I live, I live through the Belgian's - Therefore I Blog Again

I live, I live through the Belgian's

Masters Regional Cyclocross Championship Start

Top 5 into the 2nd turn

Yes, I have been completely absent from blogiscyclesphere. The reasons are many, the largest, my employment situation - I am positive it will change soon.

Hence the lack of cycling related enthusiasm. Basically, I struggled to find motivation to finish the 2011 cyclocross season or even show up to the races I had pre-registered.
I hoped to maybe attend nationals, and see how things went or felt and then head down to Kentucky for Masters Worlds in mid January. As the air was slowly removed from my enthusiasm tank, I dug deep to stay on the cx bike, creep through and physically finish training and two cross races in December.

The first one in early December was Dec 3  Midwest Junior and Masters Regional Cyclocross Championships, Mason, OH - Kings CX near Cincy. There were miserable conditions, I had an amazing start, but as my Ridley carbon cross bike became slaughtered (weighted) with mud, I made a bike change to my Epic Carbon mountain bike (22lb 26") so my super amazing new team mate Graydon could clean my cross bike (I don't have two cx bikes). It was a great pass, and kept me moving forward, but the heavy mtb, wider tires, and life sucking mud got the best of me over 45 minutes. I finished in 5th Place - not bad considering. My other good buddy James T and I ran each other into the ground, back and forth throughout the race. I dug deep and caught up to him in the last two laps, and found something to pass him somewhere. Stats: I was almost 2 minutes behind my buddy Bill Marut, and nearly 7 min behind Cleveland fast man, Nate Loman. I have lots of respect for these guys and got to know them over the season. However, I am sure the mental stress of the job situation contributed to my lack of being fully "in" this event. Cycling and racing bicycles is a mental game.

James & I run the muck

 

My friend James Turner-we battled hard all season

Finish Line - agony of defeat - bike weighs 35lbs

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Up Next on the survival chopping block was the last Cap City Cross race at Smith Farms. In contributing back to the sport, I volunteered to help set up the course the day prior and have some influence into dishing out some pain for race day. It worked, I was able to convince Mason, Spencer and Andy to let me bring back the "Death Spiral" as it was named on the day. I hadn't ridden much or had much sleep and was stressed all week. I guess sometimes not worrying about your race can do you justice. I had amazing legs, amazing fitness and stood on the podium for a 1st place finish - My first for 2011. I was super proud of this finish and it was a big boost to my overall morale that was really in the gutter.

Thanks to my team, my CapCityCross friends, my OVCX friends, my CBUS practice peeps, my coach, my good friends and my BWE for supporting me this season. All of you helped put me on the podium and keep me motivated in 2011.

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 And Finally - My tribute and hats off to the Americans (Powers, Trebon and Drew Dillman(Jr. From Kentucky) racing at CX Worlds. The sandy beach sections got the best of the US riders it seems.

How do you slow down all cyclocross racers except for Belgian's? Dump 500 tons of sand on a course.

Drew placed in the top 10 (on his way to pro status) and Trebon finished 18th or so (1:06). I think Jpowers ended up 38th?

Let me not forget our American ladies. They had an amazing effort, and put us on the map. We do need more women racing cross locally and regionally. So, get your friends out there ladies. Develop those roadies into cross racers, get them off the pavement in August and show them what cx is all about.

Cross season is officially here. I've been going after it pretty hard the last few weeks, running, training, building some speed and power during regular workouts. I am up to easily running 5-miles at  a good solid pace, which feels nice at my age to be able to make happen. I finally got the Ridley Crosswind up and going better than last year. I went through every bearing, every part, added lube, installed new cables, my new shrink cable covers and even some new swanky blue brake hoods, to cover my 6700 Shifters. I also found time over a three week period managed to remove the pair of front “sealed” bearings and all four rear “sealed” bearings in my Planet X brand carbon wheels. This required basically, taking a sharp, small bladed knife to each of the seals on each side of the little bearings. This was much cheaper than replacing them all with ceramics, replacing the hubs and or ordering replacements from American Classic, whom it appears manufactures the hubs for Planet X. I also noticed and learned I need to do more service on my cross wheels more often than once per season. Those rear hubs have so much going on, I think it would be beneficial to take a day and work on them. The gain is, watching them spin and spin forever is worthy of the time investment. This was just way more tedious and time consuming - hopefully we will have a much drier cross season here in the Midwest and I won't be washing my bike every Monday.

Sunday, September 5th 2010

I traveled down to Scioto State Forest and entered the Cap City Cyclocross Frankenbike event. This was a 50 mile ride, that was not promoted as a race, but hey, get a bunch of competitive end of the season road racers, mid-season mountain bikers and early season cross racers and what do you get? Well you get 25-30 mph from the gun for the first 4 miles of pavement, just before we made a right hand turn up the gravel road for the first hurtful beast of a climb for the day. The course was split in two halves with a short stop for me back at the car for new bottles. I choose to race my Ridley Crosswind, which seemed to be a good choice for about 85% of the course. The other remaining parts of the course were really mountain bike sections. Spencer and I rode together for most of the second half of the race he did a good job writing up more details of the event here: I ended up 13th overall with about 75 or so at the start line. A good early September sign – regarding what is in the fitness hopper. 

The bonus part of riding my cross bike in this type of race, which I found out last week at our regular cross practices here in Cbus - is that all that time spent on the cross bike was a huge confidence builder as far as handling the bike in precarious situations.

At Frankenbike, I rode and managed to finish around 12/13^th place depending on a few others and whether they actually rode the course, or “missed a few sections”. I don’t really care one way or another, I was happy to have the fitness to stay with my man Spencer, catch Marksteen, stay with Payne Leeters (who was on his cushy 29er mtb) and finish minutes behind the actual leaders.

A good day on the bike.

Saturday September 18, 2010

OVCX – Kings CX – Cyclocross Race 1 (not for series Points)

I took 8^th place at this old converted golf course, which is now a city park. My goal was to test the waters, see who’s out there, and save some berries for Sunday’s more official points race. I got a good start line call up- second row I think of the 35+ crowd, had good position going into the first turn and tried to hold that for the race. It was hot, did I mention it was hot? I don’t mind the heat, it’s just if I am going to go hard and TT for 45 min, I would prefer at least mid 80’s for cross and not the high 90’s. After lap 1 I was starting to eat into the back of the Open CAT 3’s and find some good lines on the course. My Ridley felt good as I pushed it into some corners testing the tubie tires on my carbon wheels. Lots of power to be had and power in reserve, even with 2 laps to go, even though I felt like I was fading some at the 30 min point, these were long laps and this course was not very technical. A good course, but just not too crazy from this mountain biker’s view. I like the short courses I think and enjoy them more when I am not out there doing 10 min laps. This felt way more like a roadie course and not enough of a cross course. Well organized, good food in the old Golf cart storage room.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

OVCX – Kings CX – Cyclocross Race 2 (Series Points)

Sunday I arrived plenty early to make sure I was relaxed and not rushing about, trying to get it all finished and remember everything – pre-race. I had LP and BWE in the car along with “The Motivator,” two-sets of wheels for me and several individual SS wheels belonging to LP. We got changed quickly, since LP was racing the SS race shortly after arrival. I took my time (which I love), getting warmed up, getting a few sprints in, checking out the course changes, which they basically just changed the direction we were riding and a few other areas, making it much harder - still a bit of a roadie (usgp) type of course for my taste and not enough technical bits and trees to keep things interesting. I figure if you can stay on the gas and average over or around 15 mph - the course is too fast and too much roadie - there were a few steep hills on the camel-hump - a nice section into these dark woods and over a log, then up a steep short hillside - the finish line/lap area was defiantly uphill and cause for some increase of HR - and Oh, the friggin sandpit was a bitch. It was an uphill battle and after some serious up and down sections that got your HR up then a sweet sweeping downhill tight around a tree then uphill into the sandpit with a giant lip to pull your front wheel up and get the back end of your bike out- I heard days later they dumped a ton of new sand in there which makes total sense - it was some life sucking sand for sure. I wonder where you purchase life sucking sand? I was battling it out with my teammate, Doug, passing him, he would pass me, I even caught up to Spencer  from B1(Open CAT 3's) and with Ray yelling at me(after he finished), I dug deep, found something I didn't know I had and sprinted elbow to elbow into a sweeping right into a sweeping left uphill, then a wide fast sweeping right uphill into the finish line - just nipping Doug and Spencer at the line by a horsehair. Those guys are tough! We were just having fun and it was great!  I had absolutely not-a-clue where I finished, but had I known I might have ridden a bit harder with 3/2 laps to go, to catch a few in front of me. I guess Doug and I should be working together and not messing about racing each other - ha. We wore timing chips, so after the fact it was interesting to see my lap times.

10th Place finish.

Not awful - not great -  but it's a start to the OVCX series for me and a good solid finish with no mechanical issues.

Two Days of Drooling like a St. Bernard – OVCX Kings CX

This past weekend was the beginning of our regional three-state Cyclocross race series. It was a two-day event between downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and the Kings Island amusement park at an old retired city golf course in Mason, Ohio. Day one, Saturday, was not a race for points in the OVCX series, but a “warm-up day” and a 10-dollar race on the course property. Sunday was OVCX.com actual points race and the first of the series for Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.

I raced both days and had a blast. Certainly, Saturday had more of a fun factor, with less of the big guns (sometimes known as sandbaggers) in my CAT 3 race and a few more smiles and a little less game face. The course Saturday, I think suited me a little better, not because it was dry, I think just because of the course routing.

I tend to roll really well through the twisty bits, short punchy climbs, and technical sections. My sense of what a technical area certainly differs than what most ‘roadie’s racing cross consider technical. I am a mountain biker I think first, a cyclocrosser second and a roadie third.

Day 1 – Sept 19

Saturday was a beautiful and stunning day on a dry-dusty racecourse. I arrived, got my number from the big white barn (registration) and headed back to the car for the kit and a wheel change. Decided to run my tubie 34’s today. It was a good choice, including my tire pressure. I was second row at the call-ups had a decent start among the 40 other racers in the CAT 3 field. This field included the 35+ and the 45+. I did have a bit of an issue clipping in (problem was somewhere between the bike and saddle) and sprinted one leg down the long runway to almost the first left turn without having both feet clipped. The first left was a little dodgy, lots of elbows, asses and guys bitching about their line, hey um dude, this is cross, find your own space around that tree. Settling in, with a group close to the front, I found a rhythm and tried to keep it steady. There were a set of double-barriers, one solo barrier at the bottom of a hill run-up and then three tree logs (middle one the tallest) and one small sand pit to get through. I only had issues with the double barriers, they seemed much taller than the 14 and 3/4 regulation height, but I never busted out a tape, so I have no idea, maybe my legs are shrinking in my old age. I worked on trying a few different tactics over the barriers, short steps, long steps, giant strides and handling the bike on the run ups. I figured today was a good day to try a few things, as long as it did not slow me down. I managed to nail the sand pit every time, after the second lap, I found a great line and could keep my speed up in and out of it. There was a big lip/ridge on the way out of the pit, then a hard left around a tree. We also had a little ‘single-track’ in the back part of the course, which seemed to be much faster for me on Saturday than Sunday. No problems with this either day though. Funny, I was one of the few guys going wide right in the grass, off the ‘path’ and getting a way faster line into the dirt woods section. More of that mountain bike stuff, coming through, I suppose. I was battling to find some sections where I could jump hard and put some distance on anyone behind me. I found a couple of places, and put in a few digs here and there. I had one hiccup on Saturday, rolling it across the logs, when my non-drive pedal hit my back, I put the bike down after the logs looked down and my chain was off: actually stuck down around the bottom bracket and below my Jump-stop required some work to get it out of there. Jen got pics of my mistake. I can fix that issue by removing a few more chain links. No worries. I managed to keep Steven G. from Bio Wheels in my sights and another usual fast guy near Steven, but couldn’t close it down before the finish lap. I got 9^th on the day and will take that as a good measure of early season (dry-course) success.

Day 2 – Sept 20

I wake up to a text from LP, inquiring if I was still going racing when rain was on its way. RAIN? I sloth upright and get to the computer and look at the radar, yes, wow, big giant green blob headed right for our cross race. It is cross season. I am going to race. I pick up LP and we head out of Cbus and hit the sprinkles about 10 miles from the race site. Good thing I planned and listened to my wife about bringing my pop up tent. It came in very handy at the back of the car. If I had been smarter, I would have brought the trainer and warmed up more under the dryness of the tent. Next time. I Kit up, move the race number to the other side and leave the tubie carbon’s in the car for this day. Clinchers were the ticket. It was sprinkling hard and soft, I get out to test the tires/pressure and see what they did to the course from Saturday. They turned it around and moved the barriers at the bottom of the camel hump hill. Owwee, those hurt.

I get over to the start, loose the rain jacket and the bottle, and wait for the call up. I am just a bit further back, but some guy offers up some space one row further from where I was – niceness at the start line – gotta love it. We get the whistle and we are off. Again, some pedal issues, ok my fault, getting clipped in but I continue to hammer it into the first left corner around a tree and get the inside line, guys are pushing-shoving and bitchin’ about lines and people not handling their bikes. We get to the next turn and the heard is spreading out. We head up towards the first set of double barriers around a tight right tree and then left tree and down the short section we go - the front 10 of the group is gone daddy gone already. We are killing it, I am not relaxed at all, and my HR is through the roof. Glen G. comes by me right before the camel hill up-an-over and says "come on, get on my wheel", I went till we got in and out of the woods and couldn't keep up the effort. Glen and the front 15 were just out of reach. By the third lap, I am finally starting to feel good and getting my mojo workin’. The mud is working for me and my mountain bike skills for sure. Some are having trouble in four sections, the “M” on the side of the camel hump hill, a section just after the woods – where the line to the outside was faster, a off camber slick as snot section along the chain fence, and a hard right / then a left down into a tough little off camber hill – just before the three tree barriers. I managed to clear these pretty well each time, finding the right gear, line, and body English. There was a section around the inside of the lake/pond where I could take the grass and stay off the gravel which seemed much faster. The sand trap/pit was not an issue by the second lap with all the rain. It was smashed down and easy to navigate after dropping off the lip.

Dave G. did pass me on the last lap. I put in a serious digger on the next to last lap to gap him and Steven G. that were gaining fast. It wasn’t timed so well as Dave G. came by me in the last lap, just two tree turns before the finish, he even announced his pass and I had nothing in the tank to counter. He said after the race, it was helpful to him having my friends yelling at me, since he always knew where I was. I think this was the first time I ever beat Steven G. in a cross race.

Fun is the word that comes to mind for this race. Racing and cross are supposed to be fun right?

I struggled a bit, to feel good overall, have the consistent power to stay moving, get over the tallish barriers, and not blow up.

I managed to finish in 18^th on Sunday.

According to the posted results after my race Sunday, I was 9^th overall for the weekend of racing.

- - Next up – Alum Creek – Cap City Cross