I can waste time on the interweb...this is one of the many ways I do it...
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
I slapped on a borrowed GoPro for the 2011 Stanger Farm cyclocross race down in Walla Walla, WA this past weekend. And by “slapped on” I mean I put it on my bike literally an hour before I raced it and really did not have any time to read how it works. Also, I’m not any kind of video editing wizard or someone who really understands what the hell he’s doing with a video camera. So…don’t expect much from the video. In fact, I was having issues with the camera during the race and I feel lucky that I was even able to catch any of my race. This video covers the last full lap of my race. If you watch the video you will basically see the triple flyover plus a lap. I really can’t stress how cool the triple flyover was. It was by far the coolest “feature” I’ve ever ridden in a cross race. The atmosphere at Charles Stanger’s farm is always fun and it would be well worth the drive from anywhere in the Northwest to do the race.
My race? It sucked…I flatted at some point and lost a ton of grip in my front tire. It was a slower leak and I washed out four or five times before it was completely flat. A quick run to the pit and I was back out there. But really, you don’t care about my race; you just want to see the triple flyover…
“Cyclocross…for people who like the taste of their own vomit in their mouth”.
I’m not sure who made that quote up. A friend of mine attributed it to me, but I highly doubt it was me that came up with. It’s much too witty. I’m not witty; at least everyone I know tells me I’m not.
This past weekend was my first foray into cyclocross racing this fall. In fact, I’d say that the two races I did were my first “real” cyclocross races I’ve done since 2009. I did a few races last year but I was so out of shape and my body was still mending that I really can’t count them as races.
Then again…I’m not sure you can count my performance this past weekend as “racing” either. I did both of the cat 3 races at Starcrossed and the Rapha-Focus Gran Prix. I excelled at neither but did have a good time at both. Starcrossed just wasn’t the same since it was not held at Marymoor this year but instead it was held at Lake Sammamish State Park. It was basically a grass criterium with a beach run thrown in the middle. I had a lovely starting position of the second to last row. The beach run was actually my highlight. I could actually pass other riders there. At a cross race they start eight people in a row. I was in the seventh row. That sucked…at least there were a few poor SOBs stuck in the eighth row. Now, people who are good at cross will say that the hole-shot is overrated and starting position does not mean much. Did you see the caveat there? People who are “good” at cross. I’m not good at it and my fitness is not great right now, in fact, it’s probably barely above the horizon. That all being said I clawed my way into the top 20 with two laps to go. If you were in the Lake Sammamish area that day you may have noticed a mushroom cloud forming near the state park. That was me blowing up with two to go…I went backwards and ended up 26th out of approximately 60 riders or so. Not great, not bad…mid-pack…average at best…what you would expect from me. The pictures you are seeing were taken by my teammate Bob on that day. Thanks Bob.
Sunday was the Rapha-Focus GP and it was on the same course only a bit slicker due to the rain from the previous night. I was in a world of hurt from Saturday and I knew my performance was going to be worse than the day before. I had cramped a bit on Saturday so I was a bit sore and my ankle and foot were killing me from the beach run. I can’t really run anymore and when I do it hurts like hell. In fact, as I type this I can feel my foot throb. Meh, such is life…
Once again I had a great starting spot (<— you see that, that’s called sarcasm). I was on the second to last row again. Oh well, but to make matters worse there were over a 75 single-speed cross racers starting 30 seconds to a minute ahead of the cat 3 field which meant once I started racing I would have, no joke, roughly 120 racers in front of me on the course. If anything I would learn how to pass people. And pass people I did…but not that many. The highlight, besides the beach run, which I once again excelled at (did you sense the sarcasm there again? It’s so hard to pick up on it via the interwebs) was the fact that I was not lapped by JT or Louie Fountain. The Fountain brothers, first and foremost, are the nicest guys in the world and second, always lap me when I race against them. So I’m pretty happy with spotting them a 30 second or a minute head start and holding them off. Like I always say “It’s the little things…”
Okay, I don’t always say that. In fact, I rarely say that. But I was trying to not use the word “fuck” which is usually a word I always use…
I was 31st, which was mid-pack again. Good enough for me at this point in the season. I hope to race until December so; it’s a long ass season…something to remember.
I’ve said for years (and others too) that cyclocross is the new triathlon. This is a very true statement. I’m going to go one step farther and say that single-speed cyclocross is the new “women-only” triathlon. You know what I’m talking about…those triathlons where all the fat women from your work go and participate in a tri and feel like the accomplished something. That is what SS cyclocross has become. Look, I’m not being a “hater” here it’s just the damn truth. If a mid-pack, aging, tired, and ornery cat 3 guy is catching you less than five minutes into your “race” maybe this SS thing is not for you. So very few people have legitimate reasons for racing SS, “it’s cool” is not a reason you jackass. Props to people who take it seriously…and I mean that sincerely.
All in all a great weekend of racing. It was fun and it’s always good to see my CX friends at races. Some of these people are independent of my road racing friends and that is fine, however if you drew up two-way Venn diagram of the two groups there would be a lot of cool people in the middle. You know, bike racers…
Thanks to all of you who cheered for me. I’m not sure who you were but there were a lot of people, unfortunately I never really identified any of you since I was concentrating so hard on not crashing into the ground and, of course, tasting my own vomit…
Riding up the run-up. Not really a run-up…
Cyclocross Nationals
Masters B 30-39 Cyclocross Nationals race report.
I’ve never been a big race report guy, probably due to the fact that I rarely have anything to report, especially during the cyclocross season. The B race I did yesterday once again deserves no mention at all. However, I know there are a smattering of you who can’t be here in Bend (and I wish you all could be) and you want to know what is going on.
So here is the long story…
We left Pullman fairly late in the afternoon on Friday since Allison had a lab final. We hit the road around 4:30 which meant we were not going to roll into Bend until late at night. The drive was uneventful except for the numerous amounts of times we had to stop for my ever-shrinking bladder. We saw quite a few deer on the side of the road which made us both a bit nervous ever since “The great Thanksgiving day Rav4/buck massacre of 2007”…but we survived and so did the stupid deer. I did miss seeing the wonderful views that you can get on the drive to Bend…but no big deal
We woke up and went to packet pick-up around 7:30 a.m. It was cold, around 5 degrees. After registering I decided to bail on the pre-ride of the course (the course was open from 7:30 to 9:00). I did not feel like getting kitted up to ride in sub-10 degree weather when I was not going to race until later in the day. Sitting in the hotel seemed like a better idea while munching on “egg disks” for breakfast. What a gastronomic treat those are…bit I digress…
When we arrived back to the race site, I jumped on the trainer to warm up a bit while the 20-29 B race was happening. I figured I could jump on the course after that race and do one lap. Umm…nope…they would not let us. So that meant I was racing on a snowy course that was getting slick in a few areas without having a clue what it would be like. Hell, I had no idea where the barriers were! Oh yeah, the snow was not bad at all - totally rideable, especially in the places where it was not packed down yet. More like fine dirt than anything, however, where it was packed down it was starting to ice up. There was one line on the course and one part of the course was grassy since they cleared it a few days ago. Some of the pavement sections were icy and other sections were clear.
They did a random staging which worked out pretty well. I was in the third row, which I was pretty happy about. There were at least ten riders or so that I knew in the field…mostly from the NW road scene so it was good to see a few familiar faces. The gun went off and I could not clip in. What a fred. The other thing is that I’m such a pussy when it comes to starting a cross race with 89 of my closest friends. I have the roadie mentality of “I’ll get that position back later in the race”….umm…no you dumbass…you won’t. I think the problem is in the INWCX series I know where I belong and after a lap I slot in and beat myself silly with a few other guys. Basically, I need to do some larger cross races if I ever want to improve. Back to the race…
…off the pavement, up into the grass, some idiots unclip, put their feet down, and crash in front of me. At that point about 20 guys cruise past me as I have to circumvent the new “human barrier”. In retrospect, I should have run the fucker over for being a dumbass…but I’m not that kind of guy (despite what some of you may think). Every corner was new and exciting since I had yet to see the course yet. Nothing too hard but I saw guys crashing left and right. They were taking risks. I didn’t. I should have. The first “holy shit” moment came on a steep, short, bumpy, downhill/drop…not that big of a deal but it freaked me out since I did not know it was coming. Plus, there were spectators yelling “jump it” before I got to it, so I knew there was something coming. Once we got onto the grass section I could finally use what limited power I have. Hitting the stairs was fun and I was able to pass a few guys on that part of the course. More off-camber frozen grass where I really started to haul ass…I was flying now…around the beer tent at a high speed until…the second “holy shit” moment came. Barriers. Well, now I at least knew where they were…cleared them (fairly fast too). Next up was the one “run-up”. I thought “fuck that, I’m riding that shit”. I did, and as the kids back in Pullman say, “No big deal.” The second lap was faster since the field was finally stretched out and I started to pick off some guys. I was running mid-pack and that was fine with me. There was a larger group ahead of me with eight guys or so and I worked to get them and started to move up a bit more. This went on for a few laps until lap four where I made a move on the stairs to pass three guys in the group. The crowd was cool as hell, yelling, screaming and cheering. They always seem to like it when someone kills himself up a run-up or stairs. I jump back onto my bike and stop moving…rolled a tire. Half the tire was off the rear rim. Damn. There goes my race. I swear there was a collective groan by the spectators who saw it. I popped the sucker back on and kept racin’ away. I figured if I rolled it again, oh well. I caught some more guys and kept on going. There was a crash or two involved I’m sure but nothing too bad.
A lap and a half later I and saw Allison and told her “I rolled a tire.” Two seconds later I flat…”FUCK!” Off the bike and to the pits, which were about half a lap a way. I run to the pits where the Shimano guy gives me a wheel. Of course, my brakes were too tight for the wheel so he has to adjust that…then the rear wheel was not in correctly. So, three plus minutes later I’m back out there…the leaders had passed me while I was in the pit….I get to ride for one more lap…without a functioning rear brake. Fun! (It really was; no sarcasm).
I finished and let the official know that I was in the pit when the leaders passed so I was placed correctly. I’m not going to cheat someone out of a place. They deserved it. I ended up 51st out of 90 startres. I could have maybe been in the early 40s if not for the tire flat. Meh, I had fun.
I went back to the pit, grabbed my flat Grifo and walked back to the car. Ran into a few people I know, talked to them, got cold, got back to the car and preceded to get Allison’s bike ready so we could pre-ride the course again (for her race). We went back onto the course and there were over 200 people riding it. It was a cluster-fuck. There were guys who thought they were racing and they were chopping juniors. Nice guys. Some kid nearly took Allison out. What a fool. The highlight was when I did a total yard-sale in an icy spot. I’m so glamorous.
It was a fun course and a fun day in the snow. I’m sure I left a lot out. We are getting ready to go watch the Fountain brothers kick ass in the singlespeed category. Allison races this afternoon. Should be an interesting day.
I’ll try and get some pics up at some point. Internet here a t the rental house is spotty here at best.
Must be at Stanger Farm, Walla Walla , WA…time for some cyclocross!
Driving home from last Sunday’s cyclocross race at Riverside state park. Thanks for the company guys.
Back pain
I’m having my first serious bout with back pain in years. It sucks. I missed two days of work this week and I’m pretty worthless today. Boo…
It started during the cyclocross race this past Sunday at Riverside State Park. This sucks.
