Pic by Jamie Sanchez Formula FotoWow, another course that should have suited me. I absolutely loved loved all the climbing at woodstock. This course was one of my top 3 favorites from last year. The course remained pretty much the same from last season with no surprises or technical bits. However fate conspired against me once more.
Getting to the second farthest chicross race late sure does wonders for your pre-race prep. I drove with my sister out to the penultimate Chicago cyclocross cup race with a misread on the time and distance to arrive. I quickly kitted up and noticed that the course seemed pretty much like last years. A longish start led into a super-fun descent into the woods. The climb out of this section is probably my favorite part of the course, at the top you wind around a pretty flat grassy section. I really dont like the "circle of death" feature that every other race seemed to feature this year. I think they're lame and they really kill my rhythm. Some more undulations, hit the barriers and some more twisty riding to the second "big" climb. The run-up once again really killed me but it was fun going through the switchback descent right before the finish.
I've been pretty lucky, actually really lucky that my racing "career" has only ever had one race ending mechanical. I've been pretty suspicous of this luck and was paranoid all season long that something would happen to me. It doesn't help that I've seen plenty of teammates, mainly Chris and Kevin break their bikes in various ways. I came close at woodstock. After my lame-ass warmup I went to the Cycle Smithy tent to put some air into my tires. They were running way too low. I pumped up the rear to just under 30, as I went to open the valve on the front tire the tip broke right off. Holy shit it was about 10 minutes to the start and 75% of the 3s field was already lined up. I tried two tubes from the shop guys but neither worked. One had a valve that was too short, the second tube had a long enough valve but was a skinny road tube that was not seating properly with my cx tire. AARRGGHH! First I got there late, second I was unable to set the trainer and warmup, now this! No front tire! I ran around for a couple of minutes trying to get a front wheel, I grabbed one of Al's pit wheels and off I was to the start line.
Of course I lined up in the back row. I saw some new faces,upgrades from the 4s surely. It was a big field and here I was all frazzled at the back. I noticed Kevin and Dave in the second row of riders and thought "yeah I'll never see those guys again". My start was horrible, my mind was off and I was not able to really move up any spots, instead I was racing with the guys I started with.
The first couple of laps hurt, the only good parts were the climbing but I didnt hit those as hard as I could have. It took me a while but about halfway through my legs showed up to the race. I started working with Matteo of Krystal cycling team. We started taking pulls and working together pretty well. We worked hard but the guys in front of us were unreachable. Towards the later part of the race a Cycle Smithy guy linked up with us but we were to have none of it. We drilled it hard until we dropped him.
Even though it was just me and Matteo, we worked hard so that nobody would bridge up from behind. And also to make sure that we didnt get lapped. Coming around the last part of our last lap I noticed Kevin up front. This gave me some extra motivation to push hard, he seemed to be within reach. Matteo gave me one hard final pull up the last hill after the runup. After that I drilled it hard into the red. I made up some time but Kevin was not going slow enough.
The result was bad, the start was bad, the luck was bad, but the legs were there. They showed up to the race late but I still have some matches left to burn. I am really psyching myself up for Montrose. This is it, one last chance. I am being realistic about what to expect and how I'm going to finish. I know who I can beat, and who is a little out of reach now. But I am going down in a blaze of glory. I will leave absolutely everything out there at Montrose, I am crossing that finish line a mere shell of a human being. For all those finishes, the results, the placings, trainer workouts in the basement, winter rides in below freezing temps, early nights, money and time spent, it all culminates on December 6th...
Getting to the second farthest chicross race late sure does wonders for your pre-race prep. I drove with my sister out to the penultimate Chicago cyclocross cup race with a misread on the time and distance to arrive. I quickly kitted up and noticed that the course seemed pretty much like last years. A longish start led into a super-fun descent into the woods. The climb out of this section is probably my favorite part of the course, at the top you wind around a pretty flat grassy section. I really dont like the "circle of death" feature that every other race seemed to feature this year. I think they're lame and they really kill my rhythm. Some more undulations, hit the barriers and some more twisty riding to the second "big" climb. The run-up once again really killed me but it was fun going through the switchback descent right before the finish.
I've been pretty lucky, actually really lucky that my racing "career" has only ever had one race ending mechanical. I've been pretty suspicous of this luck and was paranoid all season long that something would happen to me. It doesn't help that I've seen plenty of teammates, mainly Chris and Kevin break their bikes in various ways. I came close at woodstock. After my lame-ass warmup I went to the Cycle Smithy tent to put some air into my tires. They were running way too low. I pumped up the rear to just under 30, as I went to open the valve on the front tire the tip broke right off. Holy shit it was about 10 minutes to the start and 75% of the 3s field was already lined up. I tried two tubes from the shop guys but neither worked. One had a valve that was too short, the second tube had a long enough valve but was a skinny road tube that was not seating properly with my cx tire. AARRGGHH! First I got there late, second I was unable to set the trainer and warmup, now this! No front tire! I ran around for a couple of minutes trying to get a front wheel, I grabbed one of Al's pit wheels and off I was to the start line.
Of course I lined up in the back row. I saw some new faces,upgrades from the 4s surely. It was a big field and here I was all frazzled at the back. I noticed Kevin and Dave in the second row of riders and thought "yeah I'll never see those guys again". My start was horrible, my mind was off and I was not able to really move up any spots, instead I was racing with the guys I started with.
The first couple of laps hurt, the only good parts were the climbing but I didnt hit those as hard as I could have. It took me a while but about halfway through my legs showed up to the race. I started working with Matteo of Krystal cycling team. We started taking pulls and working together pretty well. We worked hard but the guys in front of us were unreachable. Towards the later part of the race a Cycle Smithy guy linked up with us but we were to have none of it. We drilled it hard until we dropped him.
Even though it was just me and Matteo, we worked hard so that nobody would bridge up from behind. And also to make sure that we didnt get lapped. Coming around the last part of our last lap I noticed Kevin up front. This gave me some extra motivation to push hard, he seemed to be within reach. Matteo gave me one hard final pull up the last hill after the runup. After that I drilled it hard into the red. I made up some time but Kevin was not going slow enough.
The result was bad, the start was bad, the luck was bad, but the legs were there. They showed up to the race late but I still have some matches left to burn. I am really psyching myself up for Montrose. This is it, one last chance. I am being realistic about what to expect and how I'm going to finish. I know who I can beat, and who is a little out of reach now. But I am going down in a blaze of glory. I will leave absolutely everything out there at Montrose, I am crossing that finish line a mere shell of a human being. For all those finishes, the results, the placings, trainer workouts in the basement, winter rides in below freezing temps, early nights, money and time spent, it all culminates on December 6th...
Fitness=C+
Bike handling=B
Race Tactics=D+
1 comment:
cycle smithy does not race cross anymore. sorry about not having the appropriate stem length. rhythm racing will get that sorted out.
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