Bad luck continues.
Went to Chagrin Falls for a little backyard cross racing (literally). It was at some guys house. Nice property, plenty of room for a cross course. It wasn’t bad, would be great for training. My only complaint was that they set up FOUR dismounts per lap. And the lap was about 1 mile long. FOUR! We had a running sand/hill section, then a set of barriers, next came a log and finally a creek crossing with a ‘bridge’. It was a mudfest.
The pre bad luck part:
I got a great start position, front row! We start and it was pretty easy from the gun, I slip into 2nd place and chill. We go through the sand ‘beach’ run area and things are starting to break up a little. Still feeling good in 2nd or 3rd. A lap goes by and I notice (like most cross races) I’m slow in some parts but faster in others but I have no problem closing gaps. Feeling good. A little change in the top group occurs and I slide down to about 5th or 6th, starting to suck wind but remaining calm. Starting to think about places to attack and/or make up positions. Things are looking fun.
Then the bad luck hits:
My rear tubular goes flat. DAMN! At least my car is 30 feet away, maybe I can change this quick and save my race. I run over grab my spare and attempt to switch it. Six ungodly slow minutes later I’m riding. But I easily lost about 20 places. Another race down the tubes. No way to catch back on with 20 minutes of racing left and down 3/4 s of a lap. I finished about 18th out of 32.
The good news:
The promoter got a keg of free beer! And it was actually good! Sweet. Nothing like getting half drunk after a cross race, makes cheering on the A race fun as hell! Then Angelique and I went to Mustard Seed Café & Store and they had a vegetarian lunch buffet. I could barely walk after eating so much sweat and sour tofu. Made the trip worth it.
Cross your fingers for me this Sunday. Maybe the voodoo won’t hit…
Ok. It’s Friday and I still didn’t write my race reports from last week. It was the best weekend of racing this year! Saturday was the Java Johnny’s CX Challenge in Middletown, OH. First year venue and it was a beautiful day and an amazing course. Doug Debroszi did a great job. I did the B race. It was super speedy from the gun but we stayed together for the first half lap till just before the barriers when I biffed it! I touched wheels pretty hard with the guy in front of me and went down. Nothing serious, got up and rode on but it caused a slight gap that later opened on the run up to the decisive move. Five guys stayed in front while Joe and Blair from Echelon, an iPro guy and myself battled it out for 6th through 9th. The iPro guy rode away from us with 3 to go. I thought they would have chased but didn’t. It was pretty uneventful till the end. I just sat in and was happy to just stay with Joe and Blair, two strong cat 3 road racers. It came down to the last turn and Joe blocked me allowing Blair to run in for seventh but I sprinted around Joe for eighth. I was happy, Joe’s a very experienced strong rider. The sand bagging kids from Papa John’s took 1st and 2nd and 3-7th were all held by strong guys. I was happy to finish in such good company. Beautiful day and Mike brought beer to finish off. Nothing better then racing your guts out then drinking a great IPA.
Sunday was a bit of a joke. I knew it would be, since the A race was a UCI race. Half of the B field was made up of A racers that didn’t want to spend the $100+ for a UCI license. Can’t blame them really, it’s not worth it for one race. I was pretty dead after Saturday but didn’t feel to bad in the warm up. I lined up late, 40th place out of 42. The back row. Who cares, I just wanted to have fun today anyway. Yeah right. Cross race is fun? The sandbagging Papa John’s kids got 2nd and 3rd this time. First race I’ve seen them not win this year. It was won by a guy that got 3rd in an A race last month. Funny. Someone has got to tell the Papa John’s kids to upgrade. Seriously. It doesn’t help anyone, including themselves to continue to sand bag. Oh well… I got 27th out of 42! Funny. I was sitting in about 21st and feeling good, starting to move up but I crashed and dropped my chain. After that I just felt like I was empty. Oh well. Fun day. It was great to be apart of a big UCI race and watch some serious cross racers in the A race. Course was awesome, crowd was great. Good day. Angelique took the picture of me above crossing the sand pit.
So the big news for me this week is I joined a different bike team! Blair from Echelon (mentioned earlier) asked me to be on the team next year. It’s a great honor and a big step up from Buckeye. I’ll learn a lot from these guys and hopefully grow from the experience. Can’t wait.
Now if my back will just stop hurting, I’ll be great. See ya in Cleveland tomorrow for the Snake Bite Cross Race.
I took one decent photo of the race on Sunday and it got published here:
http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=10152
I can now retire…
Race reports (2!) from this weekend coming soon.
-Andy
so i haven’t posted in a looong while. what have i been doing? well, i’m not a good blogger because i haven’t even taken pictures of the projects i have been working on. duh!
i’ve been making some crocheted birthday gifts. i made a green and yellow, john deere-inspired throw for jazz’s birthday. whoa, that was the largest piece yet, and i’m sick of green and yellow for the time being. hope you liked it, jazz!
and i made a fluffy shawl/scarf for debra’s birthday. ask anyone, and they’ll tell you, fluffy novelty yarn is a biatch to work with. and don’t watch project runway while you’re working on it or you’ll add so may stitches, the scarf will triple in width in an hour’s time. i had a mini-crisis when i stopped and discovered what i had done. i felt like i was on project runway myself, having worked under a time constraint and failed to finish. aaaah. anyway, i ”made it work” and eventually gave it to debra 3 days late.Â
anyway, that shawl elicited an order from another co-worker, so i’m doing that now. and i think i’ll do that one for money. i’m not crazy….shoooot.
8. Velonews. I never really liked this magazine but it fits perfectly with my current bike racing passion. A good mix of road, lots of cross and mt. bike coverage also.
7. Wok Wok General Tso’s Bean Curd. They make it with the batter and sweet sauce and everything. Amazingly good.
6. Udipi Café. Vegetarian Southern Indian Food with tons of yummy vegan options, to bad it’s a bit of a drive from our house.
5. Carlos and Deez. The cats. Our children. Carlos yells at me so much. As soon as I walk into the kitchen he starts yelling. When I’m in the bathroom and he’s hanging around in the bedroom, he yells at me. If I’m on the computer, he’ll walk into the room and yell at me. And what does Deez do? She’s the classic cat spaz. Flying around the house at the speed of light.
4. Music. Here’s a short list of current favorites: Soccer Team, Camera Obscura, Rise Against, Sufjan Stevens, Tapes N Tapes and The Misfits!
3. Being Vegan. It’s been over six months and I feel more alive and healthy then I’ve ever felt. My body feels cleaner. I recover quicker from intense exercise. My immune system is stronger. All you nay-sayers can piss off, being vegan rocks.
2. Cyclocross. The most beautiful form of bike racing. Period! It’s like a dance, a chess match, a show of brute strength, and a test of endurance all in one.
1. Angelique. I’ve been with this woman for over six years and still every day she makes me smile. Thanks.
Angelique. Are you ever going to post anything? She’s been working like a dog getting Jazz’s (my sister’s partners) birthday present done, but now it’s done. Did you take a picture to post your creation? You better tell the world about it. It came out really great…
This makes me want to buy a set of markers and really nice big white paper…
www.felt-tip.net/gallery.html
Mike, Angelique and I went to Alexandria (just outside of Granville) for a stop of the Mid-Ohio Cyclocross Series. I was expecting a pretty fun course, since this is where Ryan Rish (of the Alan Factory team) organizes a weekly practice. Upon preriding, I thought it was pretty boring, just around the perimeter of two huge grass fields. Pretty flat with only one slight uphill and the tallest meanest barriers I’ve ever raced. Nothing (except the barriers) that was really cross oriented. No crazy run-up, tough off camber turns or 180’s that test your riding ability.
I lined up for the B race and from the gun it was quick. We dropped half the field from the start. I slotted into 8th place on the tail of the leading pack for the first two laps. I felt pretty good and was able to corner great with my new wheels. I ran 30 psi on both tires, 10 pounds lower then I’ve ever run on clinchers and what a difference it made. By the end of the second lap I was still with the leaders and we came into the barriers. It was the only narrow section of the course for about 70 yards and I got stuck. Shafted! I came into the barriers last and the guy in front of me went ungodly slow over the barriers then stumbled and couldn’t click back in. By the time I got around him a 30 yard gap had opened and I was never able to jump back on. I raced the next two laps just off the tail end before fading more to finish in 8th place. It was a good fun race and I finally had a late race surge, the first time this year.
We brought Mike’s dogs to enjoy the day also. Within 15 minutes of arriving, Mabel a beautiful Britney was swimming in the creek. Funny.
Great article on vegetarian training and diet.
I’ve got to get to the wexner to see this: Frank Stella 1958
Broken Chain. Bad luck continues. About half way through the race, I was climbing the massive hill out of the start/finish area and ‘SNAP!’… I know that feeling. Damn. Broken chain. Walked back to the start finish, but then Ryan from Bike Source let me finish on his amazing Ridley. Thanks! Terrible race, I was probably last since I lost a lap with a broken chain. Oh well. It was cross and still tons of fun.
Just got my tubular tires and wheels that I bought on ebay and am pre-stretching my tires to glue them tomorrow. I’m like a little kid in a candy shop. Woo-who! They are sweet. I’ll post pics of the ride with the new wheels once I have it completed.
Congratulations Erin and Jazz. I’m jealous! Beautiful new house.