2023 Barry Roubaix Race Recap

 This event is always massive. Hastings get taken over when 4500 plus racers show up to test their mettle on the gravel roads of Barry County. Barry Roubaix has been a great event from the start, and it just keeps getting better. 

I woke up plenty early and loaded up the TCX to make the short drive over. I arrived in town just after 8am. I like to get there early to get a better parking spot. I found 1 just a block over from the team tent area. I was also just a block away from Ace Hardware, so packet pickup was super close. I wandered over to the entrance and waited in a short line. Once inside I had to swing into the 62 mile aisle of registered riders, and there was no other riders in there. I snagged my number and went to grab my poster. I got back to my car around 8:30. With a start time after 11 I had a lot of time to kill. 

Sitting there I could sense that I was feeling nervous. I still don't fully understand why I was feeling like this. I had zero flutters last week at Dirty 30, so this seemed odd to me. I decided to just roll around on the bike and see the sights. I ran into Lisa and a few others that I chatted with for a while. I headed back to the car again and was feeling somewhat better....but still had time to kill. I did go down the course a few blocks to watch the 36 milers start. Then headed back to town to finish gearing up and starting a warmup.

Warmup. HA. It was already warm and knowing I had 65 miles ahead of me I didn't want to do a typical warmup. So I just kind of rolled the loop a few times then headed towards the start chute. I was wave 4, so I moved to the side and waited for my wave. Then it was time to start.

We rolled up to the banner and I was towards the back of the wave. We started and this wave was way different than my previous Barry races. People were just cruising, not really racing. The group was spread out right away and I was trying to find a rhythm. Made the turn to the 3 sisters and was hoping for the best. First sister passed pretty good. Second sister was a bit tougher, but I made it. Third....I was halfway up and thought I was going to make it. Got just off to the right and lost momentum. Had to walk. Not an uncommon occurrence for me on this hill. 

Crested the last sister and I bombed the next section. I passed a lot of people on that next stretch to the M43 crossing....where we got stopped...again. This has happened the last 3 times I have raced out here. I know its a busy road, but stopping and waiting during a race is the worst feeling ever. We got rolling again and I eventually made it to the dairy farm climb. Usually I can make this climb, but my heart rate was going super high and I had to walk a bit again. Again, not uncommon...

Things were pretty uneventful for the next portion. The 18 mile course split off and the number of riders thinned down. There was a string of riders ahead of me as far as I could see, but not any sort of groups. I got to the part of the course where I thought we would make the right hand turn towards Gun Lake Road. Instead (despite my course knowledge) we went straight. This road took us another mile out and then turned us back onto Shaw Road. This is another Sager style seasonal road with lots of sand. I rode what I could, but I watched my average speed go from OK to OH NO in the course of one and a half miles. It took the wind out of my sails for sure.

Once we reached the end of Shaw it hits Gun Lake Road right at the bottom of the long climb. I just was trying to find some sort of rhythm and this climb was tough. I cleared the top and used the downhill to recover. This section up to Sager road is good for recovery. I got to Sager and it was tough as usual. I rode what I could, walked the rest. Still watching my average speed drop was starting to bother me mentally. 20 miles in, and I had doubts creeping in.

By the time I hit The Wall at mile 25 I was mentally tanked. I texted Christine and was just done. By mentally tanked I mean....self deprecating....self loathing....stupid and untrue thoughts. I was in that place mentally where I question everything. Questioning why I even ride a bike. Terrible. More on this later.

I was ready to call SAG. I figured I would keep going to 30 miles and see how it went. I was not feeling any better, and because I mentally tanked my physical side was done too. I got to just under 31 miles and called for a ride. I knew that there was no way I could go another 30 plus miles in the frame of mind I was in. So I got a DNF.  It happens. 

Tough day on the bike. Made harder by my lack of mental fortitude on this ride. This happens, but the level that I went to was unacceptable. Thankfully that defeated feeling didn't last long. It was more in the moment that I was super struggling and I let myself believe the negative self talk and I sabotaged myself. Self sabotage is one of my biggest weaknesses. Christine helped snap me back to reality with words of encouragement and positivity. Other people offered insight too and that was also helpful. By the time I got home I was doing better mentally. I wasn't pounding myself into the dirt anymore. I wasn't questioning the reasons I ride. I was just tired and worn out. 

Christine and I talked about nutrition a lot that night. How I felt so different after a month of eating clean versus a week of not so clean. A successful 50 miler versus a very tough 30 miles. Clean vs Dirty. We talked thru a lot of things and started to work thru the muck. How mentally I spiraled down and how my nutrition influenced that spiral. I plan to post more about this in the future. Need to do some more research to fully understand the correlation for myself. Witnessing it in myself makes me pay more attention to things. I guess some lessons are best learned the hard way. 

So this isn't a setback by any means. Just a bad day. I can learn from it. I actually already have. I move forward. Lumberjack is just under 9 weeks out. I have time to anchor myself mentally. Come along for the ride....

Dirty 30 Recap (Filthy 50 edition)

 Race season for me has begun. 

This edition takes me back to the Dirty 30 in Saranac, MI. My first time racing here was 2012, check the recap by clicking here. 

Day started off like normal. I was packed up and ready the night before. Always best to try to be prepared. I was up and heading North by 7am. The drive up was uneventful. I got to Saranac just before 8am and swung into the church to park. I rolled down to registration where the line was very short. I asked if I could change my category because I missed that there was a "clyde" option during signup. The dude told me that when Raymond got back he could help me (more on this later). I opted to just head back to the car and figured I would try later. 

With a 10am start I had some time to just relax. I just kind of hung out and watched the parking lot fill up. Eventually it was time to get ready. I geared up and headed out for a warmup. I felt like I was dressed right, because temps were still in the 30's. I was comfortable, without having too many layers and being overdressed. It was funny as I rolled into the intersection by Dollar General....riders and cars everywhere. It has a very 'zwift' feel to it with the riders just blending in together and passing each other. Real life is much better.

I took this video of the swollen river. Hopefully the clarity is there. With the rain storm last week all of the rivers were very high. This one was extremely high. 

I headed over to the start area and realized I was on the wrong side. Looped around and headed into the chute. It was hard to hear the announcer because the speakers were facing away towards the parking log. Thankfully I was in the start chute on time and ready to get going.  In the pic below you can see the partly cloudy skies with a bit of a breeze. Great day for a race.

They fired the start...extinguisher (I guess...it was a steam or water signal of some sort) and it was time to go. Knowing I had 50 miles ahead of me, I didn't want to start fast.....like I ever do anyway. ha! The first section out of town is paved and has just a touch of elevation. Right away the lead pack was leaving me, as expected. We made the first turn towards a school and eventually the pavement gave way to dirt....and another hill. Gone. Lead pack was gone. I was less than 2 miles in and was basically riding alone. Just a few stragglers here and there stretching out ahead of me. There were a few behind me as well, but I was just there to finish.

The biggest thing here was the potholes. The roads surely were in rough shape from the sheer amount of rain in the previous week. Riding in a group could have been dangerous, because riding alone was sketchy enough for me. I was just chugging away when I heard a bigger group coming. I knew it was the 30 miles gaining. I heard a "keep up the work Seany" as Munson ripped past in front of the group. They passed me like I was sitting still, but I swear I was moving. lol.

Miles 10-20 were uneventful. Around the 18 mile mark the courses split and I was even more alone than before. Alone with my thoughts I started to calculate when I would be turning back towards town. They had 12 to go, so that gives me another 20 miles...so in 10 miles I will turn back to Saranac and when I reach the connection I should have 12ish miles to go. All good, just keep chugging.

Somewhere in the low 20's I saw another rider ahead of me. I heard 2 guys behind me chatting and they went ripping past a second later. I realized I had passed them earlier when one had a flat. Didn't take long before they were gone too. Seeing I was gaining on the rider in front of me gave me some hope. I kept my speed best I could and around mile 25 I finally reeled her in. Told her good job and I just kept chugging along. 

This was the moment I realized that I forgot my food bars in the car. NOT GOOD. I was halfway into my race and realized I didn't have any energy with me. No aid stations that I was aware of....this was going to be a long afternoon. Thankfully I did have a Stinger waffle with me, or this story would have ended tragically. 

The road out here turned to a super hard packed white gravel. Still some potholes, but way less than the others. This was where I had to use some nerve. 44ish miles in....there was a massive descent. I touched the brakes....worrying about potholes...but then let off and just decided to gamble. At the bottom of the hill I hit 43.5 mph! Simply hauling. I don't know if I have ever hit that speed on a bike before, let alone on pothole riddled gravel. Sketchy. But I survived and it was a blast!

Happy feeling gone. At mile 46 I made a right hand turn onto Ivan. This 3/4 mile segment has 200 feet of climbing. At this point my legs were already torched and I was starting to run out of gas. No shame, I walked a big portion of this section. No choice. I am still not a climber and this was my longest ride of the year. Also, if you remember, I didn't have any caloric input other than a waffle. So dumb. lol. I made it to the top and the volunteers the top gave me words of encouragement. Thanks for that, it was appreciated!

The next few miles were kind of a blur. Before I knew it I was making the last right hand turn towards the finish line. There was a guy on a unicycle that I destroyed the last 100 yards. (small victories). lol. Was cool that he rode and finished, I am unsure of his distance. What a cool thing do accomplish.

I finished. Out of gas and out of energy. I was happy with my finish for a few reasons. First, I finished. Secondly, I was actually faster than I figured I would be. Not as fast as 2021, but a lot has happened since then. I will take the solid finish and build on it next weekend at Barry Roubaix.  

The kicker....remember that I was going to change classes to the 'Clyde' category? Well guess what....I would have been on the podium in 3rd place if I was able to change. My own fault, and an opportunity missed to make some Sean history. Lesson learned. When I went back to change categories the line was a few hundred people deep. I would have missed my start if I tried to change. So kind of bittersweet. I wasn't last.....but I didn't get rewarded for my efforts. :(

Barry Roubaix is next...and I will do a blog on that soon. 62 miles with 2x the climbing should be interesting. See you guys there!

First Quarter Update

Tempus Fugit

Time flies.....or correctly...time flees.

I looked at the calendar yesterday and thought....April....already? There is still freaking snow on the ground and we only had 2 days in the 50's in March. Dang. Time does fly.

My race season started off pretty well with Barry Roubaix. This weekend is The Lowell 50 and then there was a pretty significant schedule change. The Yankee Springs TT was moved to May 18th due to FOOT of snow still on the trails. The WMMBA made the tough, although correct, choice to move the race. As trail advocates there is now way the group would allow a race with over 700 people to happen and risk major trail destruction.

Taken March 27th by Mark K.

Taken March 27th by Mark K.
(this is the bridge a few miles in)

So, that means I have Lowell this weekend and then The Fort Custer Stampede in May. This means that I have a few more weeks to train before my true mountain bike race season begins. Awesome. And, I can drop more weight in the next 5 weeks before Yankee, meaning I will be climbing hills faster. Just gotta keep plugging away!

And...AND! I decided to look at where my numbers are compared to last year. I have 245 more miles in the first 3 months of 2014 than I had in 2103.....and I am 14 pounds lighter than I was at this point last year. I will take it....but I still have work to do!

If you are at Lowell on Saturday I will see you there. Shooting for 2.5 hours over the 34 miles...for an average speed of 13.6 (which is faster than what I raced Barry Roubaix....hoping for better conditions). I would love to be at 2:15 finish time....but that is 15.1 mph......hey...shoot for the stars...

Barry Roubaix 2014.

The 2014 edition of the Barry Roubaix was my first race of the year. On my way to Hastings I drove one of the gravel roads on the course to check conditions. On that one gravel road the conditions were good. But, the rain that fell the night before had different ideas. 

Starting in Wave 1 was a new experience for me. I have never done that. I was chatting with a former rival (and former clyde) when we were staged up. Then we rolled up to the start line and waited the last two minutes for the start. 3, 2, 1...GO. I knew the start would be fast. All pavement. 150 people. The leaders went off like a rocket. I settled into my groove and just plugged away. We made the turn onto Yeckley Road and I could still see the leaders. I was impressed with myself for that....keeping them insight for nearly 2.5 miles. By the 3rd Sister the group was strung out and the leaders were gone.

I did start too fast....as usual. So I had to back off a bit but then I settled in. Starting in the first wave I had plenty of people to ride with. I knew Jay, Mark, Ken, Brian, and Lisa were chasing so I kept plugging away. Conditions were interesting to say the least. The roads were still wet and I could definitely feel extra drag. Some of the areas were awful. Deep mud and mud puddles which made it like riding in peanut butter. A few miles in a group of guys were passing and the first guy went down, taking two others down with him in some deep mud. I made it safely through and just kept plodding away.

Finally making to the pavement on Gun Lake road I really found my rhythm. I started to pick off a few people and I was able to hang with a smaller group and recover. I was comfortable. I knew I was going to miss my goal time by the 11 mile mark, but I was still having a lot of fun. Lots of people all suffering the same. Well...some were suffering more than others when they were hurling on the side of the road...but you get the idea.

So, I took 57th place in my age group. Missed my goal by 19 minutes. Finished the race with a smile on my face. The new run into the finish was awesome. 3 miles of pavement but another long climb. I was ready to be done so I crushed it. I passed a lot of people and then let it rip over the top. It felt good to crush the last roller and then be going full tilt into the finish line. Awesome time! Even with conditions I was able to shave over 5 minutes off of my fastest time ever (2012) at this race.

Our whole team finished and was glad to be done! Here are our team members that were here:

Back Row: Left (me!)

Andrew G.

Ryan (hiding in the back middle)

Jay B.

Front Row: Brian B. (left)

Lisa P.

Ken S.

Mark K. (right)

It was a good time on a tough course. The Lowell 50 is next on the schedule on April 5th and then Yankee Springs is the following weekend. Season off to a good start! I weighed in at 242.25 this morning which puts me at 24.75 pounds down for the year. I am shooting for 239 next Monday. Just gonna keep plugging away!

Riding bikes is awesome.