Manions Cross

Day one...

I don't know if the bazillions of peeps that read this stellar blog have ever raced at Manions. If you haven't, here's a little slice of this CX nirvana. It's on a hill, 1/3 going up, 1/3 going down, and 1/3rd traversing this hill. It's a good venue with a little bit of everything thrown at you out on course and a well run race to boot!!

Lets start with the obvious. I wanted to start on the front row, which I did. I am going to avoid lining up DFL at all cost this year. The next goal was to hit the pedal on the first try, nailed it. Those two combined had me 3rd for about half a lap. On the "big" descent, I managed to out brake 2nd and take the spot at the bottom going into a right hander. Now, I was content just following the wheel in front of me.

At this point, about halfway through the first lap, 1st looses the front in a turn and gets a dirt sample for his effort so I go around. Not really wanting to be there, I maintain the pace even slowing a bit so I'm not on the front and continue on. I roll across in third after one as planned.

I'm not sure how many laps we did, 7 or 8, but some where on the 3rd lap I started cramping under my ribs and slowed a bit, this got me shuffled back quickly...I think this is from eating a cliff bar to close to the start of the race, or not breathing deep enough, or both...anyway...I push through that and get going again.

I started racing pretty hard with 6th but he eventually got far enough out on the penultimate lap up the climb, which was a pretty steep, long, climb, followed by a 1/4 mile of the bumpiest patch of earth ANYWHERE!!! That kinda took the wind from my sail...8th came by shortly after, this did not make me happy...I get back to his wheel and as we turn for the finish line to start the final lap, he drifts wide, I dive underneath and drill it. A few turns later I look back and he was gone, a small victory.

I didn't have any expectations today because I knew it would be a tough race, mostly from a terrain standpoint and the competition too, it is masters racing after all. So finishing 7th out of 15 is about what I expected. I'm happy with how I rode and I don't think I would have done anything different...well...maybe a little less air pressure in the front but other than that I'm good with it.





Day 2

I finished 5th out of 16 Sunday. I learned from my mistakes yesterday which made for a better race. The course was run reverse of Saturday with a few changes to keep it a little safe. This made the long grinder of a climb into a high speed descent and yesterdays descent was a manageable power climb.

When the time came to line up, I was there a little early and got the spot I wanted. Once we were off and running, I settle into 2nd. The guy in 1st sat up and slowed while we were on the paved portion, I was not having this today. I grab a fist full of gears and proceed to drill it. About halfway through the first lap, four of us had a gap on the field. On the power climb, the eventual winner comes by me to take 1st. I grab some gears over the top of the climb and get to his wheel. He was able to eventually ride away from me, which left me with 2 others to fight it out for 2nd. Damn those carbon tubies!!!!

For the next 5 laps, the pace was good, I sat on the back of our 3 man race. Rolling into 2 to go, we get to the paved section and the pace drops...I should have gone around but didn't...this allowed another racer to latch on, one that we had kept at bay up until this point...we roll along to the power climb and the new guy goes blazing by all of us like we had the brakes on. No worries, we nail him back straight away.

On the last lap I'm thinkin it's time to give it a go. Mostly because if you never try you never win and partly because 6th was lurking about 12 seconds back of our group...I wasn't going to let him in at any cost. So I formulate a plan of railing inside these guys on the descent to the high speed left hand sweeper...that fizzled due to the overall group speed.

After the descent was a right hand turn that dropped into a dried up pond, momentum carried you wide onto a crappy bumpy line to the left, which for some reason everyone, except me, rode that line... I jammed on the brakes, backed into the turn and dove down the right side which was smooth and drilled to the next turn to take over the front of our group.

I led to the climb for the last time and hit it as hard as I could...which wasn't enough. The other racers got by me right at the top and created a little gap. I put it in the big ring and closed the gap to about 15 feet, which was how it stayed to the finish.

I felt much better today, and there are 2 things I would have done different. 1. Go to the front and pick up the pace when I knew it needed it. 2. make my bid for the second step a little closer to the end and NOT before the BIG EFFIN HILL!!! I think two of the guys I was racing with combined might have been as big as one of my legs...I love cheeseburgers...a bit of a rant...;)

It's a long season and Sunday was encouraging. Let the Boss Cross begin!!

E

Counting the days

The 10's of people that read this know that I'm all about CX racing this year. After all, I have a new bike to race on, my training is more or less geared toward racing CX, I have my race schedule all worked out with the first race on September 22 and I'm super stoked about it!!!

That being said...the time, as of late, has been CREEPING by ever so freakin SLOWLY!!! It has been kinda difficult lately to stay focused, but the end is near and the training will shift from weekly self induced beat downs to racing and maintaining what I've built over the last few months.

As of this post there are 14 days between now and lining up for my first CX melee of the season. I gotta stay focused for one more week...MUST STAY FOCUSED!!!

E

CX Machine

FINALLY!!! It's finished!!! My new toy is done...this is my CX machine from this day forward.

Last year I raced CX on my MTB, and people were like why are you racing on your MTB??? I had a few reasons.

1. It's the only bike I had to race CX on.

2. I don't like being like everybody else!!

3. The fact that I was on an MTB lining up with a bunch of CX bikes added a little pressure to the CX riders to not get beat by the MTB'er and a little more motivation for me to beat those guys...it made it a ton more fun for me!!

Towards the end of my stint racing last year my competitive side had me borrow a CX bike and that's all it took for me to decide to build a CX machine. At that time I didn't know what I was going to build or buy...so after a little thought I came up with the idea that a 29er frame and fork would be the way to go.

There are few reasons for this decision. The first is if I decide to race MTB again next season, there are a couple of races that a hardtail would be better to race than my dually so all I would need is a suspension fork as opposed to a complete bike...hence the riser bar...I don't think a road bar affords an advantage in CX anyway...

The other reason is I wanted disc brakes, more specifically hydraulic disc brakes, and the frames I was looking at had disc tabs but also had canti bosses and looked like ass!!! I'm sure I could have purchased a frame that was disc only, but that would have cost twice as much, definitely more than I wanted to spend...the final reason was cost...I wanted to build this machine for the least amount possible. I could have spent less but I certainly could have spent a ton more.

As it stands, I was pretty close to my target number and I think I spec'd it well. To walk out of a shop with a comparably spec'd bike would mean you spent at least $2500.00 duckets and I managed to complete this build at under half of that!! The complete bike weighs in at a tick over 20 pounds. Not bad compared to the 25.5 pound MTB I raced on last year and a bit heavier than the high dollar CX rigs that are out there, but remember, it's a 29er MTB frame and fork.

There you go now you know.

By the way...DON'T GET BEAT BY THE MTB'ER!!!!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

E

Cyclocross....HURRY THE F**K UP!!!!

What's up peeps?!?! It's early on a day off and I'm BORED!! I'm sure the 10's of you that read this are like what the hell is this gonna be about!!!

Anyway...I've had my powertap since April and I've been training with it and doing specific workouts since May with a couple of goals in mind, one of which has come to pass, the state MTB race and the other is on the horizon, which I can assure you I will write about when it had passed. Basically all the training I've been doing is geared towards CX season...I'm about to go CRAZY from it!!! C'MON CYCLOCROSS!!!

Hopefully my rickety old ass will hold up to the abuse I'm about to put it through this CX season and I make it to December without too much breakdown...in me. I've decided that my first race will be at Manions. I've not done this one but have been to watch it the last few years and thought I should give it a go. I briefly considered doing the Hermann cross but decided against it, no particular reason other than I'm not feelin it, maybe next year.

As most of you know I contested the majority of the cx events on my MTB, the last 2 races were on a CX bike...which leveled the playing field significantly. That being said, I did have a couple of good results on my MTB, which made me happy, because I beat some pretty good CX riders, which probably didn't make them happy!! With this in mind I decided to build a CX machine for this season, and as of now I'm down to getting the wheels built and putting this carbon fiber rocket together. This will have to wait another week, because I'm headed to Crested Butte this weekend to ride in the back-country for a week!!!!!!

The frame and fork I bought is not a CX frame and fork but a 29er. It's the pic at the top, and it's a Chinese carbon frame and fork...I have to say, for $460.00 to my front door, it looks kick ass, and I couldn't buy ANYTHING that was name brand carbon for under a $1000.00, I also wanted to complete this build as close to a thousand as I could. I haven't totaled it up yet but I'm right at that or maybe a little more. Gotta love eBay!!

The main reason behind this is there are a few MTB races out there that I would race on a hardtail, very few!! So going this route, I basically get 2 bikes in one, all I will have to do is buy a suspension fork and tires and it will be a 29er MTB.

Another reason is I wanted my CX machine to have disc brakes, I know there are CX frames that are disc compatible but the have canti brake bosses on them and they are ugly, the newest disc CX machines cost too much, besides that I will have a flat bar with hydraulic brakes...WOOOOHOOOOooooo!!!! Good stoppers on my CX machine!!

It should be pretty light, 20 pounds or less. This will be a huge improvement over my beloved fully suspended MTB that tips the scales at 25...I'm all giddy just thinkin about it!!! TEEHEE!!!

E

Colavita XC

This past Saturday was round 7 of the UFD west series and my fitness seems to be going pretty good right now so I thought I would give it a go. A few pluses to this race...1. It started at 9:00am which is huge considering the weather we've been having lately. When the gun went off it was about 78 degrees, had it been a traditional start time, noon, it would've been about 90. 2. It was on a Saturday, which leaves Sunday to get recovered, which makes Monday that much easier!!

I'm a big believer in course inspection and this race was no different. I had the Friday off before the race so away I went. That was pretty uneventful until the last 100 yards of single track...I was riding fairly slow, my left pedal hit a rock which pushed me across the trail where my bar end hooked a tree and down I went...I got a little beat up, not bad though, the worst of it, and continues to get uglier, is where my bar hit my quad. I have a softball sized bruise and keeps gettin gnarlier by the day!! Here's a pic...

The good thing about this ugliness is it doesn't hurt to walk or ride so no worries!!

On to the race...I get to the venue with plenty of time to get squared away so no worries there. My warm up consisted of riding the first mile of single track and then to the start line. The promoter started all classes of experts together, of which there was 23...so much for knowing who to try and beat to the single track...The start was about 150 feet of gravel onto a grass hill which led to the single track.

GO!! As of late I've been pretty good at nailing the pedal on the first try...not this day! I think it took 4 tries on loose gravel to nail it down...so much for a good position in the single track...BAH!! I hit the woods in about 15th...LAME!!

The first lap rolls by uneventful and the train is going fast enough that I'm sort of content. The course included about a half mile section of gravel road with 2 climbs on it this led to a fairly long single track descent, which was nice!! The rider I was following wasn't rolling quite as fast as I would've like so I say to him "c'mon man, this is the easy money part we gotta go"...he kindly obliged and picked up the pace.


Lap 2...I finally got passed the 2 riders in front of me and away I went. I was starting to suffer a bit and that had me all over the trail when it got technical...this lap was by far the toughest from a stay focused and keep moving through the technical standpoint. To say I was having issues is an understatement!!

Eventually I settle into a decent rhythm on laps 3-5. I consistently turned 24:00 minutes on each lap until the last one. It dropped to 25:00...I think that's because of lappers, my left quad trying to lock up on me, and my focus going away quickly!! I managed to pull my head out and get through the last lap unscathed and dab free in the technical which made me happy!!

I finished pretty strong. Again, I had no idea where I finished until Mr. Prosser, who finished 4th, comes up and says to me "did you get your money"? I said no, I hadn't looked at the result yet. To which he replied with a smile "you finished 3rd, you put 5 minutes on me you fucker"!! I was like SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!! I had no idea!!

There you go now you know...3rd in class and as far as I can tell 7th outta 23...not a bad day at all!!

E

Tour of Lawrence

Photos courtesy of Roger Harrison

I decided to give the Tour of Lawrence another go this year, mostly because it's a pretty big race that's close to home and it has a good payout that goes pretty deep for each race. For the past 2 years I've wanted to line up in the masters race but Mother Nature put water on my aspirations...bitch!!!

So this year I made up my mind well in advance and was going regardless of the weather...which this year was dry and HELL HOT!! One of the best thing about racing masters races is it's usually the first race of the day and this one was no different. WOOOOOOHOOOOOooooo!!! Don't have to race in the hell hot heat!!!

My race started at 9:15am and it was about 83 degrees, life is good!! The high in Lawrence that day was at least 100 and the 3's race was at 2:30ish I believe...Gotta love being an old guy!!

On to the race. Just like like the Tour of KC, I was a bit nervous, mostly the usual race day nerves, and a little from lining up in a race that pays well...meaning the quality of racer would be higher and it could get brutally painful quickly...I think that had me a little spooked to ride at the front...

The race finally starts after about a 20 minute delay for cars being towed off the course. This made me laugh, it's a college town and I would be willing to bet the poor jackasses were still passed out and were going to wake up to more than a hangover!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Moving on. The race starts and it gets rolling pretty good right away. They offer a Challenge Tire prime on the first lap and Mr. Johnson, a former teammate of Steve Tilford, hired as a sprinter, proceeds to take this with relative ease.

For the most part this race rolled on pretty uneventful for me. I stuck my nose in the wind early in the race, after that it was try to stay close to the front. I don't recall ever suffering really bad...hmmm...should have launched an attack or two...hindsight....BAH!!!

Several attacks were launched but none were successful due to the strength of the field. There were 3 cash primes and each time they rang the bell, I was not in a good position to contest any of them...oh well...

The race rolls on and with 4 to go I was sitting about 20th. I decided it was time to move up and get ready for the last lap melee...with 2 to go I'm sitting about 10th as we cross the line to start the last lap. I think to myself it's time to get closer to the front, with that in mind I started picking my way through and made it to 6th with ease...That by itself surprised me because every time I wanted a gap to open it did, I have never moved to the front of a race that easily...it was great!!

Going into turn 2 I'm in 6th and the pace goes to the redline. More or less every lap before this one, the field would surge and come around any group that was driving it...not on the last lap, this made me happy!!

We get to the top of the track and I'm still in 6th, SWEEEEEEEEET!! We make a left and start the fastest section of the course. Somewhere in the last 1/4 mile 8 riders got by me...I don't really recall because we were flat out flying and I didn't think it would be a good idea to be rubber necking at that particular moment. We turn on to the start/finish straight and the sprint is on.

I managed to not get passed and not pass anybody...but I did finish 15th, right at the bottom of the payout and got my entry back, so it was a good day. Any race you finish upright and get a little mean green for you effort is a good race no matter how you look at it!!

E

Tour of KC

The 2nd day of the Tour of KC was today and I felt the need to do some crit racin...so I did. Here's my story.

This event has been around for a long time, I think this is the 49th edition. In years past the races were held on Cliff drive, a circuit race and in downtown Overland Park, a fast and fairly technical crit. Well for some reason unbeknownst to me, these 2 venues aren't used anymore...LAME!!

Moving on...I decided to not line up on Saturday for a variety of reasons and the main one was the first turn of that particular course is a tight, fast, downhill 90 degree left with not much room to roll through other than single file...making it a prime viewing spot for carnage...and there was some. Oh yeah, I won on that track at the inaugural event so no need to do it anymore!!

On to today. The weather forecast was for HELL HOT HEAT and it did not disappoint. Right now at 5:30pm the temp is hovering around 98...with that in mind and the 3's race at 2:30ish I decided to race the masters race which was at 8:00am. As I recall it was about 77 degrees...good temp to race any day!! The course was a rectangle going counter clockwise with a pretty fast slightly downhill left, this turn was really the only one you had to pay attention on.

I registered the day before so when I got to the venue all I had to do was get dressed and start warming up. I decided to race with my powertap and that by itself made me a little nervous, add to that the fact that several fast guys were in the field also meant I was pretty wound up with the race day nerves!! So I get warmed up, do a few hard efforts and the time comes to line up...and of course...DFL for me...oh well I'm used to it anymore.

Right before the gun sounds Supaman, who wasn't racing today, was telling me at least half the guys in front of me will miss their pedals, and they did. I nailed mine and moved right to where I wanted to be. The race rolls on for a few laps, then the attacks start. I was riding pretty close to the front keeping an eye out for a good move. After a few guys tried and failed I was getting itchy to give it a go. It was about then 3 guys rode off the front and I decided it was time. I gun it and jump across a decent gap with no one in tow...HOORAY!! As soon as I get there they sat up...BOOOOOOOOO!!!! Back to the field we went, I should have gone around to try to motivate them...oh well, it was early still.

A little later there was a guy ringing a cowbell standing on the platform with the freakin officials, so I'm thinkin it's time for a prime...someone attacked on the front straight, another went after the first turn and I'm sitting fairly close to the front watching them go. On the back stretch I make the comment "he's going solo to the prime"...right after that I drilled it and went blazing by the second guy up the road. I took a look back and the field was pissed and chasing hard, but I had a huge gap. I got within about 30 feet of the first guy up the road and passed the start/finish line only to realize the jackass ringing the cowbell was a spectator...I was pissed!! The pace remained high for the next few laps and I suffered horribly!! I managed to get recovered with out getting shot out the back and life was good!!

From then on it was pretty uneventful up until the last lap. I was about mid pack going into the last lap and the eventual winner attacked at the first turn, the pace went straight to the moon and we were flying!! On the back stretch a gap opened 2 riders ahead of me so I jumped across and I'm glad I did because when we made the final turn onto the front straight the gap was huge!!

I'm not sure how I placed, I'm thinking 15th-ish out of 40ish. I'm pretty content with that considering the quality of the field and the fact I was riding my powertap training wheel that weighs a TON!!!

As I tap this out on my computer, I don't think there's anything I would have done different. I chose to race with my powertap just to see what a crit looked like from a numbers standpoint. That was interesting!!

Next up, the Tour of Lawrence crit. I will be riding my 303's for that race!!

E



UPDATE 6-25-2012...I officially crossed the line in 16th out of 38...so I was close with my guesses!! ;^)