Reforestation Ramble

Rest week--->Bad Form--->Bad Luck---->Bad Tactics---> 11th
Fun Race with my friends in the pic though.

Chase Group


Coming into finish after crash.

Goals in sight :)

What the....?

5th Short Track! 17th Super D

Quick post and more once we get pics.
10 am start for Super D, was sitting well within top ten and crashed half way through. At the back, made up time, but the split between the whole field is like 30 seconds in a 8 minute race, almost impossible to make up...17th.

12:30 start Short track, hung on to leaders, got a gap with them, a few went off the front, battled for 5th with 1-2 guys, climbed really strong on each lap to bury it home for a solid podium finish!

4th overall in the stage i think, but results weren't posted for the whole stage race when we left.

Full report when info and pics come.

Thanks for reading,
Nathan

Subaru Cup 7th! Cross Country

Had a great race. Took the lead out for a while, had a gap and thought should I go with it? Decided not to risk a blow up and just rode steady till the rest of the break caught up. Glad I did cause I was hurting a bit when TJ, Jesse, Marko, and Mikey came around. Tried to hold the wheels of that group once we hit the Climb from bottom to top of Nordic Mountain Ski Hill, didn't happen and I settled into 5th with Paul Hanson and Ron Stawicki as the chase group. Paul went hard on lap two up the start climb and then came back and was gone for a while, Chris Pearsio went by and another guy from Iowa I didn't know. Then Mikey came into view, rode with him for a bit but he was hurting, so I went on with Ron and Paul Hanson as he latched back on. Ron and I had a gap on lap 3 and we were trading places for a while and all the sudden he flatted in a wide open flat section, it was really weird, nothing around to flat on, later he said his valve tore??? , weird. Paul and I got a pretty good gap after this, but the time to the next guys up was aways off. So we knew it was just us as we went into the last lap. We both rode pretty casually, talked a bit, he said he still had a kick left in him and I told him to go for it if he had it and I would try to hang on. He attacked on the last climb to the top of the hill, I tried to respond, it hurt and I thought it would be smart to not go overboard. I need to teach my body and mind to be more committed, especially on those last laps, cause I think I could have dug deep to hold the wheel, but I settled for maybe catching him on the downhill. I almost did, but too little too late. He rode away pretty strong through the last few climbs anyways, which I could not respond too. Two in a row he gets me at the end, I gotta work on that last lap stuff, GREAT work Paul.

Lindsay Rocked a 9th overall (13th including Pros) and 7th in age group, even though she felt the WORST she EVER has in a race. Sinus infection/antibiotics probably has a bit to do with that. Plus she was on my old bike I built up this week because her bikes rear shock had to be sent into fox for repairs, so new bike, she rode for first time today, thats a hard tail is kinda rough, literally...

Kyle looked crazy strong and pulled off a 13th overall in comp and 2nd in his age group! His fitness is really coming around.

Hannah looked really strong about mid pack the first two laps of her debut sport race after not riding a bike for 2 years, but lap 3 was a sufferfest. She said going into the last lap 3 she did not know how she was going to ever be able to even finish the lap. She finished though, and I believe she was not last place which is amazing for not riding AT ALL this year till today.

Tomorrow is Super D at 9:30 am, which is like a mix of cross country course and downhill, and Short Track Race at 12:30, or as TJ Woodruff calls it "The Hurricane of Pain". 25 minutes of a short loop + two laps, sounds fast.


Asa had a race today too, only pics we got from the day so far.


She had a rough start and had a little crash, ( the kid next to her is obviously smiling because of his devious plan to take her out off the line).


She finished strong though, medaled, and got into the cliff bar payouts.



Then of course there is the Best Fan of the Day Award!



Thanks for reading,
Nathan

Skip the intervals, its party time!

Skipped the intervals this morning as we had a ton of prep to do for PARTY TIME! Well worth it!


1 Year Old!


4 Years Old!



Might borrow this one from Charis's new wardrobe :), which quadrupled in size thanks to all the family and friends.

Intervals, Recovery and Rain

Thursday's Workout.


Thursday I tried a new workout. Long Hill reps mixed with some pyramid anaerobic work. 1 min or so climbing semi-steep hill (Lapham Peak road hill to tower), and then last 30 sec stand and sprint, if ya still can, up the steep grade change. I did about six of those with Jerry Leair until the last one when I realized I was really dehydrated I think, and it was HOT and HUMID. I had been drinking lots of coffee and I took a pre-race drink for the hard workout which is even more caffeine and I had not been drinking much water the days prior to Thursday. I have never had so much trouble catching my breathe. HR was down to like 130's and I was still breathing hard, thats when it started to freak me out a little. We rode away from Lapham taking it easy, talking about what it could be, after thinking about the last few days consumption of caffeine and lack of water I slammed 2 bottles and within 30 mins of riding back to O-Town real easy I was all better. I tried the first min of HR 180's+ and all systems were GO! We went 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 mins. At the hill I thought it was going to be a horrible ride, but by the end of the pyramid it felt amazing to get some hard efforts in. Weekly Grandma meal on Thursday nights with family was a great way to end the day, good conversation about life, guidance, and riding with Grandpa.
Friday I was tired from the effort, but Lindsay was all about doing her long ride together, which ended up being awesome family time. We packed up the kids in two different Burleys and rode to Frame park in Waukesha for a picnic and play, forgot sunblock though, stopped and got some but the damage was already done. Being Hispanic I tend to just lightly burn and then tan quickly, but Lindsay gets Crazy Painful burns which we been tending to the last couple days :(

Rode home and saw a bunch of the Madison to Chicago 200 mile runners on the Glacial Drumlin trail, such a cool event! 4 hours total with burleys in tow....Recovery? Then today was suppose to be race pace with Kyle and Maybe Kevin Klug if I could get a hold of him, but the trails were closed till noon, and Lindsay still needed a ride, so we decided on a team ride, Kyle, Lindsay, and myself, after my brother Byron's graduation Brunch and ceremony. Tried to get down there in time to dodge the rain, but got a little ways into the connector and BAM, TORRENTIAL DOWN POAR. I mean I have never been in a storm like that before on my bike. Riding through rivers while feeling like your in a fire hydrant. Plus Lightning all around, thunder and crazy wind, it was kinda scary for a few minutes. Got off the trails pretty quickly to keep from trail damage and "poaching", but we were parked by Emma anyways so it was mostly rocky stuff that ya can't really do too much damage too, and I believe its all getting rebuilt over there anyways.

Tomorrow were having a B-Day party for the girls, Charis just turned 1 yr on May 22nd and Asa is turning 4 yr's on the 14th of June. Time to sleep.... Intervals early tomorrow and lots of prep for party.
Thanks for reading!
Nathan

Wausau Report

I got a nice call up, took dead center on the line. Usually I don't like to be here cause if ya don't hammer it for the lead out the pack comes around ya. I didn't really think about it and had no plan beside watch where Jesse, Marko, and this guy go and follow. At GOOOO!, I ended up doing this


and goats got a video of the first corner with a crash on the right if ya watch for it.

Usually I am scared of the lead out but I found myself there and just decided to ride within a comfortable pace till someone decides to come around me. Eppen was first on the first little climb, followed by the expected peeps, Phillips, Lalonde bro's, B-Matter, Tristan, Ben Moore, Pearsio (spelling?). Made sure I remained top ten going into the first climb and just hung onto that train. We had a gap by the top of the second climb and I just recovered as much as I could in the single track, Pearsio called out the 1st of many flats and pulled over. The group rode steady till we hit the back end of the 1st lap. Tristan and Moore had some trouble in the single track I think, but I was on the back so I couldn't really tell. But I think Jesse knew there was a gap from some crashing cause I saw him spinning like 1 million RPM's on the front on the flats between single track. Eppen and Marko made the break, rest of us chased. We kept them in sight till Phillips flatted and the train was broken up. I think Moore was doing most the pulling to close the gap cause he went from the front to popped off the back in a matter of seconds. So Matter, Tristan and I rode the next lap and a half together.

I tried taking pulls when I could, mostly in the climbs, they were definitely pulling me around on the flats. We each would come out front around the same places each lap, I would just ride my pace and try not to go over board, they never came around me till I would move over, so I guess it was enough.
Then in the first downhill rocky section of lap three I saw and heard all types of stans and air flying out in front of me and, both of them flatted, and there goes my power train. Here's a pic of solo riding lap 3.

I even said "dang it"! and I was thinking maybe I can hold off the chasers solo with all the wide open sections. I did keep them at bay for a lap and then at that same section they flatted I saw a group of four coming right before the long rocky climb. Looking back now, I should not have sat up, but I thought they would be much fresher then I was working together and I could rest a bit, latch on and attack at the end of the lap.
I was wrong, they came on slower then anticipated, I held the lead soft pedaling into the climb and even had a gap to where I could not see anyone when we left the rocky single track climb. You can see part of the chase at the end of this video. at about 4:00.

Once they latched back on about half way through the lap, I found myself with Paul, Bender, and somebody from Colorado i have never met before. They left me out front till I finally pulled over to let someone else pull and moved to the back on a slight uphill, and as soon as I did Paul put the hammer down. I was expecting Bender, who was in front of me to respond, but i think he had wasted all his power catching back up after getting caught up in that crash at the start. It was a moment of truth and I decided to settle for a battle with Bender instead of making it hurt to latch back on. After a sip of water and sitting on for a min I attacked going into some of the last sections of single track and was able to hold Bender off and found myself within sight of Paul and Colorado dude, but too little too late.

Coming into the finish

Ended sixth, best WORS finish ever!

I am pretty excited with this result, especially since I am jsut starting to get into my intensity workouts. I hope to see even more improvement as I get closer to peak. :)

Thanks to all our sponsors for making this possible, Dad/Mr Tree for all the support( LOVE YA, could not do this without ya!), Bicycle Doctor for an awesome L.B.S., 1st Endurance for the best Products EVER!, F.A.S.T. for helping me with my training program, and Grandpa (Brian Steinke) for the best coaching advice and mentoring a Grandson could have.

Lindsay had a Great race and said she felt really strong. She moved her brakes and shifters in a bit before the race and said she was able to ride the technical stuff faster then ever before with her hands closer together. I think her words were "Oh i can balance on a bike and not feel out of control". Or something like that LOL.
Here is a great pic of her start

And a nice smiler

Ninth overall and 5th in age group, pretty good considering like 3 out of state pros were ahead of her. I think she had a personal best amongst the usual contenders.

I couldn't find any pics of kyle, but you can see his crash in this VIDEO where he ummmmm, knocks the family jewels and in his words "loses all his adrenaline" along with his second place and drops back a few. He is around 2:40 and you can see Lindsay at around 6:45.

LONG POST......

Thanks for reading if ya made it this far :)

Wausau-6th!

Its late, pics and report tomorrow...