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