Back to school. KSU 11.14.2009

Another lifetime ago, I spent a year at Kent State. I did not bring my bike to school, as I had a drivers license, so what good would a bike do... add in all the other stupid things I did at the time... (say that as if bike racing was NOT stupid). So it was a nostalgic trip to KSU on a beautiful Saturday afternoon to race CYCLOCROSS.

Lake Effect setup a really nice course full of many transitions: grass to gravel to pavement to grass to single track to full on hills, ride them if you can, off camber turns... this had it all. Even though it was dry, there was some soft and not soft stuff, nothing to slippery, but not really dusty dry. I took some laps with about 25 in the tubs, then increased it to 30 because it didn't feel very good in the corners.

The sun brought out big fields again, with 50+ in the B race and 30+ in the A race. The team had 7 in the A race, Jason, Brent, Dave, Derek, Zak, Tom and myself. We staged two deep again, with warnings about the gravel on lap one, they sent us off. Sure enough, the warnings were pointless, as a couple of the leaders still went down in the second gravel section. Carnage was every where, the turns, and transitions were taking all sorts of folks down.

My start was again slower than I wanted it to be, so I went into full on chase mode. I'm seriously wondering about starts lately. I've been a bit conservative at the start, then chase down as much as I can. I was probably in the low 20s heading into the single track on the first lap. I ran the hills, and tried to stay clean on everything else. Once out of the woods, it was time to get busy chasing down guys up the road.

I picked off about 3 over the course of the next lap. I felt pretty good. The single track was all right, though I didn't like the off camber at the top of the first hill, I tried to take it slow enough to keep it upright, but still on the edge of that. The descent after the second hill was also a bit weird. I had trouble clipping in, then holding the right hander quick, and getting lined up for the log hop. I think I went far to the left every time. Then the left hander heading up the hill was also kind of weird.... So do my best through the technical stuff, and push hard every where else.

Two laps in, I had caught Derek, and Aussie Rob caught me just past the start finish. Aussie's got the power, so I figured I'd stick on his wheel for as long as I could. It might do us both good if I could just sit on and drive it if I could. Through the wet grass, onto the gravel to pavement right hander. I was a bit cautious, but Rob had the line I would take, so I figured we were fine... then I have no idea what happened next, but Rob has a yard sale... Totally crossed up, I grabbed a fist full of brakes and tumbled right around him. Both of us are cursing as at least Derek and Zak come around us. I jumped back onto the bike quickly, before I even thought about the damage. Might as well be moving while I take my inventory.

Ouch.... skinned knee is bleeding and sore. My hands hurt, because I didn't take time to put on gloves.... not to bad, but I've scraped them both up. OK, hit the reset button, and see if I can start my race over again with 5 to go.

It takes about a lap to get over the screaming in my head. Why was I following a triathlete through a sketch section. Should I have backed off just a little, then jumped back onto his wheel? Right.... back to my race.

Rudy and Nate from Lake Effect are together, then Zak, then Derek. Bill, Ryan, and a couple of other mountain bike guys are behind me... so is Aussie Rob. One at a time, lets see if I can catch Derek first.

Rob came around me somewhere in there, but I'm not sure I was even awake. Derek kept a good pace going, and stayed mostly out of site.

I had this weird feeling that my rear tire was flatting, but I didn't want to hit the pits, since it would require a wheel change. Still every time I passed the pits for 3 laps, I was thinking, do I need a wheel?

Eventually Nate Lohman was my only target when he took a bike change. We were pretty evenly matched riding, with 2 to go, I caught him, and tried to attack before the single track. He hung on, I tried multiple times, and would get a small gap, and he'd claw back up. I was pretty sure I could take a sprint, but didn't want it to come down to that. So I kept the pressure up.

With one to go, Nate was dropping off a bit more. I drilled it up the hill, and got a bit of a gap. Through the off camber, the idea is no mistakes, and drill it where I can. On the run up, I got more space... then clean through the remainder of the single track. We both knew I had it as we exited the woods, but I took no chances, and kept the pressure on through the line.

Battling Nate made it a race to the end. So that was fun. The results have me posted at 15th, though I don't see Rob posted, so it's probably 16th. I'll take it as good for me, especially after going down.

The damage isn't to bad, though I haven't REALLY gone over the bike. It was shifting fine, and I only noticed some more ripped bar tap. Both my bar end caps are still laying on the ground in that corner. The body damage is just a few scrapes on the hands and a skinned knee.

I never did take a wheel change, and the tire seemed to hold fine. It probably means I should have run a little more pressure in those conditions. The higher pressure would have given me more confidence going into many of the turns... though I don't know if it would have given me the 25+ seconds to catch Derek. It certainly was distracting. Pit bike for next year maybe?

Two races left. Next weekend is at Kirtland Park right downtown. Sure to be a fun course with the stair run up. Every year that course gets better.