Kings CX

Kings CX has come and gone. It was a great weekend of cyclocross and my first taste of two back to back hard races. Few will argue that cyclocross is the hardest thing you can do on a bike and boy do I feel it this morning.

The race was located at an old golf course in Mason, OH. A great course, great layout, and best of all, great promoters. A good course can be made bad if the people running the race don't care about the racers. In addition to the racing, there was a cool raffle with really nice prizes, which I didn't win.

Day 1

Saturday's race the course was run clockwise, one double barrier, one triple log barriers, a run up with a barrier to force you to get off, and a sand pit. The day was hot, dry and fast. I had pre-registered early so I got a front row start, not that it helped me too much. I did not get off the line as quick as I would liked and got shuffled to the back. About 20 minutes in, I flatted my brand new Grifo XS! I only had two races on it. Luckily the pit was pretty close and rode the flat rear tire to the pit and picked up my spare. I finished the race on the spare and rolled in for 14th.

I tried to revive my Grifo XS with Stans but the hole was too big and could not seal the hole. All I got was a stream of stans out of the side wall. Unfortunately that is part of racing.

Day 2
Rain and mud were the words of the day. On my drive over, it was raining really hard. By the time I arrived, the rain had slowed but still drizzling. The Cat 3's raced in super slick and muddy conditions. I quickly changed and headed out on the course when the 3's race finished. I did a slow preride on the slick course and kept stopping to let more air out of my tires. At one part of the course, the bike slipped out and I banged my knee on the top tube. This was not a good thing to do an hour before the race. I gingerly rode the rest of the course, sprayed down the bike and hopped on the trainer to hopefully get the knee feeling better.

The rain had stopped, the course drying and another front row start. Again, I did not utilize my front row start and got shuffled to the back again. I couldn't get the legs going at the begining but slowly they started to come around and I started to catch up to groups ahead of me. I battled it out with a few guys for most of the race, including Scotty. I would catch up to him in the corners but he would gas it on the straights and pull away from me. In the end I got 17th place. 2 out of the money and also 9th over the weekend, another 2 out of the money.

Afterwards, I was destoryed. The worst part of a cross race, is the after the cross race. My stomach felt like someone ran over it with a truck.

I'm leaving for Interbike tomorrow and won't be racing until the 3rd and 4th. I'm taking my bike so I can get some rides in and possibly do my workouts.

Miles: 650

YTD: 6099

Heath Cross

Yesterday was my first cross race of the season. My expectations were not high, I just wanted to go out and get a race under my legs. You never want to be winning races at the beginning of the season because you will simply burn out before December.

With a 4:30pm start (more on that later), I had all morning to do nothing. I went over to the shop and got all my things together and headed back home. I noticed there was a ship notice from Quarq in the email box so my powermeter might come in that day or on Monday. I ran over to the Farmer's market to get some lunch and relaxed for a bit. Then John called me and said my CinQo came in!

I packed up the rest of my things, loaded my spare bike (with no crank) and headed back to the shop. I had to swap over my crank on my A bike to the B bike and install the CinQo. With integrated BB's, the process is very simple.

I opened the box and in there contained my CinQo with new rings (46/38) and to my surprise they also sent me a water bottle, some extra magnets and the new BB mount Magnet holder! Quarq is a class company. They really take care of you. I didn't even ask to have the unit shipped back by a certain date but they Express mailed it to me anyway.

So the CinQo went on, and I had to set up my B bike. Not something to be doing right before the race but had no option. Set the seat height and setback and swapped a stem. Loaded back up and left about 5 minutes behind schedule. The drive was pretty easy and got there about 50 minutes prior to start.

That is if they didn't move up the start time to 4:00pm. All I had time for was to register, suit up, and put on some tires. My warm up consisted of riding to the start line. I would have liked to at least ride the course once but there was no time. Having not raced cross for a year, I put way too much pressure in my tires.

We started the race and got going. Flier said 60 minutes and we all decided to do 45, in reality we did around 55. The course was really nice. Mostly grass, one section of paved path and lots of gravel path. I ate it in once of the gravel sections and had one of those crashes where it seemed like you kept on crashing forever. Nothing major, just a dinged up knee and bashed in shifters. I was able to bang the shifters back into position while riding and kept on going.

I ended up getting lapped on the last lap but I was ok with that. I had no warm up, I crashed and it was my first race. I just needed to get that effort in. However, my Garmin 310XT really sucks. I pretty much have useless data because of all the Data drops. Garmin connect says I averaged 280 watts, while Training Peaks says I averaged 180 watts. I'm going to say I averaged more on the 280 than 180w but I am completely unsure. I may have to just ditch the 310XT and just use it for running. It's just great that I have a $300 dud of a Garmin.

Afterwards, I headed over to Columbus to get some dinner with Isaiah. There was an Ohio State game in town so everywhere but downtown was busy. Lucky for us since we didn't have to wait for a table. I also rode Isaiah's new Honda RC51, a 1000cc V-Twin Superbike. That thing scared the crap out of me. I rode down the street, popped it into second and hit the gas. I was probably doing 90 instantly. The road just instantly blurred and you get tunnel vision. Oh and nothing beats the sound of a V-Twin.

So next week I have two races coming up and hopefully I get a better result. But the season is still long and there is no use winning races this early. My target race is States so if all goes well, I should be flying by then.

Miles: 215

YTD:5449

Long Street Tour + Training

This past Saturday, I went up to Columbus to do the Long Street race. Its always a good time with a good crowd. This race where I claimed my first win. The course is nice with 5 turns and a u-turn.

I packed up and headed out the door at 8am, filled up the tank and on my way. I really lucked out on the driving because it was an OSU football weekend and luckily did not run into traffic there or back.

The prize list was big, paying $600 for the win, paying 20 deep. Less than 20 were preregistered so I thought it was going to be easy money. However, that was what a lot of other people were thinking, close to 40 toed the line. We were set to do 60 minutes plus 5 laps.

During the race, I sat in at my favorite place in the race, near the back. It's not really ideal but I don't have to fight to keep position, which you really had to do in this race up front. At the front, you couldn't sit in or you would find yourself in the back. I did get lazy a few times and got gapped out in the corners forcing me to chase a little but I wised up at the end. 5 to go I made sure I was up front. The last two laps were the fastest and I was in good position to finish. However some guy decided to sit up in the last corner and I had to slow down. I lost a chance at a good result but still ended up in the money at 18th place. Good for $10.

After the race, I headed over to Front Runner, a running store. I needed to pick up a new pair of running shoes for my cyclocross training. I've never been fitted for running shoes and only recently did I know there were different types of shoes for different types of feet. All the employees at Front Runner are runners so they knew what to look for. I tired out many shoes to fit my feet and walking/running style and came to a decision. I highly recommend stopping there if you need new kicks.

So now I'm in full cyclocross mode. I sent in my Quarq CinQo in to get my 46 and 38 rings installed and calibrated. Doing workouts specific to CX and getting ready for my first race this Saturday. My first double weekend is next week on the 19th and 20th then a few days off while I hit the Vegas Strip.

Miles this race:200

YTD: 5234