CX Race 4: Syracuse Grand Prix

Jeremy, Jack, and I loaded up and headed out of Ithaca at 8:30 AM along with several pieces of apple pie and a bin full of cookies. After a bit of confusion with the construction at the 81/690W interchange we got to Long Branch Park, the venue for the day's muddy fun.

We arrived just after 10 and had time to pick up our numbers, get dressed and take in a lap or two for warm up and course recon. Hrm. Not that many tight turns and only 2 or three at a time. Lots of strait aways. Two mud pits. Long muddy strait away leading into a very soggy and slow grassy stretch leading into a hill with some pitch to it and some sand with a couple turns thrown in the mix.A side hill with s turns. A few sections of gravel. A whoop de whoop that you could get air off of. Looked like a tough course and a tough group of women to face off with.

On my first trip around I found some of the lines, had trouble with some, and found the side hill s turns rather terrifying.I couldn't ride the sandy hill the first time through, but I did manage it the second practice trip. Second time around David talked me through those same s turns and showed me a line through the muck and later while i was getting nervous at the start, explained a good line for the climb. Then it was time to go.

A group of 7 immediately gapped the rest of us... then there was me... and a bit behind me was the rest of the field. No man's land. Well at least that meant I didn't have to worry about bottle necks. At least until about half way through the first lap when I caught up to a few folks on the climb. Despite being around others, I was still able to get up the hill and ride the line I wanted. After that I slowly started passing some of the men and then one of the women. Eventually I passed several more women and a few of the men looked familiar. At this point I was pretty sure a couple of the men and women I had passed were riders I was lapping. Unfortunately (or should that be fortunately?) the lead men lapped me on my 5th lap - the lead guy was on his final lap when he caught me just before the mud pits. That meant I was also on my last lap. I am not sure where the 2nd guy lapped me - I was trying to focus on what was going on in front of me rather than what was coming around me from behind. The third place guy caught me at the bottom of the hill though. I was a little bummed about finding out half what through the lap I though was my second to last lap that I was really on my last lap. I had been closing in slowly but surely on some more women - women I was pretty sure I was catching rather than lapping and I was confident that barring any surprises I would have passed at least one of them with an additional lap. I managed a 5th out of 11 women in the open category and 7th out of 15 if you include the 4 women who raced in the masters category but started at the same time as the open women.

I found the course a challenge. The side hill S was not as tough as I had been afraid it would be. I was even OK on the passes where the left foot was on the downhill side. The side hill pass by the tree was a little awkward, but I managed that as well. The big soupy double track at the bottom of the course wasn't bad along the left most side in the trees and the soup along the lake was slow but ridable along a number of lines and I passed people there almost every lap. I did have trouble with mud pits each time and it wasn't until I finished and was on a warm down lap that I realized through the middle of the puddle was the least squirrelly route through. You learn something every race I guess.

I started catching men who started a minute before me early and steadily passing more as the race went on, and being in a position late in the race of catching women and lapping women. The twisty nature of the course also made for short sight lines and difficulty in knowing where the folks in front of me were. I was expecting the men to lap me at some point, but I had no idea they were bearing down on me when I did get passed. All this not knowing where I was during the race, or what was happening around the next bend made me realize that for a mid to back field rider like me it is best to focus energy on getting around that next bend, or over the rough terrain in front of me rather than on worrying over where how many riders are ahead or behind. I realized that for me the best mindset to be in was that for a time trial. Using the riders ahead as rabbits to help keep the intensity high, but focusing on the moving forward, on getting over the terrain ten feet in front of me.

I took several short video clips of the open men who raced after my race ended. I strung those clips together into a single 10 minute video which I posted on YouTube.

Results are up on the Onondaga Cycling Club website and at BikeReg.com.

CX Race 3: SwanDrome

10/10/10 so a 10th place might be the "win" for the day.

Lots of cycling going on in NY State and PA this weekend and it seems like all the heavy hitters headed into Pennsylvania for Iron Cross. I opted for a weekend at home and chose to do SwanDrome Cross. With the venue not even 3 miles from home, how could I not. I expected a small field given the number of people who were doing Iron Cross, but perhaps with the heavy hitters gone those of us who are mere mortals at the sport felt more comfortable coming out to play. At what by all accounts was a small local event, we had a 12 women!!! What a great turn out! Several of the women were giving cross a go for the first time as well.

The first timers and the rest of us chose a perfect day to play. It was sunny, the trees were absolutely on fire in their fall finery, and the course was long and challenging, though not as muddy as feared given the mid week rains. That is, of course, not to say that there was no mud on the course.

The day kicked off with two kids races - one for the youngest youngsters - those with push bikes and bikes with tiny wheels. They did an impressive loop around the house and the pond. A very impressive showing by those little ones. The second kids race doubled the fun and did two laps of the little race. It was an exciting finish with first and second place neck in neck coming into the line. The winner took the honors by less than a wheel.

After the youngsters had their fun it was time for the "adults" to duke it out. The men took off and the women were told that when there was a "reasonable gap" in the men's field we would be set loose - instantly mingling with the men's field and allowing a single lap counter to take care of both races. The first 6 guys came into site with a decent gap behind them. That gaps seemed to shrink as they took the sag around the pond, and it appeared perilously small when we were told to join the mix. The guys who all of a sudden found themselves having to make their way through a gaggle of gals seemed to take it in stride and with good cheer.

The course started in some wet grass and then went onto a double track in the woods, where we slalomed around some logs, made a few turns and climbed up a short hill. Then it was back down the hill on a mix of double track and single track, up the other side of the hill and into the border of the lawn and the woods where we did a series of zig zags before diving back into the woods, down a short steep pitch and back up to the field after a short piece of single track. Once back up on field level we went around some fields, including some down hill and one bumpy and wet uphill with a single barrier at the top where it was tough to get enough momentum for a quick remount. Then it was into a zig zag, around an off camber turn that meant swimming in the pond if you didn't make it, and around the pond. From the pond we hopped on the gravel driveway came into a 180, faced off with a double barrier, did another 180 and were on the start line.

Right from the gun, three of us emerged from the front of the pack with LiLynn up front then me in second for a short time and Sarah behind me until she found a good place to pass. Starting lap three all three of us were right together. Somewhere in there Sarah snuck by LiLynn, but we were pretty tight. That is until I utterly flubbed the remount of the single barrier. I had very little momentum and when I "jumped" back on the bike, my foot completely missed the pedal. With no forward momentum on the slight up and bumpy ground I had to put a foot down again and essentially started from a dead stop... with Sarah and LiLynn long gone in front of me. I lost a little more time to the two of them on each of the remaining 3 laps as I just could not get that remount down. Happily I was not as much of a disaster on getting back on the bike at the double barrier in the start finish area - where all the spectators were hanging out. My effort was good for a 3/12, about a minute behind Sarah and LiLynn who stayed together the whole race. The men lapped those two just meters before the end of their 6th lap. We were initially told we would be doing 7 laps, but in cross when you get lapped you do fewer laps since the race is run for a certain amount of time rather than for a specified distance. Since the men lapped Sarah and LiLynn just before they (the men finished), the two women were told they were done when just seconds later they finished their 6th lap. LiLynn had been planning to attack Sarah on the 7th lap and go for a win. As it was, Sarah managed the win. I was pretty much in no man's land so all of a sudden finding myself done didn't affect my race at all. Fourth place was about a minute behind me.

A fun day on a tough course. A huge thanks to Glenn and Marcia Swan for hosting the race.

CX Race 2: CX Brewery Ommegang

One week and two practices after my first attempt at cross at Buck Hill I gave it another go at the Ommegang Brewery on October 3rd. The weather was sunny and warm (in the sun) and the course was tacky and fast by the time my race ("Elite" women) came along. Elite being place inside those quotation marks because the field was for all the women's USAC categories.

The course started in a super wide grassy field then headed into a series of super tight turns that lead into a short bit of single track and a climb that in some years is a run-up. Immediately after climbing that hill we dropped back down into a zigzag and then a strait away into a tight s curve at the bottom of another hill. We descended that one as soon as we crested it and went into a section of 180's that ended with an off camber left hander with a double barrier immediately after the turn. The barriers were on a slight side hill. Just past the barrier was another turn that took us through the beer tent, around a bend and back through the start.

The women's race was supposed to be 45 minutes. I was focused on the people and terrain in front of me and never once looked up at the lap counters... I just kept riding until the officials told me I was done. Luckily Jeff Poulin was not of a mind to send me out for extra laps.

Often times races head into a tight section of course pretty soon after the start, so a fast start is pretty important. The less time you spend bottle necked and trying to get around people the more time you have to ride hard at your own speed. Knowing I am not very strong in the "technical" parts of 'cross, I am hesitant to go for a front line start, plus I don't have the sprint for it. I had a pretty timid start at Ommegang - probably one of the last 2 or 3 around the first bend. They started the single speeders 30 seconds to a minute behind us and the juniors just behind them. Despite my slow start I still went into the curves in a tight line. The single speed men and a couple of juniors started coming past us in that section, creating quite the chaotic scene to ride through. I survived the first lap and even passed a person or two, and then systematically started chasing down individuals in front of me. I managed to pass at least one person on each lap and even snuck back past a few of the juniors and single speed guys who barreled on by in the first 1/2 mile. My effort was good enough for a 12/23.

Official results are posted at BikeReg.com. There were several folks out taking pictures on race day and pictures of me in various poses of ineptitude can be found online. Wrekkers77 posted his photos on flicker. I think I am only in the one of all the women at the start. Most of these pictures look to be of the Elite men.

Mark Williams also posted some 400 pictures from the race. Pictures from the women, single speed and juniors start at #176. I am in pictures 187, 188, 221, 269.

CX Race 1: Buck Hill

Well...

1) road strength does not translate into 'cross ability - but I knew that

2) practicing on one's own does not translate to races

Practicing mounts and dismounts (a weakness I knew I needed to work on) on Wednesday I floundered mightily at both. On Friday i seemed to be doing worse on both. On Saturday I felt like I was getting both down, though I was making more progress with the remounting than the dismounting.

Lots to think about with a dismount... Move hand position off hoods and onto bar near center, swing right leg around, move right hand to top tube, weight right hand, step through or around, unclip left foot, and be running... all timed just right so you don't trip over the barriers. Remounting seems to have fewer things to think about... set bike down (don't drop it), get up to speed (though in theory since you got off at a run and you ran over the barriers or up the run-up, you are already at speed), take a stride with the left foot, extend your arms (bringing the saddle even with the hips), launch off that left foot, and land on the saddle with the feet in the pedals.

On Saturday it was taking a lot of concentration to remember to move the left hand onto the bars near the stem, and to not only move the left hand to the top tube, but to actually weight that hand. Jumping on just seemed a bit like a leap of faith. The key was to have enough momentum so when I got on and did not find the pedals I did not immediately fall off again before I had a chance to look for the pedals. Just, taking that leap of faith is a lot harder when you are moving at more than a crawl. That same commitment issue that stumps me on logs when mountain biking.

Anyway... back to Saturday... it felt like I was getting the re-mounting down while practicing on Saturday, but I was still having trouble hitting the steps in the right order on the dismount, and some issues getting that left foot unclipped. But that was Saturday.

Today.. race day... hrmm.

I got out there in time to watch the junior/masters race. They all seemed to be able to do what they needed to with getting on and off the bike. After their race, we had 45 minutes to pre-ride the course before our race began. The course started down a slight hill on a grass double track - rough mowed, that led into a slight climb with a triple barrier - so sprint at the start and then dismount - yikes!. at the top of the hill was a very twisty section - lots of tight turns, some up hills some on flat, all of it felt a little off camber. That took us into another double track that was really rough and onto a paved road for a bit. After that 90 degree turn onto a gravel road and a slight climb. That took us onto another wide double track with roots, a few whoop-de-whoops, a couple tight turns and two logs that I needed to dismount for. That took us back to a grassy double track with a few jogs to add length and slow the pace before heading back through the barriers. The finish was at the end of the twisty-turns above the barriers.

On the first lap I deliberately but myself at the back going into the barriers as I didn't want to cause a wreck should I fail to unclip the left foot. Unfortunately that put me behind someone who could not get either foot clipped back in on the tight winding section and the whole field rode away right there. I don't think I would have managed to stay with them for the whole race, and I don't think it affected the outcome, but it would have been nice to ride with people in sight for a little longer. I passed the poor person with the pedal woes, just before the paved road and stayed ahead through the first pass through the woods (rooty section with whoop-de-whoops and two logs) and right up to the barriers.

She had trouble with the pedals on the second lap as well but was able to ride through them this time and from then on she slowly crept away from me since she was doing the tight twisty sections faster than I was and was getting on the bike a lot faster too. Which brings me to the transitions on and off the bike... Dismounting I utterly failed to remember to move my hands on the bars and I can't pin point a single time I recall moving the right hand to the top tube... but i had no trouble unclipping the left foot. Getting on the bike however - I did not manage to do it at above a stand still a single time and had a lot of trouble finding the pedals (though not clipping in once my feet found them). After the second or third lap I spent the rest of the race thinking about the guys who were lapping me - thinking about staying out of their way. They all gave me fair warning they were coming and a few even took the rougher line by me. Unfortunately most of them passed me in sections I was not too comfortable and my response (from way back when I was mtb racing) was to move to the side and slow up to let them by where the passing, or as the case may be, the being passed, was easier.

I should have been thinking to the front on on my riding, but I couldn't shift the mind to that from 'worrying' about what was going on behind me. The lead three guys passed me twice during the race, and I think all of them passed me once. I did not get lapped by the lead woman, so I was able to do the full number of laps. I think the two ladies behind me did get lapped and were pulled one lap shy of the full complement.

A pretty lackluster performance on my part. but not quite DFL.

Photographers Jim Danvers and Peter Ozolins were out on the course. Peter caught me looking terrified at several spots on the course. Peter's photos can be found at Zenfolio.

Race 17: Apple festival citizens race

After at least two weekends off of racing it was back to the start line for the final road race of the year. Applefest is a well run and fairly small citizen's race in Montrose PA. The last two weekends involved some road riding and some mountain bike riding and some photography, and lots of work (it takes forever to put together 2 hour lectures from scratch every week!!!) but no racing.

There were two races, one a 13 mile loop for new racers and the other a 26 mile loop for those with annual licenses. Everyone on the 26 mile loop started together. Weather was a perfect apple day which is fitting for an apple festival: cool in the shade, warm in the sun, puffy white clouds dotting the sky.

We lined up shortly before 10:15 on 9/11/10 to get our race instructions. Stay to the right of the yellow line, arrows in red on road, watch the shoulder since they are rough, lead car, moto, sag truck, 3 KOM/QOM sprints, cash prizes for setting new records.

The start was a bit of a descent leading into the first climb. Things were controlled down the hill and then heated up on the climb and the pack of 44 riders broke apart. I was in the second group on the road as we crested the climb. We rode together over the next group of rolling hills and then at a crucial right hand turn there were some crossed signals. All of us went strait (down a hill) where we should have turned right. As bad luck would have it I did not turn around quite as quickly as the bulk of the group and lost contact with them climbing and into the head wind after the turn.

Eventually, after 4 windy miles on my own I was caught by a couple of other riders and four of us (three guys and I) worked together from the top of the first K/QOM until the final climb to the finish, at which point we separated a bit. I had no idea if there was a woman in the first group on the road or how close anyone behind us was, so I just focused on sticking with my little group.

It turns out there were no women in front of me so I managed to take home the QOM jersey (a nice off the rack jersey that the organizes had embroidered with "applefest 2010 QOM") and the first place prize money. The second place woman was around two minutes back, with the three other finishers spread out behind her. A 6th rider had started but did not finish - I am not sure what happened with her.

Although there was only one other FLCC rider there (whose dad cheered for me at each K/QOM), a whole slew of TVC riders came to race. One of them was celebrating his birthday so after the race we all had lunch together and then shared the pie I had backed for the birthday boy. It was a great way to end a low key and fun day as well as a tough road season.

'Cross season in NYS opened on the 12 with a race in Clinton NY. I did not attend due to the lack of 'cross tires and 'cross sensible shoes. However, tires are on the way, the bike is getting tuned up, and shoes have been purchased. In theory if the bike is ready in time, I can race him this weekend. However, having been mesmerized and taken in by a pair of Sidi shoes, I will be all set up to race, but won't be able to afford the entry fees. Ah ... such is life... maybe family will go for me paying race entry fees instead of finding birthday gifts for them... after all it will leave them with the peace of mind that I am off sliding around slick courses in cold wet conditions on inadequate equipment rather than getting into trouble at home....

Race ... oh wait... didn't race last weekend

Wow... this was my first weekend with no race or other major road trip on the schedule.

My body is not quite sure how to deal with it. Did have a nice ride Saturday afternoon - over new to me backroads that parallel well known busy roads. My route (Ithaca to Endicott) worked pretty well with only about 3 miles of dirt. Looking at the map again I think I could get rid of 2/3 of that dirt if I wanted to. Not that the dirt sections were in any way unridable. They were fine - I am just still running some super light race tires that won't last very long if I insist on taking them over gravel.

Sunday was a lovely lazy day spent watching the rain. I have to be careful lest I awaken the couch potato in me too much...

I need to do some major tire shopping - need to get a new set for the commuter, the studded tires could stand to be replaced before the snow flies, the mountain bike tires are looking rather tired, I have no 'cross tires, and to save the super light race tires for racing, I ought to get a good set of training tires for the race bike.

I know what I want for training tires and commuter tires (Conti Gator Skins) but it has been so long since I have regularly worn out mtb tires that I don't know what is what anymore, and the whole 'cross tire thing is brand new to me. I have always run fairly narrow tires on the mtb and think I'd like to keep that going.

Thoughts?

Race 16: Capital Region Road Race

Well.

It was a beautiful day and quite a fun course, some gradual climbing, some steep climbing, a bunch of flattish terrain that was too fast for a compact drive train, and some pretty safe downhills (well safe if you were not in a 3/4 or a 4/5 field).

I had a great ride on that pretty course, but that did not translate into a good race. In fact it was pathetic from a race stand point. They started all the women together which meant we actually had a reasonable pack on the line. With a three mile almost entirely climbing neutral section we should have had plenty of room to work out the dynamic for this pack, but with a pace car that seemed to surge and slow, it was pretty squirrelly in the neutral zone and at least one person crashed. The crash made the pack antsy and as soon as racing began the ladies at the front took off like rockets in an attempt to shell the beginner riders. I was not positioned well in the neutral zone, so I was playing catch up and dangling the first part of the race. I hung on until after we dropped most of the new racers, but then fell off. I worked with a group of 3 others to try to catch back on, but I spun out on the back stretch and did not dig deep enough to stick with my little group. So I ended up in no man's land and switched mental focus to steady endurance (it should have been TT, but I didn't feel like working that hard) and rode over half the distance alone.

My position was DFL for the 1/2 group, but ahead of most of the 3's and many of the 4's, and all of the Master's women. Results were done by Atwood Racing Services and are posted at fastalracing.com and bikereg.com.

There was at least one photographer out there shooting the race and his pictures are posted at Base Twelve Photos. You want to click on the link for "Capital Region Road Race 2010" and look for photos 111, and 349. Incidentally this photographer was also at Tour of the Battenkill and happened to shoot my field. If you click on the "Tour of the Battenkill 2010-Women's Pro" link, I am in picture 12.