Cold Avenger Recap

So, I have been getting a lot of emails about the Cold Avenger masks I have been using this winter. I thought it might be time for a recap. All winter these masks have graced my face. As we transition into spring and then summer and the temps have risen they find use less and less. There was not a ride I did below 32 degrees that did not include a cold avenger.

As a reminder, over the years I have been dealing with exercise induced asthma. It hits me worst in the cold, and I found this mask to help counter the cold and dry air in the winter. I ended my first Arrowhead 135 attempt with an attack, got diagnosed, got drugs, and then ended the second Arrowhead 135 attempt the same way. If you have never been through a full blown body attacking asthma attack consider yourself blessed. They are something you do not want to relive.

So anyways, back to the mask. I completed 2 ultra bike races this year: one with the classic, the other with the pro mask. Despite the warmer temps, I still believe it is the Cold Avenger that finally saw me cross the finish line in the Arrowhead 135. I will absolutely continue to use these masks in the winter as they are a game changer for me and my pesky lungs.


The mask in general benefits:
-Inhale warmer air
-Inhale moister air
-Very little resistance to your breathing
-Easy to pull down for water/food access
-Helps prevent asthma attacks (that alone is huge!)

Negatives:
-When at an extreme physical output there is some resistance when exhaling. Not a ton, but noticeable.
-Because the air is warmer from your exhaled air, I can only assume that there is a slightly lower percentage of oxygen you are breathing in.
-I am reaching, but you can't wash it in the washer. Hand wash, air dry.
-On that note, can stink pretty bad if you don't occasionally wash it.
-Like with anything, may not fit all faces well. I guess it runs a little big, which was fine for me.


So here are the different masks available:

Balaclava
I used this mask once. Why? It is VERY warm. I was hot in it at -8 degrees. I would easily reach for this when out in the very cold and not exercising or on extremely cold days. I wish it had been colder this winter for me to play with this mask more. For extreme temps I would easily see me using this.


The Pro
This is my favorite of the three. I could regulate my heat really well and keep my face/ears protected. If it got too cold I could put on a hat. This is the mask I rode with during the Arrowhead. This is THE mask I would use for most athletic adventures as it is wind proof and does not soak up much of your sweat.


The Classic
I used this mask during the Tuscobia 150. After 22 hours it began to stink and collecting frost/ice on the outside of the mask from my sweat. Works the exact same way as the Pro, but the Pro uses a nicer material that works out a lot better for working out in the cold. For more modest activity the classic as fantastic.
So there you go, questions?

Pictures and shout out.

So, you may have noticed the new header. After listening to both of the readers of this blog complain that the old picture made them want to cry because of the degradation of society, I made changes. All of these pictures are from Arrowhead and are thanks to Jeremy Kershaw who can be found here, here, and his race is here. Top notch stuff.

2012 Sandwich 50

Have you ever tasted a rainbow? At the Sandwich 50 you will. The race will have you feeling reborn. Colors will seem more vivid, food will taste better, Obama will no longer be president...

Imagine yourself running with all your might to your bike as you start the race. You are nervous, but excited for what the day will bring as you ride the prologue. Over the ensuing 7 laps your cheeks hurt from all the smiling. Maybe you stop in the hobo camp to partake in PBR and bacon. Maybe you choose to take some of the 'B' lines to test yourself. No matter what you will have a story to tell your grand kids about the day you conquered the Sandwich 50. As your grandkids speed away in their hover cars and you drift into that great goodnight, a sense of calm will before you. You have accomplished a great thing.

Linky, linky.

My morning.

Sometimes friends come to hang out. This is 8:30am in my living room this morning.

Tonight I have some fun plans, tomorrow Frostbike, Sunday I take over the world.

Cold Bear Challenge Recap

The thinking went something like this for the race:

-I wish there was snow
-Crap, I forgot my inhaler
-Wow, my 907 rides way different without the 10-15 pounds of gear I've had on it since fall.
-Bad start, big push to get up
-Holy crap this hurts, and I can't freaking breath. Stop, regain breath, go, repeat.
-Wow, there is a lot of freaking dangerous ice out here and I have got no skills at all today.
-I am not use to this XC race mode. Different power outputs and getting use to having to shift multiple gears has me constantly forcing my way uphills in too big of gear.
-Breathing is opening up, but I am still all over the place with this ice and losing more ground because of it.
-I am getting beat down, Arrowhead's effort still lingers.
-Wow, now I am riding worse and have little ability to pedal.
-I am getting sick of getting off the bike because of slipping on the ice.
-I am not even half way through?
-Body is definitely not recovered for this type of effort and it is suffering hard now, and I am having no fun.
-Pull the plug
-These hot dogs are good despite what Guse's reviews.
-Awards are taking for ever, maybe I'll win a cool door prize.
-Nope, won a cutting board?
-I wish there was snow.

Hillside

I just installed some prototype Really Big Fat Larry's for tomorrow's Cold Bear Challenge at Hillside.  I am gonna run over me some racers.

Cross training

Not a lot of riding, but I will tell you my coloring skills are boarding on a professional level.

'F' yeah!

Note:I'll add more pictures as I find them.

For the last two years I watched riders cross Elephant Lake to reach the halfway point of the Arrowhead Ultra 135 mile winter race. I watched in jealousy as bouts of asthma had me watching from the sidelines, so as I turned my phenomenal 907 bike to go onto Elephant Lake this year I gave no prior thought when I yelled "F*&^ Yeah!" doing my best Jersey Shore fist pump. I was high on life at that point because reaching this point was my sign that this was the year. (Unlike 2010 and 2011)
(picture from a previous year)

Our 7am start was off to a blazing start as Jay Petervary took off like a scared rabbit with 2 or 3 riders in tow. A large second group formed and a hard pace was set. I took note that my body did not feel up for the challenge quite yet, but lungs were better than the past 2 years. Doom, Dittmer, and Jensen seemed to push it the hardest in the group. A soft section would ramp up the breathing, so back I dropped to get control. Farrow would fall back as well. Soon I was going good again into the 1st check point. I was surprised to see the group I was with but also Group Petervary returning from the out and back. Three and a half hours in, 100 miles left.
(The start thanks to Allison Long)

On I went, picking up Josh "I never met a Bette Midler song I didn't like" Peterson. As the trail become hillier I would see three more riders not far up. I thought about working hard to chase'm down, but the lungs would flare up every now and then, causing me to slow way down or completely stop. Eventually I would catch Francis Lambert, passing him before the 1/2 way point; reaching the cabin in 7th place. The cabin would hold a departing Dittmer, a dejected Jensen (mechanical), and Doom. I was in and out in 7 minutes having filled the camelback, drank a glass of pop, and downed some bean soup. Doom and I would depart together, Lambert soon after I guess. Eight hours in, 65 miles left.



There are some good sized hills soon after that 2nd checkpoint, Doom and I would talk some and yo-yo some. It was when my lungs went nuts and I completely stopped that he left me for good. Lambert would soon pass as well for the same reason. After a flat section of trail we came to the nasty stuff just as the sun went down for the night. I heard stories, but until you are out there trying to push nearly 50 pounds of bike/gear up crazy steep hills over and over again for hours in soft snow you cannot appreciate the effort. On these hike-a-bike sections again my breathing went absolutely crazy. I had a hard time with every aspect of this part of the course and expected 8th place to roll up on me. Almost 6 hours later I found the Teepee that marked the last checkpoint. A quick downing of a bunch of cocoa/cappachino mix from Whizanator and friends and I was off like a rocket. Fourteen hours in, 24 miles left.

The majority of the last section of the course is fairly flat and I was going great, lungs and all. I heard that Lambert was 15 minutes up on me at the Tee Pee and it was not long before I would surprisingly see his blinky light. I continued my strong pace and opened up a gap. My lead over Lambert was several minutes when the lungs decided to mess with me one last time. I would stop briefly twice, get going, and still had a gap. Then I got dizzy, weak, and needed to stop. Lambert checked on me as I stood there dizzy, but I just needed to work it out. He continued at my insistence, stopped a 1/4 mile later to look back and make sure I was still upright and rode on. He let me know we had 2 1/2 miles left at that point.

I would finish 10 minutes behind Lambert for 7th place (just shy of 17.5 hours) after being 5 minutes up with 2 1/2 miles left. Because of just one of my many flare ups out there I lost at least 15 minutes, so yeah, to only be 92 minutes behind the leaders has me happy not just with finishing, but with how well I did, and I FINALLY FREAKING FINISHED ARROWHEAD!! F(&^ YEAH!!!!!!



Notes:
-The bike was awesome and awe inspiring.
-I firmly believe that I was able to minimize and control my flare ups because of the Cold Avenger that covered my face the entire time I wasn't shoving food down the gullet. THANK YOU GUYS!!
-I saw a ton of wolf tracks in the inch or so of snow the area received the night before.
-J-No's race ended early, I'll let him explain, but it involved a horse, motor oil, and a human sized doll of the Cat in the Hat.
-I have already been planning for next year to make me faster. I am hoping to maximize my strengths and minimize the weaknesses.
-I learned a few lessons about gear set up, nothing that cost time, but my many skin abrasions will stick with me for a few days.
-The little snow up there made for a much less spectacular looking race, oh, and much bumpier course.
-There is nothing not to like about this event. Hard course, great organization/volunteers/fellow racers/course markings/etc.
-You can make a drinking game out of this blog post. Reread it, and everytime I mention my lungs or breathing take a drink. Seriously though, I focused more on my ability to breath more than following the right line, my competition, the cold (or lack of), the pain in my body, or even the sleet hitting me at the end.

Finally!!

Full recap to come, but I finished. Lungs were my biggest problem, but with care and my mask I warded off plenty of asthma flair ups. Considering how often I had to stop or slow down to calm the breathing down, I am stocked with my 7th place, 90 minutes back of the leaders.

It starts soon...

Today I pack for the big race. Tomorrow I leave with J-No and do race check in. Sunday we go to the prerace meeting and engage in fun times with other racers. Monday morning we start the 135 mile race across snowmobile trails from International Falls to Tower, MN. Where it goes from there is another story. If history is any indication I will DNF about 4-6 hours into the race with an asthma attack. If the prerace buzz is any indication I am one of the front runners.

It wasn't until after I won the Tuscobia 150 that I thought about my history in endurance races. I tallied up in my head how many endurance races I have won; 12 I think. Those include races in 12 hour, 24 hour, 100 mile mountain, 100 mile gravel, 75 mile snow, and now 150 mile snow formats.

I don't know how I will do up at Arrowhead. I don't know if I will finish. I don't know if I will be able to breath well (the air is a lot drier up there). What I do know is that if all my systems are going strong I intend to make someone else winning as hard as possible (of course with the idea of finishing first and formost). I can also tell you that winning this race would mean far more to me than any race I have done well in.

So if you would like to see how the race is shaking out on Monday the powers that be will update either here, here, or here.

In the mean time I will be posting some short posts until race day with pictures. Wish me good luck or bad luck, but that is what fills much of my mind right now.

Later

Arrowhead predictions...

So The Legend went out and listed his favorites to win this year's Arrowhead in the local paper up in I Falls. As those in the know read through the names they stopped on one in particular; "Charlie Tri, isn't he that guy who has raced twice and can barely make it past the first checkpoint?", they think in confusion. Racers across the world give a collective "What The F###?".

I figure I have been first to drop out at the checkpoint #1 the last 2 years. Is he just confused?

Trying

Up at 4:30am in search of the chillest temps. Met up with Kuske for some predawn big name training. We are supposed to get some real snow tomorrow which will be nice to take the 907 out in conditions it is meant for.

The wind was chilly, but I ended thinking a little less on the head would have been nice.

Revelate Seat Bag On test: First Impressions

We all know any monkey can buy or get a hold of some product and pretend they are some big time reviewer of said product. So I have taken deliver of a Christmas present that needs to be "tested" and "reviewed". Here are my first impressions. My review is not biased in the sense I do not know the owner or any employees of Revelate, nor do I link there blog to mine, nor do 1/3 of my blog links go to riders they sponsor, nor do I spend time at their house, nor do I take pictures for them specifically and post them on my blog, nor do we meet for rides, nor have I professed my love for their business, nor can I spot their house from 1,000 feet in the air. Also, this is not a discontinued product that I borrowed from someone and I am using for a short period in conditions it was not really meant for.

First off, construction is top notch. I was shocked with with how many different materials are used to make the best possible bag. Not only does it look like it will last a lifetime, but it is really light and purposeful. The amount of space you can hold is adjustable, and there is a strap internally to help separate and hold gear in. The design of the bag assures that your gear will stay nice and dry. Originally, my intention for this bag is bike camping, mostly winter camping (assuming we get more snow). I will not need the space of this bag for my Arrowhead attempt, but if I did, I would be in good hands.

This bag can hold a ton of stuff. Now that I fully see and appreciate how much, the bag will take on double duty. My parents live 5 miles away, and sometimes I drop the newborn off to hang out with the G-parents. Well, I can now make that commute easier with this bag. Big enough for Seely, but some of her diapers and a change of clothes as well! This bag will get put through it's paces for sure.

I went to CX nationals.

It happened to work out that I went to CX nationals this last weekend with the wife and youngest daughter. We got to see quite a few people we knew (including Charlie "I don't need no mountain bike" Melk whom took the following pic).

Highlights included seeing Barry Wicks duck into the porto john for his prerace "weight loss" and abusing my child (see pic).
My cold is wrapping up. Looking to tie up my fitness in a nice bow for January 30th's assault on the Arrowhead trail. Just need more snow up there and some down here. It seems silly to ride a fully loaded snow bike with 29'er wheels on gravel.

Come get some.

So I hear it almost on a daily basis, "Charly, you are so amazing, how can I be as fantastically fantastic as you are?". Of course, after I tell them I am in fact not as great as they think I am, I have to mention my sponsors (Trek, Bontrager, 907, Coldavenger, Rochester Cycling)(yes, yes I have no shame, but I also don't endorse products I don't love) Now you can have your piece of greatness.

For Sale:
$4,500
2011 Trek Superfly 100 Elite w/ Sram XX and custom carbon wheels!!
This is actually better specced then the 2012 Superfly 100 Pro that retails at $7,350. The bike saw little use this year as my racing season basically ended at the end of May. There is a ding in the paint on the top tube, a scratch on the handlebar (clear coat), and some scratches on the cranks from my shoes. This is a fantastic bike and I am anxious to ride the 2012 model this coming summer (little has changed on the new model).



Frame

OCLV Mountain Carbon main frame & swingarm, Carbon Armor, ABP , Flow Mold Carbon swing link, G2 Geometry, E2 tapered head tube, replaceable derailleur hanger, 110mm travel

Front suspension

RockShox SID XX 29 w/Dual Air spring, remote lockout, rebound, E2 tapered steerer, 9mm QR, 100mm travel

Rear suspension

Rock Shox Monarch RT3 shock

Size

17.5"

Wheels

DT Swiss 240 hubs (rear hub unlabeled, front relabeled Bontrager), DT Supercomp spokes, Bontrager carbon XXX lite rims 1,500 grams!! I cannot remember the last time I trued them, but they are spinning super true still.

Tires

Brand New Bontrager 29-1 Team, 29x1.9"

Shifters

SRAM XX, 10 speed

Front derailleur

SRAM X0, direct mount

Rear derailleur

SRAM XX

Crank

SRAM XX, 39/26

Cassette

SRAM XX 11-36, 10 speed

Pedals

n/a

Saddle

Bontrager Affinity 3, chromoly rails

Seatpost

Truvativ Noir Carbon, 31.6mm, 20mm offset

Handlebar

Truvativ Carbon Noir T30, 700mm width

Stem

Truvativ Stylo T40, 31.8mm

Headset

Cane Creek

Brakeset

Avid XX hydraulic disc brakes

Grips

ESI Chunky Silicone

New Year's Day Ride, and random bits.

Photo is representative of my ride, but not me. It was taken from this site and was taken by Kathi Merchant during the Iditarod trail race.

New Year's Day

New Year's Day sees a lot of group rides. Many are like the one here in town; a group meets, rides the same amount of miles on pavement as the temp is outside, and then huddles in a coffee shop congratulating themselves on a job well done. The first day of the new year and I was sick with a nasty cold. Lots of snow tempted me as we had decided to spend our time up in Cable, WI at the cabin. Several inches dropped while the year clicked over and I thought my sickness was clearing up, so off I went into the sunset.

During my 3 hour ride I went rather slowly as I was not 100% and the trails were chewed up from fresh snow and fresh tracks. However, I did cross off something on my to do list; crossing Lake Namekagon in the winter. It is an odd feeling when the temps are in the teens, your riding over a wide open frozen lake, it is night, there are sleds going by in large groups, and a nasty cross and then head wind is causing lots of drifting snow.

Halfway through and my cold was getting the best of me plus I was on a 5 mile section of trail that was especially chewed up, but I managed to finish my intended loop with just a small section cut out to save time. I figured the temp when I left was about 20 degrees, and my mileage was 20, so hey-0! It may have not been the same type of ride many New Year's rides that day were, but I did the same mileage. Bad thing? My cold retaliated with a vengeance (or revengeance?). I am trying to get back to health now, slowly.

Random Bits

With this cold and my desire to get in lots of hours on the bike I may be skipping my intentions to race the Triple D in Iowa (plus with no snow what is the fun?). Next week hopefully will be fulled with lots of long rides. A few 4 hour rides are going to do me better than worrying about racing well in Iowa.

I am reading about others planning on summer races. Weird. Brendan Moore (the Bad Boy of MN mountain biking) is saying he is scaling back next year. He is debating 2 "teams". The rumor is one involves him racing sport for the Peace Coffee team, the other is he'll ride a steel single speed while sporting a cutoff denim jacket covered in PBR patches.

My Superfly 100 with Sram XX and carbon wheels is going up for sale, interested?

I had a talk with the Dave "the legend" Pramann. Sounds like Arrowhead may be heavily populated with strong riders. I guess we'll see how that shakes out.

I am sick of coughing and using up Kleenex after Kleenex.

On the first day of the new year...

...your true love will give to you a 907 fatbike. My time on fatbikes is not as great as my years on mountain bikes, but I love absolutely love this bike and consider it hands down better than the pugs that once graced my stable. The flattop 80 rims are fantastic, and I am surprised how much I love the alloy fork. I dig my bike! BTW, this is a picture of my bike after finishing up the Tuscobia 150, pic stolen from the CCC's facebook page.
P

My day on the Tuscobia Trail

As I looked out on the trail with my headlamp, the frost crystals that had formed on every little twig would sparkle and change like they were paparazzi cameras flashing and I was Britney Spears going commando. It was quiet, very quiet; and late, just not sure how late. And plenty dark except for my little headlamp, the brilliant half moon, and bright stars.

Well, earlier that day I set out on the Tuscobia 150 race with fellow idiots looking for a challenge. The night before was our prerace gathering and it seemed with only a month to prepare, these new race organizers sure were on the ball. While it was still dark, us bikers, the odd skiers, and even more odd ball runners pushed off from Park Falls 6am that morning. The goal would be to ride 75 miles on the Tuscobia Trail, turn around, and do it all over again. Mandatory 2 stops in each direction and minimum gear requirements were there to keep us safe. The trail itself was mostly snow covered, but not enough for grooming or much traffic, making conditions tough and rutted. Add in the warm temps leading to the start, there was not much of a hard surface.

J-No, Charlie Farrow, and I spent the night before snuggled in a motel room and we now led the start. Absent were last year's big pace setters Big Buff (gone crazy and is training for running) and Lance Andre (rumored to be wind tunnel testing his newest fatbike set up). After a mile or few I squeezed to the front on our rutted portion of course. Soon I would notice that there was no light casting a shadow behind me. I figured those two had dropped back just a few feet. Quickly, we would approach the most annoying 20 mile section of trail. There was about 3 inches of snow with a shallow hard crust and soft snow beneath. To bust through the crust meant dramatically harder riding. I was almost rimming out the Flattop 80 rims in order to maintain a moderate amount of float over said crust. I knew Farrow and Novak were probably having a harder time as their rims were not as robust, nor their tires as "big and fat". I did not see them when I stopped to air out the sweet 907 bike.

Into the first checkpoint at mile 30 (4 hours in), a quick grab of peanut M&M's, a pump of the tires, and I was off. The checkpoints were just off course in motel rooms, and I had yet to see anyone else when I hopped back on the trail. The course just before that and most of the rest of the way had some traffic at points, so the tires were allowed to remain semi hard unlike the slog most of the way to the first checkpoint.

Well, onto the 2nd checkpoint and there was a bridge out. After following "the official" trail reroute to dead ends and false leads for roughly 30 minutes, I just forced my way onto the trail and soon found why there was confusion from our instructions and what we found. Novak and Farrow would end up following my tracks to the same dead ends, so I guess it was no real hindrance. Just before CP #2 I ran into one of the many great volunteers, Lisa. I was told that my lead was somewhere in excess of 5 miles, and I let her know about the bridge out problem. She took this pic as I approached, trying to ride within the lines.

Into the CP #2 (8 hours, and 65 mile in), a fill up of the Camelback, a handful of peanut M&M's, an act of war against the toilet bowl that had been brewing since the start, and I was out in 10 minutes. I would learn that my lead at CP #1 was 30 minutes. Londell the volunteer there would snap this picture of my departure back to the trail.
From there to the turn around and back the trail was only about 2/3 covered with snow, and the fastest section. I would get to the turn around and then started counting mile markers (no computer for me) until I reached 2nd place J-No just past mile marker 8, thus 16 miles in the lead. We stopped and talked about the bridge and Farrow's absence. A few miles later Farrow would talk of bad seatpost and chain when we crossed paths. I would stop into CP#3(which is the same as CP#2) 11 hours and 75 miles into the race and find I had been 90 minutes up when the others passed through. I was in and out with my M&M's and back on the trail in just a few moments and in time to watch the sun set for the night.

The trail to the last checkpoint went well for the first 10 miles, then the next 25 were a downhill slide as the length of the race and the time of day would get catch up with me. I would stop and chat with the rest of the bikers and witness the 3 runners left in the race. The CP#4 would finally arrive 120 miles and 15 1/2 hours in and the thought of the beef stew had haunted me long before arrival. The latest update was I had almost a 3 hour lead into CP#3. Armed with this info I sat and consumed stew, M&M's, chips, pop, and coffee. I felt pretty miserable and tired as it had been about 16 hours of riding in not so great conditions. After about 45 minutes of chilling I realized it wasn't going to get easy, so I figured since I was in the lead I should act like it.

Back on the bike and I felt much better for awhile. Shivering for the first 10 minutes I headed towards Park Falls, hoping for better trail then what we encountered at the start. Soon I would find things in a miserable mess. The trail was now badly rutted from runners and walking bikers and fresh snow mobile tracks were very soft. I spent about 20 miles fighting the trail. Lisa would catch back up with me at about midnight as I walked for a bit to ease the constant beating the trail dished out. She walked with me for a few minutes as I vented about how tough that section of trail was. Anyways, the frost crystals on the trees, bushes, my bags glistened brilliantly. The stars were big and bright, the half moon glowed.

Slowly, I would arrive where I started, almost 22 hours later. The finish was lit with candles...



....and a lit finish line. Probably the coolest finish I have ever seen.
Lisa met me at the finish, Greg, the owner of the Chequamegon Canoe Club (our start and finish) was fantastic in helping with whatever my heart desired. In fact, the CCC really rolled out the red carpet for the racers. A shower and a nap, then waiting for the arrival of Farrow in second and the details on J-No's DNF.

The trophy. I have a cute picture of the girls holding the trophy and prize (locally made maple syrup), but I can't find the cord to transfer the picture.


First and second place. Gotta love Farrow, combined with J-No we had a lot of fun.
BTW.

On the 12th day of Xmas...

...your true love will give to you an entry into the Decorah Time Trials. I have been making it down to this race in Decorah, IA when possible for a long time. Upon our move into the new house I got a bike room in the dungeon. I took out what race awards I had kept over the years and noticed this, plaques from the past and more present versions of this race.

Fun race, free food after, great people, fun awards = Fun.

Tuscobia 150

Done and won. I hear J-No has quit at the last checkpoint, but can't find details.