New, New, New….!

Happy New Year!

No post since the last weeks of November, but I have some lame…I mean good excuses.  Finished my Senior Thesis the first two weeks of December.

Then we got ready for and did Christmas with 5 different families including our nuclear one, all while sponsor hunting and getting ready for…

New Baby!

On Monday December 26th 2011 we welcomed our 4th child and 2nd son into the world!

Micah Joseph Guerra

New Vlog!

To start off the New Year I have begun a Vlog on YouTube along with some live streaming of my training.  It is all a little rough right now as it was a spur of the moment decision, but I plan on getting all the bells and whistles to make it crisp, clean, and entertaining.  It should be updated close to daily and can be found on the upper left panel of my blog (reading on remote sites click this link) or here at my YouTube channel.  SUBSCCRIBE AND SHARE!

Here is the New Years Eve ride from my webcam on Facebook that inspired the whole idea…

New Coach!

With big goals for 2012 and BEYOND, I have decided to take on a coach.  It was a year in making the decision.  After combing through and searching for the best possible ways to get faster on the bike I found that my new coach Danny Kaukola with FueltheBurn.com was the best fit for what I am trying to accomplish.  You can find his website now linked on my blogs right panel and he will probably be doing some guest appearances via Skype on my Vlog and even here on the blog.

New Training!

With a new coach, new vlog, and new season fast approaching the training is in full-swing already.  The plan is changing quite a bit with Danny’s help in modifying the areas I was lacking on my own.  Looking forward to a big year, with big results.  Lots of returning sponsors and new sponsors to back it all up.  Stay tuned for race schedule, sponsor announcements, and product reveals! HERE WE GO 2012! 

Thanks for reading and watching,

Nathan

Technorati Tags: Happy new year,2012,Training,Coaching,new baby,Nathan Guerra,Vlog,Mountain Bike,Pro,WORS

Iceman and Off-Season

Been a few weeks, but since it is possibly the biggest mountain bike event in the nation, Iceman deserves a write up. 

 

I Headed over to Traverse City, Michigan on Friday, November 4th with Cole House.  Had amazing accommodations from the Owner’s at Six One Six Fabrication.  Awesome people making some sweet snow bikes and 650b/29er bicycles!

 

Race Day:

Had a nice breakfast with the best of the mid-west all pictured here from left to right, Matter, Schouten, House and myself on his wheel.  Sweet potatoes were a secret weapon for both Matter and I.  Included in the line-up below is a World Champion, a World’s Podium finisher, and multiple National Champions/top ten in the Nation…Mid-West had our work cut out for us.

Here is a video of the Pro men’s start.

 

I have only raced the Pro Race here once before, so I am still slightly inexperienced.  My preparation in training and how to manage the insanity of this start was much better than last year. Making the lead group was almost too easy, I was deceptively within my limits, and I never made much of an effort to be 1st-5th wheel.  For the first quarter of the race I was riding toward the back not being too aggressive.  This race is all about positioning and I found out the hard way! 

 

While jamming motivation through his speakers on the way to the Start Cole warned me he was going to attack at “Tornado Alley”, I said “Uhh, OK”…thinking where or what the heck is tornado alley…images of Kansas and Todo in mind. 

 

Lead group a few miles into the 2011 Iceman.

 

So when the tornado came I was hanging out at the back, come to find out this was the first pivotal section of single-track and I was literally the last one in amongst 15 or so riders.  I was still pretty comfortable, but quickly realized some of those in front of me were not and the race was leaving in a hurry.  I took every opportunity to move up, but when moving up during attacks you have to be riding significantly faster than those attacking at the front of the field.  People were cracking left and right as I was moving up, came by Cole House, Matt Shriver, and one of the Fluckiger brothers.  Made it to J. Bishop’s wheel at the back, but I had already muscled by 7 or so riders during interspersed open sections,  once latched back on to the lead group the redline had been pushed.  A few climbs later and I was soft pedaling and waiting for the chase group to come up…

Not bad company though, with a world champ in group.  With about 10k to go Troy Wells came back to our group as well.  I was a bit frustrated as the legs were good and was out of contention due to positioning. Although one of the highlights of the day was yelling “C’MON SWISS” to a World Champ as I encouraged him to get on my wheel after a bad line through a sand pit!   We were smiling.

I waited for the climbs to start toward the end of the race and as soon as we hit “The Wall”, which kicks off a series of climbs till the end of the race, I attacked hard at the front.  Matt Shriver and Christian Tanguy were able to follow and we had a gap.  Shriver came around to pull and threw an elbow for me to pull through soon after but I was timid.  This was a bad move on my part, Wells, Fluckiger, and Isaac Neff came back to us. 

It was at this point that I saw the lead group just around the corner, I couldn’t believe it!  We were reeling them back in and I told Shriver we gotta go!  Not sure if the group understood me in the midst of the heart pounding, but I pushed it up the climbs hard and Shriver/Wells pulled along the flats.  

Coming into the venue area I was set to win the sprint for the chase group with Wells, Matthias Fluckiger, Christian Tanguy, and Matt Shriver.  It was not to be though, Wells bobbled on a downhill dropping his chain right in front of my bike.  Brought to a full stop I watched while everyone else glided away, a gap had opened I HAD to close.  Brought it back just as the attacks started and that was game over…was fighting for 8th but rode in solo settling for 11th.

Solo ride to the finish

There are Great, Good, and Sub-Par results, this was edging into the last category. The field was tough, so in hindsight I am happy.

Last year I was physically and tactically unprepared, this year just tactically, next year I will put them both together and hopefully be fighting it out in the front.  Full Results Quite the field!

 

So now that it is the Off-Season we get to watch all the CX crazies suffer.  Been following Cyclingdirt for U.S. racing, screaming at my computer screen for Matter and Schouten representing the Mid-West.  Also, been following the Superprestige and World Cups.

Controversy on this one this past week with Sven Nys and Pauwels. 

Question of the day:

What do you think, should Nys have been relegated?

Answer in the comments section below or found here.

Stay tuned for plenty of 2012 announcements and training preparations.

Nathan

Technorati Tags: Iceman 2011,off-Season,sven Nys,pauwels,koksijde,race report,Pro,cyclocross,mountain bike

Peak2Peak

Peak2Peak Oct. 14th-15th

After the Sheboygan race Cole House and I were talking about what to do till Iceman.  I said “rest and train, nothing else going on”.  He was nice enough to invite me to a race across the Lake in Lower Michigan called Peak2Peak.  Awesome race venue, classic Michigan venue environment with tons of energy and hype around the race.  Course left a bit to be desired, but with a few additions of single-track and trails on the amazing ski hill they have it has potential to be an epic event!  Not to mention the resort is one of the most beautiful places I have ever stayed, simply amazing!

Cole’s new MTB sponsor SixOneSix put us up for the weekend, for which I am so very grateful.  Awesome laid back people, all about supporting the Mountain Bike scene.  Check them out at Iceman if your heading over this November, 5th.  They should have some good venue space setup.

3 lap race on a 10 mile Course which lent to a small group of 6-7 riding roadie style through fairly wide, flat, winding single track for 3/4 of the lap and then THE HILL…I think it was the longest continual hill climb I have done all year.

Here is Mike Anderson leading us up the climb at the end of lap 1, followed by Cole House, Myself, Jordan Wakeley, Christian Tanguy, Alex Vanias, and Derek Graham.  It was obvious this was where the race would be decided.  Cole and I had a plan, we wanted to go 1-2…and when your driver/host is the competition who gets to win the sprint? 

I never really have had the chance to work as a team on Mountain Bikes.  Of course on the road, but never had the chance to really play out anything on the Mountain Bike.  we controlled the race well and attacked from 1st or second wheel when we wanted…tons of fun. 

Going into the last climb Cole followed my wheel and I just punched it hard right at the bottom, immediately we had a 10 second gap.  We held off a strong chasing Christian Tanguy to the line.  Coming down the back side of the hill I was nice enough to hold back a bit on the Jedi Knight skills and Cole pulled off the Win in another sprint finish. Cole almost gave me the Win on accident, as I sprinted I was also yelling “go left”, Cole was in a full on sprint into the lap area instead of the finish shoot.  Laughed about that quite a few times during the 8 hour drive home that night…well worth it though since Michigan knows how to give out semi-decent prize pools!

Next up is a go at the BIG MONEY in a little over a week.  Training is coming along very well with some of the best numbers on the power meter I have ever seen.  All year I train in limbo of focus.  With so many races going on and different goals, I tend to want to be strong in everything and never really build my intensity well over a 3-4 week period for a very specific event.  With Iceman being so far removed from any of my major racing focuses I have been able to just build very specifically for this race. 

I also feel as though my  knowledge of how  to train and coach has really matured over  this year.  I am really starting to nail down how my body peaks and exactly what it responds best too in training.  No pressure or anything…, but I am very excited to see how this comes together next week Saturday.  Hopefully I will be able to keep the podiums coming and I will be more than happy with that amongst this crowd! Search the Pro field with no name inserted.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

What are your top ten Iceman predictions? 

Answer honestly, no offense taken at all if I am not in there!

For those reading through a remote feed you can answer in comments sections found here.

All is new, nothing is mundane it is only in You,

Nathan

 

Technorati Tags: Iceman,Mountain Bike,Nathan Guerra,Michigan,cole House,racing,peak2Peak,training,peaking

Sheboygan

WORS #12 Wigwam MTB Challenge Oct. 8th-9th

Fitness was peaked and I knew I had winning legs for the WORS finale during my pre-ride Saturday, especially after I did a hot lap for Don and the race director to check Elite lap times.

I tend to want the hole shot to see if I can put the pressure on right away, so what am I doing in the picture below…8 wheels back???  Rear cog “ghost” shifted all the way to the first single-track.  Fought a bit for it, but eventually made my way to the front.  Lead group quickly formed  with 3 of us, Mike Phillips, Cole House, and myself after half a lap.

Equalizer hill climb play by play photos. They pay ya $5 at the top just for climbing this thing clean with no foot dabs, if you can grab it while your tongue hangs over the handle bars along with your head..  

Slick-Rock drops are sweet!

After 2 Laps I went to the front and drilled it, had a good gap but didn’t fully commit to the solo ride.  Cole was able to come back and the games began!

Lap traffic neutralized the race on the last 2 laps though.  We would attack only to be immediately held up by traffic, eventually we just laughed it off and settled into dodging human obstacles till the last half lap.  Cole and I were pretty evenly matched, but I felt  had the best legs going into the last half lap.  I just could not find anywhere to get by him, it was almost comical as I tried to attack only to be forced into a dismount due to lap traffic with 1/8 of a mile to the finish line!  Ended in a Sprint finish with some lap traffic in the way. 2nd overall with a 1 second split, good racing!

Had a few shifting/sprinting issues, thought they could be worked with a little lube in the shifter housing prior to the race…NOPE, should have changed them out after the mud race at Bear Paw. Lack of maintenance probably cost me this race. Anytime I tried to sprint the bike would ghost shift and lose all momentum.  Every move I made had to be a “wind-up”.  Guess you can tell it is the end of the season, plus there is very little time for maintenance with school and sponsor searching.  Parts have seen a whole season of racing and were on edge these last two races…

Here is a post race interview.  Not sure why, but some computers have trouble with the sound and others do not.

Next Up…

October 14th-15th Peak2Peak race report tomorrow!

As the focus starts to shift from racing to school and off-season I am doing something new with the blog. Questions to think about and perhaps discuss in the comments section at the end of each post, about almost any topic.  Looking at the trees outside my window today I thought of this one…

Senses perceive reality, hopefully…but there are only 5…what does this mean for reality?

For those reading through a remote feed you can answer in comments sections found here.

All is new, nothing is mundane it is only in You,

Nathan

Technorati Tags: WORS,Sheboygan,Nathan Guerra,Mountian Bike,Racing,senses,perception,reality

Hiatus

Computer was in for warranty, been gone from the blog scene a while.  Here is what has been going on in the last month…

Rapid fire posts over the next 3 days starting with where we left off, the double header weekend  Sept. 24-25th

Fall Color Festival Sept. 24th

This is my main training grounds on the bike, so it was break away and then just flow and have fun.

Nothing like 30 miles of single-track to open up the legs after a few rest days.

Bear Paw Rock-N-Roll Sept. 25th

Started with a good lead, but a busted cleat had me clipping out all race and…

well, the picture says it all…

Started pouring at the start line…Bad tire selection + broken cleat = rough day…

4th place Overall.

AMAZING Legs with little results was slightly frustrating…after 2 laps I figured out it was out of my control and let go of any thought of catching up to 1st-3rd.  That is when I started having tons of fun seeing how hard I could push myself whenever the bike was working, or how crazy I could get the bike swerving and maneuvering through non-existent lines in 6 inch deep mud.  Quite a few trees were checked and new lines created off trail.  Suddenly enjoying myself so much I was actually really disappointed when waved off course after lap 3.  They cut off a lap because the times were ridiculously long, it was turning into a marathon race due to the mud.

Onto the weekend of Oct. 8th-9th for the Sheboygan race re-cap tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

Treadfest & Chequamegon 40

Major time crunch right now, so media and press will have to suffice for Treadfest write-up.

If you have not heard I had an amazing day down in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin two weekends ago.  You should be able to piece together how it went from all the sources below…

Cyclingnews

 

For Kyle….double time!  One in my arms and the other arm looking forward to his presence.

Chequamegon Fat Tire 40 did not go as well.  I had really high hopes after such a great race the previous weekend, but a few things came together to make it one of my worst performances of the Year…  I swapped tires thinking it was a flat road race with minimum bumps, they were slower…much slower…

It was my first time doing the race and with the stacked field, including the Pro Tour boys Vande Velde and Mcartney in town, positioning was key!  I had very little idea of where to be for the lead group break…

But even so I would not have lasted long.  It was very obvious to me after the first ten minutes it was going to be a rough day.  Initially I made the lead group but with the Fall Season here my lungs are acting up again, could go really hard for 1-2 minutes MAX and then had to shut it down and recover forever.  This happened over and over again…anaerobic efforts were good, just anytime sustained oxygen was needed it was game over.   Constricted lungs and hacking stuff up, I have known this was coming and just neglected to schedule an appointment, so I am going to see the Doc tomorrow and hopefully back to using some of this peak fitness I have going on, always learning.  Next up is Fall Color Festival and Bear Paw this coming weekend!

Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Photo Credit: Amy Dykema, Jason Henry, Niki Frazier, Loren Beyer

Reforestation Ramble WORS #9, 2011

Don’t forget tonight is the first of many Ronsta rides at Lapham Peak State Park.  Great late season fitness tuner with riding for everyone, we do a social lap followed by hot laps at whatever pace people can handle.  People usually bring food to pass around by a bon-fire afterwards!  Always a great time.
A bit late but here is an update from 2 weekends ago at the Reforestation Ramble.
My daughter Asa had another Great Race taking 2nd in her 8 and under Age Group again, and a few other Vision youth had good races like Connor Mccoll and Andrew Guerra in this short video edit.  Marty Tank also found his way into one of the pics at the start of Connors race?  Asa sure knows how to give a good post race interview with all the Mountain bike lingo.

As for my race…
It is ironic how much fun you can have with people of whom, in just a few moments, you will give every ounce of effort in your body to get as far away from as possible!  The level of competition in the Wisconsin Off Road Series is amongst the best in the Nation, yet the camaraderie ranks just as high, with a growing sense of community.  The smiles at the Pro/Cat1 call-up line is becoming ritual to our bi-weekly brawl of cycling prowess.The Reforestation Ramble is usually anticipated to have a roadie type feel to the race, which this race did not disappoint in the latter laps, but the start this year was a bit different…IT WAS FULL THROTTLE from the word GO!

In this picture you can see the sling-shot coming from Ben Koenig on the far left.  He seemed to be on an HTC-Highroad lead out mission for the first mile or two. 

I decided to test the group and see if anyone wanted to push the pace along after Ben was done, but there was no real effort from anyone else.  In hindsight this effort was a mistake as it put me a little over limit right before the 1st single track, which is when I should be in place to make a move.  Cole House jumped to the front for the hole shot followed by Brian Eppen and I.  Cole got a sizable gap right away, which no one would, or maybe could, work together to chase and he was out of sight very soon.  I attempted the chase briefly but was over limit having worked way too much early on.  Eventually Matter went to the front and Tristan and I were the only ones able to follow.  We came back to Cole at about the half way point in the long 12 mile lap. 
Cole is a very experienced road racer and had his tactics planned, he was obviously resting as we came upon him.  As soon as the we bridged he started attacking hard into and out of each single track section.  I was at the back and suffering pretty bad from the yo-yo being created and when Tristan started throwing the elbow to come through I knew we may be in trouble.  I have not been over limit in a race like that since Subaru Cup I think.    Been a long 4 weeks straight of racing and my base might have been lacking a bit.

Tristan and I rode to recover for a bit and were caught by the chase group  a little ways into the 2nd lap, which made for a group of about 10 riders.  I rested a little but with that size group I tried to snap the elastic once or twice during the 2nd lap in the single track.  My legs were still not ready for a big effort so I shut it down and rested at the back till the start of the 3rd lap.  As soon as we hit the 1st single-track I started attacking in and out to whittle it down.  Tristan, Ted Hanes, and I were able to survive the efforts with 1/2 a lap to go.  I was the aggressor of the group and kept getting gaps but could not hold them off for long. 
There was a hilarious moment going into the last single track climb, pretty much the only semi-significant climbing section on the course.   My Dad was doing all my water hand-ups and he was like a ninja out on course showing up in the oddest places.  On lap 2 he was in the middle of no-where in the single track around a blind corner and all I heard was him yelling to take a water when suddenly  the bottle was in my face and I was grabbing it as I came around.  Talk about Star Wars speeder bike hand-ups!  So when it was down to just the 3 of us fighting for 3rd, I was going into full on attack mode trying to drop Tristan and Ted on this climbing section before the last straight away to avoid a sprint finish and suddenly my dad comes flying out the woods on my right running along side me at like 20 MPH…I am standing/sprinting uphill, but in need of water, and with Dad’s effort I could not let it go.  Somehow I grab the water while entering uphill single-track in a standing sprint while yelling at lap traffic that I am coming on the left and still get a gulp down and start descending while placing my water bottle in the holder.  Definitely had a few laughs and comments about my Dad’s ninja abilities and record breaking 50 yard dash.
Even with all that the attack didn’t stick and it was 3 of us coming into the last long straight away with Tristan leading and Ted trying to come around.  I was in good position for  the last corner and had a good jump left, but it was decided by lap traffic as Tristan was taken off-course trying to pass a lapped rider.  Pretty sure I had the best legs and sprint left amongst the 3 of us, but I think Tristan would have had 4th as Ted had to work really hard to get back to us in that final stretch.

Asa missed her podium so she got in on the Pro/Cat 1 action!
Thanks for watching and reading,
Nathan