Snow Storm

The prediction said "4-6" on snow for Saturday. Given the warm fall weather, it was hard to imagine that snow was on its way, especially since the trees still had most of their leaves. However, when we woke up and the world was white, we knew that it was really coming.



Pretty quickly, I canceled my plans to race Beacon, as the plows had gone by several times, and the snow was still accumulating on the roads quickly. Shortly after, around noon, there was a loud boom, the lights flickered, and the power went out.



We went for a walk, and soon saw the reason. A tree was down on top of one of the power lines. We got to the corner market just in time to grab a gallon of milk before they closed, because they were without electricity as well.



The snow showed no signs of letting up, and it was really accumulating quickly. The trees started to droop way over, and we constantly heard the CRACK and BOOM of branches and entire trees coming down. I shoveled the driveway three times. Each time, by the time I finished one side, the other already had a good thick layer on it. By dark, there was easily a full 12" on everything.



And the trees were really sagging.



So we worked on letters by candle light,



played Settles of Cattan,



made tea on the wood stove,



and cooked dinner on it.



Plus, many trips to the wood pile, and siphoning out the water from the basement because our sump pump was no longer running without electricity.

The wood stove put out good warmth, and we were very comfortable that night. We could still hear the sounds of tree branches coming down, and even some nice firework show. Apparently, when transformers blow, they light up the sky with an eerie green light.

The next morning was crystal clear with blue skies, but the trees were obviously over stressed.



More trees had come down during the night, including this one on our driveway.



Notice the car in the ditch:



Seidersville Rd was basically a single lane.



The warm sun was melting things quickly. As the snow came off, the extent of the damage became more apparent. The willow tree was just plain gone, and the other trees around were much shorter after losing their tops.



Overnight, the basement had accumulated quite a bit more water, so we had to siphon it again. This time, it involved me climbing out on the second floor balcony with a bucket water, pouring water into the open end while Becca held the other end open just long enough to get all the bubbles down. Then we lowered the hose end with a rope, carefully keeping it vertical. When Becca got it down in the basement, we were both glad when the water continued to drain out, another successful siphon.



After the HPCX race, I was anxious to get a hot shower, so we drove down to her parent's house. However, the next day (Monday) we needed to return in order to drain the basement again, among other things. All the usual roads around our house were impassable, but we managed to get through and back home. After cleaning out the fridge and packing some more things, we turned around to pull out of the drive way when two big trimming crews came down our road. I was glad to see them arrive, however, we were now completely blocked in.



We talked to some of the crew for a while, they told us how they were working long shifts, and the many other crews come from as far as Kentucky and Michigan to help out. They were kind enough to let us escape and we quickly slipped out.

HPCX 2011

Wow, that was definitely the muddiest course I've ever ridden, it might have been the muddiest course I've ever seen. It made Nittany look like a couple of dinky mud puddles.

I was glad to get down for the race, after our Beacon plans were nixed by the incredible amount of snow we got on Saturday. We lost power around noon, and water shortly after that. We cooked on the wood stove and melted snow for water, and I shoveled the driveway three times. All afternoon and evening we heard the distant (and sometimes not so distant) BOOM and CRACK of branches and trees coming down. Today the two lane road by our house looks like singletrack. Plus our basement sump pump stopped without power, so every few hours we've been siphoning it out with a garden hose. But that's another story.

So getting down to HPCX was a welcome escape of sorts. The park itself looked quite beautiful, the leaves were still on the trees, and a fair bit of snow on the ground. But wow, the course was the biggest mess I've ever seen. I did part of a warm up lap, but bailed because my drivetrain was loading up with mud and starting to make bad noises.

Getting to start on the second row was a huge advantage. After a short pavement section, the course turned up into a muddy climbing section that would be a big mess during a crowded start. I got into the top 10 somewhere, and traded spots with the same group for a while. I was able to make up good time on the muddy climbs, usually by running, but lost it on the flats or more technical sections. Twice I wiped out pretty good, once on each side, just to spread out the mud evenly.

Finished 8th, good race, liked the mud more then expected. I rode the Captain CX tubeless, which seemed to do quite well. I could feel the rims hitting on some of the deeply rutted parts, but no problems.

Edit: check out Shippensburg's photos, they capture the mud quite well. The entire course was like that.

More photos here, from swanson22. Excellent photos, really shows the mud.

Also, check out the HPCX photos and videos from the cxmagazine.com website.

Cyclocross at Central Park of Morris County

MAC weekends are great, some of the best racing, best courses, and top competition. But driving two+ hours each way, and racing both weekend days can be a bit tiring. So it was a nice change to get to a local race just across the border in New Jersey for a low-key event. Greg and I arrived in plenty of time; we had time to ride some laps, watch some races, and even grab a belgian style waffle. Wow, the speculaas spread was something incredible.

I was just sitting around, leisurely watching the A race, and felt like I could have just taken a nap right then and there. With no specific goals for a NJ race, I felt like this was just going to be for fun.

We lined up towards the back, but the start was so wide open, and the field relatively small, so there was plenty of room to move around in the start. I'm definitely not a fast starter, but followed Greg up the field for the first half of a lap. I moved up a few more spots in the open sections, and got to about the top 6-7 riders. It looked like one guy (Eric?) was off with a good margin over everyone else. Coming through the start/finish I moved past the group and started working on chasing down the leader.

The course was deceptively rough, it looked like a nice grassy course, but there were ruts, big roots, rocks, and it made for a much rougher course. After the practice lap, I dropped my pressure down to 23 in the front, 27 in the back, and that made a world of difference. This was a course where tubulars were a significant advantage.

About half way through the second lap, I caught the leader and followed him for a while. I didn't want to wait for a sprint at the end, so decided my best bet was to try to get ahead and stay there if I could. I put in a hard effort and didn't look back until a lap later. By then I had a good gap and just rode to maintain it.

In the end, it was myself, Jerry, and Eric.



But man, those Belgian style waffles were awesome.

Granogue, 2011

I kept hearing good things about this race, so decided to sign up for both days this year. Glad I did, the first day was rough, but the second one went better. It's nice to have a day 2 for a chance to seek a better result.

The course was dry, fast, and hilly. The first day seemed especially technical, with some bad rock sections, gnarly roots, and plenty of twisting. The pre-reg list showed 128 in the 2/3/4 so I was glad to be staged on the 5th row, it could have been much worse. I managed to get into the top 20 somewhere, and was riding alright (with my usual technical troubles) when I rode straight into one of the white posts, taking me to a dead stop. My front wheel wouldn't turn and it took me a couple seconds to realize that my front brake was shoved underneath the rim, totally jamming it up. I managed to wrench it loose and get going again, but lost a bunch of places. The impact was so hard that it shattered my front shifter cable and left me in the small ring. No problem, but it took my a while to figure out why my front ring wasn't shifting. Strangely, my bar tape was completely shattered as well, it looked like it just exploded.

I didn't stick around to see the results, but in hindsight probably should have because I was scored as DNF. I definitely did finish 2 spots behind Joe and should have earned more MAC points, but it sounds like Marc is going to graciously fix it for me, at least for the MAC points.



Day 2 we didn't get stuck in traffic, and made it with plenty of time to pre-ride the course. It felt faster, and more "flowy", I liked it. Fourth row this time, I spent most of the race yo-yo-ing with a constantly changing group, first catching up, and then washing out, going down, and losing contact again. I'm pretty sure I fell more times then I successfully rode the swooping off-camber part at the top of the hill. I've really got to work on that. Some hecklers had picked me out as the guy who would always fall there, and deservedly point out the errors in my ways through that part of the course. Somehow I didn't learn from my mistakes...

Finished 13th by count of at least two different people, but scored again at 15th. Seems like there was an unusual amount of errors with getting the placings right this weekend.



The highlight of the weekend was after the race when someone approached me and said that they'd call me "Fignon" from now on, called me a spitting image. I hadn't noticed, but I'll take it. I am probably destined for his awesome hair.

Spiffy

I've been riding the road bike around very infrequently, now that cross season is fully underway. But every time I noticed that the hood was torn, and although I got used to it, it still bothered me. Finally decided to swap it out for a new one. Much better. I think that bar tape used to be white, but it sure is hard to tell. Amazing what a damp terry cloth can do, wow. What a difference. It's the little things, feels like a new bike.

I bet it's faster.

Town Hall Cross 2011

I had been looking forward to our second race ever since our first one, a year ago. Several days of actual sun and good weather made for a mostly dry course, with only a few patches of thick, rutted mud. The day of the race had absolutely fantastic weather, cool in the morning, bordering on hot later in the day, and lots of sun all day long. A welcome change from the consistent rain that has been drenching the east coast this year.

I was fourth here last year, and hoped to improve on that result. We had a larger field this year, but I benefited from a front row start in the B race (3/4). The start wasn't particularly fast, I think everyone realized that the first time up the climb would sort some things out. I settled into 3rd or 4th, moved up when someone rolled their tubular, and battled with second place for a few laps. I got past him a few times, but then promptly got sloppy and fell, losing the position. Tom was long gone and looked to have the win in the bag, but 2nd, 3rd, and 4th were still close together. We'd lose 4th place on the climb, but then by the time the barriers came around, he would have caught back up. On the final lap he got around me when I fell on the tight off camber turns on the back field, and I couldn't pass him before the finish line, so I rolled in for 4th again.

It was great to see such a large turnout all day long, and hear the positive comments about the course, as well as the obligatory complaints about the climb, it wouldn't be the Alpe d'Huez of cylocross without it. It seemed to have the right atmosphere for a good day of cross racing, some goofing off and fun, some serious racing, and a necessary dose of heckling.

Big thanks to St. Luke's, Cutter's, CycleOps, and all the volunteers that helped all day long.

I lined up again for the A race, with a small field of 1/2/3 riders. It was an honor lining up with some of the best of the Lehigh Valley, as well as nation & world in the case of Bobby Lea. I had no specific goals except to try and ride a better technical race then I had in the Bs (don't fall down), not blow up for an hour of racing, and try not to get lapped.

I was still pretty cooked from the B race, but managed to ride much smoother, stay up right, and not even get lapped. It is interesting to note the progression of my pain face during the day:



Early in the B race, still feeling composed and smooth.



Pain face developing on the switch backs of St. Luke's staircase.



Now turning into a sad monkey face...



And a grimace while I dump my gears after attempting to sprint for the end of the B race.



The A race started off well enough,



But then quickly regressed to an angry monkey face, and didn't get better from then on:



Thanks to Anthony Skorochod for the photos.

Update: Here is a very nice write up by Selene on Bicycling.com about the race.