Infirmary Mounds CX

The more posts I type, the less I want to talk race report type details, because usually they're pretty boring details, especially for you to read... but this week is different!  I hope...

Sunsetting behind us on the trip up.

First though, the trip - Christine and I headed north late Saturday morning with a planned detour to IKEA en route to Columbus, OH.  I've been hearing about this place for years, but had never seen it for myself.  Believe it or not, I got out of there with only a 2.99 wall clock!  But... when time comes to furnish a house, some serious $$$ may be spent in that blue and yellow building!  Next up was dinner with Farmer and BWE at Carsonie's Stromboli and while it's no Little Caesars I guess it was alright (actually it was outstanding!)  From there we enjoyed great company and a low key evening in C-bus, a good night's sleep and  a tasty breakfast before hitting the road for Infirmary Mounds Park near Granville, OH.

Farmer and BWE

Then of course was a cyclocross race -- or something like that... details later, first we'll finish the trip.  Post race dinner (lunch? supper? who knows?) was at Brew's Cafe in downtown Granville, the home of Dennison University and yet again, great food!  Something about a juicy cheeseburger to replace all those burned calories tastes amazing.  By now it's late afternoon and we've got 4 hours of driving left... so what the hell, why not break it up with a stop at an outlet mall?  Turned out to be a fun and productive stop (made the lady happy too) and we still rolled back into the 'Ville by 10ish.

NOW.... back to the slightly less boring than normal race details!

Based on pre-reg I knew that the Kiel brothers from Lilly Greygoat would be tough and Scott P and a couple others could ride away with it just as easily.  Off the line I went for another hole-shot and lead through the barriers.  Smart or not, I'm usually more comfortable setting the pace than following so for most of a lap I pounded away trading a pull or two with Ryan K and soon there were just three of us off the front.  My legs felt pretty good and I was taking good lines but felt like Trebon squeezed between Powers and TJ since it was me plus the Kiels.  I knew a one-on-one battle would be easier to handle than trying to race teammates, brothers at that!  So every chance I got I'd attack the shit out of the course until finally it was just Matt and I trading turns on the front.

It was awesome to execute a mid-race strategy so well and create the 1on1 race I wanted... until Matt opened a small (2-3s) gap.  I tried to close it in the whoop-di-dos and took a two wheel drift into a stake. He looked over to the sound of the snap, saw me track stand and took off.  I chased hard for a while but he'd gotten just enough gap to be out of site on most of the course and that did it.

OK Ray, just race hard and take the second step!

Or maybe not, one lap to go and here comes Scott P from Team Hungry with his own plans for second place.

Exiting singletrack with #3 close behind.

5 seconds back... shit! He's on my wheel!!  It's fine, relax, just save a little and take him in the sprint?!  As we rolled by the pits for the last time some buddies cheered him onward and he attacked with more than half the course remaining... so much for saving some!  Turns out he burned that match too early and just as he let up I struck my own match to dive into the last single track with the lead.  We both cleaned the "run-up" and weren't more than a second apart coming into the last turn.  Coach was standing there cheering and reminding me to go to big ring... great idea!  Or not... my front derailleur didn't respond so down the cassette I went.  Once on pavement I stood up and he conceded, but it was also promising to have that hole-shot burst left at the finish!!

After 40 minutes of racing, second place with just one mistake, and a third podium in 8 days!  I'll take it! AND it was enough to climb back into second in the series, just 4 points out of the lead.  There are about 10 guys that could potentially win the series after 11 of 15 races.  Looks to be an exciting weekend in Indy in a few weeks!

USGP, StG, Iceman, and IceCross

OK, so I'm a little behind so I'll try to keep each part brief.  After Bloomington came USGP at the new Eva Bandman Cyclocross Park just 3 miles from home and I went back to my hole-shot ways followed by fading back to 23 and 15 each day.  I was content with Saturday and pretty happy with Sunday, at just 1 minute off 4th place.

Hole-shot - Day One USGP Derby City (Photo credit: Mr. Tom Moran)



Storm the Greens

Tuesday and Wednesday I slipped in 5 workouts for a first shot at overload from coach.  It worked, I was cooked, but he set me up with the right recovery to regain my legs by the weekend.

Next up was Storm the Greens, again just a few miles from home.  Like clockwork, I grabbed the hole-shot and lead half a lap only this time I held on to Jason's wheel for a while when he came around.  We opened a considerable gap on 3 and 4 and then he pulled away from me by a handful of seconds before I washed out in a turn and lost another 8-10 seconds putting 3 and 4 very close.  Mentally I went backwards for a lap, then got back on top of things and started chasing, but 20 seconds in the last lap is a tough gap to close.  Finished in 4th and bummed about the mistake, but content with fitness and bounce back.



Michigan sunset

  
After 13 races in 8 weeks my mind and body were running ragged, so I all but begged for an easy week but coach said I had to stay sharp and we agreed on one extra easy day instead and I cut my race tune up short based on darkness and cold.

Iceman Cometh was next on the list and goals for this race had been set TWO years in advance.  After placing 5th in Beginner in 2008 I wanted to go top 10 in age group the next two years in the next two classes.  2009 I placed 7th in Sport, so of course, quitting on 2010 wasn't an option.  Iceman has always been a fun trip and it's a tradition for Mario and I to drive the 9 hours with whoever else wants in but this year I couldn't get excited about it like years past.  Maybe I was stuck on cross fever or maybe I'd spent too many hours on the road this season - I still don't know.

Michigan sky

Anyways, this year they changed the format and removed Beg/Sport/Expert classes and just lumped age groupers together.  Since this meant all expert were included, it still meant my goal was measureable.  Based on last year's time, I was to start in Wave 6 of about 40 at 9:22am.  We arived in Kalkaska with more than an hour to spare and I slowly got ready and on the bike for a warm up.  Heart rate was insanely low (57bpm if I sat still more than a couple minutes) and there were no nerves - quite the strange feeling prerace.  I managed to get in half an hour of warm up and headed to the line but got stuck in third row.  I handed off some extra clothes and 5-4-3-2-1, we're off!  I worked my way toward the front to avoid any wheel crossed crashes like last year's pro race, but instead of pulling I sat in until we hit dirt.  This is supposed to be a 28 mile point to point race, so there's no need to kill it at the start.  I sat comfortably second wheel for a couple miles and then started to fall off the pace and let a couple guys by. 

Iceman Cometh 2010 Start

Williamsburg Road "climb" (Big Ringed it!)

The first half of the race was spent passing about as many as passed me, trying to push it but not too hard.  I had a tough time mentally pushing to that pain/puke/cry limit and kicked myself for it later, but the second half of the race, or the more hilly portion was spent passing a few people at a time and rarely getting passed.  Maybe staying off the ppc limit wasn't such a bad idea to have something at the end?  All the while, I'm doing the math in my head to see if a sub two hour finish is possible - it was... until I hit the last bit of singletrack a mile from the finish and 15+ people were lined up doing 6 mph.  Ah well, guess that's the end of the sub-2 hopes!  I finished in 2:00:58 with an average speed of 14.4mph.  Good enough for 4th in 25-27 age group and 6 minutes faster than last year on a course that was 8 minutes slower for the Pros!

4th place medal

Last on the docket for the weekend was IceCross.  I was torn on whether or not to hang around to race or get on the road on Sunday morning but after some convincing from Glypie and recollection that the previous year had been a cool course with sweet prizes I suited up, paid my entry and warmed up.

Mark and Glypie at dinner Saturday @ Red Mesa Grill

As if it were a broken record, I took the hole-shot of the B race, had to shoulder someone around the second turn, which pissed me off and then started a new song by attacking and opening a gap.  For 3 laps it continued to open with a chase group of 3 nearly 20 seconds back.  Eventually one guy attacked the group and came after me and I made a bad line choice in the sand causing my rear wheel to slide in the dropout.  I hopped off to fix it and #2 saw and came out of the sand as I remounted... the battle was on!  Since he had just bridged and was gassed and I'd just spent 10 seconds off the bike with the repair, I attacked after the lap line just to stretch him out again.  Then with 3 laps to go, I rode steady on the front paying attention to where he was close and where he was struggling.  I located four attack points and on the last lap stood on the pedals at every one!  Finally, the third time was enough - I opened a few second gap again and rode steady to the line for my first CX win!

The sad news - they didn't have a podium, and the prizes consisted of a box of XL tshirts and an 8oz bottle of ELITE.  I've never used the latter, but it was the best option, if you use it, lemme know.

Other than one last photo, that's all for now.  Next up is Infirmary Mounds in Columbus followed by ProMotion in Lexington, John Bryan in Dayton (maybe), and the two-day in Indianapolis.  Currently I sit third in the series and it would be a dream season to finish top 5 in my first year in the 3's... we'll see!!

Couldn't resist a photo of this on the way home...

Mountainous bicycle rides, trucked at Bloomingcross, and other random ramblings

Two mountain bike rides in two days!!!  Not that uncommon for me generally, but it had been 52 days since last riding fat tires.  Blasphemy, I know...but now I'm going to give a list of excuses that don't really matter.  Fool's Gold destroyed my brakes, my rear triangle had to be warrantied, and CX is so damn much fun!  Anywho, it was good to get out on the Cheroneca trails Tuesday and Wednesday last week and I'm pretty sure my handling and line choices were better than they had been all summer (though that didn't take much!)

Sunday was Bloomington and I had high hopes to finish well, even after preriding the course.  The main reason for high hopes being that USGP was coming up and as it stands now I've got shit for starting position (about 11th row).  Coach and I discussed a new race strategy that involved NOT taking the holeshot and saving those matches for mid race.  So, I hit the first turn third wheel  and moved up to second quickly... then, two minutes into the race, the plan failed.  A gap of about a bike length had opened between me and the leader starting into a straight away when the guy in third decided he was going by on the narrow side.  I had no idea he was there until my pedal went into his front wheel and he and both bikes stopped and I kept going.  Based on garmin data, speed was about 16-18 mph, though the garmin couldn't tell me how many times I rolled or how far I slid...

As for the crash, I can't pass all the blame, because once it happened and the leaning started I didn't react fast enough to get away, but the whole thing could have been avoided with a simple, "On your left" or a pass on the open side of the course.  I'm not going to try and deny a pass two minutes into a 45 minute race.  All was mostly well though, so back on the bike and off we went.  Derailleur hanger was bent, but the course was flat enough I could stay out of the easy gears and I rolled in for 8th of 18 on decent legs at best.  Not at all what I wanted, but that's just how it goes sometimes.  It was enough to hold onto the top spot in the series, but it doesn't look like that will last much beyond 7 races.  For the next two days it felt like I'd been hit by a truck, but nothing broken or torn so I feel pretty lucky honestly!

Power - revisited...
Saturday I got a call from Mike about a powertap for sale at the swap meet, and I'd been pondering for some time about buying one so since the price was right, I took it home.  What's this mean?  Well, I'm not totally sure but watch out world, I'm joining the ranks of overdataanalyzing cyclists!  It will help me to follow coach's workouts more closely and it'll allow him to track what I'm doing more accurately... power numbers don't lie like heart rate!

USGP COURSE
Looking from the road (because of course only villans would be getting tours) the course is going to be pretty awesome!  Some of the features (visible from the road of course) include a 0.2km-ish paved start, a couple of super steep ride/run ups, barriers immediately on the other side of 5 foot dirt speed hump, 30 yards of 8" deep fine sand, a soft steep descent, lots of velcro-like grass in an open field with a few twists, some barely 3m wide trail through the trees with sweet twists, and of course... the green monster!  I'd lost a good deal of excitement about this weekend after learning that OVCX 3's were not receiving call-ups (I guess we'll see what happens on Saturday) but seeing the course (from the... umm... road) I'm looking forward to it again!!

If you're in Louisville this weekend, come down to Bandman Park on River Road and see what cyclocross racing is all about!!!

UCI3 - Java Johnny's and Harbin Park

Java Johnny's in Sunset Park was hands down my favorite course from the weekend, possibly for the season!  The course had flat straight aways to lay down power, but it had some tight twisty stuff too and it all flowed together so that brakes almost weren't necessary!

Going for hole-shot #2 of the weekend.

This was the third time this year racing two days in a row, so I knew what to expect including a stiff lower back after Friday's roughish climby course.  BUT, I liked what I saw/felt during the pre-ride and got a good warm up in.  On the line I knew a hole-shot was possible and that top 5 may mean the race so I went hard but not all in and took the first turn for the third race in a row.  I let Proppe go much earlier, but found a rhythm and stayed steady for 45 minutes or racing to finish 11/75+!  I set a new heart rate max at either 197 or 199 (different uploads show both) and averaged 184 bpm.  I wasn't ecstatic, as I wanted a top 10, but was definitely happy with the improvement from day one!

Into the sand in 4th.

Christine and I met her friend for dinner at a place called Teller's of Hyde Park and I'm no food critic, but damn it was good!  The Magic Hat #9 went down quite nicely as well...

And then comes day three at Harbin Park.  I'd never raced three days in a row before... hell, I'd never ridden hard three days in a row before!



In "no man's land" late in the race.



The course was pretty cool, but definitely fit the "roadie course" category.  Lots of power sections and very few places where mountain bike skills could buy much time.  It was hot and again we were told at the start line that feeds were not allowed...even though it was well over 68 degrees and 5 laps were imminent.  I was still after a top ten, but my body ached and I knew the power sections were going to hurt even more.  But ... the goal remained so after it I went.  Just before heading to the start line I decided just a little less tire pressure in the front would be good for the dusty corners and for soaking up bumps to take it easy on the body.  As I put my elbows on the bars on the start line I noticed that tire was setting awfully low... SHIT!  No one had a pump nearby and it was too late to slip to the truck, so I tried to relax knowing I had a bike in the pit and hoped it wasn't as bad as it looked.

After two hole-shots, I wanted the third one bad, knowing with a low tire it may be the last good note of the race.  So, I put my head down and took it!  Then, three turns later I dabbed out to avoid hitting the deck and lost a few places.  I held steady through the lap line and the uphill sandpit but decided to go ahead and take the other bike even though it was on the opposite side of the pit area.  Enter pit - 6th place, exit pit - 28th place = SUCK!  From there I tried to gain places but mentally never recovered.  It was pretty much a "hold your position" race to the end where I finished 26th of 77, missing my top 10 opportunity.  Ah well, two solid results racing with some fast guys; a lot that normally race elites!

A few thank you's are in order:

• Uncle Jamie for a place to stay
• Nicole B, for airing up my tire in the pit and having the bike ready a half lap later
• Gavin for helping with the second bike swap
• Christine for the cheering/support/good company
• The Farmers for being good people (and BWE for great photos!)
• And all the promoters, volunteers, and attendees for an outstanding weekend of cyclocross!!!

Post Harbin Park, guess I coulda zipped up....

Side note, because I'm one of only five guys to finish all five races so far, I moved up to first in the Cat3 OVCX Series!  Also, I pulled my crossresults.com points down under 400 for the first time!  Here

UCI3 - Day 1 - Devou Park

I'm gonna keep this one short...

Sunrise over the KY River

The course last year was muddy and barely rideable, but it was said to be a good course.  This year, it was on the other side of the road and NOT on the golf course after last year's race destroyed the golf course.  It was climby, which is good, but it lacked flow and there were lots of holes.  There was only one turn that I could rail without at least feathering my brakes most laps.  I guess with the space allotted, they did a descent job with the layout.

Coach, Messer, and Lucas on the Elite Masters Start Line

Warm up went fine, but I decided to race my pit bike because the brakes are quiet (compared to the carbon wheels) and the position is slightly more upright.  I thought this would be more comfortable on the downhills, but I'm not sure it helped.  Got my call-up, nerves were good, and I took the holeshot.  Not really the plan, but it just seems to happen.  John Proppe and I pulled away from the field and then there was a pileup of some sort behind us in the first dirt climb that opened our gap even further.  I didn't feel too bad, but knew I couldn't hold John's pace for long so when he came out of a turn with a gap I was fine to let him go.  Two other guys bridged up and I was fine sitting on them for a while feeling pretty good in fourth until they slowly pulled away.  Then the mind started working -- BAD!  I thought, "If I can just keep the rubber side down, top ten should be piece of cake!"  A few turns later, I came in hot and guess what... on the ground, chain off and loosing places.  Not sure exactly how far I dropped, but from there I bled some more places not handling the bike well and mentally not on top of it.  The last two laps I picked it back up and pulled a couple places back to finish 16th in my first 2/3 race.  Hoping for better tomorrow, but I managed to beat a couple of the guys that got me at Kings and TdL.

Trebon and JPow riding the "Run Up"

Great race for John who went on to take second and Travis Mullen who rode from the back to take the win!  I stuck around a lot longer than I planned and cheered for Coach, the women, and the start of the men's race then had dinner and a drink with my uncle and am staying at his place in NKY for the wknd.

Kersting on the Run Up

Tour de Louisville

This past wknd was OVCX #2 just 20 minutes from home in SE Jefferson county. The course was climby and tight, twisty, turny just like last year. Honestly, it should be a favorite course with the climbing, but I can't seem to convince myself to love it!

Looking across the hillside

The cat 4 race started just moments after I arrived, so I scouted from outside the tape and the first thing I saw was the middle Haley roll a tire at a tiny log crossing/turn, which ultimately got in my head. The rest of the course was full of off camber and tough turns, but was straightforward. As soon as the 4's finished I slipped in a preride with my normal 29-30 psi up front and 31-32psi in the rear tubies. Both times through I felt comfortable getting over the log, but was almost casing the backwheel and didn't want to chance a shattered carbon rim. So, the pressure went up by a couple/few psi front and rear and all was ready. I talked with coach a little and he reminded me to save matches and worry only about taking the first turn in top five, not necessarily the hole-shot and to turn a bigger gear in the power sections. The day before my legs were heavy and didn't seem to want to open up, so goals weren't that lofty for the day, just try to stay in the top ten for a chance at call ups for the UCI3 based on OVCX series standings.

There was extra motivation to race well coming from outside the tape with my biggest fan section at a race to date! Mom, Dad, Pop, and Christine were all out to watch and cheer in the first real cool autumn day, so a big thanks to all of them! There were also more voices than I could count yelling my name all around the course, and let me tell ya, it helps ya get up that hill each time and up from any spills!

So back to the action.... warm up went well enough and headed to he start area with the first call. Like normal, second row call up (even though I was sitting eigth in the series) but found an open hole on the front and squeezed in. Then we waited...for what seemed like 15 minutes for the kids race to wrap up and finally we got the 30 seconds call. I was on edge, but comfortable and the whistle went off! I put in two good pedal strokes and took it easy just as planned, only coming out of the first turn I had a couple seconds. So I just held steady expecting the field to roll up on my wheel and then we'd race. Goig alone for 45 minutes seemed unrealistic... Then I came out of the barriers with closer to 10 seconds! Not what I expected, but whatever. I put it in sustainable TT mode and continued on. The log was a piece of cake at race speeds and I came through the start/finish area with several seconds to a couple guys also breaking off the front of the field. This was good, if a couple caught me we could work together to put the hammer down. Then, making a turn to the steep climb I made a stupid mistake and tried to pedal through, washing out and leaving me running to the top! And of course, Ryan Kiel passed me here and never looked back...isn't he supposed to wait on me?!

Holeshot

Even after a screw up like that, I was able to stay relaxed and chase, the gap was steady if not shrinkig through the lap line (which was Ryan's fastest lap of the day). I wouldn't go as far as to say that I was having the best legs of the year, but I felt good...until I tried to get a little too much out of an off camber and wadded it up under the tape! Gavin and Spencer were there helping get things sorted out including putting the chain back on. I'm guessing 25-30 seconds off the bike and second to eigth, ugh!

Chasing

Once again, it wa time to relax and chase. The rest of the Race was spent picking off one hare at a time except for one partial wash out and the last lap where I pushed it pretty hard to lay down the fastest cat 3 lap of the day. Finished in fifth and am happy.

The biggest accomplishment of he day was climbing into top five in the OVCX series so that I can get a first row call up at UCI3 this coming weekend after waiting later than I should to pre register.

One place I was able to gain time every lap!

Another thanks to @tallgirlky and Christine for the photos from the day (to be posted later when I'm not on my phone)

Field test, Shawnee, and power

I'm hooked... not just on fitness and racing bikes and the people and atmosphere that comes with, but the numbers behind it all too!  Saturday was my first power test and while I'm still learning what the numbers mean and how to improve certain aspects, the science behind training with power is exciting!  It let's my engineering mind geek out over something that I already love!

Sunday I raced Shawnee, again using a powertap.  I chose to race the pit bike since it already had a tire matching the powertap wheel and just to get more comfortable on it.  The course was very flat with only a couple of short six feet climbs and very few technical challenges.  For the day after threshold power testing, the legs were good, I just couldn't seem to remount the bike at speed thanks to a differently shaped road saddle catching my leg leaving me dangling on the back of the bike.  Pretty ugly a few times and that's being nice!  Finished 5th of 6 on the day, which wasn't what I was after, but I got some good numbers and am especially happy with the holeshot power data... let's just say I hit numbers that people 20-25lbs heavier than me would be happy seeing!  Now I just have to learn to distribute my matches throughout the race instead of striking so many at the start as well as learn to produce power at lower cadenence (these aren't 100 mile mt bike races anymore!)

Next up - Tour de Louisville...