Lots of locals raced this weekend all over the U.S. Lets hear the reports!!!!!

James and I headed south to Little Rock with Lyle Riedy for the "Three Legged Dog" Cross Country event. It's an AMBC tier two mountain bike event and also a qualifier for the Nationals in Granby, Colo.

Great course with a little of everything. Race starts on pavement and after about 1/4 mile it hits a wall climb that kinda splinters the pack. More pavement after a downhill and after another 1/4 mile, a quick right turn into a short climb and lots of rock. Throw in some twists and little power climbs. Two super long climbs to separate the strongest from the pretenders. Blazing downhills with "oops-ops" all over the place. Laps right at 7 miles. This course is downright fun.

James qualified for nats with a solid 2nd place in the 40-49 class. I repeated as the 50+ Cat 1 champion. Lyle had a tough day at the office as the heat and quick start may have taken it's toll.

It's a long ways down there but a fun place to race!

Back from the Lumberjack in Michigan and it once again was a very well ran race, Rick Plite knows how to put on an event. Last year I finished in 12 hr 17 min 18 secs with 2 mechanicals and my goal this year was to finish in 10 hr 59 min 59 secs or better. I fell just a bit short with a finish time of 11 hr 8 min 56 secs but I feel pretty good about it. I don't think anyone can be harder on me than myself and that's why I have been disecting the race since before we started the 12 hr drive home. My lower left back was in some serious pain at only 10 miles into the race, after the first of the four 25 mile laps I realized that my camelbak was hanging a bit low on my back so I tightened up the right side but could not get the left side to move up. This immediately took pressure off my back and lessened the pain, of course the handful of Ibuprofen didn't hurt either. I found out that the bottle of Ibuprofen is to carry the pills, it's not a challenge to take them all in one day. I stopped several times to stretch my back because I was in a world of hurt and I kept trying to get the left side of my camelbak to tighten up. Finally after the fifth time of stopping I started talking to myself, I said "Hey dumbass, your taking almost as much time with this thing as you did with the mechanicals last year, now get on your bike and ride", I'm sure if anyone was around they thought I was crazy.

Toward the end of lap two on a steep climb my right hamstring began to cramp, I stepped off the bike at the top of the climb just in time to somewhat control the muscle from completely locking up....but it hurt like a $@#@$. I had been taking endurolytes and immediately bit one open and took the powder straight, within minutes the pain had lessened and the muscle relaxed a bit. I really slowed the pace on the third lap and my pit stops on each lap were a little drawn out. When I came in from the third lap I layed on the ground for a minute and then pulled off my jersey and dunked it in my cooler of ice water, it felt so good. I headed out on the fourth and final lap (after about a 12-15 min pit ) and after the first climb (which I walked up, along with almost every racer that day even though I rode it easily on the preride) I felt pretty good and started to put the hammer down. I figured I would ride this pace until I started to hit a wall, I could see the wall in the distance but luckily it took a long time to get to it. On another one of the power climbs both hamstrings started to cramp so I bit open 2 capsules this time and within a minute I was able to crank up the watts again. I started to fade close to the aid station that was 16 miles into the lap, I made a short pit there and started to hammer again, I rode strong until about 3.5 miles from the finish and I was starting to bonk. I stopped for about 1 minute and sucked my camelbak dry, took another shot of hammer gel and got enough strength to finish out pretty strong.

It has been a tough year to train on trails this year, I am glad I did the 60 mile race in Arkansas this past April, that gave me some good saddle time. I learned some things from this race so I hope to take advantage of those lessens and move forward. I guess if I hit every goal then I am not setting them high enough.

Sounds like everyone had a good weekend. I went and rode to chula last night after Jaxs ballgame....and my legs felt like hell, so I can only imagine what a 100 miler felt like. Good job to all!!!

Looks like its going to be dry this week!!!!!