msu2001la

I wasn't at Carpentersville, but I did race Sunrise Park last weekend. I think it was muddier than the Indian Lakes mess.

This SRAM stuff is really impressive in these conditions. My drivetrain was completely jammed with mud and grass by the end, but I was still able to pedal and shift gears. I did manage to somehow shift the chain into my wheel right after I crossed the finish line, and it got totally stuck. This was annoying mostly because it was a long walk back to my car carrying my bike on my shoulder. Glad it didn't happen during the race.






All cleaned up afterwords:

redlude97

check your derailleur hanger alignment. If it suddenly shifts into the spokes that is a huge red flag

caloso

I had a funny shifting thing happen on Saturday. I crashed in some sand and somehow my shifter would only shift in one direction. It would take cable up, but not release it. So I got stuck in my biggest cog, which was annoying but it could have been worse. We had a mechanic on site and he blew it out with some compressed air and recommended I flush everything out with WD-40 when I got home. Did that, and all's good.

hubcyclist

This past Sunday, race came to a quick end running into this mess. Chain ended up behind the chain catcher so it wasn't a quick job, so I just abandoned.Annoyed that this was probably a completely unnecessary crash (obviously didn't see it happen or I would have avoided earlier), not sure if 409 was getting a little too physical and got himself knocked down, but I'd expect better from people on a straight smooth track like this

chas58

ugh. I hate that...

msu2001la

That sucks. Nothing worse than getting all geared up for a race and having it end 5 seconds into it.

There was a big pileup at our series on Sunday too, during the single speed start. It looks like two guys got tangled up on the front row and took out like half the field.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-Kp...ature=youtu.be

Hmmm

Racing my second race ever on Monday. Can't wait. A little frustrated as I tried to focus this fall on intervals and CX drills only to get sick, overworked + a family vacation putting me off the bike for the last three weeks. I have one more ride planned for tomorrow to get ready and we'll see how it goes.

Either way I am stoked and it is a very fun way to spend time on the bike. Hopefully I'll have time for at least another race before the season ends.

msu2001la

Good luck!!!

I raced again yesterday. It was only the 2nd time on my bike in the last two weeks, due to a combo of busy work, getting sick, lousy weather.

I went as hard as I could and ended up crashing 3 times (once during pre-ride) and am currently limping around the office today. I've been pretty happy with my results this season. I've finished better than my staging in every race, though last weekend was only by two spots.

My bike has also gotten abused hard this season with all the mud and crashing. Lots of crunching and clunking going on in both my headset and bottom bracket. I think my freewheel is messed up on my rear hub too. I'm hoping I get through a few more weeks of riding and one more race without anything major.

Hmmm

I survived a muddy race with lots of running up mud hills and sliding down them. What a fun way to race a bike.

burnthesheep

Sunday Sunday Sunday. I need to put my new tubes in and get some muddy tires. I don't own anything but thin tires for easy conditions like hard pack and easy gravel riding.

Maybe a slow shakedown ride one night this week. Hmmm, cross practice in the dark with a light.

msu2001la

Nice.
I did my last race of the season last Sunday 12/8. Was super sandy with some running and some killer off-cambers. It was also the Midwest Regional CX Championships so we had bigger than normal fields and some out-of-state racers.

I managed to get in 5 races this season and felt like I improved as the season went on. Really happy I pushed myself and did that first race because it all seemed to get a little easier after that, and gave me a ton of confidence. I'm already looking forward to next season and doing even more racing.

My bike is absolutely wrecked at the moment. 3 of the 5 races I did were mud fests and the last one had sections on a sandy beach, so even though I've been cleaning it constantly, there's lots of crunching and grinding happening in the headset and bottom bracket. Luckily there's an LBS near me that is running a winter overhaul special where they'll pull and clean everything, install new cables, bearings, etc and get it all put back together. I'm totally taking advantage of that, and may also do some new bike shopping while I'm there.

caloso

My son and I built up his new bike this weekend, just in time for the last 2 races of the series. Here it is before his first test ride (no bar tape in case we need to adjust brifters/cables):

burnthesheep

Pics coming soon.

Raced today. Cxmas race. Got a callup. Eventual fade from my poor skills. Dug really deep.

Had a cold so entire race was hacking and spitting. Actually yacked it up after race since all that mucous was going where it ain’t supposed to.

Certainly not near front. Not last. Still had fun supporting a good race group and good people coming out to see us.

All worth it for that.

caloso

So much mud and grass yesterday. Super fun and hard course.

burnthesheep

Pictures didn't come out well. The wife and kiddos were sitting in an odd spot I guess. Finally looked up the results though. Getting the hole shot group was well worth it to avoid the log jams in the muddy off camber sections.

I guess going hard enough with my head cold to vomit after finishing was worth improving a few spots. Even if my handling skills suck. 14/34. I'll take it. I took about 20 seconds not pedaling at one point to spit out phlem and mucouse mid race. I lost a group of 3 at that point.

I think next year I should target top 10's at my races. Fitness wise zero reason to not top 10 each one. Skills, I sent an inquiry into a good local team to see if they'd take me in and show me some stuff. I'll also sign up for the couple of $30 half day camps that get put on yearly also.

I already have scoped out a very slow but technical route around my back yard. Through the goat pen area, around the chicken coop, sprint up the driveway, then loop back around.

If I can even just go from a skill level of "very capable toddler" to "preschool graduate" I think I'd be a lot better off.

Oh, and the 32mm mud tires I bought worked the trick. Good choice there. Also, went latex tube. Good choice there since my bunny hop sucks and I smacked the rear wheel on the log twice.

msu2001la

Nice work!
The only reason you're not top 10 already is because there are 30 others that also think they should be targeting top 10. (kidding... kind of)

Having an area to practice is awesome. I live in the city so I'm usually riding around in parks. Last fall some cranky old guy started yelling at me that I was ruining the park by tearing up the grass, even though it was totally dry. The funny part about this is that it's the same park where a huge CX race is held later in the year that definitely tears up the grass. Also, I'm in my 40's so the "get off my lawn you damn kid" thing is pretty amusing.

At any rate, I'm also interested in joining a team and trying to improve my results a bit next season with some more targeted training and fitness. I might start a new thread about joining teams and what I should look for. There's loads of options in my area and I'm not totally sure what is involved.

burnthesheep

Yeah, this was my third race ever. Lots of these dudes are doing this all season every year. They live for fall/winter cross. I'm just the noob trying to shove my nose in the door.

I'm just now learning things about tires, pressures, and things that are second nature to them they don't think about.

For that 14th I also easily lost big time twice per lap over the barriers. On flat ground or downhill I'm fine. These were both uphill. I suddenly couldn't remount my bike and would lose spots and time. Two barrier sets per lap times three laps. That's a lot of wasted time and energy. Something to practice though. Uphill remounts.

I think starting now also working on my bunny hop. Start with a flat 2x4. Then turn the 2x4 sideways. Then speed up a little more. Then a little more. Etc..... I'm not good at that. It's not hopping barriers, but little 4 to 5" logs they put on the course. Need to get that down.

msu2001la

I've seen these PVC practice barriers in use before. They work really well and if you come up short on hops, there's no crashing. You could make different length feet to practice the shorter 6" hops and easily swap them out for full size to practice dismount/remount:
https://www.cxmagazine.com/newbie-ne...lding-barriers