Race Reports are BACK!! FSC #4 2021 - Markham Park Elite Men's Race Report

And we're back! It's been too long since I've had a race report for a Gone Riding event and glad to bring one along with pics!! So here we go!

FSC #4 which doubles up as Coconut Cup kickoff race was supposed to be my return to midpack Cat2 glory! The weather leading up to the weekend was spotty with showers closing down the trails for a few days, but by Saturday, the course was marked and FAST. Over the years Markham has developed into a perfect balance of speed and flow sections, while maintaining enough technical challenges to develop riders' riding skills when the trail shows it's teeth. The combination has lead to a race loop with some of the fastest average speeds, and still retaining enough challenging sections to make it relentless. You're either pinned on the flats, or trying not to lose it over the many fast ridges and ledges throughout the course. See a quick highlight video of our recon lap below.

As for my race, well it didn't happen. Lots of prep leading up to this race, and I went and got sick late in the week. Woke up Sunday pretty congested. I'm Covid free but listened to the body and sat this one out, but I got tons of pics and got to pay attention to the race so I'll report on the always exciting Elite class!

Too sick to smile

For the better part of the 13 years that we've been involved in the South Florida racing scene, two names have always raised eyebrows when they've lined up together, Bob McCarty & Ryan Woodall. While there's been and still are many long time fast Florida Elite racers, seeing those two line up means it's going to be as fast as it can get. While they may be over a decade apart and in age, their speed, skills and consistency rarely creates more than a few seconds difference lap after lap. On this day, 28 riders would line up for the Elite 19-49 field for 4 laps of Markham. 

The field was off and set a blistering pace led by Victor Alber, another long time Florida fast man, out front early in the singletrack through the flowing Redback section with the majority of the field in tow. The pace would start to split the field eventually with 9 riders coming clear with a gap at the end of lap 1.

Victor Alber leading early

The group of 9 would remain together when we'd see them again coming through the paver climb in the Gun Range section. 2020 FSC Champion Antonio Guzman would drive the charge through the course and bring the group back around through the 2nd lap. The pace was nearly identical to the first, but not enough to break up the lead group further. 

Antonio Guzman takes a turn up front

Three laps in and while the lead group would exchange places, McCarty and Woodall would bide their time. On lap 3, Bob would use his home course knowledge and strike first and strike hard. He managed to jump into the singletrack, and it's little passing room, first and put some riders in between him and Ryan and pin it like only he can at his home course. Coming out of the Outback section and around the far side lake he'd gained a small gap on the field with Troy Davis sprinting to stay connected. Victor Alber would be chasing 5 seconds in arrears, with Woodall and one more racer in tow another 5 seconds back. The rest of the fields would continue the charge, but any cohesion they had as a group was blown apart by the pace. Exiting the Bermuda Triangle Section, McCarty held a 5 second advantage on Davis and stretched it out to 20 over the duo of Alber and Woodall. Exiting the trail I'd see Woodall stand up and set a hard chase onto the short fireroad section approaching the finish line. Could he bring back the gap on the last lap? 

McCarty Strikes!

Woodall Chases

While chasing the riders and trying to take photos and mental notes of action, but what I didn't know was that Bob would set the fastest lap on the day on lap 3, over 30 seconds faster than each of the first two laps!! He'd again set the second fastest lap of the race on lap 4 and was simply untouchable on this day. Even with a solo roll in and celebratory post up at the line he'd still put another 29 seconds on Woodall, who'd shed his age classmates for the class victory. I didn't get to talk to Bob after the race, but ever the sportsman, I spoke with Ryan who was complimentary towards Bob and mentioned that even after this many years near the top, he's still learning and this would be a lesson in field positioning for him. Once Bob got away he knew it would be tough to catch. 

McCarty takes first win of the year at home!

McCarty the master now leads the Elite series with Davis, Alber, and Julio Gomez in striking distance. Woodall has one missed event in the series, but remains a contender with two wins in his three appearances. If he is truly going for the series he'll have some makeup events for the opportunity to get him back in contention. 

My next outing will be at Alva so will try to bring another detailed race report for the exciting series! I've got a few hundred Yellow wave pics to sort through but will upload to our Facebook page later this week! Stay tuned!!

Getting the Band Back Together!

What a weird time to be alive!! Fortunately "regular human" life appears to be getting back on track. People are getting vaccinated, learning how to stay healthy and beginning to get back out and enjoying life. We're in the same boat and after over a year of solitude on the bike the adventuring has resumed. 

In non bike adventures, this spring took my family and I to a camping/adventure trip to Georgia and North Carolina, hitting up some of the places I'd only quickly seen on the bike. Made stops in Dahlonega, Ga, then Bryson City & Asheville in NC, and slowed down to explore the areas and had an amazing time.  

Views of Lake Fontana

Creek Side Camp

Adventure #Jeeplife

As for the bikes, well that hasn't really stopped. Just been spent mostly in solitude without much to tell. Fortunately this weekend was a different story. Serrano finally threw a leg back over the bike and we set off for a weekend in Ocala to hit up the fabulous Santos trail system. 

Bike Wagon back in action!

We loaded up the Subaru with Biking and Camping gear and setoff to ride the most expanse trail system in the state. We setup camp Saturday and quickly hit the main Santos trailhead after lunch. The trails there are fast and fun with some natural technical sections mixed in to keep your attention on the trails. Wrapped up the day with a celebratory beverage and burgers, with a big day planned for Sunday

These bikes still shred!

Post ride beverage

Post ride burgers!

Sunday would be a long day in the saddle as we planned to tackle most of the OMBA Epic loop. From our camp I mapped out 30 miles of flowy single track. For those familiar with the area, we started at Shangri-La with the the Vortex as our targeted turnaround point. Man I forgot what a great place this is to ride. With mostly park based trails in SFL, the Ocala trail system is vast and isolated. You can go hours without seeing another rider. Unfortunately this was not the case, but trail traffic was mild in the two way trail system. The weather was slightly warm by end of the day, but considering the typical Florida weather at this time, it really couldn't have been much better with a cool start and clear skies. 30 miles later and we were back. In time to pack up camp, clean up and enjoy the most perfectly cold beverage before hitting the road. 

Ripping some singletrack

South Florida travels! Spotted our friend Tanya at the trails too!

Mid-ride pit stop at Vortex

Nearly had to jump this guy

Finished up last couple of miles on the easy path home

It's been a long time but was great to just get out and ride with no agenda. No training, no racing, just riding for joy, which is really how this all started. The racing will resume at some point this year, but till then when you see us on the trails, we'll be having fun! 

Race Report - Coconut Cup #1 Markham Park

Time flies when you're having fun! It's been a few weeks since the Markham opener of the Coconut Cup and it was a blast. Huge fields in all classes made the racing tight. Good starts and holding a consistent pace was critical. The race loop was carved out of the existing trails for a unique race day only course. More of a power course with few climbs but still constantly undulating terrain meant key was stay steady and don't pop on one of the temping wide open sections. So how'd it go?

Elite Wave Start!

35 racers lined up at the XC2 40-49 line (HUGE for the class), and despite my early arrival to the grid, I was still starting 2nd row. The whistle blew and I never had a chance at a good start. Instantly pinched from both sides and a quick course bottleneck meant I had a lot of ground to cover to move up the pack before the singletrack. I decided to be patient and not blow up in the first two minutes. Settled in behind a group and would wait my chance to make a move. After five or so minutes of singletrack we hit the biggest "climb" of the day (More like 50 yards with gradual incline) and I layed down my first "match". Having been working on short burst efforts, I was curious to see how well they'd go. Turns out practice makes perfect. I punched it up this short climb and gained 4 spots and wasn't completely cracked! Kept rolling and slowly pulling for the group in chase of the next group. Hmm...maybe today would be fun despite this terrible start!

Tired but pushing into the final lap

The above is pretty much a synapsis of my entire race, unfortunately it would come at the expense of a dropped chain and a small crash throughout the course of the race. Nothing catastrophic, but always ill timed (are they ever actually well timed??) and would cause me to lose time and positions, then spend time and energy chasing back and waiting for passing opportunities. That said, it was actually kind of fun! Pace and endurance felt good all day. I'd lay down hard efforts on flats and power sections that normally I'm conservative on, make some passes then unfortunately go backwards. Make efforts and passes again. Fruitful it was not, but at least was engaging. Last 10 minutes I woke up enough to fend of another racer from my class to hold my lowly but hard fought 27th place. I'm nowhere near the lead but I know I have better results in me this season and can't wait to hit Round 2 in Alva in a few weeks!

Speaking of season, we're ironing out some plans and big events for 2020. Stay tuned!

2019 in Progress!

If you've been following along on with us on Facebook you'll know 2019's major goal is the Whiskey Off Road in Arizona! 50 miles in the beautiful Arizona desert terrain with close to 7000 feet of climbing? Sounds like a dream to me!

When the decision was made in December, we had to get right to business adding the Santos 12 Hour event to the calendar. The February timing was perfect as would have a few weeks to start preparing. Having ridden the trails but never been to the event, I heard it was half race and half party. We'd be camping out at the venue and only racing the 6 Hour event so we'd definiltey have plenty of time for shenanigans.

The race started off LeMans style with a 300m dash to our bikes. I managed to find a well placed and firm vine to prop my bike up, but it was a bit further down the row. Alex would set up his bike in a perfect spot a the start of the bike drop. Who's strategy would win out?? The run started straight up an incline so I didn't have any reason to go all out, but I did manage to ultimately hop on the bike in front of Alex, but only by two riders! We settled into the madness of a mass start and tried to stay out of trouble.

After a short opening loop, the 9 mile course would break up into a technical section with short punchy climbs that would simply kill the legs, then fast and flowy for a few miles, followed by a milder technical and choppy section into the finish area. A flaming boost jump is traditionally added for fun along the pit row by spectators, adding a final challenge at the finish line. It's completely optional, but race time bravery often gets people out of their comfort zone. The jump is quite simple and small by MTB standards, but it's still known to catch a tired rider out with silly crashes. Gotta pay to play sometimes, right? Luckily I survived each attempt unscathed. My modest jump style drew courtesy applause, but they definitely weren't going to remember me.

Fast forward to 3 hours in. I was cooked. Legs didn't really have the miles for the event and started cramping. I went out to start a 4th lap and nearly stalled going up two power climbs at the beginning of the loop. At this point it wasn't safe and I called it a day. Alex had shown up just for the fun and riding so he wrapped up slightly earlier in the day. Fun was had. Solid training on the day and came out unscathed. Time for camping, cooking and recovery beer!

We enjoyed the event and will definitely come with more focus again next year. Took a few pics and vids, not a ton, but enough to get a vibe for the great event. Up next is the Amelia 60 in March. Training has been progressing so expecting better results out of this one! Come back soon for more updates.

So now what?

After the long leadup and drama going into Oramm, the weeks that followed were due for a little relaxation off the bike and figuring out what to do for the rest of the year. Not wanting to waste quite possibly the best fitness we've had in a few years, we've decided to hit the XC scene and get back to our roots in the Coconut Cup! We're looking forward to seeing old faces and meeting new ones in the great Florida MTB Community. The action begins in October at Markham park so keep following with us for pics and stories of the events. Can't wait!!!

Race Report - Oramm in the books!!

To say getting to Oramm was a challenge is a huge understatement. The whole goal was set after a shoulder injury & subsequent surgery in 2017 had me so out of shape I decided to get the Eclipse Racing gang back together and go big, and Oramm was the target. TLDR Warning, it's a long report!

To recap, I got serious in January, and crashed in my first event resulting in a back injury. Then had a spleen issue a few weeks later. Then had chest pain symptoms that turned out to be

caused by gastritis. All of which were serious enough to knock me off the bikes for a few weeks at a time. The hits just kept coming, but despite the doubt and lost training time, I was able to focus on the bike just enough to drop 20lbs and get some effective training done with Freddy from F2 Performance Lab. Alex meanwhile cranked away for months like he hadn't done in years. An Oramm veteran, Mike was taking a relaxed approach to his prep as he knew what would be in store for him and his SS setup.

Now for the trip. What a great time we had! Coming from Miami, FL means 12 hours to Old Fort, NC. We decided to leave on Friday and stop in SC to hit up the FATS trail system. Man what a blast we had. We kept it easy on the Brown Wave and Skinny trails which are mostly flow trails and just let it rip. Didn't want to hammer any climbs, just wanted to have some fun and break up the drive. We wrapped up the drive to Asheville, NC and called it a night after dinner.

Saturday was preride day and Boyco gave us the low down. Rather than over doing it trying to get familiarized with every possible section, we focused on the Kitsuma trails as we'd hit them twice in the main event. After some final bike adjustments and getting lost a little bit, we started the road climb to Kitsuma. With month of long steady efforts, but no real climbing I was curious to see how the climbing legs would show up. I was pleased with my 2x10 gear selection and thrilled I'd dropped so much weight. The legs felt great and I was able to match what we'd trained in an actual climbing situation. Compared to my prep for Fool's Gold in 2014 I was thrilled with what was to come. Taking it easy we hit the singletrack section and all it's switchback glory about 30 minutes later. The steep turnarounds took some getting used to, but we figured out a rhythm and grinded to the top. Then the fun started. Not having hit "real" downhills in many years I eased into it making sure I wasn't going to fly off the bench cut trails. Was just getting comfortable when some rear brake squishyness reared it's head. Nothing like 50% stopping power to shake the nerves.... I adjusted the lever a bit and improved it, but my confidence was shot and I kept it slow going until we hit the bottom. We gathered up and after some relaxing and beverages, we hit an Asheville shop who was kind enough to try to fix my brakes. They didn't quite have all tools needed for a proper bleed, but they felt better so I hoped I'd be set. 

Sunday came and it was show time. We arrived a little later than planned but managed to make the start line with only minutes to spare. Unfortunately Alex was fighting some stomach issues from the day before and had to take care of business and missed the start. Boyco rolled in without a care in the world. I was jealous....We rolled off and I quickly wound up in no man's land. Wasn't able to keep up with lead group cold, and was ahead of the 2nd group that was really easing into it. After about 10 minutes of rolling we hit the climb. I set into my power range and went for it. Pace was decent for me but was getting reeled in by more comfortable climbers. ALL the Boycos passed me! Mike, his dad and even his little brother! (Ah to be 15 and skinny again...) I kept my focus and made it to the top feeling good. Now on to the fun descents. I felt comfortable quickly for the first 10 minutes and managed now to slow people up, then the brake fade returned and I had to pull over. Fidgeted with brake reach a few times, then eventually crawled to the bottom safely. Was making another adjustment when Alex came roaring by trying to make up on lost time! I got the brakes to where I was happy again and off I set to chase down Alex.

The flat road was a nice change as about the only thing I was used to! I pushed the pace a bit and had a small train latch on my wheel, having me second guessing that I may be going too hard, but I was feeling good so I kept at it. We hit the next rest stop and there was Alex so I topped off bottles and grabbed a few munchies quickly and off we went. Now started the never ending Curtis Creek climb that I'd been warned about, and lived up to it's reputation. This thing was just and endless grind. Not much to say here, just find your climbing rhythm and hold it for over an hour. Made it to the rest stop at what I thought was the end of the climb, only to find another few miles of road to climb on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Beautiful views and all, I was ready to start pointing down. Before that came, there was a gnarly hike a bike to take care of. A few minutes later and it was finally time to let it rip down the appropriately named Heartbreak Ridge. Somewhere along the way Alex and I were back together again heading into the decent. Admittedly I walked a ton of the early sections. Huge rock sections and iffy brakes didn't really have me gleaming with confidence. Finally found the brake reach that gave me maximum stopping power that I could still reach with one finger and finally got rolling consistently. This was the longest downhill I've ever ridden! I took the chicken line but I was committed, but unfortunately slipped on a root near the bottom and had a small tire burp and had to put my foot down, setting off the Hecklers howls! All in good fun, I carried on. 

Time to hike a bike!

Having survived the toughest section of the race feeling good despite the brake delays. I knew there was about 90 minutes or less to go and I had finally resolved my brake issues, I got my last wind. I knew we'd have a steady climb back to Kitsuma, so I set into my pace while trying to conserve some energy for the switchbacks. Somewhere along the way down, Alex damaged a pedal and was slowed down a bit, so here is where we parted ways. I made it to the switchbacks, and while my steady effort power was hanging in there, the intense power needed to make it around the switchbacks was mostly gone. I'd make it around a few bends then need to stop and recover, or walk around the bend. Took a little longer than the first time, but I made it, only this time, I had brakes going down! Finally I was able to let it rip and tried to pin it down as best I could. Made it to the bottom safely and saw Freddy with some words of encouragement and a splash of cold water telling me there was only a few miles to go. Knowing it was easy rollers to the end I rode with a grin from ear to ear as hard as I could go to the finish. Alex came by about 10 minutes later. Broken pedal, stomach issues and all, he was grinning ear to ear as well crossing the line. 

Post race dip!

Considering the rough journey I had to make it to Oramm, finishing was enough for me. Clock time was slow due to mechanicals and stopping a little tooo long at the stops, but my riding time was reasonable for my expectations so I came out of this thrilled. I joined the Boycos and Alex with a traditional dip in the cold stream nearby and a cold beer and reminisced about what we'd just been through. Knowing that this year's course was about 10 miles shorter than usual, we'll definitely be back to conquer Oramm in it's entirety soon! Time to take a few weeks off and plan out the rest of the year. Once again we'd like to thank Freddy Viera with F2 Performance Lab for getting us prepared for this event. Enjoy some pics below and keep following along!

The squad!