Finally, it's time for 2020, the year you've all been waiting for...or maybe not. You probably never want to hear about 2020 again. It started innocently enough, but changed us all before it was over.
We actually hit the refresh button before 2019 was over. The trip to Canada really gave us a break from life and we made some changes upon return. Shannon changed jobs when we started back to work. She stayed within the same company, but moved to a different clinic in Clarksville. She had an incident that kind of ruined some of her work relationships. She accidentally discovered a coworker ordering personal things through the company supply orders, as ordering supplies was part of Shannon's duties. She wasn't even sure what was going on at the time she reported the purchasing discrepancies. The person responsible for what turned out to be theft from the company played the victim card. They said they didn't know they couldn't order personal things with the company account and credit cards. Really?!! Management took their side and Shannon was treated as a bully singling out a newer employee. If you know my wife at all you know she is the nicest person you will ever meet. Seeing her treated like that really chapped my arse as well. Thankfully, this other clinic had an opening and she was able to transfer. She has really enjoyed the change so far.
As for me, I set some lofty goals. I am tired of only making it to National-level races once every two or three years. I have busted my tail more off the bike than on the past few years to get the funding necessary to make it onto the Pro XCT circuit. So far, the work has been in vain. Two years of working hard behind the scenes with nothing to show for it. I came home from Canada with a fresh mind and ready to get after it.
I decided to shift my focus to more endurance mountain bike events for 2020. Endurance is something I have always been good at, but really haven't done in six or eight years. Talking to people who raced Marathon Mountain Bike Nationals in 2019 got me going on this. Palo Duro Canyon in Texas was the site in 2019 and will again host Marathon Nats in 2020. It just looks like my kind of place with lots of singletrack and some technical climbs and descents. I decided to build my whole season around May, which is when Marathon Nats took place in 2019. May comes early, so focused training would need to start early. I planned to run the South Eastern Endurance Series which began in January. The series consists mainly of 3- and 6-hour mountain bike events, with a couple of 12- and 24-hour options. I also wanted to hit some other big pro races like Cactus Cup out in Arizona in March. I still didn't have the budget to run a full Pro season, but I was going to start in January and go until the funds ran out.
Marathon Nationals was not just a race to get to, it was a target. When I say target, I mean podium or bust. I really was training all winter for the top step. I didn't plan to knock on the door of Nationals, I intended to kick the door down. Everything was focused on that race. I usually don't tell anyone of my true intents for the season, but this time I let my sponsors know that I was going for this thing. All in, 100%. The response was surprising. Nobody cared. I lost my main sponsor, which didn't come as a shock as I got cut back significantly last season. It wasn't a huge loss as they have been out of everything I have needed for the past year or two anyway. Some of my other sponsors tried to talk me out of going to any Pro races. They told me I didn't need to go, the races were too difficult, too fast, too hard. You won't do well. I had confidence and restated my intention, only to be shot down over and over. There was no support at all. Everybody acted like I hadn't ridden in five years and wanted to ride 200 miles this afternoon. It pissed me off and just made me want it more.
At first, the only things holding me back were words. Then came bike issues. I needed a suspension rebuild, which turned into a major ordeal when we tore down the bike. I had a deep ring worn into my carbon steerer tube at the location of the upper headset bearing. It had eaten pretty far into the steerer tube, which is both scary and impressive. I couldn't believe it could get worn down so much and yet still hold up. I have the inverted RockShox RS1 fork, which features uppers that are continuous with the steerer in one solid piece. It seemed like a warranty issue, but Specialized said it was my fault. They calimed I had not been keeping my headset maintained and adjusted properly. That is BS because I worked on that thing constantly. I had problems with it loosening during rides since the day I got the bike and every mechanic said it was fine. It would tighten up fine, then get play in it again after just a few hours of riding. There had never been any damage from it until now. The shop pushed back, but it was no use. Specialized did not give two hoots that I was a Pro rider riding their stuff. They claimed it was a RockShox issue and Rockshox blamed Specialized. In the end, neither would help. My options were to buy an entire new upper assembly, or change forks. Either way, my pockets were about to get emptied. The RS1 uses a special hub so changing forks would also require a front wheel rebuild, which I didn't want to do. I love the RS1 fork, but it is a pain. I cannot use anyone else's front wheel and no other fork parts are interchangeable. I decided to stick with the fork and went for the new uppers. It was about $800 which felt like yet another punch in the gut before the start of a season, but I didn't see that I had much choice if I want to move forward with my goals for the year. I also ended up needing new brake rotors and a rebuilt rear wheel for the tandem as Shannon and I keep popping spokes on rides. We also noticed some hairline cracks on the hub flange around the spoke heads. These wheels are from the early 90s so this one didn't feel as cruel as the fork.
I dropped my bike off in November as both the South Eastern Endurance Series and Montgomery Bell Winter Time Trial Series started in January. That wasn't early enough though. Specialized took several weeks to service my fork and shock, only to send the wrong replacement fork uppers. After all that back and forth, they still sent the wrong thing. They wouldn't send a replacement until the wrong part was returned so that took another two weeks. It didn't arrive until after I missed both of the early-January races. I was annoyed, but both series were still in play. The overall for Montgomery Bell is based on your best time of the three races, and the South Eastern Endurance Series allows for two drop races.
I kept working hard at home, getting ready for the February races. The parts finally arrived right before round two of the endurance series, too close to make the race. The second round of Montgomery Bell was now just a week away. The shop said they would call me when they got the bike done. Of course I called them, but was told it still wasn't ready and reminded they would call when it was done. Montgomery Bell came and went with no bike. My annoyance was now getting pretty high. I was missing out on the training races I needed to get ready for Marathon Nationals and already losing out on the series I wanted to win. Dina came home from the February Montgomery Bell race telling me about how people from the shop were asking why I didn't come pick up my bike when it was ready. I was not happy when I heard that. Apparently, I could have made this race if somebody would have just called me.
I was more pissed when I picked up the bike. The replacement upper from Specialized didn't even have decals on it. They played it off as having a "stealth look," but I still think it's crappy that you made me pay $800 for what should have been a warranty issue and then couldn't even put decals on the thing. Not impressed, Specialized. To top things off, the headset came loose on the second ride. I took it back to the shop as I wasn't about to ruin another steerer tube, but again, nothing was found to be wrong with it. But something obviously is! I literally started tightening it before every ride to keep it from being ridden while loose. I also had a lot of air in my brake lines and wound up bleeding them again myself.
I felt like I was annoying to everyone I talked to at the shop. I felt in the way and that nobody supported my cycling goals anymore. I also couldn't find anyone to train with. People either think I will take them out and sprint their legs off or that I am too slow to keep up with them. There is no in between. We have some really fast road riders around middle Tennessee now, but I can't seem to get into any of the training groups. They all tell me I am too slow to do their rides. In a sport full of supportive people that form lifelong bonds and friendships, I felt completely alone. It was not a good feeling. I feel like I have given so much of my life to this sport and it has given me little back outside of inner enjoyment of flying through a trail. I have no real bike friends anymore. All my buddies have quit and moved on with their life, many of them expecting me to do the same. I don't have any friends outside of bikes as bikes take up most of your time if you do it seriously. Even my family wants me to quit racing. I feel like it is just me and Shannon taking on the entire world. She feels like my only supporter at this point. I honestly cannot imagine the mental state I would be in without her in my life. I would have nothing.
Being alone isn't all bad though. You can dig into the trenches of training and work hard with few distractions. I was coming into some good form at the end of February. The bike issues drained my race account before the race season ever arrived. It looked like I would not be able to go to Cactus Cup in March as planned, but one of my projects finally paid off. The money we have made through the farm was just enough to get us to Arizona. I was so pumped to finally see something we started to pay for bike racing actually come through and pay for a bike race! A huge THANK YOU goes out to every person who believed in our efforts enough to be a customer! You literally are helping make my dreams come true.
With peppers powering our way, we headed off to the desert Southwest to start the season at the legendary Cactus Cup. More on that in the next post. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures from a cave tour Shannon and I went on up at Mammoth Cave National Park while I was without a mountain bike. We have been wanting to go for a weekend visit since I did a tour with Dina on our way home from Cyclocross Nationals in Louisville about a year ago. We followed up the underground tour with hiking behind the visitor's center before heading back home. We got in about six miles of hiking on the day, most of it being very hilly going up and down the bluff along the Green River. I want to come back with bikes as there are many options for road and gravel riding in this area and they have a really nice campground in the park.
