Collegiate Season//Collegiate Nationals

Going into this year I had three goals: 1. Qualify for Leadville, 2. Qualify for Collegiate MTB Nationals, and 3. Get on the Chainbuster series podium in 6 hour pro/expert. I discussed goal 1 earlier this year; so this post is all about goal 2; qualifying and racing the USAC Collegiate MTB National Championships.

For those of you that are unfamiliar, collegiate cycling is sanctioned by USA Cycling (USAC) and allows college students to compete against other college students and are broken into several conferences, the Southeastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (SECCC) (home to Lees-Mcrae College, King University, Union College, Brevard College, and many others) and the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference (RMCCC) (home to Fort Lewis College and Colorado Mesa University) are the most competitive conferences nationally. Racers compete for points that contribute to individual rankings and team rankings and at the end of the season the individual and team with the most points are declared the conference champions. If you or your team are ranked high enough you may be given qualification to compete at the Collegiate National Championships.

 I would like to note that there are a number of schools in which cycling is a varsity sport and give SCHOLARSHIPS to athletes to race their bicycles at a collegiate level. If you are an athlete or work with an athlete that is interested in racing at the collegiate level feel free to contact me and I would be more than happy to get you associated with some coaches and get the ball rolling.

Conference Racing

The first race was the Georgia Tech Mountain Bike Omnium held in Conyers, GA at the Georgia International Horsepark, which is a course I'm really familiar with so I was excited and hoping for some solid results, I ended up getting 9th in the time trial, 18th in short track, and 17th in the cross country. Not exactly what I was hoping for but as I found out later in the season those were solid results for me.

For the next race the Kennesaw State Cycling team would travel to Clemson, SC for the Clemson Race weekend; the field had nearly doubled from the previous race so I was happy to squeak into the top 30 for both the short track and cross country.

After the Clemson race we traveled to Barbourville, Kentucky to race at the Union College race. I got 19th in both the short track and cross-country. Then I tried my hand at some gravity and got 2nd in the C's class 2-cross race. Huge thank you to the Union College Cycling Team and their coach, Sean Trinque, for housing us and treating us like their team for the weekend.

Then we traveled to the King University race where I had my best results of the season. 16th in short track and 19th in cross country! I started to really feel some fitness thanks to T.G. Taylor's coaching program. Then I got 5th in the dual slalom.

The final conference race of the season was the conference championship hosted by Mars Hill university. I had gotten sick a few days before and was still feeling it during the weekend but I still managed 21st in short track but I crashed out of the cross country race when I tried to drop someone on a descent.

Adding up all of the series points, Kennesaw State ended up 6th in the Club Team Omnium and I got 8th in the Men's A Club Endurance Omnium. That 8th place meant that I accomplished my goal of qualifying for collegiate nationals!

Nationals

The USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships were held in Snowshoe Resort, West Virginia this year; about an 8 or 9 hour drive my apartment in Marietta, GA. So not the worst, but by no means an enjoyable drive for one person to endure. Thankfully, Sean Trinque of Union College Cycling offered to drive me up and let me stay with the team for the entire week! Coming from a club team, a lot of the expenses were going to have to be paid out of pocket (at least, initially) so I'm incredibly thankful for that.

I drove up to Barbourville, Kentucky and then we left for Snowshoe, West Virginia in their team van around 2AM on Tuesday the 18th of October. We arrived a

round 10AM on the same day and got checked in. Then Sean, Yves, myself, and a few others went for a quick spin and explored some of the trails around the resort. The first trail we rode was called "6,000 Stairs" which was about 1.5 miles of constant roots and rocks; after that I realized that the race course was going to be more technical that what I'd prefer to race on my hardtail.

On Wednesday, we did another spin around to find out where the race course would be we were able to find some of it and I ended up riding parts of it backwards or in the wrong order; you know normal pre-offical preride shenanigans,

On Thursday, I met up with Elliott Baring and actually rode the correct course, in the correct direction and all of that. I was right about wishing I had a full suspension bike for this race; all of the singletrack sections were really rooty or just straight rock gardens. It was a really fun and fair course; the best mountain biker was going to win this race. Hands down.

When we arrived in Snowshoe, the weather was a perfect 60 degrees and sunny. However, for the first day of racing the weather went south pretty quick, making the short track a rainy affair at a nice and warm 40 degrees. I think I got 58th in that race, but after being sick for 3 weeks I'll take it.

You know how somethings just get progressively worse? Well, that was the weather at Snowshoe. The temperature dropped to 20ish degrees and it started snowing and kept snowing THROUGH the cross country race. I've never raced in conditions so unfavorable and probably never will again. I think I got 61st but this was more of a race of survival and after being sick I wasn't terribly interested in making myself even worse and potentially hurting myself for next year.

The following day, I race dual slalom which was more for fun than anything else and walked away with 37th place. After the weekend, to say that my bike was trashed was an understatement; it pretty much needed new everything.

Overall, my first collegiate nationals didn't quite go as expected or as well as I'd hoped. But it was an experience that I'll never forget and thankfully, I'll have another 3 seasons to get it right. I also have to give out the best mom and sister awards to mine for driving 11 hours and braving all of the terrible conditions the weekend had to offer, love you guys!

Lauf Forks TR Boost Review

Lauf Forks TR Boost Review

Most of you know that I have been associated with the Icelandic fork company Lauf Forks since 2014 when the first rendition of the Trail Racer was released for public sale. Since the original design Lauf has released the Carbonara for fat bikes, the TR Boost for the 15x110 hub spacing/650b+, and now the Grit for gravel/cross bikes. All of 2015 I had the pleasure of riding the TR29 and I was ecstatic when Gudberg informed me that he would like to send me a TR Boost for 2016. I received the  TR Boost in late March but did not actually install it until late April due to budget constraints on getting a suitable wheel. I ended up building up a Stan's Crest rim laced to a Hope Pro 4 EVO 15x110 front hub for a surprisingly low amount of money. The wheel build came it at .80kg; I then added the necessary Trucker Co.com upgrades (Ti bolts, rim tape, etc.)

Unboxing

Right out of the box I noticed how much bigger the TR Boost is compared to the TR29, its easily 1.25-1.5x larger with only a 10-ish gram weight penalty. I'll take it. From the photos you can see just how much beefed up it is in comparison; and in my opinion its more aesthetically pleasing, being devoid of any edges or rough shapes. And just better design throughout. I don't know all that much about carbon lay-up but I'm sure that has been adjusted and improved as well. 

Set-up

Set-up is completely identical to the TR29, 180mm rotor, bolt on thru-axle, expander plug, cut steer-tube to desired length, etc. All in all takes about 30-45 minutes depending on your mechanical aptitude and familiarity. Despite the 10-ish gram weight penalty the scales weighed the bike in identically to when it had the TR29; so maybe, maybe not. Either way, paired with the Deep South Bicycle Company hardtail, it's still incredibly light and that's what every XC/Marathon racer wants. The bike weighs in at 20lbs flat and I definitely have plenty of places to drop weight. 

Suspension Characteristics

Lauf changed the angle of the springs every so slightly to make the springs a little more difficult to compress; which was definitely welcome as the TR29 bottomed out a little more than I expected. Other than that, the suspension characteristics between the TR Boost and the TR29 are identical. The same great small-bump absorption that  allows you to ride through gravel like it was paved. The only downside is that with the slightly harder to compress springs that fork is slightly bouncier than the TR29; but as someone that is used to this; the bounciness does not bother me as much as it may bother some. The suspension design favors being light on the bike, being quick through obstacles, and being on the perfect line; if not, the TR Boost lets you know you've messed up. But that being said, the fork makes you become a smoother rider; so that's really more of a win.

Stiffness

The primary complaint of the TR29 was the torsional stiffness of the legs; making it difficult to corner confidently and really get after it on descents. Fortunately, the designers at Lauf heard the cry of many and the beefed-up design brought a lot of increased stiffness. Stiffness is where we see most of the changes and improvements when compared to the TR29; rivaling that of a standard telescopic XC race fork. The new design brought back a lot of cornering and descending confidence that I had lost whilst running the TR29. 

If you disliked the TR29 because of its suspension characteristics, the TR Boost probably is not for you; but I'd still urge you to try it. For those of you that wished the TR29 was a bit stiffer than the TR Boost is definitely for you! The new stiffer design eliminates the limits of the TR29; and the only limit is what you can ride with 60mm of travel, which is a surprising amount. From gravel roads to jump lines the Lauf TR Boost delivers great weight and performance at an incredible pricepoint. 

Spring Breaker

Poor sprinting form,
perhaps I should work on that.

This blog has really started to feel like a roadie blog, so I am glad that to say that this post will be mostly, if not all about mountain bikes. Thank God. I'm also a few weeks late on writing this post, but here I am putting down dribble that maybe one other person may find interesting, but that is good enough for me.

Since my last post I raced one road race and crit, which I had my best performance in. Finding a top 20 spot in both events, and even got to attack in the road race, only to be pulled back roughly 5 minutes later. In the crit, I accomplished my only goal which was to get my teammate in good position on by the end of the first lap. Since I am not a great crit racer, I decided that it would be best for my team if I worked for everyone else and then sit in for the rest of the race.

Austin Rattler 100k
This year, I got the opportunity to race the Austin Rattler Leadville Qualifier in Smithville (Austin), Texas. Here's a long-winded synopsis:

After the second Snake Creek Gap TT, I was contacted by the coach of Union College's cycling team, Sean Trinque, about going with them to the Austin Rattler. I normally don't get to go on trips like this just because of logistical reasons but this time was different. The week leading up to the race was spring break which made things a lot easier to sort out. I got the green-light from my parents and boss to head out to what would be the biggest race I have ever done.

Union College is in Barbourville, Kentucky so on Monday 4/4 I drove the 4 hours up to Barbourville. I arrived at 2pm which gave us plenty of time to go ride. Sean and I hit up the Union College practice trail which is roughly 7 miles of technical, fun, 90's style hand-cut single track. So much fun! There is also going to be a collegiate MTB race there this year! While in Barbourville I was given a tour of the campus, given a free meal in their dining hall, and stayed with some of the team members in their apartment. Top-notch treatment.

Tuesday 4/4, at 4am we embarked on the 16 hour drive to Austin, Texas. Thankfully we left so early that I slept the first 4 hours knocking 1/4 out of the trip easily. For the rest of the 12 hours, I had the foresight to spend $80 on portable batteries for my phone so I just watched Netflix and ate candy. At hour 8 Yves Ketterer (born and raised in Germany) said "I have never been in a car this long in my entire life." To which we replied "Well, we're only half-way there." Yves was astonished. We finally arrive in Smithville at 11PM.

Wednesday 4/5: we got our first chance to ride the course for the race. I was surprised by the amount of singletrack and by how rocky the open sections were. In fact, I can't say that having a hardtail would be an advantage this race. The singletrack sections were incredibly tight and twisty which at my height made them pretty difficult to ride quickly.

Thursday 4/6: We got up fairly early and helped set up for the race. I had planned to do a "hot lap" of the course so I could get a feel for how the course would flow and feel at race pace. I was riding really well but about 15 minutes in I cut a sidewall in my rear tire and couldn't get the valve out so my day ended right there. Thankfully, I had the foresight to bring a spare tire; albeit a heavy winter tire but a rideable tire nonetheless. My other concern was that it may not seat tubeless but my Trucker Co sealant made it so I could seat the tire tubeless with nothing more than a floor pump!

Friday 4/7: We headed to the race venue for the pre-race meeting. For me, this was sort of surreal. My first exposure to mountain biking that wasn't Rampage or Crankworx was the Race Across the Sky movie(s) so meeting Dave Weins and seeing the Leadville organizers was an incredible experience. I forgot to mention that I was feeling sick all week so all of Friday I was trying to purge as much mucus as I could from my system to hopefully have some clear lungs for Saturday's race. I did some intervals that night and could tell that my purge has worked because I could breathe really well and my confidence for Saturday's race went back up.

Saturday 4/8, Race Day: The race had an 8am start, which is about 2 hours earlier than I'm used to, not that it mattered performance-wise. There were 820 starters and I started somewhere around the first 100, so not the best call-up but by far not the worst. The race had a neutral roll-out which is understandable given the field size, but still awful nonetheless. At some point the race actually started and the pace went up to something that was way faster than I had anticipated. I think I averaged above 15mph the first lap and an average HR of 188bpm (my max is 206bpm). I knew I would be unable to maintain that pace the entire race but there was no way I was going to back off of it unless my body forced me to. And it did, granted on the second lap I stopped twice to let air out of my tires because the course was so rough, but I still 25 minutes slower. My third lap felt a bit more like my second, I think I got behind on my nutrition and I started approaching "the wall," being a relatively experienced 6-hour racer I knew how to fix that problem but by the time my supplements had kicked in I was too close to the finish for it to matter. My third lap was 8 minutes slower than my second lap. I finished the race in 4 hours and 53 minutes, 23 slower than my goal. I was 5th in my category and 159th out of 820 starters overall.

I am thankful that there was overcast and it sprinkled most the race keeping the temperature about 10 degrees cooler than what was forecast and I finished the race exactly 5 minutes before it started to rain for real.

I learned a lot of lessons this race, I failed to find a good group to ride with which definitely hindered my performance. Finding a group during these races is key for morale and making sure that you don't have to do all of the work in the open sections. Pacing was more important in this race than any other I have been in; given my lap times, I definitely have a lot of work to do regarding pacing.

Overall, I am happy with my showing at the Austin Rattler, I do wish that I had qualified for Leadville, but I'll have my time for that later. I owe Union College Cycling a huge thank you for allowing me to join them on this trip. They're a great group of riders and they treated me like family over the week, so thank you.

...And the Season Begins

March is typically the start of the season for most mountain bikers, UCI races begin, most local XC series start up, and with the time change those of us who have obligations outside of cycling are finally getting in some serious volume in our weekly training. I'm no exception, going from maybe 8 hour weeks to getting in some 10+ hour weeks recently and I am starting to feel it!

If you trained and didn't take
a selfie, it didn't happen

I took some advice from my cycling mentors and have started doing most of my training on the road, the logic being that it is easier to get big miles in. And ever since I have noticed a large jump in my fitness in a relatively short amount of time.

Start of the ITT

My first in-season race was a collegiate road race in Auburn, Alabama. I raced C's given the fact that I had never raced my road bike before. My performance definitely reflected that as I fell off the back on the 2nd lap of the road race, I continued to push, alone, to try to catch back up to the peloton but it wasn't meant to be. I spent the rest of the race catching and dropping riders that fell off of the back to a 27th place finish. The next race of the weekend would be the ITT and no amount of road race inexperience would matter here as its simply "ride as hard as you can and be super aero" and without other riders to worry about I felt comfortable gunning it and I did, finishing 4th! On Sunday we raced the Criterium; the event that I was most nervous about racing after hearing countless horror stories from my parents from when they raced. But I digress, I lined up towards the back and went hard finding myself in between the main field and the back of the race, doing every bit of work on my own I held a solid pace and caught and dropped a lot of racers to finish 24th.

Thankfully, I would not have another race for two weeks so I decided to come home on the weekend to get in a solid training block. Getting in some solid miles in a few short days.

The following weekend I had the second Southeastern Endurance Championship race of the year at one of my favorite trail systems; the Georgia International Horse Park. Fast, flowy, some serious climbs, and some technical sections for good measure. The course really suits my riding style so  I knew that I had to have a very goof start to be able to ride my pace and set a good gap on the first lap.

Deep South pit

I set up in the pit with my newest sponsor, Deep South Bicycle Company, which I can't thank enough for supporting me this year. I also tried some new nutrition this race, JUNK FOOD, I set up Pop-Tarts, Snickers, Mountain Dew, and Pickle Pops. Which worked better for me than my previous abuse of energy bars.

Gracing the podium in my jorts.
They weren't short enough for me to win.

I lined up at the start, made some jokes with my friends and fueled by Tupac and collegiate angst, I went all out trying to get a solid position going into the woods.  I found myself in the top 10 and even passed a few racers that had gotten in front of me. I put in a scorching 40 minute lap time and held a solid pace for the rest of the race, hanging with guys that I was unable to ride/race with previously. I just felt really good and continued to apply pressure opening up a 20 minute gap on those behind me that I would maintain the rest of the race. Going into my 7th and final lap I knew that I was comfortably in 3rd and I caught a second wind towards the end of my 6th lap; I rode as hard as I could but was unable to catch 2nd place and managed to finish in 3rd place.


The following day, I got on my road bike and raced the Georgia Tech Collegiate Criterium, I was worried about how I would feel after such a hard day the day before. But after a few laps of the course and some openers my worries were laid to rest. I lined up in the first row with my teammates and subsequently missed clipping in at the start and I fell back into the pack and tried to hang on but was dropped somewhere along the way. Once again, alone I began catching and passing riders, one of whom was my teammate but he was unable to get on my wheel to work together and move up. I eventually caught a chase group and despite attacking multiple times would come back to me and I eventually finished the race with that group. I finished 21st.

I was also featured in my school's newspaper which you can read the article here: http://ksusentinel.com/2016/03/07/kennesaw-state-student-overcomes-all-odds-to-become-accomplished-cyclist/

Looking forward to another collegiate road weekend this weekend and the prospect of racing the Austin Rattler 100k Leadville Qualifier in April!

2016 Preseason

The start to my 2016 went way better than I could have anticipated, getting the opportunity to represent Trucker Co.com and Deep South Bicycle Company for the first year and continuing my relationship with Lauf Forks and Crankbrothers. I am truly honored to be partnered with such great companies this year, thank you for  not only supporting myself but cycling in the southeast as well.

Racing started off incredibly early this year with the Snake Creek Gap Time Trial, just 9 days in to the new year. This year the organizers added a 50 mile option, but this being my first time racing the series I opted to do "just" the 34 mile. The funny thing about racing this early in the year is that you are basically paying someone to find out how our-of-shape you really are; that being said, I did not have the race that I wanted. It could have been any number of things, a late start, getting behind on my nutrition, inexperience on the terrain, or just a lack of fitness. But despite not having a great race I ended up in 6th place; and only a few minutes out of the top 5.


 After the first Snake, I wanted to get in a solid training block before my next race. As mother nature would have it, Atlanta got a few snow days; and not the "lets go ride in the snow" kind of snow days the "there's ice under this 1/4 inch of snow" kind of snow days. I took it to the trainer, which as we all know, sucks and I'm glad it did not last long. The weather warmed up in time to get a few rides before hand.


My second race of the year was to be the first race of the Chainbuster Southeastern Endurance Championship 6-hour series. I felt good going into the race and it showed, I was able to take a 3rd place spot on the Solo Pro/Expert podium alongside a national champion, who took 1st; officially inducting me into the massive "I Got Throttled by Gordon Wadsworth Club." Can we get t-shirts made? Also, a huge thank you to him for lending me a pair of knee-warmers in my time of need; instances like that are a big part of why I love mountain biking.

The following weekend I took part in the Georgia Interscholastic Cycling League (NICA) leader's summit. I took a role as an intern there this summer and this was my first leader's summit, it was a great time and I look forward to going for many years to come. In light of the leader's summit, the league also published a story on me which you can read here: http://georgiamtb.org/blog/2016/02/02/former-georgia-high-school-cyclist-triumphs-over-stroke-to-pursue-cycling-career/

The following weekend was the 2nd and final Snake Time Trial. I could definitely feel my fitness start to come around as I dropped a little more than 30 minutes from my first race; but with nothing to show for it as I still finished in 6th place, but only 2 minutes out of the top 5. It was a cold day with below-freezing temperatures the entire day, but with a dry and fast course I couldn't complain. I am looking forward to next year as I take on the 50 mile. Money Class? Maybe if I feel like getting throttled....