Smithers MINNEAPOLIS

2012 UCI Masters World Cyclocross Championships

I came down to Louisville with no expectations and the only goal of making it to the final race. There were qualifying heats for the finals but with a field of less than 80 riders the qualification heats were only used to seed the starting grid for the final race. So the event started with me already making my goal, SUCCESS! Thus I reset to a new goal: SURVIVAL.

My qualification race was on Thursday and with all day rain soaking the venue the day before the event turned into a muddy slog. We were originally supposed to do three laps but the course was so slow that the organizers shorted it to just two laps. Bike handling was important in some sections but for the most part it was a power course in the mud. Slow going in the muck on the flats and considerable time off the bike running the hills and the wooded technical sections, two laps were plenty of time to suck the life force out of nearly everyone on the course. I know that I was thanking Chewbacca while riding to the finish that I was not going to have to put in another lap.

By the end of the day Thursday the course was chewed up, rutted and beat to hell. Then the temperature dropped and everything froze. More qualifying heats took place on Friday and the reports I was reading online during the course of the day sounded grim. No one died (that I read about anyway) and the organizers made what adjustments they could for the championship races on Saturday. However, the ability to ride fast over the slick rutted course was going to be paramount for any success.

There was some sections of the national championship course last weekend in Madison that were challenging, but at least there were sections where you could ride hard and fast and all the downhills were smooth and rideable. Today there was probably less than 100 meters of the total course that could be ridden hard and fast without having to worry about what hell was beneath your tires. The start of the race was fast as usual but it seemed like all but a handful of riders were holding back slightly, as if they knew what disaster was to come as soon as they left the safety of the paved roadway and hit the grass. Just before we came off the pavement I think I heard someone scream “Protect me Tim Tebow!”

Those with the confidence and experience to ride across the slick and deeply rutted course simply rode away, never to be seen again until the power spray washers. I have simply not been racing cyclocross long enough to have dealt with conditions like this in the past so my entire race was spent desperately trying to keep the bike upright, not always successfully, while trying to be patient in waiting for the sections of the course where I could actually ride hard. I would try and ride the cleanest line that I could find, otherwise tacking back and forth across the width of the course trying to ride above and over the ruts instead of in them. But inevitably I would find my front tire dropping into a deep rut that would pitch my bike in a different direction than my forward momentum. Most of the time, following the utterance of profanity, I would be able to force my wheel out of the ride, or put a foot down and correct my line to keep moving forward. But quite often I would find myself simply ejected off the bike. The worse example of this took place at the bottom of the flyover descent when my bike shot to the right while I was leaning left. Once I sailed over the snow fencing someone yelled “Hey, get back on the course!” which was the only heckle so far this year that actually nearly cracked me up. Props to whatever dude made that yelling.

What really made things special was the half inch or so of thawed muck on the surface of the course. As opposed to Thursday where the mud would just kind of splash around on stuff, this stuff was like paste that stuck to anything that touched it. Every single lap my bike got heavier and heavier with mother earth catching a free ride around the park. By the end of the race it was on everything, two inches thick on the downtube, stuck to every spoke, packed and piled up from the bottom bracket shell into the chainrings and over the top of the front derailleur. My bike was probably twice as heavy at the finish of the race as it was at the start.

It would have been nice to see how I could have done against the field on a cleaner day, but cross is cross. As my son would say, you get what you get and you don’t make a fit.

Cyclocross season is over, but I am already starting to think about next year.

Photo courtesy of @velolouisville!

Posted by Smithers at 11:22 pm in Race/Ride Report | Permalink | 1 Comment »

hey

I envy those who can brush their teeth away from a sink. Once I stick the toothbrush in my mouth my saliva glands start working overtime and soon I would be drooling all over myself if I did not have a sink nearby.

That’s about it.

Posted by Smithers at 7:04 am in Miscellaneous | Permalink | No Comments »

Cross Nationals 2012

It was a fun but challenging day in Verona today.

One of my goals for this year was a top 20 finish in the Masters 40-44 event after finishing outside the top 40 last year. I felt great in the non-championship race on Wednesday and, although conditions were changing by the hour all week long, I was hoping that I would have feel just as good today.

I took my recon lap on my mud tires because those were the tires that I used in the race on Wednesday. While the course was still frozen an hour and a half before the start of my race it was clear to me that it was going to warm up fast. This, along with the fact that another race would take place on the course before the start of my race told me that I would be best served keeping the mud tires on for the day. Regrettably, due to the fact that course was still frozen hard I ended up puncturing my rear tire. I had sealant in the tire but it seemed to be taking a while to seal up and thought it appeared to be holding air I made the decision (along with expert consultation with Matt Pacocha in the pits before the race start) to go with the grifo tread wheel (he pretty much told me not to start a race with a tire that I didn’t trust).

I lined up in the 4th row due to my national ranking, not quite as good as the first row start from last Wednesday but I had a plan to move up positions at the start. This plan was foiled immediately by my typical bad start but I came off the pavement and into the grass in a position that I considered “OK”.

Then it was into the ruts. Wow. It was pretty much chaos the first lap with guys crashing into each other, crashing into themselves and blowing off the course. I got through the first rutted section without too much problem and was sitting right around 20th position. I was also feeling really good and started passing some guys on the way towards the first climb. But it was clear that I was on the wrong rear tire. While the front mud tire was holding on around the corners the rear tire was giving up pretty easily both in corners as well as any greasy straight sections.

Never-the-less, one does what one can and I did my best to keep on my bike and keep my bike on course. I only hit the deck once and that was coming around the right hand corner before the barriers when my rear tire washed out. I was up pretty quickly and back going again but another incident would drastically affect the rest of the day.

Coming down the grass/mud section directly adjacent to the start/finish payment I was riding to the far right next to the iron course fence. The wheels caught a rut, the bike shifted to the right, and I ran into the iron fence. My momentum kept me going but my thumb and forefinger went instantly numb and I worried that I may have really hurt something. After a few moments I started to panic when I was not able to use my thumb to shift and I quickly looked at my hand to see if there were dislocated fingers. Everything looked fine but then I noticed that the thumb button on my shift lever was damaged. Checking my shifting I realized that I could only access the 25, 23 and 21 tooth cogs. This left me in great shape for the climbs but I quickly spun out on the downhills and often found insufficient gearing on the flat sections of the course.

With 3 laps to go and a few more difficult moments keeping the bike under control I thought about bailing out on the race. But quickly I decided that since I was not really hurt and I seemed to have enough gearing to at least do some damage control on staying in the top 30 or so I may as well keep at it.

Trying to keep the bike under control, riding fast where I could and slow where I needed to I finished the final 3 laps without problem and ended the race in the top 25. Not quite what I was looking for but considering being on the wrong rear tire and having limited shifting options I am satisfied with the result. Plus it’s always good experience to race in difficult conditions.

Next week I head to Louisville for Masters World Championships and the end of the racing season.

Photo courtesy @BendCyclocross

Posted by Smithers at 11:19 pm in Race/Ride Report | Permalink | 4 Comments »

2012 Cyclocross National Championship Course Review

A review of the course for the 2012 USA Cyclocross National Championships

The starting grid is on pavement and from the start the course proceeds to the north around a sweeping right turn and then past the finish line. 20 meters past the finish line the course leaves the pavement and moves onto the grass. Last weekend there was a slight chicane in this area to get around some trees and this could be the first pinch point of the race for a large field of riders (marked 1 on the map above).

The course continues around the perimeter of a soccer field. This is a fast section of the course but is also totally exposed to the wind, as is much of the course. Once around the soccer field there are two rapid left hand turns before the first pit access that can also cause a pinch point for a large field (marked 2).

Once past the pit and around the left hand turn the course begins a gradual climb. Again this section is open to the wind. Following the long straight section the course turns right and pitches up quickly (marked 3). While some riders were shifting down to the small ring for this climb I found it no problem to stay in the big ring. The climb continues around a left hand turn and then a slight right turn while the grade flattens out some. You are still climbing at this point however. It’s not until the course connects with a gravel road at the top does the climb finally end (marked 4).

At this points the course descends rapidly. It follows the gravel road for half the descent before moving onto some fairly rough grass for the balance of the descent. You carry a decent amount of speed into the right hand turn at the bottom into the stair run up. The run up is good but at the top of the run up the course goes immediately back down dropping down to the paved road. If the course is icy this section will be full of death.

Once on the pavement (marked 5) it’s back up a nice climb along a sweeping right hand and left hand turn before a hard right back onto the grass. It’s flat for just a few moments before a hard left hand turn (marked 6) followed by a long drop. At the bottom of the descent is a hard right which was following by a double barrier section last weekend. No guarantee that this barrier will be in this location again.

At this point it is back past the pit for second access followed by some slow turns around the trees and a run through a short sand pit (marked 7). A short fast section followed by a hard left, through a wooded area and then it is time to climb again (marked 8). The climb starts gradually but then punches up the final kick to the top (marked 9) before taking a right turn, dropping down across the road and then continuing a gradual descent. The right turn (marked 10) is fast and pretty narrow and caused me problems just about every lap on both days.

Following this turn it’s a left pack onto pavement, a right back into the woods for a bit and then the course exits onto pavement again right in front of the starting grid to head to the finish.

Positives – The climbing as it is nice to get some elevation challenge for a change. So many courses are pretty much flat with only a short punchy climb here and there. It’s also a nice big loop and my guess is that the elite riders will be putting in lap times just under 8 minutes if the conditions are the same. If the conditions are bad it’s going to be a mighty slog. If they don’t do anything janky on the transition from pavement to grass just past the finish line then there should be plenty of time for riders to string out before any technical sections.

Negatives – The grass sections as they are bumpy as hell, especially on the descents. Hold on tight. If it’s cold and you lose sensation in your hands then maybe wear shoulder pads because you are going to hit the deck. As I said previously, the venue has that “middle of nowhere” vibe going for it. There is a residential neighborhood next to the course but otherwise there is not much going on out there.

If you have a flat or mechanical past pit access #1 and pretty much marking #6 your race is over. A problem past pit access #2 and marking #10 will be pretty much the same. Too many climbs and too much time to lose.

That’s about it, I will post further updates if I think of anything more. Feel free to ask questions in the comments if you have any.

Posted by Smithers at 2:04 pm in Cycling | Permalink | 6 Comments »

CX Nationals, preparing for the worst

Cross posted from Helmeteering.

Some banter on the Twitters today got me thinking.

For those of you who raced in Kansas City in 2007, what I am going to tell you next is not news.

It can get cold in the mid-west during the winter, really cold. Shockingly cold.

If you are planning on participating in the 2012 US Cyclocross National Championships in Madison Wisconsin next month and have not had the pleasure of enjoying this kind of cold in the past be warned, the first time you experience sub-zero temperatures it can seem like a real slap in the face. That being said, it’s still totally possible to race and compete effectively in these kinds of conditions with proper planning. Training is totally not necessary, just planning. Which reminds me of a funny story.

I was originally a cross country skier and only came to cycling as cross training for my primary sport. In 1987 I had registered for the American Birkebeiner and was spending the winter racing various qualifying races around the mid-west in order to improve my starting position for the Birke. One of the races I had selected was the Superior Ski Classic in, amazingly enough, Superior Wisconsin.

The winter of 1986-7 was particularly grueling for cross country ski training because there was almost no snow to speak of. That’s not to say that it was not winter, because it was still incredibly cold that season. There was just no snow on the ground in which to train upon. Many dedicated cross country skiers were driven to the side of the road, out there in temperatures well below freezing, using roller blades and roller skies to try and train for racing on snow that stubbornly refused to come. It was totally pathetic, trust me.

Due to this lack of snow the Superior Ski Classic was moved from the challenging, but dry trails around Superior to the frozen surface of Lake Superior itself. The morning of the race I awoke to air temperatures of nearly minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. When I went out to start the car to head to the race I was horrified to find that my battery was stone dead, frozen overnight. I ended up taking a cab to the start of the race, fully dressed in my racing gear, and arriving at the starting line a full 20 minutes after the start of the race. By that time the air temperature had risen to a balmy minus 10 degrees.

I paid the driver and ran from where the cab dropped me off to the staring line, jumped on the skis and took off. The starting area was an inlet off the lake, tucked into the woods around Lake Superior, and the race wound its way in and out of a few of these inlets. It was cold, but the woods around the frozen lake provided a nice wind break from the gusts blowing out on the open frozen water. In the protection of the woods it was pretty easy to actually work up a sweat even in those cold conditions.

At some point however the course had gone as far as it could go traversing these areas off the main lake itself, and it was time to work our way back to towards the start. The only way to do this was to head out onto the open lake and cut across as the crow would fly had he not been smart enough to find somewhere warm to be instead. Coming around the bend of the final inlet the racers were fully exposed to the blasting wind, big gusts that would drop the wind chill temperatures from minus 10 back down towards minus 20 or below. The body heat and sweat you had worked up vanished instantly. It was pretty miserable stuff and it probably took 15 to 20 minutes to work back across the lake to the wooded and protected area where the race began. And that was the end of the first lap…only three more to go. I spent over two hours out on the lake that day in those conditions wearing just about as much as I do when I am on the bike.

And I survived just fine. Sure, there were periods of the race that were not particularly pleasant, but how many races have you done that were 100% within your comfort zone? And how enjoyable was that really?

Your race in Madison is going to be 45 minutes? An hour tops? No problem. Yes, your hands are probably going to get cold, your feet too. But you are not going to lose digits being outside in the winter for an hour. It’s not going to be particularly pleasant, plan for it. Be ready for it and accept that fact that it is going to be cold. Have lots of clothes at the start to stay warm on the grid and have those clothes ready at the finish. Put some Vaseline on your face to avoid frostbite if it’s really bad. Cover your ears. Use your Aeroshell. It will be fine. And if it’s not fine it will be over fast. I guarantee that you will be thinking about this race a quarter of a century from now, and these memories will make it all worthwhile.

And by the way, if you end up taking a cab to the start of the race make sure you have a plan to get back to your hotel once the race is over. Take it from me. Like I said, training is not necessary, just planning.

Posted by Smithers at 12:03 pm in Cycling | Permalink | 1 Comment »

Princeton Valley Cyclocross Race

So I went over to Eau Claire and raced CX last Sunday!

I would not have been there at all as I had registered for Jingle Cross and had a motel room booked and everything but then my car crapped out Friday night and put the whole weekend in the bin…or so I thought. Then Ped reminded me of the race that bschwartz had listed on the MCF forum. So we went over to Eau Claire and raced CX.

The race was on a golf course which was pretty amazing since I would think golf course owners would be the first people to want to keep dirty bike racers off their property. It sounds like the race promoter is married to the daughter of the guy that owns the course who also may have used to race bikes…or something. Anyway, it was a nice section of land to race on but I wonder how the course would look today if it had rained all weekend? But it didn’t. About the course:

Pros:

- The start. Nice long rollout on pavement and then an open grass section before the first real turn. Allowed things to get strung out some before the first turn. Not that it really mattered because one guy towards the front crashed there and the leaders were gone anyway. It was the first of his 5 crashes of the day…

- Slow, turny sections. Separates those who know when to ride slow from those who panic and want to ride fast all the time and crash.

- Sand pit. Not rideable but that was fine. Sand in a CX race is always PRO.

- Short punchy climb. Nice.

- Fast but safe and wide open decent. Nice.

- Controlled death ditch. Yes there was a ditch but the promoter was smart enough to put a barrier right in front of it so there was no chance to ride it and cause death. So it was just fine.

- Run up/ride up after the death ditch. You could pick what you wanted to do and there was an actual advantage to making the correct choice.

- Long open sections before the finish without any technical stuff.

Cons:

- Course “twine”. Course tape is fine. Course tape breaks if you ride into it. Course twine is not fine. It wraps around your handlebars and rips your bike out from under you. Not safe.

- Narrow woods. Pretty much a single track through a wooded section with an exit slightly wider than your handlebars plus 50%. 3 meters may seem excessive for course width sometimes, but 1 meter (or less) is certainly way too narrow.

- Start delay. Not a huge deal but we are a bit spoiled with our rigid start schedule around here. It’s nice, especially when it’s cold, to know your race is going to start on time after you are all warmed up, not 15 to 20 minutes late.

- No laps cards. Again, not a big deal but something you get used to after a full season of watching the laps tick by.

- No defined wheel pit. Someone just needs to decide where to put it.

On the whole this race was a positive for me and makes me question, if I was in the same position next year would I bother with Jingle Cross? Actually, probably not. Two 40 minute races five hours from home in exchange for a 60 minute race less than two hours from home? I would chose the shorter drive.

Plus you got beer and food with your race entry fee! The traffic jam on I94 during the drive home was a drag but there is not much you can do about that.

So bravo Overdrive Cycling Club, thanks for the race!

Posted by Smithers at 12:34 am in Local Cycling,Race/Ride Report | Permalink | 5 Comments »

MN State Champs!

Congratulations to the 2011 Minnesota State Cyclocross Champions!

Posted by Smithers at 11:32 pm in Local Cycling | Permalink | No Comments »

68

Posted by Smithers at 9:40 am in Cycling | Permalink | 1 Comment »

Last chance to pre-reg – Number pick up!

Packet pickup party and last-chance pre-registration will be at Angry Catfish Bicycle and Coffee bar ( 4208 28th Ave S Minneapolis) Friday evening starting at 7:00pm. Pickup your numbers, hang out, talk trash w/ your competitors, write checks your legs can’t cash…

Last chance to save $$!

Posted by Smithers at 11:18 pm in Local Cycling | Permalink | No Comments »

Volunteers wanted!

If you are not doing anything Friday, Saturday, Sunday and would be interested in helping out with the MN State Championships we would love your help! Just send me an email with what time you might have available one of those days and we will give you something to do. Nothing too difficult or time consuming, thanks for any time you might have to be able to help!

smithersmpls@gmail.com

Posted by Smithers at 10:38 pm in Local Cycling | Permalink | No Comments »