Catch up - Gun Club (OVCX) October 9, 2011

 Pics First - write up at the bottom.

The days before the race, lots of chatter about the photo to the left. Team Hungry Cycling team (race sponsor) and Promoter Gatch pulled a fast one on the interwebs, putting stakes and tape up this crazy steep hill. It was all fake and we never had to run/ride up the thing. Hilarious non the less.

The Start line of 64 dudes crammed in there

Duane and I battle it out

I finally get to pass James Turner - he's fast...smell food

Tall barriers for this guy's short legs

my look-back finish

Metz, is killing it this year. Just got the upgrade too.

Team Mate Doug C riding super strong

 

 

After review of data from our race chips, I raced faster at the beginning, then steady, then fastest on the last lap, this is good. Especially from where I started among the 64 dudes. My split-time was the same as the winner of this race, so my turbo is there, I just faded in the first few laps, compared to their jet engines or wasn’t going hard enough. Good grief, what a bunch of weekends. I was getting pretty tired there for a few days.

 

 Split     Place   Lap1    Place  Lap2   Place  Lap3   Place Lap4   Total Time 

 0:59     26     8:53        21  8:47 21      8:54 19    8:44 36:18  

 

I fought off getting shot at the Gun Club for an 8th place in a huge group of over  60 dudes over 35 years old and up. I think a third row placement and got a decent start into the first turn ahead of the giant pile-up. Later looking at the photos, the person that caused it ended up at the bottom. I was fully gassed by the time we came around and into the double sandpit. This is slightly downhill, so getting in the drops right out of the double track sandy turn is key and not grabbing someone’s wheel, since you have no idea if they can ride a good line or not and might lead you into the tape or a stake. 

I really have enjoyed racing at the Gun Club for years, however, I am not a huge fan of adding mountain bike type obstacles into a cross course. Don’t get me wrong, I love a great wind-y, twisty, tree filled, go round and round, get you dizzy course that requires lots of power out of each corner, with some long grass or short pave’/gravel between, but running a cross race into a creek is not really my idea of cross. It's just my opinion really. Without this section I think there has always been plenty at this venue to keep us all busy and drooling.

Good guy and cool dudes, Duane Walker and Jeff Schoeny beat me at Gun Club. Duane had a great race and certainly had a solid performance. Jeff is just fast, he’s got a great run and  is like a steam ship, steady as she goes. I tried like hell to keep up and stick to Matt Stierwalt’s “Rogue” wheel. My superglue was out of date and didn’t work, his mountain bike skills and fitness were a few notch's above mine for sure.

Soapbox:  I don’t like driving to Cincy, paying 25/30 dollars to race a CAT 3 race and only getting to race for 36 minutes. Really? I am not sure why we’re getting robbed here out of the full 45 minutes. I am paying the same amount of money the Elite Masters are paying, the same amount all others are paying, but not seeing the full race time. #weaksauce. Yeah yeah - you can say, well, just move up to Elite’s then and kwityourbitchen. I say naaa, make it Like a boss, we all race 45 minutes. Cleveland and Cap City all give the CAT 3’s and up their full fair shake at 45 min and a full hour of racing. Just sayin’ Ok I am finished with that.

Another thought, I’d say with the growing fields of this series, ovcx has outgrown this super cool venue. The course can only be set up to be so wide and with masters fields this big and CAT 3 open fields growing - it might be time for a new gun club course for 2012?

Spencer (Jeni's) in the double sandpit

 

OVCX - John Bryan SP - Cyclocross Race - October 2, 2011

Lining up with 60 plus guys is always better than lining up with 120. However the challenges remain, lots of pedals, shifters, elbows, gritting of teeth, tongues hanging out, grunts, shifting noises and swear words. However, the difference is the 35 and 45 plus categories have a tendency to be very competitive. Many entrants, who train hard, who set goals each season to improve their fitness, watts, overall speed on a given course and improve their results to a new place among the masses each week, each season. Sounds easy right?

Well, it’s not that easy if everyone you are racing against has been putting in more hours, more time, more training, maybe some of them have a coach? Maybe some of them are a few years younger? Maybe some of them have a job, where they can get out in the Fall as the days shorten earlier than you? Maybe they lost their job and have been able to go out and spend lots of time on the bike? Maybe they just might have the gift, a better watt output at a given 20 minute effort? Maybe they have a higher VO2 max and can sustain 45 minutes at a breakneck speed longer than you? Some people you race with each week, talk post race each week with ‘excuses’. I discount these, we all have them. I believe it’s more so about all the above questions and differences between us as bike riders and athletes.

With that, I got registered, grabbed my free awesome giant cowbell provided by the main race sponsor, got my helmet set up for the race chip system, that would track our lap times as well as our finish time and filled out my free raffle ticket for the Reynolds Carbon wheelset.

I headed back to the car to pin up my number, usually the BWE takes care of this as part of my good luck process, however, she was on a social and cowbell marketing mission. Crap I forgot pins. Ahh found some spares in the hatch of the car.

Number pin’d, it’s time for some pre-race drink and some warm up on the bike. The last race was finished so I sneak out onto the course looking for places I can excel, places that suit my skills, areas and corners I can handle faster than others.

The course is long, I mean long, did I say long? I like a long course, but I also like to travel to cross races for the full 45 minutes of racing. I don’t like being short changed by 5 minutes either. Am I bitching? Maybe, but I traveled to your race, paid your entry fee and I want my 45 minutes, not 40, not 42, Forty Fucking Five Minutes. Odd about 10% of the Elite field got to race an hour, then the other 90% got to race an hour and 5 min. plus. Let us all race for 30, 45 and an hour please.

The course is awesome, as usual, TJ and the crew at JB always throw some great stuff out there and did so this round. Karen and Doug Hamilton volunteer a ton of time at this park, building and maintaining the mountain bike trails, they also regularly keeps us informed about the condition of the trails at the park via Facebook. I say thanks to those that put this together and for CapCity to help sponsor this fine event.

Usually this JB race is in November around Thanksgiving and the ground is cold as well as the temperature. This day however, the temperature during my race would hover around 60 some degrees and sunny. The fortunate part for most of us racing later in the day is the sun and other racers were drying out the course with each race. It rained most of the week of the race, which proved to soften a few sections of the course, including the section from the start. It was a false flat as some say, but basically it’s a 3 to 5% hill with some super bumpy grass and some life sucking soggy, saturated ground. Lots of guys in my race were really going backwards on this section, my plan during my race was shift down a few gears, stand up, tell the legs to shut up and throttle myself all the way up each time. Once we got up to the ‘top’, we rounded a new wildflower field that was quite awesome and smelled great each lap, then back down a bit into some twisty’s, over two tree/logs, and then back up that same false flat hill just on the other side of the flower field. The logs were not really a factor I don’t think in the race per say of separating the field one way or another in my race at least. They were just big enough that they could be crossed without stepping off the bike, if you had some skills and were willing to take the risk, however, I choose the conservative method and got off my bike. There was one other set of barriers, a double set, over by the popular twisty bits near the park Gazebo. This area is always a fun set of turns and slickery grass, where you must find the balance of speed, pedaling, driving your bike, leaning while pedaling, upper body position and the like. It’s always one of my favorite areas of the cross races at JB.

We get our call ups according to who’s leading the OVCX series, not one f’ing mention of CapCity, and then line up according to registration. I am about 3rd or 4th row, and snag a spot right behind my buddy Matt Stierwalt. He’s a badass, I figure if I can stick on his wheel for a majority of the race or at least keep him in sight, I will have a good day. We’re off, I am sitting in about top 15 maybe into the first turn and surprised where I am as we round the flower field. Guys are racing like it’s the world championship and cutting others off, running into course stakes, course tape, etc. 

My heart rate was up there, but I was able to recover as sections of the course got stacked up in certain areas with racers and as the pecking order was formed. I knew we’d only be racing a few laps and each one had to count. I went after my goal of shifting down two gears, standing up and throttling it up the false hill each lap, passing racers and putting distance on those behind me. Scott Young a few other guys I knew were going to be giving me a run for my money. Scott was easy to spot, Stierwalt was gone, James Turner was still in my sights but gaining time on me here and there in front of me. The toughest thing to do I’ve found during these races is keep your brain going, keep thinking, keep focusing on who is in ‘your race’ who you need to go after and when to put in an effort to distance those behind you…The guy in the specialized kit, Michael Seaman and Scott Bond came around me near the double barriers I think and just kept distancing themselves from my front wheel. Uggg. I pushed hard to stick with them on the third lap, and by the time I got to the Gazebo, I almost threw up. 

I guess I had done some damage, since looking at the timing, my fourth lap was my slowest at 9:27. I recovered for my final and fifth lap for a 9:21.

Sad to know, I faded a bit in the last two laps, from my best lap of 9:15 which was Lap2’s time and my Lap3 time being within .01 second of Lap2 at 9:16. If I had ridden more consistently with a bunch of 9:15 laps, I might have won my race or at least been podium material, so lets hope my fitness improves as it should each week of racing.

With my calve issues at hand I was pretty worried about running full speed over the logs or over the barriers. As I got to lap 4, the legs/calve seemed to be responding to faster and faster dismounts back by the gazebo. This was a confidence booster, so, with the bell lap, I put the afterburners on and fought hard to keep some distance between myself and Scott Young and the other guy with him, who I had no clue if he was in my race or not, however, that’s not a bad thing when you don’t know, it pushes you, forces you to go hard and maintain a hard pace. One last time up the false flat, the legs felt good, so I gave it one last super hard effort to try to maintain my gap. I think I got passed around the sand pit and right before the finish line, I just have no idea if he was a 35 or 45 guy. I didn’t bother sprinting for it, he had already done the damage, I looked back to make sure no one was there and rode across the computer finish line for 7th place in the 45+.

I finished 17th out of 64 total racers.

For my third-race of the season and a week-break since my second race, I think it’s a sign things (fitness and power) are on track to have some fun this season.

So, lets just chat a bit about the timing and what the lap results show via OVCX. The Top 10-15 of the CAT 4 race all need to move up. The Top-10 of the CAT 3 Open races also need to move up. The winner of the CAT 3/35+ has lap times early in his race, to compete in the Elite race for sure, however, his last two laps he was going backwards.

Cross Racing Schedule 2011 - Sept- December

Here's my 'hope' schedule. I know what will happen is, and I'll say in a few months, oh my gosh is it really Thanksgiving already...then what might seem like days later, what? it's Christmas? It was just Thanksgiving.
and so it goes...
There are a few of these weekends, I'll just have to see how the body responds and what is going on with life. It's just not great to go race double weekends all the time, at least for me. Some of them, I'll maybe see what is up with the weather and choose to make the drive based on the weather.  One possible mountain bike race on the schedule, if the planets align, it would make a really tough weekend, with 25 miles at all out effort at Mohican and then GunClub on Sunday, we'll see as the tides change.

SEPTEMBER 4-Sep CCX Frankenbike 50 Gran Fondo - Scioto Trails 11-Sep NEOCX Cascade Park, Elyria 18-Sep NEOCX Wendy Park, Cleveland, OH 24-Sep OVCX Brookside Cup, Indianapolis, IN 24-Sep NEOCX Kent State, Campus, Stark, OH 25-Sep OVCX St. Mary's Cross, Indianapolis, IN OCTOBER 1-Oct OVCX Gearfest, Dayton? 2-Oct CCX John Bryan Classic, Yellow Springs 8-Oct OMBC Mohican State Forest ? MTB Race - 25 miles 9-Oct OVCX Gun Club, Cincinnati 15-Oct CCX Big Run Park, Columbus 22-Oct CCX Dublin - State Championships 23-Oct CCX Dublin - State Championships 29-Oct CCX Uncle Steve's Party/Race, Marysville, OH 30-Oct CCX Uncle Steve's Party/Race, Marysville, OH NOVEMBER 5-Nov UCI UCI - Sunset Park, Middletown, OH 6-Nov UCI UCI - Harbin Park, Cincinnati, OH 20-Nov OVCX Promotion Cross, Lexington, KY 20-Nov CCX NEW Dayton Race - maybe cancelled? 27-Nov CCX Infirmary Mound, Newark/Granville, OH DECEMBER 4-Dec OVCX OVCX - FINALE - Kings CX, Cincinnati, OH 10-Dec CCX CapCityCross FINALE - Smith Farms, Columbus, OH 11-Dec CCX CapCity Cross - PARTY AT CARABAR

OVCX-#12 - Promotion Cross- Kentucky State Championships

More mountain bike Less cross.


Lots and lots up ups and 180 degree turns with a down and another 180 degree turn and an up. No place on the course to really recover. The flat sections were false flats, and into a major headwind. single barriers at the bottom of a super steep hill, then a top flat with another steep hill 180 turn into another banked 180 degree turn up another false flat.
 
Some say, it was the worst venue or race layout from a spectator standpoint.

This did not effect me, I was affected by my fitness and taking some time off the bike. Either not my kind of cross course or just didn't have the complete deep-fitness in the tank (entirely) to give it the berries and stay with the leaders for the entire race. I hung on to them for almost three laps I think, then one by one, guys starting coming around me, even down to the last lap, I bumbled a turn at the end of the baseball field fence and lost a few seconds, guys were still chasing the bullseye on my back. Odd thing with three laps to go, I ride through the finish and see still three laps to go. I was a little worried with the 'true' three laps to go I would come through again and still see three laps.

Gers, Bivin and Collier were long gone and about 30/45 seconds in front and impossible to drag back. I kept looking for them around the turns and trying to push and push and push to gain some ground back. I was picking off open three riders and battling it out with some of the 45+ guys.

I heard Ray yelling at me in the last few twisty turns to "go go go" there were guys on my wheel, one guy with 2k wheels, biffed it in the single track along the fence, and so I new I had a few opportunities to let it fly and go as hard as I could to keep who ever was on my wheel in the last few turns away. I made the last turn off the grass and onto the pavement as smooth and wide as I could but shifted too many times into too hard of a gear and wasn't spinning enough. It was a hard fought finish with Nathan Mirus (nice guy and fast fast dude this year) It was close, but the officials gave it to me? they had cameras....but I am not so sure, Nathan was right there at the line.

 Highlight of my weekend, with the BWE, was hanging out with my cousins that live in Lexington about 15 minutes from the race course. Sherry has a great family. We all went out for some pre-race dinner Saturday night to catch up and hang out. Lizzie and Grayson both got a big kick out of sitting on my bike and ringing cowbells provided by BWE.
Apparently the next day, both kids asked about bike racing...thanks for taking time out of your busy weekend to visit Sherry!

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?

OVCX Kentucky State Championships -12/7/2009

I sucked it up after the Smith Farms race and decided to get up at 5:00 a.m. pack up the car and drive down to Louisville, KY for the Kentucky State Cyclocross Championships. Sort of a last minute WTF or WWMCD - What would Molly Cameron Do? I planned to pack up and get out of town by 6:15 a.m. I had to bring all my breakfast with me, so I could maintain what food I had been eating before my bike races. I would just wait till around 8 or 9 a.m. and stop somewhere and eat - a good plan.
This race was the OVCX Finale and the last race at the River Road Club, which I didn't want to miss. It was more OVCX points and all hands on deck. Many of the KY, Cincy and Indiana speed demons were registered for the CAT 3 race, so I figured I would go down and give it a go since I had great legs and a great finish the day prior.
It was a 30 deg. (cold morning), with many racers putting way too many clothes on and complaining about the cold. I didn't mind and was prepared to sport some arm warmers and shorts for the day. I got a great warm up and manged to really get the legs going before lining up at the start line. Their were call ups, then a "ok everyone else" I managed to be smart and get a great start line placement second row right next to James B from the Cincy Trek Store. We were off and I had a great top 10 spot into the first sloppy slipery ish corner. I held it until I got stuck behind some folks that couldn't pedal around a corner or pedal into the sand pits or up and around the trees. I went all out the first two laps, which was my goal, then settle in and see who I could keep from passing me. My man Ray was keeping me motivated and keeping me informed of my place in the group of 30 or so. I figured if I could stay in the top 10 of this field I would have a great finish to a great year. I managed to ride really well and give it all I had. I know some of the slipery icy corners proved trouble for lots of guys in my race, that usually beat me by 4 or 6 places. Chewning and James both spent some time on the ground. I tried to pull Chewning up to somewhere at one point, but that didn't happen. I came around and was all excited and yelled, "get on, come on let's go" three or four turns I looked around near the tallest barriers I have ever had to pole vault across (see Amanda leaping over them in the pic) and he was gone. I am not sure what happened. The bell lap I was relieved I had just enough gas to get back around the course and try to pick off one more guy in the last lap and shed the two or three that were on my back wheel. The worst area of ice, near the wheel pit I managed to avoid falling and picking the right line every lap - - - except for the last lap. Bammmm - down I go, with Ray standing there watching me, right where he told me to be careful and watch my line. So funny. I got up as fast as I could as the three dudes behind me started to come around. I fought through the next three corners and the off camber slick stuff to pass them again and go after the guy in front of me. I managed to get around him at some point and cross the finish line in a satisfying stellar 13th place and 110 points for the day. It was an overwhelming sense of accomplishment to finish this race and the ovcx season of races. I pretty much spent the entire ovcx series racing against guys half my age and some of them not even born when I was graduating HS. I feel great about my overall result and individual race results.

Just as fun as my race was the great afternoon after my race.

I got to play the "Pay It Forward" game and loan out my Ridley Crosswind with my Mavic SL clincher wheels to my buddy Ray. You see, he broke his rear derail in his CAT 4 race. So he got permission to race the Elite Race (his first) and the first Elite race for my bike (ha ha). I also got to use my (borowed from work) CycloCross Electric Bullhorn to yell and motivate Ray and Katsu during their Elite Race. I really let Ray have it and had a blast keeping him motivated for the hour he and Katsu were out there killing themselves. Ray even managed to finish in the money. He still owe's me the 500 for pitting for him. Katsu had a great finish to the OVCX series. I'll be racing with and against both these guys at some MTB races I am sure in 2010. I hung out with Brian Collier from Bio Wheels for the first half of the elite race and we chatted about our season, training and riding and race results for the year. Great guy. It was a pleasure racing with Gers and Collier all year. Those guys certainly kept me motivated this year.

Joe Ballante was my hero this year, always starting in the "Senior" group (kidding Joe) behind me. Which meant nothing, since 80% of the time he filled that 30 sec. start gap and caught me at some point during the OVCX races. I managed to hold him off I think only twice this year. The KY State Championships was not one of these days - he came flying by me, mid race. I tried like hell to stay in his jet stream as he came by me...but could only hang on for 3/4 of a lap. He's had a great Cross year and it was great to see how someone can look/ride/act PRO but still be a nice guy. I just might have to line up against Joe next year.

Right after the Elite race, the course was torn down and the Awards Ceremony and raffle prizes were given out. I was there to take home some Zipp 303's and a frame, that was not to be since Amanda McKay stole them from me. I did manage to win some super sweet monagramed Zipp arm warmers.
It was a great way to end the weekend (winning something both Saturday and Sunday - ha) and driving home 3 hours feeling satisfied with my ovcx season of racing.

Thanks to Karen Hamilton for the pics - my wife, cheerleader and photog did not make the trip.

OVCX -John Bryan State Park-Ohio State Championships

OVCX / CapCity Cross - Ohio State Cyclocross Championship Race -11/29/2009
One of my favorite races all year. Whether or not it is or is not the big state race of races. I love the park and the land in this sweet little park outside of Yellow Springs, Ohio and home to Antioch College. If you ever saw any episodes of The Twilight Zone, you may have not known, Rod Serling, the voice of the original TZ episodes, also graduated from this small school.
Now, off to the bike races with the coolest beard I could muster.
TJ and Phil let the course map out a week or so before the race, so we all got to see the new start location and a new fresh layout for 2009. Our start was on the road at the bottom of the hill entrance, which worked really well. Once at the top of the hill, where the ground leveled, we made a sweeping left hand turn onto the grass and towards the woods. My wife reminded me, that the Elite Masters men, all pedaled hard, full throttle, all the way up the hill across the grass and into the first sweeping turn. I followed her advice from my second row start, but didn't get my right foot clipped in right away and quickly got pushed back to about 15th into the grass. Not bad, I thought, I could pick off riders in the twisty
bits and go hard for the first two laps. This seemed to work, but I couldn't quite catch James from Trek Cincy. James, Gers, O'Shaughnessy and that pre-puberty fast kid Haley were all right within reach in the twisty section around the Gazebo and giant rock. On the last two laps, James was taunting me, saying, "COME on, come and get me" nice James! :) It was fun and certainly made me think about why we all race. A few things that made this state championship special, my parents and my sister all came out to watch me race. I actually had a one x one race with the Team Spin/ RR Donnelley racer, Peter Deucher.
Peter and I really gave each other a race, we threw it down like two wild caged dogs. It was amazing, to have the fitness and legs to stay with Peter on his accelerations, but also to have the fitness to trade off leads with him. We really battled elbows into the woods and before the double sided sand pit the last few laps. "Quite a show", my dad commented about our battle. Peter even apologized about the scrappy elbows into the woods, but I wasn't mad...I was happy to really race with someone for once, where I am usually out in la la land between the front 8 and the next group back. So, thank You publicly Peter, for a great race dude, props you were killing it. One last bonus of this day, the State Championship for the Tandem Cyclocross race, yeah that's right it happened. Glen, Kyle, Jon, Tom, Mason and Andy all killed each other racing their tandem bikes. It was a sight, I am not sure the OVCX crowd really got it. They watched, but I consider the ovcx racers quite the serious bunch; I am sure they didn't see the irony in the race, especially since Andy and Mason wore costumes.

Since Glen and Jon killed themselves on the tandem, I got to blow by my buddy Glen early in the race. I finally beat Brian C. from BioWheels, my first time beating him this year - he's had a great season.

I ended up 11th place out of 43 starters. I was super happy with the course, my race result and my family being there to see this stage performance. I could hear the familiar voices from my Mom and my sister and their cowbells each lap, near the barriers. My wife observed, my Dad counting my race-place the first few laps and got more and more excited counting and learning I was moving up from 18th place and picking off riders. During the last ten-years or so of my bike racing, my Dad has been to very few, but when he does show up, he always has coaching wisdom to pass along. I value his advice, coaching wisdom and presence. He has over 35 years of football coaching experience. He has a way with words, like the Bear Bryant's or Vince Lombardi's of the world - he can sum up sports saying very little.
After a local Crit, five years ago, he threw out this Dad gem, "why weren't you up there with those guys?", referring to the ones leading the race.
My only post-race defeated response, "I don't know Dad, I just wasn't"
His logical response, "...well, next time, get up there with those guys."

Another Ohio State Championship on the books... I tried my best to 'get up there with those guys,' Dad.

OVCX and Cap City Cross - Infirmary Mound & Olentangy Caves - Playing Catch up

Well, what's come and gone? Some real quick thoughts, pics and results.
OVCX Gun Club 10th place - see other post for highlights. : OVCX Gun Club Pics here :

Cap City Cross/OVCX - Infirmary Mound 11/15/09 > 11th Place.
Photo Link here:
I fought hard here to get to the top 10 and just couldn't muster gas to get by Glen and catch James - again. An amazing course for the year. Will go down as one of my favorites, it was so dry, fast and suited my skills. It was more of a course for the roadie types, Dave G. beat me and looked so fast out there. Several guys including James and Dave all got a good jump at the start and had a good first few laps. I rallied the last four and caught Jon C and Glen. I had fun and didn't go into this race with much game face. I didn't arrive early enough to be relaxed and warmed up. It was my fault for not getting up early enough and leaving the house. Choose to race my clincher Mavic SL wheels. It was a good choice as the rims are super stiff and provided I think some needed down force for high speed turns and less chance of rolling a tubie. My buddy Ben B. got first in the 35+ Cat 3 race. I did mange to hold off the Masters 35 / 45 guys this race, which is the first time ever at an OVCX event I have done that this year. Joe Ballante, Ben B and Scott Young were all breathing down my neck on the last lap.

Cap City Cross - Olentangy Caverns 10th Place -
an awful course for me. I didn't really like much about this race. I really didn't like the course layout, design or flow. I think it worked for some, but it will go down as my least favorite this year. I am not sure what happened, but it seemed to have some of the same EXACT things as it did two years prior, when we first raced there. There is certainly enough property to do some fun and challenging things and steer it away from this 'mountain bike' type of course, which is not so much of what cross is about. Yes I am bitching. I was pissed off at my result and I think I was at the end of a long few weeks of work and racing. I knew or at least thought I was better than 10th, so it was a bit sad for me. But: my friend Ben and Layne reminded me we all have bad days and we do this because it's fun. I have to find that Fun vs Competitive balance and sit in the middle of the teter- totter on that one sometimes. My team mates had a great race and finished high in the results. I just didn't man-up, act like a Pro afterwards to be happy for them. Lesson #445. Hindsight, I have finished in the top 10 a few times in the last few races, I guess this was just frustrating, not to have the gas and throttle. I did like the single track in and out of the woods and even the sketchy bridge crossing.

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.