I cause general havoc.
Got to do some muddy/grassy cross racing this evening, no after picture but it was nuts. Lots of fun, and ready for the weekend to be here!
Bryan Fawley and I headed up to the Showdown at Sundown in Broken Arrow, OK arriving an hour or so before our race started. We got our numbers, had a look at the course, and proceeded to get dressed. We had surveyed the course from the highway when we were coming in, and it didn’t look like there was going to be a lot to offer, it was a driving range so from afar it seemed really flat and really stretched out. Once we were dressed and on the course for a few warm up laps, we were showed it had a bit more to offer. There was a steep climb with a set of barriers at the top, some good connecting corners on the backside. Add in the wind from the highway across the treeless driving range in we were in for a long cold race. We got call ups based on USAC points, Steve Tilford, Fawley, a few others, and then I heard my name. I got the second to last spot on the front line.
We got the whistle and it was on, tearing down the straight to the hill and run up, it split immediately down the back side of the hill, the first few laps were game on, but soon the wind began to beat us down. We would separate and come back together on the backside, 7 of us would ride together for the most of race, occasionally yo-yoing apart. The last few laps it started to get going again, it split with two to go, but slowed on the backside with the headwind and we all got back together. Heading into one to go, there was some attacks heading to the hill, some separation, and everyone was chasing as hard as they could to catch back on. Fawley would make it back up to Tilford and Laskey and take the win. While Matt Ankey and Chris Drummond would stay away from me and I would finish 6th, catching one other rider in the last lap.
Podium Pic from Showdown at Sundown
Saturday was the Ruts and Guts event, Fawley had raced it the year previous and knew it had potential to be really hard. We were not disappointed. There was about 125 feet of climbing per lap. Each lap being about 5 minutes long we would do over 1500 feet of climbing in a little over an hour. The race started up a steep incline and onto a a downhill right handed sweeper then down to the bottom of the stair-ed run up. I was feeling good and was in the front group, but would get gapped off by the time we hit the climb on the backside, and would ride with Stefan Rothe and Andrew Coe for a few laps until I dropped my chain going up the stairs. I would catch back on before we went through the start finish but Stefan attacked and I went with him, but was riding too close to his wheel when we hit one of the hills and had to un-clip and run the hill.
This would be the last time I would have contact with them. I was keeping them at a sustainable distance for a few laps, but then I could see Fawley around the next bend from them and they must have tried to chase him down because they disappeared. Now I was riding in no mans land, as I would look back every now and then and would see no one anywhere close. I got the 4 laps to go sign, and checked my clock. 50 minutes. There was no way I was going to do 4 laps in 10 minutes, so as I knew I wasn’t catching Stefan or Andrew I let up a little, not so much to let anyone catch, but enough that I was burning less matches, as I knew I was racing Sunday in Fort Worth as well.
I’d finish at almost 1:10, in 9th place. I’m happy with the result as there were some really strong riders in front of me, some of who had fresh legs, having not raced Friday night. We headed over to the awards party, got our money, grabbed some Marble-slab Creamery for recovery and started the trek back to DFW.
Pic from the off camber climb at Ruts and Guts
Sunday would bring myself and Michael Wilder down to Fort Worth for the Escalera Loco at Trinity Park. Michael had raced the day before, and as we drove up said the course was very similar looking to the previous days course. We got our numbers and headed over to the course to warm up. It was nice having an open hour between races to get ready. We took a few leisurely laps and did some leg openers on the start/finish straight. The course was wide open, had a few connecting corners, but they were wide enough to be sweepers. There was a set of barriers, a short sand pit, a few rides up the levee, and one run up the levee. They had extended the course from the day before, adding in some more sweepers on the far side of the course. This was a definite power course, which was good news for me.
Cross Insanity, what with the yelling.
We lined up for the start, by registration order. Usually they separate the categories, but they decided to put us all together, so there were cat 3’s on the front line with myself, Wilder, Paul Bonds, and Ian Moore. The start seemed long enough to space things out, but there wasn’t. I hit the levee first, but a cat 3 rider was surging right next to me. He hit the turn first and went back up the levee. There was an off camber section, right away and I knew I had to be in front of him before we got to it, so I made my move and got the hole shot. Through the barriers, and back up the levee, and it had sorted it self out a bit. We hit the barrier before the run up, and Paul and I hit it first. Wiley, Stefan and Austin Stewart were right behind. I knew Paul wasn’t going anywhere so I tried to make a gap between us and the next three. We did a lap like that and on the second lap Stefan came rolling through on the road section like a freight train. I hoped on Pauls wheel as he came around and settled in. I ended up back on the front and had a small gap on Paul and Stefan with a group of four chasing hard. I was feeling good settling into a nice pace, but on the back side of the course I went into the corner heading back towards the course and took it a little too hot and washed it out. I rolled out of it, and remember seeing Paul’s wheel on top of me almost immediately. Him and Stefan passed me, as I tried to evaluate the situation, the group of four with Wiley, Steven Williams, Austin, and Scot Minard came by me. Moved my shifter back into place and put my chain back on, and started chasing. I was probably 15-20 seconds down at this point. I turned myself inside out for 3 laps trying to chase those guys down, making a little bit of headway each lap. I caught Wiley first, then the other three. Austin was attacking the group as I was coming up so I bridged to him after another half lap or so.
Getting back on the bike after the run up as I catch Austin. 
I was looking for two things when I caught Austin, I wanted to catch Stefan, and if that was not possible I wanted to insure that I got third place. We rode together for a lap, and I was leading, but Austin wasn’t going anywhere. So I started attacking out of the corners, which there were plenty of. After two laps of this we weren’t getting any close to Stefan, so I knew I needed to separate myself from Austin. I let him pull up the road straightaway to take a drink of water and we got three laps to go. Once we got back to the dirt, I could tell he was fading a little bit, so I hit it back up the levee and put a gap between us. By the time I hit the barriers I had a sizable(5-8 seconds or so), so I knew I could concentrate on Stefan. He was a little too far up the road with only two laps left, but I kept it on, incase of a incident on his part of mine. I would get close, but not close enough before we crossed the finish line.
Paul Bonds got the win in first, Stefan came in second, and I rounded out the podium in third. 
All in all a very productive weekend of 3 hard races, after a hard week of training. My first full weekend on the Zipp 303 CX wheels, and I was very happy with the way they felt, and performed. The Vittoria Xgs were a perfect tire, even on the grassy course on Friday night, they hooked up plenty in the corners and I knew I could take them with a little more speed. This week is a recovery week, perfect timing too as my mother is in town for thanksgiving. My wife and I are headed to the Fort Worth Turkey Trot 5K tomorrow, so that should be a fun time for sure. Not much else planned for the weekend, rest and relaxation mostly. A whole bunch of book reading most likely.
Click through for a video from Tulsa as well.
Rut N Guts 2011 from Design Your Ideas on Vimeo.
Photo from yesterday, where I took first at the mud filled King Cross Race. I didn’t get the hole shot, but was out in front after the first mud crossing and kept on it the rest of the race. Ended up with a 45 second or so gap on second place.
Second place today. Some great racing for sure. Lots of position changing. 1st for a few laps. Dropped my chain and lost 20 seconds of my gap. One lap later got passed. Then down to fourth. Rode back to the 2nd/3rd group. Passed Wiley Mosley and chased down Steven Williams. We switched places for a bit and were making ground on first place. Caught him in a mishap on the climb heading into two to go. Steven got around me and led the last lap, I tried a few inside lines, but he put up a pretty good defense, and I couldn’t get around him in the sprint.
Photo by Lee McDaniel Photography
