For a novice mountain biker like me, the rock gardens and tight single track spread around the 14-mile course posed a pretty good challenge (especially at night) , but by the time I rode my last lap Sunday morning I was getting through the tricky sections OK (though not fast) and had figured out some better lines through the rocks (though my time doesn’t reflect it).

I felt pretty good most of the event, but really started to feel a bit of fatigue setting in on the last lap (I really can’t complain, since there were a good number of people doing this event solo or in a two-person team — I at least had three other people to share the workload with) and the legs were getting a little tired.

The night shifts were fun, if not a bit white-knuckle the first time through the rocky sections (marked with reflective XXX DANGER XXX signs) and it was really dark and quiet out in the woods when there were no other riders around.

I was always glad to see the double track sections of the course as I could put the hammer down make up some time tand pass a few riders. Problem is, those riders would then be passing me back in the next section of single track. During one of the night shifts I passed -- and got passed -- by the same guy probably a half dozen times.

Julie found a good spot on the course that let her see the riders at both mile 10 and 12ish where the two trails crossed at “Checkpoint Charlie” which was a pretty rocking (as in loud music and number of spectators) point in the course.  She brought a rubber squeaking chicken out with her and apparently picked up the nickname “Chicken Girl.” We all looked forward to seeing her.

The team (Michael Carter, Chad Carter Vince Meyer) collectively rode 220.5 miles over 15 laps and 8,775 feet of elevation change. We raced in the men’s Veteran 35+ division.

The race was a challenge but provided some nice seat time. There’s little question I felt like I had learned a little more (about both 9-Mile and cross country racing in general) by the time I rode the last lap Sunday. I was the lucky one of the group who didn’t crash or have mechanical issues.

I have a bruise on my right knee and an abrasion on my leg that I have no idea how they got there, and my worst injury was getting stung on the last lap at mile 6. Everyone survived and that’s the key part.

It’s back to all road racing for the next few months before a few more MTB events pop up on the calendar in September and October.

Where has this summer gone?

 

My lap (14 miles) times for 24/9

3:05 p.m. Sat: 1:18:51

8:36 p.m. Sat (night): 1:32:45

3:20 a.m. Sun (night): 1:38:42

6:43 a.m. Sun: 1:27:19

 

Ok folks, off for an all new adventure this weekend in Wausau.

Any bets on how many times this roadie will take a digger on the course this weekend?

 

If you get bored — or are actually interested! — this weekend, it looks like there will be live scoring posted on the net at : http://www.grannygear.com/realtime/public/nm_index.php?view_race=grannyg_2009_ninemile

 

The team name is: BaRF V2.0

 

You can also keep track through my Twitter account: Nate's Twitter.

 

Twitter updates will show up on the middle/right of this page.

 

Race starts at 11 a.m. Sat. and ends at 11 a.m. Sunday. Michael Carter should be the first rider from our team to go off.

I’m now a licensed Category 4 rider in the USA Cycling system. Got my confirmation from the Wisconsin Cycling Association this afternoon.

 

I think this is sorta like graduating from Jr. high school, worth noting, but I’m not going to be getting any money from relatives for it. (That sounds like Andy Rooney)

 

USA Cycling is set up with a category system that runs from Cat. 5 (entry) to Pro/1/2. Better you are, the higher you go. Getting out of Cat. 5 is pretty easy, you only need 10 mass start road races.

 

I had to go back to July 2006 to get my 10 starts and my upgrade, but I did it!  (USA Cycling doesn’t recognize time trials, or races by other sanctioning bodies when factoring upgrades so most of my racing the last 4 years didn’t count)

 

A lot of USA Cycling races run the 4/5 cats together, so this really doesn’t change much — but for the races that do break the cats, the 4 race is usually a little longer than the 5. Additionally, a few of my teammates are Cat. 4 racers and on the chance we end up in a race that is Cat 4 only, I want to be able to help and race with those guys.

 

Don’t hold your breath for an upgrade to Cat. 3 — hell, it took me four seasons to get this far.

 

It's July, right?

Then why we were racing in base layers and arm warmers Saturday?

Steady rain and temps in the 50s made it feel more like an April or May race in far northwestern Wisconsin.

 

The team had a little on the line Staurday as one of our riders, Elmer Colyer, was in the running for the Green Jersey (for flatter races and one of the season-long competions) and it was a matter of just a couple points to clinch, or miss,  the victory. Elmer briefed the team on his plan for the day and it was off to the start line.

 

The pace was pretty tough right off the bat (the race starts with a series of climbs) and I hit my max heart rate (I saw 190 bpm when I looked down) about six minutes into the race and was off the back of the main group by the time we hit the second climb. Luckily I saw a number of our strong riders make the break, so I knew Elmer had help up front.

 

I rode the reaminder of the race with a good group of people including a number of teammates and associates (Julie, David Goetzinger, Chirs Mueller, Gerry Hansen, Andrea Potyondy-Smith, Quentin Gnoit, Johnny Thompson and Jim Blodgett). Julie rode a strong race, working to take her turn at the front of our group (that had maybe 20 people in it). She missed getting all the way to the front a few times, stalling out in the headwind when the lead rider moved to the right -- it was actually sorta funny to watch.

 

Mueller and others set me up for the sprint finish from our group. Well, that didn't go smoothly as I jumped the gun when thought I heard Chris say "Go!" when he actually said "Are you ready to go?" So that was a somewhat humurous hiccup. But that stuff happens when you're not use to having a leadout. We used it as a "teachable moment."

 

I think I finished 2nd (Blodgett says 3rd -- behind him, so I'll go with that) in the sprint from our group, (25th overall). On the women's side, Andrea won the race with Julie just behind her in second.

 

Up front, the guys and Elmer worked hard for the win and green jersey but missed out on both. No one seems to mind, I think as a team were just excited to have something riding on the line in that race and to have a team goal and a teammate to work for. That's what makes racing fun and I hope we can do more of it.

 

We had a good turn out with about 20 riders there from the team -- and we got our new uniforms which are much nicer in terms of material and apperence than I expected. They are pretty sweet. Our team t-shirts also arrived and those look fantastic as well. Hopefully there will be a lot of orange at races for the rest of the season.

 

I'll post some photos later today or Monday (incluing my very fashionable argyle arm warmers). Ha, well, I forgot both our still cameras and our video camera in Minneapolis. So no photos this week and no video from 24/9 next week. I'll have to tape together (yes, literaly tape it together) our 2.1 megapixel camera for the next 2 weeks.

 

Next week is the final epic event of the summer with the 24-hour cross country race at 9-mile in Wausau. I better squeeze in some extra night MTB riding this week.

 

 

 

It’s been almost a year since I started the process of getting samples for new team uniforms.

Well, they are finally done and we should have them by the races next weekend in Greenwood and Stanley.

Hallelujah!

 

 

 

This is the basic design. There have been some chages and the supplier has changed, but you get the idea. When a few guys talked about adding green last year, I thought there were high, but I like the way it looks.

 

It’s been quite the process getting this order squared away, thanks in large part to the a significant change in prices — or a communication failure — with our initial supplier. But as a team we forged ahead and finally got things squared away with Pactimo.

 

It’ll be nice to see the team looking more like a team (new people will now have unis) in a week. And I won’t have to look THROUGH the faded orange butt panel on some of the uniforms we still have out there — word is mine is fading fast too.