Race Reports, Long Time Waiting

Well, I finally feel like I have the time to write about the last couple weeks of racing and such. Rewind back two weeks to race #4, the Subaru Cup; my first race back on the bike and only my second time on the mountain bike.
Obviously, not riding the mountain bike is a good way to start off on the wrong foot, but that's what is happening. Sometimes it feels as I am really becoming a roadie; for two reasons. First is that most of the mountain trails are quite far away and gas is expensive. Second, I can get a really good workout on the road, especially with lake drive. The ride has a lot of different scenery and I can go for as long as I want. Sometimes I wonder how far north the road goes... Maybe even to the Green bay area. Another thing that influences me riding on the road is that my mountain bike is living in a different house, 30 minutes from my apartment (45 from any trails).
So it is clear that not riding my bike was not the best way to prepare for a mountain bike race, but I gave it my all. Saturday afternoon came quickly and I was nervous. I did not want to push myself imediately rather start with a strong pace that I could hold for a while. At the start I fell back a little bit, but held my own as we hit the course. To be honest, I forgot about all the details of the race due to the trail conditions. No the course was not wet and muddy or a sand pit. This course had a soil comparable to peanut butter. The ground sucked in my wheel and took away any momentum I was working so hard to find. My race mode fell from winning, to finishing. I was draining everything I had, just to pull an average near 8 mph. Sometime during my second lap I felt a little better and pushed a little harder to make up ground. I passed a few people occasionally and lost a few on the climbs. I have yet to find my climbing legs (maybe due to not riding the mountain bike). By the third lap I was still pushing along, but with some major cramping in my legs. Eventually I found the finish line and came through with my best effort. In my mind, I knew that I was not anywhere near the podium and I had another day of races to go, so I went out for a few miles on the road to let my legs recover and get ready for the next day. I Came back in, changed, and headed to see how I did on the results. Reading from the bottom of the list, I did not see my name. As I neared the top, there I was...
Andrew Wiesner... 4th Place... 77th Overall... Time: 1:52:00.9
With 4th place, I was on the podium for the first time in my Sport Career. Not bad for second time on the mountain bike and with a month off the bike in general.
Day 2 of the Cup was brutal... I woke up and knew that riding would be painful. I tried my best to loosen my legs and get ready for the day's events: The Super D, and the Short Track. The Super D was fun, basically an XC race mixed with a downhill course. Did I mention the Le Mans Start... with the 25 yard run to our bikes? I took the chair lift to the top of the hill for the event. Soon after, Don called my name and I lined up with the Sport 19-34 year-olds (not my usual class... 19-24). At the "Goooooooo" we took off running to our bikes. I was somewhere in the middle and mounted my bike cross style, looking back I was amazed at how many of the fast runners could not get up on their bikes. I began just hammering the pedals and worked hard to get in front of the pack. Unfortunately riding in tight single track does not provide many opportunities to pass. I finished with a pretty strong 7th place, but that was only one of the two events.
Later on was the short track, where no one seemed to know what the race would be. After watching the Elite guys do it, I knew I was in for a hard race. The short track was being run crit style, 10 minutes on the 3/4 mile lap and then one lap. In other words, at gooooo, we go as hard as possible and race until the leader crosses the line after 10 minutes is up, then... a dead sprint to the end. The lap was short, but with a huge climb on the backside, up the ski hill.
I did my best in that race. This picture does well to show how bad I was dying. In the end I took 8th place in the 19-34 class, not bad. The race amounted to 3.5 miles in 18 minutes... The hardest thing I think I have ever done!
At the end of the weekend I took 4th in the XC and 9th in the Stage Race (the avg of all my finishes). Given the circumstances, I think I did my very best in that race and I am quite pleased.

That's all for now, but the race report from last weekend at the reforestation camp is comming soon!!!

Free Time, Updates

Today has been great so far. No work, great weather, and free time! So what better than to get some updates put up on the Blog. I will hopefully get a race report from last weekend up later today and maybe a little pre-race report for this coming weekend.
Lately, I have been getting a bunch of questions about how I am doing, where I have been [for the last few races], and what has been going on. Last weekend was my first race back in action after missing races #2 and 3 of the WORS series. With races complete, I can say that I am feeling great; given that I had a few weeks off of the bike and not getting ANY time on the mountain bike.
Before the winter and over the last few months of training I had noticed my heart rate getting a little high, and my body getting pretty weak at times. After talking to a few people and noting my symptoms at Iola, I decided to go in to see the doctor. After my first appointment, I had some blood work done. One of the tests came back showing I might have mono, thus canceling my next race and training altogether. Luckily, I found I did not have mono and that I needed to get some rest. A few weeks later, I went in for a couple more tests to check my heart and lung function. These both came back showing everything is working properly. After the tests, I spoke with my doctor to talk about what is going on and if I need to do anything. Without going into details, the next step is to refocus my training routine and start meeting with a nutritionist and personal trainer to set some long-term goals for training and racing.
With all the doctor stuff out of the way, I have been getting in rides as close to everyday as possible. When I am unable to ride I have been getting into the gym to lift weights or going rock climbing (one of my hobbies from years ago). I was able to get out to enjoy the beautiful weather today and put in a little over 40 miles on the road. Hopefully tomorrow, I will be able to get another short ride in before work. Then, Saturday morning I leave for Green Bay and another weekend of racing!