2013 race number 2...

There's not much to write about this one. I will say this, I'm getting tired of putting on every stitch of winter gear I own to ride or race!!! This past Thursday and Friday was a freakin TEASE!! I'll take it though! I was thinking going into this race that I would be going a little better, and as I have thought about yesterday I think I am, again, the results don't show it...oh well...I don't need to be flying right now...C'mon CX!!

Anyway, the field was decent sized, about 25ish in the masters race. At the whistle we take off and the pace goes up for about a 1/4 of a lap and settles down. On the 2nd lap I decide to go to the front and drive, making sure to ride in the gutter when it would make the field suffer. After about a lap and change of being on the front the field got itchy and we were racing...the next few laps had me nearly blind, my legs feeling like LEAD and close to coming unhitched from the field, fortunately the pace relaxed and life was good. I guess the pace was sufficient enough to shuck part of the field...I never looked back to see this damage but I do know we lapped a few small groups.

Moving on, the middle of the race was "normal". After the last prime was contested a small group of 3 riders decided to give it a go to the line. Initially the gap was manageable and I was thinking about going across because it was looking like a winning move, according to my gut, but I decided to watch and wait...in this wait and see period 2 different teammates of 2 guys up the road managed to get the field slowed long enough for the gap to become unassailable....LAME!! As I have said before, listen to your gut...IT'S ALWAYS RIGHT!!!!!!

With 3 to go I decided to give the finale a go, I had a good position about 10th or so which I maintained. Coming to the last turn the pace was high, we make the last turn and it's on. I'm following a wheel and when I get enough speed up and come out of the draft, I was greeted by a NASTY head wind and had to tuck back in til I got a little closer, this pretty much sealed my fate for an inside the top 10 finish...I'm not sure where I ended up, but probably about where I started my sprint....11th or 12th...maybe.

Oh well, that's racing and you can't be great every race.

E

It's officially on...

This past Saturday kicked off the 2013 racing season for me. So I headed out to the Spring Fling at Clinton lake in Lawrence to see what sort of fitness I had.

As I look back on the race, it went pretty good, I finished 11th out of 24. It wasn't a really hard race but not an easy one either. I tried to go with a move early on in the race, but the group was not having it. The early move had me suffering pretty good once we got reeled in but I managed to get recovered, so life was good again. I tried to go with another small move at about 5 laps to go and again it was shut down. Between those 2 efforts it was a "normal" crit...if there is such a thing.

After that the race settled down for the last 4 laps. I was in a decent position on the left side of the group about 6 back going into the last lap and maintained it fairly well until the backside. The right side swarmed up and across and I was pinned against the snow and surrounded so I had to wait until the last turn to gun it. I managed to pick off about 4 or 5 riders and was about a half a bike length from a top 10.

I felt pretty good on Saturday, waaaaaaaay better than this time last year!!!! I felt a little short on the top end but overall, I'm happy with how I felt. A better finish would've been nice, but a little tactical error on my part...stupid early season race brain!! Anyway...hmmm...Oh yeah, it's still winter and there's A LOT of racing ahead, so no worries!!

E

The "Off Season" 2013

It's January...I'm not a big fan of January mostly because it consists of a lot of trainer time. This off season I'm feeling pretty good!! I started "riding" again after a 3 week break that followed the State CX race. I was a little worried about losing fitness, then realized it's freakin January and it's not a big deal!!!

Most years I manage to stay motivated through January with the hope of riding outside after work in February. Let's hope this February cooperates and I, I guess I should say we, can get outside, ride and slowly but surely tell the trainer to PISS OFF!!!

Here's to staying focused and getting it done in 2013!!!

E

2012...GOODBYE MUTHA F**KA!!!

2012...what can I say about it...In January I was almost certain that racing was not going to be included but with some stretching, foam rolling and a baseball to DESTROY knots, I finally got to ride pain free on a regular basis...in March...HOORAY!!!

At that point I wasn't sure how much racing I was gonna do, but decided to race and see how it went...it started okay, my fitness was pretty low from being off the bike, from mid November til late February, to heal my old ass body, so needless to say I suffered horribly!!!

In May I hired a coach to make the most of my new Powertap, Jeff at Fascat got me going and his regime for me was brutal to say the least...but as I look back on how I rode in 2012, it definitely worked!! Here's a link www.fascatcoaching.com/‎ His philosophy is, training should be harder than racing, and it was. The 2 crits I did in June and July were hard but I never really suffered horribly. I guess my results don't reflect that but being "race savvy" helps produce results and the best way to get that is race and crit racing wasn't a high priority for me in 2012 so I wasn't at my best in a tactical sort of way...

After that it was time to think about racing CX. At the end of 2011 I decided for 2012 I would need a CX bike, so it was time to get that in the works, which I did and you all know what I built so I'm not going to go on about that...

From July to September I was focused solely on CX, with a couple of races in July. One of which I trained for, the Tour of Lawrence crit, and an MTB race that I used for training which I finished on the podium in 3rd behind some REALLY FAST guys...I had a good ride that day but totally didn't think I would be on the podium.

I gotta say training like that and not racing was a huge challenge mentally!! I think I might have gone off the deep end had my first CX race at Manions come any later in the season...mostly because doing intervals at the downtown airport was going to make me go LOONEY!!!! I think about half, maybe more, of the 5000+ miles I rode last year were spent there doing intervals...I swear I think I could ride around that place with a blindfold on at speed...oh well, it's what I signed up for and all of this was preparation for being on form for the state CX race in December.

Finally, CX season rolled around, THANK THE GODS OF ALL THAT IS CYCLOCROSS!!!! I was pretty nervous when I finally toed the line at the first race, mostly because I have NEVER put in so much time and effort into a season of racing and had no idea of how I was gonna do...also I think a good bit of my nerves were from not being a seasoned CX racer and not knowing the fine points of this sport that FREAKIN RULES!!!

The results were slow to come, but they did. With each weekend of racing I moved one step closer to the podium and finally the top step!! I will say this, I think my CX machine surprised a lot of people, mainly because of the flat bar and I can't remember how many times I heard "when are you gonna build a CX bike??? You'll be faster"!! This made me laugh, after all, with the exception 3 or 4 races, I was top 5 or better...haters will hate!

I finally make into December and for the most part I'm ready to rumble at the state CX race. As I sit here and tap out this blog I've had plenty of time to reflect on that race. I had a good day, not a great day, on the bike and I was rewarded for that with a 3rd. I've tried for a long time to get a state jersey and this was the closest I've come to date. It was enough to make me give it a go again in 2013.

As of right now I'm a little apprehensive about that because in 2012 I didn't start riding until March and real training began in May, so being burned out was never an issue and as of right now I plan start training on January 1st...so I'm a little worried that when CX season rolls around my fitness will be good but my give-a-damn may be broken...I guess I'm gonna find out.

There you go, now you know, I think for me 2012 was a good year for me on the bike. What will 2013 bring??? I have no idea, but I do know that I will be riding and racing and as of now, possibly on a new team...they say change is good, I guess I will begin there and see what happens.

E

The State CX Weekend

Where to begin...First, I would like to thank my coach Jeff Winkler at Fascat Coaching. I'm thinkin without him my give-a-damn would have broke about a month ago!! If any of the 10's of you that read this are thinking about hiring a coach, you should look him up at http://www.fascatcoaching.com/

Second, If you're not sure which CX mud tires are good? Go with the Clement PDX, I raced these over the weekend, Saturday was a little slick but Sunday was more or less a mud race and I was never worried about losing grip, EVER!!

Moving on, I started the march to this race in July, this is by far the most training I have ever put in for one race. Did it work? I think so, I had some good results with a couple of wins in there for good measure, but in the end you can't be great every race.

I learned early in the 2012 CX season that, while I raced ok on Saturdays, I always had a better race on Sunday. With that in mind I wanted to race the day before the state race to get that "ok" race outta me and this is what I did. The only bad thing about this Saturday race was I would be lining up in the open class for the first time due to no masters classes and in my infinite wisdom, I upgraded to a 2 when I had the points to do so...


The open race

I lined up with 9 other riders and after riding a couple of laps for inspection I knew it would be a tough day. The plan was to race for 45 minutes, see how I feel and go from there.

Go, we're off and I settle into 3rd as we grind up a false flat in the grass, at this point we weren't going fast at all and I was thinking this won't be so bad then we hit the hill. At the top I had slid back a spot or 2 and was kinda hatin life but press on I did, then we came to the steps. Which weren't bad as steps go but it was about 20-30 seconds of running up steps.

I managed to stay in contact with the group for a couple of laps and then I had to ease a bit and wave goodbye. Now I was riding in no mans land with one or two guys still behind me, so I kept racing. Eventually I'm riding in 9th outta 10 with 10th on my wheel. He seems to be content with my pace so on we ride. I pull him around for 3 more laps and on my last lap I turn and say to him you're on you own and pulled the plug. I raced for 45 minutes and suffered horribly the whole time, it was not a good day for me AT ALL!!!


The State Race

The pic above pretty much says it all. I felt 100% better on the bike compared to the open race. I gotta be honest, I was a little worried after that race on how I would be going for the State race.

On Sunday morning when it was finally light enough to see the ground I could tell it had rained at some point over night. I was thinking to myself it should either be bone dry as it has been all year or full on CX muddy the way it should be conditions. I kinda started to rant about Mutha Nature and called her a whore...well...I guess she heard me and didn't like what I had to say so she kindly rained on us for about 15 minutes just before the masters race, she was even so nice as to make it stop after the first lap!! It was muddy and a bit slick before, NOW it was how it should be!!!

GO!!! I slot into 2nd straight away and am on the eventual winners wheel. As we are descending this off camber hill that lead to a pretty fast left hand sweeper which ended at the bottom of the steep hill. I ease up a bit and give some room between me and 1st just in case. The gut was right, he grabs too much rear brake and slides out in front of me. This had me grab a fist full of rear brake and the back end steps out on me so I let off, the PDX immediately hooks up and shoots me by, disaster averted!!!

At the top of the hill I'm still in 2nd with Mr. Powerslide behind me. It stays this way for a minute until we get into some off camber turns. I came in to one a little fast and pushed the front and had to dab, this allowed 3rd to get by and of course it was up hill out of this particular section so I lost his wheel...grrrrr!!!

So I drill it and stop the gap from growing. At the steps now, he is still within reach at this point but I am going blind with pain now and eventually have to ease for a minute to recover. Back to coherent, 1st and 2nd are riding away and there's not a damn thing I can do about it...at this point I keep the gas on ride away from the rest of the field. An exciting first lap huh?!

About mid way through the race I see 4th trying to run me down and gaining ever so slightly, so I push the pace for a lap and open the gap to something he can't close and this is the way we finished.

Am I content with a 3rd? Mostly, I made it on the podium, which is a good thing considering how long I've been after one of those jerseys, I rode well, pretty much mistake free, my remounts were faster than they've been all season and my fitness was where it needed to be, thanks coach!!

A win would have been SUPA SWEEEEEEEEEET but it wasn't meant to be this year...

E

Boss Cross 5&6

Boss Cross 5

After Boss Cross 3 and 4 I had enough points to take the leaders jersey from Richard Hu. That made this weekend of racing a little more interesting to say the least. As it stood, I had a 7 point lead over Richard (2nd) and a 10 point lead over 3rd (Josh Taylor) going into this weekend. With that in mind, at the minimum I had to finish on Richards wheel or ahead of him to maintain possession of the leaders jersey. Oh yeah, and make sure Josh didn't get between us if he raced, which he didn't on Saturday...that made my life a little easier FO SHO!!!! To make things even more interesting, I felt about half crappy when I woke up on Friday...that stayed with me all day and felt about the same on Saturday morning, but there was no way in hell I wasn't gonna line up with the leaders jersey on my back.

On to the race...I managed a 3rd today. Michael Smith took the top step, Richard 2nd and me to round out the podium. At the gun, Richard drilled it from the start, no worries, I hit the pedal and went straight to his wheel. After about 6 turns it was Richard, Mike and myself with a gap and riding away from the field. We get to a long gravel path and with about 100 meters left Mike goes to the front and starts driving. He pulls a small gap of about 20 meters, so I wait a few seconds more and when I hit the grass again I drill it and jump across the gap. This lasted all of about 3 seconds, Richard was there quickly as we were still on the first lap. At that point I decide to ride Mike's wheel for a while and soon realize that this is going to end quickly with a huge explosion...so just about the time we end the first lap I ease up and let him ride away, Richard comes around and takes up the pace making. I wasn't going to work with him initially but thought it would be a good idea to put more time on the field to ensure no one got between us to take points.

For the next 4 laps he and I took turns and put more time on the field with each lap. Going into 2 to go, I'm starting to suffer pretty good. About a 1/4 of the way through that lap I was on the verge of blowing up, so I take a look behind and no one is within a 1/4 mile and Mike has set sail, so I eased up and let Richard go. I didn't want to but I think it was going to happen whether I wanted to or not. So I maintain a good pace and ride the last lap and a half solo to finish in 3rd.

Not a great day, but not a bad one either. As I write this I still feel kinda crappy and run down and wasn't feeling even close to 100% today. Hopefully I will be back to normal tomorrow. I did tell Richard I won't be doing any work on Sunday!! I say that now...I'm sure if I need to, to ensure a solid race, I will. It's his job to take it from me and that's not going to happen!! If an opportunity presents itself to ride away from him I will definitely take it, but as it stands, he's not going anywhere without me.

E


Boss Cross 6

I STOOD ALONE UPON THE TOP STEP...1ST PLACE WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo!!

I was obviously feeling better today and decided to stamp my authority on this race. At the gun I didn't get the best start but managed to slot into 3rd behind Richard and Josh. This didn't set well with me with Josh between Richard and myself so at the first opportunity I go to the front and proceed to drill it. I sat on the front for about a lap and a half, at this point it was just the 3 of us and we were riding away from the rest of the field.

Content with the situation I wave Richard through and take a break. I guess the accelerations Richard and I were making out of the turns finally took their toll on Josh and we rode away from him. Now, I decided it would be a good idea to work together to increase our gap to 3rd, which we did. The next 3 or 4 laps were uneventful.

During my course inspection I decided to ride a ditch that wasn't rideable the day before for various reasons, but going the opposite direction it was. I rode it 4 or 5 times during inspection and had it down. On to the last lap, I was on the front for a bit and thought it was time to "play the game". I wave Richard through and made sure I hit my lines and was on the gas coming out of the turns. With about a 1/3rd of a lap to go we were on a long gravel path, Richard decided to slow and try to allow the 50+ leader with Josh on his wheel to catch us. I realize this, go around and lift the pace. That simply wasn't an option I was willing to entertain. Still on the front, we are headed to the section with the ditch, I decided to put in a good dig coming out of a turn that lead to a short section of gravel path and pulled my foot off the pedal...that didn't work.

Now in the final complex of turns leading to the ditch and I'm still driving. As we approach, Richard rolls past me as I set up to ride the ditch. He dismounts, I ride it, he remounts and leaves the door open on the inside line to the following left, I move left and start to pass, as I draw along side he has missed his pedal and we bump shoulders, this pushed me towards the course post. Having mad ninja skills on a bike, I managed to squeeze by and take the lead. I punch it for all I'm worth to try and get a gap and it was for naught.


The rest of the course after the ditch was a chicane to a 90 degree left, about a 100 meter grass straight to a 90 degree right onto the 150 meter-ish finishing straight which was pavement. As we exited the chicane I drill it so he won't come by. We come flying onto the pavement and I grab a couple of gears and punch it again and held him off for the win.

It was a tactical battle today, it was a blast!! A win to seal up the leaders jersey...what better way to end the series and represent the leaders jersey!!

E

Colavita and Boulevard Cup

Pics courtesy of Matt (I'm a Bad Mutha F**ka cuz my wallet says so) Cunningham

Colavita Cup

I'm a little late with this post for a ton of reasons, the main one is I'm really lazy sometimes!!!

I was just off the podium on Saturday, 4th out of 19. The Colavita track was a good course with a decent mix of high speed and technical off camber twisty stuff and one big climb...

At the gun I hit the pedal and get a good start, I settle into 3rd behind Roger Williams and an Slimmen und Grossen rider. The pace was pretty fast from the gun but I'm feelin good so no worries. I move into 2nd when the Slimmen rider bobbles at the first downhill off camber 180. I sit on Rogers wheel for the first 2 laps suffering pretty good, he seemed to be on a mission today and was riding well.

The 3rd time up the hill he got a gap and I couldn't close it. A 50+ Trek rider and a 40+ teammate of his go by me and proceed to ride away also. Now in 3rd, Josh Taylor was on my wheel and wasn't going to come around so I just maintain the current pace and keep on rollin.

On the 4th lap I bobbled a little on one of the downhill off camber 180s and Josh went by me. No worries I got on his wheel straight away. On the next lap he gapped me a little, about 40 feet, and this was how we stayed until I dug my pedal into an off camber section which lifted my rear wheel and made me slide out...down to the ground I went. The damage was done at that point, I got going and kept the hammer down but the gap remained the same on lap 6.

On the final lap 7, I was still charging and brought him back a little but in the end the little mistakes I made created a gap that was more than I could overcome that late in the race.

I felt pretty good overall and had a good ride other than the obvious, Roger ended up 2nd to a Trek rider from Omaha, who was a very small person...a classic climber if you will.



Boulevard Cup

A few more steps away from the podium on Sunday. I ended up 6th outta 26...not bad considering the size of the field. Whilst I was doing my inspection I heard rumblings of Shadd Smith is here...I thought great...there goes 1st...he's a bad man and if he's at a race that early it can only mean one thing, racing masters. Oh well, It didn't really bother me because in racing you just never know til it's over.

So we line up and it's official, he comes rollin up last. I say to him, why do you hate us? He responded with " I have soccer games"...good answer! Anyway, they finally let us go, and I get a good start and settle in behind Roger Williams for second wheel. We drag race for at least 1/4 mile with a good section being sidewalk. Just about the time we leave the sidewalk Mr. Smith comes blazin by and takes over the front of the race right before we hit the off camber switchback section.

I guess it pays to get good starts because not a second after the 3 of us had cleared the first set of switch backs, a slower rider with more ability to pedal than to handle a bike, can't negotiate the first switch back while riding and proceeds to blow through the tape into oncoming racers and plows one of them and causes another to flip.



I heard this carnage but didn't realize how close it really was, I never saw the guy coming down and had no idea he went, more or less, right behind me until I saw the 3rd video below, which was the first one posted to youtube. My jaw literally dropped open from how close it was.



The guy that got plowed first is Prayuth Sirasudi, he ended up with a DNF...Mr. No Skillz cost Prayuth a helmet, and a frame, Prayuth told me the top tube and down tube of his NEW frame were cracked...and a concusion for the cherry on top...



Moving on...The first 2 laps has Shadd riding away leaving Roger and I to fight it out. Lap 3 we get passed by 2 more riders and eventually the guy that flipped in the video catches us and rides away leaving Roger and I in 5th and 6th.

As the race progresses Roger puts in good dig here and there, I try to make a move on occasion and he would counter. Eventually I decide to sit on his wheel because it's clear he's not gonna let me by without a huge effort.

With about 1 and 1/4 laps to go we both blast through the sand pit, run the railroad ties, hit the side walk to remount and this is where the end came for me...as I set my bike down and went to grab the bar I missed and hit the brake lever with the palm of my hand, I recover and remount and had to sprint to get back to his wheel.

The sidewalk section was about 100 feet long which lead to a 90 degree left onto the grass. My holy shit he's riding away from me effort had me going pretty fast so I reach for the brakes and the rear lever is not where it's supposed to be, so I almost blow the turn and when I get squared away on the grass I look at my lever and I had more or less pulled the plunger out of the piston on the lever that drives the caliper...game over...I finish the race in no mans land crossing in 6th place...

I'm thinkin my mojo was just a bit off this past weekend...can't be great every race.

E