To be continued....

That's it, this blog is getting moved to wordpress, the road ends here, but I'll continue posting at:

http://martenbeels.wordpress.com/

Crossasaurus Awesome 2012

I had been looking forward to this race, I always have a good time here and it's consistently been a season highlight.

The race predictor had me at 14/23, but I could see from the parking lot that there were quite a few fast day-of registrants, and we'd have a bigger field then that.  Anything in the top 50% was going to be a good result for me.

Tire choice was an enigma, I brought along my pair of Triggers (filetreads) which I had just glued up because the day was turning out to be sunny and dry.  I had never ridden them before and was very curious to see how they felt.  I did some pre-riding to check out the cornering traction.  Some parts of the course had some tight twisty stuff, and while the ground was wet, it was quite tacky, and not so slippery.  The off-camber part just after the dirt mound was the most difficult, and lots of guys on all kinds of tires were sliding out there.  I didn't feel any worse off with the filetreads, plus they felt quite fast on the rest of the course.  The earth was soft enough that it seemed to cake up in any deep tread pattern, but the file treads had the added bonus of flinging off any and all mud instantly, they weren't loading up at all. 

But just because I've never raced with them, I decided to error on the side of caution and ran a Tracer in front, and the Trigger in the rear.  It seemed to be the perfect combination, with about 23-24 psi in the front, and 27 in the rear (could have probably gone a bit lower once again).  I had excellent cornering traction, but best of all it floated over the soft, tacky earth and rolled fast. 
Speed was the name of the game here.

Since last year, my Crossresults score (231) at Crossasaurus had been an outlier, a good 50 points better then where I usually ride (280).  It was my best cross result score by a large margin, I think that in the past this less-technical course suited my lack of bike handling skills.  However, the Philly Ciclismo bunch had added a few more technical features so I would need to up my game to get a good finish here.

I managed to get a call up for the last front row spot, which would turn out to be a very good thing.  Early in the first lap we hit the steep dirt mound which was very rideable, but in the congestion of the start, some feet dabbed, and bikes collided, and I had to dismount to do the top tube shuffle over the top.  Our bunch was splitting up, and I heard no end of expletives right behind me.  For many of the fast guys who didn't get a start near the front, their race now had some significant gaps which would be hard to recover from on a fast, open course.

Alas, even some of the open, straight sections were too technical for me, as I took out no less then three sections of course stakes and tape.  Plus, I plowed into a park sign right after the sand pit, fortunately it was a lot less solid then it looked.  After the first lap, things settled down, and I needed to back off, pull myself together, and start getting control of my bike. 

I settled in behind Minturn, and made a few attempts to pass, but he was too fast on the straight sections, and I couldn't get a clean enough line to pass on the turns.  I also tried to get by him while running over the log, but he closed off that option.  Finally, with about 2 to go, Cole caught up to us, and that helped shake up the stale mate.  He squeezed by me on a turn, and then shortly after, shot right past Minturn.  The smart move would have been for me to follow, and I could hear Ryan encouraging me to do so from the sidelines, but Cole was too quick, and I missed my chance.  Finally, on the straight section before the log, I took my opportunity and sprinted by.  I kept the pace up, but when I looked back, he wasn't chasing, so I could ride the finishing lap without taking extra risks.

Sometimes the luck in cross doesn't go your way, sometimes it does.  My fortune was the misfortune of others caught up in the start, and with Gerald's mechanical, I managed to grab the last money spot.  Unfortunately, I had no idea (oblivious as usual) and missed the podium shot this year. 

The single speed race a totally different affair then the 1/2/3, it was fun to just cruise around the course, soak up the heckles, and even get a delicious donut out of the experience. 

Another great event, nay "experience" from the Philly Ciclismo crew.

Stoudts Cyclocross 2012

For their first event, I'd say they're doing it right.  Good venue, good atmosphere, and a fun course with lots of variety.  The weather was frickin' freezing, but fortunately not as bad as some races last year (cough cough HPCX).  Good thing to, because that muddy run up would have frozen toes and feet very quickly.

Considering the muddy sections, I was planning on running my Captain CX until a last minute conversation with Roland, and 2 quick laps on the course.  While there were some muddy sections, most of the course was fast and relatively solid.  I took a gamble and went with the Tracers which turned out work extremely well.  I'm slowly gaining confidence on their ability to handle some slippery stuff, and for the majority of the course, those tubulars just felt much faster.  The mud was no problem, as the hill was a run up, and the deep stuff was very short. 


Right off the start, I was riding in a decent position, until a gust of wind blew the course tape over and snagged my right shift lever.  It yanked my bars over and with my bike getting jerked around, there was a lot of swearing coming from behind me.  I then backed off, and started moving backwards in the opening lap.   Finally, I got myself together, and worked on trying to catch the riders ahead of me.  For most of the race I had someone in sight, and was closing in on the Bicycle Therapy duo of Michael and Dan, but came up just a few seconds short in the end.  Joe had a good race, finishing 8th, and I rolled through in 12th.

The single speed race came right after, and I had just enough time to swap numbers (thanks Ryan), swap bikes, and start to freeze before we finally rolled off.  Strange things were happening during the race, stakes moving out into the muddy lines, and the course mysteriously got to be about 2 feet wide in the "designated heckling area" despite their very vocal claims that everything was exactly the same.  

I tried following Geronimo who was taking it easy after his 1/2/3 Elite win, trying to figure out how he is so fast.  There is no trick, he is just plain fast.  He carries more speed through the corners, accelerates harder, and has a significantly higher top end.  Wow.

HPCX 2012

With Hurricane Sandy making its way slowly directly towards us, I was uncertain about the conditions that I was driving towards in New Jersey.  Because it was pouring this morning here in Bethlehem, I assumed it could only be worse closer to the Atlantic.  I grabbed my mud tires (Captain CX) and only as an afterthought threw my Tracer tubulars in the back of the car.  I'm glad I did, because surprisingly it was dry in NJ, and the course was fast, even dusty.  Nothing like last year at all!  It was the muddiest race I've ever done.

The course was fun, although I was rimming out really hard on the root sections, those continue to be my nemesis.  A couple of times I hit so hard I was sure that I'd flat, or crack the rim.  That's really something to work on.  For a while I followed Dag, until he accelerated away too fast for me to follow.  After the first lap, I never saw the leaders, and came in 8th / 63, same as last year, and just one spot ahead of the race predictor.  Eric broke a cable, or I'm sure he would have been up there as well.

Then a short break before the UCI Elite race.  My only plan was to get some good training in, and try to not get lapped for as long as possible.   Race predictor had me at 39/44, but that wasn't happening.  After the first lap I could feel that I was really still struggling, and so just tried to ride smoothly.  Coming up on 1 to go, the three leaders came through, so I pulled over and let them by.  They were flying.  I don't mind getting lapped by a guy from Rabobank....

The tires worked out really well, I kept finding that the Tracers had more traction then I expected from them, and was able to corner faster as the day went on, even though it was getting wetter.  I think I had 23-24psi in the front, and 25.5 in the back.  That seemed just about right.

Now to prepare for the rain.

West Chester Cross

The crossresults race predictor had me at 13th, so my goal was set to try and beat that result.  It couldn't have been a better day with temperatures in the 60s, sun and low humidity, I was looking forward to this race.  I also had finally sorted out all my tubular issues, so today might actually be the first race that I'd finish with both my front and rear tubulars intact.  I still decided to play it slightly conservative and run a bit higher pressure, 27.5 psi in the rear, 26 in the front. 

We had a small group at the starting grid, so a front row start wasn't critical, I just wanted to not make the same mistake that I did at TownHall and implode after the first lap.  There were some fast guys on the line, and Geronimo lined up with literally less then 30 seconds to go, adding to the list. 

I played the start about right, going hard, but staying within myself.  Geronimo pulled some fantastic stunt on the first lap, somersaulting over his bike after hitting a rut wrong, and sending his bike over the tape and into the field.  Without breaking stride, he tumbled off the course, rolled to his feet, recovered his bike from the field, launched a flying remount, and rolled back up underneath the course tape and picking up right where he left off. 

After the first lap, a lead group of 7-8 formed, and I was dangling a few seconds back.  I spent a lap trying to chase, but I was losing time, and I decided that I was better off just trying to stay smooth.  I was ahead of a BikeReg guy, and Gerald until I swiped some course tape and took myself out. 

I caught back up BikeReg, but Gerald started pouring it on after an uncharacteristically slow start from him, and he was gone.  I passed the BikeReg guy, but Wyatt Stoup was coming up fast.  I started looking back, and seeing the gap dwindle.  Finally, on the last section of the final lap, he passed me and my final attempts at a sprint weren't nearly enough. 

The course was a lot of fun, good use of the available elevation, and the laps (despite being longer then average) went very quickly.  Managed to beat my prediction (barely) and the tubulars survived intact.  I could have gone down a few psi in pressure, but success. 

Repairing a tubular

After flatting two tubulars in two weekends, I was not keen on just tossing out those expensive tires.  Fortunately the mysterious slow leak from Charm City sealed up nicely with some Hutchinson Fast'Air.  However, the pinch flat at Nittany was not successful.

At first it seemed to be holding air, but I could hear a faint hissing, and soon enough the bulge started spewing out sealant.

Perfect opportunity to try a proper tubular repair.  I consulted the usual experts like Sheldon Brown and Leonard Zinn and felt like it was definitely worth a shot.

Peeling off the base tape wasn't easy, a lot of prying and pulling exposed the seam beneath.

I cut enough stitches to open the casing and pull out the latex tube.  It was surrounded by a very smooth and slippery silk lining.

The hole was huge, no way any sealant was going to clog that up.

A regular butyl patch from my patchkit.

Sewing the casing back together.  A thimble was very necessary.

For glueing the base tape back down, I needed a way of clamping it tightly, without getting stuck to the glue.  This reverse wrap and pinch worked well, pressing the base tape tightly up against the casing.

All back together.  The base tape is slightly crooked right at the repair, but it is holding air, and feels solid so far.  Maybe it'll become my FSX tire, or SS use, or both. 

Tubeless for Cyclocross (it's getting better)

Last year I ran a tubeless set of wheels, Mavic Aksiums with Specialized Captain CX tires.  It worked pretty well, was an improvement over clinchers, but I still burped air a few times, and was no comparison to my tubulars. 

This year I've got the Easton EA90 RT with a wider external rim width of 22mm, and a "proprietary rim design".  In training, I dropped the pressure down to see how low it would go, and was consistently hitting the rim without burping air, but the real test is a race situation when you're pushing the cornering limits harder.

First the Captain CX: these tires are like claws.  During the muddy TownHall race, I never felt like I ran out of cornering traction (just cornering skills).  I rode the steep hill every lap (including the SS race) and I think that is largely due to the excellent traction from these tires.  I did crash a few times in the 1/2/3, but the problem was my handling, the tires had so much grip, they were pulling the casing away from the rim bed before slipping out.

I noticed this grass in the wheel after the race, but I didn't notice the collection of rocks stuck in there until a few days later when I was cleaning the bike.

Although I didn't check the tire pressure, it feels the same, and I don't see any evidence of losing sealant. 

I'm also running Stan's cyclocross rim strips (along with his sealant) and that combination seems to be solid.  I'll have good confidence with these on the muddy and slippery days.