Sunday, October 26, 2008

Smithville CX Festival - Wicked Windy

Wow, what a great weekend of racing. Thanks to Chris, Heather, and all the rest who made this event happen. Sunday's race was the most fun I've had all cyclocross season. It wasn't epic conditions, massive fields, or an incredibly difficult course.... it was just real Racing. The course had a nice road start into a flowy tree section with some slick corners. Then over to my favorite part which was another flowy up down side to side grassy section that was super fun. Then down toward the lake where the WIND unleashed on everybody. It had to be 30mph winds on Sunday that seemed to pickup thru the day. The big crowd pleaser was the Wall runup followed by the money tree.



Day 1 - - - Got a great start and hung in with the uber fast guys for the first couple of laps. That was all great, until I started to fade. That pace was just a little too much for me, and I started getting passed by a few guys on the 2nd/3rd laps. I then glued myself to Studnicki's wheel for about half the race. A few too many gaps and closing said gaps left me out in the wind. Marshall was closing in on me and next thing I know he's way back due to a stop in the pits for a wheel change. I was out of the money so I starting picked dollars off the tree and ended up with a fat $3, a pocket of leaves, and a couple clothespins. Cameron and a few others were riding the Wall with good success.

Day2 - - - 10 degrees cooler, a lot windier, and a similar course with a few reversed/rerouted sections to mix things up. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel after Day1, but I was going to take a different approach. Going for it on the start worked me over on Satuday, so I was going to play it a little slower off the start and work my way up from there. The start went well and was rolling around 5th wheel or so for the first lap. Shadd and Cameron rolled away and Shriner was sitting 3rd with me close behind. Through the whoops section, something happened with my drivetrain as I tried to pedal and it felt like I had no chain, just resistance-less spinning. Keep trying, looking down, but nothing. I jumped off right at the pits, gave it a good spin and it was back on I got rolling trying to bridge back to Shad. I run a double guard single ring, so no idea what happened there. Within the next 2 laps, my group formed. This made the race for me and really had a blast. Shad Shriner, Mark Studnicki, Bill Marshall and I settled in together and the racing started. The group swapped pulls, attacks, surges and made for a lot of fun. With 2 to go, Bill got gapped in the tree section and the pace quickened to hold it. A solid surge on the blacktop section and Studnicki was off, so it was Shad and I fighting for 3rd. Shad then got a gap that I could never close down and I ended up 4th. It was tons of fun out there today getting windburned and my legs torched. Cameron took the W on a borrowed bike, way to go. Same bike as I have and he loved the carbon.... hmmm.


Check out the cool video from mruder

3 comments:

ScottyD said...

dropped chain. that explains that. I saw you stop by the pit & I started to run over to help & you were gone. I looked to see if you took your pit bike but it wasn't in the pit. Was going to fix that ghetto pre race tweak you did & get you back on your A bike all PRO like. Ruined those plans for me.

Kal said...

I about gooned it on the chain fix. I jumped off the bike right near the pit exit and back on after the exit without making sure I was good to go. Would have been a long run.

The pre-race fix using my home-crafted ghetto derailleur hanger adjustment/bender tool was ACE! Shifted like a dream.

Mark Studnicki said...

I dropped a chain too. i only run a single guard with a Third Eye. Cranks spun backwards slighly going over the barries and the chain came off. It's impossible to pedal it back on since it hangs up on the crank arms where the inner ring usually is hits the chain stay.