Cross Crusade 4 (Clatsop Fairgrounds)

This weekend was a double Halloween race weekend in Astoria, Oregon (coastal harbor town) at the Clatsop Fairgrounds.

Andrew wasn't able to race anymore due to an "accident" that his bike sustained, but was still kind enough to come along for the 2 hour drive. He brought his road bike to climb the Astoria Column, while I was racing around. It was supposed to be a 2 hour drive to Astoria.  We successfully made it a 3 hour drive by attempting to get closer to Seattle.

Strange side note, the weather prediction for Oregon has been nothing but 65 degrees and beautiful. The closer we got to Seattle the more it clouded over and soon began to rain.

Since we took some extra time to get to the Astoria, I only had one hour before my race.   My favorite part of racing in Oregon is that it literally takes one minute to register.  I suited up and dropped my wheels in the pit and went off down the road to warm up a little.  There was no way that I would be able to pre-ride the course at all since there were people racing back-to-back before my race.

Since my number was drawn last for the race at Rainer Highschool, this week I got the chance to line up first.  I got lined up around 30th place or so behind the points leaders. The major downside was that I didn't know where I was going at all, this makes it incredibly hard to go really fast.

After the customary feat of strength (this week it was an egg toss) that is performed before every race to decide who goes first (Mens B vs Singlespeeds), the singlespeeders were off first. The B's were off a few minutes later.  We were quickly led down a steep bumpy section that had lots of swoopy turns.  These turns at first seemed really slow to me and I was taking them slow and getting passed.  The bottom section then led into steep climb, which was very rideable until they put a barrier in the middle of it.  

It is generally very difficult to remount your bike going up hill so I just ran it.  This was the last time I ran it because I was getting passed here as well.

This hill kicked us into section that went like this
dark horse barn (100 ft)
180 degree turn
race between barns
180 degree turn
dark horse barn (100 ft)
180 degree turn
race between barns
180 degree turn
dark horse barn (100 ft)
180 degree turn
race between barns
180 degree turn
and finally out.  All the turns going in and out of the barns were strangely wet and slick.  Various people were sliding out here.  This was one of my favorite sections of the course.

We were then kicked through the standard 6-pack of barriers.  My barrier skills have really improved a lot and I have been passing many riders through them.  I pass people not because I am a fast runner (which I am not) but due to the fact that I dismount at the absolute last second before going in.  While everyone else is already running or in the middle of a dismount I am still pedaling into it.

The next section was a longer and steeper uphill bumpy climb.  The first lap I wasn't very efficient in this section and just held my line.  Everyone had little traction because of the bumps and were pedaling in the same fashion.  Mashing down and then relaxing with each pedal stroke.  I noticed this quickly and changed my own tactics.

I started saying "round round round" in my head.  I was trying to apply power all the way around the stroke.  This worked extremely well, this evened out my power transfer and soon on every lap thereafter I was able to always pass multiple people going up this section.

Following this hill there was a long bumpy downhill section that was super fast and fun.  This course was so bumpy and fast that I actually gave myself blisters on the sides of my hands from holding my brifters (brake/shifters). FYI: I was wearing bike gloves as well.

A few large swoopy off camber turns, an awesome kicker for air and then another horse barn.  This one was a large show barn, this was trickier to ride than it seems. Mainly because you were coming in from the outside sunshine and coming into a shadowed area of loose dirt/gravel/sand.  It was amazing.

It took me about two laps to figure out the course completely.  This is when I started taking every turn at full speed and hammering out of turn.  I dominated the barns and hills.  I started passing all the riders that took off in front of me.  I felt fatigue during part of the race and this is mainly due to my lack of road miles right now.  Overall I finished 25th out of 80 some riders.

This has been my best finish to date.  This was a great race for many reasons.  I was tactically paying attention to the course and the other riders going my speed, this helped immensely because I knew where to recover and each lap I knew what I had to improve on.  I attribute a lot of this to my good starting position.  

Usually the first two laps I am much too focused on passing all the slower riders to get up to a good position that once I get up there I don't have a good tactics base yet.



Awesome photo from http://www.cheryljwillson.com/gallery/v/album_010/IMG_8056.JPG.html

People are strange in the cross crusades.  From Cross Crusade 4

Between barns.  From Cross Crusade 4

OH SNAP!!!   This guy ran over a junior racer, strangely no one was hurt and all the wheels stayed true.  From Cross Crusade 4

Uphill bump section.  From Cross Crusade 4

One of the horse barns.  From Cross Crusade 4

Part of the 6 pack.  From Cross Crusade 4

Pit row.  From Cross Crusade 4

Bumpy downhill section.  From Cross Crusade 4

Absolute crusher, she finishes so much ahead of all the all the other A racers it is scary.From Cross Crusade 4

The single barrier in hte middle of the uphill.  From Cross Crusade 4

 

Cross Crusade 3 (Rainer High School)

With last week's suck fest far behind me.  I woke up this morning once again really excited to be racing cyclocross.  There is nothing I would rather be doing on race days....training is a different story.

Andrew and I left Portland around 7:30 am with a chilly, dampness in the air.   It stayed with us until 1 in the afternoon.  We got in a lap before the beginner race started.  The course was a classic cyclocross course.   About 6 ft wide fast grass, off camber turns,  some wooded tree ruts, and then the uniqueness that is the Cross Crusades steps in.   Most barrier sets around the country have two barriers in them.  Portland has six barriers (called six packs).  There is also a monster of a loose gravel uphill climb.  Which was ridable for some, also a very popular spectator area.

With the increasing popularity of cyclocross (over 1300 riders once again), the officials decided to try something new with setting up the starting area.   They devised a lottery system based off the last digit of yoru number.  My number is 344.  Number 4 was chosen last, this meant that I got to line up at the back of my field..........not awesome.  But on the upside of being last means that you get to go home with a 6 pack of beer.  There ended up being 102 riders in the category B race.   I was tied for 102 place.

The race started and was a sprint fest.  I was only able to move up 10 spots in the begining before it slowed down.   This is where any ideas of winning or finishing well went out the shammy.   There was absolutely no way to get through 3~4 riders on a 6ft wide track through the woods.   I had to wait for the race to start stringing out.   

I was very fatigued the entire race.   My usual pop that I can kick out at points was gone.  I was plodding through the course at what I thought was turtle's pace.  I felt like racers were going by me constantly.  Everytime I would come through the uphill I was dead tired.   My body was never able to recover.  It was extremely frusterating and I was very happy when I heard the bell signifying one more lap.  

I assumed I got like 80th, but it turned out I actually got 45.   Which is really surprising to me because I DO NOT remember passing 57 people at any point.  I mean I know passed a few people.  This actually lifted my spirits quite a bit.  I know I could have done 100000 times better in this race.  I m not sure what was holding me back besides starting in 102 place.  One of these days I ll get a good start and drop the hammer or lay some pipe, insert whatever biking analogy you like.

EDIT:  Lots of riders were being destroyed by the 6 pack.  You could see with every  barrier that their legs were not going as high.  There was lots of epic summersaults/barrier smashing.  Also there was a mountain biker in the C race that was determined to bunny hop them.  Lap 1 he got over 2 barriers before endoing.  Lap 2 he got over 3 barriers.  On the last lap he made it over 5.  Very very impressive none-the-less.

 

Disclaimer: I didn't take many photos today because the course was kind of hard to walk around and quite frankly I was tired.



Spectators viewing the 6 pack.

 



About to hit the 6 pack.  Good form.

 



Hitting the first barrier.

 



This is actually a 3 ft kicker.  I was waiting for one of the A riders to do something fun.  I lost patience.

 



Loose dirt/gravel climb.

 



She finished 4th in the Women's A race and is also my CycloCrush, partially because she is an awesome rider and partially because she is on a really cute bike.

 



 

EDIT EDIT::  I keep forgetting to add stuff.  A qucik background story.   Last weekend at Wilsonsville a Team Beer member urinated outside and some stuffy old guy saw it and bitched on the forums about in a less than classy manner.  About 3~4 people joined sides with the stuffy old guy.   Team Beer in their infinite class rented out 3 special Honey Buckets (port o potties for you non-NW) and they had a concierge standing there all day with special amenities.  Also posted on the doors of the Honey Buckets was a no user list of the stuffy old guys.  Class.   Quick interview here.

Cross Crusade 2 (Villebois/Dammasch State Hospital)

EDIT: There were around 1300 riders at todays race. Also cyclocross out here is completely not predictable.

When you look up the race on google earth you see two different tags for the area.

1) Haunted abandoned insane asylum

2) Cross Crusade Race 2

At first you think that is silly, why would there be a cyclocross race at a mental institution.   Then you realize wait....it makes perfect sense.  Sadly all of the buildings are torn down and the race was just on the grounds of the institution which is under heavy construction.

We arrived very early (8 am) at the grounds to get Andrew off for his first cyclocross race.   He raced very well and got third place in the Beginner Category.    While I didn't race until 12:40 this gave me a lot of time to preride the course.   Which is usually something I neglect.   I got a total of 3 laps in before my race,  I found all the good lines (this all proved to be in vain later) and routes.

The course wasn't much of a cyclocross race as much as it was a short track mountain bike course.   It was all crazy rutty, hard pack, off camber, large really loose gravel, hell of a course.   As each race went on, there were a growing number of flat tires and trips to the first aid tent.

I got a mediocre warm-up in before the race, mainly because I was trying to get a good line at the start.  I got lined up around 4 or 5 row which is pretty decent considering it is an absolute cluster-fuck of a 120 riders.  This was a much better start already than last week.

We were off fast and I quickly moved up to top 20 on the first lap and was feeling great.  There was a lot of hitting and sliding on every turn.  I m not sure if I got taken down or just slid out.  But I hit the ground hard.  I jumped back up and got on my bike.   My right shifter was twisted in, not a big deal I can fix it later.   (later I found out that I was actually fairly bloody from my arm, hip, and leg).   Whenever I crash pretty hard it tends to make me slighly sheepish for the rest of the course.

With my fall and new sheepish attitude I dropped to around 30th and finished the lap.   Now this course was intense, I was running my tires soft and cushy for traction and it was just way too bouncy with large rocks to wreck your life.

On my 3rd lap my rear tire started feeling weird, I looked down and it looked really low on air.  I thought I had a slow leak or something and it was causing the weirdness.  Luckily I was right by the pit, so I pulled in and jumped off to check my tire.   It felt fine so I was back off.   Very shortly there after (just passed the pit) my tire rolled off the side of my rim.  I just thought to myself damn it.   I am fairly new to tubular wheels and wasn't entirely sure on what to do.  So I just pushed it back on and tried to ride it.  It was sort of rideable  but it felt really weird and considering it was such a bumpy/rocky course I didn't want to damage my carbon fiber rims.

So I decided to run for awhile and run I did.  I ended up running about 1 mile back to the other side of the pit and ended up getting passed by a lot of riders.  I changed wheels and just finished the race, in a leisurely fashion.  Too much had happened already and I wasn't going to tempt any more.   Overall I finished in 81st place which isn't too shabby considering what I went through.   Also I escaped with only three areas of gravel rash, which is good considering one guy finished with his teeth sliced through his lips.  There is always next week.   I would like to thank my great support crew today: Jen, Andrew, Zach, Vivian, Lindsay, Jon, Preston, Tarah, and Mandy.

Also this weekend is the Oregon Handmade Bike Show, all the local builders took a special lap with all their bikes. BLING



One of the easier parts of the day,  steep downhill with loose gravel everywhere else.



This was a giant mountain of dirt that contains a course.



Super rutty turns, is this cyclocross even or a mountain bike course?



It looks like a barren waste land here of dirt clumps and small ride lines.



There were three different tracks you could take through this waste land, all bumpy and painful.



At one you point you come down this hill.



This was part of a special surprise for the B and A riders to lengthen the course.  There was nothing I hated more.



While this kind of looks like fun, it was also kind of tricky.



Lots of weird riding here, the video below shows it better.



Downhill section.



These ruts made it really hard, because they were deeply rutted around 6-8 inches.



Line of riders.



Very short and steep run up.



Top of the run up.  Love the pink Gentle-Lovers kit.



Special Ira Ryan single speed racer.



Speedvagen Fuck Yeah.



Seriously awesome.

The part that I didn't like (As racers make everything look easy though)

From Cross Crusade 2 10-12-08

Kind of fun tricky section.

From Cross Crusade 2 10-12-08

Cross Crusade 1 (Alpenrose Velodrome)

Cyclocross in Portland is a way of life.  Overall 1260 riders were registered and there were just as many spectators, everywhere.  It was intense,  I have never seen so many riders of every skill level and category.  There were people on unicycles racing, a single speed cyclocross tandem, and other silliness.

It has been raining in Portland for the past 4 days just in time for the start of the CrossCrusades.   Cyclocross has gripped the city, bike shops are closed, there are cyclocross themeded parties at bars,  various cyclocross documentaries are being played around town.  I <3 Portland

This was to be my first Category B race on my new bike with my new tubular carbon wheels in a state renowned for cyclocross.  Honestly I was very intimated to line up.  Since I was intimidated and more because people lined up insanely early (30 minutes) or so I got a terrible starting position.  There were approximately 120 riders in the B race and to make it crazier the SingleSpeed race starts 2  minutes behind us.  I was at the ass rear of the starting group.

FYI: Mens B and singlespeed take turns who starts first.  There is usually some feet of strength to determine it, today there was a milk chugging contest by both number 1 riders of each category mens B won.

The race started off slowly, there were lots of bottleneck type areas where it was stupidly slow and I was lost any dreams of the lead.  Once the race started to open up a 1/2 lap in I never got passed by another B rider (4 singlespeeders went by, but they were crazy crazy crushers) for the day.

The course was awesome, it was wet, muddy, sticky, slippery, rutty.  There were multiple barrier sets, a quick run up, a stairset run up, a fun weird course through and on the velodrome, and some pavement sections.  Absolutely ideal cyclocross conditions.

My bike/wheels handled far better than I ever imagined.  There is a quote in cycling saying "it doesn't matter what you ride, it matters how you ride it."  While this is very true, it is really nice having high end stuff.  The carbon wheels are so light and fast that I was able to accelerate out of every corner and turn and blow by a lot of people.   The frame was absolutely perfect, it handled so perfectly, the tight tracking made it incredibly fast and it soaked up all the bumps (hats off to High-Five cycles).  Since it only weighs in a bit over 17 lbs it just floats over the barriers effortlessly.  The big winner on the day was using my 700x34 Grifo Challenge tubular tires.  I ran them around 30 psi and they were perfect.  I had traction almost around every turn and I was able to ride a lot of parts that other people had to run up which saves a lot of time and energy. I just need a few more miles on it yet.

Overall I finished 41 out of 120 riders, not tapped out of energy, and kept it rubberside down.  I claim this as a victory considering where I started and how many riders I had to pass in 45 minutes.  Next time I am lining up first row and I think I can pull out a top 20 finish.

And now for some photos!!!



" Alpenrose Velodrome is one most exciting tracks in the United States. At 268.43 meters around with a 16.6 meter radius and a 43 degree bank, Alpenrose is also one of the steepest velodromes in the country. The steep banks make races on the velodrome interesting to watch and just plain fun to ride."

No one even attempted to ride the wet, steep walls.



Tight hairpin turn



Rock barrier



Ryan Trebon leading the mens A around another sloppy hairpin



Barrier set






The course looped through the middle of the velodrome a lot and then the finish line was a straightaway on the track.



This stair run up was a clogging point a lot.  You could go up both sides though.



Some guy riding.



Playing in the mud.



The rear of my bike afterward, somehow those brakes still worked.



I had about 4 lbs of mud and grass stuck in every part of my bike.  It still worked flawlessly though (surprisingly).  My handlebars stayed immaculately clean somehow, which make for excellent grip.