Crossed up

Orono this Sunday. Forecast is for real CX conditions -- rain Saturday and Sunday. Should be memorable. Last season (the second half anyway) was totally dry, hardpack courses. No rain, no snow and a little boring. Barring any unforeseen incidents (crashing hard and/or breaking something on my bike) I'm going to shoot for top 10. I just moved up to B this season and was 21st (16th B1) last week in St Cloud with minimal warm-up and a pretty decent hangover. Hey, it's 'cross season -- time to have fun!!

Broke the seat clamp on my bike in St Cloud. Trying to get the position re-dialed and also breaking in some new shoes. Gotta love Time cleats; they're not nearly as finicky as SPDs when you're trying to set them up.

Oh yeah, I can smell the mud. I think Hub kit is gonna look pretty good caked in it.

Fleck

Unclear on the concept

I found this car to be humorous for several reasons. Yes the bumper sticker says Bush's Last day, and also Earth Water Air. Maybe the owner forgets that in order to produce their Hummer, we have to destroy copious amounts of Earth Water Air, all before they get a chance to drive it. We are in the middle of a war for Oil, and bush passed on tax breaks for people to buy these monstrosities (for "business" purposes). Then again it was funny to see the hypocrisies and think about the Toyota prius Joel and I saw with a 'Bush 04 sticker' on it. We spotted that one on 35w on our way out to Buck Hill. Something combs to mind that something is Dumb and Ass.

Hiya

Chequamegon 40, aka roadies off road adventure

This years Hubsters who rocked the course.
Joel 'shake 'n bake' Cahalan
Sean O
The Fleckster
Paul O'grady
Clayton 'cod liver oil'

My race day began at 4 am, thats when I woke up to cook my breakfast , get dressed and be ready for Paul to show up. I stepped outside to a slap in the face of cold air. I ate a big bowl of yogurt and prepared a huge bowl of Oatmeal to eat on the road. It was probably the ugliest bowl of oatmeal you could imagine, I added some Green Superfood and Wheat grass powder from Amazing Grass, some Udo's Oil and a heaping teaspoon of Nordic Naturals lemon Arctic Cod Liver oil. A little maple syrup and butter, dumped it into a container for the road. I then double checked my gear to make sure I had enough cold weather gear to choose from for the day. I was cursing the fact that I didn't have any coffee in the house and didn't feel like I making green tea either. Not a good way to start the day, without caffeine.
On the way into Hayward i get a couple calls from Joel and Sean telling us to get our asses in to town quick, due to people grabbing decent start positions as early as 5am. We get into town, grab some coffee, meet up with Joel , Sean and John. We run our bikes over to the staging area. 2hours before the race and we will be starting in or around 4ooth place. Did I mention it was only 30 degrees out. On the drive out I noticed a little scratch in the back of my throat while drinking my astragalus tea. While setting up our bikes in the staging area my bowels wanted to release themselves urgently, which got me a little worried, my fear is that I was coming down with a cold. Not a good worry to have before a race. I quickly got dressed , and went with gear that may not be the warmest to stand around in, but easily removed while riding. Joel Had toe warmer packets which made a huge difference just sitting at the start line.
Sean, Paul, Fleck and Myself started out on the right side of the road, Joel had a preferred start at the front. The race started with a "neutral" roll out. The road had a few narrowing sections in the first mile, which created a nice accordion effect, Sean and myself worked our way through the crowds ahead of us. In the first 2 miles there was a pile up on the road which took out about 5 or six people. I was intent on staying close to Sean so we could work together through the masses. As we hit the grass we were easily minutes behind the leaders, and my shifting showed that it still sux. I went from my big ring to my small ring (I was aiming for the middle ring) on the first little power climb and almost ate it. I recovered, got it into the middle ring and charged back upto Sean. Sean was on a tear, he would sit on a wheel for about 15 to 30 seconds and then pass about 2-3 people. So as soon as I got on his wheel, he would shoot ahead. At the first water station Sean and I passed the same guy on a little climb, me on the right, sean on the left. Sean was so totally in the zone, he sees me and says something which gets me charged up to rock this course. I rip off my sunglasses at the first opportunity, since they are just a hindrance to seeing details on the trail. I follow Seans lead as we pass literally hundreds of people. I think to myself, why the hell do these slow assholes line up at the front of the pack. At some point I put in a small dig, and pass Cory from Penn cycle, he cheers me on, a minute later he passes me. I then give it a long dig grab some fast wheels. Passing people left and right. I didn't look back at this point, I didn't know if sean was with me or not, I'm intent on riding fast and hard.
Wait did that sign say 26 miles, was that to go or completed? It feels like 26 down. I'm with a small group of people at the first check point, I've already pulled off my vest, my sunglasses and my arm warmers, and I am way too warm. Next thing to come off is my skull cap, I pull it off through the back of my helmet on a gravel road with a ton of people cheering us on. Oh look 23 miles to go. Hmm okay, my stomach feels queasy, gatorade tastes gross and my hammergel is more like a charleston chew. Why didn't I have a water bottle with just water in it?
This course is fast, but boring. Go straight pedal hard, ohh a puddle lets go around it. Lets go around that rock. Bounce my bike down the baby head rock trails. I'm riding with 45 psi in the rear, for two reasons
1)I have no way to put air in a tube if I puncture, so i bumped it up a bunch.
2) Sean suggested it, saying it's a hard smooth course over the last 10 miles.
But thats a bit harder psi than I would normally ride, 50% harder, which made for a bouncy, bouncy ride. But no flat tires. Next year I am doing this race with a tubeless system, run a low tire pressure like Joel, and roll over all that bumpy baby headed boulder crap. I also plan on getting a preferred start. Why mess around passing slowbodies when I can see how long it will take for the super stars to drop me instead. Then again I also plan on training all summer and not having a drive train that will chain suck if I stand up to climb a hill. The joys of going over your handle bars when your chain sticks to your chainring, oh it is a pleasure, and it builds confidence in your machine. Thanks Race Face, I only thought my seat bolt broke once on the trail, my gears ghost shifted and I dropped the chain once on a climb. Thanks! Maybe I should just single speed
After the firetower climb I was riding with larry sauber of Larsen Cycles, we hit the silver section and he says "I hate this section"which means rolling hills. This is where I lose some ground, my legs were on the verge of cramping, so i was in spin mode, and losing ground to the small group I was with, this has been a problem for me all year, cramping late in a race, under heavy loads. I think this means I need to do a lot more interval training, at least more than none. So I'm riding kind of solo, hanging off the back of a group of 4 guys, trying not to lose ground, and not get passed, ticking off the mile post signs. I get caught by a Dr who I had dropped earlier, but he kept coming back and then disappearing. So I drafted him for a while, then put in a pull, and drafted. We spoke for a bit, about vioxx and fish oil, pain and how close are we to the finish line. We catch 2 more guys, take a sharp turn into the the final 2'ish miles of woods. We hit a climb, while The Dr and Andy Kruse try to power climb their way through it, Instincts kick in, I spin my way between them up and over the hill, shifting gears and powering my way over the crest giving it the last bit of hell I have in me. I drop those two and inch my way back up to Larry Sauber. I see the 1 mile to go marker. I'm hurting but i keep pounding it, I come into a clearing, I can see the finish line at the bottom of a hill. I ride the hill at warp speed, slowing for a off camber right turn, when some jackass thinks he's gonna take me. I spin it up for the sprint, I hear some spectator say "...last climb", neck and neck for the line, then cramps in each hamstring stops my legs as I lose one spot, my time 2:31:31. I am ecstatic. My goals for the day, Sub 3hr, hoping for 2:30, Top 100 and to beat sean, if only by a bike length. 2 out of three aint bad. I got 143rd, I must have passed 500 people, it was insane. I see Timmer at the finish area. He got taken out at the first section of grass with a nasty crash.

Joel rolled in at 2:20:25 , 8 minutes faster than last year. 40th place 38th in his group. He crashed in the last couple of miles, when his wheel overlapped the guy in front of him. He finished 7 minutes up on Doug Swanson. He aslo beat Ben Moore, and was within two minutes of Sam Oftedahl.








Sean Wasn't that far behind me 2:33:32, 161st
. He road a smart, fast race, lots of drafting and very little towing. NO donut holes for this guy as he races.











Paul showed his might on a SS with a blown fork seal at 2:40:01 ,260th












Fleck Rocked the Karate Monkey in his 2nd MTB race ever, 2:59:45 628th. Mustache bars with road levers, a single speed demon ,this is his future.

We all kicked some serious ass. All sub 3hrs, 4/5 of us beat Greg Lemond. What a wonderful weekend.

Dakota Five-O

Clayton, Lona, Kim, Sean and myself made the trip to Spearfish for the five-0. We stopped at our friends farm for Thursday night and spent a lot of Friday driving across South Dakota. On the way back from the movies late Friday night we ran into Mr. Fleck just arriving with a van of QBP and 1on1 peeps. We made plans to recon the course Saturday and went back to sleep at our camp at the city campground. Saturday we had a lazy morning and then piled into a van with 10 other people. After entirely too much driving, we piled out and rode the last 10-15 miles of the course. We started with a steep climb that brought us to the famed Tinton downhill course. It definitly woke me up after the long van ride with super steep inclines, very loose pea gravel, massive crevases and some big rock drops thrown in. After nearly loosing it several times I stopped at the bottom and watched Sean fall over in one of the ditches. The rest of the pre-ride was a blast: super fast and mostly downhill.
view from the back of the van

Saturday night ended with the pre-registration event. I received race number 71 and considered it a good omen as it corrosponded with the year I was born. A large spaghetti dinner topped things off back at the camp and Sean and Clayton downed some steak. I preped my bike and fuel bottles and hit the sack around 10:30pm.
Up at 5am , we downed some oatmeal and prepared to ride
.It was actually a bit cold warming up as you can see from what we are wearing in this photo.

The race went like this: The first three miles were on paved and gravel roads with a couple rollers in town and then a steady climb out of the valley to the trailhead. We started at a decent clip and accelerated up each hill. At the top of one of the first hills I found myself at the front with some guy on a Bianchi with worldcup colors. I could tell he was one to watch(found out later he was some hotshot snow boarder who ended up getting 2nd). After a couple miles I found myself being shelled out the back of the front group of about 15 or so people. I looked behind and didn't see anyone close behind. I knew it was a long race and that the roadies would have advantage on this section so I paced myself up the hill eventually catching a couple guys. We worked together until the singletrack was in sight. At this point I thought I was possibly in the top 20. I passed a couple people in the first single track including a Grandstay guy(roadie) who went down in the tight twisty stuff. After a bit we had a group of five and I got a bit of recovery time. Eventually we drifting apart. At some point I started catching people. Most of the passing was on some really steep climbs some of which I had to hike-a-bike. My pedal stopped working properly so that every time I unclipped my right foot in order to get back in I would have to stop and orient the pedal just right with my hand so that I could clip back in. The pain was building but I wanted to test my limits on this ride.
The single track in the five-o is unbelievably awe inspiring. At one point when I must have been near the top I looked to my right and peered down into a deep canyon with beautiful cliffs and lush forest.
I kept hydrated and fueled at regular intervals and let the pain levels build. I think I was at the second checkpoint when I asked a spectator what position I was in. Not hearing what she said I yelled back "thirteenth?" and she responded :"no , 3rd". Hearing that gave me some extra motivation and I pushed on. From about mile 25 to mile 35 I though I had seriously misjudged how hard I could push myself and had serious doubts about finishing the race. Somehow I pushed on. I had been riding alone for quite a while when I started to hear someone catching me. There was a ripping downhill section on doubletrack when he caught me. I could tell he knew the trail so I let him lead the way. We had some friendly words and rode a couple miles together until we hit the climb to Hobo Camp. He slowly pulled away up the climb as I felt like my legs might fall off. At Hobo camp I declined the offer of beer and then could not wait to see the downhill that I described in the pre-ride. That last part of the climb was the most brutal experience of my racing career. When I reached the top I knew I could finish the race. The last 15 miles was riding as fast as possible without crashing, mostly downhill with only a few shorter climbs to break it up. After cruising down into town the last little hill brought out the serious leg cramp. Thankfully there was noone in sight to catch me in my molasses pace. The final 500 meters were nice and flat and I spun in for 4th overall and 3rd in the 39andunder category, with a time of 4:02. Sean and Clayton rolled in at about 21st and 25th respectively.Fleck rolled in sometime later...
Ice cold river water cools my cooked legs