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This week has not really been that restful…. I started my winter weight lifting program. The first day was Tuesday with a lot of quad work including back & front squats. Adding in bench press / incline press & various rows and the soreness was all around. It meant I was limping around on Wednesday. A trail run on Wednesday night was probably insult to injury…. and Thursday I rode a solid 30 miler on the road (no way I could have handled a cross ride as planned.) Tonights weight workout hit the other sides of things for the most part and at this point I feel okay.

I was even able to work on my cross bike earlier this evening. I installed the single ring setup up front. I took the opporuntinity to install a 9-speed Ultegra crank (upgrading my 105 crank / bb). I am curious how it will do on the trail. I will have to run it though its paces at Shelby Farms. It doesn’t bounce off there, it probably won’t racing…. As part of this change I was able to remove the front derailleur, the cable, and the housing up to the left STI lever. I don’t know if it will make a difference, but I do know that I rarely used my 46 tooth racing (I had 39-46 before). Now I have a single ring at 42 with 12-27 in the back. We’ll see how that does….

After so much racing, I have put the bike aside for a couple of days. Not for too long, since cross season is already under way. It has not been a couch week by any means…two short runs and a easy cyclo-cross ride earlier tonight at Shelby Farms…

The other big news is that my (road) category upgrade request was granted. I am now a Cat 3 racer. Even though I do not plan to race again this year, it will serve a inspiration / motivation for the off-season.

The crit course looked downright scary at first. The course was a 2 block x 2 block square near the Market Square in downtown Knoxville. Some of the corners featured some brick pavers, but in the dry those are not too bad. The worst part could have been the 50 foot long construction fence along the road just leaving turn 4. The promoters moved it back and generally the fields took it with appropriate caution, so no one went into the fence that I am aware of. Before my races, I took the corner one time pretty hot and it was definitely scary.

Even more scary was my rear tire. Warming up, I had a small section 3-4″ long of the tire bead blow off the rim (Vredestein Fortezza tires on Fulcum Racing 5’s). These tires and these rims were my racing set before I got the zero 038’s and my training set since then. I never had this issue before. I reseated the tire and even booted a section of it that had a mildly concerning star burst bulge. It then happened again when I set my bike down about 1 hour later. The second time, a larger section of the bead popped off (5-6″) to the point that the wheel wouldn’t turn through the frame. By then, I didn’t have time to figure it out and ended up racing with Andrea’s rear wheel for my crits.

Cat 4 crit

Lined up with about 20 or so Cat IV’s. Was talking to Mark Fasczewski before the race about bad starts and we both managed to fumble our pedals at the start and were chasing from the gun. I settled into my usual advancing behavior after finding my lung. Riders were getting shredded off the field and gapping me. I managed around a few, but one was just before a prime lap and I ended up riding about half the 25 minute crit solo. I held on pretty close for a while, but could never close the last 50 feet. It definitely started to bite after a while. The good news is that were only 8 in the lead group so I got my elusive top 10. A 9th place to finish the season as a Cat IV. I think I might have enough to upgrade…but should I, that is the question….

Masters 30/40+

After doing a cool-down lap, I rode up to the already assembled 30+/40+ field and switched jerseys with the prepinned number for the master’s race. I was worried that I would be dropped with the back-to-back crits, but I ended up doing okay. The slower start and smoother speed of the 30/40 helped. A few attacks went and I ended up getting involved in the chase (mostly since my legs did not have any explosive power to speak of, so any bridging attempts turned into leading the chase.) I was near the back of the field with 3 or 4 laps to go and could not really advance. At the tight turn 4 corner with just over a lap to go a rider cut me off and I had to brake in the corner. From then on, I was just off the back of the field and finished 14th overall. I don’t know what the 30+ / 40+ breakdown will be, but I wasn’t last!

Before both of my races, Andrea raced in the open womens and 50/60 crit. They separated the women from the 50/60 by spotting the men 15 seconds, but some of the women including Andrea caught them after 5 laps or so. In the end, it was Andrea against two Vantaggio riders (Kim Fasczewski and Gina Tolbert), but she managed to get the better of both of them by attacking the final two corners and held on for the win. This was her first outright win in a open women’s race and fitting end to her Cat IV career and this season.

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We took some photos of the crits. I got some decent shots of the women’s race and Andrea of me in my two crits. I will post those and link to them at the bottom of this posting later. The crits ran late and it was a long drive back to Memphis.

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Tomato Head Crit Photos (9/16/07)

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UPDATE: The problem with my wheels I have traced back to using the wider Velox tape. I mounted another tire at home and it did the same thing. I think the short height of the side walls (depth) and thickness of the Velox tape impared seating of the tire bead. I have put the narrow tape on there (which I needed to zig-zag to cover the alternating spoke holes) and mounted another tire. I stress tested the tire (banging it sideways on a table to try to force a blow-off)

Just driving around Knoxville last night, we found the Bent Fork III biker festival at the World’s Fair Park… We didn’t spend much time there, but managed to snap a couple of photos of Golden Dome thing, some UCW wrestling, and a way to work out some anti-UF frustration… (UT just lost bad to the UF earlier yesterday.)

59-20. Yikes.

The rain stayed away and the weather was nice and cool for the 30k state TT. My legs were feeling stoved up despite my above average warmup….probably my lack of riding this week was the biggest reason… anyway, I failed to meet my target of 42:00 for the 17.5 mile course. I rode self-timed a 43:04, which is about where I usually have run for these sort of things (24.0 mph average). Andrea and Rick also raced. Andrea probably posted a time the mid-45’s, which probably was good enough for 2nd in the women and 1st in Women Cat 4. Rick raced the 50+, but I did not see him after the event to find out what happened.

I managed to get a few photos of Andrea starting. (I just missed getting some of Rick.) Here is the best one.

The photo of me below was taken by Bill Parsons (Scenic City Velo) this morning.

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Update: My official time was 43:01. Andrea rode hers in 45:20.

Drove the Tennessee State TT course today (outside Maryville)…. the course is twisty and scenic 17.5 mile out and back course. It has some hills, but it clearly a fast course. It was rainy, so we decided to just drive it instead of riding it.

Clearly this guy took this corner a bit too hot. I wonder if he was on the way to rescue someone. I guess whomever called for assistance was cursing AAA right about then.

It looks like it has dried up for tomorrow, so there will be less to worry about riding this course at 25+ mph.

Well the weather is cooling off….time to dust off the old cross bike. Although the amount of racing and competition are not nearly what I remember from the mid-Atlantic… Tennesseee does have something to offer.

Here is a calender that I plan to update with races that are interesting to Memphis - based cyclocrosser.

October

• Sat/Sun, 13th/14th: Nashville Cyclocross #1 / #2 [~3 hrs]
• Sat/Sun, 27th/28th, Jackson Spokes #1 / #2 [~1 hr]

November

• Sat/Sun, 10th/11th: Nashville #3/#4 [~3 hrs]
• Sun, 11th: Mid-South Cyclocross Champ. [Mud Island!]

January

• Sat/Sun, 5th/6th: Columbia Cyclocross #1/#2 [~3 hrs]
• Sun, 13th: TN State championship, Nashville [~3 hrs]
• Sat/Sun, 19th/20th: Columbia Cyclocross #3/#4 [~3 hrs]

Other Tennessee series that are basically too far from Memphis:

• Mud, Sweat, & Gears (Johnson City / Bristol, TN): 10/13, 10/20, 11/3, 11/10, 12/1, & 12/6 (6 races)
• Knoxiecross (Knoxville, TN): 1/12, 1/27, 2/9, & 2/17?

Hopefully some other races will pop up in town or in Arkansas, Mississippi, etc…

Greg from a 2006 Columbia race

Another race in the bag, another pack finish.

There were about 50-55 category 4 racers that lined up on for the 4 corner 0.7 mile course. The course was pretty wide open and fast. Without too much trouble, our field averaged 25.4 mph. The field, however was pretty skiddish especially going into corner 1. This corner was at the end of a long drag down the start/finish side and necked down from a wide 3 lane road to a narrow 2 lane road. At least three riders ended up in the grass after flipping over the hay bails. Another 3 times (at least) I had riders ride through my handlebars (which can be a interesting feeling). Another time in the 2nd corner late in the race, a rider bounced off teammate William Frogge and then into me (giving me a nice tire burn on my Achilles). I am not sure how how everyone managed to stay upright.

Me in Cat 4 field

The race featured some crazy big primes (several were $100 cash), which I was only in position to fight for 1-2 times. Frogge attacked for one with another and narrowly missed a $100 one about mid-race. In the end, there was one rider off the front (Tria), and I ended up in the field for the field sprint poorly positioned for a 25th finish. Frogge attacked a few too many times and finished just behind the field for 34th.

Frogge going for a prime

Earlier, Andrea raced as well as she could have in the 3/4 race. A rider from Cycleworks rolled off the front and her 3 teammates managed to shutdown the chase. Andrea tried to pull her back, but was getting no help at all from the other teams for some reason. She ended up taking 2nd in the field sprint for 3rd place.

Andrea early in the women’s 3/4 race.

Tim Moore raced the category 5 race, probably his last before upgrading over the winter. I didn’t see his placing on the list, but it looked like there were a few “???” and blanks on the Cat V list, but he finished with the field.

Tim in the Cat 5 race

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Photos (lots) and a Polar graph to follow once I get home. I managed to pick up some nails in both passenger tires. At the race yesterday, both were low (<10 psig). I am waiting at NTB in Birmingham to get them repaired before driving back to Memphis. I don’t need a blowout at 65 mph. Between this and the speeding ticket (81mph in a 65) I picked up on the way here on US78 just over the Alab. border, this is turning into a much more expensive weekend than planned….

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Here is the collection of photos taken by me (Women’s 3/4 race, Kids race, Beach Cruiser and some Pro123) and Andrea (Cat V, Cat IV, Women’s 1/2, and some Pro123).

[ 2007 Pepper Place Crit Photo pages ]

The season is winding down, but there are two weekends on my schedule remaining.

• 9/8, Birmingham, Alab. Pepper Place Crit [PDF flier]
• 9/15 - 9/16. Maryville & Knoxville, Tenn. Tomato Head State TT, TTT, & Crit [PDF flier]

…and then there is cyclo-cross and trail running….