Capital Cross Classic
by Joe Foley
The Capital Cross Classic was the the last local cross race of the year and by virtue of being a UCI international race and part of the Verge MAC series was also one of the most competitive of the season. The field sizes are down a bit from the beginning of the year but those racers not frightened off by the cold are the hardened ones, and for the most part the fast ones.
I drove out to Reston early, knowing that i’d need to get out to have a look at the course before the start of the C-race since the day was scheduled differently than most cross races and the killer-Bs were the 2nd race, rather than the 3rd. on my first pre-ride lap of the course, bundled up to keep warm, my hands went completely numb. i could hardly pull the brakes and shifting wasn’t possible by the end of the lap. Instead of heading out for a 2nd lap i went back to the car and spent 10 minutes rubbing my hands together to get the blood flowing again and feeling back (and the pain to subside).
Once i had feeling back in my hands i went back out onto the course for another look for good lines, then back to the car to take a quick break to see the C race start and get checked in before starting my warm-up. rode around the roads outside the park to get warmed up.
the start was chaotic. i got a decent position on the line in the scrum, 3rd row, right behind the call ups. a couple of guys were joking pretty loudly and then with no warning from the offical the whistle blew and no one knew what to do. a couple of guys started then stopped someone asked the official if we should start. he said yes and we started to move. the lane i was in was the last to move, but it didn’t really matter since i was headed to the back of the field anyway — my starts have been bad all year, it just seems like i don’t know what to do when the pack starts moving.
after the first couple of turns i was near the back, with mike scardaville right behind me, and we spent the first lap passing some slower riders that had come around us on the start. we passed a large group at the top of the big climb on the first lap and after a couple of trips around the course mike and i were locked in a battle with squadra coppi’s peter nicol. we hung with him for a while, taking turns pulling, untill he started to get away from us. a couple of laps into the race i thought that i was probably holding mike back, so i told him that i thought he should just go.
mike started to get a little bit of a gap on me, but i was trying to keep in touch and was starting to feel a little better. a lap and 1/2 later, with bernie mcdonald from charm city hot on our tails, mike slid out in a turn and fell. i’d been trying to beat him up the climb and through the corner before this one, so i was right on his wheel. i managed to stay upright and get around him while he was on the ground.
in the last couple of laps a 3sports racer started gaining ground on me on the long climb after the dam. with one lap to go he closed a 50-yard gap to get on my wheel at the top of the climb, but by the bottom of the downhill he was back by 30-yards and in the flat section before the next climb i was able to build the gap up again only to see it disapear again on the next lap.
on the last lap, he closed the gap down again, and as i wound around the top of the little hill i kept focused on keeping him behind me. if i got onto the downhill first and he rode it as slowly as he did the lap before, then i’d be in good shape to hold him of to the finish line. the strategy worked, at the bottom of the downhill, instead of hearing his wheels creeping up on me there was no one. i stayed on the gas for the rest of the course, slipping a little but staying fast through the muddy corners, staying smooth and balanced to the ride the little rooty climb, turning the pedals to churn through the muddy and gravelly sections, and then opening it up on the road to finish strong.
my placing may be a dissapointing looking 30th of 46, but i was really happy with my race. i felt comfortable throughout the race, no cramping like last year, and was able to stay strong all the way to the end.
congrats to evan and matt for their good results. matt took 1st in his last C-race and evan took 2nd in the killer Bs. lots of DCMTB/City Bikes/Metro Gutter riders will be heading up to cyclocross nationals in a week and half so look out for some good stories from providence soon.
Terror of Teaberry Race Report
by Tom Vaughn
Conditions were wet with a 60% chance of strong thunderstorms race day. I was in 2nd place for the series, however, so I had to go. It wasn’t that bad in the opening sections. A little mud, no puddles, no thunderstorms forecast until the afternoon, just drizzle.
I got a great start and built a pretty good gap on the field in 3rd with the leader, Neil Sapp, in view all the time.We finished the first big hill and I saw the single track ahead. I passed number two just as we come over the rise and into the single track. All of a sudden, there’s a huge gulley with loose watermelon-sized rocks beneath my wheels. In my peripheral vision, I see Neil and number two go down. I manage to stay on the bike and ride through. I eventually come to the road and loop back to the start area, ready for the first big descent. I look back down the road and don’t see anybody. I’m in first by a sizable margin!
Back onto the single track and coming by the start-area crowd, my front tire flats. A bit of background here: I Stans-converted my rear wheel after losing a podium slot at the CM dirt crit due to a flat. I haven’t done the front tire yet because I NEVER get flats in front. Well, there’s a first time for everything. I get the flat fixed and think I can still catch up. So I fly down the hill and get another flat in the front. Argh! I have a second tube, but my race is obviously done.
By the time I’ve got the bike back together the juniors, who started last, are passing me. I resign myself to taking the downhills conservatively and trying to make up time elsewhere. Unfortunately, the effects of the recent rain start making themselves known. The rocks are coated in slime and its very difficult to stay on a line. I end up running and carrying my bike more than I ever have on a ride, much less a race!
I finish in 2:53:09 for 23nd place or something. I left thinking I’d lost the series placement. I find out later that I still took 2nd in the series by about the same margin going into it. I guess everybody else had a bad race too!
‘05 24 Hours of Seven Springs
by rickyd
Total fluke. Not supposed to happen. Yet, the four of us found ourselves giggling like little schoolgirls 50 yards from the finish line, 8 minutes before noon on Sunday.
Many months ago, my buddy Joe was looking for a fourth for a fixed gear rigid team for the 24 hours of Seven Springs. He was asked by Brad, a likeminded fixie fanatic that hangs out at DR HQ. It was on the same weekend as the SM100, so I didn’t immediately jump on board, even though I was intrigued. I’d never seriously considered racing fixie at a mountain bike race, especially one that was actually in the mountains. I conceded the next day, figuring the opportunity was rare, and the SM100 would be waiting for me next year and thereafter.
A few weeks ago, Brad - possibly overwhelmed with work, riding, and/or life - wrote the team an e-mail about his unpreparedness. “…I am hereby announcing my resignation from the fixed 24hr team at Seven Springs…”
Rat bastard monkey boy! I’ve been looking forward to the challenge since Riderx’s first e-mail, and this definitely was a downer. I quickly replied all to this effect, “Don’t matter whatchu ride, we’re still a team!” I also explained I had almost zero fixie saddle time since the invite, and I knew I’d be hurting as well. What happened to the premise that this was a “shits and giggles” experience, with no false hope of actually doing well? None of us had ever raced fixie before, so we were all jumping in feet first, together. With that, and some more encouragement from the others, he was back on, but planned to do it freewheel.
Fast forward to last Friday. I had a mere two fixie rides under my belt, with two different rear wheels that provided me with no confidence for a much longer, steeper, and rockier course, much less at race pace. The first wheel constantly slipped in the dropouts, and could not be easily remedied with chain tugs. The second wheel was a Surly freewheel hub, set up “suicide” style: blue Loctite, one track cog, one bottom bracket lockring, all threaded on in the same direction. With it, you were one good trackskid away from a freefall off a mountain ledge, and I already got it to partially spin off the night before.
So when my office administrator called right before I left for Seven Springs, I was overwhelmed with relief. “Yer packidge huz arrrrived and I slipt it underrr yerrr oofice dorrr,” in her evocative Scottish brogue. Brett came through with his Boone disc fixed cog (the only fixie system that I’ve personally tried and have complete trust in when things go off pavement).
Wife and I stopped by the office, scooped up the overnighted package, and rushed off to pick up Mr. and Mrs. Riderx. Six hours later, we arrived at base camp and set up with the Dirt Rag/Maverick crew. I got busy throwing on the new cog, and to prevent any bad matchups, I also used a new chain and a new chainring. Riderx snickered that most race horror stories begin with, “So the night before the race, I changed xxxxxx.”
When we wake up, Brad wants to talk strategy, but most importantly, who was going to do the run in the Le Mans start. Nobody pipes up. We decide to draw matchsticks, and the shortest one runs. Brad picks first, and gets the loser. He grumbles, but accepts his fate. He has done big races in the last few weeks, and has a sore hammie. Filled with guilt, Justin later grabs the torch from him and accepts the run. The rest of the lineup becomes Riderx #2, Brad #3, and me last. Since he no longer had to run, and possibly also feeling a smidge of guilt, Brad decides to swap his freewheel for a fixed. We’re on.
Justin’s a newbie to the 24 hour race scene, but I find out from Brad that he’s one bad mofo. Riding an always-fixed Cross Check with a stem that would be deemed way too long by today’s
standards and relatively skinny treads, he’s still able to leave Brad in the dust. Even with the prologue run, he manages to pull off an incredible first lap.
Riderx blasts out of the start tent and in no time returns with breathtaking speed. He has stories about how he managed to do two wheel drifts through some of the gravel 90+ degree turns and advises me not to make the same mistake.
Brad’s coming back soon, and I’m trying to shake off my nervousness. I hop around trying to stay warm, but I’m afraid. Doesn’t matter, my adrenaline’s going through the roof so I’m supercharged.
Discussions with others that have already ridden the course prior to the race always had people asking the same things. “What about the rock gardens? Won’t you hit your pedals?” To it, “Ayup.”
“What about the climbs? Will you be able to ride up them?” “Uhhh, maybe?” I’ve never been there before, but one look at the course right beyond our field of view had me gasping for air.
Brad pulls into the check-in tent grinning ear-to-ear. He has a good run. He passes the baton/bracelet and I’m off. I hop on the bike and go full bore down the fireroad. Legs flopping wildly out of control, the path starts to veer. I pull hard on the front brake and I can feel the bike start to lift. Oh sheist! I back off the brake because an endo 20 seconds into the race would be too much to explain. The rest of the lap goes off like a champ, and I return to the tent in good spirits.
The course goes up, down, and all around the mountain, multiple times. This is how I thought of it: the first four miles is where most of the tougher rock gardens were, the second five miles is where most of the faaaast downhills were, and the last four miles is where most of the hard climbing was.
Turns out my fixed worries were unfounded. My biggest concern going into the race was being able to maneuver in the rock gardens. I was able to clean 99% of the course on my day lap. On my two night laps, I had two bike ejections when my cranks hit tall rocks/logs at speed, but I didn’t get hurt.
More difficult than the rock gardens however, were the downhills. I never got to rest. In fact, since I had to spin faster as I went downhill, I ended up being more tired than if I was going uphill. Throw in rocks and obstacles, and it became a fatiguing drain of intense concentration coupled with a lot of butt-puckering.
Anyways, back to the beginning (which was actually the end). When Brad hopped off his bike so the team could discuss if I needed to go out for another lap, both his legs locked up. We decided
that the next team would not be able to get back in time for another lap due to the late departure time of their last member, so we were golden. He hobbled to the finish tent, and once the closing siren went off, we made it official. Our fixie experiment finished in first.
We ended up doing 15 laps. The other three did 4 each, and I squeaked in 3. Zero mechanicals. Maybe a testament to the simplicity of the drivetrain? Zero problems with my knees. All year long I’ve been plagued with sore knee problems at my big races. There was no pain after this race, and the only thing notably changed was from freewheel to fixed. We were rewarded with big, heavy medals, jerseys, hats, flashlights, and one hilarious-ly fun weekend.
Many thanks to our wives and girlfriends, my sponsor City Bikes, and Boone Rings.
Fitness Concepts Greenbrier Challenge AMBC - Greenbrier State Park, MD - 5/8/05
by Chris Clarke
Eric Welp, wearing his Hunter S. Thompson disguise, and I rode up to race yesterday and what follows is a largely factual account of those events. As far as I can recall, there were no giant blood sucking bats involved but there was definite fear and loathing.
Sunday was a glorious day for a mountain bike race and CityBike’s was well represented at the Greenbrier NORBA mountain bike race and tire changing contest. Clear and sunny with temperatures in the 70s. Our team posted many excellent results in the sport classes and I was amazed at the high speeds through the start finish area. Seeing how I was thoroughly winded from a modest warm up, I wondered how I was actually going to manage race pace.
Eventually, we were called to the starting pens. Many age divisions resulted in pretty small fields for the most part but it seemed like most fields were relatively deep in quality riders. Given that there was only ten riders in my field and the course easily accomodated passing in most places, there was no need to rush for the hole shot. I slotted in around fifth as we went up the first hill and rounded the early rock gardens like the proverbial drunken sailor. The first time up the big gnarly hill, I managed to ride the entire way in the middle ring and maintain good speed through the less steep upper portions. I rolled through the start finish in third with the leaders in sight. At some point on the next lap, I passed one of the two leaders and was feeling like I was on my way to a good race.
The good feeling came to an abrupt end as I flatted at the end of the second lap and lost 5-6 minutes changing a flat. “Gosh darn” is what I said. Time to invest in Big Air and maybe some rock tires. In my haste, I neglected to hook up my rear brake and had to stop again to hook it up and then another time to put the cable into the ferrules properly so the brake would work. Wah, wah, wah, woe was surely unto me. Any semblence of rythm and momentum were long gone. I dogged it around the course for the last lap as best I could and picked up two places for a fifth place finish.
Having been a beneficiary of flatting more than a victim in recent years, I suppose I had a karmic debt to pay and this race was as good a time as any to pay it. And, as I tell everyone who’ll listen, that’s racing.
Hope to see you all at the next race.