Cyclocross 2011

As always, I'm pretty stoked for the cyclocross season to start. Between 'cross and my new ice climbing(obsession?) I've never had a summer before that I really didn't care much about until now. It's taken everything I have not to post about cyclocross before now, and for most people this is still a little early. I even got my first tilted head "what kind of bike is that?" question of the year while I was refilling my water bottles mid-ride last weekend. I have to go through my pile of tires and decide what I want to use this year, especially the tubulars, and make sure they hold air, especially the tubulars. I don't have a decent set of mud tires and it seems dumb to buy a set of tires for one the one muddy race that we get each year, but it sure would have been helpful at the Ft. Buenaventura race last Dec. Soft pedaling through every corner is not a good way to move up in the race.

I just washed my Clammy Chamois 'cross jersey. Yep, it's been sitting stinky and dirty in the bottom of my race bag since last year. You'd think it would air out a bit after 8 or 9 months, but it was just as stinky as the day I threw it in their. Someone the stank came out and I'll be able to wear it proudly when I line up this year.

I totally slacked on the training last year but even so, I was in better shape than the previous two years and still managed to continually place lower and lower in the sandbagger filled C-class. To remedy this, I'll be moving(not sure if it's to a harder class or not) 35+ B class. It will be sad to leave some of my friends behind, but it's time to move on and challenge myself and some other racers.

The jury is still out on the TRP CX-9 v-brakes. It seems that if I can get my rim true enough to get the pads close enough then they work great. But getting everything adjusted just so is kind of a pain. I need to also consider what will happen if a big wobble happens mid-race, do I want to deal with the brake pad slowing the wheel on each revolution.

Have I mentioned that I freaking love cyclocross. Except for youth church basketball it's the only sport in which I've ever really competed. Mind you I'm not a steely eyed competitor, able to draw speed and stamina from the well when things get really hard. But, I do enjoy mixing it up with the handful of riders around me during the race. If this means I sprint it out with some other guy for 24th place so be it. I have fun and that's all I care about. I started racing simply as motivation to stay in shape. The fun of strategizing and using my strengths, as minimal as they may be, is what makes me keep racing. That, and a delicious bratwurst after the race. Josh, we need to pick this back up. I'll bring the Colosimo's brats to the first race if you bring the grill.

It seems I may be getting my hands on a GoPro camera soon so expect to see some pictures and some video added to the blog this year. Then we can relish in my glory, and the more likely, defeats, with actual visual proof.

If you care about the local races continue reading, otherwise it's going to get even more boring than the first half of this post.

UTCX just posted the schedule for this year. Nice to only have one race at the Weber Fairgrounds this year. It's a long drive and not my favorite venue, though to be honest it has grown on me. I'll be racing at Wheeler Farm 4 times this year. It's always a fun venue with lots of variety, probably one of the best 'cross courses we have in UT. Ft. Bueneventura gets two races this year, wooohoo. I think this is everyone's favorite course. It has almost the same amount of variety that Wheeler does, but the hills have been replaced with a lot of corners through the trees. Mt. Ogden Golf course is back with one race. Hopefully I don't have another mechanical and illness to keep me down this year. This is probably the closest we have to a World Cup type course. Almost all of the course is wide with lots of room for passing. Some tricky downhill off camber corners that can get mighty slick when the grass is wet and a nice lung searing hill in the first 1/2 mile of the course. The season kicks off at the Utah State Fairpark. This was the one venue that I didn't race at last year. Pictures and reports proved it to be a roadie course. Hopefully all of my time on the road this year and the extra fitness will help me not suck too badly. Heber County Fairgrounds gets one race. My least favorite of all the courses, though that may have to do with a DNF from two years ago. One surprising omission is the lack of any races in Draper. I'm not too dissapointed. I'm not sure of the reason for dropping it but maybe others had the same problem I had - way too much single-track, nowhere to pass.  It has some features that made it fun, and if you could keep your heart from blowing up you could make up lost time on the long paved climb. This is the same climb that has induced puking twice in past.

Now for a little cyclocross stoke:

UTCX #2

I'm doing some writing for CyclingUtah.com now, specifically covering cyclocross and some other thing later. Here is the write-up I did for the website, complete with pictures by Jen. UTCX #2 The race was held at the Weber County Fairgrounds.

The race for me went pretty well. As usual I was a solid mid-pack finisher, which is really my only goal. When I finish a race I'm happy if I've accomplished two things: Finished, placed in the 20's. So my 25th place finish sealed the deal for me. I may have done a little better. After last week I was going to make sure I lined up near the front this time, especially knowing that the course quickly narrows and the back of the pack gets bunched up pretty quickly. I finished my warm-up and had about 10 minutes before the start of the race, plenty of time to do a last minute pit-stop and get to the line. I found the bathrooms and discovered they were locked with a sign indicating to use the bathrooms in another building. I rode around for a minute and found the right building, took care of business and got to the starting area. The C class must be more ambitious this year because with 5 minutes to go everyone was already at the line an I was all the way in the back. Crap.

After being reminded that sandbaggers would be moved to B's next week and they would be watching people who cut the course this week, we were ready to go

Editorial note: There are at least 3 or 4 people that were top 10 all last year in the C class and racing C's again, it's time to move up to the B's and be big boys now. The 1st place finisher this week finished a good 3 minutes before anyone else, move on big feller.

Apparently a few racers cut under the course tape last week in race #1 so they ended up half way up the long finishing climb. Seriously? Cheating in an amateur cycling race? Is there anything stupider?! Congratulations, you placed well in the slowest category of the local cyclocross race. I pros are stupid for cheating and amateurs are even stupider. Just race and have fun okay.

The count went down and we went off. I immediately looked for some holes in the pack and worked my way to mid pack. At the first drop in to the fast grassy corner I nailed the inside line and made up a few more places. I was racing and having fun. Aside from doing a good job of choosing some good lines and getting ahead of most of the slower riders I totally forgot about executing any sort of race strategy. I just pedaled hard and had some fun. Part of the course took us out on a horse race track, with packed sand, making for a relatively fast riding surface. This is the only place I managed to ride smart during the race. I make sure that I got to the race course just behind 2 or 3 other people each lap then tucked in behind them and made good use of the draft. While the guy in front was pedaling hard, I was soft pedaling and getting a bit of a recovery.

As soon as we got back to the main part of the course I drove inside and hit the barrier section with speed and usually got past the guys that had been riding in front of me. I managed to bobble and not get clipped into my pedals once or twice and lost a place or two, but nothing serious.

One thing about this course that always bothers me is the lack of course tape as the course winds back and forth on itself around various logs, dips and gravel sections. Inevitably at least once I end up going the wrong way as I exit a turn and am faced with a series of cones that don't really indicate a clear path. It might seem obvious when their making the course or even pre-riding. But, in the middle of a race when you're exhausted, with your heart pounding in your head and the constant panting that drowns out any other audible sound, it's hard to make a snap decision and remember where the course goes. The race organizers must have figured this out because on the last couple of laps there were people out on the course directing traffic in the right direction.

I ended up on the last lap with 2 other guys who seemed to racing at about the same level as I. I made the decision to pick them off before the end of the lap by getting them on the barriers. That didn't work, they were just as fast. Then I tried to get past on some of the corners, but they stole my lines (I guess they were theirs too so I can't be too bothered). I had been eating up precious energy trying to pass them for the last half of the lap and as we inched toward the finish line they chased each other down and left me in the dust. Oh well, there's always next time. Check out the cyclingutah.com article for photos. I'm skipping next week's race for family vacation time, so my next race will be right back in Ogden.

UTCX #1

I made two mistakes today. I've been looking forward to today since January. Utah Cyclocross race #1 in Draper. The course in at the Draper equestrian park is pretty fun. Most of the course is made up of single-track. There are two sections that are not so much fun. The U shaped loop into the sandy horse corral isn't any fun because you can't push to hard without spinning out your wheels, then as soon as your legs are tired of churning you are faced with a hill would be a run-up if it were any steeper, but it's not so you put it in a low gear and ride. You reach the top just as your legs feel like they are about to stop, at least it's that way in the last couple of laps.

The other area is where I made my mistake number 1. The long paved climb that both starts and ends the race; the race starts at the bottom but finishes at the top. My game plan for the day was to let everyone that was hopped up and raring to go speed up the hill and blow themselves up while I rode at moderate pace and picked them off over the course of the first lap. By the top of the hill I was literally in 2nd to last place, my friend Andrew playing it safe right behind me. The problem is everyone still had enough juice in them to stay in front of me until we hit the single-track. That's where I caught a bunch of people but didn't have any place to pass them. I got past a couple on the first lap and a couple on the 2nd lap, but by then everyone else was so far ahead because of the delay that I didn't have much of a chance to catch up. I slowly passed about a dozen people over the course of the race and had my sights on two guys that I had a good chance of beating before the last lap ended. We were just about to the end of the single-track and I knew if I was going to beat them I'd have to get it done here and maintain my lead on the climb to the finish line. I saw my gap and turned on the gas. I got past them just before the semi-steep, but rutted and loose drop to the road. I was going pretty fast so I jammed on the brakes and had things under control, or so I thought. Before I knew it I careening off the right of the course. I started getting back in control, made it through a couple of sketchy sections, avoiding some small boulders and was almost home free. That's when two more boulders appeared right in front of me. I did my best to keep it together, but before I knew it the world started spinning and I was hitting the ground. The good part of this was the very soft thick grass that padded my fall. The bad part was I hit those rocks really hard and my front tire was dead flat. I was a little out of it so I laid down on the grass for a moment contemplating my DNF when I realized I was only 500 yards from the finish and I had lapped a couple of guys so I was still in it. I got up, shouldered the bike and started the long climb ahead. All of the 12 guys that I had worked so hard to pass made it past me and I was the last one to finish the race. I managed to get across the finish line just as they doing the podium presentation. I raised my arms in triumph and got some good natured applause from the lady at the finish line.

Because I had lapped a few people and finished a lap ahead of them I managed to get 35th of 39 even though I walked across the finish line. Although I was hurting during the race, I was pretty happy with how I was riding. I figure I could have finished around 20- 25th if I hadn't gotten stuck in the beginning of the race...and of course stayed upright through the end. Josh tells me we should have our new Clammy Chamois jerseys before the race next week, so we'll look official and certainly have a number of people clamouring to be a part of team Clammy Chamois.

p.s To Coop and anyone else who cares to see visual evidence of my cyclocross exploits, I fully intended on taking pictures this week and even had my camera, but I didn't have a rideable bike to ride around on to get to the photo opps. You'll have to wait until next week when Jen and the kids will be around to snap a few.

The Lungs They Are A Burnin'

The final race of the 4 race mini-series was tonight. We got a lot of rain during the day and I was hoping for some sort of epic mud-sucking, wheel spinning, leg churning muck fest. It didn't happen. A few hours of sun dried out the course enough that they moisture caused the course to be nice and tacky. This made it very fast and cut out the throat coating dust that has plagued me the last two raced. Word must have gotten around about these races because a lot of the fast guys that race the Utah Cyclocross Series decided to show up. I was mildly concerned that the B class would get packed with fast B-packers from UTCX. Either I've gotten faster or they were still getting their 'cross legs under them; I didn't get lapped by anyone but the top 3 A racers.

The race started out awesome, I was in front going into the first turn, blazing fast and feeling good. Knowing that I don't do too well when I go out to hard I let one or two guys get in front of me just before the run-up. Next we headed down the fast, rock filled, hill. I feathered the brakes, dumping a little speed, to keep from duplicating last week's pinch flat disaster. I found a good line through the rocks and got onto single-track carrying a good amount of speed. The tacky dirt held my tires as I zipped around corners in the drops. I came through the ditch and found Jen and the girls cheering for me as I headed up and around the main building before we dropped onto the only paved section of the course.

I was going fast and putting some distance between me and the guy behind me. Just as I slowed to enter the turn that dumps us back onto single-track I remembered to take the outside line to avoid the large mud puddle on the inside line that I normally take. Through the barriers I was still feeling good and having a great race.

Lap two put a stake in me. As I headed to the run-up, to where Jen and the kids had moved, I dumped gears so I'd be ready to pedal at the top of the hill and my derailleur started making horrible grinding sounds. I looked down to see it flopping around and though the worst; broken derailleur, figures. I stopped, checked it out, found everything working well and headed up the run-up. I had lost a couple places with that little mishap, but I was determined to get them back. The extra running and effort put in didn't go well and the two that got past put too much distance between us. I finally got back in a groove when I got to the barriers. I bungled the re-mount and "hurt" myself in a private way. I took a good 5 minutes to recover while I soft-pedaled around the course. Finally feeling good I put some power back on the pedals around a corner and nicked a rock with my pedal. I managed to stay upright but had some trouble getting my foot clipped back in to the pedal. This lap was a disaster. I made it through to the tricky gravel section ending with the big log used as a barrier; almost lost it with too much speed.

The rest of the race went alright. I held my place until the last lap when the one guy I had been working to hold off finally got past me. I busted my butt to reel him in. I thought for a minute I'd get it done through the final section of single-track, where I had the edge on him but my lungs were burning(I'm getting over a chest cold) and I just couldn't catch up to him. He kept about 40 feet on me as we got to the finish line.

I fully intended to have pictures for this one. Even brought Jen, my personal photographer, but we both forgot the camera battery in the charger at home. I had fun. Jen and the kids had fun, ringing the cowbell and cheering all the racers up the run-up. I won an ipod shuffle in the raffle thus getting more than my entry fees back. I really enjoyed the Euclid mini cyclocross series and hope they do it again next year.

The Dream is Alive

As anyone that reads my blog, or Facebook posts, can attest, cyclocross season can not come soon enough. So I was utterly ecstatic when I found out that there would be a four race, Wed. night cyclocross series in September. I planned on using the four races as training races, keeping with my current training regimen of weight training and periodically riding my bike. In all seriousness, I'd ride my bike a lot more, but life has gotten pretty busy and I can't find the time. I could/should ride the trainer but I haven't been able to mentally get behind that idea quite yet.

Sadly I missed the first of the Sep. races due to scheduling conflicts but I'm making sure the rest of my schedule is clear. The races are held in Midway/Heber, not exactly sure in which city limits the course resides. The races are sponsored by Euclid Outdoors and are held on their property. Makes me jealous for the people that work there, they have a standing 'cross course on which to practice. I'd much rather spend my lunch hour doing interval hot laps on a 'cross course than in a gym listening to some meat-head grunting out one last squat rep.

I got to the venue and found it was a pretty mellow affair, $10 and no number plate needed. I found my good friend Kyle, the owner of the SBR bike shop up the road from my house. He was getting ready to do his first cyclocross race ever and he had a brand-spanking-new bike (Bianchi). I got to chatting with a guy that I usually finish near in the Utah Cyclocross Series (UTCX) and decided I'd just stick on his tail and see how things go.

I decided to race the B category, even though I usually race C's in the UTCX, because I figured the C class here really would be beginners unlike UTCX where the top guys are really fast and should be racing B's. Though the course of the race I found this to be a good decision. After a couple of warm up laps I was waved over by Kyle who was about to pump more air into his tires and asked me what psi I was running, he and I were using the same tubular tires. He had 38 psi and thought he should put more in. I told him to suppress the roadie in him and drop the pressure. In 'cross and mountain biking lower is better (faster). I convinced him to go down to around 30-32.

At 6:30 we lined up at the start line. First were the A's, about 8 or 10 of them lined up and went off at the GO. Next were the B's, I think there were about 10-12 of us. We hit the pedals and shot forward on the gravel stretch of road ahead of us. I was feeling good in 2nd place (and had enough in the tank to take 1st if I wanted to) as we rounded the corner, two wheel sliding through the gravel; it was awesome! I held my place though the short steep run-up but just about dropped the guy behind me. I stepped on the big log that had been placed in front of the run-up and it rolled, I was fine, but he almost dumped it. Sorry dude. After that we hit a very fast rocky downhill section, about 60 yards long. I was really glad I had the tubular tires at this point. If I had clinchers at this psi I would have surely gotten a pinch flat, when I felt my wheel bottom out numerous times.

Next up some fast singletrack through the sage brush, the turns were just shallow enough to carry some speed. A short time later some short turns set me up for a quick drop into and back out of a ditch. Coming out of that section the course routed us around the main building on the property then down the paved drive to the northern dirt section of the course. This is where things got hard. This area probably made up 75% of the course and was full of extremely tight turns and loose dirt. This meant I couldn't carry any speed at all through turns. So it was on the pedals, brake and lose all momentum, then full power back on the pedals. I don't know how many laps we did but by the end I was really feeling the effects of this on again off again power suck. As you got close to the finish line the course heads strait through some gravel toward a fence and tight left hand turn blocked by a large 18" piece of wood. The scrap lumber at this venue was used rather effectively. From here it was 50 yards to the start/finish line.

I was going through the race just fine. I had lost a couple of places and was now in 4th place or so. I was taking some pretty good lines and doing my best to maintain momentum through turns when it became clear that that the guy behind me that I was trying to shake was moving up on me. I thought, "this guy must be following my lines because there's no other way for him to stick with me." A few moments later he passed me, it was then that I saw he was one of the A racers. I didn't feel so bad about getting passed and felt silly for thinking he must have been stealing my lines. Before the race started the promoter told us that all classes would be racing for 45 minutes so when the first A races came through after 40 minutes he'd call for 1 more lap. After innumerable laps and endless suffering I kept waiting for the 1 lap to do call. I came through the Finish area where more people were standing around and mentally begging the promoter to call for one last lap. He said something that I couldn't quite understand, it must have been the panting and heart pounding in my ears that blocked it out. I didn't sound like "one lap to go", but for the next half lap all I could do was go over what he said again and again, "could it have been one more lap?"

I suffered through the next lap and came through the Finish area where I was now sure I was going to be told we were done. He waved me through telling me one more lap, "this guy is trying to kill me." Somehow I always have a little gas left on the last lap to go just a little faster. I think it's a mental thing, knowing that I don't have to save anything else for the race. I finally made it to the finish line proud of the race I'd just ridden. In talking with the promoter I found out that the first A racers had come through the finish line earlier at the 39 minute mark, just shy of 40 so that meant we were all going to do 2 more laps. I think I raced for 55 minutes, 5 - 10 more than usual. I think total lap count was 8, maybe 10-12 miles.

All in all it was a good race. I was covered in dirt and dust and ready to do it again next week. Sorry no pictures. By the time the race ended it was getting dark and my camera phone doesn't shoot well in the dark. I'll get some next week.

Mud and Guts

I didn't race in this week's UTCX race in Heber, I figured my brother's wedding was more important. The other day we received quite a bit of rain and I was thinking about mud and 'cross and those images of cranking up muddy hills and through messy corners came to mind. I realized that in a perfect world of Cyclocross it all comes down to mud and guts. Mud we hope for and guts we work for. I watch the weather report each week to see if the rain gods will bless the Utah Cylocross race with mud that week, so far nothing, but I'm still watching and hoping. Mud just seems to suit the essence of 'cross so well. It's a tough 45-60 minute endurance fest where some of the race you're racing and some of it, at least if you're me, you're trying to make it to the end. Mud just ups the ante. It makes everything that much more difficult, cornering takes more skill, up hills can go from an easy ride to a difficult run. Downhills can go from being a way to get more to speed to just trying to stay upright without going down and taking other riders with you. When you get done your back, face and legs are all covered in mud. Inevitably I have mud spattered teeth, that I only realize when I run my tongue over my gritty teeth to re-moisten my mouth after sucking air for 45 min.

Guts. You have two kinds of guts, one I have the other I do not. I have guts when it comes to taking technical terrain at a high velocity. Either I'm not that scared of crashing or I feel my skills are up to snuff enough that I won't crash. In the heat of the moment I'm not sure which it is, but it doesn't matter. The kind of guts I wish I had are the guts of a champion. The determination to go out and push so hard you're going to puke at any moment because you just have to win. I like to win, I really enjoy winning but when I'm honest with myself, I don't have to win. I mostly enjoy sports because I get to get out and have some fun and competition. This lack of guts plays out mostly in training. In a race I'll give everything I have, that's why I'm there. I'll fight for every last spot I can. Training is a different story. Most of the time if I'm able to convince myself to at least get on the trainer for some intervals I'll get it done. Sometimes that desire is so low that I'll get on the bike, do a half effort, realize it's not in me and I'm done. My wife has the guts of a champion. She will get in a push on every training workout, and she does a lot of workouts. She's like Lance Armstrong if he was a mother of 3 kids and not sponsored by Nike and Trek. I'm working on my guts and I'm hoping for some mud so lets get out there and ride some 'cross. Alright team, Mud and Guts on 3...

Utah Cyclocross Race #2 Done

The heater in my car is on the fritz and with a 1:15 drive ahead of me and a 45f temperature I was less than thrilled. I watched as the temp readout on my dash slowly dropped until it bottomed at 38f...great. I may have been cold but at least I knew the way to the super secret Weber County Fairgrounds race venue this time. I managed to remember my trainer this time too so things were looking ok. I got out, signed my waiver then hopped back in the car to get a little warmer, it was pretty cold and I was signed up for a bike race, sometimes I really question my sanity and this was one of those times.

It was at this point that I realized that I really needed to use the bathroom. I had done a good job of getting hydrated on the drive to Ogden but now I had a VERY full bladder. I hopped on my bike to ride the quarter mile to the nearest bathroom, or at least the only bathroom I knew about. They probably have another bathroom, it's just kept a secret until you happen to stumble upon it. After the short ride to the bathroom my hands and legs were freezing. I was still wearing warm-up pants and my thick gloves, things were not looking good. I got back to my car hopped in to get warm again, decided I just didn't have it in me to get out in the cold on the trainer and opted instead to do some warm-up laps on the course. I started riding and eventually realized that the course was being run in reverse to the week before. No problem, except I still got turned around. Hey UTCX guys, please invest in some more course tape. I manage to get the turns right when I'm with the pack in the beginning of the race when my head is still in the game. By the 4th lap though, my head is as foggy as San Francisco bay, you need to make the course a little more clear. Over the final two laps I managed to lose 5 places from making incorrect turns and doubling back the right way.

I finished my warm up laps and got to the start line. While waiting to start I realized that my front tire had lost a lot of air and was now at around 25 psi. Luckily there are no rocks or roots on this course so there wasn't much chance of getting a pinch flat. The course was even faster than last week with no rain this week and everything being compacted from last weeks races. The extra low air pressure in my front tire really helped hold me in the fast corners, which saved some energy that I didn't have to scrub off with the brakes. People must have realized that it was faster to run between the log barriers because instead of being the only one running this time, about half of the racers carried or pushed their bikes instead of remounting between the barriers. Cold temps and poor course marking aside I'm actually pretty pleased with the race I rode. Normally I'm racing myself the last two laps. Everyone is so strung out around the course that the back half of the pack us just trying to finish the race. This time I managed to chase down four or five people in the last couple laps. I also managed my best finish yet, 25th of 45 finishers. Not much to speak of but I felt pretty good about it and had I managed to ride the course correctly I would have been closer to 20th.