Dana Weber - 14th - 2017 Leadville 100
- live, work and race to your full potential
Saturday, May 12, 2018
2017 Summer Racing
Firecracker 50 - 4th place
Ridgeline Rampage Marathon - 1st place
Silver Rush 50 - 1st place age group, 2nd overall
Highlands Ranch Training Race
Friday, July 3, 2015
Marathon World Championships
First, the Dolomites are amazing! I've been to a lot of great mountains, but the Dolomites are up there as some of the most special I have ever seen. Lush green valleys, great small towns, beautiful passes and stunning rock peaks. This video gives you a better idea than I can trying to describe them!
Second, the Sella Ronda Hero is an awesome event! Separate of this years World Championships designation, the Sella Ronda Hero is one of the biggest mountain bike races in the world. 4,000 riders in a mass start tackle the loop around the Sella range each year. The event consumes the town complete with opening ceremonies, kids races, and pasta party. It's a great vibe similar to Leadville with a good mix of world class elite riders and weekend warriors all out to tackle the same course.
Third, I raced the World Championships! It was an honor just to wear the Stars and Stripes and be part of the World Champs. The field of racers was pretty amazing this year with Olympians, former World Champs, National Champs and all kinds of fast guys from 50 different countries. I'll be the first to tell you I'm not at the same level as the guys leading the race, but my goal was to be competitive and finish top half. That would be mean beating 70 of the 140 riders in the Elite race.
The first half went well and I was riding hard but comfortably and slowly moved up from the back and worked my way into the 90's. The hardest climb was the 3rd of 4 main climbs for the day and was a 3,000ft beast with steep sections that were almost un-rideable even with a 30t front chain ring. I knew that to move up and have my best race I just needed to be steady on that one and then pour on the effort and bury myself for the last hour and half of the race.
Going into that 3rd climb though, I started to feel the effects of the first 2.5 hours of the race. Position wise I held where I was but could tell my power was dropping off a little. Pacing and finishing strong is important in any marathon race. It's especially important when the entire field is so strong. My mind and body just didn't have that super day and I didn't find that special zone where I could push the last 2 hours at the same pace as the first 3. I definitely kept trying and the effort level was high, but my pace still slowed into a good but not great result. After 5.5 hours, 54 miles, and 13,000+ feet of climbing I was 94th out of 140 racers.
Going into that 3rd climb though, I started to feel the effects of the first 2.5 hours of the race. Position wise I held where I was but could tell my power was dropping off a little. Pacing and finishing strong is important in any marathon race. It's especially important when the entire field is so strong. My mind and body just didn't have that super day and I didn't find that special zone where I could push the last 2 hours at the same pace as the first 3. I definitely kept trying and the effort level was high, but my pace still slowed into a good but not great result. After 5.5 hours, 54 miles, and 13,000+ feet of climbing I was 94th out of 140 racers.
The US had some great results from Howard Grotts in 14th, Mike Broderick 92nd, Lea Davidson in 9th and Mary McConneloug in 28th. We definitely have some riders that can be competitive at the biggest races in the world and I really hope we see more Americans take on the biggest marathons in Europe in the future. For me I am truly thankful for the opportunity. Thanks for reading, God Bless!
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Sella Ronda Hero - Marathon World Championships Preview
The Dolomites are amazing! It's hard to describe how awesome these mountains are so here are some photos for you. The course will be a huge challenge with 15,000ft of climbing in 54 miles. I was able to do a really solid ride yesterday and one of the longest downhills today. The climbing is really steep in some places and there is some pretty good descending. There are also some fast gravel road downhills as expected for a big marathon race in Europe. There is a lot of excitement for the event in the surrounding towns and Saturday will be a special day.
There's not much coverage on the US cycling sites, but here's one race preview - Marathon World Champs
The US has 2 other riders here who are both top 10 contenders - Leah Davidson and Howard Grotts. I'm hoping they both have amazing rides tomorrow.
Some live coverage and results will be here - Sella Ronda Hero
There's not much coverage on the US cycling sites, but here's one race preview - Marathon World Champs
The US has 2 other riders here who are both top 10 contenders - Leah Davidson and Howard Grotts. I'm hoping they both have amazing rides tomorrow.
Some live coverage and results will be here - Sella Ronda Hero
Monday, June 22, 2015
More than Racing - Friends and Adventures
I just have to say, mountain bike racing is the coolest sport in the world! Going fast on trails is super fun. The trails we get to explore are in a lot of the most beautiful places in the world. Physically it's straight up tough, and it takes world class fitness to reach the elite level. Best of all, the majority of people that mountain bike are really interesting, good people!
I'm fortunate enough to be pretty good at cycling which has lead to some amazing experiences and opportunities in life. At the same time trying to be fast leads me to get caught up on my workouts and results, losing sight of how blessed I am just to be able to ride. Every single one of us who can afford a nice bike, has good health, and can go enjoy some nice trails are far more fortunate than most people in the world. Don't take it for granted, enjoy your next ride!
Last weekend I raced the Kenda Cup series finals in Big Bear. I had an average race at best but it was still really nice to see so many friends and the great community that cycling has. Yeah racing is about trying to ride better than other people. At the same time I think it's even more about getting to have cool experiences with other people and make some great friends.
Now I'm on a flight to the Italian Dolomites to race a 55mi loop around some awesome mountain range. Foreign country, mountain passes, hundreds of the fastest riders in the world - adventure on!
I'm fortunate enough to be pretty good at cycling which has lead to some amazing experiences and opportunities in life. At the same time trying to be fast leads me to get caught up on my workouts and results, losing sight of how blessed I am just to be able to ride. Every single one of us who can afford a nice bike, has good health, and can go enjoy some nice trails are far more fortunate than most people in the world. Don't take it for granted, enjoy your next ride!
Last weekend I raced the Kenda Cup series finals in Big Bear. I had an average race at best but it was still really nice to see so many friends and the great community that cycling has. Yeah racing is about trying to ride better than other people. At the same time I think it's even more about getting to have cool experiences with other people and make some great friends.
Now I'm on a flight to the Italian Dolomites to race a 55mi loop around some awesome mountain range. Foreign country, mountain passes, hundreds of the fastest riders in the world - adventure on!
A big thank you to Stage21 for all of their support and Cytosport for keeping me fueled!
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Putting in the Work
My goal for the Marathon World Championships in 2 weeks is to finish top half. Racing 55 miles with 15,000ft of climbing against the fastest marathon racers in the world is not going to be an easy day on the bike! The course has some pretty brutal climbing, but equally amazing scenery. I'm also going to be racing to beat the fastest women in the world and 4,000 amateur riders starting 15 minutes behind us.
It is also my goal to strengthen my relationship with God and with my Dad on this trip. At home my life gets a little busier than I want it to be with work, training and all the other every day stuff we have to get done. A week long trip to the mountains is a blessing for me and I'm looking forward to being in an amazing place buzzing with mountain bikers.
My training has been going well and we're getting close to the point where I just need to focus on staying fresh and healthy.
Big mountain bike ride in the Santa Anas
Climbing repeats on the road
Fro-yo with my girls
Prior to the Grand Junction Off-Road I did 2 really solid weeks of training with a lot of climbing. Those weeks were each about 15 hours with 30,000ft of climbing. It was a good boost for my endurance and had some intensity mixed in too.
Then the Grand Junction race week included 4 hours of racing including the crit and cross country.
After that I needed some rest and took it easy for 6 days.
I jumped back into my finals 2 weeks of training with a 5 hour mountain bike ride with 10k feet of climbing. I've done solid threshold and tempo workouts this week and will race the final CA series race in Big Bear tomorrow. Next week I'll have 2 key workouts, one being a solid endurance ride, and the other a threshold workout.
Then it's time to travel and taper down even more on race week. Of course I've been doing this on top of full 40 hour weeks at the office as usual so it's been fairly hard work. For most of us a 12-hour training week with 3-4 high quality workouts is an accomplishment in itself!
Physically I can be top half at the World Championships. I just need to stay healthy, have a good day and most importantly get my heart and mind focused in the right places.
Check it out!
These mountains are the real deal!
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