Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival

Courtesy and Rights: skinnyski.com

I love amusement parks.  Better yet, I love amusement parks with fast roller coasters that have big climbs and huge drops.  The ones that give you a permanent smile as you fly up, down and around.  It sounds like I’m talking about Great American but this past weekend it was the Cheq 40.

My first attempt at the coveted Cheq 40 was this past weekend.  I have heard about the event for years.  How could you not?  It is a staple in the Midwest cycling scene and part of the Midwest Triple Crown.   I’ve tried in the past to get an entry into the race but I have gotten drawn.  This year I earned an entry from the director himself, Gary Crandall, after winning the Cable Classic earlier in the year.  I was happy to get the win in the Cable Classic but the personal invite from Mr. Crandall was a highlight of that weekend.  It was an invite into the largest mass start race with the strongest riders from the country.  I’m in!

I pre-rode the last 13 miles of the course on Friday with the eventual 2^nd place finisher Mike Anderson and 4^th place finisher Mike Phillips to get familiar with the infamous Fire tire climb and the Birkie rollers.  They were not so scary in the warm-up but I could tell they would both bust your legs and pound your heart after 30 miles of racing.  My next recon session was the morning of the race as I rode across Rosie’s field and over the first couple of climbs.  All of the advice led to the conclusion that you needed to be in the right spot here or you won’t be in the right spot later.

Courtesy and Rights: skinnyski.com

The rollout was good for me.  I started 1^st row and stayed in the front for the first left and right hand turn.  Rolling onto Highway 77 I got shuffled around a bit but for the most part was always in the top 20.  Rolling into Rosie’s field I got sucked down in the spongy grass which moved me back just a bit.  Not too panicked as I was still on the defending champion’s wheel.  Entering the climbs I was amazed at the amount of riders fighting for the front group.  There had to be 30 or more fighting for wheels.  Just as the course turns downwards I was slightly disconnected and this is where my first tactical error and lack of course knowledge hurt me.  I figured the downhill would bring be back to them but the hard tempo by two world class road riders kept me off the back.  Rather than risking a redline effort and a possible blowout later in the race I decided to establish with the 2^nd group on the trail. 

The 2^nd group was about 10-12 riders including the strong Eppen tandem.  Funny thing, I ate dinner with them the night before and joked how I didn’t like to ride their wheel because of the power they put into the bike and here I was 4 miles into the race sitting on their wheel.  The lead group was only about 20 seconds up and the Eppen's and I wanted to dig to catch.  We put in our efforts but the others in the group either didn’t have it or did want it because a real effort was never combined to catch back.  The Eppen’s and I continued to pull and push the pace for most of the 1^st half.  Eventually the strong climbing and the Eppen’s extreme fast descending broke the group down little by little and every so often we would catch a rider or two that was disconnected from the blistering pace of the lead group.  The significant catch for me was when we caught Isaac Neff and Matias Perret.   A move was attempted with Isaac to split the group right before Fire tower but was unsuccessful but it showed me that Isaac wanted nothing to do with the large group as I was also starting to get uncomfortable in it.  We started fire tower and Isaac and Gregg Brandt pulled away.  The horror stories of the Birkie rollers to come kept my pace below what I was capable of, tactical error #2.  Reaching the top I realized I should have went with those two and pushed hard over the top.  I dropped the group in my effort but was not connected to the 2 wheels I wanted and was now sitting in no man’s land.  I put in a huge effort to catch them but never did catch back on.  In my effort I realized I was keeping a good gap to the chasing group.  Whether they would catch me or not, I was not going to make it easy because I didn’t want to pull around a group anymore.  I attacked by myself just as the Birkie rollers began.  Eventually during the relentless climbing I was joined by Pat Lemieux.  This is also where my permanent grin was developed.  Even during a time when each hill was tearing my legs apart I found time to smile as the each up and down felt like an amusement ride.  Approaching the last 3 miles I put my head down and kept forward knowing that the Eppen train could possibly roll towards us.  At 2 to go they did.  I caught the wheel and figured I would get them on the few hills that remained but both the Eppen’s and Lemieux rode away as the Birkie rollers and the tempo that followed proved to do me in.  I took the time to enjoy my entry into the spectacle that the Cheq 40 has created.  I was riding in 15^th place and gave one last dig to delight the massive crowds that you only see at a few races around the country.

I had goals for a bit better result but for my first attempt I am very pleased.  The course, the race, and the hype all stood up to what I had been told.  I enjoyed every moment of my Chequamegon experience.  The changing colors during the ride west, the pre-ride hand waves to familiar faces, the early morning rise to race prep, the rollout, the race, the hills, and the finish.  It all made up one of the greatest race experiences of my career.  Gary Crandall has truly started and continued an event that is made for everyone.  For us professionals all way down to the mom’s and dad’s introducing their child to their first race.  A must attend.  Is it September 2013 yet?

Tyler Gauthier

Professional Mountain Biker

Culvers Racing p/b Meyer Family Vision

www.letsbikemqt.com and www.culversracing.blogspot.com

UP...ing the fun - Riding a low

My days feels like seconds, my weeks like minutes, and my months like hours.  Even more than true in the months of August and September.  It seems that my weekends are stringed together with no time in between. By the time I unpack and wash and service my bike its all back in the truck ready for another weekend of racing.  Since the Ore to Shore I'm on my 6th straight weekend of racing and 3 of them included back to back Saturday/Sunday racing.  It may be the reason for the "low" in the title.

I love racing my bike....so this is a great time of year, but I also enjoy my training. Even though my training has went steady I don't feel like I've had a solid training week in awhile.  It gets jumbled up when you are racing so much and trying to recover from the weekends efforts.

UP...ing the Fun
In order to split the hectic race schedule I opted to join my 212 friends in Copper Harbor this year for the Fat Tire Festival.  Chris dragged me up there last year and showed me how to laugh while racing my bike.  Ever since then I knew going back year after year wasn't going to be a hard decision.

The normal culprits of Chris and Brian were there.  Along this year was the returning Fat Tire stud, Big D (Darrin B.).  He is the only 180# rider I know that can sing to you while going up hill at race pace!  Damn him.

As I expected, the 4 of us were off the front after descending the Flow trail and heading back up hill to the lodge.  Along with us was a Canadian rider that could rip downhill.  Chris only knows 2 big downhill rippers that can climb and one was with us, Big D.  He pounded the pedals and sure enough it was back down to the 4 of us.  Wait.. that was until the bottom of the red trail when the Canadian downhill ripper was back with us.  Dang, this guy could descend.  Thiss time I noticed my teammate Pete K. coming back to us.  I was on the front and slowed the pace a bit to let him back on.  I was stoked to have one of our Jr's in the front group.  Climbing back up to the lodge I felt the need to race... yup race.  I think I broke the rules with that, racing in Copper Harbor.  Anyways, once again it cut the group down to the 4 of us.  Descending the Red Trail to the finish Darrin and I created a gap but lapped riders kept bringing us back together.  Chris made the right move and called it truths until we were off the Red Trail.  It was the right call, it was getting dangerous with lapped riders.  We popped out on the road and Big D went.  I bridged, countered, sprinted, and crashed.  A hard right hand off camber turn to the finish sucked me down as Chris took the perfect line to the finish.  Down and bruised but not out.  I got up and finished 4th.

Riding a low
This past weekend I was back in Munising.  I say back but it has been 4 years since I raced the Tour da Woods.  It has always conflicted with other racing in the Midwest.  I came back and others came for the first time.  I figured they would.  4 of the 6 top 6 finishers were on the start line for the Tour da Woods!! Dang.  Add the eventual winner of the 2012 Tour, Mike Anderson, and we have whats called a stacked field.

We started fast, it got faster, got faster again, and then I popped.  I guess there is no easy way around it.  The pace was too high for me.  Mike Anderson made the first move. The way he rides I figured he would be gone off the front and not coming back so a good one to follow.  I bridged up, using a huge effort.  Got to his wheel and along came Cole and Brian.  Cole countered as soon as I bridged.  I pounded on the back to stay on.  Over some steep climbs I got disconnected a bit.  Jordan W. worked his way back and passed me.  Just before the single track I was back on the group.  The single track was twisty and Mike A. hit each twist with power.  I was at my limit from the effort to get back on so the power out of each corner was too much. 5 fee became 10 and 10 became 20.  I was off the back.  Onto the gravel road I was gaped by 40 seconds.  Right before entering the woods I had it down to 20 seconds but never closer.  Nearing the end did what I never do and regret, I gave in.  I rolled solo and slow the last few miles and finished 5th.  Quite disappointing to me.

A less than stellar result left me with 2 decisions for Sunday.  Stay home to train or drive to Geneva for some racing revenge.  Being a racer, I opted for the race.  3 hours down to Cole's house, a quick nights stay, and 3 more hours the next morning and I was sitting on the start line for WORS #10 Lake Geneva.  Standing on the start line might have been the fasted I moved all day.  Immediately during the start I knew power was not coming from my legs.  The lead pulled away like I had a string attached to my post pulling me backwards.  I went into defense mode the whole race.  Darrin chauffeured me for a lap until I caught Isaac and then he acted as my chauffeur.  I was passed in the last 1/4 mile and finished 11th.  My worst result of the year and broke my goal of not wanting to finish out of the top 10 in 2012.

The only thing to do. Take your humble pill and move onto the next week.  Realizing that the racing is taking a toll on me I took 2 days off in order to find my legs for a race this weekend.  Oh... its only the largest race in the Midwest. Cheq 40!  Stay tuned.  

  

WORS #9 Reforestation Ramble

I am in the dead center of a hot bed of racing.  Time fly's this time of year and with every passing weekend I cannot believe it is the next.  Quality training comes early in the week in hopes to be rested for the weekend and before I know it its Monday and I'm still without a race report, from 2 races ago!  Along with training and racing life still moves around you so the hustle of life keeps any free moment occupied.

Two weekends ago or the day after my victory at the MTU Ronde I took the line in Green Bay at WORS #9 Reforestation.  Unlike the beautiful weather we were dealt the day before the rain greeted us all morning creating a slippery mess for the first part of the race  This may be the rainiest year I've experienced for racing and the ironic thing is we are having a dry summer.  3 of the 9 races have been a muddy mess.  Anticipating the rain I made a front tire change the night before.  It paid off because our first lap was about staying upright.  The succeeding 2nd and 3rd lap were great as the the rain stopped and firmed up the sandy course allowing my semi wet tread tire to grip into every turn.

The race started fast as Cole H. had the idea of a solo race from the beginning.  A lead group of 7 broke into the single track and surprisingly stayed together for awhile as we twisted through the woods.  This course will usually break the group fairly soon because of the snake like turns.  The course turns so much it is tough to concentrate on the wheel in front of you much less 6 guys in front of you.  Mentioned because, as I floated on the back Cole broke away and was up the trail with a 45 second gap.  This explained our crazy fast pace at every opportunity, we were chasing.  I tried to move my way up the group before each piece of single track but didn't have it and got stuck on the back each time so every time we exited on to 2 track I was forced into red line to bridge the gap.  In a 2 hour race you can only burn so many matches before the legs tell you "No" if you want to survive.  A lap and half into the 3 lap race I let go of the group.  I spun into a short recovery and hooked up with Corey S. for the remainder of the race.  Nearing a 1/2 lap left I was recovered enough and riding smoothly to put in a last dig to the finish.  I was able to secure a 5th place with the effort.

I was pleased with my weekend of racing and happy to nab another WORS podium.  Things are going better than the goals that were put into place in the early season.  The racing season starts to get long this time of year so resting in training becomes more important each day.  I hope to keep finding the correct formula as I finish up this 6 week stretch of racing that started with the O2S.  I'll finish it up with the Cheq 40 in 2 weeks.  I'll follow that up with a short break and prep the body for the last 2 WORS races and some UPCX.