Fort Custer Stampede

First mountain bike race about went as well as expected. I started in the front but I wasn't in the front enough. That's fine. I know I'm not going to be able to hang with these guys once we get on the technical parts. I was able to fly on anything that was straight and flat, but I was losing so much time on the singletrack it didn't do me much good to try and get back to the leaders on the two-track. Not much to say about this race, I'm feeling pretty fast-ish on the trails, just need to learn a bit more about mountain bike racing. Only thing is; I'm not that interested to want to learn anymore (: It is kinda fun, but not really.

                                              *I might have been the Easter Bunny at Easter

I'll be participating in the WAM 300 at the end of July. WAM stands for Wish-a-Mile, and it is a benefit ride for the Make-a-wish foundation, something I'm sure most everyone knows is very dear to my heart. The 300 stands for miles, starting in Traverse City on Friday, the 3 day ride ends at the EATON proving grounds in Galesburg on Sunday. That's crazy, right? No. Some of the kids I've read briefly about, it absolutely breaks my heart. No fault of their own, some of these wonderful children are faced with the battle of a lifetime, sometimes before they are even in high school. I can't even begin to imagine. My goal is to raise $1,200 before the 300 mile ride at the end of July, and I hope you'll consider donating here. More about this in the upcoming months. I was extremely fortunate to never require the services of this organization 5 years ago, but a lot of kids need our help.

Next weekend starts a couple months of driving around the Michigan-Indiana-Ohio area for racing. I'd really like to do this, but to say I'm overwhelmed with everything would be an understatement (: For those keeping score, I'm taking 4 online classes this summer, coupled with buying a home (I hope to close this week or next) and a little extra workload at the office, I'm not expecting a whole lot of success on the bike. I've already kind of designated this year as one of some more learning, seeing what my body is capable of and trying to hold on in races and see what happens. I know next summer, I'll be done with school, but I just realized I hope to be in full-swing of taking CPA exams, so even that will slow me down next summer. Ugh. I'm hopeful I can rest up and get some solid miles in this week, now that the weather is scorching hot. I can already feel the sun-burn.

I rode my first ever Wednesday night 'hammer-fest' ride last week! As the name implies, this ride is fast and long. Fantastic. Just what the doctor ordered (I've actually strained my hamstring and the doctor ordered rest, but what do they know). It went fantastic. I was able to hang with the front group the entire time, we ended up having 4 flat tires between the 12 of us in the group, super fantastic. Of course, this brings a lot of confidence that I'm fast enough to hang with some of the fastest guys in kzoo. I think my days of going out for 3 hour long rides are behind me, I've built up enough base. For this summer, my focus is working on my speed and some interval work (super hard, super easy, super hard, super easy) and this will bring me the results I'm looking for in a few months time.

3/16 Waterloo G&G, Grass Lake, MI (Gravel) 34th Overall (221) / 4th AG (6)
3/23 Melting Mann, Vandalia, MI (Gravel) 61st Overall (255) / 17th AG (31)
3/30 Dirty 30 Gravel Grinder, Saranac, MI (Gravel) 81st Overall (215) / 9th AG (24)
4/6 Lowell Classic, Lowell, MI (Gravel) 27th Overall (239) / 8th AG (15)
4/13 Barry Roubaix, Hastings, MI (Gravel) 216th Overall (1342) / 6th AG (18)
4/28 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series, Ann Arbor, MI 11th Overall 4/5 (48)
5/5 Fort Custer Stampede, Battle Creek, MI (Mountain!!) 7th AG (13)
6/1 The Waterford Races, Clarkston, MI
6/9 Dirty Donut, Martin, MI (Gravel)
6/14 Zeeland Crit, Zeeland, MI
6/15 Ada Crit, Ada, MI
6/16 Vuelta a Porta Sheldon, Grand Haven, MI (?)
6/22 Athens Brick Criterium, Athens, OH
6/29 Port City Crit, Muskegon, MI
6/30 Great Lakes Classic Road Race, Marne, MI
7/13 Detroit Cycling Championship, Detroit, MI
7/14 Corktown Crit, Detroit, MI
7/20 Whiskey City Twilight Challenge, Lawrenceburg, IN
7/28 The Divide (Gravel) / Muncie Grand Prix, Muncie, IN
8/10 Rose City Crit, Jackson, MI
8/18 Gaslight Crit, Grand Rapids, MI
8/25 Debaets-Devos Crit, Detroit, MI
9/8 Uncle John's Dirty Ride, St. John's, MI (Gravel)
11/2 Iceman, Traverse City, MI

As far as an 'A' race for the rest of the year, or a race I'm really looking to do well at, nothing stands out. Of course I'd love to do well at the Detroit cycling weekend on the 13th, but that is a huge race and might be coming a year too soon based on my current fitness (good not great) and my injury woes (as mentioned above). For those concerned, I can't take 3 weeks off a bike to let my leg heal, I'd lose too much fitness. I can stretch and ice and compress which will put a band-aid on the problem, but I'm able to ride and ride fast so I'm happy.

Hammond, IN sounds like a long way away, but my best-bud Nate Timmons is driving a 1950's (?) VW van around the entire country, so maybe it isn't too far. Check out The Dad Book here.

I have two classes starting tomorrow..........

Cheers! CE