Start the race!

I'm sure you've always wanted to do this.  Check it out- YOU could start the DoubleShot Duathlon.  Mayor who?  Mayor YOU.  Read all about it here.

Day after...

Thanks to everyone who came out to SIX IN THE STICKS yesterday.  We had 40 racers, a bunch of spectators (crew), and a few indispensable volunteers.  I appreciate the support.  Hopefully everyone had a fun time and took advantage of the amenities we provided.

First, I want to say that I'm disappointed in the changes that are occurring at Turkey Mountain.  It seems that the area we had for so many years, which was well-suited for putting on racing events, is being morphed into something more suited for wheelchair races.  I'm not sure how we're going to pull of the DoubleShot Duathlon this year at Turkey Mountain (October 10).  Another thing that burned me was the destruction of our course.  I marked the course with ribbon a couple weeks ago, and then Kari and I went back out on Saturday to put up more ribbon and caution tape.  Sunday morning when I went out on my bike to make sure the markings were still ok, I found that probably over 80% of the caution tape had been torn down.  I can't begin to understand why people would do that, but I do understand the amount of work involved in putting it up and putting it back up and putting it back up.  Maybe our wish to have more people using Turkey Mountain has led to it being an inhospitable place to have races.

I heard complaints throughout the day that caution tape was down on the course.  And that people were cutting the course.  I don't think there was any confusion where the actual course led.  I'm pretty sure that even if someone broke some caution tape during the race, you could see where it was supposed to be.  So I assume that if someone was cutting the course, they were doing it on purpose.  And there's NOTHING I can do about that.  There must've been  100 different ways you could cut the course, if you knew the trails.  And if you're going to cheat, you're going to cheat.  If you see someone cheat, I guess you should point the finger.  

I'm not saying that I don't think people cheat.  I do think people cheat.  And I don't like it.  I hope they get caught.  And I think there should be a year suspension from racing in USA Cycling events if you are caught cheating.  But I hope no one is cheating.

We worked our asses off to put on this race.  And hopefully we didn't lose more than a couple hundred bucks on it.  If you have comments about the race, feel free to post them here or drop me an email:  Brian@DoubleShotCoffee.com

If you'd like to see pictures from the race, they are posted online thanks to Candice Steichen.

I'll try to post a link to results as soon as I get them from the USAC official.

Now, on to the DoubleShot Duathlon.

The first race of the series is in two weeks.  August 8 at Keystone Lake.  I'll be blogging details here as usual.  Stay tuned.

Day Before SIX IN THE STICKS

Tomorrow is the race.

If you're still thinking about racing, think positive.  Come out and have fun, ride your bike, drink some beer, eat a hotdog, and watch mountain bike videos on our big screen.  If you're definitely not racing, come out and volunteer or just hang out and watch and enjoy the atmosphere.

Kari and I are headed out to Turkey this morning to re-mark the trail.  The markings I put up a couple weeks ago were only preliminary markings, so don't worry- it will be well marked.  

The race shirts are pretty cool I think.  Hopefully you'll like them.

Senator Tom Adelson is coming out tomorrow to start the race with my .357 magnum.  He's running for mayor of Tulsa, so give him hell.

Registration and packet pickup should be simple tomorrow starting at 630a.  I'll explain all the rules pre-race.  But there will be a LeMan's start, which means you'll run a short distance to your bike.  Laps are about 6.5 miles and there is no aid on the course, except in the timing area.  You are welcome to set up a spot for yourself around the timing area to access your gear and personal aid.  If it rains, don't fret.  The ground is a bit sandy.  I think a little rain would make the course faster and easier to ride.  

See you tomorrow!

DoubleShot Duathlon Keystone...

I rode Keystone again yesterday and I changed my mind about the course.  We're going to ride in the same direction we raced the XC race.  It's just too awkward riding the other way.  If you've trained at all out there, I'm sure (like me) you're familiar with the trail one way.  So when you're facing the retention pond, go into the woods on the left.  Follow the big loop- hang left whenever you have a choice.  I'm not going down through Ray's cutoff into the field, so just stay on the main trail.  By my computer, the long loop is 5.35 miles and the short loop is 2.13 miles.  I haven't decided exactly what to do with that.  But I'll keep you posted.  

This weekend I'm going to have to stay focused on SIX IN THE STICKS.

Check yourself for ticks!

Duathlon Questions

I'm here to answer questions.

I got an email from someone today that says the following:  

I'm interested in trying a duathlon.  I mountain bike and I run 5ks often... I have just never done a duathlon.  Any suggestions?  Which one should I try?  What type of gear/clothing do I need?

Good questions, I think.

I think if you are ready, you should do the first one, coming up at Keystone Lake on August 8.  None of them are going to be a breeze, so if you want to give it a go, let's do it.  If you enjoy the experience, you'll be excited to do the other two races in the series.  If you skip one or two, you might wish you would've done all three.  Worst case scenario is you get more training and have a little fun.  Obviously you need all the things you would need when mountain biking.  Helmets are mandatory.  Most people wear cycling shorts and whatever jersey they usually mountain bike in for the whole race.  You don't have to have trail running shoes, but some type of running shoes.  Most people have clipless pedals, so they change shoes in transition, but it's not essential.  Gloves for cycling.  What else?  Bring a couple bottles- there won't be any hydration out on the course except in the transition area.  If you want Hammer Gel or something, you might bring it.  Hammer is one of our sponsors, so there'll be some gel in the race bags along with Endurolyte samples, and we'll have HEED energy drink mixed up in 5 gallon coolers.

I think these races are fun.  People often tell me that they really enjoy the experience, so I hope you'll come out and give it a try.

Distances for Keystone.  I'm going to try and make the run 3 miles.  I'm trying to decide how much crossover I want to deal with during the race, so the bike course will probably be somewhere between 6 and 8.5 miles.  More on that soon.

Other questions?  Please ask.

This Sunday is SIX IN THE STICKS.  If you're not going to race, you should come out and watch or volunteer.  Free beer (Avery Karma Ale) and hotdogs (from my dad's grill).

DSDu Keystone

Ok Duathletes.

I drove out to Keystone on Wednesday afternoon.  Rode round and round exploring different options.  This isn't firm yet, but I think I'm going to run the race in the opposite direction Ray ran the Keystone Cross Country Mountain Bike Race.  So instead of running off into the woods on your left (as you face the pond), you'll take off on the right.  As I mentioned before, the trail choices out there are limited, so I'm pretty sure we're going to run the short loop (with maybe one detour) and bike the long loop.  Honestly, Wednesday was the first time I've ridden Keystone the opposite direction.  It felt like I was riding left handed.  But I really think the trail was more pleasant that way.  Most of the climbs that way are easier and some of the climbs going the other way turn out to be fun little descents.  I did get off my bike going up the steep climb out by the road and in the rock garden on the way back to the parking lot.  But for the most part, it was enjoyable.  Of course, I wasn't riding race pace.

I need to get out there and cut away a few thorns and tree branches.  We'll flag the course before the race and we'll also have some HELP out on the course to direct you and make sure you don't accidentally cut the course.  I'm pretty sure all the runners will be off the course before you can get around on your bike, but it's possible we'll have some laggers.  Also possible you'll get run up on from behind by cyclists while you're on the second run.  As long as everyone is paying attention and calling out when you want to pass, we should be fine.

Feel free to ask questions here.

Courses (x2)

An open letter to myself...

Dear Brian, you need to get out and get acclimated to this heat.  You are pathetic.  That ride yesterday where you kept stopping every few minutes to recover after soft-pedaling was... not good.  Also, you need to eat before you ride.  And hydrating with electrolytes wouldn't hurt either.  Nice ride this morning though; way to get out while it was in the low 80s.

Ok, sorry for that.  Needed to get that off my chest.  

With two races coming up in the next month, you can imagine we're busy busy busy.  So I apologize if I'm not getting information out as quickly as you'd like.  We're doing our best, I promise.  

Update on the Turkey course for SIX IN THE STICKS.  The course markings must be good enough to follow because a few of you have emailed, called, and texted me about it.  Yeah, it's hot.  But I'm hearing good things about the course layout.  I personally think it's a pretty fast course with a lot of fun, windey sections and as much sustained (and not too technical) climbing as can be found at Turkey.  Womack reported to me today that he did two laps at 75% effort in 1:20, so it's possible to ride 30 minute laps during the race.  I think the course is probably around 7 miles, but I still don't have confirmation.  Does anyone have a computer on their mountain bike?

We'll have plenty of cold water and HEED, Hammer Nutrition's sports drink.  But bring whatever you think you'll need to get through the race.  Feel free to email me with questions.

The first race in the DoubleShot Duathlon series is just around the corner!  This is very exciting.  For the first time, we'll be putting on a race at Keystone.  Unlike the mountain bike race, we'll be staging in the main parking lot, just off Old Highway 51.  I haven't gotten out to put up markings yet, but it's pretty easy to figure out which trails we'll be using because there is pretty much only one choice.  I'll get my lazy arse out there asap and give you more details on trail conditions and course directions.

This is going to be a fun year for off-road racing.  I hope all of you spread the word about SIX IN THE STICKS (July 26) and the DoubleShot Duathlon series (August 8, September 5, and October 10).  More racers means more likelihood we'll keep advancing the cause of DoubleShot Racing.

Rainy

How was I supposed to know we were about to have a monsoon?

Just as I was about to walk out the door to ride yesterday afternoon it started to rain.  I decided to drink a beer and wait to ride until this morning.  And it's raining cats and dogs today.

So... my plan is to go out on foot this afternoon and flag the course, so you guys can ride it this weekend.  Red and black checkered flagging.  Hopefully it won't be muddy.

Sorry for the delays.

UPDATE:  So I went to Turkey yesterday and marked the course.  Almost all the ribbons are on your left.  There were a couple places where I couldn't figure out a good place to mark a right-hand turn, so I put a ribbon on the right in your field of vision.  But for the most part they're on your left.  It starts in the shitty "parking lot" that our friends at Riverparks made and heads out south on the sandy singletrack toward 71st.  It was pretty soft and muddy yesterday with a lot of puddles.  And with the rain today, I'm sure it's going to be even muddier.  But it's marked.  Took me 2.5 hours on foot (running) to mark the trail and the insane humidity out there drenched me from head to toe.  I'm not sure how long the course it, but I'd guess 7-8 miles.  It's a FAST course on a bike though, so I hope you'll like it.  Let me know if you have questions.

SIX course update

Rode Turkey on Thursday on what I thought would be the race course.  The trails are more rutted than usual with a lot of exposed rocks and roots.  So I've changed my mind about the course.  I do want this race to be fun, so I'm going to try and route through as many fun sections as possible.  I've also decided to shorten the length of each lap a bit too, because if it is really hot (and it probably will be) you'll be able to get back more often to refill your bottles.

So here's the tentative course description.  I still may change it up a bit, but I'll try and get out there to ride and mark it tomorrow.

Start in the parking lot (what's left of it) and ride south down the sandy trail toward 71st.  Hang tight through Bombshell (or Bomb Shelter or whatever you call it).  Take a left on the cutoff that leads to the drop into the flat roadbed.  Then right into the creek bed and through the loose, rocky rollers out to the paved river trail- left and up around the right curve.  At the next curve, go onto the dirt trail on your right that leads up the ridable climb.  Find your way out to the main trial that leads up from the parking lot, right to another right hand turn up the trail Womack and Mikey built with the bridge at the top.  Continue climbing up next to Elwood, right at the top and left onto the windey trails through the woods.  Keep going straight past where that trail used to end and follow the new trail down to Millennium Trail.  Take a right and ride out to the Spider and across to the west side.  Down the fun hill, whip it around and down those fun rock drops and back through by the dead tree and off the lip by the Pepsi plant.  Left through the trashy creek bed, up the hill hang right.  Through another creek bed and onto the main Y trails to a doubletrack.  Follow it a ways and get off on a new singletrack that leads out to a pond in a clearing.  Sorry, I wish I knew the names of these trails, if they have names.  Hopefully if you've ridden at Turkey extensively, you'll be able to visualize the route.  At this point, instead of following the windey trail along 61st, you'll break off to the left and left again to the south side of the Snake Trail and race that around to the main exit, up the main trail to the upper parking lot and down Lip Buster back to the parking lot.

What do you think?  I think it will be fun, and I'm planning to ride during the race, so I want it to be fun.

SIX IN THE STICKS course

I have the six-hour course mapped out and will go out to ride it in its entirety tomorrow.  Will report the length after that.  It will be a fun course.  You'll be able to rip through most of it, but we're still talking about Turkey Mountain so technical sections are inevitable.  Six hour is a long time to ride at Turkey, so hopefully the course will flow for you.  There won't be any paved sections except for a very short pass up the river trail to connect a couple trails.  It looks like the ride through the "parking lot" won't even be paved, and I'll figure out a solution to route us around ongoing construction.  I hope they have enough of the construction finished so we can have adequate parking.  Riverparks assured me the entire project would be finished by July 26, but I'm planning for the worst.  So don't worry about it- we'll make it work.  

Hopefully you're all still riding a lot, training through this heat.  Get out and get acclimated.

I'll blog again on Friday with as much of a course description as I can give.  Maps of Turkey mountain are somewhat useless, but I'll do my best to give you an idea where the race is.

Next week I'll get out and do some preliminary course marking with red and black checkered ribbon.