Mr Tree Racing ready to ROCK!

Feeling the love from PowerBar this week as just part of our supplies came in.  We have been using their products in training and racing for years  and have loved their perfect combination of performance and great taste!  Personal favorite is the original chocolate with a cup of coffee or espresso before rides and during the long base miles in the basement or out on cold winter roads.  We will be handing out some drink samples at the races,  so look for the big banner.

Mr Tree Racing 2nd place at 3 hrs of Northern Kettle Moraine Wisconsin

After an extremely long week of training I decided to top it off with the 3 hour race at the Northern Kettle Moraine Trail system.  These trail are so deceiving.   It is either up or down there and lots of off camber very bumpy stuff.  Darrin had a high tempo day planned and I could not even match that after burying myself deeper in the hurt locker than I ever have before this week. 

The week prior to this race was Rhinelander Sunday, which is hands down the hardest course in the WORS series.

Then  60 miles endurance on Monday.

 

Tues. night Gun Show in Waukesha.

Bone Ride to Madison and back Wednesday, Extra Large Smoothie and Strong coffee on State Street helped finish off 140 mile day.

Race Saturday.

4 hours of Southern Kettle Trail system on Sunday. 

Legs are so cashed right now I think the rest of the week is chill rides.  If I feel recovered by Wednesday or Thursday I will open up the throttle with some top secret training before the Trek Big Ring Classic this weekend.

 

Photo Credit Brittany Nigh, Ronsta

Mr Tree Racing + PowerBar = Awesome!

We are extremely excited to welcome PowerBar on as our sponsor for all things related to sports nutrition performance!Make sure to look for PowerBar’s presence and maybe some free samples and/or nutritional information at up and coming races!

Their website is pretty cool too, you can find a link to them in our sponsors column over there -------->

Race and Rest

Race recap

Iola went well, not great, not bad, right in the middle of expectations, 6th overall.  I forgot how to race mountain bikes and for some reason thought it was no big deal that their was a small gap opening up to the leaders at the start.  I was under no distress, felt well under limit, and just thought the gap would be closed.  Well reality sunk in when they disappeared within half a lap.  Me, Matter, and Chris began to chase.

Lap two I dangled as the hills hit again and I was over taken by Macjei.  Not sure what hurt so bad because the rest of the race I felt fine there, then again I think me and Matter were both playing it very conservative for the rest of the race.  Caught back up with Macjei and we bridged to Matter and Chris, Chris immediately checked out  with cramps.  Macjei dropped off somewhere in lap 3, but was always a threat 10-30 seconds back.  Rest of race was damage control with Matter, learned a lot following him around about how I do not conserve energy well or know how to use a full-suspension well yet.  I tend to animal my way through a race instead of using the trail for its speed and efficiency.  I always thought of technical ability as how fast I can corner or ride through a “tech” section, but gaining and keeping momentum is whole other area I need to focus on to keep from wasting energy.  

Anyways I pulled most lap 4 and half of 5 and then said good job to Matter and he was gone.  Huge props to him to show up with hardly  any training and be able to pull off a podium, amazing!

I have definitely gained some ability on the flats over the winter with some added power, but my climbing has suffered a bit.  The extra 7-10 or so pounds from winter lifting is coming off quickly though and I think I can maintain my power. 

Feeling good lap 1

Dangling Lap 2

Hugging my water bottle as I get energized to bring’em back.

Shirpke’s are awesome!  Huge THANK YOU to Jack for doing awesome hand-ups!  Perfect communication and delivery!

Trying to push the pace.

Fooling myself

Dropped…..

It is hard to see, but the surprise on Hannah’s face is priceless…”OH YEA, this is what racing feels like.”

“Maybe I will get used to that feeling another day” :)  Hannah and Lindsay did really well though considering taking so much time off from focusing on training and racing.

Rest Week

This week is easy rides with a little speed work on the Doc Ride on Wednesday.  I actually trained right through Iola, so it was time for rest after a hard three week block, but the legs did not feel too tired, well, until Monday...  I was planning on doing something at 12 hrs of Stump Farm tomorrow, we will see what the weather looks like though.

I also got a few articles done while sitting around a lot with school out now.  Article on Iola Here and article on WEMS Here

Thanks for reading,

Nathan

Photo Credit: B. Nigh,  Bubba, and J. Senkerik.