Perry RR #3

Okay, I am about a week late on this one, but that's life.

Headed back to Perry # 3 for some redemption on my first Cat 4 RR... Ended up mid pack after the climb started kicking my butt. However, I did learn a ton that race. Being somewhat of a MTB convert (G-Wiz please forgive me!) I have virtually everything to learn about road racing.

Add All pics are Rogers. Thanks!! Very rare moment when I am sitting down on a climb.

The combination of being on Saint Patrick's day added with 30+ degrees and raining thinned out the field considerably. I still recognized some folks that I knew had decent legs already.

As soon as we headed out for the first lap of seven, it started raining. This did not really play much of a factor other than being cold and folks taking the corners pretty gingerly.

I thought this race started quite a bit faster than the last and my HR started to creep up pretty high from the start. I learned to attempt to keep out of the wind and conserve as much energy as possible. Which meant to be on the left side of the group on top of the bridge and the right coming back.

This is on the climb, lap 5ish.
Notice I can't climb in my saddle.  I simply hate climbing that way, although most guys are;
I think its from riding my MTB single speed for a long time. 

Come KOM time I wanted nothing to do with it and just kept a steady tempo to the top. I just don't have the legs yet to put too many digs in and still have legs left for the last lap.

Its been too long for me to remember all the details of the race other than come last lap people were pretty motivated. The corners I think helped me out, I wasn't as timid going though them and was able to keep on the group without too much effort.

I do remember however I felt great for the last 1/3rd of the race. In fact, I felt way better than the first 2/3rd of it. Good enough to remember it anyway...

Onto the last climb to the finish, after 6 laps and a previous race, you have gotten pretty familiar with it. Out of the saddle to start and then sit back down when it levels off and back out to finish it off when it pitches back up. Hit the last 100 yards with the remainder of the leaders (about 4-8 of us) and started to pass folks who where blowing up. Last 25 yards and I am sitting third, legs about numb from the effort. I thought I had 3rd in the bag when John Williams came by me and took it from me by less than a wheels length. Another lesson learned for sure!!

It took me literally an hour after the race to quit shivering from being so cold! I love it, what a blast this is!!

RESULTS

ROGERS PICTURES

Perry Circuit Race #1

Its official!!! My season has begun!!

And by my results the real work has officially begun as well..

I had intentions of hitting up Spring Fling on Saturday and Perry on Sunday, but a full day with my baby boy all to myself was too much to pass up. So I headed out to do the Cat 4 race at Perry Lake KS on Sunday. 

I recently upgraded to Cat 4 this winter after only one official road race under by belt which was the Tour of Lawrence as a Cat 5. Ironically these races resembled each other with a good climb each lap. Let me tell you, finishing up a race on a hill is way different mid season than first race of the year. 

Being my first "real" race I kept my ambitions at bay and just see what happens. Lining up I notice a good handful of dudes I recognize from CX but other than that it is a completely new scene to me. 

First lap I just got into the groove of riding in a group. At first I did not like being in the middle all that much, until sucking all the wind on the outside made me learn to get real comfortable in the middle of the pack real quick. I am sure its just because were still 4's but the group was a flippen accordion the entire time, speeding up then slowing down.

I think this was the final climb of the day. I was barley hanging on. 

I was able to stay with the group the entire race up till the final climb which exposed my lack of form real quick. You had to stay on the group because at the top of the hill (finish line of the circuit) it immediately went down hill and I was afraid that a group would get away and being left behind. 

After the downhill it ran across the Perry Lake Dam where the group would eventually slow down. Throughout the race a couple guys would try and make a break but I don't think anyone got further than 20 seconds up the road. 

Third lap was the KOM lap and even climbing like crap I toyed with the idea of giving it a shot. Well, until we actually hit the hill and I was already 30 yards back and that completely scrapped that idea. 

Last lap I somehow ended up in front by the end of the Dam and decided on a whim to put in a dig after the last corner onto some smooth roads. Took a Cycle City guy with me and he said we had a gap but I don't have the legs to hold anything right now and after 1/2 mile everyone had chased us down already. Perhaps burning a match that close to the finish was not the best idea, but hey, I was climbing like crap. Might as well hurt some legs to have some fun. 

I tried to stay in good position at the finish. The final climb had an initial steep section then it leveled out for a long time until it pitched back up at the finish line. I was in good position at the start but hit a wall about the middle of the climb and when It pitched up at the ended I fell off like a meteor to the back of the group. Bummer... 

Another pic on the climb

All in all, it was a blast. The race as actually kind of boring as far as action goes, but it was still fun. I am used to being all by myself for hours once I have been dropped by the Cat 1 MTB dudes. 

Besides the obvious of gaining form I did learn some things. 

1. Get better at staying out of the wind 

2. Don't chase down a group that is going to slow down anyway. I burned to many matches chasing down the group only to catch them and then the group slowed down anyway. 

3. Take in more calories. For some reason I thought the race was only going to be like 40 min. 

RESULTS

ROGERS PICTURES

Nothing but Cold January Mornings...

Letting my body rest a bit after a long summer and cross season and putting in some easy miles. I am trying to hit 500 miles for the month of January and I am going to cut it real close.

Man its hard to get out of bed at 4:30 am knowing there is nothing but the bitter cold waiting for you. Actually I find its easier to stay warm when its really, really cold like 10 degrees. You can bundle up and be fine. It's when its in the 20's I find it more difficult to find the perfect layering/gloves/boots etc... If you dress too warm, your going to sweat and then when you get cold again, it's really miserable.

Figure your going to be cold one way or the other anyway  its just going to be either at the beginning of the ride or at the end of it. I have just under 250 mi as of today, if I can get some 40+ milers in sometime it should not be too hard to hit.

Then will come February and it will be time to ramp up some intensity and start throwing in intervals and hills which are owe so much fun...

By the looks of the race results last weekend, we have some local cross fools still hitting it hard! Jump on over to KC Cyclocross and get the scoop on how the local boys and girls did at nationals.

On a warmer note... Looks like 2013 is already full of races in the works and these are just most of the local KS races.. Its going to be an interesting one switching my focus from MTB to Road...

It's that time of year.

Cross racing is coming to a close, which is fine by me. Now don't get me wrong, I love racing cross. I am just having one heck of a time convincing myself to train at any kind of intensity lately.

So its getting to be that time of year I find my weight creeping upwards and my avg speed on rides creeping downward. Usually I would be flipping out right about now, but with a full season behind, I am okay with letting by legs relax a little before I get back in training mode again for the spring.

There are a bunch of Cross races this week, on up to next weekend. I am not sure if I will be doing any of them though. My form is definitely fading and I have been riding like I have a bag of bricks tied to my waist. I hate racing and not being competitive. Simply participating is not very fun for me.

So we will see, perhaps after my sugar cookie hangover is gone, I might feel a bit differently by the weekend. Who knows...

One thing hasne't changed though. My disdain for trainers. I think I have ADHD or something, I have been on it twice and I can't bare the thought of a third time.

Check out what I got my little man for Christmas, his first bike! Sweeeet... I can't wait to get him out on two wheels!

Missouri State CX Championship

Go over to Twin Six to get the race report...

Look on my face says it all.. This race HURT!!

Results Here..

Pics Here..

Boss Cross 5

Headed down to Parkville MO, 5 min from where I grew up and raced Boss Cross 5 down at English Landing Park.

What is neat (to me) about this particular race is not only was I a home grown KC north-ender but my first cross race ever was here. 3 years ago the Hippy and I came down and tried out the cross thing. Took our SS MTB down with us and gave it a shot. Both came in DFL and one from DFL but it was the bug that bit us bad! I like to think that running a 32x18 had something to do with the DFL's but that's another story.

Off to racing.... English Landing is pretty flat, which does not suit me at all, but I have been feeling pretty good last couple of races.

Even better, I had the fam down with me! Well most of it anyway..

Yes, I am a lucky man..

Lined up front row (Cat 3) and herd Joe Fox announce that first lap gets a 12 of Boulevard. Hummm, I might just have to push it a little more than I would, see what happens.

Were off and I hit the hole shot about 5 deep. Anyone who had any legs took off about the time we hit the paved trail and thinned out the field quit a bit. There was a technical section by the river that had a sand "run" up which was pretty easy to ride if there wasn't any traffic.

First lap, there was traffic, and we all got stalled out at the top. Got back on the rig and crossed the first lap in 3rd, just missed out on my free Boulevard.

Most of the race consisted of 1&2 dropping me on the flat paved section and me catching back up on the sand/180 turns and the "run" up.

The "run" up

Fast forward to the last couple of laps and I devised a game plan. The plan was have 1&2 play with each other and tire out. I will draft off of them on the pave section and then haul arse to the finish in first.

Well....... Second to last lap we hit the run up, which I have been riding and getting all kinds of time on them and we got into lapped traffic.

We hit the run up and someone was running the uphill on the line and there was no way for me to ride it. This pretty much ended my hopes for the W. The boys had hit it hard on the last lap and there was no way for me to close a gap that big in one lap. Bummer....

Cool thing is we completely left the field behind us, which made me feel a bit of accomplishment. Not as much as a win would have done though!

On another note.. Granted I am not a Cat 1 bad arse, but if you can't ride sections of the course, please don't run on the only line available. Get to the side and run it. Thank you!

RESULTS

ROGERS PICTURES

On another (another) note.. Huge props to Joe A and Chuong D for racing open!

Colavita Cup!!

Raced on Saturday at the Colavita Cup down at Stump Park and Wow! I have to hand it to the Colavita guys, they can make one hell of a cross course!! Every one they put on turns into my favorite courses to race..

 Manions = Flippen Awesome

Colavita Cup = Also Flippen Awesome!

I just love courses that are not pancake flat, get some good elevation change and throw in some off camber 180’s and we have a cross course fellas.

The Cat 3 field was as deep as I have seen it, 39 lined up behind the Open 1, 2’s. We were going the same 50min and starting 20 seconds behind them.

Lined up with the usual suspects and had Travis to contend with for the first time.  My plan was to just hop onto John Williams wheel and see what happens.  For the second time this year at the start I had trouble clipping in, but still hammered the best I could so that I did not get to far behind. About the time I get up and going, JW broke his chain so a new game plan had to be devised.

Got up and going about 6-8 back and on the first lap noticed that guys were having trouble on the off camber stuff and I noticed I was climbing pretty good also. After the first lap and things had calmed down a bit I kept a pretty strong pace (for me anyway). Game plan was to go pretty hard on the climbs and then just hold my spot through the technical areas.

Here is Doan's cam of the first lap. He had be beat til we hit the barriers when I pass him, think he held on for the rest of the rest of race a couple guys back. Good race for him..

After several laps in I started dropping the field, yet the top 3 were hauling arse and you could tell. I kept passing 4^th place at the same spot on a switchback each lap so I knew he was in range but I wasn’t making any headway.  

Last couple laps in and I had caught and passed a couple open 1/2’s which I thought was too cool. Only other times I raced behind them, I had a nice DNF with a  crash and a mechanical.

About the time I got to start feeling good about myself was about the same time I got lapped by Joe Schmalz. Holy hell batman, that will humble you in a hurry. I did however make a pivital decision at this point, im gonna hold his effing wheel up this hill if it kills me... Which I did, then I blew up, it was great..Anyway, not to much longer after that came Elwell and then Coe.

Coming down to the last couple laps I pull an Andy Schleck and downshifted like a moron and dropped my chain. I was sitting 5^th chasing 4^th and got passed while putting my chain back on. While I thought we had one more lap I thought to myself not to panic, just get going and put in a good dig up the hill and pass him back there if I can.

Once we get towards the end of the lap, over the ditch named Mrs. Stiches I see the guy looking back. Immediately I knew that only meant one thing… S*^T!!!! This was the last lap... I wondered if being lapped by some of the open guys would affect the number of laps we had left, and now I knew… Owe well.. I had a good race, and it was a blast!!

RESULTS HERE

Here is a great example of what I am talking about when some of these folks have a really hard time riding off camber sections.

 That guy got drilled, hope he is alright..

On another quick note, Jake (Rider for Colavita) was hit by a SUV sometime last week or so. Send him some good mojo so he can get back on his ride and start kicking are are butts again..