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2012-08-27 6:02 AM

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Subject: Cyclocross race reports

I'll start it as i know a couple of us raced this weekend

 

First race, Mens Cat4,  I dropped my chain in practice, so i went back to the car to adjust the chain catcher, get back to the line and i am starting last, lol!!  Awesome.  Sprint start, i get about 10-15 spots immediately, and just start working my way through the field. This is the first year that i actually was in shape for the start of the season, it certainly made a difference. Went down once on a corner, tripped once on the barrier section, but did not lose much ground. ended up 14th out of about 50. 

Went and raced the Masters 35+open an hour later, did not get a good start (from the back) i need to pay attention to when everyone starts lining up. And basically just pulled the rear of the pack around. We started 2 mins ahead of the elite field, Justin Lindine passed me on lap 2 and lapped me on the last lap. The winner of my race also caught me at the bell lap, so i ended up racing one lap short (thank god).  I had the endurance, but did not have the POP in my legs for the second race, it had gotten into the 80's and i was pretty warm. Turns out that Justin was parked right next to me, and we chatted a bit, he is a sooper cool kid!!

 

Finally had a good first race to cross season, nothing broke, i felt great in both races, i finished both races, met some cool folks, and actually hung with the bop elites, which means if i can take off 15-20lbs, i will be ready for Cat3 next year, which is my ultimate goal.



Edited by Rudedog55 2012-08-27 6:02 AM


2012-08-27 3:43 PM
in reply to: #4381658

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over a barrier
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports
Nice work! We staged our entire fields, so I'm used to racing in the back.

We had 6 hours of rain in Chicago during our races and I raced Masters 30+ , Men's 123 , and Co-ed it was a relay event to kick off the year. I'm so sore today, from working the brakes all day. The wet corners made for some lively action, I only hit the deck in the 123 race but I was way out of control diving into corners, tripoding, and dabbing every corning trying to get back in the race. My partner raced the Chicago Triathlon that morning and was cramping so we were off the back fast.

Two hours of racing CX, got home and ate an entire pizza!!

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Edited by running2far 2012-08-27 3:47 PM
2012-08-27 9:29 PM
in reply to: #4381658

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over a barrier
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports
From the first race of the day, Masters 30+ just as the rain started moving in..

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2012-08-30 2:49 PM
in reply to: #4381658

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Master
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Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports
Is that a new front wheel?
2012-08-30 2:52 PM
in reply to: #4388626

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over a barrier
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports
As of December, Psimets glued up with Rhinos for the muck. Same gigantex with Griffos but the front needs to be reglued.
2012-08-30 7:42 PM
in reply to: #4381658

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Master
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Tosa, WI
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports

Will someone please contact the Cyclocross Season and tell it that it can start at any time......  Please ..... Hurry up.  



2012-09-03 6:53 PM
in reply to: #4389024

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Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports
badgerintx - 2012-08-30 8:42 PM

Will someone please contact the Cyclocross Season and tell it that it can start at any time......  Please ..... Hurry up.  

First race for me, Tacchino (Italian for Turkey, the race used to be right around thanksgiving)

B masters 3/4 35+  should be interesting with 2 weeks in Hawaii eating and drinking, got in 120 or so miles this weekend trying to get myself into some sort of riding shape, will do a couple practices this week.  Woo Hoo!

2012-09-09 7:36 PM
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Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports

Tacchino Cyclocross race Masters 34/ 35+ in Rosaryville, MD

2 weeks in Hawaii didn't really help my fittness much, so I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of this race.  My goal was to not lose any places overall.

Started off mid pack, #51 out of 120 something.  Jam packed the first 1/2 lap, tough to get out of the middle.  Finally made some separation after the first half of a lap.  Very rusty in the slick areas, pretty tentative. 

Jeremy Powers was doing a clinic yesterday and today was coaching the clinic guys, pretty cool to see him out on some of the turns, luckilly I didn't wipe out on any of those, he was nice enough to say I looked good, but I was hurting so good for him for being nice to old people.

2nd to last lap my back started tightening up, haven't had to worry about that all year.  Need to make sure I stretch beforehand.  Luckilly I put the 11-28 on for this weekend and it helped going up some of the long climbs on this course.  I was able to spin while most guys were having to stand up and power through it, that helped my back out a bit.

Passed one guy near an off camber twisty-turny section and had a bit too much speed going into the turn, had to take a foot out and he re-passed me.  I think he thought he gapped me but I was coming on strong, he heard me and got into the drops, lol we were sprinting for 40th place, he beat me by maybe 1/2 a wheel so I ended up 41st out of 120 something, I'll take that with the pathetic fittness I have right now.

Looking at my HR 97% of the time during the race I was in Z5, so couldn't do much more than that.  Felt great to be back out there.

 

2012-09-10 8:19 AM
in reply to: #4381658

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Master
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Tosa, WI
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports

Sheboygan Classic - Raced Masters 45+ 4’s.  It was a pretty good showing for the first race of the year especially with Chequamegon going on next weekend.  I got a good start and a group of 4 of us got away after about a ½ a lap.  It was not a very technical course, with lots of back and forth on a bumpy grass field, which required lots of steady power, which has never been my strength.  I just tried to ride steady power and keep power to the pedals.  We ended up dropping Rob at the beginning of the 2nd lap and we were down to three.  We were switching positions on every lap as I found some good lines through the sand and made up ground on all the technical areas of the course on each lap only to lose it again in the grassy section on each lap.  I raced well, but finished 3rd.  Found out we had close to a ½ lap gap on the field behind us by the end and were fighting a little of the slower 35+ traffic, but I just didn't have to power to place any higher.  It is going to be a fun year of racing with PJ, Tim, and I battling it out every race based on the course and our riding strengths.   

I decided to go back to back for training purposes and also raced Elite 4’s with only a 15 minute break.  Barely had time to get some electrolytes down and change my numbers.  I started in the back, wanting to stay out of way after just racing and wanted to work on riding with steady power.  I actually ended up feeling pretty good and started passing lots of folks starting on the 2nd lap and finished 10th.  Really forgot the difference between the smooth Masters riders and some of these Elites, with Age there is some wisdom!    

I am so happy the season has finally started again, needed something to keep me motivated.  Finishing 3rd this weekend did that for me. 

Also, got to spend Sunday at Ironman- Madison cheering on many a racing peep.     

2012-09-10 9:03 AM
in reply to: #4381658

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over a barrier
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports
Great Job guys!

Always Sprint it out, can't get better at sprinting unless you sprint

I saw the sand in Wisconsin on facebook, that look fun

Edited by running2far 2012-09-10 9:28 AM
2012-09-11 11:17 AM
in reply to: #4381658

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over a barrier
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports
Quick recap of my weekend: Patriot CX - Small event downstate

Course: Sweeping course with no places for a rest. The features were a log section (x2) with a single log, double , and single. 6 total. Three step downhills, 180's, then back up. One barrier section (triple barriers). A small sand pit and one mud section.

Masters 30+

Only 7 in the field, but we raced with 40+ to make it 16 or so. We would be scored separately. At the gun about 5 of use came off the tarmac and into the sweeping turns. The 30+ leader and 40+ leader take off together. I'm sitting in the chase with two others. After two laps, I'm sitting in 3rd behind a teammate and I've dropped 4th enough I don't need to worry about him. We was losing time quickly. Bridge up to my teammate and wait for the 180's and make the pass on the downhill, and run up the hills to gap him. I would put in about 2-5 seconds on him each lap after that...coming into the bell lap I had about 15 second on him behind me and the leader was coming back into sight. I wanted to make a go of it and at least try to bridge but he was so much faster through the logs and 180's it was a lost effort. However, in the bell lap...I would catch and lap the rest of the field (4-7th).

The only people that beat me was the 30+ and 40+ winner (who broke a hub and ran half a lap and LAPPED ME).

2nd Place

Areas of improved: I was able to bunny hop the singles log with ease, but the doubles require a J-Hop and I had to slow down to a crawl to hop them. I've gone to home depot and I'm now building a bunny hop barrier (12incs) to work on.

Men's 123

Quick recap: 5th of of 8 I think. I was smoked. Power was about 10% lower in the second race and the field was much faster. Not a good combo

DSC_7234

This was a little drop in that was fun as well, just enough hill to make it annoying

DSC_7288

Edited by running2far 2012-09-11 11:19 AM


2012-09-13 1:06 PM
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Norwalk, Connecticut
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports

BOOYAH!!!  Got my first top 10 last night.

Had a good race, felt strong, fell a bunch, had the wrong tire.  All in all a good day!!!

 

2012-09-14 8:49 AM
in reply to: #4409749

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Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports
Nice work! Now upgrade
2012-09-15 2:28 AM
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Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports
Well, in town here we have a weekly cyclocross race.  Decided to try it out since my shop is hosting it.

Borrowed a buddy's cyclocross bike ( the same one I passed up to buy my roadie ) and had a lot of fun!!

Amazingly I managed to finish roughly MOP and am amazed at how close to threshold you are the WHOLE DAMN TIME!!!!

I gotta work on my mounts and dismounts, but didn't completely make a fool out of myself!!!




2012-09-15 7:55 PM
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Charlottesville, Virginia
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports

Nice results guys!

I'm off this weekend but racing both days at Charm City, our only UCI race in the DC metro area, then Winchester, which is the furthest race out of our 8 race series,  hoping to get some points there due to somewhat smaller fields, maybe only 80 or 90 instead of the typical 125.

2012-09-17 8:44 AM
in reply to: #4381658

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over a barrier
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports
It was a weekend of highs and lows for me.

Saturday: Jackson Park

30+ Open (Mainly Cats 2-4)

Staged 35th out of 73 starters

Got a clean start and starting working my way up the field. It was going to be a 7 lap race with laps taking just over 6 mins. Fast course, nothing supper challenge just lots of twisting turns (fast & slow). I had worked my way up to Top 20 somewhere with three laps to go, wanted to rail a fast corner but rolled my front tubular sending me to the deck. A little dazed, took awhile to roll the sucker back on and in a hurry forgot to rehook my front brake. Spend the next three laps trying not to roll the tire again and not kill myself with only 1 brake. I finished 41st. Very bummed, cpu says I was off course fixing the tire for almost 80 secs. Sigh.

Cat 3 (Staged 61st out 88)

You know the drill, signing up for two races always seems like a good idea until the race starts. There were a couple of small holes in the grass at the start and it cause a carbon explosion on the left side of the start, luckily I was staged right and zipped by. Legs were toast, I was on a new front wheel and was just trying to hang when I could. Again 7 laps, about 3 laps to go I really started to feel the second race and started going backwards. Latched on to a friend and we managed to work together with the goal of holding our places as they were pretty established by that point. With about 600 meters to go my chain jammed and I went right over my handle bars smashing my head. I was dazed a bit but quickly remounted and got going pedaling like a made man for the last section, my front brake was rubbing the rim to the point it would barely move. I only lost 2 spots though because of it...finished 51st.

Sunday: Drove to Wisconsin to light the candle again. Just one Race Cat 3

I was pretty stiff waking up the morning with a couple of crashes on Saturday. I extended my warmup to about an hour. 30 min of spinning and 3 laps of the course. Very different than a chicago course, lots of small evaluation changes and some actually climbing, a sand pit, some single'ish track that was soft/mud, and a run up that would be the death of me. Forgot Wisco doesn't do staging so I got to the start a little later than I hoped, staged some middle. 6 laps of the course and by lap three I was smoked and cracked on the run up. Just out of gas. Finished 37 out of 51.

Today my knee is sore (crashed again on Sunday)...Next up USGP on Sat and Sun back in Wisco.


2012-09-17 12:02 PM
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Norwalk, Connecticut
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports

yeah, doubles are tough!!!  I am doing them now also, because the points i get for getting smoked in the 35+ open races are better than the points i get for high finishes in Cat4. I went from about 70th start spot to maybe row 2 or 3 at both Gloucester races based on points (if it works like that), that should certainly help not having to pass 50 doods at the start, and i am in better shape this year to start, i am hoping for a good weekend there. 

Next up for me is a local race, doing double duty again, it is this Saturday. Next week 2 days of Gloucester Cat4 35+ only.

 

2012-09-17 2:08 PM
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Master
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Tosa, WI
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports

45+ Masters race in Lake Geneva.  Same course as running2far mentions above (Actually got to meet him in the parking lot, he looked wrecked from Sat!  I recognized the orange shoes)  Anyway, it was an AWESOME course with a little bit of everything, a crushed rock hill climb, a soft single-track area, a steep ramp over the river, a rideable sandpit, some asphalt surfaces, and some off camber stuff.  Awesome!   

Started in the front row and broke away early with 4 others.  I was just riding the wheel of the guy in front of me for the first ½ lap waiting for the games to begin.  And it starts, I get passed by the guy behind me so I jump and follow and start to ride his wheel.  The two of us are slowly increasing our gap until we start to run into the back of the 35+ group early in lap 2 and the 4 of us are back together.  We are all trying to use the slower rides to create some gaps and somehow I end up in the front of the group with 2 laps to go.  At this point I just start to ride smooth and hope to hold my gap. 

Focused on riding smooth and strong as we pass the leaders of the 35+ group going into the start of the last lap it is just me and one other rider I don’t recognize.  He is hugging my wheel and we come to the run up and hit the top at the same time.  I get a little bit of a hole-shot and carry it all the way to the sandpit, which is near the end of the course, and somehow end up off line getting pushed right in the sand pit and he flys by me and creates a 15 yard gap that I cannot close.  2nd on the day.    

I should have probably won this race after analyzing it.  Plain and simple, his tactics were better than mine.  After thinking about it, I wasn't even thinking about tactics on the last lap as I was just trying to stay out in front and hold my gap.  At least he came up after the race and gave me some props for the race, said it was the best competition he has had in a while.  But, now I need to remember to start to think about race tactics at 175+ bpm also?  I don't know if there is any blood left for my brain to do that!  

USGP in Sun Prairie up next.  Time to get dropped by the big dogs!  

2012-09-20 10:01 AM
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Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports
Great race..hopefully I'll run into you at USGP. Racing the Cat 2/3 race both days then will spend all day sipping on Spotted Cows

Edited by running2far 2012-09-20 10:01 AM
2012-09-21 12:19 PM
in reply to: #4381658

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Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports
2012-09-21 12:28 PM
in reply to: #4381658

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Master
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Tosa, WI
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports


2012-09-25 8:58 AM
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Charlottesville, Virginia
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports

Charm City CX UCI Race #2 of the MAC series.  35+ Open

Started in the 4th row or so and off they went, I think I burned myself up a bit trying to keep with the 1's and 2's up front.  It was a super fast grass crit, nothing to slow the fast guys down for those of us that like the more technical courses.

Ended up 70th or so out of 110 starters, not my best outing but still dealing with back issues, so lost a bunch of spots on the last couple of laps.

Sunday I was in the 3rd row and decided not to mess with the guys up front and just ride my race.  All was going well until I got to a slight uphill and shifted down.  Everything locked up and I fell over, I was about mid pack at that point so it created quite a comotion right before a barrier set where you dismount, jump over a big barrier, run around a tree and back over another barrier.

So I'm sitting there on the ground trying to figure out what happened and saw where I was, chain in the big ring in the front and the 28 in the back.  I had made a mental note beforehand not to be there, but I forgot I was in the big ring from the start.  I put the 28 on last week but didn't put a new chain on, so I knew that there wasn't enough chain to be in the big ring and the 28.  I couldn't budge the chain even after shifting front and back.  Ended up having to take the back wheel off and move it around until the chain moved down.

By this time I had given the field about 5 minutes.  So I jumped back on and tried to catch back up.  Sadly I did pass about 5-6 guys and was moving up on a few more.  But with 2 laps to go I saw the leaders coming up behind me and my back was killing me due to turning myself inside out trying to catch back up.  So instead of suffering for 90th place I just rode under the tape and over to the beer tent.  I think I made the right choice at that point...

Going to be messing with my position this week to see if I can fix the back issues.  Would be nice to be able to just have my legs and fittness be my only problem.

2012-09-26 9:12 AM
in reply to: #4381658

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over a barrier
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports
Pretty typical USGP for me, got smashed.

Cat 2/3 Race. Tore up my chest in Day 1 when I ate it on a wooden stake, which doesn't move.

Day 2 got 80% ruled and pulled, which was bs imo. Wasn't even in the ballpark of getting caught and lapped.

Moving on...up next Hopkins park
2012-09-26 3:20 PM
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Master
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Tosa, WI
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports

As stated above, I also got crushed in the USGP on Sunday.  I think I ended up 40 something out of 80?  Amazing how fast some of those Cat 1's truly are.  Crashed with a mechanical on lap 2 which cost me some positions, but that is CX racing!!  

Back to local WI scene this weekend, so that means back to the start line with some "expectations."

Got a little love on velonews though.  Look at picture #2 / 21 -  that is me in the white kit at the end of the train attempting a pass going into the corner.  The guy next to me in the black in the guy who caused my mechanical later in the lap when he ran me over in a corner!    

2012-09-30 7:37 PM
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Charlottesville, Virginia
Subject: RE: Cyclocross race reports

Winchester AppleCross race # 2 of Super 8 series 35+ 3/4 race

Beautiful day for racing out in Winchester VA today.  Started 45th or so out of about 80 something guys.  This was my kind of course, lots of twists, turns, the "Belgian Wall" a long hill that some had to walk, some could ride.

Held my position through the first 1/4 of the course then moved up a bit when we got to the wall and I was able to ride up it while other walked (having the 11/28 on there is great) cruising along, come to a turn and bam i'm on the ground and someone is running up my back tire.  I was dazed for a bit couldn't figure out what happened, rolled my front tubular.  To make matters worse it was jammed into my brake.  So for the second week in a row I was off the bike taking a wheel off to try to get it back on.  Of course my pit wheels were in the van since I never need them.  Rode one more lap taking the turns very easy.  Actually caught back up to a bunch of guys.  While passing a friend he said to grab his front off his bike in the pits.  Did so when I made it by the pits again, wasted time because I couldn't figure out how to work the release on his brakes.

Re-passed all the guys that passed me while in the pits and ended up passing 14 guys in total, so finished 52 out of 66, guess there were a few DNF's.

Actually felt great out there today, not much I could do about the mechanical, just stinks to give the field 3-5 minutes again.  Off to glue some tubulars now!

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