Staging was based on crossresults.com points. This is my second cross race so I pretty much have no points and was actually surprised to be staged 56 out of 83 racers. I guess day-of registrations all got thrown in at the back, so at least there were some people behind me. We were lined up in rows that were 5 cyclists wide, and the course wasn't wider than 15-feet. The race starter yells "15-seconds to start!" and the racer lined up next to me 12 rows back says "Looks like this race is over for us boys, better luck next time!" And that was about it. Not 30 seconds into the race, those of us in the back we were bunched up with a foot on the ground as shown in the photo above. By the end of the first lap I was already almost 3 minutes behind the leader.
Despite having no chance whatsoever at being competitive, this race was still a ton of fun and I would go back in a second if it were being held again tomorrow. I think that's my favorite part about cross, it's fun to race people next to you even if it's for 50th place and completely meaningless. With that in mind, on to a more detailed report.
A little too much "liquid-carb" loading the night before resulted in me getting up bit late in the morning and having to make a quick stop at McDonalds for breakfast. As if I weren't feeling dehydrated enough at this point, I chugged down my only bottle of water on the drive down before even finishing my McSkillet. I got there just in time to register, use the one port-a-john (this took 15 minutes), and take half a practice lap. I might have been upset about this disaster if I felt I actually had a glimmer of hope. Instead, I was totally relaxed and having fun. Sweet!
So the race starts off and like previously mentioned we come to a screeching halt not 100 meters in. I was too far back to see first-hand, but I heard 6 or 7 guys somewhere in the middle crashed into each other on the first turn. I clip out of my pedals and stand there waiting patiently when out of nowhere 2 of those tiny CL Noonan kids go running by me pushing their bikes alongside them. They were weaving through us like needles. Shortly after a bunch of other dudes start doing the same. I remember thinking to myself "oh yeah, we're racing" so I dismount and go to do the same. Just as I start to run, things in front of me start clearing up and suddenly I'm holding up the people in back of me and I still have to remount. I lose a few more places and things are finally starting to begin to feel like a bike race.
The first section of the course weaves back and fourth pretty aimlessly through a field. The turns aren't super-tight pylon turns or anything, but they're tight enough to make you brake and go pretty slow. What made things really interesting here were these ruts that seemed like they were part of every turn. In ski racing ruts typically form around a turn in a semi-logical location. These ruts weren't at all like that. I'd feel as if I were really knifing a turn when there'd be some rut exiting the turn that would force me to the outside. Other ruts were almost perpendicular to the line so you'd want to avoid them if possible. It felt like we were crawling through this section probably because being elbow-to-elbow really slowed down the pace. Exiting this section we go over the first set of barriers and head into the woods.
The first part of the woods is smooth single track and almost feels like pavement after the fields. There was no room to pass and we were still very bunched up, so we continued to crawl along at the pace of some slower guy up ahead. Finally we get to a sharp hairpin turn which leads off of the singletrack onto a rocky carrige road with a good amount of roots. Most people stuck to the smooth track on the right side but those of us that wanted to pass charged up the bumpy left side. After crawling along through the twisty field section and single track, I was pretty anxious to get going and practically sprinted across here passing a good amount of people.
After coming out of the woods we enter the main field where most of the spectators watch from. The field is on a hill and the course felt like a maze winding all over the place including up and down the hill and off-camber along the side of the hill. Although the track was a good 10 or 15 feet wide, there was only a narrow smooth track wide enough for a single biker. Outside of the smooth track was relatively long grass that was not so fast. I tried to continue making passes here but that was pretty darn tiring.
The second set of barriers came after a tight turn and before a somewhat steep hill. There were a lot of different strategies for this section. I ran my bike up the hill and didn't dismount until the top. A lot of people were remounting after the barriers but I thought they were biking super slowly up the hill. The CL Noonan kid was actually hopping the barriers but didn't seem strong enough to power up the hill after so that really wasn't too fast either. At the very end of the lap was a good-sized log maybe 20-24 inches in diameter that acted as another barrier.
By the end of the first lap I was pretty tired from trying to overtake as many people as possible and was content to just fall into a groove with the people around me. Bernie (NEBC) and Eric Peterson (CB) were within site just in front of me, and I wanted to get up to them. Trouble was it seemed like there were always a handful of people in between us that kept slowing me up every time I thought I was making ground. It didn't help that they were still moving up a lot too.
On the third lap I somehow caught up with Eric. I don't really remember making a push or anything, and I suspect he may have had a minor mishap. I didn't stay ahead of him for half a lap before he came charging by me on the long straightaway before the log barrier.
My bike had been making a weird vibrating sound since some time during the first lap, but it got worse and worse and the race went on. By the third lap it was getting really bad, especially on the bumpy downhill sections in the main field. Turns out the starnut in my steerer tube had backed out somewhere around 1/4"-1/2" so my entire headset was loose (i'm a bad mechanic). This allowed my handlebars to shake all over the place when going over bumps (which there were lots of). I did consider pulling out of the race for a moment to avoid doing any damage to my new bike. However, all I could think about is how those crossresults.com points are super important and that a DNF would hurt my points for the next few races. It was obviously a good decision to risk doing damage to my brand new bike to help my points.
Not long after Eric passed me I was heading back into the woods for the fourth time. I saw Eric sneak past a slower looking rider going over the barriers but I ended up behind him going into the single track. It turns out that this was a lapped rider that was going ridiculously slow. There was no room to pass and I got a nice break until after the hairpin turn. By the time I got out of the woods another rider had caught up to me and all the people in front of me were long gone. This was a bit demoralizing and I turned it down a notch for the rest of the race. It didn't help that I was worried about my bike breaking every time I went over some bumps.
On the last lap I was pretty much chilling as I soft-pedaled through the woods saving myself so I looked stronger where the spectators could see me. I was almost in tears because my lower back hurt so badly but at least my hands didn't hurt today (40 psi is much better than 65psi). Apparently this gave the guy in back of me a chance to catch up and pass over the bumpy carrige road. I was pretty annoyed with myself for letting someone pass me so finally I had some sort of motivation to try again. Going through the field and the twists and turns I couldn't seem to get in a good position to make a pass. We got to the barriers and the other guy takes the left line while I make a move to the right. At this point I hadn't quite overtaken him and he decides to remount before going up the hill. I see him hop on and so sprint to the top as quickly as I can, overtaking him on the inside. I remount only a little bit sloppy this time but I'm blocking off the good hard-packed line and hold my position. All of the sudden I am a cyclocross hero, or at least that's how I felt. For the rest of the lap to the finish I really wasn't going too crazy, but I guess it was enough pressure on the pedals to stay ahead until the finish. Crossresults.com has me in 40th/83 and what a battle it was to stay out of 41st!
Photos and results at http://crossresults.com/?n=results&sn=r&raceID=446#r18605
Update: 2 days after the race and Tony points out that I had my number pinned on upside down (see link below). Apparently I am "that guy" and should feel right at home racing in the back of the 4's.
http://picasawe
Sunday, October 26, 2008
MRC (Wrentham) Cyclocross Race, cat 4
Monday, October 20, 2008
2008 Canton Cup Cyclo-Cross Race, cat 4
My first cross race. I received my oh-so-sweet hand built custom cross frame from Tony Maietta after day 2 of Gloucster last weekend. Built the frame up on Monday and spent a good portion of the week dialing things in (wow cantilevers are a pain…). During the week I was able to get out twice on the bike, once on my paved commute to work and the other a super tame “mountain” bike ride through the Belmont conservation land. The off-road ride felt surprisingly good and I was impressed how the well the bike tracked through loose dirt and bike rocks. I’ve never ridden a cross bike before and really have no basis for comparison, but I’m told that if the bike fits you well your weight will be well-distributed which will help in technical sections. Seeing as I’m 95% roadie I need all the help I can get on the technical stuff.
128 people pre-reg’d for the cat 4 field. I don’t know much about cross but I do know that 128 dudes is a lot, especially seeing as everyone I talks to says getting a good start is crucial in a cross race. There was no organized staging at Canton so a good strategy was to line up early and get on the front. Seeing as this was my first race and my only experience doing things like mounting/dismounting came from watching youtube clips, I fairly lined myself up where I belonged, right in the back.
The race starts and not 10 meters in some dude who was on the line in front of me crashes hard, taking out the guy right in front of me, who took out some other dude. It was like watching dominos come down. Pat Kelly said he got caught up in the mess. I got super lucky and was able to sneak through the mess. By the time I did though the pelican (is it OK to call it that?) was already chopped in two and I was chasing to close down the gap.
The course starts off on pavement and makes a transition onto a dirt carriage road before turning onto a long maze through the fields. I caught back onto the group just before the fields and must’ve been in 90th or 100th place. The racers back here didn’t seem to be going very fast, and it was amazing to me how many people would just sort of run off the track into the long grass coming out of the turns. I was able to consistently make passes on the inside of turns for the majority of the first lap.
Without having any real idea of what the limitations of my bike are, I kept pushing my luck more and more through the corners as I tried to carry as much speed as possible. It was working out really well and I felt like I was moving up without burying myself. Eventually I came to a chicane section where I found the limit and I came crashing to the ground. Luckily it was on soft grass which was like falling on a pillow. It took me a minute to get back going again and I was passed by a few racers.
Maybe three-quarters of the way through the lap there’s a short but steep downhill with a few washboard bumps before making a sharp turn back up the same steep hill. I kept braking harder and harder until my levers were totally bottomed out on my handlebars. Luckily I was able to slow down just enough to make the turn but I would have been in big trouble if that hill was any steeper.
Shortly after this there was a super steep runup onto a rubber running track. Dismount, run up (I hate running), get back on and go. Dismounting was going surpringly well, those youtube vids actually helped I think. Remounting was not as successful though. I wasn’t willing to just toss myself onto my saddle like the fast guys do. Every time I had to get off my bike I ended up feeling pretty winded for the next 30 seconds or so. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t doing something right.
After the track there was a series of three hairpin turns through a very narrow maze that wasn’t more than 5 feet wide. The first lap was extra exciting through here and we took the corners two-men wide. I don’t think I could have held that steady of a line on later laps as I got more tired.
Through the end of the first lap and the beginning of the second lap I started to slow down quite a bit and I wasn’t passing very many people any more. Those barriers were especially tiring and seemed to send me into the red every time they came up. I’ve ridden maybe three times in the past month and any ability I had to clear lactic acid seemed to be gone. I didn’t feel as if I could keep pushing like I should have been able to do when the going got tough.
Laps two, three, and four are pretty much a blur. I kind of kept nearby the same group of riders the majority of the time. Sometimes I would feel good and move up with them, other times I would feel not so good and drop back.
By the fourth and final lap my hands, butt, and lower back were hurting more than anything else. It was painful just to hold onto the handlebars and the bumpy field sections were torture. At least my legs felt pretty solid. I didn’t come out of the 50T chainring once during the race and it never really felt too big. I was told after the race that most people run somewhere around 50 psi in the tires and I was running 65 psi. Hopefully going to a lower pressure will help smooth things out next time.
I finished in 41:17, 4:09 back from the winning time of 37:08. I think this put me in 54th out of ~130 starters. It looks like there may have been an error in the results because they skip from 40th to 50th place. I’m hoping to be more competitive next week when I give Wrentham a try.
