OVCX #10 - Gun Club Cross - Going Backwards

A pre-race ride the course video by Elite racer - Peter Hills
and "borrowed" from Joe B's blog.

Above is a super sweet video put together by my teammate Doug. He actually is a professional videographer for a living - hence the quality and look.

...and onto my race. This photo represents what my front chainring felt like on race day. The car was not present. But to sum up my race, terrible and not as bad as I thought. I ran over the double barriers like a  150 year old man. I dismounted my bike for the single barrier hill run up like I was getting out of my wheelchair. I pedaled hard and fast and smooth in the twisty bits, and short uphill sections, where my mountain bike skills come in handy. I dismounted my bike and ran up the steep hill at the creek with the form of a 2 year old eating smashed food off my tray. I was embarrased to get off my bike down in the creek area and run up that hill. Hillarious, Corey Green actually pushed me up the hill while he was warming up on the course, that was the fastest I went up that hill for the entire race.
So, the story is, I over trained, over raced and got in the car after Bloomington and then went out and did hill repeats the tuesday after.
I showed up at Gun Club just hoping to hang on for dear life to the top half of the 35+. My morale and general mood was down, knowing I had to run barriers and look like a mannequin in front of a ton of people near the wheel pit and save face, from my best finish at Bloomington. It's tough going from top 6 to top 20, but this type of thing keeps one humble and keeps one fighting. I got passed pretty much by anyone and everyone in the first few laps and gave up with about a lap to go.
At least I finished with some points for the overall series and live to pedal another day. There are worse things than having one bad race out of a dozen or 20?

USGP - Louisville, KY - and OVCX Gun Club

Ok, I need about 6 more hours in my day to get crap done, like type up race reports.

USPG was fun.
It was hard on Saturday, but better for me on Sunday.
I don't like sandbaggers, I don't like guys that race down. I don't like 15 year old kids that smoke me in every race.
Saturday's race - some clown with big red shoes and a cross bike that somehow got into my race, took me out into the netting just after the first mud trough. I went over the netting, my bike did not. He was shaking my bike and trying to get it off of his. I simply moved my bike forward and wa-hla. I am back to chasing the 40 dudes that just went riding by me. I never did feel 100% and spent about 3 laps finding my groove. Once I found it, I started picking off riders, but it was too late. I finished 45th out of 95 riders.
Sunday - many were tired from Sat's mud slog fest. I was not. I felt like a bazillion dollars. I managed to almost catch Katsu and do pretty well I think related to the other CAT 3's from the OVCX series. My result - 55th did not really show that for some reason. I felt like I was going to be like 35th or so....pretty disappointed to see the double nickle result. I believe there was about 90 guys registered to race, so I didn't quite make it to the top 50% which is always a good result for these big races.
It was a great day on the bike though, lots of power, lots of gas and I could run like a slow gazelle. My running has improved since the UCI weekend and that makes me happy. I held off Mason, Layne and Glen all racing in the SS class, who all started 30 seconds behind me. Glen caught me in the last lap but I beat him in the final sprint onto the finish pavement. Lots of things coming together now, so I am happy about that.

There was a cap city cross race over the Halloween weekend (on Saturday) which I decided not to race to save my virginity for the OVCX - Gun Club Race on Sunday. Jen and I did end up going out to the Uncle Steve's Cap CIty Race to cheer on some friends and family (Tim).
Shannon was there riding like his grandma. I knew he could ride faster, but my antics and crazy cross fan routine did not sway him to pedal harder or run faster. Tim and Layne were sitting 1st and 2nd in the B race for a lap or two, then got passed by James from Cincy Trek. He motored right by Layne and ended up winning, with Layne 2 and Tim 3. First time for Tim on the Podium, he was excited. Shannon did not make it to the podium, he was sad. Gamm showed up - first race back after a long vacation from racing. He killed it and got third. He beat Dan Cambell. Dan did not cry. Mason and Kyle both got drunk during their race. There was much beer consumed during and after this race. The fire was warm and so was the atmosphere. It was way more enjoyable for me to sit one out and show up as a spectator.
Jen got amazing photos and I got some great video on my Flip. Now if I just had 6 hours to edit all the video.

OVCX - Gun Club - Open 3 race -
I got friggen 10th!!! I was killing it. I felt great, legs felt great. We ran a ton. Mud and muck and peanut butter all over my shoes, bike, legs, etc. Clipping into the pedals was a chore after running through the mud and up the mud hillside. I was so so close to 8th and almost pulled in Mr. Tinsler from Darkhorse. James from Trek Cincy came around me on the last lap and stayed just far enough away I couldnt' close it down, then I fell on this very steep run up/hill. James offered to help me up as he ran by. Who does that in a race - James. He's the man. I think had I not slipped I might have been able to get him before the finish. I was just happy to trade spots with Nick T here and there. He's always been a great cross rider, a classy guy and someone that can ride his bike. Happy day for me to almost beat him. Tim got 13th and Markstein got 3rd < he was m o t o r i n g! I couldn't even come close to catching him. My man Vingris finished his race!

I am tired of cleaning my cross bike. I have spent more time this year cleaning my shoes and my cross bike than I have racing my cross bike. UGGGG. One more month and some change of races. I'll hold off the burnout and keep my fitness up and motivation and work towards top 5 in my OVCX cat.

Heading out tomorrow after work to Traverse City, Michigan for the Iceman Cometh Race.
it's a 27/28 mile point to point mountain bike race. Or a 2 hour Time Trial on a mtb bike :)
I'll post it up her for the record books, I am going for 1:50 minutes as my finish time. My best there is 2 hours. Legs and body are feeling great today - this week.