When I first got on the bike, Things hurt. I could say it more eloquently, but that's just what it is. I was overconfident for just coming off of three weeks on the couch and decided I would jump right back in where I left off. Dad had been riding the entire time I was resting and was in good shape. I can't remember who's idea it was, but we decided to do the J Cook Loop. Despite being a short loop at only a hour and a half, it's the hilliest road we have on this side of spirit mountain and the staple of all our hardest routes. Probably not the best place to start off with right?
The first thing I noticed when I got on my bike was how weird things felt. My bike was alien, unfamiliar. I really didn't like that at all, but I was happy to be biking anyways. We were not going very fast, yet I felt like I was on a rocket! We stopped a few times to adjust my position and some the discomfort went away. I had grown quite a bit since the last time I had ridden, and only now do I realize the cause of that feeling was all the growth I had experienced during my off period. Not some complete loss of my biking instinct. As it was, I adapted to things quickly and by the end of the day almost felt normal on my bike again. I could tell I had lost fitness but I could feel all the raw strength I had gained in my rest period. At every small hill I would stand up and bash gears I had struggled with during my peak last year. Then gasp for breath at the top as my cardiovascular system tried to catch up.
Once I learned to pace myself, the hills did not feel to bad. I was going very slow, but that's to be expected after a off period. After a while though, I started to bonk. I won't go into details, but lets just say it was the worst bonk I had ever experienced... so bad that a mile away from my house I did not think I could make it. Once I got home, drank my recovery drink, taken a nice long shower, and eaten a huge carb-rich meal I felt much better. I decided to try and build things up a little more before trying that loop again.
A month later, much has changed. I have switched to the metric system and now measure my rides in kilometers. Mentally it has been refreshing, allowing me to concentrate on how fast I am going now, not how fast I had gone. I also got my blood tested. While I was low on Vitamin D, most of my levels were fine. However, when Inigo got my blood results, he found that for a athlete my Iron was too low. This was preventing my body from creating enough red blood cells, which was causing my difficulty up hills. Since then I have been taking a Iron supplement, and recently I have noticed a significant improvement. I just did my fastest three hour ride ever, despite feeling a little off. I expect the next one will be even faster.
Building up from almost nothing right after being in the shape of my life was frustrating to say the least. However I am already almost faster now then I was then. Once it's time to race, I will be ready, ready to rip it up.
I had some posting difficulties with this one, I thought it was posted, but it wasn't. Sorry about the delay!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
The importance of rest.
Three weeks off. Beforehand it seemed like such a insignificant amount of time, surely I wouldn't be ready to train and race again for entire year after only three weeks? Time is a funny thing though... normally when you do little for a period of time, it passes by fast and passes by slowly when your doing a lot. This is not the case for me when I'm away from my bike. After a week, I find my myself questioning my coaches orders. The first week had felt like a month! Enjoyable as it was, and as much as I didn't want to train yet, I really just wanted to go out and ride. Andy and Dad were firm however, and I relented.
I entertained myself with some walks in the woods with Mom and the dogs:
I found myself really tired all the time, even after ten and a half hours of sleep. Dad checked my height, and found I had grown nearly two inches since nationals. "See?" Dad says, "See what your body does when you give it its rest?". For a passionate cyclist, rest can be hard. We feel like we are falling behind, and when we get back on the bike to find we feel like crud, it gets hard.
Rest is improtant though. Our bodies can't keep going and going like some giant energizer bunny on a bike. While I may have regretted it a bit when I got back on the bike and winced at how soft my legs felt, after a week I am glad I have such wise people telling me to park the bike for a little bit.
I entertained myself with some walks in the woods with Mom and the dogs:
Setting up a pimpin sound system:
And Reading some books:
I found myself really tired all the time, even after ten and a half hours of sleep. Dad checked my height, and found I had grown nearly two inches since nationals. "See?" Dad says, "See what your body does when you give it its rest?". For a passionate cyclist, rest can be hard. We feel like we are falling behind, and when we get back on the bike to find we feel like crud, it gets hard.
Rest is improtant though. Our bodies can't keep going and going like some giant energizer bunny on a bike. While I may have regretted it a bit when I got back on the bike and winced at how soft my legs felt, after a week I am glad I have such wise people telling me to park the bike for a little bit.
Monday, January 23, 2012
2011 Season: A summary.
Another season gone by. Every time I begin a new one I have a long list of things that I will be better at, things to improve upon. Each time is like a fresh sheet of paper ready to be written on. When the season is over I always have a hard time keeping things in perspective and appreciating what I have accomplished. Each time I get better and better at taking a step back and seeing my season for what it was. Call it maturity, call it experience, or maybe just a result of my Dad explaining how much I accomplished each season, time after time. This year a lot has changed. I have a coach now. I bike nearly every day and race nearly every weekend. I have grown, improved, and matured in bounds and leaps. My life style has changed from merely unusual, to completly alien. Yet I know I am on the right path. Whenever I stop biking, things feel strange, unfocused, and lazy. Even after 5000 miles and 60 races I find myself longing for the feel of a bike underneath me when not even three weeks has past since my last race.
I had some really great races this year! at Tour of Americas Dairyland I got to experience a week of what my career will be like eventually. Get up in the morning, eat, go race, eat, come back... eat some more, play video games and discuss the race with team mates, sleep, and do it over again the next day (Thanks Labecki's)!
I did midwest regional camp, where I got to stay in a college dorm with other riders and bike every day, independently, without my parents around to support me.
(No pictures of this :P)
I was able to sit comfortably in the front of a cat 4's pack going 25-30 mph in the last few crits (a surreal experience).
I had a incredible race at short and fat, where I stayed with the front pack of all the best MTB juniors in the region for a good part of the race, and finished 17th overall out of 800 starter, first in my age class.
I won my first cat 4 cross race.
Had all kinds of muddy races.
Madison and Fort Collins USGP.
Jinglecross rock.
National championships 15-16
And a fantastic national championships.
I started out this spring not even able to stay in a cat 4s pack for 10 miles, but by the end of my road season I was in contention to podium cat 4 criteriums. I had not even been able to place top 15 in a cat 4s race in cross, but now I am doing better than that in cat 3's, with several cat 4 podiums under my belt. I can time trial 2 mph faster, and sprint at 30 mph. I have joined a new team (ISCorp), made many friends, and been taught by experienced people. In short, I have had the best season yet.
A big thanks to: My parents, for there eternal and essential support, Andy for being the Obi-wan Kenobi in my life, Whitey, Ross, Geezer and the gang at Skihut for all the repairs, parts, and bikes. Last but not least my awesome team ISCorp for all their support!
Friday, January 13, 2012
National Cyclocross Championships 15-16 Juniors, January 2012.
National championships. The big one. The culmination of an entire season of training, how do you handle not being nervous for that? It's a hard question, but one everyone who wants to make cycling the focus of their life has to confront. For me it was perspective. No matter how I did there, I still had a great season and built my fitness. The course was perfect for me and I was peaked, ready to rip it. I did the pre-race on Wednesday to open my legs up. It's a good thing I did as I was not feeling very good for it, I need a good race to open up my legs after not racing for that long.
The morning of the race went really well. I had almost no nerves and was able to get pumped up for the race really easy. The conditions were really muddy. It was that really thick mud that slows you down, which is ok for me, but I would have rather raced in the greasy mud the day before. I did a great warm up and lined up for the race, raring to go race in the mud. My start was a little lackluster, I lined up behind the wrong racer and got to the first corners around the middle of the 60 juniors in the race. There was a few pile ups on the first few corners and the leaders got away. I stayed calm though and moved up on the hills and technical sections. The race was rather surreal, I knew I was in a lot of pain, but my mind seemed to block all of it until after the finish. The first hill was un-ridable, but the running hurt everyone and so it did not affect me negatively. There was a slight uphill right after the hill in which I was able to gain a lot of places. I flew down the hill into the run up and managed to get some time on the group behind me before the stairs. I failed to ride the sand pit in the the first lap, which costed me a few spots.
As the race went on, my bike started to get heavy with mud. For some reason, I did not think to pit and get a clean bike. It was a mistake which probably costed me a top ten, but there is no such thing as a perfect race, right? after the first lap, I never lost a spot. In the next two laps, I managed to catch 20 some riders and move up to 18th. I gave it everything I had in the last lap to try and catch Ian Mcshane on the last lap, but a slight bobble on the last few corners made me 10 seconds shy of catching him.
In the end I managed to beat a lot of riders that normally place ahead of me and had a fantastic race. I was only a minute out of the top ten, which made my mistake about not pitting all the more painful. I did everything else perfect, which was my goal. I am going to take a few weeks off the bike now. After that I will start building for a fantastic road season in 2012!
A big thanks to Matthew Moses for all the awesome photos! You can check out other great photos of this race and more at http://www.moses-images.com/!
The morning of the race went really well. I had almost no nerves and was able to get pumped up for the race really easy. The conditions were really muddy. It was that really thick mud that slows you down, which is ok for me, but I would have rather raced in the greasy mud the day before. I did a great warm up and lined up for the race, raring to go race in the mud. My start was a little lackluster, I lined up behind the wrong racer and got to the first corners around the middle of the 60 juniors in the race. There was a few pile ups on the first few corners and the leaders got away. I stayed calm though and moved up on the hills and technical sections. The race was rather surreal, I knew I was in a lot of pain, but my mind seemed to block all of it until after the finish. The first hill was un-ridable, but the running hurt everyone and so it did not affect me negatively. There was a slight uphill right after the hill in which I was able to gain a lot of places. I flew down the hill into the run up and managed to get some time on the group behind me before the stairs. I failed to ride the sand pit in the the first lap, which costed me a few spots.
As the race went on, my bike started to get heavy with mud. For some reason, I did not think to pit and get a clean bike. It was a mistake which probably costed me a top ten, but there is no such thing as a perfect race, right? after the first lap, I never lost a spot. In the next two laps, I managed to catch 20 some riders and move up to 18th. I gave it everything I had in the last lap to try and catch Ian Mcshane on the last lap, but a slight bobble on the last few corners made me 10 seconds shy of catching him.
In the end I managed to beat a lot of riders that normally place ahead of me and had a fantastic race. I was only a minute out of the top ten, which made my mistake about not pitting all the more painful. I did everything else perfect, which was my goal. I am going to take a few weeks off the bike now. After that I will start building for a fantastic road season in 2012!
A big thanks to Matthew Moses for all the awesome photos! You can check out other great photos of this race and more at http://www.moses-images.com/!
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Midwest Cyclocross Regionals December 2011
For Regionals we had a hotel right next to the race course. Only a mile away! The hotel was nice (although not as nice as the Marriott suite we got to stay at during Jinglecross) and the internet was fast, which was a treat for me since our internet at home makes dial up look fast. Laying around in the hotel before and after my races doing nothing made things very enjoyable. The race was on the nationals course so we went to see what the course would be like, and dial it in. The course was awesome. There was a nice long tar drag that quickly narrowed into a banked corner on grass for the start. Bumpy, hilly, technical, with long flat sections in between. In short, a course that everyone except me seemed to be complaining about.
On my first day I had a good enough start in the cat 3's, however the temperature (12 degrees F) was very cold and I did not wear enough clothes while waiting at the start. My legs were all cold and seized up and I could not feel my hands nor feet, which made it nearly impossible to shift or stand up. After a few laps of falling back and even suffering a few crashes from lack of feeling in my limbs I got warm enough and starting really cranking. I gained many spots and moved all the way up to 18th place in the end, almost sprinting the person ahead of me.
The next day in cats 3's the weather was not so cold (about 28 degrees), but still I bundled myself up with thick layers while I waited for the start. I accidentally ran into Gavin (another junior) at the very start which slowed us both down, but still managed a decent start. I drifted back a little bit on the power section in the soccer field, but not very far. I was in the group with Ian and Gavin, but at the back of it. I could not get past some adults before the group shattered. Ian and Gavin got away. I was then passed by my team mate Max, whom I latched onto. I was not feeling very good, tired from a poor nights sleep, but I managed to stay with Max. I was coming through the sand pit when I dropped my chain! Max and a few others flew by me while I got it back on. Eventually I caught Max and finished 14th. I'm happy that I got to race the course and get a feel for it, as nationals is now only a week away.
On my first day I had a good enough start in the cat 3's, however the temperature (12 degrees F) was very cold and I did not wear enough clothes while waiting at the start. My legs were all cold and seized up and I could not feel my hands nor feet, which made it nearly impossible to shift or stand up. After a few laps of falling back and even suffering a few crashes from lack of feeling in my limbs I got warm enough and starting really cranking. I gained many spots and moved all the way up to 18th place in the end, almost sprinting the person ahead of me.
The next day in cats 3's the weather was not so cold (about 28 degrees), but still I bundled myself up with thick layers while I waited for the start. I accidentally ran into Gavin (another junior) at the very start which slowed us both down, but still managed a decent start. I drifted back a little bit on the power section in the soccer field, but not very far. I was in the group with Ian and Gavin, but at the back of it. I could not get past some adults before the group shattered. Ian and Gavin got away. I was then passed by my team mate Max, whom I latched onto. I was not feeling very good, tired from a poor nights sleep, but I managed to stay with Max. I was coming through the sand pit when I dropped my chain! Max and a few others flew by me while I got it back on. Eventually I caught Max and finished 14th. I'm happy that I got to race the course and get a feel for it, as nationals is now only a week away.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Jingle Cross Rock 2011
Jingle Cross is a very big cross race, its probably the one of the biggest cross races in the Midwest. it's held at a fairground, and boasts a rather steep and decent sized hill dubbed "Mount Krumpet". Depending on the year and category you race in, you ride up the side of this brutal hill, or for even more pain, get to run straight up it. But if you are in category 3 or higher, you get the treat of doing the crazy switchbacks straight down the steepest side. The rest of the course is a collection of various twisty turns linked by brutal power drags.
It's a pretty hard course, in short, near perfect for me. On Friday we race under the lights in the dark. We ran up the hill and came back down the mild downhill. The course was dry and hard from people pre-riding it. The start is a little bad for me. It starts out good, with tar and gravel for about a 100 feet, but then goes into some nasty power grass. Nerveless, I have a good starting position (thanks to dad pre-registering me) and my start goes well.
By the time we go past the pits I'm sitting top ten, hooked on to Mitch's wheel. This is a good place to be, as Mitch tends to place top three in the cat 3 races and I'm quite happy with where I'm sitting, but unfortunately I stumble on the fly-over and Mitch gets away. Out of his draft, I lose a few spots, but then my team mate Tad (his real name is Christopher, but everyone calls him Tad) comes by and says, "Get on my wheel Josey!" I put in a big effort and start to draft him. I follow him for a while until the last 10 minutes of the race, where I fade a little (the run up was killing me, very long and about 15%) and get passed by a group of 3. The race ended up being 55 minutes long (it was supposed to be 45, but they based the time off the leader in cat 2's, who was going very fast, so our time was extended) and I placed 14th out of over 80 starters.
Saturday it's MUDDY, probably the muddiest cross race I have ever done. I have a good start, and am on Mitch's wheel again, however the mud is very sticky and slow and so requires lots of power. Mitch drops me and I get discouraged. I race for 55 minutes, and by the end I am 18th out of over 80 starters. Not as good of a day, but the mud was hard and I am satisfied.
On Sunday we have to run up the hill again, but the mud has gotten runny, it's now sketchy and relatively fast. perfect conditions. I miss my pedal at the start and lose quite a bit of ground, but halfway into the first lap I'm 18th. throughout the rest of the race I gain places and move up to 14th, but then the run up starts to get to me and I fade, falling back to about 22nd. All the sudden I get angry, and start riding really well. I moved back up to 16th in the last two laps, losing the sprint for 15th. I placed 16th out of 80 starters. Overall I was happy with this race. It was a lot of fun, I got to see my team mates and race in the mud!
It's a pretty hard course, in short, near perfect for me. On Friday we race under the lights in the dark. We ran up the hill and came back down the mild downhill. The course was dry and hard from people pre-riding it. The start is a little bad for me. It starts out good, with tar and gravel for about a 100 feet, but then goes into some nasty power grass. Nerveless, I have a good starting position (thanks to dad pre-registering me) and my start goes well.
By the time we go past the pits I'm sitting top ten, hooked on to Mitch's wheel. This is a good place to be, as Mitch tends to place top three in the cat 3 races and I'm quite happy with where I'm sitting, but unfortunately I stumble on the fly-over and Mitch gets away. Out of his draft, I lose a few spots, but then my team mate Tad (his real name is Christopher, but everyone calls him Tad) comes by and says, "Get on my wheel Josey!" I put in a big effort and start to draft him. I follow him for a while until the last 10 minutes of the race, where I fade a little (the run up was killing me, very long and about 15%) and get passed by a group of 3. The race ended up being 55 minutes long (it was supposed to be 45, but they based the time off the leader in cat 2's, who was going very fast, so our time was extended) and I placed 14th out of over 80 starters.
Saturday it's MUDDY, probably the muddiest cross race I have ever done. I have a good start, and am on Mitch's wheel again, however the mud is very sticky and slow and so requires lots of power. Mitch drops me and I get discouraged. I race for 55 minutes, and by the end I am 18th out of over 80 starters. Not as good of a day, but the mud was hard and I am satisfied.
On Sunday we have to run up the hill again, but the mud has gotten runny, it's now sketchy and relatively fast. perfect conditions. I miss my pedal at the start and lose quite a bit of ground, but halfway into the first lap I'm 18th. throughout the rest of the race I gain places and move up to 14th, but then the run up starts to get to me and I fade, falling back to about 22nd. All the sudden I get angry, and start riding really well. I moved back up to 16th in the last two laps, losing the sprint for 15th. I placed 16th out of 80 starters. Overall I was happy with this race. It was a lot of fun, I got to see my team mates and race in the mud!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Short and Fat, September 17th, 2011
Let me start out by saying this: the Chequamegon is the biggest mountain bike race in the midwest, it's one of those races that EVERYONE who mountain bikes goes to, not just racers. There is so many racers, that they put a lottery on entering that limits the number of racers to 2,700. This is a long race (40 miles) that usually has around 2,000 people that the 'Pros' and many other adults do, but you have to be 18 to do it. The short race (16 miles) with around 900 people that is basically a sort of 'Midwest Junior Regionals'. All the juniors go to it, however there are still many adults, but few place in the top 15. The Chequamegon differs from many mountain bike races; in that it has no singletrack. However, it has too many bumps and rocks for it to be practical to ride a cross bike. This makes the front of the the race rather like a road race on mountain bikes. It's a very unique race.
Despite being sick, I had a good enough race last year (92nd overall). I got a preferred start, and started up on the front row. It was a VERY fast downhill start, (as you can see on the side banner photo of my blog, can you spot me?). The course then goes into a uphill that separates everyone out. I was able to make the separation into the front pack... and the race began! I was just so happy being right there with all the best juniors in the midwest, totally comfortable! I remember seeing Dad waiting to cheer me on, freaking out that I was in the front group. I stayed with the pack for quite a long time until we hit the sandpit. Lacking the power, got gapped through it. I was just about to catch back on when a attack was made and they all accelerated away.
I rode by myself for a long time (except for one guy who was sucking my wheel for the entire race till the very end) until John Thompson (an adult cyclist who is a friend of mine) came up and saw me pulling two guys behind me, while I was all aero going 23mph on the gravel. John said "What are you guys doing? Help the kid out!". After that we took turns pulling and our speed increased. We were catching up to the lead group when Jay Labecki came flying by on a tandem at 30 some mph. The group shattered trying to catch him, and I was unable to make the acceleration. I was alone again for some time until I hit the Birkie (where my arch-rival in MTB) Logan passed me. I battled hard to keep him in sight for the entire hilly and very grassy section, and caught many people. We came out of the Birkie into a slightly downhill, which was bumpy fast section. My full suspension top fuel was perfect on the bumps and I felt great. So I put the pedal-to-the-metal and flew by Logan, catching and dropping him at the same time. I had a few people pass me on the flat sections on the way to the finish and the guy who had been drafting me the entire race sprinted away on the final hill. I did not really care, I knew I was top 20 (and first place in my age group by a lot) and that was significantly better than I had hoped for in my wildest dreams.
I came into the finish exuberant and happy, with a big grin on my face. I heard the announcer say,"And our youngest rider yet, in 16th place, Josey Weik!" I put both hands up in the air, and enjoyed the moment. It was my breakout race, no body could believe that a 14 year old had gotten (almost) top 15.
Despite being sick, I had a good enough race last year (92nd overall). I got a preferred start, and started up on the front row. It was a VERY fast downhill start, (as you can see on the side banner photo of my blog, can you spot me?). The course then goes into a uphill that separates everyone out. I was able to make the separation into the front pack... and the race began! I was just so happy being right there with all the best juniors in the midwest, totally comfortable! I remember seeing Dad waiting to cheer me on, freaking out that I was in the front group. I stayed with the pack for quite a long time until we hit the sandpit. Lacking the power, got gapped through it. I was just about to catch back on when a attack was made and they all accelerated away.
I rode by myself for a long time (except for one guy who was sucking my wheel for the entire race till the very end) until John Thompson (an adult cyclist who is a friend of mine) came up and saw me pulling two guys behind me, while I was all aero going 23mph on the gravel. John said "What are you guys doing? Help the kid out!". After that we took turns pulling and our speed increased. We were catching up to the lead group when Jay Labecki came flying by on a tandem at 30 some mph. The group shattered trying to catch him, and I was unable to make the acceleration. I was alone again for some time until I hit the Birkie (where my arch-rival in MTB) Logan passed me. I battled hard to keep him in sight for the entire hilly and very grassy section, and caught many people. We came out of the Birkie into a slightly downhill, which was bumpy fast section. My full suspension top fuel was perfect on the bumps and I felt great. So I put the pedal-to-the-metal and flew by Logan, catching and dropping him at the same time. I had a few people pass me on the flat sections on the way to the finish and the guy who had been drafting me the entire race sprinted away on the final hill. I did not really care, I knew I was top 20 (and first place in my age group by a lot) and that was significantly better than I had hoped for in my wildest dreams.
I came into the finish exuberant and happy, with a big grin on my face. I heard the announcer say,"And our youngest rider yet, in 16th place, Josey Weik!" I put both hands up in the air, and enjoyed the moment. It was my breakout race, no body could believe that a 14 year old had gotten (almost) top 15.
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