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Andrea and I daytripped up to Columbia for the Saturday installment of the Columbia Cyclocross (weekend 1).  Temperatures were cold (26-28F), but at least it was sunny out in the open field (and the wind never really picked up).

It had been 6 weeks since I had even thought about cyclocross and it showed… I didn’t really warmup before the race and my remounts were a bit choppy.  In any case, the race was only Travis Book and I in CX1/2.  He was rocking the one cog, but that usually doesn’t matter much for him (unless there is a long uphill or something).

The course started off on the pavement going downhill and looping back through a picnic parking loop to a big drop off the pavement.  My lack of warmup had me about 10 feet behind him but holding on and coming back to him.  Over the 6 closely spaced landscape timbers (dismount), I tried to get back on the saddle quickly and burped out all the air out of my rear wheel.  Since it was over a mile back to my pit bike, I rode the flat while all the single speeders passed me (they started ~30 seconds later than the CX1/2).  Got my other bike and yelled to Andrea to change out my rear wheel (with a tubed tire).  I rode my backup bike one lap and repassed some of the singlespeeders.  Back at the pit I took back my A-bike with a tubed rear wheel and the front tubeless wheel.  Rode a good lap on my A-bike and started my fourth lap.

I went hard down the pavement and looped back up to the off-pavement transition.  The drop off the asphalt was probably 8″ or so to a short flat section down to an ackward upward turn up the hill.  I must have hit it harder or torqued the tire wrong, but as I pushed up out of the ditch I burped out the front wheel.   So I shouldered my bike and started running…  It ended up being about 1.2 miles of running back to the start finish line to retake back my backup bike.   By then, Travis lapped me and the single speeders were finishing up (they only did 30 minutes).

I rode the next lap pretty hard out of pride mostly and completed two more that weren’t as fast.  Really disappointed that the race played out like that, it probably would have been a good showdown between Travis and I looking at the lap times we both turned out.

I don’t know if this is my last ‘cross race of the year, but I definitely not going to use my Dura Ace road tubeless wheels with Bulldog tires… They were loose going on and came off pretty easily under pressure.  I am sure the cold didn’t help things, but the way they burped, I don’t think the sealant would have stopped that.

Here are the lap times I posted up:

1. 9:17 (rode flat for 2/3 of the lap)
2. 7:49 (ran to pits, and rode B-bike the rest)
3. 6:59 (back to A-bike)
4. 14:09 (ran most of the lap after front tire)
5. 6:58
6. 7:40
7. 7:37

Travis did most of his laps in the 6:55-7:10 range.  I am sure we would had a good race.

Our kitty has some strange habits… and apparently a taste for steel.

I haven’t touched my X-Fire since the Outdoors Inc race in mid-October…  in fact it is still rocking the Michelin Jets from that race and has been sitting up in the trainer room (real estate agent had called it a bonus room…) since then.  A few things had got in the way, namely mountain biking, road riding, and a little thing about getting married.

In most cyclocross areas of the country, I would imagine that ‘cross season is wrapping up or over by now, but in Tennessee, there are races until late February in Knoxville.  During January, there is a pair of weekends in Columbia (south of Nashville), a Chattanooga weekend, a Cross the Way weekend (Nashville), and the state championship weekend in Johnson City.

What I can do, remains to be seen.  My January promises to be a tough one at work, so I probably will have to race when I can.  All of the weekends are compelling in their own ways (Columbia and Cross the Way are well run and day tripable from Memphis); I lived in Chattanooga for 5 years before Memphis; and JC is the state championship race (although you couldn’t get any further away within Tennessee.)  And then there is Southern X.  I raced it last year, but I am about 90% sure that I will not be able to make the date since it would mean taking off Friday and heading to North Georgia.  Andrea does plan to race it and looks to improve on her heartbreaking 2nd place.

The road season for 2010 is still a bit fuzzy, but I am looking forward to joining a solid group of Cat 3’s on the Marx & Bensdorf cycling team.  We should do well and take our game up the Cat 1/2 by the end of the season.

Andrea and I ordered a pair of Trek Madones with SRAM Red.  With one of our own the regional rep for Trek, it was pretty obvious who would be our bike sponsor.  Maybe if we step up our game, they will give us the frames….  We are looking to sell a couple of frames/ complete bikes.

• 54 cm (medium) Blue RC7 (2008 model, blue paint job, frame/fork)
• 52-53? cm BH Connect (Red/black, 2009 model, SRAM red build)
• 58 cm Felt FC (Black/grey, 2008 model, SRAM Red build or bare frame)

I will probably make a more detailed post about the Felt in January, but if you are interested in any of these, let me know (website@roadcx.net).  Make a reasonable offer.

Saturday, Andrea and I completed the deal. We were married at noon and had friends over to join the family at 2pm.

The party was good, fueled by good food and two 5 gallon kegs from Bosco’s (Flaming Stone and Ghost River Wee Heavy). The Wee Heavy proved the most popular and it nearly ran out (got two glasses from it the next day).

On Sunday, we packed up the dogs, the mountain bikes, and remaining Flaming Stone and headed west to Mountain View, Arkansas to spend a few days at her dad’s cabin and enjoy the country and a bit of mountain biking at Syllamo trails.

We didn’t leave for Mountain View until the afternoon on Sunday (rode on the road in Memphis and then packed up), so we didn’t get there until after dark. On Monday, we drove down to the middle Green Mountain road trail head and started out on the yellow trail (Jack’s Branch) and diverted to the red trail (Bad Branch) before finishing out the yellow trail at the far trail head. For me it the second time I had ridden both trails, for Andrea, it was only the first time for the yellow trail for her. The red trail is pretty moderate compared to the rest of the system and the second time down the yellow meant I started to get more comfortable with it. The big thing is the amount of climbing on the yellow trail. We got back to the parking lot pretty tired and ready to eat.

Today, we decided to tackle two different trails, the orange (Bad Scrappy) and the green (White River Bluff). The ride would a shorter ride, but more technical. The weather also played a factor, since it was much colder today (40’s compared to 60’s on Monday). Like the yellow, trail it was the second time I have ridden the orange, so I started to get better on some of the tougher sections of this trail. After completing the orange trail, we started on the green. We had walked this trail together back on Thanksgiving weekend, so we knew it, but not really… This trail is a blast with some pretty ridable section that challenge me, but not so difficult that I feel outclassed.

About half the way through the trail, we were clipping along, when I felt something snag… like Andrea a few weeks ago, a stick lodged in my rear cassette and tore off my rear derailleur at the hanger. Unlike Andrea I had a replacement hanger and more importantly, I had it with me.

From stop to back rolling, it probably was only 10 minutes. The chain had somehow looped, but I managed to figure out how to get it unlooped without breaking it (Shimano chain with one-time pin that I just installed that morning). The rear derailleur was just fine, and in fact it seem like the shifting improved a little bit (probably had a bent hanger before I broke it).

The worst thing is that my 9-speed cassette is pretty worn. I need to use the biggest two sprockets, the next two are flaky, the next 3 are okay and the smallest two are unusable under load. I have been working around it using the front chainrings. It is sort of a pain, but I am making it work (changing the chain didn’t help the situation). I guess those bad sprockets are just wore out. Two more days of riding, then I will get the parts I need back in Memphis. (I have one more hanger to carry with me…, guess I need to order more.)

Well, tomorrow is the day… Andrea and I will make it official. I know it is important, etc, etc, but generally I feel like it is just a continuation of what we have had. Only real difference is the state stamp and we will mix our money around a bit more.

The wedding itself will be pretty basic (Germantown mayor going to help us out there). The feature event will be the party afterwords. My family is down from Michigan/Wisconsin, her family, and friends from this area. I picked up two 5 gallon kegs of Bosco’s beer (Flaming Stone and Wee Heavy) and Andrea’s parents are preparing some food (and hosting our party). Should be a good time and should fit in with our way of being.

Our plans are to head west again for the honeymoon and mountain bike and relax near the Syllamo trails again. We have the spare parts to keep the bikes going and should have a good several days of riding before heading back to work reality. The main reason I have not posted since 12/1 is that I have been pretty busy with work and stuff after work, posting just got dropped.

As for cyclocross, I hope to get back into it in January some, I need to work myself back into shape (although I didn’t fall far). Plan to race some at Columbia (Tenn) and do the Tennessee state championship race if work will allow. Southern X is also a race I would love to do, but I thing work will prevent this from happening.

Dragging, flipping, and dragging some more… moving a big rock up the hill.

On Friday, our plan was to ride 2-3 of the loops of the Syllamo trail system starting with the Orange – Bald Scrappy loop. This trail starts out a lot different than Bad Branch as it drops down some rocky descents. Those caught me a little off guard, but I managed through them. Andrea was staying out ahead of me as she is more experienced in mountain biking. We were getting to the part where the trail levels out and speeds up when I found Andrea stopped on the trail.

Only ~2 mile in, a stick kicked up into her rear derailleur and snapped the hanger and bend the pulley cage. Since we didn’t have any parts with us, her day was done. Since we didn’t have any parts at all, her weekend was done. She tried to trail-side singlespeed it, but it wouldn’t take. The rigid rear end on her Air 9 meant that it had to be exactly right (it wasn’t).

She ended up walking back and I finished out the trail. Most of the rest of the trail was pretty reasonable even for a relative beginner like me. There was a nice little climb once it joined up with the blue trail, but it wasn’t that bad.

Once over the road again, I started going down this road which I thought was the trail and followed orange blases on the trees. There were sign denoting trail work in progress, so I didn’t think much of hefting my bike over huge brush piles.

After a while, the road sort of ended, so I started to work my way up the steep hill to find the trail. I did after about a 1/4 mile going up.

I finished out the loop (which has some more tricky sections in it, this time going up). Andrea met me close to the end as she had walked back up from the trailhead. We decided to head back to the cabin and hike the Green trail / White River Bluff loop after lunch.

The White River Bluff loop had some tricky sections in, but also offered a lot of good views out over the river. The amount of rock ledges forced some trees to go up through the rocks.

As we hiked we cleared what we could do without a saw, leaving only 2-3 forced dismounts on the loop (8″ trees off the ground across the trail, etc.)

The next morning, I geared up for a ride (Jacks Branch / yellow), Andrea for a hike/trail clearing hike (Bald Scrappy / orange). Jack’s Branch starts out mostly flowy, mostly downhill for the first several miles. There are a few rocky sections especially near an overlook outcropping.

I finished up the loop by following the Blue and then the Orange back to the White River Bluff Trailhead. The section of the orange was a repeat from the day before and it did go better, still need some additional practice to get it right.

Andrea and I headed over to Mountain View / Syllamo to spend Thankgsiving with her family at her dad’s new place up there. Our plans were to relax and ride as much of the Syllamo mountain bike trails as possible.

stopping to let the dogs run around on the way there by some random rice field along US64 west.

We got up this morning (after sleeping in a little bit) and headed out from the cabin (we stayed last night at a cabin since her dad’s house had too many there on Wednesday night). It was a quick 2 miles on the road, plus another 5.5 miles up a gravel road (Green Mountain Road) to the Bad Branch trail head.

We rode the 12 miles Bad Branch trail without too much problems. As the easiest both in terms of skill and required fitness, it was good one to do first. We clear off some newly fallen branches over the trail, but it was clear that a lot of chain saw work was done on this trail in the recent past. The trail has some nice flowy sections riding on top of pine needles/leaves over the hard pack surface. The rock in the area breaks apart and packs nicely making a great trail surface.

Our original planned trail involved creek crossings and we didn’t want to deal with those in the cold (on the menu for tomorrow). We ended up have a nice ride of 28 total miles with the first 7 and last 7 being pavement / gravel road. The climb up to the trail heads on Green Mountain road is no joke, it is about a mile or so at 6-8% grade.

Andrea with her commuter safety vest. Hunting season… can’t be too careful.

Back at the cabin, getting packed up to move up to the house for the rest of the weekend. My Titus on the way up, her Air9 on the ground to the left.

I decided to revisit the random banner image thing. I learned a bit too much about php (I knew almost zero just an hour ago…) It is a pretty basic script, but watch out for extra spaces at the end of the line (it does matter).

Here is the first four that I made up (most are from today)

First race in the new kit (Marx & Bensdorf) and last race of my Fall campaign, it was good to do both at a race in Memphis. Andrea and I headed down to the river to race the 23rd annual Outdoors Inc mid-south cyclcocross championships. This year the race is not the Tennessee state championship (which it has been for most of the last decade). With increased racing statewide, the state championships has moved around, this year to a late season race in Johnson City. I guess that is payback for last year and other years where it was held in Memphis.

Since my lightweight tubular wheelset is out of service (front tubie rolled off, rear one needs a little spoke wrenching after the crash last weekend), I decided to put some Michelin Jet tires on my Shimano DuraAce carbon / aluminum wheelset. The course is pretty much grass or hardpack, so these were perfect… I ran them down at 30 psig front, 35 psig rear, so I was taking a risk with that low of a pressure with tubed clincher tires, but it was the right setup.

Andrea raced her teammate Casey in the Womens race which started behind the CX4 / Beginner Masters “B”-race. She won and rode a good race (I let her race my above mentioned DuraAce/Jet combos since her tubeless burped out some air on our preview lap.)

The A-race was right after it. This race was most of the rest: CX1/2, CX3, and Masters 35/45+. Lined up 2nd row, right behind Russ (M&B) and right next to Will (also M&B). Got a reasonable start, staying close to the leaders maybe in 6th – 7th spot. I started to move up when I could and after a while (maybe 2 laps), 2 leaders had a decent gap on Russ and Bert (35+ racer) and they had a gap on me.

I started to make some separation to those behind when I ran under the course rope going down a hill and had to push hard to regain the gap. By mid-race, I ended up catching up to Russ and we worked together going down the long straightaway.

The laps pretty much went the same way, he would get up the steep ride-up to the sidewalk better than I, I would catch back by the timber stairs. He would ride the timber stairs…I would run them… chase.

Repeat, repeat. On the last lap, I was little slower coming back to him and had to navigate around a lap rider at the top of the course. Over the log barriers to the finishing stretch, he had a few second gap… I big-ringed it (for the first time all race) and started to come back. Russ spotted that move before it was too late, so we finished 3rd and 4th (me).

Andrea took all these photos, I edited them and put them up in a gallery.