Chronicles of a Cat 3 Schlub

I'm curious on your rationale for a gran fondo right before CX season. Seems like any long base miles to get ready for the GF would be better spent on intensity and skills for CX season. I guess it's just a function of your goals for the year but curious on your thoughts.

After suffering through 2 long, hilly rides recently I'm give that shit up in a heartbeat for the lung burning and fuzzy decision making of a CX race.
 
I've done the GFNJ a bunch of times. Before I ever started racing CX. The full 108 miles and the last few years just the Medio Fondo (64 miles). It's a fun day, and the shorter ride isn't bad at all.

This year is very unstructured so far, and will most likely remain so for the foreseeable future.
 
I did GFNJ in 2013 and liked it much more than GFNY. Less of the Italian elitist feel and tons of great prizes.

Whirlybird and GFNJ are on the same day. Come suffer with me in the 3/4 race!
 
hotsauce said:
I did GFNJ in 2013 and liked it much more than GFNY. Less of the Italian elitist feel and tons of great prizes.

Whirlybird and GFNJ are on the same day. Come suffer with me in the 3/4 race!
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Word.... yeah, GFNY is fun, too. Actually registered for this year, but can't go.
Will see what the fall CX schedule brings....
 
Training update:

I ran out of IPA's on Monday night. Need to get in miles/saddle time in general over the next 1-2 months, along with dialing in (back) my diet in general.

H2H at Lewis Morris and Stewart 45 are both still on my "to do" list for the summer.

Training plan to officially start early Aug. Going back to The Sufferfest plan instead of TrainerRoad. I feel like the 'fest plan is more punchy. We will begin the MadisonDan CX Skills for Dummies in early July, instead of mid August, as we ran out of daylight and space quickly. I hear Tuesdays might be all the rage this year. I hope my CX bike is back in werking order by then.
 
ha, my cross bike just looks like a frame with wheels connected to it, it doesn't even have a saddle on it.
 
Bike Update.... Road and CX bikes are fully functional again. Got a few short (15-20 mile) road rides in recently.
Beer Update.... Fully stocked fridge.

Race Report
Lewis Morris Challenge
H2H #6
Cat 3 40-49


I have more miles at Lewis Morris than any other park. This is my 6th XC mountain bike race, and the third time doing this race. I get to the lot nice and early, about 7:45am for a 9am race. Good parking spot in the lower lot. Unpack bike, check tires, gather stuff while chit chatting with @muddybike who parked next spot over. I roll to reg, grab my number plate, say hi to all the Marty's folks volunteering at the pavilion and roll out for an easy warm up on the NICA course, which is about half the length. Just enough to get the blood moving.... The course is in great shape, a few wet spots, but nothing too bad. There was that one log over that I've CX style ran over in the past when out on my own, but on my warm up loop, there was group there inspecting it as I approached, so I had to ride it. Easy. Phew.

I roll back to the start are and chat with a few folks. @seanrunnette is on the mic, so this will be entertaining, at a minimum.
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Eric and Ed form Marty's start staging, and I work my way to the front of the 40-49 group. Front row, alongside Brandy Boyle (isheonhehe?Idontknowhisscreennameifheis) and we're talking a bit. He's a road/CX guy and it's his first MTB race. The 19-30's go and we're one minute behind them. Both groups are ~25 guys or so. Usual countdown.....

GO!

Brandy & I both stomp hard and get a good start. As we head up the starting climb, he goes in front, and I sit behind him up Yellow, and as we make the turn onto Orange, we're already catching the tail end of the 19-39 race. The rest of our race is already behind us. We start making our way thru traffic, and he pulls away bit by bit as the grade tilts up. By the time we hit Teal, he's out of sight. I can't tell if the guys behind me are ones we've past, or others in the 40-49 coming on strong, so I keep it pinned... HR in the low/mid 180s. About all I can handle before blowing up. I know it's only about 5.5 miles and about 30 minutes or so, and I know I can handle that, but not much more. I have the "Race" mode on my Garmin with three screens, I kept it on HR and Distance. Simple. Easy to read until you can't.

Midway thru maybe I eased up a little, I mean I PR'd Yellow Trail Descent to TW Lot but not Kurt Vonnegut (KV is part of the larger segment) :confused:. I knew there were two climbs still, and the new switchback descent, which I know I suck at, so it's better I saved a little there I guess. I kept the pace as high as I could muster, and had no real issues with anything. Didn't overcook any turns or hit any of the bazillions of roots at a strange angle, so I was happy with that. My pre race hydration was on point, and I only carried a bottle with Skratch ( I know, too short of a race, shouldn't need to drink...) and had no issues like I did in the first race.

Overall, everything went smoothly. I finished second place, with a time of 35:47, was 3:39 behind Brandy, and 1:09 ahead of third.

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Pic @StayHydrated

Next week I'll spend some time in VT.
Point Peter Pounder, H2H #7 in Port Jervis may be on my to do list also, and then Stewart 45. Reg HERE
CX Skills Tentative start date is the week of July 10th. Tuesday or Wednesday at 6:30, location TBD. Will post new thread in Cross Dressers
 
Race Report
Point Peter Pounder
H2H #7
Cat 3 40-49

Final race of the 2017 H2H Series, Point Peter Pounder up in Port Jervis, NY. I've never been up that way, and didn't really know what to expect. A few days last week up in Vermont at the Kingdom Trails was a nice tuneup, and the most effort I've put in YTD.
I slept about 20 minutes more than I planned Sunday morning, and I wanted to get there about 7:30-7:45am to have plenty of time to pre ride a lap, but I arrived at about 8am, and needed to register cause I forgot to do it early enough on Saturday morning. Saw @muddybike in the lot, and rolled the half mile to the start area chit chatting with her & Kai. The finish/reg are was at the top of a cliff with amazing views....
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Props to the kids out there too!!!

Get number, chat with Lars from Marty's, Chris LaBudde, @Sevenz and a few others. Heard the course was dry and had lots of loose shale. Other than that, zero recon was done.
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The mass of bodies at the start area was a little disorganized, but my age group was so small (7 of us) that it wasn't a big deal. The 19-39's go off with a nice 5-4-3-2-1 countdown and I take my place at the line and watch where they go, cause zero recon.
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(pic @muddybike )

We get the short talk, follow the arrows, Kona tape, careful of the cliffs, etc. 5-4-3-2-1 GO!
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I get a great start hitting the pedal and clipping in immediately (#crossiscoming) and hammer down the pavement towards the single track, hoping to not make any wrong turns. Within the first quarter mile, my HR is already up in the 170's and I'm putting a little gap on the other guys. I know that Lars from Marty's is probably the only guy I'll need to keep my eye on, since he was right behind me at Lewis Morris.

The trails here are a mix of nice hardpack dirt, some pine needles, and the sections of loos shale. Nothing technical, no big climbs, some short efforts, and lots of twisty turns. I was able to keep an eye behind me on Lars, and I think I had about 20 seconds on him for most of the race. My average HR was 180 and a 192 peak. The Cat 3 loop was well enough marked that only one section was I unsure if I was headed the right way, and then I saw the Kona tape so I knew I was good. I could hear Lars behind me most of the time, and I was able to maintain my pace, with no mistakes. Not knowing the course, but knowing the approximate distance was pretty helpful in managing my effort. Each small hill, I knew I could put in a little extra to pad the gap a bit.

There was a short steep climb towards the end that brought us to the overlook by the finish area, and then back down the pavement into one last section of ST before the uphill paved finish. The last section was about 0.5 miles, and entering the ST from the pavement was a rough little section. Here I either burped my rear, or had a small puncture that sealed pretty quickly, because all of a sudden Ralph lost a fair amount of PSI's.... ugh. I'm thinking this is it. No idea how long this section is. Could be .2 miles, could be .7 to go. Zero recon was done. I know I still have 30 second lead, or so. Any panic passes quickly as the tire is holding, prolly around 10-12 psi. Ride smooth. Ride smooth. Ride smoooooooooooooth. I was able to find the balance between pushing the tire too hard to the point where I could feel it give too much in the turns, to that happy place where you get a little squirm, but nothing that falls into the danger zone. That last half mile felt like ti took forever..... Looking back. Looking down. Looking back again. PAVEMENT!!!!!! One last little effort up the hill to the finish FOR THE WIN! I know.. I know... whoopdie doo, Cat 3 semi-old guy. Season OVER.
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Post race bumped into @MissJR and @sarcaro sorry to have missed everyone else.


Mayhem - 4th
Ringwood -3rd
LewMo - 2nd
Point Peter - 1st

Upgrade submitted and done.
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By my unofficial point tally (nothing updated since race #5), I finished the series in 3rd place, only racing 4 of 7 races.

Beer
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Ok..... CX is here....
Beer fridge is maintaining a healthy flow, skills and drills are happening on Tuesdays. Thanks to @MissJR @Santapez @The Heckler @Harry Hamilton @chuprinko @StayHydrated @jimvreeland @FunkFreshington John Sedlak and Frank who has no social media presence whatsoever for making it bearable so far. I hope it's been helpful.
Zero interval work has been done on the trainer.
I'm racing 35+ 1/2/3/4 Masters in all non NJBA races, and 40+ 2/3/4 in NJBA.
Last year I killed myself with training to cat up. This year is about balance. Mostly balancing beer and cookies while I ride.

Schedule:
Sunday, September 10, 2017 Whirleybird Cross
Sunday, September 17, 2017 Nittany Lion Cross
Sunday, September 24, 2017 Bridgeton CX
Saturday, September 30, 2017 Hippo CX
Saturday, October 07, 2017 Caffeinated CX
Sunday, October 22, 2017 Marty Cross
Saturday, October 28, 2017 HPCX
Sunday, October 29, 2017 HPCX
Sunday, November 05, 2017 Sussex CX
Saturday, November 11, 2017 Bubble CX
Saturday, November 18, 2017 Supercross Cup
Sunday, November 19, 2017 Supercross Cup
Saturday, December 09, 2017 Solstice Cross
Sunday, December 17, 2017 Elm City CX

I may add in:

Saturday, September 23, 2017 Town Hall Cross
Friday, November 24, 2017 Black Friday March Farm Madness
Sunday, December 03, 2017 Capital Cross
Sunday, December 10, 2017 Limestone CX at the Kiln

That's all. Bike and wheels are all dialed, with the exception of mud tires. Will put BOS on the Iron Cross wheels if one of the races looks sloppy ahead of time.
 
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Town Hall is surprisingly close and a good race.

You really should consider it.
 
Santapez said:
Town Hall is surprisingly close and a good race.

You really should consider it.
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Yeah, that's true, but Bridgeton is the next day and it's far AF. I think Independence CX from a few years back is the same joint, and if so, was a fun track. Shit ton of sand, big steps to run up, and loamy/sandy ST/DT.
I'm only registered for Whirley and Nittany Day 2 so far, need to see how I feel after.
 
MadisonDan said:
I'm racing 35+ 1/2/3/4 Masters in all non NJBA races, and 40+ 2/3/4 in NJBA.
Last year I killed myself with training to cat up. This year is about balance. Mostly balancing beer and cookies while I ride.
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Sweet, I'll have someone to get lapped with.
 
From what I remember those masters categories are fast as shit. Do you feel the straight 3 field would be a better starting spot instead of those open age group cats?
 
pearl said:
From what I remember those masters categories are fast as shit. Do you feel the straight 3 field would be a better starting spot instead of those open age group cats?
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They are faster, for the most part. They'll be slightly smaller fields. But it's mostly the difference between between start times. 12pm vs 3:30pm Everyone's gonna be faster than me anyway. I'll see how Masters goes in the two MAC races, then decide Masters or B's for NJ, but I'm leaning towards Masters across the board.
 
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