Norm's Jungle

I'm a roadie prick. You know this. 

They say the first step in addressing any problem is admitting it. I say they're out to lunch, and the first step in addressing any problem is to open a beer and think about it, preferrably on the deck or patio. If your problem just so happens to be beer, then drink wine or something. Don't ask me, I just try to ponder as much as possible these days. 

Ok, let's rewind a bit. Well, let's see. First the Earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes.

Wait, too far. Let's go back to the winter, when Utah said he wanted to peak for Jungle. We never bring up the W word. W implies you have more control of the situation that you do. When it comes down to it, you are merely a P. That would be pawn, in game of life. Like Mongo. You can only work hard, line things up, and step up to the line on race day. Most of the rest is up to chance. So the W word never comes up. But you can try to have things lined up for that single day. Because...you never know. 

So Utah's goal is Jungle, and as many of you either know or have figured out, I've been moving around the chess pieces on his board for a while now. This is his big day, so I want to show support and be there for him. This all begins a few weeks back when we go for a pre-ride of what we think the course may look like. 

In the rain.

I had the SS that day and felt fine. It was our Tuesday ride which I'm used to by now. I seem to ride well on Tuesdays, which is funny, because most of you know that in general Tuesday sucks. Fast forward to the weekend, 1 week before the race. We meet again, this time with RU, young Rob, Jeremy, and Matty. Rob brought me an greatly undersized Jet 9 which I hated, then I did a lap on my SS which I hated some more. We knew the course by now and rode what the race was going to be. 

After 2 laps, I was done. That night at the team gathering I declared I was out of this race. It made no sense. Why would I do this? Like I said in the start, I'm a roadie prick. Rocks and trees and stuff? No chance, this course will kick my ass. And what am I thinking riding an SS at this race? That's just asinine. I can support in a lawn chair. 

Ok, so my race is over before it begins. But then this guy in Japan says that he'll make a deal. If he flies back the day before and races at 9:00 am, I have to race. Fine, I can't argue that. I'll bring the gears, dumb down expectations, and just try to make it a hard training ride. We pre-ride the course again, but this time I have gears, and I admit to Utah the gears make a big difference. In the back of my mind, expectations & goals start to build up. This happens. When we're not pondering on the patio, we usually think too much. 

I promise there's a race in here, somewhere.


We watch the cat 2s go off real quick, then head back to the cars to sit down for a few minutes.

Right before we roll we talk to Mike, Utah's biggest nemesis coming into the race. Shortly after we do a full lap pre-ride with Pearl. At his request, I do my best to keep Utah's mouth from ruining his pre-game, and we get out at about 9:35, which brings us back to the lot with about 10 minutes to spare. I want to be warm, and Utah is up for the long warm-up. I suffer from bad starts usually, and tend to warm-up too little. So I want to make this one longer than normal. In the end, it's just an experiment.

We go off as the 4th class, and I think Lombardo is gone before I cross the start line. For as much as I saw him they may have started him on the course. Our class is deep, which is why I have no expectations on much of anything here. I want a top 10, which seems a reasonable goal for me. This is only the second time racing this bike, and my first non-SS race of the year. With the deep class maybe top 10 isn't reasonable, but I don't care.

I get on Bill Romolino's wheel to start and on the fire road pass him, then get into Warthog in maybe 10th or so. The start hurts, but not as much as usual. Once in the woods I do my best to just follow a wheel, as I find that this keeps you on your game better. By the end of Warthog I am at the back of a fairly long train, and I see Pearl ahead and he pulls over to let us go. He was going to try to hold me off all race, but he only had a 1 minute head start, not 2.

In the back of my mind I'm wondering who the first 30-39 racer is that will catch me. As I pass Luke, he is floored that I am ahead of Utah, which makes me laugh. Or blow a kiss, or whatever I did.


All of the small spots that were tripping me up on the various pre-rides were not an issue today. The tight left that kicked me off every time, the first turn into Otter Slide, the big rock wedged in between the trees - none of these are an issue. Pre-riding is good. The only thing that got me was the end of that Tiger Pit, or whatever that uber rocky thing at the end was called. Cleaned it every time but the gravel at the end got me every single lap. Stupid gravel.

Anyway, as I turn on to Boon on the first lap, I hear Utah behind me, "YOU GOT THIS!"

Right, no pressure there. I do clean it and somehow gap him a little bit. We ride out the ST to the pavement and talk a little. He tells me he's pushing too hard, and I tell him to dial it back and make sure he paces properly. He says he will, then continues to push too hard by jumping ahead.  I ride his wheel most of the rest of the lap. The rocky Tiger Pit end-lip gets me, and he gets a small gap, which he holds through the lap.

As I ride through the S/F I get some yells and comments about how close to Utah I am. Well, at least for 1 lap. I know I won't be able to maintain this and he will. But for a lap, hey look, here I am!

At the end of Warthog I engage in what I would call a little team strategy. I know Utah is out ahead, and he's being chased by Mancuso and another guy. So the longer I can stay ahead of him, the more likely Utah stays out ahead. At the base of Otter Slide Steve asks me in perhaps the kindest tone if I could find a chance to let him by. He also admits that it's not a great place to pass.

I do my best to stay on my bike and hold them off. I manage to stay in front all the way up to the top, but they eventually get by and I follow them for a bit after that.

Roll through lap 2 with less fanfare than lap 1.

At the start of Warthog I catch 26er, who I had been seeing on & off for a while. He does his best to hold me off, but eventually he overcooks a line and ends up in the weeds. He gives up the fight there and pulls over and lets me go. As I pass he says, "Keep at it, Frank is right up ahead."

Me, like an idiot, "Really?"

"No."

Ok ok, eat me. I keep riding, my legs hurt. Up Otter Slide, my legs hurt more and almost-sorta want to cramp. I go past Luke and he tells me I'm catching Utah. Uh oh, not good. I was afraid he cooked too much to start, but I hope he's got enough of a gap to hold it.

As I run over the pipe, I know that 26er is behind me and is a solid 30 seconds behind me by now. At this point I know I just need to roll it out clean to hold server. I dial it back so I don't end up in the weeds, and roll out the lap. Other than the stupid Tiger Pit gravel, I ride it clean & easy, and roll through the S/F.

I see Utah and ask, he shakes his head yes. He managed to hold it off, which is awesome. I end up 8th in a deep field, so I'm happy. I roll it out a bit with Iggy, then get dressed and hang out with the crew before heading home.

But I'm still a roadie prick. Who likes to ponder.

UTAH WINS THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!

As hannibal liked to say...I like it when a plan comes together.  And truth be told, today was all a plan, put together many months ago....Every detail thought out at mental patient level.  From my diet, to training, to my new bike....the goal was to win this race.  Everything else was secondary.  So by the time today came I had run every turn on this course, every rock, every tree, 1000 times.  I certainly wasnt sure that I could win it, but I was sure that I had done every bit of homework possible. 

This past week or so with the company of my team I think I did around 8 or so pre ride laps and initially i was pretty bummed about the removal of goat and animal chute.  They are classic jungle death trails and once you master them, your ability to gap people in this race can be staggering.  I felt that the real hard stuff was missing today and the harder the course is, the better for me.  That said, it was still a great course and the road sections were pretty minimal and the majority of the course was my idea of a XC race. 

So as I have mentioned many times in the past, Norm has been my go to for training advice and this week I really followed everything to the letter.  Soon as I got on the bike this morning to start warming up, I felt as good as I ever have for a race.  Norm, Pearl and I rolled around for a full lap to warm up and all systems were go. 

Chat with the current king of my class Mike Merrit.  He murdered blue and waywayanda with little or no pre riding so I feel I still have a pretty big task ahead of me today. He told me how he had never ridden at jungle before, ever. This usually is not a good formula for JH. Its just not like any other h2h course.  Its brutal hell and there is a huge difference between doing everything on the course and doing everything at race pace. 

Headed over to the start and lined up.  This time we are lined up behind 40-49, 19-29, SS and Pro.  Not a huge fan of this.  Jungle is not the easiest place to pass at and with the tech section you tear though groups of people in minutes.   So anytime, prep time is over...KILL!!!!!

We rocket off, someone stands up and pulls off the front, mike drops in, then Steve, then me.  Pace is now death.  We hit the fire road leading to the parking lot and the leader pulls off leaving Mike, Steve and I.  No idea who is behind me and for the first time in a cat 1 race, I could give a shit...I see that mike is heading for the hard left into warthog at 110mph and since he hasnt ridden it before, this is going to get ugly.  He loses the front end into the turn, but recovers quickly.  We are now all wheel to wheel as we hit the ST. 

Instantly we hit traffic and this is about the worst place to pass.  Its monumentally important in the first 10min of a race to NOT let the leader gap you and fall off his wheel.  Mike gets a couple of breaks and steve and I are struggling a bit to make our way though.  Props to steve though, he was all over everyone and moving everyone out of the way in rapid form.  And really I dont like doing this, but nothing was going to stop me from letting go of mikes wheel....thus I did trade a bit more paint that usual today.

Steve lets me by after a few min and I make my way to mikes wheel.  The pace is super hard, but im feeling ok.  I made a stupid move and passed someone in the weeds that would not move over...this knocked me off my bike for a second and caused my chain to drop.  Really dumb and could have ended my day.  Steve repasses me and I know have to peg it to catch back up. 

Into the rocks we are now well into the 19-29 guys and im really struggling to make my way around and stay with mike.  Mike is also have no trouble clearing whatever is in front of him with zero mistakes.  Im thinking any tech advantage I might have could be moot....but otterslide is coming. 

We hit the base and im close behind, steve right behind me.  Mike has to run the start of the second switchback, but a gang of walkers keeps me from passing.  I stay close and get ready to attack. Next switch back, mike has to jump off and thats it, I dropped the hammer.  Put my head down and blew though the remaining part of the climb like I have done countless times.  I see Iggy and let him know that I just got the lead...He cheers me on then sends me by. By the time I hit the tanks, i have opened a gap. 

Rip the downhill hard!  Pass Kirt who also cheers me on, then soon see Norm up ahead.  about this time I look down and in 20min, my ave hr is now 170...this is nuts and will never hold.  Im glad I did run into norm when i did because I could really use his level head right now.  And Norm delivers as he usually does.  I need to switch from insano CX pace, back to xc pace and this is not easy when you are being chased.  I stay with him for a bit and try to ease up.  We stay together until near the end of lap one, then i pull away a bit. 

Hit the lap button
31:35....christ...nearly 5min faster than my fastest pre ride lap...Just goes to show you what race pace does. 
Ave HR 169.  Highest ever for a lap 1 for me.

I dont blow up like I used to anymore, but it was clear that I just drilled it at level stupid for 30min and now im going to have pay for that.  I look back and I cant see anyone that looks to be in my class....so I try to ease up and calm it down.  I pass Victor on the pavement and he latches onto my wheel though warthog.  Kept it very clean and smooth this time and vic is keeping me pushing.  Pass 26er and Eddie V who both give me props and send me on my way. 

Otterslide...ug...Like and asshole I catch my bar, then fork on a sapling on the side of the trail and literally have to get off my bike and yank it off of it.  Im fuming, angry utah pissed off now.  Hate this...stupid mistakes that i assume are costing me tons of time.  Anyway, I soon get my shit back together and hit the climb.  Im really feeling the pain now...I pass luke and im pretty certain that if there is anyone on my tail, im now powerless to respond.  Pace is still ok, but im well into the pain cave. 

The downhill and following flats help me out a bit and I try to take it nice and easy for the rest of the lap. 

Hit lap 3...lost a couple min, but still a solid 33:30 lap.  So back of my head now is 30 or so more min of pain and its over.  My legs have now gone from pain to numb and this helps.  I make it to warthog still in the clear.  Chris Ledonne lets me by at the start and I had a very clean, very smooth ride though this section. 

Last time up otterslide and im in massive amounts of pain, but I still keep it clean.  I look down at some point and see who I think is Mike Ahearn.  Hes a ways down the hill, but im doing the math and I think its maybe 30sec to a min?  No idea, but that was it for me.  Locked out the fork, stood up and drilled it.  I caught falcon on the top of the big drop and tried to stay right with him. 

I pass and tell him to stay with me.  He sticks right to my wheels and helps me greatly though the final 15min of the race.  Yelling at me to pedal whenever I let up a bit and keeping my head in the game.  By this time, im quite miserable and im thinking to myself that I never ever want to do another race again....usual stuff.  The pain cave is not a fun place.  But falcon is keeping my mind occupied.  Hit the river crossing and I feel like if i can clean this, its over, I got it!  Nailed it perfect!  Hit the hill after and im certain that its over. 

Roll the tunnel and finally....VICTORY!!!! (thanks for the pic robin!)




So my laps  were  31:35, 33:31, 33:35.  Not sure how I matched 2-3 together, but whatever.
Finally!  Its been since ringwood in 2009 since I got to stand on top of a podium.  Since then, 2 brutal years of getting cut to pieces in cat 1.  Not that I ever had any thought of giving up, but many times I have thought "these guys are just too fast and you will never get there"  So it was a great feeling of payoff today for alot of hardwork.

Cant say enough about my team and the part they played in my win today.  Norm helping with training and focusing on what my goal is.  Kirt, Bill, Iggy, Woody, Luke falcon, norm......the whole gang out there all winter putting group rides together.  The A rides, the short track series...all were key to today.  This team really is the best and made up of the best group of people I have ever been a part of. 

thanks for the pic iggy...cant wait to see how miserable I look in lukes pics