Another weekend in the books. I catted up to CX3 and got to see first hand the gap between a 4 and 3 race. My Saturday race was up in Nashville. This was race #3 of a 4 race series up in Nashville. I rode up with Cal, who ended up winning our (CX3) race. I ended up having a host of problems, but the race was a lot of fun.
After switching to my double chain guard setup earlier in the week, I decided to take some advice about avoiding chain drops and shortened my chain to an extreme on Friday night. When in my 27 tooth in the back, the rear derailleur was basically horizontal. That did worry me a bit, but I did not have much time to change it back, so I went with it. About 1/3 of the way into a practice lap (the first), my chain let go. Since I left my spare chain back in my garage, I thought that was it. Walking back, I started asking around for a 9-speed chain. No one had one (and the nearest shop was too far away to be practical). Between 2-3 racers, I was able to put together short piece of SRAM chain, my Ultegra chain, and two different brands of master links. I was back in business (and back to the same length chain I had before).
The course started off with a nice stretch of pavement up a slight grade before heading up on to the grass and around to a sand pit/box. The course wound through one side and back through the other side of the sand requiring a dismount. Once back on there were a few high speed grass ups and downs and then on to a downhill pavement section. After getting up to 19-20 mph for a 1/4 mile, there was a set of over-height boards to greet you at the bottom of the hill. From there, around the ball field on the grass and then up and down a few short hills and around to a long off-camber ride. Off and on the pavement and around some loose stuff take you around most of the course. Near the end of the laps are two dismounts with large diameter telephone poles (2x) and twisty grass course between.
The start of the CX3 was calm with everyone riding together up the paved section. At the sandbox, I started to make some mistakes which caused me to lose touch. I ended up getting bogged down in the sand on the easier side of the pit and unclipping the wrong side. That saw me chasing from the 2nd minute on. I was trying to stay competitive but ended up loosing a bunch of time when I failed to unclip my SPD coming into a fast dismount at the telephone pole barrier (1st one). If you have ever done this when drawing your right foot between your left and the frame you end up putting a pedal into your right Achilles and throwing your bike up in the air. After dusting my self off I got back going again.
About two laps later, I came off one of the curbs and pinch flatted my rear tire. Unfortunately, my wheels were up at the pit about 1 mile away. I rode up to the pit and changed the rear wheel while several master’s racers passed me (they started 1 minute back). I got back going again only to discover I forgot to reattach my rear cantilever… at this point my race became about chasing down the master’s racers that passed me. I think I ended up 5th in the CX3 race, which I think was last. I had a good time (in general) and some much needed practice at speed.
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On Sunday, I raced the Outdoors Inc Cyclocross A-race. The course was pretty much the same as 2 years ago (last and only time I have done this race) except in reverse. The course features a lot of high speed grass and hard pack dirt, but also a lot of up and down on the bank from the lower part of the park up to the road level. The A-race featured former National Champ Frank McCormick and a bunch of local stars.
The start went fairly well for me up until the steeper pitches of the 2nd climb up the bank. For whatever reason, I had lots of trouble getting up that bank on that and every other lap. My quads just didn’t have it (heavy volume last week or a heavy week of weights might have something to do with it, but it is hard to tell). I settled into a pace I could maintain and ended up bringing back a few riders but also lost a few places at the same time. I don’t know what my final placing ended up, but I ended up getting lapped by Frank and 2nd / 3rd place near the end (saving me one lap of pain). I ended up 3rd in the 30-39 age group, but that was de facto since the was only 3 in that age group anyway.
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The rest of the photos are here: [photos]
Either in a stoke of delusion or genius, I signed up for Cyclocross Nationals (Masters 30-34) this morning. It is up in Kansas City this year (only 7-8 hours from Memphis), so I figure I will give it a shot. I raced at Nationals in 2001 when it was in Baltimore (B-race) and the experience is worth it. I know I won’t be last.
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I ended up installing my Polar 720 speed sensor on my cross bike. During the race you really can’t watch it except for the straight aways / road sections, but it is helpful for gaging effort on these sections. Although looking down and seeing 15 mph when your lungs are about to pop is a bit strange. I might post up some of those curves later.
