Planet of the Mapes

Once again I have found myself too busy to blog, but since I finally won a race this year I thought I better brag a little! LOL. Really this win is nothing compared to my teams winnings this same weekend at Mellow Johnnnys Classic. Both Garet and Travis won their respective age groups in the Cat. 1 XC races and Karen Brockett placed 2nd in her group of cat. 1 ladies. I initially had intended on going with them, but since this would've been a training race for me anyway, it made financial sense to go to a local race. The best part is when you actually win some money for a training day! ; ) My race wasn't very stacked so I was able to jump 'em and get the hole shot, I led the whole race and in retrospect wished I had raced the open expert class. They had a bigger field and a minute or two head start, but that didn't stop me from catching them all and passing them. I felt really good on the day and after I caught the open class I hammered a little longer and then put it into cruise control for the last two laps. I didn't want to blow my training for the week by pushing too hard. I have found in my advancing age that it takes me longer to recover after a race. It rained the whole race and was cold, but this course holds up pretty good. In the second lap several sections became pretty sloppy, at the end of the race you couldn't even make out my jersey!

This picture is after I cleaned my jersey!

Looks like I will be over hauling my bike this week!


One of the Crossings at Tour de Tick, It's hard to make out in this picture but the crossing is going over an old rock cabin, probably dating back to the Civil war. Gary Lowden was the race promoter, and he did a great job.


I have been trying a lot of new products, at least new to me, at the top is my Shimano 315's. They are heat molded and vacuum formed to your feet. These shoes are very comfy, I have always used Sidi in the past. I love Sidi, but the 315's are sweet!!!!!!! I have raced with the 315 twice now and I think I will get a pair of them for my road shoe. Below is a picture of a different sealant I'm using in my tubeless tires, unlike the Stan's I have been using, this stuff foams up when it is aggitated. This forces the coagulant against the entire inner surface of the tire. I recently switched to the Schwalbe Rocket Ron race tire and had a terrible time with the Stan's, it took me nearly 3 days to finally get a good seal. Now I'm trying the Cafe Latex, and it sealed in 10 minutes!


This picture is of me at Bone Bender a couple weeks ago, JP Shores and I teamed up for the 6hour Duo. It's kind of funny because If you sort through the event pictures, you will find me racing on two different bikes! JP started the race and when we went to make the exchange My rear was flat! So I stole JP's bike for my first lap.
Last year we finished 4th and we were hoping to get on the podium this year. We had a strong race, but only finished 5th. We both were riding stronger than we did last year, but the field was super stacked. Our team mates Travis and Garet won, they were killing it!
JP also had a good weekend, he went to a road race in Leavenworth Kansas. He finished 15th in the Elite mens Cat 1,2,3 event. Thats super impressive!!!! I'm very proud to be on this Ethos Team! These guys and gals are super strong! In one weekend Ethos kicked butt in four states, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas. Kay Lehman placed 2nd at Slobber Knocker on saturday, and then raced Neosho in the marathon class! Thats insane because Slobber Knocker is like 60 miles! I said super a lot!