I'm not as funny as JPows and I neither sing nor dance in this episode, but I thought it was pretty entertaining. Here it is. Hope you enjoy!
UnderTheBarriers #1 from Kim Bailey on Vimeo.
Race report, etc. to follow!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Under The Barriers Episode 1
Kim Bailey's easily one of the coolest people I've had the pleasure of dealing with this 'cross season. She's the closest I have to a 'local' teammate, she's welcoming, and has done way more for me than I deserve! Plus, her dog is pretty awesome. I crashed with her last weekend before the race in Winston-Salem, and she had the idea for a spoof/homage to "Behind the Barriers".
I'm not as funny as JPows and I neither sing nor dance in this episode, but I thought it was pretty entertaining. Here it is. Hope you enjoy!
Race report, etc. to follow!
I'm not as funny as JPows and I neither sing nor dance in this episode, but I thought it was pretty entertaining. Here it is. Hope you enjoy!
Race report, etc. to follow!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Rambling and planning
Today's my birthday! Woohoo! I don't really make a big deal about my birthday... it's not exactly like I was actively involved in the process. In actuality, I turned around and tried to head back in. But I do like free stuff, and my favorite acquisition this year so far has been a 2001 Specialized Hardrock... even though that wasn't a birthday present.
I'm not a real big fan of Specialized as a company. It's the punk rocker in me that rebels against the norm. Plus, "innovate or die" is a stupid slogan. But, I've been looking for a mountain bike for a while and I didn't have to exchange any cash for this. I love a good trade.
Basically, I like road riding, but road racing irritates me. It hurts. Traditionally, I'm not fast, and I just get frustrated. I enjoyed the USA Crits Speedweeks. Not racing it, but traveling to watch the pro races-- standing on the side of the road and screaming at TMK in South Carolina's smallest towns, driving 3:30 to Athens to stand in the rain ALL DAY was a lot of fun! But actually participating in these races was less than exciting.
On the flip side of this, I LOVE RACING CYCLO-CROSS. I love training for 'cross, I love being in the dirt and the grass, I love driving my bike a lot more than pedaling it, I love the cold, I love how much it hurts. Most importantly, I love how fun it is even when you suck. Getting dropped in a road race is depressing, but since the field blows up so much in a 'cross race there isn't really any "getting dropped". I'm looking for a spring time competition that can be as fun and motivating as 'cross is in the winter.
I'd rather spend 3 hours in the woods on my 'cross bike any day over riding 3:30 to Lake Murray on my road bike. The 'cross bike isn't the best equipped bike for the trails though. I'd like to try other trails around here and I'd like to be able to hammer them a little bit harder. I'd also like to be able to ride with other people and go to other trails (FATS, Pisgah, Dupont) and not feel under equipped. This is where the mountain bike comes into play.
For awhile I resisted the urge to take up mountain biking. I thought road racing was more beautiful, classical and I enjoyed the persona of a roadie much more. After racing a season on the road, I'm looking for something a little bit different.
So now that I've got a mountain bike, I'm looking at mountain bike races in which I can participate. Winter short track in Charlotte is the obvious choice. NC Cyclo-Cross wraps up on January 23, and there are short track races every Sunday after that until February 13 (and then there's more 'cross racing in Knoxville on February 20 and 21!!!!). Short track is an obvious transition from 'cross. It's short, fast and hard! I'm pretty much committed already! After this is gets a little bit hazy.
Last year I stopped racing at the beginning of May. Took May off and started training the second week in June. This meant I got May to rest, relax and enjoy time as a normal person. Plus I have a girlfriend that likes to spend the occasional weekend with me. Next year's training is even more important to me. I want to start racing 'cross in September next year and then go to collegiate nationals in January (2012). So getting some solid training in before this seems like a pretty good idea.
However, we have a Southern Regional Series for mountain bike racing (http://www.southernclassicmtb.org/). It runs March-August. The races are pretty spread out. So it may be possible. Plus, one of those races is a 10 minute bike ride from my house... DUH! It's tempting to keep racing through the summer. You know, like most normal bike racers. But I'm not a normal bike racer. I'm a CROSS racer, so I should probably use some of that time to be training, not just racing. Who knows.
There's also no reason to QUIT road racing. I just don't think I'm going to put as much emphasis on it as I did previously. There's no reason I have to choose one over the other, is there?
So my new challenge is to try to figure out how to transition from 'cross into winter mountain biking in February, then to cross-country racing in the spring (maybe with the occasional crit and spectating at Speedweeks), and then how to fit in training for the 2011-2012 'cross season. I'm not very good at making decisions.
I imagine this reads like I have no idea what I was trying to say. I don't really. This should be funny to read in the morning.
I'm not a real big fan of Specialized as a company. It's the punk rocker in me that rebels against the norm. Plus, "innovate or die" is a stupid slogan. But, I've been looking for a mountain bike for a while and I didn't have to exchange any cash for this. I love a good trade.
Basically, I like road riding, but road racing irritates me. It hurts. Traditionally, I'm not fast, and I just get frustrated. I enjoyed the USA Crits Speedweeks. Not racing it, but traveling to watch the pro races-- standing on the side of the road and screaming at TMK in South Carolina's smallest towns, driving 3:30 to Athens to stand in the rain ALL DAY was a lot of fun! But actually participating in these races was less than exciting.
On the flip side of this, I LOVE RACING CYCLO-CROSS. I love training for 'cross, I love being in the dirt and the grass, I love driving my bike a lot more than pedaling it, I love the cold, I love how much it hurts. Most importantly, I love how fun it is even when you suck. Getting dropped in a road race is depressing, but since the field blows up so much in a 'cross race there isn't really any "getting dropped". I'm looking for a spring time competition that can be as fun and motivating as 'cross is in the winter.
I'd rather spend 3 hours in the woods on my 'cross bike any day over riding 3:30 to Lake Murray on my road bike. The 'cross bike isn't the best equipped bike for the trails though. I'd like to try other trails around here and I'd like to be able to hammer them a little bit harder. I'd also like to be able to ride with other people and go to other trails (FATS, Pisgah, Dupont) and not feel under equipped. This is where the mountain bike comes into play.
For awhile I resisted the urge to take up mountain biking. I thought road racing was more beautiful, classical and I enjoyed the persona of a roadie much more. After racing a season on the road, I'm looking for something a little bit different.
So now that I've got a mountain bike, I'm looking at mountain bike races in which I can participate. Winter short track in Charlotte is the obvious choice. NC Cyclo-Cross wraps up on January 23, and there are short track races every Sunday after that until February 13 (and then there's more 'cross racing in Knoxville on February 20 and 21!!!!). Short track is an obvious transition from 'cross. It's short, fast and hard! I'm pretty much committed already! After this is gets a little bit hazy.
Last year I stopped racing at the beginning of May. Took May off and started training the second week in June. This meant I got May to rest, relax and enjoy time as a normal person. Plus I have a girlfriend that likes to spend the occasional weekend with me. Next year's training is even more important to me. I want to start racing 'cross in September next year and then go to collegiate nationals in January (2012). So getting some solid training in before this seems like a pretty good idea.
However, we have a Southern Regional Series for mountain bike racing (http://www.southernclassicmtb.org/). It runs March-August. The races are pretty spread out. So it may be possible. Plus, one of those races is a 10 minute bike ride from my house... DUH! It's tempting to keep racing through the summer. You know, like most normal bike racers. But I'm not a normal bike racer. I'm a CROSS racer, so I should probably use some of that time to be training, not just racing. Who knows.
There's also no reason to QUIT road racing. I just don't think I'm going to put as much emphasis on it as I did previously. There's no reason I have to choose one over the other, is there?
So my new challenge is to try to figure out how to transition from 'cross into winter mountain biking in February, then to cross-country racing in the spring (maybe with the occasional crit and spectating at Speedweeks), and then how to fit in training for the 2011-2012 'cross season. I'm not very good at making decisions.
I imagine this reads like I have no idea what I was trying to say. I don't really. This should be funny to read in the morning.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
CBC Cyclo-Cross 12/5
I have an exam I should be studying for. Instead I will continue my blogging marathon over a bowl of tortellini-- my personal favorite variety of stuffed pasta.
Let's hop in the cyclo-cross time machine and go back to 12/5/09. I loaded up the car and made the drive to Greensboro, NC for a race at the Bur-Mil Park and it was good. It was muddy and gross and cold-- in the 30's. Only ten people lined up! I killed the wet stuff, rode in shorts and short sleeves, crashed carrying my spare wheels to the pits, and finished on the podium. I won some wool socks and a mini-pump. I carry that pump with me on every ride now!
It seems fitting that on the day that one upgrade point I earned in Greensboro "expired", I would earn my second ever upgrade point.
Lunch related interjection- how does a microwave choose which pieces of pasta to overcook and which to leave frozen?
I loaded up the Suzuki RENO (Really Enraging, Never Own one) and shipped down to Charleston for the last race of Charleston Bicycle Company's inaugural cyclo-cross series. The course was a good mix of pavement, grass, sand and single track complete with two back to back run ups. The only down side-it was SHORT. We were going to do a lot of laps, which would be tiring.
The race was a combined 1/2/3/4 race, but the 1/2s and the 3/4s would be scored separately. I was scared that I would try to ride with the fast group of 1/2s and end up blowing up, and that the 45 minute race (15 minutes longer than normal) would kill me.
Fortunately, 45 minutes didn't kill me but doing 10-11 laps on that short course almost did.
The first sand pit was deep, and apparently the ruts got filled in every lap. It was rideable, but you were grinding and mashing at the end. Lots of people, myself included, were getting bogged down and dismounting about halfway through. For a couple of laps part of the course tape was down, so you could ride the grass longer and carry more speed into the sand. Too bad somebody found out and fixed it.
The hills were rideable too, though apparently not for me. The people who were riding were mashing and grinding (again) at the top. I thought it was just as fast to run, but since the bottom of the first run up was a u-turn into the next one, people who rode were faster at the bottom and then coming into the next hill.
The u-turn at the bottom especially kicked my ass. I was usually still trying to get into my pedals at the bottom and going so fast that I was slipping, sliding and skidding through the turn everytime.
All in all, I felt pretty good. Lots of riding alone again since the field got pretty strung out. The leader of the 1/2 race lapped me, and I was passing a lot of slower lapped guys. The entire race, I could see one guy just a few sections in front of me and two guys a few sections behind me. A few times I could see my chasers literally a corner behind me, and ceded my position to being caught. But, those two never got me. I don't know what I did to stay away from them, but I did.
Came across the line 7th on the course-- 5th in the 3/4 race. Obviously, my best finish of the season, but I was shooting for a podium. Oh well!
I'm really excited that I felt so good for 45 minutes of racing. Makes me even more excited to go up a category... eventually. I know Charleston is a smaller pond than North Carolina, but I'm still pretty happy with myself.
Let's hop in the cyclo-cross time machine and go back to 12/5/09. I loaded up the car and made the drive to Greensboro, NC for a race at the Bur-Mil Park and it was good. It was muddy and gross and cold-- in the 30's. Only ten people lined up! I killed the wet stuff, rode in shorts and short sleeves, crashed carrying my spare wheels to the pits, and finished on the podium. I won some wool socks and a mini-pump. I carry that pump with me on every ride now!
It seems fitting that on the day that one upgrade point I earned in Greensboro "expired", I would earn my second ever upgrade point.
Lunch related interjection- how does a microwave choose which pieces of pasta to overcook and which to leave frozen?
I loaded up the Suzuki RENO (Really Enraging, Never Own one) and shipped down to Charleston for the last race of Charleston Bicycle Company's inaugural cyclo-cross series. The course was a good mix of pavement, grass, sand and single track complete with two back to back run ups. The only down side-it was SHORT. We were going to do a lot of laps, which would be tiring.
The race was a combined 1/2/3/4 race, but the 1/2s and the 3/4s would be scored separately. I was scared that I would try to ride with the fast group of 1/2s and end up blowing up, and that the 45 minute race (15 minutes longer than normal) would kill me.
Fortunately, 45 minutes didn't kill me but doing 10-11 laps on that short course almost did.
The first sand pit was deep, and apparently the ruts got filled in every lap. It was rideable, but you were grinding and mashing at the end. Lots of people, myself included, were getting bogged down and dismounting about halfway through. For a couple of laps part of the course tape was down, so you could ride the grass longer and carry more speed into the sand. Too bad somebody found out and fixed it.
The hills were rideable too, though apparently not for me. The people who were riding were mashing and grinding (again) at the top. I thought it was just as fast to run, but since the bottom of the first run up was a u-turn into the next one, people who rode were faster at the bottom and then coming into the next hill.
The u-turn at the bottom especially kicked my ass. I was usually still trying to get into my pedals at the bottom and going so fast that I was slipping, sliding and skidding through the turn everytime.
All in all, I felt pretty good. Lots of riding alone again since the field got pretty strung out. The leader of the 1/2 race lapped me, and I was passing a lot of slower lapped guys. The entire race, I could see one guy just a few sections in front of me and two guys a few sections behind me. A few times I could see my chasers literally a corner behind me, and ceded my position to being caught. But, those two never got me. I don't know what I did to stay away from them, but I did.
Came across the line 7th on the course-- 5th in the 3/4 race. Obviously, my best finish of the season, but I was shooting for a podium. Oh well!
I'm really excited that I felt so good for 45 minutes of racing. Makes me even more excited to go up a category... eventually. I know Charleston is a smaller pond than North Carolina, but I'm still pretty happy with myself.
A little November Round Up
I am a LAZY blogger. So instead of posting blogular reports about the North Carolina Grand Prix and the Georgia 'Cross Series in Palmetto, I'll just try to sum it up now. Roughly two and a half weeks later.
North Carolina Grand Prix 11/20-21
I really like this race! It's a super awesome course, and getting to stick around to watch the Elite races is pretty sweet.
On Saturday, I lost the race before the race. I ended up lined up on the third or fourth row right in the middle of the group. That wasn't a lot of fun.
I made up a good bit of ground after my somewhat poor start. I felt good over most of the course. There weren't any super tricky parts or anything that tripped me up. I love the double stair steps and I was actually able to ride the "wall" this time.
I got the bell and could see the group in front of me at the end of the start stretch. I started turning myself inside out to try to bring those guys back. I didn't know at the time, but that group would have put me in striking distance of the top ten. Never could bring them back and ended up 15th.
Sunday was a bit different. I usually feel better the second day of racing than the first. I guess I worked really hard yesterday, because I was TIRED down the stretch.
Started way strong-- top tenish. But it was like the front group had a big elastic band tied to our backs because we got hit like a tidal wave by 30 riders behind us who wanted to be in the front.
That's when the crashes started. Every corner for the first half lap. Seriously.
Anyway, I pushed hard to make up the ground I lost (my friend Joey, the Cycle-Smart Grassroots Bouncer, said he counted me back as far as 25th). One difference today was that I could not make it up "the wall". It was frosty/dewy in the morning, and I was spinning my back wheel at the top. Going down and sliding to the bottom seemed slower than running to me. The wooded climb also made me hurt today. I guess the fatigue from yesterday made it a bit tougher. I was hurting up the hill and then wishing I had some extra time to recover after.
The group in front of me was much closer today than yesterday, and I caught them at the bottom of the wall on the last lap. However, the group behind me caught me at the exact same time. There were five of us coming into the sprint. Went into the last corner in 4th wheel, and the guy in front of us started to slide out in the corner. I guess that was his strategy because he KILLED IT coming out of the corner. I tried to sprint, finished 18th.
Georgia 'Cross Series (Palmetto, GA) 11/28
The course was super tough. It really favored the mountain biker at heart. We started on a grass stretch and twisted into a long downhill gravel road. You better be in a good position going into the turn headed into the woods, because you weren't passing anybody from there. Lots of single track, some shortish climbs and then fast downhills. About halfway through the course there was a long run-up (for me). It was rutted and eroded and clay. I couldn't ride it, and I was able to make up a good bit of ground running.
After the run-up, it really opened up-- started to ride like a 'cross course. There was one more long uphill and then the best part of the course--the cow crap. We were riding on a farm (there were cows standing beside one part of the course), and a good many of the grassy sections had hoof-print pot holes and lots of cow crap.
The race was pretty uneventful. It rode like a mountain bike race but still hurt like a 'cross race. Lots of me riding alone, assuming that I was last.
I managed to catch two people in front of me coming into the finish, putting myself in another sprint situation. I took a really good, fast line coming to the finish line, but just got out powered by one of the riders. Came across 7th, not too badly.
North Carolina Grand Prix 11/20-21
I really like this race! It's a super awesome course, and getting to stick around to watch the Elite races is pretty sweet.
On Saturday, I lost the race before the race. I ended up lined up on the third or fourth row right in the middle of the group. That wasn't a lot of fun.
I made up a good bit of ground after my somewhat poor start. I felt good over most of the course. There weren't any super tricky parts or anything that tripped me up. I love the double stair steps and I was actually able to ride the "wall" this time.
I got the bell and could see the group in front of me at the end of the start stretch. I started turning myself inside out to try to bring those guys back. I didn't know at the time, but that group would have put me in striking distance of the top ten. Never could bring them back and ended up 15th.
Sunday was a bit different. I usually feel better the second day of racing than the first. I guess I worked really hard yesterday, because I was TIRED down the stretch.
Started way strong-- top tenish. But it was like the front group had a big elastic band tied to our backs because we got hit like a tidal wave by 30 riders behind us who wanted to be in the front.
That's when the crashes started. Every corner for the first half lap. Seriously.
Anyway, I pushed hard to make up the ground I lost (my friend Joey, the Cycle-Smart Grassroots Bouncer, said he counted me back as far as 25th). One difference today was that I could not make it up "the wall". It was frosty/dewy in the morning, and I was spinning my back wheel at the top. Going down and sliding to the bottom seemed slower than running to me. The wooded climb also made me hurt today. I guess the fatigue from yesterday made it a bit tougher. I was hurting up the hill and then wishing I had some extra time to recover after.
The group in front of me was much closer today than yesterday, and I caught them at the bottom of the wall on the last lap. However, the group behind me caught me at the exact same time. There were five of us coming into the sprint. Went into the last corner in 4th wheel, and the guy in front of us started to slide out in the corner. I guess that was his strategy because he KILLED IT coming out of the corner. I tried to sprint, finished 18th.
Georgia 'Cross Series (Palmetto, GA) 11/28
The course was super tough. It really favored the mountain biker at heart. We started on a grass stretch and twisted into a long downhill gravel road. You better be in a good position going into the turn headed into the woods, because you weren't passing anybody from there. Lots of single track, some shortish climbs and then fast downhills. About halfway through the course there was a long run-up (for me). It was rutted and eroded and clay. I couldn't ride it, and I was able to make up a good bit of ground running.
After the run-up, it really opened up-- started to ride like a 'cross course. There was one more long uphill and then the best part of the course--the cow crap. We were riding on a farm (there were cows standing beside one part of the course), and a good many of the grassy sections had hoof-print pot holes and lots of cow crap.
The race was pretty uneventful. It rode like a mountain bike race but still hurt like a 'cross race. Lots of me riding alone, assuming that I was last.
I managed to catch two people in front of me coming into the finish, putting myself in another sprint situation. I took a really good, fast line coming to the finish line, but just got out powered by one of the riders. Came across 7th, not too badly.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Greenville/North Carolina weekend (drink everytime you see a hyphen)
Like always, I've waited forever to post my weekend wrap-up. In fact, I've almost finished packing for my NEXT race, before blogging about my last one.
Basically, I took a few weekends off. Got sick. Trained a lot. Went out of town with my girlfriend. Got pumped to race again.
Saturday- State Cyclo-Cross Championships, Greenville, SC
Unfortunately, the week before the race was the busiest week I think we've ever had at work. I was resting on the bike, but working my ass off at work. I was tired, sore, and missing out on riding time by staying late in the afternoons. My back is still pretty sore from unloading boxes.
Same course as the last races in Greenville. A few changes. Instead of the straight ride into the run-up, there was a pretty awesome drop, u-turn back uphill, u-turn back downhill, u-turn into the run-up. That's a lot of hyphens! This section was rather tricky-- for me at least.
Got off to a pretty lame start. We went down a long gravel road into the first set of barriers and then a u-turn (hyphen!) onto a golf cart path that was too fast to spin my 40x12. I just didn't hit the line hard enough, and run into some trouble when someone crossed my front wheel as I was dismounting.
Tracked my way back up through the pack. Leveled off somewhere in the 10-7 position. Passed one guy that I raced really close with back in October and told him we belonged at the front. He passed me later.
Raced most of the day with a giant snot and/or drool bubble on my face. A few people had some bad luck. Plenty of flats today. Ended up 6th. One spot out of the money- shit!
Sunday-North Carolina Cyclo-Cross Series, Charlotte, NC
Huge turnout for this one! 60 Cat. 4s lined up at the start. Started the day with a broken spoke on my rear tubular wheel. Looked like I was running the Grifo XS file treads on the back. It made things a little bit slick.
Got off to a much better start. Somewhere in the top 10. The leaders had already gotten away. I could still see them, but I wasn't putting much hope into bringing them back.
On the secondish lap I botched a dismount. I think the all of the sand from this weekend was interfering with my pedal. I stayed up, but kind of laid the bike down on its left side. As I was running up the hill, my bike felt really heavy. The rear brake had gotten jammed under the back wheel. I lost roughly ten spots fixing it and getting going again.
Nothing exciting after that. I felt awesome riding the sand-- I usually can't do that. The Grifo XS wasn't the greatest for getting through the sand and on the last lap I just didn't have enough momentum to get through it and kind of tumbled down.
Finished 20th. A dude from Duke crashed in front of me twice on the last lap. This was pretty irritating since I was just hitting that "ALRIGHT LAST LAPPPPP LET'S FUCKING DO THIS" energy surge I get sometimes. I probably could have gotten away with a top 15. I definitely think I could have gotten away with a top 10 if I didn't do things like fall over or kill my bike.
Literally just registered for the North Carolina Grand Prix. I really enjoyed this race last year. I told myself earlier that two top tens this weekend would be enough for me to want to upgrade. Maybe just one top ten and a top five at the Georgia race on 11/28. However, coach said something about fighting for podiums, and other people upgrading too quickly. Makes a lot of sense, and I wish I didn't agree-but I do. I don't understand how my goal to upgrade keeps getting delayed--being slow probably has something to do with it-- I'm just ready to get out of the 4's.
Alright--bed-time. Departing for Hendersonville tomorrow.
Basically, I took a few weekends off. Got sick. Trained a lot. Went out of town with my girlfriend. Got pumped to race again.
Saturday- State Cyclo-Cross Championships, Greenville, SC
Unfortunately, the week before the race was the busiest week I think we've ever had at work. I was resting on the bike, but working my ass off at work. I was tired, sore, and missing out on riding time by staying late in the afternoons. My back is still pretty sore from unloading boxes.
Same course as the last races in Greenville. A few changes. Instead of the straight ride into the run-up, there was a pretty awesome drop, u-turn back uphill, u-turn back downhill, u-turn into the run-up. That's a lot of hyphens! This section was rather tricky-- for me at least.
Got off to a pretty lame start. We went down a long gravel road into the first set of barriers and then a u-turn (hyphen!) onto a golf cart path that was too fast to spin my 40x12. I just didn't hit the line hard enough, and run into some trouble when someone crossed my front wheel as I was dismounting.
Tracked my way back up through the pack. Leveled off somewhere in the 10-7 position. Passed one guy that I raced really close with back in October and told him we belonged at the front. He passed me later.
Raced most of the day with a giant snot and/or drool bubble on my face. A few people had some bad luck. Plenty of flats today. Ended up 6th. One spot out of the money- shit!
Sunday-North Carolina Cyclo-Cross Series, Charlotte, NC
Huge turnout for this one! 60 Cat. 4s lined up at the start. Started the day with a broken spoke on my rear tubular wheel. Looked like I was running the Grifo XS file treads on the back. It made things a little bit slick.
Got off to a much better start. Somewhere in the top 10. The leaders had already gotten away. I could still see them, but I wasn't putting much hope into bringing them back.
On the secondish lap I botched a dismount. I think the all of the sand from this weekend was interfering with my pedal. I stayed up, but kind of laid the bike down on its left side. As I was running up the hill, my bike felt really heavy. The rear brake had gotten jammed under the back wheel. I lost roughly ten spots fixing it and getting going again.
Nothing exciting after that. I felt awesome riding the sand-- I usually can't do that. The Grifo XS wasn't the greatest for getting through the sand and on the last lap I just didn't have enough momentum to get through it and kind of tumbled down.
Finished 20th. A dude from Duke crashed in front of me twice on the last lap. This was pretty irritating since I was just hitting that "ALRIGHT LAST LAPPPPP LET'S FUCKING DO THIS" energy surge I get sometimes. I probably could have gotten away with a top 15. I definitely think I could have gotten away with a top 10 if I didn't do things like fall over or kill my bike.
Literally just registered for the North Carolina Grand Prix. I really enjoyed this race last year. I told myself earlier that two top tens this weekend would be enough for me to want to upgrade. Maybe just one top ten and a top five at the Georgia race on 11/28. However, coach said something about fighting for podiums, and other people upgrading too quickly. Makes a lot of sense, and I wish I didn't agree-but I do. I don't understand how my goal to upgrade keeps getting delayed--being slow probably has something to do with it-- I'm just ready to get out of the 4's.
Alright--bed-time. Departing for Hendersonville tomorrow.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Greenville Spinners' Cyclo-Cross Weekend
Returning to the promised land. The plot of grass, hills and sand that was formerly the Mill Stone Golf Village is where I raced my first real 'cross race last season, and the site of last year's state championships. This course is tough. I liked it a lot better than last year though. I'm blaming that on increased fitness... thanks Andy!
The course this year was more compact. The golf cart paths were pretty much avoided as transition areas and only half of the available space was used. I liked that much more than last years course, which kind of felt like two courses connected by the cart paths and parking lot. It was bumpy and twisty. Capped off by two sections of sand, a long grassy climb and a short, steep paved climb 200m before the finish.
Day 1:
Picked my old man up from his apartment and dragged him along with me to Greenville. Made our way out nice and early. The B race was starting at 10, so the course was completely open from the time we got there until the start of the race. Got registered, chose my tires (Grifo 32 front/Grifo XS rear), spray glued my number on, peeled it off and glued it on the right side, and then took off for one final lap.
Maybe ten minutes before the race I took off for a lap with Andy Baker. I wanted to see how the fast guys were going to ride the course and see what kind of advice he could provide. He made a comment about me being too fast to ride the B race, I told him to wait and see.
About halfway around the course, they started calling riders to the line. So I cut across the course to get back over to staging and lined up on the second row to listen to our pre-race speech. Do people really not know all of this stuff?
Got off to a strong start. Found myself in the front group of four. Ran both sand sections and found it to be just as fast and easier than trying to ride it. Murdered the barriers (they were so fast!) and ran the grassy hill, I also think this was just as fast to run, maybe that was just me.
On the second lap my group was starting to get a bit spread out, but everyone was still pretty much in contact with each other. I still had visions of a strong finish-- top five, maybe a podium, but that all went to shit pretty quickly.
On one of the off-cambers after the first sand pit my front wheel bounced up and turned hard to the right. I hit the ground primarily on my right shoulder and face. When I got up to start moving again, my rear wheel wasn't turning. The brake cable popped out of the cable stop on the top of the frame. For whatever reason in my panic on the side of the course, I couldn't get it back in to save my life. I basically went from 4th to 12th in one corner.
When I finally got back up I tried to ride hard, but my heart just wasn't in it anymore. I got caught and passed by two guys, finished as hard as I could (mostly because of my dad yelling on the sideline) and went back to the van. I was frustrated, felt like I had good legs today and I lost it in a stupid crash. That's not fast.
14th today. Bummed.
Day 2: Feel free to take a break here. Come back and read the rest tomorrow. Or get a coffee or something... I'm long-winded.
Same exact course with one addition: a barrier at the base of the grassy hill. I was so pumped about it that I was telling everyone I saw how cool it was and thanking every volunteer I saw.
I made my mind up on I-385 that I needed to take some air out of my tires today. 38 in the front and 40 in the back yesterday seemed pretty standard, but I was going to push it today. Ran 35 front and rear (both Grifo 32 tubulars). I thought it would give me some more traction in the off cambers and hopefully smooth the course out a little bit. I was nervous about my amateur gluing but there was only one way to find out how strong it was...
I know it was only 3-5 psi, but it made all of the difference, I swear.
I finished my pre-race routine a little bit earlier than normal today. That gave me time to sit at the van and get juiced up and sort of focus a little bit. I sat in a puddle of spray adhesive, but other than that it was good. When I went to line up 5 minutes before the start, the entire group was there... FUCK!
I squeezed in on the far right, on the second row. I didn't have high hopes of the guy in front of me killing the start, so I figured I was going to have to be an asshole. I got more than I gave though and got pinched off on the outside. Finally pushed my way into the single file line of riders, probably in 10th-12th place. Small groups were starting to form about 1/3 of the way through the first lap. I figured I had surrendered another day to a mediocre result all because of a shit start. Again, I was frustrated.
I started passing people as safely and quickly as I could. I didn't want to kill anyone this early in the race. I was slowing down to get through a turn or an obstacle, and then standing and going around people when it straightened out. Two or three dudes through the barriers, two or three through the first sand, a ton of dudes in the long sand section.
After the long sand section, I came up on a group of fiveish guys. My buddy Pat from Cycle-Center was in it. I was giving him shit about botching a remount after the sand, but my goal was to get up to him and hopefully the two of us could drag each other up to the next group of people. I got around his group, but I didn't see him with me. Oh well.
I finally came up on a group of two guys. I stuck with them for a majority of the race. We were 3rd-5th on the course. I had successfully ridden from my modest start, to the position where I felt like I should have been. At one point in the race, I thought that my 5th place finish was secure. We weren't catching the two guys up the road, and I thought we had put everyone else away. I rode the third lap like it was the second to last, setting up for a strong last lap. The only problem with that strategy was that at the end of the 3rd lap, the sign said 2 to go, not 1. The leaders were smashing the field so thoroughly that we did a complete lap more than we did yesterday... damn.
On the fourth lap, my group splintered. The Greenville Spinners rider was riding the first sand pit every lap, and he gapped the other rider and myself. I then further fell off of the second guy in our group. Out of nowhere comes a Les Amis rider. So now, I have to ride an extra lap, my group has exploded, and someone caught us? Things were starting to get a bit hairy.
Les Amis (his name is Daniel Jones if you're into that sort of thing) and I went at each other for a little while. He might have been a hair faster than I was, but I think I was more skilled? Or something... I don't know. He would pass me in one section, I would get him back on the next. He got around me on one of the longer, flatter sections and I just wanted to get on his wheel but that didn't happen. I was now in 6th.
In true deja vu fashion, out of fucking nowhere comes PAT! I thought he was long gone after seeing him on that first lap. It turns out that he dropped his chain and lost a ton of ground. Dude powered his way through the course and caught back up to me. So last lap, I had Pat on my wheel, one rider in front of me. My goal today was top five, I had a fight on my hands.
Pat was encouraging me to catch the rider in front of us (mostly by saying things like "just one half lap until beer"). I was willing to do the work to get him and take my chances bringing Pat to the line. The three of us came to the run up together. I got around the first rider coming up the hill. Pat got around me on the top. I immediately jumped in behind him. After the run up, there was a long downhill paved section, sweeping right hand turn then a harder right hand turn going to that last steep hill. Pat HAMMERED this section, and when I got to the bottom of the hill, he was at the top. Maybe I could have caught him at the line, but I doubt it. So my plan backfired, Pat beat me to the line. At least I still got beer. 6th place.
I was happy today. Really happy. Even though I got a bad start, I was able to power my way through the course and get right back where I needed to be. I started in the top five yesterday and finished 14th. I started 14th today, and finished 6th. Go figure. I didn't go down today, but I still tore up my knuckle from hitting debris on the side of the course. Tape to tape, baby!
I was smooth and fast. Maybe I could have come out of the corners harder, maybe I could have started faster. Whatever. It was a pretty good day.
No races until the state champs on November 13th. Same course. I'll be ready for it.
The course this year was more compact. The golf cart paths were pretty much avoided as transition areas and only half of the available space was used. I liked that much more than last years course, which kind of felt like two courses connected by the cart paths and parking lot. It was bumpy and twisty. Capped off by two sections of sand, a long grassy climb and a short, steep paved climb 200m before the finish.
Day 1:
Picked my old man up from his apartment and dragged him along with me to Greenville. Made our way out nice and early. The B race was starting at 10, so the course was completely open from the time we got there until the start of the race. Got registered, chose my tires (Grifo 32 front/Grifo XS rear), spray glued my number on, peeled it off and glued it on the right side, and then took off for one final lap.
Maybe ten minutes before the race I took off for a lap with Andy Baker. I wanted to see how the fast guys were going to ride the course and see what kind of advice he could provide. He made a comment about me being too fast to ride the B race, I told him to wait and see.
About halfway around the course, they started calling riders to the line. So I cut across the course to get back over to staging and lined up on the second row to listen to our pre-race speech. Do people really not know all of this stuff?
Got off to a strong start. Found myself in the front group of four. Ran both sand sections and found it to be just as fast and easier than trying to ride it. Murdered the barriers (they were so fast!) and ran the grassy hill, I also think this was just as fast to run, maybe that was just me.
On the second lap my group was starting to get a bit spread out, but everyone was still pretty much in contact with each other. I still had visions of a strong finish-- top five, maybe a podium, but that all went to shit pretty quickly.
On one of the off-cambers after the first sand pit my front wheel bounced up and turned hard to the right. I hit the ground primarily on my right shoulder and face. When I got up to start moving again, my rear wheel wasn't turning. The brake cable popped out of the cable stop on the top of the frame. For whatever reason in my panic on the side of the course, I couldn't get it back in to save my life. I basically went from 4th to 12th in one corner.
When I finally got back up I tried to ride hard, but my heart just wasn't in it anymore. I got caught and passed by two guys, finished as hard as I could (mostly because of my dad yelling on the sideline) and went back to the van. I was frustrated, felt like I had good legs today and I lost it in a stupid crash. That's not fast.
14th today. Bummed.
Day 2: Feel free to take a break here. Come back and read the rest tomorrow. Or get a coffee or something... I'm long-winded.
Same exact course with one addition: a barrier at the base of the grassy hill. I was so pumped about it that I was telling everyone I saw how cool it was and thanking every volunteer I saw.
I made my mind up on I-385 that I needed to take some air out of my tires today. 38 in the front and 40 in the back yesterday seemed pretty standard, but I was going to push it today. Ran 35 front and rear (both Grifo 32 tubulars). I thought it would give me some more traction in the off cambers and hopefully smooth the course out a little bit. I was nervous about my amateur gluing but there was only one way to find out how strong it was...
I know it was only 3-5 psi, but it made all of the difference, I swear.
I finished my pre-race routine a little bit earlier than normal today. That gave me time to sit at the van and get juiced up and sort of focus a little bit. I sat in a puddle of spray adhesive, but other than that it was good. When I went to line up 5 minutes before the start, the entire group was there... FUCK!
I squeezed in on the far right, on the second row. I didn't have high hopes of the guy in front of me killing the start, so I figured I was going to have to be an asshole. I got more than I gave though and got pinched off on the outside. Finally pushed my way into the single file line of riders, probably in 10th-12th place. Small groups were starting to form about 1/3 of the way through the first lap. I figured I had surrendered another day to a mediocre result all because of a shit start. Again, I was frustrated.
I started passing people as safely and quickly as I could. I didn't want to kill anyone this early in the race. I was slowing down to get through a turn or an obstacle, and then standing and going around people when it straightened out. Two or three dudes through the barriers, two or three through the first sand, a ton of dudes in the long sand section.
After the long sand section, I came up on a group of fiveish guys. My buddy Pat from Cycle-Center was in it. I was giving him shit about botching a remount after the sand, but my goal was to get up to him and hopefully the two of us could drag each other up to the next group of people. I got around his group, but I didn't see him with me. Oh well.
I finally came up on a group of two guys. I stuck with them for a majority of the race. We were 3rd-5th on the course. I had successfully ridden from my modest start, to the position where I felt like I should have been. At one point in the race, I thought that my 5th place finish was secure. We weren't catching the two guys up the road, and I thought we had put everyone else away. I rode the third lap like it was the second to last, setting up for a strong last lap. The only problem with that strategy was that at the end of the 3rd lap, the sign said 2 to go, not 1. The leaders were smashing the field so thoroughly that we did a complete lap more than we did yesterday... damn.
On the fourth lap, my group splintered. The Greenville Spinners rider was riding the first sand pit every lap, and he gapped the other rider and myself. I then further fell off of the second guy in our group. Out of nowhere comes a Les Amis rider. So now, I have to ride an extra lap, my group has exploded, and someone caught us? Things were starting to get a bit hairy.
Les Amis (his name is Daniel Jones if you're into that sort of thing) and I went at each other for a little while. He might have been a hair faster than I was, but I think I was more skilled? Or something... I don't know. He would pass me in one section, I would get him back on the next. He got around me on one of the longer, flatter sections and I just wanted to get on his wheel but that didn't happen. I was now in 6th.
In true deja vu fashion, out of fucking nowhere comes PAT! I thought he was long gone after seeing him on that first lap. It turns out that he dropped his chain and lost a ton of ground. Dude powered his way through the course and caught back up to me. So last lap, I had Pat on my wheel, one rider in front of me. My goal today was top five, I had a fight on my hands.
Pat was encouraging me to catch the rider in front of us (mostly by saying things like "just one half lap until beer"). I was willing to do the work to get him and take my chances bringing Pat to the line. The three of us came to the run up together. I got around the first rider coming up the hill. Pat got around me on the top. I immediately jumped in behind him. After the run up, there was a long downhill paved section, sweeping right hand turn then a harder right hand turn going to that last steep hill. Pat HAMMERED this section, and when I got to the bottom of the hill, he was at the top. Maybe I could have caught him at the line, but I doubt it. So my plan backfired, Pat beat me to the line. At least I still got beer. 6th place.
I was happy today. Really happy. Even though I got a bad start, I was able to power my way through the course and get right back where I needed to be. I started in the top five yesterday and finished 14th. I started 14th today, and finished 6th. Go figure. I didn't go down today, but I still tore up my knuckle from hitting debris on the side of the course. Tape to tape, baby!
I was smooth and fast. Maybe I could have come out of the corners harder, maybe I could have started faster. Whatever. It was a pretty good day.
No races until the state champs on November 13th. Same course. I'll be ready for it.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Georgia 'Cross: Augusta 10/10
I'm writing this more than a few days after it happened, and with moderate amounts of beer in my belly, so take that into account as you read.
Adam says: "No jumping, Justin. Only lifting of the legs, like Edwin Moses. NO JUMPING!" And I thought I had my technique down...
AUGUSTA 'CROSS 2k10!
Let me start by saying that Saturday was a complete bust. I woke up early and made my way towards Rock Hill for another training race (on the site of the future permanent cyclo-cross course-funding was approved Monday), about 15 minutes from Rock Hill my car started shaking and my check engine light came on. After consulting my resident mechanic/step dad we decided it best to turn around and head home... I was going to be late anyway.
So Sunday I woke up, not as early, packed the borrowed van (since my car wasn't making it out of state) with beer and bikes, grabbed the Cycle-Smart bouncer and headed down to Disgusta, GA for the second race of the Georgia 'Cross Series.
This was a bit of a different experience for me in that: 1. I had a teammate here; 2. There were people to hangout with whom I actually knew. CRAZY!
In all honesty, I was kind of taking the Georgia racing scene a bit lightly. I mean, I race in the NCCX! Those guys are hard as fuck! But, Georgia racing is nothing to scoff at and the boys and girls in Augusta set up a great course and there was plenty of competition.
The course started on an uphill pavement section, turned right off of the pavement towards an awesome run up, around a baseball infield, TWO sets of barriers, back around towards the pavement. The start/finish stretch was LONG, and this would prove to be bad for me later. There were nice transitions from the grass to the pavement, including two gravel sections that made things entertaining. The course wasn't about being punchy out of the corners, but getting through the obstacle, getting back up to speed and holding it for a long time. There were tons of sections where you'd go from 20mph to a near stop to navigate a turn.
I've been told to focus on my starts lately, so today I had plans to rape, pillage and burn everything once the whistle blew. Only problem: as I was ending my last lap of warm up, everyone had already lined up. We still had plenty of time before the start-- or at least we thought we did, my C-S teammate missed the start while making a bathroom stop. I assholed my way up to the second row and when we got going, I acted like I was running from the devil. A crash in the second turn made my job a little bit easier and after the run up I was in sixth and in the second group on the course.
By this point, I had glory in my eyes, I was planning on getting around the two dudes in front of me and bridging to the front group. At which point, I would work with them for the majority of the race before gapping them and winning on the last lap. Unfortunately, I never bridged up and about halfway through lap two I was feeling the effects of my start. I probably could have warmed up better...
Coming to the second turn on lap three, I had already been gapped, and I was looking for a faster line through the pinestraw. Except that trying to avoid the big ruts of straw put me in deeper piles of straw and sent me to the ground. Shortly after this I was caught and began losing places.
The more and more tired I got, the sloppier I got. At one point on the last lap, I literally could not get out of my left pedal coming to the first set of barriers. I slowed way, way down to get through the barriers cleanly. After the first two trips up that mountain of a run up, I was getting sloppy there too. Mistiming my dismount and taking longer to remount. Funny the things you start to do when you're tired.
On the last lap, I was riding in front of two of the ACC guys. One of them got around me on the pavement and his tire blew out just after transferring to the grass. I don't know what kind of pressure you have to run to make your tire explode like this, but it happened twice today... wtf?
The second dude bitched at me once about riding my brakes. My response was to ride the rest of the lap like a total asshole. Every time I felt him start to come around me I cut him off. I would have been happy putting him into the tape. Rubbin's racin, right? Plus, if I was so slow, why didn't he get around me? I led him all the way to the pavement on the start/finish stretch. I was basically just leading him out though. I kind of saw it coming and I was hoping to get on his wheel whenever he came around me to try to sprint at the line. When he passed me though, he made it seem like I was standing still and grab his wheel I did not.
Limped across in 12th. Not a terrible day. I would have been happy with 12th at this point last year, but I came into today with plans to finish top 5 (upgrade points!!!), so after such a strong start and such high goals, 12th was kind of disappointing.
Once I got across the tape I looked for a soft patch of ground and fell over. Dry heaved a couple of times and coughed a lot... so at least I know I gave it pretty much everything I had. Got back to the car to talk shit, tell lies and hangout for the rest of the day. Had a recovery New Belgium 1554 and gave out beer hand ups (just down the course there was a group giving out donuts, awesome). I've said it before, even on a bad day 'cross is more fun than any other racing discipline.
Greenville this weekend. I hate that golf course. It's going to be a hilly grass crit with sand. I don't like any part of that at all. After that I'm staying home for three weekends to get pumped for the State Championships and the North Carolina Grand Prix. Still hoping to race the 2/3 race at NCGP, but we'll see how it goes. I may just plan on upgrading after NCGP, before the big block of winter racing in December and January.
Still nine points till CX3.
Fellow Columbia 'cross enthusiast Mark Merrills' account is found here:
http://colabike.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-leg-hurts.html
And here's a helmet cam from the first race of the day, the masters race:
http://www.vimeo.com/15757717
Adam says: "No jumping, Justin. Only lifting of the legs, like Edwin Moses. NO JUMPING!" And I thought I had my technique down...AUGUSTA 'CROSS 2k10!
Let me start by saying that Saturday was a complete bust. I woke up early and made my way towards Rock Hill for another training race (on the site of the future permanent cyclo-cross course-funding was approved Monday), about 15 minutes from Rock Hill my car started shaking and my check engine light came on. After consulting my resident mechanic/step dad we decided it best to turn around and head home... I was going to be late anyway.
So Sunday I woke up, not as early, packed the borrowed van (since my car wasn't making it out of state) with beer and bikes, grabbed the Cycle-Smart bouncer and headed down to Disgusta, GA for the second race of the Georgia 'Cross Series.
This was a bit of a different experience for me in that: 1. I had a teammate here; 2. There were people to hangout with whom I actually knew. CRAZY!
In all honesty, I was kind of taking the Georgia racing scene a bit lightly. I mean, I race in the NCCX! Those guys are hard as fuck! But, Georgia racing is nothing to scoff at and the boys and girls in Augusta set up a great course and there was plenty of competition.
The course started on an uphill pavement section, turned right off of the pavement towards an awesome run up, around a baseball infield, TWO sets of barriers, back around towards the pavement. The start/finish stretch was LONG, and this would prove to be bad for me later. There were nice transitions from the grass to the pavement, including two gravel sections that made things entertaining. The course wasn't about being punchy out of the corners, but getting through the obstacle, getting back up to speed and holding it for a long time. There were tons of sections where you'd go from 20mph to a near stop to navigate a turn.
I've been told to focus on my starts lately, so today I had plans to rape, pillage and burn everything once the whistle blew. Only problem: as I was ending my last lap of warm up, everyone had already lined up. We still had plenty of time before the start-- or at least we thought we did, my C-S teammate missed the start while making a bathroom stop. I assholed my way up to the second row and when we got going, I acted like I was running from the devil. A crash in the second turn made my job a little bit easier and after the run up I was in sixth and in the second group on the course.
By this point, I had glory in my eyes, I was planning on getting around the two dudes in front of me and bridging to the front group. At which point, I would work with them for the majority of the race before gapping them and winning on the last lap. Unfortunately, I never bridged up and about halfway through lap two I was feeling the effects of my start. I probably could have warmed up better...
Coming to the second turn on lap three, I had already been gapped, and I was looking for a faster line through the pinestraw. Except that trying to avoid the big ruts of straw put me in deeper piles of straw and sent me to the ground. Shortly after this I was caught and began losing places.
The more and more tired I got, the sloppier I got. At one point on the last lap, I literally could not get out of my left pedal coming to the first set of barriers. I slowed way, way down to get through the barriers cleanly. After the first two trips up that mountain of a run up, I was getting sloppy there too. Mistiming my dismount and taking longer to remount. Funny the things you start to do when you're tired.
On the last lap, I was riding in front of two of the ACC guys. One of them got around me on the pavement and his tire blew out just after transferring to the grass. I don't know what kind of pressure you have to run to make your tire explode like this, but it happened twice today... wtf?
The second dude bitched at me once about riding my brakes. My response was to ride the rest of the lap like a total asshole. Every time I felt him start to come around me I cut him off. I would have been happy putting him into the tape. Rubbin's racin, right? Plus, if I was so slow, why didn't he get around me? I led him all the way to the pavement on the start/finish stretch. I was basically just leading him out though. I kind of saw it coming and I was hoping to get on his wheel whenever he came around me to try to sprint at the line. When he passed me though, he made it seem like I was standing still and grab his wheel I did not.
Limped across in 12th. Not a terrible day. I would have been happy with 12th at this point last year, but I came into today with plans to finish top 5 (upgrade points!!!), so after such a strong start and such high goals, 12th was kind of disappointing.
Once I got across the tape I looked for a soft patch of ground and fell over. Dry heaved a couple of times and coughed a lot... so at least I know I gave it pretty much everything I had. Got back to the car to talk shit, tell lies and hangout for the rest of the day. Had a recovery New Belgium 1554 and gave out beer hand ups (just down the course there was a group giving out donuts, awesome). I've said it before, even on a bad day 'cross is more fun than any other racing discipline.
Greenville this weekend. I hate that golf course. It's going to be a hilly grass crit with sand. I don't like any part of that at all. After that I'm staying home for three weekends to get pumped for the State Championships and the North Carolina Grand Prix. Still hoping to race the 2/3 race at NCGP, but we'll see how it goes. I may just plan on upgrading after NCGP, before the big block of winter racing in December and January.
Still nine points till CX3.
Fellow Columbia 'cross enthusiast Mark Merrills' account is found here:
http://colabike.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-leg-hurts.html
And here's a helmet cam from the first race of the day, the masters race:
http://www.vimeo.com/15757717
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Mud, Sweat and Gears- Kingsport, TN
It's finally arrived, cyclo-cross season.
Saturday morning I packed up my mom's minivan and we took a little family vacation up to Kingsport, TN for my first weekend of 'cross and the second weekend of Mud, Sweat and Gears.
It was kind of weird packing the bike, plus six wheels. I'm happy to say that the money I spent on a second set of 'cross tires was worth it, as I rode the Grifo XS Open Tubulars on Saturday.
The course was dry, mostly flat, and fast. The front half had some cyclo-cross elements, twisty turns up and down short hills, a single set of barriers, a fallen tree, and most importantly, the flyover of doom. The back half (after the barriers) was all about putting your head down and pedaling. The u-turn under the I-26 overpass was treacherous, but outside of that, nothing exciting.
Picking through the carnage on the first lap
Saturday morning I packed up my mom's minivan and we took a little family vacation up to Kingsport, TN for my first weekend of 'cross and the second weekend of Mud, Sweat and Gears.
It was kind of weird packing the bike, plus six wheels. I'm happy to say that the money I spent on a second set of 'cross tires was worth it, as I rode the Grifo XS Open Tubulars on Saturday.
The course was dry, mostly flat, and fast. The front half had some cyclo-cross elements, twisty turns up and down short hills, a single set of barriers, a fallen tree, and most importantly, the flyover of doom. The back half (after the barriers) was all about putting your head down and pedaling. The u-turn under the I-26 overpass was treacherous, but outside of that, nothing exciting.
Picking through the carnage on the first lapDay 1: Started on the far left, knowing that would give me the outside line heading into the first turn. Didn't have a great start and ended up somewhere around tenth?
After the u-turn at the end of the start stretch, the first technical piece we came to was the flyover. I don't know how it happened, but the shit hit the fan here. There was a pile up heading up the ramp. I dismounted rolling up to it and ran, both up and down the thing. I figured my chance at a top ten was over right there, but apparently I was still somewhere between 9th-11th, not shabby.
Rode the first lap smoothly. Made it through the twisty sections and all of the 'cross sections (the single run up, log and barriers) quite well, I'd say. Then came the half lap crit. I wasn't making any ground up here. Plus, I had already given up hope on finishing in the top ten. I was hoping for top 20 at this point, but in my head I thought that would be difficult.
The flyover was the bane of my existence today. On lap two, a rider came flying from behind me and made contact with my bars, pushing me into the rail on the top. Instead of hitting the rail and tumbling down the other side, I got off and ran down. On lap three, I lost just enough momentum on the transition to the top to have to put a foot down. On lap four, I pulled my brain out of my ass and rode the thing.
On the last lap I was riding in a group of five. I was sort of dangling off of the back coming into the barriers. I hit the barriers hard to make up the gap that way I could get around them in the flat section and try to make a race of it. I had no idea that it was a potential 14th place finish on the line, I just knew I was racing down to the last inch.
Well, hit the barriers hard I did. And the ground. I caught my foot on the first barrier and tripped. I've never tripped on a barrier. In fact, I consider myself quite skilled at 'cross specific skills. But, looks like there's a first time for everything. I wasn't far off of the back of the group after the fall, but my twisted handlebars and I just limped to the finish. 18th place in my first race of the season. Not terrible, but I thought I had more in me.
Day 2:
The flyover claims another victim
I didn't line up late today, everyone else lined up early. I was in the pits drinking some water and passing off my jacket when everyone lined up. I was on the second row today, and thought that I was just making my life harder than I should.
Course was exactly the same, EXCEPT that they moved the start line right behind the pits after the barriers. We were going to do a half lap (of the grass crit) before hitting the start/finish and doing four full laps.
It wasn't exactly wet out today, but the early morning dew and two previous morning races rutted up the course a little bit. Instead of fast twisties, they were slick(ish) twisties today. Grifo 32 tubulars today, in case you were wondering. You weren't.
Started off about 9th. I didn't want to completely smash the start since there wasn't any decisive feature until the flyover. I was in the front group and apparently the guys behind me were forcing an early selection. I heard a cacophony of brakes, bikes and course tape about 30 seconds in. Glad to hear that behind me for once.
We got to the flyover, no problem today. We got to the first section of twisties (technical term) and, OH ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! The dude in front of me took a foot out at the top of every hill to make the turn. What a momentum killer. This created a bit of a gap from the leaders of the lead group. Coming around to ride under the flyover, the same dude went down, pretty much cutting off the whole course. I was irritated.
I smashed everything after this happened. Ended up about 7th and rode around with one other dude for the majority of the race. On the last lap he brake checked me going into one of the turns to head up a hill. After slowing down like that, I was in the totally wrong gear to make it up the hill, he simply hammered away. I was dangling off of his wheel when some sneaky junior just blew by me and bridged up to him. My original riding partner gapped me more by bunny hopping the downed tree, and the junior continued his crusade on everyone who could buy alcohol. Those guys rode away from me, and I just looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was coming behind me.
Finished 9th. I'm happy with a top ten. However, I think that I had the legs to finish better, but I made the decision not to do that by lining up on the second row.
I felt faster today. I was super smooth in the corners, but as the race went on my remounts felt a little sloppy. It didn't help that everytime I put my bike down, it was bouncing all over the place. Since it was such a fast course I was trying to stay hidden a little bit more today and not do so much work. However, if I would have tried a little bit harder to get pass the guy I was riding with, I may have finished 7th, or better even. If it means anything, we did a half a lap more than yesterday, but my heart rate monitor said the race was two minutes shorter. Fast.
The way my schedule looks right now, I don't know if I should still be planning to upgrade before November. I only have three races left in October, then three weekends off before the state championships. I don't know if having states as my first CX3 race is a good idea, but we'll figure it out. Just nine points to go...
I didn't crash, but I'm still bleeding. What's the deal?
After the u-turn at the end of the start stretch, the first technical piece we came to was the flyover. I don't know how it happened, but the shit hit the fan here. There was a pile up heading up the ramp. I dismounted rolling up to it and ran, both up and down the thing. I figured my chance at a top ten was over right there, but apparently I was still somewhere between 9th-11th, not shabby.
Rode the first lap smoothly. Made it through the twisty sections and all of the 'cross sections (the single run up, log and barriers) quite well, I'd say. Then came the half lap crit. I wasn't making any ground up here. Plus, I had already given up hope on finishing in the top ten. I was hoping for top 20 at this point, but in my head I thought that would be difficult.
The flyover was the bane of my existence today. On lap two, a rider came flying from behind me and made contact with my bars, pushing me into the rail on the top. Instead of hitting the rail and tumbling down the other side, I got off and ran down. On lap three, I lost just enough momentum on the transition to the top to have to put a foot down. On lap four, I pulled my brain out of my ass and rode the thing.
On the last lap I was riding in a group of five. I was sort of dangling off of the back coming into the barriers. I hit the barriers hard to make up the gap that way I could get around them in the flat section and try to make a race of it. I had no idea that it was a potential 14th place finish on the line, I just knew I was racing down to the last inch.
Well, hit the barriers hard I did. And the ground. I caught my foot on the first barrier and tripped. I've never tripped on a barrier. In fact, I consider myself quite skilled at 'cross specific skills. But, looks like there's a first time for everything. I wasn't far off of the back of the group after the fall, but my twisted handlebars and I just limped to the finish. 18th place in my first race of the season. Not terrible, but I thought I had more in me.
Day 2:
The flyover claims another victimI didn't line up late today, everyone else lined up early. I was in the pits drinking some water and passing off my jacket when everyone lined up. I was on the second row today, and thought that I was just making my life harder than I should.
Course was exactly the same, EXCEPT that they moved the start line right behind the pits after the barriers. We were going to do a half lap (of the grass crit) before hitting the start/finish and doing four full laps.
It wasn't exactly wet out today, but the early morning dew and two previous morning races rutted up the course a little bit. Instead of fast twisties, they were slick(ish) twisties today. Grifo 32 tubulars today, in case you were wondering. You weren't.
Started off about 9th. I didn't want to completely smash the start since there wasn't any decisive feature until the flyover. I was in the front group and apparently the guys behind me were forcing an early selection. I heard a cacophony of brakes, bikes and course tape about 30 seconds in. Glad to hear that behind me for once.
We got to the flyover, no problem today. We got to the first section of twisties (technical term) and, OH ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! The dude in front of me took a foot out at the top of every hill to make the turn. What a momentum killer. This created a bit of a gap from the leaders of the lead group. Coming around to ride under the flyover, the same dude went down, pretty much cutting off the whole course. I was irritated.
I smashed everything after this happened. Ended up about 7th and rode around with one other dude for the majority of the race. On the last lap he brake checked me going into one of the turns to head up a hill. After slowing down like that, I was in the totally wrong gear to make it up the hill, he simply hammered away. I was dangling off of his wheel when some sneaky junior just blew by me and bridged up to him. My original riding partner gapped me more by bunny hopping the downed tree, and the junior continued his crusade on everyone who could buy alcohol. Those guys rode away from me, and I just looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was coming behind me.
Finished 9th. I'm happy with a top ten. However, I think that I had the legs to finish better, but I made the decision not to do that by lining up on the second row.
I felt faster today. I was super smooth in the corners, but as the race went on my remounts felt a little sloppy. It didn't help that everytime I put my bike down, it was bouncing all over the place. Since it was such a fast course I was trying to stay hidden a little bit more today and not do so much work. However, if I would have tried a little bit harder to get pass the guy I was riding with, I may have finished 7th, or better even. If it means anything, we did a half a lap more than yesterday, but my heart rate monitor said the race was two minutes shorter. Fast.
The way my schedule looks right now, I don't know if I should still be planning to upgrade before November. I only have three races left in October, then three weekends off before the state championships. I don't know if having states as my first CX3 race is a good idea, but we'll figure it out. Just nine points to go...
I didn't crash, but I'm still bleeding. What's the deal?Sunday, September 26, 2010
Blog dump/Road season wrap up.
I've been content with not updating this thing, mainly because I have nothing interesting to write about. So here's what's been happening
Old Salem Crit-Winston Salem, NC
Ah, a race I had to actually travel for. This is an oddly familiar feeling. Course was roughly one half mile, half of which was uphill, located right in the middle of Old Salem. Lots of colonial period buildings and exhibits set up, so it was a pretty interesting environment.
The course was a pretty rough surface, crazy climb in the front straight away, less crazy climb between turns 1&2 and a super tight 3 three after the long downhill.
I was nervous about bombing that hill at 30mph and let my anxiety take me out of the race. I was hammering up the hill to make up time I lost in the corner, and each lap just kept sliding farther and farther back. I got dropped about 10 minutes in and lost in a sprint for 10th. Thus, ending my streak of not embarrassing results.
SC State Road Race Championships-Greenville, SC
I knew that this race was going to be tough for me, but I couldn't help but be excited for my state championships. I've only completed one road race this year and that was in March. The last road race I did in really hilly terrain, I pulled out of about 17 miles in. I went into the race feeling exceptional, but I tried to keep expectations low.
The first part of the course was climby and had a hard headwind. The middle section was smooth rolling. The ass end had some nasty climbs. My goal was to move to the front and backslide on the climbs. I didn't put myself in position on one of the last climbs on the lap and lost contact. Couldn't catch back up on the uphill start/finish straight away and then took the right turn into the wind, alone. Rode another lap to try to catch some other guys who had been dropped and chase together, but there was nobody. This one hurt a little.
USMC Mud Run-Columbia, SC
I haven't run without a bike on my shoulder since June. And I'm not very good at running to start off with. So here I was at a 4.5 mile off road, muddy obstacle course/running event. It hurt. I had a hard time with a good many of the upper body intensive obstacles... I'm a scrawny dude. I'm all kinds of sore and scraped up and trying to figure out if this was actually a good idea.
Vista Grand Prix-Columbia, SC
Previously I was hoping to do well at my home town race. I've done races around Columbia, but this was my first real race here. The weather was cool and rainy and I was excited. Too bad I woke up feeling like someone filled my legs with concrete.
I did my first high intensity effort during my warm up and knew I just didn't have it today. The cool rainy morning had turned into a humid misty afternoon by this point and I was sweating buckets on my trainer. I was hoping to just survive, or at least go out in a blaze of glory going after a prime or something... no such luck.
I didn't get off to a great start, but it wasn't terrible. I know now that I should have been farther up, but I didn't wanted to start burning matches at the beginning of the race knowing I didn't have that many.
A rider in front of me went down in the second corner. I watched him slide across the concrete sidewalk crumpled up and cringing and found a spot to get through. Slowing down to get around him and not crush anyone still on there bikes left me off of the back of the field. It was me and probably three other dudes. The rider right in front of me went down in corner three. I set up for the turn wider than he did and had to slow down to avoid him as he slid directly into my line and into the wooden barrier. I was now farther off of the back, screaming and cursing.
Stood and started hammering out of turn three and up the hill on the front stretch. I could see the pack but just couldn't ever catch them. It went on like this for about 10-15 minutes. Standing and hammering on the long stretches and trying to breathe on the short stretches. There was no one to chase with. I came up on one guy and we worked together for a lap, but he couldn't keep up. After a while I was going slower and slower at the top of the hill and into turn one. I couldn't keep up the pace I was riding and got caught by the pace car. I quietly exited the front stretch after getting lapped still cursing and mumbling about how crashing over one of the guys would have been a better option. At least then I would have gotten a free lap.
I'm disappointed with the way racing has gone the past few weeks. It's sent me spiraling into a bit of an existential crisis regarding my ability as a bike racer. There's always room on the bench at the softball league, but if you can't cut it in bike racing, there isn't any place for you to go. It's frustrating putting all of that work and suffering into something and not getting anything back out of it. I'm going into the 'cross season next weekend with a different attitude though. I think I'm better suited for cyclo-cross. And at least out there if you suck you can still have a lot of fun.
'Cross should be a different story. I think that's where my talents lie. I think it's going to be a good fall.
Old Salem Crit-Winston Salem, NC
Ah, a race I had to actually travel for. This is an oddly familiar feeling. Course was roughly one half mile, half of which was uphill, located right in the middle of Old Salem. Lots of colonial period buildings and exhibits set up, so it was a pretty interesting environment.
The course was a pretty rough surface, crazy climb in the front straight away, less crazy climb between turns 1&2 and a super tight 3 three after the long downhill.
I was nervous about bombing that hill at 30mph and let my anxiety take me out of the race. I was hammering up the hill to make up time I lost in the corner, and each lap just kept sliding farther and farther back. I got dropped about 10 minutes in and lost in a sprint for 10th. Thus, ending my streak of not embarrassing results.
SC State Road Race Championships-Greenville, SC
I knew that this race was going to be tough for me, but I couldn't help but be excited for my state championships. I've only completed one road race this year and that was in March. The last road race I did in really hilly terrain, I pulled out of about 17 miles in. I went into the race feeling exceptional, but I tried to keep expectations low.
The first part of the course was climby and had a hard headwind. The middle section was smooth rolling. The ass end had some nasty climbs. My goal was to move to the front and backslide on the climbs. I didn't put myself in position on one of the last climbs on the lap and lost contact. Couldn't catch back up on the uphill start/finish straight away and then took the right turn into the wind, alone. Rode another lap to try to catch some other guys who had been dropped and chase together, but there was nobody. This one hurt a little.
USMC Mud Run-Columbia, SC
I haven't run without a bike on my shoulder since June. And I'm not very good at running to start off with. So here I was at a 4.5 mile off road, muddy obstacle course/running event. It hurt. I had a hard time with a good many of the upper body intensive obstacles... I'm a scrawny dude. I'm all kinds of sore and scraped up and trying to figure out if this was actually a good idea.
Vista Grand Prix-Columbia, SC
Previously I was hoping to do well at my home town race. I've done races around Columbia, but this was my first real race here. The weather was cool and rainy and I was excited. Too bad I woke up feeling like someone filled my legs with concrete.
I did my first high intensity effort during my warm up and knew I just didn't have it today. The cool rainy morning had turned into a humid misty afternoon by this point and I was sweating buckets on my trainer. I was hoping to just survive, or at least go out in a blaze of glory going after a prime or something... no such luck.
I didn't get off to a great start, but it wasn't terrible. I know now that I should have been farther up, but I didn't wanted to start burning matches at the beginning of the race knowing I didn't have that many.
A rider in front of me went down in the second corner. I watched him slide across the concrete sidewalk crumpled up and cringing and found a spot to get through. Slowing down to get around him and not crush anyone still on there bikes left me off of the back of the field. It was me and probably three other dudes. The rider right in front of me went down in corner three. I set up for the turn wider than he did and had to slow down to avoid him as he slid directly into my line and into the wooden barrier. I was now farther off of the back, screaming and cursing.
Stood and started hammering out of turn three and up the hill on the front stretch. I could see the pack but just couldn't ever catch them. It went on like this for about 10-15 minutes. Standing and hammering on the long stretches and trying to breathe on the short stretches. There was no one to chase with. I came up on one guy and we worked together for a lap, but he couldn't keep up. After a while I was going slower and slower at the top of the hill and into turn one. I couldn't keep up the pace I was riding and got caught by the pace car. I quietly exited the front stretch after getting lapped still cursing and mumbling about how crashing over one of the guys would have been a better option. At least then I would have gotten a free lap.
I'm disappointed with the way racing has gone the past few weeks. It's sent me spiraling into a bit of an existential crisis regarding my ability as a bike racer. There's always room on the bench at the softball league, but if you can't cut it in bike racing, there isn't any place for you to go. It's frustrating putting all of that work and suffering into something and not getting anything back out of it. I'm going into the 'cross season next weekend with a different attitude though. I think I'm better suited for cyclo-cross. And at least out there if you suck you can still have a lot of fun.
'Cross should be a different story. I think that's where my talents lie. I think it's going to be a good fall.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Greenville/Travelers Rest Training Race
This is a cyclo-cross blog, let's talk cyclo-cross racing.
First things first: My soundtrack for the travel, suffering, heartbreak and successes of this season well be The Pogue's Muirshin Durkin
On to the bike racing:
Today I took off an hour early from work (crazy idea since I only work 15-19 hours a week) to head up to Travelers Rest, SC for the first of a series of training races they're hosting. The race/practice was announced super late, but I'm into supporting the growth of 'cross in this state, and it was cheaper than going to Fletcher, NC as planned.
The course was favorable. Started downhill, transitioned from a sweeping left hand turn to a drop off of a curb. A few yards after dropping onto the pavement you had to hop the other curb to get back to the grass. A nice smooth S curve that went from an uphill to a long off camber. The turn after the off camber had a fence on the inside, roots going into it and rocks coming out, it was super tight and an issue for me all night. A long thick grassy section to a U-turn, to the barriers to the start finish. WHOO, just going through it made me tired again.
The laps were short, maybe 5 minutes. Which meant a lot of repetition of the hopping, climbing, bumps and barriers. Which is cool, it is a training race after all.
Small turn out, but a great crowd... make sense? The environment was hospitable, welcoming and overall easy going. Beers before the race (New Belgium Hoptober)? Prizes and primes at a training race? I approve.
The first race, the B Race, was set to be 20 minutes+2 laps. It had a Le Mans start. I was confused and didn't want anything to do with it. After deciding that I wasn't running to my bike, and that I didn't want to be in, or cause, a melee at the curb bunny hop, I took my time and made up ground later.
I immediately found myself in the second group. There were three of us, two former (?) road pros were up the road (grass?) ahead of us, and clearly weren't being brought back.
The race was hard, I liked the group I was with. They were good and challenged me, really made me work for the race. Which is exactly what I wanted. We went after each other a good bit and I remembered how hard cyclo-cross was. My arms were sore. That's not supposed to happen on a bike ride.
Anyway, coming to the last lap I was gapped just a little bit. Going into the pavement/bunny hop section I botched a shift, botched the bunny hop and lost the group. They were still within sight and I thought I could bring them back, but I just didn't have it in me.
The second race had a traditional start. I was about mid pack and again settled into the second, although smaller, group and started to work. I didn't feel like I was going to explode, and that was killer. The U turn at the end of the thick grass section made hell for me. And the "fence corner," the tight one with the roots and rocks, wasn't much easier. I was on the tape there pretty much every lap and had to absolutely step on it to get back up to speed. But, all things considered, that felt much better this year than it did last year.
Somehow or another my little group of two ended up on the front of the race. One of the fast guys, Andy, had a pedal issue. The other fast guy went to his car to get a tool. I guess that makes more sense than us catching and passing them. So, there was a SRAM hat on the line for a prime. I turned myself inside out and got a little bit of room. About half way around the lap I had to choke down my own vomit... twice. Won the hat, pulled out of the race. It was a training race, and my second of the night, so I wasn't that upset about not finishing.
Sooooo... My second race start wasn't horrible. I would have liked to have gotten the hole shot, or been closer to it, but I was only 5th or 6th on the start and once I got the diesel warmed up, I was exactly where I wanted to be. Plus, the downhill start going into the pavement section wasn't exactly the most welcoming thing. There were a few sections where I felt like the most amazing thing to ever throw a leg over a bike. There were a few sections where I felt retarded. Mostly the previously mentioned fence corner and grassy U-turn. Either way, I felt quick and smooth for most of the course.
I think a different course may have suited me better. More running, some wetness and some cold. But it was a good experience, and I still feel really good about where I stand going into the season in 3.5 weeks.
I hope I can make more of these races. It's hard to justify driving two hours and taking off work for a training race. But I'm excited to see what kind of craziness they can come up with, with other course layouts and bigger crowds. This has potential to be huge, and word on the street is there's a 'real' race coming in October. Plus, racing under the lights in November? I'm giddy with excitement.
First things first: My soundtrack for the travel, suffering, heartbreak and successes of this season well be The Pogue's Muirshin Durkin
On to the bike racing:
Today I took off an hour early from work (crazy idea since I only work 15-19 hours a week) to head up to Travelers Rest, SC for the first of a series of training races they're hosting. The race/practice was announced super late, but I'm into supporting the growth of 'cross in this state, and it was cheaper than going to Fletcher, NC as planned.
The course was favorable. Started downhill, transitioned from a sweeping left hand turn to a drop off of a curb. A few yards after dropping onto the pavement you had to hop the other curb to get back to the grass. A nice smooth S curve that went from an uphill to a long off camber. The turn after the off camber had a fence on the inside, roots going into it and rocks coming out, it was super tight and an issue for me all night. A long thick grassy section to a U-turn, to the barriers to the start finish. WHOO, just going through it made me tired again.
The laps were short, maybe 5 minutes. Which meant a lot of repetition of the hopping, climbing, bumps and barriers. Which is cool, it is a training race after all.
Small turn out, but a great crowd... make sense? The environment was hospitable, welcoming and overall easy going. Beers before the race (New Belgium Hoptober)? Prizes and primes at a training race? I approve.
The first race, the B Race, was set to be 20 minutes+2 laps. It had a Le Mans start. I was confused and didn't want anything to do with it. After deciding that I wasn't running to my bike, and that I didn't want to be in, or cause, a melee at the curb bunny hop, I took my time and made up ground later.
I immediately found myself in the second group. There were three of us, two former (?) road pros were up the road (grass?) ahead of us, and clearly weren't being brought back.
The race was hard, I liked the group I was with. They were good and challenged me, really made me work for the race. Which is exactly what I wanted. We went after each other a good bit and I remembered how hard cyclo-cross was. My arms were sore. That's not supposed to happen on a bike ride.
Anyway, coming to the last lap I was gapped just a little bit. Going into the pavement/bunny hop section I botched a shift, botched the bunny hop and lost the group. They were still within sight and I thought I could bring them back, but I just didn't have it in me.
The second race had a traditional start. I was about mid pack and again settled into the second, although smaller, group and started to work. I didn't feel like I was going to explode, and that was killer. The U turn at the end of the thick grass section made hell for me. And the "fence corner," the tight one with the roots and rocks, wasn't much easier. I was on the tape there pretty much every lap and had to absolutely step on it to get back up to speed. But, all things considered, that felt much better this year than it did last year.
Somehow or another my little group of two ended up on the front of the race. One of the fast guys, Andy, had a pedal issue. The other fast guy went to his car to get a tool. I guess that makes more sense than us catching and passing them. So, there was a SRAM hat on the line for a prime. I turned myself inside out and got a little bit of room. About half way around the lap I had to choke down my own vomit... twice. Won the hat, pulled out of the race. It was a training race, and my second of the night, so I wasn't that upset about not finishing.
Sooooo... My second race start wasn't horrible. I would have liked to have gotten the hole shot, or been closer to it, but I was only 5th or 6th on the start and once I got the diesel warmed up, I was exactly where I wanted to be. Plus, the downhill start going into the pavement section wasn't exactly the most welcoming thing. There were a few sections where I felt like the most amazing thing to ever throw a leg over a bike. There were a few sections where I felt retarded. Mostly the previously mentioned fence corner and grassy U-turn. Either way, I felt quick and smooth for most of the course.
I think a different course may have suited me better. More running, some wetness and some cold. But it was a good experience, and I still feel really good about where I stand going into the season in 3.5 weeks.
I hope I can make more of these races. It's hard to justify driving two hours and taking off work for a training race. But I'm excited to see what kind of craziness they can come up with, with other course layouts and bigger crowds. This has potential to be huge, and word on the street is there's a 'real' race coming in October. Plus, racing under the lights in November? I'm giddy with excitement.
Monday, September 6, 2010
"Tour de la France" Crit
I was happy to find out, shortly before shipping off for the race, that there is in fact a town in my home state called La France. Last year, Anderson was the destination of a charity ride that started in La France, thus the name. This year Anderson added a downtown crit to the festivities.
The course wasn't too technical, but it had its challenges. Front and back stretches were super long, a slight kicker-hill coming out of turn one, a downhill heading into a steeper, longer hill on the back stretch, and the straight away between turns 3 and 4 was a single lane street, so it made things a little bit more narrow. Not that that mattered with my group.
I lined up with a group of category 5 racers not much bigger than my last race. Only 10 this time. It astonishes me how small these crowds have been lately, more on that later.
I didn't get off to a very good start and found myself fighting to close a gap... again. I started this thing way too nonchalantly. I thought that whoever went out that hard was bound to come back, that I was the big man on campus and that I knew exactly how to handle this thing. It was a long race, right? There's no sense in starting that hard!
So coming back around at the end of lap 1, I heard Chad Andrews saying that there was already a gap on the front. Not on my watch!!! I was in my drops and chasing those guys down as soon as I heard that. No luck.
I had a small group of four to work with. The two other guys in the race were long gone by this point. I tried to work with these guys, take even pulls and keep the pace high enough to bring the others back. There's a lack of understanding that working as a group is better than blowing yourself up trying to do it all on your own. Not that I'm an expert on bike racing or anything.
So, the leader of my little band of misfits was brake happy, slowed down too much for the corners, but rode good lines. We had one guy who loved to cross wheels, and I knew he was going down eventually. I wasn't to sad to see him standing on the sidelines just a few laps later.
As it got down to it later, I realized that the 3 or 4 of us were racing for 5th now. It was just a matter of survival at this point. After 20-25ish minutes it was just two of us. Me and the guy I met from Athens. We chatted a little bit just kind of rode together until the laps started counting down.
I wasn't sure what protocol was at this point in the race. Clearly we were on our own. Pretty much just working together to get to the line. I took my last pull on the third to last lap. We came to one to go together, all the way to the hill on the backstretch. I came around him at the bottom of the hill and pushed a little bit harder than normal. Had a gap in turn 3, carried it through turn 4 until my front tire started to slide out on a crosswalk. Luckily, I race 'cross. Stood the bike up straight and stepped on the gas. I looked behind me to see I had a gap coming out of the turn and hit even harder, all the way to the line. I came across first after the "break away." So a top five is good, but getting dropped makes it bittersweet. It was the exact attack I planned on making on the last lap, I just thought I was going to do it for a podium.
So, I was talking to Adam about my race while he was preparing for his (TMK had a great weekend, by the way!). He seemed pretty shocked at how small my race was, saying that New England Cat 5 races fill up, and that organizers usually run two races for the Cat 5's. I'd be happy with 20-25 person races. But showing up with half that seems pretty ridiculous. I know I've done larger races (39 in Walterboro, 43 in Charleston), and I'm quite happy with that.
One problem I know has to be race conflicts. Both this race and Cheraw had conflicts within at least an hour's driving distance. I'm hoping that it's either this, or a lot of people are wrapping up for the year. The 4's looked to get a decent turn out-20 or 30. Made me start wondering if I was ready for an upgrade. It is kind of embarrassing racing the 5's... if that makes sense. I know I don't have a good record in 4/5 races, but back then I wasn't training with Cycle-Smart.
I know that if there aren't more people in Winston-Salem this Saturday, the State Champs on the 18th are going to be a shock to the system.
Downtown Anderson was an interesting place. I like being in these small South Carolina towns, but I don't think I'd ever want to live in one. I also don't think I'd ever visit Anderson for anything other than a bike race, but I appreciate its existence. The Fox was the English style pub I checked out, but I'm beer fasting right now and the menu wasn't exactly crawling with vegetarian options. Kind of upset I didn't get to eat local (I opted instead for Moe's, which was awful). I just wasn't in the mood for a salad on bread.
Fletcher, NC training 'cross race on Wednesday, I plan on leading tip to tail. Then the Old Salem Criterium up in Winston Saturday. Looks like another 5am wake up for a 5:30 departure. I have high hopes for my final tune up before the state championships.
The course wasn't too technical, but it had its challenges. Front and back stretches were super long, a slight kicker-hill coming out of turn one, a downhill heading into a steeper, longer hill on the back stretch, and the straight away between turns 3 and 4 was a single lane street, so it made things a little bit more narrow. Not that that mattered with my group.
I lined up with a group of category 5 racers not much bigger than my last race. Only 10 this time. It astonishes me how small these crowds have been lately, more on that later.
I didn't get off to a very good start and found myself fighting to close a gap... again. I started this thing way too nonchalantly. I thought that whoever went out that hard was bound to come back, that I was the big man on campus and that I knew exactly how to handle this thing. It was a long race, right? There's no sense in starting that hard!
So coming back around at the end of lap 1, I heard Chad Andrews saying that there was already a gap on the front. Not on my watch!!! I was in my drops and chasing those guys down as soon as I heard that. No luck.
I had a small group of four to work with. The two other guys in the race were long gone by this point. I tried to work with these guys, take even pulls and keep the pace high enough to bring the others back. There's a lack of understanding that working as a group is better than blowing yourself up trying to do it all on your own. Not that I'm an expert on bike racing or anything.
So, the leader of my little band of misfits was brake happy, slowed down too much for the corners, but rode good lines. We had one guy who loved to cross wheels, and I knew he was going down eventually. I wasn't to sad to see him standing on the sidelines just a few laps later.
As it got down to it later, I realized that the 3 or 4 of us were racing for 5th now. It was just a matter of survival at this point. After 20-25ish minutes it was just two of us. Me and the guy I met from Athens. We chatted a little bit just kind of rode together until the laps started counting down.
I wasn't sure what protocol was at this point in the race. Clearly we were on our own. Pretty much just working together to get to the line. I took my last pull on the third to last lap. We came to one to go together, all the way to the hill on the backstretch. I came around him at the bottom of the hill and pushed a little bit harder than normal. Had a gap in turn 3, carried it through turn 4 until my front tire started to slide out on a crosswalk. Luckily, I race 'cross. Stood the bike up straight and stepped on the gas. I looked behind me to see I had a gap coming out of the turn and hit even harder, all the way to the line. I came across first after the "break away." So a top five is good, but getting dropped makes it bittersweet. It was the exact attack I planned on making on the last lap, I just thought I was going to do it for a podium.
So, I was talking to Adam about my race while he was preparing for his (TMK had a great weekend, by the way!). He seemed pretty shocked at how small my race was, saying that New England Cat 5 races fill up, and that organizers usually run two races for the Cat 5's. I'd be happy with 20-25 person races. But showing up with half that seems pretty ridiculous. I know I've done larger races (39 in Walterboro, 43 in Charleston), and I'm quite happy with that.
One problem I know has to be race conflicts. Both this race and Cheraw had conflicts within at least an hour's driving distance. I'm hoping that it's either this, or a lot of people are wrapping up for the year. The 4's looked to get a decent turn out-20 or 30. Made me start wondering if I was ready for an upgrade. It is kind of embarrassing racing the 5's... if that makes sense. I know I don't have a good record in 4/5 races, but back then I wasn't training with Cycle-Smart.
I know that if there aren't more people in Winston-Salem this Saturday, the State Champs on the 18th are going to be a shock to the system.
Downtown Anderson was an interesting place. I like being in these small South Carolina towns, but I don't think I'd ever want to live in one. I also don't think I'd ever visit Anderson for anything other than a bike race, but I appreciate its existence. The Fox was the English style pub I checked out, but I'm beer fasting right now and the menu wasn't exactly crawling with vegetarian options. Kind of upset I didn't get to eat local (I opted instead for Moe's, which was awful). I just wasn't in the mood for a salad on bread.
Fletcher, NC training 'cross race on Wednesday, I plan on leading tip to tail. Then the Old Salem Criterium up in Winston Saturday. Looks like another 5am wake up for a 5:30 departure. I have high hopes for my final tune up before the state championships.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Why cyclo-cross racers should ride their bikes on trails
And I don't mean multi-use paths, even though those are nice. I mean roots, rocks, no reggae, mountain bike trails.I should say before I get started: I am one thing and I am not another. I AM an idiot, who probably pushes his bike a bit too hard. I AM NOT a coach or even that great of a bike rider. My palmares doesn't read too impressively, so you probably shouldn't take my advice.
This is a question I pondered to myself Sunday afternoon while I rode 700x35 tires around "one of the largest public greenspaces inside the city limits of a metropolitan area in the eastern United States," Harbison State Forest. Why the hell do I do this?
I know why I do it. It's therapy, tearing around the woods on my 'cross bike. It breaks up the monotony of riding hours on the asphalt all the time. It's not as hot, there's shade and the forest floor doesn't radiate heat the way tarmac does. And, I don't own a mountain bike.
But why do I think other people should do it? Clearly a mountain bike would be better riding around all of these roots and rocks. This is evidenced by the fact that everytime I pass a guy on one of the wide, smooth, fast sections, he passes me back as I'm bouncing around the terrain. All that suspension and crap must be better for you, right?
Better for mountain biking maybe, but better for you? Probably not.
As far as I'm concerned, I have enough suspension already, I don't need anymore. Let your knees and elbows take care of that for you.
See, riding a 'cross bike in the woods for a few hours teaches a lot more about riding 'cross than I think we realize. It's kind of like taking a calculus class to study for your algebra final. There's so many technical skills out there for the taking that'll make tearing around a 'cross course seem like a piece of cake.
I did countless dismounts, run ups (walk ups maybe, it's still base training) and remounts going out for a nice cruise in the woods. The two 9 mile loops I did meant that not only was I getting in a lot of repetition on dismounts and remounts, but a lot of variation also. Not every run up, barrier, or technical section is going to be the same this fall, so there's no sense in practicing them all the same.
Unless you live near the biggest and best equipped park in the world, I imagine there isn't too much variety in the practice courses you can put together. Outside of barriers, I'm not sure there's a 'cross course component that I didn't ride on Sunday. Sand, dry dusty dirt, slick mud, grass, gravel roads and pavement were all included in my ride to, through and home from the park. A couple more trips out there and I'm pretty sure I'll be ready for any course this season.
The best part, the part I love the most about riding my 'cross bike in the woods, is how smooth I feel on the bike after a couple of rides out there. Remember that knee and elbow suspension thing I mentioned? I don't like feeling every bump in the trail. What's better than dancing on your pedals? Your bike dancing under you, that's what. It's that lightness-on-the-bike feeling that makes all this crap worth it. Being able to guide your bike over that crap that people usually ride with suspension, and not feeling like your teeth are about to rattle out is an amazing feeling, and it's a feeling that translates awesome onto a 'cross course. Riding 2 hours in the woods means that the bumpy sections on a course aren't throwing you out of your saddle, even when you're covered in your own snot and drool 45 minutes into a race this fall.
It's scientifically proven, that same lightness-on-the-bike thing makes you corner better, ride through the slop faster, dismount better and sprint faster. I swear.
Plus, how else can you go out and get completely filthy without looking like a crazy person?
Civil War cannons, biplanes, and NASCAR: Cheraw, SC Crit
I usually take about 15 minutes off of the time Google Maps gives me for trips. I'm not saying I drive fast, just that Google is wrong... always.Ok, not always.
Saturday, Google Maps and my trusty Magellan GPS weren't in full agreement about the time-frame I was looking at for my drive to the All That Jazz Criterium. So, while I was sitting outside my favorite pre-race gas station punching in the start/finish address, I realized I had left about 30-45 minutes later than I should have.
About an hour into the drive, I had to hop off of the interstate. There's no better way to see your home state than at 55mph on a two lane highway. As previously mentioned, things you encounter when traveling through the small towns of South Carolina include: town centers featuring real-life Civil War cannons (it's cool to celebrate the time when the south rose up to fight those evil pro-abolition northerners, but no one better step out of line against the good ol' USA now-a-days!), crazy biplanes circling around Darlington (I tried to get a picture but driving seemed more important), and the holy land of NASCAR, Darlington International Super Speedway... well kinda, I didn't actually pass the race track, but I wish I did.
I got to Cheraw at about 1:30 for my 2:00 race. Tried to figure out where the hell registration was. Finished changing in the parking lot, got my bike together, tossed my license and money in my pocket, grabbed a bottle, left my keys on my driver's seat, and took off to register. I signed my waiver and filled out a short questionnaire (can't you see I'm late, lady?!), took a single lap around the course, and lined up to start.
Apparently, I was the riders' favorite at the start line. I was told by one rider that I had him beat by about 40lbs. I made sure to back up so everyone could see the guy lined up on my left, my personal favorite to take the glory.
I predicted (read it here: http://twitter.com/JBrstl/status/21753938048) that I would line up with 7 other people at my race. Well, I lined up with 6 other people. I can't change race dates around after they've been organized, but seriously three races within a reasonable driving distance is ridiculous. None of the Greenville guys are coming if there's a race in Greenville and none of the North Carolina guys are coming if there's a race in North Carolina.
Plus, just because there's fewer people to beat on the line, a smaller race is usually a harder one. There was no where to hide and every move that went, could have been the one that made the race.
However, despite it's small turnout (the race after mine, the Womens' Cat 4 had 4 riders in a race that paid 5 deep), the race was well done. Tons of volunteers, a lemonade stand and a sweet, 6 corner 1.3 mile course.
I went into the race with absolutely no expectations. I was in my last week of doing base training and haven't done a touch of intensity training. I was hoping to get used to riding in a group and working on my crit skills.
Right from the gun, the guy on my right on the mountain bike, wearing the Manchester United jersey went all out. I wasn't worried about it and neither was anybody else, we all started our race at our pace and he was brought back in the first corner.
It was the kid from Forest Acres who upped the pace early and went off the front. The group that I wanted to be in (the front group) all went after him. I had to chase, and chase hard. Since I showed up without any warm up, with the exception of a two hour ride that morning, my first few laps were a complete shock. I clawed back on after probably 2.5 laps of digging my guts out. True sisu.
Once I was back with the group, I settled in, took one turn at the front and tried to ride a smart race. The guy in front of me crossed wheels with another rider once and almost went down. Props to him for saving it and staying up.
Coming to the last few laps I knew the pace was going to go up, but I wanted to stay with the leaders (four of us now) until the end of the race. Nothing crazy happened. The kid from Forest Acres tried to go off the front. I put myself in a position to chase, but gladly watched as the Global Bike rider (my pre-race nod for the win) followed him instead.
I lost the race in the second to last corner. I just botched it whenever I went in two wide with the Forest Acres rider. I thought I might be able to bring them back on the short stretch and just ride the longest sprint of my life. Global Bike rider went into turn 6 in the ideal line, the guy behind him dove in deeper, and Forest Acres kid dove in EVEN DEEPER and slid out in the corner. The guy seriously slid from the gutter to the outside barrier, right in front of me. I grabbed a handful of brakes and went to the outside, watched the other two riders ride away from me, while I stepped onto a only-slightly-earned podium position. My dude from Global Bike took the two man sprint and, the best part, the Manchester United mountain bike guy finished fifth. Sweet.
The view on the ride home was pretty awesome.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Get in the Hatchback: 2010 Season Part II
Surprisingly enough, the days here in Columbia actually seem to be getting shorter. School is starting back up, English soccer is on TV again and, a few hours to the north of me, the Cycle-Smart Cyclo-Cross Camp is up and running.
All of this can only mean one thing: it's almost time for fall and the most glorious sport in the world- cyclo-cross, obviously.
Now, while I've got 'Cross Camp envy going for me right now, I'll be seeking fitness in the form of the "All That Jazz Criterium" tomorrow in Cheraw, SC. This race will be my first time pinning on a number since the Dilworth Criterium in Charlotte on May 1st. I took the rest of May off and I've been building a strong base since mid-June. I'm going into Cheraw in my last week of base training (next week is recovery) and without any intensity work whatsoever. No ambitions tomorrow except to get back into the swing of things.
A few more road races in September, plus the Clemson 'Cross training series on Wednesdays will get me fully prepped to kick the cycl0-cross season into high gear on October 2nd in Kingsport, TN.
I keep getting super stoked to race 'cross again, then I have to bring myself back down to Earth and remember that it's more than a month away. However, the Clemson training races do start up in just a week or two, so it's not real racing but I should probably start thinking about freshening up my skills before I head up there.
So for those of you who can't wait for 'cross, here's some media to keep you at bay until October. Whenever I have free time on the computer at work, I go trolling for sweet videos to keep me occupied. These are some of the recent gems:
I don't think a few of those obstacles are UCI legal anymore.
All of this can only mean one thing: it's almost time for fall and the most glorious sport in the world- cyclo-cross, obviously.
Now, while I've got 'Cross Camp envy going for me right now, I'll be seeking fitness in the form of the "All That Jazz Criterium" tomorrow in Cheraw, SC. This race will be my first time pinning on a number since the Dilworth Criterium in Charlotte on May 1st. I took the rest of May off and I've been building a strong base since mid-June. I'm going into Cheraw in my last week of base training (next week is recovery) and without any intensity work whatsoever. No ambitions tomorrow except to get back into the swing of things.
A few more road races in September, plus the Clemson 'Cross training series on Wednesdays will get me fully prepped to kick the cycl0-cross season into high gear on October 2nd in Kingsport, TN.
I keep getting super stoked to race 'cross again, then I have to bring myself back down to Earth and remember that it's more than a month away. However, the Clemson training races do start up in just a week or two, so it's not real racing but I should probably start thinking about freshening up my skills before I head up there.
So for those of you who can't wait for 'cross, here's some media to keep you at bay until October. Whenever I have free time on the computer at work, I go trolling for sweet videos to keep me occupied. These are some of the recent gems:
I don't think a few of those obstacles are UCI legal anymore.
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