An Early Start
An early start in the far North of the Upper Peninsula is not the easiest of tasks. I thought starting training in March last year was tough when I was riding the roads in 30 degree weather showing up back at my house plastered in salt. Now I'm doing rides on snow covered snowmobile trails in 20 degree weather showing up back at my house covered in snow. Thank God for the invention of the Snow Bike. The Snow Bike has allowed me to take a different approach to this 2012 Mountain Bike season. I find in this sport you are always trying to tweak something whether its your fitness, the bike, the workouts, the races, or even sponsors. I find that change is a good thing in this sport because usually change means you are working towards a more positive result.
In past years I have started base in March and finish a few weeks after WORS #1 Iola. This year I have moved the dates up 4 weeks. I did this because I'm approaching the season different because of my declining results in mid summer. The coach (Danny Kaukola - Fuel the Burn) and I are going to try and prevent this from happening again. We will see by mid summer and especially fall time how the 4 week earlier start effects the body and mind.
Dedicating
As most of my followers know one of my biggest supporters and sponsors is Meyer Family Vision from right here in my home town of Ishpeming, MI . A couple years back Ryan and Ron Meyer approached me to support my efforts at becoming an elite Mountain Biker. This was very special to me and will forever hold a my gratitude because not many riders get to experience sponsors reaching out to them. I've known the Meyer brothers for a long time. Along with them being family and personal friends we have grown up as brothers in Christ. This relationship brings another level to the sponsorship. Its not only a sponsorship it is a partnership and best yet a friendship.
In the past year Ryan Meyer has experienced some illness that has brought on the need for major medical attention. Just recently he went through a liver transplant. His body was rapidly declining as his liver was losing all function. This was a serious matter and a life threatening one. Through the power and miracle of Christ, the loving effort of his brother Ron, and the steady hands of the surgeons he was blessed with a new liver from none other than his own blood brother, Ron. After the transplant his medical condition seemed to worsen as the body adjusted to the liver. It wasn't until just recently that he was released from medical attention and back home to continue life and recovery.
This year I will be dedicating all season to my friend Ryan Meyer. He will be my motivation to train, race, and win. He has battled life and is on his way to a strong recovery. His struggle and pain throughout this process are an infinite amount more than I will ever experience from the temporary pain of a training ride or a race. Ryan....this season is for you.
Season Notes
I was scheduled to take off for a training camp in Arizona on March 13th where I will be meeting up with family for a week, Danny Hill for a week, and then the Peariso's for another.. I am moving that date up a week to attend the 2nd stop of the ProXCT - ProXCT Bonelli. My goal since turning Pro has been to travel and attend the ProXCT series as it is the premier Pro series in the nation. The struggle with that is the series starts extremely early in the year and does not appeal to a Northern Snow Bird. But because of the early start I figured I wold give stop #2 a run. Plus, I need to get out of this place. We just got hit with almost a foot of snow! I expect guys to be extremely fast as they battle in an Olympic year and prepare for the first World Cup the week after.
2 1/2 weeks ago I left the snow covered UP to concentrate on training and throw in a race out west. Leaving a job behind you figure that you will have a lot of time to do the little thingS like relax, vacation, and update social media. Wrong on all 3 accounts. I have been more busy on my trip out West than if I were to stay at home and train. The obvious benefit is the warm weather. With exception to a 3-4 day spand where Ishpeming had heigher temps that Phoenix AZ. Can you believe that? I could not either. Our weather was nice but it made it tough to stomach being 2100 miles away to ride a bike when the Ishpeming weather was more than worthy of bike riding. Anyhow, back to being busy.
It startled with a stop in San Dimas, CA for the 2nd stop of the ProXCT. Race prep and living out of a bike box make racing awful stressful. Once we figured it out we were geared and ready for racing. I had great support in my coach, Danny Kaukola. Saturday was the XC. I pre rode the course Friday and found it tough to get comfortable in the single track. The snow bike does not translate well to the fast dirt. I climbed well but never figured out the fast descents. The course was constantly up and down through a park hill. I started 38th and my goal was to move up a few but mostly to make the cut and finish the race. In the 6 lap race the first 2 went very well. I went over my limit a bit but climbed extremely well and felt fine. On lap 3 the fatigue set in and my descendinworst bad to the point of a crash. At the time I was riding about 28th. By th time I remounted it had dropped me back down into the high 30's. I continued to climb well but I scratched the brakes way to much to continue to put out respectable laps. After the completion of lap 4 I was pulled. I fell outside of the 20%. I was riding solo at the time chasing 3 riders. The 3 riders finished the race. I was 20 sec off from being pulled. Down but not out.
Sunday was the short rack. I got a 3rd row call up and my goal was once again to make up a few spots but mostly finish the race. The track was fast with 2 inclines that did damage. The course stung us out into a long line which made the back yo yo affect unmanageable. I busted off the front group and then the 2nd group until I was solo. 15 min into the 20 min race I was pulled. This time I was so close to the rider that was allowed thru I should of grabbed his pocket. I even yelled at the judge to let me thru in a cry for mercy. He didn't allow. I was the last pulled and 5 sec from the cut. I was so upset at myself I finished the race on the nearby hill and then proceeded to rip out 2 hot laps on the XC course. The bad news, I was pulled. The good new is my legs and comfort level on the MTB were better than the day before. More good news, my 2 hot laps were 1 min faster than my fastest lap from the days before XC race.
My race goals for my first ever ProXCT Pro race were not achieved but I marked that in the book as a good learning experience. I had to get the first race in at some point and I was happy to have it under my belt.
That was the start of my journey.
