to try to ensure I wouldn't be caught.  The Expert/Elite SS lap times were around 27-29 minutes, and I wanted to keep mine under 30.  I completed my first lap in just about 29 minutes, and on my way back into the woods, I saw Tim and Nate coming out to finish their first lap - this meant that I had at least a minute on them.  I tried to keep my pace consistent throughout my second and third laps, and apart from a brief moment of panic during my third lap when I thought Tim was close behind me, I managed to do so.  I also made the choice to have a GU pack at the beginning of my third lap to try and prevent the fading I'd been experiencing, which I believe helped quite a bit.  I finished in just over 1:30 for my second win on the season.



 

There are two more races in the Tailwind series, and four more in the MMBA CPS.  My goal is to protect my Tailwind series lead, and to finish in the top 3 in the MMBA series.  I'm going to keep my training intensity high, and possibly add in some running to increase my endurance.  We'll see how it shakes out! - Adam Cefai

Bloomer Park Daze

Bloomer Park Daze – June 30th, 2013 – Rochester Hills, Michigan – Bloomer Park

I'll try to keep this one short.  So: we're on the east side visiting family again, and I decided to race. Based on basically nothing but my own hubris, I changed up my gearing to 36x17, which ended up being a slight mistake.  Bloomer Park has a lot of technical switchbacks and tough, punchy climbs, along with a decent amount of roots.  And not much flat.  I would have been better off with 2:1, maybe a bit lighter.  The east side had a lot of rain the week prior, so there were some pretty muddy sections as well.  It's a 6-mile loop, and the Sport SS class was doing 3 laps.



I hadn't ridden Bloomer Park before, so my plan for the first lap was to stay on the leader's wheel to get a handle on the course.  And then I remembered I hate riding behind people in a race situation.  I was 2nd into the woods and, as usual, we got caught up in traffic from the age groups starting before us.  After about 3 miles of tight singletrack and some strategic passing of slower riders from other groups, the course opened up a bit and I passed the SS rider in front of me.  For the remainder of the 1st lap and the entire 2nd lap, I led two other singlespeeders around the course.  I tried to keep the pace quick in order to drop them, but they didn't seem to have any trouble staying on my wheel.  I tried not to think about that.  During the 3rd lap the traffic cleared up a bit, and on one particularly long climb about 2 miles in, I decided to drop the hammer to see if I could put some distance between us.  I believe it worked for a bit, but they caught me again shortly when we came into another section of switchbacks.  With about 2 miles to go, we got to the water crossing/mud pit that was  followed immediately by a 3' steep root ledge and a long-ish gravel climb.  On our previous trips through this section I was able to unclip one foot to kind of hop up the ledge (which was unrideable due to the mud), clip back in quickly, and start up the climb.  On this occasion I messed that procedure up, and the gents behind me were able to make a pass.  When I tried to go after them, I realized my legs were toast.  I had made two mistakes: my gearing was just a bit too heavy, and I shouldn't have tried to drop them on the long climb early in the 3rd lap.  As I finished the last two miles, I glanced behind a few times to see if any other SS riders were around, but I was well clear.  I cruised in for 3rd place in the Sport SS class with a time of 1:27:18, which was also 4th overall.

Lumberjack 2013 - Ten and a Half Hours of Fun

Ok, so maybe not "all" of the 10 hours and 32 minutes that it took me to complete the 2013 Lumberjack 100 can be described as "fun." But I can say my return to Michigan's first 100 mile mountain bike race (there are others now) went even better than I expected. This update is a bit late, given that the race was June 15th, but at least I'm getting this posted before the calendar flips over to July!

Friday night I traveled to my teammate Jack's cabin nearby the event just west of Cadillac, MI and met Charles (also on the team) and one of Jack's good friends from Ann Arbor, Kyle. While the cabin has had some improvements since my last Lumberjack (several years ago), I was pleased to see the record player was still going strong. Nothing like classic KISS to get you in the mood for 100 miles of mountain biking!

Race day came early and we were up and around by 5 am. It was a bit chilly in the morning, but the temps were expected to get into the 70s by late morning. While I showed up at the line with a sleeveless base-layer and arm warmers, I'd shed them half way through my second (of three) 33.3 mile laps. The start rolled out with just under a mile of paved road to get the blood pumping. Hoots and hollers filled the crowd as we funneled into the parking lot and through the rows of onlookers cheering us on. Then, the trail got REAL narrow and we went from riding 6-10 riders across to single file, which slowed things down considerably. It was slow going for the first 5 -7 miles, with people over-reacting to braking ahed of them, sticks on the trail causing issues (one guy caught one in his back wheel right in front of me and I barely missed his crash) and a constant dust cloud that kept me coughing well after the pack spread out.



Jack and I rode together for most of the first lap, which was nice to have some company. The trail was in great shape with some new sections added since I raced this the last time. A few years ago they changed the format to three 33.3 mile loops. The last time I raced it was four 25 mile loops and I will admit I liked this format better. Much of what was added included gravel two-track and other sections that gave your body a bit of a break instead of constant singletrack. There still was a LOT of climbing, with some of the hills simply un-ridable, forcing racers to get off and push their bikes up the hill. By the time I was on my third lap, even some of the hills I rode on the first lap seemed easier to walk up (or at least that's what my legs were telling me).

Coming in after my first lap I felt pretty good. I'm riding a new bike this year, switching to 29" wheels and also front-only suspension. Prior years I was on a more traditional 26" wheeled full-suspension, so I was anxious to see how a hardtail would treat me after 100 miles. My Trek Superfly SL Pro did a great job and I felt very comfortable on it, even finding after 100 miles that my back did NOT hurt (which was not the case with my last race). Heading out on lap #2, I was able to push it a bit and it was nice to ride the beginning part of the course at regular speed (unlike the first lap). At the mid-point I stopped at the aid station and this is where I made what would become a bad tactical decision. The volunteers cheered as you arrived and were very helpful, offering drinks and food to help keep you going. One of them said "How about a BP&J with Fritos? Everyone's been raving about them and they give you a nice sweet and salty snack." Why not, I thought. At the rate I was burning calories I figured it couldn't hurt and who doesn't like PB&Js and Fritos... About five miles later, I realized my gut didn't care for my food options and started to revolt. The remaining miles of my second lap were pretty difficult, because in addition to my gastro-revolt, the leg cramps started and I was beginning to crave ice cold Gatorade (but didn't have any in my cooler at the pit).

When I came in after lap #2, I was able to bum a bottle of Gatorade off another team (YUM!) and that really helped. My stomach issues started to feel better and I was ready to take off for my third and final lap. It was at that moment I looked back to find the three leaders coming across the finish line. After 100 miles of racing, I was amazed to see all three of them coming across the finish line within ONE second of each other! As impressive as that was, I had to get back to reality and accept the fact that I had another 33.3 miles to go. So off I went...

[caption id="attachment_675" align="alignright" width="224"] All Done[/caption]

On my last lap I didn't set any land speed records, as I had to stop several times to tend to my leg cramps. But when I was riding (and not huffing it up the hills) I felt pretty good. The bike was handling well, my back felt good and I knew that I'd be finishing the race. If you've ever rode the trail, you may recall coming in the final part of the loop you catch a glimpse of the parking lot, which is the sign that you're just about done. As with years past, the sight of the cars off in the distance caused an instant smile to come across my face. I had done it, and after coming across the line, realized that I did it in "record time" (well, for me at least). It's hard to compare "apples to apples" since this was 3 x 33.3 miles and prior races were 4 x 25 miles, but I'm going with it!

Finishing Line Video Link

Now, my training focus is shifting to triathlons for the remainder of the year and I've strapped on the running shoes again and hitting the pavement. I've got two Olympic triathlons coming up (one in Cadillac and another in Ludington) before my 70.3 distance triathlon at Cedar Point in September. I'll still find time to get in some mountain biking, however, as I've found that to be a great cross training workout and should help me with my biking and overall power. I'm also looking forward to getting back on the track with my good friend (and RAAM stud) Kathy.

[caption id="attachment_676" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Yeah, it was dusty out there![/caption]

State Games of Michigan MTB Time Trial

State Games Time Trial – June 22nd, 2013 – Belmont, Michigan – Cannonsburg Ski Area

I hate climbing.  Climbing on a single speed is pure torture.  However, it's also your chance to blow the doors off of everyone else on the trail.  Cannonsburg Ski Area, home of the 2013 State Games of Michigan MTB time trial, has roughly 600 feet of climbing over a 6 mile circuit.  That doesn't seem like much on paper, but the way the course is set up, you're either climbing or rapidly descending - there's very little opportunity to spin your legs out and recover.  So, in preparation, I rode the course on 3 occasions prior to the race (for a total of 5 laps) to figure out which gear I'd be able to push for 18 miles.  I started with 34x16, dropped to 36x18, and settled on 36x19 following my final prep ride.

Speaking of that...

The Friday before the race, I decided to head to Cannonsburg for a nice easy spin to loosen up my legs and make a final decision on my gearing.  I wasn't entirely sure how the race course was going to be set up, so I opted to ride the entire loop, including the complete skills section.  The skills section is divided up into two parts - the first part has drops and jumps that you basically just avoid if you're riding XC, and the second part has a steep climb and then some fast descents (and more avoidable stunts).  One section that isn't avoidable has a quick descent that ends in a roller which pops you up in the air before immediately dropping into a downhill turn.  You can probably guess where this is going.  I hit that roller, popped up, landed on the decline, carried way too much speed into the turn, lost my line, and ended up slamming the left side of my body (including my jaw) onto the trail.  I sat up and took stock of myself to make sure I wasn't severely injured: my ear was full of dirt, my right wrist was somehow jammed, my knee was swollen, and my jaw had some road rash.  I had also twisted my bars around on my steerer tube.  Fortunately I was ok to ride, so I muscled my bars back into position and gingerly finished the circuit.  Not exactly what I had in mind for the day.

Anyway, on to the race.  It looked like we were going to have a pretty full field of sport SS riders competing, with Eric Wolting, Byrne Johnson, and about 7 other riders registered.  As it turns out, only 6 of us showed up.  With this being Eric's home trail, I wasn't really fostering any ideas of winning - I was going to go out, ride hard, and see where I ended up.  I was definitely sore from my crash, but I knew I'd loosen up as I rode.  The organizers had arranged the course so that we were starting right up the longest climb, and they had excluded the section where I had crashed the day before (which I was grateful for).  My start time was 12:03, and with just a handful of other riders in front of me, I was on course.

The first climb was rough.  I had warmed up, but I still felt a bit like wet garbage.  My goal had been to catch as many of the riders that had started in front of me as I could during the initial climb in order to have less trail traffic during my first lap, but I believe I only caught two of them.  I then spent about a mile on the wheel of a 50+ rider in the singletrack before I could safely get by him on a two-track climb.  I passed a few other riders during my first lap, and checking my time as I started my second lap, it looked like I was doing pretty well - and I hadn't been passed by anyone who had started behind me.  As I started my second lap, I ran into some heavy trail traffic from the riders who had just started their first lap, but it wasn't anything unmanageable.  I passed a significant number of people on the climbs, and was passed myself by a few riders who had fresh first-lap legs.  Oh, I should also mention that it was nearly 90 degrees out, so that didn't help anyone.  Other than increasing fatigue and dealing with traffic, my 2nd lap was uneventful.  Coming around to start my third lap, I heard someone yell something along the lines of "GO WOLTING!", which meant that he wasn't far behind me.  This was not good news, as he had started 3 minutes back.  My legs weren't feeling great, but I kept my pace up as much as I could.  About halfway through my third lap, he caught and passed me prior to the creekside section.  There was no way I was going to be able to make up 3 minutes on him during that last lap, so I made no effort to try to catch him.  I focused on maintaining my pace, staying conscious on my bike, and finishing strong.  I ended up with a time of 1:22:14, which was good for 2nd place in my category and 13th out of about 120 overall.  Eric had absolutely crushed the course with a time of 1:17:58, which was first overall for the sport class.

I enjoyed this race quite a bit, and I was definitely happy with my 2nd place finish.  And although I love riding at the Fort, these hilly races are convincing me that I need to do more of my training on trails with greater elevation.  - Adam Cefai

First Race of the Year...

Days before my first mountain bike race of the season starts off like every other, I lack confidence in my ability and my mind fills with negative thoughts giving me reasons as to why I will lose and embarrass myself: I haven’t had much time in the saddle…there’s a new baby in the house and I can’t sleep...my bike is acting up when I shift in 2nd gear…I don’t know the trail…my wheels are 26inches…I am racing chicks 15 years younger and my flippen hair is turning grey…etc…

The race was at Dr. TK Lawless Park in Jones, Mi. It is a 10 mile twisty single track with lots of ups and downs. I have only ridden the course once so I was excited to hear that Dwight and David made plans for us to meet 9am Memorial Day to ride. Well Memorial Day rolled around and it was 50 degrees and raining. Dwight picked me up with our bikes loaded. I was under the impression we were just going to meet the Goffs, go have breakfast and if it cleared up we would ride. Wrong! Those crazy men still wanted to ride! Since little Goff (12 year old Dillan) was up for it, I didn’t want to be that wimpy girl and agreed to a lap. Really what the heck we were already there. The trail was greasy, our clothes were wet and glasses fogged. I have to admit it was fun, but I was happy to be back at the trailhead as I assumed we would be done and heading for some hot cocoa. To my surprise, little Goff wanted to do another lap! I grudgingly agreed, I figured screw it, my makeup was already ruined and I couldn’t get any colder and muddier than I already was. (Darn kid came from that crazy Goff gene pool!) Hindsight I am sure this experience greatly helped me!

Race day came with word that my nemeses Emily Andrews would be competing. Throughout the NIMBA series last year we were strongly pushing each other for podium placement. As much as I love her personality and how we antagonize each other on the trail, I wasn’t feeling ready for her this season…I anticipated a serious butt kick.

I was excited that Andrea was able to make a race with me as she is one of my best girlfriends and teammates. We were able to get a couple warm up miles in together. At the time it felt as if we were going to do our casual ride chatting about life etc…It didn’t hit me until we got to the start line that we would be competing, not just against other girls but each other! Since it was a time trial she was taking off 30 sec. behind me with Emily being a min. It was supposed to be a competition not a group ride.

You would think this was my first year racing not first race of the season. I had my long sleeve jersey on over my short sleeve with intentions on taking it off before the start. Unfortunately I freaked myself out over tire pressure and double checked that and then headed to the start. It wasn’t until I had a minute before takeoff when I realized I still had it on. Upon start, my silly self-fumbled to get into my clip. Soon after I finally got rolling, I was to make a left off the pavement and go up the sandy hill. I completely forgot about the sharpness and over breaked and climbed at about 6-7 miles an hour. I knew I was in trouble because Ryan (Andreas fiance’) was already there waiting to cheer her on. I wanted a redo!

[caption id="attachment_658" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Despite my concerns, I ended up doing pretty good. That's me in the middle... (first place)! :-)[/caption]

It didn’t take long into the single track to realize how greasy it was. I was slipping all over the place. At times the trail was tight, curvy, and rooty. I found myself looking down at the roots and not ahead at what was to come. My tires slipped all over the place, even rolling into a tree head on but fortunately I was going slow enough that it just stopped me in my tracks. The trail twisted around so when I saw a glimpse of a helmet or heard a break squeak I swore the girls were on me! It pushed me to go harder but that also came with additional mistakes. On the flats and down hills, I peddled as hard as I could to make up time. When I reached good speeds they were accompanied by screw ups on greasy corners. I didn't crash but had 3 dead stops preventing me from going off the trail. Finishing the race I was so disappointed in myself…I swore I couldn’t shake the girls and they were on me the entire time. I seriously wondered how I ever called myself a mountain biker. As I complained about my skills I saw two of the men I passed and started to realize they were the riders I was hearing on the trail! I finished in 53:25. I was shocked to find I had the lead by 4 plus minutes and really wasn’t as sucky of a mountain biker as I thought! The conditions were slick and everyone had issues!

~April Parrish

Hanson Hills Challenge!

Hanson Hills Challenge - June 2nd, 2013 - Grayling, Michigan - Hanson Hills Recreation Area

I put an exclamation mark in the title, because that's going to be the most exciting thing in this report.  By far.

After a hellish and unplanned 14-hour Saturday at work, all I wanted to do on Sunday was race.  I had a couple of options: the TK Lawless time trial in Vandalia, Michigan, or the Hanson Hills Challenge XC race in Grayling.  I hadn't ridden either course, but since the Hanson Hills challenge was part of the MMBA championship points series (in which I'm participating), I opted for Hanson Hills.

I left Kalamazoo around 8 a.m. and made the drive to Grayling in 3 hours flat.  Soon after arriving at Hanson Hills, I ran into Battle Creek locals Byrne Johnson and Jay Bridgeman (both of Custer Cyclery), and then rode around for a bit of a warm up.  Although it had been relatively nice out when I left my house, Grayling was another story altogether - it was somewhere around 40 degrees and incredibly windy.  On June 2nd.  No one was thrilled about this.  After we finished warming up and complaining about the weather, Byrne and I made our way to the start, where our class (sport singlespeeds) were first off the line.  Also present was Eric Wolting, who happens to be annoyingly fast; Pam Bufe (the lone female singlespeeder who has been at almost every race in Michigan this year); and a few local gents I didn't know.  The field was about 8 or 9 deep.

Before I get to the race, a few notes on Hanson Hills: having never ridden there, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect.  I read some course descriptions online, which claimed it was "fast and flowy," and saw some Strava segments which showed about 600 feet of climbing.  I don't entirely agree with the "fast and flowy" description, and here's why: there are two long climbs (one at the beginning and one towards the end), and there are a TON of short, sharp increases in elevation that completely kill your momentum (mainly during the first 7 miles).  The majority of the course is singletrack, and much of the trail itself is rather soft with frequent sections of pothole-like depressions.  The singletrack isn't particularly technical, but it really seems like a nearly endless series of quick climbs and descents, only a few of which were smooth and "flowy" (i.e. possible to carry most of your momentum from the descent up the next climb).  Regardless of whether I agree with others' descriptions, I do believe it's an excellent and challenging course.

Anyway.  Based on what I had read, I decided to keep the 33 x 14 gearing I had used at the Stony Creek Marathon.  Again, I was running the heaviest gear of the group (nearly everyone else was running roughly a 2:1 ratio), and I took the holeshot at the start followed immediately by Eric.  The very beginning of the course was about a half-mile of two track that led into the long initial climb, and I was the first into the singletrack.  After about a mile, I washed out a bit on a sharp uphill turn and Eric went by me.  For the next six miles, I kept him about 100 yards ahead of me, but it was clear that the gear I was running was a bit too tall.  I was doing fine keeping pace, but a tall gear is basically useless when you're having to slow down and speed up constantly due to changes in elevation - it's just harder to get going, and when you do, you're slowed again by the incline.  I think if I would have run something closer to a 34 x 16, it would have been perfect for the course.  No matter - around mile 7, my chain started skipping.  And then it started locking up.  And then it fell off.

I dragged my bike off the side of the trail and, not having any tools on me, just sort of stared at it.  One of the links in my chain had bent and popped, and I didn't have any way to fix it.  As I was thinking about how far I'd have to walk back to the parking lot, Byrne stopped and offered me a chain tool and a multitool.  The man is a saint.  I tried to take the bad link out and shorten my wheelbase using my sliding dropouts to accommodate the shorter chain, but it was too short.  I then put the bad link back into the chain, kind of bent it into position (using my man strength while quietly crying) (the part about crying is a lie, possibly), and was able to get going again.  However, this repair took me over 20 minutes, and absolutely everyone in the entire sport field had passed me.  Since my chain seemed to be working as I didn't hear/feel any skipping, I thought I'd just finish my two laps and enjoy the ride.  No dice.  About two miles into my second lap, right after the initial climb, my chain broke again.  And this time, it flung quite a bit of itself into the woods somewhere.  Since I was behind basically the entire sport field and therefore didn't have to worry about trail traffic, I just coasted the trail in reverse back to the start.

While I was definitely disappointed, I'm sure worse things have happened in the world.  I mean, probably, right?  Eric went on to win our class, with a local rider placing 2nd and Byrne placing 3rd.  Now to examine my bike to figure out why I keep breaking chains, and to get ready for the State Games time trial in a few weeks.

- Adam Cefai

Another Collection of Race Reports - From Present to Past

Stony Creek Marathon – May 26^th, 2013 – Shelby Township, Michigan – Stony Creek Metropark

The Stony Creek Marathon was another race I decided to do without much forethought.  Held at Stony Creek Metropark near Rochester the Sunday before Memorial Day, it’s a marathon format which means that the shortest distance (for the beginners) is 30 miles.  The sport class rides 40, and the elite/expert classes ride 50.  Jess and I had plans to be in town for a family event on Monday, and I took advantage of free time on Saturday and Sunday to pre-ride and race.

I had never ridden at Stony Creek, so I went out on Saturday night for an easy pre-ride.  Tailwind Racing had marked the course by the time I got there, and it was a great combination of fast two-track and a couple long-ish sections of singletrack.  I still had my heavy 34 x 14 gear on my bike from Island Lake, and decided to lighten it up just a bit to 33 x 14 for the race.  There were only a couple longer climbs, and I figured that there was enough two-track to warrant a big gear.  However, I hadn’t done a race longer than 30 miles, so I was a bit concerned with my fitness, and since I run a rigid fork, I was a bit worried about how my arms would hold up through 4 laps of some rather rough singletrack.

I got to the park about an hour before race time, and lo and behold, ran into Jack Miner.  I registered, and Jack and I tooled around for a quick warm-up.  At the start, I encountered the usual east side sport singlespeed crew – Tim Fargo, Fabrice Portes, Brandon Karbum, and a few other riders for a field about 8 deep.  Again, I was running the heaviest gear out of the bunch, and I was keenly aware of the risk that my legs would burn out.  We hit the trail right around 10:15 a.m.

During the first lap, we encountered a lot of traffic from the classes that had started ahead of us.  I had the lead at the beginning of the lap, but Tim passed me in the 2nd section of singletrack and made a great tactical pass of some slower riders from another class that left the rest of us stuck for a bit.  Approaching the end of each lap was about 2 miles of two-track, and although Tim had pulled away in the singletrack section, I caught and passed him before the end of the first lap.  I pushed my pace pretty hard during the 2nd lap, and knew I was putting some distance between myself and the rest of the field – my 2nd lap was only about 20 seconds slower than my first.  During my 3rd lap, I began to feel my legs fading a bit, but about 2 minutes into my 4th lap, I saw that I had a pretty sizeable lead over Fabrice, as he was just finishing his 3rd lap (part of the course overlapped, and you would pass those heading in as you were heading out).  I tried to keep my cadence up on the two-track sections to maintain that lead, but my legs were getting heavier and heavier.  I had brought a few energy gel packs with me, but I don’t think I was timing my consumption properly, and was starting to feel pretty sapped.  I finally made it out of the last singletrack section onto the home stretch of two-track.  Right before the final climb, I took a look behind me and saw Fabrice about 200 yards back.  Shit.  I tried to pick up my pace, but all I could do was just stay ahead of him until we got to the final turns before the finish.  They had set it up so that you came out of the woods and kind of did a serpentine thing around their barriers before the finish.  On the second-to-last turn, Fabrice cut on the inside and got in front of me.  On the last turn (which was about 50 feet from the finish), he blocked me on the inside.  For 40 miles, we finished at 3:08.43.9 and 3:08:44.8 – less than a second difference.

Although I was slightly disappointed in myself for fading so much during my last lap (my lap times were 45, 45, 47, and 49), I had a great time racing and was very happy with a 2^nd place finish in my longest race yet.  And, while I consider Fabrice my nemesis (I’m kidding, he’s probably the nicest person on earth), it’s always good to have someone that can push you to perform beyond your expectations.

Island Lake Induction – May 11^th, 2013 – Brighton, Michigan – Island Lake Recreation Area

Island Lake Induction is a Tailwind series race held on the east side of the state at Island Lake Recreation Area.  Jess and I were in town for Mother’s Day, and although I hadn’t planned on participating in this race, I decided to go for it.

I rode Island Lake infrequently when I lived in the Detroit area, so I chose to do some recon the night before.  I rode a nice easy lap of the yellow route and found it to be very quick, with not too many climbs.  Based on that, I opted for a 34 x 14 gearing, which is the heaviest I’ve had on my bike.  The sport singlespeed class was only doing one lap of the 13 mile course, and I figured I could power through that gear for the distance.

I arrived at the venue about an hour before my scheduled start, registered, and ran into Jack Miner.  He and I rode around for a bit of a warm-up, and I made my way to the starting line.  I recognized a number of riders from Pontiac Lake who had done well there, namely Tim Fargo, Fabrice Portes, and Matt Fill.  As is common at the start of singlespeed races, we discussed what gear ratios we were running, and I learned that I was running the heaviest by far.  Uh oh.  Anyhow, we were given the green light, and we were off.

I decided at the start that I wasn’t going to get stuck at the back of the pack, so I tried to take the holeshot into the singletrack.  I was passed by Fabrice and Matt on a downhill section, and we made our way into the woods in that order.  Pretty quickly we ran into the tail end of the class that had started ahead of us, which caused some problems.  On a rather quick, tight climb, one of the geared riders got a little caught up – Fabrice and Matt were able to get around him, but I lost all my momentum and had to unclip and try to scooter my bike up a portion of the climb.  I believe I also was swearing quite a bit (not at anyone in particular, just at the situation).  During this nonsense, I was passed by another SS rider (Brandon Karbum) who had completely gotten off of his bike and was carrying it cyclocross-style.  Fortunately, the trail opened up a bit soon after and I caught and passed Brandon.  At this point, Fabrice and Matt were nowhere to be seen, and I figured I wasn’t going to be able to challenge for 1st or 2nd.  I kept my pace up, and passed quite a few other riders from other classes over the next 8 miles or so.  Incredibly, around mile 11, I saw Matt and Fabrice.  They had gotten caught up in a rather long train of riders on a section of singletrack where passing was not possible.  As the trail opened up a bit, I passed a few geared riders and ended up within striking distance.

The end of the course at Island Lake was about a half-mile of sand/gravel two-track going uphill for a straight sprint finish.  I passed Matt at the beginning of the two-track, which left Fabrice about 100 yards ahead of me.  Then I started absolutely hammering.  Fabrice hadn’t seen me since the beginning of the race, and he had no idea I was coming.  By the time I passed him I had built up my momentum quite a bit, and pushed my pace as hard as I could all the way to the finish.  Because I was running a heavier gear and was carrying speed, he could not make up the distance after I passed, and I crossed the line about 2 seconds ahead of him for my first ever win.  I’m going to try and do that more often.

Custer Stampede – May 5^th, 2013 – Augusta, Michigan – Fort Custer Recreation Area

I consider Fort Custer my home trail.  Although I started mountain biking on the east side of the state and rode recreationally while living in East Lansing, riding at the Fort really established my love of the sport.  After a series of knee injuries and surgeries (the last in December of 2010), and not wanting to risk any more joint damage from sports with a lot of lateral movement, I turned to mountain biking as my go-to activity for exercise.  I got back into riding in the fall of 2011 after my knee had properly healed, bought a nice 29’er in the spring of 2012, and had planned on making the 2012 Stampede my first ever race.  However, work got in the way, and I wasn’t able to start racing until the end of that summer.  The fact that I didn’t get to participate in last year’s race made my anticipation for this year that much greater.

There were two race routes this year:  one for the expert/elite class combining the red and green trails, and one for the sport/beginner riders using mainly green with just a couple sections of red.  I ride at the Fort frequently, and usually prefer riding the red loop – however, to prep for this race, I went out and hammered green as many times as I could during the two weeks before the race.  The green loop isn’t very difficult, but there are some technical-ish climbs where practice really pays off.  For gearing, I decided to run 34 x 16, which is what I was most comfortable with at the Fort, and I opted to run my dedicated race wheelset, which has Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.25’s mounted tubeless on Stan’s Crest rims.

I arrived at the Fort about an hour and a half prior to my start time, chatted with my team members, visited the team tent where Jana Turpin and April Parrish were preparing food on behalf of WSI/Team Active for the race participants, and started to warm up.  Going into this race, I knew that Dwight Denisiuk and I would have a good chance of doing well in the sport singlespeed class.  Dwight is an experienced racer and overall fast [EXPLETIVE DELETED], and I wasn’t about to get trounced by interlopers on my trail.  However, we were going to have some tough competition: Eric Wolting had won the Yankee TT by nearly a full minute; Jeff Gilbert of Cross Country Cycle had placed 2nd in the 2012 MMBA CPS; and Byrne Johnson (a Battle Creek local) had placed 2nd here in 2012.

We lined up, and despite his pre-race declarations regarding hanging back to follow the leaders, Eric Wolting took the holeshot off the start.  For the first 4 miles it was Eric, Dwight, Jeff, Byrne, and myself.  About halfway through the Amusement Park (which was running backwards for the race), Eric’s rear wheel basically just fell off his bike.  He had been pushing a pretty intense pace, and if it weren’t for his mechanical, I feel like he would have been on the podium.  The four of us passed Eric and continued on into the remainder of the green loop.  After about another mile, Byrne started to fade and I passed him, which left Jeff, Dwight and myself.  A couple more miles went by, and Dwight started to fade a bit, so I took a pass.  At this point, Jeff was starting to pull away.  At the end of the first lap, someone yelled that Jeff was about 20 seconds ahead of me – that seemed manageable, but as it turned out, he was able to maintain his pace during the 2nd lap, whereas I began feeling my legs go around mile 15.  At that point, Dwight caught up with me.  He stayed on my wheel for a few miles as I struggled to keep my cadence up, and going into the final half-mile before the finish, he took a pass on a paved section.  He was running a bigger gear and there was no way I could keep pace with him there.  We finished about 14 seconds apart for 2nd and 3rd, with Jeff finishing about a minute ahead of us.

I was definitely happy with my performance on the day for my 2^nd podium finish of the year, and excited for my WSI/Team Active teammates who generally had fantastic results in their respective categories.  Along with that, I was grateful to finally be able to race at my home trail, and to spend the day with my teammates and family.



Pontiac Lake Classic – April 28^th, 2013 – Waterford, Michigan – Pontiac Lake Recreation Area

I had no plans of doing this race, which was a Tailwind series event at Pontiac Lake Recreation Area.  My wife and I are originally from the Detroit area, and we were going to be in town visiting parents/in-laws this particular weekend.  As it turns out, I also had to be in Troy the Wednesday before the race, which allowed me to ride the course in advance.  Since I always bring my bike with me when we visit family, I figured I might as well race.

I ran the same setup that I used for Yankee – 34 x 18 and Kenda Karma 2.2’s.  It was raining on race day, and Pontiac has a few tough climbs, and a lot of rocks, roots, and (when it’s wet) mud.  From what I’ve been told, this race is usually a time trial, but they were running it in a standard XC format this year.  I met up with Jack Miner (another eastsider) prior to the race, and we did our best to stay out of the cold drizzle in the tent he had graciously set up as we got ready.

The sport singlespeed class was 11 deep, and I recognized a few names from the Yankee TT.  Anyhow, the start came, and we were off.  A group of 3 or 4 riders absolutely bolted from the start, and I never saw them again.  I traded places with a few of the other guys throughout the race, but I never felt good enough to make a respectable effort.  I hadn’t warmed up because of the rain, and my legs were feeling heavy.  Along with that, Pontiac is an unfamiliar course to me, and I was really tentative on the technical sections.  The gent that finished right behind me fell about six thousand times, which was something I was desperately trying to avoid.  I finished the 10-ish mile course in 50:48, which was good for 7^th place.  It was also a 5 minute improvement over the last time I had ridden Pontiac, so I was relatively happy with that.  And at least I wasn’t at home sitting on the couch.

Yankee Time Trial – April 21^st, 2013 – Yankee Springs Township, Michigan – Yankee Springs Recreation Area

Although it’s only about 40 minutes from Kalamazoo, I had only ridden Yankee Springs once prior to this year.  It’s a great trail, with some rough climbs, lots of roots, and sections with excellent flow.  The second time I rode there was early this spring with David Goff, Cindy Gippert, and Chuck Brenner;  that was a ice-covered, slow, painful slog that made me want to put my bike in a dumpster.  I wasn’t going to let the trail beat me, so I made the drive to ride there five more times in preparation for the race.  This prep helped me figure out which gear ratio I needed to run, the best lines through the roots, where I could build momentum prior to the climbs, and which tires to use on race day.

For gearing, I ran 34x18 due to the amount of climbing on the course.  In retrospect I could have probably run a slightly taller gear, but as this was the first real MTB race of the season, I didn’t want to push my luck.  I used my backup wheelset for this race, which has Kenda Karma 2.2’s mounted tubeless – Yankee can be pretty sandy, and I didn’t want to chance washing out in the corners.

Also, I had forgotten that the starting times at this race were determined by when you signed up, and I was one of the first people to register last fall, so I was scheduled to start 3^rd with the sport group.  It was a pleasant surprise, as dealing with traffic during a time trial can be very frustrating.

So: I warmed up on the 2-mile loop about 30 minutes prior to my start, had an energy gel pack, and made my way to the starting line.  The weather was great, I felt adequately prepared, and I was off.  I had rested my legs for the two days prior to the race, but they still felt pretty heavy for most of my ride.  Not reassuring.  I tried to fight through that and focus on nailing my lines and hammering up the climbs.  I was passed by one or two other riders during my race, but neither of them was singlespeed.  I also stayed upright the entire time.  Bonus!  I finished, and checked my time on my watch – roughly 54 minutes.

As my teammates finished and we discussed our times, I realized that I might have done well for my class.  The organizers started to post the results, which is a tense waiting game as someone from your class could have started 30 minutes behind you, and you can get bumped further and further down the list.  When I first checked, I was in 1st, and only one other SS Sport rider had finished.  I did not believe that would hold.  After 20 minutes, I checked the results again, and I was in 3rd.  And amazingly, that’s where I stayed, with an official time of 53:55.4.  I really did not have any expectations for this race, and I was extremely happy to make the podium.  Although I had placed third in my class at the Lowell 50 last fall, this was my first podium finish for a real MTB race against a full field of some great singlespeed riders.

The Lowell 50 – April 6^th, 2013 – Lowell, Michigan

The Lowell 50 is a gravel road race held twice a year in the spring and fall with a decently challenging course offered in 50 and 28 mile distances.  I had participated last fall in the 28 mile singlespeed class as a warm-up for Iceman, and I really enjoyed the low-key atmosphere and the race route.  I again signed up for the 28 mile SS class, and met David Goff and Eric Kane at Fallasburg County Park, which serves as an excellent start/finish venue for the race.

Based on a conversation I had with the winner of the 36 mile singlespeed category at Barry-Roubaix, I decided to run 38c Bontrager CX0 cross tires and a tall-ish gear ratio (34 x 14) for this race.  Although it was a heavier gear than I ran last fall, I felt the skinnier tires and my fitness would be able to compensate.  This ended up being true for most of the race.

The weather at the start was sub-40 degrees, and the wind gradually increased to what felt like a hurricane.  Now, I have zero experience road racing, and really have no clue how to ride in a pack.  Along with that, I can’t keep up with geared riders on flat sections or downhills, where they can switch into the big ring and crank away.  So, I end up riding alone for long sections of these gravel road races.  I would normally be fine with that, but the wind seemed to have a personal vendetta against me.  I felt fast and strong for about the first 20 miles, and then I felt terrible.  There was no gradual decline – it was immediate.  Everything felt uphill.  The heavier gear and the wind completely killed my legs, and I was very grateful to finish.  I ended up at 1:44:28, which was (barely) faster than my time last fall, and good for 6^th place in my category.

I then enjoyed several complimentary donuts.  Seriously, free donuts at this race.

Barry-Roubaix – March 23^rd, 2013 – Hastings, Michigan

This race did not end well.  Sorry for spoiling the end at the beginning.

I was very much looking forward to my first race with my WSI/Team Active teammates - I felt like I was in decent shape, I had a new bike (2013 Spot Rocker SS), and I really wanted to start the season on a positive note.  I had ridden most of the race route with Dwight Denisiuk, Charles Elder, David Goff, and Cindy Gippert a few weeks before, and I felt confident in my gear selection for the 36 mile singlespeed class.  As it turns out, confidence played a negligible role in my result, and I learned it’s probably best to forget your expectations before a race.

The weather leading up to the race was relatively cold, and the gravel roads were still partially frozen on race day.  Due in part to the weather, I had a slow start, with my legs feeling heavy and my lungs not operating efficiently.  I started to warm up a bit around mile 5, and began passing a number of other riders as I found my pace.

Around mile 8, I came down a hill onto a flat section, and my front wheel slid laterally into an icy rut on the road.  I fell hard onto my left side, and the person behind me ran over my bike with theirs.  I was a bit bloodied, but I could have continued – however, the sidewall on my front tire was completely torn open, and my chainring was badly bent.   As I was not carrying a spare chainring or tire (what an oversight, right?), my day was done.  I hiked about a mile with my bike to a crossroad, and got a ride back into Hastings.

Clearly not the way I wanted to start my season, but I tried my best to only sulk about it for the remainder of that day, and reminded myself that there were plenty more races on the year.

- Adam Cefai