Ruts N Guts - Day 3

Sunday's course is very similar to Friday's. The fast and straight grass section and asphalt section were cut out because it belongs to a church, and that area is too busy on Sundays. The sandy steep hill is also gone. Now there is an additional starecase followed by a pretty steep climb. Some of the tight, technical, sandy turns are now in the opposite direction. If there is a good line through there, I never found it. The change I was most excited about was the removal of the tall barrier before the steep climb. It meant that I could now ride that climb, which suits me better I think.

　

I was pretty tired for a couple reasons. First, I had been driving back and forth between OKC and Tulsa each day. I was getting home after midnight, and I'm not used to going to sleep that late. Second, the fatigue of two hard races already that weekend was evident in my legs. I wanted a good warmup, but that wouldn't be the case. They called us to stage 30 minute before our race. So much for spinning out the fatigue. I rode the gravel hill of the parking lot a few times, but I didn't want to go too far and risk missing the callup. It probably didn't affect the race at all though. Even the guys that did warm up had to sit in staging for 30 minutes and get stale, so we were all on a level field.

　

I had Sarah and my dog Tanker cheering me on that day. It always helps to have some fans out there. You can always dig deeper when you hear peopl you love cheering for you...or when you hear people you don't know heckling you.

　

I was on the front row again for being 5th in the omnium. It wasn't as crowded as the day before. I had a decent start...probably top 6 or 7. Skyler and the Drummonds took off early. They were gone before I knew it. Eventually is was down to Troy, Kaleb, Jess, and me. I was pretty exhausted after the fist few laps. I was thinking I'd be lucky to have a top 7 finish. Eventually we got a little gap on Kaleb and a little gap on Troy.

　

When you are tired, your mind starts telling you crazy things. At one point I was seriously thinking the best way to beat Jess would to let him go and then just ride my own pace. That wouldn't have been smart at all. How can you beat somebody by letting them drop you? I needed to stay as close as possible and hope he makes a mistake. On the newer stair climb he mounted his bike in a hard gear and was bogged down. I was in my 28 and spun right up the climb. I gave it the beans for as long as I could. Chris Drummond (no relation to the Drummond brothers that kicked my butt all weekend) was at the top of the climb each lap telling me how much gap I had. Even when I was pretty sure I had it, I kept my focus on the course. I didn't want a repeat of Friday. There was a really big gap to the top 3 guys, so I kept it pretty conservative.

　

For the weekend, I ended up with a 5th place finish and two 4ths. The way the points worked out, that was good enough for a 5th in the omnium. Compared to the Rivercross, I felt great. The top 3 guys were definitely in a class above me. They really proved that on Sunday. Jess and I had some great battles, but he had more points that I did. The rest of the season will be full of good racing with Jess, Troy, Kaleb, Tommy, etc. I was debating on upgrading to a 2 after this weekend, but I think I'll stay a 3 for a little while longer; at least until I win a race or the end of the season comes.

Watching the pro/1/2 race is always humbling. Some of those guys, like B$, were riding the main staircase so fast, it was unbelievable. I think they were riding the back staircase too. Crazy. I have a lot to learn.

Ruts N Guts 2 - Showdown At Sundown

Showdown At Sundown is my kind of course. It is fast, it flows well, and the grass had a ton of grip. It is located on a golf course (driving range actually). I kept my Challenge Limus tire on up front, but went with a file tread in the rear. It seemed like a good combo for this course.

　

My 5th place result the night before put me on the front line for the start. They started doing call-ups about 10 minutes early, so the Drummond brothers weren't there yet. I was purposely taking up quite a bit of room, but when the brothers got there I had to give up some room so they could get on the front row. No biggie, they deserved to be there, but now we were all basically bar-to-bar on the front row, about 15 people across. My start wasn't horrible, but not quite as good as the night before.

　

Before the course gets fast and flowy, there is a tough off camber section. The tall barrier is placed after an off camber corner. I only dismount and mount on my left side, and that was the downhill side. I did a decent job getting on and off each lap, but not great. It will be something to continue to work on.

　

Like usual, when the gap opened up in the race, I was behind it. The top 4 guys from Friday were all up there, plus a few more. There was a pretty good headwind on parts of the course, and at the moment I should have bridged I was content letting somebody else pull, and the gap grew. Eventually our chase group consisted of Jason Pratt, Chuck Sloan, and me. As soon as I saw Chuck, I told Jason that we had to stay with him. About 5 seconds later, I don't remember what happened, but Jason and Chuck were riding away from me. I'm not sure if I made a mistake or if somebody in front of me did. I chased for a while and eventually got back on them. Once I was recovered, I took the lead and started doing my share of the work. Then, just like the previous night, I wasn't paying attention and turned a post too early. I guess it was a combination of fatigue, the darkness, and not focusing. Chuck and Jason gapped me, so I was stuck chasing yet again. They caught the lead group and I finally made my way up there too.

　

Once I was on the lead group, it felt like we were crawling. I think it was just that much easier to be in the draft. When I thought we would have 2 laps to go, we actually only had 1 to go. Skyler gapped the field in the off camber section, but we caught back on. I was sitting 5th behind Jason through the flowy section, trying to figure out a place to move up. He clipped his pedal on one of the turns and a gap opened up. When I got around him, I was too far behind the 3 leaders to catch back on. I ended up taking 4th. The top 3 guys beat me the day before, so it didn't affect the omnium for me. Jason ended up beating the Drummond who finished 2nd the night before, so that helped Jess and I move a little closer to him in points for the omnium.

　

Like Friday, I was happy with 4th, but at the same time I wished I could redo the last lap and race for a higher spot; but that is pretty much true for every race I do. I did what I could. I was pretty proud of myself for being able to even catch that lead group. It would have been a good course for me to squeeze out a win, but that wasn't the case on Saturday.

Ruts N Guts Day 1 - Friday Night Lights

Like I said before, this race was at night. I got to the venue about two hours early so that I could pre-ride the course between events. I got to see Dylan take 2nd in the cat4 race. That was motivating for me, and he was able to give me some advice about the course. They did call-ups for pre-registered riders based on your USA Cycling points. All the riders who didn't pre-register started in the back. My USA Cycling points aren't very good since I'm so new to cross, so I ended up on the 3rd row; but at least I was in front of the people who didn't pre-register.

I took a spot all the way to the outside. I was right behind Tony Steward and Skyler Mackey. Both of those guys always have great starts, so it was the best place possible place I could be, given that I was stuck on the third row. Sure enough, those two guys got a great holeshot. I think I probably got to the first barrier somewhere around 10th.

I was so focused on getting a good start that I wasn't thinking about the first barrier. The barrier was very tall, placed right after a sharp left turn, and had a long hill we had to run up right after it. I was so flustered, I forgot how to dismount my bike. I think I unclipped my wrong foot first or something, but I finally managed to just leap off the bike and run up the hill. The horrible dismount didn't cost me time, but I'm sure I looked like a fool. I think I may have passed a few guys on the run-up, and was behind Tommy Willis going into the first set of switchbacks. Tommy didn't have a chance to pre-ride the course, and overcooked one of the turns. It put him in the grass and I was able to make it around him. There is a section that goes through some woods, up a steep sandy hill, around a tree with exposed roots, and out to a fast asphalt section. I made up some more spots during the fast section of the course and was sitting pretty decent into the stair section.

I decided to ride the stares on the first lap. I made it up clean, but I was passed by two young brothers from Arkansas. It was pretty clear that with my skill level, I should probably be running the stairs instead of trying to ride them. Skyler and the two Drummond brothers got pretty far away. Jess Parker and I kept a steady tempo. He did the majority of the work. Every lap I would be ready to pull through on the fast section, but he would drill it hard enough that I couldn't come around, so I let him keep working. We caught the Drummond brothers, who looked pretty tired, but were able to pick it up again to match our speed. On one of the stair-case run-ups, one of them kept bumping me as I was running and trying to mount. I'm sure that is normal, but being new, it took me off-guard. I'm 100% over it now and think the Drummond brothers are great racers, but it kept me motivated for that entire race. Two corners later, the brothers took each other out, and I yelled "that's what you get." I probably shouldn't have done that for multiple reasons, one of which is karma. That was with just over 1 lap to go. Jess was probably 15 seconds in front of me. I was tired, and I didn't think I'd be able to catch him. The Drummond brothers were behind me, and I didn't think they'd be able to catch me.

A few things happened. First, two laps ago I hit a bump will my hands were on the hoods and my shifter slid down a little. It was no big deal. The next lap, right before the brothers crashed, I hit the same bump and it slid down more. When that happens, it pulls the cables so your shifting and braking is out of wack. The back wheel was barely rubbing on the brake....it cost less than a few watts I'm sure. The problem was, I let it destroy me mentally. I started thinking that it was probably rubbing really bad and that it was going to cost me my race. I should have stayed focused. The bike was fine...there was no need to panic. The second thing was that I became fine with third place. I didn't think I'd catch anyone or anyone would catch me. In my head, the race was done. It was far from done.

I wasn't concentrating as I went into the steep sandy climb and didn't fully commit. I had to unclip and scoot my way up, straddling the bike. Karma. It gave the brothers the opportunity to pass me. It took me by surprise. I got on their wheel for the fast section, but didn't even try to make a pass before we hit the grass again. On the final staircase, the younger brother had a bad mount. I came around him and was in 4th place. Right where they crashed a lap ago, I was looking down and turned a post too early. My bars got caught in the tape. He dismounted and ran around me. This was all in the last 200m or so of the race. I tried to come around him on the outside of the final straight, but couldn't get him.

The other Drummond brother was actually able to catch and pass Jess that lap, so he took 2nd. I guess it wasn't as impossible for me to catch 2nd as I thought. Before the race, 5th place would have sounded great to me. Being so close to finishing 3rd, or even 2nd made 5th place a little less sweet, but I'm still happy with it.

So...takeaways.
1. Don't talk smack, karma is a B.
2. CX takes laser focus, and bad stuff can happen the second you lose focus.
3. Getting a good start makes an enormous difference.

2012 - My first real cyclocross season

It's been a while since I've posted a race report on here. Since I've been filming most of my races, the need to chronical the events hasn't been so important. The first two events of the Ruts and Guts weekend were in the dark, so I didn't have my camera mounted. I probably should have had it running the third day, but I didn't take the 5 minutes to install it again.

As a quick recap, this is pretty much my first season racing cross, aside from a few events on my road bike in previous seasons. This is definitely the first season I've trained for cross and actually practiced some of the technical aspects involved. My debut race of the season (OC Criss Cross) went pretty well with a 3rd place finish in the Cat3 race. I think second place could have been possible, but poor start and a crash about half-way through the race cost me some time and energy, so third was the best I could muster. Judson designed a great course. We were out there with Sarah, Terry, and Brian Fairless for most of the day Friday getting it ready to go. It is amazing how much caution tape it takes to line a 1.5 mile CX course.

The following weekend at the Rivercross was a completely different (and humbling) experience. I had another poor start. I was able to get back a few positions, but I just didn't have what it took that day. I felt pretty good riding the technical sections, but I was having an awful time on the long climb and long straightaway. It was completely backwards from what I expected. I thought I would be able to hurt some people on the climb, but I struggled on it every lap. I caught Tony Steward, who was in 6th place; but I blew up shortly after and he rode away. On the final lap, Kaleb Nimz, who had a broken shoe, flew by me on the climb like I was standing still. There was no way I could have matched his speed. I was lapping a rider about that same time and managed to pinch flat my rear clincher tire as I hopped back onto the concrete spillway. I was a pretty good distance from the pit and rode in on the flat. Cameron Buswell came by me just after the barriers, and he was long gone by the time I got hopped on my pit bike (Sarah's bike).

I didn't realize it at the time, but Corey White was catching me fast. For the first time of this race, I decided to run the sand pit instead of riding it, and he passed me as I was mounting. On the second to last corner I took the inside line and was able to get around him. We got to battle it out in a fun sprint for 9th, and I barely got him. It was nice to be able to end the race with a good battle, especially since the rest of the day didn't go as I hoped.

I was pretty nervous going into Ruts N Guts. Was my 3rd place at OC Criss Cross beginners luck? Was my less-than-stellar performance at the Rivercross just a fluke? I changed a few things in my training the week between Rivercross and Ruts. I started some gym workouts a few weeks ago, but I think it negatively impacted my ability to ride right now. I'll postpone that to my true off-season. I also rode my bike a little more than I did the previous week so I wouldn't feel stale on race day. On top of all that, I practiced some starts since that has been my one obvious weakness. I watched the first 30 seconds of the past two races on video to figure out what I could have done better.