The Heckle Report
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The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Pearl
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Mountain Bike Mike
Well-Known Member
See ya up there.... Got the 8:15 race... 6:00am wheels up for me.
May try to stick around Sunday to watch some, weather depending.
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
SUPERCROSS 2015 DAY 1 - 2/3/4 10:45
Fuel
There was mud.
Lots of mud.
This amount of maintainance kinda mud.
My back wheel has felt kinda funny on pavement for a couple weeks. I figured I was just feeling my less then perfectly centered tire since the wheel spins laser straight. Wellll, my carbon patch finally shit the bed after 20 races. The rim only deforms under load, but I won't be racing this wheel anymore, which is pretty fine because we are getting into the muck months!
And I'm not even upset about the rim considering my tire is officially trashed in a different spot then where I patched it after Nittany. Note the side wall shred AND the red tube bubble!!
I had a pretty shitty sprint and bled spots from my second row call up. The dude next to me must have broken his frame in half 3 cranks in. He went down so fast it was like he fell into a portal. The course was fantastically challenging but the bottlenecks forced me to run A LOT the first lap.
Some dude passed me early in a corner and threw the second meanest elbow I got all year, almost sent me threw the tape. I rode his wheel to the ride up/run up then passed him on the inside of the right hand corner while running. He tried to pinch me so I capitalized on my dirty side positioning and pushed him with the NDS of my bike. Made me feel great about myself. Guy was a huge dick and way too aggro. I dropped him and kinda wish I could rub it in his face. He was that aggro.
I rode with Brett who I beat last Saturday in SS and Cameron who beat me last Sunday for the whole race. We switched off a lot but in the end I made a pass on Cam on the big curved mud pit up top which was about 150' long this year. I had been running the onside pushing tape actually running on the curb which I thought was genius. Cleaned my shoes and was pretty fast! With 2 laps to go they actually opened up the course on the outside to give 10 feet of virgin grass. Weird that they did that mid race.
I FINISHED 10th!!!!
Woo!
Totally smoked. No warm up and so much time running has me feeling
Bike is cleaned and dialed, I'm showered, the race is recapped, New rear pads, and the MUDs are on ready to go for tomorrow!
Dinner and chill time.
Fuel
There was mud.
Lots of mud.
This amount of maintainance kinda mud.
My back wheel has felt kinda funny on pavement for a couple weeks. I figured I was just feeling my less then perfectly centered tire since the wheel spins laser straight. Wellll, my carbon patch finally shit the bed after 20 races. The rim only deforms under load, but I won't be racing this wheel anymore, which is pretty fine because we are getting into the muck months!
And I'm not even upset about the rim considering my tire is officially trashed in a different spot then where I patched it after Nittany. Note the side wall shred AND the red tube bubble!!
I had a pretty shitty sprint and bled spots from my second row call up. The dude next to me must have broken his frame in half 3 cranks in. He went down so fast it was like he fell into a portal. The course was fantastically challenging but the bottlenecks forced me to run A LOT the first lap.
Some dude passed me early in a corner and threw the second meanest elbow I got all year, almost sent me threw the tape. I rode his wheel to the ride up/run up then passed him on the inside of the right hand corner while running. He tried to pinch me so I capitalized on my dirty side positioning and pushed him with the NDS of my bike. Made me feel great about myself. Guy was a huge dick and way too aggro. I dropped him and kinda wish I could rub it in his face. He was that aggro.
I rode with Brett who I beat last Saturday in SS and Cameron who beat me last Sunday for the whole race. We switched off a lot but in the end I made a pass on Cam on the big curved mud pit up top which was about 150' long this year. I had been running the onside pushing tape actually running on the curb which I thought was genius. Cleaned my shoes and was pretty fast! With 2 laps to go they actually opened up the course on the outside to give 10 feet of virgin grass. Weird that they did that mid race.
I FINISHED 10th!!!!
Woo!
Totally smoked. No warm up and so much time running has me feeling
Bike is cleaned and dialed, I'm showered, the race is recapped, New rear pads, and the MUDs are on ready to go for tomorrow!
Dinner and chill time.
Mountain Bike Mike
Well-Known Member
Mudstache
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
s 24 & 25 NBX - Warwick, RI
This was my first time up to NBX. I was solo again for the weekend and opted to leave Saturday morning at 5:45 for my 12:30 race. Happy I did, I had some amazing sleep. The drive was super easy and I had a great playlist that got me there for 9:30. I stopped 3 times since I was facing water and coffee like it was going outta style, I normally HATE stopping, but when ya gotta hydrate that's the life you're gonna live, unless you commit to a catheter which sometimes seems like it could be a good idea.
ANYWAY! The venue is in a gorgeous park filled with large trees and is located right on the bay. There is a beach. BOY is there a beach. There is a ~100 yard beach RUN. I heard stats that it's the longest run in American cyclocross. Good thing I've been doing a lot of work of the bike (read sarcasm). Peep this beach run, this is only part of it. There is no riding rut and the sand is deep and heavy and probably mixed with glue by the feel of it.
[
Race
Lined up front row wit my dope Verge series points. Before the announcer called me he told me I'm one of his favorite racers to watch. I'll take that as an awesome compliment from someone that watches many hundreds of racers at all levels every weekend.
I didn't capitalize much on the sprint and bled spots maybe to about 15th over the first 1/3 of a lap. Laps were really long, and we would do 3 + a 1/2 lap prelude. Super twisty with roots everywhere. A total sprint brake sprint jam fest which killz me. I settled in behind Bryan B who I've been constantly finishing a few spots ahead. One second there were 3 other dude behind me and the next they were GONE. One dood came out of nowhere and joined our group to make it 3. Each lap in the sand Bryan would gap me 10 lengths and the guys between me 5. I suck at running. Then I'd catch by the next sand, and repeat.
Laughing at the sand struggle:
With ~1 1/4 to go I pinch flatted my front on a root in the hardly any roots section. I assessed my pit situation of whith my spare wheels were in the car and no neutral support looks like I was quitting or running. Running it would be. The next group was probably 45 seconds back, I was impressed with the gap we made. I rode what I could but ran a whole lot. I did stop once in the pit to see if anyone had a pump, maybe that old stans still had some life left, but no. no pump. Then I saw my buddy Mark who had a pit bike! I yell and ask to borrow, he says yes and I look for the blue crocket, which is nowhere to be found. BACK TO THE RUN/RIDE!
The finshers finish and I'm still on the course with a long way to go. They call women to staging and Anthony Clark and Dan Chabonov pre ride up to me. They critique my corning technique before realizing I had a flat and was still racing at which point they apologized (kinda) and left me space for a little while until after the beach when everyone started coming by. Can't say I cared since at this point I was just in the way 10 minutes after the finishers came through. I was getting nervous about the next race starting, but I finished.
DFL>>>>>DNF
Sunday:
Forgot to mention up to this point that it was Mid 50'2 and I was racing bare legged. Wow, what a weekend. No wind either!
First row again. I needed to get out in front if I wanted to finish well. I go into the woods in 5th wheel which was great. A few guys blow by me before the first jam up corner then a few more after. I'm really missing the straight away sprint power I had a month or two ago..
Tires were pumped up to basketball status (basically) and I was running Limus front and rear since both fangos are dead for the year. I always suffer with turning my bike when there are roots on the ground. With that said I got a compliment about a line I took on a tough corner. The guys told me "Killer line!!!" I was stoked then fucked up the next 3 corners.
I rode by the announcer who heckled me off the PA "c'mon Tyler, I expect better from you!" Which made be pretty bummed since my peak fitness was way behind me and I was riding as flat out as I could. I had disappointed a fan. I'M USELESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!
I opened my legs up Saturday and changed my stride in the sand. I went from long steps to very short choppy steps. The long steps moved a lot of sand and sucked sooo much energy. The short steps noticeably made running easier. I went from getting dropped to passing people running every lap which was pretty kool. I also was back to "runaway train barrier Matt" form. I constantly was able to repass people in both the barriers and the log barriers.
I was hovering somewhere around 10-12th going into the bell lap. I bobbled a corner and two guys ahead of me put on a small gap. We hit the beach and I turned on my run one more time. I channeled Forest Gump as I gained on those two guys. I came up the right and made a double pass!
BUT WAIT!! THERE'S ANOTHER TWO DUDES I'M CLOSING ON!! I get infront of guy 1 as we turn up the small run up off the beach. Guy two is 2/3's up and tries to mount. HE STUFFED IT! I KEEP RUNNING UP THE LEFT TRYING TO PUT MY BIKE DOWN BUT MY ARM IS STUCK BETWEEN THE DOWN TUBE AND THE FRONT TIRE.
I untangle myself and mount before the corner. I'm complimented for a good run by a spectator and stay on the attack. I feel like I'm dying. One dude gets back around me then Eric Baumann passes both of us. Eric had been closing 5 seconds per lap since the start and finally connected. I realize about now that the finish way further then I had originally gauged while running the beach. This was really going to hurt..
The guy ahead of me was going just slow enough to be in my way, but just fast enough where I couldn't pass cleanly. I wasn't in a divebomb state of mind so I rode it out. Somehow he bunny hopped the last barrier set and put a gap on me. I bobble one more corner and someone connects right before the sprint. I get in gear and pedaled my face off. I don't think he was even close at the line.
Then I collapsed. 9th = $20 = Lunch/breakfast money for the week. Sweet.
One more to go. Ice Weasels SS next Saturday. Taking the dumb bike.
More of a victory lap then a race.
This was my first time up to NBX. I was solo again for the weekend and opted to leave Saturday morning at 5:45 for my 12:30 race. Happy I did, I had some amazing sleep. The drive was super easy and I had a great playlist that got me there for 9:30. I stopped 3 times since I was facing water and coffee like it was going outta style, I normally HATE stopping, but when ya gotta hydrate that's the life you're gonna live, unless you commit to a catheter which sometimes seems like it could be a good idea.
ANYWAY! The venue is in a gorgeous park filled with large trees and is located right on the bay. There is a beach. BOY is there a beach. There is a ~100 yard beach RUN. I heard stats that it's the longest run in American cyclocross. Good thing I've been doing a lot of work of the bike (read sarcasm). Peep this beach run, this is only part of it. There is no riding rut and the sand is deep and heavy and probably mixed with glue by the feel of it.
[
Race
Lined up front row wit my dope Verge series points. Before the announcer called me he told me I'm one of his favorite racers to watch. I'll take that as an awesome compliment from someone that watches many hundreds of racers at all levels every weekend.
I didn't capitalize much on the sprint and bled spots maybe to about 15th over the first 1/3 of a lap. Laps were really long, and we would do 3 + a 1/2 lap prelude. Super twisty with roots everywhere. A total sprint brake sprint jam fest which killz me. I settled in behind Bryan B who I've been constantly finishing a few spots ahead. One second there were 3 other dude behind me and the next they were GONE. One dood came out of nowhere and joined our group to make it 3. Each lap in the sand Bryan would gap me 10 lengths and the guys between me 5. I suck at running. Then I'd catch by the next sand, and repeat.
Laughing at the sand struggle:
With ~1 1/4 to go I pinch flatted my front on a root in the hardly any roots section. I assessed my pit situation of whith my spare wheels were in the car and no neutral support looks like I was quitting or running. Running it would be. The next group was probably 45 seconds back, I was impressed with the gap we made. I rode what I could but ran a whole lot. I did stop once in the pit to see if anyone had a pump, maybe that old stans still had some life left, but no. no pump. Then I saw my buddy Mark who had a pit bike! I yell and ask to borrow, he says yes and I look for the blue crocket, which is nowhere to be found. BACK TO THE RUN/RIDE!
The finshers finish and I'm still on the course with a long way to go. They call women to staging and Anthony Clark and Dan Chabonov pre ride up to me. They critique my corning technique before realizing I had a flat and was still racing at which point they apologized (kinda) and left me space for a little while until after the beach when everyone started coming by. Can't say I cared since at this point I was just in the way 10 minutes after the finishers came through. I was getting nervous about the next race starting, but I finished.
DFL>>>>>DNF
Sunday:
Forgot to mention up to this point that it was Mid 50'2 and I was racing bare legged. Wow, what a weekend. No wind either!
First row again. I needed to get out in front if I wanted to finish well. I go into the woods in 5th wheel which was great. A few guys blow by me before the first jam up corner then a few more after. I'm really missing the straight away sprint power I had a month or two ago..
Tires were pumped up to basketball status (basically) and I was running Limus front and rear since both fangos are dead for the year. I always suffer with turning my bike when there are roots on the ground. With that said I got a compliment about a line I took on a tough corner. The guys told me "Killer line!!!" I was stoked then fucked up the next 3 corners.
I rode by the announcer who heckled me off the PA "c'mon Tyler, I expect better from you!" Which made be pretty bummed since my peak fitness was way behind me and I was riding as flat out as I could. I had disappointed a fan. I'M USELESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!
I opened my legs up Saturday and changed my stride in the sand. I went from long steps to very short choppy steps. The long steps moved a lot of sand and sucked sooo much energy. The short steps noticeably made running easier. I went from getting dropped to passing people running every lap which was pretty kool. I also was back to "runaway train barrier Matt" form. I constantly was able to repass people in both the barriers and the log barriers.
I was hovering somewhere around 10-12th going into the bell lap. I bobbled a corner and two guys ahead of me put on a small gap. We hit the beach and I turned on my run one more time. I channeled Forest Gump as I gained on those two guys. I came up the right and made a double pass!
BUT WAIT!! THERE'S ANOTHER TWO DUDES I'M CLOSING ON!! I get infront of guy 1 as we turn up the small run up off the beach. Guy two is 2/3's up and tries to mount. HE STUFFED IT! I KEEP RUNNING UP THE LEFT TRYING TO PUT MY BIKE DOWN BUT MY ARM IS STUCK BETWEEN THE DOWN TUBE AND THE FRONT TIRE.
I untangle myself and mount before the corner. I'm complimented for a good run by a spectator and stay on the attack. I feel like I'm dying. One dude gets back around me then Eric Baumann passes both of us. Eric had been closing 5 seconds per lap since the start and finally connected. I realize about now that the finish way further then I had originally gauged while running the beach. This was really going to hurt..
The guy ahead of me was going just slow enough to be in my way, but just fast enough where I couldn't pass cleanly. I wasn't in a divebomb state of mind so I rode it out. Somehow he bunny hopped the last barrier set and put a gap on me. I bobble one more corner and someone connects right before the sprint. I get in gear and pedaled my face off. I don't think he was even close at the line.
Then I collapsed. 9th = $20 = Lunch/breakfast money for the week. Sweet.
One more to go. Ice Weasels SS next Saturday. Taking the dumb bike.
More of a victory lap then a race.
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
This is a very well shot/edited album of Sunday. Worth a look:
http://teamhealthwarrior.com/portfolio-item/nbx-gran-prix-of-cross-2015/
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
GREAT NEWS
I signed up to race tomorrow over a month ago, decided early this week I wasn't going to drive alone to RI a second weekend in a row for only one race. Then I invited Maureen to come, then I realized I asked a non-cyclist to drive for 7 hours on what will be a 60 degree December day. So then I decided I wasn't going again. Then Wednesday realized I love this stupid shit too much to not race.
I could stay more local but the race reg will be about the same as round trip gas to RI, plus gas to PA. I'd really only be saving myself about 3.5 hours in the car which should be worth it, but I would say Ice Weasels is quite a spectacle. I'll be racing SS in a 95 man field +17 women +32 geared/SS fatbikes.
Yea, aha.
So, I'm leaving tomorrow morning again for a 3:15 drive to almost the same place for half the amount of racing and coming home right after because like the rest of you I'm a little wrong in the head, though, maybe a little more wrong having just re-read what I just wrote.
I signed up to race tomorrow over a month ago, decided early this week I wasn't going to drive alone to RI a second weekend in a row for only one race. Then I invited Maureen to come, then I realized I asked a non-cyclist to drive for 7 hours on what will be a 60 degree December day. So then I decided I wasn't going again. Then Wednesday realized I love this stupid shit too much to not race.
I could stay more local but the race reg will be about the same as round trip gas to RI, plus gas to PA. I'd really only be saving myself about 3.5 hours in the car which should be worth it, but I would say Ice Weasels is quite a spectacle. I'll be racing SS in a 95 man field +17 women +32 geared/SS fatbikes.
Yea, aha.
So, I'm leaving tomorrow morning again for a 3:15 drive to almost the same place for half the amount of racing and coming home right after because like the rest of you I'm a little wrong in the head, though, maybe a little more wrong having just re-read what I just wrote.
Mountain Bike Mike
Well-Known Member
All for the love of RACING!
DIE HARD racer
DIE HARD racer
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
I've put a lot of thought into the 'am i burnt out,' which if it's a question I need to ask, the answer is no.
This year was kinda just easy for me. I didn't set any goals, I never really had any training regiment, I even stopped riding hard during the week once the clocks turned back.
I had three double weekends off the 16 week season, and two additional single race weekends leaving only 9 double weekends and 1 quadruple weekend.
My goals were really make this season fun, and it was!
The big one is weather. Weather is what really taxes me. Driving in the cold, racing in the cold, training in the cold, being cold really leaves a bad taste in my mouth and is what generally attributes to me burning out. It's been so mild and almost every weekend has just been an absolute gem that I'm still happy as could be. Also, it helps that I have a sweet new(used) car that has heat and heated seats. Driving myself to Baystate in a car with no heat to race around in the snow/ice/mud at around freezing temps really did me in last year and I pulled it Before NBX which would have been the same but also raining. Gas is also cheap and i get 30% better mileage.
Is that too thorough of an answer?
TLDR
Pearl
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
perfect. i guess i went the opposite approach. the non-training regiment adds into it for sure. while i put immense pressure on myself to compete with you and the other big dogs, you are just showing up and letting it fly. peezy appreciates that.
you are very naturally talented. not all of us are.
i had fun doing the opposite of you, but i paid for it towards the end. november was a total grind. not sure if doing intervals in january in my basement was the cause of that.
you are very naturally talented. not all of us are.
i had fun doing the opposite of you, but i paid for it towards the end. november was a total grind. not sure if doing intervals in january in my basement was the cause of that.