New rules

Well, I guess my inane ranting did the trick.  The lords of bike racing in Colorado have spoken,  and the commandments have been handed down.  "Thou shalt not warm up on the course after 2 laps".  And it is so.

really glad to see a measured and reasonable response to the issue.  Certainly could have had any number of other.  less friendly rule changes to address the issue of knuckleheads not getting out of the way when warming up. Hope people DO this,  and it helps clean up the course for those racing.

With THAT little thing out of the way,  it's time for the first of 2 big cross weekends here in Colorado. "Colorado Cross Classic" and the Boulder Cup.  First time back at "The Rez" for the year,  and an all new venue at the mall.   Course previews are out,  and not getting the best reviews from the elites.  Saturday looks very "Rez-like",  but Sunday does look pretty roadie-friendly.  NO tech,  not many corners,  lots of going straight.  We'll see what's really there,  but Sunday does not look good for the skinny ones in the bunch (like yours truly..).

Hitting the Beer-Drinking-Dads race on Saturday,  a last chance to start putting more points on the board before I go "off the back" of that list for call-ups.  Sunday,  I went for the 45+ race.  Sunday the BDDL race is already at 97 PRE-registered riders.  amazing.  45+ is already over 60.  This silly cross thing seems to be catching on.

Here is the semi-edited down version of the seatcam from the Blue Sky velo race.  The mid-pack viewpoint.  I had a nice soundtrack on it,  but Vimeo seems to strip that off...  Gotta figure all this fancy computer-like stuff out a bit more.    See you out there this weekend!



Blue Sky Velo CX - 35+4 Seatcam from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Carnange

OK,  just one more from Saturday.....   Like watching NASCAR,  one can just watch for the wrecks.  From the Cat 4 race at Blue Sky.   Gravity Gust?  Balance vortex?  Not sure what it was,  but about 10 rides in,  things begin to go awry.


Blue Sky Velo CX - Cat 4 Carnage from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

God Bless the Cat 4 race,  always good for some quality entertainment.

Blue Sky Velo - Videos

Between being reduced to a quivering pile of goo from racing both days this weekend,  broken computers,  and (maybe) a few too many beers and brats at the Blue Sky race,  the whole video thing was not going well this week.  Anyway,  here (finally) are a few of the races from Saturday.

Good news is that I should have my primary computer back up,  and can actually edit video.  At that point,  I can maybe get some of the Bar & Seat cam up from the races as well.  hopefully in the next week.

And don't forget to get your dose of warm up Rant..... 

For now.....

Blue Sky Velo - SM35+4 Lap 1

Blue Sky Velo Cup CX - SM35+ Cat 4 Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

SM35+4 Lap 2

Blue Sky Velo CX - SM35+ Cat 4 Lap 2 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

SM45+ Lap 1

Blue Sky Velo CX - SM45+ Lap1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

SM55+/SW35+/SW4  Lap 1

Blue Sky Velo CX - SM55+/SW35+/sw4 lap1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

SM4  Lap 1

Blue Sky Velo CX - SM4 LAp 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Warm-Ups

All right,  time to take some of you out to the "cyber-woodshed" for a little beating here....
(Video coming soon...)

Here in Colorado,  we can warm up on the course,  DURING other people's races,  as long as we "stay out of the way".   From observation,  accounts,  and a recent "high profile" event,  it's becoming obvious that there are quite a few riders who don't understand what "staying out of the way" means.  While this issue is evident in almost every race,  the Beer-Drinking-Dads-League is by far the worst offender here.  (Yep,  Us/You...) Warming up on the course while the blazing-fast 35+ open guys are racing is tough to pull off without paying a LOT of attention,  and that is not really happening a lot of the time.

You see the front end of the 35+ yelling "rider!!",  "racer!!",  "Get the hell out of the way!!",  or various versions of that so much,  you wonder how they can go so fast & talk so much,  and how much faster they could go if they were NOT constantly having to ask people to get out of the way.

Schedule is part of the problem,  putting the LEAST experienced riders in the position of warming up in front of some of the fastest and MOST experienced riders while racing turns out to not be that good of an idea.  (That did not really come up in the discussions that led to the current schedule,  but maybe should have...).  With the growth in ALL the fields in the last 2 years,  this is going to be a bigger and bigger issue,  and will most likely lead to NOT being allowed to warm up on course when another race is in progress,  UCI-style.   

Here is my simple suggestion for how to warm up without becoming that clueless guy who got "snuck up" on and becoming the doofus who was in the way of someone's race.

 How to stay out of the way

1 - ONLY get on the course in the first 3 laps of the "other" race.   At the back.  After that,  it spreads out too much,  and you can FAR too easily get in the way.

2 - PAY attention Behind you when you are on the course!  A LOT.  These guys are FAST.  REALLY fast.  WAY faster than you are.  They WILL come up on you in a HURRY. 

That's it.   

For the BDDL race (10:40am),  my routine is do the "slow" course inspection laps in the Jr. Races.  Speeds are low,  not too many on the course.  Then show up at the start when the 35+ speedsters are sent off  (9:45am).  Jump in 30 seconds behind them.  Ride like hell.  This gives you 2-3 hot laps on the course where there is nobody racing right behind you.  After the 2-3 Laps,  GET OFF THE COURSE.  You've seen it slow,  ridden it at speed a couple of times,  everything you need.  Now go ride the streets,  or jump on a trainier for the rest of warm up.  This will keep you from being "that guy".

PLEASE try and think about this.  It's just not right to affect other people's races.  DON'T be that guy.  Don't be the one who ends warming up on the course.

Rant OFF.

Once more, into the breech, Lads.....

Have digested my "meh" ride at Aspen Lodge, and now it's time again to line up & do our thing come Saturday. Back to my backyard course at Xilinx. It's almost obscene that I manage to live 3 blocks from a venue that gets used so much, and that I love to race at. Pure luck, and something I don't take for granted. Even a hint of wet weather in the forecast to perk up my mud-loving ears.  Might I just get to run the new Mud tires this week? 

Got a little "inside info" for the course this week, and it looks a lot like last year's Blue Sky course, with a couple of changes, all that seem to be for the better. Always a hard and fun course there, now it's just a matter of if I can manage to get the old engine warmed up and make a better result on a course I love. I'll start the "pre-excusing" now. A long and honored tradition in the middle of the pack world, it's time to get mine out there. I'll blame at least part of my fade back to the 30s last week on getting a little bit of a lung thing. Been hacking up gobs of lung butter all week. just what you want going into a cross race. So with that already out there, I have the excuses for any poor performance on standby.

The strange thing about doing the race SO close to the house is that we always seem to choose that race to do the full-blown team deal at. The HPM boys will be going all out, full team compound, full BBQ,  full-on Heckling zone. For being close to home,  we seem to manage to take n entire garage-full of crap to the race with us.  seems backwards. 

Have a couple of folks we know jumping into their first cross race ever,  so beer, brats & cowbell in hand, we intend to welcome them to our little brand of lunacy in style.
 
Drop by & say hi,   For me, I can't wait to get out there with the horde and mix it up again.

What did we do?

For some reason,  I think Joe is angry with the Colorado Cross Community.  Not sure why else he'd design a course that was guaranteed to kill off at least half of each field from cardiac arrest.   Actually,  the Aspen Lodge course turned out to be a lot of fun to race on.  Warming up,  I was hating it.  thought it was too rough,  too hard,  no flow.  Strangely,  once the whistle went off,  it was insanely hard physically,  but a LOT of fun to ride.  a real bike-handlers course.   Well,  except for that little section up by the highway.

In spite of crashing twice,  and loosing MANY palces in the last 2 laps after blowing up trying to regain positions lost from taking a break & lying down for a little nap during the race,  had a good time.  Was holding on to my goal of a top 20 for a LOT longer than I thought I could on a course with that much aerobic bite.   Being smooth & rolling the twisty tech parts made up for a lot of my power deficit,  at least into the last couple of laps.  Ended up 31st,  WAY out of the points.  OH well.   Xilinx should treat me better.

So,  due to the ungodly early hour for the Beer-Drinking-Dads-League start,  have no video for that this week.  I do have some fun stuff on the seat-cam,  but sadly,  my Mac died,  taking all the video editing software with it for the moment,  so what I have is too big to upload for now.  Hope to get that issue resolved in the next few days.  From the people waving at the camera,  the "Hi Mom" looks,  and the comments,  I know you all would like to see it.

For now,  the 35+ and 45+ stuff,  courtesy of L. Robinson.

Aspen Lodge CX - SM35+ Open - Start from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Aspen Lodge CX - SM35+ Open - Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Aspen Lodge CX - SM45+ Open - Start from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Aspen Lodge CX - SM45+ Mid Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

More BV video

Sorry for the late-ness.  2 more good BDDL race videos.  End of the first & second laps.  Our video team got some good stuff for the 2 laps,  can start to see things develop,  people moving up & back.


Cross at the Rver_ SM35+4 end of Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.


Cross at the river - SM35+ cat 4 end of Lap 2 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Swamp-in & Blow-in to recovery

Sunday,  Sunday,  Sunday.

After a week of not much intensity,  but lots of angst over what race to do this weekend,  I finally made up my weak,  twisted and in-decisive mind to do the Cup race in Estes.  I certainly understand and am behind the idea of supporting "non-Bubble" races,  but I ended up going mainstream (apologies to the F-and-M guys...) on this one.   With about an even drive time for us,  and having a couple of teammates going up at that ungodly and cold hour to do our thing in the BDDL race helped make up the mind.  Sadly,  I even let the outside potential of a few more cup points drag me to the early race,  rather than  waiting around for the more civilized 45+ start.  Now I guess it's time to see if I can muster up a top 20 ride up in the cold,  thin air.

After swamp-boating around the everglades on Saturday and Sailing upwind in Hurricane Buena on Sunday,  I've been on a real easy week.  Did the setup for our little "not-Boulder" Wednesday lunch race,  but only did a couple of hot laps.  Resting up.  Resting up LOTS.  Hope that pays off,  and the slogging and suffering of last weekend translate to a BIT more go come Sunday.   Course it will help if a lot of you Beer-Drinking-Dads decide it's too early,  too high,  too far,  and to cold to come,  and just go race Saturday.  Think of the warm,   think of the shorter drive,  think of my chances,  and hit up TJ High on Saturday.  Please.  I need the help.

 

Now,  if the ACA can just tabulate & post the Colorado Cup Points,  maybe the suffering from Sunday will have a BIT of payoff,  at least in the call-up department..  Almost a week later,  and the pride of the ACA,  the new,  improved Colorado Cross Cup is underway,  and you can't yet check the standings.   Sorry, but that is weak.  

Bummed

I have some great HD video from the "Bar-Cam" (and  I don't mean the covert video from the Eddyline Brewpub on Saturday night in B.V....),  but my Mac has decided to belly up on me,  taking all the video editing capability with it for now.

  Since the HD video files in the full,  raw,  45+ minutes of grunting and whimpering are far too large to share,  I can't post anything yet.   Bummer.  It's strange,  what you remember, and what you see can be pretty different.  Things like thinking you  were racing back & forth with the same 4 guys,  only to see it was really different folks in different kit swapping out places.  Funny how it turns out that you are not really that coherent in a race.  Go figure.

Ack - Pfft.

About all that could describe it for this weekends 'cross-o-rama.

Sitting here in the motel in Buena Vista,  since I had the foresight to take a day off Monday,  making a long weekend out of the trip down here.    Good thing too,  as my post race recovery so far today has involved K's Dairy delite,  wanting to pass out,  a mild coma,  a shower,  a nap,  and a hot tub,  not necessarily in that order.  So much for the "secret" early season points whore-ing trips.  Seems like that "secret" is out,  and the masses have figured this little trick out.


Saturday,  Interlocken.  
One recon lap on the green grass showed that it was going to be a LONG day for me.  Rain and/or an incredible volume of grass-watering had left the nice green grass there looking more like the everglades than anywhere in Colorado.  Swamp is an understatement.  That and a nice 125 rider start bunch in the Beer-Drinking-Dad's League was going to make a fun day.  Interesting that a race with a 100 Rider field limit per the race flyer started a full sheet more than that,  and was STILL turning people away before the race.  MAYBE it's time to allow 2 races per day on the calendar,  in different areas of the front range?  Seems like the demand is starting to exceed supply at times.


Boulder CX Series #2 - SM35+ cat 4 - Start from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

With a tough,  but sweet mostly grass course in store,  the prospects for a skinny-legged old guy tearing it up this day in a soup of velcro,  pudding,   Ghost Buster Protoplasam, oatmeal plodding was not likely.  Still went in with the best intentions.  My 14th from the series #1 got me a front row lineup,  and for a change,  managed to get a good start,  and avoid most of the bottleneck 200 Meters after the start.  Came out of the "Bowl of Death" and sand pit section in 12th place.   Sadly that was NOT to last,  as by the second grass slog and up around the twisty bits it was abundantly clear that my measly power output was NOT going to keep me attached to anything NEAR the front of the race on this day.


Boulder CX #2 - SM35+ cat 4 Lap 2 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

After nearly blowing a gasket trying to stay attached,  with no success except watching them ride away,  I was forced to dial it back to a more reasonable level,  which prompted the immediate effect of people passing me in groups of 2-3,  on both sides,  with NO decency at all.  It's really amazing just how fast you can go backwards in a 'Cross race when you are completely out-gunned in the watts department.   This included seeing Shotty come flying by on his way to a 20th place finish maybe halfway thru,  even taking time for a kind word that I was completely unable to even grunt in response to. So long story short,  an extended slow motion fading session had me back to 42nd by the end.  Ack-Pfft.   Still,  I was pretty satisfied with my ride,   given the course "requirements" for the day.

Some of the "other" bunches video from Saturday....


Boulder CX #2 - SM35+ Open Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.


Boulder CX #2 - SM35+ Open - Lap 2 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.


Boulder CX#2 - SM45+ Open - Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.


Boulder CX #2 - SM55+ - Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.


Boulder CX #2 - SW4 - Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Sunday - Cross at the river X-X-X (10-10-10),  Buena Vista......

Pretty much the total opposite of Saturday. Small (relatively speaking) fields (Yet at least double last years..), dry and dusty, sandy, loose and FAST course. More of the "dirt crit" variety, but with just enough tech to keep it from being boring,  that and the RAGING north wind that made half the LONG course a miserable grovel for anything resembling a wheel to suck.  One nice little S-Turn Gravel-fest in particular seemed to get people in over their heads.


Cross at the river - 35+ cat 4 Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Best line of the day goes to Larry G. for his comment as we hit the runup right after the start and just before the first headwind grind.  "Just where I want to be.. Right behind the big meat" as he neatly slotted in behind Trigger-n-Chains,  the "big Guy" from Frites-en-Mayo Velo Club,  a rather envious place to be on this day.

Grovel upwind.  FLY downwind.  Repeat.  That was pretty much the deal for this course.  The race for me was a seemingly endless hunt for a wheel on the upwind grinds,  then swapping places over & over in a big group of 10 or so for what felt like hours.  Finally the group started to break up under the relentless  pace and wind with about a lap and a half to go.  This sadly included me loosing contact with the remaining "group" of 4 riders left over from that big group,  to grovel in for 17th. So much for any real "haul" of points.  But still,  a decent finish for me in a cup race,  especially since so many people chose to come and ruin my secret points getting strategy by providing actual competition for the race.   Sigh.

Racing 2 days straight had one real effect for me.  Pain.  Well maybe 2... Pain & suffering.  Never felt anything but crappy today,  but was able to HTFU and fight for my measly few Colorado Cross Cup Points. Had THOUGHT I would try another double,  *IF* the 45+ field was small enough to allow me a shot at a top 20,  but there were WAY to many folks in that 45+ field.  Oh,  and the fact I could barely move,  much less ride another race after the BDDL race.   Now I just have to decide if I want to try and chase points, or just split my races between the 45+ and 35+ 4 fields,  as my mood and the course define.  Hmmm......

Practice, Practice, Practice

Who says that cross practice can't be fun?  Was playing with the helmet cam at CX practice today,  and managed to catch a member of the "Blue Horde"  (Blue Sky Velo) having just a touch of trouble on some off-camber.  Nice save!


Blue Sky - Right Turn from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

It's been a easy weekend & week for the old guy here.  Hit a few efforts yesterday & today on the dirt,  and am feeling pretty good.  Hope that will carry thru to the first FULL weekend of racing for me.  Interlocken and Buena Vista are both on the plan.    Taking Monday off,  so the Wife & I can recover in the scenic Arkansas River Valley after what should be an interesting weekend of racing.  (The Best Western has a hot tub...) I am QUITE sure there will be a "bubble-load" of testosterone-crazed,  frothing,  rabid, Beer Drinking Dads at Interlocken Saturday,  but I just can't convince myself to miss the plush,  green grass,  even if it does not look like it will get a nice,  white,  icy overcoating this year...  Bummer.    Really,  it would be fine if most of you just stayed local and raced only on Saturday.   Buena Vista is such a long drive (Nudge,  Nudge,  Wink Wink).

Either way,  the first "full" weekend for me looks to be here.  How will that second race go?   We'll all know soon.  Meanwhile,  be careful out there,  and keep a sharp lookout for tainted meat.

Slackin...

So no racing for me this weekend.  I have not really gotten along well with the course at Frisco in the past.  Long "climbs" in a cross race don't treat me so well.   Took advantage of my dislike and hung out with my long-suffering wife for the weekend.  Did that before we get into the meat of the season,  which seems to really start next week   I'm rested & ready for the REAL deal coming up.   Interlocken & Buena Vista,  it's ON.

Luckily for all you "Video-Voyeurs",  the 'Crossin Colorado video production team WAS there.  So for your 'crossing pleasure,  some action  (In full HD now...) from your weekend.

Video credit: Lisa Robinson

SM35+ Open Start

Frisco CX #1 - SM35+ Open Start from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

SM35+ Open Lap 1

Frisco CX # 1 - SM35+ Open Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

SM35+ Open Lap 2

Frisco CX #1 - SM35+ Open Lap 2 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

SM35+ Cat 4 Start

Frisco CX #1 - SM35+ Cat 4 Start from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

SM45+ Start

Frisco CX # 1 - SM 45+ open Start from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

SW Open Start

Frisco CX # 1 - SW Open Start from Dale Riley on Vimeo.