Never ever, EVER, ever again will I EVER ride a cross bike with only one spare tube. I could not have been enjoying our freakishly warm weather more, and I was having an all around excellent ride when out of nowhere-psssssssssss...flat tire! No biggie-I average about one per month on the cross rig, maybe one per year on the mtb, so I don't care too much when it happens. I was just glad it was such nice weather today, and the forced break was welcomed anyways.
I pulled off into a neighborhood, did the winter mechanical shuffle with a bunch of onlookers gawking (tossed all the warm gear from in my pack on, some hand/toe warmers, grabbed my shell), proceeded to change my flat with a smile on my face, had a gu, packed everything up, and began my trip home. I was pretty spent at this point, and still about an hour or so from home so I was looking forward to my nice relaxing journey when...Scrape! Clunk! Scrape! HUCK!!!
Double flat :(
search and rescue!
Although it was unseasonably warm out today it was still way too cold for a patch to adhere so I eventually admitted defeat and called for some back up. Lucky for me Chels was back from her run and came right away to get me. You'd think that's the end of the story, but wait! there's more! The neighborhood I picked to pull off in must have been too new for our GPS, and the street was not even recognized by it, nor did I have any clue how to direct Chels to my location without her having to drive on canal and bike paths...so naturally she called me...and of course my phone didn't ring! Argh! In hindsight I should have used my Edge to get my coordinates for her...duh!
Yeah, it's as fun as it looks! Love the winter riding...
Hahahahah, anyways...sweet day for a ride, sweet day tomorrow and the next too...i'd say it's a good way to start the new year, and a typically frustrating but humorous way to end it. Happy new years everyone! If you're making a new years resolution I hate to break it to you but you'll probably not keep it! Otherwise you'd already be doing it anyways!!
I'm going to try to make it to midnight...we're so lame that we usually fall asleep before then. lol. I'm so stoked to get out and spin in the 48+ degree weather coming tomorrow that i'll probably hit the hay early and beat all the hungover crazies out onto the roads in the morning for a new years day spin. It's gonna be an exciting year for sure! :)
Merry Christmas to everyone-even if you don't celebrate it! Extra Merry Christmas for you.
Christmas is actually one of my favorite holidays. Right after Turkey Day, and just before my birthday on my list of things I celebrate because it's just easier to join in then to fight it with logic and reason. Resistance is futile!
Seriously though, what really matters is that there are even less people on the roads today then any other day of the year. Great day to get out and ride :)
This morning Chelsea and I Skyped with my Mom, Dad, Sister and brother in law. It was really nice to see my family :) We took this sweet family photo below. After everything my family's put Drew through this photo opp was a breeze, i'm sure! I haven't told them i'm bringing my bike to their wedding yet...
Gamers rejoice! OK...I spent my childhood trying to convince my parents of this, now the wife doesn't believe me either. Lucky for me some one wrote it down and put it on the inter-web so now I have PROOF!
I think it'd be neat to see this study done with non-gaming mountain bikers. I don't know about everyone else, but I use the exact same scan techniques picking lines on the rig as I do plying CStrike Source or Black Ops.. Haha, yeah, I still CStrike....a lot better then I ride! I think they'd find that non-gaming mountain bikers (of average riding confidence) would ace their tests right off the bat.
Cyclocross secret rule #1: When the guy says "go!" he means the race is starting, please don't just stand there. I was lost in my thoughts at the start line, missed the go and started dead last. Cheese please.
These guys went on 'go'
I think if anything my slow start probably helped my overall race since it forced me to have a pretty nice warm up on an extremely bitter, typical NY fall day. The few flurries I noticed while pre-riding had me anxious for some snow, but no luck. One things for sure-I have a lot of work to do to get my Cross starts to where i'm happy with them. Two crap starts in a row. To quote Victor, who shouted this at me last week every time I passed him, "that ain't no mountain bike!" Hahaha. Rock on. This ain't no roadie!!!!!
Go!
What a fun race. First of all, both my wheels stayed on my rig the entire race :) What more could a guy ask for?! The xtr mtb skewers are a much better fit then those flimsy road ones. Second, the course was pretty much a gravel race track through the woods with some really sweet natural features, one set of the usual cross barriers, and of course plenty of field to bring on the burn. It was the type of course that became more fun with each lap as I found the best lines. Picking a line for a Cross rig is a far cry from on the mtb but i'm getting the hang of it. I'm getting better at predicting how much speed the rig will or will not carry, and how my torque effects traction and speed. Torque on the Cross rig doesn't always = speed. It's just so different then I expected it to be in those situations, but it forces the correct and fastest decision/line/technique naturally so it's got to be good for my mountain riding. If anything my body will thank me for the added finesse it's teaching me.
Lots of space between the
barriers today.
Today the race started on the road with a short sprint to some grass, then into a wooded gravel bike path with a technical section of muddy off camber roots that not many people rode. The skinny Speed Kings are so nice on mud. I'm sure if 'Velcro' wasn't trademarked that's what Continental would have named them. That spot then lead us right onto a bridge with a very short almost-climb onto the twisty and loose gravel race track, which eventually wrapped around into a tight gravel S turn onto another bridge, up the gravel hill into the mud, another tight turn and through the chatter up some huge dirt steps, down the other side of the house-sized dirt pile (hurry to clip back in) and then off the bike again five seconds later through the barriers, quick!-hop back on, zig zag though some field and a final crazy mud/chopped up rooty dismount turn, a little more field, then back onto the road through the finish where it started. Complete with an announcer, food, beer garden and some great race fans.
Saaweet dirt mountain obstacle!
My teammate Katina rolled a tire and was still able to ride it out, pulling a 2nd place finish and putting Crankskins on the podium again. That woman sure can churn and burn. Another impressive effort.
I snagged a few training tips from Jeff while we watched Katina's race so i'm stoked to get out and try some new exercises this week that should help improve my pedal strokes and promote steady power output. After this race I feel like I have the hang of the gearing, and I actually found a couple combos I really like. It's strange because on the mtb I never learned to shift. I just hopped on and never gave it a thought. On the Cross rig though I have been picking some horrible gears, usually in clutch situations. Today I set my cadence alarm to keep me from churning in those bad gears and it made a notable difference. If the Garmin would simply shock me during training rides rather then just sound it's audible alarm i'd probably learn a lot quicker (like those K9 obedience collars).
I had quite an epiphany today-it's not that the Cross rig doesn't carry speed well, it is just so easily influenced by tiny variances in terrain. One pebble can and will take all of it's momentum away almost instantly. Easy fix though, just never stop pedaling. Even if I feel like i'm too spent to put any power to the pedals just keep them spinning and it's amazing how much speed the rig will carry without much effort.
First Cyclocross race was today. It was the Park Ave Bike Halloween Cyclocross Race. PAB races are always a good time. Jeffina came out too, Jeff has had one heck of an awesome season but today he wasn't feeling it so he didn't race. Jeff, Chelsea and I watched Katina's race before mine began. I'm not sure where she finished but she dropped the hammer. I'm sure she podiumed. It was an impressive effort.
A couple of Single Track Academy riders were racing too. I was pretty stoked to see them but I was not impressed with the way a few of their much older and more experienced competitors were barging past with little or no notice. Come on! Give the kids a heads up! They're gonna be hamming us all into the ground in a few years anyways. Mad props to the SA crew!
I was somewhat surprised with my experience. First of all I had more fun then I expected (I prefer longer races), and second, despite my 19th place finish I was very happy with how well I did crossing the barriers. I've practiced my mounts/dismounts the past few weeks, and except for one instance where I couldn't get unclipped and rammed the barrier like a total newb I was happy with my execution of what I expected would be the hardest part of the race. There's nothing like fairy hopping over barriers while your heart rate's approaching redline. In my opinion it's way harder then just bunny hopping them.
I was not ready at all for the start. In xc race starts it's always a pure adrenaline fueled rage fest to get the hole shot. The Cross race though had a very mild start. I was in too big of a gear for the initial pace and I had to try hard not to rub anyone since I shot out of the gate but was in the middle of the pack.
So...first lap my rear wheel fell off my bike after I set it down too hard/off camber remounting (yeah, I said fell off). Second lap-same spot, wheel fell off again. What the huck!!?? Gotta figure that out. When it happened the first time I had no idea and hopped on the bike only to mash the cassette into everything possible. Most of my shifting was done for me at the bike's discretion for the rest of the race and the rear wheel was not spinning very well. I was extremely careful not to put too much off camber stress on the rear end for the rest of the race and it didn't give me any more trouble. I rarely have mechanicals (knock on wood) so I guess I shouldn't whine about it. Another racer told me that the skewer is junk and I need to change it so that will be my next move. He showed me how the skewer's lever has no built in stop so when you crank it down it can be tightened too far, which will then cause it to loosen over time without much notice. Much like when you go past the threads on a jar of pickles and it pops open again. Come on! I'm glad the mtb industry is looking after me with their idiot proof skewers or i'd be in trouble.
This sport's way too fast to make up any time spent standing trailside figuring out your wheel's not attached to your rig, or any other sort of mechanical for that matter. Everyone there was flying. It was an extreme pace that I haven't seen many times before. A couple of guys and I saw a lot of each other way out in no man's land towards the end of the race. We rode close but excelled at different portions of the course so we passed each other multiple times.
Last lap I knew I was fighting to not finish last and had a wicked nice line down a tight, wet pavement into gravel switcher section. At the very last second one of the guys I was jockeying with popped into the inside line of the turn's exit and I had to lock up my brakes without much notice. It was not his fault by any means, if you'd have seen it you'd agree. We both took opposite lines, and were both in the wrong place at the wrong time when they converged. I'm unsure if he even saw me. Anyways, when I had to pull the e-brake it was right where the pavement transitioned into gravel, with deep potholes scattered about. I started to drift and pulled out of it, almost regained control only to careen out of control around the transition into the next gravel turn, almost regained control again and eventually ate it. It was one of those long and drawn out 'i'm still holding onto the bike, still clipped in, still drifting sideways on the gravel' wrecks. I hopped up, remounted and now my wheels wouldn't spin! Man these rigs are dainty! I started to run it out when some one happened to be standing there and said "here finish on my rig" so I hopped on and quickly realized it had egg beaters (I ride times). To make it even more fun I couldn't reach the brakes or the pedals while sitting down. Lol. Still way better then running the remaining stretch though. I just stood up to the finish which thankfully was very near by. I owe him big time!
All in all i'd say it was a fun day. I'll certainly be back. I'm not great at the short races, so Cross will help me improve for sure, and it's just such a blast. It seems to require much more overall athleticism then most xc races. The hardest part for me is steady hr and power output with such different gearing then i'm used to but i'm sure I will adjust. I feel a little bad for my rig. It's not use to the abuse it endured today, and I hope when I put it back together tomorrow it works. I think/hope it just needs some TLC and a skewer.
My new wheelz!!! 07' Specialized Tricross Expert Double
Just a few shots of me having some fun on my new cross rig
I finally found a cross rig a couple of weeks ago and I have been living in a state of euphoric, cyclocross induced haze ever since. It's such an amazing combination of speed, torque and finesse. I could not have found a better deal on it either. I finally had some luck come my way :) A kid at a college about two hours away was selling it on Craigslist-never taken off road, original fuzzies still on it's original tires. I just wish he'd WRAPPED HIS CRANKS! The only blemish on it-a heal scuff on the crank arm. I've put more miles (and dents) on it in two weeks then he did the entire time he owned it, but I wrapped it pretty well with a healthy helping of Crankskins 8mil protectant so it's good to go.
It's got Zertz inserts and a carbon fork/rear triangle so it provides an amazingly smooth, supple ride. It's got a carbon crank set, carbon headset, carbon seat post, and some decent wheels so it's wicked light. It comes in at just over 17lbs with a Garmin, water bottle, and some knobby tires.
Since the rear end is designed to have some flex to it i've been working on learning it's arc and I am getting more confident loading it. It's amazing how the rig can be snapped around, the thing just flies through the woods. It tracks like it's on rails and launches out of turns. It stops much like an ocean liner though-lol. It's short wheelbase has taught me a few lessons too. The subtle flex in the rear is almost impossible to explain-it's got such a tiny sweet spot but figuring out how to manipulate it does wonders for flow in rooty/rocky terrain as well as when hopping and sprinting up rough hills. When I plan on it to react though, and I miss that tiny little sweet spot man is it punishing. I am learning the things not to do on a cross rig almost as quickly as i'm learning what it can do-lol. It only flexes under very specific circumstances, and could not be a stiffer pedaling platform. It is certainly the most responsive rig i've ever had the privilege of mounting.
The first thing I did was loose the slicks. I slapped some Continental Speed Kings on it and was delighted to find that I love them just as much on the Tricross as I do on mtb's. I prefer them so much that I even put one on this template up top. They're the perfect match for my 'gonzo' riding style. I prefer running firm tires on my mtb, so i'm right at home with 50-55psi. All in all i'm very surprised at how natural the transition has been.
I'm going to do my first cross race this weekend. I've never had a fully rigid rig before, and certainly nothing even close to a cross rig so i'm thrilled to be learning so much with every ride. Ripping the trails on it has been much like a bike boot camp. I was supposed to do my first cross race last weekend but I came down with something awful. I don't have any great expectations after watching those racers rip it up at Ellison earlier in the season, but i'm looking forward to trying something new and also to the fitness I should be able to gain from such intense efforts. I think that I am going to find that I enjoy Cyclocross racing a lot, but that I really just prefer to use the cross rig as an all mountain machine. I've literally never had so much fun on a bike. Can't explain it, but I feel like I just found my soul mate of bikes.
Now that i've had some time on it i've realized that a lot of my ride time while on suspended rigs is actually down time while i'm waiting for the suspension to do it's thing. With the cross rig it's so much faster. No time to do anything other then survive. What a rush. If you find yourself making a mistake there's not even time to try and correct it, rather you have to just make your next move. What happened is over, what's happening is out of your hands-the only control you have on a cross rig is your next move, and by the time you figure out what that next move is it's usually too late! Constant, crazy intensity that requires a special focus and zen which I have not been able to achieve in years.
I think it's going to allow me to really step up my riding in time for next season both technically and aerobically. It's gearing is so hard in comparison to my mtb that I can already feel it making me stronger, and the long road and trail blended rides a few times a week are a nice break from real life, as well as exactly what I need to grow my fitness.
I'm really glad to finally be crossin' it! :) :) :)
Today I went to a cyclocross race just down the street from my house at Ellison Park. My teammates Jeff and Katina (Jeffina) went too. Katina raced while Jeff and I cheered her on. It turns out her rear brake was misaligned and the wheel could not even spin freely by the time she finished. She stuck it out though and had a strong race despite it.
I watched pretty carefully because I don't want to be "that guy" when I do my first cross race and wipe out over the barriers. It's crazy the amount of technique the seasoned riders have when they're mounting and dismounting. Some racer's rigs made no noise at all when they set them down, and what was even more impressive is the lack of noise when they clipped in. It was a good opportunity to take note of the little things like that before I give it a go.
Went for a spin on the brick today. What's the brick you might ask? It's my 35lb, 6.5 inch travel beater rig I train on all winter.
It's got a rear wheel that doesn't spin unless I pedal, and unless I keep my cadence just right it makes noises so wretched people flag me down to try and help me. Hahahahah. It's not fast, but it will make you fast! Check out the sick custom Brick Crankskins though! Not having ridden it since April I forgot how hard it makes me work. Zero rest time. Even on the downhills it's got to be pedaled or it will drift to a stop. Stoked to be back on it, but really anxious to get my cross rig so I can start to work on my endurance and forget about power for a while.
Lol-a ride like that would be a joke on the Blue. On The Brick though-what a workout!
I thought a fitting way to kick off my blogging would be to post a Crank The Shield 2010 summary. As I get the time i'm going to further populate this site, get additional pages completed and refine the template. I think I like it (the template). We'll see. I'm sure it will evolve. Lol-just what I need-another endless time consumer to fit somewhere in between rides.
I can not put into words how amazing it was to crank the shield. Three days of insane trails linked together by treacherous bogs, insane fire roads/atv trails and your usual dirt and paved road breathers. Seriously...this was the craziest race i've ever done. At times I was unsure if I should have gone, but looking back on it i'm glad I manned up and finished it out. Two sprained ankles and mouthfuls of bog but we'll get into that later. There was no shortage of former, present, and future pros, olympians, national team members, ect. that came out to race and it was pretty neat to race the same course and chat with them.
Departure
As is the norm the second EJ (Cranskins) and I departed the rain started. That's just the way it goes. Our drive up was uneventful and unusually smooth. We had to stop for directions about an hour away when the GPS hucked us, but other then that just an easy trip. It was early Thursday evening when we pulled into the Haliburton Forest Wildlife Reserve and the clouds were still in tow. Ernesto (solo goat) traveled from Ohio to race with us and pulled in soon after us. I had met him briefly at a race earlier in the summer and was looking forward to meeting up again. He's one of the best racers in the country and doesn't seem to mind a brain picking too much. It was a great opportunity for me to watch and learn and I was stoked.
Pre-race night
Much of the time I prefer to camp the night preceding races more then two-three hours away, as does EJ. We backed the van up to the woods next to the tree line and the three of us cracked a few american brews as we began setting up camp. It wasn't long before out of no where we were surrounded by growling huskies and wolves. WTF!!! They belonged to a Canadian lady from the near by Wolf reserve, who responded to my inquiry as to their biting habits in a thick French accent with "that is not the concern." "You must have permission to camp here." "You must go away." (Keep in mind we're not the only ones there) I wanted to camp there out of spite, as I knew it was alright, but EJ didn't want the conflict and as usual wanted to do the right thing. Darn! Anyways-it turned out for the best because rather then camp out in the cold rain we ended up bunking with some great people in a very nice cabin thanks to the guys at Chico Racing. After a quiet romantic dinner the three of us were joined by the rest of our bunk mates. Some racers, media crew members, support staff, and others. We had a few brews, told some stories by the fire and called it a night.
Stage 1 - 5th
I'm an early riser so I enjoyed my usual relaxed cup of coffee, sunrise, and people watching that morning. It's always interesting to watch everyone at these events getting ready. You can tell the pros from the joes, the ocd color-coded check list makers (lol-that's me) from the bring everything and figure it out when the time comes people, the family, fans, and event staff. It really gets me pumped watching the organized (and some times un-organized) chaos. Not to mention that piney wilderness morning smell that fills the crisp Canadian air. I was in heaven and couldn't stand still any longer. I'm still not too experienced with starts, and there were pros and big names a few lines deep at the front of the start line so I settled into the line up about half way back for each stage. Soon after the start I found myself hiking the bike up a switch back cliff trail after passing the majority of the riders in front of me. This was nuts and I soon realized how serious this terrain is. People couldn't even hike up the stuff without falling and helping each other. I had just put some metal toe spikes in so I made my way up and continued on my way. Soon the bogs began. I'm talkin' waste and some times chin deep bogs scattered over miles of gnarly, dangerous terrain. I then sprained both of my ankles when I caught them on some rocks at the bottom of a bog and was in extreme pain for the rest of stage 1. Good thing though-the water and bogs were so cold my ankles went numb and I was able to ride strong. To make things worse after pulling back into the race despite the injuries I took a wrong turn that cost me 4th place and landed me in 5th just 1km from the finish. When I arrived at the finish Peter (Misfit Cycles) who i'd passed minutes before I got lost was there to ask me where the heck I went off to. He had a good laugh about it as did pretty much everyone there. I guess they were laughing with me-kind of. Haha.
Stage 2 - 4th
The night before at the post-dinner meeting Sean Ruppel described stage 2 as a death march, and made it very clear how awful conditions really were. It turns out the shield had received three times it's normal rain fall this summer and we had hours more of bogs dividing gnarly rock faces ahead of us. I was not looking forward to this stage as I could barely walk, but I just took it slow in the hike-a-bike sections being careful not to make things any worse. Then i'd get on the bike and just rage. My average speed on the bike was almost 10mph. What a blast. I was having a good time shooting the sh*t with Peter again when out of nowhere I took a wrong step crossing a bog and went completely under, swallowing way too much of the bog, and was so shocked and grossed out that I hopped on the bike and raged my way into 3rd place, dropping everyone that was anywhere near me. I held third for the rest of the race, with 4th about 5 minutes back. At the end of the stage there was a long road section though, and although I hit 49.7mph descending one hill I could not hold him off. He had a big ring, and I had EJ's XX gearing, which just couldn't cut it on the road. He stormed past me about 5k from the finish and I soon lost sight of him on a slight downhill as I could do nothing but tuck while he cranked away on his big ring. By the time we got to the single track it was too late and there was not enough trail for me to catch him. He was a very strong rider from Angry Johnny/Cycle Solutions, and he rode me in to the ground. He ended up 2 minutes ahead of me and although i'm bummed mad props go to him for being so strong. Angry Johnny is one of the coolest guys you'll meet and I always look forward to crossing paths with him up north. He's got the best racers in Canada, literally. Until we meet again...
Stage 3 - 4th
Stage 3 is the day everyone looks forward to. It's got the craziest climbs, most ridiculous decents, and downright glorious trail. Because of the rainfall there were still miles of mud and a bunch of bogs, but nothing like the first two stages. I started almost at the back for this stage as I knew it would start off by climbing the Sir Sam's ski resort mountain twice with a super d course in between. I took my time and kept it in zone 2 for this part of the race. I had fun hitting the jumps and dh lines in the super d while everyone blew up trying to jockey for position at the front. Right after all of the ski resort chaos a 20km road section began. This was my kind of road section, and I planned to use it to my advantage. I'd already memorized the elevation profile months before. The hills were moderate, none too steep with long gradual downhills. As expected people were hopping into pace lines and working together, but I had other plans, especially after being asked to leave one team's pace line since I was a solo racer. Haha, their mistake-I sprinted the entire 20k, passed almost everyone in front of me, dropped them like a bad habit and pulled into the top 20 overall just 15 minutes behind the National and world riders by aid station 2. I was so stoked and just rode as fast as I could make the bike go without wrecking the entire stage. No pace. Just wide open the whole way after Sir Sam's. The long walking sections killed my time, but that's to be expected with two ankle sprains...whine whine whine. No XXcuses! I think I must have had about 10 goo shots and 100 ounces of E-load and I didn't even feel fatigued. Although I got my butt kicked by plenty of awesome riders young and old, finishing fourth in my group overall was a giant success for me and i'm super encouraged now. I could barely walk, and still have two swollen purple ankles as I write this so i'm feeling very content with my sense of accomplishment. I can see that my training the past year has really paid off, so i'm stoked to keep working even harder. Not to mention-I didn't even wreck once. There's no CTS in 2011, but in 2012 i'm going back with plans to podium. That's right Angry Johnny-i'm ANGRY for the podium!!!!!! I'm comin' for you in 2012!
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