Home-grown carrots
We also returned to find our home trail partially cleaned. My parents had been working on it while we were gone. The trail has been sad since I moved out. We get it clean for a few weeks, then we get busy, a storm comes through and back to crap goes the trail. This year it has had no real riding on it since February. That's when Shannon and I stopped riding it. I tried to clean it up in May, but never got the time to get it all back up before...you guessed it...a storm came through and wrecked it again.
It really is a shame that the trail has been neglected. It's a backyard paradise for a mountain biker. And it's a valuable training tool that I am very fortunate to have. I have really overlooked its usefulness in recent years and have paid the price with less-than-stellar results.
There's supposed to be a trail going through there somewhere
Fall is a good time to be in the woods. The deer are out and the mosquitoes are starting to back off. And the mushrooms are growing all over the woods, as Snoop has well discovered. She likes the cooler temperatures. She was really out of shape from having no trail companions and the heat was really getting to her this year.
A big 'shroom
Snoop digging a hole
It took a few long work days to get it clean, but we did it. Then the laps began as we all got back to the roots of our twisty home trail. It was fun to hit the dirt with my family and have all of us out in the woods at once.
Utah made me remember how much I love mountain biking. I was pumped to get back on my mountain bike and prepare for some races. Even after all the road racing I've done the past few seasons, my heart is still on the trail. But the return to the Backyard Trail was not a smooth one. Literally.
The first few rides back were on my Sette hardtail. It beat me up and made me question the changes we made to the layout of the trail two years ago. I have not logged many laps since those changes and have never been able to find a rhythm on the new course. I tried to plan for a more fun, flowy trail while still keeping it physically challenging. I used all my trail-building experience to design this trail, but despite all my work, I was hating this trail. I was bored and not having fun on my bike. I was beginning to think Utah had spoiled me and there was not love of southeastern singletrack left in me.
Then one day I decided to test out the new brakes on the Titus Racer-X, my old full-suspension race bike. I have always loved this bike, but brake issues had forced me off of it completely. I had almost forgotten how the bike felt. I had ridden nothing but a hardtail during XC the past three years. Thankfully, I got a wild hair back in August and bought some brakes for this bike so I could ride it at the 12 Hours of the Canal Loop. I was only riding it because I didn't think I was strong enough to survive 12 hours on a hardtail. But the race got cancelled and the bike was never ridden. Until now!
Oh what a revival the Racer-X was to me! Instantly, I realized why I love riding bikes on trails and why I laid the trail out the way I did. It was clear...this is not Utah...and these are definitely not Utah trails. So, a Utah bike probably isn't the best thing for here. The things I had told myself the past few years about weight and efficiency flew right out the window the first lap on the trail. The trail was not the problem. It was the bike and the rider that is not suited for the bike. Oh how I wished I had ridden this at Dirt, Guts & Donuts!
So, the trail, the Racer-X and myself are all reunited once more and there is peace in the Greer kingdom. My only concern now is the wear the bike has seen. I bought this bike in 2007 when I raced for the Piney Flats Mountain Bike Team. Old Racer-X has seen some pretty nasty races and been ridden hard. I've broken the rear swingarm, worn out two sets of brakes and gone through two sets of wheels just on this bike. The wheels I have now are getting worn as well. I just hope it will hold up for another year or two. I can't imagine parting ways with it just yet.
The Racer-X made it's first reappearance at Lock 4 for the Lock 4 Six Hour Challenge in Gallatin. I had been eating junk since Gateway and had packed on a few pounds. I felt every one of them during the six hours of riding. I've never had a good race at the six hour. The first year I raced it (2010), I had a bad start, then blew up trying to catch the leaders, then bonked (forgot to eat while chasing the leaders), then had back pain that forced me to stop for a few minutes, then had a flat. I wound up finishing a lap behind the winner. After a year off, I came back in 2012 on the hardtail, only to have back pain yet again and was forced to drop out early. I didn't even make it to the four hour mark.
I knew my fitness was not the best this year. I was fat, but at least I had just done a few weeks of training at altitude and had built up some endurance. The start was Le Mans-style, which is where you run to your bike. We did about a 50-yard dash to the bikes and then mounted up before doing 2 laps of a short course in the field before we went into the woods for our first full lap. I did not have the best start. It amazes me how I can run so well, yet when it comes to a sprint I get my butt kicked. I went into the woods just inside the top 20. Videos of the start can be seen below.
My plan was to stay smooth all day, conserving my energy for the last two hours when things would get tough. My goal was to make eight laps. Shannon did not come with me, so I went to great lengths to be prepared for anything, including laying out all my food and tools in the trunk of my car. I backed it up to the course next to my old Wood-N-Wave teammates, Steve and Carson Beckett. Steve was not racing so he had a pit area set up for us to use.
Our pit set-up
The Racer-X is back!
My trunk was ready for anything
The first lap went well. I moved up into the top 10 by halfway through the lap, getting hooked up with John Carr, who also did not have the best of starts. We were rolling well together until three miles to go in that first lap when my pedal suddenly locked up. It quickly released and appeared to be fine, but I know what that means with a set of Egg Beater pedals. That's a sure sign of failure. Your bearings are breaking and pretty soon you will feel your foot slide off the side of your bike as the pedal body slides away from the spindle. And at race intensity, the stress on the pedals will bring it to its demise rather quickly.
I avoided standing the rest of the lap. With a mile to go in the lap I saw Steve standing by a tree. I tossed him my car key as I rolled by and told him where my spare pedals and wrench were. I was hoping he would get them out for me so I could install the pedal as soon as I got to the pit. As I exited the woods, the pedal locked completely, leaving me to pedal one-legged around the field to the pit.
Steve had conjured up a pit crew of sorts. They were ready with pedal and tools in hand. I have no idea who they were, but three guys changed the pedal for me. I just hopped off the bike, grabbed some water and watched them work. They were making NASCAR pit crew air-wrench noises as they worked. I only lost about 10 seconds and two spots.
The pedal body was beginning to slide away on the spindle
I had to hold a 45 minute pace for each lap to make eight laps. I was 25 seconds off the first lap. I knew I could make that up since the whole pedal thing happened on lap 1. I gained my spots back by the end of lap 2 and made up a few seconds. Lap 3 got harder and I began to feel fatigue already creeping in. That does not always mean "the end is near" in endurance racing. If you eat right and stay hydrated, you will often get better as the hours go on. You just have to make it through those first few hours of feeling bad. I faded more on lap 4. I put out more effort and lost time, falling behind my 45-minute pace. I yo-yo'd between 6th and 8th place in the Solo class.
After lap 5, I had to take a rest. I was exhausted. I was still in 6th, but my energy stores were empty despite my eating. I stopped at the car for some Cheezits. I was off the bike for a good 10 minutes, losing two positions again. I raced the same four guys all day. I eventually chased them down again on laps 6 and 7. I was way off the pace now, so I knew 7 would be the end. I gave it all I had, climbing back up to 6th yet again. This time I stayed there for good. It was a little farther back in the placings than I had hoped for, but hey, no back pain!
I finally found the source of my wobbly Mavic wheel. Turns out the rim is cracked. I likely cracked it in the big crash at Crossroads back in August. That crash cost me a lot. I lost a frame and a rear wheel when it was all said and done. Good thing I found a replacement already.
I wrote about a new set of secret wheels a while back that would not be used in 2013. I got them before Gateway Cup, but saved them for next season. Here's my new set of Easton EC90 Aero wheels. Light, stiffer and deeper-dish than the Mavics. I can't wait to test them out!
The new wheels
You can't ride wheels without the rest of the bike. My parts are used, but still good, so I stripped down the broken Sette Forza and will be building up my dream bike. I have always wanted a real high-end carbon crit. bike and now I have it! I got a Jamis Xenith SL frame. I found it on eBay. It was a Jamis-Sutter Home Team Edition frame, sent to the riders on the Pro team. This frame was an extra sent to Jamey Driscoll that he did not spend much time on. It is a great bike and an even better deal! I'll post pictures of the fully-built bike soon. For now, you just get to see the frame.
Jamis Xenith SL frame - Sutter Home edition
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