Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Hit up Comet the night previous for food where I ordered mac & cheese, but with Swiss cheese instead of Chedder. Although my stomach is not one for tolerating dairy products, I live in Wisconsin and therefore by law must love cheese. One of my favorite cheeses is Swiss, which I quickly learned was a love based in moderation. Although, I felt great that I had carbed up, I did not phyiscally feel so great due to the dairy and the overwhelming taste of Swiss. Needless to say I retreated to my bed that night with what felt like a brick inside my stomach. Then upon waking the next morning I was greeted with the same pain maybe ten percent less intense. After running around and getting everything together Jason called and told me he and wife were outside. I slamed my coffee and started hauling my things to the car. While attaching my bike rack I managed to role my front tire through dog poop, but Jason stepped in it so I got off lucky. Once all packed up we went and picked up Kevin and his wife Dani. Kevin's costume was quite hilarious. He was a red M&M and had the gloves to go along with it. About 13 min later we arrived at the Washington Park and were lucky enough to find a parking spot next to Cale. On the way to registration it was begining to seem like this race was huge. We were parked about 40 yards away from the parking lot and I did not see one spot left open. We had driven about 40 yards to find our spot and cars lined both sides. While I was registering a camera man from what I think was TMJ4 approached the table and wanted to speak with someone about the race. I did not see the video or interview, but if you know of anything shoot me an email or post the link in the comments.

I did a pre ride lap and investigated the terrain. I adjusted the air pressure in my tires, which i regret doing. During the race they were way to low and at some points in th course I was hitting rim. At the start line I sat next to Kevin on the far left side of the course. When they told us to go I got in my peddle right away and started to weave through people in a effort to go to the front. After the secound lap I was sitting third and was very pleased with my performance at this point. After going into lap 4 kevin passed me, but told me to ride his wheel. I was so out of breath that I could not respond. My response would have been,"How are you able to speak? I can barely breath", but I just obeyed. I tried to ride his wheel, but it lasted about a quarter of a lap until I fell behind. He was the second single speeder to pass me, making me feel very slow. The I tried taking Mike G and Jerry P's advice about going into a bigger gear. Instantly I found pedaling it was impossible so I went back down. On the last lap a guy from Team GT powered past me and I fought to hold on to his wheel. He made some distance on a straight away before the finish line. I picked up my speed and closed the gap a little, but was worried that the trocadero guy behind me would catch me if iI blew up. I rolled in for nineth place. I do not remember getting passed by five people only three, but I was dieing the whole race so I may have not noticed it. I was really greatful for all the people that cheering me on. It makes the race alot more enjoyable if you have awesome fans yelling at you to go faster. It is even better when your mom and little sister are screaming at you and cheerin you on(thanks). Hopefully, this coming Sunday the turn out is just as big or bigger.

A couple people mentioned to me that I put a little to much out at the beginning, then slow down quite a bit throughout the race. I always feel like I am just making a position for myself, so I do not have to do it later in the race. I do get passed by people later on though, so I probably need to work on my endurance. I feel my pace at the begining is pretty good, but I am still not sure about it. Kind of a shitty post, but I am super tired and am about to take a nap...so shut it!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

All Cated up

Well, I finally got my Cat 3 upgrade and did my first race in the big boy category at Badger Prairie. It was quite the race with a field of over thirty riders that were all looking to crush it. The week prior was an off weekend except if you did the WORS finale, which left a hefty chunk of us jonesin for cyclocross. The ourse was great with one set of three barriers, a barrier that was only accessible through a short cut(that no one took), and the last one being a log in the middle of an up hill. The leaders of my race were hoping over the log, a skill that is very valuable seeing that the top cat 1s were hoping it too. Those guys know what they are actually doing out there. Where I am just kind of riding around trying to look good, which worked out fairly well. So I am going to start working on the bunnyhops at a race pace and hope to break them out in a race sooner than later.

In the morning i woke up with enough time to hit Beans & Barley before going to M/Wildman's house to be picked up. I thought this errand would take me a half an hour so I alotted for such time. To my surprise it took a mere ten minutes. I headed to the randavu point regardless showing up a good twenty minutes early with the M/Wildman answering the door half naked. Once being picked up by Cale and Katie we were off to Badger Prarie only having to stop once for a pee pee break. I was nervous, thinking for some reason I would not get the "ok" to upgrade to the 3's. I did and was trembling with anticipation for the race. The pre ride I did before hand helped me out a bit with knowing what corners were going to be hairy and the overall course lay out. As for the line up I started a couple rows back, which later turned out to suck due to bottle necking. I made up most of my positions on the first and second laps. On the second lap I was behind the M/Wildman when he dropped his chain on a bumpy and speedy descent. John Fang of BKB dropped the hammer on the final climb after catching back up to me from a wreck and passed me like I was standing still. At the end of the race I came out with a seventh place finish. When the race was over I thought of a handfull of things I would do differently, but I can only apply them to the next race, since this one is now in the past. This race was the half way point through the season and since I need a lot more practice I will be able to tell if it is actually paying off.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Far Away Place

I was planning to update this thing at least once a week and so far I have been slacking. I did get pretty sick this week, but how hard is it to type out a couple paragraphs with a cold? I think it is not that hard, yet I was still lazy.

On Sunday I headed down to Hawthorn Woods with Kevin(Grey/K-murder) in hopes of speeding up my upgrade. I wanted to acquire enough points to upgrade rather than do the five race route. I am not saying that one way is better than the other, but I do like finishing well and that is a lot easier to do in the fours than threes. We left at eight in the morning and arrived an hour before Kevin needed to race. My race was even later and had arrived about four hours early for it. With registration you got a clif bar and clif gel which was awesome and since I did not bring any food with me it helped out a bit. I got a free water bottle with registration which was also cool because I constantly loose them. Kevin was rolling in the threes with a single speed which was rad. The course was not set up for a single speed at all. It had a large toboggan hill that you had to ride up then turn immediately into a steep decent then go over a barrier and either ride or run up it again. Doing this twice a lap was exhausting and since I have let my health slide since road season it was quite the task. Before Kevin's race we talked about how important it was to get out front at the beginning, since the hill is first it would need to be accomplished by the second decent of the first lap. Trying to do this later on would be much more difficult because the field would be spread out. After the second run up Kevin was in first place all the way up to the second lap where his lack of gears may have hurt him a little. I couldn't imagine putting out the effort to spin one gear like he did. He ended up rolling into third place on a single speed. I was stoked for him and his placing gave me even more motivation to do well.

After about two or three hours of sitting around watching other races it was my turn to get out there and do some damage. They staged the leaders of the series which was super annoying because they took the front line at the start. I had fallen back to second row in a field of 49 people, which was not all bad. Once we were off I started to make the jump to the front. I moved up to the top ten before we hit the hill giving me an awesome position to pass people on the climb then run up and be in front. After the climb I had crept my way up to top five, then on the decent I held it. On the run up I was fortunate enough to have Kevin running up the hill along of me screaming at me to get in front. This was the medicine I must have needed because I had gotten to the top of the hill first. On the way down and through the course I had fallen into a not to shabby third. Unfortunately, from here the race for me takes a downward spiral. After the first barrier after the hill the first place guy at the time had trouble getting into his pedals and ended up blocking the second place guy out. I saw my opportunity and got out of the saddle and put on the heat. The part of the course this happened at was technical and happens to be a weakness of mine, then adding speed made it even worse. After almost losing it on a corner I still had my first place spot and was heading towards the mud pit. Being myself and totally disregarding what Kevin had said to me about the mud pit I blasted into it planning to turn once immediately out of it. No luck, and I went off the course into a tree. While dropping the F-bomb ten to twenty times I hoped back on my bike to find myself in fifth and holding strong. Next time around, I took a corner to wide and went off the course. After being passed by three or four people I was on the bike trying to close the gap. At this time I was fed up with all of my errors and even thinking about throwing in the towel. The remaining part of the race I rode with two other guys where we traded off positions. On the last lap I found myself rounding the last turn behind the two. I quickly thought of my options and if i had enough energy to drop the hammer on the final sprint. I did and took the luxury of sprinting into seventh for a not so great placing.

I now have enough races to upgrade which i have done. I assume that everything will go smoothly and i will be racing threes one Saturday. I think I will need to start stepping it up a notch if i plan to compete with M/Wildman, Cale, and Kevin. I feel a bit intimidated, but I imagine after the first couple of races the feeling will diminish. Another scary, but real fact is in this category people make the jump to semi pro. Like I said my fitness level is not at its best, but perhaps I am already making excuses. On Saturday will come the real test during which 45 mins of hell will be rained upon thee, ending in a painful world of hurt. I am as ready as I will ever be.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Pig Lap Peak

Sunday was Lapham Peak cyclocross race as many of you know. I had managed to get a ride from Mike Garber who rides for H.C.C. and teammate Jason Ludtke. A huge thank you goes out to Mike for heading to the race a couple of hours before the start of his own race, so I could race. I feel somewhere in between great and crappy about my performance. I had been with the top two guys in the race until the second lap where I dismounted a bit late resulting in hiting the front wheel on the first barrier leaving my bike behind it and myself on the otherside. The racers in front of me asked if i was alright which was awesome since they were fighting against each other for first. My response was yeah although that was just phyiscally. This mistake had left a huge gap between them and myself. I had started to gain on them a little, but am not completely sure. Most of the time they were in my sights, but well ahead. Another errorI made and need to work on is clipping in. This costed me alot of time during the race. After the first lap I began to take count of how many times it would take me to clip back in. The majority of the time I was looking at 4-5 attempts at getting back in. I definatley have to work on everything else as well such as mounting, dismounting, cornering , running over actual barriers and a number of other things. This race was good reality check to see where my cyclocross game was.

At the start of Jasons(cat 3) race the cycling gods had opened up the clouds and let a hellish rain come down setting the stage for an epic cross race. I had wished that this would have been the weather for my race, but was not so fortunate. Everytime I saw Jason he was by himself, while looking strong. He later revealed to me he had not been feeling that way. At the end of his race he was absolutley covered in mud and grass. I have pictures that will come soon, since I don't have the cord to put them on the computer. Jason rolled in for 16th place, which is amazing for not feeling strong and riding the race solo. Mike's race was next which I was unable to watch because I was starting to get cold and was exhausted from my race. I did not want to risk the chance of getting sick so I kicked it by the truck and bathrooms. An awesome feat Mike accomplished was riding up a steep, muddy, and wet hill that I had to run up when it was dry. He had pulled out of the race early because of a flat and didn't have a extra set of wheels. What is even more impressive was he flatted about a mile and a half away from the wheel pit. He ran the whole way to the pit only to be informed by Jerry Pearce that it was not the way it used to be, where you would just take any wheel in the pit and use it. When he rolled back to the truck he had told Jason and myself he forgot to fill up his back wheel. My jaw dropped when I heard this and was speechless as was Jason. After seeing that we were incredibly gullible he told us the truth. We did not stick around for the 1 and 2 race, which James Lalonde of Trocadero absolutley crushed finishing behind his brother for 2nd. It was his first race as a cat 2 and since the field included the 1's his competition was some of the best.

This coming weekend I will be venturing down to Hawthorn Woods in Illnois for a cyclocross race. In an attempt to upgrade to the 3's faster. My race is at three so if anyone needs a ride down i will be willing to leave early to accomadate people. Until then I will be getting used to the high five in hopes of racing it to its full potential.