Utah Cyclocross Race #10 (or how I puked my guts out)

I'm a little late in getting this report up, as the Utah Cyclocross Race # 10 was a couple of weeks ago. When it came around and I was ready for it. I was back for some redemption in at the Equestrian Park in Draper UT. Last time I was here was the last race of the season in 2008 and I flatted out after the first lap. I took a few laps around and got warmed up.

Josh and I managed to get near the front of the line-up so we didn't have that huge delay waiting for everyone to get going. It turns out it didn't matter much because I was quickly passed on the long uphill paved section that starts and ends the race. I stayed around mid-pack through the first little bit, got bogged down when Josh's wheel washed out in the sandy corral we rode through. The race organizers really wanted to make us work for this one. Normally in a race through sand the course will go strait through so you can do your best to carry speed and power through. Not in this race. We had about 5 cones to go around and if you tried to go to fast down you went. So, through each lap I just spun up a high cadence and made my way through as best I could. Except for that first lap I think I only bungled one corner through the rest of the race. Right after the energy sucking sandy corral was a fairly steep uphill. It was rideable, but I didn't have more than a gear or two in reserve and I wasn't exactly fast up it. Thankfully there was a fast, paved, downhill section next. Across a flat gravely section then you drop into some singletrack. I learned on the warm-up lap to be careful because just as you round the first corner there was ice lying in wait to take down those that were not paying attention. I managed to keep some pretty good speed while staying upright through that section. After a brief bit of gravel road there was a mellow singletrack uphill with more ice. Once you made it through the ice there is a pretty steep run-up with barriers. I noticed that one side of the barriers was about 2ft tall and the other more like 12"-18", I stuck with the shorter side.

At this point in the course I always had a little sigh of relief, most of the work was done for the lap with most of the course on a pretty fun downhill stretch. At one point there is a large rock that had been used by mountain bikers as a jump, I very nearly took advantage of the fun on each lap, but I knew that if I did I'd probably get a pinch flat and be out for the rest of the race. There was a quick running barrier section in a baseball field then down the steep drop to the paved road where we began.

It wasn't until after the race that I fully understood the pain and exhaustion I felt each time I rode this climb. The road is such that as you get to the top of the climb it just doesn't get any easier and the relief I so desperately needed wasn't there. The burning lungs and legs didn't stop and I almost seemed to go backwards. After my race as I was cheering on the next group of racers I looked at that road and realized that what looked flat in the race, wasn't flat at all, it was one of the dreaded power sucking false flats that gets in your head and makes you want to die.

I managed to start passing a few people on the last lap, but there was one guy I just couldn't shake, Aaron. I grew to know his name very well during that last lap because everywhere, and I mean everywhere, the course went there were people cheering for him. Oh how I hated that Aaron and his supportive friends and family. I decided to get away from the taunting cheers for Aaron and put on the gas, what little I had left. I slowly moved away from him as I made an effort to really put it down in the hard sections, hoping he'd back off. I dropped down to that dreaded last climb, intent on putting some distance between Aaron and I. I rode as hard as I could, which wasn't much at this point. About halfway up I realized that he was a ways back and wouldn't catch me, even still the finish line and announcers were coming up and I didn't want to soft-pedal through the line so I kept up the effort and managed a 29th place finish.

I stopped to chat with a few guys just past the finish line then made my way to the truck where I emptied the contents of my stomach in the parking lot. I hadn't realized that I had worked so hard, but as Josh pointed out, at least I knew I gave it my all. Since I couldn't race the last race of the year the next weekend I was happy that I put in everything I had to finish out the season. One last, for fun, race Jan. 2 and Cyclocross will be a sad and distant memory until next October. I'm hoping to convince team Clammy Chamois to do the Cult 'Cross race in the spring: http://cultcross2008.blogspot.com/

It Had To Happen

DNF, the three letters that no-racer wants to see or utter. Utah Cyclocross race # 8, and my first race in Heber, ended a little quicker than I anticipated. Problems from the very start. First, in trying to get my rear tire inflated I found that I had put in a tube with a very short valve stem, after hunting around for a pump that would work I eventually borrowed a valve extender from perennial 'crosser and beardsmith Bob Walker, who was nice enough to let me borrow the valve extender 3 more times and offered use of any of his tools. Nice guy! I finally got the tire inflated and set out to pre-ride the course. It's both a fun course and irritating course. There are some fun, fast sections with opportunities for those with great cornering skills, and some slooowww grass sections. Although the run-up was kind of steep I thought it was kind of fun, especially the fast 180 degree downhill at the top.

After a single warm-up lap my rear tire was totally flat. Head for the car, get the spare tire, also with sealant, installed and pumped up. One more warm-up lap and found the rear tire was low, found the goathead, re-inflated the tire and headed to the start line. I was in the back of the pack, I hate starting at the back. I checked the pressure on my rear tire to find it quite low again, but ride-able. I knew with the number of thorns out there that I wasn't going to hold enough pressure to last the entire race, so I decided to just go as fast as I could for as long as I could and not hold anything back. The race started and I took off flying past about half the group, made it through the slight bottleneck at the first turn and made up some more time. I was having a lot of fun, all the while I could feel my tire losing more air and getting more squirmy in the corners. I started to baby it a bit, not wanting to pull the tire off the rim.

I got through one lap and had to pull off, but it was a fun lap. Went back to the car and grabbed my cowbell. I found a good spot on the run-up where I could both encourage and heckle my teammates. Things were looking good, Pat was in the lead with Clay in 3rd or 4th, and both of them looking strong. Josh, Brad and Kerry came around looking pretty fresh. I heckled the couple of people that pushed their bike around the 2nd barrier on run-up. After a couple of laps I saw Clay come through wondered if I had missed Pat. Moments later I saw Pat heading for the pits, he had a flat rear tire. I watched from the top of the hill as he furiously pumped up his tire, the he kept pumping, and pumping. He couldn't ever get his tire to seal up so he was out. On the 2nd to last lap, Clay came around in 2nd and took 1st at the top of the run-up. He was looking pretty determined. I guess the 1st place and 3rd place both had mechanicals so he took advantage and put it to them. He came through the finish line with a 5 or 10 second gap on 2nd place. AWESOME! Team Clammy Chamois has a state camp.

I'm not sure where the rest of the team ended up, since I didn't finish I didn't bother looking at the results. Everyone had fun and Josh cooked up some killer brats to enjoy. Kerry brought out the generator and hot chocolate maker to keep us warm as the wind kicked up and it got cold. Though there wasn't any mud, and I only raced one lap, it was a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

Thoughts of Cyclocross Make Me Happy...and tired

This just in...I'm tired. I haven't been in bed before 11 pm once in the last two weeks. Additionally I haven't touched my bike since I parked it in the basement after the last 'cross race two weeks ago. I'm looking forward to the race on Saturday, but I know I'm going to hate myself somewhere around lap 3, when my legs decide they're done and the pain in my back decides it's time to crank it up to 11. I'm determined to hit the sack early, after I enjoy The Office tonight. Hopefully a decent night's sleep tonight and tomorrow will help the situation.

The weather is supposed to be cold, with some possible snow. We'll see. I'd love some mud, which the 'cross races have been fairly devoid of so far this year. Even still, thinking about racing makes me tired. Team Clammy Chamois needs to make it's presence known with some decent results from the middle and bottom of the team so I'm going to pull out all the stops and go for a top 30 placing.

Utah Cyclocross Race #7 and Introducing Team Clammy Chamois

I was reminded by the blog of my new team captain Josh, that I hadn't yet mentioned that I've joined team Clammy Chamois. One may wonder why someone would join a team named "Clammy Chamois." I think it's the perfect name for a cyclocross team. 'Cross is sort of a non-conformist, rebel sport. Clearly, with a name like Clammy Chamois we're embracing the non-conformist side of the sport and it makes people, like the triathletes at SBR, grimace and say "ewww" when they hear the name. We are a non-shop or sponsor affiliated team. We just want to race, grill up some brats and shoot the breeze. Currently we're 13th of 25 teams in the Utah Cyclocross Series, thanks mostly to Clay and Pat, but Josh, Kerry, Brad and myself do a decent enough job of adding in some finisher points to make a strong finish. We've got one other team member, Riley, whom I have not yet met. So far things are great. It means we all have a group to hang out with after the race and tell stories about the various racers that either plagued us or pushed us to ride just a little bit faster. We're all over the board with results. Clay and Pat continually finish in the top 10, usually the top 5 or 6. Josh and myself are around mid pack or so. Kerry pulls up the rear, though I'm pretty sure that's because he's masochistic and rides a singlespeed. I don't think I could even finish the race on a singlespeed. The team aspect has made racing cyclocross that much funner. I even found out that Josh, like myself, is a fan of Irish and Scottish punk; Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphy's, Real McKenzies, etc.

Last year 4 of my 6 races were at Wheeler Farm, with the other 2 in Draper. Race #6, my 4th race of the year was at the Weber fairgrounds, that makes 3 of 4 races in the same place. There are aspects of Weber that make it fun. There aren't any tough hills and you can really rail through the corners with tons of traction. The downer is that it's totally non-technical and I just don't have the fitness to keep up with a lot of guys on all of the flat sections. It was a fairly un-eventful race. I learned that I could hop the single log barrier instead of dismounting. To clarify, I can hop the log the first couple of laps, the last 2 or 3 I have just enough energy to get my front wheel over and un-weigh the rear wheel enough to get it to roll over the log. Either way it saves me from that lung searing run between the logs.

I was doing ok, keeping within a couple spots of Josh for most of the race when I dropped my chain shifting to the big ring on a section of sidewalk. I lost about 4 spots and never could get back up to where I was. I think I managed to make up 2 of those spots but just didn't have enough left in the tank to pull out much in the end. No one was around me at the finish so no spectacular sprint this week, though I did feel pretty close to puking after I came to a stop.

Next race, after a week off is at the Heber Fairgrounds, my first time racing there. We'll see how it goes.

Mud and guts on 3

Utah Cyclocross Race #5

Check out my write up of Halloween-cross Race # 5 on the the Cyclocross Magazine Forum http://cowbell.cxmagazine.com/forum/topics/race-report-contest-3

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.