Mafia Racing Blog

Last weekend’s Xterra Indian Peaks, in Eldora, was kind of a mixed bag.  I went into it with pretty low expectations — my hand was still a bit jacked from last weekend, and I’d spent most of my time and energy that week moving into a new apartment with Kate (S.), my girlfriend.  So here’s how I break it down:

Good:
Didn’t get a nasty infection in my hand from the brackish snowmaking water we swam in… yay!
Didn’t really make the hand injury worse.
Finished top-5
Didn’t get lost and accidentally cut the course (happened way more than it should have)

Bad:
Legs felt like grade-A scheisse!
Probably could have taken 3rd and some cash
Still haven’t unlocked the mystery of swimming fast.

Oh well.  I’ll be ready to rock for Beaver Creek this weekend, and after that, it’s the big one, Regional Championships in Ogden.  I hope you enjoy this photo I snaked from the skipix site.  Sorry, I know it’s pretty ghetto, but I just don’t like spending money on that kind of stuff.

Cheers!

So, we always hear about folks crashing on their bike and getting hurt, but how often does one get injured while trail running?  No so often I imagine.  This past weekend I went out to Crested Butte for the Crested Butte Bank Xterra, which is one of my all-time favorites.  Although I smoked the bike, I had a little bit of trouble on the run.  I tripped, fell, and put a pretty massive gash in my left palm, courtesy of a rock.

So, does this mean I’m a super-extreme pinner runner?  No way.  That I’m just born to be on a bike, not my own two feet?  Hardly.  That I’m a bit clumsy and was feeling pretty tired after 1,000 m of swimming and 24 k of mountain biking?  I’d say definitely.

Despite my running crash (that sounds so embarrassing), I finished to a gloriously bloody 4th place overall, which I was super-psyched with.  I’m going to ignore all of my doctor’s best recommendations and race the Eldora Xterra on Saturday.  Hopefully my hand won’t get infected and fall off.  I’m still to young to get a hook for a hand and enter the pirate stage of my life (I reckon that should kick in around age 42).

If you want to see my hand, here it is: My poor hand.

A few weekends ago I traveled over the mountains to Snowmass Colorado for the Mountain States cup race there. It was really fun and a super challenging course. I ended up having a really decent race there placing 8th in the grueling cross country race. I am finally feeling like I am on the up swing and racing fast again.

Most recently I raced in Durango Colorado at the Hermosa Creek Classic. This was a fundraiser race for the Fort Lewis College Cycling Club and probably one of my favorite races ever. The course is a point to point 38 miles with over 6000 vertical of climbing which makes for a long 3.5 hour race. I ended up placing 3rd overall 15 min back from winner Travis Brown. Second place went to Trevor Downing who had an amazing race, congratulations. There is going to be an article in the Gunnison newspaper about the race so look for an update including that in the near future.

I aint got much space to write much here, just wanted to post the info on Jake.  Nice work.

travis

I always enjoy going up to Winter Park for their summer race series.  The courses are usually fun, not too brutal, the drive is short and it’s an all-around lovely place to visit. This weekend was no exception as I did the double, with the valley point-to-point XC on Saturday and the Super D on Sunday. Both were really solid races.  The P2P is a total speedfest — lots of flat open sections, with a winning time under 1:10. Once I’d wrapped that up, I hit the mountain to check out the Super D course. I’d never done one of these before, although I’ve always wanted to. They ran it on the Long Trail, which is pretty mellow, lots of sweeping turns, with a few rocks and roots. Not too sketchy, but when you pin it, things start to get more serious. I was a bit cooked for the race after all of Saturday’s riding, and it didn’t help that we started with a quick climb up some fireroad… nasty! Despite my heavy legs, I picked my way through the field and ended up 4th overall… not bad for a first try! The only bummer was that I didn’t have any cash with me to stop at the Empire Dairy King on the way home… soooo good.  Next time!

I’m off to the Crested Butte Xterra next weekend, which should be awesome!

Rooly sunglasses has a great slogan, “Don’t just be in the game, be the game”.  Pretty much that sums up my the Crit.  That is the field behind me in the picture, chasing.  I went off with 9 laps to go.  I got a 45 second gap and caught with 4 laps left.  I underestimated that Waste Management would organize a chase, but they did.  I didn’t get sucked out after the catch, I actually stayed in top 4 and pulled off one last time with 1 lap to go.  Needless to say, with all my attacks, the field was shattered all race.  Great exposure for Mafia Racing.  Like the tour, the guys off the front and the winner get the glory, who really remembers who placed 2nd???

One of Mafia Racings commitments is to serve the community. We figure one of the best ways to do this is by working on the things we love best!

A couple weeks ago we teamed up with Boulder County and IMBA (International Mountain Bike Assoc) to help build a super sweet connector trail between Boulder, CO and Lyons, CO. We moved rocks the size of small cars, and we dug and raked until our hands turned bloody… well, not quite, but all in all we were able to look behind us and see a good amount of trail being created…. Its so great to see the accomplishments of my teammates, its so great to be a part of a team that cares so much. What a family…

Well, the Firecracker 50 was Mafia Racing’s first attempt at hosting a live band during a race… likely the only attempt of any professional cycling team to host a live band during and after a race!! Music - one of Mafia Racing’s core motives in our motto for Life.Loyalty.Liberation. The John Truscelli Band and Rojos Calientes played hard throughout the event, people were stoked, people were having a great time! We raffled off an electric guitar from one of our sponsors - First Act Guitars, we gave away a ton of PBR and PBR schwag, and the weather cooperated perfectly! A HUGE thanks to Jeff Wescott with Maverick Sports productions, Bryan Clarke and Heather Woodruff at Pabst, Seth at the Town of Frisco, Paul and Jeff at First Act, and Jett MTB for supplying the power for the band!!

jul-04-2009-vid00076.wmv

Well, I’ve always been a big proponent of learning lessons the hard way. That being said, it’s a bit tougher to stomach when it’s me who has to suffer the consequences of poor decisions. Bad races are inevitable from time to time, and this year’s Firecracker was one of the worst I’ve had in awhile. Poor pacing, nutrition and hot weather all led to a very slow second lap in the 50-mile event, bonking, cramping and a general malaise that kept my motivation at an all-time low. That being said, I know what I did wrong, and I don’t think I’ll soon forget those lessons either. Above all, I can confidently say that no other race this season will be as difficult, painful, disheartening or all-around rough as Firecracker was. Nice to think that things can only get better from here. I’m off to my first Xterra in South Dakota next weekend, and I’m psyched! It’s about time.

oh, p.s. thanks to you too Erik for the feeds and encouragement.

So this year I chose not to race the Firecracker 50 so that I could focus on my rest and training. Things haven’t developed quite the way I had hoped since the FrontRange 50.  Anyways this blog is about the racers and the great time I had volunteering at aid station 2. I’ve never experienced such a huge race with so many hundreds of people working their asses off at altitude and relatively high heat. In the midst of it all so many of the racers were able to forget their suffering to thank the people doing hand ups. What do you say to that? Our work as volunteers seems so modest to the effort these athletes put forth on Friday.  I had such a great time. The only way I could have had a better time on the Fourth was if I was suffering out there with everyone else. I want to congratulate Damien Frasier, Mike Friedberg, Christian Ball, Spencer Powlison, Andrew Feeney, Kate, Chapman, Kevin Kane, Meaghan Kane, Chris Rice, Travis Colbert, Cody Cox, Bernie Romero, Ryan Huth, Thane Wright, Tim Faia, Alex Kopko, Becca Blay, Brett Morgan. Also, David Janowiec. Thanks for being there for all the Mafia Racers this weekend. The stage and Rojos Calientes were awesome. I’m sure I’ve forgotten some people and some of you might not have had a great race by your own standards, but your efforts are commendable and worthy from where I was standing this year.