…I’m not doing hours & hours of long base training rides outside in the single digits, sub zero temps & windchill. I’m soooooo not missing that.
Chilling out for the remainder of the month of January and not feeling bad that I’m taking time off the bike… priceless.
…found the biggest baddest cats in the cyclocross world and ran with ‘em thru frozen ruts, mud, slop and tears this past weekend at the US National Cyclocross Championships
Can’t begin to say enough about how much fun the weekend was regardless of how the racing went. Madison/Verona WI played host to 5 days of almost non stop cyclocross racing.
I raced both Saturday & Sunday -- in a master category and then the Elite/Pro race. Each day had it’s highlights & low lights.
The conditions could have been said to be really good or really bad. While the weather was fantastic for what early January conditions could have been, it made for very challenging course terrain that alternated between slop & mud, and frozen ruts that had become a mainstay from the previous days races.
Certainly some of the most challenging conditions I’ve ever had to ride in for the entire length of a race. Sat’s 10am masters race had the pleasure/displeasure of racing through frozen mud ruts in the early laps of the 6 laps race that eventually began to melt into gooey mud in the last laps as the temperatures heated up.
Plan to better recap things later, in both races I deemed a success in that I progressed up from where my call up starting positions were, but the between the size of the race fields and the course conditions, the further you started in the back it made for all that much more carnage to work around & slowed you to move up.
Gotta say nice work to a few of my midwest fellow competitors in the races I participated in – Tyler Jenema, Chris Smith, Matt Peterson, Jesse Reints, CJ Falkner, Hollywood Henderson and both Brian Matter & Tristan Schouten to name just a few.
I gotta toss out a bunch of big thank you’s to my support that I got on Saturday, and the many shouts from many friends on Sunday. When there are thousands of people lining the course and in every section there’s someone yelling your name & urging you on it’s a super cool feeling. Thank you to every one of you that was out there! I hope the show was worth it. Once in awhile I’d get a chance to look up from the treacherous ground to see your face & give a smile of thanks. Never underestimate how much your cheers help. Whether it was you guys from the U.P. Cross, friends from North, or many others I’ve connected with through Mt Biking and Cross racing the past several years – thanks again it was really appreciated.
Thanks to the my coach Gordy Paulson, who’s been a great guy to work with this past year and who’s keen sense of what’s needed (and not needed) for training even made it possible to arrive in reasonable racing shape after 12 long months of training & racing. And lastly to The Ski Hut for the great support this past season in my cyclocross efforts, much appreciation out to those guys!
Here’s a couple pictures from Chris Schmidt but check just run a google search and it’ll yield a ton of videos and other pictures from the weekend.
..after a pre & post Christmas fitness slump from a nasty stomach flu, my energy level and some fresher legs showed up on the bike yesterday for the first time in 2 weeks.
Might just have a decent go of things this Saturday & Sunday at Cyclo-Cross Nationals. Really appreciate all the well wishes from so many people this past week about participating in Nationals. I’ll be doing the Cat 1/2/3 40-44 Age group Championship race on Saturday at 10am, then with enough motivation I should give Sunday’s Championship race of Pro/Cat 1/2 at 2:15 a go as well.
Just my luck that the two largest fields of participants are in both those races. For good or bad -- a large part of the final outcome in these races with fields that big will come down to luck & good fortune… and the call up. The benefit and bane of any race with large numbers of participants.
So how does the “call up” work? Well, someones gotta be the first on the start line and someone has to be in the back. My guess is they will have rows of 8 racers wide, with 95+ participants in Saturdays race that’ll make for 12+ rows. They base your starting position on an interesting but relatively complex formula that if you’re an engineer, accountant or other kinda number-head you might find it interesting. Long story short, you’re granted points based on races you’ve done during the Cyclo-cross season. But only races that participate in & play by the rules of the USA cycling program. I skimmed through the guidelines but wanna say they take the 3 best of those races. Good thing I at least did the 2 Badger Cross races & a MN ‘cross race.
Looks like I’ll be starting in 54 position on Saturday (even if I nail down 3rd overall at the Midwest Regional masters championship race…nice eh?) , and 89th on Sunday…. so 7 rows back & 12 rows back, nothing like a good challenge.. I’m confident however that my ending placement should be better than my starting place.
There’s really not too many good alternatives to this method, but it does force a rider to chase point races during the season. And someone not having that geographical benefit of being able to do so it puts that rider at a disadvantage.
Narrowing it down to smaller fields with a qualifying race(s) would be a nice option. I think anything more than 30 or 40 participants in a race of 45minutes to an hour on a course that is no wider than 10-15 feet, gives all those participants a reasonable chance. Bigger fields than that & you could be the lance armstrong of cyclo-cross and starting in the rear you still couldn’t catch the front by the end of the race due to the traffic & volume of racers.
So Saturday, I’m going to be giving it my best and let the chips fall where they may. Maybe I’ve got good legs, maybe I don’t – hopefully I’ve got a good story or two when it’s all over.
Sounds like a lot of friends and fans are going to be there!! That may be one of the best parts about it. Friends from up north are coming down to watch, a bunch from the UPCross scene, along with friends & fellow racers. That’s going to be super awesome about the weekend just having such a big crowd of people cheering, yelling and screaming. If you don’t get down there, go to the USA Cycling or some other websites and watch the live streaming coverage of the Elite Races on Sunday. The weather is forecasted to be reasonably warm and good conditions, it’s gonna be a great time!!
In reflection of the year gone by, how could I pass on the opportunity to toast or roast my friends and fellow riders/racers and make mention of the events that made the year memorable.
Most impressive ride: Ray “I took a shot of rum” Nelson – hanging on for dear life in top 30 for 2/3rds of Cheq 40, only to kicked ass up FireTower climb & ride away from his group for a top 20 finish.
Guys to have best upped their game this year: Aaron Sturgis, Nate Lillie, Josh Tesch
Best funny guys to race with any day of the week: Chad Sova, Nate Lillie
Best post race story: Matt “I let my coolness get in the way” O’Meara
Best Comeback Rider of Year: Hand’s down, no contest – Todd McFadden, nothing could take this guy down- lymes, injury, cold, flu. Note to self: rumor has it, he may be part cyborg.
Best pre, post & during race friend: Tom “I’ve been known to crush freehub body’s on torque alone” Carpenter.
Best blog: …ah, I read ‘em all!
Best beat down of me in Chequamegon 100: Larry “his forearms are bigger than my thighs” Sauber. Went on to drop me like a chain in a bad & dirty drivetrain.
Most missed on the racing scene: Kelly McKnight, Matt Hudson
Enduro-guy I miss most on the XC circuit: Charlie Farrow
Guy most willing to help: Tristan Schouten
Best Twitter feeds: @Ironchefmpls
Best inspirations: from close friends, family and racers of all abilities
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Best new MTB race: Deerfly Chase, Hickory Ridge Trails, Bloomer WI Oct 1st- Noah M.
Race that still comes back to conquer me – Chequamegon 40 (top 30 spot drop to finish post 100th)
Race who’s number I have dialed in – Ore to Shore Hard Rock (punctures both pre ride and during race and still manage stop a 24th place overall & 1st place 35-39)
Race I shoulda been tested for Performance Enhancers – BayCross Day 1 (best legs of season)
Best overall place for anything MTB' or ‘cross racing – anything U.P.
Worst time:… the Eastern time zone -- thank you Keweenaw Chain Drive for your 10am EDT start…agh! Oh well Matter & co. needed the 30minute headstart over me anyways.
…More to come…
…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…
