2017 Stats

     This is the post for analyzing the 2017 season. It was a wild one, full of highs and lows. It started off so promising with new sponsors that then bailed out on me. I thought I finally had the help I had been trying to get for years, but it wasn't to be yet. I had some bad races in the SERC and GSC Series, but came away with the SERC title again. Nationals didn't go so great with a mechanical issue ruining my day, but I won the DINO Series. It all balanced out and was maybe my best season ever.

     I focused on the mountain bike this year, but also still got in some road racing time with 14 criteriums and 2 time trials. I did 51 total races in 2017, down a few from last year's 56, mainly due to missing most of cross season. I raced in nine different states and had 0 DNFs this season! That is highlight number one for me. Number two is two series titles and eight race wins. I stood on the podium 23 times during the season. Highlight races for me started early in the year with the Montgomery Bell Winter MTB Time Trial Series. I was good at both the February and March races. Multiple flats took me out of the running in February, but I crushed March and it netted me the series overall as well. The GSC Series opener in Macon was also an early-season highlight as I rode well both days and got into an epic battle with Dustin White, Mose Howard, Simon Lewis and Justin McMurrer. Then I had a bit of a rough patch with some good days and bad days. I think the DINO opener at Winona Lake was a turning point for my season. I had doubts after the SERC and GSC races in April and getting a win there gave me confidence. It started a build-up of momentum that peaked for the DINO races in Versailles and South Bend. The latter was super special because the win was so unexpected after I had been sick for over a week and actually won the race on a power stretch where I am usually the weakest. That sealed the DINO Series title for me. I can't forget about the Music City Crits finale where I controlled an entire team to win the Fat Tire race and had a solid Pro/1/2/3 event the same night. I finished off the season with some other big wins at Ben Hawes and in the Lock 4 Six Hour. I may not have rocked the GSC Series overall, MTB Nationals or the State Championship, but I can't and won't complain about how the rest of the year went. Winning three out of four series I went for isn't bad at all! Definitely one of the highlights of my year came off the bike when Shannon got her own mountain bike. That was a big deal for us.

     Here are stats for races and finishes in 2017:

Total Number of Races: 51

Race Breakdown:
XC: 19
Short Track: 4
MTB Time Trial: 5
Endurance XC: 1
Downhill: 0
Super D: 0
Criterium: 14
Road Race: 0
Road Time Trial: 2
Cyclocross: 6


Wins: 8
Top 3s: 19
Top 5s: 26
Top 10s: 33
DNFs: 0




     I would have to give my "Race of the Year" award to the Ben Hawes XC. What a fun course, great race and awesome group of people in Owensboro! Gateway Cup was also a highlight of the year for overall affordability, fun, competition and location.

     It was another tough year of working as hard off the bike as I did on it. I have to thank my wife, Shannon, for her continued support. She gives up a lot to let me ride, both at home and on race trips most weekends out of the year. Also, a huge thank you goes out to Maxxis, First Endurance and MOAB Bikes for helping me with tires, nutrition, parts and labor. Jeremy has not only been good to me, but my whole family as well, including Shannon. Without the support of MOAB,  I would have had a lot more difficulty getting wheels and suspension fixed and had a lot less cash in my pocket afterwards. I look forward to working with all three of these sponsors again in 2018.

    That does it for 2017. I posted some pictures from my favorite moments of the year below. Now on to 2018!

Getting to race in the blue wig to honor Kendall James was pretty awesome at Montgomery Bell Winter MTB Time Trial #2

Getting that #1 plate to start off the SERC season. I worked hard for that plate!

Exploring central Florida with Shannon on a spur-of-the-moment trip

Chasing waterfalls again this year

A much-needed trip west with Dina for some mountain bike time on the way to the Pro XCT in Utah

Pro XCT in Midway, UT. Worked really hard to get to this race!

Big win at DINO Versailles.

Lots of covered bridges in Indiana this year.

Awesome trails in West Virginia on the way to MTB Nationals

My first MTB Nationals as a Pro. It didn't go as planned, but still gained a lot of experience.

Mackinac Island with family

2017 Total Solar Eclipse

Awesome racing at Gateway Cup in St. Louis.

Camping in Wyoming with Shannon

On the Oregon Trail at the Guernsey Ruts

Beautiful riding in Utah

Hiking Mount Olympus

Bryce Canyon National Park

Monument Valley

Finally finding the House on Fire Ruin

Getting Shannon a mountain bike really topped off my year

Brutal Cold

    We had some cool days in early December, but things went off the deep end with the temperature right as Christmas rolled in. We had Christmas dinner with my family on Christmas Eve. The high that day was 40 degrees, whereas it was 62 the previous day. We had church to start the morning, then had an afternoon dinner with the family. I rode over to the dinner. It was drizzling rain when I left. After studying the radar, I figured it would just be some light drizzle and then stop for the rest of my ride. I wore my amphibious waterproof tights just in case and that turned out to be a great decision. It poured on me about 10 minutes into the ride and lasted a good half hour. Then it stopped and the sun actually came out for a while as I climbed my way around Coopertown and Joelton, catching a few roads that I don't ride very often.

A scene from my wet Christmas Eve road ride.

     I took on one of the steepest descents in our area on Edgar Dillard Road and not only was it wet, but there was oil all over it. You could see it shining on top of the damp road. I made it down safely without incident and enjoyed the sunshine. Dark clouds were in the distance and caught up with me before I ended the ride. The final few minutes were in rain and then sleet. I got absolutely soaked and was getting really cold as I arrived for dinner. I don't think I would have made it were it not for those tights!

     We spent Christmas Day with my parents and Dina. We had breakfast, exchanged gifts and then went to the woods. We first spent some time shooting our guns as I got a box of ammo for my 9mm and targets to play with. Then we got on the mountain bikes and took some laps on a frozen trail as the temp never broke the freezing mark all day. 

     Cold temperatures make Christmas feel more like Christmas, but they decided to hang around this year. That was the start of over two weeks of high temperatures in the 20s and lows near 0, which is just crazy for December in Tennessee. We usually get a few days of those kinds of temperatures during the entire winter, but that is usually in February and nowhere near two weeks long.

    We trekked north to Indiana to visit Shannon's family for New Year's where it was even colder. I did another practice cross race at home before we left. It was 23 degrees during my ride, which I thought was cold. That turned out to be my last ride over on the neighbors' land before they moved out on December 31.

     It snowed on us for most of the drive to Indiana, getting heavier through Indy where traffic was a mess.

Plenty of snow on the ground near Kokomo, IN

     When we got to Elkhart, IN it was a whole 10 degrees. It didn't get above 15 degrees the whole time we were there. I didn't even bring a bike as I knew I wasn't going to be out in that kind of cold. I had ridden a good bit in the week before, so I could afford some rest from the bike anyway. The Toneys have been working hard on their remodel project. Our room had drywall this time and the bathroom is now complete.

This bedroom looks a lot different than it did in August when it was just a few studs and a toilet.

Finished bathroom. Love the sink!

     It snowed almost every day while we were there and was brutally cold. We did not get to go see the part of the family in Michigan as there was a big lake-effect snowstorm in South Haven that took place nearly the entire time we were there. The last morning we wanted to get out into the snow and do some sledding at the local park. It was -13 degrees that morning and the sled park was closed because the local news was reporting wind chill readings of up to -34 degrees. We were determined to get out in it though. We settled for making designs in the snow in the backyard. There was a good eight inches on the ground so we had plenty to play in. Shannon made some snow angels and then we made snow circles like crop circles. 

Snowy view out the front door our first morning in Indiana

The backyard on our last morning as we ventured out to play in the snow.

Shannon's snow angel

Our "crop circles" in the snow.

A little bit of southern Utah influence on this one.

It doesn't take long to accumulate some ice crystals on your eyelashes at -13 degrees.

     It was up to a balmy -10 when we left Elkhart. The electronics on our car went nuts and we had all kinds of warning lights going on and off until the car got warm. Driving south usually warms the temperature quickly, but it was still below 0 all the way to Indy, even in the warmest part of the day. It was only about 20 degrees when we got home, but it sure felt better than -13!

Driving through Indy and still showing sub-zero temps

     It was a crazy Christmas and New Year's week to end 2017 and begin 2018. I'll post some stats from 2017 in the next post and close out the year now that 2018 is already 1/3 over.

     

Backyard Fun

    December was a time of fun riding at home. Some of it for training, but most of it just to have fun riding bicycles. The only race I had scheduled for the month was the State Championship Cyclocross, which I skipped due to being sick. Skipping it was a good thing as I got better and was able to get out on the trails more. It rained A LOT during December, keeping me off the road bike for most of the month. The trails were covered with leaves though and that keeps the mud down and mountain biking possible. My Epic was still being rebuilt so I spent the month riding on my old Titus Racer-X. It feels so weird going back to 26" wheels. Holding momentum is much more difficult on small wheels. The old Titus is also pretty worn out after nearly 10 years of riding and racing, but it still gets the job done and allows me to ride trails when my primary bike is out of commission.

I did a lot of night riding in early December. This was a shot on the trail during the last warm night of the year.

A pond on a road ride near Springfield, TN. I think this was the only nice day for a road ride the entire month of December.

I loved the sky and this dead tree in this picture. There's also an old barn buried in the woods in the background.

Big pond and some cows on the same road ride

     Something I haven't talked much about on the blog recently is my work life. It's been rough because I haven't had much work. Racing has forced me to take on multiple part time jobs because I have been unable to find any job that will let me have a day off to race. Personal days should be for whatever you want to use them for, but that isn't the way it has worked in my experiences. My coworkers can call out every other week and totally screw everyone in the clinic and nobody minds, but I ask for one Friday off for a race, six months in advance, and I'm denied and told I need to be a team player.

     I've had to adapt by getting multiple part time jobs to allow for flexibility while also keeping up a decent income to support my habit. Basically, my part time jobs are just extra help for whatever company I am working for. I have known from the beginning that with this type of work there was always a chance of having a period of time where I wouldn't get any work. In the three years I have been doing this it has all gone well. There have been some slow times, but nothing to ever put us in a strain. Most of the time I am turning down work because I get so many requests that I just can't cover them all.

     One of those bad periods finally came this summer. Both of the outpatient and home health jobs I was working started to reduce my hours. Outpatient cut me out completely in July. At the same time, home health stopped giving me patients. It was so weird because they would call me to ask if I could still work that day, then never move patients onto my schedule. That company had the poorest communication I have ever seen. It was really annoying because I would have to stay close to my phone waiting for patients to be added. I had to check my schedule constantly and many days no patients ever appeared. That happened multiple days a week prior to our trip to Snowshoe for MTB Nationals. Losing that many hours made us tighten down our budget and that was part of the reason why I didn't get new pedals befor that race.

    After we returned from Snowshoe it was even worse. They didn't give me patients for about 10 straight days that I had scheduled with them. My third job of doing the cookie dough fundraisers was also on hold as it is all school fundraisers and it works on the school calendar. So there was no cookie dough work to be done June-September. I didn't get many physical therapy hours in August or September, then we were gone to Utah on our trip into October, which turned out to be a great time to go since I wasn't getting any work hours anyway. The drought continued through October, then finally it broke in November when I got some regular hours at two outpatient clinics. Home health is still not giving me work and cookie dough has been slow so they have not needed my extra help. I don't think home health will get any better as they have now had me turn in my smartphone which is what we use to do all of our documentation.

     We have our budget set up so that we can survive on one person's income per month. We have to do that in case of this very situation. A single income budget doesn't give us any extra for savings and doesn't give me race money, but we can survive. If I want to race, I have to get more hours since we have no help with race expenses other than a few sets of tires. I had enough race budget left to finish the year, but I haven't been able to build it back up for 2018, so we are going to have to make some changes to my racing next year after this work drought and inability to find sponsorship.

     We also are in a bit of tight spot as we need new vehicles. My car has over 280,000 miles on it and is no longer dependable enough to take on longer trips, while Shannon's car is up to 220,000 miles now. I am hoping to keep steady work over the winter months to save up enough money to buy us at least one new vehicle, preferably a van. We would love to get a Sprinter, but they aren't really in our price range and I'm not going into major debt to get a vehicle. I hate debt anyway, but with the chance of me having another dry spell in work income it is just not smart to sign up for a monthly payment knowing you may not be able to pay it in the future if the work schedule falls apart. We are actually hoping to get a Dodge Caravan like the one I rented back in May to go to the Pro XCT race in Utah. I really liked the way it drove and the storage options. It has enough space to allow us to carry bikes and gear inside, which will be great for being able to stop at things like hiking trails and waterfalls like we enjoy doing on our race weekends. I hate leaving an S-Works bike exposed outside the car while we go out of sight because I know if someone steals it my racing is over because I cannot afford another bike right now. I am hoping to get a van by the end of March, but we will see if I can save up the funds by then and also find a good quality used van for sale.

    One of the good things about not working so much is that it gave me more time to work on the farm. I worked really hard in the fall to not only produce all the peppers I could, but also to sell them. I have one buyer that takes most of my peppers, but I wanted to sell every single one of them if possible. Yes, I am officially to the point of selling peppers for race money. I sold more than I ever thought and people were also beating down the door wanting more of our tomatoes. Apparently, we are the only local farm that had tomatoes that produced in the late summer and fall. We took the peppers that didn't sell and dehydrated them. I posted them on Ebay just to see what would happen and we have actually started selling quite a few. Things are looking pretty good on the farm and it keeps amazing me all the time how fast it is growing. I just wish it was big enough for me to not have to worry about doing physical therapy anymore, but we are still a very long way from that.

     Now that I have vented my work problems, let me write about some better things in the world. Since the solar eclipse this summer, I have been much more aware of events in the sky. I never realized how often we have solar and lunar eclipses. They just don't always appear on the part of the earth where we happen to be standing at that moment. Meteor showers are also more common than I thought. My Dad and I got to enjoy the Geminid Meteor Shower in the middle of December. There were many meteors streaking across the sky in the two hours I sat outside staring up. We had a really clear night for it. I took some pictures with the new camera. While I didn't catch any meteors streaking across the sky, I was surprised with how clear the stars were in the pictures. I am really liking this new camera and I feel like I still don't really know how to use all the features yet.

Starry night during the Geminid Meteor Shower

     I adjusted my position on the new cross bike and have tested it at home with backyard cross events. Dina and I had a muddy cross day at my house. I have accumulated enough course tape now that we could actually tape us off some turns and make it feel like a real course. My neighbors probably think I am nuts, but that's ok. I took a paint roller and attached it to a drill to make rolling the tape back up a breeze so we can use it again. Shannon came out to cheer us on while we did our race effort and took plenty of pictures.

Dina on course

Into the taped section that included some good climbs and off-camber turns on the slick hillside

Snoop was running the course with us. She didn't mind the drizzle.

Me coming towards the tape

     The course we made also went over to our neighbors' land, the ones that recently logged and own the majority of the land we ride on. We found out they will be moving January 1. We made sure to include some of their trail in our course as we may lose those trails if the new owners won't let us ride. I've been going over there as much as possible the last few weeks because I know every ride there could be my last. We connected in some of the trails we don't use often and made a fun, fast loop using the logging roads for this cross course. We also cut in some new trails behind my house to make a new run-up and some technical features like tight turns and tricky dips and downhills. It was a lot of fun.

GPS Map for our home cross race

Got a little sideways in this turn

Dina lugging her bike up the main run-up

Coach Snoop making sure I keep going hard

Over the barriers. We use PVC barriers because they are easy to set up and move. They are max regulation height.

Knocked over the last one. Our rule is that if you knock one down you have to go back and set it up before you can remount.

     A few days later it was still raining and the course was still set up so I did another practice race by myself. It was super muddy and had standing water in some places. I ran a lot of the loop backwards and changed a few of the turns. I definitely got enough ride time out of this course to make it all the course set-up worth it. I just really like riding in the mud and working on my skills.

Still shot from my GoPro as I navigated the taped section during my second practice cross day of the season.

     More from the end of December coming in the next post as it got really cold as the Christmas season arrived.