Video from Nats
Here’s a video I shot with my digi camera - not great quality, but captures the energy of the race…
ps - watch the volume, there is some screaming.
Evan
eaelupus.wordpress.com
Cross Nats
Great course in Rhody. Beautiful weather. Lots of beer. I wish Nats were going to be back in the northeast next year.
After taking the red-eye from San Fran on Friday night and getting in Saturday morning, friend/coach Josef picked me up and we went straight to the park to watch the races. I was beat and my back was killing from a week’s worth of being on my feet and talking with like-minded nerds at the AGU conference, but some beer and pulled pork got me back into shape.
Next morning we set out early to the course. Matt, Judd Walencikowski, Kyle Murphy, Josef, and I got to the park and did a warm up lap. The course was much slicker than what we witnessed the pros race on the day earlier. After the first group raced, the course turned to peanut butter…and made things difficult early on in our race - as can be seen by the pix. By afternoon, it had dried out again, which made the course really fast - but our conditions made it rather comical to start.
I started in the 6th row, which is not bad considering there had to be about 15 rows with 170+ racers. I had a good start and felt pretty good. My back never acted up, but I was feeling the effects of travel. My legs were heavy and lungs chalky by the closing laps. By about middle of the 2nd lap I found myself with the a small lead group of 5. One rider attacked and we all just watched him get a gap. My strategy was to let him go and hopefully he’d get reeled in later. More of a survival strategy as I felt like I was pinned and couldn’t chase him down anyway. Before the next long run up I had moved to the front of the group, was sitting in 2nd, and had gotten a small gap. At the top of the run up my strategy was quickly altered. I had dropped my chain remounting and it jammed between the crank arm and chain ring. I continued to peddle, only making matters worse at it wrapped around on itself. I tried to fix it while staying in the saddle - and then - SLAM! At the last second before impact I saw the telephone pole that would deviate my plans. I had drifted to the edge of the course near the road and like the titanic, ramped head first. Over the bars, but back up quickly, fixed my chain and going. Well, not yet. Seems the impact was hard enough to knock my front tufo clincher off the rim. In a daze of anoxia I couldn’t figure out why my bike no-workie anymore. Finally the screaming fans made sense as they explained to this stunned rider the issue with the tire. Surprisingly, the tufo popped on quickly and I was on my way.
And that’s how it went. I stuffed my head into the pain cave to make up the lost ground, but eventually could only do so much. In fact, I faded in the last 1/4 lap and lost two positions. My fight was gone - I was exhausted more than any other cross race this season and happy to just finish. Nonetheless, it was a great time with racing, spectating, a little boozing, eating, and talking shop. Fun to hang with JoFo, Mike, Tris, Roger, and others.
Maybe Kansas next year.
Evan
I’ll post pix on my blog later
The Last Gasp of 2006
-by Chris Clarke
I finished my somewhat desultory ‘cross season with a race in Charlottesville on Sunday. I was looking forward to it because my best ‘cross result of the year occurred last month in C’ville when I took 2nd at the Cross at IX Race in a true mudfest. The forty degree rain probably kept the better riders at home that day. Actually, I probably wouldn’t have raced again this year after a dogged, yet utterly mediocre, race at Reston last week but I had left my jacket at the start line at the IX Race and felt obliged to retrieve it.
Yesterday, things went ok but not great which is pretty much the usual theme with me and ‘cross. A small mixed field of 35+ and 45+ masters (probably a grand total of 20 or so) raced around Darden Town Park in sunny, pleasant conditions. The course featured some fun, fast railing downhills, a lot of soul-sucking grass and one notable wall to the finish line. I finished 6th overall and 5th in the 35+ group. I managed about two laps near the front but blew out on the steep and long run up to the finish. As the leaders slowly, but inexorably, pulled away and no chasers appeared behind, I was able to drop into an enjoyably fast, but not vomit-inducing fast, pace for the remainder of the race. With one last mighty push, I rode up the wicked final hill instead of doing yet another death march with the bike to bring my 2006 racing season to a close.
My only other highlight for this year’s ‘cross season was getting a bronze medal in the 40+ race at the MABRA Championship Race. For some reason this race wasn’t part of the MABRA ‘Cross Series so turnout was lighter than usual for MABRA and I rode pretty hard that day, too.
Capitol Cross Classic Report
By Dave V.
This Kevin Dillard photo really tells the story of my B-Masters race in Reston:
I’m blurry,
I’m trailing the focused rider,
I look distressed, and
I’m about to get passed by a kid who is ONE-THIRD my age.
Until last Sunday, it’d been a decent CX season. I’d been feeling good on the bike and placed 14th, 16th and 9th in the C category at three MABRA races. I was itchin’ to try the B-Masters at a MAC race.
Before the race began, I knew it wouldn’t be my finest hour. I had a cold that my Gwadzilla Pre-Race Performance Cocktail (Excedrin & Red Bull) couldn’t hide. The B-Masters are definitely a more serious bunch than the C racers, too. Nonetheless, I was ready to make a go of it. The race started almost without warning. UCI/MAC officials are not chatty. With a sudden TWEET, we were off…
The course was made with MTBers in mind. I rode well technically, but didn’t have the inner UMPHFF to “push through the pain barrier.” I still grunted and grimaced the whole time. Unlike Joel and Joe, I only remember two details about the race:
1. Tris was stationed right after the barriers and diligently cheered me on for each of the 5 (I think) laps. I kept meaning to give her a YO! when I passed, but I could barely breathe. Thanks, Tris.
2. There was a one-half of a rear derailleur pulley arm on the ground, four grassy turns after the start. It looked like someone’s derailleur got sucked into the rear wheel and EXPLODED. Crazy. It gave the sense that something terrible had happened there. I sped through that turn each time to escape the bad karma.
In the end, I finished near the end of the B-Masters’ heap. It was still a morning well spent…actually, 44 minutes well spent. Now it’s time to “build my base” and plan for next year.
See y’uns out there soon!
RACE REPORT: Capitol Cross Classic 2006
Race Report: Capitol Cross Classic 2006
by Joel Gwadz
It amazes me how Joe Foley can remember each moment of each lap with such clarity. So much of the races becomes one big blur. There are often moments that stand out in my mind, but I can not always recall the sequence of events, heck I can not tell you how many laps I completed much less what happened during each event. Yet, I will try to put together a bit of a race report with as much detail as I can just the same.
In many ways the race season had ended for me months prior. Mountain biking is clearly more my focus than cyclocross, but I like to dabble in cross just the same. The frequency and the intensity of my rides had dropped off significantly. It is always important for me to work a balance between life and family, so during the fall family definitely takes priority over cycling. That said… cycling is not entirely removed from the equation as cycling is part of who I am.
Sunday’s race was on my mental calendar since the beginning of the fall. I had not pre-registered, I knew that I wanted to race this event if my life’s schedule allowed. The folks at PVC throw a great event. The course at Lake Fairfax is challenging and pleasurable at the same time. There may be a little too much time on gravel for my tastes… but I take the good with the bad. The notion of sneaking in one last race for 2006 was exciting to me. The mild temperatures only added to the energy. As the race day approached I was torn with what class to compete in on this day. The UCI events have enough Masters that they split their group into two, creating Masters A and (more…)
VELOPHOTOS: Capital Cross Classic 2006
images of joel gwadz by kevin dillard of velo photos
velophotos.net
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.