Tim Racette

The last couple of weeks have been a lot of fun.

August started off with a return trip to Wisco to visit family and at weekend in Marquette, MI for Ore to Shore, one of my favorite weekends of the year. Great trails and lots of familiar faces. This year was no different. We sandwiched the race with some “can’t wipe that smile off your face” riding on some the new trails at Marquette Mtn. Incredibly fun!

The race itself went down as usual, well except for the lead group getting stopped by a train. This brought things back to maybe 40 or so riders and it got a little chaotic once we started rolling again. At some point a gap opened up and a chase group formed and we finished with a bunch sprint for 18th.

Nationals

Prior to that Evie and I hit up Mtb National’s in Mammoth Lakes, CA, what a pretty area. We rented a condo with Corey, Jeff, Joe and Corey’s two friends Michelle and Jonnie that turned out to be a stone’s throw from the venue. It was a good bunch and everyone had a good time, including Lucy!

I’m hoping that this year is just the year of bad luck between my flat at Whiskey and then Nat’ls. Had a great first few laps, but then (discovering afterwards) what turned out to be a little electrolyte overload I had to stop and get off my bike for a little while which pretty much put a damper on any hopes of finishing in the top 20. A fun course though, your standard mountain course 15-mins up, 5-mins down.

Evie crushed the downhill race, winning the overall Cat 3 on her trail bike. That being only her second DH race ever was pretty cool.

Good Ol’ WORS Racing

Back in Wisconsin, the second weekend of my trip I went up to Minooka Park to checkout the WORS race. Bummed that they did away with Crystal Ridge after which I’m told “The Rock” is no more. Anywhoo, the Minooka course was fun. Super tight, so tight that my 700mm bars barely fit through one set of trees, and twisty.

The race itself hurt! So much hammering on every small up hill and out of every single corner to gain a half second here and there. On laps 1 and 2 I was constantly out of the saddle, but my back really didn’t like. After another go around on laps 3 and 4 I started to get into a little better rhythm, but a little to late to make much out of it. 10th on the day, which is about par for the course for a “meh” kind of day. It was good to get out and mix it up with the WORS crew.

Back to the Mountains!

After returning to Arizona, I spent a week in Tucson before returning to the mountains of Flagstaff and then home to Pinetop. My birthday was on Tuesday so I took a little stroll up Mt. Lemmon and dropped in on Bug Springs, way fun! Even in 90+ degrees up there.

In Flagstaff, getting back to rocky technical goodness I took the win at The Old Fashioned Mtb Race. Bike was great and so was the nutrition. After returning to elevation after almost 3 weeks at sea level my lungs felt it. I can definitively say that there’s about a 5% gain in power for me coming down from elevation. At sea level the legs just seem to flush the lactic acid better due to more oxygen (or some other type of scientific explanation).

Next up, South Dakota for the Dakota Five-O. Rain or shine, it’s sure to be a great time!

Yesterday Evie and I celebrated our One Year Anniversary, a pretty cool thing.

A lot has happened in the last 12 months. In traveling around the county racing our bikes we’ve made some incredible friends, but had to say a temporary goodbye to our Wisconsin friends as we moved west to Arizona. Evie sold her house and started a new job as town manager of Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ. I moved my website design business, we got a new dog, new bike sponsors, and have been on many new adventures. Here’s to having many more in the years to come.

A look back at our first year…

 Love you Ev!

Another race weekend is in the books. This time to Grand Junction, CO for the Epic Rides – Grand Junction Off-Road.

It’s starting to feel like race season, except for it’s over here in AZ. A little strange coming from Wisconsin. Aside from Colorado Springs and Mountain Bike Nationals in Mammoth, CA there’s not a whole lot going on the next two months.

The good news is August and September are filled with some great races that I’m really looking forward to like the Dakota Five-O, Tour of the White Mountains, and Moab Rocks, along with a handful of other local races here in Flagstaff.

Grand Junction Recap

Grand Junction is the real deal when it comes to mountain biking. Very much like Moab and Sedona, lots of big ledges, drops, chunky descents, and technical climbs. All the things I love about mountain biking. The town itself is a blast. Super well laid out and the crew at Epic Rides put on another fantastic event.

Friday was the Fat Tire Crit, which unlike at the Whiskey 50 was totally flat. It was also much warmer in GJ than Whiskey (and dry), which was nice. The crit itself was a total blast. I decided to stick this one out instead of pulling out after a few laps in Prescott, saving the legs. I made it almost to the end with the lead group which stayed pretty big. Halfway through the race I made a move during a lull that shot me to the front through the start finish, that was pretty fun! All in all a good time in GJ on a Friday night.

Sunday was the XC race and I was pretty pumped despite having a cold. I felt a little nauseous the start, probably from taking a bunch of meds with breakfast. I sat down in some shade and put some ice on my neck which helped.

When the gun went off we rolled out through town and out towards the Lunch Loops where we would jump onto the first singletrack climb. I made my move as we neared the trailhead, but things got a little bunched so my starting position was not very good into the singletrack.

After feeling as though I couldn’t really push it I tried to hold my position over the next 20-mins or so of climbing. Once we popped out onto the road things were pretty strung out. I was feeling like it just wasn’t my day, but focused on riding smooth and figured there would be a lot of flats (which there were), some guys would blow up, and others might fade (so I hoped).

When we started down Butterknife, the first 7-mile chunky, ledgy, rocky singletrack I started to get into a rhythm and quickly caught up to and passed about 5 guys. Dropping down to the river and starting the 2000′ Windmill rd. climb I passed 2 more riders and tried to keep it steady, riding with my chin up to help the oxygen flow. Thank goodness the race was at 4500′. My 8000′ lungs needed all the help they could get!

On the way up Windmill rd. I came across Todd and TJ who both had flat trouble. It wasn’t long before they got rolling again and rolled up on me as we approached the Bangs Canyon descent. What a blast! Big rolly, chunky jeep rd. with tons of launches and big drops.

After that we began the last major climb up a big slab of slickrock for maybe a mile or so. Todd was gone and TJ started to pull away from me here too. With one more final descent to the finish down Andy’s Loop I figured no one would be rolling up behind me so I focused on riding clean as there are a few tight corners with some sharp rocks that caught me off guard in the pre-ride.

Rolling into town cashed was a good feeling. Having a clean race, despite being sick was also a good feeling. 21st on the day and only a few minutes out of the money, pretty pleased with that and stoked for next year!

Thanks to Bobby and Kim for letting us crash at their place. Lucy had a good time and made some new friends too 🙂