…just rolling in home past midnight Sunday after 330miles coming back from Madison & the Badger Cross Midwest Cyclocross Championships.
Day 2, the Championship Day, lot’s better than Day 1, amazing how a person can stay in the race without a big snafu.. not to say it didn’t almost start that way. A front row start almost got blown with a bad pedal clip in that had me slamming into the nose of my saddle with my backside -- driving it down an uncomfortable 15 degrees south of level. Oh well, wasn’t stopping to fix it and decided would just have to work around it.
Still it left me off the front on the pavement rollout, so that when we hit the grass I peaked ahead & counted being back 10 places and 15-20 seconds off the lead. At first thought, “ugh! Not again”, but took a more aggressive approach once we hit the gradual incline straightaway that lead to a winding steep stand up section. I took some good lines & fortunately the waters parted as I was able to shoot up through the other guys and moved from 10th to 3rd in about 20 seconds. I was probably as surprised as they were.
When I next looked up there was the first & 2nd place guys, Joe Curtes & Jeff Melcher, podium placers from the previous days race about 10-15 seconds up, so I knew I was in good company & proceeded to work my way towards them. Joe was riding a steady effort and pulling away from Jeff, as I concentrated on getting to Jeff first.
Of the 6 lap race I could tell by the 2nd lap I was finally making headway into catch Jeff & distancing the rest of the field of 20+ racers. What a change of pace from yesterday when I was chasing through the entire field. By the third lap on the same steep winding climb I pushed on in the first lap, I went for a dig to put a final close on a 5 second gap Jeff had been holding. Feeling good power on the climb I was able to pull up to Jeff wheel and on the ensuing sweeping left turn that lead to the top side of the course I opted to do something I normally hold back on. Instead of being content to sit in his draft I decided to find out if he had anything in his tank or was bluffing so I jumped really hard and fly past him. It was gonna cost me a match or two but I had a downhill shortly after to recover. If Jeff wasn’t ready he was gonna be toast in short order. It took him a bit to react and it wasn’t til the downhill section that to my surprise he caught back on. Damn, he wasn’t buying my bluff either! That downhill lead to a great railroad tie stepped hill run up (see here for pics). Something about that hill treated me well as I was able to run it really strong both days and again raced past Jeff.
On the ensuing pavement he caught back on and I later was content to let him lead the next downhill section, but instead of sticking close to his wheel my efforts from catching & passing had me just enough over the edge that I wasn’t able to recover & keep up the pace. Jeff would edge ahead & I’d reel him back ever slow slightly and he’d pull away again.
By the fourth lap I was starting to look forward to the end as my tank had the feeling it was running low and the 5th lap confirmed it as Jeff & Joe continued to pull away & it didn’t help when I doofed a corner just before the sand pit. At the same time on some switch backs it appeared the 4th & 5th place guys Chris Smith & Dave Peters were making up some time… Just Great!! Not what you want to see after driving so hard in the initial laps of the race. But like they say “Go Big or Go Home…”
So on the 6th lap I made up for it mentally with what I didn’t have physically. Sometimes you gotta do that. You can force your body thru short periods of time doing things it doesn’t normally have a means to channel into – there’s price to it no doubt – it’s pain & a lot of it, but one thing I know from working with power is that pain is sometimes all the same whether you are going 10-20 watts faster or slower. Tap into those extra watts & it can make a difference. I laid down the focus of just getting thru the two major climbing sections at the 1/4 & 3/4 marks of the lap. If I could get them thru without completely falling apart I might catch a fading Jeff or Joe and easily hold off Chris & Dave.
Fortunately, things played out just fine, though I didn’t catch either Joe or Jeff. I had plenty of breathing room on the fast pavement finish to secure 3rd. Not quite the overall “W” I was gunning for but I can’t knock Joe Curtes for two strong days of riding, as well as Jeff Melcher. It still brought in a little prize money and a picture on the podium & that can’t be all bad.
Here’s run down of Sunday’s race…
ps- I’m not no stinkin’ 40 yrs old either! They take your year end 2011 age & add 1 year. So Dec 28th anyone interested can wish me a happy birthday… Anyways, that’s how you get a 38 yr old to have a racing age of 40. Make sense? I didn’t think so..
Long way to travel for some ‘cross races but good to see old faces & meet some new ones. Caught up with the U.P. cross crew of Colby Lash & Kyle Sarasin, unfortunately they were without USGP Cat 2 cross killing Tyler Jenema as he was out sick. Kyle had a nice race Sat finishing 1st in Category 3 race & a mishap had him finishing 3rd Sunday.
As strange as this may sound, I also met my cycling coach for the first time…in person that is. Gordy Paulson! Nice to finally shake the hand of the guy who’s had a big part in the gains I’ve made this year. Super guy.
Cross fans can be an interesting bunch but perhaps the funniest or most unexpected comment I heard racing all day long came from a guy who had perhaps heard my name over the P.A. and that I was from Ashland. Little did I know that 330 miles from home and 20 years removed from my high school graduation would I be singled out and yelled at with the name of my H.S. moniker “Go OreDocker!!” Yeah… gotta love it!
So I wrapped up the weekend & tried to make a speedy trip home, fortunately Eau Claire is about the half way point (yes, half way home.. for the geographically challenged people of Wisconsin, there’s still another half state above that Eau Claire/Wausau/Hwy 29 – E.C. is not North WI… central, maybe..) Anyways, a perfect break for some badly needed food & company of the Mexican variety… the food, not the company that is. As I tracked down a friend and had a great time catching up. Always fun, never enough time…
So goes bike racing for 2011, but the Cyclo-cross season rolls into 2012 with the National Championships Jan 4th thru 7th. Another four weeks of careful prep cooked up by Gordy and well see how things turn out when all the marbles are up for grabs, can’t wait to see what the weather dishes out as well.
With any luck I’ll be able to follow thru with my plans on posting some highlights, lowlights & observations of the ‘11 season. Stay tuned, even the names of the innocent will not be spared…
