RJM

good luck, Abe!

Abe_Froman

Thanks! I'm calling it a win if I finish and don't have a stroke

12strings

My Plan for the week:
Tonight: Wait
Wednesday: Wait
Thursday: Wait, re-check and pack up all my gear.
Friday: Wait till after work, then drive 2 hours to stay overnight with relatives who live close to the race site.
Saturday: Ride my first ever bike race (cyclocross)!

....too much waiting...

Carcosa

^ First race for me is this Saturday too. Agreed on the too much waiting.

50voltphantom

Sat: 8/10 in SS
Sun: 16/23 in 4/5

Jingle Cross up next.

Abe_Froman

I'm revising my expectations. I don't actually care if I finish or not, as long as I don't drop out due to a busted back wheel. I just rebuilt it myself lol

Carcosa

Nice! How was the SS field? I've been warned there are some crazy strong SS guys in our area.

Good goal! Mine is just to finish and hopefully stay upright the whole time.

Abe_Froman

Thanks lol. Yea, regardless of final placement, I'll be pretty impressed with myself if my handbuilt wheel survives a cyclocross race

50voltphantom

My experience so far is that your average SS rider is fast as hell. Podium finishers have been Cat 1-3's. SSCX has a rep of being not taken seriously but in reality it's srs bsns.

msu2001la

My goal for this season: Do not become a YouTube sensation

Carcosa

Participated in my first ever weekend of local cross racing. Safe to say I'm addicted.

Saturday I picked up 8th place out 41 in the men's 4/5 race on a single speed for my first start.

Sunday I managed 2nd place out of 12 in the single speed category (which was 50 minutes).

Then capped off the weekend watching a bomber race put on by my LBS where no CX bikes were allowed and costumes were encouraged. Tons of fun.

Abe_Froman

Wow nice job! You're faster than me. finished 99/125, though I did have to stop and reseat my wheel in the dropouts after it was kicked in a bunchup in the first half of the first lap, or maybe a rock/small stick got caught between the hub/frame. Either way...wasted about 60 seconds taking the wheel out and putting it back in....when I got moving I was sniffing dead ****ing last Ended up passing 20+ people though the rest of the race. So, all things considered....I'm very happy. The wheel I rebuilt with new spokes/nipples even held up and is perfectly straight. Almost more happy about my handywork than race performance

Carcosa

^ Nicely done coming back from dead last man! Talk about tough with a minute-long gap.

Abe_Froman

Haha thanks. Yea I wasn't QUITE last...there were 2 or 3 people still behind me that fell behind the pack within the first lap that I got back on the course just in front of. But yea I reeled in some of the main group at least. I finished in 28 min and change. Winner was just under 24, back end 32 min and change, with a few stragglers at 35min +. Like I said...all told I'm pretty happy.

I think I can get a lot faster fairly quickly. My cardio was not up to snuff...I was weezing after the first lap, to the point I couldn't really put out power in areas I could have really powered past people. I can improve pretty dramatically there with a bit of training I think. When I was practicing Jiu Jitsu...wind came a LOT faster than strength/endurance.

Bike handling I was pretty surprised with myself! I handled the downhill, off camber switchbacks across th used to be a toboggan run better than most. There were a few multiperson pileups there during the cat 4 race I watched, and more than a few people that just biffed it going through solo.

I really need to practice a bit more, and find the limit of my tires. I don't think I took corners as hard as I could have...especially big, sweeping turns after downhill sections. I'm sure my tires would have kept traction...I just wasn't ballsy enough to find out at speed lol

hubcyclist

I did my first event this weekend, finished 43/47. Bottom line: it was fun as heck and as a long-time roadie I'm happy to finally give this a try. As background, I just built up a free frame into a cyclocross bike, which I finished on Saturday before racing Sunday, so I have literally have zero experience with anything CX related, other than being a keen observer from the outside.

I handled the technical stuff well enough, didn't fall or crash into anyone, so that's a plus. Effort, while having a high HR from adrenaline, was likely not so high most of the time at least from how the legs felt, possibly because I was more focused on technique than speed at this point. Wish I had a power meter for cross, but alas I'll have to be better at going by feel.

Ultimately I had to drop out a lap short because my crank arm came off (bad mechanical work on my part, didn't go back and re-torque). Funny part is I thought I was on the last lap and ran maybe 1/4 of the course to the finish line just because I wanted to complete, oops!

Anyhow, it's fun and would love to do more, I enjoy road riding but haven't been able to compete in a couple of years and I don't know if I can train the way I want to in order to really stand a chance. At least with cross, they're short events for which I can train for all the demands in a reasonable amount of time in a week. Plus cross events seem more family friendly, it's more of a fall festival than anything.

msu2001la

Pretty sure I know exactly which corner you're talking about (the downhill way in the back with the left hand sweeper). I overcooked + misjudged that one during a pre-ride lap and nearly went through the tape.

The off camber stuff on the hillside was great. So many guys were just way too tentative going through there and would skid their bikes out on the bottom because they were braking so hard through the turn, or afraid to lean into the fall line. I found the more aggressively I rode it, the better. I would slow down really high up on the line, then turn and dive towards the apex with almost no brakes. The only time I got messed up in there was due to other riders forcing me off line and getting low.

The upcoming Dan Ryan Woods course will have a big high-speed off-camber sweeper and a few steep hills to test the limits of your tires on (plus bunny hops!).

Abe_Froman

Yup that was the corner I was talking about...northwest corner coming down the only real hill over there. I feathered the brakes a touch coming through every time...cuz well, I'm a weenie

And yea I liked the hillside off camber too. I think I had the hang of it, if I was a bit slow.and same yeah, shoot high and far, than just dive towards the apex. I'm sure I use more brakes than you did though haha. 1st time was a **** show...people everywhere, so I just hopped off and ran past a few. 2nd time I rode through cleanly, but probably a bit too tentative. 3rd I think I actually nailed pretty well...good speed coming out of the 2nd turn, able to keep it and power through the 3rd that was more of a sweeping turn out onto the flat.

msu2001la

Now just try to imagine how awesome that section would've been with some rain or snow.

Abe_Froman

I'd still be trying to extricate myself from the fencing material

50voltphantom

Well done. Impressive to say the least.....

Carcosa

Thanks man! Was looking at results today and noticed the SS field was 17 not 12. #humblebrag

I led for the first three laps but then took the worst timed bottle chug to keep myself from puking and then couldn't catch the guy that passed. I should have let him lead through the first laps and just hung on his wheel to wait for him to screw up.

I had an advantage going into the race though. It was the course I've been practicing on for about a month and only a few things got changed on race day. Set up my wheels with tubeless MXPs too and it made a huge difference for my confidence in corners.

Now I just have to decide if I want to keep racing SS or cat 4/5 for the rest of the season.

50voltphantom

Bumpity-bump. Cross is coming (again). Things get rolling in about two months. How's the bike? What are you riding? What are you working on (skills and/or mechanically)? Goals?

ksryder

I was thinking of trying something super radical this year and actually training for cross (as opposed to just showing up for the handful of local races and absolutely dying for 45 minutes). My plan is to do the 8-week TrainerRoad cyclocross workout, starting at the beginning of August so I'm peaking at about the time one of my favorite cross races usually happens.

Skills -- the races around here typically have one or two barriers and no run ups, so I don't really do much skill training although I probably should because my dismounts and remounts are atrocious.

My bike is still waiting on replacement parts for all the stuff I broke at Dirty Kanza. I have a second wheelset so I'll probably actually set up some tubeless cross tires instead of using tubes like I've done in the past, mainly out of laziness and being cheap.

50voltphantom

I've started 'training' in earnest much earlier this year in hopes of getting my winter lbs off by the start of the season, not the end of it. Bike is good AFAIK...As far as skills, my big one I want to have down is a solid bunny hop. Not a 40cm bunny hop necessarily, but enough to confidently get over a standard curb if need be. I had two races where it would've paid dividends last year.

ksryder

What tires are you running?