Woodstock Cross
Ahh, a 4B beer handup Photos:John Wrycza
Woodstock. This had to be my most or second most favoritest course/race this season. I obviously was attempting to go out and race the 30+ and the 4B's just for the heck of it. Problem was Friedman showed up on his way to Tim's....and we HAD to drink a beer or two....or a 6-pack...each....the night before. Not alot of beer, but I'm not a young as I used to be. Needless to say I woke up a few different times in the morning to go to the race. Non of those attempts were successful until about 10:30am - at the start of the 30+ race.
From what I hear Beverly Bob was PO'd. 
- Love ya Bob! t was so weird to head out to do just the 4B's. With my recently recovered cross mojo but NONE of the form needed I eagerly anticipated my first foray back into the mayhem that is 4B racing. I liken it to the feeling I think I would get if I was all of a sudden allowed to jump back into a Cat 5 race. Sure there'd still be some fast guys that would kick the crap out of me but I could make quick work out of the majority - even in bad form.
I kept telling myself - "this is just for fun. don't try to race it hard...." but I still ended up lining up in the front. I don't know what it is about people starting a bke race but I always seem to be out in the front group regardless of if it's road or cross. It was actually fairly easy to start. I wasn't pegged and I was throught the first turn while hanging on the leader's group or about 10 or so.
The course was almost exactly as I remembered it the previous year so I kind of instinctively knew when to shift and what was coming up. It actually handled better. It's my kind of cross course - All out, use all your gears, not a 400 corner technical mud fest. I started to see a separation from the front group after the first hill. I kept in contact through the downhill and sweeper but lost contact on the second big climb. Meh....I suck. We all know it. Time to let the guys who are serious by and give them a shot at a good position.
The funny thing is I really didn't totally sit up but these guys just weren't closing gaps on my like I have gotten used to this season. Dear god - did I find a field where I actually belonged in the top 20? I got off the rig for the first set of barrier and as soon as my feet hit the ground pain shot through my back. I've got a really messed up back. A genetic defect in my lower spine. Yay me right? I've had it my whole life and it's what got me into cycling in the late 80's to get out of the impact sports that were aggravating it. I instantly thought, "oh crap...now I have to lift my bike." Getting old sucks.
The handup hill was AWESOME! I loved riding in it. I have come to the conclusion that racing it and doing handups are both exactly the same amount of fun....but doing handups doesn't seem to require quite as much pain and suffering (although I am sure there are stories where it does). First time up there were so many options and I was still racing in the top 15 or so....I quickly went through grabbing everything I could try to grab - result? Nothing except a $5 handup....from Mrs. P (thanks dear). She just gave it to me though. I wish she would have tucked it.
The next laps were painful. At some point I watched a lot of guys I knew pass me. I got a beer the second time up and drank most of it before dumping the rest on my head and tossing it (see animated gif). That beer was good. Tasted like crap but honestly you'd lick up dog urine for some moisture during a cross race. On the last lap I let some people by and then once again found myself riding on their wheel. It dawned on me that I still had a lot of gas in the tanks and my performance was becoming mental. So I passed them back. It was great to actually have a race on going into the end. I was able to ride the wheel, check the line and blow by in the final sprint/straight. Ok...not blow by. There was a bike toss involved. but I got it over Ken - whom I've ridden with more than once out at Penny Rd Pub. He said, "I knew you were back there and I knew you had a sprint." - made for a fun ending.
So....I got some points. Yay. First points of the season for me. Finished 27th. not total crap. Much worse than my season last year and where I wanted to be this year, but I have been going through a lot of turmoil/politics/bs. Unfortunately the season is drawing to a close. Not sure about Montrose. Seems like the vibe has been that a lot of people I know are going to skip it. History shows us that it tends to be the coldest f'n race and who feels like freezing like that.....however...it's the last chance to really race until late March early April. Trainers suck.
Congrats go out to Debbie Dust who AGAIN won her race. That's 2 wins in a row on PSIMET wheels.
Along those lines it doesn't look like I will be sponsoring the team I had intended on sponsoring next season. If you're a roadie and looking for a decent wheel sponsor - not free wheels - then let me know. Send me your race resume, goals, plans, etc.
It’s on
Just pre-reg'd for Woodstock. 30+.....
.....and 4B. Embrace the carnival. Last race before Montrose (coldest race I ever do). Cross is almost over and I just caught my mojo back. Trainer tonight. Bwahahahahahahahaha!
Hacking it up
JF (left) and Mrs. P (right) look on to watch the Chuck Norris of cycling (Wayne Simon) hand up $2 Fat Tire during the 4B race
Image By Chris
Chuck Norris doing $2 Fat Tire handups. This is cross.
HUGE thanks go out to SCW, Mr. Kelly, and the fine folks at Indian lakes Resort for the 24 hr party someone called a cyclocross race. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I had. I have basically been dreading doign this write-up because there is just too much to cover and I know no one will read it all the way through. Actually after switching to the new site I can't even tell if anyone is still reading this....if you are - leave a comment!
This course had everything I like in a cyclocross race. If I had been even remotely on form I would have excelled. Alas as my faithful readers know - I had lost my cross mojo earlier this year. Circus atmosphere for the sake of circus-ness, courses that were little more than a test of your brakes and headsets, epic loses to Bob "the Sponge" Murray (aka "Beverly Bob"), and a split up of one of the coolest crews in cross - those of us who suffered like dogs for top 20 placings in 4b's all last year, all led to me no longer feeling the cross love.
As I had predicted earlier in the year though as the year has rolled on the "not so faithful" have begun to drop off. A lot of people that dipped their toes into the baptismal waters of cyclocross have decided that burning they felt meant they were too good to indulge in the mayhem. Sinewy faces I recognized from the road have slowly disappeared - replaced by the slightly more rounded faces of the winter peloton. Guys who wouldn't touch a salad with "full ranch" on it 2 months ago are enjoying an all you can eat cheesecake buffet and handing up bacon, cupcakes, beer and twinkies.
As I mentioned the course was perfect. A ton of wide open hammering. I used every gear I had, and some of them twice. I found a wide sweeper on the backside that let me hammer in the big ring the whole way around and still held perfect traction. It was a big guys paradise....but the skinny guys still won - imagine that. My race was Sooooo uneventful. I hadn't been ont he bike in literally 2 weeks - outside of a powertest at MJH2's the previous Saturday. Mrs. P and I had a date night the night before. Needless to sayI was hung over severely in the morning. I was in a hurry so I got nothing to eat or drink before the race. Ugh. I poured in a poor performance but really got geared up by cross again.
After my race I got a chance to watch Debbie Dust (recent PSIMET wheels "rider") hang a "W" in the women's race - the first cross victory for PSIMET wheels! Congrats Debbie!
- Win for Debbie Dust!
Photo: John Wrycza
After attacking the buffet we settled in to watch the 1/2/3 action. Holy crap - great race. SRAM Scott has been tearing up everything - this day was no different. What was exciting was to see Ben Popper and Brian Conant give pursuit. As a Brian Conant "superfan" (I will for now on consider Conant the Bruce Lee to Simon's Chuck Norris) I felt it my duty to scream "I LOVE YOU BRIAN CONANT!" every time he went past. I got a few half grins . What made it better was the fact that this was Brian's 3rd race of the day (that I saw) and he had won the previous 2. I believe this was Scott and Ben's only race of the day. Best moment of the day was when Ben and brian came charging into the first sand pit side-by-side both catching some high air as they bunny hopped into it. Classic.
From there it was time to make the funny. It was a blast. I take the whole "don't modify the course" thing to heart so we didn't.....we just kind of leaned on the tape. Result - bacon alley. It was right at the perfect spot where just about everyone was running. The beer, cupcakes, bacon, twinkies, etc....were all flowing. It was so loud I had a headache before I had even left the event. My voice has only now begun to recover.
Me screaming at Lenski to get his butt moving....pretty much sums up the day - Photo: Liz Farina Markel
So.....next week. Cross is coming to a close so I just want to have some fun. I have already been running and doing a tiny bit of core work. Maybe I won't totally suck this week. One of these days someone will convince me to race the 4b's......hmmm......
…and a partridge in a pear tree…
Busy doesn't even begin to describe how everything is.
I skipped the cross race in Northbrook. A lot of things went into that decision. It looked like Northbrook didn't want to have the race, the course wasn't going to incorporate some of the cool features it had last year, there were tons of "rules" about where we could park and how we had to act....that's not cross. I understand promoting is a PITA and a thankless job, but that doesn't mean that we always have to pat everyone who puts on any event on the back for everything. It smacks of giving every kid on the team a trophy because they tried. I am glad there was a race, but I also think the schedule could have gone with a break.
That said, I didn't go. I needed a break. St Chucks devastated me in a couple of ways. Primarily my rig.
I had forgotten that towards the end of the race I was feeling some grinding and could swear that the crank was coming loose. As you saw in the photos I let the bike sit with the grime on it for a few days. I knew the chain would be toast but I had planned on replacing that anyway. So I went to swap the chain and found a derailler pulley seized. Hmmmmm......the other was toast as well.
2 new pulleys....
I go to pull the crank to re lube and re-torque the arm. Hmmm....BB is fried. Wow. So much for sealed bearings.
1 new BB...
The brake pads were toast. The pedals were crunching. The wheels were sloppy.....ugh!
2 Derailler Pulleys, 1 new BB, 1 new chain, 2 sets of brake pads, and a partridge in a pear tree.
I will be at the Indian Lake race this weekend. Mrs. P and I are going to a show on Friday but plan on trying to make the party at the resort as well. Haven't registered yet - debating which group to race in. 30+ and 4b's, or just one race. Do I want to heckle or be heckled. Some guys I know are doing the 4b's and it could be fun to go back and do it.
Decisions, decisions.
St. Chucks Pix
Little P and Big P - Photo:Alan from xXx
Looks like I have a little something....right.....there... Photo:Nikki Cyp
Sponge Bob....I will get you Spongey! Photo:Not sure...Nikki Cyp(?)
"Whatsamatta Joel!" - Heckle in full effect. Ash trying half-heartedly to give money away in the background. Photo:Nikki Cyp
I let it soak in and decided to take this shot before finally washing the bike last night.
Salad Anyone?
Dirty, dirty
As we set up the course on Saturday my main thought was, "man....I hope some of this at least drains out between today and tomorrow." It didn't. The fact that it rained like oh....97% of the days in October, enough to make the fragile cheese-heads cancel a couple of races - due to environmental concerns..., added up to make what I hope will be remembered as an epic cyclocross race.
Jim Nowak from ABD was running some of my demo wheels in the 40+ race so I was there early enough to get him set up for the race. I personally was racing the 30+ again. I had also planned on racing the 4B's later. More on that in a bit. So we're ready for the start of our race and last minute I see Beverly Bob roll up wearing a Sponge Bob costrume. I thought to myself, "oh that's it. I've got to beat his ass now."
I was not looking forward to the mud and water. It was cold. I was sporting a horrible case of "I don't want to race". Heart wasn't into it. Then we started. I let the throngs of "real" racers....err....let me rephrase that....racers who cared about this race, through. We hit the woods and I knew it was going to be a good (fun) day. I had that split second feeling that we were somewhere in Northern Europe in some ancient forest riding over crappy roads in some early spring race....until I had to get off the bike and hop a barrier.
After a lap or so I had good distance/gap on JAnd and Beverly Sponge Bob. I figured I was home free. Just keep grinding it out and all will be fine. Somewhere along the way JAnd and I start swapping spots. At times I was like - "that's it. I'm done. Just ride it out." and then I would look up a half lap later and I'd be passing him back. The The Sponge passed me. For the rest of the race I kept hearing, "You're losing to Sponge Bob". Made worse by the fact that I know that couldn't have been an easy costrume to race in.
In the end I lost to Bob. I came in front of JAnd. I had some fun. But I was done. The course was great but it was too much after 45 minutes to think I was going to race again that day. Warm clothes and the rim-gong had me wanting to go back to the car and swap into fan/heckle mode.
So I did. Pictures are on the camera at home so I will update that later but in general we had a blast. Heckling, hand-ups, making noise, cheering on the people I know - it was awesome. I got some of my cross mojo back. I have figure out what's draining it too.
FWIW - prices dropped on the tubular wheels. I don't know what I was thinking when I first did pricing but it was too high. It is down $100 on almost all options. Yes you can use them on the road too.
Bear with me while I get used to this new blogging format. My main desire is to keep the posts going. I'll figure out the look and feel later.