I was sitting on the fence about this race all week, not sure if I was going to do it or sit it out and go for a long road ride. The night before I decided I would go for it. Tried to rally Bill to go, but he was ambivalent about getting up early for the race. There were two long stretches on the beach, which I was not looking forward to, as I loose a lot of time on run ups which are really hard for me after riding all out.
Got mixed up w/ some bad google maps directions, but found the park and had enough time for a pre race lap. Lots of little hills on this one, all except one of which could be ridden. I knew this was going to hurt, as I was pretty dehydrated and hungover from a late dinner party with friends. I was determined to just sit in on the back and take it easy.
Race started and immediately there was some aggressive passing going on. I was near the tail, so not sure why the urgency. About 600 meters in, out of the corner of my eye, I saw two guys take each other out. Rider on my right said "that was grim." Ended up talking with one of the guys after the race, someone tried to pass on the outside, ran into a lamp post, and took them both out. But they were both OK.
30 minute race, and a farily long course, so we were going to do 3 laps. There was a long stretch on the beach, around some paths in the woods, then back the other side of the beach. It had rained a bit the day before, so the sand was a bit compacted and was rideable most of the time. Sometimes someone ahead would loose traction and stop, which would force you out of the pedals, but later in the race when you were on your own, you could just keep it in a big gear and power throug it.
As the race went on, I was super thirsty, but was catching and passing a rider every now and then. But most of the race I was out on my own toward the back, which was fine. Eventually I heard the announcer calling last lap, and I had yet to get lapped, which was cool. Crossed the line 61 out of 71 racers, which I was pretty happy about given my condition. No crashes, had fun and was not DFL, which I feared as I was not riding at my best.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
StarCrossed cyclocross 10/6/12
I was really excited about this race. One of the bigger races on the NW cross calendar. I was in Seattle on business, and brought a bike a long. Plus I had a ton of friends and teammates who were racing as well. It was going to be a good day.
Afternoon race, so I spent a leisurely morning drinking coffee and talking with Bill on his porch. Suddenly it was getting late and I needed to get myself together and go. Only 40 minutes driving to the park, and I thought with the late start, I would have plenty of time, but a bit of traffic, long line at registration, and I just had time to pin on numbers and run up to staging. No warm up, but that was fine. Course was going to be fast and flat. No rain for months, so dry as well
Cat4s took off first, with a few minutes before my race, the 35+ cat 4s. About 2 minutes after the initial group left, two racers tore off down the starting stretch in pursuit, having missed the start.
Another couple of minutes and we were off. I was staged toward the back of the group. Long starting straight with a few sweeping curves gave us a chance to get stretched out. I was riding really well for the first 4 laps. Moving up in the field, passing quite a few riders. I was just off the back of the main part of the field, ahead of nearly half of the field, or so it seemed. Really hard to tell where you are in the race, but I passed 20-30 riders who had started ahead of me, and was still moving up. Looking for a solid placing at this one.
Then BANG. Front wheel washed out on a sandy patch in a corner just ahead of the barriers and the beer garden. I went down hard on my shoulder, then ducked under the tape to catch my breath. I was dazed, and thought I had a real injury. One of the spectators came up to me to check me out. Tapped on my collarbone, that was ok. I could lift my arm part way. OK, no dislocation. But I was sore as hell. My teammate Dave hopped over from the beer garden and offered me a drink of water. I was still a bit out of it, but trying to get myself together. I thought my race was over, but I talked to him for a minute, had a bit more water then jumped on the bike and said "I'm going to finish this thing". My chain was twisted up, so I had to immediately stop, invert the bike and re-route the chain, then I was off. Rode the last lap at sub tempo, getting passed by several riders who were now 3 laps up on me. But crossed the finish and felt pretty good, happy to have finished the race and not DNF.
Rolled over to the beer garden, saw Dave and Hank and grabbed a beer. Good to see Hank. We chatted about rowing for a bit. He's a solid masters rower, in a program at Pocock. I'm a fledgling novice rower, having spent more time on the bike than on the water this year.
Rolled over to the team tent, saw Sam, John, Matthew, Davo, Tim, and Brad among some more of the 2020 guys. Bill came over too. Hung around with those guys as the got ready or got cleaned up after their races. Spent a bit of time with Brad's kid Connor as Brad was getting ready for and then racing in the 1/2s. He had a solid race, but I could not stick around to watch all of it as I had dinner plans with friends.
Finished in the 90s, just ahead of the DNFs. Down 3 laps. I was really happy with how I had been racing up until my wipe out. Super fast course, and I was ripping it up. It happens. Looking forward to the next one.
Afternoon race, so I spent a leisurely morning drinking coffee and talking with Bill on his porch. Suddenly it was getting late and I needed to get myself together and go. Only 40 minutes driving to the park, and I thought with the late start, I would have plenty of time, but a bit of traffic, long line at registration, and I just had time to pin on numbers and run up to staging. No warm up, but that was fine. Course was going to be fast and flat. No rain for months, so dry as well
Cat4s took off first, with a few minutes before my race, the 35+ cat 4s. About 2 minutes after the initial group left, two racers tore off down the starting stretch in pursuit, having missed the start.
Another couple of minutes and we were off. I was staged toward the back of the group. Long starting straight with a few sweeping curves gave us a chance to get stretched out. I was riding really well for the first 4 laps. Moving up in the field, passing quite a few riders. I was just off the back of the main part of the field, ahead of nearly half of the field, or so it seemed. Really hard to tell where you are in the race, but I passed 20-30 riders who had started ahead of me, and was still moving up. Looking for a solid placing at this one.
Then BANG. Front wheel washed out on a sandy patch in a corner just ahead of the barriers and the beer garden. I went down hard on my shoulder, then ducked under the tape to catch my breath. I was dazed, and thought I had a real injury. One of the spectators came up to me to check me out. Tapped on my collarbone, that was ok. I could lift my arm part way. OK, no dislocation. But I was sore as hell. My teammate Dave hopped over from the beer garden and offered me a drink of water. I was still a bit out of it, but trying to get myself together. I thought my race was over, but I talked to him for a minute, had a bit more water then jumped on the bike and said "I'm going to finish this thing". My chain was twisted up, so I had to immediately stop, invert the bike and re-route the chain, then I was off. Rode the last lap at sub tempo, getting passed by several riders who were now 3 laps up on me. But crossed the finish and felt pretty good, happy to have finished the race and not DNF.
Rolled over to the beer garden, saw Dave and Hank and grabbed a beer. Good to see Hank. We chatted about rowing for a bit. He's a solid masters rower, in a program at Pocock. I'm a fledgling novice rower, having spent more time on the bike than on the water this year.
Rolled over to the team tent, saw Sam, John, Matthew, Davo, Tim, and Brad among some more of the 2020 guys. Bill came over too. Hung around with those guys as the got ready or got cleaned up after their races. Spent a bit of time with Brad's kid Connor as Brad was getting ready for and then racing in the 1/2s. He had a solid race, but I could not stick around to watch all of it as I had dinner plans with friends.
Finished in the 90s, just ahead of the DNFs. Down 3 laps. I was really happy with how I had been racing up until my wipe out. Super fast course, and I was ripping it up. It happens. Looking forward to the next one.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Night Weasels Cometh Cyclocross 10/3/2012
Another wednesday night race in No. central Mass. This one was a bit later start, so it would be under the lights. We had a few days of drizzle/rain, so it looked to be pretty wet, and maybe a bit muddy. Another race at a ski area, so a bunch of sidehilling and up and downs. Arrived early enough to get 2 laps on the course before the start. Not really muddy at all, just a lot of wet grass, and a few loose marble sized gravel patches. I was staged close to the back. Cat 4s lined up first, and the cat 4 35+ riders just behind them. It was still dusky, so the lights were not lit yet. The gun went off, and I immediately started moving up. I was feeling really strong, and was powering through the gravel, around a few wide turns, then up the switchbacks to the top of the bunny hill. Not too steep, so I kept it in a pretty big gear and grinded up at a low cadence. I ended up riding the whole race in one gear, never shifting out of the 46x24. It was bit heavy going uphill, and spinning out on the flats, but seemed to be working for me so I stuck with it. There were a few pretty rutted sections, where a big gear works better than a small one. If you're spinning too much through the bumps, it tends to throw you off the bike.
After the first few laps, started to settle into a good place. Passed a few more riders, and was mixing it up with a couple of other masters for the last few laps. I got lapped toward the end of the last lap, then came around a few last riders on the flats at the bottom of the course and finished alone. Pretty happy with my placing. A bit disappointed to have been lapped, but about 1/3 of the pack was lapped, so would have had to finish around the top 50% to avoid getting lapped. I'm getting close to that, but have not yet arrived. The form I had in August during those points races has not yet come back around, but I hope it I'm feeling it this weekend at StarCrossed, which I am really excited about!
After the 4s race, I had 15 minutes to kill before the cat 3 35+ started. I was super tired, and knew this was going to be tough. Got a drink, ran into Tim from Keene, and talked with him a bit about racing and getting together for some cross practice sessions in town. More about that later.
Photo of Tim
It had gotten dark by now, and the lights on the course were on Race started, and I was immediately off the back. Working as hard as I could, but after the first lap, it was just myself and one other rider out there alone at the tail. At one point I mentioned to him how it was kind of relaxing being out there all alone.
Him: "Either alone off the back, or alone off the front"
Me: "Alone off the front is too much work. I'll stay here for now."
Party at the back indeed.
He passed me after two laps, and I was content to stay just a couple of bike lengths back and keep him in sight. Then he wiped out in a greasy corner (there were a lot of greasy corners, you really had to pick your lines well), and I was forced to pass. I never saw him again.
Most of the areas were pretty well lit, but there were a few spots in the shadows. One of which was an off camber corner at the top of the course. It was super rutted, but in the daylight it was possible to pick a reasonable line and ride through it. In the pitch black, everyone was unclipping at least one foot and scooting through it, or running the corner.
Digging deep toward the end of the race.
I got lapped at the end of the 3rd lap, and hear the announcer say "3 to go" Wow, this was going to be tough. I was already in the bag with another 25-30 minutes to go. Kept riding along, getting lapped by the leaders every so often. On my last lap, the leader passed me again! and I finished just before the second and third place riders passed me for the second time. Ended up placing next to last. Happy just to have avoided finishing DFL. I have done doubles before, and the second race is just for fun and experience. After 40 minutes full throttle, there is nothing left, so the second race you are working just as hard, but can only hit about 80% of your top end speed.
At the finish, I met the guy I had been dueling with in the race. Turns out he races with the A group at Loudon. Bad Ass! I just upgraded from the Cs to the Bs for the last race of the season. He lives just a bit NE from me, and was interested to hear of our plans for a weekly cross practice session.
Checked results for the first race, stopped at the ski area bar for a beer and cookies, then they posted the results for the cat 3 race. They had me placed way higher than I had finished. I found an official, and let here know.
"Hi, you placed me 54th, but I really finished 75th"
"You want me to move you down in the placing? Really?"
"Yes, just trying to be honest on the account of all the other guys I really did not beat"
"OK. Go talk to that scorer."
"Hi, I wanted to let you know there was a mistake in the scoring. I should have been 75th, but was listed at 54th"
Something along the lines of "Why should I believe you, I don't know why you are telling me this. I will have to check my notes, and if they jive with what you are telling me, I will change the results, but if not then they will stand as they are."
I understand she was busy scoring riders as they came in. In hindsight, I may have had a better reception if I had waited until after that race was finished, but did not think about that at the time. She was polite, just a bit busy and distracted maybe. It turns out the results stood as marked. Sorry guys, I tried to get it straightened out.
Green Mountain Head 9/30/2012
Volunteered for the Green Mountain Head in Putney, VT this past weekend. It is a 3 mile out and back rowing race on the Connecticut river. Rowers row 1.5 miles down stream, around a buoy, then 1.5 miles upstream. There were both singles, and doubles, but no 4s or 8s in this race. It was a great race. My goal earlier in the summer was to row in the race, but as the summer went on, rowing took a back seat to bike racing and training for the upcoming cross season. I did not end up rowing at all after early August.
I had signed up to assist with timing. Due to some miscommunication, I was not aware that there had been a practice timing session thursday evening. The folks who were at that session were already set up to man the stopwatches and note start and finish times for each rower. So I would be an alternate, and just fill in if someone needed a break. I got a text from work while the organizer was describing how the system works, so I was distracted when he was describing the process. So it was just as well I was not going to be timing.
The marshall needed someone to help him get rowers queued up. I stood next to him with a pair of binoculars, and let him know if the rowers in each heat were lined up in order, and if there were any missing. Then he would call out "number one, fire it up, two just after that" etc. in order to get rowers moving. Every once in a while someone would show up to the hole a few minutes late, having missed their start, and we would slot them in at the end of the heat.
It was cool to see all of the different boats out there. We were standing close to the docks to get on/off the water as well, so we were in the center of the action. One rower came in on the police launch ( motorboat). He had cracked his carbon fiber scull out on the water, and had to get a ride back. Bummer. Did not get the details of what happened, it did not seem like he wanted to talk about it.
After the last rower got off, our job was done. There was still another half hour or so until the last rower came in, but we were finished. Got some food from the volunteer area and headed home. A fun way to spend the morning. Maybe next year I will get a bit more time on the water and enter this race. I may be able to borrow a boat from the Putney rowing club, as I have no boat of my own.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Midnight ride of Cyclocross 9/26/2012
Second race of the year. Cat 4 at the midnight ride of cyclocross. Day started out a bit rainy, which I was not thrilled about. Don't mind riding or racing in the rain, but I was still recovering from a cold I picked up last week, and was not looking forward to getting wet and cold. As the day went on, the rain stopped, and it warmed up quite a bit. GAME ON!
This was to be a fairly big race. It was billed as the "Ash wednesday of the holy week of New England cross". There is this race, the big UCI race in Gloucester this weekend, Night Weasels Cometh next wednesday (I'll be at that), then the Providence Cross Fest, another UCI race the following weekend. Gloucester fields filled up before I could register. I'll add that to the list for next year for sure.
Got to the race about an hour before the start, so I had plenty of time to warm up on the course. Fairly flat and fast, one long gradual hill. No sand, but there were several S turns through a big pile of wood chips to get a similar effect. Big ring the whole way!
Race started, I was staged about 1/2 way through the field. Got out to a good start, but was fairly soon getting passed by riders every lap. Made a few passes myself, but I was not at full power due to still being congested from this cold. One of the first riders to pass me was a young guy. I was wondering "who the heck is he?". Overhear the announcer that he was a 13 year old, who was in the lead for much of the race. Not sure if he pulled off the win, though.
I rode pretty well, but had a few bobbles on the barriers. I recently installed some new pedals, and this was my first race on them. The release is set a bit tight. Some times I could not get my foot out until just before the barrier, other times I would clip out early w/ my foot on top of the pedal, and it would clip back in. This was giving me fits for the entire race.
Last lap I really bumbled the last barrier, and two guys passed me just after it. I had hope of catching them on the downhill and flat section heading into the finish, but my chain jumped down to the small ring, and I had some difficulty getting it back on the big one for the finish sprint. Eventually got things together, and gained a lot of ground, but passed those two 2 meters AFTER the finish line. Oh well. Had a good, though not great race. This was the first intense workout I have had since I got sick. Finished 56/65, which was further back than I know I can do, but I did not get lapped, which was HUGE! First race where I was not lapped. I was a bit surprised I pulled this off, as it was a fairly short course, we did 6 laps at about 6:40/lap (winner riding 5:55 laps).
This was to be a fairly big race. It was billed as the "Ash wednesday of the holy week of New England cross". There is this race, the big UCI race in Gloucester this weekend, Night Weasels Cometh next wednesday (I'll be at that), then the Providence Cross Fest, another UCI race the following weekend. Gloucester fields filled up before I could register. I'll add that to the list for next year for sure.
Got to the race about an hour before the start, so I had plenty of time to warm up on the course. Fairly flat and fast, one long gradual hill. No sand, but there were several S turns through a big pile of wood chips to get a similar effect. Big ring the whole way!
Race started, I was staged about 1/2 way through the field. Got out to a good start, but was fairly soon getting passed by riders every lap. Made a few passes myself, but I was not at full power due to still being congested from this cold. One of the first riders to pass me was a young guy. I was wondering "who the heck is he?". Overhear the announcer that he was a 13 year old, who was in the lead for much of the race. Not sure if he pulled off the win, though.
I rode pretty well, but had a few bobbles on the barriers. I recently installed some new pedals, and this was my first race on them. The release is set a bit tight. Some times I could not get my foot out until just before the barrier, other times I would clip out early w/ my foot on top of the pedal, and it would clip back in. This was giving me fits for the entire race.
Last lap I really bumbled the last barrier, and two guys passed me just after it. I had hope of catching them on the downhill and flat section heading into the finish, but my chain jumped down to the small ring, and I had some difficulty getting it back on the big one for the finish sprint. Eventually got things together, and gained a lot of ground, but passed those two 2 meters AFTER the finish line. Oh well. Had a good, though not great race. This was the first intense workout I have had since I got sick. Finished 56/65, which was further back than I know I can do, but I did not get lapped, which was HUGE! First race where I was not lapped. I was a bit surprised I pulled this off, as it was a fairly short course, we did 6 laps at about 6:40/lap (winner riding 5:55 laps).
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