RATL 1 - 4/21/2007

...and so another season begins. Time to clean all the winter lube off the drive train... yuck. Well, I started to clean it up, then decided it would be easier to throw those components in the parts washer to soak, and put on a new cassette and chain.

I arrived at 9 for the 9:40ish start of the cat 4 race. Being the first race of the season, I was less than organized. I found a half eaten cliff bar in my race bag from Cross season... it was not edible, in case you're curious... hard as a rock. Though there was a suggestion of soaking it my water bottle... I opted for throwing it in the can.

I'm still trying to sort out my HRM issues, as I dropped mine from the kitchen table and broke the display. Polar is doing me right with a repair, but it's still gone for 2 weeks. So I'm flying blind... no data for a data geek. It's fine... I get about 10-15 minutes warm-up before we need to line up.

We had Chris, Jason, Gary and myself. East side Ray was there also... effectively on the team cause we ride with him regularly, though not official. Our plan at the line was... uh, nothing. All I knew was that Jason was not planning on any attacks, because he's "not fit yet". Cool by me, since it's really the first race to test the legs. Off we go.

They had moved the finish to the back side of the course to make the race safer. It totally change the race feel, as now everything happens on the little climb. Personally, I'm happy with the change. No need to dive into the last set of corners for the finish... I think they also did away with primes to make it safer also.

So pretty much straight away, Ray goes off the front. I guess that's his warm up. It's also the way the race went for the almost the whole 15 laps. One or two guys would roll off the front... it's not like anyone really chased. We just kind of waited until they came back.

With no primes, I mostly spent every lap viewing the finish, and trying different things. Stayed to the right... watch the field. I stayed near the front the whole race, and was pretty relaxed throughout. I gave one attack up the hill to see if anything happened... to make some legs hurt, and to basically see if I could annoy anyone. I gave another a bit later, where I pretty much just rolled off the front. It wasn't even intentional...

With 3 to go, a rather large group got away. The field accelerated, and I just stuck it near the front, letting StarkVelo pull it back together.

With two to go, Ray and a few others were still away. Jason had talked to Chris about having Chris do the work for him to get to the finish. Chris did a stellar job of bringing the two back on the last lap, then leading it up to the hill where the finish was.

Over the first rise, the field compacted, when Wes from Orrville took off up the left side. Chris led Jason up the right, with me a few wheels back. I had a little tap of the brakes as someone was going back through the field, then I opened my sprint up right before the start of the final climb.

I was picking everyone up pretty quick, and called to Jason that I was coming up on his left. With only Wes ahead, I thought I'd make it... and nearly did as I missed by about a tire width. Neither of us were sure who had it on the line. I had a feeling I was second, but it was possible I made it.


Jason held on for third, and Ray came in fourth. Chris was also still in the top 10 after his work as was Gary. A good day for SBR. Next week, I plan to get better positioning going into the final, and open up the sprint a bit earlier.

Help me pay for my addiction!

So, I do a lot of my training by commuting to and from work. Now with the Bicycle Commuter act, you can help me get paid to train! Woohoo... almost like a pro!

Here's an excerpt from the USA Cycling newsletter. Please follow the link and help get this act passed.

The Bicycle Commuter Act (H.R.807, S.2635) is presently before Congress. It would provide a tax benefit to employers who offer cash reimbursements to employees who ride to work in order to help defray their commuting costs. All this requires is an amendment to the Transportation Fringe Benefit of the tax code to extend the definition of "transportation" to include bicycles. Employers are given the flexibility to set their own levels of benefit payments and the bike commuter can use those payments to pay for a bike, accessories, safety equipment, insurance, and locker or shower fees. In order to show your support for the bill go to
http://capwiz.com/lab/issues/alert/?alertid=8647031.

The League of American Bicyclists link helps you sign a series of form letters to your congressional representatives in both the House and Senate. It's easy as riding a bike. Help out! I'm liking the idea of getting paid to ride.

Denied.

Nice thing about a blog, is I get to have my own space to rant.

So, figuring that I have been around a while, and that a lot of the guys I normally race with are now Cat3 racers, I applied for my upgrade.

I ended up with 20 days of racing last year. 2 mountain bike races, 9 cyclocross races and 9 road races of differing classifications. No I don't have the "required" 20 points, in fact I have 2 points last year on the road. Lots of top 5 cyclocross finishes, but the fields ranged in size from 6 to 15.

Not wanting to be a sandbagger, I reasoned that if I'm strong enough to race near the front of our regional cyclocross Master's or at least be in the A races, that I should move out of the cat 4 fields on the road. I also figured that I know at least 10 guys that have moved into the cat3 ranks since I started racing, and of those maybe only 2 had anywhere near 20 points. It seemed to me that if you asked for the upgrade, you knew what you were getting yourself into, so they granted it.

So, I was surprised to be denied.

USA Cycling Response from Judy Miller:
cross and road have different qualifications because they are different events. As a cross person you are on the course almost alone, with road you are racing side by side with others and have the potential to sprint for the line with many riders. Please review the 2007 rule book found on line concerning upgrading. I can be reached jmiller@usacycling.org if you have any further questions. Judy

Maybe I'm reading this with a condescending tone, but it's all true... well, maybe she's never seen the start of a cross race. It does spread out pretty quickly though, so I won't split hairs to much on that. It turns out that we have a new regional representative, and she wants us to adhere to the rules. OK, now we know. Now we have to look at the rules

4-3: 20 points in any 12-month period; or experience in 25 qualifying races with a minimum of 10 top ten finishes, or 20 pack finishes with fields over 50. 30 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade

So what does that mean... well, if these rules are adhered to, I don't see very many people moving out of the cat 4 races anytime soon. Not sour grapes, this is true stuff.

I had obtained my 2 points by coming in sixth place at the first Race at the Lakes. It's a USCF sanctioned race, no problem counting those points, right? Uh, No. According to the USCF website RATL was not ranked

www.usacycling.org

Which means I got no points for that... even though there were over 40 starters, I guess they don't count critiriums. In fact the only race I did that was reported and ranked was Zoar. I had a mechanical and was out of the race in the first 3 miles. The Zoar cat 4 race also had a horrendous finish because of a wreck in the women's race, so I probably would have pulled up there anyway. Also one of the best regional races is Chippewa Creek Road Race which not sanctioned by USCF, so that doesn't count either.

Let's say that my RATL races actually did qualify, then I'm up to 4 races reported to USCF, with 2 top 10's. So I'm getting somewhere. I only need 21 more races with 8 more top 10. Or I can go and find 19 more races with 50 or more starters.

Let's see 25 races means about 1 race per weekend every weekend of the season. From beginning of April to the end of August there are only 21 weekends... so that means I'll need some double weekends.

...or it looks like I'm going to be a cat 4 for a very long time. Well, no one can say I'm sandbagging. Cause at least I tried to cat up.

Long term, what does this mean? Well.... the way I see it is, since none of the regional races count anyway, no one will be able to cat up until we get a lot of cat 5 racers to move into the 4 fields to get the field size over 50. Then we'll get some points and can move into the cat 3 fields. But since we'll have fewer cat 3 racers, those will be combined into a 1/2/3 field (day of race only so as not to scare off the cat 3s). Then none of the cat 4 racers will want to upgrade and race against the 1's (I see this all the time in cyclocross, no one wants to race A). So the strongest cat 4 racers will win the races that don't count. They'll also be very carefull about not winning so many points that they are forced to upgrade.

So maybe this year RATL will be able to get 50 starters in the cat 4 field (that's just scary). Then the points will count. There are 4 races, so if I can accumulate 20 points there, then I can move up.

Or forget it. I'll just stay in the cat 4 field.

Oh, and if I didn't need the license for cyclocross, then I don't think I'd renew. I did 9 road races, 4 were training races, so I don't need a license for them. That means I paid my $60 for 5 road races... I could spend $50 and do those road races on one-day licenses. Of course I'd be forced to race in the cat 5 field... but it would be totally economic.... So the only reason I need a license is because all 9 of my cyclocross races required me to have one.

I've said it before. Road season is just training for cyclocross season. This just proves it. Oh, and don't look at what it would take for me to become a cat 2 cyclocrosser. Our Master's and/or A fields aren't big enough for that move either... even if those results were reported to USCF.

BA Cyclocross 6 - Boughton Farms 2006

December 3, 2006

It's the last race of the season, and tight races abound. 3 points separate first and second in the A series. 6 points separate third, fourth and fifth in the B race, and I'm 2 points behind Bill for third in the Master's race, and Brent is 6 points behind Rudy for first. With double points on the line, these series points races can go any way. Brent and I both need to beat our guy and have someone between us to win our places outright.

The weather went from mid 60's last weekend to low (really low) 30's this weekend. We didn't get the snow that hit the rest of the Midwest though. So, Saturday I did a training ride. I had a little trouble remembering how to dress for 30's, I also had trouble getting motivated to actually do some work.

Sunday, I was a little afraid of snow fall, but in the end it was about 30, partly cloudy and dry. Beautiful clouds as well. A nice day for a leasurly ride in the woods... I think I'm ready for the season to be over.

Arriving at the farm, it's basically the same course as last week, only backwards and they had removed the backyard/pavement sections. We've had a bit of rain during the week, so the course is a bit slicker in spots. I took a pre-ride during the B/C race on my pit bike with Ritchey Speedmax tires and it all felt pretty slickery. The one water crossing from last week was removed, but the mud section that cause the B crash was now the new water hazard, and there was a new slick mud section on the field crossing before it, and it was much longer and slicker than last weeks section was. So I pretty much decided I'd be racing on the Muds instead of the Tufos.

I tend to dress about 15 degrees warmer than I would for a training ride, so I had two base layers and a long sleeve jersey on top. I had tights on over knickers, and I was on the fence on taking them off for the race. I wore the jacket for warm up, but was sure that I'd drop that at the line.

I did some trainer warm up before the race this week. So one lap around, and then on the trainer near the van. It turns out to be a good decision, as Ernesto is warming up close by, and I'm able to get his thoughts on running Tufo's instead of Muds, he thinks the Muds will pick up too much gunk and be harder to turn. He's more used to running the Tufos than I am, so he's going to stick with them. He also gives up some details on lines he likes. Listen and learn. In the end I'm sticking with the Muds. I just don't trust the Tufos when it gets slick. I'll leave them in the pit for emergency uses.

At about 1:15, I take off for another pre lap with the race bike and the Muds. It turns out they're slipping around also, and I'm picking up a bunch of leaves and stuff in the back woods section.... its tough to push that junk through the fork. A bit more muck, and I decide that the Tufo's actually may be a better choice. Through the wet stuff, and I make a decision... I'm swapping wheels before the start. The start... hmm, they're lining up now!

So, I jump into the pit and swap my wheels. I'm the last to the line, and I still have my tights on... I've got a minute between the A and Master's start... They haven't left yet, I've got time. Off with the tights, it'll only hurt the first time through the puddle anyway. Crazy prep for racing. The good thing is my heart rate is sitting at 120 as we move to the line. Last minute decisions, let's see how they do.

Race
I've got a teammate this week. There's the standard top 5, and Tom Keller is out for his first taste of the pain that is 'Cross. I give him the only strategy that can possible work. If I'm in front of Bill, do whatever he can to finish between us. It's a long shot, but Tom is strong on the road, and I've never seen him off road. My only other option for winning third in the series outright is for me to beat one of the top three guys. If I can get between Rudy and Brent, that would also let Brent win the overall. Not very likely, but since I'm thinking big, I'll go all out.

One minute after the A's, and we're off. Brent, Rudy, Jeff, me, Bill and Tom. It's pretty obvious from the start that Tom is not going to be helping me out much. He's not dropped outright, but there's a gap forming pretty quickly. Bill is sitting on my wheel as we go through the woods and around the field. We're keeping things close, but the front three are opening a gap pretty easily. I'm going to keep my lines kind of close since Bill is right there, I just follow the front three and play a bit cagey. I'm working it hard to stay in touch... I want it to hurt a bit. It does, but in a good way. I'm certainly not over my limit yet.

Through just about everything on the first lap, I might open a gap of a few feet, but Bill is right on keeping it close. Through the second barriers, and the slickest mud section. Around and through the puddle. I was glad I was in front through that. I didn't have to eat wheel spray.

At the end of that run, we head back across the field, and I start to contemplate the next turn around. It'll drive us back across into a pretty stiff head wind. I push the tailwind section hoping for a gap, but I don't get it. Around the 180, and we're into the headwind. I don't want to pull Bill through this, so I try to force him to take some wind... and he sticks to my wheel I try again... nothing, so I let off the gas a bit.

Perfect, Bill starts to come up next to me and says "You're making this hard." Aaaaahhhh! My replay... "That's the way it's supposed to be." and I attack! All I really wanted was for him to get off my wheel. He was, so I went. Perfect.

I had about 10 yards going through the start finish, then I drilled it to the first wood section, once out of the woods, I used every line I could and put everything into opening the gap. Around the field I'd opened a nice big gap. I then concentrated on opening it more, and maybe catching Jeff or Rudy. Rudy was looking rough over the barriers, and through the mud. So I was wondering what would happen. Off in the chase!

Finishing the second lap, Rudy is up ahead with Jeff in front of him. I'm pretty sure Bill is out of the picture. I keep checking on him, but I'm focused on bringing back the others. Third lap, and Rudy has recovered and past Jeff. Brett is the back end of the A race, and he's staying with Jeff. I'm gaining on them slowly. I'd like to be on their wheel through the headwind... but I'm about 20-30 meters back. On my own. I pretty much maintain the gap, but I'm no longer closing it up.

Three down, two to go. We're running a little under 10 minutes per. Still the gap is constant. I'm really happy with the Tufo choice, I'm floating some turns, and I'm getting used to the loose feel of these tires. I'm sure I'd be having trouble with the muds in some of this stuff. Then in the back woods, I must have taken a bad line, cause the front wheel packs up with crap. I stopped and cleared it out, basically let Brett and Jeff go. Bill was out of sight behind me, so I wasn't really worried about him catching me. It just sucked that I was letting third place go without a fight. Over the barriers, and I had packed the fork again. I cleared it out before remounting. Something has got to change now, or there may be trouble holding Bill off.

Through the slick mud, and I bobble again and loose some time. Then through the puddle, and I traverse it so poorly I have to hop off and run the bike half way through the water. OK, I must be getting tired, but I shouldn't panic. Bill has made up lots of ground on me, but I can hold this position if I can just execute clean for one more lap. One more lap and I can call this season done with a solid race effort. Finish strong.

Shifting is getting pretty bad. The chain is skipping over the cassette pretty often, I'll have to look into that. It seems that shifts are getting sluggish also... it must be getting time to recable. 'Cross is tough on equipment. Last lap, and the bike is not shifting at all. So, 42/25 is what I've got. I keep trying to shift, the bike just doesn't listen.

Into the head wind, and I can still see Brett. Jeff has left him behind. So let's see if I can execute and catch Brett. Through everything, I concentrate on my lines. Don't worry about where people are, just work on being technically clean. In the back woods section, I adjust my lines a bit to stay away from the leaves... that worked much better. Float through the mud, and get through the puddle cleanly... well, OK, i get through the puddle with a only minor bobbles. Jeff is a length of the field in front of me, so I won't get him. Bill is more than a length behind though, so I'm through for fourth and tied for third overall.

Post
After I crossed the line the line I figure I'm about 2.5-3 minutes in front of Bill. A nice finish and a nice season in the books. I then tried to clean the mud off the bike, but it's frozen to the frame. Must have been enough ground heat to keep it liquid but once on the bike, the air temp froze it solid. No wonder the bike wasn't shifting. I rode it back to the van and then went and got the pit bike. By the time I went to load the race bike up, the chain wouldn't turn through the rear derailleur because of the ice. Pretty wild conditions. Of course storing the bike in the van, with the heat on, all the mud fell off before I got it home. Well, I already promised I'd clean the van at the end of the season.

I must say this season has been a blast. We've had small fields in the Master's races, but it has been competitive, at least between the first 5 of us. It would be nice if the fields were bigger, then it we might be able to get into three or more way races. But for a first run this season, it was a reasonable field. Next year people will know better what to expect, and I hope it gets the old guys training to be competitive with us.

Special thanks to Team Lake Effect for doing tons of work setting up and tearing down the courses week after week. I've been really pleased with every one. They've all been challenging and yet open enough and with enough transitions to be true cyclocross races.

Overall I'm content with how everything ended up. I still don't feel like I'm running at 100%, but I have been improving over the last couple of weeks. I'm thinking it's time to take some rest, and lots of turkey, then pick it back up after the holidays to prepare for next year. It's probably time for me to think about next years goals, and maybe pull the trigger on a coach.