UTCX# 8 - I Am Not a State Champion

This year's Utah State Championship race was held on the Mount Ogden Golf course. Most of us were expecting a pretty easy affair mellow climbs over small grassy hills. This is not what we got. I don't normally whine (at least I think I don't and if you think I do please keep your comments to yourself I don't want to hear them and I won't believe them anyway), but I'm going to do some whining to start off today's blog; deal with it.

To start things off, somewhere during my warm-up half of my pedal broke off. I was still able to clip in, but things were pretty loose and I didn't know how long the rest would stay together. I pointed this out to Josh as we were getting to the start line. He happened to have an extra pair of pedals so we rushed to his truck, threw them and on and got back to the line with a minute to spare. Thanks Josh! I've been fighting a cold all week and read a couple of weeks ago that medical science has proven that a cold doesn't affect athletic performance, that is crap. I haven't felt this tired, sluggish and lacking in strength since my first 'cross race 2 years ago. I warmed up on the trainer and felt ok. Then I hit the course and, climbing the enormous hill with extreme difficulty. I didn't realize how big and long it was until later when I was taking pictures and realized what seemed pretty flat in the race and warm-up was not flat at all. It starts with some single-track that's not too bad. Then a semi-tricky steep muddy 3 foot section up to the paved cart path. The path then climbed, and climbed, then climbed some more, up to a 120 degree turn up a fairly steep grassy hill. It was during this first climb of the first lap that I honestly wondered if I could finish the race. I had absolutely nothing in the tank, my legs hurt and had no strength. I literally used my easiest gear on every hill, no matter how small or easy, and still struggled at an unbelievably slow pace.

Up to this point I kept feeling like my rear wheel was a bit wonky. It seemed to hit my brake pads now and then and feel a bit wobbly here and there. I hadn't noticed anything when I put the wheel on or glued the tire on earlier that week. It was at the top of this first grassy hill that I finally stopped to see what, if anything, was the problem. I grabbed the wheel and quickly realized that the bearings in my hubs were loose. Just as I realized the problem, and with the other half of the pack now passing me, some guy said "looks like your cones are loose dude." Yeah, no kidding. I loosened the quick release and hand tightened the hub as much as I could then cranked down the quick release to see if that would hold. Amazingly it did the trick. I have the honest that for a moment this seemed like a problem that was heaven sent, here is the mechanical I needed to honorably bow out of the race. But I had too much pride now so I got back on it and started pedaling. It had now been a couple of minutes, enough time for me to be the absolute last person in the pack. In fact, the pack was nowhere to be seen. I started pedaling by myself still wondering if I made the right choice to keep racing. After a couple of minutes I caught up to Wes riding his mountain bike. Wes had told me earlier that he wasn't racing two races today, he was riding one and racing one. So I decided to just follow along with Wes and just ride for a while instead of race, besides it was nice to have a friendly face to ride with for a while.

I had heard the announcers telling the riders coming through that they had 3 laps to go. When Wes and I rode through they told us 2 laps. Either they made a mistake, or as Wes said, "They're probably just accounting for us getting lapped soon." After a while I found a little more energy and left Wes behind and started cruising a bit. I was starting to feel a little better, maybe catching my 2nd wind. I came down a hill with a turn near the bottom. This particular corner was kind of tricky. It had a couple of smaller hills, forcing you to either take your chances with a tight, and probably slick inside route, the more obvious middle line placed you on the steep side of a small hill in the middle of the corner, or you could take it really wide and avoid most of the problems. I was running a pretty low tire pressure, really low actually since we were riding on bumpy grass it seemed the best choice, so I was feeling pretty confident in my traction and took the corner a little faster than before. My rear wheel slid right out from under me sending me and the bike sliding down the hill, much to the delight of the spectators watching there. My bike and I were no worse for wear so I got back on and started riding. The rest of the lap went fairly well, mostly downhill from here so I was able to get some speed and recover a bit.

I forgot to mention(here's another excuse) that my rear derailleur wasn't working correctly. It seemed to work just fine in the warm-up but as soon as the race started and we hit the first hill I nearly dropped my chain into my spokes, I caught in time and pedaled backwards to get it back on the cassette. From there on out, every time I shifted into my larges(easiest) cog in the back I either dropped the chain into the spokes or I felt it start to go that direction and quickly shifted. As I mentioned before, I used that gear a lot, every hill. So, every time a slight incline appeared I had to gingerly shift to that gear and look to make sure everything was secure and inline. Not being able to confidently shift really takes its toll. You can't just shift and climb up a hill. I had to look to see where I was on the cassette, pedal softly while shifting, making sure everything went where it was supposed to then I could put some pressure on the pedals; what a pain.

Just as I was about to finish lap 3 I hear the announcers say the leaders were coming through for their final (4th) lap. I could either let up and get passed, thus ending the torture or keep pedaling and do a final lap for no other reason than personal honor. I chose the latter and kept riding. I ended up passing a couple more riders, one of which had his bike upside-down fixing his wheel. I managed a 36th out of 42 riders. The worst showing I've had since my first race 2 1/2 years ago. So much for improving. Quite frankly the only reason I care is because the physical exhaustion hurt so much, I really couldn't care less about what place I finished.

This Saturday is Clammy Cross www.clammycross.blogspot.com I won't be attending, but you should.

UTCX #7 - Back to Draper, Back to Puking.

The weather in Northern Utah has been fantastic this week. A warm high pressure system has kept the winds and cold at bay. The race today was fairly warm around 55F. Though the high pressure system is moving so it was pretty windy at times; enough that it felt like I was always riding against the wind. I don't typically fare well on the course in Draper, either a mechanical slows me down or the darn hill that we're forced to ride at the start as well as an extra time to finish kills my legs and lungs (and spirit). I managed to get in a great warm-up on the trainer to start and pre-rode the course. Everything was exactly the same as the previous few races there so no surprises, except a little sand on a downhill, but an outside line avoiding most of the sand became apparent so the sand didn't seem to slow down many of the riders.

I got to the start line early so I could have a first row start. We got the go ahead and sprinted up the hill; I wasn't about to repeat the mistake I made last time by getting stuck behind everyone. My teammates Josh and Ryan had the same idea. We flew up the hill with the leaders then, almost on cue, all three of us blew up and slowed way down, swallowed up by a dozen other racers just as we crested the hill. Luckily a downhill section wasn't too far away so we pushed on. The recovery was nice, but not nearly long enough. Through the horse corral, which thankfully had been soaked and packed down, then up the steep climb. I got to the single-track without too much exhaustion and was happy to be near other riders going about my same speed, not slowed down like last time.

The rest of the laps seemed to tick off very slowly; 5 in all. In the middle of the last lap I had to suddenly pull over and throw up. I've thrown up before after a race, but never during. It wasn't pleasant, and was probably the loudest I've ever thrown up; seriously just yelling as it came up. I got done and felt much better so I got back on it, but not before 10 other riders blew past me; crap. Just as I was heading down the last bit of singletrack before the final climb I saw Josh on the side of the trail trying to inflate his rear tire. Josh has even worse luck on this course than I do. I finished the race without incident and took a seat.

When I checked the results I came in 32 of 40, not very good, but if you figure I lost 10 places from throwing up and Josh says the top 10 are all sandbaggers I really finished in 12th place. If you round down I made top 10. There it is, with the puking handicap I managed a top 10 finish! If only the scoring judges saw it that way.

I didn't get any photos of the crime scene where I violently crashed and ripped a hole in my tubular tire last time, so here for your enjoyment are some photos and captions.

Here is from the bottom of the hill looking up. Notice the rider showing the proper line down the trail and not the out of control direction I ended up taking (I later found out that a loose brake cable was at least partially to blame for this mishap, hard to controls speed when your brakes aren't working). Click on the pictures to enlarge better read the captions.

And now a shot from the top, to demonstrate the view I had as I blazed through the weeds, rocks and stumps to my final landing place.

UTCX #5 - Halloween Cross

The Wheeler Farm Halloween weekend race seems to be a favorite around here. The combination of a great course and people racing in crazy costumes makes for a really fun time. The Wheeler Farm course is always fun because it combines a good amount of everything. Lots of wide, paved and dirt sections for passing and getting some speed, off camber sections, steep hills, and even a little single-track thrown in. I was riding around doing my warm up, mostly easy pedaling, but with a few hard sprints thrown in to wake up the legs, when I took a corner going pretty fast and felt my rear wheel break loose and get kind of wonky. I looked down at my wheel wondering if I'd broken a spoke or something when I noticed that part of my tire was now off the rim. My first rolled tubular. Luckily this happened during warm-up and not during the race. I had anticipated needing a different tire tread for this race anyway; we'd had some rain the day before. I went to the car and grabbed my other wheel and was in business.

I noticed a little too late that everyone had already started lining up at the start so I got a bad start position with about 40 people ahead of me. I made up a few places on the road, but as soon as we hit the single-track everything backed up pretty bad. A few people hopped off their bikes to run alongside the rest of us, but it was futile, any places they made up were lost when they tried to remount in traffic and got passed again. We hit a couple more traffic jams before the group was sufficiently strung out. I noticed a few of the roadies off the side of the trail in the trees, I assume they went off trail through some of the fast corners.

Over the summer some work had been done on the property. This added a few changes into the mix. The normal paved road that winds through the property is now a hard-packed dirt surface (I'd love to see it when it gets muddy). The major change is a large quantity of sand has been dumped along the river bed in what used to be my favorite "pick up some speed as you fly though the trees" section. Now, it's a "100 feet of deep sand to suck up any energy you have at that moment" section. During my pre-ride I wasn't able to ride through the sand and expected to have to run that section each lap. Luckily during the race I managed to go though without anyone getting in my way and could ride the whole thing. Immediately after the sand was a steep climb out of the river bottom and up to a bridge, then right back town to some a twisty section through the trees and more sand before a double barrier section. Amazingly, this 300 feet of the course was even more exhausting than it sounds. Right after the last barrier it was a 180 turn onto the dirt road. I was always expecting to be able to pick up some speed and ride fast now that I had a decent surface on which to ride; I was wrong. My heart rate and legs were

always so ripped after riding the sand and steep hill that I just didn't have anything left once I got to the road. After talking with some friends it seems I wasn't the only one with that problem.

The rest of the course was relatively easy. Lots of wide fast sections, easy single-track and some sidewalks. There was one really tight corner on the side of hill that we usually ride up; I found out riding down and taking the turn is a little trickier. I always managed to stay upright, but had to watch the speed pretty well to make sure I didn't crash or head way off course.

Some days when you head out on your bike your legs feel great, lots of power and speed, and you feel like you can ride forever. Other days, it's the opposite. Legs are sluggish, your lungs burn and either you can't get your heart rate up or it pops too high too fast and you're left wheezing and slow. I knew as soon as the race started that this wasn't going to be a good day. My legs never felt great and I just didn't have that drive to chase down anyone that passed me. The high point of the race was snagging a $20 in the cash zone, just about paying for my race fee for the day. My Clammy Chamois teammate Josh McCarrel seemed to be doing about as well as I was. I caught up with him with a half lap to go. I was pooped so I just rode on his wheel to the finish, pondering briefly about sprinting past him for 28th place, but quickly changed my mind.

After some time to digest this race, even though the course got a lot harder, I actually like it that much more. It was very fun and very challenging and that's what keeps me interested in racing 'cross.

UTCX #4 - This is getting hard

Do you know what happens when you do a race after not training for a month?

Answer: you dothe hardest race of you can remember and only end up in 30th place.

Note: none of these photos are me, just photos I took of the other races.

This is probably the best planned race that I've ridden. I warmed up on my trainer, making sure to get in some hard sprints to open up the legs. I stopped with enough time to hit the loo and get to the start line to have a first row start. I was ready to go in my new Team Clammy Chamois jersey. We were told to go and everyone went... right around me. Not sure what happened, but it was some combination of being in the wrong gear and an inability to get clipped into my pedal. My front row start turned into an instant 20th place. No problem, roll with the punches. Things got a bit squirrely through the first turn as the pack got funned through a 180 degree turn. After that I settled into a good pace, fast but something I could maintain. We wound through the course, which was being run in the opposite direction as last time. I felt good as we came through the triple set of barriers, the first two right in a row, then you had to turn a tight corner and finish with the last; I didn't like this section as it always seemed rather cumbersome and nothing seemed fast enough. As we headed toward the horse race track I was sure to grab a wheel and run a pace line with 4 other guys. It was nice to have a small amount of recovery time. I managed to race about half the time, keeping people at bay.

Riders would try to pass, but I'd put on the gas and keep them back. That is, until Clammy Chamois captain Josh McCarrel slapped my butt as he flew past me. I wasn't about to let that attack go unpunished so I jumped on the pedals, got past the rider in front of me and barely managed to get behind Josh just before the race track. I maintained the connection for about a lap, then started getting attacked from behind, first one, then another until another Clammy Chamois teammate, Ryan Coburn, came by. I had enough so I pushed through the pain for the next 3 laps and kept close to him. I'd like to personally thank Ryan for towing me around the course for 15 minutes.

As we neared the finish line it was clear Ryan still had something left, whereas I was just hanging on for dear life. He popped ahead about 30 yards to finish ahead of me. Just as I was getting close to the line another rider came up next to me, I tried again, but failed, and he got past me just as we crossed the line.

I coasted to a stop near my team, dropped my bike, and laid on the ground. I feel like I'm starting to get this cyclocross thing figured out. Perhaps it's not a good idea to quit training just as the season starts. With my legs still hurting I vow to get on the stupid trainer tonight and make myself fast(or at least faster) again.

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.