Word... As a 3 or a 4?
I got some more wood to chop in the 4's, but imma give the 3/4 a go day 2 of HPCX for shits and giggles. No racin this weekend for me, Cooper River up next.
Can I get a freakin race report?
- Thread starter jShort
- Start date
I got some more wood to chop in the 4's, but imma give the 3/4 a go day 2 of HPCX for shits and giggles. No racin this weekend for me, Cooper River up next.
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Save the choppin for lines!
rsinger814
Well-Known Member
I'm still a CAT 4, but I have enough points to voluntarily upgrade to a CAT 3. Part of me feels like I have a little work to do in CAT 4 still, but also I just want to keep moving up. Plan though is racing for NJ State Championship as a CAT 3 in a few weeks.
Aggressive...
rsinger814
Well-Known Member
And by racing FOR, I mean being in the race hahaAggressive...
upgrade. you'll probably do better in the 3s than you think.
Mountain Bike Mike
Well-Known Member
I'm racing the next six weeks in a row. So you'll get at least one shitty recap per week. I'll try to take some shitty pictures to go along with the shitty words.
Pearl
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
I'm racing the next six weeks in a row. So you'll get at least one shitty recap per week. I'll try to take some shitty pictures to go along with the shitty words.
Races are hard. Typing is even harder. Remembering all the things that went into the stockpot of mediocrity is even harderer.
Pearl
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
that fight at the end was realistic AF
Yeah, South Park = Real Life. Always.
Fixed it.
Doing those recaps and making them good takes effort. Considering people can barely make it through any race season, it isn't surprising the recaps drop off.
Schooley Mills CX, or how I learned to live the bummer life.
Race reports are great fun to read, and often fun to write. Over the last 6 years of racing, I've read lots and written a handful. Understandably, there's a level of stoke involved in sharing something interesting and kewl. @pearl and @The Heckler are examples of the medium at it's finest.
And then there are those days... Those seasons...
If you're lucky enuf to know why things aren't firing, it's tough to find the stoke and find something you wanna share. More likely it's a mystery, and a fucking bummer. Again, not something you wanna high five over and crack open a PBR. Well, the PBR mebbe.
I think, as I struggle through this, my seventh year racing CX in NJ, that I've drifted into the Horse Latitudes. As much as I blow on the sail, the ship ain't moving.
Today I did something I've never done before. I quit.
Going into the 3rd lap, that familiar "Hey, I could just step over the tape!" chyron ribboned below today's previously scheduled pain. I'm used to seeing it, and ignoring it. But this time, almost w/out a thought, I stepped out.
The course was fine, there was zero issue with the equipment. Even w/an accurate reckoning of my shitty placings this year, I was seeded fourth, and went into the first corner fourth. Huzzah. Then folks started going through me like corn at a county fair. Like grass through a cat. Like dignity through a Kardashian. Wheel after wheel was the-one-I'll-hang-onto-while-I-get-my-shit-together. And agonizingly slowly, they rode away. It was like one of those dreams where you're in a fight and you can only punch in slow motion. I was slower at everything: corners, barriers, straightaways.
To make matters worse, I REALLY thought I was on the bounce. Yeah, Charm was a disaster. I blamed a shit warmup and tractor pull tires for that one. We've all had those days. They're a drag, but they happen. Move on. Even dead cats bounce, right? I hit this week's workouts with ninja-precision. I was feeling sharp. Didn't have too many beers the night before. There was a sleeping problem: we were staying at my in-law's outside of Baltimore and the guest bedroom was dusty as hell. Between my wife's sneezing and the too-small bed, it wasn't ideal. Still, I woke up this morning feeling perky and a lil nervous. In a sign of unwarranted and ridiculous hubris, I packed my MTBNJ.COM TEAM shirt for the podium. Yup, I packed a podium shirt.
And then opposite day happened.
Rolling away from the course, with the race still happening behind me sucked with a capital U. I sat perched on the floor of the minivan, surrounded by the detritus of a race in all it's poseur-in-his-natural-environment diorama specificity. First time in 95 races.
Yeah, there were controllable elements that weren't wrangled well:
-Getting confused by crossresults seeding. I'm 50. I was riding the 35+ 3/4 race. Those are the numbers for kids. Not the folks I race with, or their ilk. Not sure that makes a difference, but it sure as fuck felt different.
-Not warming up well. Yeah, this was better than the almost nothing I managed to get done at Druid Hill Park, but I DID throw some time in on the road and get two complete and pretty well-sussed warmup laps in. Sorted out my start gearing and watched the choke points on the first lap of the 5s. I'd say I ticked 7 of 10 boxes for the warmup. Room for improvement for sure, but was this enough to leave me out there like a gut-shot buck trying for the tree line?
-No sleep the night before. Mentioned above. Seriously. 3 hours mebbe. But I felt fresh, so...
-The niggling doubt that the new bike, the big green monster, is too big. This is mental. It's 100% mental. The bike is fine. It's me. But I want to blame something else, and that big green bike is always RIGHT THERE!
-only having 2 muffins for breakfast, chased by two bottles of Heed. Yeah, this was dumb.
Not sure what to do now. Bag the rest of the season? Hit the reset button and take a coupla weeks scraping the stupid off the hide and putting it on top of the minvan to dry? Gut it out? I'm afraid that now that I've bagged once, it'll be that much harder to ignore the how my body sometimes spells "quit" in sputum on my top-tube.
Fuck you cyclocross indeed. Oh, and fuck you, too, turning 50.
Race reports are great fun to read, and often fun to write. Over the last 6 years of racing, I've read lots and written a handful. Understandably, there's a level of stoke involved in sharing something interesting and kewl. @pearl and @The Heckler are examples of the medium at it's finest.
And then there are those days... Those seasons...
If you're lucky enuf to know why things aren't firing, it's tough to find the stoke and find something you wanna share. More likely it's a mystery, and a fucking bummer. Again, not something you wanna high five over and crack open a PBR. Well, the PBR mebbe.
I think, as I struggle through this, my seventh year racing CX in NJ, that I've drifted into the Horse Latitudes. As much as I blow on the sail, the ship ain't moving.
Today I did something I've never done before. I quit.
Going into the 3rd lap, that familiar "Hey, I could just step over the tape!" chyron ribboned below today's previously scheduled pain. I'm used to seeing it, and ignoring it. But this time, almost w/out a thought, I stepped out.
The course was fine, there was zero issue with the equipment. Even w/an accurate reckoning of my shitty placings this year, I was seeded fourth, and went into the first corner fourth. Huzzah. Then folks started going through me like corn at a county fair. Like grass through a cat. Like dignity through a Kardashian. Wheel after wheel was the-one-I'll-hang-onto-while-I-get-my-shit-together. And agonizingly slowly, they rode away. It was like one of those dreams where you're in a fight and you can only punch in slow motion. I was slower at everything: corners, barriers, straightaways.
To make matters worse, I REALLY thought I was on the bounce. Yeah, Charm was a disaster. I blamed a shit warmup and tractor pull tires for that one. We've all had those days. They're a drag, but they happen. Move on. Even dead cats bounce, right? I hit this week's workouts with ninja-precision. I was feeling sharp. Didn't have too many beers the night before. There was a sleeping problem: we were staying at my in-law's outside of Baltimore and the guest bedroom was dusty as hell. Between my wife's sneezing and the too-small bed, it wasn't ideal. Still, I woke up this morning feeling perky and a lil nervous. In a sign of unwarranted and ridiculous hubris, I packed my MTBNJ.COM TEAM shirt for the podium. Yup, I packed a podium shirt.
And then opposite day happened.
Rolling away from the course, with the race still happening behind me sucked with a capital U. I sat perched on the floor of the minivan, surrounded by the detritus of a race in all it's poseur-in-his-natural-environment diorama specificity. First time in 95 races.
Yeah, there were controllable elements that weren't wrangled well:
-Getting confused by crossresults seeding. I'm 50. I was riding the 35+ 3/4 race. Those are the numbers for kids. Not the folks I race with, or their ilk. Not sure that makes a difference, but it sure as fuck felt different.
-Not warming up well. Yeah, this was better than the almost nothing I managed to get done at Druid Hill Park, but I DID throw some time in on the road and get two complete and pretty well-sussed warmup laps in. Sorted out my start gearing and watched the choke points on the first lap of the 5s. I'd say I ticked 7 of 10 boxes for the warmup. Room for improvement for sure, but was this enough to leave me out there like a gut-shot buck trying for the tree line?
-No sleep the night before. Mentioned above. Seriously. 3 hours mebbe. But I felt fresh, so...
-The niggling doubt that the new bike, the big green monster, is too big. This is mental. It's 100% mental. The bike is fine. It's me. But I want to blame something else, and that big green bike is always RIGHT THERE!
-only having 2 muffins for breakfast, chased by two bottles of Heed. Yeah, this was dumb.
Not sure what to do now. Bag the rest of the season? Hit the reset button and take a coupla weeks scraping the stupid off the hide and putting it on top of the minvan to dry? Gut it out? I'm afraid that now that I've bagged once, it'll be that much harder to ignore the how my body sometimes spells "quit" in sputum on my top-tube.
Fuck you cyclocross indeed. Oh, and fuck you, too, turning 50.
hotsauce
Well-Known Member
As promised, here goes race reports from Cooper River CX and West Chester Cross Classic this weekend. My week consisted of a long weekend off in Boston for my birthday (my racing age is finally only one year more than my real age now) then a work trip back to Boston Wednesday through Friday. Needless to say there was also plenty of poor eating, drinking, and training choices too.
Cooper River CX - Men's 4/5
Rolled up to Cooper River Park 10-15 minutes later than expected and was only able to squeeze in two easy laps before being kicked off the course for the juniors. Crap. My biggest issue so far is having a good start and I thought this would hurt me even more than poor starts have been in the past!! End up doing some good efforts on the pavement and practicing starting a half dozen times and semi-figure it out. The start is on pavement leading into a wide right hander then into a wide-ish left hander so I line up 2nd row on the left side but not all the way left since there are feet from crowd control barriers sticking out every 15-20 ft and I like my teeth the way they are.
The USAC official stands in front of the field in full view of the front row and the whistle goes and I miraculously clip in and have a pretty darn good start! Keeping places well and even gaining a few off the line!!! I was halfway in shock that I didn't screw up that I almost didn't know what to do. I went into the first corner in 5th position and stayed top 10 through the first few corners then settled into a group of 5 or so at the back of the group after the first half lap. It's amazing how much easier it is to ride from the front than frantically trying to pick off places from the back. My heart rate wasn't redlining the whole time and I felt like I had so much more in the tank.
This is Dan's video, you can see me on the left in the gray long sleeve jersey and pink socks.
I stayed 5th wheel most of the first 2 laps then a CRCA/e2Value rider comes up from the back to join our group, hangs for a few minutes, then solos off the front. My group is down to 4 for the last 3 laps with another ride who will/may remain nameless almost running me out the course tape twice then dive bombing me in a corner right after announcing to the group that his handlebars are loose and he doesn't have a lot of control. Thanks bro... After a love tap from me, he then has some other than savory words for me including a slur that doesn't have a place in sport or life and then tells me that he'll kick my ass on line. Rubbing is racing though, right? I plan on making my move on the 2nd position rider coming into the barriers where he's had trouble clipping in the last few laps but lapped riders and him having a good remount foils my plan. I stay in 3rd wheel coming onto the pavement for the finish in the drops and hold 3rd in the sprint across the line!
Lap times: 8:35, 8:15, 8:05, 8:27, 8:03
https://www.strava.com/activities/745795708
It's amazing how much different the race is without having to burn most of my matches in the first lap to make up positions and really "racing" a race. My form felt a bit off coming into the race so I was thrilled with the result. The course organizer did a lot with a small space, very technical with enough power sections, one set of barriers, a high two step run-up, and a pre-school sized sand pit. Lots of roots, sticks, and bumps added to the challenge. The highlight of the day was the promoter/timing guy providing emailed results with lap times an hour after my race finished. Why doesn't every race do this? It's a value add that will make me come to your race. Maybe a suggestion that it could be a requirement for all MAC races next year?
West Chester Cross Classic - Men's 4/5
I stayed with my mom in Bucks County PA on Saturday night to reduce driving time back and forth to Hoboken. Some dubious strip mall Korean food and tired legs had me awake before my alarm and I got an early start to the race though my stomach was unsettled and my legs felt like bricks.
I get to the course super early and get a prime spot. I get in 4 pre-ride laps though I don't feel like I have enough energy to ride a hot lap so I keep my pre-ride to working on form and memorizing the course. This course has a LOT of climbing! A few steep up, down, up downs plus a barrier into a run-up and lots of twisty turns. There were even a few off-camber switch backs that felt Zolder-esque though were probably only scale models. Plenty of power sections to go along with the punchy and gradual climbing.
We lined up for the start and I had a 2nd row call up and I line up behind a known fast guy. I look around and there are tons of hitters here. Basically everyone who has beaten me all season is here. (I'll learn after the fact that the podium was all cat 2/strong 3 road guys while I'm damn near pack fodder in cat 4). The whistle goes from behind the field like a good USAC official should do and I lose a few spots but then settle in to 5th again after the end of the prologue lap. We head into a climb up the hill, steep downhill into a sharp turn, then into a steep uphill on wet grass and my Grifo goes "slipslipslip" and I bleed a few spots up the hill but I'm able to make my way back up to 5th after a few turns.
A group of 3 of the hitters breaks away and I settle into the 2nd group of 3 riders for a lap or so before losing one rider and swapping leads with the other guy for the remainder of the race. The other rider has me on the power sections but I can make up any lost ground in the technical areas. On the last lap the other rider puts in a huge dig up a sustained climb through traffic and I crack and can't respond. Legs feel like Jell-O. I look back and the 6th position rider is close but not too close so I still dig my hardest for the last 1/2 lap and cross the line in 5th, 4-5 seconds behind 4th place.
Lap times: 10:03 (with prologue), 8:34, 8:44, 8:39 (Same timing guy as CRCX, now I'm getting spoiled)
https://www.strava.com/activities/747092078
PA does 5 deep podiums (weird) so I stick around for a goodie bag and awkward floor podium. I can get used to this doing well thing! It feels so much better to actually have good starts and race for 40 minutes compared to chase for 40 minutes. I came away with 6 points in my first weekend as a Cat 4 which isn't a bad haul. The cross hangover is real on Monday morning though. A few celebratory glasses of rose and tired legs had me awake at 4:50 AM so why not write some race reports?!?! I have GoPro videos processing now and will upload them later today.
Next up: Whirlybird Cross - Men's 4/5 and Marty Cross - Men's 4
Cooper River CX - Men's 4/5
Rolled up to Cooper River Park 10-15 minutes later than expected and was only able to squeeze in two easy laps before being kicked off the course for the juniors. Crap. My biggest issue so far is having a good start and I thought this would hurt me even more than poor starts have been in the past!! End up doing some good efforts on the pavement and practicing starting a half dozen times and semi-figure it out. The start is on pavement leading into a wide right hander then into a wide-ish left hander so I line up 2nd row on the left side but not all the way left since there are feet from crowd control barriers sticking out every 15-20 ft and I like my teeth the way they are.
The USAC official stands in front of the field in full view of the front row and the whistle goes and I miraculously clip in and have a pretty darn good start! Keeping places well and even gaining a few off the line!!! I was halfway in shock that I didn't screw up that I almost didn't know what to do. I went into the first corner in 5th position and stayed top 10 through the first few corners then settled into a group of 5 or so at the back of the group after the first half lap. It's amazing how much easier it is to ride from the front than frantically trying to pick off places from the back. My heart rate wasn't redlining the whole time and I felt like I had so much more in the tank.
This is Dan's video, you can see me on the left in the gray long sleeve jersey and pink socks.
I stayed 5th wheel most of the first 2 laps then a CRCA/e2Value rider comes up from the back to join our group, hangs for a few minutes, then solos off the front. My group is down to 4 for the last 3 laps with another ride who will/
Lap times: 8:35, 8:15, 8:05, 8:27, 8:03
https://www.strava.com/activities/745795708
It's amazing how much different the race is without having to burn most of my matches in the first lap to make up positions and really "racing" a race. My form felt a bit off coming into the race so I was thrilled with the result. The course organizer did a lot with a small space, very technical with enough power sections, one set of barriers, a high two step run-up, and a pre-school sized sand pit. Lots of roots, sticks, and bumps added to the challenge. The highlight of the day was the promoter/timing guy providing emailed results with lap times an hour after my race finished. Why doesn't every race do this? It's a value add that will make me come to your race. Maybe a suggestion that it could be a requirement for all MAC races next year?
West Chester Cross Classic - Men's 4/5
I stayed with my mom in Bucks County PA on Saturday night to reduce driving time back and forth to Hoboken. Some dubious strip mall Korean food and tired legs had me awake before my alarm and I got an early start to the race though my stomach was unsettled and my legs felt like bricks.
I get to the course super early and get a prime spot. I get in 4 pre-ride laps though I don't feel like I have enough energy to ride a hot lap so I keep my pre-ride to working on form and memorizing the course. This course has a LOT of climbing! A few steep up, down, up downs plus a barrier into a run-up and lots of twisty turns. There were even a few off-camber switch backs that felt Zolder-esque though were probably only scale models. Plenty of power sections to go along with the punchy and gradual climbing.
We lined up for the start and I had a 2nd row call up and I line up behind a known fast guy. I look around and there are tons of hitters here. Basically everyone who has beaten me all season is here. (I'll learn after the fact that the podium was all cat 2/strong 3 road guys while I'm damn near pack fodder in cat 4). The whistle goes from behind the field like a good USAC official should do and I lose a few spots but then settle in to 5th again after the end of the prologue lap. We head into a climb up the hill, steep downhill into a sharp turn, then into a steep uphill on wet grass and my Grifo goes "slipslipslip" and I bleed a few spots up the hill but I'm able to make my way back up to 5th after a few turns.
A group of 3 of the hitters breaks away and I settle into the 2nd group of 3 riders for a lap or so before losing one rider and swapping leads with the other guy for the remainder of the race. The other rider has me on the power sections but I can make up any lost ground in the technical areas. On the last lap the other rider puts in a huge dig up a sustained climb through traffic and I crack and can't respond. Legs feel like Jell-O. I look back and the 6th position rider is close but not too close so I still dig my hardest for the last 1/2 lap and cross the line in 5th, 4-5 seconds behind 4th place.
Lap times: 10:03 (with prologue), 8:34, 8:44, 8:39 (Same timing guy as CRCX, now I'm getting spoiled)
https://www.strava.com/activities/747092078
PA does 5 deep podiums (weird) so I stick around for a goodie bag and awkward floor podium. I can get used to this doing well thing! It feels so much better to actually have good starts and race for 40 minutes compared to chase for 40 minutes. I came away with 6 points in my first weekend as a Cat 4 which isn't a bad haul. The cross hangover is real on Monday morning though. A few celebratory glasses of rose and tired legs had me awake at 4:50 AM so why not write some race reports?!?! I have GoPro videos processing now and will upload them later today.
Next up: Whirlybird Cross - Men's 4/5 and Marty Cross - Men's 4
Last edited: