TJ Woodruff ONLINE

(photos: Phil Kuhns)

Eau Claire WORS proved to be as fast as ever, both in terms of the course and the competition. Little gaps in the singletrack added up and they were too much to close down on the wide open flat sections - no matter how hard the efforts were to do so. Jesse, Marko, and Mike rode away while Chris and I chased, dropping others in the process. As fun as the those trails are to ride, it was frustrating not to be able to let it rip as much as I would have preferred. I could only ride the singletrack so fast and it wasn’t quite fast enough to hang with the leaders this time. A quality race and a solid result despite though… Jess and Craig did an awesome job with this top class WORS event. Thanks!

It was great to have friends and family cheering me on out there. My four parents and four grandparents were attending so that made it an excellent occasion.

This weekend will be the NMBS at Windham, New York. I’m excited to race hard at the national race scene again and try out a new venue - all as a good tune up for Mt Snow which is the following weekend…

I’ll try to get some quality updates from the trip and of course I’ll recap the race action here so stop back here for more from the road. The top five of us from the Eau Claire race will all be racing Nationals at Mt Snow. It’ll be good to have some familiar rivals out there!

TJ

Today’s race was pretty cool and was one of those great days spent out on the trails. Levis is one of my favorite places to ride and the course featured some of the best stuff there. We raced for 25 miles and the results turned out in the ‘normal’ order - Jesse scoring the W, Marko easily winning the style award en route to second, and me taking third. So third was the result, but today was full of firsts. I was racing aboard a borrowed bike that I hadn’t ridden on dirt much more than an hour prior to today. First time with a big front wheel, first time rigid, and first time single. The big wheel and rigid setup were easy to figure out, but the single gear part is a little bit tricky since I was slacking out there a little too much. I kept forgetting that I couldn’t go hard on the flats or descents and therefore I should have attacked the ups a little bit harder than I did. This evening I’m feeling spent but in a weird sort of way - more like I’m beat up rather than exhausted if that makes any sense.

Bike racing is bike racing and today proves that the more variety, the more fun the overall experience. In the past seven days I’ve done a geared wors race, a tuesday night crit, and now a ss mtb race. All good times yet each it’s own unique experience. It was good to get out there to see what the single gear racing is all about and I’ve got a high level of respect for those who race these bikes full time. Thanks to Pete for the bike and to Jesse for lining it up. The next race will be more business as usual - shifting into the big gears at Eau Claire next Sunday. Chloe placed eighth at Deer Valley today which is pretty awesome. It’s the first time in four years I haven’t done the NMBS there, but I’m not missing it too much at the moment. Looking forward to the East coast stuff after having sharpened my game here in WI. Have a good one, -TJ

photo courtesty of Nachobar.com

This race came down to the final stages once again in a way somewhat resemblant to last year. Our lead group of six played a tactical race on the fast, flat and rain-soaked course. The tacky soil was quick for the most part, but the critical areas of the course were the mud bogs that had been partially filled with wood chips - serious watt suckers. I ran the Oriflamme tires which proved to be a good call as they hooked up nicely and rolled fast all day.

From the start I was ready to race and have a rematch from last week. The first snafu was at the start when the diamond file tread didn’t hook up so well on the wet grass under the big torque. My first two downstrokes at the line yielded a cool ‘zip, zip’ sound effect, but I hadn’t moved forward. Having enough of ameatur hour I accelerated gingerly and got up the hill and into position. I moved up soon enough to sit in until the going got a bit hot towards the end of the first lap (of three). Mike launched his tire so we had to chase back up to the Lalondes. The second lap was mostly mellow and I kept first, second, or sometimes third wheel into the singletrack, but never further back. With six guys on, the train gets too stretched out for that.

During the final lap things were getting more tactical and we were sprinting into most of the singletrack sections. I might have led some of the earlier sections, but the later sections Jesse and Marko were wise to position themselves in front of me. There was some good racing going on and I was all for it. Good battles can be hard to come by, but I knew with these guys it was going to fun. Jesse had a couple good blocks for Marko but I kept the chase on hard. Mega-hard. I caught back on at one of the connector ski trail sections and had a brief moment of respite, but it didn’t last for long as we were now ripping through the mud bogs putting down some inside-out type efforts. It was the second to last bog that they got a bit of a gap and left me to chase. I could see them up the trail, but I was at the limit and closing it down for a second time was a steep order, but I hadn’t thrown in the towel. I kept at it until losing it in final mud bog, doing a pretty good slip and slide, smacking my left calf into the pedal hard enough for it to cramp. That was it for me and I had to be content with third and simply finish before getting caught from behind. I pedaled it in, but wanted more. Third place is great, but fortunately the season is young and I’ll get another fight for a win soon enough.

In other news Scot decided to race after a ten year hiatus from the knobbies. He medaled in Comp which was a solid return. Also, his brother Bret did bottle feeds for us which was a HUGE help to our performances. On race day you can’t go fast without good support so I’m grateful for those who help make it happen. Lower your rotating mass, keep fueled, your vision clear, and training on course for success. You can also find yourself a cool Swiss bike next time you’re in the market. Rumor has it the next battle might be out of my element. Some generous folks are finding me a 1×1 machine so I can join in on the fun…

-TJ

The Subaru Cup was once again my return to WI, though this year it’s comes a couple months earlier. Some of the details changed, but much of the Cup went off just like last year with the top three spots unchanged. The XC started off hard enough that a smaller, early separation was made. Jesse and Marko went up all the hills at the same speed, regardless of its pitch. This meant it was either a doable effort, a hard effort, or an inside out effort as I followed them around. And after a couple of inside out efforts on the course’s steepest climbs their gap was established. So for four laps it was TT mode and I stuck with the doable and hard efforts, but no more inside out efforts. Without much ‘racing’ going on at least I was able to enjoy the course and it’s jungle like feeling (it’s been awhile since I’ve ridden nice dirt under thick tree canopy). It was all enough to finish third. Apparently Jesse and Marko really like those inside out efforts and I’ll have better acquire my taste.

Day two of the Cup started off in full style and I was left to vie for the overall in the absence of the Lalondes. The Super D was off the hook with the lemans start (video to be posted in a day or two) as Paul darted to the top first. It’s been since my CC days in high school that I’ve run so quickly. Chasing Paul down the hill was all the motivation I needed to ride super fast and when all the heats were tallied up, we finished in the top two spots.

The STXC course was great in that there was always something going on and it was plenty fast for the most part. The steep grassy climb was the critical feature and Brian and Tristan gapped me on the second or third trip around. I held them at 12 seconds for most of the race, but wasn’t making any ground back. Chris and I did some good battling for 3^rd, exchanging attacks every lap. His final burst up that grassy pitch was enough to ride away. 4^th for STXC and plenty exhausted from the weekend I was happy to have wrapped the overall. Breaking even after driving 2000 miles and paying my entry fee is pretty cool, especially when gas is $4 a gallon.

Next up will be the Reforestation Ramble. See you there. -TJ

I suppose that since I haven’t blogged much recently, the riding I did while in Colorado could be considered ’secret’. Spending a couple of weeks in Boulder was a great way to split the travel from Tucson to Wisconsin. There are so many mountain roads to explore that the rides seemed to go on and on. And that’s a very good thing. It felt really good to get into the riding groove again as for a while it seemed as if I was only racing and recovering. Getting back to big rides on consecutive days was just what I needed for the body and mind.

My CO stay ended with the Teva Mountain Games which once again proved to be a super fun weekend. There aren’t many races out there where cycling is part of a bigger festival, so it’s a nice change of pace and a good chance to see what ‘other’ people do. The huge prize checks made for some highly competitive racing which was a lot of fun. There were quite a few fans who hiked the mountainside to watch the xc, but this number was tiny compared to that of the other events. The World Cup climbing and kayaking competitions seemed to draw the most fans.

The XC was your standard slow motion altitude climbing race where it always seemed as if I should be going faster. But as soon as the effort is increased so is the fatigue since there’s not much oxygen available up there. This meant that nice and steady was the name of the game. I might have been one of the fastest sea level guys there so that’s got to count for something…

For the hill climb I was super pumped about the massive tailwind we would have. Last year we weren’t so fortunate so it was easy to take a big chunk of time off. I rode the flat part of the course conservatively so that I could let it rip once we started up Vail pass. This negative split seemed to work well as I turned in a pretty solid effort. No records were set on my part, but both the Men’s and Women’s winners set new course records.

Chloe blogs less than me these days so I’ll let you know that she had an awesome weekend, placing 5th in the xc and 3rd in the hill climb. She made some big payout and enjoyed the occasion. She even got to practice with some TT gear before really putting it to the test at the Nature Valley Grand Prix where she’ll be racing as part of a collegiate ‘all star’ team. This is an awesome way to experience the high level of women’s road stage racing. Six races in five days ought to be great.

Up next for me will be the Subaru Cup. I’m pumped to be back in Wisconsin and the thought of hitting up all the local stuff is exciting. It ought to be a good time as the local scene will be more hotly contested than ever this year. See you there,

-TJ

Flying in Flagstaff!

click the pic for more, courtesy of www.fountain-photo.com

I love it up there… Flagstaff has that real ‘backyard appeal’ in that I would love for it to be my backyard. It’s got everything a MTB addict could want. Trails within riding distance from house - check. Long sustained climbs on dirt - check. Technical singletrack climbs - check. Trees - check. Dirt - check. High speed descents and steep technical descents - double check. Views - check. And my most recent discovery, an epic race course - check.

The finals were contested on a single lap of approximately 26 miles. It had everything mentioned above and more. John, Steve, and I rode to the start and didn’t even have to mess with a car which is a victory in and of itself. A bit of a warm up and we were charging up the mountain. I followed Kevin down the first hair-ball descent and then up the climb, only to watch him ride off the course with his head down pedaling like mad. Those of us chasing just five seconds behind all asked “Where’s Kevin going?” as we continued on the course by taking a left turn. It’s too bad that one of the fastest locals missed the three signs marking the course…

The first half of the course was mostly climbing, traversing and more climbing. By the 40 minute mark I was starting to open up a gap so after grabbing a feed from Chad (thanks!) I rallied hard on Pipeline before dropping into more rock-strewn lava field singletrack. It was all about keeping steady and not over cooking the engine. Hard, but steady, hard but steady… This was the same route that took me 3:15 to ride just six days prior and I bonked horribly in the process..

The transition to fire road climb came at an hour and five minutes and my gap was growing. A neutral feed courtesy of Swiss American Bikes (thanks!) went a long ways to keep me topped off and cool. I dug hard up the fire road to the very top of the course before looking back. No one was in sight and I must have had a minute on the field at this stage of the game. As if I wasn’t nervous enough already, now I had 45 minutes of gnarly descent ahead of me. I kept it smooth and avoided taking the big risks. I did a couple hike-a-bikes and bobbled a couple times, but for the most part I was really ripping it and I absolutely loved every minute. Last time I was on this trail it was totally amateur hour compared to race day. I was putting the Four Stroke to good use and it only begged me to give it more speed.

I made it through Upper Moto unscathed to grab another feed from Chad (thanks again!), check behind to see no one, and hammered the other direction on Pipeline. Flying down Dog Food I knew that I could win by just keeping it smooth from there on out. The most demanding trails were behind me at this point and I was looking forward to the climb up Rocky Ridge. I knew that I would be riding that stuff well since I wasn’t feeling too beat up yet. The bike was perfect for the course. The suspension optimized the traction and kept rolling resistance minimal while the feather-light 26″ wheels accelerated and negotiated boulders like no other. Through Rocky Ridge I was able to ride the rocks well which only helped the finish line come that little bit sooner. My time of 2:14 and some change was about 15 minutes faster than I would have anticipated and was a full hour faster than last weekend’s bonked pre-ride. Awesome!
It was a great battle out there and I was stoked every moment of the race. It was one of those days were I must have had a smile on the entire time. I couldn’t have asked for any more performance from the BMC equipped with NoTubes wheels. The equipment was perfectly suited for the terrain and didn’t let me down on a single account. The three feeds out there kept me fueled and without them it very well could have been a different outcome. Hopefully Flagstaff has us all back for another race sometime soon; apparently it’s been nine years since those trails were last raced. I was happy to of helped welcome them back.
A lot of plans are in the works, but my next race could very likely be the WORS in Wausau. More on that and more to come… Enjoy the ride, the rhythm, and the flow. -TJ

Stage racing on the road is a pretty cool experience. Granted I haven’t done a whole lot of stage races, but there’s something nice about racing recovering and doing absolutely nothing else for several consecutive days. On Friday Kyle, Chloe and I made the two hour drive to Bisbee, arriving with plenty of time to register and get set for the evening prologue. Not just any prologue, this one sent us uphill for 2.8 miles starting at the bottom of main street and finishing way up at the divide. The first half wasn’t too steep, but the second half more than made up for any lack of suffrage as grade was relentless. I raced the Team Machine with my ‘training wheels’ on while most other racers used super tricked out carbon wheelsets. I was there to train, and that I did. The prologue went pretty well as I saved just enough in the first half so that I could do the steeper stuff with max intensity. I probably finished somewhere in the middle to back of the 60-some rider field. Chloe dominated the pro women’s race, taking the win and the leader’s jersey for Day two.

Saturday was a 80 mile road race in the morning. We road out of town and did two laps before coming back into Bisbee. Team Tecos had the leaders jersey so they more or less did a team time trial at the front, controlling the race from start to finish. It was an average speed of 26.5 with an average output of 165 watts. It was sorta boring out there… The afternoon TT was flat and fast and without any gear, I pretty much got smoked by the rocketship bikes that guys were riding. I finished towards the bottom and lost some time in the GC, but put in a decent effort. Maybe I’d be into a flat TT bike if I had the gear. Who knows?

Finally Day three came around and we got to do the hardest stage yet, 89 miles with some serious winds and climbs. The winds were the biggest factor early in the race while the climbs sorted things out closer to the finish. The group shattered into bits and pieces as Tecos again took control. I was with a small group for the bulk of the stage before we joined up with others who had fallen off from the small lead group. Towards the end we did the six mile climb up Mule pass, descended all the way down the other side, only to do a U turn and come back up the climb again. All of this after 75 miles of rotating in the wind… It was pretty sweet and I ended up getting around a bunch of guys in the final mile or so as we approached the finish. A top 30 on the stage moved me up in the overall a bit.

Whatever the result was I was happy to have ridden strong, especially on the hardest final stage. Chloe did awesome and would have likely won the GC with some aero bars in the TT. Next time perhaps we’ll both come a bit more prepared. Bisbee is a super cool town with a lot of steep and narrow streets nestled into the hillside. It was nice to have some cooler weather (in the low 70s for highs) as Tucson is getting hot these days and some peace and quiet which made for some relaxing down time. The bike racing was pretty cool too. It seems that Bisbee would be a perfect place to go and train – quiet roads, good climbs, elevation, good weather, and a relaxed pace of life. A lot of racers went on to do Gila, which starts up today, and I might just have to do that next year. Instead I’ll be getting my wisdom teeth yanked soon. From all the stories I’ve gathered it should be a wonderful experience.

-TJ

Sea Otter was a fun weekend and the racing was alright, though during the XC I did have one of my biggest meltdowns to date. It seems that many racers talk about the same experience, but I also had two of the best hours of racing followed by the worst 40 minutes. I was riding around 25th or 30th for a bulk of the day before I cracked out there. It was midway through the second lap while going over the steep rollers. I was good into the bottom of the hill, but by the top I was done for, hardly turning over the pedals… The guys I was riding with until that point went on to finish anywhere from 21st to 32nd while I drifted all the way back to 51st. At least I was strong for those first two hours… Sea Otter is a tough one and the race distance puts it in a tricky place somewhere between standard XC and Marathon. It’ll take a bit more training for me to keep that pace all the way to the finish next time.

The pro experience of hanging out under an EZ-Up tent that matched my kit was pretty cool and having the BMC crew there was a nice addition. A little bit of support is always helpful and goes a long ways. Much appreciated guys!

As if the giant bonk wasn’t bad enough, I brought home an armload of poison oak all over my left side. Today it’s oozing all over the place and I’ve been sleeping with an arm warmer on just so I wont be spreading the stuff onto the rest of me. Let’s hope it dries up sometime soon.

This weekend I’m racing the Vuelta de Bisbee road stage race. Two TT’s (one is uphill) and two climbing RR’s ought to make for some good training - something I haven’t done much of lately it seems. Work has kept me busy and the days go by quickly. Let’s hope I come out of the weekend alright as I get back into training mode. Have a good one, -TJ

Over the weekend I got in some wind/rain/snow storm training to complete my preparations for the Sea Otter. Since I missed out on such harsh conditions all winter, I was somewhat relived to experience such weather while in Sheboygan for Tristan’s wedding. Matter supplied me nicely with his fendered-up cross bike along with a nice place to stay. The wedding was a great occasion and a fun time catching up with friends new and old.
It’s been a nose to the grindstone week so far since I’m heading out of town tomorrow for the Otter. Even though the big teams will be at the World Cup instead, I’m pumped for a chance to race the epic two laps once again. Next report will be from Monterrey. Until then, -TJ

Thanks for the hand up Ty!

What once seemed elusive is no longer so after my first finish in the top 25 of a NMBS XC race. There was no single spectacular aspect of the race, but I was able to keep the hammer down all the way to the finish line passing enough guys along the way. My call up position wasn’t great so the start was mediocre at best, there was no big attack, and there were no technical or mechanical mishaps on my behalf. When nothing goes too wrong I suppose things can only turn out for the best. After the first lap I dangled just in front of a group of like ten guys, but forward thinking kept me focused and I didn’t have to deal with any of them as I kept the pace just fast enough. I focused on the pace and by the time lap three came around I began picking off riders who had previously been riding out of sight in front of me. Crunch time came when I caught Paul and one other rider on south end of the long loop just before entering the most rocky and challenging terrain on the course. As soon as I made contact Paul took control of the pace making and I followed suit knowing that this was a sure fire way to rid myself of all those guys (10 or so) riding in our shadows just seconds behind us. I didn’t hit any of the rocks too hard as we charged to the finish line. I made a conscious effort to ride delicately through the extremely rugged sections after having sliced my sidewall open last year. Paul had enough speed left to hold me off, but I was happy to have matched his pace as we worked around a couple riders in those final minutes. These NMBS races are tough because of the 85 starters there are likely 60 guys gunning for a top 20 or 25 placing, myself included, and we are all riding behind the 25 guys who are going for a top 10 finish. We all set our sights high and its quite rewarding to finish a race in a position that I’ve known I’ve been capable of all along. It didn’t seem that hard, I just did a good job of focusing on the task at hand without getting distracted along the way. Hopefully, now that I’ve been there, it’ll be easier to find my way back into that mix again sometime soon!

Sanjay and Anna kindly put me up at their house so along with Ty and Christine, we had a Wisconsin reunion of sorts. It was a great time and the opportunity to truly relax before and after my races played a big part in how the weekend turned out. Oftentimes it seems that the racing is the easy part when some of the travel logistics can get so complicated and tiring. This time it was made simple and I was able to put all of my energy into the pedals. Thanks again! Christine shot some awesome pictures so I suggestion you check them out here. I have to give some big props to Mike Phillips for his 9th place XC finish. This guy can do it all on the MTB and has officially stepped his game up to another level. Way to go. And filling Mike’s semi pro shoes was NMBS rookie Tom Bender, winner of the STXC event. Nice! Of course Jenna and Chloe both turned in some great results too, but for them that’s simply business as usual.
Now it’s back to reality until Friday. It’ll be a busy week at the office before I fly to WI for Tristan’s big day. Enjoy! -TJ