…this time of year I train less than any other but time seems to fly even faster.
Started the ‘cross season late with the broken ribs, but the R&R was the perfect prescription. The two days of Ashland BayCross couldn’t have gone much better, so the following weekend (Halloween) I decided to opt for the Eau Claire Carson Park Cyclo-cross race, it was the closest thing going on that weekend, had heard good things about it from Paul Belknap & Nick Robertson who attended the previous year. I’m always up for something new so wanted to give it a whirl.
Hadn’t picked up a ‘cross bike yet, the weather was looking to be wet if not also cold (ended up being both), so I packed up the old reliable Gary Fisher Superfly 29er with 1.75” Bontrager Dry X tires and decided to give it a go. If the course was anything but super fast I should be able to hold my own reasonably.
Had a good drive done, somehow convinced a friend to show up to see what this cyclo-cross racing thing was all about. The race had a pretty small field in the A race, likely due to the weather, the newness of the event (it’s 2nd year), etc. Didn’t mean it wasn’t going to still make for a good battle though!
At the start the organizers convinced us to reduce it to a 50min race (can’t blame ‘em, for the turnout and having to freeze their tails off – at least we’d be riding and staying warm). When it was time to start, I road in 2nd or 3rd place initially until I got a crack at winding things up. I had left my powertap wheel on the bike, which if I was going to win or lose in this event because of it, I could live with it. Getting the data was more important to me.
When I turned on the proverbial jets in the first lap, only Trevor Koss grabbed on, though I wasn’t going to make it easy on him. Trevor was riding a Trek XO ‘cross bike and I figured it was best to find out in the first lap if he had the power to stick around.
The course winds nicely thru Carson Park, had a muddy climb and some slick corners. It was really interesting to observe as the race went on what sections favored the different bikes. Strangely enough, in the first lap on the long pavement section I gapped Trevor, fully expecting him to reel me back in. The dude’s on skinny tires, my are marginally fat at 1.75”, right? Well, wasn’t happening. I kept looking back to see if I had to ease up if he got in my draft but it didn’t. Most likely case study of size & overall power. As Trevor told me after the race he kinda thought he might be in trouble after the first lap when he couldn’t close the gap after on pavement given our bike choices. I probably have 20+lbs on Trevor if my guess is right and with similar frontal surface profiles equally fighting the wind. The tires & bike difference were minimalized.
However once we got back in the park and swooped around a few corners and barriers he was back on. We’d do the barrier about the same but he could ride the sand pit smoother and get gaps. I’d close it down on the straights.
I eased off on the second lap, for as hard as I’d thrown down on the first. It was determined we had 8 more laps to go of a lot of the same thing happening lap after lap. He’d take the mud hill climb we could almost climb (he did once) just in front of me and put up a huge gap in a short period by 20 or 30 yards on me and I’d close it down in the cornering sections that followed. I’d try to get an advantage on riding a stair climb but an awkward dismount would occur almost every time before hitting the top. I’d slip on the steps and really lose momentum only to ramp it back up on the black top and close it down.
It was fun but killing me too, as something was off on my day. I couldn’t really put a finger on it. Just didn’t feel like my A game was there. Later my powertap file would be revealing of that fact. I also made the rookie mistake I almost never do of eating too close to the race start. As a Subway philly steak and cheese started arguing with me about 5 laps in as my guts started to cramp up.
That takes nothing away from some great riding by Trevor though. He stayed steady and road hard where he needed too. At the start of the 3 laps to go is where my cramps and riding forced me to back off and not close a gap that occurred. I had to hold back to what I could managed, but I was hoping the whole time it’d turn around quickly so I could get back and chase Trevor down before the end. He soon had 10 seconds, then 14 seconds & growing. This wasn’t going to be easy. Just sucks when your body betrays you and you can’t do anything about it.
I managed to bring back some distance in the final lap but I still wound up 21 seconds back for 2nd place on the day. Helmets off to Trevor for some great riding. I think some folks there were perhaps surprised by my riding the semi fat tired 29er & powertap hub and holding my own in there, but again different courses and conditions don’t always give the ‘cross specific bike the advantage 100% of the time.
The powertap story was interesting to review later.
Lap 1: 300 watt avg; pedaling watts was 353 watts;
Lap 2: 241 watt avg; pedaling watts was 275 watts:
Lap 3: 239 watt avg: pedaling watts was 280 watts;
Lap 4: 251 watt avg; pedaling watts was 297 watts;
to skip more of the details the middle laps were like that and the final ones despite what I thought was back off a lot ended up being
246 watt avg with pedaling watts of 284 watts;
Again for good bad or otherwise I only had a 251 watt average for the day, and a pedaling watt average of 291, that was a full 10% off in both regards to my Day 2 effort at BayCross. So though it wasn’t fun to see those numbers lower it was at least nice confirmation that it wasn’t in my mind only and that I was having an off day (the next week I had a head cold so must have been taking hold already before I raced).
The nice thing about quantifiable numbers is you can get an idea of what a possible difference the day could have made – using some previous data it safe to say an “off” day in reduced power cost at least 5-6 seconds per laps given the course distance and more likely close to 12-15 seconds if it was a true 30 watts difference.
That’s maybe shows a view into why other ‘cross racers can have some great days and other days they aren’t even competitive in larger fields. Those 5-10 seconds per lap add up to as much as a 1 to 2 minutes off the lead.
Not saying Trevor couldn’t have matched me in later laps but I’ll be looking forward to a rematch the next time….
Thanks to the Chippewa Valley Cycling club for putting the race together, stick to it guys. You’ll have a winner! Trevor & the other guys for throwing down a good one and keeping it fun. My friend for sticking around & freezing… but being there!
Looking forward to a second helping of Eau Claire Cross racing -- post Thanksgiving on Sun Nov 29th – at Princeton Valley Cyclo-cross race, details at www.overdrivecycling.com. Hope to see you there!
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