Raytown BMX Cyclocross - Day 1

Today was day 1 of 2 cx races out at the Raytown BMX course. 

We've been to this venue before and it never disappoints. Several years back, probably 2011, we had an epic mud race on day 1. It was fast soupy mud. The following day was peanut butter mud which totally sucked, I was happy when the mud broke my bike on day 2 and I had to quit but that soupy Saturday race was awesome. I had the fitness and Mother Nature provided the primo cx elements. 

Today was hot and sunny with no mud to be found. 

The team was out in force at 7:30 am, setting up the course and doing our best to help realize Brittons vision. 

My warm up was limited but I felt okay on the line. Probably 12 racers. I think I basically stayed in contact with the group thru one lap and by the end I finished in front of a couple folks. It felt like it was getting easier to push a bigger gear as the race went on so that was encouraging. Last week at Buffalo Bill I got lapped by maybe 4 folks and it happened pretty early. This week I only got lapped by 2. Micah and then Britton. Britton barely lapped me and I gave it just about everything to stay in front of him.

The course was awesome. There are a ton of options out there and Britton made the most of them. 

Looking forward to tomorrow. Feel like a decent warmup would lead to a better race. 

It's great to be racing again!

Buffalo Bill CX

CX season has started in KC.

The first race was Sunday, yesterday, Buffalo Bill's CX in Leavenworth, KS.

I went. It was Hilly.

I've been pretty focused on cross for most of the year. With our son being born last December i figured i could sit out until CX but use that time to figure out my new life and how to train around it.

After one cx race it remains to be seen how well i accomplished the training part but im guessing i didn't do too well. The likely truth is that I simply don't have the time, talent or discipline to train hard enough to be competitive as a cat 2. But we're only one race in...

Race day:

I had to drop Aubree off at The Renaissance Festival and so arrived later than i would have liked. Warmed up for 25 minutes including one pre lap. The course was extremely hilly and i was glad i had grippy tires for the fast downhill corners.

It was a 1/2/3 race and we all started together. 18 starters. I was in the second row and when the whistle blew, Vince, who was in the first row, swerved way right after apparently missing his pedal so i had to come to almost a complete stop. I felt someone hit my rear wheel and then heard them go down. After I got going again i looked back to see that it was our teammate Jon Sink who fell.

Crash-o vita in the house!

So now im pedaling but am in next to last. By the end of the race i managed to get around and finish in front three more folks. I was in front of a few more but lost one or two places in the last lap, it was tough to tell because i was getting lapped plus i don't recognize that many people yet.

I actually felt good, which is mildly depressing, knowing that my good is pretty bad.

So this was the first race. My goal for the season is to be a legit cat 2 on a local level. Basically look like i belong there. On Sunday i got beat by 8 cat 3's.

No worries, life is good, bicycles are fun and im racing again!

(i took no pictures)

Cathedral Crit

I raced last Sunday.

I signed up for the 4/5 and the 3/4.

I did not race well. 

This is the third crit I've done this year and I think I'm in the best shape so far. The course was easier than in years past so I felt like a group finish was very possible. 

Well, the course was harder than I expected and more significantly my fitness is still pitiful so I lasted 20 minutes in the 4/5 race and 15 minutes in the 3/4 race. 

I was either nervous or my body can't race on McDonald's breakfast like it used to because I had to stick my finger down my throat 20 min before the start. That was a first. Maybe I'll try oatmeal. 

I'm going to get my butt kicked in cx. 

See you then!

Single Speed Kansas City.

Today is Saturday, last Saturday i raced Single Speed Kansas City at Swope Park.

It was a mountain bike race. It was single speed only. It was awesome.

I often joke about how great it would be if races only offered one category, the human category. This was that race.

Single speed is the future.  

So, a little back story. Brian C gave me the low down on SSKC during our Lake Wilson trip back in March, It took me a while to come around since i didnt have a single speed but ultimately I was powerless to resist. 

A huge party right in my backyard with a race over my favorite trails, how could you say no?

And i do mean party. Single Speed people know how to get down and Brian and his people did a great job giving them the optimal environment. 

For me this was a race first and party second. I trained as well as possible but when the big day arrived i knew i was under prepared. And not just in terms of what my original goals were. I was under prepared for just finishing. Up until a week before the start I was assuming this race would be like a typical xc race and take about 2 hours. Then Britton mentioned that it's going to be 27 miles, which is about 3 full laps at Swope.

3 full laps!!!

Thats a lot.

Swope is no joke. 

(side note: Lots of out of towers showed up and i got a real kick listening to them talk about how hard the trail was. I passed several people muttering a different variation of the same theme, "rocks").

Now with the exception of a 1 hr ride two days prior I hadn't ridden Swope all year, nor had i done any rides even remotely resembling the effort it would take to finish this race. However i knew i was in okay shape for a slow dad who doesn't race much anymore and that finishing was possible... And that it would destroy me. 

Race day...

I showed up plenty early and with plenty of supplies. Britton may be able to finish 3rd on one bottle and a few randomly inhaled bugs but i need food and water. 

One big factor working in my favor was that I've spent countless hours at swope. Unfortunately I tend to ride the same direction every single time and as I soon discovered 75% of the race was run going the opposite direction.  

Still, by the time i lined up i was feeling pretty comfortable with what lay ahead.

Comfortable enough to line up almost in the front row. Call it row 1.5, and way off to the side. 

The start was perfect for me. A long and steep road. At the top we did a 180 onto the singletrack and then proceeded to tackle a brutally rocky section which just so happens to be one of the few sections i never ride.

But I started good. the guy behind me said i better start fast and I'm glad he did because that was my plan and He forced me to stick to it. Looking at the massive amount of photos from the race (just another reason this race was awesome, everyone was taking pictures and they're all on the Facebook page. Check it out) i hit the single track in about 17th. Duff went in right ahead of me and Jon J right behind. 

The next 10 minutes were brutal. Gnarly trail followed by an uphill followed by the pressure of maybe 100 racers behind me. Except nobody was right behind me. Sure there were a few folks but the opening 15 minutes were so hard that the race spread out immediately. with over 100 racers i was expecting a lot more chaos. Props to the course designers for setting it up like that. 

Plus a substantial number of racers were probably more focused on the party than the race. I can't sit here and pretend that I was competing against 100 other motivates racers.  

The rest of the day was an Odyssey.

Random things seemed to pop up around every bend. First it was a guy in a speedo bent over messing with his chain. Then i was being serenaded by Brett S and his Dobro / percussion band. They also offered me beer, wine and cigarettes. Later i passed an unmanned stereo playing Cumberland Blues by the Grateful Dead. A dude in a red tutu passed me while i went back and forth with Prince and Lt. Dangel from Reno 911. Dangel beat me but i beat Prince.

Upon completing my first lap i took a beer hand up and the dude knew my name and his voice was familiar. It was Jones. Later i grabbed a whisky shot from the wine and cheese table and that came moments after i grabbed my bottle of coke. Sometimes things just fall into place. 

At some point I heard what sounded like thunder and then sure enough a cool breeze blew thru along with a few sprinkles. The temp dipped significantly but the gods continued to smile upon this race and spared us any significant rain.  

Later i took a shot of red wine, it tasted better than expected. 

I rode strong for two laps but eventually the distance got to me. I was hoping that my easy gear (30x20 on a 29r) would be a difference maker on the 3rd lap but in the end all it did was delay the inevitable. By the time i was halfway thru that last lap i was completely drained and cramping badly. I had done everything i could during the race, food, water, electrolytes, whisky, but it didn't matter.

Swope is a beast. 

My hands cramped up the worst. The legs actually held up pretty well but i have dainty hands and they were not happy. At it's worst i was standing on the trail taking deep breaths with my hands in prayer position.

I walked a lot on that last lap. 

But i finished!

And i must say it was an extremely rewarding feeling.

It's been a while since i was that drained after a race. And banged up too. I had two hard falls and I'm still sore a week later. 

Before i forget, i need to give big thanks to Britton and Zach at Volker Bicycles. Britton turned my bike into a single speed and was patient as i tried out several gear ratios and Zach set up my tires the day before the race, going so far as to remove the massive amounts of dried stanz from the wheels. The bike worked great and then to top that these two went and finished 3rd and 4th in the race!

The biggest thanks need to go to Brian and his pal Mike. As I understand it they were the brains behind everything. I'm sure they had tons of help so to whoever deserves it... THANK YOU!!!!

This event was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

If Kansas City gets lucky twice and SSKC happens next year I'm definitely going... and this time I'll be dressing up. 

Mountain Bike Weekend (on the road)

I had no work for three days, I rode my mountain bike each day. 

Single Speed KC (Swope Park mountain bike race) is less than a month away so I need all the practice I can get. Unfortunately 90% of my riding this weekend was on pavement so I still need a lot of practice. 

Driving to Swope takes time and I've always been more of a 'ski in ski out' kind of guy. But I need to start biting the bullet and loading the bike in the car. 

I haven't been to swope since last year and that needs to change before I line up with 120 other cyclists. 120... that's a lot. 

I'd love to get out there six times before the actual race. 

Plus I still need to have my bike converted to single speed. 

Bicycles!

 

Tour of Lawrence Downtown Crit.

I raced the Sunday crit at the Tour of Lawrence. 

I tried hard not to get dropped. I failed. It was a valiant effort. 

The road bike got some much needed love, including faster baby approved tires, the morning of the race and then the entire family unit saddled up for the drive to Lawrence. 

Serious traffic delayed us about 30 minutes and since I still had to register I knew warm up time would be limited. That did not, however, prevent me from stopping by the Bourgeois Pig. I absolutely love that place. 

Managed to warm up for maybe 20 min before lining up. Not ideal but I was so glad to be at a big race with the family watching that i didn't really care. 

Once the whistle blew all the old feelings came back. This was a real race, where you had to pay close attention. I was on extra high, I'm a new dad and I don't want to break my collar bone again because that would suck, alert mode.

I felt like a Jedi. Scanning everyone around me, anticipating what action would lead to a chain reaction that would lead to me crashing. It was both annoying and invigorating.  

That attitude might have affected my race a bit, perhaps making it harder by not takin a small risks that could lead to an easier to finish race, but I was probably bound to get dropped either way. 

This time I held on to the group for 15 minutes, and I kept going after getting dropped. Latched on to one or two stragglers but dropped off them before finally recovering and settling into a rhythm. I noticed a previously dropped group of 5 coming up behind so jumped in with them and then waited to get lapped. 

I / we probably did 4 laps before getting lapped. I jumped back in with the peloton with about 9 to go and had no trouble hanging in until 1 to go. Then I got dropped and coasted home with a smile on my face, glad to get (basically) a full race in. 

For those 15 minutes I was back. 

It was awesome.