Kaptain Katsu

Parts For Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:16:00 +0000

Did Santa not get you what you wanted? Or do you have Hanukkah/Christmas/Kwanzaa/New Years money burning a hole in your wallet? Well check out the stuff I have for sale. I gotta pay some bills and buy books for school.

Alpha Q CX-20 fork:

This fork was on my main bike last year. I bought new bikes and can't use this wonderful fork. Typical minor scratches and also two sections of clear that came off. I had those clear stickers on the fork so my SKS Raceblades wouldn't scratch up the paint, but when I pealed them off, it took the paint with it. 23cm of steerer, also lawyer tabs are filed off. $250. Sorry the picture is upside down, blogger screwed it up

Chris King 1 1/8" Threadless NoThreadSet 2007 edition Pretty and Strong Pink. Was used on the fork above. $90

Crankbrothers Candy SL Black:

Was used on my spare bike, saw little use. Had a minor spring issue and sent back to CB for a rebuild. So new springs. Throwing in some used cleats (still good) to get you going. $60 or trade for some similar condition Shimano M540's

Speedplay Zero Stainless pedals, white

I bought these for a second road bike, but I don't have a second road bike. Used a few times, no cleats $125

Ultegra 6600 rear derailleur

Scratched up but otherwise fine $40

New but previously Glued Vittoria XG 290 tpi 700x32 tubular tires

sat on pit wheels, never rode them $100 for the pair

Used Challenge Fango 700x34 tubulars

Rode them once or twice. Like new condition. Aquasealed, $125 for pair

Used Vittoria XG 290 tpi 700x32 tubular tires

Used primarily last season for 10 races last year and on my spare bike this year. Maybe rode it once or twice this year. Plenty of tread left. $65 for pair

Used Challenge Fango 700x32 tubular tires

Used this year for about 14 races. Rear center is looking worn but has some life left, front looks pretty good, aquasealed. $55 for pair

Carbon fiber coat hanger

You know you want it $30

Happy Holidays!

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:13:00 +0000

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone is enjoying time with family and friends. It is time to reflect back on the year and thank all of those people that has helped you this past year.

Thanks to my parents for supporting me in good and bad times, my brother, John and Max at Cycle Path for their support, giving me work and letting me pursue my bike racing dream, isaiah and his mom providing me with a bed in Columbus, Tim Jackson at Masi Bikes, Bob Bellamy my sales rep, all my friends out there and of course, all the super fans staying after their race and cheering me on.

Lets all hope 2010 will be another great year.

2010 Schedule and Results

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 16:44:00 +0000

Here's a rough plan of my 2010 schedule. It's going to constantly change and you may notice some date conflicts. Also some races are tentative and some schedules have not been released. This is currently a scratch pad for me to help plan out races.

January 3rd Winter Cyclocross Series #2 Akron, OH
January 9th Southern X Dahlonega, GA
March 28th Germantown Road Race (OSRS)
April 3rd Mitchell Memorial Forest (OSRS)
April 11th Hueston Woods (OSRS)
April 18th Vandervorts Corner (OSRS)
April 24th Cohutta 100
April 25th Spring Valley (OSRS)
May 2nd Georgetown Road Race (OSRS)
May 2nd Mountwood (WVMBA)
May 16th Bond Road (OSRS)
May 23rd St Leon (OSRS)
May 23rd Tour de Lake Spencer (WVMBA)
May 29th? Mohican 100
June 19th Lumberjack 100
June 27th Wayne Ultra (WVMBA)
July 25th Little Beaver (WVMBA)
August 1st Blackbear Race (WVMBA)
August 15th Barboursville (WVMBA)
September 12 Bob Evans (WVMBA)

Cap City Cross
OVCX
Cross Vegas
USGP Planet Bike Cup
Cincinnati UCI3
USGP Derby Cup
Jingle Cross
North Carolina Gran Prix

Cap City Cross Finale

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:17:00 +0000

Cross is finally over and now I can take a break and get some mental rest. I wish I could keep going hard and racing but I can't and don't feel like it. Next season, I will do less racing in the beginning of the year so I can keep racing cross till February (yes there are rumors of later big national races after Nationals.)

Snow came through Ohio and left us a nice 1-2" of snow. The race was up in Granville at Infirmary Mound again. The race was fairly similar to the first race with one change. We rode into some single track and had to go up a brutal run-up.

Pre-riding is less important in a snowy race because the course changes so much after people race on it. I took a quick spin on the course and was able to dial in a good pressure, low. There was one tricky spot on the course where it was kinda possible to ride. So I practiced that section for a while.

The race started and I had a nice start and was up front. Matt Weeks and John Proppe went off the front and it was Bruce, me and Garth chasing. Garth passed both of us and I tried to get on his wheel but Bruce was between me and there wasn't a good place to pass. In the next lap I passed Bruce and never looked back. Rolled in for 4th.

The course had turned into a huge slop fest during our race. Because of this, the race was shortened to try to limit the damage done to the grounds. It was a mix of hard packed snow, thick mud and thin greasy mud scattered along the course. With my mud tires, I was able to bomb through the muddy sections with ease. They didn't do so bad in the snow either.

This race was a good end to a great season. I wish I could go to the awards at Tip Top tomorrow but driving another 3 hours (round trip) just doesn't seem appealing to me. Sorry Andy, Cap City and everyone else.

Feeling burnt

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:03:00 +0000

It's looking like its time to hang up the cleats for a while. The long season has taken a toll on me mentally and I'm finding it's harder and harder to go out and pound myself into the ground doing intervals. 50 races in the books and I'm cooked.

Today I pretty much quit before I left the house. I got in a warm up and a 5min VO2 blowout then onto my main set of 4x15. Well I got to about 8min of the first set before I decided I didn't want to do the workout. Though instead of just heading straight home, I went the long way hitting some rough gravel roads. And I was riding on regular Kenda C2C 23's. Good thing I know a thing or two about riding a bike.

I'm gonna wrap up the season with Cap City on Saturday and depending on how I feel, I may go up to Akron to do the Winter Series. But at this point, I'm leaning more on no, sorry Shawn. I've had my share of driving this season and don't feel like sitting in the car for another 6 hours.

I'll take a break till the beginning of the year, hit up Eddie's Southern Cross and get training for 2010. I'm probably going to focus a little more on mountain biking and have a crack at Tour of Ohio. My plan for Cross is OVCX series with a bunch of UCI races mixed in. Besides the 5 UCI races in the OVCX (UCI3, USGP), I plan on doing Cross Vegas, USGP Madison and possibly Jingle Cross. No dropping down to 2/3 in 2010, full on UCI Elite.

OVCX Wrapup

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:57:00 +0000

The OVCX season is finally over and I had a fantastic season. Better than what I had imagined before the season started. Last year, I finished 15th in the Cat3's. This year, 6th in Elites. That is quite a jump and really happy with my performance.

Last year, I started out fresh with no cyclocross experience. My only real bike handling experience was with recreational mountain biking and 1 or 2 mountain bike races. I could only imagine what it would be out there racing. I was finishing DFL or close to it most of the season until it finally clicked and I pulled off some decent results in the last few races. At this point I was hooked. I was able to weasel a Cat 2 upgrade and decided to dedicate my 2009 season strictly for cyclocross. I would still race road but place less emphasis on it, take a break mid summer and build back up for cyclocross.

Race conditions this year was quite different from last year. The beginning of the season was very wet, then dried up for November and didn't really get cold until the last two races. In fact, it was so wet and muddy, I ended up having to buy mud tires and boy do they make a difference. I've developed quite a quiver of tires now and really know what works for the conditions. There is no substitute for experience in tire choice.

I attended every single race in the OVCX series except for one in Bloomington, IN. I wish i had gone to support Ryan Knapp and Andy Messer's race but the drive was long and it was homecoming. Nearly every single one of those races, I drove by myself. Unfortunately, it's the way it goes when no one else really is interested in cyclocross in my town. I've put just over 5000 miles driving this cross season (with a few more races coming up.) Thats a lot of time behind the wheel.

All the races were awesome. Great courses and all well run. There were some scoring issues early on, but I think it was expected. Huge fields made it hard for the refs to score the race. These kinks were worked out later and will obviously be worked on for expected field increases for 2010.

The one main problem I had this year was starts and consistency. My starts did improve as the season went on but had a few off days were I started front row and just shot out the back. In cross the first lap, unfortunately, is the most important lap in the race. My performances were never really consistent. The second day, I would usually do poorly. I would like to be able for next year to put in equally good rides Saturday and Sunday. And finally, improve the motor. I have really good handling skills that keep me competitive on technical courses, but on wide open courses, I simply lack the horsepower to compete. This upcoming road season, my goal is simple, work on the FTP. If I am able to bring up that threshold, I feel I can be up there in the top 5-top 10 every weekend.

OVCX Finale Storm the Greens

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:04:00 +0000

The OVCX season has finally ended and we said good bye to the River Road Country Club. This race was the final cross race to be held at this facility as the city of Lousiville is turning it into a dog park (boo). I had an excellent and successful season, exceeding my pre-season expectations. A wrap up post on OVCX season will follow in a few days.

Louisville is a 4 hour drive and with the race starting a bit earlier due to the post-race party, I had to leave pretty early. My car was packed from yesterday so it was a matter of just putting my bikes on the roof and hitting the road. I woke up, drank some coffee and ate my typical breakfast then I went out to the garage to load the bikes. I hit the opener and then i heard a loud snap and the door didn't open. Turned out I broke the coil spring on the garage door. I guess its nearly 10 years old and it was 12 degrees out so it wasn't too much of a surprise.

I arrived at the course just after 11. I grabbed my number and roamed around the course while the 3's were racing. I snapped a few pictures and suited up for some pre-ride. The course was super slick from a combination of frozen ground and greasy top layer of mud. Front Fango was no go so I popped on the XM and hooked up tons better. My rear Fango is pretty worn so it pretty much functions as a file tread.

Front row start but I wasn't able to utilize it. I need to work on starts for next year. But no worries, I had great legs and was able to motor through the traffic and put myself into the top 10. I worked a little too hard in the beginning and faded slightly. I was unable to catch the wheel of the nice group racing for top 10. After a few laps, I was able to turn it on again and got in a good pace. No one caught me and I kept the gap to the group ahead in check. Maybe if I had one person to work with, I could have gotten back on but no such luck. I settled in for 12th place.

Afterwards, there was a end of season party complete with raffle, pizza, awards, etc. I ended up 6th place overall in the OVCX Elite Men's class! It was a great season and I look forward to racing OVCX in 2010.

Now on the way home, I saw an interesting accident. There were several cars pulled over, one a truck with a trailer and behind it, a BMW with a crushed hood. There were people out on the shoulder with a buck. So now the question is, did the BMW hit a buck, or did the buck bounce out of the trailer and hit the BMW? Regardless, must have sucked for owner of the BMW.

I have a week off from racing since I'm not going to Bend, OR for Nationals, so a week of hard training. Last Cap City race is on the 19th and first Winter Trofee race the day after.

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Cap City Cross Smith Farms

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:33:00 +0000

An exciting day up at Smith Farms for Cap City Cross. I trained pretty hard this week so I wasn't entirely sure how my legs were going to go. My legs felt good yesterday on my openers ride but that's not always a good litmus test for how the legs go 45 minutes into the cross race.

The race was a short drive as it was just inside of 270 and 33. I packed up my car in the morning and was out the door by 10. I woke up to snow so I was a bit worried about the roads since no one seems to know how to drive in snow. Another issue was I had my needing replacement summer tires which suck in snow even brand new.

I arrived pretty early so I got registered took a quick pre-ride in my street clothes and hung around and took some pictures of the C race. I lost track of time and tried to suit up to get on the course but was just too late. I was however able to get a few laps in prior to my race. The course was pretty straight forward with nothing too tricky.

I had a second row start which I wasn't used to but it didn't prove to be a disadvantage. Gamm fell asleep on the line and missed the GO and I was able to get by him. I found myself 3rd wheel behind Matt Weeks and Shawn Adams. I knew I wasn't in the right place and if I tried to keep up, I would blow up to the point of no return. When I got gapped out, I chose not to try to chase back on. Unfortunately, I ended up in no-man's land and just kept the pressure on the pedals waiting for the chase group. John Proppe and Gamm came by and I was unable to grab the wheel. Then Garth and Andy Hague caught up and I settled into their group.

A few laps went by and Gamm was off his bike fixing his wheel. He popped his rear wheel out and had to reset it. As soon as he got back on, he just flied past all of us. John eventually came back to our group so we had a nice four man group of me, Garth, Andy and John. The four of us rode together for several laps and Andy was the first to come off. We chugged along for another few laps and two to go, John attacked and Garth chased. He then went off course on a turn into the tape and I was alone to close the gap up to John. Luckily we were heading into the twisty section where I could make up some ground. I caught back on it was down to the wire.

The finish consisted of a short downhill into two turns, a set of double barriers, a 90 degree turn, then around a small barn to the finish. In the previous laps, I always got gapped out on the barriers and I was having some troubles getting into my pedals. So I knew I had to lead into the barriers and be the first to the turn before the barn to have any chance.

I let John pull me through half of the last lap and then I attacked into a barrier/runup on the backside of the course. He must have bobbled on the barrier because I had a huge gap into the twisty turny section. He eventually caught up since I held a little back to prevent myself from blowing up before the finish. I led into the barriers and beat him to the corner. I came around the barn and sprinted it in for a nice 4th place finish.

Now its time for me to rest up and an early morning drive to Louisville. Lately, my legs haven't showed up on the second day so hopefully they do tomorrow. I don't feel too tired or sore so I hope I can turn it on for another day.

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John Bryan OVCX Cap City Ohio State Championships

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:01:00 +0000

Pretty much one word can sum up my ride today, SUCK. I had planned out my entire cross season for the state champs and well, I choked on this one. In reality, I probably put too much pressure on myself for this one race. I was checking out who was registered for the race, checking out results on crossresults.com for people I didn't really know, etc. I gotta take it as it comes and I just had a bad day. Nothing I can really do about that. Enough with the bitching and here's the story.

The day started off on the wrong foot. My iPhone alarm didn't go off and I woke up at 7:20. I was suppose to pick up Daniel at 7:30! I scrambled and loaded my bikes, filled my Stanley bottle with luke-warm coffee, grabbed some food and nuked up some oatmeal. Luckily Dan just lives down the street and I picked him up and we were on the road by around 7:45. Being a beginner cross racer, he's only got one bike and a bag of clothes instead of me having way too much stuff.

We made good time and arrived at John Bryan State Park around 9:45. Plenty of time for Dan to register and warm up. I decided to lounge around and set up camp. In the mean while, my friend Zach rolled in and we chatted and such.

A bit of a summary while I waited to race. Glen and Kyle won the Tandem division with 3 total contestants. 6 crazy dudes doing a cross race on a tandem. Kyle's gonna wear out that state champ jersey. Robert Sroka took the holeshot and never looked back in his win in his junior division. I don't think he did so bad in the Cat3's either. A battle between Chewning and Markstein in the Cat3's for Ohio. Markstein suffered an unfortunate dropped chain that dropped him to second. Rodkey won the overall (no surprise there.)

And Dan Brown. He started in the very back and made his way to 4th place. 3rd place in the state! And with FLAT PEDALS!!! Flat pedals and back row start!. Lets get him on some clipless pedals and see what he can do.

Now my race. With the combination of a good overall position and being the first to register for the race, I had number 8, good for front row start. Last week I missed my pedal and shot straight out the back but this time, I was able to clip in and be around top 10 going into the grass. Unfortunately, I forgot to start my Garmin so I missed all the data for the road start section. I maintained my position for the first few turns of technical stuff then I crossed wheels, I tried to recover and popped out of my pedals. (Pedals are being sent back for warranty tomorrow.) That one bobble cost me 10 spots. At this point, I was panicing in my head and tried to gain back/maintain spots. But that really didn't work and I just kept bleeding positions.

I got settled in with Kyle, Andy, Moy and Nevitt and rod with them for a while. Chris attacked and got a hold of Hubble and they were gone. A few laps later, Garth came flying by with Moy in tow. I thought Kyle would get on their wheel but he was on the verge of blowing up. I missed that train and just rode it out till the end. Nate and Andy ended up passing me in the closing laps but at that point I really didn't care. My legs hurt, my back hurt and I was ready to go home. This course was all about power with a little bit of bike handling skills. I came out with a lot of bike handling skills with no legs today and it really showed.

On a lighter note, TJ did a great job with this race. The course was great and things went without a hitch. Gatch did a fine job announcing.

Anyway after cooling off a bit, its just a race. There are many more races to come and there is no reason to be too disappointed. I'm only 23 (24 cross age) so I have many years ahead to get stronger and faster. I have to tell myself this time to time when I get beat by other fast young (and older) guys.

A few more races left in the season. Next week I'll probably go do the Cap City race and then head down to Louisville for the OVCX final. Week after that, its National Championships in Bend, which I'm not going unless someone is willing to foot the bill. I could travel to the north atlantic to do Ice Weasels or Beer Cross, but I'll stay at home and maybe try to whip up an informal Athens Cyclocross Championships to pad my ego. Then its the Cap City Final on the 19th and I'll probably go do the first NE Ohio Winter series race on the 20th. Then in 2010, I'll kick it off with the 2nd Winter race, Southern Cross on Jan 9th and Cross-a-nooga the 10th. I think that should be enough racing.

263 miles on the car
9595

2009 Holiday Wishlist

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0000

It's that time again! Its holiday shopping season! I know that the holiday's are for giving, but how are you to give if you don't know what they want. To make the ever hard decision what to get your favorite bike racer, I've simplified it for you.

The car:
My Matrix is sweet, gets good mileage, good size interior, pretty much maintenance free. It's prefect for 2 guys going cross racing or 3 road/crit racing. However, the tiny 4 banger doesn't have much umph on the highway and its a little cramped when you have lots of guys in there. Something bigger like a newer Matrix or Venza. Or a turbo/supercharger kit so I can cruise the highways better.

The computer:
Macs are hot right now. I've been a life long Mac user but unfortunately, I've been Mac-less for the past year. three options here, 13" MacBook Pro, 27" iMac w/ Intel i7, or Mac Mini

Who doesn't want the hottest group out there? Dura Ace Di2 please... 2 groups please, the B bike's gotta have Di2 too, I mean look at Niels Albert... He's got 6 Di2 bikes!

Tires, tires, tires.
2 pairs of Dugast Typhoons 700x32 or
2 pairs of FMB SSC 700x32

1 pair of Dugast Typhoons 700x34 or
1 pair of FMB SSC 700x34

2 pairs of Dugast Rhino 700x32
1 pair of FMB SSC Sprints 700x32
(Shit that's $1500 of tires!)

Cold hard cash. Bike racing is expensive. Entry fees, gas, hotels, replacement parts, food, it all adds up.

My road shoes are falling apart. I could use some new yellow Mavic Zxellium shoes or Specialized S-Works shoes

A new gear/duffle bag. Traveling every week has worn out my bag and needs to be retired. Something to carry a weekend's worth of clothes and bike gear.

One of those fancy hitch racks that hold your bike by the tire. I could probably save some gas by moving my bikes from the roof to the back of the car. Those Thule T2's, Saris Thelma's, Saris Cycleon-Pro's look pretty nice. (1 1/4")

OVCX Indianapolis Double Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:15:00 +0000

Another long double weekend, this time in Indianapolis. Two 16th place finishes, twice I was one out of the money.

Saturday's race was at Southeastway Park, about 15-20 minutes southeast of Indy. I drove out in the morning to arrive around 1pm. The course had a few wide open sections, a huge nasty run-up, and half the course was twisty windy stuff. I guess the promoters had to make do with what they had. I actually favor more technical courses since I am able to offset my lower threshold power with my bike handling skills. I'm also pretty good with the punchy stuff, able to sprint multiple times out of corners.

The course was fairly dry except for the turns. There wasn't much mud, but the ground was slick. During the pre-ride, I switched to the Vittoria XM in the front and it seemed to work out well. XM up front and Fango in the rear. I did sacrifice some speed with the XM, but it gave me more corner grip, which was overall faster. Rhinos probably would have been the hot tire to have, but it'll have to wait till next year.

Front row start and a decent start had me up in the front group for a while. It got me settled in a good spot where I just kept the pedals turning hard to maintain a good position. Eventually another rider caught up to me and we were battling it out till the end. I led into the sprint and handily beat him. In pure disappointment, I had ended up 16th. If I had known, I would have rode harder as the 15th place guy was slowly coming back to me. I would have caught him for sure if we had one more lap and we kept going at the same pace.

I packed up and headed over to Chad Birdman's house. I got cleaned up and later on we went out to celebrate his sister's birthday at Benihana, a Japanese Steakhouse. Very, very, very good food. The steak I had pretty much melted in my mouth. It was expensive, but well worth it. I never have a problem paying premium for good things.

Sunday's race wasn't till 3pm so I pretty much had all morning to just chill. I slept in till about 10 and just bummed around, watched TV and played with Chupa (Chad and Whitney's chihuahua). Brookside park was a quick drive so I left at noon. I raced there last year so I was fairly familiar with the course and very little had changed.

I had another front row start but I completely blew that one. I missed my pedal at the start and just shot out the back. The first quarter of the course is not very pack friendly so the farther up front you are, the better. My usual plan of attack is to get a good start, then drift back to where I will finish up. But today, I ended up in the back, suck! Brookside is also a very roadie style course. Lots of straight aways and it definitely helps to either have help and draft, or have lots of horsepower. Unfortunately, I didn't have either (Santa, I just want 30-50 watts FTP this year.)

I found myself battling it out again with the same guy as yesterday, I believe his name is Cory. We were together for the last few laps. We eventually got lapped but I wasn't too disappointed about that. I definitely felt I was stronger than he was but in the end, a mechanical failure put the end to me. My left pedal locked out and I couldn't clip in. I had to stop and fix it and the gap opened up. I tried my hardest to try to get back on but there was not enough room. The real bummer was I could have been 15th and made some gas money.

Next week is the Ohio State championships at John Bryan State park. This is the race I have been training for and hopefully all goes well. Thanks to Chad and Whitney for letting me stay at their house this weekend!

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Tire Alert Tubular Tire Repair

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Everyone hates flats, especially when it is a tubular tire. Even worse when its brand new and only ridden for a few rides. Well that is exactly what happened to me. In my second race, I flatted a brand new Challenge Grifo XS. Stan's was no match for the hole in this tube.

So here comes Ron at Tire Alert. Ron rips apart the tire, takes out the old tube, removes any debris that caused the flat and sews in a brand new tube. After exchanging some emails with Ron, I decided to send my tire to him to get fixed up. I inquired about latex tubes since it is not an option on his website and he told me he is not equipped to install latex tubes. He said that latex tubes require a special cloth liner which he cannot do.

Anyway, I opted for a 48mm long, lightweight, removable core tube. I sent away the tire on a Friday and received the new tube a week from Monday. Pretty good turnaround time. The tire returned with a new tube and new basetape. The basetape used is not as thick as the original Challenge basetape but should be fine. There is also a bigger bulge from the stitching but shouldn't be a problem.

Basetape with one coat of glue

For $25, I got a pretty much brand new tire. Oh yes, the $25 includes return shipping. So if I factor in the initial shipping cost, I got my tire repaired for $30, way cheaper than a new tire.

So if you have a nice tubular that has a bad tube, I highly recommend giving Ron at Tire Alert a call and get your tubular tire repaired.

4.5 stars
Pros: Cheap repair, options on tubes, new basetape, all inclusive price
Cons: No latex tube option

www.tirealert.com

Infirmary Mound

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:54:00 +0000

Today's race was pretty close, at Infirmary Mound Park in Granville. A welcome change from being in the car forever. Instead of sleeping in, I left the house earlier than usual since Daniel, my teammate, was racing today. I left the house a little bit before 10, gassed up and on my way. I got to the park around 11:30, plenty of time to mingle, watch and warm up.

One word can sum up the course, fast. The course was very dry and flowed very well, and did I say it was fast. You would rip through corners so fast it felt like a crit. I actually had to use the brakes a few time since I would go into the corners way too hot if I didn't.

I was top 5 in Cap City so I got a front row start. I got a really good start again and the front group put a sizable gap on the rest of the field. After about half a lap, I was jettisoned from the lead group. A few people passed me and by a rough count, I was sitting around 10th place. This was my best start and middle section of the race. Unfortunately, disaster struck. I took a u-turn way too fast and the pavement dropped into grass and I rolled my tire. The tire got jammed into the brake and I couldn't roll it back on. I panicked and just shouldered the bike and started to run. However it was a long way to the pit. I came to my senses and let some air out of the tire and popped the tire back on. But now I had a long downhill on a tire with about 10psi and about to come off. I took the downhill gingerly and made my way to the pit to pick up my spare.

However, the spare bike was not without any problems. I am pretty sure that I put in the same amount of air in the tires but it felt a lot lower. It could be because they are different tires and different manufacturers. It took me a lap or two to really get a hang of it and be able to rail the corners. To make things even worse, a few laps later, my right pedal refused to clip in. I really didn't know if it was the pedal, the cleat, or I busted the shoe. But one thing is for sure, its pretty impossible to ride with a Crank Brother's Candy that doesn't clip in. At that point, I really didn't care anymore. I only had 2 laps to go (I got lapped) so I just rode at a moderate pace and finished up.

I guess my equipment finally caught up to me and gave me some troubles. I have been pretty lucky so far except for blowing up a brand new Grifo XS in my second race (which is coming back retubed.)

This week is a taper week so not much training. I will also have to glue some tires, and I thought I was done. Double weekend in Indy next weekend!

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Promotion Cross

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:13:00 +0000

OVCX headed over to Lexington, KY this week for the Promotion Cross. The weather was a huge 180 from what it has been lately. Upper 60's/low 70's and dry. It was also quite different from last year where it was cold and windy.

I left the house at 8:30 in the morning and after the 3:30 drive, I arrived at the course. I was able to get a few warm up laps in and found it quite different that what I have been used to. The course was dry, hard and bumpy, no two wheel drifting through the corners this week.

I began with a front row start and with a really good start on the uphill pavement, I found myself in the top 6-7. I looked back and we had a nice gap to the next group. My glory in the front group was short lived as Mitchell Kersting and Rob Kendall were hitting it hard at the front, one-two in the series standings. I found myself in no-man's land and pretty soon some fast back row starters passed me.

Shortly after, I found myself in a group with Chris Nevitt, Ryan Gamm and one other guy. This was a solid group to be in and hung on for a while. I must have gone way too hard at the start and soon found myself gapped out and and riding by myself.

Now it was time to get in a good pace and gut it out to the end. I was hoping to recover a little and be able to push harder but that never came. I got passed by a few people but at about half way, I had found my place. The fast dry course was surprisingly hard on equipment and several people had rolled tires. Mike Kennedy looked like he rolled a tire, Gamm rolled a tire, a Calistoga guy rolled a tire. There were certainly many places on the course where there was hard, fast cornering and I made sure I didn't over cook those corners and risk rolling my tires. Not that I don't have faith in my glue jobs, you just never know what can happen.

I rolled in at 13th, both satisfying and disappointing at the same time. I am slowly improving but have not had my breakout race. I did not feel super hot today and know I can ride harder, but it did not materialize. It could have been the hotter weather and I do seem to ride better when it is colder. It could also have been the spicy foods I ate yesterday. Regardless, I am waiting to break the top 10 in an OVCX race.

Next week is a combined Cap City, OVCX race in Granville. It will be a nice break from driving 400+ miles. I also hope some of my teammates can make it out to race.

437

8596

2010 Vittoria XM 320tpi tubular review

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Note: I was not paid to do this review, nor did I receive these tires for free for review. I paid with my own money to purchase these tires.

Vittoria is typically not the first name you turn to for cyclocross tires. Most riders will turn to Dugast, FMB, Challenge and Tufo. Vittoria's tread patterns are on par with other offerings but their slick silver/grey rubber and not so supple casings left much to desire.

But that has changed. Vittoria has really stepped up their game this year with the new 320 tpi casing and new black rubber. This is not the first time I have rode Vittoria's new casing. I rode their Corsa Evo CX II during the road season and it was one of the best road tubulars I have ridden. I could only imagine back in the summer what this casing could do for a cyclocross tubular.

The easiest way to tell if a tire is the new 320 tpi casing is by looking at the valve stem. The 48mm red anodized valve stems quickly tell you that its the new casing. I do have mixed feelings about this new valve stem system. The aluminum stem unscrews from the base of the tube. Supposedly, Vittoria is supposed to release longer valve stems to accommodate deeper rims. For the time being, you are to remove the red stem, screw the extender into the tube and screw the red stem into the extender. There are a few downsides to this stem. The valve itself is non-removable. If you break off the nut, then you are screwed. You have to get a new stem and you might have to rip off the tire. Second, since you can't remove the core, how are you to inject stan's if you get a small puncture?

The first thing I noticed when pulling these new tires out of the shipping box is how supple the casing was. No stiff casing that held its shape. The casing is more supple than a standard Challenge tire and from what I have heard, on par with a Dugast. The new rubber is also a highlight. The new rubber is black and very sticky.

After your typical stretch and layers of glue, it was finally time to mount the tires. There really is nothing harder to mount than cyclocross tubulars. Often high end handmade tubulars are hard to get straight. This new XM was as easy as mounting a road tubular. The tires were easy to stretch over on the rim and they went on straight the first time! What? It went on straight the first time? Yup, try that with a Dugast.

I mounted the front as shown above and reversed in the rear for added forward grip. I emailed Vittoria regarding rotating direction and they told me there should be a rotation arrow, which there isn't. Sorry its still a little dirty from this weekend.

It isn't a Vittoria without the 1 foot long tire hot stamp.

Now how does it ride? I had the pleasure of taking it out on two muddy races this past weekend. The first race had about a 1/3 of a lap of mud and the other 2/3 lap ranging from dry to tacky. In a pre-ride, I had both XM's mounted. This tire grips and grips in the mud. You simply can just ride though stuff like it was dry. However once I left the muddy section, I instantly noticed that I was working harder than I should. The lack of a center ridge makes the tire pretty slow on drier ground. I compromised and ran a XM in the rear and Challenge Fango up front.

Sunday's race was a bit muddier. After sliding all over the place with Fango's I threw on the XM's for a test spin. The tires did what they were designed to do and gave me the confidence and grip around the course. I was able to take muddy corners at good speeds, climb up muddy hills and descend with confidence. But once again, on dry sections, I noticed I had to work a little harder. The tread design is more oriented slide through the corners rather than giving absolute cornering grip. Some people may not like this feeling and may be unnerving for beginner riders.

To wrap up, the new Vittoria XM is a great new tire. The advancements of Vittoria's casing and rubber compound puts them back into the game. I'm sure the other two tires in Vittoria's line with the new casing and rubber will preform just as well in their respective uses. The XM tread design is great, especially when it is muddy. However it is strictly a mud tire. It doesn't do so well when it is dry. Another concern is the treads are rather thin and add in the soft rubber, it may wear quick. I would avoid warming up on the road or trainer with this tire.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Price ~$100

Pros: New 320tpi Supple Casing, new sticky rubber, great tread for mud, new valve design

Cons: Rolls slow in dry conditions limiting use other than mud, thin treads may wear quick, new valve design

Cap City Uncle Steve's, OVCX Gun Club Cross

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:38:00 +0000

Photo Frans Tan via Facebook
Another weekend of excellent cross racing. This season has been pretty much a total opposite of last season. Out of the 12 races I have done, 7 have been muddy. This is in sharp contrast to 1 muddy race last year. Heavy rains Saturday morning made the courses nice and muddy.

Saturday was the Cap City race at Uncle Steve's in Marysville. Last year, this race was hot, dry and super bumpy. Many people left with bloody, blistered hands and many people this year brought their mountain bikes to try to tame the untameable property of Uncle Steve's. Well the heavy rains did soften up the ground a little bit but still bumpy in some sections.

During my pre-ride, I swapped between my Fangos and my new Vittoria XM. Half the course was fairly dry and the other half wet and muddy. The Fangos did not give me much forward grip in the rear and was spinning out. So I gave the new XMs a try. They hooked up nicely but I noticed on drier sections the tires rolled slow. So for a good compromise, I ran the Fango up front and XM rear.

I had a great start and was in the front group with Matt Weeks, Garth Prosser, Dan Campbell, and Phil Noble. About the second lap I had come off the the group, Matt took off and Garth, dan and Phil battled it out. Ryan Gamm had made his return to racing and I was towing him around for a while. Later on, Gamm attacked me and never looked back. He eventually caught up to Phil and passed him. At around 45 minutes, I was in no man's land with Phil pretty far up the course (but still in view) and no one behind me. So I decided to slow it down a little to try to save up for Sunday. However, this unknown guy had started to creep up on me. So no biggie, I slowed down a little bit too much so I turned it up a notch. With two to go, he really started charging. I had to really turn it back on to hold him off. So much for saving for the next day. He never caught me and I rolled in for 6th, my season best.

I opted to not return to Athens to simply avoid the mess of Halloween and went over to Isaiah's place. I quickly took a shower and we headed over to Qdoba with his girlfriend for dinner. There was a Krispy Kreme next door and upon leaving, the HOT NOW light had turned on. I said we must go there and we did. I had never eaten a hot out of the fryer donut and I have to say it is simply the best donut. It just melts in your mouth. We returned to his place, watched the World Series and went to bed.

I woke up the next morning sore to the core. Pretty much every muscle in my body hurt. Luckily I didn't race until 3:3o so I had plenty of time to get loose, warm up, etc. I left Columbus just before noon and arrived at the race around 1:30. I quicky pre-rode part of the course right before the Elite Masters went off and found that the course was pretty bad. There were two unrideable muddy hills, one forced dismount and run muddy hill and another hill where you could make it up about half the time. This was a real power course. I opted to ride both XMs today since there was a lot of mud. However I probably could have done what I did on Saturday since the course did dry up a little bit as the race progressed.

I had a second row start and had a pretty good start. I was probably in the top 10 for the first lap. But soon after I just blew up and shot out the back. I settled down a bit and motored on. I felt like quitting several times but kept at it. About half way, I creeped up to the next guy on course. I was able to pass and gap him when the course turned muddy. I looked back later on and he was pretty distant. Then half a lap, one lap later, out of the blue he sprinted past me. But no worries, we were going into the muddy section and I just past him back. Soon after he pulled the pin and withdrew. Unfortunately, he withdrew from the past spot in the money.

I kept going at a good tempo. The course was super hard so you really couldn't ride it easy. Soon I saw Chris and used him as my target and motivation. I would gain a little and then lose a little. Two laps to go, I was getting dangerously close to getting lapped. Not wanting this to happen, I picked it up a little. Luckily I was able to cross the finish about 30 seconds in front of the winner and got to do my bonus lap. I wasn't going to catch Chris so I just rode the course pretty easy to finish it up.

DFL 14th place and in the Money! Made $20. I really felt flat and thought i had a pretty bad day. But however looking at the data, I rode harder than I did on Saturday. How is it that I felt like a rock star on sat and put out less power than when I felt horrible today? Next week is only one race so I guess I will find out if I can really ride harder at an OVCX race fresh. Or maybe it's mental?

410

8159

USGP Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:49:00 +0000

Not much to say today, I had a horrible race. I had the same number as yesterday so started way back. I had a really good start, probably in the top 15. I held it for a while then started to go backwards. The legs never really turned on and my back was killing me from yesterday. I had taken some ibuprofen before the race and was waiting for it to kick in. Unfortunately, it never did so I had a sore back and couldn't really put down the power. I thought the course was super slow. The ground was moist to be soft enough to just rob all speed. Anyway, ended up 51st.

Rest week coming up so I'll take it easy and recover some and then its Uncle Steve's and Gun Club next weekend.

miles driven: 580

7749

USGP Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:09:00 +0000

Day one of the USGP Derby City Cup has come to a close. It was a great
day of racing and watching the pros race.

A 10:15 start time ment an early wake up. Adam's place is about 20
minutes from the venue so we planned to leave around 7:40 so we could
get there at 8 to get a few laps on the course.

We got to the course at around 8:15, took the bikes off the roof and
headed on the course. Cat4 men started at 8:30 so we quickly took a
lap. The course had dried out a little bit compared to Friday when I
prerode the course.

Afterwards we went and got our fancy RFID chips and started to warm
up. It seemed to get colder as the minutes past but soon the trainer
had me pretty toasty.

Staging time came along and it was time to freeze standing waiting to
go. My number was 252 and they started at 200. And someone else said
they pulled the top 10 in the series and put them in front. Great a
mid pack start position with 100 guys.

We got rolling and it was a fight to simply not get taken out. I was
able to make it through without crashing, getting crashed, or getting
stuck behind a crash. I rode pretty hard in the first lap to pass as
many people as possible at every moment possible.

I got in a good tempo and started picking off guys that had gone too
hard and blown up. I was at one point close to getting into the front
big group but it was a tall task working alone versus a big group.

I slowed up a bit in the last two laps since there was pretty much no
one ahead of me. I kept the pressure on the pedals so no one would
catch me from behind.

I was able to get a solid 19th place. Sure I would have liked a top 10
but considering my start position, I'm pretty happy. We get new
numbers tomorrow so hopefully we get reshuffled to start in finish
order. Otherwise, I will have to be more agressive in the start to get
up into the front group for a shot at the top 10.

On the other hand We went over to Jackie's parents house and had a
fabulous dinner. I can bet that no one else ate quite as nice as we did.

I'm hoping for some good legs tomorrow

Katsu Tanda

Sent from my iPhone

USGP Preride

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:36:00 +0000

I arrived today in Louisville, KY under sunny and blue skys. I had
driven through four hours of rain so nice weather was a welcome change.

When I rolled into the park, there were plenty of people there riding
the course. The Cannondale and Kona trailers were already there though
I did not see any of the riders.

The course is pretty similar to last years course so any one that has
done this race last year should have a good feel for it. There are
some tricky changes in there but should make for exciting racing.

The one thing that was a factor is the sticky mud. Not sure if the
course will dry a little but my bike picked up a lot of mud. My tires
especially packed up on the sides. I may take a bike swap halfway
through if I pickup lots of mud so I can cut down 5 pounds. The mud is
very ridable and isn't super slick, it just sticks. I may have to run
to the store and get spray cooking oil or a can of petrolium jelly to
get less stickage.

I am staying with Adam and Jackie this weekend and they are not too
far from the course. We'll be up early so we can get a preride in
tomorrow before the 4's race.

Report and pictures tomorrow.

Katsu Tanda

Sent from my iPhone

USGP This Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:54:00 +0000

The USGP in Louisville is coming up this weekend. I have not had the ideal training leading up to this weekend but hopefully I can do well. I blew off training last Saturday (I had the C2H6O flu), didn't feel well on Tuesday, but yesterday I had a good day on the bike.

Reports on the races as they happen

Cincinnati UCI3 Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:16:00 +0000

This weekend was the Cincinnati UCI3 Weekend, featuring three UCI C2 races in the Cincinnati area. It was a great weekend of fun, hard cross racing. Zach was kind enough to offer his mom's place to stay. Host housing always rocks.

Friday was the Cyclo-Stampede presented by Dark Horse Racing at Devou Park in Covington, KY. This was a brand new venue for the series. I decided to take the plunge and do the UCI race since it started at 5:30pm. I knew I had no chance at this race but gave it ago anyway. To make things worse, it had rained all night and most of the day, making the course a huge slip and slide. Not the best race to make my UCI debut. Most of the course was off camber and covered in mud. There were sections of mud that was 4-6" deep and you just had to run. Think the USGP in New Jersey last year.

One of Zach's teammates offered to man the pit for me and boy did he do some work for me. I was taking a bike every half lap. This race boiled down to who had the biggest balls to just bomb down the slippery off camber slopes. No tire really helped and you probably could have just rode file treads and done just as good as a Dugast Rhino. Someone told me that Jeremy Powers would simply go as fast as he could down the hills, then when he either crashed or had to get off, he would start running. Anyway, I was glad to get lapped and get out of that muddy mess and brought up the rear at 32nd place (however there were several dnfs)

I hope the race does come back next year because we certainly tore up the grounds. The grounds keeper is going to have to till the whole area, smooth it out and spread seed over 3K of ground. That is going to have to suck. Through word of mouth, I heard that the park was about to back out of the race because it was going to get torn up but the Mayor simply said the race is going to happen and they can do whatever they want!

Afterwards, we were invited to a Burrito party at a house nearby the course. Chad and his wife were generous hosts and provided beer and make-your-own burritos! Chad actually graduated from OU so he was giving me some cheers out on the muddy course.

Saturday's race was the Java Johnny's - Lionhearts presented by Queen City Wheels in Middletown, OH. I came to my senses and did the 2/3 race. A third row start and a great sprint off the line got me in really good position. I felt really good during the entire race and was able to get a solid 18th place. I didn't find that out till Sunday but it was a solid ride none the less. In the Pro race, J-Pow got a huge lead from the get go and rode solo the entire race. He was also pleasing the crowd by bunny hopping over the barriers.

Sunday was Harbin Park presented by Biowheels and United Dairy Farmers. This was by far the hardest course. Ok, Friday was super hard because of the conditions but if it were dry or slightly muddy, it was probably the easiest course. Same third row start but I didn't get as great a start as Saturday. The course bottle necked pretty quickly and then we bombed down a hill into a mud pit. I veered off course and lost a whole bunch of spots. I lost the top twenty with my little off course excursion. Then to make things worse, the course bottle necked again when the course made a right hand turn onto a hill side. Lots of people hopped off and ran it. Then a long uphill straight into an uphill sand pit. After the sand pit, I rode like a mad man trying to make back as many spots as I could. Wound up 36th. Not the result I was looking for but it was still a good race. But I did beat everyone that would give me shit if they had beat me so all is good.

I am currently undecided what to do next weekend. OVCX #6 is in Bloomington, IN but its a long haul to get there. A 6 hour drive for one race. Or I can do the Bike Authority race in Willoughby, OH but that's a 4 hour drive. Or I can stay at home and go drinking because its Homecoming weekend.

Miles: 470
YTD: 7169

Ouch! Cross hurts!

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:49:00 +0000

A whole lot of hurt this weekend racing. Another two day weekend with Cap City #1 on Saturday at the Alum Creek beach, and OVCX #2 at Fisherman's Park in Louisville, KY.

The Cap City race was windy, wet and muddy. A quarter of the lap was wet and slick. The Reynolds did their job that day helping me cut through the mud pretty easily. Andy decided to make us do a Le Mans start, making us run to our bikes for the start. I pretty much lost the race there. I had lots of room to cover but I was able to make contact pretty quickly. But as soon as I made contact, there was a bottle neck and we all had to stop. Well, we all bunched up, I was in the back and it just accordioned out. From there it was a hard solo effort for the next 50 minutes. I did slowly pick off people as the race went on. I was in the hunt for a Panther/RGF rider for the last few laps. He was always 10-15 seconds in front of me and I slowly reeled him in. With 2 to go, I caught a sight of Matt Weeks, the eventual winner fast approaching from the rear. Not wanting to get lapped, I turned on the jets. In the process I caught and rode past the Panther rider and even almost caught the 10th place rider. I settled in for 11th and was pretty happy with that. If I had a better start, I would have placed a lot higher.

Sunday I drove down to Louisville for OVCX #2 at Fisherman's Park. They screwd up the start order and did the top 5, then reverse order of registration! So I started in the back row. I stayed in contact until one downhill with lots of ruts. I had to go wide and came off the group. This could have been avoided if I pre-rode the course. To sum up the course, it was HARD. There was rarely a flat stretch of ground. A lot of the course was off camber, up hill, down hill, head wind, etc. The pain was turned up to 11. I motored along and started to feel better at around 20 minutes. I reeled in some riders and had my sights on three more just ahead. One of the guys dropped out while I started to fade in the last two laps and never caught the other two. Ryan Knapp also came out to race and simply dominated the race. He put in a sizable gap in the first few laps and just cruised to the finish. He lapped me at 3 to go.

I certainly did not feel like I had super legs on Sunday. Felt pretty flat through most of the race but I'm happy I kept at it and finished the race. I finished last but 6-7 others didn't make it to the end. 18th place.

The drive home was worse than the race itself. I felt like a horse kicked me in the stomach. Then I got chills, hot/cold, cold sweats. It got so bad that I had to stop driving and I pulled off on the side of the highway because I couldn't see straight. A few minutes later I hopped back in, went to the first gas station, used the bathroom and took an hour grimacing in pain/nap. I finally made it home at 11pm.

My fitness is coming along. I wished I would have done a bit better but I did lose about a week of training when I went to Interbike. It was not unexpected that I would race a little flat. This weekend is three days of racing. I'm going to get utterly destroyed at the UCI race on Friday and then the weekend I'll race 2/3 and try to finish near the top.

Miles; 600

YTD 6699

Kings CX

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:26:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Katsu Tanda) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:50:00 +0000

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