Chagrin River Cyclocross Challenge - 10/21/06

October 21, 2006

Snakebite Racing

This is the second year we've run this course on Brett Davis parent's property in Chagrin Falls. A mostly flat course of about 1 1/8th mile which ends up including everything except a run up and pavement. There's a sand section, lots of twisty grass, some single track through a stand of pine trees, off camber stuff, a big log crossing, and a creek crossing. We took out a barrier section this year, but we added a real set of 38cm barriers replacing the logs that everyone could ride. With addition of the beer tent, some thumping tunes, and temps in the 50's with sunny skies, we had all the makings for a Belgian 'Cross race, including some mud.

Lots of rain over the last week or so had us scrambling. On Wednesday, Brett told me the sand was under the Chagrin River. By Friday night, it was open again, the barriers were up and things were looking good. That is until Brett was clearing the leaves off the course and found our creek crossing was about 7 feet wide and over a foot deep. A little too much for us... Saturday morning we improvised a foot bridge out of some 2x6 lumber laying around... we set up a barrier on the approach so people had to get off and wouldn't try to ride the bridge. Because of the new barrier, we cut up part of the log crossing to make it more ridable and the course was finished at 11:50 for a 12:00 start.

We had plans to get two lines of vehicles parked along the driveway, but with the last minute course work, no one was around to direct the parking. With 71 racers showing, and almost as many cars, it was parking chaos. So even though my intent was to get a decent warm up, I was still trying to get cars someplace to go. Ah the life of helping out a promoter...

I had clothing issues... what shall I wear? I don't want to be cold... or hot. In the end I opted for the short sleeves and arm warmers... assuming feeling cold during the race last weekend was a fluke. With all the rain and the conditions, I decide to run the Michelin Mud's. I've got a set of Tufos, but have had no luck getting them to hook up in the muddier courses. I also brought the spare bike today. I've still got my Surly from last year that I've been using for commuting, so I put the Tufos on it, and leave it in the pit for emergency purposes.

B/C Race
31 B racers racers toed the line. Ed Delgros (Summit Freewheelers) set a blister pace to take the B race by almost 2 minutes. Ryan Wayne spoiled Tony Marut's (October Lake Effect) 15th birthday party by out sprinting him at the line for second place.

In the C race, Mark Kimmerle (Alan Factory) finished first in the field of 14, followed by Mason Morgan, and another birthday boy, junior Drew Bercaw (Pista Elite).

At the A/Masters race start, we sang a round of "Happy Birthday" for Brent Evans (Color-Me-Safe Racing) to round out the birthday celebrants on the weekend.

Racing:
There's the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, Richter Earthquake scale, and then there's Dave Carr's Mud Index, a 0-10 scale grading consistency of mud, starting at 0 for dry dirt, and going to 10 for river water. We probably hit 9 of the 11 grades (adjusted for Ohio conditions of course). Click the link to follow along at home.

Since the Linda Miranda's official van got stuck in the mud, we moved the start forward a bit. The 15 A's went off and a minute later, I'm racing with 8 master's and 2 women.

For some reason I got a pretty poor start, and am sitting about 7th. Over the last week, I'd decided I didn't really want the hole shot as it takes a lot of energy, and it doesn't gain me much to be on the front and then get passed... but I certainly want to be in the top 5, since that's about where I belong. The start is over a grassy field with a grade 1/2 (damp earth/adobe clay) mud underneath. As soon as the grass is broken, the mud starts moving. I take the line high just outside the flags to move into 5th position, behind the normal Brent, Rudy, Jeff and Bill as we hit the sand pit.

Shoulder the bike and carry the sand... and past. Right after the sand is a short steep ramp that can be considered a run. At the top we remount and head back to the field for some long passes across the field. 3 180's, and we're heading to the beer tent. Right before the tent, there is a slight rise covered with grade 4 peanut butter. Slick stuff here that claimed lots of B and C racers. Through the tent, and to the barriers.

Into the pine stand, and we hit a section of mud that was a mix of grade2/3 (Adobe Clay/Play-doh) with some pine needles thrown in for a nice brick making compound. This stuff was stick to the brakes all through the race. I was taking a line straight through this in warm ups, while everyone else was by-passing to the right. Back on solid ground, we take a quick 180 and head through the stand. Across a culvert, and out to the off camber. At the beginning of this section, it's through some slop (grade 8) before hitting the grassy slime (grade 6). The off camber made this tricky section fun to keep the tires in line.

Out of the off camber we head to the gravel drive, but not before a dip in some glop (grade 7) just to pack in the slime from the previous section. After turning along the drive, we transition to some more grassy play-doh, over the bumpy section and up to the back yard. Next up, the grade 9 soup that drenched the shoes and did some good at cleaning the bike every lap. Through some rollers on grade 2, and we hit the log. Twist some double track, and head to the barriers/ foot bridge/ climb. Around some more grade 2/3 stuff and back to the start finish.

Not bad, we probably could have gotten the grade 10 river water in if we'd not put in the foot bridge. So the only thing we missed was dry dirt of grade 0.

So through the first lap, and I'm sitting 5th most of the way, in the second lap, Rudy and Brent start to open the gap. Jeff jumps off his bike and grabs his spare, as Bill and I are still pretty close, with Bill doing most of the work. Ed Delgros has jumped into the Master's race after his win in the B's, and I'm pretty sure I can hold him off... being his second race should have cooked him for this.

Second lap, and Bill pretty much gives up coming through the start finish. Even yelling I'm cooked as we come through... so I give it the gas to open a gap. I'm third, and I want to hold this. Through the lap, and I'm avoiding the pine mix, but I'm still getting too much dirt in my wheel. I've got to hold off Bill and Jeff, as he makes his way back up. They somehow close the gap to me, Jeff gets around me, but is dealing with a rubbing brake. I end up not able to stick with him as he pulls away. Shortly afterward, Ed also gives it the gas and gets by me... how does he do that? Second race, and he's schooling us.

Through the third lap Bill and I are battling it out. He's some how recovered and though I've opened a nice gap, I bobble in the off camber section, where I almost hit a phone pole. As I get moving, I pick up enough leaves and mud to pack up the front wheel. I'm hoping to wash it out/or push it out over the gravel, but no luck... It's packed tight. I decide it'll save me more time to clear it. So I come to a complete stop on the bumpy section. I back the bike up and eject the crap from the wheel. The get moving, but not before Bill is back on my wheel. Through the back section, and I decide again to carry the log, hoping it'll slow Bill down. He makes his move as I remount, and I'm back to chasing.

Through the fourth lap, Bill is opening a gap. Bike is not shifting well, and it seems to be getting heavier with mud. I've got a pit bike, why not give it a go! The reason for the pit bike is a clean bike that should be faster than the slope covered bike... shift well and maybe I can make up the 20 seconds or so Bill has on me in the remaining two laps.

I have this idea, and make a decision in about 100 yards. Off the Steelman and onto the Surly. I make the change right before the rise to the beer tent. I run the rise, hop on and ride to the barriers.

I bought the Steelman to be the race bike, I knew it was lighter than the Surly, but I didn't realize what that meant until I lift the barriers... "Woah, this thing is a pig!" Even clean, I'm sure the Steelman was lighter. Smaller bars, are also instantly noticeable, but I should be able to make some ground! Off I go in the hunt.

Well, it turns out the bike change in this instance was a mistake. I buried myself over the next two laps. Unfortunately, I still have issues with the Tufos hooking up, and all the differences between the two bikes are really annoying... longer reach, narrower bars with shorter drop... It's also time to replace the shifters on the surly, as they tend to not shift cleanly. It's OK on the road, I know how to handle it... during the race, it was disaster. So instead of making up time, Bill opens up on the fifth lap. I haven't learned enough to actually pick up the Steelman again, so I complete the race on the Surly. In the end I lose a minute and a half on Bill, though I will say I sat up during the last half lap, when it was obvious a waste of effort to try to pull him back. Especially since there's another race tomorrow.

Post
Overall it was a really hard race. All the mud turned everything into a slog fest. Tough the bike change eventually turned out to be a mistake, I was not sorry I tried to race a tactical move. I guess it's time to spend on that bike and set it up right. Another set of Mud's may also be in my future. It'll still be heavy, but if I can get it mechanically sound, it may have made a positive difference in a race like this.

Check out Ernesto's Solo Goat Blog for the A race rundown. Ernesto Marenchin(Asylum/Speedgoat), Paul Martin(Texas Roadhouse), and Nate Ziccardi(Savage Hill) passed me like a train in the middle of the pine stand on my fourth lap. Shortly there after Ernesto and Paul dropped Nate, then Ernie attacked and held on for the V.

The Master's race was won by Rudy Sroka(October/Lake Effect), followed by a hard working Jeff Craft(October/Lake Effect) who recovered from the flat, and made up space from 7th back into second. The birhtday spot for the day was third, since the birthday boy, Brent Evans(Color-Me-Safe Racing) made it three third place birthdays out of four races.

After the race, we all hung out for a bit for cake and beer, and the podium. Pictures are sure to follow. Special thanks to Linda Miranda and Lynne Marut for scoring the race, and Brett and his parents for hosting a fun event, well fun except for the actual time I was on the bike.

BA Cyclocross 1 - 2006 Fairport Harbor

October 15, 2006

http://www.teamlakeeffect.com/

Midterms this week, so this might be a little bit weird. Let me know if anything is totally off.

It's CYCLOCROSS SEASON!!!

Finally time to get started. This year the Lake Effect guys have added a new race category, Master's 40+. So I've got a dilema... I can race either the A race or the Masters race... and I'm torn.

The master's field will be taking numbers away from the A race, as probably half of the regular A's from last year can race in the Master's field. It also gives some of the faster B masters a place to go instead of racing against Paul Martin, Ernesto Marenchin and Mike House. My biggest problem in the A field last year was that there weren't enough people racing A's to make it a race. The fastest guys would pull away, and I'd be riding on my own... ahead of one or two others, but without someone to chase... so it was more like a 10-15 minutes race until the gaps got huge, then I'd be doing a Sunday cross practice ride at less than 100%. If I race master's, I feel like I'll be part of the problem... then again, there may actually be some racing in the Master's field.

So... I arrive at the venue, and I still don't know what to do! What a wishy washy bike racer I am.

The Course

Fairport Harbor is a new location. It's right on the beach, so I expect some sand... and boy is there sand. From the line the course is on grass next to the road. The grass leads to some sidewalk, and drops off a curb to cross the road. It then twists around a sidwalk climb, around a lightpost, and down to the amphitheater run up. You can almost remount for the ride up the hill... but if you miss the pedal, you'll stall and loose more than it's worth. Once remounted, there's the nice off camber decent leading to some grassy twists back to the theater stage. Then across the lawn toward the beach.

More twisting sections before we have to deal with the sand. On the way to the beach we go around a stump... that is in same semi hard packed sand. Turn to hard, and the bike will wash out. Down a nice drop to a short, soft beach section that climbs up to the previous level. I was dismounting before the drop and running this section for lots of reasons. Once back on top, there was some hard pavement/sand leading to two short sand section, before turning onto the sidewalk to head to the second half of the course.... and more sand.

The second half had two sand pits separated by a twisty grass section around some barbeque grills, then through the beach house to... more sand. A straight, semi hard section leading to a softer section, leading to a log crossing. Then a hard packed sand parking lot lead to a short paved climb that went up and around a gate over some broken pavement, then headed back down to the parking lot. This section had some bumpy grass section leading to the one set of barriers, a three pack in grass. Back on the bike, and back to the bumpy hard packed sand parking lot. Then you twist around a paved traffic circle, up a shorter paved climb before hopping a 6-8 inch drop back onto sand. (yes, that was sand, I'll explain later). We then dropped back to the start finish.

Overall I got about 1.25 miles per lap. With all the sand, it was a tough little course. The key would be to find the right lines through the sandy sections to not loose time, then figure out where to recover. It's a little cool at about 50+ degrees, and pretty windy. Fortunately it's mostly protected, but there are some spots that it makes a difference. A nice tail wind along the sidewalk... and some headwind sections going back through the start finish.

So, I think Erwin Verveken is a sand specialist, I hear that the Netherlands cross courses are very sandy. The trick is to turn as little as possible on the sand, cause you're sure to go down. At one point during the B/C race, I watched a guy get turned sideways in a sand pit... the bike stalled, and from a complete stand still, he just fell over. Like the guy on the tricycle in the old Laugh-in shows. He never came unclipped from the pedals, and his bike just lifted right over him. It looked pretty amusing... especially since I figured he couldn't really get hurt in sand.

So, the B/C race goes off and I'm cheering on my teammates as they figure out the course. Rick, Gary and Don, joined the 27 B racers that showed up, in that order. I still haven't decided what to race. In the A's I'll be racing Brett and the young super fast guys. In the Masters' I'll be racing some of the older super fast guys. In the end, I flip a coin, and join the masters. The only big deal about this is I make the decision for the whole season at the first race. So know I'm commited.

Race
As we lined up with the A field, word has it we'll start as a bunch. I was thinking that would be cool, until I realized that we wouldn't really have our own race then. Rudy decided we could vote on the start and one of the 12 Masters wanted the mass start... so we decided to start 30seconds after the A's. 14 A's and 13 Masters, so both fields were reasonably sized.

Oh, and there were some fast guys in the A field, so I figured I had made the right choice. Not that the Master's field was a slouch... we had Rudy, Jeff Craft, Brent Evans, Bill Marut and Derrick Wilford among the group. And I figured the finish would include the 6 of us, but had only a few ideas on the actual order.

Off the A's went, 30 seconds... and the season has started!

I get a good start and slightly lead it onto the sidewalk. I figure I don't really want to totaly set the pace, so I let Brent ahead, and sit on his wheel. Up the first run up, It's the two of us on the front of a reasonable group. We hit the beach together, and I take a pull next to Brent, then slide back in as we head to the second half.

Along the sidewalk, we catch the first A rider. This guy probably should not have been in the A race, but he was. As we come up on him, a couple of guys are shouting warnings that we're coming up. I guess one guy got a bit overheated about it and told the guy to get off the course. Not really fair. The guy did pay for entry, and was getting totally killed. Still...

So into the sand, and I'm still second wheel. Feeling pretty good. We hit the log, and I've got the roll over move down. Once onto the parking lot, Rudy lays down the attack, and the gap starts to open. Rudy and Jeff make a move, with Brent. It turns out only Bill and I are left. so the ordering seems to be setting up as I expected. Throughout the entire next lap, I'm keeping everyone in sight, but the gaps are opening. I'm feeling pretty good, but not good enough to close things down.

But we are starting to bring the back end of the A field in. Then Bill pulls around me and opens his gap. OK, so I'm getting back into the rythem of cross. Keep the gap to Bill constant. Work on bringing the back end of the A riders, and wait to try to make my move to catch Bill at the end of the race. One by one, Bill is picking off the last A's. I'm keeping about two guys between us. The gap is opening slowly, but doesn't seem to be out of hand. I just need to keep the pressure up.

I've never been cold during a cross race before... (that I remember) but for some reason, it took me a LONG time to warm up. I don't know if I should have put on a baselayer, or if I'm actaully sick, but for the first 3-4 laps, I was downright cold.... and wasn't I so cross eyed that actually I thought about it and even now I remember being cold. So something wasn't right there. Just don't know what!

About halfway through the race, things start going a bit side ways. I'm closing on Thom Dominic, from the A race. Bill is in front of him still in sight. I get on Thom's wheel through the barriers, and sit comfortably heading into the start area. As we head off the pavement, I rail the corner trying to accelerate past Thom to start to bring back Bill, when I realize (the hard way) that there is hard packed sand right off the pavement. My front wheel digs in, and I go down... still clipped in, the bike goes bouncing up above me... and I am reminded how unamusing this is... even though it looked almost exactly like that C racers wreck earlier... except I wasn't at a standstill. Ouch.

Now Thom has reopened the gap, and I've got to go bring that back again! Fortunately I wasn't down long, but it does take your momentum away. For the next lap or so, I have to convince myself to keep up the pressure. I notice my heart rate is down, and I'm not pushing as hard as I should be. Thom has opened his gap a bit over this time, and I finally get back into my rythem and start to bring him back again.

Now my back is starting to hurt, my lungs hurt, everything is getting painful... I must be doing something right then... My gaps are staying reasonably constant, so I'm not loosing a lot, but I'm not gaining either. Thom seems to be yo-yoing. I'm bringing him back, then he opens up again...

When I raced A's, my first goal was to not let Paul Martin lap me. I figured I was doing ok, if I could stay on the lead lap. With 2 or so to go, Mike House (former US CX champ) and Jake Stechman catch me, I slow before the run up to let them by. Thom has opened his gap up again, and I can't see Bill anymore. Behind me, I can only see Paul Martin and a couple of A racers I've already passed, so I just have to work on pulling back the tail end of the Master's field. Paul catches me on the same lap.... then Ernesto gets me with 2 laps to go. I worked to hang with each of these uber fast A racers for as long as I could, just to check my technical lines, House and Steckman carried from the top of the beach drop through the sand. Ernesto takes the same lines as I do through the off camber drop.... I can't hold Pauls wheel through hard/soft sand before the log (duh!).

So 4 A racers get me, though they did get a 30 second start, I don't see how I would have held them off if I'd joined the A race. More confirmation that I'm in the correct race.

As the laps go on, my shifting starts to really deteriorate. Sand is some nasty stuff. By the end my gears are skipping like crazy.... every time I jump on the pedals, the gears skip. How am I going to catch anyone if I can't apply the pressure I want? Whenever the gears shift, I try to move to one harder gear. That seems to keep me moving.

The only lap cards I see are 6 to go, 4 to go, and then I look, and there are no numbers... ! How many more? They say this is it... where's the bell? I've got bell issues from my last road race. OK, so I've got one lap to see what I can do... so I just bury it. On the last lap, I picked up one more lapped rider, but things were pretty set.

Post

So as expected, Rudy took the win, Jeff was second, then Brent for the podium. Then Bill, me and Derrick. There was no time data taken, so I don't really know how far back I was. I do know my heart rate was pretty constant, but I didn't really go as deep as I remember going in the past... so maybe there's some improvement opportunities there.

It seems like I'll be chasing Bill this season, so the goal is to get in front of him... and maybe get onto the podium, though that seems like a tal order with the looks of this field.

In the A race, Mike House took the win ahead of Paul Martin. Jake Stechman had some mechanicals with 3 or 4 to go, and ended up dropping off of House's wheel, but managed to hold on for third. Brett Davis did a bang up job of his first A race staying on the lead lap and pulling in an 8th place.

Tuesday Night Cyclocross Practices

We're setting up the course and running 'cross practice on Tuesdays at Brett Davis parent's property.

We had about 11 show up last night for some 'cross night antics... loads of fun. Brett and a few others spent about an hour working on clearing the course, then we spent about an hour riding.

Same thing next Tuesday, though I guess there will be less work and more riding. Brett and I are planning on showing up at 5:30 again. Come whenever you can though and jump right in.

7177 Bainbridge Rd
Chagrin Falls, OH

Course info:
Pretty much the same course as last year with some minor modifications. Laps are about 1 1/8 mile. With the rain, it was slow going through the fields, and there were some soft spots in the woods. We've got 2 log crossings set up, one sand pit and the creek jump/run up. My lap times were running about 6.5 minutes.

Fall Challenge - 9/24/2006

www.summitfreewheelers.com

Last road race of the season, and I had convinced myself that I could win this race today. I started thinking about it last night, I even analyzed the year that I came in fourth. Dan G jumped about half way up the last rise before the line... so I thought I'd try that also.

I showed up, with Jason Rapp and Gary Berkholder from SBR. Jason said he was planning on doing 3 of the 5 laps before he expected to blow up. So we rolled out, and Jason set the pace for the first lap... it was slow, but typical SBR fashion... we don't race smart, but we do contribute.

Second lap Jason sits in about half way back. I'm doing no work, and the pace was really easy. Second time up the climb, I fell a little far back on the descent, and had to dodge guys falling off the pace to get back near the front of the race. So I figured I'd try to stay closer to the front on the remaining descents.

On the climb, Jason pointed out one guy in a light blue kit (CMVC Preformance? Some Pittsburgh team) that he watched control Zoar. So I start watching him. He's directing at least 3 other guys, all in different kit, and they are controlling the front of the race.

As we come by the start finish, I see we've got 2 to go. So, I figure it's going to start getting rougher now. I pull up next to Jason, and ask him how far he wants to go? The race is too easy in my estimation. There are to many cat 5 guys squirreling around, so if this is his last lap, I'd like him to make it hard and cull the field a bit. He says he wants to make all five laps, so I'll just let someone else make the race.

Something must have changed on the downhill, because Jason goes to the front on the outside, Gary follows to the front on the inside, and we've got two SBRs pulling on the descent. I'm sitting about 10 back, as we hit the hill. The Jason fades off the back. I'm again further back than I want to be, but we crest and I'm right on the back end of the field. I'm able to work my way back up with some effort. It looked to me like Gary was just about to give up when I came by him, and told him to dig deep, recover and get ready for the next lap. I expect them to punch it over the hill next time around.

The field is now cut in half.

Steve Previs was there today also, and I'm sitting near the back chatting with him as we pass through the line. We end up chatting quite a bit more than I'm comfortable with, and he likes to sit at the back of the field... so on the downhill, I cut up the inside and settle in to fourth wheel.... and sit there.

Up the climb, I'm digging to not loose any position... and succeed. As we start the rollers to the line, the three guys ahead of me are the guy in blue and two of his buddies. They push the pace a bit, but I'm sticking right on them. I can win this thing... as long as I don't do anything stupid. So, every time one of the three pull off, I open a gap and they pull into it. I'm basically gate keeping, and doing nothing extra. I bide my time, as we close in on the line.

It remains the four of us all the way to the last little rise. I'm still on the inside, and I expect the rush but it doesn't come. So I jumped right where I had planned on. I got a huge gap, and kept looking for the chase. It didn't come.. and I didn't figure out why, until the official started ringing the bell for the last lap!

I went one lap too early!

Everyone knew which lap cards to watch but me. Typically, when there's an A race and a B race, the top numbers are for the A's and the bottom are for the B's. This time, the officals were setting the top numbers for both A's and B's, and the bottom numbers were for the women/juniors field.

SO... instead of just continuing the attack, I sat up and let the field pull me back in... I figured I could recover enough to still have a chance. Once back in the field I started joking about my dufus move. Can't take this bike racing too seriously... it would be to painful that way.

So we're down to about 20, the same 4 guys are still driving the pace, and I'm sitting about fifth to tenth wheel as we hit the hill. Its hard to do that hill this "extra" time, and I popped off and somehow was close to the last one over the top.

I was about 50 meters back at the top and I somehow convinced myself to chase as hard as I could. I was able to start picking guys off. I kept looking for some help, but I guess I had more left than the guys I was catching. I ended up picking up one guy to work after passing about 5. We caught a couple more but they didn't help much at all. Even though the two of us were encouraging them to work. Once the both of us blew up (me first, then him right afterward), the other guys got in front of us. One other guy caught us, and got around. I re-caught the helping dude, and was going to just roll in with him, but he said he was cramping on the climbs, so I left him to try to catch the next guy up the road... it didn't work.

So a group of 12 contested the sprint. Previs came in 7th (first non-paying spot) and I think I came in 16th. Gary finished 3-4 behind me, and Jason finished the 3rd lap and called it quits.

I'm pissed at myself for once again coming up with some stupid reason for not doing as well as I'd hoped. I had a plan, and worked it exactly as I wanted, I just screwed up the lap count.

Please let 'cross season start soon, so I can thrash myself mercilessly for an hour every weekend for being so stoopid. My racing luck has got to turn around soon. If not, there is always the off season.

In the A race, we had Tom Keller and Brett. Paul Martin was alone up front. Tris was about 2-3 minutes back, then Rudy another 2 or so. Then Ed Delgros, and John Lowry. The field stayed together until the rollers on the way in, an MVC guy took off, and Tom followed, then the field dribble in behind.

Brett on a borrowed bike! After showing up to the race without breakfast or food for the race, or even a water bottle... had enough time to adjust the seat on the bike and ride around the parking lot twice and borrow a bottle before being called to the line. He made it with the group into the last lap then bonked huge and fell way off the pace. We were about to get in the car and go look for him when he rolled in looking like a bear waking up from hibernation! Props to gary for bringing some extra food, or I think Brett may have chewed off his own arm to get home.