Getting in some good long miles 용인에서 긴 자전거 타기!

Last weekend I had the weekend off from racing and I decided that since I kept blowing up in races I needed to get back to the basics and get some nice long slow rides.  Generally, I've found that for me the best way to get in shape or improve my form is to do a few long slow rides and with two more races left before a break from racing at the end of July I wanted to improve my form a bit. 

Saturday my friend Matt from Jechon came out and we rode single track for 4 hours around Yangji.  I have lots and lots of great mountain bike trails around where I live and I love showing them to people.  I stayed with Matt a few weeks ago for the 100km Bak Dal Jae mountain bike race and it was fun to finally get the chance to ride with him.  We rode 4 sections of single track with road in between each one it probably ended up being about half road half off road distance wise.  It was pretty hot weather but we both made it through the ride ok.  Below are some pics Matt took on the ride. 

Sunday I rode with some of my friends from the Osan Air Force Base and some new friends as well.  There were 7 of us in total. It was also my last ride with Aaron because he is going back to Indiana for the summer.  I rode from my house and met Dan (a rider from England that rides for team Storm Riders here in Korea and also happens to live in Yongin) and Kevin (who Dan met while out biking on the Han river) in front of Yongin University and then we rode 30 more minutes south to meet up with Aaron, Luis and company.  We went and did a nice climb down in Ansung and then headed north back towards the Yongin University.  After eating lunch with Dan I rode home getting in another solid 4 hours on the bike. 

This weekend I'm racing at the F1 race track in Young Am in the south west corner of Korea.  I'm looking forward to the race and I think the flat curvy track will suit me well.

이번주말에 나긴 천천희라이딩했어요. 나지넌 두번 대회가좀 못탔어서 긴 라이딩필요있었어요. 나 월래잘타고싶으면긴 타는거해야해요.

토요일에 내제천에있는미국인형 메트 양지 싱글 타로 왔어요.  우리 4시간 코스탔어요 싱글 반 도로 반. 양지근쳐에  싱글너무 많이있고 나다른 사람들한태 보여주는거 좋아해요.  너무 더웠지만 찐자좋았어요.  냉면먹고 메트 다시 제천으로 갔어요. 

일요일에 나 항군친구이랑 용인에있는 원어민 친구댄이랑 댄 형 케빈같이 탔어요. 내 친구 에런 이번 주 미국 갈거에서 이번은 우리 마지막 같이탈수있는거이얐어요.    댄이랑 케빈이랑 용인대 앞에서 만나고 항군 친구들 송전조수지 에서 만났어요.  우리 같이 두시간 동안탔어요  안성에서 산한게 타고 다시 용인대로 갔어요.  용인시네 에서 댄이랑 김밥 먹고 집으로 갔어요.  4시간 탔어요.  이번주말에 영암 F1 경기장에서 대회있어요 너무 재미있을거같아요 그리고 코스 나한테 좋은거이에요! 

HongCheon Race weekend 홍천 대회

Last weekend I did two races in the same weekend.  Saturday was a road race and Sunday was a mountain bike race and both of them went pretty well. 

Saturday I signed up for the Senior men MTB road division for the 40km road race.  The course looked pretty good for me with one 2km long hill coming with about 5km left to race.  The race was a little bit strange though as they basically let everyone start at the same time.  So there ended up being a pretty big pack with about half the people riding road bikes and half on mountain bikes!  Within the first 10km my friend Brad (who was in the road bike division got off the front).  I thought it might be a good idea to try to go with him but I was worried about blowing up like I did in the last weeks race.  So I hesistated and he ended up getting about a 45 second lead on our pack.  Brad's team Stork had almost 20% of the field and the rest of the teams only had one or two guys so nobody was really chasing.  
We got to the hill and Brad still had a gap but people started attacking right at the bottom.   I tried my best to stay with the leaders which proved to be a mistake as I blew up really hard like last week and could barely get over the hill.  After the top I got with a group and road into the finish to finish 3rd in my age group.  I won 40kg of HongCheon County rice for my 3rd place (not a bad prize if you ask me). 

Sunday was a mountain bike race and I promised myself that I would ride a moderate pace and try my best not to enter the red zone (which had caused me to blow up and not finish well the last two weekends).  The mountain bike race had a lot of good racers in it this year and they changed the course slightly compared to the won which I won overall here last year.  The start was fast and the first 6 or so Km were on a gradual up hill up to a country club.  On the climb a group of 5 attacked off the front but I stayed true to my strategy and just sat in the pack.  When the road turned to dirt and got steeper I was able to seperate myself from the main pack.  I ended up riding in around 4th place overall with 3 other people one of which was from my age group.  We went back and forth the whole race and going into the last climb I had created a small gap on the downhill.  However, it wasn't enough and he soon caught me.  The last climb was smooth and gradual but his pace was just too much for me to match and I couldn't close the gap on the final downhill.  I ended up 2nd in my age group and 6th overall which I was happy with because I felt like I had ridden well.  My prize for second was a massive amount of raw ginseng.  I really wanted to get first because the prize was fresh Korean beef steaks (which are really expensive) but the ginseng was a good prize too. 

I feel like I'm still recovering from the 100km race a little bit but hopefully I will be totally ready to race next weekend.  They are having races at the F1 race track in Young Am in the south west corner of Korea.  I think the track will suit me and it should be pretty fun to race on a car racing track. 

지난주말에 나 홍천군 에서 대회 두개탔어요.  토요일에 MTB로드 시합있었어요. 
대회시작생각보다 좀달았어요.  싸이클 타는 사람 산악이랑근쳐에서 출발했어서 팩 100명이사 mtb 타는사람이랑 싸이클 타는사람들같이있었어요! 

5키로 탈때 내친구 브레드 어텍했어요.  나 같이 가는생각 좀있었지만 지난대회에서 blow up 했었어요.  그래서 안다다했어요 그냥 큰 언덕 까지 기다리하고했어요.  큰 언덕에서 브레드 아직 앞에있었어요.  언덕 시작할때 앞사람이랑 같이 타봤지만 지난주처럼 몸 안됐어요 30초 잘탔지만 정상 너무 천천희 얼랐어요 ㅠㅠㅠ.  10명정도 피니쉬까지 같이 탔어요.  하지만 내 종목에 3등했어요.  홍천강 쌀 40키로 받았어요! 

산악대회에서 새계획이만들었어요.  지난대회에서 blow up 했어서 내 페이스 끝까지탈거예요 했어요.  시작에서 5명어택했지만나 그냥팩에있었어요.  임도시작할때나 내종목있는 박용수랑있었어요.  우리 마지막 언덕 까지 같있었어요.나 다운힐 조금더 빨리타고있어서 그냥 다다해볼거예요했어요.  하지만 마시막 언덕 에서 못다다했어요! 종목 2등했어요 그리고 전체 6등. 2등상  인삼이얐어요!  홍천대회 찐자 괜찮은 상품 졌어요 일등한우 세트 받고싶었지만 인삼 이랑 쌀도 좋았어요!

이번주말에 대회 없으니까 양지에서 좀탈거예요.  토요일 친구랑 싱글트렉 그리고 일요일에 외국인 싸이클 타는 친구랑 탈거에요.  다음주 영암 F1 경기 신나요! 

The Giant Cup

On Sunday I participated in the Giant Cup.  It had both mountain bike and road racing and I got to participate in both.  The 40km cross country mtb race started in the morning and did not go as I had hoped it would.

I had ridden really well at the 100km race and thought I had a good shot to do well here too.  The race started with 5km of flat roads and then gradually started going up hill.  I was feeling pretty good and 3 riders had attacked off the front, so I decided to try to bridge up to them.  Unfortunately I quickly blew up and basically had no power.  Also at this point the road got a lot steeper.  I quickly realized I just wasn't having a good day and basically rode in steady to the finish.  It was a nice course (which had almost a 20km gradual downhill in it but I was just lacking the power to race well.   I think I was still tired from the 100km race last week.

I hoped I could perform better in the road race and I decided that no matter what happened I would stay in the pack and just try to do my best in the field sprint.  The road race was a little bit weird because if you didn't do the mtb race in the morning they wanted you to ride a 30km parade through Chuncheon where the race was being held.  However a few of the racers didn't think they would check who participated in the parade very carefully and some of them showed up late or not at all for it.  All of those who did that were allowed to race in the road race but wouldn't be scored for placings.  This included some of the strongest riders in the race.

The race was 5 laps of 9km each on a hilly circuit with a big down hill and then 150 meters of gradual uphil to the finish.  Also everyone was racing together but the results would be done by age group.  I was in the men 20-30 year old group.  The race started with a few attacks and on the second lap one finally got away.  It contained 4 riders but two of them couldn't count towards the results because they were late for the parade.  There was one other rider from my age group in this break but I stuck to my plan and just sat in thinking that maybe the pack would real them in.  They had a little over a 30 second gap most of the race but the pack never really got organized and it stayed away until the end.  The break had my friends Brad and Elmer in it but they were the two riders who couldn't score because of the parade.

I moved up and got ready for the field sprint and I ended up opening it up with about 250m to go and holding off the rest of the field.  It felt great to win a field sprint and I ended up placing second in my age group with the result.  My teammate Yeon Deok was right behind me and he took 3rd in our age group.

I was really happy to make up for not riding very well in the mountain bike race by having a good ride in the road race.  This week I'm trying to rest up because I have two more races this weekend.  Saturday is a 40km road race and Sunday is a 40km mountain bike race.  Here are a few pictures from the race too.

Bak Dal Jae 100km Mountain Bike Race 박달재 100키로 산악자잔거대회

On Sunday I did my first 100km mountain bike race and it went much better than I expected.  The race started with a 3km or so long fire road climb.  I was riding well and was with the leaders over the top.  The down hill was really rocky and bumpy, which caused me to lose my water bottle. I went back to get it but it had been run over! After the down hill we had about a 10km long road section.  Our lead group had about 10 riders in it at this point 6 of which were in my age group.  We hit the next climb and near the top I stopped to get some water when I restarted I was still with the group but the guy in front of me had to get off on the single track and we lost contact right before the descent.

At this point we had raced about 35 km and the lead group had 5 guys four of which were from my age group.  Myself and another rider were about 1 minute back and chasing but losing time.  After another 10km road section the longest climb of the day started.  I immediately dropped my companion and set out chasing on my own.  I honestly didn't think I would catch anyone but near the top I caught 2 of the riders from my age group and dropped them.

AFter the climb we rode on top of a ridge line for another 10km before a 10km long fire road descent.  On the downhill my friend Stephen who I came to the race with caught me.  We rode together until the next climb, which proved to be the most brutal of the race.  It was over 5km long of 20% percent on a cement one lane road.  I couldn't hold Stephen's pace (but he was in a different age category so I didn't lose any placings to him).  After the climb and descent there was another long road section this one over 10km long and ending with a long climb.

I was super dehydrated was cramping a lot on the climbs.  I really needed something with some sodium in it but unfortunately all of the rest stops only had water and candy bars! I really needed that Gatorade I had lost on the first downhill.  On a small climb my friend Matthew was there and he gave me a huge bottle of water which I drank completely (it was a 1.5liter bottle).  I felt a bit better then and was able to keep going but not at nearly as good a pace as I kept in the first half of the race.

At the top of the paved climb I thought I was almost done but I actually had to turn onto some single track and keep climbing!  The course then had about 5-6km of nice single track to the finish.

I had banged my rim on a few rocks during the race but on one rocky section of downhill I punctured! Luckily I was only about 2-3km from the finish.  I tried to ride it but the tire soon came off.  I had a spare tube and pump but I figured it would probably be faster just to run it in.

I ended up finishing 5th overall and 3rd in my age group.  I was really pleased with the result considering that I'm usually very fast after about 2 hours of racing.  Although I think with out the flat I may have been able to catch the guy who got second in my age group.  He finished about 3 minutes in front of me but I lost a lot of time running.  I was really lucky to not have flatted earlier in the race though!

This week I'm going to focus on recovering for another big day of racing on Sunday.  There is a race in Chuncheon with both mountain and road racing.  I'm going to do a 40km mountain bike race in the morning and then a 45km road circuit race in the afternoon.

I have to give a big thanks to my friend Matt Witherspoon for helping me out with the race.  He lives in Jecheon where the race was held and let me and Stephen stay at his house with his wife and 2 year old daughter.  We had a really great time with him and his family.  Also during the race he drove around on a scooter to take pictures and give us water at several points on the course.  Below are some of the pics and a video he took.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?index=1&list=UUmTf1R4lAFO2l9QoygAwXPA&feature=plcp&hl=en&v=nA1LMLIACdw&gl=US