XC Worlds 2008

Dave Breslin Podiums at Nationals

Congratulations to my teammate, coworker and friend Dave Breslin on his sterling ride at Nationals to grab a podium place and some major bragging rights. Look out midwest, it's game on for him from now on...

Marathon Worlds 2008

Did Christophe Sauser deviate from his line in the sprint, justifying his being relegated to second place? Judge for yourself.

Too Much Too Soon

It happens nearly every year, a talented rider whose previous exploits on a single stage of the Tour leads the collective cycling press to proclaim them a "future winner" of cycling's biggest race. This rider then spends the following season amassing results in lesser races to hammer home their potential and when the time comes to deliver the goods, they find themselves empty of the reserves that were to carry them through to victory. One of the most recent examples is Iban Mayo, whose win at Alpe D' Huez had many championing his obvious talent. Fearsome though he was on a good day in the mountains, it takes more than one spectacular day to win a three week bike race. One such day can net a rider a string of one week races, as Mayo proved time and again in 2004, but it is durability over thousands of miles that brings home cycling's biggest crown. It is with this in mind that I winced as I watched Alejandro Valverde storm through this year's Dauphine Libere, winning multiple stages (including a time trial) and the overall. Velo News even fell victim to the deception by running the same headline it ran when Mayo won the Mont Ventoux time trial in '04. That he then won his national championships with ease and the very first stage of the Tour confirmed that his peak of form had come tragically early in the summer for him to be considered a true contender to the crown of the 2008 Tour. For many riders, a stage win in Le Grand Boucle and a stint in the yellow jersey would mark the highlight of their season if not career. Unfortunately for Valverde, he had set his sights on yellow in Paris, not Brittany, and as such, it will be hard for cycling enthusiasts to view his 2008 bid as anything but a mistimed failure following his undoing on the slopes of the Tourmalet. By all standards, this year marks his best season to date, but if he truly wishes to top the podium on the Champs Elysees, Valverde will have to learn to suspend his formidable June form for three weeks to make a genuine run for the final maillot jaune in Paris...

Photograph copyright 2008 Graham Watson

Alpe D' Huez 1986

STXC

The race begins as I attempt to force thoughts of the previous week's suffering to the back of my mind and focus on the task at hand. Seven days prior I was deep and inexplicably in the red, struggling to survive and being passed by most of my competitors. That I inevitably finished 13th is of little consequence, the battering my Landahl induced confidence had taken was the main issue. Despite being a newstyle of racing for me, I had expected better and was frustrated to say the least.

Fortunately, the local STXC series is a weekly event with regular chances of redemption and with this in mind, I ignored the blackening skies and personal insecurity and left the shop for Castlewood and what I hoped would be confirmation that the fitness is on the upswing, rather than plumetting to the depths as I was beginning to think.

The race began on a slightly altered and reverse course to the previous week and the relief was instant. The legs were there and I was not immediately gasping for oxygen. The top experts were slightly off the front in a group of five and I was in the first chase group with Kocelski pulling followed by Laberta, myself and Scott bringing up the rear. Albert hung between the groups. After sitting in for two laps, Scott came around and Laberta surged to pass Kocelski. I followed and held Laberta's'wheel while Scott slowly pulled away on his cross bike. At lap's end, I came around Laberta and tried to set a pace that would both separate us from the rest of the race and potentially unhook any stragglers. At the end of this lap I was alone chasing and worked my way up to Albert who completed the lap with me in tow. Through the start finish I took the lead of our two man group and pulled. Mid lap, a single speed rider from Seagal passed us and while he was in sight for a while, his superior state of mind allowed him to pull away. The next three laps have me pulling Albert and all the cheers through the start/finish are for him to keep going and such. With four laps to go it starts sprinkling and with three laps to go the skies open with a deluge. The course, which had been tacky and firm, is now pooling with water and rapidly turning to slime. I nearly lose it on every corner and have to back it off a bit to stay upright. This plays right into Albert's hand who attacks me through a corner on the last half lap and holds the gap to the line..I narrowly held off Metz who came up to me at the the end, but a well executed slow motion sprint kept me in eight place, fulfilling my goal of a top ten placing and restoring a bit of my bruised confidence.

Afterwards, there was much beer and food for us to watch the B/C's race in much muddier conditions and I kept thinking about the amazing time I'd had and how it was a taste of what's to come for cross season. The downpour was a blessing and a reminder of the beauty of off road competition. The rain's only blemish was my inability to see through the new super optics, but they will come out again soon enough. In the meantime, I will remember my mud splattered grin and hope for the form that I believe is building...

Landahl

Saturday June 21st saw a group of four Mesa riders driving across the great state of Missouri to contest the final round of the Heartland Sports series held at the pristine trail system at Landahl Reserve in Blue Springs the following day. After a brief stop in Columbia for Dave to eat a pizza and the rest of us to get heckled by some crusties, we arrived at the Pear Tree Inn for a sound nights sleep and a free breakfast the following day. Waking saw the usual intake of yogurt, oatmeal, bananas and much coffee and we set the Impreza's sights on the battleground.

Upon arriving, we had enough time for a pre-ride warmup lap. The course was in amazing shape and was just moist enough to be tacky and few, if any mud spots. This was an amazing deviation from the non stop rain and subsequent mud bogs that have plagued our season and led this particular series to cancel two of its races. It was fast with little climbing and incredibly twisty, the sort of course that brings a smile to my face.

Our expert race was run with a mass start and scored by age groups. So, while I wasn't racing all of the 35 people I lined up with, I treated the race as if I was and it was the largest field I've started in during my humble racing career. The siren went off at 12:05 and the group strung out through the field up to the single track. A poor position on the line and poor starting skills had me in an undesirable spot, but I was able to cut off about six people through the switchback going into the singletrack. Instantly, the Breslin freight train of eight semi-pros and top experts was off and I was at the back of a six man chase group behind. I tried to move up before the climb, but everyone else in the line shut down my efforts. I opted to not go to far in the red before the main challenge of the course, a steep and short loose rock climb. There was chaos on the climb which split the chase group. Being on the wrong end of the group, I now found myself in a second chase group. Through the tight single track and into the field, I could see the rest of the race ahead and began to try and close the gap. Following the second field and into the final bit of singletrack, I had passed a few people when I lost my front wheel and wrapped myself around a tree. This was highly counterproductive and led to me being passed by everyone I had just gone by.

Going into the second lap, I was alone, but I began to see a group of riders ahead. I passed a rider from the Wheel and caught Tom Albert in the second field. I made sure to get in front of him going into the final single track and continued to ride clean. I kept bouncing off trees as I weaved through them, but luckily, I no longer felt the need to hug one. Keevan caught us toward the end of that lap, but an untimely flat put and end to his bid for a perfect season. As Tom and I went into the third lap, he told of a group of three 360 riders ahead who were pacelining all the open sections, but were riding poorly in the technical parts. In the first field, they were in sight, but 45-50 seconds up. By the end of the next singletrack section heading into the field, they were at about fifteen seconds. I went as hard as I could through the field, putting them about ten seconds up. In the final run through Tasty Goodness, Tom and I caught some sport riders who crashed into him , knocking him off and I never saw him again. Towards the end of this section, I managed to catch all the 360 riders and pick my way through them. Very satisfying.

The fourth lap saw two 360 riders catch me before the climb, but after the climb and ensuing singletrack, I never saw them again. The rest of the lap saw me pick off two more riders and go on to finish 6th in my age group and 14th overall. The results don't say much, but I felt very strong and the last half of my race went very well. I also pulled myself closer to several racers who are traditionally much faster. Additionally, time gaps were reduced to a manageable amount and I can actually think of someday riding at the top. I can see myself improving and it feels good to actually race competitively in such a big field. If my progress continues, the upcoming months and years might see a new level of focus from me. The short tracks are just around the corner and will provide me with an opportunity to improve speed and handling. I hope this trajectory continues...

Congratulations to Dave for a HUGE win against a stacked field of semi-pros and former national champions. Congratulations to Drew for his sport class win, we'll see him in the expert field next year. Sympathy for Christopher and Keevan for their ill luck, next race will be better. The White Wave keeps rollin...