In my mind, Nationals was going to be a freezing mess and UCI Masters Worlds was going to be warm with maybe a little mud. Turns out that was basically backwards. An Arctic storm chased us east on Wednesday and Travis and I made our way from KC.
We headed out to pre-ride on Thursday at noon and got in two laps just as snowflakes started to fall. To say that it was muddy would be an understatement. It was like the MO State Championship race, but the mud was even deeper in some parts. A big section of the course is built on a really big berm leading up to the Start/Finish area and this had foot holes that were over 8" deep so even if you could ride it you would have to navigate these. It turned out to be a solid 2-3 minutes of running. The rest of the course had deep, power-sucking mud as well. If the tempuratures had stayed above freezing, I think it would have been really fun.
However, the storm kept pushing in. Little flurries, strong 20-40mph winds and temps in the 20's turned the rutted course into a giant ice bowl. The promoters wisely removed some of the running sections, and moved a little of the course tape to provide lines that weren't completely rutted from tape to tape. Travis had his qualifying heat at 9AM. He rode great and was able to stay on his bike longer than most, allowing him to ride into a 1st row call up for his finals race.
My race was at 1pm. It was about 25 degrees at the start. I was the 10th person called up and on the start was about the 5th person to hit the grass. Then it got a bit chaotic. I got grabbed by a rut and thrown off my line into some really slow ruts. I kept everything upright but lost about 10 spots. I regained composure and started to wind back through people.
I managed to ride the rest of the lap clean, but the mental focus required on this terrain is completely different than i've ever had to do before. The flats were some of the hardest spots because those were the most unchanged from the day before and had ruts covering the entire course in some sections. You had to constantly be focusing on not dropping yout wheel into the ruts and getting sucked the wrong way.
Our race ended up being 5 laps. I rode the next 3 laps very consistantly and managed not to have an serious wrecks. I moved past several people into 8th. However, on the last lap I was taking a line on the left hand side on a descent and got put right into the tape which grabbed my bars and over I went. I lost about 4-5 spots, cut my hand pretty good, and broke my front shifter/brake lever. So I hobbled back to the pits, got my pit bike and finished up in 12th.
Not a great way to end the season, but my body and mind are in good shape and am looking forward to riding some base miles for road season. I'm happy to have learned so much about cross this year and feel like i've been able to race at a very high level all season. As Tilford said, if you aren't good in all conditions, then you aren't a very good cross racer (my paraphrase). I'm still working on being able to handle the winter aspect of CX and these last two races have certainly been good in that respect. Thanks for reading.
Showing posts with label racing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label racing. Show all posts
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Monday, November 28, 2011
Jingle Cross Weekend
Jingle Cross was pretty awesome this year. I haven't been able to make many big races this season but Jingle CX was an easy choice. Janelle's family was in town for Thanksgiving, but they were willing to come up to the race as well.
Friday Course:
Friday was a perfect night for cross. The wind had died down and it was about 50 degrees out. The main obstacle of the night was the long run-up
 Podium Insight Photo |
| Running up Mt Krumpit on Friday night |
Saturday course:
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| Saturday start |
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| Up Mt. Krumpit |
The first lap on Saturday down Mt. Krumpit
The second lap down
Somewhere in the middle of the race. Sorry to whoever I hit with my wheel, that almost knocked me over though!
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| Up the climb near the end of the race |
Sunday course:
Flyover
Sunday it was still muddy, but of the accumulating type. The course featured the run up from Friday, plus a new descent down the hill that was rid-able but challenging. People were losing derailluers all day from the grass and gravel that would get into your drivetrain and completely stop things up. Janelle and Ryan (brother-IL) were my awesome pit crew that provided me with clean bikes every lap, so I just had to focus on getting around without putting myself on the ground. It was a big advantage to get a clean bike since the mud added a couple of pounds to the bike. I was feeling pretty worn down from two days of hard racing, but felt like I rode well despite the fatigue. I ended up riding with Dan Miller from Columbia for the last couple of laps until we got pulled from the race. It seemed like we still had quite a bit of time before the leaders were coming through, so this was a surprise, but they do tend to pull people early in the C1 UCI races. So I ended up 21st again. I'm very content with how the races played out and with my fitness so far this year.
It is hard to believe that Nationals are still over a month away. Time to get really focused for this final stretch.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Manions CX
"I thought you were in Madison?"
About a dozen people asked me this when I got to Manions Cross this weekend. The original plan had been to head to Madison directly from St. Louis. However, work happened and there was no way I could get away for Thursday and Friday. Thus, Manions.
I didn't expect there would be very many people in the open race this weekend, but was pleasantly surprised to find that the field were a good size both days. The weather was great, (unlike Madison where it was quite rainy I hear) and the course was again tough.
Saturday's course was an exercise in fighting gravity. It seemed like every corner was downhill / off camber, and it was very easy to overcook things. The start was in a opposite direction spur on the course, and Travis took the holeshot and led the whole first lap. I had told the guys to be ahead of me since I thought I'd probably crash somewhere and didn't want to take anyone out. By the end of the first lap it was Travis in the lead, then Jon Schottler, Me, JP, then the rest of the field. Unfortunately, Travis took a wrong turn into the start spur and Schottler took off. I moved into 2nd to chase, but gained no ground in pursuit. At some point I did crash, but not hard and was able to continue just fine. Not much changed after this point from my viewpoint except Schottler kept gaining on us.
Sunday's course was much better for me. Many of the tricky corners were now uphill power corners. Schottler was not racing, so the field seemed like it was a bit thinner, but at the last minute, Brian Jenson and Bill Stolte showed up, so it looked like another good race. Jenson led the first lap, but rolled a tire near the end of the lap. I'm not sure how he got that back together, but he did. I moved into the lead at that point and immediately had a pretty decent gap to the chase. After 3 laps I had a solid 20 second cushion, so I tried to stay very consistent and upright. Behind I saw that Travis and Jenson were in a battle for second place with Stolte right behind them. Travis had a big crash in the one major off-camber corner with a fast approach, and ended up third.
The Colavita/Parisi guys did a great job again at putting on a very fun and unique course that forced you work on your turning skills! That will certainly pay off in future races. My Ethos team had another solid weekend.
About a dozen people asked me this when I got to Manions Cross this weekend. The original plan had been to head to Madison directly from St. Louis. However, work happened and there was no way I could get away for Thursday and Friday. Thus, Manions.
I didn't expect there would be very many people in the open race this weekend, but was pleasantly surprised to find that the field were a good size both days. The weather was great, (unlike Madison where it was quite rainy I hear) and the course was again tough.
Saturday's course was an exercise in fighting gravity. It seemed like every corner was downhill / off camber, and it was very easy to overcook things. The start was in a opposite direction spur on the course, and Travis took the holeshot and led the whole first lap. I had told the guys to be ahead of me since I thought I'd probably crash somewhere and didn't want to take anyone out. By the end of the first lap it was Travis in the lead, then Jon Schottler, Me, JP, then the rest of the field. Unfortunately, Travis took a wrong turn into the start spur and Schottler took off. I moved into 2nd to chase, but gained no ground in pursuit. At some point I did crash, but not hard and was able to continue just fine. Not much changed after this point from my viewpoint except Schottler kept gaining on us.
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| The Course - CCW Sat, CW Sun |
Sunday's course was much better for me. Many of the tricky corners were now uphill power corners. Schottler was not racing, so the field seemed like it was a bit thinner, but at the last minute, Brian Jenson and Bill Stolte showed up, so it looked like another good race. Jenson led the first lap, but rolled a tire near the end of the lap. I'm not sure how he got that back together, but he did. I moved into the lead at that point and immediately had a pretty decent gap to the chase. After 3 laps I had a solid 20 second cushion, so I tried to stay very consistent and upright. Behind I saw that Travis and Jenson were in a battle for second place with Stolte right behind them. Travis had a big crash in the one major off-camber corner with a fast approach, and ended up third.
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| Thanks Mark Breeding for this cool shot |
The Colavita/Parisi guys did a great job again at putting on a very fun and unique course that forced you work on your turning skills! That will certainly pay off in future races. My Ethos team had another solid weekend.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Gateway Cross Cup
Originally the plan was to hit the Gateway Cross Cup en route to Madison for the USGP races. Hence, with Hermann in the days leading into this race, then UCI races to follow, I registered for the Men's Open for some competition, but hopefully not as tough as the UCI field. Alas, due to some untimely work deadlines, I ended up having to scratch Madison this year, and make St. Louis a day trip.
After seeing the course, I was really excited to race this course. It had some definite similarities to Madison, being generally wide open and on grass. This course also had almost no elevation change. There were two sets of mini stairs, a flyover run-up, and sort of tricky barriers off a right hand corner. I camped my stuff with the 360 tent and did my warmup thing.
My starting position was in the 4rd row, near the center. Definitely not optimal, but not terrible either.Upon starting, I got a little boxed in but moved up a few positions, then coming off the pavement, someone locked up the brakes and went all sideways. Fortunately no one crashed as a result, but I lost several more places here and was now in the back half of the field.
I was a little concerned about this, but didn't panic. At the first 180 corner, I could see there was already some separation of the front of the field from the rest, so I knew I had to move up fast. I got a few spots on the first stair section by dismounting early and running by some breaking riders, then a few more over the barriers. After that there were some long open sections where I made up some more ground. Coming over the flyover, I had put myself in the top 15, but could see the gap at the front widening. About this point I picked up Mark Savery, Midwest Trek CX Team. We hit the second set of stairs and went through the S/F line moving into the top 10 and gaining ground on the front.
By the end of the second lap it was just Mark and I, and there was one rider (Taylor Carrington, Carmichael Training) off the front by about 15 seconds. We worked together for the next two laps and by the end of lap 4 we were a group of 3 with a couple of chasers about 30 seconds back to us.
It started to get pretty dark at this point, and the three of us seemed pretty evenly matched. We traded attacks and pulls at the front for the next two laps, but for every attack there was a counter, and nothing was sticking. Every time I was at the front I was in full attack mode, trying to gain any ground. Every time I thought I had a little gap, it was gone the next moment. With long shadows from the lights it was pretty easy to see when you regained your tail.
Finally, with 2 to go, I was seeing some signs of fatigue. After one attack it took some time for Taylor and Mark to catch back on. They caught up, but I continued to lead. Attack, surge, sprint. Every corner I tried to get some advantage. Nothing stuck. Finally, over the last set of stairs that lead to the final few turns of the lap, I sprinted into it, ran the stairs well, had an excellent remount and they were gapped.
I held a couple second advantage around through the SF line and saw that my advantage had grown to a couple of seconds. Full gas. I was feeling super strong, and went through the first quarter of the lap very smoothly. Suddenly on a corner, there was a medic waving me to stop. Someone was laid out flat in the corner and needed medical help. I slammed on the brakes, but they let me through. Unfortunately, this let Taylor back on. Mark was a little off the pace.
We wound around together and I was a little deflated from this. I put in some more small surges, but Taylor was not giving an inch. He attacked. I followed, we went into the last set of stairs together and I surged to the outside to try and come around. He moved outside and clipped my front wheel right as I was remounting. That put my bars in the tape and I hooked my lever on a stake. Ugh.
Dismount, regain momentum, but he had a huge gap. I risked everything and chased with reckless abandon but couldn't bring it back. So he got the W and I followed in only a second back.
Taylor apologised afterwards for the mishap but that is racing. I should have never let him lead. Somehow my mentality in all the other laps was total aggression, but in that last half I let him have the front. Stupid, but I will learn. Mark took 3rd.
In the end it was one of the funnest, most hard fought races I've done. Loved the course, loved the fans (Esp. the 360 team by those stairs - thanks for the cheers guys). It would have been especially fun to do the UCI race, but that would have made an even later drive to KC. I hope this race becomes a fixture on the UCI calender.
After seeing the course, I was really excited to race this course. It had some definite similarities to Madison, being generally wide open and on grass. This course also had almost no elevation change. There were two sets of mini stairs, a flyover run-up, and sort of tricky barriers off a right hand corner. I camped my stuff with the 360 tent and did my warmup thing.
My starting position was in the 4rd row, near the center. Definitely not optimal, but not terrible either.Upon starting, I got a little boxed in but moved up a few positions, then coming off the pavement, someone locked up the brakes and went all sideways. Fortunately no one crashed as a result, but I lost several more places here and was now in the back half of the field.
I was a little concerned about this, but didn't panic. At the first 180 corner, I could see there was already some separation of the front of the field from the rest, so I knew I had to move up fast. I got a few spots on the first stair section by dismounting early and running by some breaking riders, then a few more over the barriers. After that there were some long open sections where I made up some more ground. Coming over the flyover, I had put myself in the top 15, but could see the gap at the front widening. About this point I picked up Mark Savery, Midwest Trek CX Team. We hit the second set of stairs and went through the S/F line moving into the top 10 and gaining ground on the front.
By the end of the second lap it was just Mark and I, and there was one rider (Taylor Carrington, Carmichael Training) off the front by about 15 seconds. We worked together for the next two laps and by the end of lap 4 we were a group of 3 with a couple of chasers about 30 seconds back to us.
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| Making the catch |
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| Leading into the barriers. |
I held a couple second advantage around through the SF line and saw that my advantage had grown to a couple of seconds. Full gas. I was feeling super strong, and went through the first quarter of the lap very smoothly. Suddenly on a corner, there was a medic waving me to stop. Someone was laid out flat in the corner and needed medical help. I slammed on the brakes, but they let me through. Unfortunately, this let Taylor back on. Mark was a little off the pace.
We wound around together and I was a little deflated from this. I put in some more small surges, but Taylor was not giving an inch. He attacked. I followed, we went into the last set of stairs together and I surged to the outside to try and come around. He moved outside and clipped my front wheel right as I was remounting. That put my bars in the tape and I hooked my lever on a stake. Ugh.
Dismount, regain momentum, but he had a huge gap. I risked everything and chased with reckless abandon but couldn't bring it back. So he got the W and I followed in only a second back.
Taylor apologised afterwards for the mishap but that is racing. I should have never let him lead. Somehow my mentality in all the other laps was total aggression, but in that last half I let him have the front. Stupid, but I will learn. Mark took 3rd.
In the end it was one of the funnest, most hard fought races I've done. Loved the course, loved the fans (Esp. the 360 team by those stairs - thanks for the cheers guys). It would have been especially fun to do the UCI race, but that would have made an even later drive to KC. I hope this race becomes a fixture on the UCI calender.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Hermann CX
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| The crowd was loud and awesome. Photo courtesy of Dan Singer Photography http://www.flickr.com/photos/52149095@N00 |
As race fans may recall, last year at this time I was still drying out from the Hermann race & camping experience I won't forget any time soon. This year, I decided not to learn from the past and planned another camping trip, this time accompanied by Janelle and new teammate Travis Donn. (I'm wearing some new colors this fall)
We got into town early Saturday afternoon and set up camp right by the creek. The forecast called for 20-40% chance of rain for the weekend, but nothing crazy. The course was actually a little muddy, but hooked up really well. Many of the masters racers ran file treads and said they were a good choice.
The Ethos crew for the Elite race included Travis, JP, Cam and I and besides battling for our own places, there was also a team competition over the two days that we were hoping to compete for. It was going to be a battle, taking the top 2 riders from each day and adding their omnium points from both days. There were several teams in the mix, but we knew the Big Shark duo of Josh Johnson and Jon Schottler were the guys to beat.
By being the current Kansas CX Champion, I got a first row call up with Travis, Cam and JP in the 2nd and 3rd rows. My plan was to try and get a good start and get into the front group, but not push the pace, hoping that the others could move into good positions on the opening laps.
I took the holeshot, then a Rokkit guy took over. After the first lap I was sitting pretty good in the group and was feeling fairly good. I was having a little trouble on the second half of the course that was very twisty, but felt like things were going pretty well. On lap two, things went a little sideways as I somehow took a poor line through the sand and ended up rolling around in it for a little while, losing probably 4-6 spots in the process. I then had to play the chasing game to get back to terms with the race. After finally getting close to the lead group of 5, Schottler launched a huge attack out of the group and was gone. A few guys tried to go with him, and the back two guys got popped off the back. I had to wait to get around them and the damage was done. Josh came up to me right about then and just kept going, I'm not sure what happened there. He ended up riding into 2nd only to have a flat a long way out from the pits and having to ride it back in. The course was very fun but was also challenging with a long stair section, two sand pits, mini stairs, then barriers that were spaced really far apart, so lots of running. Then after those sections lots of turns before the S/F line.
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| Hermann CX Course |
In the end I was 4th, Travis was 9th, and JP finished up 16th. Not quite what we were hoping for as far as results, but the rumor was that Schottler was not coming back for the sunday race, so we were still in the hunt for the team title.
Sleep didn't come easily as our camping neighbors were having serious family drama discussion late into the night, then our other neighbors came back loud and a bit tipsy sounding. It also rained lightly throughout the night, but didn't storm in the midwest way.
Sunday morning the course was a little more sloppy then the night before. No changes to the course, but the sand had firmed up a bit from the rain, and some of the corners were just a touch slick. We hung out, had breakfast, rolled around and finally got geared up to race.
Surprise, Schottler came back to race again. Too much money on the line to skip the race. I got another good start, and so did Travis. After the first lap, there was again a lead group of 5. I went to the front and put in some little digs to try and dislodge people. I was definitely trying to be aggressive and go for the win, but I also saw that Travis was hanging just behind our group, so I tried to manage our pace a bit to let him back in.
About half way through, I noticed my legs were not right. I was started to feel twinges - Usually this means cramps, but I don't usually have issues with cramps in cross. So I just kept things rolling, then Devin Clark attacked. I tried to follow, but I soon realized that was not happening. Shortly after that Schottler came around as well as an Illinois guy who had raced really well Sat too. I tried to go with them too and started to cramp fully. So I had to shut down and go into management mode for the last 3 laps. Travis caught up to me and was going to roll along with me, but I was going so badly that I told him to go ahead. We ended up 5th and 6th, with Cam also having a good race and getting 9th.
The weekend was a great way to start the season. Really looking forward to racing with the Ethos crew the rest of the season, should be a blast. I definitely have some things to work out for the rest of the year, but I think my fitness and handling are better than where I was last year at this time.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
KS State Championships
Much like the MO State Championships the day prior, the weather was cold and windy in Topeka. Driving over, the temperatures never even got up to 30 degrees. Upon arrival at Hummer Sports Park, I noticed immediately that the course was going to have some major differences from the year before. The course now used and went around a long section of parking lot, the Start/Finish line area was a long paved stretch, and there were lots of long power sections, with a few off camber sections and run ups thrown in.
I found out before the race that my two main competitors for the day were not going to be at 100%. Shadd Smith was there but had been fighting the flu (I thought he was in Portland for the USGP). Also Brian Jenson was there, but he raced the masters 30+ race an hour before. I figured I would sit in for a lap and then try the same tactics as Sat.
I sat in with Shadd and Brian for about a lap and a half. Brian attacked on the first lap, but we came back together almost instantly. Brian lead onto the backside of the Mound-of-Mercy, the hill in the middle of the course that featured a long off camber section that wrapped around into an tricky 180 corner. I realized that Brian was taking this section a little tentatively. On lap two, I attacked just before this section, and Brian continued to lead Shadd. I really powered through the mound area and opened a quick 5 second gap. There was another long power section right off the mound. I kept the gas on for about 2 minutes and had about 8 seconds when I got around to the S/F area.
At this point, I just tried to maintain the gap and monitor how Brian and Shadd responded. It looked like they were working together a little, but the gap stayed steady. I was really working hard to keep them from closing the gap, but I felt pretty comfortable with all of the features around the course. Nothing terribly technical to screw up on.
I found out before the race that my two main competitors for the day were not going to be at 100%. Shadd Smith was there but had been fighting the flu (I thought he was in Portland for the USGP). Also Brian Jenson was there, but he raced the masters 30+ race an hour before. I figured I would sit in for a lap and then try the same tactics as Sat.
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| Started fairly well. I sat in behind Shadd who took the holeshot. |
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| Getting through some of the off-camber sections. |
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| Turning into the "Mound-of-mercy" area |
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| Navigating the off-camber 180 onto the mound. |
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| Short barrier before the long run-up on the mound. |
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| Heading north, into the trees. |
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| Back onto the pavement |
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| Down the mound. Tristan (sp?) bunny-hopped the barrier into the run up on the other side just after this. |
I ended up extending the lead out to about 20 seconds, and Brian faded a little having already raced that day. So I got win #2 of the weekend. It was very cool to finish up the season on a high note and getting the State title. I was also given the "Most Aggressive Rider" prize by the promoter.
A few season ending thoughts: Lots of thank you's to people that have supported me this year. Thanks to my awesome wife who supports (puts up with) all the daily training, busy race weekends, travel, and sometimes nasty weather. Thanks to all the folks who stick around till the end of the day to cheer on the "Open" race. All the cheers and encouragement are awesome. Thanks to everyone that takes time to photograph the races and post them. It's been a great year, looking forward to an even better 2011 CX season.
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| Kansas State Podium |
Monday, December 6, 2010
Boss Cross 4 / MO State Championships
When I first started cycling, someone told me the best way to get faster is to ride with fast people. In some cases, this may not be true, but I think it is generally correct. This is especially true in cyclocross.
Coming back from my first UCI races, I felt like I raced well, but I didn't race great. I did learn a lot about racing though. Watching the pros corner and accelerate, ride the tough sections that some chose to run, be very aggressive, start like maniacs, all of this was something that I haven't really experianced on a local level or even a regional Cat 2 level. The other thing is just making smart racing decisions. Don't try and ride sections that you can't. I think the key is figuring these things out before the race, then sticking to the plan once the race begins.
Anyway, on to the race. Many of the local heavy hitters are out west, but I assumed that the series leaders would be coming out. Unfortunately, it sounds like both Jeff Winkler and Jon Schottler were out with injuries. Meaning that I would win the series title as long as I finished in the top 5 or so. Josh Johnson and Dan Miller were going to be my main competition on the day. It was cold and very windy. About mid 30's, but it felt much colder.
After a worse than usual start, and that is saying something, I fought my way up to the front of the race. I attacked just before the beach section (below) to take the lead. Dan went with me, but we had a gap back to Josh.
I decided I'd just push the pace, really punching things out of the corners into the headwind sections to hopefully not let Dan get too much draft advantage. It took a couple of laps, but I finally shook Dan off of my wheel and slowly widened the gap. I knew that Josh Johnson is a tremendous finisher, so I knew I would have to stretch out this advantage as much as I could to keep him away.
At four to go, my time gap to Josh and Dan was only 15 seconds and they were working together to bring me back. It had been about 20 on the previous lap, so I was not sure I had made the right move. So I really gassed it on the third lap and got another 10 seconds to put the gap at about 25. When I finally came through with one to go, I still had a 20 second gap to Josh, while Dan was a little ways back. I got my second local win of the year, also taking the Boss Cross series leader jersey.
Thanks to all who stuck around to cheer in the freezing conditions. A big thanks to JP Brocket for taking some awesome photos as well.
Coming back from my first UCI races, I felt like I raced well, but I didn't race great. I did learn a lot about racing though. Watching the pros corner and accelerate, ride the tough sections that some chose to run, be very aggressive, start like maniacs, all of this was something that I haven't really experianced on a local level or even a regional Cat 2 level. The other thing is just making smart racing decisions. Don't try and ride sections that you can't. I think the key is figuring these things out before the race, then sticking to the plan once the race begins.
Anyway, on to the race. Many of the local heavy hitters are out west, but I assumed that the series leaders would be coming out. Unfortunately, it sounds like both Jeff Winkler and Jon Schottler were out with injuries. Meaning that I would win the series title as long as I finished in the top 5 or so. Josh Johnson and Dan Miller were going to be my main competition on the day. It was cold and very windy. About mid 30's, but it felt much colder.
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| On the start line. Dan Miller and Josh Johnson to my left. The start grid was tiny - maybe 42cm wide per box. |
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| I missed my pedal for the first time all year, exacerbating my already poor starting ability. This meant I'd play catch up for the first two laps. |
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| Moving up through the pack. Mark had a great start. |
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| Movin' on up |
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| Taking the lead into the beach section. |
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| Once I got a lead, I quickly remounted and rode the run up after the barriers. I'm not sure this was much faster than running up it, but it saved energy and it made the descent much faster, since you didn't have to clip in over the bumpy descent. Thanks for the cheers guys! This was my favorite section to ride through. (Though I heard that there was some soccer-style heckling going on for our east-side racers. Remember to keep it classy everyone) |
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| These two StL guys kept telling me I was going way too fast. Which was awesome. |
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| On the bricks. |
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| Getting a time check. I think I had about 25 seconds with 3 to go. It was great to have support all over the course. |
Thanks to all who stuck around to cheer in the freezing conditions. A big thanks to JP Brocket for taking some awesome photos as well.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Jingle Cross - Day 3
The last day of Jingle cross combined most of the hardest parts of Friday and Saturday into one course. Oddly slick sections on both ends of the course, plus a big climb and a big descent right into the side of a barn. I did like the course, but felt held back by my own lack of mad handling skills.
Right off the gun there was another huge wreck. I lined up on the inside for the first time and it was actually much better than I expected. In the cat 2/3 races i've done, the whole field collapses into the inside line, leaving the outside open. Here, people were using all of the course (but ended up crashing to the outside every race - I don't get it)
Friday night, I felt best on the climb up the back of Mt. Krumpit. I passed most of the people that I was with on that climb, so I was hoping that it would work out well for me again. On the first lap it was evident that I would not have the legs to be super aggressive here. After a couple of laps, things started to fall apart. I starting to catch Bill Stolte and feeling ok, but then I crashed hard when some of the course tape blew over and hooked my bars. I was totally not expecting it and last 2 spots to guys that I had past and was gaining ground on.
Then on the big descent I caught a weird line in the sand at the bottom and almost endo'ed over a hay bale. When I finally made it around to the finish line, I got pulled. It was only 36 minutes in. Ouch. This was probably for the best as I was not mentally "in it".
Anyway, still a good experience. Lots of things to work on for next year. Up next are the MO and KS state races.
Right off the gun there was another huge wreck. I lined up on the inside for the first time and it was actually much better than I expected. In the cat 2/3 races i've done, the whole field collapses into the inside line, leaving the outside open. Here, people were using all of the course (but ended up crashing to the outside every race - I don't get it)
Friday night, I felt best on the climb up the back of Mt. Krumpit. I passed most of the people that I was with on that climb, so I was hoping that it would work out well for me again. On the first lap it was evident that I would not have the legs to be super aggressive here. After a couple of laps, things started to fall apart. I starting to catch Bill Stolte and feeling ok, but then I crashed hard when some of the course tape blew over and hooked my bars. I was totally not expecting it and last 2 spots to guys that I had past and was gaining ground on.
Then on the big descent I caught a weird line in the sand at the bottom and almost endo'ed over a hay bale. When I finally made it around to the finish line, I got pulled. It was only 36 minutes in. Ouch. This was probably for the best as I was not mentally "in it".
Anyway, still a good experience. Lots of things to work on for next year. Up next are the MO and KS state races.
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| Don't hit the barn! |
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| Getting mooned on the run up. Apparently, there were $1 bills in there. I didn't notice. |
Monday, November 29, 2010
Jingle Cross - Day 2
Same starting position as Friday night - 4th row, on the left. There was another crash on the left just off the pavement that I managed to miss. The main additions to the course were a couple of crossings of a muddy ditch, a rutted section leading into a descent into the barn, and a long muddy run up.
I had to run around before the race to find a new RD hanger for my crux. It turns out that neither the SRAM guys or Specialized guys had anything, so I had to go buy one from a local shop. What is odd is that my bike is new for this season, but the Specialized guys said they didn't have any more because the hanger was an older style. Hmm.
I felt like I had a better race than on Friday, and I didn't get lapped, but I finished further back, in 26th.
Racing in these really fast races magnifies any weakness you have as a rider. I have struggled in the past with my starts, but here you hesitate for a moment someone will jump past. If you bobble anywhere in the first couple laps, you've lost a spot or more. Letting a gap open up to the rider in front of you will be very hard to close.
I had to run around before the race to find a new RD hanger for my crux. It turns out that neither the SRAM guys or Specialized guys had anything, so I had to go buy one from a local shop. What is odd is that my bike is new for this season, but the Specialized guys said they didn't have any more because the hanger was an older style. Hmm.
I felt like I had a better race than on Friday, and I didn't get lapped, but I finished further back, in 26th.
Racing in these really fast races magnifies any weakness you have as a rider. I have struggled in the past with my starts, but here you hesitate for a moment someone will jump past. If you bobble anywhere in the first couple laps, you've lost a spot or more. Letting a gap open up to the rider in front of you will be very hard to close.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Jingle Cross - Day 1
First Elite UCI race for me. The start was insane, I started on the 4th row, but after the first turn I got my front wheel taken out. I got back up and my RD hanger was very badly bent, so I pulled it back so it was at least ridable, then hobbled over to the pits.
At this point, I was in dead last. The back side of the course had a good climb and a technical descent. I heard there were lots of crashes and rolled tubulars on the switchbacks down the hill. Some of the ground was frozen and slippery too. I was feeling alright about my line down the hill, so I as able to catch and pass quite a few riders here. Otherwise, I just tried to be efficient and not spend too much energy. I ended up being the last rider to be lapped by Jaime Driscoll. He passed me just prior to the climb on the back of the course.
I ended up in 23rd out of 50+ registered riders, so that was ok. Hopefully today will go better.
At this point, I was in dead last. The back side of the course had a good climb and a technical descent. I heard there were lots of crashes and rolled tubulars on the switchbacks down the hill. Some of the ground was frozen and slippery too. I was feeling alright about my line down the hill, so I as able to catch and pass quite a few riders here. Otherwise, I just tried to be efficient and not spend too much energy. I ended up being the last rider to be lapped by Jaime Driscoll. He passed me just prior to the climb on the back of the course.
I ended up in 23rd out of 50+ registered riders, so that was ok. Hopefully today will go better.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Grand Prix HPT
Last year this was one of the fastest courses of the season. I was looking forward to some of the same this year. Despite the rain, I was thinking that the course would be fairly dry for racing. Not so. It turned out that most of the course was muddy. The infield and the pit area had some really sticky mud. I saw quite a few people that had forks and stays the were completely jammed up with mud after their races. Watching the cat 4's run much of the infield, it was apparent that this was going to be interesting.
I didn't even bother pre-riding the course, I figured things would sort themselves out pretty quickly. Sure enough, before we were even half way through the first lap Steve Tilford went right to the front and had a huge gap out of the mud pit. By the end of the first lap, I was in 2nd with Luke Linnenger in tow and we had a gap to Jeff Winkler, Travis Donn and the rest of the chase group. Steve was gone, it looked like he was not having any issues with mud accumulation.
I pitted on the second lap, rode back to the grass and my derailleur sucked up into my cassette and blew to bits. I ran a few steps, then realized how far I still was from the pits. At that point, I decided it would be better to save my legs for Sunday.
I've been quite lucky as far as DNF's have gone, this was my first in 3 years of racing cross in the midwest. I'm guessing it has to do with how little mud we see for most of the season out here.
I didn't even bother pre-riding the course, I figured things would sort themselves out pretty quickly. Sure enough, before we were even half way through the first lap Steve Tilford went right to the front and had a huge gap out of the mud pit. By the end of the first lap, I was in 2nd with Luke Linnenger in tow and we had a gap to Jeff Winkler, Travis Donn and the rest of the chase group. Steve was gone, it looked like he was not having any issues with mud accumulation.
I pitted on the second lap, rode back to the grass and my derailleur sucked up into my cassette and blew to bits. I ran a few steps, then realized how far I still was from the pits. At that point, I decided it would be better to save my legs for Sunday.
I've been quite lucky as far as DNF's have gone, this was my first in 3 years of racing cross in the midwest. I'm guessing it has to do with how little mud we see for most of the season out here.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Lou Uh Vul Weekend
Janelle and I headed to Louisville this past weekend for round 2 of the USGP Cyclocross series. This race is at a new venue - Eva Bandman Park - a dedicated cyclocross park and future home of Master's World Championships in 2012 and Elite Worlds in 2013. Many racers had signed up in preparation for these upcoming events, and in my race there were over 140 riders signed up for each day.
Upon arrival at the park and getting to pre-ride the course on Friday afternoon, a couple of things were evident: it was going to be very dusty (apparently Louisville is going through a drought), and this was going to be a very hard course. The lap started on a very nice long paved section, sweeping off the pavement to the left. You then hit a gradual 180, rode over a steep 2 ft berm and went immediately into the barriers. Over the barriers, there was a short straight section into a steep loamy climb that had some grass over sand. This would sap all your speed if you screwed around. Down the backside, you hit another gradual (and a little loose & dusty) 180. Then into a long but rideable sand section, past the pits, under the "green monster" fly-over, and back into a dusty tree section. Out of the trees, you had a moment on pavement and then through a deep sand run, another 180, then the "green monster" fly-over and stairs, past the pits again, then into the woods. Up a little climb, down a steep pitch, 180, then run back up, then down again, around, then ride up again back to the start/finish pavement.
For me, this meant 4 running sections. Essentially, the course was a series of obstacles with short "recovery" straightaways in between. Very tough, but also fairly short, 1.38 miles, around 5:15-30 per lap at race pace.
Saturday came and before I knew it, I was waiting in the staging area. I have always been impressed by the organization of the USGP races in the past. (Portland and Madison get it done right) However, I was a little disappointed by Louisville. Though I had registered 14th, I was seeded 30th, because the top 16 spots were given out to the local cross series leaders. That meant I was starting from the 4th row both day. It may be a bad sign when the riders on the front rows are sheepishly looking around and saying there is no way they deserve to be up there.
This may have been ok, but one of the favorites (Jordan Cullen) who was also supposed to be in the 4th row managed to talk his way up to the 2nd row by trading places with someone. Jordan had some bad luck in Madison, but managed a pair of 4th places. He also took the holeshot both days up there. Another rider I was marking was Mark Parmelee, who won on day 1 in Madison, and was third on day two.
Also, they were running behind, so the officials informed us they were going to cut our race short by one lap.
I got through the start pretty cleanly, and by the time we were over the barriers I was in the top 10 behind Mark. Unfortunatly, Jordan had already gotten to the front of the race and was not looking back. After the sand, the group started looking around at each other instead of chasing. So Mark and I squeezed through on the inside and took up chasing Jordan.
By the end of the first lap, Mark had gotten a little gap on me, and Jordan was still up the road, but we had solidly gapped 4th place. I was having a really hard time recovering between the obstacles. (This is probably the way all cross courses should be?) They were both physically and mentally challenging. I was not able to bring either Jordan or Mark back, but we did open up a 1+ minute gap on the rest of the field.
Because of the short lap times and tough course, I began lapping riders on the 2nd lap. Fortunately (for us), the officials were doing a good job of pulling lapped traffic.
So in the end, Jordan won by about 15 seconds, with Mark 2nd, and me about 5 seconds further back. 4th finished a little over 1 minute behind me, and there were still almost 80 riders on the lead lap. The race was quite short though, only 32 minutes.
Sunday the course had been lengthened just slightly. After the pits and going under the green monster, there was an additional pair of out and backs before getting back into the trees. Then after the sand run, there was a big loop in the infield added. Finally, in the woods, they lengthened the 180 into the run up from Sat, so you were able to carry some speed into it and actually ride it instead of running. This made the laps a little longer and provided a little more recovery between obstacles, which was to my liking. Another minor change was the barriers were moved a little bit back from the berm, so you could carry more speed into this section and over.
Basically the same scenario played out at the start. Jordan traded up two rows and by the barriers he had taken the lead. I was sitting pretty good at about 8th when we hit the first dusty section. Then, a rider who had been to the far outside cut inside hard and took out my front wheel. Maybe he forgot there were 140 people behind him? I don't know. Anyway, I got run over by a few people, then got back up and started going again only to have someone crash in front of me again in the sand. I got up again, ran out of the sand. By this point I was somewhere way back. Now there was only one objective: pass as many people as possible.
I went by the pits, but I noticed my gears were skipping quite a bit. It was not enough to need immediate adjustment, but it made shifting very hard so I knew I needed a bike change. I found Janelle after going over the green monster and told her I needed my other bike. A the start/finish line I found a couple of guys to draft off of until I could get back to the pits. I finished out the lap, and came back around to find Brad Cole and Joe Schmalz had set up a bike change for me. It worked out super smoothly and I was able to switch and come out the other side still with the riders I had drafted off of. Thanks guys!
I think I was in about 10-12th at this point, so I guessed the win was out of the question barring some disaster for Jordan and Mark. But I knew that third was still possible. I was really starting to enjoy the course and I was having no trouble catching people, sitting on for a moment, then jumping in pursuit of the next group. I tried to just ride as smoothly as possible and not take too many risks, and by the time we hit 2 laps to go, I had moved into 3rd. Listening to the announcers, I could guess that Jordan and Mark (who were riding together I think) were over a minute ahead of me, but I kept the gas on.
At the finish, Jordan won, Mark was second, then I came in 1:45 back, 30 seconds ahead of 4th. Jordan had a great weekend and is a nice kid. I will not be surprised if he continues to have success in this sport.
I was also pretty fun to watch the other races throughout the Day. Teammate Cameron had some good rides in a very competitive 17-18 Jr catagory. Shadd had a great ride on Sat in the 35+ race. Mark Savery was riding like a man possessed on Sunday landing on the podium in the 35+ race after racing at the front all day with some stellar competition. Tom Price had a great ride despite a bum knee to get on the podium as well.
Louisville is a pretty neat area. The waterfront area between Eva Bandman Park and downtown seems to have recently been developed or redeveloped. They have a very nice looking baseball park downtown, and they also have some permanent Louisvillle Marathon signage. I thought it this section had a very nice vibe. We actually stayed just accross the river in Indiana, which was also nicely developed in parts with some cool restaurants.
The organizers had some issues getting results from the finish line area down to the registration tent on both days. On Sat, it wasn't until the end of the day that results made it down, and on Sunday they finally got them at almost 2. The people in the tent really didn't seem to interested in making sure the prizes went to the right people either. It was in stark contrast to the helpful, timely, and organized staff in Madison. Hopefully they (Louisville) can learn from this year to make next year a little better.
Upon arrival at the park and getting to pre-ride the course on Friday afternoon, a couple of things were evident: it was going to be very dusty (apparently Louisville is going through a drought), and this was going to be a very hard course. The lap started on a very nice long paved section, sweeping off the pavement to the left. You then hit a gradual 180, rode over a steep 2 ft berm and went immediately into the barriers. Over the barriers, there was a short straight section into a steep loamy climb that had some grass over sand. This would sap all your speed if you screwed around. Down the backside, you hit another gradual (and a little loose & dusty) 180. Then into a long but rideable sand section, past the pits, under the "green monster" fly-over, and back into a dusty tree section. Out of the trees, you had a moment on pavement and then through a deep sand run, another 180, then the "green monster" fly-over and stairs, past the pits again, then into the woods. Up a little climb, down a steep pitch, 180, then run back up, then down again, around, then ride up again back to the start/finish pavement.
For me, this meant 4 running sections. Essentially, the course was a series of obstacles with short "recovery" straightaways in between. Very tough, but also fairly short, 1.38 miles, around 5:15-30 per lap at race pace.
Saturday came and before I knew it, I was waiting in the staging area. I have always been impressed by the organization of the USGP races in the past. (Portland and Madison get it done right) However, I was a little disappointed by Louisville. Though I had registered 14th, I was seeded 30th, because the top 16 spots were given out to the local cross series leaders. That meant I was starting from the 4th row both day. It may be a bad sign when the riders on the front rows are sheepishly looking around and saying there is no way they deserve to be up there.
This may have been ok, but one of the favorites (Jordan Cullen) who was also supposed to be in the 4th row managed to talk his way up to the 2nd row by trading places with someone. Jordan had some bad luck in Madison, but managed a pair of 4th places. He also took the holeshot both days up there. Another rider I was marking was Mark Parmelee, who won on day 1 in Madison, and was third on day two.
Also, they were running behind, so the officials informed us they were going to cut our race short by one lap.
I got through the start pretty cleanly, and by the time we were over the barriers I was in the top 10 behind Mark. Unfortunatly, Jordan had already gotten to the front of the race and was not looking back. After the sand, the group started looking around at each other instead of chasing. So Mark and I squeezed through on the inside and took up chasing Jordan.
By the end of the first lap, Mark had gotten a little gap on me, and Jordan was still up the road, but we had solidly gapped 4th place. I was having a really hard time recovering between the obstacles. (This is probably the way all cross courses should be?) They were both physically and mentally challenging. I was not able to bring either Jordan or Mark back, but we did open up a 1+ minute gap on the rest of the field.
Because of the short lap times and tough course, I began lapping riders on the 2nd lap. Fortunately (for us), the officials were doing a good job of pulling lapped traffic.
So in the end, Jordan won by about 15 seconds, with Mark 2nd, and me about 5 seconds further back. 4th finished a little over 1 minute behind me, and there were still almost 80 riders on the lead lap. The race was quite short though, only 32 minutes.
Sunday the course had been lengthened just slightly. After the pits and going under the green monster, there was an additional pair of out and backs before getting back into the trees. Then after the sand run, there was a big loop in the infield added. Finally, in the woods, they lengthened the 180 into the run up from Sat, so you were able to carry some speed into it and actually ride it instead of running. This made the laps a little longer and provided a little more recovery between obstacles, which was to my liking. Another minor change was the barriers were moved a little bit back from the berm, so you could carry more speed into this section and over.
Basically the same scenario played out at the start. Jordan traded up two rows and by the barriers he had taken the lead. I was sitting pretty good at about 8th when we hit the first dusty section. Then, a rider who had been to the far outside cut inside hard and took out my front wheel. Maybe he forgot there were 140 people behind him? I don't know. Anyway, I got run over by a few people, then got back up and started going again only to have someone crash in front of me again in the sand. I got up again, ran out of the sand. By this point I was somewhere way back. Now there was only one objective: pass as many people as possible.
I went by the pits, but I noticed my gears were skipping quite a bit. It was not enough to need immediate adjustment, but it made shifting very hard so I knew I needed a bike change. I found Janelle after going over the green monster and told her I needed my other bike. A the start/finish line I found a couple of guys to draft off of until I could get back to the pits. I finished out the lap, and came back around to find Brad Cole and Joe Schmalz had set up a bike change for me. It worked out super smoothly and I was able to switch and come out the other side still with the riders I had drafted off of. Thanks guys!
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| Not out of the woods yet - Credit: Alex Edwards |
I think I was in about 10-12th at this point, so I guessed the win was out of the question barring some disaster for Jordan and Mark. But I knew that third was still possible. I was really starting to enjoy the course and I was having no trouble catching people, sitting on for a moment, then jumping in pursuit of the next group. I tried to just ride as smoothly as possible and not take too many risks, and by the time we hit 2 laps to go, I had moved into 3rd. Listening to the announcers, I could guess that Jordan and Mark (who were riding together I think) were over a minute ahead of me, but I kept the gas on.
At the finish, Jordan won, Mark was second, then I came in 1:45 back, 30 seconds ahead of 4th. Jordan had a great weekend and is a nice kid. I will not be surprised if he continues to have success in this sport.
I was also pretty fun to watch the other races throughout the Day. Teammate Cameron had some good rides in a very competitive 17-18 Jr catagory. Shadd had a great ride on Sat in the 35+ race. Mark Savery was riding like a man possessed on Sunday landing on the podium in the 35+ race after racing at the front all day with some stellar competition. Tom Price had a great ride despite a bum knee to get on the podium as well.
Louisville is a pretty neat area. The waterfront area between Eva Bandman Park and downtown seems to have recently been developed or redeveloped. They have a very nice looking baseball park downtown, and they also have some permanent Louisvillle Marathon signage. I thought it this section had a very nice vibe. We actually stayed just accross the river in Indiana, which was also nicely developed in parts with some cool restaurants.
The organizers had some issues getting results from the finish line area down to the registration tent on both days. On Sat, it wasn't until the end of the day that results made it down, and on Sunday they finally got them at almost 2. The people in the tent really didn't seem to interested in making sure the prizes went to the right people either. It was in stark contrast to the helpful, timely, and organized staff in Madison. Hopefully they (Louisville) can learn from this year to make next year a little better.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
New Cross on the Block
Another day of Cross in Tulsa. My lungs and sinuses were worked over from Ruts N Guts, and the weather was hot. I didn't feel great, but I figured that would be the case for everyone in the group. There were tons of thorns on the course. Each time I rode a warmup lap I'd come back to find a dozen or so goatheads in each tire. I had Tufos and they had some sealant in them, so I figured that would be the best bet against flatting. It was another race with a pretty good payout, so many of the fast guys from last night stuck around.
I got a fairly good start, but screwed up a turn and stalled out about halfway through the first lap, getting passed by a bunch of guys. After some chasing, I got into a large chase group who were sort of looking around and were just not going all that fast. Bryan Fawley was gone already and this was the race for second. I sat in for a while, but decided it wouldn't be to my advantage to try and cover attacks out of that group. I thought my legs were pretty good, so put in a soft attack on a gravel section, then really went at the runup on the back side. This worked and I shed everyone except Jonny Sundt. He sat on me for a lap then attacked on a switchback and was gone.
I still was feeling pretty good at this point. Jeff Winkler was coming up behind me and was gapping the chasers behind him, so I thought it would be good to go with him when he caught up. It was right about then that my efforts from last night and my attack really caught up with me. Every time I tried to stand up to accelerate, both quads would start to lock up. I've had troubles like this at the end of hard road races, but never in cross before. So Wink caught me and I just couldn't go with him. I stayed alone for awhile, trying to stay smooth and under control, but I really was struggling. Steve Tilford caught up from some earlier flats and just as he was going by we hear over the mic that there are 4 laps to go (Fawley must have just gone through the S/F line) Anyway, this was at 47 minutes into the race! I was thinking there would probably be 2 or maybe even just 1 to go when we came through.
At this point, the legs were in full shutdown mode. Steve rode away and I got passed by Tom Price and Ray Hall, a Tulsa guy. I could also see that Will Gault and Bill Marshall were coming up to me also. I finally got to the last lap, and was able to barely hold on for 7th. I also had both tires bleeding air pretty badly. My front tire was folding over on every corner on the last lap. My race time ended up being 70 minutes for 12 laps. Pretty brutal. Despite completely blowing up, the course was super fast. I averaged 16mph again, even with the last laps being as slow as they were.
One lesson is to bring tough tires to Tulsa, and bring some Stan's sealant. You could probably sell it at a premium to other racers if you were really entrepreneurial.
I was going to head out to the Boulevard Cup for some more racing, but i'm opting to save the legs for Louisville this weekend.
Update: Thanks to the promoters who promptly sent me the results, which are now up on crossresults.com
I got a fairly good start, but screwed up a turn and stalled out about halfway through the first lap, getting passed by a bunch of guys. After some chasing, I got into a large chase group who were sort of looking around and were just not going all that fast. Bryan Fawley was gone already and this was the race for second. I sat in for a while, but decided it wouldn't be to my advantage to try and cover attacks out of that group. I thought my legs were pretty good, so put in a soft attack on a gravel section, then really went at the runup on the back side. This worked and I shed everyone except Jonny Sundt. He sat on me for a lap then attacked on a switchback and was gone.
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| Another dusty day in Tulsa |
I still was feeling pretty good at this point. Jeff Winkler was coming up behind me and was gapping the chasers behind him, so I thought it would be good to go with him when he caught up. It was right about then that my efforts from last night and my attack really caught up with me. Every time I tried to stand up to accelerate, both quads would start to lock up. I've had troubles like this at the end of hard road races, but never in cross before. So Wink caught me and I just couldn't go with him. I stayed alone for awhile, trying to stay smooth and under control, but I really was struggling. Steve Tilford caught up from some earlier flats and just as he was going by we hear over the mic that there are 4 laps to go (Fawley must have just gone through the S/F line) Anyway, this was at 47 minutes into the race! I was thinking there would probably be 2 or maybe even just 1 to go when we came through.
At this point, the legs were in full shutdown mode. Steve rode away and I got passed by Tom Price and Ray Hall, a Tulsa guy. I could also see that Will Gault and Bill Marshall were coming up to me also. I finally got to the last lap, and was able to barely hold on for 7th. I also had both tires bleeding air pretty badly. My front tire was folding over on every corner on the last lap. My race time ended up being 70 minutes for 12 laps. Pretty brutal. Despite completely blowing up, the course was super fast. I averaged 16mph again, even with the last laps being as slow as they were.
One lesson is to bring tough tires to Tulsa, and bring some Stan's sealant. You could probably sell it at a premium to other racers if you were really entrepreneurial.
I was going to head out to the Boulevard Cup for some more racing, but i'm opting to save the legs for Louisville this weekend.
Update: Thanks to the promoters who promptly sent me the results, which are now up on crossresults.com
Ruts-N-Guts
Ruts-N-Guts was a new cross event this year in Tulsa, OK. Upon arrival to our hotel across the street from the race, we could see sections of the course. From what we could see, it looked like several straightaways and 180s, back to back.
We went over to pre-ride and found a very unique setup. Very dry and dusty, some elevation change, stacked rocks instead of a wood barrier, and a flat (even more) dusty section that was likened to "riding on the surface of the moon" - a thick layer of super fine dust with hidden rocks underneath. Many people were getting flats from the rocks and thorns on the pre-ride too.
I was not sure what to think about the course. At first I really didn't like it. The other thing was the start finish area was quite narrow. Maybe good for 6 people across, but we crammed about 8-9 in each row for the start.
It turns out there were almost 50 guys in the 1/2/3 race. That is awesome. Plus there were a ton of fast guys. Even more awesome. I got staged on the front line thanks to pre-registering, and I figured a good start would be really important (and better for the lungs once we hit the dust bowl / moon section)
On the start Bryan Fawley and Jason Waddell took off very fast. I was third, probably my best start all year. I had guessed before the start that we would be turning sub-5 minute laps, and indeed we were going about 4:45 per lap early on.
I felt pretty good navigating the rock barriers. There were some right before a short incline that were ridable, but could stall you if you weren't careful. I hit those pretty well every lap except the second, where a few guys got past me, including Jeff Winkler and Shadd Smith. Coming back around to the other rock "barrier", Jeff clipped his rear wheel hopping it, which caused Shadd to have to bail. I was in the air going over the rocks as this is unfolding, so I had to rode over Shadd's bike (Sorry!).
The next few laps were a blur. I could see Steve Tilford was riding somewhere up ahead, but that he wasn't gaining ground on me. At some point, he and the 2nd place rider both got flats and I caught up to them as they were exiting the pits. Shadd came back up to us at that point too, but quickly rode away and got a gap. So I battled with Steve until the last lap. There were two descents on the course. Both were fast but you had to pay attention because you could easily screw them up. Watching Tilford descend them both on the last lap was pretty awesome, he was flying. He passed me on the first one, then I clawed my way back up and passed him back on a climb. But on the descent into the finish he blew by me again.
It turns out that Steve, a Tulsa guy, and I were reeling in Shadd and the 3rd place guy for the last several laps, so on the finish we came in almost in a bunch. At the end though, I ended up 6th. I needed to be just a little more aggressive at the finish, but I think that I pretty much left it all out there on the course, so there was probably not much more to be done. (unless I can learn to handle like Steve)
Overall, the course really started to make sense after a lap or two at race speed. I think the race promoters could have done a few things a little differently to make the race even better. It would be cool to bring in a good race announcer. And they could add a real set of barriers, perhaps right after one of the 180's on the moon section.
Next up - New Cross on the Block. We heard the course was going to be much different (very open and fast), but also full of thorns. Update coming soon.
We went over to pre-ride and found a very unique setup. Very dry and dusty, some elevation change, stacked rocks instead of a wood barrier, and a flat (even more) dusty section that was likened to "riding on the surface of the moon" - a thick layer of super fine dust with hidden rocks underneath. Many people were getting flats from the rocks and thorns on the pre-ride too.
I was not sure what to think about the course. At first I really didn't like it. The other thing was the start finish area was quite narrow. Maybe good for 6 people across, but we crammed about 8-9 in each row for the start.
It turns out there were almost 50 guys in the 1/2/3 race. That is awesome. Plus there were a ton of fast guys. Even more awesome. I got staged on the front line thanks to pre-registering, and I figured a good start would be really important (and better for the lungs once we hit the dust bowl / moon section)
On the start Bryan Fawley and Jason Waddell took off very fast. I was third, probably my best start all year. I had guessed before the start that we would be turning sub-5 minute laps, and indeed we were going about 4:45 per lap early on.
I felt pretty good navigating the rock barriers. There were some right before a short incline that were ridable, but could stall you if you weren't careful. I hit those pretty well every lap except the second, where a few guys got past me, including Jeff Winkler and Shadd Smith. Coming back around to the other rock "barrier", Jeff clipped his rear wheel hopping it, which caused Shadd to have to bail. I was in the air going over the rocks as this is unfolding, so I had to rode over Shadd's bike (Sorry!).
The next few laps were a blur. I could see Steve Tilford was riding somewhere up ahead, but that he wasn't gaining ground on me. At some point, he and the 2nd place rider both got flats and I caught up to them as they were exiting the pits. Shadd came back up to us at that point too, but quickly rode away and got a gap. So I battled with Steve until the last lap. There were two descents on the course. Both were fast but you had to pay attention because you could easily screw them up. Watching Tilford descend them both on the last lap was pretty awesome, he was flying. He passed me on the first one, then I clawed my way back up and passed him back on a climb. But on the descent into the finish he blew by me again.
It turns out that Steve, a Tulsa guy, and I were reeling in Shadd and the 3rd place guy for the last several laps, so on the finish we came in almost in a bunch. At the end though, I ended up 6th. I needed to be just a little more aggressive at the finish, but I think that I pretty much left it all out there on the course, so there was probably not much more to be done. (unless I can learn to handle like Steve)
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| The podium - there was even a mini stair for 6th. |
Overall, the course really started to make sense after a lap or two at race speed. I think the race promoters could have done a few things a little differently to make the race even better. It would be cool to bring in a good race announcer. And they could add a real set of barriers, perhaps right after one of the 180's on the moon section.
Next up - New Cross on the Block. We heard the course was going to be much different (very open and fast), but also full of thorns. Update coming soon.
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