Moser Farm

Nate-

This past weekend was the Moser Farm cross race. It was the warmest day in a while and it was perfect for a race. The course had some interesting features to it. I guess most of the features are still pretty interesting to me since I have only done a handful of races. There were two fairly steep hills that had barriers at the bottom. Each run was at least 100 feet, with a sharp U-turn at the top. Nothing like a 10 second run in two parts of the course to mess up a rhythm! There were two other sets of barriers in the course making a total of four dismount points. There was another spiral which was quite a bit smaller than the one at Smith Farm, which I was fairly thankful for. The rest of the course was wide open and flat minus one big climb and one large sweeping descent.

The start was pretty cool in that we started parallel to the finish straight, went a couple hundred feet, then made a hard 180 onto the finish straight. The first climb was a running race since no one wanted to take the time to clip back in over the barriers on the first lap as every second in the first minute of racing can lead to minutes lost later in the race. During the race many people jumped back on their bikes and rode up the hill including me but it was too risky a move for the first lap. I was able to find fourth place and pull away from the pack a little. The first three places took off and I tried to catch them through the technical sections in the course which worked fairly well. On one downhill a rider in the top three, went down and I was able to catch them. Two of them pulled away through the second lap and I was able to pass the one that went down.

I had a nice intense battle in the middle of the race for third. We were drafting off each other and attacking. At one point I tried to make a move when the other rider let me by so he could draft off of me. He slowed down at the top of the climb, and next thing I knew I was up beside him. I kind of figured he would try this because he tried to let me pass on the down hill so I could pull him up the hill. When I got around him on the left, I dove right so as to break the draft that he was so desperately trying to ride in. I laid down a couple of attacks but in the end he was able to get the better of me by about 20 seconds. The rider that went down earlier even passed me with three laps to go. I tried to hang on his wheel but could not quite reel him in. The laps ticked down and I had one to go. I wanted to close some of the gap on the first hill and then if I planned my attack correctly, I could finish my charge through the spiral. In the previous two laps I was able to close the gap in the spiral so I thought it would be a great spot for a final assault. Right after the finish line he dismounted to go over the barriers on the first long run. He pulled away over the barriers and then tried to mount his bike. He could not clip in and fumbled for two seconds. I thought that it was now or never. As I ran past him I heard a mumbled bit of frustration under his breath and I knew I had him up the straight. The rest of the lap was filled with adrenaline. He was chasing me and there was no way I wanted to give up a position at the end of the race. I was able to pull a way a little on the uphill section and watched him through the spiral. I was expecting a massive charge at the end and I did not want to have a 30 mile an hour sprint to the line. I was able to keep a cool head and had no real mistakes on the last lap and was able to come away with a 4th.

Cycle Smart International Day 2

Nate-

After a hard day of racing the day before my legs felt pretty good, or at least during my prerace routine and warm up. I had analyzed my data the night before to see what I could expect out of myself on day number two and I did not think it looked too bad. I knew I would be tired along with every one else who raced the day before. This would not be as much of a race of fitness as the day before but more of a race to recovery from the night before. The course had some changes to it. There was one long sand pit, and not two short ones, and the uphills and downhills were reversed, along with the steep run taken out. The course was still very fun but I believe the course the day before suited me better.

I had the same strategy for the starting line and first couple of corners in that I wanted to be on the inside. This way when the group was going through the tight left hand chicane before the finish straight, I would not be blocked in and could make up a handful of positions. Also I wanted to avoid another crash if one were to happen. Fortunately there was no crash on the second day of racing. I think everyones' nerves where a bit better. I got a fairly good jump off the start and moved up the field from my tenth row start. I did not have the legs to keep up with most of the riders on the grass field, which I kind of assumed since that was my weakness from the day before. The group did not splinter as fast as the day before, which meant my strong part of the twisting turning woods section was no real help. Every one was inching through the corners as to not slide out, and I could catch the group ahead of me, but it was very hard to go around any one. I was able to go around a couple of people, but as soon as the course went back to the flat grass section they were able to accelerate around me in the straights. For one lap I was really hoping to ride up the one steep up in the course, but there were too many people around me to try. The sand section was a lot harder than the day before too. I was only able to make it through twice during the race.

This day was a day of experimentation for me in all aspects of my riding. I have never completed two races in a row like this, and have never encountered some of this unique cyclocross terrain. Overall my results were a little lower than I would have hoped for with a 75th out of 135 or so racers. On the other hand I have a whole bunch of data and experience that will be very valuable for next year when I plan to ride a full season.

It was a great set of races to have so close to home and the bike shop. The course looped back on itself many times so all of these sweet pictures could be taken by my girlfriend and aunt and all of the much needed moral support could be given. It was great having so many people at the race cheering the Competitive Edge Team on.

Cycle Smart International Day 1

Nate-

So this was my first massive cyclocross race in my biking career and it was indescribable, but I will do my best. My largest race to this point has been just shy of sixty riders and Saturday's race consisted of a little over double this amount. I did not preride the course before the race, so I was little nervous going in cold like that. I did look at it during the other races to see strategies and lines, and I also received some advice from a couple of competitors. It was not my smartest decision, but I figured the first lap would be so compact that it would not really matter. Also I am fairly used to riding a course that I have no clue what it looks like from cross country racing. I would just have to do do some convincing improvisation as the race unfolded so I would look like I knew what I was doing.

The start reminded my of the first straight away and corner of a motocross race. There are a ton of riders all trying to get ahead of the others at any cost. With this mentality there is bound to be a crash and low and behold there was one half way through the first right hand sweeping corner. I think the crash was started by one person hitting the brakes and then the next and the next, and so on with an increasing domino effect. I had a strategy that paid off in my placement at the line. I new I would not be any where near the front since I did not have any points in the series, and I was not sure how many people registered before me as both of those affected the start position. I was lined up in row eight, and I tried to find a spot that would place me on the inside of the corner. This way if there was a crash, everyone should head toward the outside, and I might be able to squeak by to the inside. I had to hit my brakes and unclip one foot for the crash but I was not really slowed down.

The rest of the race went by as a blur. The first run up in the course was absolute mayhem. I know I passed about five people but I was also passed by another five. The next two laps were just a major reshuffling of the ranks. I kept to my plan and I was passed by a good amount of people, but I could only hope that they would blow them selves sky high at the end of the race and I would be able to put in a final charge at the end. The sand pit was a fun obstacle to go through every lap. I made it through almost every time with out having to unclip and I could make up tons of time. The key was to find a good rut that was packed down. The only problem though is that the ruts were over a foot deep in some places. Another place that played to my advantage was a very steep climb in the middle of the course. I knew how to scale a small wall of a climb from cross country and I passed a couple of people through out the race there. Many people tried to shift going up the climb which would only throw off their chain and made a spine tingling clang. The upper woods section was very fun minus all of the people who kept crashing in front of me. There must have been about five crashed that I was almost involved in because of some root taking the tires out from underneath the rider in front of me. So besides having to dodge a couple of hidden roots and rocks, off camber mud corners, broken pavement and shadows, I had to dodge sliding bodies and bikes. I guess that is what helps make racing interesting...

On the last lap of the race I was able to mount a massive charge and passed two people in the lower grass section, along with another two in the woods, and another on the steep climb. I was feeling great about this fast lap, but there was still one more person who has been sitting ahead of me the whole race. Through the baseball diamonds at the end I was able to catch and pass him. I had to put the hammer down going into a chicane before the finish stretch so that he could not retaliate. I did not look back until I was almost at the line and then it was only a fast glance under my arm, and I had a couple of seconds on him. That was my most exciting finish of the whole 2010 season! I was able to claw my way up to 49th of 126 starters. The result was not bad but I was way more excited about my last lap than any of the results.

Smith Farm CX

Nate-

It has been a while since my last post so I will break up the last couple of weeks into multiple posts. This one will be about a fun cyclocross race in Connecticut at Smith Farm. The course was great, and I got to do my first spiral ever! The first part of the course went around a field and ended with a muddy spiral that was fairly dizzying. The second half of the course was through an apple orchard with a couple of steep ups and downs.

The start of the race was great for me. I was able to line up fairly close to the main line where most of the grass was worn away. The promoters had enough room for just about every one to line up in a single row which was nice. Out of the gate I was able to find sixth place, and stayed there through the spiral and through the second set of barriers. On the third barrier of the set I saw a rider trip and go down. I thought there was going to be a massive pile up and the distance that we gained over the rest of the pack would be lost. Overall not much time was not lost but it messed up the little bit of organization that there was in front of me. The rest of the race consisted of damage control. It felt like I was on a teeter toter battling between pushing too hard and risking blowing up at the end or letting people pass and getting dropped early. The course was very wide open and fast which did not suit my legs this day.

No matter how hard I tried I could not put a gap on any one. This was a really weird feeling since I am used to mountain biking where it can be a matter of minutes between competitors, not a handful of seconds. Most of the race feels as if you are riding in that imaginary piece of elastic that snaps back every once in a while but it never quite snaps back all the way. When I found out how I finished I could not believe I how compact of a group I was in. I was five seconds from the person in front of me and 6 seconds ahead of the person behind me. Five seconds in a race that is almost an hour is not that much time at all. I was still very happy with my finish of 11th out of 41 starters. This was also a great race to prepare for the Cycle Smart International coming up.