'Crossin Colorado

Season Wrap

2012-01-17T22:45:00.008-07:00

So, it seems traditional to write that "look back at the season, reflect on the season, how was the season, how did I do this season" kind of post. Don't think I'll do the blow by blow, but here are a few tidbits, likes and dislikes from this last cross season...

Likes:

- More & Better races

The races here just got better & better this year. The quality of race promotions is going nothing but UP.

- Support from my wife

She's been nothing but supportive of my race nonsense.

- Great team atmosphere from HPM

Our team has been great this year, a great bunch to race with. That great atmosphere has extended to "the competition" as well. Great competition with great people all year, complete with cyber-stalking, heckling and taunting blog posts. A LOT of fun.

- Lap time data and the timing system

Getting the lap to lap time data has been a really cool addition this year. besides just the plain geek factor, it can be useful for seeing how you race.

- This silly blog is slowly getting more readers

Thanks for reading! I hope it's entertaining. I even got my first nasty comment this year. A whiff of legitimacy? Getting 1100+ hits a month in the heat of cross season. Not the big time, but I'm happy that many of you want to read my rambling.

How I did:

- Meh.

In my normal measurements like finish percentile & crossresults.com points, I was about 7% worse than last season based on finish places.

- Got better at the end

I got better by the last of the season, 2 of the last 3 races I had decent results, so at least I did not burn out, and even better at the end.

- Fun

Either way, I think I had even MORE fun than usual, even with "meh" results. And THAT is the real measure of a cross season for us middle of the pack folks.

Dislikes:

- Course "gimmicks"

Spirals of death and flyovers. Is it just me? I don't think I "get" the appeal of them. Frites built a MONSTER at states, and I appreciate the effort & enthusiasm, but not sure it added to the course. Spirals just make me dizzy.

- USAC takeover

OK, it's DONE, and I'm giving it a fair & unbiased chance. We'll see if it impacts the great growth, momentum and community we have here in Colorado Cross.

So, enough navel gazing. Here is some more entertaining stuff I came across.

Here is what a REAL race bar-cam looks like. Christian Huele with a GoPro on board at the Lievin World Cup - Just like my videos.... well, except just a BIT faster.

And a great, artsy-fartsy videos of women's world cup racing. This guy does AMAZING videos...

4ème Manche de CDM cyclo-cross from Petitesreines on Vimeo.

Geeks & Nationals

2012-01-11T19:45:00.007-07:00

Spent my Cross Nationals day this year doing it the easy way. A pint of good Stout & pub food in hand with a bunch of cross-crazed fans to share it all with. Went and joined the Frites en Mayo Guys at the Wynkoop Brewery for their Nationals Viewing Party, what a great idea.

Hats off to Brian & Rich for putting on a great party. May just have been more fun than racing.

Good race to watch, and it was really good to see Jeremy Powers get his jersey finally, and it obviously meant a lot to him. Colorado was not quite the dominating force it has been in the last few additions, but still a resounding show of prowess from the Colorado contingent. My personal hat off to my ski buddy & friend Deirdre Garvey for her career best 4th place in the 50-54 women's race, Great ride for sure, and go give them hell in Louisville, girl!

Even after posting a Statistical Analysis of Cyclocross Lap Times, I thought **I** was the geek on our team, until a nameless teammate (who just happened to kick ass in the beer-drinkin-dads Cross Cup this year...) started to beat me in data analysis as well. He has managed a script-based, load it and go lap time analyzer. His tool shows all the lap times, by lap, for each rider and splits out & labels each team members lap times for easy analysis and trash-talking. Lyons looked like this:

At least I had a decent race at States, and was able to "take apart" my inter-team Nemesis in laps 3 and 4 to prevent a complete rout in our "Rapha-Focus Cross Clash" battle for the year. Geeky, yes, but besides kinda cool, and shows how you are doing lap to lap against the field. An average bar shows if you are "above average" or not lap to lap, just to insure your feelings of inadequacy. With all the data coming out of the chip system now, what's next? Hmmm......

With the Cross Season nearing or past it's end, I guess it's time for the standard season wrap up post. Maybe that's on tap for next time. Best of luck to our Colorado boys & girls hitting up Masters Worlds this weekend!

Rear View Mirror

2012-01-03T22:11:00.003-07:00

Part of my holiday time was spent trying to learn more about video editing. What I did come up with was this re-do on my Front & Rear race at the E2 Cross of the North race. My buddy Matt said "wouldn't it be cool to have a rear view mirror view..."

And here is a pass at just that.....

Ho, Ho, Ho.

2011-12-24T13:06:00.005-07:00

Merry Christmas to all the bike geeks. May your tree have some fun bike bits under it, to keep the bike fires burning thru the cold season.

I am taking it easy, doing my level best to shovel food & beer into my gullet, while trying to atone for all my fall weekends racing with the wife. But, I did promise some fun stuff, and here it is. I hope to edit down some fun little snippets later on, but here is "Coming & Going", the dual Go-Pro front & rear footage from the E2 Cross of the north race. Now, if I could figure out how to put the rear cam footage in a "rear-view mirror" picture-in-picture insert, along with speed and watt data all on one screen..... Hmmm...

Enjoy the holidays..... well, except for you all heading to Nationals/Worlds... you all, well, er, train or something, OK? Thanks! We'll be watching.

Stick a fork in 'er......

2011-12-18T19:42:00.012-07:00

She's DONE.

It's a wrap for the Colorado Cyclocross Season. It sure did manage to go out with a cold, snowy, icy, sloppy, muddy, completely off the hook bang. It was a great last couple of weeks. I ALMOST got my fill of racing in snotty conditions... Almost.

This Year's State Championship was probably THE single hardest cross race I can remember doing. Just. Plain. Hard. The team wanted to end the season by going all out. We got set up early for the post race party.

The Alpha Bikes and the Frites & Mayo boys had also been busy, crafting not only a great course down there, but building this monstrosity.

Sadly, with the damp & wet, the flyover proved to be a bit too steep & slick for use in the morning. Some "traction bars" were added later on, but none of the morning races got to race on the thing. It was a definite rush to ride it, so I had mixed feelings about it getting cut out. Probably for the best, as the race proved to have me SO deep in the haze, I am NOT sure I could have ridden it safely later in our race. Would have been CARNAGE on a biblical scale in the beer-drinkin-dads first lap, for sure.

With the Beer-drinking-dads race WAY out of it's normal early frozen-rut timeframe, we were assured of getting the mud rather than icy ruts this time, and the warm day did NOT disappoint. We rolled off in shorts into a wild and wooly, snotty, snowy killer of a course. The large amount of elevation change, and the intensity needed to NOT lay around on the ground left pretty much ZERO recovery anywhere on the course. After the drag race up the road for a start, we plowed into the mud with me right in the thick of it in the 25 to 30 rider back range. First lap proved to be some crazy fun, close and back & forth racing in the group I was with.

It only somewhat settled down for the second lap, with the video showing me passing or getting passed 10+ times in that lap. Still very close & cool back & forth racing. I tried to stay smooth, conserve a bit on the painfully long bike path climb, then hit it hard on the muddy, twisty bits that followed. Staying upright & smooth seemed to help, as I maintained position about 30 back, from the place call-outs given by my slowly recovering teammate Paul.

By the third lap, I began to really feel the lack of recovery on the course. My arms were starting to feel more like I was back riding the Laramie Enduro, rather than a 40 minute cross race in Castle Rock. The intensity needed to stay smooth was so high, I was wondering if my arms & hands were going to crap out before the last lap came. Of course, it did, but not before I did manage to deck myself on the last lap, just to RE-loose one more spot I had worked really hard to get back after loosing it earlier in the lap on the "bike path of pain" climb. At least the bush was soft.

Drug my carcass in for 34th place out of the 76 finishers. This race had 11 DNFs, a pretty high rate at over 10%, and indicative of the severity of the course conditions, as well as the severity of the suffering. Crashes and mechanicals seemed to be pretty widespread. This finish was a good end to my season, and was pretty happy with it, given the course and just how plain HARD the race was. My compliments to the Alpha/Frites guys. It was a worthy Championship course, without question.

It's been a great season, even with my lackluster results. The Team has been a hoot, making all the pain even more fun. Hanging out with these knuckleheads has been great.

A bit melancholy about the end of the season, but very satisfied. While my body and for sure my wife is happy it's done, my brain will be missing each weeks sufferfest. Such a strange hold this strangely addictive sport has on you. Maybe someday I can figure out just what it is.

Rest up, it's only 9 months to cross season!

Lyons & tigers & bears, oh my.

2011-12-15T08:02:00.003-07:00

Sunday in Lyons was yet another hoot. I'm digging all the snow, Ice & Mud right now. The COLD, I can do without. My toes may never get over this last few weeks.

With a SHORT start into snowy off-camber, Lyons was ALL about the start, and I boned that pretty bad. Just seemed to get on the wrong wheels over and over, and did not get aggressive enough when it was not working. I think I ran into 4 back wheels, and got abruptly stopped by having my front wheel kicked by someones premature dismount.

Ended up in the top half, and had a blast. You can see how not to start an icy race here:

So the Last big show for the year has moved to Castle Rock. Since I heard the original venue was pancake flat, I think I like the change. Hints & tweets of "more technical for sure" and "disco flyovers" have me curious about the course. HPM will be there in full force, with compound mode engaged, so stop by, it's the last party for the year.

Have some juicy tidbits from the ACA/BRAC/whatever Colorado racing Local Association meeting last night to share later as well. Changes coming for the season points competition for next year, seems like for the better. I also have a cool video edit coming up from running front AND rear cameras at the E2 Cross of the north race, idea and second camera courtesy of my teammate Johnny D.

That was supposed to be a "teaser", so stay tuned, and rock on at the big finish party this weekend down south. Time to wrap it up ya'll.

Double the fun, double the pain

2011-12-11T21:38:00.005-07:00

It's been since the Boulder Cup/Halloween weekend since I pulled a double. I forgot how much that hurts. Headed up to Loveland for the E2 Cross of the North race Saturday, then out to Lyons for the Boulder Cyclocross Series final.

The Cross of the North race was a really good one. a great venue (think a heated building to warm up in, change in and power wash your bike in.....), and a VERY well run race, that the promoters put a BUNCH of work into (Think plowing a full course, bobcat work, and all that...). Those guys put on a great show, too bad they only managed to drag 159 riders up there to race. The bubble effect remains in full form.

Had a great race up there, even taking into account the mere 30 rider beer-drinkin-dads field. At 9:05, it was still full-on COLD and the course was 100% frozen rut central, with a packed snow topping. Got a front row call up on my pre-reg hip number, after Tim Madden was only able to draw ONE rider off the top 40 of the Crossresults.com list. Managed to grab 6th off the first snow section into a gnarly "BMX hump/drop/run-up/drop hump" section. Here's Dan Farrell "dropping in" on that little Gem in the 35+ race.

Seems as if the rider right behind me balked at the nasty drop and shut it down behind me. this sprung the front 6 free. It quickly split into single riders in the tough, slick conditions. It started to melt about 1 lap in to our race, and each lap was a new adventure as the course started changing fast. I held off a late charge form a couple of people, mostly by just making fewer driving errors, to hold out for a 7th place out of 28 finishers. By far my best percentile placing of the year. Felt good to finally get a decent race in.

Here is the first lap seatpost cam for the Cross of the north race.

I was talked into running front AND rear cameras for this race by my teammate Johnny D. Am going to cobble together a "Coming & Going" kinda production off that, but will take some time. Watch for it.

Today's Lyons race was HARD. Technical, snowy, and nasty. In other words, really cool. Pulled a 29th out, in spite of feeling blown from racing the day before. That same teammate pulled out a podium finish in 3rd today, and 2 other teammates in the points. A great day for the HPM crew today.

I'll have more on the Lyons race later this week, but for now I need to go to bed.......

Powder Day

2011-12-04T10:47:00.011-07:00

The saying in the ski world is:

"There are no friends in a powder day..."

In bike racing, I think a few friends are good. (At the least, to help ride in the course...). It was a bit "blustery" upon arrival.

The Cyclo-X Louisville race at the semi-infamous "Bowl of Death" was far different than the last few editions, and even more so for the early morning races. The kids out there trying to break open the course with powder well above the hubs on their 24" Redlines was both a bit comical, and also seemed to lean towards child abuse or at the least a violation of several child labor laws.

10+ inches of snow, and it piling up fast was the theme in the morning. Later races saw the course changing with staggering speed, from frozen powder plowing to rutted. muddy slime. It was a day that will stick in your memory for sure.

The Kids did a VERY abbreviated course, so the Beer-Drinking-dads were left to pound out a path across several big chunks of course in our race. It all started as we lined up, and realized we were facing a virgin start chute, with that 10 inches of fluff unbroken and piled up deep. As Tim sent us off, 2 pedal strokes into it, it was clear that running was going to be easier than riding for that first lap. with about half the field grinding away on the pedals, and half trudging along on foot all the way around the bottom of the bowl, it was clear that the running/riding decision was a draw that lap. As things started to unclog a bit after the off-camber section following the long run up, it was finally worthwhile to mount up and ride. Well, just to the second run up, where once again, the entire hillside needed running, all the way thru the chicanes past the pits. Me & my bad knees have not run that far in many a year. was pretty demoralizing, but I kept hoping that it would pack out quick & become rideable.

By the second lap, it DID get where you could ride a LOT more of the course, so my fears of exploding kneecaps was mitigated, and it started looking less like a snowy Boulder-Boulder and more like a cyclocross race. Lots of bobbles & dabs. If you came off the packed singletrack by even a TINY bit, it would lead to "tip dive" off the trail and a foot dab, at least. First cross race in a long time where visibility was an issue. It was snowing enough, a bit of glasses fogging, and you had hard time seeing where the packed sections were at times.

Was not the smoothest that day, had my issues keeping things pointed the right direction, and was not as dialed as I could have been. One of those days that you had to CAREFULLY modulate the power going to the ground, or you could spin right out. Had been battling up to a little group, then lost a bunch of ground with THIS gem at about 2 to go:

Managed to get back up to them, and even pick off a few, when I pulled THIS stunt going into the bell:

Yes, an astute observer would notice that both boo-boos were at the exact same spot, and exact same line. Yep, I managed to crash on the SAME spot 2 laps running. AFTER telling myself to avoid that line after the first crash. Seems like oxygen deprivation & hypothermia is not the best for short term memory. The second fall was not as graceful as the first, and rattled my cage pretty good. Having a rattled cage and the nasty descent after the Finish did not mix well, and I managed to REALLY loose contact with my little group, and never got back to them in that last lap. 30th place in the end. Not great, but I did not feel as flat as last week, so that felt good.

Here is all of lap1, running & all

This was one race that will stick in your memory. We get few enough races in such conditions, and with it actively snowing & blowing, it was one for the books. Next week is a New race in Loveland, and the Boulder CX Series final in Lyons. Thinking I'll double up this coming weekend, what with states the following weekend, and on a schedule that precludes racing 2 days for most people, next week will be my big finish weekend to the season.

I don't understand the thinking for the splits across the 2 days for the States this year. Last year, the split lined up so many masters could race both days, but this year Sunday is mostly a junior & Open only day. I am afraid the crowds on Sunday will be non-existent, and it just feels "dull" as a season ender. A lot of people enjoyed racing both days and in groups they don't usually get to race with last year, but not as much chance for that this year.

Season end is coming up quick. A bit bittersweet for me, have a little bit of burnout, but know I will miss the scramble every week. Such is the schizophrenic feel to the end of each Cross season.

Assimilation

2011-12-01T22:16:00.000-07:00

The Assimilation is complete.

The deal is done, no matter your opinion on it. The storm of comments on 303 Cycling has died off, the predictions of new found greatness or darkness and doom are back in the closet. ACA has rejoined the Borg, er, USAC. Does it REALLY matter in the long run? Not really, since it's just racing bikes around, anyway.

I had the "pleasure" of attending and placing the vote for the High Peaks Masters team. Being as we are a bunch of not so fast, beer-drinking, NON-elite cheapskates, and given some of my previous ranting on the subject, you can guess our vote. (Oh, that and 100% of our members who replied to our request for feedback wanted a no vote.... Democracy and all, you know.)

It was very obvious from the tone of the ACA Club Council meeting on November 18th that the deal was already deemed done. The ACA seemed to have already rolled over (maybe for a good reason...), and USAC seemed to have decided that no matter what the ACA did, they were going to "retake" Colorado racing one way or the other. I got a distinct "this is what we are going to do, take it or leave it" tone to the USAC position.

Steve Johnson, the CEO of USAC was up first, and recognizing just how happy a lot of people were with USAC, noted that "Usually on a Friday night, I'm out with my friends sacrificing chickens and drinking goats blood", His best line of the evening. He had a presentation to show titled "What's new at USA Cycling", which used the same silly wheel graphic to show how they believe people decide to take up cycling, listed how many age group masters they had busted for doping this year, how many houses they have in Europe for national team riders, and lots of other fun stuff. He did his disorganized and rambling spiel, then promptly checked out on his crackberry, having to be roused to answer questions at times. When asked why USAC "suddenly" started enforcing the "No Pro" rules, as well as no reciprocity or dual sanctions, blame was put on the UCI for the pros, and "12 years of Drift" and not knowing the upgrade standards of ACA, or what the "anti-doping" controls in place were, is what forced the stop to reciprocity. "Liability complexity" was the reason given for no dual sanctions. In other words, we want the 2900+ ACA bodies in our revenue stream NOW.

The ACA folks then had their time, showing what they believed the membership decline for next year, and it's associated revenue decline would be. Interesting data showing how many riders race how many times over the last year. of the 2900+ ACA members, 385 raced only ONCE in a year. Two and three race day years were also very well represented. "Mid Point" of the number of race days was 12. Half the ACA crowd races less, half more. The ACA expected at LEAST half the current licensees would no longer join BRAC after getting their USAC licences. A big hit to their income, but probably about right. Bill Barr, President of the ACA said "either decision is bad, choice is which is least bad", and that the USAC was going to start and subsidize a new Colorado Local Association and would "bleed" the ACA out of existence if it did not rejoin.

Pete Webber from Boulder Cycle Sport noted that Steve Johnson was a "Terrible Salesman" (He was, seemed like he considered this the takeover a done deal....), and gave a very passionate pitch for re-integration. The best question of the night was to directly ask Mr. Johnson what the extra $50 going to the springs would get a "recreational" rider, the response was in pure corporate-speak. "The value is up to you" was the reply.

Finally a roll call vote was forced, as the building housing the meeting was 1/2 hour from being locked up. In the end, 47 clubs, holding 185 votes went with yes, 25 clubs, holding 100 Votes said no. Most of the larger teams, those with at least some elite contingent and about half the promoters voted yes. The other half of the promoters and the smaller, purely lower category clubs were the no votes, as you would expect.

So, now that it is a done deal, now what? In reality it IS a lot simpler to be ONE association. Ever try explaining the old USAC/ACA split system to a new racer? it was NOT easy. From a local race perspective, you probably won't see much difference from today. The promoters ARE expecting a race fee increase from higher USAC permitting costs, maybe a $3-$5 increase. Of course, anyone wanting to get season points will need to shell out more money to join both groups. The clubs will need to put out more money to join both. Is that extra money a BIG deal in the $2000 carbon wheels argument? Not really, but people are not stupid, and the cost of one day licences vs. pulling a USAC/BRAC membership licence pair now takes racing 10+ times a year to "break even", vs. the 5 times for just ACA in the past. For all those one to five race a year people, they will most likely NOT join BRAC, or maybe even forgo USAC licencing. Seems to me you would rather have these people "in the system" rather than giving them good reason not to. This view is NOT widely shared. USAC is VERY invested in the "Hero & Role model" theory of how people are motivated to take up racing bikes, and that by focusing on growing the top of the sport, the bottom will be "pulled" in. Who's right? Who Knows. Maybe Neither.

No matter, some of us will just pony up and continue to do as we have, for whatever our motivations. Bike racing will survive, maybe or maybe not thrive, and that may not have ANYTHING to do with such politics. So, no matter, lets just go race bikes.

Saturday's "Bowl of Death" at the Louisville Wreck Center looks to be trending toward the potential of an "epic" designation.

Looks to be a Chilly, Icy, Snowy, mess. in other words, PERFECT.

I can't wait.

Why?

2011-11-27T19:54:00.006-07:00

So, it seems every season I get that one race where I should have just stayed home, slept in & forgot about "playing bike racer" for the weekend. Saturday at the Boulder CX Series #4 race at Westminster City Park was that race for me. I've done this long enough to know it happens, that there are just "off" days, and that it's far from the end of anything. Still frustrating, even when you are talking about the difference between a middle of the pack finish to the back 1/4 finish. At least I did not get lapped, though there were a few minutes during the race where I was wondering.

I almost deleted my bar-cam video before even looking at it, much less choosing to share any of it. I was going backwards right from the whistle, a never ending stream of people going by. Any section requiring pedaling I felt like I had 2 flats, and both brakes dragging. Could not close a 5 meter gap on the downhill sidewalk in that race. Just plain nothing coming out.

It was one of the days where you wonder WHY you do this silly sport. What makes you get up at 5:30 in the morning, drive all over, change clothes in the cold-ass wind in the barely post dawn morning, just to beat yourself to a pulp. Race so hard for 45 minutes that you can't really function the rest of the day, all for 36th place in some Cross race. Why you slog around in the grass, dirt and mud each weekend, feeling SO beat up, then just wondering when the next time you can get out and do it again. Makes NO sense, but it's the most addictive sport I've found. Warned a new teammate about it this year. How addictive it is. never ceases to amaze me how this sick little niche sport within in a 3rd rate sport can get it's hooks into you SO deep. But does it ever.

Saturday was my day to remember why. I sucked. Had nothing to race with, no fight, no results. Yet in the end, I had FUN. Fun tearing (Sort of...) around a great course, trying not to crash, trying to go a little bit faster. While it was frustrating to not be where I "belonged" in the race, and to have no real fight, watching all those guys roll past, you can still have fun. Really pretty amazing. Kinda wonder what's wrong with me.

Almost didn't post any of my bar-cam video, but hey, it is what it is, so have my Lap 1, the beginnings of the slide, as well as Lap 2 of the 35+ open & 35+ 3 race. Almost missed that, as I was MUCH more interested in the post-race, malted recovery beverages provided by my wonderful teammate than rushing over to film the first lap that day. Sorry, sometimes you have priorities to attend to. The beer sure helped ease the sting of "defeat" that day. Now, I hope that was the ONLY one of THOSE days for me this year. Only 6 more chances for redemption left this year, folks!

My 35+ cat 4 Lap 1 back-slide:

35+ Open Lap 2

35+ 3 Lap 2

BDDL From Castle Rock

2011-11-22T08:04:00.003-07:00

Two more videos from Sunday at Castle Rock's Beer-Drinking-Dads-League race. Single file from the first 1/2 lap. Yee Haw. The rest are in my post from Monday.

35+ cat 4 - First lap into the finish straight

35+ cat 4 - Lap 1 at the mini-barrier

Castles, Goat Blood and the Borg

2011-11-20T20:52:00.009-07:00

So, we've been assimilated, But the wheels continued to turn this weekend.

The Chicken sacrificing, goat blood drinking CEO of USA cycling (HIS opening joke at the club council meeting, NOT mine...), Joined the Friday voting festivities, flying up from the Springs in his Borg Cube, and we all now have USAC stickers on our foreheads. So, no matter what you thought of the ACA-USAC "reintegration", or takeover, or merger, or "assimilation", it's now done. After a long and for the most part not very informative evening of presentations from all involved parties, the clubs spoke, and 186-100, Colorado is back in the national fold. No matter your opinion of the change, Colorado racing will go on, most of us will continue to support racing here, and we will just see how it goes over the long haul. Then we can see who, if anyone, was "Right" in the massive number of comments & opinions expressed.

I DO have to share Steve Johnson's reply to the question "What do we get for the $50 we send to Colorado Springs"?. His answer:

"The value is up to you"

Corporate speak at it's finest. Welcome aboard.

Enough of that. Strangely the ACA still ran a couple of races this weekend, and I headed to the far south hinterlands with the boys to sample the Castle Cross course for the first time. In spite of a carefully laid out plan to close up the Colorado Cup Beer-drinking-dads team competition points gap HPM has to the Natural Way Racing Team, we had a bit of a setback when THAT evil empire put more guys in the top 20 than we did. Funny how that works. Maybe we need to keep our secret plans for Colorado racing domination a little more quiet. Feels strange to be cyber-stalked.

In spite of FRIGID cold right up to before the beer-drinking-dads start, and getting up at an ungodly hour to get down there, the race turned out to be a blast. I usually go rapidly backwards on any course with that much elevation delta, but this one must have been JUST short enough for me to survive reasonably intact. It was mostly a great, technical, twisty, up and down smile fest.

The LONG drag up the paved road for the start works out pretty well. Was even able to pass a few going up that hill on the start. The only section that was not that great was the "Zig-Zag" on the descent. Was fine on the second lap on, but the start was just too tight, and led to track-stand contests in the back half of the field on the first lap. Quickly spread out, and I had a lot of good back & forth. video analysis of the race showed that I ended up passing and holding off more than I had get away from me. really had a blast most of the race, was able to stay focused AHEAD of me, and was able to keep picking up some of the spots I lost on my rather poor first lap. Felt good to get going and finish strong today. Ended up 36 of the 76 finishers, staying in the top 1/2, but sadly ONE spot JUST behind one of those Nemesis Natural Way guys. Next time......

So a bit of video from Sunday to share.

35+ Open and 35+ cat 3 hopping the little barrier on Lap 1:

Bar-Cam for Lap 1 of the Beer-Drinking-dads:

USAC - ACA

2011-11-14T12:40:00.003-07:00

The time seems to have arrived. There is a Club Council meeting on Friday to determine if the ACA rejoins USAC as a USAC Local Association. Details on the deal were sent to the club representatives today, and since clubs are the voting bodies in the ACA, I encourage everyone to talk to their club leadership, and make your opinions known prior to the vote, and insure your club is represented.

The proposed outline of the deal is posted here.

While I totally believe that bringing all cycling governance under one body is a good thing, I really have issues with this deal, basically as it doubles the cost of getting licenced to race bikes in Colorado. Clubs will have to buy memberships in BOTH USAC and the new (Old?) Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado, as the ACA will become known. Our team is self-funded, and having to fork out another $150 to be a USAC club, on top of adding the $60 USAC individual licence will double the costs to participate. NOT my idea of making an already expensive and somewhat hostile sport to enter, any more accessible. At least the ACA dropped a few dollars a year off the individual membership costs, since it no longer has to administer licences, rules, and all that overhead.

My personal take? NOT worth the cost, just to benefit a few pros, a few people who go to nationals, and to "unify" cycling in Colorado. I have issues with being asked to support TWO cycling bureaucracies. Out of touch? maybe? better Idea? not really.

Make sure your club votes.

50 - 50 Day

2011-11-13T19:51:00.003-07:00

It was another 50 - 50 day today.

Degrees and Miles per hour. 50 degrees, and 50 Mph wind. Strange and annoying. The new course out there at Sienna Lake Park is a complete winner. was even fun in the gale we raced in today. On a "normal" day, it would be twisty, varied, sweet goodness. My hats off to Lance & Tony, and Pete Webber for laying out a great new course for us to play on. Next time we could do without the wind, but I'll take it.

31st for me, bout in the middle again. Had my issues with the deep grass, uphill, directly into the wind sections today, but held on as best as I could. LOVED the irrigation ditch.

A quick look at the 35+ Open on lap 1, but it was NOT pleasant to hang out today, so not anything else from off the bike. You can hear the wind, and get a bit of a feel for the day here....

De-Ranting

2011-11-08T21:15:00.007-07:00

OK, guess I was in a bit of a "rant" mood for my last post. Bitching about lines at registration at races, not so hot courses and all that. Is it really that bad? A messed up registration line run by people taking their Sunday to put on a race is enough to start me whining?

Then I read a great post over on the Frites and Mayo site. A great story about what makes me love cross, and the atmosphere and people who do it. I seem to have lost my perspective a bit, and gotten lost in the little things. Thanks for sharing that story, Rich, and putting me back on a more positive thought track.

One thing I tried out on Sunday, bike wise, was a new front derailleur. Not the sexiest part on a bike, but for any cross bike with top tube cable routing, is a source of limited performance. I like a "clean" down tube, as I am kind of old school about carrying bikes, and pick up by the down tube a lot. Don't really like a cross bike with down tube cable routing. The downside to top tube routing has been no top pull road front derailleurs. The pulley method fo getting shifting never worked that hot. mushy and slow front shifting limited wanting to use the front shifter when it might have been more useful than not.

Shimano finally has a Top Pull front derailleur available. While I am all SRAM for my drivetrain, I went ahead and tried one of these Shimano top pulls when I did my mid-season rebuild. It looks to be a Cyclocross-inspired design, even being named a "CX-70"

Wow, what a difference. The new setup shifts like a dream. Crisp, fast shifts, no mushy feel, and gets rid of a lot of "stuff" on the back of the seat tube to pick up mud.

Anybody who is not a "Single-Ringer" and has top tube cables might want to look at "de-pulley-ing" you bike. The change is dramatic. So I now have a Shimano part on my bike after many years of 100% SRAMing. (Sorry, Shotty....)

Come ON, People......

2011-11-07T22:46:00.004-07:00

Seemed like this was the mid-season weekend off for the Cross Community here in Colorado. 3 races, all rather lightly attended. Even the "Schoolyard Cross" Colorado Cup race on Saturday (Which I hear was a bit of a mud-fest...) only drew 457 total riders. For comparison, the previous Sunday race at Valmont was 685, without the pro men or women. 353 total at the Sunday Primalpalooza race in golden. And the "Race for National Ranking Points", put on by the USAC down in the springs drew a whopping 96 riders.

I guess my comments last post about the numbers really going down after Halloween were proven correct. It looks like the whole 35+ "Pro" field decided to take the weekend off. The certainly did NOT take up the USAC offer for the "coveted" USAC National Ranking points on offer down in the Springs, with **FIVE** 35+ riders lining up. Still, 32 of the 96 in the springs were from the Denver/Boulder area, or 1/3 the turnout. I guess the "Bubble effect" continues to reign supreme in Front Rage cross racing, Boulder or bust. (Disclosure here.... I am just as Guilty of NOT driving. Golden was the farthest I've driven to race so far this year... Spoiled? You bet!)

Not sure what all this means for the whole USAC/ACA "merger" that is going to be coming up for an ACA Club vote November 18th, but it sure seems no one was willing to go to the Springs for a race. From the "Colorado Racing News" in my E-Mail box last week was this:

Behind the scenes, our talks with USAC have been proceeding with a renewed sense of possibility. We will have a special Club Council Meeting on Friday, November 18th (6pm at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden) to determine the future of the ACA. Steve Johnson from USACycling will attend and give a presentation to our club leaders. Please watch the ACA site for the latest developments.

No information on WHAT Clubs will be voting on, or how much this will cost us suckers, er, taxpayers, er, uh.... racers yet. Was told details on the proposal would be out Friday, but dead silence so far.

On to the "Race Report" for the weekend. I partook of the Sunday Primalpalooza version of Cross racing this weekend. Underwhelmed would be by assessment of the race in general. After waiting for at least 30 minutes to get a number, while watching people behind the tables spin in circles repeatedly for entertainment as an opening act, I then got to see the course. With LOTS of space and terrain there to work with, I was excited to see what a different take on course design would be. Sadly, NOT what we got.

Lots of "hype" for this race made me think it would be a "good" event, but bad execution and a mediocre cloned course left a bland taste in my mouth at best. First things first. PLAN your registration "process" before the morning of the race. It is not really that hard to make it run smooth. Good promoters do it week after week. Yet we are now at 2 of the last 3 races (Colorado Cross Classic and Sundays race..) where getting registered was a disaster. I've been a race director. There are a lot of things to plan. I understand. But screwing up registration sets the tone for a race pretty well, and NOT in a good way. And note that if there are 50 people in line to register, it is not "running OK, the line is not growing". That many people in line means your Registration is BROKEN. Having to get Juniors parents to sign wavers at the line means registration is BROKEN. Go fix it. I hope this is the last of the Confused, slow, messy waits to get a number for the year. It's Painful to watch, and more so to be on the receiving end of.

The course Sunday was a virtual clone of the states course from 2 years ago, Including the "spiral of death". Whee. Not very inspired, and there seems to be a lot of terrain to work with out there, why not get more original? I admit, maybe landowner constraints are maybe in place, limiting what you can do, but I can't imagine they care which parts of the bumpy field you run a course across. Running that race back & forth across hundreds of meters of gravel parking lot does not make for a course with any flow, and even gets into the boring category pretty fast. I managed a 27th place finish, at least top half. Felt more like my normal self again. Race day results showed me in 29th, but 2 guys got DQed for "Fraudulent Entries", whatever or however you manage that. A strange race all around.

Not much Video this week, as I did not stick around, and the 20ish rider fields in the 35+ and 35+ 3s were not that "photogenic", AND I was busy drinking my post race beer. All I have is my lap 1 bar cam this week.

Next week a race in Parker, a new venue that looks good, but sure to suffer greatly for it's distance from the Bubble. and a new race venue in Broomfield from the Beyond Limits guys that looks interesting. I'll probably be at the Broomfield race, being the spoiled rotten Bubble-neighbor, non-traveling, my truck will blow up if I go too far crosser I am.

Muck and Sequins

2011-11-03T22:48:00.005-06:00

It was muddier than I expected. It was harder than I expected. The Colorado Cross Classic & Boulder Cup were both muddier and harder than I had expected. Muddier was good. Harder, well, not so good for me.

Saturday, Boulder Rez.

In a departure from most races this year, the day got off poorly when the registration became a complete failure in the morning. I plan lots of time for my pre-race tasks, but waiting thru two 20 minute lines, while the registration people tried (unsuccessfully...) to figure out how to register & hand out numbers put a dent in my prep. Still got ready OK, then got my usual 2nd to last row call-up. Last 2 rows BARELY fit up against the fence at the back of the staging corral (you can see that in the seatcam video....). I will almost always try and get staged at or near the outside rows, as that usually gives you a little room off the start. This time I lined up on the left fence, which turned into a good thing, as there was a MASSIVE pileup about 100 Meters into the start sprint, on the RIGHT side. Lots of grinding, crashing & fence-clanging was heard. You can also see riders & bikes piled up, just about higher than the orange fence in my on-board video.

Once it spread out a bit, the race went about as normal for me. Was able to move up for a bit of the first lap, able to get by most in the greasy corners on the west side of the course. Settled into a spot for a lap, then managed to semi-blow up trying to bridge to the next group. That little miscalculation saw me slow down & loose 3-4 places quick. This years course seemed to not have a lot of places to recover. for me, seemed to be pretty much full on for 95% of the lap, causing me to take that full lap to get going again. I was feeling VERY slow on the long westbound gravel grind heading to the west end of the course. Kept thinking I had a brake rubbing or mud packing up. the kind of thing where you keep thinking "I HAVE to be able to go faster than THIS...".

Eventually recovered, and over the last lap and a bit, got back most of the spots I lost, and was starting to move back forward. Not enough time to really go anywhere, but felt good to finish strong. Ended up exactly at mid-pack at 39th. Interesting in that only 77 of the 35+ cat 4 riders finished out of 111 starters. Pretty high attrition, maybe some of it from the big crash early, but also likely a read on how hard of a course it was. Not sure I've seen many races with a 30% abandon rate.

Overall I REALLY liked this course for a "Rez" race. Been enough races out there to see how course layout in the same venue can really change the feel and rhythm of a race, and this one, while hard, was a lot of fun.

Sunday, Boulder Cup

Back to Valmont. THIS one really surprised me. Once it melted out, the mud just kept coming, getting deeper and deeper as the race went on. Even harder, with less recovery than Saturday, Even with the course hard like that, it was a real bike drivers course. Good little snotty off camber bits to test your driving skill and power modulation. Sadly, I had ZERO power in the tank, and had a miserable day, going backwards the entire race. 4th from DFL in the 45s. Sigh.

Still, the slithering about kept the smile on my face I had at the start. Thanks to Jim Heuck at Six Degrees to Slush for capturing my shirt's full "Shiny Factor"

And my sequined disco shirt did get a few "Saturday Nite Fever" heckles, so it was still Cross. Some say the Colorado Cross scene is "too Serious". Since I saw a grand total of 3 costumes in the 45+ race, some devil horns and a great wig on Lennard Zinn., I am beginning to think that may be true. Can't people figure out a costume that lets you still go fast? Or is it rally just THAT serious out there?

So, after 2 days of icing my poor, sore knees from slogging around at high power both days, and getting my mid-season, full bike rebuild done, it's almost time to hit it again. A Cup race in Brighton, and a non-cup race in Golden, with the USAC race in the Springs, there are a lot of choices. I am expecting the HUGE numbers to start dropping off starting this weekend. Seems like each year, the fields start to shrink after Halloween. Maybe the Boulder Cup is the unofficial early season championship race for the warmer weather set, and it gets harder & colder to race about this tieme. Looks like the cold & wet will be hanging around, too. At least it won't be as dry and dusty as last season.

I'll be out Sunday at Primalpalloza, mostly to try and even up my own Rapha/Focus Cross Clash Challenge. You gotta make your battles where you can. Stay warm.

The Big Bubble Weekend

2011-10-30T20:48:00.003-06:00

Well, another Boulder Cup Bubble weekend is in the books. Turns out the weather DID leave us just a "bit" of goo to play in. Actually, more like a boat-load of goo. was quite the slime fest this weekend.

More later, but today, just a couple of videos. Sunday's 35+ and 35+ 3, and some staircam video from the (painful) "5280 Run up" at Valmont.

35+ open/35+ 3 "Staircam"

35+ Lap 1

35+ Cat 3 Lap 1

The Green Tunnel of Pain

2011-10-26T21:29:00.005-06:00

Once again, the green acres of Interlocken provided equal parts of pleasure and pain. Pleasure in getting to rip around on pretty green grass, the opposite of what we usually get to ride here on the dry, dusty Front Range. Pain for pretty much the same reason, trying to milk a bit more speed out of the legs on the same power-sucking green grass. No matter the mixed messages, still one of my favorite courses.

The only gripe I have with the course is that the start is not great. The quick neck down into the sidewalk/bush gauntlet right after the start is NOT good for anyone more than about 10 back at the start. Even with that, it opens up fast after the "bowl of death" surrounding the volleyball court, and things get sorted out quick. What I usually remember about the "Bowl of Death" is slogging up the steep grass run-up, trying to hold breakfast down.

With Not-so-hot crossresults.com call up points, I am pretty much doomed to last row call-ups for now, and Saturday did not change my luck there. Racing in the 45+ open also reminded me that it is not NEARLY as easy to pass half the field as my last back of the grid start in the beer-drinking-dads. I managed to get by a few in the mess that developed coming out of the sand on the first lap (a cluster of stumbling that would have made the 35+ 4s proud...). Racing 45+ got me into"my place" in the train a bit quicker, and settled in to some good chasing and a bit of back and forth with a couple of folks. While certainly NOT tearing up the old guys, I felt pretty good, and after avoiding some nice "spin-outs" on the slippery grass (Check the end of the Lap 1 video..), and blowing up a bit trying to get away from a few people, I even got one more good pass in on the hill of the last lap, and made it stick.

Sadly, Darron Cheek came up and caught me in the last 200 or so meters. Was really trying to not get lapped, but on such a short course, my puny top speed was just a bit short of pulling that goal off. In the "lap management" sense, it was perfect in getting me out of one more lap, but I really wanted to avoid that even on a shorter course. Sigh.

I am getting a bit annoyed by one thing this season. Getting beat by folks who are just a little faster on the straights, but have not so hot bike handling skills. I expect and kind of enjoy a bit of the "less skilled" riding in the beer-drinking-dads, but for some reason I have higher expectations in the 45+ race. Generally, it is the case, lots of smooth, solid bike handlers there, even way in the back where I race in the 45s. But I am getting more motivated by loosing contact with some folks who's driving is not "above average". Kinda hating that I did not get in the mid-summer "training" I had intended, and am paying now in plain lack of power & speed. Guess I just need to get faster, or quit whining about it, huh? HTFU an all that.

Here is the bar-cam view of Lap 1 from the 45+ back row Saturday

The upcoming weekend is looking QUITE interesting. We saw about a foot of WET, heavy snow here in "Not-Boulder", and not that far from Boulder Res. With some luck, all this will melt SLOW, and we can milk a bit of slime out of this for the "Rez" and Valmont. Going to be interesting to see how Valmont rides if it is a bit muddy. No matter the conditions, I am registered and ready. The "dad's" race Saturday, 45+ on Sunday. Going to be a blast no matter what.

Grass

2011-10-23T22:32:00.004-06:00

Interlocken was it's normal tunnel of green, grass-filled suffering. For once it was DRY grass, but still was a sick & twisted version of fun. More on my own take later, but for now, some video, thanks to my long suffering wife.

Beer-Drinking-dads, 3 laps worth, with LOTS of fun that first lap...

Lap 2

Lap 3

35+ open & 35+ Cat 3 - Lap 1

Lap 2

And the 45+ Lap 1

Lap 2

50/50

2011-10-18T18:27:00.011-06:00

That was my race weekend. Half & half. Half good, Half Bad.

Saturday at Xilinx was a good race for me. While my 43rd place was far from stellar, doing it out of the 13th row made me feel pretty good, proved I can still move out of a back row start, and had another good race with the guys I was around. A great fall day, and still one of my favorite courses. Found out that the "order of registration" or "random" call-ups for those NOT making the Colorado Cross Cup top 20 were actually "alphabetical" by last name. The bib numbers got assigned alphabetically, which explains why those back in the last 2 rows with me were wondering why registering the day pre-reg opened got you that prime start spot.

After we finally got moving in the back of a 120+ rider herd, I was able to find a sweet gap up the left side of said herd, passing a pile of people before we hit the dirt and the inevitable almost full stop. Things quickly spread out & got into some more manageable groups, and we were off. I was particularly happy to see the return of the now iconic "Blue Sky mini barriers". The double 2x6 boards on the top were great for me, as after not having had the huevos to bunny hop them last year, I had gone out of my way to learn a solid, BMX-style bunny hop, JUST for the chance the little boards were back. (Hint... Try leaning to bunny hop using foam blocks.... you can screw up & not hate life)

I was able to happily roll thru the little barriers with minimal slowing, and really enjoyed passing one or 2 folks off that section each lap. Made all my "old guy leaning a new trick" fumbling worthwhile. I did see more random crashes in this race than any I've been in for a while. Probably 6 crashes, and things like crashing hard on a flat, straight paved section. Very strange.

Rolled around in a little group with a teammate and a couple of others till the last lap, then tried to dump them all again going into the bell. I was able to shed the hangers on, all except for the one leach of a teammate. THOUGHT I could slip him at the mini-barriers late in the lap, and in spite of putting a big gap into him, he clawed his way back up, and as I ran out of gas, out-punched me off the stairs, and rode away from me in the sprint. Ah well, All good.

Why is it that you tend to fight even harder when you are racing someone you KNOW, versus some "random guy" out on the course? I am very guilty of it, and I see it a lot. Strange brains we have.

Sunday was a return to the venue for last years Colorado State Cyclocross Championships at Monarch High School in Louisville. I was expecting the same wide open, fast course as states. Chris at DBC Events and his course setter, Dan Depamalere, had a VERY different idea. The course for this version was a great mix of fast, open areas, and two REALLY cool "maze" sections and a couple of nice swoopy, fast turns. The course even rewarded my new-found bunny-hop obsession with cute move over a 2x6 on a practice pitching mound. One of the best courses I have been on, put a big smile on your face as you got dizzy rolling thru the maze sections.

Sadly, in spite of an incredibly fun course, with enough twisty bits to satisfy even me, I turned out to feel about the opposite of Saturdays happy, fun self. Was having stomach cramp/nausea issues almost as soon as we ramped the speed up, and my legs just did not go well out of the gate. After flailing about for a while, realized it was NOT going to "happen" that day, and just rode it out, trying NOT to puke on Dean Crandall's shoes as he gave me the bell.

Managed to not puke or quit, and enjoyed the course as much as I could while feeling like crap. Got to make up for my disappointment by seeing the team ROCK it again, with multiple top 10 finishes in a few different races. Even see the HPM beer-drinking-dads in 3rd place in the Colorado Cross Cup Team Points. (no help from me, thank you very little....) That made me almost forget the disappointment of a bad day on the bike.

Next up? The love/hate I have with the endless, boggy grass of Interlocken. Once more time to get shown just how few watts I can really generate. No matter, I just CAN'T miss racing on the sweet green carpet. I'll be there.

2 again

2011-10-16T20:39:00.003-06:00

Got in my second weekend of racing both days. Man I hate getting old. Blue Sky Velo at Xilinx was a hoot on Saturday, in spite of a 12th or 13th row start. Sunday, not so good. Just plain felt bad all race, and the rest of the day, for that matter. Too bad, as the Course at Monarch was a piece of twisty, turney, grass goodness.

Going to crawl off and hide after today. seems like I need more rest, but until then, some different video. Try out the "stair-cam" from Xilinx.

35+ & 35+ 3

45+

USGP race report

2011-10-10T22:41:00.011-06:00

I'm still hurting. The 2 races at the USGP in Ft. Collins were a LOT of fun, but I feel like a truck ran me over. Then backed up and did it again. And again. After finally getting rid of my head cold and general sickness, and with not a lot of riding or "training" in me for the last 2 weeks I had NO idea how I'd feel or "go" up in the Fort. A little help from my Chinese medicine doc

and I was at least not feeling like my head & lungs were plum full of lung butter BEFORE the race even started. A nice change.

Saturday was forecast to be "cool" and rainy. I managed to NOT bring my hard-core winter riding or Cyclocross race watching clothing, figuring it was not going to get too cold. Oops. Turns out both would have been appropriate. All morning it was cool and "damp". Just barely wet enough to make me put the mud wheels on, which turned out to be a brilliant move. Just as we go to line up it goes from "damp" to "raining" and to me being very happy with my tire choice. This was my first real race with the 45+ open this year, and it is gratifying to see they still come out like a rifle shot. Good flow and close racing for the first lap, lots of fun to race with so many fast & smooth guys. It starts to break up, and I start to notice that it is POURING rain by then, and the course is rapidly going from "damp" to "slick" and it was really starting to be fun to slither around the course.

End up in the last group to not get lapped, with some good, back & forth racing the whole race. I was gaining time in the twisty bits and the downhills, and, as usual loosing it back on the climbs. Ended up in 53rd of 61 finishers, and easily met my only real goal at such a big race, keeping from getting lapped.

Even as crazy as the conditions were in our race was, it was NOTHING like later in the day for the later groups, like the 35 open.

Sunday was quite a different race. The course dried out just enough to be tacky and fast. Mud tires would leave nice little waffle prints, but pick up nothing. You knew it would be fast & furious, just about the exact opposite of the slither-fest of Saturday. Once again, got shot out of a cannon for the start, and never slowed down. Even way back in the field, it really did not spread out much, and it ended up being a knock-down-drag-out knife fight for even 50th place. I was hammering it out at my absolute limit in a group of 5, including Lee Waldman who writes a column for Cyclocross Magazine. Sadly, while suffering like a dog in lap 2 at the back of this merry little bunch, someone at the front let Lee drift off, and when I finally regained consciousness near the end of the lap, realized he was gone.

Down to 4, I went back & forth with the other 3 left in our bunch, in fast and really evenly matched racing. Like almost 1/2 the 45+ field, we got lapped by a stars & stripes clad missile out of the Junior ranks who started 30 seconds up on us old guys. That got us shortened up a lap, and I noticed we were at 1 to go (the others may have expected 2 still...) so I nailed it coming off the start pavement, jumping after the 2nd & 3rd place juniors passed us. I was able to gap the group on the initial descent, then at the bottom of the course realized that attacking at the bell leaves you a LONG way to go with only a small gap. I sucked it up, went right to the redline on the climbs, pushed the descents to the limit, and was able to hold off a shattered little group by a few seconds for 51st.

What I REALLY like about racing cross is you can have a battle back there in the 50s that is almost as much fun as racing for the top 5. I was more stoked to be able to shatter and gap that little group after such close racing, more so than many "better" results I've had in a while. Great fun, and it was a premeditated attack that did it, even more amazing.

These 2 shots sum it up. The fun & suffering of a great weekend. Thanks for keeping us grounded, Al!

On to Blue Sky Velo Cup this weekend, and the second visit to Xilinx. Even with no rain in the forecast, I'm re-energized and ready to go give the beer-drinking dads some hell. See you there.

More USGP

2011-10-10T18:00:00.003-06:00

Had some issues getting stuff up to Vimeo Last night. Here is a couple more, including the Bar-Cam from Saturday's 45+, Lap 1, just as the heavens opened.

45+ Saturday Lap 1 - The rain gods speak

45+ Sunday - Start

45+ Sunday at the Flyover (maybe lap 2??)

Big Time

2011-10-09T22:16:00.004-06:00

Big time Cross racing in Colorado. But still the "wanna-be" rider can get in & mix it up. How cool is that?

The second stop on the USGP Cyclocross National Tour hit the Fort over the weekend. Big time racing, a BIG show, and great, epic racing. We even got our first dose of "real" cross weather on Saturday. Actually, the better description of the conditions for most of the day Saturday might even get to the "epic" area. Saturday went from marginal to "hardcore" DURING my 45+ race. DRIVING rain, wind, and rapidly changing course conditions. Sunday was nothing but Haul-Ass, hero traction, Velcro your tires to the ground fun.

More later, I'm basically fried from a killer weekend. Here is a bit of video. Sadly, it was NOT conducive to any photography-like activities on Saturday. Was afraid to get my camera out without a plastic bag. Just plain Natsty.

Sunday, SM35+ Open, Lap 2

Saturday, 45+ Open Lap 1 - Bar Cam.

Fried in Frisco

2011-10-02T16:58:00.015-06:00

Ah, the true joy of racing cyclocross at 9000 feet above sea level.

Frisco was the first stop on the Colorado Cross Cup campaign for the 2011 season on Saturday. I chose to attend almost on habit, and on the VERY outside chance of picking up some cup points for the remainder of the cup races. Now, Frisco has always dealt up to me a bit of humble pie on extra large plate. Of course this year was NO different.

After a two week lead in that featured a nice head cold/Bronchitis outbreak and a fine DNS at Xilinx, I was in prime shape for a course that is as hard as that little bugger up there. At least I was no longer actively sick for this start. A beautiful day, with blue skies and great aspen gold everywhere, distracted you from the impending suffering.

Thanks to the officials removing all the upgraded folks, my 60-something-ish final result from Colorado Cross Cup last year allowed me to make the last of the call-up list, netting me a 3rd row start in a 70 ish rider field. Of course, with the route starting up a tour de france "beyond-catergory" climb, I knew any advantage would not last long, and it didn't. (OK, OK, it's really not that big of a hill, but it does not do any favors for watt-challenged folks like myself.....)

By the top of the start hill, I had accomplished 2 notable things. One, gone hard enough to be light-headed, dizzy, and not really sure where I was, and two, lost like 20 spots in the line. Pretty much my normal way to start at Frisco. My first 2 laps were a blur of light-headed gasping, as my sickness addled lungs refused to do their job. Every hill or power grass section was a blur of slow motion progress & random bodies riding by. Finally, going into the third lap, I started to feel more like my normal self, and arrested the pack-sliding, even starting to move back up a bit.

Got into an "epic" 3-way battle with Rich of Frites & Mayo fame, along with an ICCC guy, duking it out to fill out the top 50 spots. Spent the rest of the race in the following back & forth battle:

- Get passed like I was standing still on the paved climb by Mr. ICCC.

- Work myself into a hypoxic dizzy spell trying to remain vaguely in contact with ICCC guy.

- Fly down the "woodchipper" descent & catch Mr. ICCC.

- Hear Rich come back up to us on said descent.

- Pass Mr. ICCC before the loose drop into the softball field.

- Fight to hold any gap across the grass.

- Rich & I drop ICCC guy in lower technical bits.

- Rich comes right up on my shoulder on the run-up.

- AND Mr. Comes flying by on the climb.... again.

- Repeat

This continued long enough that we even got into talking about it on the climb....

Mr. ICCC - " Leapfrog again here..."

Me - "See you on the descent"

Anyway, the good thing for me was I had enough left to gas it a little on the last technical section and run-up, and into the pavement on the last lap, sprinting in for a blazing 49th place to "make the top 50" (out of 68 finishers...). my normal "performance" at Frisco. Only 30 places out of the points. Whee.

While I usually am pretty focused in a race, probably to the point of pure suffering tunnel vision most of the time, Every once in a while I might see or hear something in a race. One of my teammates has been known to "drift off" in his concentration in races, up to the point of asking things like "did you see that hot mom on the back side?" or some such. Usually I see nothing but what is going on right around me. THIS time, they managed to say something on the PA that broke right thru my mid-race haze of suffering. Apparently, hearing "free Beer" on PA can get my attention at almost any level of suffering.

The HPM team did a lot better than I did, putting 2 guys in the top 20 and the Cup points for the 35+ 4s for this season. Good ride there, on a HARD course. I decided to make SURE I blew all the junk out of my lungs, and get a hard day in before the USGP weekend, and TRIED to pull a double, racing the 45+ race as well. THAT did not go too well, and after battling my way out of DFL on the first lap, I actually quit a race, just because it was "too hard". I was beginning to feel my hip/back locking up, and with the leaders closing in with 2 to go, pulled the plug on THAT brilliant idea. Also was having the minor issue of getting so goofy in the last laps that I was not able to really drive the bike anymore. Crashing or re-injuring myself seemed like not a good thing at this point in the season, so I stopped by the officials and pulled myself early.

Next weekend is a week of lower level goals. Racing 45+ both days at the Ft. Collins USGP leads to only one goal for me.... Don't get Lapped. Shall see if that is realistic. Should be fun to see all the big guns up there, showing us hacks how it REALLY should be done.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, this weeks Video Collection.

SM35+4 - Seatpost Cam - all of Lap 1

SM35+4, Laps 1-4 in various places

SM45+ Laps 1 and 2

SW Open and SW35+

SM55+ Start and Lap 1

Colorado Cyclocross Videos

2011-09-26T19:49:00.005-06:00

It seems like many bike racing blogs out there want to help tell you how to train, learn & be faster. Since endless mid-pack finishes are not much of a resume, I'll spare you all some training or race preparation advice on how to do well, and instead give you a guide on "how to DNS" one of your favorite cross races. This proven method will have you sitting on the sidelines, watching your teammates suffer in no time.

Pick one of your favorite races, say... well... The Boulder Series #2 Xilinx race on Saturday, shall we? Starting the week before, and try this:

Monday - Easy Ride in the afternoon. Start getting a sore throat in the evening. Is that a cold coming?

Tuesday - Wake up, Confirm the cold is HERE. Try to go to work, come home early. Sleep.

Wednesday - Stay home, sleep all day. Continue to feel worse.

Thursday - Feel almost human again, insure Head remains plugged up, work 1/2 day

Friday - Feel "better", insure crappy day at work, followed by 3+ hours of weed-whacking at Xilinx for race prep. Go to bed late after getting race stuff ready

Saturday - RACE DAY!!

Get up at 4:00AM, realize you feel like a piece of roadkill. String course tape starting at 5:00AM. Kit up, warm up. Realize you feel like the entire 35+ cat 4 field just ran you over. Remove Kit, sit down, start whining.

Guaranteed program. Works like a champ.

SO, Like it says, I DNSed at Xilinx. Bummed me out, as I really like that race, and since The Team was helping Lance & Tony at Without Limits Productions/Boulder Racing promote this stop on the Boulder Series, it REALLY makes it a hard one to miss. MAYBE I'll be good enough to make the jaunt up to Frisco this weekend. Nothing like ripping around at 9000 feet to make one feel "better" eh?

Seemed kind of dusty out there saturday. This picture says it all.

The Team had a great day, 6th and 11th in the beer-drinking-dads league, and 5th in the 45+. Maybe I should sit in the team tent more often...... Good ride guys, you make me proud!

SO, a bit of video, Lap 1 of the 35+ 4 race

And 2 parts of Lap 1 for the 35+ 3 race Early Lap 1

Later in Lap 1, 35+ 3s

Credit to Lisa Robinson for Photo & Video

ANNND they're off!

2011-09-18T20:38:00.004-06:00

OK, got the first one in. Boulder CX Series #1 at the new Valmont Mountain bike park. Pretty cool course. Kinda flowy, lots of neat little berms & whoop-de dos. The BIG staircase, THAT I can do without, but all in all a good course and venue. Parking for a big race (Boulder cup...) is going to be a mess, that there is not enough of. Pretty good size fields, especially in the Juniors. 81 kids total, and 21 in the JM 13-14 alone. Hope that trend continues. 544 total riders came out. I guess about what you would expect for an early season, warm race smack in the heart of the bubble.

Dueled it out in the Beer-drinking-dad's league for my season opener. Not sure I much care for the early (9:25 am..) start. That alone may send me off to the 45s this year. My race came out about like most for me. good call-up, and faded from the 20ish range to my 36th place finish with 89 riders in the field. Top half, not too bad for a first effort. Not a lot of power on the fast parts, but did better on the hill than I usually do, so a bit of good stiff going in to the season. Just wish I could learn to run up those long run-ups faster.

Got a couple of videos for you, some "seatpost-cam" and a course-side for 35+ 4 and women's races.

35+4 - Seatpost cam - Lap 1

35+ 4 - Lap 1 at the "Belgian steps" the small staircase on the bottom of the course.

SW Open at the "5280 feet" BIG run-up.

SW 35+ at the 5280 run up.

Boulder Series 2 next Saturday, partially brought to you by the High Peaks Masters team, as we'll be helping the Boulder Racing Folks put this one on. We'll be out there all day for that one.

Oh, and am hearing that the other "not Boulder" race planned for Sunday, the Cross-Propz race at Rogers Grove has been cancelled due to "Unexpected Circumstance". Will be shortening up the race weekend, I guess.

Hiding

2011-09-15T12:05:00.004-06:00

OK, my postings have been sparse. With Cross season HERE already, I should have been foaming at the mouth posting excited thoughts about the upcoming start to the season. While I AM quite pumped about my first foray for the year back into the joy that is racing around a field carrying a perfectly rideable bike, Life can sometimes put a dent in the creative writing time.

Had our first "real" Wednesday CX session up here in "not-Boulder" yesterday. a pile of 15 or so frothing folks, some of who had already popped their race cherry for the year. Good, fast fun in a cold drizzle. Makes you realize what's coming.

We even had the opportunity to speak to Officer Garcia about whether or not it's "OK" to ride a bicycle in a city park. Had a gentleman walking his dog who did NOT appreciate us being in the park, and informed us that you are NOT allowed to ride bikes on a sidewalk in said park. (This while his unleashed dog ran amok....) After finding that we were not immediately leaving after being informed that we "Can't do your F^&%ing Triathlon here" he resorted to the usual second step of the disgruntled dog walker. "I'm calling the cops!!"

Thus the nice chat with Officer Garcia. Turns out you CAN ride your bike in a city park. Who would have thought that? Strange, also seems like you CAN'T have your dog off leash in a city park. Wow....... Almost gives our lunch sessions the feel of legitimacy.

So, all tuned up, Psyched up, and if my bike quits breaking, ready for my season opener at Valmont Park Saturday. Now just to decide on Beer-Drinking Dads, or the old, fast 45s. Either way, THEN will be the time to see where one really stands. Lets do it.

T minus

2011-09-06T20:27:00.004-06:00

Well, 4 days to Cross boys & girls.

At least the 90+ degree temperatures have gone away. Has been kinda hard to get in the mood for racing cross with the hair dryer hot days coming one after the other. Now, I don't think I'll be coming out for the opening day party. Might see about coming out Sunday to see where I stand in the early season pecking order, as I kinda like that Kiddie Prison course. I AM having trouble realizing it's time to get out & suffer already.

Have hardly done any CX practice, outside of a HPM team camp a couple of weeks ago in Fraser, so just not 100% "ready to cross" quite yet. But then again, the itch is there, and growing rapidly. For those of you fully chomping at the bit, and headed out... Go give them hell.

Rather than pounding out some cross hot laps over the long weekend, we opted to head up high with the big bike.

The American Lakes Cirque up by Cameron Pass makes for a great day trip, with great singletrack above tree line, and great scenery.

A great way to spend a clear, crisp fall day in the high country. Even get to share it with some of the larger locals.

A pretty sweet and relaxing way to "end" the summer, and get going on cross season. Guess it's time to start REALLY thinking cross....

One more thing on the ACA-USAC "debate". I think I get the Idea that not a lot of people care. In the last week or so, with over 100 blog visits here , only 9 people have cared enough to click on the survey. Less than 10% of visitors taking the time to click one or the other either shows that there is not much opinion, or probably more likely, the fact that no one cares that much either way. Interesting in it's own right. Either way, I plan on sharing that limited data wiht the ACA folks. Few more days to vote, if you care.

USAC-ACA the "summary"

2011-08-28T23:04:00.005-06:00

The immediate hue & Cry about the potential ACA-USAC reconciliation has died down a bit finally. With that, I've tried to break down the costs and proposed benefits of he ACA rejoining USAC as a Local Association (LA) into a small (ish) package. And with that, will add a poll for a few weeks.

Here is my take, starting with probably what is most important, what it costs us stiffs just to get a license and race. Just the PAPERS to race, not little things like bikes, entry fees, and those other little things.

Stay ACA only, yearly cost:

$45 base license - Practical for Road & Cross only

$12 for ACA timing chip ($35/year, good for 3 years)

----------

$57 a year

Your Club ACA membership per year $100 (Renewal, $125 to start)

Some of us "non-sponsored" teams need to come up with this each year...)

ACA as a Local Association under USAC, Yearly Cost:

$60 base license (Road/cross or MTB/Cross)

$25 for ACA LA membership

$12 For ACA timing Chip (have to assume that program will continue... makes sense)

-----------

$97 a year

Your Club USAC membership per year $150

This one has to go to the ACA. Easily a 40% increase for a "local only" rider to get licensed with USAC. This of course is assuming you are NOT one of the 23% of ACA riders who also hold a USAC card, then your cost would go down $20 a year. It also assumes you would buy the "extra" ACA LA membership. The ACA will likely bribe you by making Cross cup/BAR available ONLY to ACA members. Your Club will also pay more with USAC.

Notes & assumptions

- The ACA would only get $10/year from USAC per year per rider. My guess at a "L.A. Version" ACA dues cost assumes the ACA sells "add on" L.A. memberships to make up the revenue. $25 a year just seems a guess, but could easily range up to $35 a year to "make up" the full delta in "lost" ACA revenue. This was also the rough cost ratio when BRAC was the USCF State association.

- USAC also allows the Local Associations to levy a $1-2 race fee add on.

- To race MTB AND road under USAC, add in ANOTHER $30 a year for the add on license

- AND should you ever want to race outside the US... $150 for that international license.

The arguments and benefits from the USAC note (The "so why Join USA Cycling" section), and my take on them:

Online registration - So what? there are MANY online registration outfits, and a LOT of riders like race day registration. Ever heard of BikeReg.com?

Save Money - Well only for about 1/4 of the current ACA membership.....

National Results and Rankings - again, so what? Ever heard of crossresults.com? and I've seen nothing but complaints about USAC online results. **IF** you are a national championship contender in Cross, well, yea you care. I'd LIKE to help our crop of hard men, but not sure I want to pay for it.

Grassroots Investment - Well, that $2.8 Million dollar number going back to Local racing since 2003 SOUNDS good, but wait...... 35,000 USAC licenses sold per year, $10 from each back to the Local Association is $350K a year. 8 years from 2003 to 2011, $350K x 8 years is... you guessed it. $2.8 Million. maybe not all that generous to the grassroots after all.

Junior development - Sure all the young pros come from the USAC program. how else would they get to the national team? USAC = $600,000 per year in funding. $600,000 per year divided by the 33 Local Associations in the country is.... About $18,000 per LA per year. ACA had $45 K in their Jr. fund. Outside of that, I can't really say, neither group is getting kids out in droves.

Professional development of coaches, Officials & Race Directors - Not sure it matters, a good portion of the ACA officials are also USAC officials. They are all pretty good. How many Beer-drinking-dads hire coaches?

Local Association annual summit - OK, sure, a good thing. Learn from other areas.

Anti Doping - I'll just refer to one "event"...... Sure, a good thing.

Attracting Riders From surrounding states - Yep, would be easier if we were USAC, but hey, BOTH have one-day licenses for the lower catagories.

Experience the excitement of regional bike racing - see "one day license".....

Brand-new, modern governance model - Whee. Both organizations have a history of near criminal mis-management. Now both are better. At least now your money might have less chance of just being outright stolen.

The arguments and benefits from the ACA position paper, and my take on them:

Not terribly well defined. Lots of questions and discussion of lost revenue for ACA in the position paper, not a lot of "sales points". The table helps a lot, but is rather involved (Use the ACA and "ACA Local Association columns...). I'll try and paraphrase here:

Keeps local Control and paid, local staff (one full time) - How many of you KNEW the ACA had a full time employee? How many of you call the ACA office?

More money stays in Colorado - Always good

Better Junior & grassroots programs - Well, maybe

Keeps ACA funding at current levels - Not sure that matters to most of us.

Now for my own take. I'll put it in bullet form, based on "lets Rejoin USAC". I would keep it in mind that as the USAC noted, and with the same organization "running" local racing in Colorado, VERY little would change for racers at the local level and events.

The BAD

- a 40% Higher yearly license cost for "recreational" racers

- ACA revenue decreases

- Maybe loose some or all the paid ACA staff. (Chris & Yvonne do a GREAT job...)

- Somewhat less "local Control" of some issues.

- Less local funding for Colorado programs

- Rule Changes and policy gets harder to change (Probably would not have gotten the call-up count moved back to 40 as fast as I did if we were USAC....)

- Less Grassroots emphasis

The GOOD

- ACA would loose some overhead management (Licenses, Insurance....)

- ONE Licence, especially for "serious" riders , and portability across the country

- Regain better National & Elite participation & upgrade path (get the Pros back in ACA races...)

- Participation in national rankings for CX call-ups at nationals

So, what to do?

I do NOT believe that the USAC really gives a crap about "recreational" racers or grassroots development, outside of harvesting our cash. The USAC CEO, Steve Johnson is quoted in a Cyclocross Magazine interview (issue 7) saying "That's the key for all our cycling disciplines to succeed is to have these professional capstone opportunities" and in the USAC sales pitch his #2 question of what people ask themselves about taking up a sport being "can I make a living at it?" shows pretty much the attitude of the USAC. They really are focused on the elites, and the elites only. ACA is at least a bit more responsive to us hacks. I't going to cost us more to fund that national & elite focus. After the Strange, rambling, and borderline condescending missive from Mr. johnson, I'm even LESS impressed with their "vision" for my participation in this sport.

It DOES make sense to have ONE organization to administer the sport. Having Colorado doing our own thing really does not make sense. With the USA Pro Cycling Challenge now gaining SUCH wide and popular response, it's going to look even sillier to try and justify 2 sanctioning bodies. You might even be able to understand a UCI/USGP race flyer if we merged.

IN the end, I'm not sure I can justify the added cost for the "fuzzy" benifits of those going to nationals and the common sense aspects. It really seems to come down to how you feel about "grassroots" support versus "elite" support.

Click away on the poll at the upper right, easy yes or no. Like to hear what you all think.

USA Cycling - The view from the Springs

2011-08-22T21:47:00.005-06:00

For brief period of time today, I thought I'd gotten the scoop ahead of 303 Cycling the ACA, and everyone else. Brief visions of journalistic greatness were dashed when I had some housework to do, and dinner to cook. By the time I sit down to reveal the "inside information" 303 Cycling had already posted it, and the comments start coming in. See, after spamming pretty much the full USA Cycling contact list asking what the USAC position on the ACA Coup-de-e-tat was, I was forwarded the link to the USAC position paper from Andrea Smith, USAC Communications Director, at the direct request of Steve Johnson USAC CEO. Wow, what power I wield now-a-days. Oh well, snooze and you are not the first on to put news on the web.

Anyway, here is the link to the full, 8 rambling pages of history, psychology and strange, corporate diagrams (oh, and maybe a few justifications about why ACA should rejoin USAC, too...)

USA Cycling Position Paper on ACA

I'll let you read it, eventually you get down to what the proposed benefits to rejoining USAC are. I think.

I have to comment on a couple of things. One, I have a bit of trouble with the strange reference to voting here:

Today we find ourselves embroiled in a discussion of the relative merits of USA Cycling versus

the ACA as a preamble to some sort of “vote” by the clubs to determine whether or not

Colorado racing should join USA Cycling and the national family of 33 other local bike racing

associations, or remain an autonomous organization without any affiliation to the national or

international sport structure.

Not sure what is implied here, but since the VOTE (No Quotes ...) by ACA clubs is how any legislation or changes are made by charter in the ACA, could I conclude that a democratic process seems strange to the USAC folks? Do they not trust us to make decisions? Quite strange wording at best.

Two,

The most important take‐home message from the work of these scientists is that the decision to

participate in a sport is a social process that must be considered in light of the social context of

the participant. Important questions are asked either consciously or subconsciously by

prospective athletes including: 1) does participation in the sport provide meaningful personal

opportunities, 2) can I make a living doing it, 3) are there role models that define things to which

I aspire or would like to accomplish, 4) do my friends do it, 5) will my parents support it, and/or

6) does participation in the sport positively affect my personal “equity” at home, among my

friends, at my school or in my community, i.e., is the sport socially acceptable or “cool?”

Huh? Social Context? Social Process? Subconsciously? Uhhh.... what?

And, I'll ask you all out there.... Did ANYONE out there ask "can I make a living doing it" when they started racing bikes? Anyone? Really? I think this attitude is one of my biggest fears about having ANYTHING to do with the USAC.

And Finally, comments like this:

USA Cycling has just undergone the most profound

governance overhaul since its formation in 1995. Under the new model, the associations and

their boards have been replaced by Sport Committees that will work with designated staff to

manage and grow their respective disciplines. In the process, we have added 20 additional

positions and two entirely new committees so we now have separate committees for road,

track, cyclo‐cross, mountain bike, collegiate, bmx and professional road racing.

and "charts" like these:

This should set off alarm bells for ANYONE who has ever worked in a large, unwieldily, giant corporate "structure". Such corporate-drivel speak frightens me a LOT, especially when it is applied to one of my recreational pursuits. Add 20 Positions! Form a Committee! Split into business units!

And those Charts..... Oh, yea, uh... God, it's ALL clear to me now.... uh, well, uh, whatever it is the chart is trying to tell me......

I for one am pretty much even more confused & conflicted than ever about the whop proposal. Almost like a regular election in our fine country, actual information and solid data is not really forthcoming. Both sides say "it will all be great", without much actual, functional information. While NONE of this will dramatically affect a mid pack old slow guy like me (or really most all the existing riders), one wants to at least TRY and help make a good decision.

Good luck with the "right" answer on this one...

USA Cycling

2011-08-18T22:34:00.004-06:00

If you want to stir up the local bike racer population even more than changing the Colorado Cross Cup rules around, I guess that the idea of reconciling the very long standing American Cycling Association vs. USA Cycling feud would do it. That managed even MORE comments on 303 Cycling than the Colorado Cross Cup Changes. We have a new points leader!

It looks like the Big Cycling chiefs in Colorado Springs have decided enough is enough, and wants everyone under one big, UCI-sanctioned family, or they just want all our money. This year they started to play "hardball" with the few tools they really have to bring the breakaway factions (ACA and OBRA, Oregon Bicycle racing Assoc...) back into the tent. First they suddenly decide to enforce some typically lame UCI "rule" about pros not being allowed to ride in "unsanctioned" events for the roadies. Then they pretty much lock out 80+ percent of the National Cyclocross Championship podium for this years "frigid-fest" Nationals in Madison by doing call-ups by some new, and quite possibly mythical "National Ranking System", someone in the springs is probably still trying to come up with. Wow, a weighted national points system. Brilliant invention, but almost seems familiar in some way. Anyway, THAT little gem would lock out any Colorado & Oregon riders who don't travel to race USAC races this season.

Kinda sensed what was coming next. Once again, USA Cycling has asked the ACA to rejoin the Borg as a USAC "Local Association", bringing peace, joy and happiness to all the pesant folk in the kingdom. Turns out this does not seem to get universal acceptance as the best thing for cycling. LOTS of opinion and general ranting on the 303 comments section, spanning both sides of the story. ACA put out a "position paper" and some information for the racing community to look over, and is planning on doing a survey of the clubs to get feedback on what the riders think about a potential merge.

USA Cycling has been quiet in public about this offer, and not seeing anything from their side, I E-Mailed a slew of folks off the USAC contact page who would seem to care, and asked if they had anything to share with us from the USAC side. I heard back from Sean Petty, Chief Operating Officer for USAC within an hour. His reply was "Thank you for your note. We are planning to provide to ACA and its members the USA Cycling viewpoint on this topic. " SO, hope to get the presentation from the other side here soon, to help with such a monumental decision.

Wow, Is it not nice to be SO popular? Everybody wants you. (well, or your money...)

For anyone who was around in the PRE-ACA days, you have a pretty good feel for what it would be like wiht ACA as a Local Association under USAC. WAY back there was the United States Cycling Federation (the USCF, predecessor to USAC...) and the colorado Local Association, the Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado, or BRAC. One paid your bucks to the "feds" in Colorado Springs, then if you wanted to participate in BAR/BAT, or for that matter even find out what the schedule was in those pre-internet years, you also shelled out a smaller chunk of change to join BRAC as well. BRAC did a lot of the same things the ACA does now, race Kits, race schedule, provide officials and act as the local contact. What it did NOT do was rider licences, insurance and the high level administration. This continued untill some typically stupid things were done by the "feds" and drove the revolution and the split of BRAC into what is now the ACA. Whew.

Where does that leave us today? Well, not that easy to tell, as the ACA has been kind of unclear about exactly what that transition to a "LA" would look like or cost. Mind you, you can't expect them to have such a plan on the table, and they seem to be scrambling to put together the potential scenarios, given the QUITE recent "offer" from USAC. You can see parts of it in their comparison spreadsheet under the "Local Association" option, and suspect a lot more based on how things ran in the past.

I shall wait for the dust to settle, and to get the ACA club survey, as well as see what the USAC has to say, but my feeling is that it is going to come down to a "Grassroots vs. Elite" grudge match. The USAC is FIRMLY in the "what's good for the elite is good for all" camp, and the ACA is at least somewhat more grassroots oriented, or at the least can be prodded in that direction.

Once all the stuff is in my hands, I can then pontificate here on what is best for me, cycling, and the world. What fun. Till then, 20 days till the first CX race of the new year, and 21 till the second!

Saddle Penetration

2011-08-08T21:31:00.005-06:00

So what can you get now-a-days for $600 in the Triathlete saddle market?

Why "Good Penetration", of course. After seeing said saddle, you can see what they mean.

Get yours now while it's on sale.

I think I understand the funny look I see on Tri-geeks faces out on the road now. And to think I thought it was just them being miserable on those silly bikes. At least now we know. Guess that is why it costs $600 for the "pleasure" of sitting on it.

That seemed to hit a button

2011-07-31T21:50:00.005-06:00

69 posts in 3 days.

That's how may comments were posted on 303 Cycling in response to the "leak" of the 2011 Colorado Cross Cup Policy from the ACA in 3 or 4 days. Normally, you might expect that a new racing policy would be announced by the ACA, but since the Frites & Mayo boys published it first and 303 then picked it up, both WELL before any actual announcement from the ACA happened, I have to go with "leak". It's almost like someone in the ACA is trying to NOT let people know about the changes. I KNOW this is not true, from talking to them, but the lack of clear communication of new policies is puzzling at best.

The basic changes are modifications to the race day schedule, addition of a 35+ cat 3 race on course with the 35+ open, and call up changes. ONE of these things generated MOST of the comments. You may be surprised which one it is.

The schedule:

The pro/1/2 women get the course MOSTLY to themselves, starting in front of the 35+ women, instead of behind the 45+ men. This is GREAT, and was desperately needed. Also showcases the women on their own much better. All good changes.

Swapped around some groups, pushing the beer drinking dads (35+ cat4) back to ~ 9:30, helping to silence the large "damn cat 4's should race early in the morning!" crowd, and helping with a REAL problem, that of bonehead beer-drinking-dads warming up with the 35+ ex-pros, which was never a good mix.

45+ now alone on course. Also good given the HUGE growth there last year.

Day got a bit longer (hate to be a cat 3 post daylight savings, they might need lights....) and a "warm up" was added before the 35+ 4s. Probably a good idea, as the huge and not that observant bunch there probably needs that time alone to stumble about the course. The old guy cat 4s, women 4's and 55+ went to 40 minutes, and the Cat 3s went up 5 minutes. All these are small tweaks, and make sense.

New 35+ cat 3 field

Added 35+ cat 3, racing on the course 30 seconds behind the 35+ Open. I am sure this was in direct response to a trend everyone observed that a LOT of people upgraded out of 35+ cat 4, then either raced with the "punk kid" cat 3s, or just seemed to disappear after one or two 35+ open races. There was a lot of thought that the jump from cat 4 old guy to ex national champion near elite race speed that is the 35+ open race was just too big. This is the attempt to give that intermediate step.

Strange, it was THIS change that seemed to generate the most whining on the 303 comments. Mostly the "watering down" and "medals for everyone!" thoughts. Don't really understand why there was SO much flack raised by this change. I guess anytime the ACA caters to it's obvious base (35-45 year old recreational racers...), a lot of people don't like it.

Call-ups

Of course, my personal hot button. Once again, I feel that the changes here are not for the better. The changes are to call up the top 24 from Colorado cross cup points at cup races, and 24 from Crossresults.com rankings for NON-Cup races. My issue is with only calling up 24 riders. Calling up only the top 20 for races with 20 deep points only seems to "lock out" those on the bubble of getting into that top 2o. With "random number" call-ups after the top 24, those in 21st and close to that may one week be called into the 30s or maybe at the back. Seems like you would want to retain the 40 or so from last years policy, and that calling up at least 2X the points places makes more sense.

Then something interesting happened. I E-Mailed the ACA, asking what the reasoning behind only 24 places deep for the call-ups. Was told that mine was the second question on that part of the new call up policy, and that they would check into changing it. 2 days later, they let me know the policy had gone back to calling up the top 40 for each race. Victory is Mine!

Really, it was just a demonstration that the ACA does seem genuinely interested in feedback and ideas. Was thanked for my input and ideas, with lots of open and honest communication. So, my suggestion is that if yo are not too happy (or if you are happy.…), do let the ACA board & staff know. They are enthusiastic, open, and very interested in the feedback from the membership.

A final props to the Frites guys for not only pulling the new policy out of the ether, but also reformatting a calendar version on ONE page you can print out & keep. Wish there had always been a one pager you can put up and refer too. Brilliant!

Ouch

2011-07-31T14:16:00.008-06:00

Ouch.

Worst. Race. Ever.

Well, maybe a BIT of an exagaration, but that was pretty bad. Saturday, I saddled up for my first pedal turns "in anger" for this year, the Winter Park Crankworks Cross Country. Apparently 3+ weeks of lounging around at sea level, stuffing my face with beer & food is not the best prep for a mountain bike race at altitude. Who'da thunk it?

20-odd mile course, good climbs at the beginning & near the end. The old sport guys headed out at a fairly sedate pace into the first climb up sunken bridges. Even then, I feel like I'm climbing like a brick, and slowly loose contact with the front group of 5 or so. Course, during the climb, some of the juniors we start with, and the FAST guys in the front of the Clydesdales come up, and I immediately loose track of where I am relative to anyone. Down Zoom, out Elk Meadow, and into the D2/WTB/D4 maze & haze of pain. Actually was starting to come around, and started to close on some people up those climbs, so think I'm on my normal "later in the race" surge. Down onto St.Louis Creek road, grab a Gu, slam some "gack" and jump out of the saddle to roll up and close the gap to a group ahead, like I usually do at that point.

Strange, as I try to spin up the gear, I get the first twinges of a good cramp in both Quads. Hmmm, that can't be good this far out. Back off, spin out the legs instead of chasing, slam the rest of the electrolytes, guzzle more water, start feeling better. Then we start climbing up the back side of the ski area, an easy, gentle road climb. Uh-oh, NOT feeling better anymore. Am on the edge of cramping again. THEN we hit the steeper, rocky doubletrack. That was it. power evaporates, legs start to seize up. I think getting off & walking a minute might help loosen my legs up, so I dismount to do just that.

WRONG thing to do. I've NEVER had cramps like I did at that moment. Both quads lock completely up, freezing both legs in a clenched, fully extended position, in total agony. Takes what felt like a full minute to unlock one leg & bend it, stopping the searing pain. Course, the other leg then continues to scream. This sets off what must have been a VERY houmurous episode of alternating from one leg to the other, while making increasingly violent grunts & screams. Given the strange looks other rides gave me as they passed, it must have been either scary, bewildering, or downright funny to watch my strange little dance.

Finally realize I can't jump from one leg to the other indefinetly, so I decide I need to sit down. Course, I can't figure out HOW to do that when I can't bend either leg. Eventually I was able to invent some strange way of sitting down while only bending one leg (also quite amusing, I gathered...). Minute or 2 sitting on the ground, massaging my quads got me back to "functional". Gee, only 45 or so minutes and a good climb to go.

From there, things are kinda blurry. Turns out it's hard to RACE a bike when you can't pedal hard. I figured out the one speed I had that did not set off any more cramps, and tried to hold that the rest of the way in. Even managed to pass back a couple of guys in my group in that state. Ended up almost "battling" a guy to the line, without the ability to pedal hard. Was pretty strange way to "race". NEVER have I cramped that hard, or that long in a race. 45 minutes of CAREFUL pedaling to get to the finish. Even managed to cramp up getting my shoes off at the truck. Fun.

Still pulled off an almost mid pack finish, in spite of the "little issues" I had. This one was hard to call "fun", even in bike racing terms. Oh well, hope to have a better day at King of the Rockies in a few weeks.

I did notice a strange trend in the Race results from the race up there. The field sizes by age group show that at least in the Winter Park series, nobody but 35 to 45 year olds seem to race mountain bikes. The level of participation PLUMMETS at 50 + years old. Am I missing something? Does it hurt THAT much when you are old? Why do so many 45 year olds race, then they all suddenly stop racing 5 years later. Guess you could ask the same thing for less than 35 years old as well.

You see this in the "masters bubble" in road & cross racing too. Sure bike racing is decidedly a rich, middle aged white guy sport in general, but it's strange the sudden halt in participation for older riders. Any idea why? Are they just smarter than I am?

All good things must come to an end

2011-07-18T08:15:00.008-06:00

All good things must come to an end, or so the saying goes. I am sitting here at 39,000 feet over the South China Sea, heading from Kuala Lampur to Hanoi, part of the LONG journey back from the far east. Long vacations are great, all except for the return to reality part. Besides coming back to chores, work, and the rest of “Normal Life” I’ll be getting back on the bike after a 3+ week layoff. Can’t wait to see what that training strategy did for my fitness. While I managed some “stair climbs” and hikes on the trip, mostly I was just running around or eating like a pig the entire time. Guess I am in for some serious interval time once I get “de-Lagged” on my return. Cross season is just around the corner.

I was successful with my training plan for the trip. I ate like a pig.

I DID do a hike or two in Penang, and lord they do have some "trails" there that will give you a workout. Thousands and thousands of stairs STRAIGHT up thru the jungle.

The closest I came to a bike was watching others ride by. Malyasia seems to have experienced a huge boom in "recreational" cycling in the last 5 or so years. Before, you would see one or 2 other cyclists out in many days of riding, and I NEVER saw a roof rack in the many years I was there before. This time you saw packs out riding on the roads, lots of roof racks with & without bikes, up to a full-on Yeti Downhill Race rig on a car. a HUGE boom in riders in 5 years. Heard about lots of off-road riding, even though the closest I got was coming off the stair hike, seeing guys riding up "Penang Hill" road. While paved, I can attest that it's one of the singular hardest climbs I've ever done on a bike. The strange thing is almost all the people I saw were on flat pedals and tennies. Even saw one guy riding up the 20%-ish grade on flats with FLIP-FLOPS as his riding shoe of choice. Hard core. Trust me, the hill is steeper than it looks here....

There MIGHT have been just a bit of asian pilsner consumed during the trip as well. Maybe even the odd Gin & Tonic. What with training like that, and 3 solid seeks sleeping at an altitude of at least 10 feet, I'm sure I'll be ready to KILL it on the bike.

Coming from a place where cargo bikes and riding out of need, not desire, to thinking about racing bikes for fun is a bit of a hard one to wrap your head around. Bikes are still used to haul everything from people to street food stalls in most of the rest of the world. Not sure we have taken the bike thing to a place it does not really belong.

Even with utility in mind, MAYBE it's time for a new rim on that bike though.....

So, will be back home & trying to restart my cycling legs. With Cross season closing in, it's time to start in earnest, if one is to have any hope for some kind of results.

With the return from vacation, and the hopeful completion of some other distracting projects, I hope to refocus my ravings here on more cycling related, and more cross related subjects. With a preliminary Colorado Cross schedule floating about cyberspace, and USA Cycling trying to make sure NO Colorado riders have any results at this years National Hypothermia Championships in Madison, there are things to talk about, for sure.

Far East

2011-07-04T07:35:00.003-06:00

Greetings from Penang, Malaysia. Yep, it's hot & humid here. The summer vacation is in full swing. Sitting here in front of a Starbucks (Much like McDonalds, some things are a constant almost world-wide....), since my cheap-ass budget hotel wants US$10 a day for Wi-fi access. Some things have NOT become a world wide constant. I am working dillegently on my previously noted training plan of a 4 week killer hard block of LT intervals, followed by 3 weeks of sitting on my ass, eating a lot and ingesting beer. so far, I am fully on track with the second part of that plan.

A bit of bike-related notes from the Far east here. 10+ years ago, while doing a lot of "factory-sitting" here in Penang, A couple of us sent over mountain bikes and rode all over the place. At the time, we only saw a VERY small handfull of locals riding for recreation. As late as 5 years ago, did not see hardly any "recreational" riders here. This trip, I am seeing a LOT of riders, Bike racks on the roof of cars (unheard of 5 years ago...) and some serious, high dollar hardware under a lot of lycra-clad asians. Even saw a fully loaded Yeti 303 Downhill rig on the roof of a car here. I guess the riding bug is spreading across the pacific now.

We came here via Vietnam, a short visit. a crazy, hectic place. There I did NOT see high $$ bikes, but a lot used for transportation & work. Mostly, you saw people rocking the normal, rocking Vietnamese cycling "kit"
But then one morning I saw this guy
I guess no matter WHERE you are living, the appeal or riding a bike can get you out and going. It's cool to see the passion showing up all around the world.

Summer

2011-06-21T22:56:00.003-06:00

Well, I have not managed to post up much here lately. Turns out life can get in the way of many a good blog post ending up becoming actually PUBLISHED on a blog.

Just plain a lot going on. Seems like the employer actually wants some of my attention span (Who the hell do they think they are?) Geez, it's like they pay me or something. We've had a couple of projects around the homestead here that have drained my energy and motivation, AND The wife and I are headed out for a little family visit. Now, when your wife is from Malaysia, that becomes a bit different than hopping in the car and heading down to Denver. We'll be in Asia for a couple of weeks, so I am not thinking my posting will get any more frequent.

The plan is to try my best to eat and drink a lot, exercise little, and see how my fitness does. Have not found the "4 week hard training block then 3 weeks of hanging out eating" training plan documented anywhere, so I'll take one for the team & see how that works. Hope to get a little news in from over there if I can. I'll try my best and suffer the indignity of being in the tropics. (Yep, I'll be on THAT beach...)

I hope all of you "beer-drinking-dads" have your own issues to keep you off the bike while I'm gone. Don't want anyone else "stealth" training on me now, Hear?

Crits

2011-06-07T09:00:00.003-06:00

See a LOT of comments over on 303Cycling about the City Park Criterium. Seems to be a lot of angst in the road racing world about turnout, growth, pulling lapped riders and that sort of thing. The comments about getting dropped, getting lapped, and the harshness of racing road bikes in general got me thinking about why I have no interest in road racing, and why the road side participation numbers are stagnant at best, and may even be dropping.

When I started racing, I had a solid year plus of getting dropped and lapped in the Cat4 races. For SOME reason, I stuck with it, got faster, and finally started to be able to stay in a crit or flat road race, and even RACE a bit here and there. It was a long, tough and very demoralizing road to travel. With a shift to "older" participants, and the reasonably high cost of racing a bike, bike racing is turning more into a "rich old guy" hobby, rather than the feeder system for the Olympics and Pro ranks that it might have once been, or maybe IS in Europe. With it competing with many activities, I can see less and less people being interested in the struggle to "fit in" and be able to even finish a road race in the pack. Lots of other things out there to spend your leisure time & money on that do not slap you ego around quite so hard.

There is a distinct and relatively high "Entry Fee" of skill. Speed and fitness needed to race on the road. Fall short of that, get dropped, and you are now in the "You Suck" category in a hurry. Go home. Leave NOW! it screams. Not a lot of fun, it hurts your ego, and no one wants to be there. Maybe that's why Cyclocross is growing SO much faster than road racing. While you may not be at the true pointy end of a race, you never fell "dropped" and left for dead. No one expects to be pulled (at least in the local races...) and have that lingering "you don't belong" feeling confirmed in Cross.

So, do the new Road Racers now have too high of expectations? Is there a need for an even slower "starter" group (Anyone remember Cat 5??)? Do they need to HTFU and race more, no matter how hard it is? Is pulling HALF a crit field a good thing to do? Is road racing on yet another cycle of decline? Is the ease of posting on the internet just make it too easy to whine? I don't know.

I DO know that even after all the years I did put in to racing on the road (Badly... for sure...), I have ZERO interest in getting back in there to race on a road bike. Riding the road for "training" is hard enough to motivate for. Frankly, it is just plain boring, at least for me. Even racing, while "tactical", no longer has any excitement for me. Guess I need the added challenge of having to drive your bike, corner well, and ALSO race, rather than just see who can mindlessly churn out the most watts for an extended period of time. Course, that just may be because I happen to SUCK at churning out a lot of watts for an extended period of time. Oh, and I HATE hitting pavement at speed, especially if it's not my fault. WAY too much chance of that in road racing. At least when I crash in Cross or on the MTB, it's usually my fault.

Hats off to the roadies out there. Go get 'em. For me? Cross season is "just around the bend".

Dinosaurs!

2011-05-31T22:46:00.017-06:00

Bikes & Dinosaurs? Really?

Well, only connected in a very distant way. The wife & I did a quick overnight over the Memorial Day weekend. Wanted something that would not be too crowded, was not TOO long of a drive, and "different". So we ended up heading to the "Largest Dinosaur Track-site in North America". Located in Colorado, just south of the scenic, thriving tourist trap of La junta.

La- What?? you say?? Seriously, there is SOMETHING to see on the South East plains of Colorado. Maybe not the end all attraction of the world, but something lurks out there in the grasslands.

Picketwire Canyon is a strange little canyon, dropped below the TABLETOP flatness that is eastern Colorado. Below the flat nothingness is a relative oasis of Pinyon trees in the canyon of the Purgatoire River. Deep history of Ancient "Picketwire People" along with very early Spanish influence, and it being a shortcut on the Santa Fe trail leaves a lot of weird history in the mix with the dino tracks.

The Canyon has limited motorized access, so hiking, horses and bikes are the only ways in. With no horses, and not wanting to hike an 11 mile round trip, we elected to use the bikes. A STEEP, loose drop down into the canyon, then a nice, smooth double track spin past some old cabins, pictographs and of course, like everywhere in Southern Colorado, the remains of an old spanish church.

The Dino tracks were pretty cool. Unlike most of the tracks I've seen (mostly in Utah.…). These were not isolated prints, but tracks extending for almost hundreds of feet, wandering about in singles & pairs. Big Brontosaurus tracks, too, not little things.

While this was really not the vacation of a lifetime, it turned into a cool little getaway. OK, it was not really THAT scenic, and driving out there is only interesting in that "good god, there is NOTHING out here" kind of way, but it was indeed "different". Just one more example of the MANY kinds of things we have here in Colorado to experience.

It's summer.

Get out there.

Behind the Gates

2011-05-22T19:13:00.008-06:00

One of the many reasons to love this time of year is that the gates are still closed. Some of the best riding in the "lesser-known" areas of the front range is located behind some Forest Service gates on various 4 wheel-drive roads. Our friends in the U.S. Forest Service usually don't open these gates till Memorial Day. For a few weeks, the areas behind those gates are both Snow and Redneck-free, making for a great time to wander areas that otherwise start feeling more like Kabul than the Colorado mountains, given the internal combustion & firepower usually on display.

Today, I was unable to dredge up any accomplices, so went and did a solo ride, getting off the beaten path, and behind those gates. Seems like the monsoon rains of last week were more like monsoon snows at anything over about 7500 feet, as I ran into more snow and wet than I expected after 2 warm & windy days. Ended up cutting my ride a bit short to not ride in the snow & mud, but was a great day out.

Course, the best part was being here at all, since the Rapture & Judgement Day was supposed to be yesterday. While we spent what was to be our last evening before the end of the world at a Roller Derby Bout, it seems that MAYBE, Just MAYBE the whole thing was bullshit, and the guy spouting it was just a quack (or a scheister... hard to tell the difference sometimes....). Turns out Mr. Camping was originally from the Bubble. Explains a LOT.

And, since we sinners are still here, and can't entertain ourselves with suffering along the end days, nor watch the chosen ascend, I'll leave you with the full Vernal video "production" for all of our worldly entertainment. Audio ON.

That was close....

2011-05-14T11:07:00.021-06:00

Turns out I was very lucky to have gotten our little MTB trip to Vernal in when I did, since the world is going to end on May 21st. At least I got in some good single track riding in before the end times come. It's been hard to come back and go to work and all that other "normal" stuff. Course with the Rapture upon us, I have sold everything, Quit my job, told off my boss, and run all my credit cards to the max. Seems like the thing to do at the end of the world, Right?

As promised, a few more pictures & tidbits from the Greater Vernal Metroplex here. Parts of the greater Vernal-Rangely area have not quite yet seen the economic benefit of the natural gas boom that seems to be fueling the area right now.

Seems to be a high level of local popularity in poking holes in the ground in them there parts. They love their drilling up there. (and who doesn't??)

Besides the Drilling, there are some nice camping to be had. Again, not the mind-bending scenery of other areas behind the Zion Curtain, but quite nice.

Course, we managed to get there at the tail end of the latest effort by winter to prevent any kind of spring to be had. What's a little camping out with temps in the teens at night and a ride in the snow, when you are a hard man of cross, anyway?

But then the weather perked up, and we began to sample the wares of the area. Turns out, when mountain bikers build trails FOR Mountain bikes, you pretty much end up with some really fun trails to ride. Good mix of fun, FAST twisty-bit desert trails, to techie, ledgy stuff, to even some nice slick-rock are all available.

They have named the trial in fairly amusing ways out there. While "More Hoes" MAY have been named for the mangled tools needed to build it, "More Pimps" seems to say the names may have alternate meaning. It was on "More Pimps" we began to see the local custom of "decorating" trails, something I've really not seen anywhere else. From Kokopelli sculptures on ridge lines in the middle of nowhere, to multiple Bowling Balls half buried trail side miles out, to bike windmills, There is quite a bit of "art" spread out in the area. "More Pimps" had a whole lot of Vegas "hooker cards" decorating the bushes and rock crevices along the route. Trailheads were easy to verify, and nasty drops tended to be "marked".

Some spots were more"creative" than others with what was going on in the rocks....

In General, a really good place to ride. "Different" than the usual vibe of Moab or Fruita, or even Gooseberry or Red Canyon. Feels like a hidden, secret place, even if it's really not that secret. The boys had a great time.

We were protected by Sean's Cock the entire time, so no bad Ju-Ju befell the group. Though he did let his Cock loose a BIT too much at times.... (And Many thanks to Sean B. and his Cock for all the pics here...)

Now if it will stop raining and snowing here, MAYBE we can get back to riding some of the local goodies. So far, it's been JUST enough to get a tease of the good stuff. Maybe soon. I guess it BETTER be soon, as we are all running out of time.

Yep, Vernal

2011-05-08T20:50:00.007-06:00

Nothing to see here folks. Move along.......

OK, turns out there really MAY be some good mountain biking in Vernal, Utah. In spite of some "iffy" weather for the first day, we had a ripping time in a very unexpected corner of Utah.

First off, there really IS a 30 foot high pink dinosaur at the edge of town. And one with cute eyelashes to boot.

Decent camping in the red rocks north of town, conveniently located adjacent to the trailhead for 4 trails. Kinda handy. The scenery is not as mind-blowing as Moab, or even parts of Fruita, but still worked out OK for us. Someone even brought a beer-drinking cock. It was always getting loose.

Have a bit of a conflict about saying ANYTHING about Vernal and riding. The riding is VERY much like Fruita 15+ years ago. No one around, fun, ripping and NARROW trails built FOR bikes. We saw 10 other riders TOTAL (counting parking lots..) in 4 days of riding, and only 3 of those actually on the trails. 6-8 inch wide trails, snaking around the desert, with the odd bits of rocky technical goodness thrown in. Part of me wants to just say "nothing to see here, folks... Move Along". The Local bike community there is still trying to attract riders, and is INCREDIBLY friendly. Troy at Altitude Cycle goes out of his way to orient visitors, help send you to the good rides, and fill you in on the latest goodies. A strange and refreshing change from the Front Range, and most "destination" riding areas. I've never had the local shop owner give me his cell phone number since the shop would be closed the next 2 days, "in case we had any questions". Even had a "monster", semi alpine, downhill shuttle run to send your buds to their death on

I want to see their riding scene thrive there, but am not sure more of the "swarm" of spring/fall visitors will be a good thing in the end, given what seems to happen to places like Fruita. Anyway, all my paranoia aside, had a GREAT 5 days out there, LOVED the trails, and would have NO qualms about a repeat visit.

Worked pretty well as a "spring training camp" for me. I managed to ride myself into complete meltdown in those few days. Fixed my lack of spring riding all at once.

Should have more pics and some seat/bar cam video later, but till then, some comic relief from the trip. Those NARROW trails seem to have a bit of a "soft shoulder" at times.... Enjoy

Where?

2011-04-24T22:31:00.005-06:00

Time for that spring trip. Road trip for a little mountain biking and desert time. Where do all the cool mountain bike kids go for the spring trip? Why Vernal, of course.

Uh, pardon me... Where?

No really, Vernal, Utah.

The Only City in Utah NOT founded by Mormons, and now, like so many places, the "new Moab". We'll see about that, but the Beta says there are lots of trails, and not a lot of folks. Seems like somewhere worth checking out, and so far, I have yet to road trip anywhere in Utah where the riding sucked. Moab? Great, but been there enough (Though, there is a LOT of new trail out there.......). Hurricane/Gooseberry? Wonderful. Red Canyon/Brian Head? Excellent. Vernal has some rough company to go up against.

Once more, We'll be going behind the Zion Curtain, risking scarce & bad beer, all just to find some more dirt to ride on. What could be better.

A quick update on the Voodoo acupuncture stuff. It does wonders. Pretty much amazing. No matter if it's just in my head, I am sold on the stuff. I will keep letting her at my immune system, as every time I go, I get nothing but stronger.

Voodoo

2011-04-17T14:55:00.009-06:00

Been remiss in adding any new ranting or otherwise random gibberish to the blog-like thing here...

While usually my sick & twisted mind overflows with SOMETHING to write about (worthwhile or entertaining is open to interpretation...), It's been a slow couple of weeks in the writing department here. Lots of that silly "life" stuff has been creeping in, taking a lot of the seemingly limited time left over after the "job" time has expired. And then there has been the goo.......

Goo, Lung Butter, Gack, Phlegm, Snot. I seem to have been on a slow descent into a breeding ground for any lung-related minor snot-fest that drifted within a 30 mile radius in the last many weeks. Weather perked up just in time for me to slide into weeks of semi-up-and-down pseudo sickness. Never REALLY sick, but never well.

After weeks of this nonsense, in a moment of utter frustration of starting what looked to be ANOTHER round of snotty-head-cold-lung-junk sweetness, I went to see the Chinese Medicine/Acupuncture lady. After a talk and diagnosis of a "Wind Invasion" and an "Unbalanced Chee", she decided I needed to suck some of the bad stuff out with a bit of cupping.

Then just made my foot and right ear resemble a porcupine.

What seemed like hundreds of acupuncture needles in a couple of visits, and the Voodoo stuff is doing wonders. I'm back on the bike, actually feel human, and WANT to get off the couch. It's been effective to the point of being scary. Turns out there is a "Phlegm" acupuncture point. Who would have thought? And, even stranger than that, sticking a needle in that "phlegm" point seems to work, and pretty quickly. Like setting off a drain. I'll let you all know how this little experiment goes.

So, while I've been adventuring thru a bit of cross-cultural alternative medicine, it looks like a bike race season broke out for the roadies here in Colorado. Even a dirt road race, with an apparently amusing "sandpit" section. Now THAT is going to spice up a road race. Even the post race whining is quite entertaining. But nothing compares to the facial expressions of those who are trying to stay up in a pack in 3 inch deep gravel at speed. Step thru the next dozen or so pictures. Priceless.

Where to start.....

2011-03-31T18:45:00.009-06:00

Where can you even start? Last couple of weeks have had so many strange and wondrous things to rant about in the cycling world, I don't even know where to start, but I'll try.

Number one for entertainment value is the ongoing circus that is City of Boulder Open Space. Now, mind you, ANYTHING the leaders of the bubble get into is good for lots of reliable laughs, or in the least some amazement, but the ongoing battle in Boulder over the management of the area under the flatirons is funny even by Boulder standards. It's ALL here....

Hate filled warnings of the end of civilization!

Angry Rangers!

Stupid Pros!

Conspiracy Theories!

(Now, why would County open space staff "find" the Angry Ranger trail on the 16th, then wait till the 28th, 2 DAYS before the meeting where MTB access would be decided on to "report" it to the world. And really, hauling reporters up to show it off??? come on..... when was the last time an unapproved social trail got front page news?)

First, do I think Boulder mountian bikers deserve a couple of connector trails out in the flatlands? Yes. Am I impressed by a great, mature, reasonable fight BMA put up in the face of a highly prejudiced process and long-entrenched core of NIMBY "everything that's not like me" haters. Hell Yes. Is the spectacle incredibly amusing? Yes again.

All the letter to the editor nastygrams, and better yet, the online comments have been the source of much amusement for months now. Seeing any idea of compromise slapped down in a hail of bigoted verbal artillery fire can be entertaining. Best comment so far was "Only in Boulder could a mountain biker be considered ANTI environmental", and it is so true. Strange that two pillars of "liberal-ness" can be SO exclusionary when it's not "people like us". Boulder & the Bay Area might someday be able to share their open space amicably amongst themselves, and maybe learn from some more of them backwards-ass places like Larimer & Jefferson counties. (sorry Boulder, That must sting......)

When you've gotten your fill of NIMBY Boulder whining, you can always count on the protectors of competitive cycling, the guardians of all that is good on 2 wheels, the all-knowing oracles from the UCI to rush in & find a way to promote their own self interest..... err, oops, I mean CYCLINGS best interests. All you can say about THIS NONSENSE is WTF? Are you for real?

It's amazing how 3rd rate executives of 3rd rate organizations of 3rd rate sports seem to always devolve to this point. Inflating self-interest in an attempt to make themselves more important that they are. We've even seen that in the not too distant past in Colorado cycling. Now the UCI wants to extort money from bike manufacturers to insure they are "safe". $10K to get a carbon frame approved. Wow. Thanks UCI, frames are FAR too cheap now. At least the fake stickers are already available. (Not that I'll ever have to worry about a UCI race.......)

And, if shaking down the small time manufacturers in your 3rd rate sport to inflate your sense of power might have made the knower of all that is good for cycling, Pat McQuaid, even the smallest bit fatigued, you wuld not know it as he sprang to rescue cycling in the USA from a terrible plot (Boulder Parks & Open Space people??) to destroy it by letting pro road racers use radios. For one, I am very glad Mr. McQuaid and his UCI justice league is out to save us from radios, 34mm cross tires, and faulty plastic bicycles. Oh, the Horror!

NO Radios dammit, this means you, you silly americans !!!

Well, what a fun filled couple of weeks. What will the arrival of spring bring for entertainment? Maybe we can get the UCI & the Bubble people together to fix even more of our problems. I can't wait, Stay tuned.....

Winter Options - Biathlon

2011-03-22T22:40:00.000-06:00

We have a couple of the High Peaks Masters boys who do a lot of nordic skiing after the cross season. Lots of the mutant bike racers out there also nordic ski, and pain & suffering of that kind of sickening intensity could only make one a better bike racer. Of course, OUR mutants have gone & taken it a step further. Yep, just a BIT further over the edge of reason by mixing firearms and the anaerobic haze into a twisted, strange sport.

Think about doing this....

1 - Do a lap on a cross course at full on, total gagging race pace.

2 - Stop and try to shoot a TINY target a LONG way off.

3 - Pay dearly in time for each missed target by riding a bunch of extra little laps.

4 - Repeat

Nuts.

But that is Biathlon.

The HPM boys & girls have been tearing up the Colorado Biathlon scene all winter, and even putting in top 5 finishes at Nationals. Pretty impressive. Kirk & Matt here toting a rifle about the winter countryside.

The Biathlon season is wrapping up, and while I can't quite "connect" with the nordic ski thing (Give me slogging up a 1000 foot skin track in the backcountry instead....), it really is a facinating sport.

Each fall, us non-nordic ski types can get a taste of it, without resorting to skinny little skis, dainty boots & really expensive wax.

The Colorado Biathlon Club runs a Summer Biathlon each year. Running or mountain biking replace the skinny skis, and they even have club rifles to use. I had taken up our Nordic Mafia's invitation to give the wussy summer version of the sport a try last fall.

Sounds easy, huh. Here is the view downrange from the firing line. NO, Really, there is a little black dot you are supposed to hit down there........ Somewhere........ Really.

You Don't usually think lycra and guns......

My dear wife, on her first day ever firing a gun. Note the three hits (black targets now white...) she got on one round in her race. Hard to take, being shamed like that by your better half.

Here's me missing a whole bunch of those little black dots 50 meters away.

Here is the look you get on your face after missing all 5 shots, and realizing you were probably going to KEEP missing a bunch, and are going to get VERY dizzy doing MANY 100 meter penalty laps. The guy is writing "Danger... can't hit broadside of barn.... never let back on range..." on his little clipboard.

Here's me getting dizzy doing a bunch of penalty laps. I am just noticing Kirk about to catch me and leave me for dead after doing only one penalty lap. Really helps you feel good about yourself.

All in all a fun deal. Felt like a cross race after having to repeatedly chase down people who could shoot better than me. Any of you out there who do the nordic thing might want to think about giving it a try.

Course, I dreamed up a more "interesting" version of this hallowed olympic sport....

If you can find a way to shrink the pool of competitors enough, you start to improve your relative atheletic performance, no matter what the sport.

Is it time?

2011-03-15T20:05:00.005-06:00

What with the sudden saving of daylight that just transpired, some strange, unpleasant & generally hateful kind of bike racing already happening in Colorado, and the sudden hordes of bike rider type things suddenly flooding the roads betwixt the Bubble & "not Boulder" lately, it must be that time of year, when the species "roadus-bikerus-shaved-legus" comes out of hibernation & begins a new year of suffering.

Normally about now, I'd have had a good dose of skiing in by now, but given my reluctant & slow-healing hip, I've not been able to get out. Course, now that I have a glimmer of ability looming, we seem to have gone back to a "no Snow" period. Perfect timing. Of course.

Since riding is not causing me issues, I've started at least trying to get out a bit and start re-teaching my butt how to sit on a saddle. Even one or two (ug..) road rides.

I have become a firm believer that indeed Riding Road bikes, (not bad Spelling...) Makes Baby Jesus cry.......... OK, maybe riding road bikes just makes ME cry.

In all fairness, I really AM happy to see the spring hordes arrive. While I may enjoy making fun of those who "Ride not like myself", as long as you are out there on two human powered wheels, it's all good. Of course, given the near biblical earthquakes, tsunamis, and fires here lately, maybe it's not just me whining, but maybe really the end of the world? Probably not, it's more likely just me whining, thankfully. But feel free to keep track.

While I've gotten most of my old & twisted body semi functional with huge doses of Physical Therapy, rest and beer, I seem far from being "ready" to really ride yet. Can't yet bear to start droning around on the pavement just yet. I keep dragging the cross bike out on the dirt roads, trying to put off the inevitable road bike "training" time I'll need to start soon. Is it OK to do your "base miles" on the dirt? I hope so.

Enjoy the coming of spring. It seems to be getting close.

Next Season

2011-02-28T20:21:00.008-07:00

On Saturday, February 26th, The ACA hosted the 2011 "Cyclocross Promoters Meeting". Much more than a gathering of promotors to arm-wrestle for calendar dates for the next season, it generally is the "public" input for what teams, promotors, and (Gasp...), maybe even the lowly bike racer wants to see for the next season. As just one more hint of the growth and popularity of cyclocross, the small conference room reserved for the function was about half the size needed for the turnout. After squeezing people in close (I refused to cuddle up TOO close the Frites & Mayo guys... self preservation is important...), the meeting got underway with a round of introductions, along with people asked to answer the question "Colorado is producing WAY more National Champions than the rest of the country, What are we doing RIGHT here in Colorado to make that happen?"

Most of the answers to that question went from the predictable, things like living at altitude, the "culture" and history of racing in Colorado, and the like. More telling was the repeated mention of LOTS of HIGH Quality race events, on many types of terrain, and DEEP, Highly competitive fields. The lots of different races comment would become key later on when discussing options to "fix" the problem of too many racers. One very interesting point was that officials who have worked races in other parts of the country noted that Colorado is unique in getting 45 minute races for all groups. Apparently many other areas of the country have "fixed" the problem of lack of daylight & a lot of categories by giving most groups only 30 minute races.

In the "good problems to have" department, the ACA notes that for Colorado Cross, we are "victims of our own success". This really is only because of the perception that large fields and combined categories on the course at the same time are a "problem". While I can see that starting in the back of one of those 125 rider Beer-drinking-dads races can be an issue, and while the 45+ & Open Women have really outgrown their shotgun marriage, there could be a lot worse problems to be solved by a governing body.

Limiting on-course warm up seemed to be the single biggest positive change in increasing safety and decreasing "incidents" related to big fields. Any time you can keep 2 groups with vastly different skill & speed levels apart, that should be nothing but good. Problem already "fixed"? Course design was talked about a lot as a way to mitigate the issues of large & combined fields. "Longer" lap times (more than 6 minutes...) to spread riders and groups out along with more RIDEABLE width and limited bottlenecks on course to allow ample passing were seen as a way to mitigate the bad parts of the big groups. These would both help a lot, but may impact or make it more difficult to use some of the shorter and more "bottlenecked" classic courses, like Interlocken.

So, while all formal decisions will be made later on by the ACA Board of Directors, what changes were discussed, and what can your average rider look forward to next year?

Photo - Lisa Robinson

- "Split" or 2 day race schedules. There was a proposal to run ALL Colorado Cross Cup races on a bastardized version of the 2 day schedule used at States last year. While spreading out groups, it would also put each cup weekend on a single venue for both days, and limit a lot of riders ability to pick which or both days to race. Promotors hated it. No one wanted 2 days of work per race. This went down in flames. Look to ONLY see the 2 day schedule at States again. The discussion about a LOT of high quality races was instrumental in killing this off.

- Less Colorado Cup Races. 4 races plus states or so seems to be the target number. Finally going to limit the number of series races to WAY less than 50+ percent of events.

- States NOT in the bubble. OMG. End of the world as we know it. Alpha Bikes & Frites & Mayo Velo Club look to have states, likely on the Arapahoe Community Park Course. A great score, and I am CERTAIN those boys will have a real treat for us come late December. Do note that States is moving back a couple of weeks, to the week before Christmas. This move provoked by the move of Nationals to January. (You all have fun up there in Madison in January.... Me thinks I'll pass.)

- Call ups will likely be based off crossresults.com ranking points, at least for the Non-Cup races. More consistent enforcement of the grid & removing upgraded rides were also mentioned. ACA is giving access to the member & results database to crossresults.com, so ACA numbers will be the index, eliminating name conflicts. I for one think this will be a better approach than the disjointed effort of last year. The ACA heard the complaints that call ups were not very consistent, and are trying to address that.

- Chip timing. easier & faster scoring of big races. Even individual lap times will be available in the results database online. Geek out.

- Race day schedule. A "sub-committee" under the ACA Technical Committee was formed, and is tasked with "tuning" the existing one day race schedule & Group splits. NOT an easy task, with MANY "special interests" to serve, and limited time in a day. DO look for a Pre and Post Daylight savings time schedule. That will be looking to leverage the longer daylight hours early in the season to spread out the schedule a bit.

Photo - Lisa Robinson

Again, all this will trickle out as actual policy is implemented. Will have to watch carefully to see how it all comes together, but there sure could be worse problems to have for the sport in Colorado. Participation numbers were available that shows average riders per event is almost exactly flat on the road racing side since 2006. Yet in the same period, cross participation has almost doubled. The ACA sees that, and seems to be reacting well to it. A good thing to see. If you are curious, the Frites Guys posted a preliminary schedule on their blog.

Long way thru the rest of the winter, a long summer to pass, but It's been fun thinking cross for a few days. Should be an even better season ahead. Now if I can only find a sliver of fitness & speed to bring out to play next year.

Hope

2011-02-27T22:37:00.005-07:00

Hope springs eternal.

For me, that means MAYBE I can really get healed up enough to get in some decent ski days yet this season. Did an easy tour up in Rocky Mountain National Park with my dear wife today. While I am slowly healing up, it turns out I am not anywhere near ready for a real ski day. While I did not set myself back in recovery, am just plain not ready.

Also managed to depress myself, after seeing the HUGE amount of snow that has been piling up while I've been doing nothing but PT and whining. There is more snow piled up on the Front Range than I've seen in many years, based on the road cuts on the Bear Lake Road. Course all this has happened since I managed to take myself out of ski mode. Time yet left in the ski season. All that hope is to get healthy enough to enjoy some of it. Well north of a foot was sitting there after the last "little" storm. Wah. more whining.

I WAS healthy enough to sit on on the ACA's Cyclocross Promotors meeting, held saturday in Golden. In yet one more indication of the growth of cross, the room turned out to be WAY too small for the number of people who turned up to talk about Cyclocross in February.

Much more than just hashing out the race calendar, much of the time was spent trying to understand the desires & direction for cross in Colorado, what is happening in Colorado racing to manufacture SO many National Champions, what "type" of races do both promotors and riders want to see, and how to handle the growth in rider numbers in a fair & reasonable manner.

Thankfully, some of what I see as the "less desirable" ideas did not seem to be gaining much traction, and there was frank discussion about some things that could be better for cross next year.

Outside of a VERY full calendar, running from Early September to the week before Christmas for states (Moved a couple of weeks later for more race weekends, and to better time with January Nationals...), Nothing completely decided so far (In the end, the ACA Board makes the decisions for real changes…), but Seems like most changes might be for the better.

More on my take of the discussion about cross in Colorado soon.

Broken

2011-02-13T21:13:00.005-07:00

So when even a crappy "athlete" like myself gets hurt and can't do much, it's amazing how it affects much more of one's life than just the workouts. Not that I have any life changing injury, actually just the opposite. I have one of those silly and stupid injuries. Never seems like you even get a good story from many of the "old people" hurts you can get. Somehow, "there I was, in my kitchen..." just does not have a lot of storytelling impact.

So, I've managed to do some kind of bizarre damage to a couple of muscles in my hip of all places. Seems as if the "piriformis" and "tensor fasciae late" are not merely decorative in nature, and really do perform some anatomic function. When they are all screwed up, all sorts of normal activities can become non-functional.

Skiing? Out. Riding? Out. My weight training "program"? Out. After a couple of weeks of nothing but therapy, I am getting a bit batty, and getting grumpier every day. My plan for future dominance of the Colorado cyclocross fields thru a super-secret off-season weight program? Stopped before it got started. Getting some of the GREAT snow that has been dumping over the last 2 weeks in the nearby hills? I don't even want to think about that.

I am beginning to see an end to the "broken" period, but it sure seems that any kind of healing goes into complete slow motion in the 50+ year old world. Well, at least I can look forward to the "PT Stretch & Roll" workout twice a day for a little while longer. Whee.

OK, Ok, enough of the Crooked, broken old guy whining. I did have a pleasant surprise to find myself pictured in the last issue of Mountain Flyer Magazine. They did a real nice spread on the Ft. Collins USGP race, with a bunch of nice Eddie Clark Photos from that mud-bath.

While I would LOVE for it to have been a shot of me railing around in the mud in one of his typical, stunning action shots, it really captures what I do much better than race my bike. It's a great shot of me, beer in hand, mouth wide open, screaming at Katarina Nash to go catch KFC. There was even a second shot in the series of Pete Webber hammering uphill, and and race announcer, fellow mid-packer, and all around good guy Larry G.'s head leaning over the course tape. Oh, well, gotta take what fame you can get.

Rise of the 'Mericans?

2011-02-01T22:25:00.002-07:00

The CX Worlds went down again this weekend. . Poor KFC missed the big prize again. Again. Are there curses in cycling? After seeing KFC absolutely DOMINATE all season (Again..) and not be able to pull together the ONE day she wants, you have to start thinking........

The American men are really starting to show promise in the "big leagues", with all the finishers staying on the lead lap, and in the top 1/2 of the field. Page and J Pow in the top 20. Staying on the lead lap may not sound that great, but after my personal experience in the 35+ and 45+ open races around here, and seeing the last place rider at worlds being listed a ** 7 ** laps down, it really is a great result.

The women are showing more depth, again all finishing on the lead lap, and in an AMAZING U-23 race,

all the up & coming USA guys stayed on that lead lap, and Danny Summerhill got into 13th. The U23 race was not the usual Euro cross race, all spread out. 10 guys in a tight bunch into the "Laatste Ronde". More fun to watch than the usual spread out laps of a euro race, good, tight racing. All in all a better showing for US cross than in many past years. Good on all the big boys & girls for their efforts. Cracking the euro-Belgium stranglehold is going to be a LONG and painful task.

Back in the local cross scene, we actually had a bike race in January. Kinda hard to tell, as more pople clicked into 303 Cycling's "should we have races in January" poll, than managed to make it to a race in the heart of the Boulder Beast. With "issues" getting up to ski that day, I went ahead with an experiment. How does a Cross race feel after 6 weeks of not really riding? With maybe 3 rides since States, I knew it would be "different" to go flog myself with NO riding.

The result of that experiment? well, it all hurts about the same, you just have one speed. a rather slow speed, and no real ability to actually "race" people. With a fun and reasonably technical course, I was able to get a good start, and hang in OK in the really small field. Based on the bike handling, or more like lack of bike handling, most of the other folks had not been riding either. Made for a fun slalom thru the falling, fallen, or generally frazzled middle of the field. Lots of frozen sand and a few bits of snow & ice to spice up the eastern half of the course made for probably the best course I've been on at Boulder Rez. With NO aspirations or notions of "racing" turned out to be a LOT of fun. One of those things about cross, the ability to be in the back & have a great time.

On a less fun & more personal note, after surviving a full season of Cross with no real injury, I managed to tear up some strange muscle in my hip, in my kitchen, 2 hours after that last "experimental" race. Keeping me off the skis, off the weight training, on the PT, and pretty much insane. Oh boy, below Zero temperatures, snow & a broken body. I guess winter is in full force. Why do the real injuries never have a good story to go with them? Always something stupid.

Wrap-up

2011-01-17T00:08:00.021-07:00

Due to popular demand, I will delve into a post-season examination of the ups and downs of this recently ended, or maybe more appropriately, the soon to be ended Cyclocross season. Do remember you can still get all "hup-hup-ed" one more time this year, as there is one more Boulder Rez race coming up.

OK, OK, I know "popular demand" may be an overstatement, but for this particular blog-like operation, even ONE comment is definitely popular demand. Listen to the people, I say.

The Downs

Dry Weather

All right, this one was really all my fault. Yes, I was the one who bought a new set of wheels glued up with Tufo Cubus, JUST to have a set of mud tires after a couple of mud-baths last year. Didn't use them much this year. At least we had the New Belgium Cup. Was getting pretty sick of dust by then.

The Colorado Cross Cup

While probably a good start to a meaningful Colorado season series, and seemingly pretty successful at one of it's big goals of improving promotion "quality" in more races, This one just seemed to not be a big hit with the general racing populace. Scheduling was a bit strange, with many back to back cup races (2 cup races in one weekend), and almost as many races designated as Cup races as last year. I firmly do not believe that running Cup races after mid-December is going to go well, as I don't think the participation will justify the Cup status, just make the few people at the top of that points competition artificially extend their season.

Also the "Cup only" points for call-up was pretty much universally despised. Between most riders not knowing which races "counted" and riders finishing well in "NON-Cup" races never getting a call-up, it just brought more hard feelings than "buzz".

No Nationals for me

USAC making CX nationals available to only cat3 and up pushed me out of the party. Is it really the right thing to do? Yes, I fully agree that it was needed to decrease field sizes to manageable levels, and keep it fair for the actual jersey contenders, but I did not like it for 2 reasons. One, it was MASSIVELY cool to race there, and see how you faired against those who DID have actual shots at the Jersey. Two, it seems to be a turning point for a change in the "inclusiveness" of Cross. Getting too big for an "All-Comers" national championship race is a mixed bag in my mind. A qualifying points system is the only real solution, but with the USAC/ACA/OBRA mess, looks unlikely.

Oh, and I would point out that THIS crappy cat-4 did NOT get lapped last year......

The Ups

The continuing growth of participation in Cross

125 Rider fields in the Beer-Drinking-Dads race is a great thing. 45-50 every week in the 45+ is great. While I don't see a reasonable set of changes to bring those 35+ cat 4 fields down to a more competitive and reasonable size, there sure could be worse problems to have for a sport. The "standard" race day schedule was pretty much destroyed by the HUGE influx of old guys in all the Masters categories, and will have to lead to some creative thinking for next year. Sharing a course for multiple groups is quickly becoming unworkable. Not enough daylight to spread out the demand and add groups. Don't be surprised to see a "2 races on one day" setup coming soon, IF the ACA can find enough officials to staff 2 venues every weekend.

The other upside of the rapid growth in cross vs. the stagnant numbers for road racing is that the ACA, and maybe even the USAC are seeing cross as a stand alone discipline now, not just a sideshow. Cross will now be getting more of the governing body resources and attention that it deserves.

Great new race venues

Westminster City Park - Brian at Boulder Racing has a classic in the making here. While FAR from a course I could do well on, it's a winner. My vote for "most desired to stick around" course.

Flatiron Crossing Mall - The move out of (but near to..) the bubble was a great move by Chris at DBC Events. While you could hear the whining from the drum circles and car-less hippies of the Republic as far away as the mall the race happened at, the venue is pure genius. I can't think of a better place to expose non bike geeks to what is really the only viable cycling discipline for non-riding spectators. Not only that, it was a crazy hard and crazy fun course to race on.

Honorable mention - Again to Chris & DBC for the Aspen Lodge race. Again, crazy hard, but finally getting there on the technical side. A blast to race on.

All in all, the quality of courses was way up pretty much across the board this year, just another good sign for the sport.

USGP and NACT events in Colorado

Getting a stop on BOTH national Cross Series tours in Colorado was a coup. Boulder Cup was a great show. The New Belgium Cup in Ft. Collins was a great race, but missed the mark as an "event" in a lot of ways. The venue out in the middle of a random field with no parking, Car-dealership ambiance, and a frightening lack of pre-race publicity & information flow dulled an otherwise great event. These issues led to about zero "appeal" for the non bike geeks out there. The venue was really sub-par for a National Calibre event. While the course was a good one to race on, I'm hoping they can find a more appropriate venue for next year (if they retain the USGP stop...)

And now, My special awards for the year.

The "Oh Yea" award

To the ACA for the timely passing of a "new" rule allowing them to honor other governing bodies suspensions and other sanctions. This could also be the "Chuck Coyle Memorial - Oh Yea" rule. At least it's on the books now.

The "Crawling out from under a Rock" award

Goes to The UCI & USAC for their intrepid efforts to keep all of the cyclocross community safe from the danger and pure evil that is lurking in any tire wider than 33 millimeters. I, for one, am glad that the old frog-dudes who live under their slimy rocks at the UCI come out into the light and continue to make such declarations. Without them, the anarchy that letting someone with a 2mm wider tire loose on the unsuspecting populace of the world would cause is just beyond comprehension. You have to give credit to the folks down in the Springs for them helping out on this with the "no one can ride these at Nationals oh wait now that you threw a few hundred dollars and hours of re-gluing time at your new narrow tires we want to help you save money so go ahead and use them if you are in one of those categories we don't care about anyway unless you are an elite where it really matters anyway" approach to rule making.

2mm. TWO F&#@!%g mm. God, you'd think that this would be self-sorting. Who would want to lug a 2.1" tire around on a cross bike, anyway. Thanks for your unwavering attention to the really pressing needs of the sport.

My Personal High point

From a personal perspective, my highlight had to be the first two races of the year. Mid-pack in the 45+ at the first "kiddie prison" race and 14th at the Boulder CX Series #1 race at Xilinx started me off thinking I was going to hit my goal of consistent top 20 finishes in the Beer-Drinking-Dads. Never again did I see that kind of result for the year. Be it me liking the heat, poor training, or phase of the moon, I really missed that kind of result for the remainder of my season, but those 2 races were great.

The Aspen Lodge Course, as well as 2 days of slithering around in the muck at the New Belgium Cup also are the other memorable races for my year.

Still, it keeps coming back to one of the best things about racing Cyclocross. no matter where you finish, top 10 or 54th place, it's always fun to race cross. It's what keeps me beating myself up, coming back, week after week. Once again, I get to use my favorite, and seemingly endless cry of "next year!"

Friday time-waster

2011-01-14T09:01:00.004-07:00

Here is my way of helping you waste 10 minutes on your Friday......

The "On-Board Diaries". a look back on the 2010 Cyclocross season, from the "middle of the pack viewpoint". Sound or headphones recommended.

The Dreary Season

2011-01-08T15:20:00.008-07:00

So here we are, stuck in the deep, dark armpit of the calendar year, always cold, always dark, sucking the motivation clean out of your system. The malaise has even seemed to spread to my desire to ramble on this here blog-thing, since it's been a while since I dreamed up anything witty (or otherwise) to post here. I had the idea to do the "best of" posts, but then noticed that everyone else in the blog world had covered it very well, and that I was not getting to it in a timely fashion. So none of that kind of rambling from me this year. My late christmas present to you all.

Over here, the new year has brought less thoughts of the old & new years, and more realization that there is more to "life" than racing bikes on the weekends and working. I did notice that apperntley all that time racing over the fall was paid for by neglecting other things, like house cleaning, maintenance, quality time with my wife, and lots of little things like that. I came to that realization after noticing that I've been doing a LOT of the "Cleaning and Maintenance" type chores lately, and not nearly so much riding my bike & playing.

With the new year comes the end of my "break" from "training" that I generally do each holiday season. I end my break by starting back in the gym to work on building up my scrawny body, trying to rebalance the parts of one's body that cycling leaves "lacking", (in other words, everything from the waist up...) and my ongoing battle to keep my right knee and leg functional. Three knee surgeries in, and that knee is no longer working to original spec, and even worse, the riding leads to a dependance on the "good" leg, and even more imbalance. LOTS of one-leg "therapy" each winter seems to be what is keeping me out of the knee replacement shopping store for now. Course the biggest downside of working out in the gym is working out in the gym. Not that much fun. Oh, and that crippling sore muscle thing for the first few weeks is a joy too. Hard to get excited about a bunch of training blocks that involve nothing but picking up and putting down heavy items repeatedly, but it seems to be a requirement for this guy if I want to continue to function.

Did see the appearance of Cyclocross Magazine Issue # 11 in my mailbox today. Always gives me a little bit of a motivational boost to do the ugly and "not Fun" parts of trying to imitate a competitive athelete. Also it has been fun watching a Cyclocross ONLY magazine take off and mature over the last couple of years. Amazing, compared to the "olden days" of cross. This issue even has an article on Greg "I've finally gone completely round the bend" LeMond. I can't wait to see his latest ramblings, given some of his past performances.

Is it really winter?

2010-12-28T11:04:00.003-07:00

After a dry & dusty cross season, and NO snow up here in "not-Boulder" all year, it's hard to really realize it IS winter. After getting up to the high peaks and onto the boards for the first time this year, I guess it really IS winter, just not here in town.

Those first few turns each year are always a bit of a shock to the system, even more so when one chooses a day with nothing but wind-blown, heavy MANK to try and get you ski legs back. Headed up to my favorite close-in "stash" with the wife for a "quickie" yesterday. Strange, almost NO snow in Nederland, but higher up, the snow is about average for this time of year. enough snow & wind to drift over the road & keep us from driving to the actual trailhead. I am not sure what the out of state folks were thinking when they drove their mini vans past the multitude of parked 4WD trucks and into the 18" deep 100 foot long wind slab over the road, but there were cars buried to the door frames both going in & coming back out. Both groups sharing the same "wow, what happened" look of surprise on their faces. The Avvy shovel coming out of the pack seemed a surprise to them ( and maybe salvation.....)

Plenty of cover, even if the snow was a bit on the crappy side. Got to try out the Chest Mount for the Go-Pro even. Here is my really crappy skiing in wonderful Hi-Def.

I Really enjoy living where we do. not a lot of places you can sleep in, Head out of the house at the crack of 11:00, have some quality time in the winter woods, get a few turns in, and be snarfing down great Thai food back in town by 4:30. Gotta Love it.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-22T12:06:00.006-07:00

I guess that my "Post-Cross-Down-Time" is extending to my writing of this little blog. Been hard to dream up something witty (or even boring..) to rant on about here. I have been quite enjoying the relative mental freedom that NOT racing each weekend brings, along with a hefty dose of total slothfulness on the physical front that can make one wonder what all that suffering and training is really good for anyway. I ALMOST fell off the wagon when it came to Boulder CX#5 last weekend, getting the last minute itch, but managed to fight that urge off Friday night with the help of a quality malted beverage or two.

Been thinking back on my season, revisiting my motivation levels, and starting to think about next year's "Cross campaign". Probably enough for it's own little story, so I'll have something to bore you with later.

Going to the ACA annual Club meeting was it's usual entertaining and even sometimes informative self. Seeing the ACA make an investment in new technology for next year was good to see, as well as cross taking a MUCH more front row seat with the association, given the massive growth in Cross participation, while the road side remains quite "flat" in riders. At the least, I think having all that lap time data from the chip timing is worth the $35 more to me. Lots to geek out on with that data coming at most races next year.

But, with the end of the year, as well as most all of Cross season, jut want to wish anyone still reading my drivel a Merry Christmas, a great New Year, and most of all thanks for reading, Thanks for all the feedback, and thanks for racing with me all this season. It really does feel like a family (OK, maybe a severely warped and dysfunctional family, but a family...) each weekend. May your Christmas tree have some new Carbon under it, and your New Year full of great rides!

Thanks again for reading.... - Dale

Post-Partum

2010-12-14T19:54:00.004-07:00

Well, a weekend without racing 'cross has come & gone. A bit of vicarious racing by checking in on the goings-on at Bend was about the limit of my racing after finishing up at states. After having such a great time up in Bend last year, it was hard to not head back this year. Conditions there looked to be EVERYTHING ours were NOT this year. For those who did make it up there, I am truly envious. As the season wound down, my old & battered body was starting to cry out that it was time to stop racing. Strange thing is that once I did, it just seemed to seize up completely. The week after states, and my first "off" weekend

had left me REALLY hurting. Strange how old age and denial line up to repay you for beating yourself senseless for 16 races over 11 weeks or so. I am only going thru a little bit of withdrawal for now, but should be able to regain normal social function again soon (my wife may not agree with that assessment...).

It's a bit strange not thrashing myself into a froth each weekend. going to take a bit to get used to it. Saturday there is a race in Lyons, but I will only be headed over to do the suffering gig if it's nasty, muddy or snowy, which seems quite unlikely this year. Those of you going, go beat each other up for me, OK? I'll be over here trying to get back to "normal".

States OFF-bike videos

2010-12-07T22:37:00.004-07:00

Sorry for the delay...

Pile-o-videos from various State Cyclocross Championships below. Tried to get something from each race, but the post-season, post race "refreshments" seemed to distract me, and I missed quite a few.

35+ Open

Colo. State CX Champs - SM35+ Open - Start from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Colo. State CX Champs. - SM35+ open - Lap 1 end from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

SM 55+ Open

Colo. State CX Champs - SM55+ start from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

SW 35+

Colo. State CX Championshios - SW35+ Start from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Colo. State CX Championships - SW35+ Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Colo. State CX Championships - SW35+ finish Sprint from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

SM 3

Colo state CX championships - SM3 Lap 1 early from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Colo. State CX Championships - SM3 Late Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Single Speed

Colo. State CX championships - Singlespeed Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

That's all, folks!

2010-12-05T21:45:00.005-07:00

It's a Wrap!

OK, I think That's enough. the beatings can now stop.

Yea, Yea, there are a few more races to be had this season, but this kid is going to "call it" at 16 races over 11 weeks. (now if it's snowy for the Boulder series finale in Lyons.... well..... Maybe....)

It's been a lot of fun, as usual, but enough is enough. Did the back to back days at the Colorado State Cyclocross Championships this weekend, and as usual, it was the standard fun-fest. DBC Events put on a decent show, on a fun, if a bit less technical course than I would have liked to see. Pretty much back to my "normal" finishing place in the beer-drinking-dads-league, and also got my normal place in 45+ open as "dessert" to the 35+ 4 "main course" on Saturday.

Kinda beat after the FULL weekend of 'Cross to finish off the season, so for now, just the BAr-Cams From the weekend. Have more OFF-bike video, or check out 303cycling as they have been great about linking them this year.

Saturday, 35+ cat 4 Lap 1 Barcam

Colorado State CX Championship - 35+ Cat4 - Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Sunday, 45+ open Lap 1 Barcam

Colo. State CX Championships - SM45+ Lap 1 Barcam from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Thanks To everyone I've had the pleasure of racing with this year for a great season, and for putting me in my place all year. I am already plotting for next year's revenge!

Descent into Mediocrity

2010-11-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

Guess I'm just going to have a mediocre end to my season. Raced at the Boulder CX series # 4 event today. A new and REALLY good venue, and NOT in the bubble. Race was at Westminster City Park, a large grassy park with a huge set of stairs and a LOT of elevation delta to work with. Again, a great course from Brian at Boulder Racing, even if it was WICKED hard from a gasping & breathing hard prospective. I really hope this venue repeats next year, it's a great place for a race.

For me, went about like all my resent races, a decent start, then faded back to a mid pack finish. Lots of climbing, along with some deep and very draggy uphill grass just peeled all my speed off, and led to a lot of chasing on the downhill & twisty parts of the course for me. Just can't seem to find ANY legs here in the waning part of the season. Coming to grips with the realization that it seems like that is how I'll be ending up, chasing & fading more than my early season, where I was at least staying in the front. Ah well, it is what it is.

Enough whining, states is next week, and will mark the end of my racing season. Hard to believe the season is "already" over. Time Does Fly, does it not?

Here is the video grabbed for the day, Just the 35+ open and 35+ 4s. I even managed to forget to mount up the Bar-cam today, realized I didn't have it when I lined up. Old age is really catching up.

Boulder CX#4 - SM35+ Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Boulder CX Series #4 - SM 35+ Cat 4 - Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Happy Thanksgiving - Cycling style

2010-11-27T19:25:00.000-07:00

Well, with the weekend almost over, It's time to go race again. Boulder CX Series #4, and at a new venue, Westminster City park. Should be a good one. All rested up, legs even felt "snappy" on a little "opener" ride this afternoon. Closing in on the end of the season.

I AM thankful this Thanksgiving season. I have a loving wife, the health at 50 years old to let me go beat myself to a pulp and race cross every weekend, no personal issues or other crisis to bring me down. All in all a great life right now, and I am quite content. I am also thankful I am comfortable enough in my own suck-itude as a bike racer to not get tied up in the Pro-Wanna-Be life. It seems to get you into a place where one does things you must know are FAR from right.

I've not been much for paying much attention to the "Big Stars" of cycling in the last 10+ years. In my early bike racing career, I did follow the pros (usually the "lesser" underdog types...) like so many. Then later on, I lost interest in them, just too far removed from the world I know to make much of a connection. Sadly, I kind of replaced that admiration to the pros with a more localized version. I saw some of the local masters riders as more "human" people, ones I could actually see (briefly..) in a race, and could get a true appreciation for their talents by lining up and getting my rear handed to me by "Working Stiff" riders of a more down to earth level. I've Joked about getting on EPO, both with friends and even on this blog. I've joked with friends about those guys at the front of these local "masters" races as needing to get drug tested. Sat & compiled our list of "suspects" needing testing over beers. Never did I really think it might really be needed.

I don't Know this guy. Nor do I care. I only know what I've seen in the press, and frankly, if this is the best story you can come up with after being busted for buying Performance Enhancing Drugs online, I can't see you as being any better than the legion of big-time pro dopers who try and whine their way out of being caught. At least the other 45+ guy in Michigan busted in the same way had the PROFESSIONAL-ISIM to come clean, admit his errors, and even explain why he did it. Lots of people are on the cusp of being a "Pro" bike racer. Pro means a lot more than what color your bar tape is or how fast you ride. It reflects your approach to what is now a job. Based on the story so far, one of three things happened here

1 - Bought & used PEDs for own use
2 - Knowingly Helped teammates buy PEDs
3 - Cluelessly allowed teammates to use your identity to buy PEDs.

None of these are Pro. All are stupid. No matter what really happened, it's just one more black eye to the sport I love & Enjoy so much. Thanks. Thanks a lot. Happy Thanksgiving from you.

I am going to go race my sorry, slow, clean ass this weekend. I'll still have fun. You will not.

Yum...

2010-11-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

Lesson from this Sunday's Cyclo-X race: Puking (even just a little bit...) while racing slows you down.

After a good start, and actually riding comfortably in the top 15 the first 2 laps, my stomach decided to crawl up & try to strangle my brain for making it race in the cold, windy morning. nothing like the taste of bile in the morning to get you going Yum.

Frustrating. Finally see a glimpse of my earlier season form, and am riding well, only to have a thing like eating something that did not "agree" with me kick me right back to the middle of the pack. Was a reasonably fun course, almost completely non-technical except for the BMX track, which was kind of a hoot. Only wish they would have turned off the wind blowing off the lake. Coldest I've been "warming up" ever.

Bar-Cam video from the Beer-Drinking-Dads-League (with the barfing and gagging sounds edited out for your protection....)

Cyclo-X - SM35+ Cat 4 Barcam from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Couple of weeks left to redeem my "meh-ness". Hope my revised "program" will get me back to a bit better form to end the season on a bit higher note. The glimpse of that better form yesterday was at least encouraging.

Stranger than Fiction

2010-11-18T22:00:00.001-07:00

Back when the Euro Trolls from the UCI bat cave decided that a 34mm cyclocross tire was so vastly superior to a 32mm cyclocross tire that it would turn a 3rd rate old-guy Cat 4 like me into a Tim Johnson-killing-uber-cross racing machine, tell me you did not think " Really? What are they going to do, sit on the line and measure tires with a caliper?"

Well, From Sunday's New Belgium Cup UCI Women's elite race, I give you the call-up pen scene.

UCI official on far left, with call up list
UCI official on far right, guarding the gate to the grid
Current National Champion & overall bad-ass KFC in the middle left

And to her right, the UCI commissar & chief official.
Note the direction of his very serious gaze. Front tire maybe?

What's that in his hand?

Yep. It's a set of calipers. Surely set to 33.000mm

They were actually running a caliper over each front (and sometimes BOTH) tires as each rider was called up. Big Brother is here. Even had one of the local back of the pack kind of women told that the 32 Dugast on her bike "were a bit tight", but let her race anyway. Generous.

I guess cross is now really part of big time cycling. Are millimeter-wave body scanners and full pat-downs next? All over 2mm (2 mm for gods sake....) of tire width? Really? 2 Millimeters people.

Then the bat-cave wanna-bees at USA Cycling, after telling everyone in August that anyone over 17 will need a less than 33mm tire to race Nationals, sparking a massive sell off in 32 mm tires as lots of people grumbled away in their basements stripping & re-gluing to smaller tires, suddenly changed their minds. Now it's just elite, Jr. 17-18, and U23 that need to get their tires "caliped" at the races. So nice of them to help with their stated intent of "The intent was to reduce the amount of equipment that many riders feel they must bring in order to be competitive."

Got any 34's laying around? As for us local, wanna-be nothings? I don't know about you, but I'll be out Sunday at Cyclo-X with my "monster meat" Flexus 34s. Good luck keeping up with those babies.

New Belgium Cup USGP - More Video

2010-11-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

Some more video from the Ft. Collins USGP. Happy to have our Chief Videographer back in town. Videos courtesy of Lisa Robinson. Enjoy.

Saturday 45+ Start

New Belgium Cup USGP - Saturday 45+ Start from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Saturday 45+ Lap 1

New Belgium Cup USGP - Saturday 45+ Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Sunday 35+ Lap 1

New belgium Cup USGP - Sunday 35+ Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Sunday 35+ Lap 1 +

New Belgium Cup USGP Sunday - 35+ Lap 1+ from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Sunday 35+ Lap 3

New Belgium Cup USGP - Sunday - 35+ Lap 3 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Sunday 45+ Lap 1

New Belgium Cup USGP - Sunday - 45+ Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Sunday 45+ Lap 2

New Belgium Cup USGP - Sunday - 45+ Lap 2 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

New Belgium Cup

2010-11-15T14:15:00.002-07:00

After weeks & weeks of dry, warm & dusty, we finally got it. REAL cross conditions. My back of the pack results don't begin to reflect the pure, unadulterated, suffering-filled FUN that was had this weekend in ft. Collins.

Saturday was just as cold and damp as you hoped for. Slimy, Muddy Goodness. The course was beautiful, milking a bunch of small features on a big hillside, that when muddy, became a bike handlers course. HARD course, lots of long hills, and what with the squishy ground made those going up do some serious breathing

The muck made it really fun, trying to gt around while in close proximity to a whole pile of other folks.

New Belgium Cup USGP - Day 1 - 35+ start from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Conditions led to much carnage, especially as the thawing continued.

New Belgium Cup USGP Cyclocross - 35+ carnage from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

I failed to start my Bar-Cam on Saturday (Doh!), but did manage to remember for Sundays snot-fest. I got to line up next to Rod Yoder, who you can briefly see disappearing up the road with Gary Thacker in tow. (I had noted to Gary prior to the start that he should probably follow Rod, and not me. This sage advice helped Gary a lot at the start....) I've been watching Rod's videos, and you can learn a lot about racing from watching him move thru a field. NO hesitation, just go, whatever line you get. You can watch Rod's video to see what the front of the race looks like, but here's the middle/Back view.

New Belgium Cup USGP Cyclocross - Day2 - 45+ Barcam from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Should have some more video later, the Chief videographer was back on Sunday.

What a weekend. I'm beat to a pulp. Usually a 45 minute cross race doesn't hurt my upper body like this, but the courses were SO hard, and SO techinchal, that my back, core and arms are a wreck today.

Race came off great, my only complaints would be parking, and that the New Belgium beer tents RAN OUT OF BEER just before the star of the Elite mens race. Oh the horror. Hope that the USGP can return again, nice to have 2 "big" races here each year.

All in all a Whole lotta fun.

It did....

2010-11-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

Wow. what a weekend.

It was kinda like this....

Only with more slime. More later. Spanked. Need sleep.

Will it, Can it?

2010-11-10T21:59:00.000-07:00

Will it? Can it?

Will it (finally) be sloppy & slimy?
Can it (finally) get wet/snowy?

Maybe, Just Maybe it's finally here. Some REAL cross weather and conditions.

So, maybe it's once again time for this

I'm really done with dry, dusty & fast. Time for some real bike handling challenges. Maybe, just maybe, the time is this weekend. Please, join me in prayer now.....

So, time for the USGP Ft. Collins race. Anyone else notice that the flow of information about said race seems a bit, well, sketchy? Wasn't even all that obvious from the race website WHERE the race was. The USGP "Technical Guide" even shows it at another venue. The race looks to be out in a random field in South Ft. Collins, not exactly what one would think for the premiere cyclocross series event in the country. I'm hoping it all comes together better than it's looking right now. It's quite a score to lure a USGP race here from the coasts, and would hate to see a poor event leave Colorado Cross with a black eye. Chris G. showed how to take a race to a high visibility venue, and how to put on a GREAT show. The bar is high, I just hope the Ft. Collins guys can meet or even better exceed that show.

The best information I've found for the race is not even on the USGP site, but the Ft. Collins ride/bike site. Even has a psuedo course map up there. Fly-Overs and multiple beer gardens are interesting touches.

From the Your Group Ride site....
Real deal racing begins on both Saturday and Sunday at 8am with a full schedule of amateur racing before the pros take to the field beginning at 1:45pm with the professional women's events followed by the pro men at 3pm. Both days will feature an Expo chocked full of bikes, gear, and lots of great food and drink with several New Belgium beer gardens located throughout the venue.

Mmmmm.. Multiple beer gardens.... ahhggg.....

We shall see soon. I'm rested back up, everything hurs a lot less, and I'm ready to battle out my back of the pack place in the 45+ up there. Put on the mud tires, lets get dirty.

Withdrawl

2010-11-06T23:10:00.000-06:00

Strange to NOT race this weekend. Warm, amazing September day... oh, wait. It's NOVEMBER.

Went for a nice easy spin on the open space trails today. The rest is helping. Most of the nagging pains are already better. Oh, and it IS nice to not get up in the dark & head out in the cold.

Still, I miss racing this weekend. Rest may be good, but I am having trouble with not getting out there. Obsessive? Maybe. Next week, I start sneaking back up on the pain threshold again. Even looks like FINALLY the weather may turn. I am way ready for some slime this year. Got to slow the fast guys up a bit. Maybe, just maybe I can put on the new mud tires for Ft. Collins.

Pray for it....

Mid Season Checkup

2010-11-03T21:20:00.000-06:00

Onboard camera from the Saturday Beer-Drinking-Dad's race, edited down & sound-tracked. Funny how what you remember from a race may or may not be what really happened. Might have something to do with depriving your brain of oxygen for 45 minutes. Not sure. At least I was following thru on my race goal of not waiting to pass, but just doing it. (Been watching Rod Yoder's cam footage, and he has NO hesitation in going by people.....) Some nice elbow-throwing and even a crash or 2 in here.

Colorado Cross Classic - SM35+ cat 4 bar-cam from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Time for a "mid" season checkpoint. While I try and walk the fine line between obsessive-compulsive neurotic "result wanter" and beer-handup "who cares" Portland cross-dressing crosser, I do try and have a reasonable set of goals for each season, and would really like to at least get a LITTLE better each year. Now that I have been in enough races to get a "statistically valid" sampling of race results, and have had my first full on physical meltdown for the year, it's time for a little look at progress to goals.

I had three measurable goals for the season....

1 - Place in top 1/2 of the field in ALL races finished (well, in the 35+ cat 4, not the 45+...)
2 - Consistently place in top 20 of the 35+ cat 4 races entered (> 50%)
3 - Get one top 10 finish in the Beer Drinking Dads League

Well, one out of three at mid season isn't bad. I track my placing as a % of the number of finishers in a race. Helps level out field size variation against place. I've been doing that for years, and it makes it easy to track your results year to year, without small & big fields messing with your mind (15th in a 30 rider field is not the same as 15th in a 100 rider field...). You can even see your "% beat" on crossresults.com if you don't want to track your own statistics, so I must not be the only one to dream up this method. I am running about 6% better on average finishes compared to last year, mostly due to consistency. Not having multiple really bad races helps the average a lot. So the question is whether a few percent improvement year over year is "good enough", or am I an abject failure as a bike racer? Myself, putting on my "race for fun" hat, I am going to go with "Good Enough". After the first 2 races, a 23rd in 45+ (50%) and a 14th in the BDDL at Xilinx #1 (16%), I started thinking I was maybe on a breakthrough season, results wise, but then reality reared it's ugly head again for the next few races. Now I think it was the less "deep" fields, and the heat that helped my placing out for those 2 races, more than any sudden Sven Nys gene implantation or sudden EPO regime.

This year I have been consistent to the point of being creepy. outside of the first 2 races, I've been finishing in what is apparently "my" place in every race. 41% within 1 % race to race. Not anywhere near my goal of consistent top 20 finishes, but well inside the always top half base goal. Top 10 is looking like a bit of a "stretch" goal for the year.

OK, Given the checkup results, and that a bazzilion intervals now probably won't really help make me faster, not to mention are NO fun and would hurt a lot, it looks like serious rest may be the only real option to try and get out of that 41st percentile. This means I will skip both races this weekend, and hope the easy time off will let me recover and suddenly start riding in the front 10. (or maybe 5 or so places further up the fields. Ft. Collins USGP will tell a lot about how the rest of the season will go for me. till then, I hope all of you hang out, drink lots of beer, and help me reach my goals.

That, and some snow or mud to help slow down the big motors for me would help, too. Pray for snow. Please.

Mid Season Meltdown

2010-11-01T21:48:00.001-06:00

This weekend seemed to be the last straw for my ability to recover. Racing both days for the last couple of weekends seems to have been a bit much, even with little to NO "training" during the week. After the Boulder Cup race Sunday, I needed to lay down in the bed of the truck for a good 5 minutes after the race before I could even take my helmet off. Just plain beat up, in spite of 2 great days to race.

Seemed to have pulled a muscle in my side from the side cramps I managed on Saturday, got some kind of strange, searing pain in my ankle, probably from running the sand pits at the Rez, and now a couple of lovely bruises from going down like a sack of hammers on the off-camber grass at Flatiron Crossing on Sunday. All that just as the topping for melting down several times in one race Sunday.

Saturday went about as usual for me. 35th place in the Beer-Drinking-Dad's League. I have managed to finish in the 41st % of the BDDL group pretty much every race this year, and Saturday was no exception. Waddle thru the sand, get passed, claw back a bit of my losses on the loose, twisty bits. Repeat. Best course I've seen at "The Rez" in my opinion. Hard, rough & dusty, but just enough sand to make it "The Rez", without going overboard. Good Day for many of the HPM guys, so all in all a great day.

Sunday was not so good. Great course, which was MUCH better than the video preview seemed to show. Crazy hard physically, with enough technical, slick off camber to severely penalize even a small loss of focus. Like an old truck on a cold morning, I could not get myself to start, so I knew it was going to be a long day. Actually started out OK, first lap was not that bad, given how I felt. Then we got to that long climb up the path & on the grass for the second lap. The descent into hell began. Rest of the race hurt more & more to go slower & slower. Would melt down, blow up, recover and get going OK again, all in one lap. Even managed to crash on the "not so" off camber, managing to fall with the grace of a dropped bag of hammers. Just suddenly found myself lying on the ground wondering "what am I doing down here??"

OH NO from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Managed to avoid being lapped by 2 places. Had I known they were that close, I might have practiced better "lap management" to avoid that last lap. 59th of 70 finishers. Welcome back to the 45+ open ranks.

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

I have to pass on my good words & thanks to Chris G. and Dan DeP. for a great course & event. Doing a race at a high-profile venue like the mall, then putting together such a great race, expo, and event is just what will expose the sport to a wider audience, maybe even "non-Bike" people. Great job, keep pushing the envelope! Oh, and can't forget to than the seemingly millions of event volunteers working the race. Thanks to you all, too!

Thinking it's time for a little break. With the USGP race coming in Ft.Collins, and me already signed up for the 45+ races both days, It seems prudent to maybe skip the races this weekend. Maybe a good break from hammering myself each weekend will move me out of my current "rut" and get me finishing a bit better. A bit sad, as I was looking forward to the "Sumo poker" at the Schoolyard cross, it looked like fun.

Sorry for a lack of other race video this week. Our Chief Videographer is down with the flu, while also nursing a banged up hand from getting off cowbell duty and getting in to mix it up ON the courses. I was way too comatose to even realize I should have taken any video on Sunday. There is some good barcam stuff on 303 Cycling from Sunday, and a bunny-hop-fest from Cyclocross Magazine from the pro men to tide you over.

New rules

2010-10-29T17:05:00.000-06:00

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

2010-10-27T22:00:00.002-06:00

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.