Manions CX

I was looking over my race results from last year and came to a unexpected conclusion. I used to think or label myself a mtb dude that races Cross on the off season. Well, I hit up like 6 mtb races a year and about 15 or more cross races.... Huh, I guess I am a CX racer that races mtb on the "summer off season".. Who would have thought! At least till next year when I start getting my roadie on, but that's a different story all together.

Anyway, my much anticipated debut to the cross season started on Saturday on on of my absolute favorite venues. Manions Baby!

I just told Jesse G-Funk (racing SS) that I would rather climb all race than ride around on the outfield of a softball complex and Manions offers just that. Although the climbing was a little watered down this year it still was a great, great course..

Had the wife and little man out cheering! Need to get Twin Six to do a kids race jersey!

Getting ready I stopped to introduce myself and talk to Joe Schmalz for a little bit, pretty cool hearing about his experiences with Bissell and racing the Tour of Utah and USA Pro Cycling Challenge in CO. 

Off to the start of the Cat 3 race. Having us line up behind the open guys and racing the same time is a flippen brilliant idea. I love it!

Not a very brilliant idea was taking one last pee break before the line up. I miss judged the time and everyone was lined up when I got there. So I got in line roughly 28 deep, which sucks so bad and inevitably probably ended my race for me.

At the start it was really congested as you could imagine, but thinned out pretty nicely. Until you hit the downhill switchbacks where it was a mess every-single-flippen-lap.. Felt pretty good out of the climbs and was settling in nicely. Once I got a game plan in place where I was going to just go hard and where I was going to go really hard my race ended.

I noticed I was going quite a bit faster than everyone else on this same downhill area, in fact I would kind of sit up a bit before the section so I did not waste any energy getting to the eventual bottleneck. (had to be my mad skills and nothing to do with my disc breaks since all I read is how they don't help in cross) Lap 3 I sprinted to get in front of as many people as I could before this section and once down to about the last 180 a dude when down right in front of me and I had zero time to react. Boom! a endo was in my near future.

So over his bike and then over my bike I tumbled onward down the hill, hood now 90 degrees inward and my rear derailer a little bent. 

I attempted to fix everything and actually completed another lap and a half with my chain slipping quite a bit. I was basically out for the day, but I at least found some hand ups!! Thanks guys!!

 Once on the other side of the barn, chain slipped again and down I go. That"s it, better quit before I really mess something up.. Bummed out to this day about it... But that's racing man. 

Its ironic that I have had a pit bike all last year and never used it once. Sold it and first race later I would have loved to have it waiting for me. 

So there you have it... I would have posted some pics but there isn't much out there for day one. Good to see some of last years Cat 3s up with the big boys this year. I hope to join you, but we'll see...

You can find some good tidbits (race reports, pics, etc) and results over at the race blog. 

Manions Cross!

My Strava Addiction...

This is soooo me.. Had to share, you can find it over here. Caught my eye over at the Black Market..

New Strava algorithms announced

Strava CEO Michael Horvath posted an entry on the company blog today about sportsmanship, competition, ethics, and a new focus on the social media site’s core users. “After doing a six-month analysis of rider usage patterns,” he wrote, “we were able to pinpoint the key characteristics of our avid regular users and of our paid ‘premium’ users. Our user review team has classified our customers as something known in the industry as ‘delusional assholes.’”

According to Horvath, Strava’s current KOM/QOM algorithm no longer correlates to the behavior of the web site’s most dedicated users. “KOM’s started out as virtual datapoints to mark your progress. Unfortunately, they’ve become real in the minds of countless users. People actually believe that because Strava describes them as a KOM, they are in fact the king of some mountain somewhere.”

Horvath relates the fistfight that broke out between cyclist Elmer Thudpucker and a local landowner when Thudpucker claimed feudal demesne rights to Pighumper Mountain in western Arkansas by virtue of his Strava KOM. “First they beat him senseless, then they tied him to a post, then they made him grunt like a pig. We decided something needed to be done.”

Too much of a bad thing?

Problems also arise when KOM holders interact with other actual cyclists and get their shit handed to them on a plate, according to Horvath. “The cognitive dissonance that arises when you think you are the king of a mountain, but then on a group ride you are the last person up the mountain you’re supposedly king of, creates so much depression, self-doubt, anger, and disillusionment that our most committed members are letting their memberships lapse,” he explains.

“We’ve decided to revamp the KOM algorithm so that all of our Strava users know exactly what their KOM’s really mean, and hence aren’t so dejected when they get crushed by the kid on restricted gears who hasn’t started shaving yet.”

Preview of the new, improved Strava rankings

“We’re in the process of gathering more personal data from our users in order to perfect the algorithms, but in a nutshell here they are. This entire system was dreamed up by Steven L. from San Diego, so we owe him a big debt of thanks even though he won’t see a dime from all his hard work, as we intend to pirate the shit out of his idea.”

COM: Chicken of the Mountain
Indicates that the rider never rides with others, and instead sets all of his best times alone.

FOM: Faker of the Mountain
Indicates that the rider never tells others he’s going for a particular segment, so they will do all the work as he moves from the back to the front of the group to collect the FOM.

POM: Peon of the Mountain
Idicates that the segment has been ridden less than 500 times, and the rider is literally a smallish-fish-in-the-tiniest-of-ponds.

WOM: Wanker of the Mountain
Indicates that the segment has never been ridden by a UCI pro or Cat 1 roadie.

Cit-OM: Citizen of the Mountain
Indicates that the rider doesn’t do road races.

FROM: Fraudster of the Mountain
Indicates that the rider is the one who created the segment.

SPROM: Sprunter of the Mountain
Indicates that the segment is less than 5k in length.

CHOM: Cheater of the Mountain
Indicates that the rider achieved the time with motor pacing or other pacing assistance.

EPOM: EPO of the Mountain
Indicates reliance on PED’s.

KOV: King of the Valley
Indicates net decrease in elevation, ergo it’s not a climb, stupid.

LOM: Lawsuit of the Mountain
Indicates idiot took outrageous risks on a descent or other twisty, dangerous road in order to score points on a stupid web site.

TOM: Triathlete of the Mountain
Indicates that the rider isn’t even a cyclist.

DOM: Delusional of the Mountain
Indicates that the rider thinks that his performance on Strava correlates to his racing ability.

“This is just the outline; we’re hoping to get it tweaked in the next couple of weeks,” writes Horvath. “Once we’ve gone through the AMA’s Index of Psychiatric Disorders to fully categorize our customers, we should be ready for launch.”

That time of year!

From the crazy nuts over at DC! 

Yup, it's about that time of year. Hope you've been training your livers... 

Rosche

Later that same year at le Tour, Hinault had retired, and LeMan was recovering from his bird hunting escapades, Roche was the favorite. 1987 saw the most mountainous Tour since the war. On stage 20, crossing Galibier, Madeleine, and finishing on La Plagne, Rosche attacked early. Delgado then attacked, and Roche found himself 1:30 down in the middle of the last climb. He then crushed the remainder, in his big ring, pulling back all but 4 seconds. After crossing the finish line, he collapsed and lost consciousness. He came to after receiving oxygen and was asked if he was OK. His reply was “yes, but I am not ready for a woman straight away” (and that my friends is how it’s done).

From Velominati’s profile of Stephen Roche.

Give me some feedback bike nerds!!

I have one race and one project I am curious on your input...

First up... Cycocross!!!! I am going to run disc breaks again and am trying to find a good option for a wheelset. I know there are many, many, nay sayers on disc breaks for cross. Well I embrace change, you all can take your canti breaks and your 26" MTB's and suck it!!!

Now if only the manufacturers can follow suit. WTF guys? Get your S%$T together!! There are like 5 companies that are making disc bikes yet I have found one that makes a wheelset. I see Easton has one, but unless your JPow, us working stiffs can't get our hands on them.

See, they do exist... JPow's ride..

So I have found Reynolds makes one, Reynolds Assault CX Disc. And that's all I can find and better yet, I don't know of a shop that can order Reynolds. Anyone know of any other options? Other than running a MTB wheelset... I know that is an option, I am just tired of rigging stuff, wanted to make an attempt in actually putting cross specific parts on a cross bike. I want to try tubular, but as of right now I am just leaning towards another stans set and running tubeless. 

On another subject entirely, the only logical thing to do with cross on the horizon is enter a 60 mile MTB race, the Berryman Epic. 

http://www.btepic.com/

I have never done this race and it has been on my "to do" list for a while now. From reading other blogs n such I have a handle on conditions, etc...  So I have two questions to my 3 readers.. I am sure some of you have raced BTE before.

First, I think I need to get some beefier tires. But what? I normally run a Fast Track on the back and a Captain on the front. From what I gather, its rocky as crap and I know I will be in no mood to be changing flat tires.

Second, camel-pack or no? I freggin hate those damn things, yet I would rather wear one than run out of fluids and/or food...

Wow, its been a while

I wore a jacket on my Monday morning ride!! Holy crap!! Anyway.....

I have been so busy I haven't had any time to post any bike ramblings lately. I have been a bit out of it with work and then on vacation for a week. I missed several races due to it, but man, the beach is awfully nice this time of year..

After a week of this, its hard to get back to the daily grind!

It is very true statement that a running motor wants to stay running, a resting motor wants to stay at rest. Vacation got me in rest mode, ate like crap and did nothing but relax for a solid week, and now its really hard getting back in gear, let me tell ya..

Looking at the the racing schedules coming up and it is very bleak, making it hard to train hard with nothing really on the horizon. You have a race up in Swanson Park NE thats not that far away, but its this weekend and I just got back from vacation and am sitting kinda fat and legs kinda weak at the present moment.

We have a good MTB race in Columbia next month and some Endurance races, but really its about cross time if you can believe it..

So its looking for me its maybe one more MTB race and then on to cross. Where did the summer go????
Summer has about left us and I have only raced 6 times. Man, things sure don't pan out like you think sometimes but that's life..

I had a blast on my only two road races but they look to be done also.. 

Next up UFD Championship on Sept 30..(Maybe that is, I haven't ridden my MTB in 2 months!!)

&

HOLY CRAPBALLS!!  Cross is here man..

• 9.22 & 9.23 Manions Cyclocross
• 10.21 & 10.22 Joules Cross

On another note, I am toying with the idea of riding my MTB Single Speed again.. Everytime I think about it, I smile. That's got to mean something, right?

Other than my babble, here is some cool stuff you might check into...

Ethos Racing has a good link to Dan Miller, a stupid fast dude from Columbia. Its a great read, I highly suggest it..

Another good little tidbit is a local roadie, Joe Schmalz was picked up by Bissell and racing in the Tour of Utah. I don't know him but thats pretty damn cool!

Tour of Lawrence

Hey! This is my first road race report!! Heck yah..

First off let me say, that was pretty flippen fun. Well, only doing two laps (5’s) did not really put the hurting on you for long enough to be miserable. 

I really did not know what to expect coming into the race other than it was something new and I was excited about it. I had the 1^st day of school nervousness on the start line. I haven’t had that kind of feeling for quite some time. You always have a little apprehension before races but not the kind that you can feel in your legs. I really don’t know how else to describe it.

I looked around on the start and noticed this aint a Cat 3 (beginner) MTB race! There were a bunch of guys there; big…small… hairy legs… shaved legs….23lb motobecanes…. 16lb Tarmacs with carbon Roval wheelsets.. Quite the eclectic group..

Once we started I motored on up to the front. I did not know how this was going to play out, but I did now I did not want to go down, that’s for sure. I have seen the bike handling skills of some of these guys in cross season and I don’t want to be behind them on any corner. Through the entire race I don’t think I was any further than 5-6 back.

First lap of the circuit was pretty uneventful, pretty much a warm-up lap. The profile on their website is pretty deceiving, from the looks of it, there were three climbs in the circuit, but the first two “hills” came and went all while I was looking around every corner for the hills. There was a good climb right before the start finish, but that is the only one I would consider a climb.

Here they come!

Second lap the pace did not pick up very much and I kept waiting for the action to begin. Turn after turn, same pace, and same story. We hit one section that on the profile was the middle “climb”, but I would say more of a gradual slope. I could tell everyone was content in just staying together as a group and see who could climb up to the finish first. So I thought that prospect sounded rather boring and wanted to spice things up so I attacked and created a decent gap.  This is about the time my MTB legs failed me a little.  They are great for short intervals, the attack went beautifully but once the engine is up, keeping it there for the amount of time necessary to make it stick was a different story.

Delaying the inevitable.. At least there were only a select few left!!

I did a great job of breaking the field up, looked back and there were only 3ish left chasing me. Gave it all I could trying to hit the final climb first and see how it goes from there. At the end of the straightaway following the downhill I looked back to find they have found their way back to me about 20 yards back. I then sat up to conserve what energy I had for the climb to the finish. Hit the hill 2^nd back for most of it. Guy put in a dig from behind, I tried to hold his wheel, but when the climb pitched up at the end I just could not keep up. From there I hammered the best I could to the finish for 2^nd. DAMN! THAT WAS FLIPPEN AWESOME FUN!! My MTB brethren are going to be so disappointed in me for enjoying this so much..

After the race Darrell and I went up to watch the Cat 4s race. Hung out with the KCBC dudes and watched from the top of the climb. I am wanting to cat up as soon as I can and wanted to see how the boys were going. Uhhhh, fast.. I am game for it, but there were some folks who looked miserable out there doming up that climb on laps 4 and 5. I can’t even imagine the Pro 1/2’s doing it 14 times.  Honestly that would be tiring even at cursing speed, let along race pace.

All in all, I am doing more of these things for sure!


Other report over at TWIN SIX if your interested.

RESULTS HERE

Rogers Picks for the weekend HERE