Tuesday, November 20, 2007

DEVIL TAKE THE HINDMOST v.2

Don't miss it again, muchachos.

That's right, we're running version 2 of the best non-sanctioned 'cross race you can do in these parts. Same bat time (10am Sunday), same bat channel (Washington Park), same bat format (miss 'n out).

Keep up your fitness and your mad skeelz in preparation for the state champs in two weeks. We may even get lucky and have some sweet 'cross conditions to deal with, so be a real man (or wo-man) and try your luck at beatin' the devil hisself.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday....... Be Therrrrrrrrrre!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

SAY IT WITH ME:

Pathetic. \pə-ˈthe-tik\ : pitifully inferior or inadequate.

I officially sucked today. J.P. Ericsson and the Brazen Hussies put together a difficult race course and I was not up to the challenge. There were some cool sections and some not-so-cool sections, but all in it was a good, hard course with plenty for everyone. I liked: the whoop-d-doos behind the bleachers, the fast two pack of barriers on the south side, the track and the beer hall. I disliked: the run up, the stair/gravel section and the nasty downhill, off camber turn into the tree.

The day started cold and overcast, but the sun came out part way through our race to warm things up a bit. The course was bone dry, and the fast sections were very fast. The corners were no problem with my switch of rear tires to a Michelin Mud2 from a Jet. I had a problem on half a dozen occasions that I have not experienced before: slipping in my rear cassette. It definitely kept me out of a fourth place finish. That's something I'll have to look into and soon. The cassette body on my Krsyriums has at lest 20k on it so I wouldn't be surprised if it was wearing out.

It has been brought to my attention that the "one fragmented sentence race report" title is actually a misnomer and that what it really is a long "one run on sentence race report". My bad. So, without further ado, the 1ROSRR: On the line we wait, shivering until the plastic horn signals go, hit the barriers in 5th behind Lewis, pass Lewis, keep on with Tim, Chris and the re-emerged Tom Hooyer, Chris punches it, gaps form, I'm riding Tom's wheel when he decides enough is enough and guns it to catch Tim and Chris, I get passed by ?, now 5th, about to pass back, cassette slip, then again, Tom takes Tim last lap, I roll in for 5th. Back to my usual spot in the scheme of things....

With motivation to train hard starting to wane with the short days, I feel like I need to conserve rather than put out; until I started racing 'cross, the fall months were for going bike path easy and doing night rides. Intensity, inschmensity. With 'cross, I have to keep on it, keep up the intensity and work even harder. A tough thing to work out sometimes.

Congratulations to Chris, Tim and Tom for great finishes and many thanks, once again, to J.P. Ericsson and the Brazen Hussies for all of their time and effort to make racing 'cross in Wisconsin something to remember.


Sunday, November 11, 2007

DEVIL TAKE THE HINDMOST

First things first: If you aren't in this picture, YOU MISSED IT! Ten guys, a case a PBR and bikes. What better a way to spend your Sunday morning?

Steve R. set up a sweet, short course in Washington Park that used part of the Halloween course, some of it backwards and some new stuff. One of the benefits of a sanctioned by nobody race is that you get to do whatever you want. Like going full speed down the big hill straight at a tree, and having a concrete path dismount with a concrete stair run up.

The set up: Two 3 lap heats, five guys each. At the end of laps one and two, the last rider gets pulled leaving three to duke it out for the finish. The winner moves on to the 'angel' race, the 2nd and 3rd place riders move on to the 'mere mortal' race and the pulled riders move on to the 'devil' race. Next heats work the same way with pulled riders on laps 1 and 2, and the remaining riders fighting for the finish, except the angel race which only had two riders.

Not being an 'official race', we couldn't exactly close the course. This led to an interesting situation of cars driving on the walking paths throughout the time we were there. WTF is up with that? I can't say I've seen that before....

I won't give a 1FSRR except to say that Tim and I went on to the angel race and he whupped me again. That's ok, by now I'm used to it. The PBR was cold and it was a fun day all in all. It gives me some ideas for next season.

Thanks again to Steve for setting this up. I think some of the attendees were pretty happy to be able to race in an unofficial event for their first race ever, and for the rest of us who race regularly, it was a good way to stay in shape on an off weekend.

Stay tuned to this site for future race announcements. Pic compliments of Phillip who came and did his very first cross race.

Sunday, November 04, 2007

EVER THE BRIDESMAID PART 2

Estabrook.

How many people did I tell recently that all Estabrook is is a drag race? A few turns, a little bit of chicanes and a small run up. Really. Until Jerry Pearce decided that the course needed to be twice as long in the same amount of space! The result was about 427 twists and turns on grass that hadn't been ridden before now. NOT that I'm complaining mind you. It's just not my favorite kind of course. I feel like we went from the best to (almost) the worst in two days. Maybe I've just ridden there all too often.

Driving to the race, I'm my same old nerve addled self. Seriously, I HATE race day mornings. My stomach is all in knots, my legs feel leaden and I usually feel like going back home. The day and night before I am excited to race the next day, but when morning comes.... So, just as I was turning onto the parkway, the first itty, bitty raindrops fell. Rain? huh? where'd that come from? By race time, it was raining steady, the wind had picked up and it was feeling like some true CX weather for a change. This is gonna be good, I thought.

Now for the 1FSRR. Start line and the hiss of air being released from tires all around me as the rain continues to fall, GO!, Lewis slams the hole shot, me 2nd, others behind, Lewis tows, Tim comes around, Chris comes around, turn up the heat, down to three, cruise control, trade pulls, just before the bell Tim's front mech turns to shit, I attack, Tim says NO WAY and brings Chris back to me, get small gap on Chris , punch it!, last chicanes, I'm in Tim's rear view mirror 'til the line. Shit, bridesmaid again, but at least I was the maiden of honor. Chris rolled in for 3rd and Lewis for an outstanding 4th.

For the first time this season, I felt that tactics may play a role in the race with three of us off the front and working together. It seemed to be anyone's race to win for most of the race and I had to think of the possible outcomes and results of my actions. That was pretty cool.

As has become my usual Sunday routine, I jumped into the 4s race right away with Lewis, Chris and Richard (also of Brazen Hussies). Lewis and I rolled and yakked for the better part of three laps until we decided to get serious and show the youngsters how it's done. From that time, we probably passed 15 guys. The course had tacked up nicely and you could rail most corners full speed. Lewis pipped me on the line. I told him that's the only time I'm letting
that happen. Yeah right, famous last words. I dig doing the second race as it feels like I got a hell of a workout on the day.

With apologies to Hampshire Cycle Club, I think it's hard to keep the Estabrook course feeling fresh year after year. There just isn't much you can do with it given the geographic restrictions. Perhaps it's time to move it to a new venue next year. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all of the effort that goes in to staging a race, but sometimes change is good...

EVER THE BRIDESMAID PART 1


Or, The Team Polska Cyclocross Classic 2007 edition.

I am compelled to start this post by stating that this course is my new all-time favorite. Huge props go out to Majiec and Marcin Nowak and the rest of the Polska team for putting together what I think could easily be a championship course. They worked on course design for nearly a year and it shows; great use of terrain, off cambers, singletrack and of course The Hill. If you were there, you know why I capped that.

To set the stage, it was
yet another beautiful fall day in Wisco. Frost on the pumpkins cool at the start but it warmed up nicely as the day wore on. Polska fired up the grills early to give you a a little incentive to finish as fast as possible with the scent of kielbasa wafting over the course (ok, so it was hot dogs, but so what, it was still sausage. Sort of.). I'd have liked maybe a high school drum corps pounding out some rhythm to get it all started but that would probably be too much to ask (for now).

Now on to the One Fragmented Sentence Race Report. Riders ready? Go! pound it up the hill into the singletrack, sitting maybe 8th, wind around, hit The Hill, pass like most of the riders in front of me (Lewis, you should have ridden it), sit in for around 4th, watch Tim T. get a gap, pass a tiring "quit yer cryin'- it won't do you no good" Russell, work, work, work to catch Tim, Chris nearly catches me, flubs a dismount and pinwheels over the barriers, I roll in for a nice 2nd. Man, that felt good. My legs felt super all race and I feel like I just pounded up the hill. For my efforts, I went home with a 6 pack, a pair of Twin Six socks, a water bottle
and a tube. Sweet. That's more shwag than the rest of the season combined.

What changed to get to be the maiden of honor instead of just a run-of-the-mill bridesmaid? Easy answer: on Wednesday, I realized that a couple of things had happened to affect my riding. 1) My cleats had slipped all the forward so I was pedaling with my toes. 2) My seat had slipped back 1 1/2 cm. 3) My seat post had slipped down about 5mm. That's a whole lot of power robbing misadjustments. Add 'em up and the effect, I think, was pretty major.

Allow me to digress (it's my blog after all). In talking with Tim and Steve from Hollander, we think that Wisco CX could be much, much better. Why can't we bring a little Belgian flavor to the events? A little extra advertising, some better awards ceremonies for the riders, some networking to get more people out... Cross is a great spectator sport and we really never get anyone other than racers and spouses out for the events. We're not going to get non-bike people out for races in the middle of nowhere, but we could definitely bring 'em out for the Milwaukee races. Anywho, we have some things to work on for next year to step the series up a notch or two.