The Heckle Report
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The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Race 5
Saturday - Silk City - Cat 3/4
The Expo Wheelmen put together a very technical and demanding course in Manchester, CT. With features like the silty rutted downhill "Devils Drop" and the monstrous wooded run-up "Heart Break Hill" this course was quite a challenge. Very short straights were broken up with silty dusty corners over off camber mounds that twisted through trees. Though the clouds teased a wet relief to the dust bowl conditions the rain held off until after the last race of the day.
There were no call ups for the start so ~60 guys lined up about across the road at staging on a first come basis. I had a nice spot second row, feeling pretty decent. 3 preride laps helped me figure out the course well. I knew where the jam spots would be first lap and was prepared to handle them. My second row turned 3rd when the promoter called up the Expo team to the front. The real punchline occured when the guy ahead of me mentioned "I have no idea why I'm this far up, this is my second race."
Oooof. The whistle blows, I miss my pedal (theme of this season). The guy in front of me kinda lets the group flow around him, thus keeping my boxed in a stagnation point anyway. Luckily the lane was wide and some lines opened up. I think I went out a little ahead of mid-pack.
The first three corners were completely blind from the dust. I actually had about 3 feet of visibility which was interesting. The field strung out really fast through the opening off camber dust corners. My passing began at the first climb which jammed up as I assumed it would.
Spectators lined the barriers and cheered as the 12 song playlist looped in the background (I've noticed this theme at cross races. Why not add more songs? How many times can you play Party Rock?)
I went as hard as I could but started to really feel low on energy with 2 laps to go the dust had wicked every drop of moisture out of me.
I managed to pass two more guys up heart break hill the last time. I made a sprint at one more guy at the line but he was too far ahead.
Ended up in 15/61. Top 25%, pretty happy. My face was covered in soot and I was dry heaving and spitting black dirt saturated mucus. Everyone looked like they just crawled out of hell.
Most of the details of this race are blocked out or unimportant.
Heckling: I was with my whole team, we had a tent and things got pretty damn rowdy by the barriers. The 'ol dollar bill in the barriers was good for a couple mishaps during the 1/2/3 race, along with a wave high that was mistaken for a high five. I was pretty alarmed when I received said high five and the guy went tumbling over the second barrier! Disclaimer: No parties were hurt during any shenanigans and everyone was in good spirits.
Beard Report: Caked with dust. Dusty beards feel terrible. The dirt was fine as talc. I trimmed my neck for the second time this beard cycle. Neck trimming and the occasional renegade whisker trim are needed to maintain "non-hobo-homeostasis"
Stay tuned for RACE 6 at some point.
Saturday - Silk City - Cat 3/4
The Expo Wheelmen put together a very technical and demanding course in Manchester, CT. With features like the silty rutted downhill "Devils Drop" and the monstrous wooded run-up "Heart Break Hill" this course was quite a challenge. Very short straights were broken up with silty dusty corners over off camber mounds that twisted through trees. Though the clouds teased a wet relief to the dust bowl conditions the rain held off until after the last race of the day.
There were no call ups for the start so ~60 guys lined up about across the road at staging on a first come basis. I had a nice spot second row, feeling pretty decent. 3 preride laps helped me figure out the course well. I knew where the jam spots would be first lap and was prepared to handle them. My second row turned 3rd when the promoter called up the Expo team to the front. The real punchline occured when the guy ahead of me mentioned "I have no idea why I'm this far up, this is my second race."
Oooof. The whistle blows, I miss my pedal (theme of this season). The guy in front of me kinda lets the group flow around him, thus keeping my boxed in a stagnation point anyway. Luckily the lane was wide and some lines opened up. I think I went out a little ahead of mid-pack.
The first three corners were completely blind from the dust. I actually had about 3 feet of visibility which was interesting. The field strung out really fast through the opening off camber dust corners. My passing began at the first climb which jammed up as I assumed it would.
Spectators lined the barriers and cheered as the 12 song playlist looped in the background (I've noticed this theme at cross races. Why not add more songs? How many times can you play Party Rock?)
I went as hard as I could but started to really feel low on energy with 2 laps to go the dust had wicked every drop of moisture out of me.
I managed to pass two more guys up heart break hill the last time. I made a sprint at one more guy at the line but he was too far ahead.
Ended up in 15/61. Top 25%, pretty happy. My face was covered in soot and I was dry heaving and spitting black dirt saturated mucus. Everyone looked like they just crawled out of hell.
Most of the details of this race are blocked out or unimportant.
Heckling: I was with my whole team, we had a tent and things got pretty damn rowdy by the barriers. The 'ol dollar bill in the barriers was good for a couple mishaps during the 1/2/3 race, along with a wave high that was mistaken for a high five. I was pretty alarmed when I received said high five and the guy went tumbling over the second barrier! Disclaimer: No parties were hurt during any shenanigans and everyone was in good spirits.
Beard Report: Caked with dust. Dusty beards feel terrible. The dirt was fine as talc. I trimmed my neck for the second time this beard cycle. Neck trimming and the occasional renegade whisker trim are needed to maintain "non-hobo-homeostasis"
Stay tuned for RACE 6 at some point.
Dutch Frog
Member
great GIF, thats how i've felt at every start this season except for last race.
this - skip to the last 10 seconds.
And boy i suck with a camera.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kx1kgakflv71zgi/2013-12-08 11.00.28.mp4?dl=0
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Saturday
Everything was covered in dust. Everything.
Everything was covered in dust. Everything.
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Race 6
Race 6
Sunday – Riverfront Cross - Cat 3/4
The course on Sunday was unlike any course I encountered last year. The race took place at Riverside Park (name conflict, odd, right?) in Hartford, CT. The namesake river was the Connecticut river and the beautiful backdrop of bridges and the banks were very picturesque. Things that made this course unique were the venue’s backdrop, and the completely diverse technical features and surfaces.
A looping grass field sprint fed into the asphalt finish area. The first turn, a tight right hander, dumped onto grass and immediately took you through a 40 foot sand pit which was made not too difficult by the rain the previous evening. One corner after the sandpit was barrier set 1. These barriers were very tall and had a difficult remount as there were two corners just after. A shallow climb was topped with a right hander through a cement floor gazebo which spit the rider back down the hill through some open twisties. The next feature was a 90 degree turn on 10 foot diameter off camber section which required a good degree of bike handling skill to navigate with speed. A few tight narrow turns later and after a grass straight away 15 feet of mulch greeted the rider, followed by a 180 into a tight washed out triple switch back ending on pavement.
The asphalt instantly turned into loose dirt and a pretty difficult dusty corner which then fed into two 50 foot sections of mulch which fought with all their power to suck the dear watts out of my legs. The course then fed up into the other side of the cement gazebo again and back down the grass. After the next left hander a group of kids and their father had a small rubber pig on the course. They cheered for riders the whole race to jump the pig, I though down a pretty gnar bunny hop. Immediately after the rubber pig feature barrier 2 forced riders to dismount before the back power section. 50 yards of pavement accelerated the riders by the boathouse and launch and into the smooth hard pack woods. The woods were a smooth fast straight away that ran a long ways down and dumped out to the meanest ride up I’ve come across. The ride up went diagonal up the earth of a reservoir 90 feet before turning hard right and running off camber normal to the slop for 50 feet. A left led the riders straight up the remaining 30 feet of the slop to the top of the hill. The hill was close to the Marty’s climb but did not run straight up and had a little bit more elevation.
The flat straight away of the reservoir top was broken up with two off camber dips that looped on the hill side. The following downhill ran diagonally down a rooted washed out section of hill before turning straight downhill halfway to the base. The return from the reservoir took riders through some open loopy turns through the woods on mulch almost the whole way back. There was one line and it was reasonably fast considering the surface. A final barrier / downed tree made the 3rd set before the grass staging area corner.
Again the call ups were first come, I snagged a front row on the right side with Zach just next to me. At the whistle I slugged my first pedal stroke shooting forwards like a bat out of hell! Then missed my clip in. Again. And watched the front group sprint away. I went out in about 15th. The front group more or less motored away and I picked off people where I could. Lap 3 there was no one else close in front of me and I was running out of gas when a Zancanatto rider named Scott caught me. He ripped by and I charged behind him grabbing his wheel. We traded 10th and 11th about every half lap for the rest of the race. On the final lap he took the back straight pull leading up to the climb, we had a great race but I was planning my attack. We crawled up the reservoir side by side, I eyed the crest. We made the turn together and I made a sprint effort. I got in front through the off cambers and put 4 or 5 bike lengths before the downhill. I ripped through the woods at full effort, barriered the tree and launched out of the woods. Just then I caught sight of a rider ahead of me. I had closed his gap significantly through the mulchy woods. I was low on energy but sprinted as hard as I could. I finished under a second behind him having dropped Scott 4 seconds back.
10/47. Fun race.
The theme this season for me is missing my pedal. I know what I need to work on. This was the first race I spent time with another rider for more than a lap. I spent the rest of the races this year more or less leading and dropping groups or catching and passing people. I want to see how well I can hold with a front group instead of charging from the back.
Next up is Charm City this weekend. Two consistent finishes at Nittany have me Placed 25th or so in the MAC Series. Depending on who makes the trip that may equate to a 2nd or third row call up.
Race 6
Sunday – Riverfront Cross - Cat 3/4
The course on Sunday was unlike any course I encountered last year. The race took place at Riverside Park (name conflict, odd, right?) in Hartford, CT. The namesake river was the Connecticut river and the beautiful backdrop of bridges and the banks were very picturesque. Things that made this course unique were the venue’s backdrop, and the completely diverse technical features and surfaces.
A looping grass field sprint fed into the asphalt finish area. The first turn, a tight right hander, dumped onto grass and immediately took you through a 40 foot sand pit which was made not too difficult by the rain the previous evening. One corner after the sandpit was barrier set 1. These barriers were very tall and had a difficult remount as there were two corners just after. A shallow climb was topped with a right hander through a cement floor gazebo which spit the rider back down the hill through some open twisties. The next feature was a 90 degree turn on 10 foot diameter off camber section which required a good degree of bike handling skill to navigate with speed. A few tight narrow turns later and after a grass straight away 15 feet of mulch greeted the rider, followed by a 180 into a tight washed out triple switch back ending on pavement.
The asphalt instantly turned into loose dirt and a pretty difficult dusty corner which then fed into two 50 foot sections of mulch which fought with all their power to suck the dear watts out of my legs. The course then fed up into the other side of the cement gazebo again and back down the grass. After the next left hander a group of kids and their father had a small rubber pig on the course. They cheered for riders the whole race to jump the pig, I though down a pretty gnar bunny hop. Immediately after the rubber pig feature barrier 2 forced riders to dismount before the back power section. 50 yards of pavement accelerated the riders by the boathouse and launch and into the smooth hard pack woods. The woods were a smooth fast straight away that ran a long ways down and dumped out to the meanest ride up I’ve come across. The ride up went diagonal up the earth of a reservoir 90 feet before turning hard right and running off camber normal to the slop for 50 feet. A left led the riders straight up the remaining 30 feet of the slop to the top of the hill. The hill was close to the Marty’s climb but did not run straight up and had a little bit more elevation.
The flat straight away of the reservoir top was broken up with two off camber dips that looped on the hill side. The following downhill ran diagonally down a rooted washed out section of hill before turning straight downhill halfway to the base. The return from the reservoir took riders through some open loopy turns through the woods on mulch almost the whole way back. There was one line and it was reasonably fast considering the surface. A final barrier / downed tree made the 3rd set before the grass staging area corner.
Again the call ups were first come, I snagged a front row on the right side with Zach just next to me. At the whistle I slugged my first pedal stroke shooting forwards like a bat out of hell! Then missed my clip in. Again. And watched the front group sprint away. I went out in about 15th. The front group more or less motored away and I picked off people where I could. Lap 3 there was no one else close in front of me and I was running out of gas when a Zancanatto rider named Scott caught me. He ripped by and I charged behind him grabbing his wheel. We traded 10th and 11th about every half lap for the rest of the race. On the final lap he took the back straight pull leading up to the climb, we had a great race but I was planning my attack. We crawled up the reservoir side by side, I eyed the crest. We made the turn together and I made a sprint effort. I got in front through the off cambers and put 4 or 5 bike lengths before the downhill. I ripped through the woods at full effort, barriered the tree and launched out of the woods. Just then I caught sight of a rider ahead of me. I had closed his gap significantly through the mulchy woods. I was low on energy but sprinted as hard as I could. I finished under a second behind him having dropped Scott 4 seconds back.
10/47. Fun race.
The theme this season for me is missing my pedal. I know what I need to work on. This was the first race I spent time with another rider for more than a lap. I spent the rest of the races this year more or less leading and dropping groups or catching and passing people. I want to see how well I can hold with a front group instead of charging from the back.
Next up is Charm City this weekend. Two consistent finishes at Nittany have me Placed 25th or so in the MAC Series. Depending on who makes the trip that may equate to a 2nd or third row call up.
Pearl
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
how has crossresults not made this a feature yet? im not reading through 130 names.
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
I was actually shopping for some sweet new dumb glasses and found out in the process these frames all come from China and are painted with lead.
I'm in the search for some new non leaded novelty glasses. Any leads (tehehe) would be appreciated.
EDIT: Clear lens required.
Dutch Frog
Member
i think you should get some blu-blockers
http://www.blublocker.com/products/2-black-original-aviator-blublockers
http://www.blublocker.com/products/2-black-original-aviator-blublockers
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
team shades?
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Sarcasm about race predictor or actual interest in a Series basis call up page?
