Saturday, December 8, 2012

Catchup and the 2012 Season



Wow, I've been away from the blogosphere for quite some time now.  I have reasons.  Or maybe they're just excuses.  Or maybe it's all just bullshit I've come up with to make myself feel better about not being active in this venue.  Motivation to write about sweet biking excursions has been lacking.  Maybe that's because the abundance of sweet biking excursions has been lacking.  I haven't raced since August.  This kills me.  I shall plan better next year.  Riding has been mostly mundane, hitting the same close-to-home trails that I'm now somewhat bored of.  I am in need of a mountain biking adventure, BAD.  Moab! Sedona!! Can you hear me!!??  But now as I sit here, sick in bed and watching a winter storm move from the mountains into Boulder, it seems like a good time to catch up.

This isn't to say that I haven't been riding.  I've actually been riding a decent amount, very focused on next year, and enjoying a completely different type of riding than I'm used to.  One that involves (semi)skinny tires, curvy handlebars, and road.  Since I picked up a brand spankin' new Kona Jake the Snake about a month ago, my riding options have increased.

Above Ward, CO.
Rides like this have taken precedent.  One of the beauties of the Boulder area is it's close proximity to the mountains, and once a few miles into the mountains there is an endless maze of dirt roads that make for some incredibly riding.  So there has been a lot of on-the-road exploration.  My riding priorities have also changed a bit.  The combination of nothing but sweet mountain biking and this summers' endless journeys, the closing down of some of my favorite riding spots in the mountains, and a new training focus has affected the way I look at riding.  For God's sake, I hope this is a temporary faze.  But in all honesty I've really been enjoying it.  I've been focusing on building strength and power, and so a lot of my rides as of late have been shorter, more high intensity efforts.  Through this I have been really pushing the physical limits of my body.  Learning to dig deeper.  And although the adrenaline rush isn't the same as riding buff mountain singletrack, the payoff in the form of results is very rewarding.  Like I said, I still miss riding good trails like hell. 

Maybe inspiration has been waiting.  I've been waiting for it to come, and don't know if it will.  One thing I've been waiting on is my custom Generic Cycles Ti single speed frame.  Every time I think about it it gives me goosebumps.  But the waiting has been making me a little stir-crazy.  Add this to the fact that I broke my beloved Niner steel SS frame in October and have been singlespeedless since, and I'm getting down-right frustrated. Luckily I heard from Generic a week ago explaining the difficulties they've been having, and assuring me that my bike is on the way.  I've also been waiting to hear back from any of the potential sponsors that I submitted proposals to.  Its exciting and frustrating at the same time.  We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I wrote a season recap a short while back that I wouldn't mind sharing:

A year ago at this time I was sitting in an office chair twiddling my thumbs and making mouse clicks.  Unfortunately there was more thumb-twiddling than mouse clicks.  The decision to leave Indiana was never easier whilst faced with an uninspiring design position at a company with little future, and a growing passion for cycling with a little grain of racing potential stuck in my teeth.  11 months has gone by and I’m still chewing.  11 of the most life-changing, inspiring, eye-opening, adventurous, self-fulfilling, and exciting months of my life; leaving me hungry for more.

Mountain biking in Colorado took some getting used to.  Or, shall I say, my mountain biking synapse needed to be re-wired.  All I knew was the play-pen that is Brown County State Park.  Perfectly manicured, buff, super-flowy up-and-down well-designed trails.  When I first started in CO I was confined to front-range trails, mostly around the Boulder area.  Anytime I had to jump on double-track, ATV trail, or dirt road, the negative monster in my head started talking.  He said “This isn’t mountain biking! Where’s my singletrack mofo!  Where are my trees and dirt!”  Luckily a couple of trips to Moab, and one to Sedona, were enough to silence the monster.  The mountain biking in these places is so mind-boggling and unique that it’s almost unfathomable until you actually experience it.  Experiencing mountain biking in so many different forms in such a short amount of time has almost done the reverse of painting a new picture; it has wiped my slate clean.  I thought I once knew what mountain biking was.  Now I haven’t a goddamn clue.  I still yearn for the quality trails I used to ride on, but also realize that the possibilities for a good day on the bike are almost endless.  You don’t need singletrack for good mountain biking.  In fact, sometimes single track, if not intended for mountain bikes, is less than ideal; cumbersome, frustrating, flow-less.  Like bad jazz.

I wasn’t even sure about racing mountain bikes until this year, at the end of which I find myself in a whirlwind of inspiration and desire for bigger and better races and places and people.  I didn’t know how I would stack up against the competition in a state known for its mountain biking and outdoor prowess.  I remember telling myself a few weeks before my first race in Colorado, “If I suck at this and it isn’t meant to be, screw it.”  Not that I was giving up, but rather prepared to further pursue the non-race side of the sport; the reasons we all do it in the first place, for the adventure and thrill.  I wasn’t going to wallow in the muck of mid-level racer for years and years.  I’d rather be out riding for fun.  It just so happened that I did well in my first race, and the rest is history.  The seed was planted.  It was an incredible year in which both the racing and adventure sides of the sport seemed to have blended into a sweet intoxicating mixed drink.  An expensive mixed drink at that.  Racing afforded (not fiscally, come on sponsors) me the ability to go to some truly amazing places.  Places that I never would’ve imagined going to a year ago.  Places that I might not have gotten to see if it weren’t for the racing scene in Colorado.  For this I feel incredibly fortunate every day.

My season in review:

I learned a lot this year about racing.  Some mental, some physical, some emotional, some technical.  Mentally, I made strides this year, and continue to do so, that should benefit me forever.  I opened up the box that sets limits and creates fear in your mind.  Kept closed, you convince yourself that you have reached your physical limit or breaking point either in a race or training or riding for fun, that you cannot go any further, any harder, or any faster.  To open this box is to break free of all the barriers and limits your mind is trying to set for you.  In a real-world application, this means continuing to push harder, blocking out the pain, even when you’re deep into the pain cave.  It takes a certain mentality.  You keep digging deeper and deeper in the box, surpassing what you thought was physically possible.  I have just recently realized this very important idea, but if I can continue to keep the box open, there is no limit to how much I may find.

Physically I need to improve in various areas.  Hopefully, with the aforementioned mental improvements, the physical improvements will follow.  I need to get more powerful.  I feel like I lost a lot of power this year.  I don’t own any super-fancy and super-expensive power meters, so I can’t say for sure, but it feels like I have lost some of the pop that I had when riding in Indiana.  This can be attributed to a few things.  Riding at elevation is great for endurance training and increasing your hematocrit, but I believe it has hindered my ability to build power.  In Indiana you have all the oxygen your legs can handle, so you can produce mega power.  At altitude your cardiovascular system is working overtime, but still not able to supply your blood with ample oxygen, therein reducing the amount of oxygen-rich blood going to your legs.  This is my personal theory, but other cyclists seem to concur.  Or I’m just being a wuss.

Nutritionally, I am always trying to improve.  This is maybe the hardest part of the equation, and sometimes the least understood and most neglected by cyclists, or athletes in general.  Simply knowing what types of foods to eat and when can make a huge difference during training, while resting, and during a race.  I still haven’t even come close to figuring out this very nuanced part of the game.  That being said, I think I do better than many in this area, simply because I am conscious of it at all times. 

Emotionally, I think I have taken the right approach to racing.  I ride for fun.  I race for fun.  It’s what I love to do.  This keeps it interesting, exciting, and enjoyable.  Simply “training” all of the time would drive me crazy.  If I’m “training” in Moab though; well, okay.  I also realized this year that having friends and family interested and present at your events makes a huge difference.  It has given me an emotional boost like no other.  Having that support, especially when people went out of their way to be there, is priceless.  I could tell the story of almost coming to tears (during the race) the first time my parents saw me race, but I’ll save it.

To say that I did better than expected this year would be a lie.  I had no expectations.  I didn’t know what to expect from myself, my competition, my equipment, the race courses, etc.  It was all a movie I hadn’t seen before, and I sure enjoyed watching it play out.   Can't wait to see what 2013 will bring.

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