Author: Eric Cook

Ok, so suffice to say that I didn’t necessarily “set the trail on fire today at For Custer’s Stampede. I opted for the Expert race, which ended up being close to 30 miles on the mountain bike today. The weather was perfect, the trail was in great condition but it was evident to me that my past several years of dedicating my training to the road bike and triathlons had not done much for my mountain biking. Considering I spent quite a bit more time on the trail that most racers, the way I look at it I was just getting as much visibility for our sponsors than other teams!

That being said, I finished the race with only a couple of “dabs” (that’s having to get out of my pedals and touch to recover for those non-bikers reading this) and ended up putting in a good strong finish on the straightaway to the line. Despite some leg cramps on the third and final lap, I managed to get through the race without much pain (and avoided a couple of close calls when the trees seemed to “reach out” and try to grab my handlebars and jerk me to the ground.

While my performance today isn’t anything to “write home” about, I’m very proud of my teammates and the fact that several of our racers made it on the podium. It was good to see the WSI-Team Active name on more than one occasion during the day. I’m sure there will be more updates shared very soon, so stay tuned.

I’m also proud of the great showing “after the race” and how team members all pitched in and helped with the “beer garden” and hospitality tent. A special thanks and shout-out to Mike Groat for not only giving me a spanking on the trail (nice ride, Mike), but for being grillmaster for the day. The spectators and racers all enjoyed grilled burgers and dogs thanks to Mike’s grilling skills and cold beer (for those that were of age, of course). Funny thing, we set up the grill right next to the section on the course the racers had to pass on each list, so by the time the burgers and dogs were going, racers got to ride through some pretty-good smells. Let’s just say it’s good that Mike was racing in my group, because smelling that food may have been enough to get me to “pit” early.

In closing I want to also forewarn you that the “kilt” made another appearance today and I’m sure that you’ll be seeing some pictures very soon. I can tell you it was much more comfortable wearing it today than back when I did the Lowell 50. Danny (and several other shutterbugs) were out and suffice to say I was the only one at the race sportin’ classic Scottish apres-cycling attire.

See you on two wheels…
~Eric

Mud, Sweat then Stampede

First of all, congratulations to all the WSI-TAR cyclists who finished high in the standings today. It was great to see the team colors on the podium! Second, the mechanics shirts are awesome…not sure if you all had the same impression I had when we were all swarming around the tent with our mechanics shirts…it looked really cool.

Not sure how smart of an idea it was to try to compete at both the Mud, Sweat and Beers and the Stampede, but both races were personally important to me. MSB has become a favorite with some of the guys who originally got me into cycling and the Stampede obviously being very important to WSI-TAR.

The MSB is a fun race with quite a few sponsors (some nice swag when you check in) and Right Brain brewing at the finish. Just like down here, there was a TON of rain that fell during the week, making some think that the course would be firmed up. In the pre-ride, it was clear that the sand just got really loose and washed down the hills. It was a nice 50 ish degrees in the morning where the race starts at the base of Mt Holiday in Traverse City. The course winds through a subdivision and then dumps on the VASA for most of the race and then returns back to the subdivision and a down hill finish on one of the ski hills. It is about 22 miles and they added a significant single track this year (a lot like parts of the Stampede today). At the start, I had problems breathing. I was told that the pollen up there was really bad, but no one else had a problem with it, and Eric Wallace mentioned that it might be athletically-induced asthma…I am not sure what caused the problem, but consider it a complement that Eric thought I was an athlete! I calmed myself down enough to get into a decent pace after about 5 miles, but most of the group I started with was long gone. I picked up the pace a bit and passed several racers, but found myself still-clipped in after crashing in the woods three times. No big injuries, just cost me time. In the single track, I got stuck behind the Tandems (they were doing an awesome job maneuvering the switch backs) and a large plug of cyclists formed behind them. We cleared out, I worked together with a couple guys who clearly knew the lines to take and managed to finish in 1:48 which was good enough for 16/48.

The Stampede was a completely different race for me. Since so many of us raced it, I’ll skip the traditional recap of the course and jump right to the fear I had that I was not going to be able to breathe! I decided to take it a little easy and see how my body reacted and then go from there. I felt very good after about 7 miles passed and decided to try to redeem myself for having such a slow start. It was working, I was making all of the turns I was challenged by in the trenches (I think is what we call that area). I am certain my time for the second lap would be a few minutes faster than the first. 2 miles from the finish, I was going way too fast at a turn and lost my traction in the gravel. (Producing some very ugly cuts and bruises and ripping my shorts a tad (first time the weather was warm enough for me to wear them this year.) I finished the Stampede at 16th—just like the MSB but in this case the field was much smaller 23 guys, so relatively much poorer performance.

Thanks to Groat for cooking and making me laugh and good to see Jim Gallagher helping as always….life is good after the races are over.

See you all soon. Great job everyone!
Jack Miner