My name is Tate Litchfield, currently im studying at BYU-Idaho. I love to ride road bikes, cats, and skateboard. My life is good and im happy...this is my story
Cyclocross season seems to be
passing faster than I ever imagined already the season is almost halfway over
and I feel like I’m just now getting used to the pain that occurs from a 60-minute
race through mud, sand, and grass. Over the last few weeks I have been racing
2-3 times per week, and it’s starting to show. My body aches in ways that it
never did while I was racing on the road, my bike is constantly needing
overhauling, and I couldn’t be happier. In an effort to keep cross weird
someone at my last race was doing spaghetti hand-ups and if you didn’t take
them, you got shower on the next lap with a handful of oil less pasta. It was
also our Halloween race weekend; people came dress and raced in everything from
Lance Armstrong, ninjas, to star wars characters. Ty and Mark came out on
Saturday dressed as Santa Clauses, it was awesome they had the megaphone
blasting and the heckling never ceased. Nothing makes me want to ride hard that
having a few Santa’s run along side of you telling you that you aren’t even
trying and that the girls go faster than you do!
This is how I reward myself for finishing!
I have experienced some great success over the
last few weekends. Most recently was last weekend October 27 and 28, our local
race series held Halloween Cross weekend at Big Cottonwood Sports complex in
Murray Utah. The course was just less than 2 miles long and each lap had 2
sandpit crossings, a muddy run-up, and 2-4 barriers. Since the course was in a
park it meant that the course was extremely wide and great for passing. Since
I’m sitting in 5th place in the overall series standing for points I
got a great call-up on the front row. The gun went off and I had a textbook
perfect start, got my pedal immediately and somehow managed to get the hole
shot. I was able to maintain my momentum throughout the entire race until the
last lap, a group of 3 racers were gaining on me quickly so I was forced to
take some risks in the corners. I had less than a mile to the finish line and
about a 9 second lead on the chasers when all of a sudden my luck race out and
went down on an off camber turn because of some wet leaves. My falls wasn’t
painful and my bike was fine but due to the slant of the course I wasn’t able
to get unclipped and lost my lead. When I finally did get pedaling again I
sprinted like a madman and managed to pass one guy and finish 3rd.
Getting the crowd pumped up!
On Sunday we returned for day two of racing, although it was warmer than the day before my muscles were aching and my body didn’t feel like racing. Reluctantly I geared up and rode to the start/finish line. My start wasn’t as good Sunday and it was Saturday but I still managed to finish our first lap in 4th place. As we were approaching the sand pit a teammate of mine came of next to me and told me he was going to get me as close to the front as possible before he bonked. His surges were relentless and timed perfectly. When he finally threw in the towel I was sitting in 2nd place and had only one racer on my wheel. The leader had about a 20 second lead on us, so I convinced the guy on my wheel to work with me to close the gap. We took turns pulling for about 25 minutes then my friend and teammate who was watching the race Tim told me that it was time to leave him and do the rest of the work by myself because he was cooked and just sitting on my wheel. I launched a 30 second attack and that was all it took to drop him. I spend the remaining 2 laps riding myself to the point of exhaustion. I never did catch the leader but managed to close the gap to 10 seconds. I finished 2nd for the 3rd time this season, for some reason that top step seem to be just out of my reach. Ill keep training and practicing so that I stop making stupid mistakes that end up costing me the race. Having said that tonight I’m racing Clammy Cross which is a night race down in the Provo area, hopefully my legs have recovered and my body feels like going
This week I raced 2 races, the first race I did was race #3
of a 5 race series in Provo Utah. As I was warming up I knew that today wasn’t
my day and that the course didn’t suit my style/skill of racing very well. The
race started and I immediately realized that we were playing for keeps as I got
cut off and shoved into a tree. The course was full of switchbacks and hard
U-turns (no exactly what a roadie wants to see). Within 2 laps the leaders
broke away from the rest of the field. When I saw leaders I mean the 3 full
time professional cross racers, the state champ, and the national champ. Once
they were out of sight I tried and tried again to get into the groove of this
course but failed…miserably. While passing through the start finish line I
tried to ride on my pedal to long before unclipping to jump over a few
barriers. All I’m going to say is that I learned my lesson it is better to have
to take an extra step or two rather than coast and hit the barrier. When I hit
the grass I realized that not only had I destroyed my gap on the 4 guys that
were chasing me, but that I had done this in front of all of the spectators and
my family. I jumped to my feet, took a bow, laughed it off and started to pedal
for my life once again. This experience taught me that even when we have made a
mess of our lead in life that we need not hesitate to get back on our bikes,
because laying on the floor will only set you back longer. I was able to finish
the race and managed to take 10th place overall, I was able to hold
off 2 guys from passing me but due to a bell lap cramp I knew my chances of
finishing higher were over.
On Saturday I race Moose Cross in Victor Idaho, this was the
first cross race that I had ever competed in and it also marked my one-year
anniversary of racing CX. In the past year I have managed to stand on the
podium over a dozen times which is an accomplishment in itself. However this
race has always appealed to me because it is one of the closest races to where
I go to school and I’m good friends with most of the event organizers. Going
into the race I knew I was a marked man because 3 of my opponents were buddies
of mine from the road season. This year I managed to win all of the races in
Idaho Falls against these guys and knew that they were planning on giving me a
run for my money! As soon as the gun went off the chaos began, although I
didn’t have to “take a bow” this course was full of its own demons like a 20+
foot run-up with steps in it that were 2-3 feet in height, lose dry berms, and a
set of 3 barriers in a row. My bike is light but after racing this course for
60 minutes every time I had to carry my bike I felt like my arms were going to
fall off. On the last lap I was able to catch 2 racers that were in front of
me, and somehow ride myself into 8th place overall. But the stat
that I’m most proud of is that I rode the fast lap time of the entire day 4:30
flat and it was on my last lap (the next close lap time was 4:43). This week
has taught me many things about life and racing such as the fact the tire
pressure really does matter, and that you are never actually warmed up for a
race. I know that I have a ton of room for improvement and feel like this will
come with experience. After all I have only been racing for a year!
Here are a
few photos from the P-town race in Provo and Moose Cross in Victor, Idaho
Enjoy and
please remember to let me live them down!
In our family we have a phrase that we use to describe those
people that are obviously better than the rest of us common people, we call
them “the beautiful people”. Today I was thinking about the idea that someone
can become better than someone else because of his or her clothes, or heritage.
While I was thinking about how backwards this notion is, I realized that the
only think that separates myself from being a so-called “beautiful person” is
my own opinion. I take pride in the fact that I’m not star material and that I
probably never will be. While reflecting on this idea I remembered a song from
the band Pulp entitled “Common People”. I found the lyrics and official music
video to be extremely funny; the girl in the song is obviously an uptown girl
who thought it would be an adventure to test out the lifestyles of the lower
class.
When I think of “beautiful people” the palace of Versailles
in France comes to mind. While we were visiting the palace grounds we stopped
by a “small” house that Marie Antoinette had built so that she could live like
a common person and escape the fame and stardom that she must of experienced
while living at the main palace. Marie called this small cottage “Hameau de la
Reine” which translates to The Queens Hamlet. This cottage was very different
from the type of life that she must have lived while within the walls of
Versailles. When the Queen sought refuge at her peasant life she did everything
in her power to make the experience more realistic. She would dress in “common
people” clothes and preformed many daily tasks that most would considered unfit
for a person of royalty especially the Queen. She would clean along side her
servants, and even helped milk cows and collect fresh eggs. Unfortunately the
people in the surrounding village didn’t think to highly of Marie’s second life,
and in the end she was executed for lavish lifestyle and total disregard for
all people.
Well July is just around the corner which means
only one thing too me the TOUR DE FRANCE. This year I’m placing all my money on
the young Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp). Although many people don’t think is
yellow jersey material I cant help but want to see a Canadian on the highest
level of the podium in Paris. As for teams I would love to see team Radioshack
save there season but I’m rooting for Team Sky. I can’t wait to see the battle
between Cav and Saagan. Its going to be a battle for blood on everyday of the
this years tour.
Here is Team Sky’s pre tour
training video!
On another note I have been doing
a lot of racing over the last few week, I have done over 20 races this season
and my body is starting to feel it. I recently upgraded to cat 3 and have been
taking my body to the limits of pain and suffering. I just won our Tuesday
Night crit series in Idaho Falls and am getting ready to race the Allen Butler Crit
and RR next weekend. Hopefully my form is there because last year I took second
and I’m looking to take my revenge on this course. Its fast and technical and
favors my style of racing. Here are a few pictures that Allison snapped over the
last few weeks.
This
last weekend I had the privilege of doing my COTBR kit a great honor by winning
the Sugar House crit in downtown Salt Lake City. The course was a fast, smooth,
windy circuit through a small park in the city of Sugar House (relatively close
to Wheeler Farm where I’ve done several cross races). The course had two decent
power hills in it that weren’t crazy step but were more than capable of causing
some damage to the peloton. The race started off at a blistering pace from the
get go, teams were launching attacks constantly and we were no exception. I
tried to get into an early break away but that failed quickly. The other teams
weren’t letting anyone stay away for too long for fear of having them stay
away.
When the last lap bell was rung the pace jumped up from at 26 mph pace to
a 30+ mph pace. My teammate Cadman knew that this was going to come down to
mass sprint unless he did something. Before the base of the first hill I saw he
move to the front and knew that an attack was coming so I moved up and got into
a good position. When we hit the hill Cadman dropped the hammer and shattered
the field with a massive attack, I somehow managed to grab 6th
position and stay with the main group. Cadman lead the remaining members of the
peloton up until the base of the final hill. The finish line was at the top of
this hill and I was feeling great and my positioning couldn’t have been better.
A window opened up at the base of the hill when Cadman pulled off and I knew
that I had to go. I shifted down got out of the saddle and gave it my all. It
came down to a 2 man sprint between Dom and myself we battled it out for over
100 meters at close to 40 mph, when we reached the line I threw the bike
forward and my wheel crossed just a few inches before his did. Ty and Allison
told me that it was so close that they didn’t know who won until the announcers
reviewed the camera footage and announced it over the loud speakers. For some
reason I knew that I had won, while I was doing my warm down lap I received
several congratulations from fellow racers as well as Cadman. I know that my
win is because of Cadman’s early attack. All I can say is I love riding for the
big ring, and having teammates who are willing to sacrifice their race for the
well being of a teammate. I look forward to repaying the favor to my fellow
teammates and especially Cadman. I know that winning races is a rarity so I plan on riding on this cloud for as long as I can!
So it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything and a lot has happened. In the past 4 weeks I have done 5 races and I’m starting to feel like I’ve got the hang of the racer lifestyle. It involves sleepless nights in the back of your car, changing in public bathrooms, eating lots of fast food, and getting gas. My most recent racing was in Bear Lake Utah. We had a short 3.5-mile hill climb on Friday night (which I took 2nd in) and then a road race on Saturday morning around the perimeter of Bear Lake. The road race was really interesting there were over 60 racers in my category. The first half of the race was very slow and uneventful. However, once we hit the East side of the lake where the rollers began so did the attacks. At the base of the first hill 2 buddies and myself attempted to get away from the peloton but we were unsuccessful. One thing that I’ve noticed about cat 4 is that the peloton will chase down every little move making a breakaway almost impossible. After I recovered I noticed a small kid working his way to the front I thought to myself this kid is going to go and I’m going to stick his wheel and help him out. Sure enough I was right and found myself pedaling as fast as I could to make this break stick. We stayed away for nearly 7 miles just the 2 of us. But it 50+ angry racers destroyed our dreams of a breakaway victory. Once we were caught it came down to a massive sprint to the finish I picked the most perfect guy to lead me out. I started the sprint in about 22nd position and ended up in 6th. Overall it was a brutal weekend of near vomiting experiences cheap food and good times. Plus I now have all the points I need to get my upgrade its just a matter of me getting the confidence to do so.
Here are a few random pictures and my garmin reports from the road race that Allison and myself took over the last few weekends.
Home for the night...thank you church parking lot
Bear Lake
All these numbers are gonna look good in the garage
Yesterday I finished one of the hardest races of my life! It was called the Las Vegas Gran Fondo it consisted of 8000 feet of climbing and nearly 100 miles of pure unadulterated pain and suffering. My Dad signed me up for it about 2 months ago because he was somehow talking into it by Tanner (one of the guys that we ride with here in Vegas). We got to the start line just before 7am and started to prepare ourselves more mentally that physically for what was in store for us. The first part of the ride went through red rock, then we had to climb Mt. Potosi (which is often refered to as the last great giant of souther spring mountains of Southern Nevada) then climb Lovell Canyon. Once we reached the summit of the canyon which consisted of 22 mile of pave and had 2 dirt sections we had to turn around and then re-climb the back side of Mt. Potosi then ride through blue diamond and then back into the valley. I rode extremely well and was able to get into a break of 3 guys at the base of Mt. Potosi we worked together the entire race and were able to put about 6 minutes into the chase group when we reached the turn around point which was Lovell canyon. I was the first rider to reach the summit and when I got there the guys at the aid station said "what are you doing here so early?". It was kind of funny because they were completely unprepared and didn't have anything set up for us. The ride back down Lovell canyon was some of the roughest most shaky road I have ever experienced in my life and Im from Idaho where we take our bike on dirt fire roads. The roads were so bad that my water bottle cage fell off my bike! After suffering the heinous winds of the backside of the last great giant we started the long decent back into town. With about 8 miles to go I realized that the chances of me putting up a sub 5.5 hour ride were very likely however, in order to achieve that goal I knew I was going to have to drop the hammer. I conversed with the 2 other guys that were in the break with me and we decided that we were going to give it our all even though one of the guys wasn't looking to hot. After my first pull one of the guys fell off the back and then there were only two. We raced through the city at top speed throwing caution to the wind. I finished first with a time of 5:23:30. Not only did I win the race but I was able to set a new course record.
Here are a few pictures from my race along with my gamin info.
Enjoy
53:11
Props to Tanner and my old man for putting up great times!
