Mafia Racing Blog

85 degrees sounds like a lovely summer day but does no justice for a Wisconsin day in June. With the humidity in the nineties it took no time or effort to be dripping with sweat whether you were an actual racer or an actual fan.

Nordic Mountain claimed my body once again for over two hours. Historically this race has not been of my better finishes and this one was no different. Two years ago I was finishing out my “Comp” season and riding #1 in the series with a cushy lead. I had just won two or three races in a row and had a random girl coming to watch me (not so random anymore - it was Kate). The race was grudgingly muddy as we were the first the hit the trails after the rains blew in that day. My tire choice was horrible, I recall, and I was all over the trail.

See, with a butt as big as mine it is crucial to pick the right tire so it can hold you in the turns whether its wet and sloppy or dry and hardpacked. If you’re Jesse Lalonde, Tristan Shoutten or Marko Lalond….or TJ Woodruff…….or Thomas Bender…..ok, everyone is skinnier than me but you get the point - it’s important to have the right tire combo.

That day I came in second and didn’t impress my future lady nearly as much as I had wanted.

One year ago, Kate and I had gotten home just a couple days before the race from 19 days in Europe spending a dedicated amount of our Euros on gellato and vino. I’ve never cramped so badly in my whole life. I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t sit. All I could do was hold onto a tree and scream on the inside. I finished 48th.

However, this year was different because I had the perfect set of treads on. I switched my rear right before the race after a pre-ride lap with Team Mafia. I went with the full blown, uncut Bontrager Jones ACX for the rear and my normal front tire pick - my modified Bontrager Jones ACX.

Great tires; bad endurance.

My first lap was very good as I was running near the top ten. As the second lap expired I felt as though I was close to expiring. The heat was at it’s worst and the zipper on my borrowed “champagne” Mafia kit couldn’t go low enough. Water bottles were emptied prior to having visual confirmation on my next pick-up with Bryce and cool water was a shock to the system as it was poured by the Mafia president David Janowiec over my back.

As the race went on a few top racers were dropping from the front lines hard and the typical mid to late race grind continued.

As the last lap approached Dallas Fowler (eighth to my seventh last year) had my wheel and I was not about to allow another person to ride my wheel the entire last lap and then outsprint me in the final 100 meters. I allowed him to pass and I jumped on his wheel.

I sat there content but so on top of his wheel many times I had to swerve so as not to rub his tire. I could tell I had some gas left in the tank. As we hit lap-traffic (lapping slower riders in the latter portion of the race is typical and something that can be used as a weapon if done properly) Dallas was polite enough to call out “two-elite back” so I didn’t have to call it out. When passing one slower gentleman, he got off balance and couldn’t unclip and crashed to the left and directly into my derailieur and rear wheel sending me to the ground along with him. As he attempted to unclip and get off of my bike I was affectively pinned to the ground. I finally jumped to my feet in the middle of a muddy and stoney portion and ran my bike a ways and tried to get back on but felt the footsteps of another elite so I had to give up my position and step aside. As he rode past
did, he noted that “That sucks.” and went on to beat Dallas to take 14th place.

Grr…..

With the finish line in site I could see Chris Peariso (WORS #3) coming on super strong. I made my mad dash to stuff him in behind me for the final singletrack portion before busting loose and making for the finish line. As we came blasting out of the downhill singletrack I nailed my inside line of the final left corner so Chris would have to take the slightly slower, longer outside route if he was going to try and pass me…only problem was…..finish line was before the left turn. I was suppose to go straight and finish not follow the course I had done four times prior to lap and return to the course!!!

Double Grrrrr……

Mafia Racing Results:

Abby Strigel — 3rd Cat 1 1:58:58.6 hours

Landon Lueck — 16th Cat 1 2:10:21.5 hours

Peter Odennell — 21st Cat 1 2:14:20.6 hours

Dylan Stucki — 22nd Cat 1 2:15:47.2 hours

Bryce Schmidt — 7th Sport 1:19:16.1 hours

John Miller — Cat 1 DNF

Trevor Downing — Cat 1 DNF

Just another reason to crack open a Pabst.

When approaching races that have massively stacked fields of pros, my preferred strategy is to set the expectations way waaaay lower than normal. And truthfully, those days often go pretty well when I take that approach, and I’m usually pleasantly surprised by my performance.

Sure enough, the Sand Creek Classic (UCI race, US Cup, bla bla bla) was stacked. Lots of skinny guys with fancy new bikes, usually the ones you read about in magazines and whatnot. A couple Olympians sprinked in for good measure too. Anyways, it all started as expected — we all punched our one-way tickets to cluster-f*ck-istan and headed out onto a course that was primarily singletrack. Yea yea, I know it sucks to be at the back… it’s a disadvantage… you can’t move up. Boo frickin hoo. Those guys at the front are wicked fast to begin with, so I just sucked it up and tryed not to get to stressed, unlike a lot of guys who seemed to think they had a shot at Varsity if only they could pass just one more guy on the blind corner!

Well, after about 2 hours of racing, I was pretty satisfied with my effort. No major crashes, no broken parts. Almost made top-50 but kinda cracked on the last lap. Not bad overall! Hopefully I’ll get a little of my fitness/endurance going with some of the longer upcoming races like Firecracker 50 and I’ll be good to go!

 
The RXC in full dive-bomb mode.

By Landon Lueck

Not in a nutshell:

47 degrees and raining; Saturday was so dismal it warded almost the entire Mafia Midwest team from pre-riding the course at Nine Mile Forest in Wausau, Wisconsin.  A very determined and brave Nick Caliva drove from my native hometown of River Falls, WI to Wausau to ride and report on the trail conditions.

I, myself, was determined to be the very best puppy uncle I could be for my new nephew, Teague - an eleven week old yellow labrador; my sister’s first.  Her boyfriend, Lance and she wanted to go to a party down the block so I came in to take their four-legged responsibilities for a few hours.

Even though Teague apparently peed in three different locations on their carpet(one of which I did catch), three separate times I consider my job very well done.

As my dictatorship over the dogs came to an end my whole-wheat spaghetti came to a boil.  The usual pasta pre-race meal ensued even with the mixed feedback on whether or not “carb loading” actually has benefits.  Bed time was 9:20pm on a Saturday night…just thinking back to what I would have been doing two years ago on a Saturday night makes me queazy.
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Teague is up at 5am which means we are too.  Fortunately, my sister is ahead of the curve and has already bought a puppy bark collar so we all fall back to sleep for another few hours.
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10 hours of sleep has not happened in weeks and it feels GREAT! - I’m ready to roll!

I use my new Garmin to navigate me directly to the entrance of Nine Mile Forest with only very, very fine sprinkles on my windshield.  I pull in to Bryce and Abby’s “campsite” - aka a gravel parking lot space with two tents in it.  I unload, register and Bryce and I set up the Mafia tent near the finish line for hand-ups and of course promotion - AHEM! - **PBR.

I warm up with Marko Lalonde, then Brian Matter who I congratulate on the previous race in which he won.  He tells me he feels kind of bad for out-sprinting Jesse Lalonde at the finish after riding his wheel the entire final lap.  I told him the tale of my experience that race with Macjie at that same race and we decided because it was his first, I repeat, first race of the year he didn’t know the

strength of his legs.  And when they didn’t crack he let loose of them.  It’s pretty amazing that he can come in and just pretty much decide to win a race when he feels like it.  Brian is a seasoned professional who has raced many times at the NORBA level.  He is the real deal (and I’ve beaten him a handful of times let me add!)  The talent is getting deeper and deeper with the WORS and couple new names are continuously appearing in the top results each event.
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Don’s spanish “goal” turned ‘GOOOoooooooooooo!’ lets us put both cleats in our pedals.  We race down the wide grass field/road to the funneling gravel two-track.  As I shoot into the funnel I rub elbows and handlebars with a racer to my left and he collides with t

he guy next to him.  I saw and heard the entire pile up of last weeks turn #1 - but luckily for everyone it was not the case this turn #1.

I bite my tongue as to not lecture - “The race will not be won in the first 500 feet - only lost!” and hold my course.  This is the only time it helps to be a fatty.

Shortly after the first few downhill two-track turns the course heads uphill and thins the playing field front to back.  As we string out I am in the large lead group of nearly 25 I estimate.  We chug along with downward turning tires rubbing on upward turning tires as everyone anxiously await hints of the first attack.

But there is no need for an attack.  In my case single-track will do just as well as a flat tire.  I feel bad for anyone stuck behind me in this greasy, chewed up single-track as I ricochet between rocks jutting from the ground and exposed live tree roots slick anyhow from the abrasions caused from hundreds of knobbies thus far today.  Pour on a clayey mixture of super-saturated soil and you’ve got some quite technical terrain.

As I unclip to keep upright I strain to keep my momentum but in an effort to do so I inadvertently go straight over the handlebars.  Landing on my back with my bike above me in the air and three guys waiting to ride over my chest I orient myself and let them pass and try and fall i

n behind them.  Macjie was the first guy past…and I never saw him again.  He ended up 11th.

Four laps, each 8-point-something miles long, meant we again went way over our typical 25-mile race and into the thirties again.  If you’re still reading this I owe you a PBR at the next race.  The first two groups pull away through the single track but I was feeling pretty strong and a layer overdressed.  I had a long-sleeve jersey under my Twin Six Metal kit and during the long, soggy grassy climbs I could feel my heart unzipping both layers and trying to come out for a breather.

Laps 3 and 4 I claw my way up the ladder and catch 3 or 4 guys and eventually able to grind them down enough to drop them.  Laboring, I cannot bri

dge the gap to Joe and finish with a hard, solo(which I love doing I guess) effort.

I am somewhat content with my 15th placement and with bettering my placement each race thus far and more about how good I felt.  If I keep this up, in another nine races I will be in the top five!  . . . we’ll see.  I guess I’ll keep training.

Mafia Racing Results

Abby Strigel - 4th Cat 1
*post race stomach cramping like crazy = dehydration

JW Miller - 21st Cat 1
*felt great - took me on a “cool down” aka lap #5

Nick Caliva - 9th Cat 2

Bryce Schmidt - DNTR (Decided Not To Race)
*great hand-ups and the only one to drink PBR that cold-ass day!

Haha! Psych!! No, I didn’t win a bike race, but I sure as hell won a foosball tournament last Monday at the Attic! Beginners luck? I think not… I was fortunate enough to be paired with one of my esteemed coworkers at IMBA, and we took the competition down to Chinatown. Never left the winners bracket and won the finals two-and-out!

It remains to be seen whether I’ll be able to continue my winning ways at the US Cup race this weekend down in Colorado Springs (I give myself 457 to 1 odds), but I’m still looking forward to a big race at a fresh venue. Anyone need to carpool down there from Boulder on Saturday??

Note the beverage of choice — hydration and refreshment in one snazzy package!

About a month ago, I built up a Felt Redemption as a DH bike.  While it is typically used as a long travel trail bike, the geometry is spot on and the frame is quite stout, so I went for it. Bottom line - the bike RIPS!  It’s very quiet and maintains speed over the rough stuff incredibly well.

Shawn Spomer (of LitterMag.com) caught a glimpse of it during the DH race at Angel Fire:

Okay, so I had to wait until Tuesday evening to begin blogging because I had a case of instantaneous carpal tunnel because of Sundays race course in Rhinelander. To say the least I should have been more responsible and gotten a new race (a headset piece which fits onto the top of the fork crown as a casing for the lower bearing - without one of those you cannot attach your fork) on my sweet Fox suspension fork so I could swap it out with my rigid Bontrager Switchblade fork.

My upper body was feeling the torture of one of WORS’ newest courses with all of it’s kidney bruising (literally as I found out) bumps and boulders.

The first gravel corner lay nearabouts 100 yards from the starting line and when a speedy army of a bunch of skinny bitches hit a gravely corner at 25 mph you bet your ass (or your pointy hips rather) that there will be a few hittin’ the floor. Done deal - didn’t think it would happen so close to me though - two guys, Ron Stawicki caved first into teammate Chris Peariso and they ended up taking out a good swath of elite men to give distance to those able to avoid the wreckage.

After that the race settled down to a quite inner body torture for me as the words from Chris Peariso on the starting line echoed annoyingly through my head: “Now, this course has turns in it you know!”. Hmph! - okay, so I’m a big guy and slower through the single track than your 130 lbs ass, I’m working on it. I was quite pleased with my technical skills as I was able to stay mounted for the entire race (once again).

I did feel much better this race as many fellow racers made it verbally clear they would be fine with only two laps, feeling that three 10-point-something mile laps were more than adequate to find just who could find the cleanest line and who had the full-body conditioning thus far this season.

I rode the entire third lap with MacIej Nowak (pronounced “Mach-ay”) after he fell off of a group of about three riders. He rode my wheel tight through every turn and as we chatted I even cheered him on to keep on my wheel. As we all know we ride so much harder when someone is on our ass. As we approached the final couple miles MacIej asked if, “…it would be a dick move to race me for the finish”. I replied he would have to deal not only with the blogs for two weeks but also as racer morals go, he may not be able to sleep but to do whatever he needed to do.

I tried to push him hard enough so he wouldn’t have the gusto to out sprint me but in the end he did and beat me by .5 seconds. Again….I must remind myself this is the second WORS race of the season and to again focus myself on bigger races on the horizon and closer:

MTB Marathon National Championships - Breckenridge, CO July 5th
MTB National Championships - Grandby, CO July, 16th
Ore to Shore MTB Epic - Marquette, MI August 8th
Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival - Cable, WI September 19th
Iceman Cometh MTB Challenge - Traverse City, MI First Saturday in November

But for today, the best man proved to be Brian Matter, who just so happens to be the nicest damn guy you’ll ever lose to . . . besides me of course who also did a bit of wheel riding on the wings of Gary Fisher 29er crew hero Jesse Lalonde. After chatting to Jesse post race he told me Brian had “big-ringed him”. Rubbins’ racin’ right??? I just told Jesse maybe it’s time to invest a little bit into winning and get some damn gears. I know that he and his brother Marko have inspired and complete and utterly strange culture of single-speeders but even Marko had the forethought to enlist some technology on his modified 69er GT Zaskar for Rhinelander.

I thought Brian was done really competing in WORS contests. I thought he was focused solely on the Triple Crown Series (Ore to Shore, Chequamegon, Iceman Cometh) as well as late season hell, otherwise known as cyclo-cross.

Next up is the Teva Mountain Games in Vail. Usually ends up being a pretty serious throw-down with a hard course, big prize purse and lots of ballers (like Filip Meirhaghe last year!) showing up to race. Should be fun/painful!

Well, I’ve been trying to embed this stupid Teva games video, but I can’t figure it out, so here is the direct link: http://tevamountaingames.com/ev_cycle_xc.cfm. You can see a bunch of Mafia riders throughout the footage!

By Landon LueckRhinelander, WI will host the Wisconsin Off Road Series’ second race of the year this Sunday. It is the most northern race of the year for the WORS and I am curious who will make the trek to race in the cat 1 race.I feel ready for the race commuting three days last week with a 90-mile ride Saturday and then commuting another three this week but we’ll see. I hope to break in my race legs a little at a time and still keep my eye to the horizon on the Chequamegon this September.Oh well - the bikes are ready to go - Go Mafia Racing!!!

I’m not a big fan of excuses. I hate hearing them, but even more, I hate having to make them up for myself. Unfortunately, 2009 has been the year of excuses so far, mostly related to my nagging overuse injury on my knee. Haven’t been training much because of it, couldn’t race Nathrop because of it, bla bla bla… Honestly, the worst thing about it all is having to explain the situation to everyone. I wish I could make up a standard letter that explains it all and just hand that sucker out anytime I run into a friend.

I missed Angel Fire last weekend, but this time, I’m glad to say that I have an awesome excuse, one that I’m happy to tell anyone about — I went on a last-minute trip to Italy with Kate and her work to watch the Giro d’Italia! It was amazing. The weather was perfect, the scenery beautiful, the people were generous and hospitable, and the riding was unbelievable. We stayed in Camogli, which is Southeast of Genova, right on the coast in the Ligure principality. We saw the sprint finish into Arenzano and the Cinque Terra time trial. Not only that, we had some amazing meals in Genova, Rapallo, Rio Maggiore and Turin. All in all, it was an amazing trip and well worth it! I think the sea-level air and some melllow riding has finally gotten my knee to a point where it’s ready to rock, so I hope to do the Burn TT at Buffalo Creek this weekend and the Teva Games as well as the US Tour race in Colorado Springs. Sorry I haven’t been at the races, but hopefully I’ll see you all soon. I’d love to tell you more about Italy, so from now we’ll try to forget about the knee!

Heading back to the top… see you there!

More Italy photos and Kate’s blog