The Best of Times - The Worst of Times. The Rockville CX Weekend

This weekend I raced the Rockville cross. It went down only 30 mins. from my place so of course I was going to be supporting my home town race. Promoter Zach Adams did a great job both days of setting up the course and keeping it interesting for the racers. Check out his site here.

Day one started out great. I had a good start (for me anyways) and was picking some great lines through the course. However on the last lap I picked up a thorn and the rear tire was slowly losing air. Fortunately I was able to make it back to the finish without having to pit. The bike and me were really in sync (not quite like Granogue Day 2 but close enough) and we were really working well together. So it was the best of times.

Day 2 didn't start out so well. First I realized that I forgot my wallet and racing license. Not a big deal - I was able to pull my license up on the USAC website. Sunday's course was much technical and I just couldn't figure it out. On top of that the bike seemed to be fighting me all day and we were clearly not working well together. My warm-up/practice laps did not go well so before I even took the line I had resigned myself to staying in the back and just trying to gain some experience. Looking over the wounds from the weekend I discovered that I lost a chainring bolt. Not a regular one, but a single ring chainring bolt for which I now must buy set of 5 and hope they arrive by Friday for Beacon Cross on Saturday. Yes - day 2 was the worst of the times.

But enough negative. As always, the phenomenal Joe Mallis was on the scene on day 1 shooting "flippin' sweet" photos of us (The photo in this post is courtesy of him). Click here for the link to his gallery. I don't know how he does it, but he makes me look like I actually know what I'm doing :-)! Joe is a great photographer and even nicer guy to talk to when I run into him at various races around the Mid-Atlantic region. Chappeau Joe!

It's hard to believe that Beacon Cross means the end of month two of my season and only 5 weeks until I'm on the plane to Portland/Bend for some great pacific northwest racing. Now I just wish we would get some rain here on the east for some real 'cross weather. That's all for now - I got a bike to clean/fix!

Thanks for reading!
Captain Crunch

Granogue Cross review

Another weekend of racing has come and come. This one was free of flat tires! The racing was made even better by the fact that the Richard Sachs team was also in attendance for the entire weekend racing in several different categories. Another highlight was breaking bread with the team on Saturday night.

As for my actual racing - 55th the first day and 57th the second day (both days had about 110 starters). Yeah, I know, not that impressive. But considering the top five finishers both days have enough points to move up to the next category (a couple should be moving up to cat 1 next year), it's easy to see that I'm racing with a much better caliber of racer.

I've had to drastically change my goals for this season. This is simply a season of learning at this point. I got some great advice from an elite rider who said if you want to get better, move up to the next cat. and get your butt kicked. That's what's happening right now. Granogue was an awesome learning experience. Sunday was the best of the two days. I really felt like I was picking good lines and my cornering showed some signs of improvement.

All in all it was a great weekend! Bikes were raced, beer was shared, and good times were had by all. Next up on the schedule is the Rockville Bridge Classic weekend on the 23rd and 24th of this month.

Best!
Captain Crunch

October Unprocessed - take the challenge

My sister told me about this thing she was doing. Eating no processed foods for the entire month. I decided being a healthy cyclist this was the responsible thing to do. And with Alberto Contador getting popped for "supposedly" eating tainted beef (probably processed and full of hormones and steroids) eating unprocessed should help me to avoid any unpleasant run-ins with WADA, the UCI, or USA Cycling (yeah like they're really worried about me - a lowly cat. 3). Click here to be redirected to the unprocessed challenge blog.

But seriously. When you really stop to look at what is in some of the stuff we eat and can you sick. My goal by the end of the month is to be a more conscientiousness eater, paying more attention to what is in my food and where it comes from (chances are if it doesn't come with a label it's probably fresh and unprocessed). I hope what I learn in this month I will be able to take into the coming years of my life.

Best!
Captain Crunch

September Racing Review (plus Whirlybird report)

Whew, the first month the season is over. Three weekends, two states, and four races - where did it go?????? Overall on a scale of 1 to 10 on how it went I would give it a 5. I learned so much these first races (plus the training race on Wednesday with local elite Bad Andy teaching some valuable skills). My cornering improved, I learned about proper tire pressure (more on that in a moment), and I upgraded from cat 4 to cat 3. The upgrade forces me to race with guys that are much stronger and I hope that will help me to go faster.

I already knew I was going to get my butt kicked in my new category - especially these first races which were dry, dusty, grass crits. The local quadzillas came out and smashed the course leaving us more technically apt like myself in their dust (literally). The last race of September, the Whirlybird cross, did not end how I would have liked it.

Whirlybird is where I learned about the importance of tire pressure. I began my warm up laps on 35psi but thought I could get away with 28psi. Two laps in at race pace on 28psi I knew the I could face the possibility of a pinch flat as I was hitting the rim multiple times a lap. And that is exactly what happened. I managed to get it back to the pits and change the rear wheel. At this point I was almost dead last but I was determined not to DNF. However half way through the next lap I pinch flatted the rear tire again in the same spot, and with no more wheels my race was over.

The worst part about it was that I had and amazing start. I caught my pedal on the first stroke, shot up the side of the field and made up close to 10 spots before the first corner, hitting all the corners, and was settling in to a good pace. Oh well. That's early season 'cross racing. You never know what's gonna happen.

Next up is Granogue in two weeks and my shot at redemption! With the ushering in of fall means mud, mud, mud!

Thanks for reading!
Captain Crunch.

Nittany Lion and Charm City photo galleries

Nittany is here.

Charm City lives here.

Charm City Cross weekend

Wow is all I can say. I got my butt kicked hard. It's tough going from the top of the results sheet in the 4's to mid-pack in the B race (2/3/4s). Saturday the course was fast but gave plenty of spots to pass and I finished 37th. On Sunday the course was changed to be even faster and more flowing, but places to pass were really limited and I finished 51st - only 4 spots higher then where I started.

The result on Sunday doesn't really reflect how I felt. My legs recovered really well from Saturday but I kept getting caught in slow traffic. There were several times where I had to coast since the guys in front of me were going so slow and there was no way to get around. Fortunately there were several dismount/running/barrier sections (4 to be exact - 1 sand pit,a set of railroad ties, barriers, and run-up) that I was able to make up two or three spots a lap.

Sunday was also the cleaner of my two races. The only time I went down on Sunday could not have come at a worse time. I had just made up three spots through the railroad ties remounted and was preparing for a fast right hander on the second to last lap. Feeling confident with my cornering I really pushed the bike hard and lost it on the lose dirt on top the grass. I had enough of a cushion to not lose the spots I made and quickly remounted. It was only then that I discovered the chain had jumped off the front ring. This made me have to dismount, fix the chain, and then remount. By this time the three guys I passed went by me as did two more.

Overall I'm pleased with how the weekend went. I'm facing a much better level of rider in my new category. My goals for the season have changed with that in mind. Now I simply want to be consistent and finish in the top half of the field each race and try to cap off the season with a strong showing at Nationals.

A nice highlight of the weekend was seeing Joe Mallis again. Joe is a awesome photographer (www.joemallis.com) and all around good guy. It's always nice to run into someone like him. He's not making much money off his photos (if any at all) but he shows up to support the mid-Atlantic cross scene and see some great racing in the process. I also ran into Ben Kiel of House Industries. House is a really cool font company and is another sponsor of Richard Sach's team. Who knew there were some many different types of font available to publishing houses.

Another weekend has already passed by. This CX season is simply going by to quickly. Sunday brings the arrival of the last CX race for the month of September. It feels like just yesterday I was getting off the plane from Boulder. Speaking of Boulder, on my way home from Nationals I'm stopping back in CO for an extra 6 days. That means I'll now be gone from December 2nd to the 20th.

Thanks for reading!
Captain Crunch

Nittany Lion Cross

The cyclocross season is officially here!!!!! It kicked off today at the Trexlertown Velodrome near Allentown PA. Along with the new season is my upgrade to the B races. These include cat 2/3/4 racers. A nice advantage to upgrading my license is that B races start later - no more 5am departures for me!

Due to the lack of rain here in central PA it turned out to be a fast grass crit. The grass was super sketchy in the corners from all the lose dry dirt sitting on top of it. Smooth power transfer was going to be the name of the game.

I don't remember much from the actual race but I do remember starting to fade on the last lap. Then I saw a guy I train with at the Wednesday night CX training race and dialed in on him. I dragged myself up to him and passed him the last few corners. I just missed getting one more spot at the line by about 1/2 bike length.

At the end of the day I finished 29th. Looking back at last year's results I got the same exact result but in the beginner/slow guy (no disrespect to the 4's) category so that is a lot of improvement. I would like to see what I could do in the 4's but that would be sandbagging.

Another highlight of the day was meeting Joe Mulligan. We both share a passion for good beer and cyclocross (two of the greatest things in the world ATMO). He's recommended several good brands to me over the last year so it was nice to finally meet him in person.

I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures to come as there were plenty of photogs there today. I can't wait to see how bad I looked while suffering. :-)

If you're in the area of the Baltimore Zoo next weekend stop by for some awesome racing as rounds 2 and 3 of the MAC CX Series go down.

Thanks for reading!
Captain Crunch