CX Race 1 of 2010

Race 1
Megan and I did our first CX race of the season, Megans first ever bike race.
We both had a good time and both of us finished our races without any mechanicals :)
It was a drizzly morning and the course was wet. It had pretty much stopped raining for the race or was very light and the temperature was perfect for the riders, altho it was a bit cold for the spectators.

Unfortunately Megans race is at the same time as mine so I can't watch and take pics. I did pass her out on course once so I did shout some encouragement to her and also reminded her to switch gears. She was smiling so that was great.
Megan is definitely at a big disadvantage as her bike is around 25 lbs and most of the adult riders are riding sub 18 pound bikes, and Megan is only around 48 lbs! I guess that would be like me riding a 70 pound bike!
I'm going to try lighten it up a bit for the next race with some of my spare parts.....

My race went good and bad. Mainly the bad was that I didn't push hard enough and finished a lap down. I needed to be 20 seconds a lap faster and I would have finished on the lead lap. I think I left too much left in the tank. My favorite type of racing is Endurance Racing so my pacing was probably in between Endurance and XC racing today. Avg HR was 166. Need to get that up to around 175. My max is around 181-183.
On the plus side I had no issues with the bike and had the tire pressure dialed in pretty good. On hard cornering I could feel the rear starting to roll so need 2-4 more psi in the rear. Traction was great and I had no issues in the slippery stuff. There were a couple spots that some people had to dismount to clear.

Nice to see lots of people out with many team Euro-sports/Foodery/Dal-cin members.
Thanks to my Mom who came out and cheered and took care of Megan while waiting for my race to finish.

2nd Cx Practice of 2010 Season

Megan and I got out to our second practice yesterday.

Was a pretty big turn-out with around 25-30 people.

Megan was practicing turns a lot and I was teaching her how to pick a smoother line.

There was a circle drill which I reall liked. At first I was not doing it right as I was doing more of two 180 turns with a lot of braking and then hammering out of the corner. Altho this method can be a fast way to do the small circuit, I was totally maxed out in 5 minutes. Not an efficient way to do it.

The I overheard someone saying the drill was to be done without brakes! Well there is no way I could do this quickly the 180 way, but I realized that you could be pretty fast doing a wide turn, thus the name "Circle Drill".

To add a twist we started doing this while pedaling all the time. I ended up crashing twice as I was turning in too quickly and my pedal would hit and pop the rear wheel out from under me. A reminder to try keep it wider and smoother.

We were doing this on the wet grass and I was having fun sliding the rear wheel out a bit and an occational recovery from a front wheel slide.

So I learned I can corner quite fast and pedal thru it if you get the right line.

I faired quite a bit better in the start drills. Not sure why, but I was starting in my lowest gear and I was shifting more thru the gears.

All in all it was a fun practice for Megan and I.

CX Practice

I went to my first actual Cyclocross practice on Wed.
I had mentioned to my daughter if she would maybe like to do some bike racing and that I was going to a practice in a couple days. Well she jumped right on it and that's all she talked about for the week leading up to the practice.
So Megan came along and did the practice as well. She enjoyed it but said it was a bit tiring so was looking more forward to an actual race.
For the practice we first started out with mounting and dismounting. I find I can dismount pretty well and fast. I am confident enough to keep pedaling until the last second, jump off and carry.
I find running with the bike awkward and jumping barriers is definitely my least favorite part of cross. I like the mounting/dismounting part tho :)
Megan is also very good at getting on and off the bike and can step off both with the 'back step' or the 'step through'.
After this we practiced some zig zagging around flags on a grassy slope, zigging downhill then zagging back up. It was good practice for braking and turning on off-camber and slipper sections.
This is my favorite part of Cross racing. Bike handling and sliding around on the edge of control. Its probably because I do CX and Road riding to improve my MTB racing :)
Megan started off a bit tentatively with this exercise but was getting the hang of it by the end. She was learning to go a bit fast and how to brake before the turn in. She was locking it up a bit but kept the rubber side down and was learning to modulate the brakes ;)
For fun we finished this drill with a sprint start. I didn't do too well. I thought I would fare better but was one of the slower people out of the blocks. I guess I need more practice and need to learn what gearing best suits me.
On the plus side, even tho I was a bit slower out if the blocks my top end is not so bad and I would close the gap back up before the turn in to the first flag. On the down side once you get into the tight twisty stuff its near impossible to pass. I thought about passing on the outside a few times, but since I didn't know the person I was passing and it was supposed to be a fun practice, I didn't get too aggressive :)
Lastly we did some carries up a steep pitch. My frame is a bit small for me to shoulder grabbing on the balance point of the bottom tube so I have to improvise and grab higher on the down tube and flick the bike a bit with the left hand to get the bike to a swing up onto my shoulder. This works looks rather smooth but it is harder to get the bike on the shoulder without bumping up my arm and shoulder. Bit sore the next day.
Megan is too small to carry the bike so has to resort to pushing. She can do the top tube carry over an obstacle but see how her bike weights more than 50% of her body weight and she probably has a 20 inch inseam it like climbing over full size saw horses for her! Hopefully the races will have small barriers for the kids race.
So the first practice is a wrap. I didn't do to badly but my motor need some serious work.

Getting Cross Bike Ready

Giving Cross racing another go this year. Started the year a bit late last year racing on the MTB and finished the season a bit early but I had gotten a cross frame.it up and raced it a fraces. Was neglected a bit over the winter and spring as it was put away dirty.

Got it out and cleaned up the drivetrain. Much needed rebuild of the BB. Bearings seem fine. Axle races have slight pitting but should do for this season :)

Its all back together now ready for a practice session.

In the mean time doing a few roller sessions.

Cross Season Starting

Looks like Cross season is about to start here in the Ottawa area this month. Hoping to get out to a practice tomorrow with the gang and stretch the legs a little.

Possibly going to rain.

I decided last year to give CX racing a shot. I find I am a decent technical rider but my engine is severly lacking. I figured some snow, mud and rain would help even the playing field a bit to some of the guys who smoke me on the road bike and have me at least be a little competative.

Well I did the first 2/3rds of the season before having to call it quits for some family health issues and I don't think the weather could have been nicer ! ! ! . So much for hoping I'd need some technical skills.

So here is hoping to a messy Cross Season :)

Cheers,
Paul

(Photo credit cross_photo)

Hot August Nights Solo 2010

Its a bit late coming, but here is my race report on HAN Solo.

Pre Race

I think this years race was doomed from the begining. Some faimily health problems kept me off the bike for about 6 weeks leading up to the race. Happily everyone is doing well now and it was only me hurting over the 24 hrs of racing.

Due to the hectic going ons I was only getting the trailer ready for the road a couple of days before leaving, on Monday. I ended up with a leak in the plumbing which would elimnate the use of shower,toilet,sink, which was the primary reason for bringing the trailer. On top of this I was borrowing my Dads new truck and we had some trailer light connection problems.

Managed to get this fixed and put together the day I wanted to leave. So much for being packed the night before and ready to roll early.

Julie and I managed to get rolling about 2 hours later than planned and headed off to my sisters in Kingston Thursday evening to cut the trip down. About 20 minutes out of Kingston at around 11 p.m. the trailer tire blew out. Tons of tractor trailers rolling by on the 401 so had to really pull over to be safely off the hwy since it was the drivers side.

I was hoping to be in Albion Friday around noon and be through Toronto evening rush hour traffic. Since I had to get the trailer tire replaced we only ended up on the road around 11ish or so and we ended up in rush hr traffic. Not too bad but took us about 50 minutes to go 6 kms on the 401 to the 400 turn off.

We finally made it in to Albion around 5:30. It was a bit late to do a pre-ride lap now since i wanted to be all set up to go to bed around 10 to give me 12 hours of sleep for 10 the next morning.

We quickly made friends with the other Solo riders on the site. The pit crews had the beer flowing as soon as the coolers came out, which were conviently placed to be the first thing to unload :). Camp set-up went well and we had our couple of canopies up for the shade as it was to be a scorcer of a weekend. The pit crew, Julie, Paula(my sis) and Keith(my cousin) were having fun by the fire by dark and I got the beds together in the trailer and made it to bed at a decent hour despite the horible week of events.

Race Day

I woke up around 10 a.m as planned and had myself a blender filled breakfast and slowly got all geared up for 11:30. Headed up to get in line and wasn't to far back at the start line. Maybe 75 riders back. I figured this was about where I wanted to be. Ahead of some of the slower starters but behind all the fast teams that where bound to be close to the front.

It was pretty hot. I think the temp with the humidex was in the 40's.

3.2.1..... we were off. There was a crash a 100m out of the start with a few guys looked like they were stuck in the crowd. Didn't really slow the start pace. Within 1 minute everyone was in an orderly single file. This was a bit surprising as typically the start loop of grass double track is 4 people wide with people darting in and out of everywhere.

The track was nice and fast and dry. They didn't have the big monster climb in this year and I was actually a bit dissapointed. The still did have a fair bit of climbing in the last 5 kms. There were a few short steap sections and some longer climbing on the single track. I think I would have liked just the big monster climb . . .

If you were racing on a team I think most of the gang would have broke the 1 hour mark fairly easily. My fast lap was my first lap @ 1:03:29 which includes the extra km or two, some bogging down behind traffic in the single track, and a stop in the pits for a new bottle and a bit to eat.

By the second lap I was hurting pretty bad and the heat was getting to me. I was also getting a pain in one of the musles behind my left knee, which I hurt on a ride 2 weeks prior on a Gat loop. My one training ride since Summer Solstice. It nagged me te last 2 Fortune races, my only other rides since Solstice.

By lap 3 I was freezing for about 2 laps, probably from the extreme heat. I was holding onto 8th place out of 16.

I flatted on lap 4. Was a weird one with a cut at the valve stem. I was having a not bad lap but flatting and watching two solo guys go by while I replaced the tube really took the wind out of my sails. I also crashed 2 times on this lap. Mentally and phisically was my worse lap. Going too slow on a tight switchback climb, stalled, wheeled and fell on the inside DOWN the tight steep corner. Later in the lap on a fast switchback decent braked for a left 180 bend and as I was coming out of corner tire slide away in a huge groove off the edge of trail. Kinda went over the bars as I layed it down on the inside of the corner. On one of these two crashes I managed to bang the front of my sore knee so it was hurting on the front and the back.

Somehow I managed to hang on to 8th place after all this.

I was planning on taking my break at this point but decided that I had my pacing down to my heart rate was not of the charts and did another lap. I finished around 7 p.m. and I had moved up to 6th. Humm... maybe I should keep going. Its amazing how mentally uplifting being in a good position makes you feel and how much a poor position crushes you. But I felt I had enough and need a rest and maybe suffered a slight bit of heat stroke earlier on. I was feeling pretty crappy. Legs were heavy and week. Decide to come in, eat, shower and take a nap til midnight.

I managed to get up shortly after midnight and ate beside the fire. I think I headed out around 12:45 with the lights on. All in all I wasn't feeling to bad except for my knee, which was now swollen a bit on the front and a bit of pain in back.

My little nap had me down to 13th place. Yikes! Showed me 3 hours behind 12th. I think I was miss reading the Solo results which they had posted of the side for Solo rides in a Fast lane :)

At any rate after finishing this lap I was up two places in 11th. Huh. I think the results area bit skewed as you don't know if the rider in front of you scanned 3 hours ago but maybe they stopped on this lap and were now not on the course.

I did another lap and was feeling great except my left leg/knee. It was hurting pretty bad and was ok pedaling but on any downhill section felt like it was about to go into a painful knot. I was also mentally down about being so low in the placing. I had a goal of 15 laps after doing 12 last year. I had had a great start to the season and had been on more training loops in the Gats this year than the total riding for the two years before. I figuired this was a reasonable goal before the all the problems hit before Solstice. I knew my lack of training would hurt and I had hoped to do 12 or maybe 13 laps. At this point I had my doubts and the pain in my knee was bad. I figured my original goal of 15 was long long gone so no use doing any damage to my leg now. I wasn't really thinking of coming back Solo next year at this point. I finished up my lap and alkl I wanted to do was crawl into bed with Julie :). I did manage to force myself to shower and eat before dozing off.

I didn't even bother with an alarm. I think it was close to 9 and Julie was up asking if I was calling it quites. She said I may as well from the way I was sulking. At that point something got me going again and I figured I'd have time for 3, maybe 4 laps, to put me at 10 laps. I was in good spirits the lasp laps and going pretty good for the shape I was in.

It was starting to get hot and I decide to ride the plank and get hosed down to cool off. I ended up doing it twice and the hosing was really refreshing.

I finished my 9th lap with 2 minutes to spare. This ment I would need to do an 1:02 lap to get the last lap to count. With my knee hurting a lot and the last two lap times arounf 1:14 and 1:19 I figured it would be a long shot and decided not to. I think if I would have had 1:10 I wouldda went for it. I also didn't grab another bottle for the next lap as I already figured it would be too much.

So that ws it. 9 laps. Thats what I did in my first year. So lap total was the same as my worse but I was finished about 1 hour sooner than before and the distance per lap was about 1 km more each lap. So not actually my worst lap.

My feelings of not coming back ever for Solo were already wearing off and I was actually a little pissed at myself for stopping the second time.

A big thanks to Julie, Keith and Paula for keeping me going and the positive thoughts even though for me it was a struggle before I even started the race.

Congrated to Glenda Martin from our site who made a 3rd place podium. Also hope to see Drew Quarrie from our site back next year. I think he had 3 times the beer the night before than he did laps haha, but he still gave it a go. Lots of mechanicals on his new build.

Tanya Martin was another Solo rider from our site. She did Trans Rockies and said this 24 hr Solo stuff was way harder.

I took a nap after the awards and I was dreaming this strange dream of doing both Summer Solstice and Hot August Nights solo next year on a Single Speed :)

Cheers,

Paul

New Blogger

I decided to start a fresh new blogger for my racing, riding and training.
The old blogger was sparatic at best.
Hopefully will be able to keep this one up to date.
Cheers,
Paul