Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Wednesday Worlds


The Hogans dropped into the Bowl of Death to set up the barriers as I was setting up to shoot this picture.

Wednesday Worlds

The Hogans dropped in to set up the barriers as I was setting up to shoot this picture.

Wednesday Worlds- a growing movement within the cyclocross community to put on group training sessions on Wednesdays throughout the fall.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Alpha Cross #1

Today was the first of two races put on by the guys from Alpha Bicycle Company, a great little shop down in the Denver Tech Center area off of I-25 and Arapahoe. The race venue was a dirt lot behind the City of Centennial's city offices. Because of the high heat and little moisture we've seen lately, much of the course was very loose dirt, which was almost the consistency of sand, and other sections of significant washboard due to small patches of grass holding the loose dirt and sand in place.

With a Boulder Racing race the previous day, and a good distance to travel, registration for the Cat. 4 race was 24 racers (compared to 62 on Saturday). With the call ups based on last year's BCR points then on registration order, I landed a third row start position, which was the last row for our race. I took an outside position for the start, slipped a pedal but then cut a line across the pack to get an inside position through turn 1 and turn 2 leading into the dirt. This put me around 8th wheel but riders balled up in a quick, loose drop at turn 3 and some charging put me into 3rd or 4th wheel. Spencer, from the Clif Bar Development team, was off the front and I sat in behind a Vitamin Cottage rider and a Primal Wear rider down through the back of the course.

As the course wrapped back uphill towards the start finish, I made a move to put me into second wheel and charged ahead. I would hold second position for the remainder of the race watching Spencer hang anywhere from 20-40 seconds ahead of me. I could tell on the last lap that he was slowing down but not enough for me to make the catch.

With 2.5 laps to go, coming through a hairpin section, the rider in 3rd calls out, "Are we holding 2nd and 3rd?" I respond, "Yeah" followed with a a few extra pedal strokes to try and open up a bigger gap thinking he was about to come charging and pass me in the final laps but it never happened. I crossed the line in 2nd place, 20 or so seconds from 1st, to take my first podium spot in a cross race (although there was no podium).

Other race reports:
Mountain Flyer's Race Report

Monday, September 20, 2010

Green Mountain CX Stairs



Sunday, September 19, 2010

Green Mountain Sports CX #1

Photo by: Six Degrees to Slush

A new record high temperature was recorded in Denver today-- somewhere in the mid 90s. this is not your typical weather report when you think about a cyclocross race report. More than a few people commented on feeling dizzy and getting chills in the middle of the race which is a sign of serious overheating. Thank goodness the ACA officials ran the races on the short side of the race time (ie: our 45 minute race was actually about 40 minutes).

Today's Cat. 4 race fielded about 40 starters and the officials based call ups on last year's standings. Although I earned some points in 2009, it was not enough to get a call up leaving me to wait for us to fill in the start rows numerically which left me with a 3rd row starting position. we took off down the length of the soccer field and looped around the goal and headed back towards the single track. By the goal, I had worked my way into about 10th wheel and then into 5th wheel by the single track. A few quick pedal strokes, some inside lines and some jostling set me up into 3rd wheel before the stairs. I sat in until the climb back towards the start/finish area and then took a tight inside line into first position (see picture). I somehow managed to get some toe overlap and caught my right Achilles area on my front chainring so I have a nice cut back there to heal up now.

I rode a fast and steady pace the rest of the race only allowing 3 riders to get past (one of whom won in Colorado Springs yesterday and motored on to 1st today as well). On the third lap I started getting sloppy in a few of the loose turns and could see the 5th wheel rider starting to get closer. I kept on the gas and tried to build up gaps where I could but he finally caught me in the final uphill towards the finish line and he came charging with some power. I was able to respond only long enough to catch his back wheel and he took off again into the final hairpin turn.

I'm very pleased with how today's race went, especially given my history of poor performance in the severe heat. Boups complemented me on my form today saying that it looked like I was having a much better time staying on the gas for the whole race over last year.

As far as my skills today, I was much more comfortable through the barriers today than yesterday and I think a big part of it is I was able to come into the barriers fast, dismount at speed and carry that momentum into the remount. The barriers yesterday were in awkward pseudo-uphill areas where I could not carry any speed into them and lost more momentum on the dismounts and getting over them. I also felt really strong on the stair run up today but I should have taken another lap through them in warm up and decided if I was going to go with a double step or hit every stair for a matter of consistency.

I hope this isn't all a fluke and that I can continue to improve and stay in the front of the pack.

A few things I've picked up on from Wednesday Worlds and short track racing is knowing when to sit in on a wheel and when to attack, to importance of powering all the way through the apex of a turn or hill. Next up to work on is responding to attacks.

Pikes Peak Velo Cyclocross Race #1



We kicked off the cyclocross racing on the front range yesterday with the Pikes Peak Velo cyclocross race at Bear Creek Regional Park in Colorado Springs. As the first race and the distance to the Springs, this race historically has a low attendance and that was true yesterday with only 10 starters in the Mens 4 race but that was going to stop me from going out hard and racing-- none of this, "It's a training race" nonsense.

First lap through the double barriers. Photo: Bill Keller
As you can see in Josh's Video, I took off from the start and set into a strong lead out which I held for the majority of lap 1 and 2. There was a brief moment that I sat 2nd wheel but the lead rider laid it out going around a loose off camber turn around a fence post on the backside of the course. Then I started having front dérailleur issues- a la Andy Schleck-- and lost the second and third position.

With first through third strung out, I pushed on to stay in fourth for the remainder of the race. There were a few modifications to the course this year including a new uphill finish, different barrier placement and a 3 turn hairpin twisting section which was a good test of bike handling skills. I am still waiting for Josh to post the section of his video from when he struggled through that section. the course was as dry, bumpy and dusty as one would expect from this course when the last rain was 3 weeks prior and the average temperatures have been in the 70s to 80s.

For a first race, I'm pleased with how it went but know that I need step up my barrier speed to stay fast throughout the racing season.

off to pack and kit up from Green Mountain Cross.