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Getting Maximum Sponsorship Exposure at the Stampede

Getting ready to hit the trail for three laps-o-fun!

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

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Mud, Sweat then Stampede

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

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Yankee Springs Time Trial Video

Ok, so be warned the music is a bit “techno”, but one of the guys on the team did a great job capturing some of the racing highlights from this year’s Yankee Springs Mountain Bike Time Trial. Thanks Caleb for the great video and your editing skills! The music makes me want to go out and jump something on my mountain bike!

~Eric

P.S. Those of you interested in more mountain bike fun, be sure to stop out to this years Custer Stampede at Fort Custer Recreation Area this Sunday, May 6th. The event promises to be a lot of fun and WSI Cycling will have racers in all the categories, plus we’ll be grillin’ out and would love to see you at the race.

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Goff Family Yankee Springs TT Race Report

My race day began at 11:30 with the little kid’s race that my youngest son Jacob participated in.  They rode about a ½ mile section of the 2 mile loop near the main trail head.  He thought it was pretty cool and enjoyed going down the 4 – 6” drop offs with his dad alongside holding him up and pushing when the training wheels got hung up.  All the kids received a plaque and they all thought they were the bomb the rest of the day.

My race started around 12:30 in the sport class. I started off like I always do, until I found my pace. By the halfway point I had passed about 10 or so people and had only been passed by 2 guys. So I knew I was doing pretty well at this point. I kept waiting for my WSI teammate to come push me along, he started 40 seconds behind me but never caught up. I ended up getting pushed by somebody else the last 4 miles or so, until he made it by me when my calves cramped up a bit. I was able to somehow put together a pretty good sprint at the end and come in with a time of 55 minutes. I finished 15th out of 32 in 30-35 sport class. Anytime time I can get in the top 50% of my class I am a very happy man.

I got back to the start line 2 minutes before my oldest son Dilan took off for his race. He competed in the 10 and younger class which is one full 10 mile lap just like the big boys raced. I replaced my water bottle and took off again to follow my son around the course. This was only his second time at Yankee and he was pretty nervous about the whole thing. He ended up doing just fine though. He got to pass several of the older kids in the 11-14 class then we eventually caught up to and passed some of the beginners in the adult classes. He thought that was pretty cool. He fell a couple of times, had to take a couple of quick breathers and had to walk maybe 3 of the larger hills. Other than that he did quite well and I was very proud of what he accomplished. It will not be long before he is out doing me. He took 2nd place out of 6 riders with a time of 86 minutes.

Special thanks to Mike and Charles for the refreshments after the races. Hope to see everybody at the Stampede on Sunday.

~David Goff

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Lowell 50 Update – Another One (Better Late Than Never)

As Eric Cook, Dave Goff, and I were making our way to registration table I felt as though I was going to have a lonely 20+ miles out there on the course not seeing any other mountain bikes let alone SS. With the usual pre-race preparations complete we made our way to the start line setting around the front 3rd of the field. When the gun went off I was at top speed with a few strokes of the crank as the back half of the field passed me like I was out cruising around on a Sunday ride. With in the first half mile we turned onto the gravel roads and now I had the advantage.

Despite some placing mix-ups in the results, I ended up getting 3rd place in the single speed category (but missed the podium picture opportunity).

The dirt roads started out a little wet and loose for the riders with skinny tires, so I was able to regain all that was lost and even caught a group that Eric was leading. As I hung on to the back of this group we started to pull away from the field behind us. Eric was trying to organize a push to catch the leaders but the group was too worried about racing each other. After about 8-9 miles of spinning out and bouncing off my saddle I realized I was going to blow myself up and not keep a good pace to make it to the end so I backed off a little and let the pack go. Reality is we got out on to some pavement and the pack left me behind to fight a stiff head wind for the next 6+ miles. I would periodically catch a dropped rider, draft off them for a rest and then move on.

A mile or two after the half way point there was an option for mountain bikes to take a shorter route on a rail trail. I thought good idea take it. Not sure if that was true or not. I traded a hill climb for riding down a 3/4 mile rail bed of loose 3-4 inch size rocks that had me cussing the whole way how stupid that it was to take. Note – don’t take the rail trail short cut.

Knowing I was on my way back toward he finish I put my head down and just spun away. Having riders insight to chase made it bearable to keep pushing ahead. I was able to pass 3-4 riders while trying to real in one more before the finish but he was able to slip away having the advantage on climbing the hill at the finish line. All in all it was fun and I even finished on the podium. Unfortunately they had some mistakes with the results so I wasn’t listed until the next day and didn’t get my picture with the rest of the finishers. I look forward to a repeat performance in the fall race.

Chuck Brenner