2019 CX season - Rolling Thunder

Montana CX season ended with "rolling thunder." It's at a brewery, the beer is free, and things start at like noon with the juniors and get faster as the day goes on. The "elite" mens field races at 8pm and there are lights set up all over the course and tons of spectators. Going up the hill, down the off camber, and up the run up it seems like both sides of the course are lined with people screaming your name. It's awesome.

I decided to do the mtb race as well as the night race because it was only 3 laps. Pretty fun, there were around 25 people out there and the full suspension bikes got a head start, so I was at the very back like a minute behind. I caught the two fs bike leaders near the beginning of the last lap, had a battle up and down the hill, and won. Got a 6 pack and a free dinner at Cafe Dolce. That race was at 5:30, which was kind of weird timing with racing at 8 as far as eating and recovering and warming up goes. I pedaled around a bit, ate a little, and then we were lining up.

They called up almost everyone, but behind the first row, things were kind of a free for all. I was like, uh, hey, you guys want to try this again because no one is where they are supposed to be but then looped back around and Cory stuck me in front of him. I was supposed to be 3rd row, but some guys weren't there, but some people got added late, and anyway I wound up on the 2nd row, on the inside edge, behind Dan and Rob. Who were originally supposed to be on the 2nd row. But I think we were all in about the right spots. Had a good start- found my pedal, stayed up there, made it through turn 1, barely, because Rob got loose and almost took out himself and Dan (and i probably would have been the first guy into the pile). I was somewhere around 8-10th out of 54 racers and pretty happy with that. The first part of the course goes into the backyard/concert venue at the brewery, and is a little tight and narrow, so things are strung out single file and there isn't much room to pass. Then you get out around the edge and go up the hill and it widens out. Being up there let me not worry about fighting for position or trying to move up, and instead try to find a reasonable pace.

Next lap Ian comes by me and I'm like, oh, this will be a good wheel to follow. But I couldn't hang onto that and he went on to finish 9th overall and ahead of Rob and Dan, so good work Ian. I meanwhile, was beginning the backward slide. Guys were catching me, sometimes I'd follow for awhile, and then I'd get dropped. I just didn't seem to have it. Laps like, 3-5 I was behind the guy who won the masters race. He was pedaling really fucking hard up the hill and I was dying, but I could go a little bit slower and catch up on the way back down and through the 180s at the bottom. Once we got up the hill for the last time I could ride his draft down the back straight and through the start/finish and then it was back in the tight corners through the grass. But this going harder than I wanted up the hills and then slower down them and through the corners was not an ideal situation, and after like 3 times up that hill (we go down and back up it 4 times in a row each lap), I couldn't do it anymore and gave up on sticking with him. My 6th lap was like 30s slower than 1-5 and then I was just waiting for it to end. There were 9 laps. A few more guys caught me, including a teammate who was a favorite to win the masters race but got a flat and missed the start. Charlie was in the lead of that race (and is our masters state champion) for about the first half until that guy went by him up the hill like he was standing still. Charlie was coming up behind me with like 2 to go but crashed on the downhill off camber. He got back up and finished but I think hit his head pretty good.

I feel like I had a better race in me than that, and rolled in not very happy, but surprisingly got the last step of the cat 3 podium (5th). 1/2/3 and "open 4/5" all raced and started together, and they said they weren't doing a cat 3 podium, but they wanted to give a cat 3 state championship and there were over 20 of us so they figured they might as well. And I didn't get lapped by the winner (Kevin Bradford Parish, who has been racing world cups this year). Ivan was 2nd and only 8 seconds behind at the end, but KBP might have just been riding with him to make it fun. Andrew, who won this race last year and has also been in some pro fields this year, got a flat early on and then crashed a couple times so not a good day for him.

I never seem to race as well as I'd like at this one. Maybe it's because it's november in montana and fitness is on a downhill slide, maybe I went too hard and blew up, maybe I'm just that slow, maybe it's because the race doesn't start until 8pm. Or maybe I shouldn't have done that mtb race at 5:30 (but I got good prizes so totally worth it).

Wed night I was surprised at how far the tire pressure dropped after getting out on the course and things were fairly smooth and fast, so I was considering starting on the higher side. But that grass field warmed up during the day and turned into slick, greasy mud that I could barely stay up on during the mtb race, there's the off camber downhill, and the corners on the hill are fast and off camber. Thankfully the slick parts mostly hardened up and I was actually going too slow sometimes in there, just expecting to start sliding. I can't remember if I started at 25/27 or 26/28, and I didn't check them after, but I assume I was a little lower during the actual race. They felt good, had plenty of grip, and stayed supported on the paved chicane going into the start/finish. I've spent a lot of time racing at 27/29 or higher and they're definitely better when the course lets you go below that. Still glad I went with these as my one set of tubs for the last two seasons. Andrew had one up front with a grifo rear, Ivan was on terreno wets, Toby (3rd overall) was also on Baby Limuses.

There are a lot of pictures thanks to Myke Hermsmeyer and John Sieber

https://www.facebook.com/rollingthu...146986016686213

https://www.facebook.com/pg/rolling...25&__tn__=-UC-R

https://www.facebook.com/pg/jsieber...0&__tn__=-UCH-R

https://www.facebook.com/pg/jsieber...0&__tn__=-UCH-R

https://www.facebook.com/pg/rolling...55&__tn__=-UC-R

https://www.facebook.com/pg/rolling...35&__tn__=-UC-R

https://missoulian.com/news/local/p...Bv4o8gRT2O05A#1

2019 cx season - wed week 6

Wed cx week 6. The last one. This race is out at big sky brewery since our big race is there Saturday. I was out there Sunday mowing the ditch around the sand pit, and then Monday was a snow storm, and Tuesday was really cold. Which meant all the course setup happened kind of at the last minute yesterday. I got the back yard of the brewery setup while Dave and Cory worked on the hill. This is the 4th year racing out there and I've helped set things up before, so we have things mostly figured out, but there's some new stuff this year, mainly that the road between the brewery and the big hillside we use is getting closed so the street is the start/finish straight. The previous issue was that the course was a little short, laps being low 5 min for the fastest guys. Now we're using more of the hilliside plus the street and it's longer. Our laps last night were over 7min and we didn't have to get too crazy with stuff like constant back and forth through a field.

2019 CX season - wed week 5

After the "bike ball" Friday night, I was really useless saturday, actually did a solid ride/workout sunday, and then have felt like garbage all week. I was really on the fence about racing, but figured if I felt bad enough I could just dial it back, take some handups, or even quit. I had some motivation to show up though because there is a series overall podium with pretty good prizes. Dan and Robert are very firmly in 1st and 2nd, but the points are best 5 out of 6 races and Andrew, Ivan, Toby, and Kory have all missed at least 2 races so the 3rd spot is going to Charlie, Shaun, or me. My worst race was 9th on week two, so my goal was to do better than that, and finishing ahead of Charlie and/or Shaun is a bonus. Charlie wasn't there tonight, but Shaun was. He missed week one, finished ahead of me weeks 2 and 3 (week 3 was a sprint finish), and I beat him last week. Charlie and I are also 2-2, and one of those I only got because his chain kept coming off.

2019 CX season - Wed week 4

Just making it to wed night cx was kind of iffy after bozeman. I stripped my bike down sunday and was pretty annoyed with how fucked it was/is. BB bearings wouldn't turn, shift cable wasn't moving well, wheel bearings don't feel great. Thought, well, maybe I'm just done for awhile and left it hanging up in pieces until tuesday. Then figured I should try to get it working and race. But my LBS never seems to have bb30 bearings in stock and I didn't feel like getting bearings from a different shop and then going down there and asking to use their stand and tools. Popped off the seals, flushed them out, repacked them, and they seem turn well enough. Also ran some ptfe spray lube and compressed air through the cable housing, repacked the jockey pulleys, scrubbed the cassette and brake tracks, and tried to get the shifter a little cleaner. It's a little sluggish, and for some reason it goes into the biggest cog and then just clicks right back out, but it works. Maybe this weekend I'll do bar tape and a new cable.

2019 CX season - Bozeman Grand Prix

Went to Bozeman last weekend to race their cross race. This year the Wild West series didn't happen, the Flathead didn't put on a race, and Helena cancelled theirs. I was planning to attend at least one of those, and with nationals happening fairly nearby there was definitely a demand for some usac sanctioned races in the state. But rolling thunder is going to be the only one. The inland NW series, happening in the N ID and Spokane area, are done through USAC and some people I know have been heading out to those. In fact, I was getting text messages Saturday on the drive back from Bozeman about carpooling to Sunday's race in CdA.

2019 CX season - wed week 3

Week 3 was at the golf course. Thick grass is hard, and it was cold out. 27f. Andrew and Ivan didn't race because they were going to Boulder, and at the start things seemed fairly civil. I didn't have to work very hard to put myself 5th wheel behind Shaun going into the first bottleneck, where you go up a narrow driveway off the street. Robert was in the lead with Dan and Charlie behind him. The start of the lap takes you on a narrow track around a pond, then in front of the clubhouse, around a few tight corners, over the barriers, and then down the driving range. Or rather up, because it's a slight climb. Did I mention it's also thick grass? This was the most miserable part of the course, and by the time we hit the end of the range, there was a gap from Shaun to Charlie, and a gap from Charlie to Rob and Dan. I was fairly comfortable when it started opening and probably should have tried getting to Charlie before it got too big. But at the same time I'm thinking "don't be stupid and blow up on lap 1" and I was happy with where I was. Dan and Rob rode away, Shaun and I stuck together, and Charlie stayed out there, just out of reach. Looking at the times, he got about 16-17s ahead and then we closed to like 9 at the finish. Parts of the course were fast enough where there was drafting, and it was also nice to be riding with another person. We kind of figured out where each of us were better and took the lead through those sections. Without being on Shaun's wheel through the sand and over this set of logs and down a bank, I would not have even realized I should have been going faster there. Going into the last lap he's ahead of me, and there's an uphill section on cart path, then some off camber tight corners, then the finish line. My plan was to attack up the path and get in front, but there were some other racers kind of in the way that we were lapping, so I didn't get by, and there wasn't really a good way to get around in a sprint. Plus Shaun is a better sprinter than me. So 5th, but also 4 guys who finished ahead of me last week weren't there. The other 4 were, and still did. But being with Shaun and almost Charlie definitely made me feel better.

2019 CX season - wed week 2

Last week, a couple of the regular fast guys weren't there, and I generally felt pretty good the whole race. This week had better turnout and I wasn't really at 100% going into it. Same gravel section off the start, but last weekend's rain packed it down pretty well and the large dumpster was gone, so much more manageable in the group at high speed. Turn two was a hairpin on loose gravel though. Despite feeling like I had a pretty good start, there were a lot of guys, and a lot of fast guys, and I was probably 8-9th wheel or so once we got through the tricky bits. But, no gaps for about the first half of the first lap. But then there were, and I couldn't stick with Toby through the technical bits when he passed a couple guys who were falling off, and the front of the race was gone. I got passed by a couple guys, passed a couple guys, and had some fun back and forth throughout most of the race and then with like 3 to go was by myself again. This time in 9th place though. And the leaders of 40+ caught and passed me on the last lap but sticking on their wheels to the finish line was actually pretty easy. I tried to ride the run up about half the time today, it wasn't faster because you had to take a longer route vs running up, but there was a crowd up there. I made it twice out of I think 4 attempts, on one of the missed ones I took a whisky shot.

2019 CX season - wed week 1

Another season of cyclocross racing is underway. Half over for me, actually. I've done 3 wed night races and went to Bozeman, and have 3 more wed night races and then Rolling Thunder.

Anyway, here's what I wrote about week 1

Little Park Creek, Inez, and the Dean Stone area

The newest happening for recreation in Missoula is the Mount Dean Stone project. A few years ago, The Nature Conservancy and Five Valleys Land Trust acquired some land in Miller Creek and on the north side of mount Dean Stone, basically in the south hills above Pattee canyon. There is still a gap between the two sides, but the project has opened up quite a bit of new land to explore and some new trail has been built on both sides, most notably the Barmeyer trail.

The other side of Dean Stone, in Miller creek, is where most of the new access has opened up. The map and overview provided by Five Valleys unfortunately doesn't give a complete picture of the roads and routes and property ownership on that side of the project, however, the inez trail, route from there to the top of deer creek, and the route down into little park creek are on trailforks, along with some other roads in the Miller creek area. Taking it a step further, I went and overlaid some land ownership squares into caltopo, which conveniently also has a public land overlay. So you can see what is TNC/5vlt, what is state, what is forest service

https://caltopo.com/m/42T5#

Lost trail not-shuttle fest

Went and did some riding by lost trail pass south of town last weekend. Lost trail is the border between id and mt on highway 93 and also right next to the continental divide. The main trail is called warm springs ridge, it starts behind the ski area at about 7800ft and goes north. It's a pretty remote, cool backcountry ride but with a shuttle almost anyone could ride it. The climbing is fairly minimal, the trail is mostly smooth, and you wind up right near the highway at the end. Every year, lost trail ski area hosts a bike fest and runs shuttles from the end of this trail and back up to the top. In addition to the ridge trail, there are a few others that drop off to the other side. The shuttle fest was last weekend though. Phil had found a route on trailforks and asked me if I wanted to go try it

https://www.trailforks.com/route/mtbm-warm-springs-route-backcountry

Philipsburg 2019

I had a pretty busy last couple months of racing - 4 of the Wed night series, the mullet classic climb, and Spirit Bear in Kalispell. Nothing really went that great for me, but I did get 4th a the Blue mountain race and due to actually going to them all was 3rd overall in the series, so that was neat. Spirit bear was a little disappointing though, with a 9th place finish. I have some words about most of all that written down elsewhere so maybe I'll copy/paste it here eventually. Anyway, this post was to talk about Philipsburg.

After all those other not really great results, I've been a little less confident in my fitness. I'm also slightly heavier than I'd like. On the plus side, June was all big weeks, racing, and hard efforts for the "Pete Mitchell Inverted Enduro," and I've been doing alright at Wed Worlds.

Bearmouth Road Race 2019 recap

Bearmouth was brought back last year, and is pretty much the only road race in the state. MSU does still put on theirs, and this year there was a UM crit the same weekend, but I didn't make it out in the open field for either. I do wish I'd gone to the road race, it looked like a great course out by Lewis and Clark caverns.

One thing I am starting to appreciate for road racing is a fully paved course with minimal traffic. At bearmouth, we basically have the roads to ourselves. The first out and back is a nice, rolling frontage road along the river and interstate from Drummond to Bearmouth, the second out and back goes over a pass to Helmville. No one has much of a reason to drive on those roads.

On to the race, there were about 25 in our open field. There's a long 1/2/3 race, and a short 4/5 race. But because of the difficulty of getting a road upgrade around here, an "open 4/5" category was added, which means anyone can race in the big race if they want. I managed to actually get myself a cat 3 upgrade last year but there are a number of really fast, experienced racers around who still are 4/5s on the road.

Oh right winter is over

Lot of snow and cold days this winter. I didn't get outside on a bike until march 19th, which means not a lot of miles this year. Thankfully I did not let myself get too fat or out of shape over the winter and have a couple of good weeks in my legs. We've had a few Wed worlds rides, and I went to the death ride, which was a miserable, cold, wet day (in a fun way though), but hadn't done a real race until yesterday.