Begining Cyclocross Season on the Fat Tires

The month of August was about rest and training. Now, in September, I'm beginning to race in preparation for the fast approaching Cyclocross season.

A little over a week ago, I participated in my first Minnesota High School Cycling League race. This is the second year Minnesota has had a high school mountain bike league and this year Duluth has a composite team. I think Cycling being a high school sport is a amazing way to grow this sport and as such I greatly admire what NICA and the Minnesota High School Cycling League is doing. While I will be unable to participate in most of the high school races due to 'Cross, the first race on the calender did not clash with my racing schedule so I was able to attend.

Brain Hayden -who is one of the coaches for the DCT (Duluth Composite Team)- drove some of the riders on the team and myself to the race course on Saturday to pre-ride the course and have fun socializing with each other. I had previously met some of the people on the team but also was able to meet many new faces. The course was located at Salem Hills and was 4.5 miles of completely flat, very fast ski trails with a hard packed rut though the center and some surprisingly fun flowing Singletrack.

We woke up at 6:40am the next morning, ate breakfast, and drove over to the race venue to set up our team tent. The girls raced at 9:30am, the boys at 12:00pm. We had one girl on our team, Amanda, who raced the Frosh/Soph category and placed 13th. After the Freshmen, Sophomore, JV, and Varsity girls all finished, I did a easy spin around the course to see if it changed at all. As I expected, the already sandy soil was very loose from almost a hundred girls riding on the course. This made the once relatively easy course challenging due to lack of traction

At 11:40pm, after finishing my warm up, I found my way to the call up area for the Varsity boys. only the riders who raced in the series last year and scored points were called up to the front row, however I was attentive enough to snag a second row starting position.

On the first corner I was 5th wheel, I worked my way up to second wheel after the first few corners and stayed there for the first half a lap or so, getting used to the course. I attacked then and rode the next few laps alone until coming into one to go, I had to stop for a long line of lapped traffic. I waited there for about 30-45 seconds and by the time I got by everyone, Second place had caught up to me. I let him lead through the start finish stretch, then attacked. It stuck and I won the Varsity boys. The Duluth Composite Team got 3rd overall! I had a lot of fun racing with the team in a high school setting.

Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival

This was my fifth time doing the Short & Fat. Last year I placed 7th. There is a rule in place that forces you to do the short race if you are under 18. This makes the front of this race consist of some of the best MTB juniors in the Midwest. It's not your typical XC MTB race, there is no singletrack and it is a point to point race, 16 miles long. There is also the Chequamegon, which is 40 miles long. I placed 3rd in this year's short and fat. 

 

A season wrap up & Montana 'Cross camp.

It's been a long summer and I've had a great Road season. I traveled to New York State for Battenkill, New Mexico for the Tour of Gila, Iowa for Snake alley, and Wisconsin for ToAD and National Championships. Now it's time to switch gears and start preparing for Cyclocross season!

This year, I decided to forgo any late season Road races and attend Geoff Procter's USAC Montana CX Development Camp to prepare for 'Cross. I attended this great camp last year and despite a injury that prevented me from riding, learned many very important skills that greatly contributed to a successful 'Cross season.

Camp is held in Helena, Montana. Instead of driving out there like I did last year, I took a direct flight to Helena. My friend Gavin was on the same flight  we arrived at the small airport in Helena on Saturday, the day before Camp started. On Sunday we headed over to Carol College, which is where everyone was housed and fed throughout camp. This was the "first" day of camp but mostly just a chance for everyone to arrive, meet each other, and get settled into their respective dorms. We did however do a classroom session that night where we introduced ourselves and Geoff talked about the plan for Camp.

Our days started out early at 6:30 AM and run out to the college football stadium, were we did bleachers, agility ladders, strength work, stretching, and jump rope for a hour. After showering we headed to breakfast at 8:00 AM. Then it was time to kit up and go for our first ride, which was about two hours long and involved riding to one of two Cyclocross courses in Helena to practice every aspect of of the sport. Barriers, hopping, sand, starts, corners, off cambers, run ups... you name it, we did it. Once we returned to the dormitory to shower and eat lunch, 1:00 to 1:30PM was designated nap time. Believe it or not, this was a welcome rest as by that time of the day everyone was already pretty tired. After nap time we put on our bottle cages, packed our spare tubes, water, and lots of food for the afternoon ride. These rides were from two and half to four hours and went over several mountain passes. They were serenely beautiful but not easy. Finally to wrap up the day, we ate dinner and attended a classroom session where we analyzed videos and talked of 'Cross. Lights were out by Ten 'o clock as we rested and prepared for the next day.

Montana mountain views

There really is no other opportunity like this camp. Very rarely do all the best Cyclocross juniors in the country all gather in one spot during a non-race setting. I feel like we all learned a ton, not just from Geoff- who taught us so much- but also from being around your competition for half a week. The skills session in the mornings at Geoff's personal cross course was super educational. A lot of different techniques were demonstrated and discussed and we were able to watch each other do all of them. However, the classroom sessions were probably the most informative. Through out the Camp we watched everything from motivational videos to technique primers and race coverage. The rides through the gorgeous countryside of Montana were a ton of fun. The gravel riding there is truly phenomenal!
 
Check out the media coverage of camp;

Tom Robertson's great photo Portfolio

Sam Erickson's AWESOME video

Cyclingnews's article

CXmag's article

Camp was a wonderful experience, big thanks to USA Cycling for funding the camp, Geoff Procter for putting it on, Dave Fleischhauer and Scott Herzig for helping coach the camp and ride with us, Jeff Linton and Emmett Purcell for helping, Tom Robertson for taking lot's of great photo's, and Sam Erickson for making a awesome video of us!

Keep a eye out for my upcoming press release for 'Cross season, which will be posted here in the next couple weeks.

Wisconsin Off Road Series (W.O.R.S) #4, Camrock.

Talk about a blast from the past, me doing a Mountain Bike race? its been a while! I had plans to do some late season MTB races last year but was unable, due to my injury. So when I was planning out my schedule this spring, I was happy to see one that didn't conflict with any big races. As I mentioned briefly in my last blog my friend Gavin Haley (you can read his blog Here) has been staying at my house training, racing, and farming. Gavin is a "dirt boy" as well... so we were both excited to go rip some single track!

Where better to do it than the series I grew up racing, the largest Moutain Bike series in the country, WORS! hundreds, sometimes thousands of racers pitch their tent and camp the night before, both to race and have fun.

It was strange pre-riding the night before, seeing the campground and having flash backs to my early years of racing... I've never done this particular WORS race before and it's a pretty tough course. There is lot's of fast single track with enough rocks that it's reasonably technical. It has it's fair share of climbing too, the race starts up a very grassy hill, and the Elite field finishes on on two climbs in rapid succession. One single track then one grassy and more open.

The day of the race was very hot. While I did my warm up on the trainer I think my skinsuit absorbed about pound of sweat! For those who don't know, the start of a XC Mountain bike race is very important. the first mile or so of the course is always open and you can typically pass well enough. Once you get into the single track though, you are at the mercy of the person in front of you. He may give you trail when you ask for it, or he may not. It's been a while since Cyclocross season (which is the only other discipline I do that can compare as far as starting speed) and this was actually the first Pro/Cat 1 MTB race I have done... so I knew I'd have to be very ready for the start!

With fifteen minutes till the start, Gavin and I got off the trainers and rode to the line. Don (who is the one who started WORS in the first place) does the call ups to the line. First the Pro's, then the top rider in each Elite age category, and finally all the Cat 1 juniors (we do one less lap than the Elite men, so they start us at the back).

One minute to start.
"Welcome riders to the fourth race in the WORS series, Battle of Camrock!" Don's booming voice says.

Thirty seconds.
"One foot in, one foot on the ground. Wheels BEHIND the line. Be safe out there, have fun, and most importantly, treat each other kindly!

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five..."

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Just like that, the race is off! It took me a while to move up during both the start and most of the first lap. I didn't get ahead of enough people before the first single track, so I pretty much got off my bike and stood for a good fifteen to twenty seconds in the racing equivalent of a traffic jam. Half way through the first lap, I was a minute and thirty seconds down on the top three for cat 1 junior. After I got through a few more open sections where there was good passing opportunities I was able get up to my own pace in the single track and the time gaps started shrinking. By the second lap, I had gone from about 7th out of ten to 4th, twenty seconds behind my team mate Gavin and a minute out of first.

During the second lap I caught Gavin and we worked together to catch the leader, Bret. We were pretty much out of the traffic so we closed down the gap quickly and caught Bret just before the two climbs coming into the lap/finish line. I passed and dropped Bret on the grassy climb and rode my own race for the last lap. I came into the finish with my arms up and a smile on my face!

It was good to do a mountain bike race after the long absence, Now I'm off to Tour of America's Dairyland and then shortly after that, Road National Championships in Madison!

You can Check out some more awesome photos of this race and more at XTRphoto.com!

A look back: Quad cities 2013 and State Time Trial

Another year, returning to Quad Cities once again. For Snake alley, I was returning for revenge. Last year I had a rider crash in front of me in the first corner and had mechanical issues later on. I was determined to make up for that this year... Last time I ascended the Infamous snake, I was sweating in the incredibly hot sun. This year, I woke up to the sound of thunderstorms. It was sweet music to my ears, I knew the conditions would favor handling skills, guts, and an affinity for cold weather.

As I sat on the start line, already soaking wet, I prepared myself mentally for the whirlwind of pain that would be the junior race. I'm not sure if I sat around for to long and my legs were cold, or if I just wasn't quite mentally ready, but my start was slightly lack luster. It was so wet that the traction on the Snake was considerably slippery... I think more people crashed on the UPHILL than the downhill, which, needless to say is pretty unusual. After I got out of the traffic and into the front group, the race was pretty uneventful. Each lap one or two people would get dropped from the front group until it was just seven of us on the final lap. The acceleration was made and I just couldn't quite match it, I caught back up on the downhill but not quick enough to be in contention for the sprint. My team mate David Lombardo won, I finished fifth, and Gavin Haley came in right behind me for 7th.

Later in the day I did the cat 3 race, which was (unfortunately) dry. I finished third.

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful, I placed 14th and 13th in the juniors and cat 3 at melon city, and was on track for a really good junior race at rock island but was crashed out. I still finished 9th, and 11th in the 3's race later.

The next weekend was Minnesota State TT and Criterium. I had a great time trial, I was really focused for it and got my first win of the year! My friend Gavin is staying at my house for the month of June, so we did State Crit together in the 3/4s and the 1/2/3s. I finished 8th and 19th respectively.

An Experience In Endurance... The 2013 Tour of Gila

I came into the Tour of Gila with a sort of mental expectation of difficulty. I had talked and thought about doing it pretty much since the previous year in May while the race was running. A friend from the Midwest had done it and my dad and I decided to look into it. Gila is a very, very tough stage race. In fact, the promoters claim it is the hardest stage race in North America! That's not a claim I will dispute readily either...it has mountains. Real. Mountains.

Stage one (a point to point Road Race) ends with a mountaintop finish on a Category 1 climb,

 Stage two (on the right) climbs and descends over three Category 3 climbs. Pinos Altos is the first

climb of the three, then after a fast descent into a small town it pitches up again and goes up another climb! The third and final climb is closer to the finish. On the final stage of this race, (the picture off to the right) it gets even harder! The so called infamous Gila Monster Road Race. This stage has rolling hills leading into a high speed category 3 climb early on in the stage, a VERY steep (10 to 11% gradient pitches on the switch backs) Category 2 climb closer to the finish, and one smaller and less steep hill leading all the way into the finish.
  Anyways, my point in showing you all of this is when my dad and I saw how hard and hilly this race was I knew I had to go out and do it because of how much I love climbing!

After driving down to Milwaukee from doing the Kenwoods memorial race in Minnesota on Saturday, we flew out of the Chicago airport down to Tuscon, Arizona on Sunday. We then drove out to Silver City, New Mexico and got comfortable in the place we would be staying for the week during the 5 days of the Tour of Gila  -a lovely guest house up very close to Pinos Altos (so it was close to the course for Stage 1 and stage 3).

On Monday, I decided after looking at the elevation graphs for the three road races that I needed to pre-ride Meadow Creek, the second climb of Stage 2 and also the descent leading into the finishing climb on Stage 5. The roads were very twisty and turning!

Tuesday, I pre-rode the mountaintop finish of Stage 1, but I also wanted to ride the Time Trial course as it would play an important part in the overall. So my dad and I decided to do both. We drove to the TT course -which was very hilly- and I pre-rode that on my TT bike. I found out quickly from riding the TT course that the two downhills were steep enough I was extremely spun out in my junior gears. I knew this would make it more difficult for me to place a competitive result during the TT, so I really concentrated on working on my cadence while pre-riding the course. After I rode the TT course, my dad and I drove over to the finish of Stage 1 to pre-ride the Category 1 climb mountaintop finish. As I rode the climb, I was struck by how incredibly real it was! I felt like I was watching a ProTour mountain top finish while riding it. I was excited, I knew this would be a very difficult climb for everyone during Stage 1!

Stage 1:

On Wednesday morning I woke up, ate breakfast, and started  mentally preparing for the first day of my first big mountain stage race... I was excited! My dad and I drove out to the start of the race and as we did I was going through everything in my head. "It's a hard race, and it's hot today," my dad said to me as we drove. "Make sure you stay protected, hydrated and eat a lot!" I nodded, focused and ready for the first day. We (the racers) rode out onto the the course with the Referees giving us a neutral start to this 117.6 Kilometer (73.1 mile) long road race.

 The Cat 3 men were off. Throughout the stage I made sure I was up front, drinking, and eating as the weather was extremely hot at 90 degrees Fahrenheit! Remember, I live in "cold and snowy" Duluth, Minnesota where I had been training in low temperatures and snow for a few weeks leading into the Gila. Stage 1 was one of my first experiences of the year in some serious heat. The course led through a big valley that funneled a lot of wind into the pack, so despite many break-away attempts by riders (even one that had a 5:00 minute gap at one point of the race) no one could stay away from the aggressive field until we were around 30 kilometers from the mountaintop finish where an attack was launched from the field by the biggest, most well organized team in the Cat 3 race, Ziavelo Cycling. They had six riders going hard and rotating at the front when one of their riders -Marcus Toya- launched an attack that ended up staying away. He later won the stage, narrowly avoiding being caught by the shattered remnants of the Peloton. I suffered hard on the hill because of the heat, but my motivation to do well in the overall kept me going, and I moved up through the pack as we got farther and farther up the hill. My Result was 17th, 4:38 back on the stage winner, just 1:05 down on the rider who won the "sprint" from the Peloton to get third place, David Vaughn. Who is also of the Ziavelo Cycling team. To put things in perspective, my time at the finish line was Three hours and Thirty-Eight minutes!

Stage 2:

 Tuesday morning was Stage 2 of the Tour of Gila. Another road race, this one with a very fast technical descent called Sapillo Creek. This descent was steep enough that (despite many hairpin bends and switchbacks) I reached a max speed of 63.2 Kilometers per hour (38.7mph) without even pedaling down most of it! I had a lot of fun ripping this 10.0 Kilometer descent down to the bottom. As scary and dangerous as it was to go so fast down such a twisty descent, with a lot of riders around me, I was just thinking about how much fun I was having. Going through the valley Ziavelo went for a time bonus sprint, and after everyone crossed the line. (For said bonus sprint) I attacked the field, unhappy with how little separation there was. Hoping to get away, and get some time. I heard some one in the field behind me shout; "He's little! Just let him go."

 A minute or two into my attack, Ziavelo sent one of their men -Marcel Berger- to cover my attack. He asked me if I was a threat to his team leader in first place, to which I smiled and shouted across the wind, "No I'm not, I'm four and a half minutes down." He thought for a second as I broke the wind and he said, "Okay, let's work together!". Marcel and I continued to work together for 30.0k of the 54.5 kilometers I was off the front. He was very strong in the wind and the two of us were rotating so fast that I was spun out on the downhills in my junior gears. He dropped me at the 20km-to-go sign, wherein I got on the wheel of Matthew Rowe of Cycleton Denver- who had been trying to bridge our two minute gap to the field for about 25 minutes. Both him and I were very tired, so we worked out an agreement, "You chase down Marcel up ahead, and keep the gap down, I won't sprint you at the line." I said, through gritted teeth in between huffing breaths. Matthew nodded and said "Okay"...it was all he could say he was so focused on Marcel up ahead.

A smile of satisfaction after being in the break

I was cross eyed while I watched the kilometers tick down. 15k to go! The sign on the side of the road said, almost smugly to my tired eyes. When I saw the 10k to go sign, I thought, we're almost there! and I can see Marcel up ahead. after 54.5 brutal kilometers away in a break, Matthew and I crossed the finish line. I honored our agreement and pushed him across the line for a few extra seconds in the overall. Marcel finished 1st, 22 seconds ahead of Matthew Rowe and I. The field, whittled down to just 14 men by my aggressive attack, finished almost two minutes back on Matthew and I.

Stage 3:

Stage 3 was the Time Trial. A relatively uneventful day for me GC wise, I defended my 11th position in the Overall. It was a very interesting course for a time trail, it was difficult to not lose any time on the two big downhills in the course because of my limited junior gears (some of the riders I raced against ran a 54 front ring, I have to run a 52 by USAC ruling!). However, "What goes down, must come up!" and I was able to gain enough time on the uphills to have a decent Time Trial. It was fun to do! I love Time Trialing.


^A video Dad took of me in the TT^

 

 

 

 

  

 Stage 4:

Stage 4 was the Criterium, there was almost zero change in the overall that affected me. I just stayed at the front, made sure no one got any time in a break away and that I didn't crash, or expend too much energy. I placed 19th, with the same time as the winner.

 Stage 5:

I came into Stage 5 expecting it to be the hardest stage yet. The Cat 2 climb up Sapillo Creek was a very steep climb and I knew it would be a good opportunity for me move up in the overall. So when I did hit the climb, I went to the front and started to pound out a good pace. The group was whittled down to about seven riders at the top of the climb, then a few more caught on and others were dropped as Samuel Chovan attacked in a move that would later win the stage. On the downhill leading into the final climb, we rotated hard to prevent any more riders catching on and to make sure that we kept our gap to the GC leader, who had not made the selection was not in our group. Coming up the final climb, I drilled it to try and drop any riders I could, and attempt to catch Samuel. However, it came down to a sprint. I finished a great 8th place on the stage, and moved up into my final placing of 9th overall! I am happy I was able to move into the top ten!



Thanks to my parents for their ever loving support, and to our generous hostess Steph!

IScorp Team Training camp 2013

The season began for the IScorp Elite junior team in late March. We all met in Milwaukee and packed up the bikes of everyone who was going to camp into one of the team sprinter vans. At the crack of dawn my dad and I left for our trek across the country. We arrived in Arizona a few days later to a beautiful 80 degrees.

We ascended Mt. Lemmon many times over the course of the camp, one of the days all the way to the top where to the famous cookie cabin. The food at camp was the best I have experienced at any camp, very healthy and delicious. I can't imagine how many tens of thousands of calories the 18 kids went through over the course of camp!

Each morning I led a Yoga and strength routine

We had the fortunate opportunity of having several Pro riders at the camp who did a number of great talks over the course of camp. Greg Brandt rode with us every day, 

Chad Hartley gave us a great talk on (among other things) massaging our legs out post ride,

Brian Matter talked to us about being a free lance pro,

 and Gord Fraiser gave a excellent talk on sprinting and taught us about getting hand ups from the team car.

In addition to the 20+ hours of quality training we got in, we went to a ropes course! We did some great team building exercises like trying to all fit on a tiny wooden platform

and belaying for each other.

One of the biggest things I was impressed with about camp was how well all of us got along despite the wide range of ages and backgrounds.

Big shout out to our sponsors Intelligentsia coffee, Hincapie clothing, Spy glasses, Trek, and of course WCJ Pilgrim, Endavour, and IScorp for making this camp and the team possible. Thanks so much to Billy Jones for personally making this camp happen, all the pros who came and contributed advice and knowledge, and my dad for directing the camp. Being together and bonding as a team while putting in huge hours on the bike with such great roads and temperatures was super fun!

Junior Cyclist Magazine Jan/Feb: "Battling it out in Belgium"

Jan/Feb 2013, Cover Stories, Life Cycles: Your Stories

Battling it out in Belgium at the 2012 EuroCrossCamp

By Josey Weik   Thu, Feb 07, 2013

Josey Weik describes his experience at the prestigious EuroCrossCamp.

"Please fasten your seat belts, we are approaching Brussels" said our Pilot. I looked over at my friend David and said excitedly; "We're almost there!". He grinned back at me as I looked out the tiny little plane window. The air is foggy, but I could see rows upon rows of little brick houses dotting windy streets. We're in Belgium, the motherland of CycloCross. David Lombardo and I were there for the tenth annual EuroCrossCamp. This camp takes the best of the U.S. over to Belgium to race against the best of the world and learn what it really takes to become a professional 'Cross racer. Besides World Championships, there is little higher honor than this for an aspiring Junior. 

The foggy, slightly drizzling weather as we landed was a testament to the rest of our stay. Of the entire two weeks I was there, it rained everyday but three, and I only saw the sun twice. That may sound morose and depressing but it made great 'Cross weather. Out of the five races we did, all were muddy and three were the muddiest races I have ever done. As David and I worked our way through the Airport we ran into a surprising number of familiar faces. Other U.S. Juniors, fellow EuroCampers, and even Jeremy Powers himself! We met up with Jim (one of the EuroCrossCamp staff) and drove out to the facility everyone would be staying at. At the House I started to recognize faces, other Juniors I had competed with, and people I had met at races. 

To open up our legs after the long plane ride we pulled on our raincoats and went on a spin. The riding was fun, consisting of close, tight, windy roads, and bike paths with interesting sights and a fair amount of traffic. After we got back and dried off we settled into the routine that would define the rest of camp. If it was a non-race day we got up at eight 'o clock and ate breakfast. Then we got dressed and went on a ride. We came back and made sure our bikes were in working order, then took a shower, and ate lunch. After that, depending on the day, you're either responsible for the breakfast chores, the afternoon chores, the dinner chores, or it's your day off. After relaxing with your legs up, hanging out, napping, and playing pool for the rest of the day we ate dinner, attended the evening meeting, and went to bed.

On our first race day, Namur, the Juniors had to wake up at 5:15 AM in order to get to the race course -which was two hours away- with time to spare for pre-riding. Thank goodness, we got the opportunity to pre-ride! I don't think I can actually explain how utterly intense and terrifying the course at Namur was! The ground was almost always either pointing up, or straight down, and the mud was thick. Drops steep and muddy with corners at the bottom, one of the hills you would run (really it was more of a crawl because it was so steep) up one side, have a few feet to remount and then go back down the other side on an equally steep downhill. In addition to all of this, the mud was so deep and wet that we had hardly any brakes.

 I'll admit, when I lined up at the starting line I was pretty shaky. Between this being my first race in Belgium, not knowing how fast the compitition would be, starting last row, and wondering how fast I would have to go down the hills to keep up in the race I was pretty scared. My start suffered from this, and I was dead last off the gun. Soon however, the nerves melted away and I was just racing my bike in the mud. Once I got over how steep the downhills were I realized that if you just let go of your brakes and rode they really were not that bad. I started to really have fun as I figured out how to ride (and run) the course and moved up more and more. I ended up finishing 11th place, just a dropped chain away from the top ten. If you look at the results, Namur had the smallest field of any the races we did. Only 18 finishers, but what the results don't show is that 32 kids started the race. The race was so tough, half the people DNF'd.

 

Each race I did was totally different. While none of the courses quite had the fear factor of Namur, each was intense in it's own way. Beernem (15th out of 45) was tight and twisty, Loenhout (34th out of 60) was axle deep mud, Diegem (53rd out of 73) was the hilliest cross race I have ever done, and Baal (35th out of 60) was just pure brutality. I made many mistakes and learned something new each time I raced. I am very gratefull for what Geoff has done in providing American Cyclists with such a great opportunity. I had the time of my life in Belgium!

By Josey Weik

Photo credits to Tom Robertson

Junior Cyclist Magazine article HERE