Wakarusa Off-Road Challenge

Well it has been the HOTTEST summer ever, and so along with that, my training has not been what I would like it to be. I have been mostly indoors working weights and strength but not quite as much endurance training. But......Nonetheless, I have been hankerin' for some racin', so I decided to go ahead and sign up for the Bonk Hard Racing Wakarusa Off-Road Challenge in Lawrence, Kansas. I don't usually like to drive 6 hours one-way for a race that will last less than 4 hours, but I can't help it. I need to get my race fix on. September 8th, 2012.
http://bonkhardracing.com/races/wakarusa_challenge/default.asp
I think this race looks pretty fun. We shall see.

Post by Bryan Greaser

"Nice rack"

So wanting to build more power in the legs to supplement my endurance training, I started checking the internet to see if I could find any ways to make a home made squat rack/power rack. Well as you might imagine, there were plenty of ideas. So I narrowed it down to this one, and here it is and this is the one I built. So when people see it, they think it's metal. I just painted it black. The upright 4 legs are 2 x 6's doubled together for strength and then spotter pin holes are drilled through every 5 inches. The things holding up the squat bar and bench bar are 45 degree street elbow 1 inch galvanized plumbing pipe, then a 4 inch pipe goes through the hole and out the other side where it is capped with a washer or you could use a flange. Super bomber strength. This rack enables me to do squats, bench press, pull-ups, chin-ups, and a dip station which are the bars you can see coming out the front. They come on and off within seconds so they are not permanent. The best thing is that you don't have to go to the gym. I dislike gyms for alot of reasons, but mainly, they tend to be social scenes and the next thing you know, you see people wanting to talk to you and taking up 15 minutes of your limited time already which cuts into your workout. This rack is super sturdy, and took a weekend for me to build, all for probably around $150. When it'something that you built yourself, you take an even greater pride in it and are more likely to be motivated to use it. I really enjoy working out on it. I think there are additional elements that I can add to this if I want but I think it has everything covered with the bench that inclines as well. post by Bryan Greaser

May 2012

Wow, what can I say. Apparently I haven't posted on this blog since last fall. That's pretty bad. So, for anyone who cares, just an update of what has been going on. This winter was pretty great. Mild temps, and TWO western US snow skiing trips. Yep, I said TWO.

First trip was in early February. Flew to Portland, OR, then drove to Bend, Oregon and skied a few days on Mt Bachelor. What a great mountain to ski. Normally being a snowboarder on all of my previous winter trips out west, I decided to mix it up and ski this time. While it started off as a fiasco, it got a little better as I worked my way around the easy intermediate runs. Fast forward to late February and I did a family ski vacation to Salt Lake City, UT and then nearby Park City, Utah. Stayed in Park City, skied every day I was there, which was Wednesday through Sunday. Well, Sunday was a travel day. Anyway, we skied at Park City and nearby Deer Valley too. Only my second ski trip on ski's, and I was really really ripping it. Super confident on hard blues, so my good buddy Tom lures me onto a mogul'ed up Black Diamond. Boy that was a fiasco, but at least I tried it. I'll hit the blues again next trip and then progress to Black Diamonds again though. But the blue runs are plenty fun for a person who only snow ski's once or twice a year. In April I camped out and rode some sweet singletrack at Council Bluffs National Recreation Area with good buddies. Rode part of North Trace Creek of the Ozark Trail, then the next day rode part of South Trace Creek. Incredible singletrack out there in that region. What a hidden jewel that area is. Other than that, I've stepped up my training alot lately, mixing it between mountain biking and running. I've got a 50 mile trail run I am signed up for in October of this year out near Branson with Ken Chappell who will definitely be pushing a redzone pace throughout. I am still hopeful to do some adventure races this year but they pretty much taper off in the hot humid summer months, so it will probably be fall again. I'll also be looking regionally for some duathlons (mountain bike and trail run versions) since my old time favorite, the Berryman duathlon, won't be happening in June any longer. In the meantime, still training. And living, L I V I N. post by Bryan Greaser

Ozark Trail

Well I was up at the Berryman on Saturday, Sept 24 and Sunday, 25th, manning a Checkpoint for the 36 hour race of the Berryman Adventure, and of course, being in the vicinity of "ground zero" for Missouri's finest mountain biking, I HAD to take the bike along for some post-race fun for myself.
The biggest and toughest decision for me was, "Which trail should I hit?" Berryman Trail, Council Bluffs loop, Trace Creek, or Middlefork? Decisions, decisions.
Well it was sunny and cool Sunday morning as I drove from Bass River Resort towards Potosi, and it clouded up fast, really wicked fast. Sure enough, without notice, it began raining. It was not an isolated shower, this was a "socked in and not going anywhere for a while" type rain. Well that made my decision even easier. The Middlefork trail has a really small rock/chat type trail surface with incredible trail design allowing it to resist mucking up during a rain, and sheds water very well.

Despite the constant light rain and 51 degree temps, I was dressed properly and made the most of it. It was a good ride. Looking forward to going back to the Middlefork very soon. The guys and gals who laid out that trail design and cut it in should be put into the IMBA Hall of Fame.

post by Bryan Greaser

Broemmelsiek 'almost' race'

Well my bud Matt O and I headed to the Lou Saturday morning with the fam's to spend a nice day at the STL Zoo and many other fun things, spent the night in a hotel, woke up to a delightful stlbiking post on the message board that the Broemmelsiek race was still ON! Right on! We stayed in the Brentwood/Clayton area, and it stormed pretty hard on Saturday night, but the race was miles away, so the way summer storms can be, we figured it could have missed the race location. Well about 7:15 Sunday morning we check the board and the race was a GO.

We woofed down some Continental, packed up the bikes (didn't pull into the parking garage with bike on top) and started heading W out 64/40 towards St Chuck. We hit Chesterfield area and it started raining, and approaching the Missouri River bridge, I can't decide if it was raining buckets or cats and dogs? Hmmmm. Still wondering if it was raining at the race location, I decided to check stlbiking and sure enough, Mitch had to pull the plug on the race, noting that it was pouring at the trail.

Oh well, we had a great weekend anyway. Matt and I were really looking forward to riding a new trail we had never done before, especially for 3 hours in the Marathon class. But that's life.

post by Bryan Greaser

And another gravel grinder....

Stepping up the gravel grinder rides the last few days. Did 42 miles on Saturday, followed up with another 25 today. Legs are feeling oh so good.
I'm not really an early morning person, but getting up at 6 and doing long rides is pretty dang fun! And great training for some fall racing hopefully.

Post by Bryan Greaser

Shawnee National Forest gravel grinder

Got up early this morning with two friends Jeff Smith and Brad Brown, met at the bike shop at 6:30 am, and the three of us took off for a 30 minute drive across the river into Illinois and set out to do a 28 mile gravel grinder. Legs were feeling good, weather was mild, so we kept going, exploring a little bit, and eventually we logged 42 miles this morning, about 3 hrs 20 minutes or so. Some gravel roads, paved roads, fire roads, doubletrack, you name it. No singletrack though.
I paid close attention to the Trail of Tears State Forest layout, and the trails within it... A race there someday I see. Lots of trails and acreage to work with.
Anyone who thinks for a second that this part of Southern Illinois is flat should think again.... Fun times, good training ride.

post by Bryan Greaser

Man, what is UP??

It's been forever since I have updated this website. The team has been nursing some injuries this season, and while we've normally raced at least three races by now at this time of year, we've not raced at all.
Yesterday I went out and did a 25 mile 'gravel grinder,' as we've been calling them. It is a hybrid ride between a mountain bike ride and a road bike ride. We look at a map, maybe on Map My Ride, and we plot out a route to link up miles on gravel roads at a generally modest pace. Rarely are we killing it. But we do in on a mountain bike.
The gnats and mosquitoes were killing me yesterday, absolutely nearly intolerable. You had to keep moving or it was major trouble. I rode in Southern Illinois, and checked out the Trail of Tears State Forest. Hmmmmm, not a bad place for a race someday....
Anyway, just training as usual. Running and biking when I can. Work has been super busy.
Oh, and after several months when the new Lynskey Ridgeline, love it. As in, REALLY love it.
Not sure what the rest of the season has in store for us. It's just a really funky year with team injuries and crappy weather.

post by Bryan Greaser

Joy's 70th Birthday book

Click here to view this photo book larger

New bike on the way....

Lynskey 2011 Ridgeline-29 VF Mountain Hardtail

Ready for Titanium!!!!!!!!


by Bryan Greaser
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Well this isn't good.....

This is what happens when you drive your car into the garage with the bike on top of the roofrack. Even carbon fiber frames won't stand up to the solid brick.
Good thing it is almost december and the 'off-season' for adventure racing.



by Bryan Greaser

12 Hour Berryman Adventure Race

The Grandpappy of 'em all, the Berryman. If you're looking for a short and dull read, just go ahead and navigate away from this page and click on some silly Yahoo! story about how scientists disagree about the health benefits of almonds. If you actually want to read something about a cool race put on by cool people, and raced by cool people, read on my friend, read on....

The 10th running of the Berryman Adventure took it back to it's roots, the area surrounding the Berryman trail sandwiched between the small towns of Potosi and Steelville in the heart of the Mark Twain National Forest. Nearly 250 racers were signed up between both the 12 and 36 hr races. For the last four or so years this race has been held near Van Buren, MO. We were signed up for the 12 hour race. July and August delivered record heat waves, and I can at least speak for myself when I say that my training suffered greatly, as in, nearly non-existent. So when it came time to decide which race to do, it was a pretty easy call. Momma didn't raise no fool.

Jill was unable to race this one with us. Her high school volleyball coaching schedule conflicts with this race pretty much every year. So, we went on the recruiting trail to find another female who was up for the task. That's not always easy to do. Well as it turns out, it was much easier than I would have ever thought. "Team, meet Missy Phegley!" Missy lives in Cape Girardeau also and she raced the Berryman with a team in 2009 but that was the extent of her AR experience. But don't mistake that for not being battle tested. Ahemmm. How about competing and finishing the Branson Half Ironman just six days prior to this race? This aen't no disco. Now that's what I call a competitor!

So myself, Marc, Ken and Missy head to Bass River Resort on Friday ready to take on the Berryman. I was super impressed with Bass River Resort and Campground. Great place for a race HQ. So the Friday night pre-race meal pretty much rocked, I caught up with my friend Gary Thompson, and then we took our bikes over to the YMCA Trout Lodge about 16 miles away for the bike drop. Yep, we (ok, I) busted off a few bars of our own version of the "YMCA" song, rest assured. After that we hauled back to Bass River for a standing room only pre-race meeting, got the maps, and headed back to our tents and canopies to plot 25 CP's. We plotted the CP's, highlighted our anticipated route choices, filled our packs and probably got to sleep around midnight. Ahhhh, tent camping before a race. Nothing quite like it. Not much quality sleep.

Saturday morning wakeup. About 4:45 am to get breakfast, finished last minute preparations, and boarded the buses which were pulling out of Bass River at 6:05 and were to arrive at the YMCA Trout Lodge for the race start. We were dropped off at the YMCA next to Sunnen Lake where we were to start off on a trekking leg, hitting CP 1-3, then CP's 4-12 in any order. There was a long and steep road hill that helped separate the pack early on. It got the blood flowing right off the bat. No doubt that was by design, right Jason? We hit 1 thru 3 with no problems, then chose to hit CP 8, then down to 4 and the rest went in order. We were nailing these CP's with no problems at all. A minor 5 minute snafu here and there, but no major hiccups. I think we came out of the woods after that O Course in about 10th place out of 60 12-hour teams so we cleaned the course pretty well. We came in to CP12 which was a mystery event. It turned out to be that we crossed a creek and then came upon an artificial rock climbing wall. Awesome! Two team members had to put on a harness and climb to the top and then rappel down. Ken and I chose to do it. With no problems, we came down, loaded up the packs and took off for CP13 where we then received the UTM's for another mystery event, CP14. Yummm, they had Snickers and Oreo's too! Once we plotted CP14, we made our way to it and as we approached it, we could hear what we all agreed sounded like a ZIPLINE! Sweet. We had to wait a few minutes until the line was available, but once it was, Ken and Marc put on the harness and zipped on down. We found out what we had suspected already. We were in first place in 4 person co-ed, but the Tulsa team was pushing and closing fast.

Once we finished the CP 14 zipline, we then made the short trek back to the start where we transitioned to the bike. While transitioning, we heard a couple of male racers next to us talking about how they forgot to get a CP punch at 14. One of them said, "No problem, Jason and Laura saw us up there, they'll know we were there but that we just forgot to get the punch." Ken couldn't help himself, and tried to kindly inform them that they needed to go back and get that CP 14 punched on their passport. Rules about getting your passport punched are pretty strict, and I would NEVER count on trying to explain that we were there but just forgot. Well, the old phrase about no good deed going unpunished rang true. It seems that two guys thought we were trying to mess with them and cause them to lose time since we were both at the same point in the race. I suppose they can draw whatever conclusion that they want, but I just hate seeing or hearing a team make a mistake like that when they were so close to the CP still. It is always the right decision to go back and get it. Anyway, we learned after the race that they thought we were trying to just make them go back frivolously and lose time against us I guess. I think they went back and got it, and I think they also finished ahead of us. Good for them. If you ask me, we saved their race for them. I would be surprised if Jason had made an exception and gave them the credit for the punch if the passport didn't have it. Maybe he would have, but I don't think so, and I would never chance it, being so close still to the CP to where you can still just go back and get it. They were gonna not go back and get it. I think they would have found out the hard way that they would have been ranked behind all teams who got it. If you guys are reading this....you're welcome. We would never practice crappy sportsmanship like that to deceive or mislead another team. We don't want a reputation for that because that is not who we are. Alright, enough typing wasted on that stupid subject anyway.

Off on the bikes in great shape, first place in our division after having just done a great job on the Rogaine style O course. We hit 16 and 17 with no problems, climbing up and descending down pretty big hills on gravel roads until we then got onto the Berryman Trail. CP 18 was a little more challenging. Reading a topo map on the bike presents more challenges than being on foot. Despite being on a cable on a tree, trailside, we blew past it but not too far. I realized it pretty quickly and we turned back and got it. It was at that moment that the Tulsa crew came up on us. I knew they were giving chase all day long, and there they were. Good group of folks though. It was fun to Yo-Yo with them back and forth throughout the next hour or so. CP 19 was at a natural spring, and we quickly refilled water bottles and then got back on the Berryman Trail where we linked up with a gravel road for a few miles, then got back on the Berryman Trail near the Berryman campground and hit CP 21 with no problem.

After CP 21 we headed through the Berryman campground and linked up with the Ozark Trail section that descends down to Highway 8 where we hit CP 22. The night before the race we had the Shirley Ridge Road highlighted as our route down to Hwy 8 from the Berryman campground right after we hit CP 21, but Jason had said at the Saturday morning last minute directions/rules that the ONLY time we could be on Hwy 8 was between 22 and 23. Obviously this meant that we could NOT be on Hwy 8 between 21 and 22. WHile this important detail was not on the cluesheet, nor was it covered in the pre-race meeting, we nonetheless heeded his rule that was mentioned Saturdy morning. I now know that many teams went ahead and descended down that gravel road (Shirley Ridge Road I believe) to Hwy 8. This was a big time saver for them. I shouldn't have listened so closely to Jason at the Saturday morning start. Anyway, we all agreed that that section of the Ozark Trail that we took instead was super fun, fast, good surface, and just plain fun. We were still rockin' in first place in our division but the Tulsa crew was minutes back, having just stopped briefly on the trail to deal with a bike issue.

We blasted down Highway 8 for about a mile and a half until we came to the Hwy 8 bridge at the Curtois River where we dropped bikes, did a gear check, and transitioned to the paddle. The Tulsa crew pulled in and were putting on PFD's as we launched our canoes. Now something I haven't mentioned yet is that around CP18 when they caught up to us, I noticed that they had double bladed kayak paddles sticking out of their packs. I kindly asked them how many they had, to which they replied, "Three." For a second I thought that he had said that they had a 30 horsepower outboard motor in their pack. One and the same at that point, really. Either way, I knew we were doomed on the final leg. 11 miles of canoeing against a team with three double bladed paddles and of course a regular single blade, to our 4 oar type single blade paddles, and it was all she wrote. We held them off for about 20 minutes or so, and then they came by in a fury, and off they paddled into the sunset and on their way for the 1st place prize in the premier 4 person co-ed division. They earned it though. They put around 25 minutes of distance on us on that final paddle. Some people don't take any solace in losing to anyone, but if you are going to lose, personally, I'd rather lose to good teams with cool people, and they are both. Despite losing our lead on this final paddling leg, the paddling leg nonetheless offered a surprise as we encountered none other than my friends Jim and Wendy Davis. What a treat to see them at this manned CP!

We came into CP 25 at the takeout within Bass River, parked the canoes and made our way across the river and ran through the finish line at 8 hrs 52 minutes, good for 2nd place in 4 person co-ed, and 5th out of 24 in 4 person overall teams, all male and co-ed. It was a solid race for us. The weather was phenomenal, trails and course were great, mystery events added some unusual elements to the race, and it's always great to get together with my teamies and camp, hang out, and race.
Everybody on the team pitched in and we all performed well with no performance issues of any kind. No cramps, no bonks, crashes, etc. It was just a really good day to be alive and racing. Can't wait for the next one. Man, such good times....I am one seriously lucky dude.

by Bryan Greaser

Katy Trail 50

Saturday, the 18th was the second annual running of the La Sportiva Katy Trail 50. I decided to participate in this run for a couple of reasons. One, perhaps a bit of redemption due to my recent DNF @ Leadville, and second, I really wanted to test out my newly implemented shoe wedge with a legitimate trial before I put myself into a race situation with the Cyclewerx team. I really didn't want to hit uncharted waters with my joint history, & an entirely new running strategy.

Friday evening we drove to Boonville. Upon arrival, we dined at Glenn's Cafe in the Hotel Frederick. The food was fabulous, so we enjoyed our meal & retired to our quarters for the evening. In retrospect, I so wish I had arranged to stay at the Frederick, but live & learn- I will stay there next time. We picked up my pre-race packet, bib, shirt, the usual fare, & had the pre-race evening freak-out.

I woke up early Saturday for the run & went down for the "continental breakfast." Read, Dolly Madison donuts & coffee...sort of. I didn't even care, but they promised me hot water for my oatmeal & there was none. :(

After a luke-warm breakfast of hearty oats, we loaded in the car & zipped over to the trailhead. First the countdown, & then we were off. We ran out about 2 1/2 miles so we could end at the right spot, then turned & came back. I picked up a full water bottle @ the start & took off. I was having a wonderful run, reminiscent of my PR on the Frisco Trail. The trail was the same, & I felt the same, so what the heck. I opened it up, & abandoned my run 25 minutes, walk 5 strategy for the run run run run run strategy.

I zipped through several aid stations & the turn-around, picking water at each of them. I had on my fanny pack full of gels, so I was good to go there. I met some nice folks, & Tom & I played cat & mouse all day. When we reached mile 30, we were both cooked. I had yet to pee, & Tom wasn't in much better shape. That's odd for me, as I usually pee at least every 10 miles.

We spent about 10 minutes in that area, longer than we wanted, but it was much needed. As we rolled out, our walk/run strategy had been reversed to run 5/walk 25, but at least we were moving. The temps kept climbing with the humidity...someone even passed out on the trail.

As we approached mile 38, Tom suggested we continue the death march to the finish line together. I told him I was sorry, but I would not be going on at this point. I bid him farewell as he filled his bottles & hit the trail. Since my 9 hour time goal was blown, I asked how long I had until the cut-off...& when will I be pulled from the race? The guy @ the check point said I had over 3 hours, & that was all I needed to hear. I pulled my phone from my pack & called my wife, and then I explained to her, I needed 5 minutes to fall asleep, & then a 30 minute nap before she was to call me back. After some smart aleck comments about the tortoise & the hare, she agreed. I told the guy running the table, "I am fine, don't let anyone bother me, I just need a nap." So I laid down in the somewhat shady spot in the middle of the road & passed out. Exactly 35 minutes later, my phone rang. I jumped up, thanked Tammy for the call, & spent another 6-7 minutes doctoring my new blisters.
As I left the checkpoint, I know they were all betting against me. None of them thought I could even finish the race. My gait was pretty ridiculous, if I do say so myself, but on I went. After about 5 minutes, I was actually able to run again.

By the time I had reached the next checkpoint, they told me I had gained 15 minutes on Tom, & they thought I might actually catch him. I only had 12 miles to do so from my napping point, so I doubted it. 30 minutes later, the hail & lightning started; dime size hail & lots of lightning. I ran as hard as I was able, & finally crossed the finish line in the rain & storm. They told me Tom beat me by about 7 minutes, even after my 41 minute side-show, but it didn't matter. I had another successful run.

It reminded me of what I believe to be true about running, every run is a great run, some are greater than others.

Get the Lead Out!!

We {Tammy the crew} & I arrived in Denver on Wednesday, drove on up that night to LV. We checked in to the Innd of the Line, which is now my personal B&B in Leadville, so stay away, they're booked! J/K, they were fabulous. Better care than Mom could give you. Thursday, we attended the evening "dinner" & basically spent the day trying to relax. I knew I couldn't relax if I were at home, so we planned that day on purpose. Friday we awoke to attend all of the mandatory meetings. The pre-race meeting was pretty much not helpful, as well as the mandatory crew meeting. All information which had previously been covered, & would be covered again in multiplicity. At any rate, we put our time in & picked up the BEST race bag ever. Too much good stuff to mention, but it is to say, I would pay good money for that bag. We took a couple of trips to the HQ, where we bought some clothing items. Both times we were overcharged, & received no receipt, but I didn't raise a stink...I figured why not help out my new favorite event.

Part 2 of the crew, Randy & Libby didn't arrive until I was already in bed on Friday, so they weren't really able to review my race plan with Tammy, which I had only obsessed over for about a year. At any rate, when Randy arrived about 10, he & Tammy did the pre-race freak out so I didn't have to. I was in bed with earplugs in.
3:30 came sooo early, but Jane & Mary Beth made steel cut oats, bagels, fresh fruit, coffee, yogurt, eggs, the whole deal. It was amazing. I sauntered upstairs & popped on my gear, which I had laid out 2 days before. Time flew so quickly, I blinked & it was 15 till...YIKES! I jogged to the start to check in, the official check in table turned out to be roving clip board folks. Nice. Lucky for me I found one. Luckier for me, I had my wrist band on, but Tammy had my bib. I ran back up the street, borrowed a cell to call them, Tammy's phone was {shocker} not on. Panic.
As I ran down the street looking like Paul Revere, Libby shouted out to me, & I was back in with my bib on my shirt. Again, the time flew, the gun went off, & I was jogging down the boulevard.

I kept smelling something, I knew the cat in front of me needed a shower, & I thought to myself, "what will you be like 24 hours from now" but I kept running. I hit his calves with my headlamp, & knew in an instant it was Barefoot Ted, the legend. A quick glance to his home made Huaraches, & it was verified. One of the coolest moments in the race for me...to be running behind this urban myth, if only I'd had my flip. Either way, it was cool, so I followed him for about another mile, smirking to myself at his self bantering & comedy.

Soon, we veered off onto the trail that parallels Turquoise Lake. I had asked my crew to wait @ Tabor Boat ramp with 2 water bottles as I left the starting line, purposely light on water. I was going as slow as possible in an effort to conserve energy for later. Well, they determined that they missed me, so they left before I got there. When I didn't see them, I rocked on. About a mile or so outside of May Queen, I found someone's water bottle on the ground, un-touched. Yep, drank it all.

Into May Queen, Tammy & Randy were there, I picked up my pack & dropped off water bottles & rolled on up the hill. This is one of my favorite parts of the course; it's on the Colorado trail & the views are breathtaking. I still felt sooo relaxed & was just enjoying the day. Up Sugarloaf to Powerline, then down into the Fish Hatchery.

Again, Randy & Tammy were there. I dropped my pack, switched back to the handhelds, & cruised out feeling fine. About 4-5 miles of grueling pavement later, I came into Pipeline, where Tammy was waiting. She was also running the video & asked me how I felt, to which I replied, "SUPER COOL." Of course, later, watching the video, I saw my left ankle roll like a spaghetti noodle, but I never even flinched. I didn't feel it at all. Obviously, by this point, my ankles were just flopping around like dead fish, but heck, I didn't care. I was running Leadville, conserving energy, & having a BLAST!

Pipeline to Twin Lakes is yet another feast for the eyes. I again, ran this conservatively, my plan was to hit Winfield, and then actually "run" the rest of the race. As I came down the hill into Twin, there was a lot of confusion. There were tons of people standing around, but no clear direction on where to go. After asking several spectators, I was finally pointed in the right direction. I went into the check station; saw none of my crew, so I went out the other side. Up until now, someone from my crew was at the entrance of the checkpoints, so I assumed they would be here. When I didn't see them, I started looking for them...I NEEDED some of my things which they had. I ran down the boulevard, no crew. Down to the adjacent street, no crew. Soooo, I ran the 3/4 mile back into the aid station, filled my water pack, grabbed some gels & cookies & set out to climb Hope. After I crossed the adjacent street, Randy was there saying "just in time." Arrrgh. Really? “I just lost about 23 minutes looking for you guys, where were you?” “Here.” “Why?” “Why not?” “Okay, from now on, someone meet me at the timing mat, PLEASE!” “Okay.”
They popped me on the massage table, Randy & Libby beat the crap out of me, Tammy changed my shoes & socks, & they kicked me out of the station.

Well, up over Hope Pass we go. I still "felt good" but picked up a walking cane one the way as my right knee was on fire. Apparently my IT bands were not happy. I hobbled over Hope & down the back side, then up 3 miles of gravel into the half-way point, Winfield, 50 miles. Libby met me on the road with her kid gloves on. She radioed back to Tammy what to prepare, & the crew was in panic mode. I only had 10 minutes to enter & exit the aid station. I kept telling them to relax; I had plenty of time, as I really felt like they might forget something. I asked for my Garmin, which I had traded out earlier, & they gave it to me, but somehow, they had lost the charger in the car & didn't charge it, so I picked up a dead Garmin.

Out of Hope with 2 minutes to cut-off, 5:58. Let me say this, I don't like pacers. I like being alone. Maddie had asked if she could pace me & I said okay. Anyone else I would have rejected, but I thought since she was a teenaged girl, who may never get this chance again, to go over Hope, why not. I told her on the way out to stop treating my like Libby & Tammy had, that I was quite lucid, & didn't need a babysitter. I finally just had to ask her to start talking to me. I think they had her freaked out thinking I was "pretty disoriented." Still packing my stick, we hobbled on. At one point, for the first time in the race, I sat on a rock to take a break. I told Madison we would rest 3 minutes & then go on. I passed out, sitting on a rock with my face on my stick. Exactly 2 minutes, 55 seconds later, I woke up. On we went. Darkness hit us just at the summit. I told Maddie we would walk for 3 or 4 minutes to rest from the climb & then run. We did. We went into the hopeless aid station; I asked for soda, I needed caffeine badly. They had nothing but water so we quickly moved on. Still hobbling with my stick, having NO idea of the time, I really begin to push down the mountain as best I could. At one point, I left Madison & went on by myself. I knew I would be past the cut-off, but I didn't know by how much. As I passed people on the way down, people who had passed me on their way up the other side, I begged them to not give up. You can call pull me from the race when they cut my band or the race is over, but not until.

Well, on into Twin where Libby went out to pick up Maddy. Tammy met me at the river crossing, & took me on up to the timing mat, where my wrist band was cut & I was pulled from the race, still hobbling on my stick- 62 miles.

As I sat in a chair, Randy pulled my shoe off & I realized for the first time, my ankle was the size of a softball. Huge. Purple. Sprained. Bad. I suppose the IT band issues caused me to use the stick in my right hand, putting extra weight on my left ankle. I have since discovered a discrepancy in my leg length; my right appears to be about 1/4inch longer than the left. Wonder why I've been having ankle sprains????
Well, the second they cut my band, I looked at Tammy & said, "364 days till next year," and I meant it. I started this race, I WILL finish it.

A few quick points:
My hydration & nutrition were perfect; I lost about a pound over the entire race.
I should have ran a 'bit' faster at the start. My average heart rate was 124 for the first 25 miles.
The crew was helpful, but they need to be better informed of my race plan next time. Tammy knew what I wanted, but since the rest of them didn't get there until late the night before the race, they really didn't know what I wanted or expected of them.
Madison was awesome. I found out after I was cut, she is 12 years old. Wow. She has a running career ahead of her for sure.
I can't wait to get to the starting line next year!

Leadville 100

As I write this our very own Ken Chappell is already underway in his quest for a Leadville 100 trail run finish. Good luck Ken on your journey.

HOT!!

Ok, admittedly I think I speak on behalf of everyone ont the team EXCEPT for Ken perhaps when I say that our training has dropped off in frequency during this 139 degree summer.
I went to Breckenridge, Colorado for 4 days in mid July and it was absolutely fantastic there.
Ken is presently training hardcore for the Leadville 100 Trail Run in August. What a great base he will have for a long adventure race this fall....Hmmmm, Berryman 36 hour comes to mind. We shall see. Standby.

Post by Bryan Greaser

Ozark Greenways 8-14 hour Adv Race

Alright alright, Greenways Part 3 for Cyclewerx. This was our third year doing OGAR, a race we really look forward to for alot of reasons. It has become a much tougher race than it traditionally was in it's earlier years. This year proved to be very tough. We all headed down to Gasconade Hills on Friday to camp, and the race begins Saturday morning although we don't know what time. We found out on Friday night that it began Saturday morning at 7 am. No real shock there, a standard time for a 8-14 hr race during late May.

On Friday evening we pretty much found out for sure that due to heavy recent spring rains, the Gasconade was swollen out of its banks and the race personnel determined that it was not safe to have us do the paddling portion of this race. Bummer, two years in a row that this has happened to this race. Mother Nature wins again. So we get the maps on Saturday morning at the 5:15 am map handout, and we learn that instead of doing the paddling leg down the Gasconade to get from CP 9 to CP 11, we now had to trek about 7 miles additional to make up for that segment. Anyway, getting ahead of myself here....

We take off at 7 am for the start of what was a 9 CP trekking leg/orienteering leg. We (ahemm, I) made our usual blunders and had a few snafu's in finding a few of the CP's. We came into CP 9 frustrated because we were near the front of the pack from CP1 to CP 5, but I screwed up on CP 6 and 7 and we lost time. We checked in with the volunteer, then began the trek back to the Race Start/HQ/Transition Area where our bikes were awaiting us.

The bike leg(s) of this race were surprisingly good. They were on some horse trails but were very "singletrack like." Once I heard that the river was swollen and the paddling was cancelled, I had assumed that the trails would be sloppy, muddy, rutted out and essentially unrideable. I had envisioned pushing bikes for 50 percent of the trail sections, but boy was I wrong. I would say it was more like 95 percent rideable, 5 percent pushing your bike. RIght on, I'll take that. We hit the CP's without incident, no nav problems and no bike mechanicals.

The bike/orienteering leg was pretty cool. It actually gave some good route choices. We also hit this section pretty much without incident and hit all CP's quite well with the exception of the fact that somehow I had nav'd us right past a pond where a CP was located. We did a full circle and came back and found it. Sigh.....

Now, the poo hit the fan when I, out of the blue, had some crazy dang allergic reaction to who knows what. Trouncing around in the forest on a hot, sweaty 88+ degree afternoon in poison ivy, oak, psumac, thorns, and everything else under the sun, well.....The toxins must have finally penetrated into my bloodstream and I puffed up. I was a little worried, my face was puffy, eyes were swollen, heart was a little racy, and my throat was a bit constricted, but we only had an hour on the bike (roads) back to the finish left. With only a few easy turns on roads, I threw the map at Marc and Ken and told them to figure out where to go from here back to the finish. I couldn't hardly see out of my swollen eyes to read the map. We took off on the bikes and came through the finish line not really having any idea what place we were in.




So, the results were in: We finished in 6th place out of 36 teams in 4 person co-ed, and 12th overall out of 79 teams which included 2 person teams as well as about a half dozen solo racers. The top teams really cooked the course, somewhere just over 6 hrs. Downhill Bikes blitzed into first place. Man those guys are awesome. Great athletes, great attitudes. I love getting our butts kicked by them!!!! Our race time was 9 hrs 35 minutes.

It was the first really hot day of the year, where temps approached 90 degrees, so there were alot of DNF's. The attrition rate for this race was higher than years past. We had our own issues, dehydration, allergies, etc. but overall, we laid down a solid race. It was a very good day to be an adventure racer. Marc, Ken and Jill all did great all day long. I was proud to have them as my teammates and I always have been. I was illin' from that allergy thing so badly that I didn' even get to back down to the campsite to hang out with my teamies after the race. Heck, I didn't even get a Fat Tire afterwards.
Post by Bryan Greaser

LBL 24 Hour

Well there isn't a whole lot to say about the LBL 24 hr. We didn't finish the race. Ken had major knee issues during our second trekking leg (actually much earlier than that) so we pulled out. He was really beginning to hobble pretty badly.
The weather for the race was phenomenal though, and it was an overall great event once again. Ken was a warrior about it, not wanting to give up, but when you are doing the trekking legs of a race with a tree branch for a staff to assist your walking (I called him Gandolf)it is time to call it a day.

Next up for us is the Ozark Greenways Adventure Race near Richland, MO. Hopefully we'll all be healthy and put in a solid finish as we have the past couple of years.

Post by Bryan Greaser

LBL Challenge 24 hour coming up!!!!!!

Well the weather has been crazy phenomenal, with sunny skies, dry singletrack trails, and 70 degree temps.....perfect for training, right? Well, not exactly. When we ran the Syllamo Arkansas "3 Days of Syllamo" event earlier in March (Ken did the 50k and the 50 Mile but the third day run was scrapped, Marc and I only did the
50k), Ken managed to get a blood clot in his lower leg from the 80+ miles of unforgiving pounding of the rocky trails around Syllamo. So Ken was, at least for a day, I think, questionable for the LBL 24 hr Challenge next week. His foot and lower leg looked kind of like a football minus the leather, and the seams, I guess.... I have always heard that canines have a high threshold of pain tolerance. I think Ken is part Poodle.
Here's the foot pic:


Making matters worse, I was doing some carpentry type work about two weeks ago and was in the baseball catcher's squat position, and I had been that way for a few hours working in a small space, and I turned while squatting and felt an "Uh-oh" pain in my right knee. It turned out to be more than an annoyance, and I thought it best to play it safe and keep off of it despite needing to continue training for the upcoming race(s), but I have stayed off of my feet to let it heal. I have been able to ride the mountain bike though at least so that's good. Oh well, what's a guy supposed to do? It is almost never the wrong decision to let something heal longer than probably necessary rather than risk re-injury by getting back on it too soon. I'll be well rested for LBL.

So the field is shaping up to be a dandy once again. Some top notch teams coming in. It won't take very many more teams to enter the race to match last year's racer participation total which I think was about 210.

Race should be able to be followed on Internet via Checkpoint Tracker somewhat "live" but that has been, on more than one occasion, a disappointment. Having helped put this race on in 2009, I saw how difficult it is to keep Checkpoint Tracker updated. It takes alot of time and alot of volunteers to make it work (and good internet connections in remote locations), and when emergencies and other duties come up like picking up teams in the middle of the night who are lost or injured, a race director quickly finds he can only do so much at once. Here's to hoping everyone can get updates at home.

It's gonna be good. Like really, really good.

Oh, and one final thing. Marc has some back issues so instead of waiting to see if he could get clearance to race, we made the decision to try to find a replacement, and lo and behold, who have we found to join us for this race but none other than Lullel Hickman himself from Downhill Bikes. Couldn't do any better than that. That's for bailing us out Lullel! Looking foward to racing with you, but we'll sure miss Marc.

Post by Bryan Greaser

Ultramax 8 Hour Adventure Race

For starters, Ultramax did an overall tremendous job in designing, executing, and organizing this first-time race for them. We were super excited for starters because this kicks off the 2010 race season for us, but we weren't too sure what to expect from Ultramax since this was their first stab at putting one of these races on. I won't say that my expectations were necessarily low, but I figured they would have some "hiccups" along the way and there was only one which I will get to later...

Ok, since Ken Chappell couldn't race with us on this one we picked up Elizabeth Sparks who is an accomplished triathlete who lives here in Cape Girardeau. She is very strong, brings navigation skills to the table, and is tremendously easy to get along with in a team environment. Perfect racing partner, period.
The Friday night mandatory gear check and team meeting was late, and by the time we got our maps (killer, by the way), found out the 6 am start time (ouch, 24 degrees) and drove back to Jill's house in St. Chuck, we didn't even start plotting (21 CP's) until 10:30 and I got to bed at about 1 am after I stayed up a bit longer just to familiarize myself with the overall course map and flow. Wakeup time was agreed upon by all to be 3:30 am and that sucked but there would be time to sleep on Saturday night after the race.

Saturday morning we did a bike drop below a lake dam at 5 am, then drove to the parking area/Race HQ, tried to stay warm, hit the toilets, and lined up for the headlamp trekking start. We ran on a gravel trail and hit CP1 easily as daylight began to flirt with us, then the mass group began to thin out some but still quite a few pockets of racers in line. CP2 looked super easy on the map but I stupidly followed some groups that blew right past it and then made another turn away from it. This ended up causing us to 'wander' for a little bit and we finally went back and the pond was concealed by evergreen trees. Ok, not a good way to start off, costing us alot of time early. My fault.

Next we hit CP3 on a hilltop easily, then somehow I had us heading South towards CP4 when Elizabeth quickly noticed that we made a wrong turn at CP3 and that we should be heading W instead of S, so we quickly righted ourselves back to CP3, then easily went on to hit CP4. CP4 was at the bottom of a reentrant in one of the steepest hillsides I have seen on any adv race terrain. CP5 & CP6 were nailed, then we headed on up to the transition at the lake to hit the paddling leg.
The paddling leg was uneventful except for the awesome fiberglass canoes and the frozen coves. So many canoes going back into the coves were breaking up the one inch thick ice which was causing some slow going for teams but otherwise no big deal.
We finished the canoes, transitioned to foot and trekked to CP8 where we picked up bikes.

The bike leg hitting CP9 thru CP14 was mostly gravel roads, some doubletrack/horse trails, and quite a few creek crossings to get the ole feet wet, wet, wet. It was probably about 18 km and the CP's were easy. No problems here.
When we arrived at CP14 on bikes we dropped them and transitioned back to trek where we would be going out on about a 5 km orienteering course to find CP15 thru CP19 in any order (Rogaine style). CP15 was super easy following a powerline, CP16 also easy at the edge of a lake, CP17 was in a very pronounced reentrant feeding into another large reentrant, and from there we could see a hilltop that we shot up, then followed the flat terrain SE and around a reentrant, then a turn W to where the land had 4 distinct ridges overlooking a valley and Charette Creek below. The terrain was unmistakeable and I was confident since we were just ticking these CP's off so well. When we came upon the ridge where CP18 was plotted on the map, we went out onto the ridge and could not find it. Repeatedly looking at the map and comparing it to the terrain, I was sure it had to be there....Well it wasn't. Soon other teams started showing up and we compared plots, thinking maybe I mis-plotted. Nope. Had it right on. I then decide that maybe the race director plotted it over onto another ridge mistakenly so we went out onto another one and the same thing....Nowhere to be found. We had wasted alot of time by now. Forum Dental came along and told us that they had been to the TA and the volunteer told them that teams were finding CP18 so it had to exist. Hmmmm.

We went ahead and made our way towards CP19 and a four male team said that they found it but that it was indeed mis-plotted onto the wrong ridge. So we proceeded to go S and nailed CP19, then on our way back went over and sure enough, we found the mis-plotted CP18 on a paralell ridge but the ridges were very different from each other. The Race director realized the error and in a very professional way acknowledged it on the website. While all CP's were checked by GPS by the race management, I think they found out the hard way that the GPS method of checking CP's is not always accurate.

Next we hooked up our running tow system and made our way back to the CP14/20 Transition area and transitioned back to bike where we just had to go bike about 5k, hit CP21 and then on to the Finish Area where a "Challenge Course" would be waiting.

The Challenge course consisted of taking an empty sandbag, running to a lake about 3/4 mile away (guessing), filling it with a minimum of 30 lbs of sand, then each team member had to carry the sandbag back to the Race Finish to complete a small obstacel type course with their sandbag. The 'kicker' was that when you filled the sandbag, there was not a scale there, and if you returned to the Finish/Race HQ and the bag did not weigh 30 lbs, you and every team member had to go back to the beach to bring the weight up to 30 lbs. The mental side of that translates to "I'll be damned if I am going to take any chance of having to carry this thing all the way back here," so you end up wayyy overfilling it to make sure, sure, sure. When we took the bags back to the Finish area they all met the minimum weight.

We crossed the Finish at 8 hrs 31 minutes, good for 4th place in 4 person co-ed and 12th place overall. It was a nice event, great weather, and we all felt pretty strong. Innsbrook is a great setting for an adventure race. We plan on being back next year. I would be willing to bet that Ultramax learned a hard lesson about the misplaced CP and will go over and above double and triple checking them for accuracy in the future.

Post by Bryan Greaser