Can I get a freakin race report?

[seanrunnette]

Warm up. I know you're getting there earlier than the sun already, but plan another 20 minutes. Pre-riding is great, but adding a focused warm-up may help you POP through those first efforts. The first 2 minutes of a cross race should feel like you're gonna die. Sprint, sprint, sprint!
Also, now that you're learning who you're racing, find a wheel you want to follow. Like that guy in the ill-advised red jacket in front of you at the start. Do what the faster people do
EDIT: just looked at Nittany, too. The Wooden Wheels guy and the RCC guy are at both races, and they're not faster than you. BUT they are holding their positions and leapfrogging well. Find them in the grid and DON'T LOSE THEM.
There, all fixed.

 

[hotsauce]

what camera do you use?

It's just a GoPro Hero4 Session that I ran the video through the Garmin Virb Edit software. The software is free and allows you to sync up the video with a GPS file.

I'm still learning my way around the software since it's a bit different than the Excel software I play with all day at work. I'd like to add HR and ditch elevation change for cross, but it's better than nothing. The course map is pretty neat!

 

[choop]

Race Report!

Raced Hippo cat 5 yesterday. My first cross race and a damp few days had me nervous. So going into it I wanted a good start, but wanted to get a feel for the race on the first lap. So of course I got passed by more than I should have on the starting straight. Then got a bit bogged down on the first lap. Things cleared out on the next few laps and I made quite a few of those positions back.

Me and another fellow went back and forth for a couple laps as we brought back people in front of us. He weould drop me a bit on the top of the course, especially the gravel. I would make it back and pass on the bottom of the course and hills. I ended up finishing ahead of him on a pass that I was pretty stoked about. As we made the off camber turn up the course, there was someone ahead of us. I let the dude in front take the turn, then I shot inside and hammered the hill. The other guy I was working with got blocked and I stayed clear.

My legs hurt, but my heart rate wasn't maxing out. I assume because I haven't raced in a month and I don't have the threshold fitness I did a few weeks ago. The course never got super slick, but slick enough with teh grass scraped off the corner with some mud. I didn't really take a ton of risk on them. There were a few times I knew I could pass someone in the corner and I chose not to. I thought it was better to stay upright than slide out, and take the other rider down with me. Plus I don't have a ton of experience in those conditions to know where the limit was. I am sure I left some time on the course. Lessons learned.

Overall, it was a lot of fun. I didn't trip over any barriers and learned a lot for next race.

 

[The Squirrel]

Caffeinated CX - Cat 5


My prep for this race started early. I watched a lot of past year Caffeinated CX videos and understood what possible obstacles could be on the course this year. I missed Wednesday drills at LSP, but did my own practice Thursday AM down the block working on riding over logs, short steep run ups, barriers and figure 8’s in the wet grass. I learned that my MDX’s collect mud and grass like a magnet and it was time to switch over to the PDX’s. Also, after practicing my number pinning I was feeling confident in my race day effort.


I started very early because I was picking up my buddy who got me into CX who was in town and going to race as well. Had a nice breakfast and kept my Nittany Cross Gut nightmare in the forefront of my mind. It drizzled all the way down the Turnpike, but it let up when we arrived.


The race predictor had me at 38th out of 60. My goal was to be a little more competitive in the start and to ambitiously be in the top 50% of the field.


The course was looking like it would be up my alley. Not having a big engine, the very turnie, up and down course would theoretically mean that I wouldn’t lose too much time on long straights, like Nittany. I was called up to the first row, a gift for being timely with my registration! It was nice not to be staring down the wrong end of my competition. I had a decent start, clipped in quickly and didn’t start bleeding places until the first turn. I was handling the turns and the obstacles well (for me). The single stair and the small log was a ride over for me. The big log, stairs and the peanut butter hill was definitely a run up. I didn’t even try because I knew it would have been a disaster. Barriers seemed faster for me today and about half of my remounts were stutter step-less. All improvements. My first experience with sand seemed OK. I’m pretty light and it was obvious to me that the harder pack was to the far right. It wasn’t the straight line, but I was fast in there and when I went in with others, I gained places.


With two laps to go I came up on a rider. He seemed stronger than me, but his skills and confidence seemed to be his weak point. As I passed him in the barriers the announcer makes a comment, which sent him into a fury. He eventually passed me and I would catch him on every turn or obstacle and lose him on any sort of straight. He was hopping off his bike for everything and having a hard time in the turns. This should have been a hint, but I was actually having fun putting pressure on this rider. This was my downfall. I escaped a few close incidents, but it finally caught up to me. On a hard, ~135 degree, uphill, off camber turn (which I rode every time), he stopped and I went down. By the time I got my left foot out of the pedal I discovered my bike was tangled in the tape. By the time I got my bike out I lost quite a few places. Finished 42nd out of 57. Still, I was on the lead lap and I felt more confident. AND my number looked great.


A few lessons learned AND I had big fun. The one I was having a problem with was clearing mud, which caused lots of clipping issues. I would kick my shoes on the side of the pedal a few times, which worked only half the time. There were sections of the course that I rode without being clipped in and there were times when I would easily pull out. I'm going to have to shed on this for next time.


All that riding in the woods has me thinking I should start looking into MTB’ing.

Now where's Hotsauce...

 

[hotsauce]

I raced Caffeinated 5's as well. I only got 3 laps in for practice and didn't have time to get comfortable with riding the peanut butter hill (or the other obstacles) so I had a bit of running on the day. I had a front row call up so I practiced starts from the grid before the race and felt like I got comfortable. When the whistle blew (with poor form by the USAC official standing in front of the field and announcing he was going to start us now) I missed the clip in and spun my rear wheel in the gravel. About the worst possible outcome!

I took a few spots back heading into the first turn and made most of them back before a guy in Manual for Speed kit came blowing by me before the small step up and he stayed away for the remainder of the race. I battled with another rider a bit but he faded early on the 3rd lap and I spent most of the last two laps hoping I was in 2nd place and trying not to screw anything up. I sprinted with a rider from the 40+ field for kicks and giggles coming to the line and got a great jump on him and took it easily.

The course didn't suit me well, it was very technical and there were almost no straight areas to hammer. It felt like a MTB trail to me, but what does a roadie know? Results confirmed a 2nd place finish and awesome schwag bag of Skratch, coffee beans, and coffee mug trophy on a really long rope. After my fifth race finish, I'll be putting in for my upgrade to Cat 4 and start hunting for points.

Next race: Cooper River CX.

I have GoPro video as evidence of my horrible start which I'll post once it's done processing.

 

[hotsauce]

OK, here's the GoPro video:

 

[-YETI-]

This is my second year racing cross but first race report...so here goes!!!

Hippo 3's - arrive an hour early and fit in the pre-ride. I warm up and am feeling good.

There are no call ups so start line is a free for all. I line up mid pack (where I've been finishing).

Race starts!

I start sprinting and mere seconds in a guy behind rams into the back of me. He rips my Di2 derailleur off my bike (not just the hanger unfortunately).

Race over, 10 seconds in.

Stay tuned for more exciting reports like this one!!!

[edit - this was Hippo]

 

[Pearl]

This is my second year racing cross but first race report...so here goes!!!

Caffeinated 3's - arrive an hour early and fit in the pre-ride. I warm up and am feeling good.

There are no call ups so start line is a free for all. I line up mid pack (where I've been finishing).

Race starts!

I start sprinting and mere seconds in a guy behind rams into the back of me. He rips my Di2 derailleur off my bike (not just the hanger unfortunately).

Race over, 10 seconds in.

Stay tuned for more exciting reports like this one!!!

no call ups? not even by registration?

 

[Pearl]

OK, here's the GoPro video:

man, watching this makes me miss this venue!

 

[steviesax]

This is my second year racing cross but first race report...so here goes!!!

Caffeinated 3's - arrive an hour early and fit in the pre-ride. I warm up and am feeling good.

There are no call ups so start line is a free for all. I line up mid pack (where I've been finishing).

Race starts!

I start sprinting and mere seconds in a guy behind rams into the back of me. He rips my Di2 derailleur off my bike (not just the hanger unfortunately).

Race over, 10 seconds in.

Stay tuned for more exciting reports like this one!!!

Are you sure you don't mean Hippo? I heard some nasty crunching sounds like this in the Hippo cat 3 start. Shame if it happened at Caffeinated too

 

[MadisonDan]

Cat 4/5 40+


Hippo CX…..
Front row start. No call ups, WTF? Took the hole shot, and lead for the first two laps or so. Probably went out a little too fast. Strange being in front. Total mind fuck. Nobody to chase, and no idea who's coming up from behind. Got caught on the second lap (maybe third) by the eventual winner. The race was 6 laps, for a total of 7.6 miles. Short, fast laps. I finished 3rd, 6 seconds behind 2nd place, and 18 seconds behind the winner. Video of the first lap here:


Caffeinated CX....
Front row start again. Settled into 4th place at the beginning, then 5th. This course was totally different from Hippo yesterday. Much tighter and twistierererer. More of a mountain bikers course. Managed to make two passes after descending the short steep clay mud hill, moving into 3rd. Shortly after, the leader and Harry Hamilton (teammate) got tangled up navigating an off camber downward right turn. The leader hit the deck, with Harry right behind (on top of) him. Harry managed to remount as I came up, and he was now leading with me in second. We stayed 1/2 until the end of the third lap, when Harry went down (third time for him) and I passed him. He got back up and was on my wheel for the beginning of the fourth and final lap. I was able to open up a little space thru the sand pit, and finished with a 6 second lead FOR THE WIN!!! The race was 4 laps, for a total of 6.5 miles. Video of the first lap here:


Nothing for me next weekend except for Jungle Jam. Next race is Cooper River, 4/5's.

 

[steviesax]

Since I did both NJ races this weekend i'll give my recaps. None of you know me so probably won't be super interesting??

Cat 3 Hippo - We're all standing around and the USAC official is like "alright since it's the first race of the series we're just going to stage you exactly how you are". lolwut. fine, no big. I'm in 3rd row and not sure where my fitness is anyway. Whistle blows. Pedal maybe 2 strokes and someone is shouldering me from my left. Guessing whoever that was got bumped into me. I brace myself and keep riding straight. Behind me I hear the crunching of deraileur and spokes. Bummer. As I go through the start finish I glance back and realize I'm pretty much the last in the group of people that didn't get tangled up in the start. The first part of the course is straight grassy doubletrack. It's fast. I make up a few spots in the first few turns. On one turn at the top of a hill I misjudge how quickly I'm catching one rider and get chopped hard (my fault). I ride through a bit of tape but no ground gained. After that it was really just trying to keep pushing and making up spots. The course was more fun than I thought it was going to be when warming up. The rain this past week softened out some of the bumpiness that's to be expected when you have a cross course next to a cornfield. There were some good turns and I think really the course was quite good for the parcel of land they had to use. I ended up in 8th. oh and the live band was rad. enjoyed hearing covers of Misfits, Fugazi, Bouncing Souls, etc during my race

Cat 3 Caffeinated - They didn't do call-ups based on Hippo but it was a smallish field. 3 rows I think? Order of reg. The guys who were 1st and 2nd at Hippo made the jump to elite race (kudos). I thought I was positioned OK after the first straightaway when we went onto the grass...then the guy/guys in front of me make a handful of mistakes. One of them screws up big time on the steps forcing us to run. Then on the clay mound run-up the one guy doesn't make it over and blocks the pass. Ugh. Losing precious time very quickly. I finally make it around that guy and I'm trying to shred the woods/stairs every lap as much as possible. Being able to ride the stairs at caffeinated without slowing down is a huge advantage...but it only got me so far. And like an idiot I forgot to wear gloves and it was HUMID. Hands slipping all over the hoods most of race. Ended up in 6th. Bummed to just miss the podium but every time we hit the long gravel section the guy in front of me was increasing his gap. I just didn't have the legs he had. Still a fun race - I'd say one of the best courses around these parts. I liked it a little bit more last year but it was still awesome.

 

[-YETI-]

no call ups? not even by registration?

Unfortunately not...

 

[-YETI-]

Are you sure you don't mean Hippo? I heard some nasty crunching sounds like this in the Hippo cat 3 start. Shame if it happened at Caffeinated too

Ha- you're right. It was Hippo. Caffeinated was great yesterday!

 

[MadisonDan]

I forgot to add.... kudos to @seanrunnette on the mic at Hippo. Very entertaining and at times overly informative..

 

[Robin]

Hippo - Not much to really report. Worked Hippo registration up until the kids race/mid day. Raced my race, thankful for the Cheers, rad music and @seanrunnette (except when he said 6 laps to go). It was a lonely race with only 6 of us. Surprised myself and finished 2nd.

Caffeinated - probably a tie with Granogue for my favorite course. Totally suits my strengths and won my race.

 

[rsinger814]

@The Heckler and I head up to Putnam, CT to stay with his friend Andrew Friday night. It was late, my race was early, stoke levels were high, I didn't get much sleep, as I was thinking about the race.

DAY 2 KMC Fest
We get there I get in a couple of laps to preview the course. Head to starting line, my call up is 6th row. And we are off, I get pinched, twice. So I'm back around 25th ish from what I can gather from Matt. I fight into top 20 with 3 to go. I'm trying to bridge up to the next group, but I'm pulling others. I hear rattling from year wheel, F'ing skewer isn't fully tight. I hop off and tighten it, lose 2 spots. Shortly after, I burp the rear tire and I'm bouncing rim on the paved straight. I scrap the race and get off course. Too many things going wrong today. I'll save it for tomorrow. I'm the only DNF of the day?! Weird, but somebody had to do it!

After 10 hours at KMC fest and a few hours at Andrew's shop we head back to shower and sleep. I'm legs are BEAT! I spent the whole day riding back and forth watching races, cheering, and hanging with some new friends.

DAY 3 KMC I sign in, head to the course. They have the Elite chute as a run up this morning (turns out only CAT 4/5 and the Elites got this pleasure). I find that the right side of the chute is a little more compact and sturdy. This will be my line for the race.

I line up on the left side today and take the first sweeping right on the outside and duck inside for the left. Made it through clean today. I'm sitting somewhere between 15-20th. Heading down the long pavement stretch towards Team Tents, I'm last in a group of three moving at a good clip, over 20mph. Dude in 2 slot can't hold the line and snags the orange construction fencing and hits a post OTB! Flipping bike, I steer clear. But dude rolls right in front of me, I pull up bump front wheel off his back and catch some sick air while getting wrapped up in some tape but I stay upright. We are passed by 5 or 6 people, I tell him sorry, and sprint off!

Again, my cornering seems better than most in this race, but my engine isn't as big on the straights. I make my passes through the turns and up the CHUTE. This is where a lot of my passes happen, I found solid ground and capitalize on everyone else playing in the sand. On the long straights, I just go to the drops, put my head down and think about the pain of the sprints @The Heckler has put me through. I CAN DIG DEEPER! Is what I tell myself.

Through the peanut butter mud section, I developed a group of fans because I was able to pass a few people through this section. They tell me I am Top 10 with 2 to go. This gives me more determination to push. I make 2 more passes up the chute. Sprint for my life on the straight just after. Up the run up into the stadium and I look back. I see two guys on my wheel, but this next section is turns and barriers. I just have to be clean. Kid in front of me loses his derailleur with 1/4 mile left. I hammer through the turns, rip the barriers and make the 180 degree turn to line up for the sprint to the finish. I slip into the drops, go through the gears, head down, and I get 7th.

Super stoked to redeem myself for the mistakes I had made the previous day! Now I just keep watching racing until 6:30pm, when Matt decides to mix it up with the Elites! Overall great weekend, met lots of new people, rode some wheelies, raced, but most importantly had FUN!

NO PICS, Matt posted the pictures

 

[MadisonDan]

@rsinger814 That's eff'ing awesome! Great job on Sunday, outstanding result. Sounds like you were collecting @Delish 's FREE WATTS all over the course. Sucks about the DNF on Saturday, but that's racing, right? What's up next?

 

[rsinger814]

@rsinger814 That's eff'ing awesome! Great job on Sunday, outstanding result. Sounds like you were collecting @Delish 's FREE WATTS all over the course. Sucks about the DNF on Saturday, but that's racing, right? What's up next?

Thank you! I have to collect all the FREE WATTS I can! Yea, the DNF sucked, but it made me want strive to do better on Sunday.

Up next, Charm City CAT 3/4! Movin on Up!

 

[The Heckler]

@The Heckler and I head up to Putnam, CT to stay with his friend Andrew Friday night. It was late, my race was early, stoke levels were high, I didn't get much sleep, as I was thinking about the race.

DAY 2 KMC Fest
We get there I get in a couple of laps to preview the course. Head to starting line, my call up is 6th row. And we are off, I get pinched, twice. So I'm back around 25th ish from what I can gather from Matt. I fight into top 20 with 3 to go. I'm trying to bridge up to the next group, but I'm pulling others. I hear rattling from year wheel, F'ing skewer isn't fully tight. I hop off and tighten it, lose 2 spots. Shortly after, I burp the rear tire and I'm bouncing rim on the paved straight. I scrap the race and get off course. Too many things going wrong today. I'll save it for tomorrow. I'm the only DNF of the day?! Weird, but somebody had to do it!

After 10 hours at KMC fest and a few hours at Andrew's shop we head back to shower and sleep. I'm legs are BEAT! I spent the whole day riding back and forth watching races, cheering, and hanging with some new friends.

DAY 3 KMC I sign in, head to the course. They have the Elite chute as a run up this morning (turns out only CAT 4/5 and the Elites got this pleasure). I find that the right side of the chute is a little more compact and sturdy. This will be my line for the race.

I line up on the left side today and take the first sweeping right on the outside and duck inside for the left. Made it through clean today. I'm sitting somewhere between 15-20th. Heading down the long pavement stretch towards Team Tents, I'm last in a group of three moving at a good clip, over 20mph. Dude in 2 slot can't hold the line and snags the orange construction fencing and hits a post OTB! Flipping bike, I steer clear. But dude rolls right in front of me, I pull up bump front wheel off his back and catch some sick air while getting wrapped up in some tape but I stay upright. We are passed by 5 or 6 people, I tell him sorry, and sprint off!

Again, my cornering seems better than most in this race, but my engine isn't as big on the straights. I make my passes through the turns and up the CHUTE. This is where a lot of my passes happen, I found solid ground and capitalize on everyone else playing in the sand. On the long straights, I just go to the drops, put my head down and think about the pain of the sprints @The Heckler has put me through. I CAN DIG DEEPER! Is what I tell myself.

Through the peanut butter mud section, I developed a group of fans because I was able to pass a few people through this section. They tell me I am Top 10 with 2 to go. This gives me more determination to push. I make 2 more passes up the chute. Sprint for my life on the straight just after. Up the run up into the stadium and I look back. I see two guys on my wheel, but this next section is turns and barriers. I just have to be clean. Kid in front of me loses his derailleur with 1/4 mile left. I hammer through the turns, rip the barriers and make the 180 degree turn to line up for the sprint to the finish. I slip into the drops, go through the gears, head down, and I get 7th.

Super stoked to redeem myself for the mistakes I had made the previous day! Now I just keep watching racing until 6:30pm, when Matt decides to mix it up with the Elites! Overall great weekend, met lots of new people, rode some wheelies, raced, but most importantly had FUN!

NO PICS, Matt posted the pictures

Hella write up sonnnn! Vote cast 4 thread.

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Lemme recap the drive home real quick.

Left CT around 8:30, no food in the immediate area. Stopped at Wendy's apparently some company was having their x-mas party or something. Zipped through the drive-thru.

Stopped for ice cream, a leak and a driver swap around 11:00

Back in warren around 12:15.