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What Cyclocross Means to Me | A School Project
11 years ago
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
State Crit - Peoria Cycling Classic
A lot of updates due on this blog, might as well do them in reverse.
The Peoria Cycling Classic has got to be the best club-organized cycling event in the state. Close to 100 volunteers, run like clockwork, smooth registration, great course and the only chance to race through closed streets in a real downtown - particularly impressive to pull it off with no significant sponsorship. It's also the State Crit Championships. As such, it's disappointing that it doesn't get a better attendance - it certainly deserves better. Teams that turned out in force were Mack, XXX, Burnham and SCW - lots of bigger teams out there that don't seem to value a top-notch course and a State Championship very highly. But, I'm biased.
The course itself is a 1 mile figure 8 with one loop about twice as long as the other. Very wide streets, no sharp corners and a deceptive elevation change that can really sap the legs after 15-20 trips around. The defining feature is a long back stretch into a headwind, turning into a sharp rise then turning into a 300 m tailwind finishing straight. Lots of options for the final sprint, jump early on the back stretch, go from the final corner or pick the best wheel to draft and come around in the final 100 m. No perfect way, it depends on your strengths and how well you gauge the other riders. Any way you risk being caught or letting a guy solo home. The course is also tempting for breakaways, get down low into the headwind, get a gap, pedal through every corner , and it requires a lot of work from the pack to be brought back.
Almost all of the races featured long-term breaks, some were brought back, some weren't.
Up at 5:30, helping with setup, registration, officials etc. Nice turnout from the juniors, who received a thorough soaking from the elements for their efforts. The rain stayed away for the rest of the day, moderate temperature until mid-afternoon when the mercury hit the discomfort level.
Very few of the local racers do well in this event, as everybody gets pretty worn out from volunteering duties, but it's also important to represent the jersey - most jump into two races.
I should really save my bullets for the last race of the day, but I'd have been working 10 hours at this stage so I knew I wouldn't be worth much. I decided to give what I got in the morning Masters race. Still pretty knackered from the days at ToAD, I wasn't very enthusiastic about warming up. Just rolled easily around a parking lot for 10 minutes and did a few cursory jumps up and down the street while the previous race wrapped up. Then it was 1 practice lap and roll up to the start.
After the nadir of lame groupthink racing that was the O'Fallon-Spring Prairie weekend, and being inspired by CBR Luke's SP race account - I have given up on looking for upgrade points or results. I'm going to go out there and race every race. To heck with the consequences, I'm going to have fun, leave it all out there and do my tiny bit to let people know that they've been in a race.
You might say that a Masters Open race is not the best place to try this, and you'd be right. With all the Cat 1s and 2s there I'd be well out of my depth. I was pretty worried about getting dropped early. So I did what I often do when I think I'm in trouble - go to the front.
Half a lap in and the field tucks in as we hit the headwind. I take the opportunity to move into the wind and move up. Not sure why I did what I did, it wasn't a conscious decision, I wanted to get some high speed practice on the corners, represent the jersey in our home race and get a good photo-op. My legs took over and I jumped. Hitting the line I already had a good gap, the announcer starts going crazy and at every corner someone is shouting for me. So I hammered it. I was thinking I could maybe last 3 or so laps, then retire back to the pack to be dropped gracefully when the hammer really went down - might as well enjoy all the vainglory while it lasted. After three laps I still had a gap of 12 seconds or so and the pack was content to let me hang. I was wondering how much longer I could last, then an unattached rider bridged up. First time that anyone has ever bridged up to any of my suicidal OTF efforts - this could be a new experience! He introduced himself as the brother of a teammate and we set to work, rotating every half lap or so. Now my focus changed to staying out there as long as possible. I had a very strong teammate who had already raced, He could sit in till we were caught. and would only have to work the remainder of the race. I knew he could still put out a strong 20 minutes, but maybe not the full 45 - so that would improve his chances of a good result.
The gap went up from 12 to 15 to 18 seconds, still never out of sight of the pack. My power began to drop after 20 minutes or so, my already poor cornering became very ragged and I was starting to get gapped by my breakmate. He had to slow a few times to allow me back on.The catch was made after 25 minutes That's about 23 minutes longer than my previous record. I had stayed out there for more than half the race.
Well, we had succeeded in shattering the pack. My breakmate managed to hang on to the back of the first group of 15 who came by, I didn't. And just barely managed to latch on to the next, laughing group, of about 10. Took me 3 laps or so, but I recovered and was able to take my pulls and go to the front without any problem.
We had 5 or more Team Mackers in the group including infamous cat54ever Mark Shea. When Mack is involved, it doesn't matter if we're racing for DFL, or whether they had already raced previously. Only one thing for sure - Macker vs Proctoid! IT'S ON!
Tried to jump away with 1 lap to go. Didn't get anywhere. One Macker jumped to the left on the back straight, I latched onto his wheel. Another came hammering up the right side, I found a jump and latched on. Up the incline and I went wide, he made room for a third Macker to come through on the inside. I went round and jumped onto his wheel. He wound up his sprint, I stayed in the draft and came round him with 50 meters to go. Worth it to hear race announcer Dangerous Dan Damotte screaming my name as I crossed the line. And it is Team Mack, after all, and it may be the first and last time that I get past Steve Driscoll in a sprint. We have to take our little victories where we find them.
Hmm.. 20 minutes on, 5 minutes recovery, 20 minutes on. I think I'm getting too used to my favourite interval session.
That race done I changed out of my kit and spent the next few hours working registration. Saw Dave Moyer winning the P12 race in an impressive solo effort and Burnham dominating the Cat 3s in their patented manner. By the time it came to suit up for the Cat 4s I was pretty much toasted. Up nearly 12 hours and with nothing to eat all day bar a bowl of oatmeal and a banana. Didn't bother warming up. Tailgunning it from the start. Hot as Heck. Nothing in the legs that could allow me to move up. Dropped after 5 laps. I TT'd it for a few more - not able to sustain the effort. Jumped onto the back of the pack when they came around with 5 to go. No problem staying with them this time. At this stage all attacks had been reeled in and it was clear it was going to be a sprint finish. We all knew who was going to win that, which he did easily, so the only question to be resolved was who was going to take 2nd. Turned out to be Q from Project 5 - one of the few who do well at both Cobb Park and the State Crit.
After that is was a couple of hours of teardown and clearup, followed by a post-mortem over a burger and a couple of pints of stout. Then home for a 10 hour sleep that a baby would be proud of.
I raced. I left it out there. I got dropped. I had fun.
Some notes:
For the 2nd year in a row not one Cat 1/2 lady bothered to show up.
I have only encountered one team in Illinois that ever displays bad sportsmanship. More of the same today and they got called out publicly for it.
The Peoria Cycling Classic has got to be the best club-organized cycling event in the state. Close to 100 volunteers, run like clockwork, smooth registration, great course and the only chance to race through closed streets in a real downtown - particularly impressive to pull it off with no significant sponsorship. It's also the State Crit Championships. As such, it's disappointing that it doesn't get a better attendance - it certainly deserves better. Teams that turned out in force were Mack, XXX, Burnham and SCW - lots of bigger teams out there that don't seem to value a top-notch course and a State Championship very highly. But, I'm biased.
The course itself is a 1 mile figure 8 with one loop about twice as long as the other. Very wide streets, no sharp corners and a deceptive elevation change that can really sap the legs after 15-20 trips around. The defining feature is a long back stretch into a headwind, turning into a sharp rise then turning into a 300 m tailwind finishing straight. Lots of options for the final sprint, jump early on the back stretch, go from the final corner or pick the best wheel to draft and come around in the final 100 m. No perfect way, it depends on your strengths and how well you gauge the other riders. Any way you risk being caught or letting a guy solo home. The course is also tempting for breakaways, get down low into the headwind, get a gap, pedal through every corner , and it requires a lot of work from the pack to be brought back.
Almost all of the races featured long-term breaks, some were brought back, some weren't.
Up at 5:30, helping with setup, registration, officials etc. Nice turnout from the juniors, who received a thorough soaking from the elements for their efforts. The rain stayed away for the rest of the day, moderate temperature until mid-afternoon when the mercury hit the discomfort level.
Very few of the local racers do well in this event, as everybody gets pretty worn out from volunteering duties, but it's also important to represent the jersey - most jump into two races.
I should really save my bullets for the last race of the day, but I'd have been working 10 hours at this stage so I knew I wouldn't be worth much. I decided to give what I got in the morning Masters race. Still pretty knackered from the days at ToAD, I wasn't very enthusiastic about warming up. Just rolled easily around a parking lot for 10 minutes and did a few cursory jumps up and down the street while the previous race wrapped up. Then it was 1 practice lap and roll up to the start.
After the nadir of lame groupthink racing that was the O'Fallon-Spring Prairie weekend, and being inspired by CBR Luke's SP race account - I have given up on looking for upgrade points or results. I'm going to go out there and race every race. To heck with the consequences, I'm going to have fun, leave it all out there and do my tiny bit to let people know that they've been in a race.
You might say that a Masters Open race is not the best place to try this, and you'd be right. With all the Cat 1s and 2s there I'd be well out of my depth. I was pretty worried about getting dropped early. So I did what I often do when I think I'm in trouble - go to the front.
Half a lap in and the field tucks in as we hit the headwind. I take the opportunity to move into the wind and move up. Not sure why I did what I did, it wasn't a conscious decision, I wanted to get some high speed practice on the corners, represent the jersey in our home race and get a good photo-op. My legs took over and I jumped. Hitting the line I already had a good gap, the announcer starts going crazy and at every corner someone is shouting for me. So I hammered it. I was thinking I could maybe last 3 or so laps, then retire back to the pack to be dropped gracefully when the hammer really went down - might as well enjoy all the vainglory while it lasted. After three laps I still had a gap of 12 seconds or so and the pack was content to let me hang. I was wondering how much longer I could last, then an unattached rider bridged up. First time that anyone has ever bridged up to any of my suicidal OTF efforts - this could be a new experience! He introduced himself as the brother of a teammate and we set to work, rotating every half lap or so. Now my focus changed to staying out there as long as possible. I had a very strong teammate who had already raced, He could sit in till we were caught. and would only have to work the remainder of the race. I knew he could still put out a strong 20 minutes, but maybe not the full 45 - so that would improve his chances of a good result.
The gap went up from 12 to 15 to 18 seconds, still never out of sight of the pack. My power began to drop after 20 minutes or so, my already poor cornering became very ragged and I was starting to get gapped by my breakmate. He had to slow a few times to allow me back on.The catch was made after 25 minutes That's about 23 minutes longer than my previous record. I had stayed out there for more than half the race.
Well, we had succeeded in shattering the pack. My breakmate managed to hang on to the back of the first group of 15 who came by, I didn't. And just barely managed to latch on to the next, laughing group, of about 10. Took me 3 laps or so, but I recovered and was able to take my pulls and go to the front without any problem.
We had 5 or more Team Mackers in the group including infamous cat54ever Mark Shea. When Mack is involved, it doesn't matter if we're racing for DFL, or whether they had already raced previously. Only one thing for sure - Macker vs Proctoid! IT'S ON!
Tried to jump away with 1 lap to go. Didn't get anywhere. One Macker jumped to the left on the back straight, I latched onto his wheel. Another came hammering up the right side, I found a jump and latched on. Up the incline and I went wide, he made room for a third Macker to come through on the inside. I went round and jumped onto his wheel. He wound up his sprint, I stayed in the draft and came round him with 50 meters to go. Worth it to hear race announcer Dangerous Dan Damotte screaming my name as I crossed the line. And it is Team Mack, after all, and it may be the first and last time that I get past Steve Driscoll in a sprint. We have to take our little victories where we find them.
Hmm.. 20 minutes on, 5 minutes recovery, 20 minutes on. I think I'm getting too used to my favourite interval session.
That race done I changed out of my kit and spent the next few hours working registration. Saw Dave Moyer winning the P12 race in an impressive solo effort and Burnham dominating the Cat 3s in their patented manner. By the time it came to suit up for the Cat 4s I was pretty much toasted. Up nearly 12 hours and with nothing to eat all day bar a bowl of oatmeal and a banana. Didn't bother warming up. Tailgunning it from the start. Hot as Heck. Nothing in the legs that could allow me to move up. Dropped after 5 laps. I TT'd it for a few more - not able to sustain the effort. Jumped onto the back of the pack when they came around with 5 to go. No problem staying with them this time. At this stage all attacks had been reeled in and it was clear it was going to be a sprint finish. We all knew who was going to win that, which he did easily, so the only question to be resolved was who was going to take 2nd. Turned out to be Q from Project 5 - one of the few who do well at both Cobb Park and the State Crit.
After that is was a couple of hours of teardown and clearup, followed by a post-mortem over a burger and a couple of pints of stout. Then home for a 10 hour sleep that a baby would be proud of.
I raced. I left it out there. I got dropped. I had fun.
Some notes:
For the 2nd year in a row not one Cat 1/2 lady bothered to show up.
I have only encountered one team in Illinois that ever displays bad sportsmanship. More of the same today and they got called out publicly for it.
Friday, May 21, 2010
2009 Road Season Wrapup
A fairly miserable 2009 road season it was. I think I only once finished in the top half of a race. major underachievement.
Crashed at Hillsboro but finished. Started to get dropped early in group rides and races immediately afterwards. Didn't get back to reasonable for for a couple of months. Did ok at O'fallon, tried to break 3 times, even tried to drive a 6 man group that got an accidental gap with 7 miles to go. Nothing doing. Everyone wanted to sit in for the sprint. A couple of miles later someone crashed spontaneously and a group of 10 got away. Those who did no work got on the podium.
Cobb Park was the only crit I really enjoyed. Managed to finish with the pack on half of my crits this year, versus zero last year. Got pulled at Snake alley. Dropped on the 2nd lap at Proctor - Despite that I managed to finish without getting lapped.
I'll do even fewer crits this year.
State TT was a disappointment. Overpriced and poorly organised.
Highlight of the season was a top 10 at the state RR. and not hitting the deck in the four crashes I was close to. Not much of a race, but uphill finishes are good for me. Could have ended up on the podium if I'd played it a bit smarter and not gotten myself boxed in.
Definitely stronger and with better endurance but not much to show for it. We'll see how 2010 pans out.
Crashed at Hillsboro but finished. Started to get dropped early in group rides and races immediately afterwards. Didn't get back to reasonable for for a couple of months. Did ok at O'fallon, tried to break 3 times, even tried to drive a 6 man group that got an accidental gap with 7 miles to go. Nothing doing. Everyone wanted to sit in for the sprint. A couple of miles later someone crashed spontaneously and a group of 10 got away. Those who did no work got on the podium.
Cobb Park was the only crit I really enjoyed. Managed to finish with the pack on half of my crits this year, versus zero last year. Got pulled at Snake alley. Dropped on the 2nd lap at Proctor - Despite that I managed to finish without getting lapped.
I'll do even fewer crits this year.
State TT was a disappointment. Overpriced and poorly organised.
Highlight of the season was a top 10 at the state RR. and not hitting the deck in the four crashes I was close to. Not much of a race, but uphill finishes are good for me. Could have ended up on the podium if I'd played it a bit smarter and not gotten myself boxed in.
Definitely stronger and with better endurance but not much to show for it. We'll see how 2010 pans out.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
USGP - Planet Bike Cup
Madison, WI
4 races and a revelation
-------------------------
Been looking forward to this weekend for several months. Doubly so since I found out that my favorite CX racer ever, Erwin Vervecken, was coming along to race.
Drove up to Madison on Friday, booked into the super 8 with every other cheapass CX racer, went to collect my numbers and check out the presentation, then hit up State St in search of pizza. Paisan’s did the trick, so good that we ordered a second one.
Dawn Saturday and woke up feeling pretty off. Forced some breakfast into me that wasn’t really worth it – got my stuff together with very little enthusiasm and headed for the course. There had been some significant rain the previous afternoon, but the course was fairly well drained – only a very moderate amount of mud.
Nice open start to a gradual right hander to a right hairpin and a gradual bend leading to the double barriers – no real bottleneck for the first km or so; that’s fairly typical for races with large numbers. Then a few muddy off camber turns, couple of bits of twisty stuff through the trees, a few heavy straight stretches with plenty of passing opportunities, couple of pavement hairpins into an extended wood section with tricky, tight off camber corners, up a hill into a right hand turn and a sharp left to the hillside strangler, steep hill with a set of four railroad ties, tricky variable radius off camber curves to the start/finish straight.
There were 4 swooping off-camber sections that were problematic in the mud, stay high and risk sliding off, go low and you might get stuck in a rut or not have the traction to get back up.
First practice lap with about 35 psi in the tires I was bouncing around way too much, 2nd lap I bled down to something below 30 psi and it was night and day. Hooking up well and smooth as buttah on the straights. Almost riding on the rims, but with only one pavement section that wasn’t a problem. Recently converting to tubeless was definitely a help – anyone who ran tubulars certainly had an advantage.
So, it was an open course, not very technical, fast but heavy going in parts. Keeping it upright would be important.
Can’t fault the organization anywhere. Call ups by order of registration, announcers keeping it exciting, even for the 4s race, starting grid, plentiful bike washes (very much appreciated), pits, more officials than you could shake a disgruntled bike racer fist at; it was all very pro.
I line up in the third row with no idea how I was going to do. We receive our instructions – no kicking, gouging within eyeshot of small children etc. - and we’re off! I don’t feel like I’m going fast but a gap opens up in front and I shoot through, then another one, shoot through that as well, round the corner, losing and gaining places then the whole field brakes for the hairpin and we simultaneously fishtail skid 30 metres – everyone keep it upright and we get round that ok, then the next turn and the slight uphill to the barriers.
By the first turn I was hit with that curious taste of mercury, blood and ashes in the mouth that one usually gets midway through the last lap of the hardest race of the year. By the second turn I had a rasping dry throat, by the third I was overheated, by the fourth nearly shivering. Something was not right. Nothing to do but maintain my position as best I could and hope that my body would recover. It never did, I gradually felt worse but somehow my legs kept turning. I lost a few places here and there, guys would bury themselves to pass me, then blow up and I’d pass them at my cruising speed. Can’t recall catching many people but the attrition rate was pretty high and crashes lost folks lots of time. I only made one serious mistake, trying to ride the double off camber on the high side and sliding out, losing five positions that took me a lap to get back. I also messed up the entrance to the hillside strangler on each of the first four laps, either botching my dismount or losing my footing on the ultra-slippy steps and sending the bike under the fencing, but didn’t lose any placings. Otherwise, I took the corners pretty conservatively, using the outrigger to rail some of the fast corners and negotiating my way through the off cambers and ruts without doing anything stupid. One of my favorite things about cross is the way lines can change each lap and you have to keep your wits about you to keep aware of this. With the course rapidly drying, many corners became deeply rutted and sketchy, while previously unnegotiable parts became suddenly rideable. The tracks in the straightaways also became quite loamy and one was faster to just ride in the grass to the side. Paying attention to this helped me quite a lot.
There was a group of 6 or 7 a few turns ahead of me that I came close to catching on the last lap, but never quite made it. The last time up the hill I was flawless, but a guy who I had caught and presumed to be a lapped rider produced an astonishing running burst to pass and gap me with enough space to make it over the finish before I could catch him again. Lesson learned; presume nothing.
That was it. I came home pretty dissatisfied and with a serious side stitch. Astonishingly, I was placed comfortably in the top 20 of 90 starters. I didn’t deserve it.
With an hour to kill, I chugged down a liter of powerade in one go, chilled for a bit, trying to take it all in, grabbed the singlespeed and headed for the line for more of the same. No tubeless on this setup, but I still reduced pressure to close to riding on the rims and hoped that the rapidly drying course would compensate for the lack of grip on my worn rear tire. SS is a lot of fun and features riders of cat 1-5 abilities. We lined up behind the 2/3 field and witnessed the most spectacular starting crash I’ve ever seen. Bodies flying everywhere, must have been about thirty bikes piled up. A couple of bike fatalities but no serious personal injuries.
I did what I could. Didn’t slack, kept it upright the whole race with no notable mistakes, enjoyed the plentiful rear wheel slides that made cornering that much quicker, and didn’t come last. A couple of people got away from me that wouldn’t have if I were fresh, 42*18 gear worked great, 42*17 would have been perfect with fresh legs. It was a lot of fun catching about two dozen of the 90 or so Cat 2/3 racers and just practicing my cornering and dialing in the course. Amazing what grades you can get up when you have no choice.
With two laps to go I felt a strange pain in my lower quads, one I normally don’t get. I looked down and, sure enough, my saddle had started slipping. I spent most of the rest of the race just hammering out of the saddle and had a revelation – I was going faster. Hurt like hell, but I was getting up to speed way quicker out of every corner and actually catching people much sooner than I expected. And managing to recover in the coasting sections as well. I had forgotten the intensity of cross and had been ignoring my rules: If you're in your happy place, downshift and go harder. There's plenty of time for recovery later.
Despite feeling well out of sorts, I simply hadn't been going hard enough. My lollygagging had thrown away a top 10 on a course that really suited me.
I'll keep Sunday brief. Mrs F's birthday. Same swanky restaurant as Erwin and the UCI bigwigs (thanks Chris from Team Magnus). I had the wild boar, Erwin had the lamb chops. Too much rich food. Managed to digest it but not breakfast the next morning. I was still wiping the barf off my bars when the whistle went.
Second row start this time. Lungs actually felt great,, I was ready to apply my newly refound Go Harder philosophy, but the legs had nothing; empty. Went backwards from the start, the Pegasus guy who took the holeshot went down on the first hairpin and the field compressed. Found a nice inside line but the fool behind me decided to muscle in to the minuscule inside space as well and took both of us out. My own fault for even leaving a chink of light there and not protecting it better. Lost 10 places there, a few more on the next corner and a few more coming to the barriers. Simply couldn't respond, cruising speed was fine, I could even up the pace a bit here and there but that top end was AWOL. Saturday's exertions sure sapped the legs.
The course was only a little changed from the previous day, a bit faster, only slightly muddy from the dew but drying up fast, a few more twisty bits with a couple of the off-cambers made easier. Instead of the railroad ties, we now rode up stranglers hill, descended into a steep hairpin and rode up again. Without practise, I wasn't even going to attempt it so I dismounted at the top, ran down, made the tight turn and ran up again. I passed two people on the first lap by doing this and lost no places or time on any lap. Amazingly, most people rode the whole thing but I didn't trust my legs or the slippery turn at the bottom. I also avoided that extra effort and feel that I was able to catch a good few later who fatigued from riding this section.
The first two laps consisted of me going backwards, lap 3 I stabilized my position, laps 4 and 5 I pulled a couple of baller moves on tired groups of riders and caught large numbers. Crossed the finish line 15 places lower than Saturday - could and should have been a lot worse.
The singlespeed race was fun. I was gapped and in last place by the first bend, nothing in the legs whatsoever and really had to dig deep not to DFL. We caught the tail of the 2/3 race stalled on the first off-camber section and I was looking forward to catching loads more 2/3s like Saturday, but it never happened. They just rode away from me. My only goal now was not to get lapped. Coming to the bell lap I thought I had plenty of time between me and the 2/3 leader but I wasted too much time goofing off on the hill with the Pegasus riders and then bobbled badly on the last rutted off-camber. The leader caught me coming into the finishing straight and I was pulled. Bit of a bummer but that's how it goes.
Anyway, an enjoyable weekend. I learned a lot and remembered a lot. Funny how the lungs let you down one day and the legs the next. I'm due a breakthrough result sometime this season. My results in the cat 4 were better than I deserved, considering how I raced so badly, so I must be doing something right. I need to keep training and ensure that I come to the races well-prepared in mind and body. Someday it'll happen - hopefully, I didn't throw away this year's chance already.
4 races and a revelation
-------------------------
Been looking forward to this weekend for several months. Doubly so since I found out that my favorite CX racer ever, Erwin Vervecken, was coming along to race.
Drove up to Madison on Friday, booked into the super 8 with every other cheapass CX racer, went to collect my numbers and check out the presentation, then hit up State St in search of pizza. Paisan’s did the trick, so good that we ordered a second one.
Dawn Saturday and woke up feeling pretty off. Forced some breakfast into me that wasn’t really worth it – got my stuff together with very little enthusiasm and headed for the course. There had been some significant rain the previous afternoon, but the course was fairly well drained – only a very moderate amount of mud.
Nice open start to a gradual right hander to a right hairpin and a gradual bend leading to the double barriers – no real bottleneck for the first km or so; that’s fairly typical for races with large numbers. Then a few muddy off camber turns, couple of bits of twisty stuff through the trees, a few heavy straight stretches with plenty of passing opportunities, couple of pavement hairpins into an extended wood section with tricky, tight off camber corners, up a hill into a right hand turn and a sharp left to the hillside strangler, steep hill with a set of four railroad ties, tricky variable radius off camber curves to the start/finish straight.
There were 4 swooping off-camber sections that were problematic in the mud, stay high and risk sliding off, go low and you might get stuck in a rut or not have the traction to get back up.
First practice lap with about 35 psi in the tires I was bouncing around way too much, 2nd lap I bled down to something below 30 psi and it was night and day. Hooking up well and smooth as buttah on the straights. Almost riding on the rims, but with only one pavement section that wasn’t a problem. Recently converting to tubeless was definitely a help – anyone who ran tubulars certainly had an advantage.
So, it was an open course, not very technical, fast but heavy going in parts. Keeping it upright would be important.
Can’t fault the organization anywhere. Call ups by order of registration, announcers keeping it exciting, even for the 4s race, starting grid, plentiful bike washes (very much appreciated), pits, more officials than you could shake a disgruntled bike racer fist at; it was all very pro.
I line up in the third row with no idea how I was going to do. We receive our instructions – no kicking, gouging within eyeshot of small children etc. - and we’re off! I don’t feel like I’m going fast but a gap opens up in front and I shoot through, then another one, shoot through that as well, round the corner, losing and gaining places then the whole field brakes for the hairpin and we simultaneously fishtail skid 30 metres – everyone keep it upright and we get round that ok, then the next turn and the slight uphill to the barriers.
By the first turn I was hit with that curious taste of mercury, blood and ashes in the mouth that one usually gets midway through the last lap of the hardest race of the year. By the second turn I had a rasping dry throat, by the third I was overheated, by the fourth nearly shivering. Something was not right. Nothing to do but maintain my position as best I could and hope that my body would recover. It never did, I gradually felt worse but somehow my legs kept turning. I lost a few places here and there, guys would bury themselves to pass me, then blow up and I’d pass them at my cruising speed. Can’t recall catching many people but the attrition rate was pretty high and crashes lost folks lots of time. I only made one serious mistake, trying to ride the double off camber on the high side and sliding out, losing five positions that took me a lap to get back. I also messed up the entrance to the hillside strangler on each of the first four laps, either botching my dismount or losing my footing on the ultra-slippy steps and sending the bike under the fencing, but didn’t lose any placings. Otherwise, I took the corners pretty conservatively, using the outrigger to rail some of the fast corners and negotiating my way through the off cambers and ruts without doing anything stupid. One of my favorite things about cross is the way lines can change each lap and you have to keep your wits about you to keep aware of this. With the course rapidly drying, many corners became deeply rutted and sketchy, while previously unnegotiable parts became suddenly rideable. The tracks in the straightaways also became quite loamy and one was faster to just ride in the grass to the side. Paying attention to this helped me quite a lot.
There was a group of 6 or 7 a few turns ahead of me that I came close to catching on the last lap, but never quite made it. The last time up the hill I was flawless, but a guy who I had caught and presumed to be a lapped rider produced an astonishing running burst to pass and gap me with enough space to make it over the finish before I could catch him again. Lesson learned; presume nothing.
That was it. I came home pretty dissatisfied and with a serious side stitch. Astonishingly, I was placed comfortably in the top 20 of 90 starters. I didn’t deserve it.
With an hour to kill, I chugged down a liter of powerade in one go, chilled for a bit, trying to take it all in, grabbed the singlespeed and headed for the line for more of the same. No tubeless on this setup, but I still reduced pressure to close to riding on the rims and hoped that the rapidly drying course would compensate for the lack of grip on my worn rear tire. SS is a lot of fun and features riders of cat 1-5 abilities. We lined up behind the 2/3 field and witnessed the most spectacular starting crash I’ve ever seen. Bodies flying everywhere, must have been about thirty bikes piled up. A couple of bike fatalities but no serious personal injuries.
I did what I could. Didn’t slack, kept it upright the whole race with no notable mistakes, enjoyed the plentiful rear wheel slides that made cornering that much quicker, and didn’t come last. A couple of people got away from me that wouldn’t have if I were fresh, 42*18 gear worked great, 42*17 would have been perfect with fresh legs. It was a lot of fun catching about two dozen of the 90 or so Cat 2/3 racers and just practicing my cornering and dialing in the course. Amazing what grades you can get up when you have no choice.
With two laps to go I felt a strange pain in my lower quads, one I normally don’t get. I looked down and, sure enough, my saddle had started slipping. I spent most of the rest of the race just hammering out of the saddle and had a revelation – I was going faster. Hurt like hell, but I was getting up to speed way quicker out of every corner and actually catching people much sooner than I expected. And managing to recover in the coasting sections as well. I had forgotten the intensity of cross and had been ignoring my rules: If you're in your happy place, downshift and go harder. There's plenty of time for recovery later.
Despite feeling well out of sorts, I simply hadn't been going hard enough. My lollygagging had thrown away a top 10 on a course that really suited me.
I'll keep Sunday brief. Mrs F's birthday. Same swanky restaurant as Erwin and the UCI bigwigs (thanks Chris from Team Magnus). I had the wild boar, Erwin had the lamb chops. Too much rich food. Managed to digest it but not breakfast the next morning. I was still wiping the barf off my bars when the whistle went.
Second row start this time. Lungs actually felt great,, I was ready to apply my newly refound Go Harder philosophy, but the legs had nothing; empty. Went backwards from the start, the Pegasus guy who took the holeshot went down on the first hairpin and the field compressed. Found a nice inside line but the fool behind me decided to muscle in to the minuscule inside space as well and took both of us out. My own fault for even leaving a chink of light there and not protecting it better. Lost 10 places there, a few more on the next corner and a few more coming to the barriers. Simply couldn't respond, cruising speed was fine, I could even up the pace a bit here and there but that top end was AWOL. Saturday's exertions sure sapped the legs.
The course was only a little changed from the previous day, a bit faster, only slightly muddy from the dew but drying up fast, a few more twisty bits with a couple of the off-cambers made easier. Instead of the railroad ties, we now rode up stranglers hill, descended into a steep hairpin and rode up again. Without practise, I wasn't even going to attempt it so I dismounted at the top, ran down, made the tight turn and ran up again. I passed two people on the first lap by doing this and lost no places or time on any lap. Amazingly, most people rode the whole thing but I didn't trust my legs or the slippery turn at the bottom. I also avoided that extra effort and feel that I was able to catch a good few later who fatigued from riding this section.
The first two laps consisted of me going backwards, lap 3 I stabilized my position, laps 4 and 5 I pulled a couple of baller moves on tired groups of riders and caught large numbers. Crossed the finish line 15 places lower than Saturday - could and should have been a lot worse.
The singlespeed race was fun. I was gapped and in last place by the first bend, nothing in the legs whatsoever and really had to dig deep not to DFL. We caught the tail of the 2/3 race stalled on the first off-camber section and I was looking forward to catching loads more 2/3s like Saturday, but it never happened. They just rode away from me. My only goal now was not to get lapped. Coming to the bell lap I thought I had plenty of time between me and the 2/3 leader but I wasted too much time goofing off on the hill with the Pegasus riders and then bobbled badly on the last rutted off-camber. The leader caught me coming into the finishing straight and I was pulled. Bit of a bummer but that's how it goes.
Anyway, an enjoyable weekend. I learned a lot and remembered a lot. Funny how the lungs let you down one day and the legs the next. I'm due a breakthrough result sometime this season. My results in the cat 4 were better than I deserved, considering how I raced so badly, so I must be doing something right. I need to keep training and ensure that I come to the races well-prepared in mind and body. Someday it'll happen - hopefully, I didn't throw away this year's chance already.
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