Pre-course setup of today's Capital Cross in Reston, VA (for the 2-3 of us NOT in the DC area!) The hill after the dam kicked my rear end. I saw a few people riding it, but I didn't. Figured discretion was faster than valor and ran.
I got a decent start. IOW I didn't go as far backwards as I normally do in the start sprint. Managed to lose a few spots in the first few corners and up the first hill. Settled into a group for a bit, then started picking off people. I got to the last lap and saw one of my buddies ahead of me as I was coming out of the gravel section.
I'm gonna get him!
Hammerzeit!
I managed to get within 30-40m of him. I think if I'da had another lap, I coulda taken him. As it was... I'm happy with how I ended up. I either didn't fade as the race went on, or went faster as I warmed up. ...which means I'm going to have to work on my warmups to be able to get to the line and go as fast as I was going at the end at the beginning.
Next year, I promise I'm gonna warm up on the trainer! ...but in the meantime, I'm going to race out the end of the season 'as is.'
M
Last edited by MShaw; 12-04-2012 at 04:53 AM.
I've moved back to NoVA. PLEASE change the weather!
CApital Classic. great race today. lined up 2nd from the left in my row. had mikeman right in front of me and kram and renda (don't remember his screen name on here) to my right.
whistle blows and immediately there's a pile up and a few guys go down. while kram gets tangled up in that mess, mikeman and i go left of it and take off. I don't know what mikemans got in his water these days, but I want some! he's been killing it.
I had some battles with a few guys, nothing major to report. took a 42nd finish out of 75ish? I'll take it. cross results had me finishing 56th. blew that out fwiw!
Yea, I sure as h$ll got stuck in that crash. Spent the rest of the race going balls to the walls to recap what I lost. It's a shame. My legs felt great and even though I decided on my file treads I was cornering well. Hammered it over the pavement and power sections and really started to settle in on the 2nd lap. Wound up 54th so given the crash, I'm not too disappointed. I missed this last year; I won't miss it again. Really liked the changes to the course from 2 yrs ago. Well run race in a great venue.
Originally Posted by tetter
'Pain is temporary, and there might be beer at the finish line'
"Karma is spread in lots of different ways. You know, like herpes." catzilla
"I'm an American male. This is pizza. Leave me alone!"
Alton Brown
ohnoIaintsuckingnomore.blogspot.com
Another Capital Cross Classic Master 3/4 race here.
Race was in Reston and I live in Baltimore so I was not looking forward to the long drive. Woke up @ 5ish to crazy fog. Loaded up the car and drove the 1 1/2 hours, got there with enough time for me and my boy to preride together once and another lap solo at a bit faster pace. Really liked this course, it had a nice flow. Only part that had me a bit concerned was a very long and deep rock section. The rest seemed perfect, punchy hills, long run-up, the shoot and a few power stretches.
My boy and a friend he's made over the course of the season (PMT's son I believe) lined up for Juniors 10-14 race @ 9:15. Talking to my boy afterwards it sounds like they had a good time on the course, his friend beat him in the end and then went on to goof for the next hour or so.
I decided not to ride the course again and just casually pedaled around a bit to keep my legs warm. Lined up second row next to my teammate and a guy from Route 1 Velo I went up against last week. Whistle blows and I clip in quick and have a relatively good start, can't say the same for some folks a few rows back. All I heard was crunching and a few yells, sounded nasty.
By the first set of turns I was in 15-20th position. Held this for about half of the first lap till we hit a nice long straight over a bridge. I picked off about 3-4 there. After the bridge you go into the 1st feature, a nice run-up with a few strategically placed steps. If you're good it's rideable, I'm not that good and chose to run it each lap. After the run-up it was moderately long slight uphill on rocks and dirt path. Passed one more here before entering some turns and then the shoot.
The shoot was awesome, really good flow and I was generally able to hold my speed most of the way down. After the shoot a couple of turns then the deep rocks. I rode it like I would sand and that seemed to work. The rest of the course was mostly open with a few sweeping turns and a couple slight off cambers. By the end of the first lap I had worked up to about 10th.
A ways up I could see a group of 4, was able to catch them midway through the second lap. For the next two laps a group of 3 of us (Route 1 Velo and Squadra Coppi) worked our way up to 4, 5 and 6. I've been gunning for a podium all year and was honestly not expecting this race to be in the hunt. I haven't done well in Super 8 races and was expecting somewhere between 10 and 15.
On the last lap Route 1 Velo and I were able to get a gap of about 5 seconds. The last lap is a bit of a blur. I went down dismounting on the run-up and lost a few seconds on Route 1. I was able to hold off Squadra Coppi though so I was still looking at a 5th place finish. With about 1/4 of a lap left I caught back on to Route 1's wheel.
The final straight was paved uphill. I positioned myself right on Route 1's wheel but he got a good jump and was able to hold me off. I beat him in a sprint last week in Taneytown and this was a bit of payback. With that I ended up coming 5th, best finish all year.
At the end of the day I had a great time. I enjoyed watching my son race with his new-found friend and catching up with folks I've met over the season.
As usual I recorded the race. Below is a quick video, lightly edited, of the first lap.
I'm in just about every second of JWRB's video there (red and grey butt with the white circle above the right cheek). Terrible start for me, which was unusual. My plan going in had been to not be the guy on the front the entire race like I've been the last several races, so once I was a few places back I just took it as a chance to chill out and smoothly grab the tail of the lead group. By the end of JWRB's video we'd just about caught the leading 5 guys and I was thinking to just relax there and use some of the several power sections to my advantage later in the game.
Trouble was that I flatted going down the chute in the second lap. It was puncture flat (i.e. not a pinch). With a tubular I was able to ride slowly to the pit. Stayed remarkably calm during that whole deal, changed my rear wheel, and used the rest of the race to regain as many spots as I could. Wound up 10th, 1:10 of the lead. On the one hand, the flat was incredibly costly. On the other hand, if I'd flatted in a bunch of other places I would have been completely hosed.
Well, I've been in Idaho for a full 2 months now, and racing CX with some regularity for the first time in about 11 years, so not exactly setting the world on fire.
The course was pretty long, almost all grass with the exception of a couple of 30-40m asphalt path sections.
Oh, and the fly-over with steep, narrow-treaded stairs. And the 2 sand volleyball pits.
We had rain for a couple of days before, and going into Saturday rain was forecast for raceday. As a singlespeeder, I pray for rain, snow, fireballs from heaven, just about anything nasty to give me the advantage. Alas, while it was cool, and the grass was a bit damp, no precipitation to speak of.
I suffered, oh lord how I suffered. Riders in front of me slowing before the steepish uphill that was eminently rideable in prerides, slowing waaaaay down in the tight taped off corners, falling over in front of me in the sand. Thus is my lot...
Good time was had by all (I think,) somehow I didn't finish last, and there were 3 (3!) singlespeeds in the Men's 4, so I guess I could say that I finished 2nd in the State SS championships.
OK, maybe not.
Did my first CX race on Sunday. It was pretty awesome to say the least. 1x10 on my niner worked out great. Glad the C group went first. It rained the entire day and by the time the 1/2 group started the course was completely trashed. Gotta hand to you vet CX guys and girls. It's a great time and you sure learn a new level of that dark place.
Only problem I have now is wanting to add a cx bike to the corral.
Awesome course but a mediocre turnout. Many of the lame Portland riders are afraid to drive out of town I think, where I drive almost 3 hrs for every race. Anyway, I won the Masters 35+A race with Bart Bowen in second. I won the cross crusade overall so I feel justified in winning the state race but I just wish more would come to support it. State championships should be big! Wet course without being too muddy made for a great race. I had a good start even though I spun my tire quite a bit trying to get going. Let the eventual third place finisher lead the first couple of laps then I pushed the pace on a slightly uphill heavy section and got a gap. I just kept going at that point. Super good!
Awesome course but a mediocre turnout. Many of the lame Portland riders are afraid to drive out of town I think, where I drive almost 3 hrs for every race. Anyway, I won the Masters 35+A race with Bart Bowen in second. I won the cross crusade overall so I feel justified in winning the state race but I just wish more would come to support it. State championships should be big! Wet course without being too muddy made for a great race. I had a good start even though I spun my tire quite a bit trying to get going. Let the eventual third place finisher lead the first couple of laps then I pushed the pace on a slightly uphill heavy section and got a gap. I just kept going at that point. Super good!
Awesome! Congrats!
M
I've moved back to NoVA. PLEASE change the weather!
I had a good time at cap cross. was a little tired after setting stakes and racking leaves up all day saturday. more mediocre racing on my part, story of my season. it was nice meeting kram. i hope to make it up to ed sanders to close out the season.
Castle Cross in Castle Rock Colorado on Sunday. Same location for about 4 years now but the course always changes to some degree. This year they switched the direction and a good section of the course. Holy crap was it hard. Mid 60's for my start and windy with dust flying around made for a really dry mouth on the first lap and a hurting lower back with the elevation changes. Able to finish top 10 and did not break anything on the bike!!!! Our state championships are still two weeks away but my season is done.
Good season, only a 1 bent rim, 1 blown tire, and 2 broken shifters. Damn this is such an inexpensive sport. Wonder if I will have to upgrade to 3's next season?
this wasn't my race, but you can can get an idea of the slog from this past weekend. racing weather around the Bay area is pretty fair for the most part. winds were 20+mph and it rained the entire day.
I'm in just about every second of JWRB's video there (red and grey butt with the white circle above the right cheek)..
I was gonna joke that you paid JWRB to do a documentary of you racing in that jersey
My season was done after Schooley Mill...next two weekends after were off for family trips so I just made that the start of my off-season month of doing jack ****...time to start the winter base stuff for 2013 season.
Placings for the M3/4 are up. Evidently I was further back than I thought. 38th overall and 10th Cat 4 in the race. Oh well. Room for improvement. :nod
M
I've moved back to NoVA. PLEASE change the weather!
I don't have enough posts to provide the link to another view of the first lap of the Reston Capital Cross Masters 3/4 race. It's easy to find on youtube by searching on reston, cyclocross, and 2012.
I was slated to be in the third row, but was able to slide up into an empty 2nd row slot just before the whistle. Got my best whiff of the front of the race ever. Ended up 9th. My best prev was 17th.
Crashed at the beginning of the stairs. A boneheaded move. Sorry to anyone I held up there.
Loved the course. Wish they could all be this flowy and interesting.
My season's done! It's a relief and it's sad.
I enjoyed my evening ride tonight not feeling like I needed to drop the hammer; 'could just go with the moment and ride whatever pace felt right.
My thoughts are now turning to an ultra-marathon running race in the spring and the SM100 --- planning to do both with my wife, who is tough as nails.
SM100 is a tough race. I'm taking a break from it. I've done it like 5 times now and only finished it twice. I didn't do it this year because I wanted to concentrate on training for cx season......and I was so pissed off at my race from the previous year.
hot/humid/numb feet/toes will due you in. and the climb to check point 5 doesn't help either. my best time was 13:54.
think I'm a better short distance then long distance racer
CApital Classic. great race today. lined up 2nd from the left in my row. had mikeman right in front of me and kram and renda (don't remember his screen name on here) to my right.
whistle blows and immediately there's a pile up and a few guys go down. while kram gets tangled up in that mess, mikeman and i go left of it and take off. I don't know what mikemans got in his water these days, but I want some! he's been killing it.
I had some battles with a few guys, nothing major to report. took a 42nd finish out of 75ish? I'll take it. cross results had me finishing 56th. blew that out fwiw!
Most likely its beer. Certainly not a lot of late season miles. Other than racing I get maybe one ride a week now, and that's with Birgitta, so it's really slow going. Gonna have to give her props. This working 12 hours days is for the birds.
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by c-lo
