Boulevard Cup Race Report

Another gorgeous day for 'cross at a great venue. The course design proved to be challenging and my legs were feeling a bit heavy from Saturday's effort in the 1/2/3 race. Nationals is only about 6 weeks away and racers from around the region came to check it out. The start is an uphill grind that dives off into a slight down hill field, around a pond then back up the hill and across the road into the main area of the race. The course snakes its way around the field through off camber and other tight technical sections. Weather could prove to make this a very difficult course. Long sweeping off-camber turns that were fast on Sunday could turn to slippery sliding turns where you just try to keep the rubber side down. At the end of each lap riders face an uphill dismount that will be laden with 40 ft of stairs, a 180 at the top and back down the hill followed by another 180, then back up another set of stairs. After the remount at the top of 2nd set we rode about 50 feet then another TIGHT 180 onto an off-camber section. This area will prove to be decisive. Lastly back onto the road for the uphill grind to the finish.

I had a decent race, but got separated from the front group in the first lap and couldn't get back on, so I held on to my spot and battled with another guy for awhile until he was out of gas. One young buck on the front, actually rode in Paris-Roubaix this year as part of the US Junior National Team, went out in a spectacular explosion. I've raced with him a bunch last year and once I saw him ahead of me, it was pedal to the metal and I made up another spot through the fast downhill corner. Check out the great video that local Keith Walberg shot for Gizmo Productions.... good stuff and a firsthand look at the Nationals course.

Capital Cup Race Report

Race #3 of the season was out in the capital city of Kansas. Topeka is around 75 miles or so from KC, had to budget a little extra time in getting out there on a great fall day. The morning was a cool start in the mid 30's with mid 50's expected at race time, purrrrfect. I finally broke out the Cane Creek carbons with the Dugast Rhinos on the long flowy course. Front row start and ready to rock it... break my chain in the first 500 meters. So I dug into the 'cross survival kit I take to all races and fish out a replacement chain.

Sign up for the 1/2/3 race, feeling a bit nervous as I'm lining up with Steve Tilford and some of the other fast locals. I take a 2nd row start and ease out of the gate. It didn't seem like a fast start but quickly the pace picked up and the field strung out until I was dangling off the back. The rest of the race was pretty much a solo effort aside from trying to chase down the 2 guys in front of me. Its all good experience and if I had to do it all over again I would have been more aggressive at the start and tried to hang in. Finished 13 of 16, not last and I didn't get lapped by Tilly.

Boulevard Cup Pre-Registration Tonight

Get down to the Boulevard Brewery Tasting room tonight from5-8pm to prereg for the race on Sunday. The race will be held on the same course as December's National Championship of Cyclocross. This is a great opportunity to get your cross on and feel out the course we've all been waiting for. While at the brewery, sample up some of the great offerings they've been cooking up over at Boulevard.

Nationals Course Preview = Boulevard Cup

Sunday's Boulevard Cup will be a big race and riders are expected to descend on KC from all over the country. They want to feel first hand how bad its going to hurt come mid-December on the Nationals course. The word on the street is it will hurt bad. It always hurts, it just depends where and how much. I've raced in this park several times, but Bill has changed it up some and I'm looking forward to getting a true preview on the Nationals course. There are double sets of stairs (railroad ties) added back to back stylie, a large sandpit, and of course enough road to help make up some time, I'll need it. This is a great opportunity to a sneak peak and actually race on the course early. Not that it will give me a big advantage over the likes of Andy Jacques-Maynes, but I can use all the help I can get. Saturday is the 2nd race of the DeStad Cyclocross van Kansas series which will be in Topeka, then back to KC for the Bully cup on Sunday. I'll take some pics and post a good race report on the course after I've felt its wrath.

Boss Cross #1

The weather on Sunday was supposed to be in the low 70's and sunny, so I wasn't too excited about the persistent warmth. On the way up to the race the sky clouded up and wind was gusting in the 20's to 30's. A park in Platte City was the race venue for this revival of the Boss Cross series. The new venue was rumored to be hilly, but upon arrival that rumor looked to be very true. The pre-ride on the course was eye opening, this was going to be hard... 3-4 rough rutty sections that warranted 3 inch suspension and 2.2 tires, hills that were waiting to suck every ounce of snap from my legs, turns littered with gravel, and of course that wind was starting to howl out of the west. There were a lot of technical turns too which looked fun but somebody was going down. As much as I wanted to run the Dugasts, I opted out seeing all those rough ruts and gnarly rocky sections. Michie Mud clinchers with 32 lbs front and 35 rear will be my weapon of choice today. In the Masters race that I missed most of, Jeff's Challenge Grifo blew out the sidewall like so many others that I've read about. I'm staying away from those clinchers, might try a tubie.

Cat 4 Race
Matt-Cat, Brent, Scott, and one of my team-mates Brian were in this race with nearly 50 starters. Ready Go! and field flies up the paved start to the holeshot and into the worst rutty section of the course. People are bouncing all over and at the first turn, bump, bump, boom. Brian gets tangled up with Scott, goes over the bars, and hits the dirt. His bars were completely turned down, shifters full of mud and he limped back to the parking lot. As we were digging for an allen to fix the bars and scraping out the dirt, POW! I turn to look and a few turns later, Matt has blown a tire. Apparently, someone's tire got into his and rubbed for several seconds before exploding. The Hutchinson Piranha had blown out the sidewall across a 5 inch section. No spare wheel, but a generous onlooker offered one up at the pit and Matt was back in the race.

Matt Cat after the holeshot and ruts

By this time, Matt was getting lapped by the leaders, but got in the chase group and started picking off the other lapped riders and ended up in 22nd. Brent on the other hand, in his own massochistic way, opted for the single front 42 chainring and a 25 on the rear. Nothing too eventful for the 13th place finisher, except the continuous frying and burning of his legs as he pushed that gear up those hills. He's going back to the double, not a bad choice.

Brent in the Pain Cave

Scott leading the chase

Cat3/4 Race
The warmup was pretty weak, but still got 20 minutes on the trainer with a few laps on the course. Several accelerations up the monster hill reaffirmed the pain that was about to ensue. Lined up in the front row this time, early bird gets the good start. The chief ref gave her usual spiel and then a very unsuspecting Ready GO!! WTF I said as I immediately punched it and sped toward the holeshot in about 8th place. I bomb it through the rough section and make up several places, around the first corner easily and up the first steep hill, hit the short uphill road section and grab a wheel. There's a lot of jockeying back and forth on the first part of the first lap. We head up the 2nd short upclimb, and people start spinning out and dismounting. I manage to stay on the bike and pedal through them amidst the traffic at a near standstill.

Brendan and I jockeying up the big hill

Through the rocky off-camber section where the line changed every lap cuz all the big rocks kept moving around. By the 2nd lap, we've pretty much got the top 10 out front. I'm sitting on Brendan's wheel and we go through a downhill turn to an off-camber section and he goes down in front of me, I take the section high and go past him into 3rd. Gun it up the next hill by the pits and onto the long daddy hill and through the backside of the course. There was one barrier section with triples and as I approach it, I'm stuck in my left pedal, finally get out at the last second and bounce my bike off the first barrier and manage to get through the boards and back into my pedals, wooo. Brendan and I battle back and forth for a lap or two and I notice that he's slowing a bit on the hills, so next time he goes around me I just sit on his wheel for the next full lap and let him pull me into the wind and up those hills. When we go up the hill by the start/finish he dismounts and starts to run, time to make my move...I gun it and blast past him up the road and don't let up for at least half a lap. On the long uphill, directly into the wind, I also bury myself to get enough separation that I can maintain. Another couple laps and I've managed to keep them all back and nobody is close enough to challenge for my spot. First and second were far enough ahead I knew I couldn't close the gap on them without taking significant risks, so I took the bell lap at a reasonable pace and held onto 3rd. All's good on the podium. Team X grabs 1st, 2nd, and 4th... gotta keep an eye out for those guys. Pallito is looking good and the young Chris is screamin' fast. A big thanks to Jeremy Haynes for designing this challenging course and putting on a stellar event, can't wait for December in Parkville for Boss Cross #2.

Jeff Chasing downPlumer in the Masters

Green Monster

Wow, check this Belgie flyover planted in the bluegrass of Kentucky. The green monster is going to challenge the legs and skills of all riders this coming weekend at the first stop of the US Gran Prix of Cyclocross in Louisville. It has the run up on one side and a ride down on the other. I'd be fine on the run up, but getting in the pedals for the steep downhill on the other side immediately would be sketchy at best. I can easily see many riders rolling down on their saddle only and getting bucked at the bottom (yee-haw!). At the beginning of the season I had planned to make this race, but it's too much travel for the fam right now. This course is going to be sick on the remnants of an old golf course, it will be true Belgie style with this new flyover. Rain is in the forecast for the first part of the week in KY, so it could be a weekend of mudfilled mayhem.

Season Opener ... Chris 'Cross Intl

Finally the Cyclocross racing has begun. It poured rain yesterday with a high in the 60s', and the thought of cold weather and mud filled my dreams last night. But as the day wore on, it became a balmy 78 degrees with sunny skies. Sweet, I only have a long sleeve skinsuit as the rest of my kit hasn't arrived, nor my bike (another topic). On with the race report.

kB pulling the train

Rolled up to the start and got a decent position in the 2nd row, but as I looked around it became apparent that there were a couple local legends that were going to lay it down. That just meant the start was even more important. Ready, GO!!! Fast start down the pavement, sitting about 10th into the hole-shot. I quickly made up ground on the first bumpy section and moved up about 5 spots. Through the quad barriers that were 2ft high, the winding whoops section, treacherous creek crossing with rocks and log(photo of Matt-Cat), and back out onto the road.
There was lots of gravel and rocks so I opted to not use the Dugasts today and went with the Ksyrium/Mud combo(good choice). After we got through the first lap, things spread out some and it was me, Ridley teammate Jeremy, and young Team X'er sitting in 5,6, &7. It really stayed that way for the next several laps until some guy came blowing through us, I tried to stay on his wheel but you know how that goes. Down to the bell lap and Team X kid moved in between us and I couldn't shake him with multiple accelerations. He sat on my wheel until the last turn onto the pavement and passed me, then my teammate rolls by. Lost 2 spots in the last 50 meters, boo. All in all the day was good, with no major mistakes, and I'm happy with my placing. Could have had a better start, and should have communicated more with my teammate about some alternating attacks to drop that kid. Shouldn't have pulled the whole race either. Off to Denver in the morning and a rest week, woo hoo, then back to racing next weekend, can't wait. Just want my freakin' X-Fire delivered, SOON!

Poetry in Motion

How beautiful is this clip? This photo is courtesy of David Chui and shows the elegant display of bunny hopping barriers by the master himself, Sinsei JPows. One of these days I'll man-up and give it go.... on the porta-barriers cuz I'm a wussy and probably end up on my face. This is not something you can try in a race unless you have it down perfect EVERY time. Jeremy is also rolling the new SRAM RED on a Ridley X-Fire (it better get here soon!) Straight up Badass.

Fave Riding Partner

Today was a rest day, so Ella and I cruised it up for a good hour or so. She chatted away in the back with her dolls while I played sled dog up front. Mush Mush daddy! Pulling the chariot around isn't easy, but definitely enjoyable with her.