Fall Colors Fest - Kettle

Here is Kenny's race report....

First time racing the Fall Colors Festival at Kettle Moraine.
Team: Iron Cycles
Rider: Ken Dorado

Earlier in the week prior to the week I checked out the forecast near and around Kettle Moraine. The weekend forecast of the Kettle Moraine - Fall Colors race started out looking pretty grim. Here's what I discovered: Rain Thursday - Wind Friday - Rain Saturday. I wasn't looking forward to a muddy race and slogging back home with pruned up fingers and some other unmentionable body parts.

Closer to race day the weather lightened up enough for me to get a glimpse of hope for a fairly manageable race. I pulled the trigger and decided to race it.

- The 25 Miler -

I rode up with some friends (Anthony and Felbert) who ride the local trails and make this event the race to make every year. So, I followed in the hype and chose to ride the 25 miler. Least to say I'm glad I did it.

By the time we got to Kettle Moraine we had about 30 minutes to spare - register, pre race pee/poop (which ever is your fancy) and line up. Oh yeah, I forgot, part of my pre race regimend is to check and recheck my equipment and gear... so I got to the bathroom with 4 minutes to spare at the line. As I rode up to the line, the smell of burger patties being grilled and music filled the air. A very festive and upbeat ambiance. I ended up about 50 people from the front out of a crowd of about 95 riders.

One more thing ...

Oh yeah, I should probably include warming up in my pre-race prep, that day I ended up using the first part of the race as a warm up and gauge to see where I was at in the pack.
And they're off ...

I easily sped away from the riders behind me and avoided a couple of crashes with riders who may have touched tires. I also encouraged my friends, who rode up with me, as I cruised by them. Once the first section of the race was out of the way (the Brown Loop) we entered into the first section of the Blue trail. If you've never been to Kettle Moraine, I recommend you go and get aquainted with the trails. The Blue Loop has got alot of what a mountain biker looks for in a ride (minus mountains). This is a fast, hilly, rocky, sandy, technical, fun, annoying and pleasing (once you complete it) loop to ride.

Since it's been about 2 years since I've ridden this trail, (which happened to only be one time) it's safe to say that I have no clue what the race was going to look like. I basically used the first half of the race to navigate and use the riders ahead of me as guides - yeah there were alot of riders for me to use as guides. I passed - and got passed by - riders, so it was a bit of give and take.

Throughout the trail system, the conditions of the ground vary from dirt, sand and gravel. At one section, Sandy Bottom, I ended up challenging a tree at a corner... bad choice... I ended up getting a little bit of shell shock, had to give up two spots (one which I regained) and did a quick health check to make sure nothing was broken. Aside from a sore shoulder, cut ear, and remounted front wheel all was good. I used that opportunity to take a couple of quick breathes to gather myself and rehydrate.

And they're off ... again ...

As I mentally marked where I body slammed that tree, I targeted myself to take catch up and take on those who just passed me. Shoot, I worked hard for those spots, I planned on getting them back.

Which way? That way! <- or ->?

Literally, you know you're not going hard when you end up at an intersection and have a conversation with another racer trying to figure out exactly what the race directors were thinking when they laid out a misleading intersection. Don't get me wrong, they had signage but it was either not enough or too little. Two directional signs with one pointing straight and another pointing right, both next to each other. At the time I was already going straight as I asked about 5 times "Straight or right? Straight or right?"... an easy 2 minutes lost and about 5 spots given up with that debacle.

Thankfully, there was someone there the second time around. The answer was to go straight and then the trail loops around. Hopefully if they choose to use that route again they build a bridge there next time or just reroute.

... Rinse and repeat...

Feeling good about knowing that I'm more than half way through with the race, I push lap 2 a little harder. After passing the start/finish line, I came up to one of my friends, Felbert. I rode and chatted with him for a little bit. Thinking "Did I just lap him? Am I that wicked fast now?" - now this was going to bug me for the rest of the race and annoy the car poolers on the way home. Oh well (more on that later), thinking that I theoritcally may have lapped him, it gave me some more juice to tread on and see if I could catch up to Anthony.

... Side to side and around the corner ...

As I pushed myself harder I caught up to a couple more 25 mile riders (red numbers)... this was a good feeling considering I was still getting over a cold and I was ready for biological warfare with all the snot rockets I was firing off throughout the race. I even caught up to a good number of 14 mile riders (blue numbers) who started 30 minutes after I did. They were kind enough to pull over to the side. One (minus bike) even flew over a berm in a hasty attempt to get out of the way. **chuckle**

... Conquering fears ...

After flying through most of the second loop, I passed Sandy Bottom where I crashed, caught up to more 25 and 14 milers and battled up the technical climbs. (Note: baby head rocks, as I call them, are a pain in the butt to navigate around, you're better off riding over them if you can)

... Thank you mister course marshall ...

By the time I got to the intersection for the second time, there was a course marshall directing traffic, again riders were intersecting as though there was a stop light there... not cool but I guess it's part of the race (really my only gripe of the race).

I finally got to the final and most dificult hill of the race, a rutty and rock ridden section, I passed up a rider who was conversing with hecklers about her morning breakfast. It went something like this... "You can do it! This is the last hill before the end!" They said to her. "I just had McDonald's for breakfast...'gurgle'..." She said, walking the bike up. As I rode by her, I honestly admitted that I had McD's too and then some, she politely said that I hope I _____ it out... Well you could fill in the blanks.

... Time for a final pose ...

On the down hill right before the trail head (finish line), I posed for the photographer going about 20 miles an hour. Probably not the best idea but it's an indicator that I know I'm having a good time - which is important to me.

I ended up finishing 40th out of 87 (not counting DNF's)

... Done ...

BTW - We concluded that I did not lap Felbert, he passed me up when I was trying to figure out to right or straight in the first lap at the misconstrued intersection. Anthony, DNF'd due to a mechancial - putting down too much torque to the cranks.

Lesson's Learned
- Preparation is key
- Ride within your means
- Have fun
- Pain is weakness leaving the body

Church Cross - ready for a new season

Ed, Chase, Brandon and I completed our pre season preparation with the Church Cross practice race at a super secret location along the Des Plaines river trail.

Here is all you need to know about Team IC as we head into the 2010 season.

Ed - he flats a lot, but he should be fast once he learns to ride a little more delicately.

Brandon - He's fast. He has hardly raced at all this summer but he is going to come out of nowhere and surprise a lot of people.

Chase - This guy could be rookie of the year. If he knew how to pre-register for races, I would pick him to be the next Russ Kuryk in the cat 4A's.

Me (Ted) - I've spent a lot less time training for tri's this summer and spending that time cycling. I'm theoretically faster than I've ever been, recording new highs in my 1 min. and 5 min. power output in the past week. Unfortunately on a power profile chart that puts me just slightly above the level of an untrained slug. Racing savvy and bike handling are my forte anyway, but still, the power is better than last year.

Based on our team practices and late summer races, there's a whole bunch of other IC riders to watch out for. Look for Katie, Kristina, and Beebe to make big improvements this year.

party over here, party over there

The Chicago Cyclocross Cup kickoff party is at Iron Cycles tonight from 4 - ????.

Stop by to say hi and get some food and drinks.

Vuelta a Berwyn

Yesterday I completed my 3 week Vuelta a Berwyn. The tour consisted of 24 straight days of riding on average 3 hours a day in and around the Chicago-land area. Stages included mountain bike races, cross races, team rides, Spider Monkey rides, night stages, off road stages, a time trial, 2 a days, etc.

I finished the final stage with Ed Bagley but he had to get swept up by the sag wagon due to a broken crank arm. So I had to complete the tour alone, no fans lining Sacramento Boulevard as I rode the final few miles home.

The legs are tired. And so is the butt. Why do I think of Wayne Simon every time I apply chamois cream?

Now it is time to rest and then start training for cross.

xXx Relay followup

With the first day of CX racing for 2010 under my belt I had to report in. I have spent my summer thinking about cross, and it was everything I was looking forward to!

Although, yesterday was the first day I can remember in a long time (since I was about 7 years old) that I was wishing were older! One year off from being able to race Masters, and without a female partner for the co-ed, I was left with only one choice: the 1/2/3 race.

I had low expectations but high hopes going into the race. I've shed a ton of weight for this season and added some power to boot, but with guys like Mike Sherer, Mike Hemme, Scott McLaughlin, Brandon Leech, Newt Cole, etc etc, I knew a top-10 finish would be more than good to satisfy me.

Derrick took our first lap, and even though he had a great LeMans-type run, I botch up the hand off a bit. The organization of handing up had changed since he went to the start line, but we were off.

Finishing his first lap we were in 13th place, not a bad start at all! When I took off I had two guys immediately ahead of me, but they were working together on the fast sections and I was just out of touch about 40 feet behind.

Coming out of the only technical section, a set of off-camber turns and a barrier, I stood and sprinted along some pavement and closed the gap on those two. We then had a toilet bowl, a couple more turns, a barrier, then a long straight. I went all out and got around both of them on the straight just in time to tag off to Derrick.

A few more laps go by, and now the field is spread out. For me that's the hardest part, making yourself sprint with no one around. But out of each corner I tell myself: if you aren't sprinting you're losing time, because someone else is.

About 10 laps in a guy ahead of me washes out in the toilet bowl and rolls both of his tubbies. Something has changed in my thinking because even though we were going hard through there, I didn't dabble a bit, changed my line, and stayed really smooth. I thought that put us in 10th.

A few more laps down and I hear the bell for Derrick, which means I get the last lap. Knowing this was it, I went all out. I looked down at my Garmin less than 1 minute into the lap and my HR is 187. Awesome. This is what I needed.

I throw my bike over the barrier, remounted quickly and was off to the off-camber section. This has been getting looser and looser because of all of the riding, but I wasn't about to run it! I clicked into my small ring and stayed back on my rear wheel: no problem.

A couple more hard sprints, a few more corners, and it's over.

9th place for Derrick and I in the 1/2/3 race. Take out a couple of teams that we all knew would be top-5 (assuming no technical issues) and we were better than I could have hoped for.

Now back to the grind, a couple more good weeks of training and starving!

(Photo credit to Nikki Cyp)

Sexy is Back

Photo: Nikki Cyp

To kickoff the start of the cyclocross season, XXX Racing hosted a unique tag team cyclocross race in Jackson Park.

Iron Cycles represented in a big way with riders in almost every category race throughout the day.

The weather was super hot and for the Co-ed race Katie, Kristina, and I decided to race in briefs for aerodynamic advantage and to stay cool. We looked super hot as well if I do say so myself.

I wanted to race shirtless and Sharpie my number on my back, but Katie said there was some kind of rule that required racers to have sleeves covering their arms. Next year I am going to outsmart the officials and go with a Speedo sans shirt and arm warmers.

I don't know if results matter much in this race, but it looks like we had some pretty good results. Kristina continued her streak as the podium princess and was on the podium twice today, with Katie in the woman's open, and with me in the co-ed open.

It's going to be a fun season.

Palos Meltdown

This past weekend Iron Cycles had a big turnout at the Palos Meltdown.

Making his dirt debut in the Comp class, the indomitable Steven Van Deven won the race. Also making her mountain bike debut after an 8 year hiatus, Kristina Young finished second overall in the Sport race (1st Age Group).

Watch out for them this cross season.

Also racing were Derrick, Tim, Mike and I. Additionally, Sophia was instrumental in providing race support and cookies for weary racers.