IMBCS #7 Sugarbottom Scramble

Sugarbottom Scramble was a big event - one of the larger of the series. I'd always heard great things about this trail system over the last couple years but never made the trip to check it out. What I wasn't prepared for was a rocky single-track trail under a tall pine-forest canopy, right outside Iowa City. It was a good one for sure and we'll be back just to ride it again later.

I was feeling pretty good despite completely imploding at Altoona Palooza just the day before. Assuming the worst, doing a double race weekend, I let myself fall back a ways during the start sprint. This meant working on course traffic almost the entire time but it was pretty easy riding. A couple other guys and I ended up riding off course through a unmarked / barely marked "y" intersection for about five minutes and then had to back track the entire way. This cost at least ten places at the finish but it was still a great time anyway!

Altoona Palooza CX

Cyclocross!! I have no idea why this sport is so addictive. Even in the middle of mountain-bike season, it's a huge joy to start cyclocross up. There must be so many things wrong that it's just right I guess.

Altoona Palooza is the first race of the year this season. The venue is a large sports complex on the edge of town which is also simultaneously host to a huge city/area summer party with car shows, food, mud volleyball, you name it. Lots of spectators, plenty of energy and a great time. It was absolutely roasting hot but we all made it through. Planning on near record heat for the next week as well. It'll be a hot mountain-bike race tomorrow!

Corrine finished up with a 3rd place win and Cody with a 1st place.

CX Begin! Altoona Palooza

Tomorrow is the first Iowa Cyclocross race so we're getting out a whole different set of hardware which hasn't been used since last year. Everything wintered over just fine and it's time to rock and roll.

IMBCS #6 George Wyth

Now over the half-way point in our MTB series, it's time to take on some shorter drives. Only 2.5hrs each way today.

This race was at George Wyth State Park, just outside Waterloo. I'd never been to this area before really and it was quite a bit different than I expected. It was very marshy / swampy and had ponds all over the place. There were big sand pits, single-track trail right next to the water and even a few tree canopy tunnels. XC-3 even got to do a nearly respectable length race here at two laps and 45-minutes ride time. Unfortunately for Corrine, Women XC-3 was only running one lap for half the time of the men. It's hard to pick a favorite course so far this year but this one would be near the top.

The management was really great and had all sorts of food and beverage available. A local coffee roaster brought out a big Igloo cooler. It was, amazingly, not regular coffee but rather a cooler full of espresso with some milk and ice thrown in it. Perfect! I hadn't had espresso for a while. There was also a local brewery and pizza/pasta house handing out free food.
Speaking of food, I was trying a new nutrition strategy today which was to consume as many carbohydrate calories as possible. This is an undertaking from me since I'm rarely actually hungry. I had several packs of shot-bloks before the race even started and then went straight into full-calorie SoBE drinks right after the race ended. I felt the best I've felt after a race since probably April or so. We've been using a nutrition coach lately as well, and the general learning we've done there is that our calorie counts are just too low. Onto more eating!

We hung around for a while to wait on results/awards and watch XC 1/2 start. 

Corrine came away with a 3rd pa

And Cody with second.

IMBCS #5 Moorehead Pioneer Park

I think this was about the earliest we've left home for a race, out on the road before 5:00am. We had about a 200mi drive to north-west Iowa and our race starts mid-morning. 

Our new strategy to arrive at check-in more than 5-minutes before staging has been going well. This leaves us time to do things like unpack, eat, and pre-ride the course. My legs were feeling decent when we got there and I think I'm starting to adjust to the new training schedule. Corrine and I have been spending two days a week in the gym doing both weight-lifting and running, two days a week on bike trainers in the garage doing interval max training, and two more days putting in mileage out on the trail/road. This leaves one day of doing nothing but that might become yoga soon. I like it!

The whole thing was a blast with constant brutal transitions from steep climbs to fast, swoopy downhill. Lap times were running 22-28min. Being in Category-3 and only doing one lap made me wish again to upgrade next year for some more ride time. We'll see. 

Corrine took home a 3rd place and Cody snagged a #1 spot. 

Elkhart TT Finale

I don't have much for photos from this evening because, on the final day of the series, I also entered the Elkhart TT. It was....a long, straight piece of road that I tried to ride on really fast. 

Corrine and Rick both ended the series with a first-place overall!
Cody and I were, if nothing else, not last place.