Spectacular! That's the goal of the Spin/RR Donnelley, SSSMST, and Spin Bike Shop Cross My Heart and Hope to Die Willoughby Cyclocross Spectacular!. Special props to Greg and the guys that put in 6 hours on Friday setting everything up. A very nice course, and I'm not saying that only because it's my sponsors race.
I got a sneak peak of the course plan on Thursday night, when I stopped at the shop for some cable housing... after the mudfest at Leroy, my rear-der cable was toast. So some mechanical finesse was in order.
The wacked off-camber slide that killed me two years ago was out. Good, because I learned at Stark Velo's race I still have to figure out how to do those turns on wet turf. The hill was still in... ouch! Still it looked to be a fun course. It started to rain late on Friday evening.
I realised I didn't have a rear der cable late on Friday night... so it looked like my mechanical skills would be tested the hard way. Stop at the shop first thing, and replace the cable on the morning of the race. Not optimal, but I hope everything works when the time comes. Still it MUST be done.
I got to the course early to help setup... which really just meant help put up the PA system, then go do my own wrenching. The rain continued through the morning. By 11:00ish, I had the bike setup, put some rain gear on, and took the first lap of the day.... by anyone.
Two big features of the course... the sled hill run up, and the spiral of death.
The run up came complete with a barrier at the bottom, not really needed since everyone was off by the time we got to it anyway, but I just race the course. We then went right back down the hill and reclimb a portion of the hill twice more before some slightly tricky off camber stuff. All ridable... mostly, if you don't bobble.
The death spiral took up the complete infield of the baseball diamond. I don't even know how many times we went around, but on my first prelap... it was a sand slurry. Seriously. This was certain death to any and all drive trains, let alone the technique needed to ride in this stuff. I decided once around that was enough pre riding that when it took another half lap before my bike sounded half way normal again. I'd figure it out during the race and save the chain to hopefully make it through the whole race.
The rain did stop before the first race of the day.. but the course conditions were set. Big news was Greg decided to do call ups for the A race. People were mixed, but I think it was a very cool idea. The call ups were for the top 10 in the series points. It worked for me since I was sitting 8th... not because of studly riding, but because I've been to all the series races... and Paul Martin and others have not. So... you reward performance AND consistently showing up. Even if I wasn't called up, I think it's a good idea.
The top ten get the call up, and I try to choose a spot NOT near people that I've seen do poor starts. My goal is to go hard from the gun, and then see what happens. If I blow up, I blow up. I'm not going for a hole shot... since the first feature is the sled hill, and it's at least 500m from the start. And hole shots are over-rated in my book. But I want to get moving and stay out of trouble.
At the start, I'm doing alright. top 10 into the first corner... then I loose some heading across to the first sandy ball field crossing before the hill... where I was NOT ready to have the bike squirm. Up the run up, and the gaps start to open up.
I need to learn how to race more aggressively I guess. I let guys pass me on the inside of the corners of the lower hill climbs to the off camber section. On different laps, not just the first. I could have just closed that door. Don't know.
Down around the log crossing, and near the river, and I get swarmed by a bunch of guys that I do NOT want in front of me. It's all about who you expect to beat, and who you don't.. and these guys should be behind me. Into the death spiral, and about 5 guys just bog down...while I don't.
Huh. I guess this is going to be the place I make my race. I gapped a bunch of folks there... and got back into about 10th spot by the end of the first lap.
There was Me, and the Lake Effect three... John Proppe, Jeff Craft, and Rudy. Second time up the hill, and I did manage to close the door on Rudy once. This is good for me... I just want to hang onto these three, and I'll be doing a nice race. Rudy must have had a bad start... he was first to take off. I sat on Proppe, with Jeff just behind for the remainder of lap two. I opened a gap on Proppe in the spiral, but Jeff got me at the hill (see closing that door...).
Two laps in, and the field is strung out. For the remainder of the race I worked to keep the gaps to John and Jeff pretty constant. I don't know how I did it. But I could see the gap to Zak and Brent in 9th/10th place was NOT moving for the rest of the race.... and no one was near John behind me. I was technically pretty good, though not perfect, but the gaps were not moving.
With two to go, I tried to dig deeper, but was running out of gas. With one to go, I had hoped to hold on, but John must have found he had more gear that he wasn't using. He closed to me on the run up... and I had no answer. I knew I was giving up that spot, but could not (or did not) dig any deeper. I thought I could get him if I could just close before the spiral... but he made it in, and didn't bobble. By the turn around at the center, I knew I could not make up the difference, so I finished 15 seconds down on him.
By the end of the race, my bike sounded like a grinding wheel. I may need to replace the cable again AND my chain. What a mess.
Overall, I'm pleased with my 13th place finish. I was 40seconds out of the top 10. The course had similar conditions to Leroy, where I felt I didn't really race hard or clean enough. There is still room for improvement, but I did race my bike... which was a goal for the day.
This also put me in fifth in the series overall, which I am VERY pleased with. I won't stay there, since Paul is only 4 points behind me... and there are others that will be dropping some "no show" races that will soon be out of my reach. We are far enough into the season that I can start setting some realistic goals though. Like getting good starts, and racing my bike through the whole hour. We'll go from there.
Next up... Chagrin River Cyclocross Challenge p/b Solon Bicycle... it's always a party if Brett is involved.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday, October 05, 2009
What a day...
A rough day in Leroy Township yesterday. Chagrin River Cycling put on the second annual Leroy Township Cyclocross race. Last year, I felt I did pretty well, and I was hoping for a nice repeat.
Warm ups went smooth. I was bunny hopping the barrier because it was only three inches high, they fixed that before the start of the A race though, and I was able to ride the whole course. The rains had moistened everything, the puddles were cold, and mud was found. I figured it would be another power course... which was fine with me, if I brought my power legs along.
30 or so lined up for the A race, with 8 from Spin, and Aussie Rob from the multisport team. I seem to be lining up second row pretty regularly... which I guess is silly, because I'm giving up all control of my start to the guy in front of me. It would be fine if I chose better, but I seem to not be that wise. Ray already posted about his start, and I was on his wheel. So, that put me WAY back... heading into the single track section (which probably could be classified as double track if I had nerve), the whole field was standing still as guys picked their way into the woods... hindsite says I should have dismounted and shouldered the bike across the ravine to get into the woods... I'm getting pretty good at that hindsite for the first lap also.
By the time I exited the woods, and could see the front of the race, they were 45seconds+ up the road. Not good. Then I started going backwards... as the power guys took off. Place by place, I think I lost 10 or more places in the course of two laps... then finally started to get things working again. Ten places is tough to make up, especially when some of them are 1/4 to 1/3 of a lap ahead of you when you actually start moving forward.
I was able to picked up three of those place, plus a couple of others as guys blew up from the effort. In the end I figured out how to ride the course reasonably well with 4 to go, though the entry to single track and the best way to handle the barrier/ditch crossing were puzzles that cost me time every lap. The barrier/ditch was the worst since I had it cold in warm up... and only cleared it the way I wanted in 1 of the 7 laps.
I got lapped with 2 and a half to go by the leading trio of Weeks, Adams and Martin, but held off the everyone else over the course of the remaining lap. Dropping 10 places and only getting back 5 really hurt. I'm still shocked I made the top 20 (in 19th place). Still far away from the personal goal of a top 10. Maybe if we go back to the days of A fields of only 15 guys...
...and worse yet... my legs are not sore today. Even when climbing my little commute hills. Am I sandbagging on myself?
I need to figure out how to ride my bike faster. How to decode those nasty technical puzzles so I don't loose huge time every lap. And mostly, how to ride to my potential so I am totally thrashed at the end of a race.
I'm not going to Cinci... which really hurts... so next up is the
Cross My Heart and Hope to Die Willoughby Cyclocross Spectacular on October 17th! Time to get some resolve going for that one.
Warm ups went smooth. I was bunny hopping the barrier because it was only three inches high, they fixed that before the start of the A race though, and I was able to ride the whole course. The rains had moistened everything, the puddles were cold, and mud was found. I figured it would be another power course... which was fine with me, if I brought my power legs along.
30 or so lined up for the A race, with 8 from Spin, and Aussie Rob from the multisport team. I seem to be lining up second row pretty regularly... which I guess is silly, because I'm giving up all control of my start to the guy in front of me. It would be fine if I chose better, but I seem to not be that wise. Ray already posted about his start, and I was on his wheel. So, that put me WAY back... heading into the single track section (which probably could be classified as double track if I had nerve), the whole field was standing still as guys picked their way into the woods... hindsite says I should have dismounted and shouldered the bike across the ravine to get into the woods... I'm getting pretty good at that hindsite for the first lap also.
By the time I exited the woods, and could see the front of the race, they were 45seconds+ up the road. Not good. Then I started going backwards... as the power guys took off. Place by place, I think I lost 10 or more places in the course of two laps... then finally started to get things working again. Ten places is tough to make up, especially when some of them are 1/4 to 1/3 of a lap ahead of you when you actually start moving forward.
I was able to picked up three of those place, plus a couple of others as guys blew up from the effort. In the end I figured out how to ride the course reasonably well with 4 to go, though the entry to single track and the best way to handle the barrier/ditch crossing were puzzles that cost me time every lap. The barrier/ditch was the worst since I had it cold in warm up... and only cleared it the way I wanted in 1 of the 7 laps.
I got lapped with 2 and a half to go by the leading trio of Weeks, Adams and Martin, but held off the everyone else over the course of the remaining lap. Dropping 10 places and only getting back 5 really hurt. I'm still shocked I made the top 20 (in 19th place). Still far away from the personal goal of a top 10. Maybe if we go back to the days of A fields of only 15 guys...
...and worse yet... my legs are not sore today. Even when climbing my little commute hills. Am I sandbagging on myself?
I need to figure out how to ride my bike faster. How to decode those nasty technical puzzles so I don't loose huge time every lap. And mostly, how to ride to my potential so I am totally thrashed at the end of a race.
I'm not going to Cinci... which really hurts... so next up is the
Cross My Heart and Hope to Die Willoughby Cyclocross Spectacular on October 17th! Time to get some resolve going for that one.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Racing with the conditions.
This weekend was the StarkVelo Kent State race. As everyone has stated, they put together a really nice course, lots of long stretches to test the fitness and some technical twisty bits with elevation to test the handling. Very nicely placed together.
I like to get to the venue early. It gives me a chance to scope out the course and test some stuff out. Usually I get about 2 hours before the race to change anything I need to. On the way down, it poured, but at the the University, it was dry but overcast. Certainly a tubular course, I got out the grifo's and took a lap.
Being a non-PRO, these tires are expensive... so I don't like to take them out on pavement unless necessary. That said... it forces me to race them without a lot of practice. This year, I've been practicing more on the Vittoria tubs, just to get that feeling, but it's not the same. On the first time around, I stacked it right at the building turn. Oh, how do these work again? The only other problem spots I had were the drop after the "pain climb", which required a quick 180 to climb back up, and then the off camber descent. The back tire just broke loose and would drift. I threw the Vitto's in the pits, and headed off for a second lap. Better, but after drifting the descent/off camber section, I rolled the rear tire.
I had a feeling I needed to reglue these tires, but I had hoped I could go longer before I had to do it. I guess not, and I should be grateful it was during warm up. It would have been a nasty run to the pits from there. So... swap out the Grifo's for the Vitto's and I'm back to rolling.
The sky opened up on the B race... seriously. Then the lightning... and they shortened the race to 3 laps in 29+ minutes. The rain stopped almost at the first sound of thunder, so I hit the course again to see the changes with water.
About 35 racers lined up, and I had a reasonable start, sitting somewhere in the top 20 I think. First lap mess caused a split between the guy in front of me, and the field, so I went after it. And that seemed to be the whole race. Once we got into the technical stuff, a couple of guys got aggressive to gain a place around me... which really ticks me off... and then they would loose it on the climb. I was literally pushing some guys over to get space on the climb. Nicely, not knocking them down mind you.
Into the descent/climb, and through the off camber. I think I've got that dialed. I just need to hold my position, and start making things up. Not to be though, I get by a few as their fitness shows, but for some reason, my handling is crap today. It's either to much tire pressure, or just a bad driving day on my part. My wheels seem to not want to turn, so I'm loosing time in the technical bits. I can make up some in the long straights but not enough. Without my technical advantage, I'm loosing places that I should NOT loose.
I end up reshuffling into about 20th, then the wheels start to come loose about lap 4. I loose space in the technical section, and a couple folks pass me on the hill, with a couple more close behind. We're gaining on 17th place, but it's grouping up... and I screw up the off camber section and go down. Two guys pass and open a gap while I try to get off the ground.
And that's pretty much the race. Sitting in 25th place, I can keep everyone at about the same place until I get into the technical bits because now my confidence is gone. Physically I feel fine, and I'm still pushing the pedals.... I'm just having trouble making the turns...
With 3 to go, I can see Paul and Matt about a half lap back, and I start to calculate if I'll get caught. With 2 to go, I'm pretty sure I'll get caught.... so now I go into the calculation mode. Push harder if you don't want this to be your last lap!
It's pretty clear that everyone else has figured out the course... and I'm actually getting better myself, just not quickly enough. I'm still loosing ground on 24th place... who actually moves ahead of the next guy up the road. Through the technical bits, Paul is gaining... so I go into my sprint mode. I'm am running from getting lapped.
Paul hits the descent, as I'm picking my way through the off camber section. I make it into the 180 before the start/finish, and I know he can catch me... but I also see that Matt is far enough back that Paul doesn't NEED to pass me.... so I just need to work!
Paul gives me the mercy lap. I'm the last one to finish on the lead lap.... He follows me along the course to the pit... where I can wave and say thanks before I continue on to the barriers.
Heading out that straight Paul came along me on the road and said.... "They told me not to lap that Spin rider cause he really wanted to do another lap." ...and I honestly did... which was evident by the way I was running from him at the end there.
It didn't matter at all, except that I got to stay out there for another 10 minutes. I couldn't catch the next guy on the road... and it's not like I did any of the sections any better, I just got in a little more work. I backed off the effort as I got to the technical bits and just rolled it in.
In hind site, I ran to much pressure. I did finally figure out some of the turns... but I really need to figure out how to practice that stuff in wet conditions. In road racing... you always run about the same gear. My tires are almost always at 100psi, I just drive the corners a little different in wet than dry. It's just wet pavement or dry pavement. There are so many more variables in cross.... grass, mud... whatever. What type of mud? How much pressure? And I don't ride this stuff enough to know what would really work, or how to adjust if I've chosen incorrectly. I'd really like to have a nice practice area closer to my house that I can try different equipment in different conditions. I need to buy a farm somewhere.
As far as the series goes, I'm thinking hard about the points system this year. The system is stacked in favour of a top 20 place. If you are in the 20-29 places, you get a flat 50 points. So fighting for a position here is strictly on a "bragging rights" basis. Outside of the top 30, you only get 5 points. It kind of indicates that if you are not in the top 30, you are in the wrong field... which I disagree with, since I like racing in a bigger field so that there are people to race against. You can drop 3 of 9 races, so that does negate some of this.. because 1 race does not hurt as much. But I can see some guys dropping down a category after the third race of the series... or earlier depending on their schedules, simply because of their overall point total.
I'm pretty happy to see 35-45 folks in the A race. and the 45-70 in the B's are also fantastic. I guess the only folks that should be moving down are those that end up 2 or more laps behind the leaders.... but if we held that as a real rule, then a lot of guys that raced in Vegas would not have even tried.... what fun would that be?
Next up Leroy. What's up with those start times? ... always a critic I guess.
I like to get to the venue early. It gives me a chance to scope out the course and test some stuff out. Usually I get about 2 hours before the race to change anything I need to. On the way down, it poured, but at the the University, it was dry but overcast. Certainly a tubular course, I got out the grifo's and took a lap.
Being a non-PRO, these tires are expensive... so I don't like to take them out on pavement unless necessary. That said... it forces me to race them without a lot of practice. This year, I've been practicing more on the Vittoria tubs, just to get that feeling, but it's not the same. On the first time around, I stacked it right at the building turn. Oh, how do these work again? The only other problem spots I had were the drop after the "pain climb", which required a quick 180 to climb back up, and then the off camber descent. The back tire just broke loose and would drift. I threw the Vitto's in the pits, and headed off for a second lap. Better, but after drifting the descent/off camber section, I rolled the rear tire.
I had a feeling I needed to reglue these tires, but I had hoped I could go longer before I had to do it. I guess not, and I should be grateful it was during warm up. It would have been a nasty run to the pits from there. So... swap out the Grifo's for the Vitto's and I'm back to rolling.
The sky opened up on the B race... seriously. Then the lightning... and they shortened the race to 3 laps in 29+ minutes. The rain stopped almost at the first sound of thunder, so I hit the course again to see the changes with water.
About 35 racers lined up, and I had a reasonable start, sitting somewhere in the top 20 I think. First lap mess caused a split between the guy in front of me, and the field, so I went after it. And that seemed to be the whole race. Once we got into the technical stuff, a couple of guys got aggressive to gain a place around me... which really ticks me off... and then they would loose it on the climb. I was literally pushing some guys over to get space on the climb. Nicely, not knocking them down mind you.
Into the descent/climb, and through the off camber. I think I've got that dialed. I just need to hold my position, and start making things up. Not to be though, I get by a few as their fitness shows, but for some reason, my handling is crap today. It's either to much tire pressure, or just a bad driving day on my part. My wheels seem to not want to turn, so I'm loosing time in the technical bits. I can make up some in the long straights but not enough. Without my technical advantage, I'm loosing places that I should NOT loose.
I end up reshuffling into about 20th, then the wheels start to come loose about lap 4. I loose space in the technical section, and a couple folks pass me on the hill, with a couple more close behind. We're gaining on 17th place, but it's grouping up... and I screw up the off camber section and go down. Two guys pass and open a gap while I try to get off the ground.
And that's pretty much the race. Sitting in 25th place, I can keep everyone at about the same place until I get into the technical bits because now my confidence is gone. Physically I feel fine, and I'm still pushing the pedals.... I'm just having trouble making the turns...
With 3 to go, I can see Paul and Matt about a half lap back, and I start to calculate if I'll get caught. With 2 to go, I'm pretty sure I'll get caught.... so now I go into the calculation mode. Push harder if you don't want this to be your last lap!
It's pretty clear that everyone else has figured out the course... and I'm actually getting better myself, just not quickly enough. I'm still loosing ground on 24th place... who actually moves ahead of the next guy up the road. Through the technical bits, Paul is gaining... so I go into my sprint mode. I'm am running from getting lapped.
Paul hits the descent, as I'm picking my way through the off camber section. I make it into the 180 before the start/finish, and I know he can catch me... but I also see that Matt is far enough back that Paul doesn't NEED to pass me.... so I just need to work!
Paul gives me the mercy lap. I'm the last one to finish on the lead lap.... He follows me along the course to the pit... where I can wave and say thanks before I continue on to the barriers.
Heading out that straight Paul came along me on the road and said.... "They told me not to lap that Spin rider cause he really wanted to do another lap." ...and I honestly did... which was evident by the way I was running from him at the end there.
It didn't matter at all, except that I got to stay out there for another 10 minutes. I couldn't catch the next guy on the road... and it's not like I did any of the sections any better, I just got in a little more work. I backed off the effort as I got to the technical bits and just rolled it in.
In hind site, I ran to much pressure. I did finally figure out some of the turns... but I really need to figure out how to practice that stuff in wet conditions. In road racing... you always run about the same gear. My tires are almost always at 100psi, I just drive the corners a little different in wet than dry. It's just wet pavement or dry pavement. There are so many more variables in cross.... grass, mud... whatever. What type of mud? How much pressure? And I don't ride this stuff enough to know what would really work, or how to adjust if I've chosen incorrectly. I'd really like to have a nice practice area closer to my house that I can try different equipment in different conditions. I need to buy a farm somewhere.
As far as the series goes, I'm thinking hard about the points system this year. The system is stacked in favour of a top 20 place. If you are in the 20-29 places, you get a flat 50 points. So fighting for a position here is strictly on a "bragging rights" basis. Outside of the top 30, you only get 5 points. It kind of indicates that if you are not in the top 30, you are in the wrong field... which I disagree with, since I like racing in a bigger field so that there are people to race against. You can drop 3 of 9 races, so that does negate some of this.. because 1 race does not hurt as much. But I can see some guys dropping down a category after the third race of the series... or earlier depending on their schedules, simply because of their overall point total.
I'm pretty happy to see 35-45 folks in the A race. and the 45-70 in the B's are also fantastic. I guess the only folks that should be moving down are those that end up 2 or more laps behind the leaders.... but if we held that as a real rule, then a lot of guys that raced in Vegas would not have even tried.... what fun would that be?
Next up Leroy. What's up with those start times? ... always a critic I guess.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Wendy Park!!!
It's HERE! Finally it's cross season.
The first race of the year was at Wendy Park near Edgewater, which seemed to be kite capital, and the Cleveland Browns stadium. Driving in, I could smell the meats cooking. Hmmmmmm.... but I'm hungry for some cyclocross. Another Browns highlight, arranging for a flyover for the cyclocross race... a pair of US Marine C130's at about 1:00... a little late for the start of the B's and a little early for the A's start... but still pretty nice.
Team Lake Effect again did a nice job of putting together a challenging course with a good mix of pavement, gravel, off camber turns and elevation gains. They did a nice job of using all the park had to offer... even if the park also offer lots of glass causing quite a few flats.
I used history as a guide... since last year was a WICKED bad flat fest, I brought two sets of clinchers and as a back up to the back up a set of Vittoria tubies... cause that's how I roll, bring lots of extra wheels. This year, I will not be bringing the Surly tank as a backup bike. It's SO heavy compared to the race bike I figure I'd only grab it if I broke my race bike in half.
Early arrival again, I got a couple laps in before the B's went off. No master's field this year, so I'll be racing the A's. I think this is a good move on the Lake Effect guys part, bigger fields should help other guys move up and not sand bag the B race. It's always better to be racing someone... even if it's not the guy that eventually wins the race.
Being nice weather, EVERYONE showed up. There were 60 guys in the B field and 40 in the A's. I got a second row spot, out of about 7. The blew the whistle, and the guy in the front row misses his pedal, and I'm immediately about 20 places and 10+ seconds back. Through the first set of turns, and a team mate slides out on the off camber... I make it around with minimal delay, cause I was going high anyway.
It's pretty cool being on this team, cause there were so many guys on the team there. I think there were 9 team spin guys in the A race, and a lot of B's hung around to cheer. Always makes it more fun. So we hit the pavement with a few team mates, and we're off in chase.
Somehow it sorted out that Mike Plank, Dave Steiner and I are rolling in chase of Jason whose in a group with Ross from Solon and Jimmy Mac from Cornell. There's another big group ahead of them, but you race who you're near. We're working a bit together, though it's not like we're truely organized. I took a big pull coming back along the pier, and up over the rise, and look back and Dave is GONE! I had no idea what happened to him until after the race.
I ended up pulling Mike around for a lap... and then I must have taken a nap or something, cause he pulled a gap... then opened it up considerably. Nap... yep that would be nice about now. Brett from Solon ends up catching me, and Dave is chasing. Brett and I roll around for a lap before I give him a few second gap with 3 to go... I can't let him get to far away... I think I can bring him back in the last two.
Dave is gaining slowly, and I'm maintaining on Brett. With 2 to go, I start pushing harder... so I must have been napping for a bit there. I'm gaining slowly on Brett, through the pier and up the hill, Dave catches back on when Brett is about 20meters ahead. We catch him at the sand, and Dave gives a go. Brett and I stick with it and I jump up to Dave through the barriers. I have a feeling we've got Brett on the ropes, so it's sprint out every corner. Dave and I are encouraging each other. Brett is gone, and I hang with Dave for another half lap before he opens a gap on me. No pressure from behind so I roll in as hard as I can.... and boy do I hurt.
Spin did pretty well considering the guns that showed up for the first race of the season. We had 5 in the second 10 places... and probably could have had more without the flats that plague Wendy Park. I'm thinking that Wendy Park is as hazardous as the goat head cactus in Colorado.
I ran my Michelin green file treads and was happy enough, though I think full on tubies would have been nice.... but a little to nice to risk the punctures. I've got to work on my cornering again though. I was playing it pretty gingerly on a few of them.. either not trusting my equipment, or afraid of going down and hurting my already tender ribs. Either way, I'm happy with my overall performance for 17th. Sure I would have liked to have been fighting it out in the lead chase group, or even have been going for the top 10. Realistically, I think I can improve in a few areas right away, like staying focused throughout the race. The other goals will need to remain in the "stretch" category.
I have to say I feel like a rock star with all the lenses around. Special thanks to Robert and Victor Dvorak for taking some great shots of the race I've included... They got a lot more on their sites. They even make me LOOK like a rock star!
And you know, it doesn't matter how well you go as long as you look good doing it.
The first race of the year was at Wendy Park near Edgewater, which seemed to be kite capital, and the Cleveland Browns stadium. Driving in, I could smell the meats cooking. Hmmmmmm.... but I'm hungry for some cyclocross. Another Browns highlight, arranging for a flyover for the cyclocross race... a pair of US Marine C130's at about 1:00... a little late for the start of the B's and a little early for the A's start... but still pretty nice.
Team Lake Effect again did a nice job of putting together a challenging course with a good mix of pavement, gravel, off camber turns and elevation gains. They did a nice job of using all the park had to offer... even if the park also offer lots of glass causing quite a few flats.
I used history as a guide... since last year was a WICKED bad flat fest, I brought two sets of clinchers and as a back up to the back up a set of Vittoria tubies... cause that's how I roll, bring lots of extra wheels. This year, I will not be bringing the Surly tank as a backup bike. It's SO heavy compared to the race bike I figure I'd only grab it if I broke my race bike in half.
Early arrival again, I got a couple laps in before the B's went off. No master's field this year, so I'll be racing the A's. I think this is a good move on the Lake Effect guys part, bigger fields should help other guys move up and not sand bag the B race. It's always better to be racing someone... even if it's not the guy that eventually wins the race.
Being nice weather, EVERYONE showed up. There were 60 guys in the B field and 40 in the A's. I got a second row spot, out of about 7. The blew the whistle, and the guy in the front row misses his pedal, and I'm immediately about 20 places and 10+ seconds back. Through the first set of turns, and a team mate slides out on the off camber... I make it around with minimal delay, cause I was going high anyway.
It's pretty cool being on this team, cause there were so many guys on the team there. I think there were 9 team spin guys in the A race, and a lot of B's hung around to cheer. Always makes it more fun. So we hit the pavement with a few team mates, and we're off in chase.
Somehow it sorted out that Mike Plank, Dave Steiner and I are rolling in chase of Jason whose in a group with Ross from Solon and Jimmy Mac from Cornell. There's another big group ahead of them, but you race who you're near. We're working a bit together, though it's not like we're truely organized. I took a big pull coming back along the pier, and up over the rise, and look back and Dave is GONE! I had no idea what happened to him until after the race.I ended up pulling Mike around for a lap... and then I must have taken a nap or something, cause he pulled a gap... then opened it up considerably. Nap... yep that would be nice about now. Brett from Solon ends up catching me, and Dave is chasing. Brett and I roll around for a lap before I give him a few second gap with 3 to go... I can't let him get to far away... I think I can bring him back in the last two.
Dave is gaining slowly, and I'm maintaining on Brett. With 2 to go, I start pushing harder... so I must have been napping for a bit there. I'm gaining slowly on Brett, through the pier and up the hill, Dave catches back on when Brett is about 20meters ahead. We catch him at the sand, and Dave gives a go. Brett and I stick with it and I jump up to Dave through the barriers. I have a feeling we've got Brett on the ropes, so it's sprint out every corner. Dave and I are encouraging each other. Brett is gone, and I hang with Dave for another half lap before he opens a gap on me. No pressure from behind so I roll in as hard as I can.... and boy do I hurt.
Spin did pretty well considering the guns that showed up for the first race of the season. We had 5 in the second 10 places... and probably could have had more without the flats that plague Wendy Park. I'm thinking that Wendy Park is as hazardous as the goat head cactus in Colorado.
I ran my Michelin green file treads and was happy enough, though I think full on tubies would have been nice.... but a little to nice to risk the punctures. I've got to work on my cornering again though. I was playing it pretty gingerly on a few of them.. either not trusting my equipment, or afraid of going down and hurting my already tender ribs. Either way, I'm happy with my overall performance for 17th. Sure I would have liked to have been fighting it out in the lead chase group, or even have been going for the top 10. Realistically, I think I can improve in a few areas right away, like staying focused throughout the race. The other goals will need to remain in the "stretch" category.
I have to say I feel like a rock star with all the lenses around. Special thanks to Robert and Victor Dvorak for taking some great shots of the race I've included... They got a lot more on their sites. They even make me LOOK like a rock star!
And you know, it doesn't matter how well you go as long as you look good doing it.
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