A lot has happened lately. I had a great time at the Gunnison Growler, which was put on by the famous Dave Weins. He knows how to put on a great race - and more importantly – he’s a great guy. Handsome Rob and I drove out together and it was great catching up with him on his family, including the new little boy – and one on the way! As far as the race, I felt good for the first 2 hours.
Then I started to fall off the pace a bit due to a lack of food consumption. It’s never good when you read a report about the race and this is what you see, ‘…Irwin pushed through the final miles gaining five minutes over the imploding Magelky…’
All in all a great weekend loaded with lots of good people and fun.
Next up was a trip to Alabama. Yep, good ol ‘Bama. I was down there for work and decided to bring my bike and do the national. However, my bike didn’t actually make it to Alabama until after the race. Since Trek owns Gary Fisher Bikes, the team mechanic Matt Opperman hooked me up big time and let me race on his personal ride. It was a sweet bike that weighed nothing and ran perfect.
Rolling on 29-inch wheels, I felt pretty good on my warm-up. The rest of the guys at the Fisher trailer were also very accommodating as JHK gave me some advice on the course and the rest of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ guys carried water bottles and gels up to the feed zone for me. I still can’t thank them enough.
Unfortunately, I would not need any assistance in the feed zones as I sliced open a tire on the first lap of the race. I was so disappointed to have had all that support and then not show any result for it… I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.
I thought I could get my vengeance back home in Vail for the Teva Mountain Games. I was feeling pretty good and hungry for a chance to make up for a dismal showing down in the South. Now, this year has been very difficult for me in the sense that I can’t get into a rhythm. Every time I feel fit, I take a trip somewhere for work and lose a little ground. The Teva games was to be my platform to prove to myself that I could overcome it all! To prove I could do anything! To prove that I could still ride as a fast pro!
Nope. During the race I felt like I was running on 3 cylinders. I would go hard up a climb only to feel the guys behind me getting closer. What?! How can I be losing ground on a climb?! Afterward I hit the wall. It was a looong ride home by myself. Changes were to be made. (I’ll spare the details)
1- More sleep
2- No more over-committing
3- More sleep
4- Balance out life a little more
Next up: Filming in Boise for the new Trek time trial bike. This was a trip I needed. My job was to film Chris Lieto riding the new machine in the Boise half Ironman.
Chris and his brother, Matt, are great guys and it was refreshing to hang out with them. In a way, they’re teammates since they race for Trek, but they have many more sponsors because they’re both world-class triathletes.
They both started out doing really well. Matt actually had major cramps in the swim and had to sit on the Kayak for a while, but managed to get on the bike and go faster than even he planned on. He even crashed in the middle of the rain-soaked bike course – which in the end would be his ultimate demise as he had to pull out of the run. Chris, however, set a new record on the bike (the new bike!) and started the run 6 minutes ahead of the current world champion, Craig Alexander.
Over 13 miles of running, the world champ started pulling time out of Chris, but he still seemed poised to win. That was until Craig ran a 4:48 final mile to beat Chris at the line! These two are incredible athletes and it was inspiring to watch two champions battle it out.
Finally, I just got back home from my annual racing trip to ND. This year I had to go solo as the gang from last year had a commitment to race in CO. As usual, the race was a ton of fun and I had a great time. I was able to bust out the skinsuit for the time trial. (sorry – I don’t have any pictures…) I had a better time than I posted last year, which surprised me a little bit. My aunt Sandy, uncle Kelly and cousins Hayley and Kayla put me up for the night and I got some good sleep – which was going to be needed. Saturday was a nice long effort. The racing scene is growing up there and I was pleased to see a lot of familiar faces and some new ones as well. Quite a few fast girls and guys were there. I always know that a few teams are going to run me down over the course of ten hours, but it’s always fun to see how long I can go without that happening. At one point I was juuust about to get caught, but I had a good attack in me!
So, I went and had a good few laps until I completely blew up! I had to pull into my pit area and have my cousin Ryan shove food in my face. Ryan is pretty experienced these days having been to a number of these races to help me. He was even at the world champs in Canada where he saw me have a pretty bad go… The rest of my family was also a HUGE help with the cowbells and cheering. My mom is always an inspiration and it put a smile on my face to come around every lap and see her cheering for me. Going home for a race is such a good experience. All said and done, I couldn’t do this without my parents, Ryan and whole family.
On the drive home, I stopped in Spearfish where my friend, Dave Olsen, treated me to some sweet riding. Dave and I raced together last year at the Dakota Five O where we went 1 and 2. I was pretty nervous starting that race next to him as he had the number one plate, course record and his family there.
Luckily for me, I had done a 4-day stage race the week before and that fitness carried me to good day in Spearfish. Fast-forward to a year later and we’re riding together having a great time. He might have been having a better time than me actually – the ten hours on Saturday were still in my legs and I was suffering up the climbs! Dave is a very talented guy and he’s getting faster and faster. This year’s Five O should be a good one…
Okay, up to speed now… Just in time to go to France and then Jamaica. I better get into running shape!
km
(PS. I need to give photo credits here: Thanks Sinjin, Zack V, Perry and Dale/Jodi)
