WhirlyBird predictor

Ok, after flatting two tubulars in two weekends of racing, I'm ready to put the mechanicals behind me.  To double my odds of finishing this time, I've signed up for both the B and A race.  My plan is to put it all out there for the B race, and see whatever is left in the A race. 

Race predictor has me at 4th in the B race, behind Ribbens, Dag Anderson, and Gallagher.  Jerry, the current MAC leader is ranked in 8th, but after his great results at Charm City, I expect he'll do better then that.  There are 92 starters, and I'll probably be 2nd or 3rd row after missing both days of Charm City, this should be a good race.

For the Elite Men, I'm predicted down in 18th, but I'm expecting a bunch more day-of registrations, so the goal is a top 25 after having done the B race already.  They're paying 25 deep, so that's something to shoot for.  Festa, Green, Heydenael, Lebair, McGrath are all right there in 15-20, so I'll definitely have a tough group to try and hang with.

Of course, the mud could change everything.....

Charm City Day 1 UCI Elite

Whew, ouch.  It was a perfect day down in Baltimore, the course was fast and flowy, my tires (Specialized Tracers) were hooking up well on the warm-up laps, and I was excited to line up for the UCI Elite event.  The start was fast, and my plan was to not blow up too early in an hour long race, but lap times were down in the 6 minute range, so it was going to be a race against the 80% rule.

(Thanks to Dennisbike.com there is photographic evidence I at least started this thing...)


The first lap was going well, there were a few guys I had raced with before and I wanted to try and stick with them for as long as possible.  Coming down the off-camber left turn after the run-up, I felt a strange ripping feel from my rear tire, like burping a tubeless, but it didn't make sense with my tubulars.  Slowly, it felt like I was losing air until I was squat on my rims before the S/F straight.

Argh, didn't even make it a lap.  I gingerly rode it over to the pits, and Joe loaned me his bike so I could at least keep going.  The seat was far too low, but at least I was sort of moving again.  Less then 20 minutes in, and 3 laps of racing and I was officially pulled.  Now I really want to try another.

Still, counting the DNFs, only 2 spots down from where the race predictor had me.  Next time....

Masters 35+ photos:

Charm City Predictor

So the (in)famous crossresults race predictor has me at 34/44 in the UCI Elite race today.  Goal today: beat the prediction, don't get lapped before 30 min, and survive the Festa - Rugg sandwich.

Nittany Lion Cross 2012, cat 2/3/4

Yikes, reading my post from Friday, I sound a bit nervous about the Nittany weekend.  Too many unknowns, and I'm terrible with just having to wait.  Will my janked-up bike make it?  What about my legs?  Have I completely forgotten how to get over barriers?  Plus, knowing that I'd most likely get a front row call up means that I had my best opportunity yet for a good MAC finish, and I don't get front row call-ups too often.

Saturday I couldn't eat much in the morning, and went into the race without eating a whole lot.  Waiting at the start was torture, but finally the light turned green, and I clicked into race mode.  I got a good clip-in and start, and was riding somewhere in the top 6-7, so far so good.  The front row start is so much easier, just a criminal advantage.  No traffic, clean lines, and smooth racing. 

Somewhere in the first few turns I heard a pile up behind, but didn't look back until later.  Sure enough, there was a very large gap, indicating that some crash held up a bunch of people.  At one point, it looked like 4th place was losing ground to the leaders, so I went around him and focused on slowly trying to catch them. 

The back woods section with the roots was my nemesis, I could move up on the back part of the course, but immediately lost ground again trying to navigate the roots.  I don't remember when, but while trying to gently hop over one set of roots, I smashed down my front wheel right into the next set.  There was a bad sounding crack, and quickly my front tubular started going soft.  Crap.  I rode the flat around to the pits, losing a couple spots, and was ready to pack it in when I noticed the SRAM neutral wheels.  OK, lets try this again.  Now I had a lot of ground to make up.  Ended up 27th, just 2 spots out of the points.  There is always the next day....

Sunday went much better, same front row start, although this time we had a long, straight, slightly down hill section to a fast right hand sweeper.  The pace was really high, and even just a few minutes into the race I noticed that the entire field was way strung out into a long line.  Starting from the back must have been a huge disadvantage. 

The course was really fast, I decided to run slightly higher pressure today, 31 in the front, 34.5 psi in the back.  I would have liked to be a few ticks lower, but I didn't want to risk another pinch flat.  Thanks to Roland for loaning me his front wheel.  The Tracer tires worked great, super fast with good grip, although I bet file treads would have been IDEAL for day.

I realized after a lap that the top 3 were riding away, and I wasn't going to be able to stay with them, so I focused on riding smoothly and efficiently.  I got by a few spots when they washed out in the dirt, and I could see Jerry Troiano from Rutgers only a few seconds ahead.  By the time we saw 2 laps to go, I had a good lead on whoever was behind me, and decided to try and take some risks to catch him.  It was working, with 1 to go, I was within a few seconds, but got pushed it too far on the turn at the top of the hill before the finish, washed out, and dropped my chain.  By the time I was going again, Hunter had almost caught me, and was riding a few second behind me now.  Jerry was gone.  I rode smooth, backed off into the headwind to see if Hunter would take the lead, but he backed off even more.  Ok, I'm fine with a sprint, lets wait for the finish.  Coming down the hill I clicked the chain down my cassette and sprinted to beat him to the line.  

I'm definitely happy with my best MAC finish yet, and having no mechanicals.  Although the flat on Saturday was disappointing, I left with more confidence that I could ride with the front of the MAC B field, a good result, and a good start to the season. 

Eve of Cross! Expectations....

It's finally here, cyclocross season!  I feel like I've been waiting for this since cross ended in January.  After a good season in 2011, I've been highly motivated to come into 2012 with guns blazin' and top form.  I expected to organize my year around training and gearing up for cross, and especially Nittany.  However, like most things cycling, not all goes to plan.  Sometimes the results are better then expected, sometimes less so.  

After getting my Cat 3 road upgrade last August, I had no specific goals for the road season this year, just race, learn by experience, try different tactics, and see if I could make things happen.  I was done with all the "sit-in and wait for the sprint" days.  And the summer went well, much better then I had thought possible, culminating with a Cat 2 upgrade even.  It was a blast, so many great moments.  Without expectations I was free to just race, and it turned out far better then I could have possibly expected.

However, all my best intentions for cyclocross this year have just come up short of bearing actual fruit.  Yesterday was my first time on my cross bike, and first ride in two weeks.  My list of excuses runs long, maybe I needed a break after a long and hard road season, I'm just finishing up a 3-week long course of antibiotics (ugh....), my cross frame was/is bent (I'm chomping at the bit to order the replacement, but still no stock available!!), school work has taken a priority, and on and on, but now now my expectations this upcoming cross season are crumbling.

But I'm beginning to see them dissolving into something better.  As a complement to a very expectation oriented grad school program, cycling has been at its best when the experience trumps the outcome.  Like the story that Steve tells in this post about Dave Weins turning back in the middle of a race to pick up a stick, "He was into it for the life experiences and not for the results. He wanted that stick to remember."  

I'm going to take this season to make sure that I keep that perspective.  Try different races, build up a single-speed, and see what happens.  My plans to make a run for the MAC series has been derailed after pre-reg for Charm City (125 people already??!??!) filled up more then a week in advance, but maybe I can take that as a cue to try another race (Elites???).

Deep breath, clear out expectations.... ahh.....

Alright, race predictor has me at 7th out of 123 on day 1, and 6th out of 102 on Sunday.  Plus, I think that I'll have a front row start from last years results.  Seeing who else is in there, I'm not sure if top 10 is feasible, but I'd really like to get a top 25 for MAC points.  This is going to be fun.....