Big Jim has carved out himself a great race. I went and watched last year, and this year I was able to race.
Masters 3/4
I got an ok starting position, I was lined up next to Gwadzilla. I wanted to keep it smooth and see if I could not hurt my back too much. I got an ok start, and had Bruce B. in my sights. I don't know if ever passed him, but by DCMTB teammate Brian caught up to me. I had a bad remount, landing on the tire/brake. I losed some time there. After the first 2 laps it was just going into maintaining mode, since I couldn't really get any power out of my body. I got passed by a good many people, but the only saving grace was that I was able to get the guy who caught up to me on the last off camber(almost wrecking there). I liked the double logs where you could jump them or dismount. I think bigger logs would be better so it was more of a question. Reminded me of the Swiss worldcup I watched, the barriers are not as high as the ones we use cause most pros were bunny hopping them and it didn't look 40 inches high.
Tandem
There was a tandumb race happening, and this time I made sure the pedal was on ok. I had Tyler from Family Bikes pack a pedal tap so that I could clean out the threads. That did the trick Matt's pedals went on fine, and we were ready to roll. We started in the first row, and were able to get the lead after the first corner. I knew the Padam team was coming behind us. They got us on the off camber downhill, and we never saw them again. We were riding good together, and had our shinning moment/almost disaster when we did a planned move that we talked about in a practice lap. After a downhilll there is a U-turn then an uphill rise. The Tom team was in front of us and Matt kicked it in going out of the turn and we stood for the whole hill. The almost disaster happened at the turn where we passed and hit a root I never saw in the Masters race. When we hit the root is sent our bike into the tape, but luckly I was able to control it. We did ok at the barriers, but we were not as insync as we were at DCCX. After the first lap we were in no-man's land, but our luck changed as we saw the Toms team have a mechanical with their timing chain having fallen off. So we caught them at the double logs, and tried to get them at the berm, but we were running out of trail. We got them on the off camber, and on the pavement for a 3rd place. We made the podium DCMTB's second podium of the day.
Thoughts:
Jim put on a great race, cool prizes I got some of the sausage and ate this week-yum.
The vibe pretty awesome.
I found the Elite race a lot more fun to watch since Joe D. started 2:30 down on the whole race, and he came back to win big.
The team support was out there today
Tandem races are great! I mean pretty cool motivating, and dieing out on the course with a friend.
Right now My favorite races for Mabra are Ed Sanders, DCCX, and Rockburn. I didn't do the one in Winchester, but I have seen the course so I will try that next year.
As the captain of DCMTB, DCCX is more than just a race for me. It's our team's way to give back to the biking community by putting on the best event that we can. Yet again, I think that we have succeeded, having over 700 racers and shattering the MABRA record of 80 women at our race. Mother nature came through as well (for the fourth year running) with sunny skies and mild temperatures. A big thank you to all the sponsors--Dogfish Head Alehouses (for tasty beer and pourers), Family Bikeshop (Jonathan rocks), Bobby's Pottys (we had to go big this year, with 7 porta-johns that still all became out of order by the end of the day), the Dutch Club (for making great pancakes). Stickyfingers Bakery, and Joe Foley Photography. Special thanks also to the Armed Forces Retirement Home for allowing us to use the beautiful grounds.
Men's Masters ¾
Well, I was worried a little bit going into this race. I had been working on the race and on my feet all day Saturday, and then was working the VIP team tent area in the morning. One good thing with having your own race, you get an ok start position. I was starting next to Mark D. from the team. I got a pretty good
s tart(which I seem to be able to do usually) Right before going to the finish line for the first time, I was able to get to Bruce B’s wheel. I had the opportunity to pre ride the course a Bruce had not been able to pre ride, and was not riding as smooth as I was. I got a little impatient and passed Bruce. This would be short lived as Bruce passed me, then Bill of CXHairs passed me as well. Around the 2nd or 3rd lap my back blew up. At that point I was in trouble, I went from like 17th to the 31st position I ended up at. I guess Gwadzilla was behind me closing in cause he finished right behind me. I did ok, but when you loose 15 places you are not going to be too happy.
Tandem
This was the race that I had been thinking about leading up to the race. I had originally planned to do the race with Sara. After pre-riding the course, Sara and I thought it best for our relationship that we didn’t ride it together. I got Matt E. from my team who was a great sport. He is a really strong rider, and fit the tandem great. Matt, and I had pre-ridden the course on Sat so we had an idea what we were doing. We had a slow start, but by the first turn one tandem blew up, and we were in 3rd place. At the barriers our technique came into play and we were in 2nd. The Toms boys caught back up to us, and we were doing ok until we messed up at the stairs(which we did good in practice). At some point we lost a pedal and some time getting it back on. I think after that on the backside of the course we saw one of the tandems roll a tubular(don’t use tubulars unless you have defense grade adhesive!) We lost some time on the uphill pavement, then lost our pedal again. We fixed it with a pedal wrench, but the damage was done we went into steady mode. The best part on the tandem was doing the bricks to the downhill, we were doing 33mph there. I had a good time on the Tandem and will hope to do it again this CX season.
DCCX has gotten better every year, and this year I was really happy with the course, and my little off road addition to the mix. Sara was great for coming out for the day as she was reading when she could and watchin’ her man do his thing too.
Iron Cross
Oh you beast, I think I know you and then you go and change on me. The Iron Cross race is something that any biker who has a CX bike should do. The race is between a SM100 kind of race, a dirt road race, and a mountain bike race. The nice thing about the race is that it is short enough that most people finish within an hour of almost everyone else. This was my race this year. I had broken my pinky in May, so this was my objective race. I started training late, cause I moved from Arlington to DC this July. So it wasn't until late August that I started to get the miles and rides in (the OMG-Shepherdstown stuff is great training). By September, I was getting a good amount of rides, and I had done Ed Sanders, and AVC cross before Iron Cross. My back was starting to act up even with those short events, so I had no idea what was going to happen at Iron CX. An Unexpected Partner
Two of my DCMTB teammates Matt E. and Mark P. went up a day early and stayed in one of the cabins. I am thinking that will be the ticket for next year. The unexpected partner was Sid. I haven't ridden with Sid in a long time so I was surprised to hear that he was going to be doing Iron CX. He rented a CX bike, and I gave him a helping hand by letting him borrow a set of 38mm WTB interwolfs. This tire is not made anymore, but it is the perfect tread for this event. I might try and run them tubeless next year. I ran them this year with Latex tubes. So Sid and I met up at Scots run near 495 at 5:15 am and got on the road. We got up there pretty quick with plenty of time to spare. Pre-Race
This year the weather was warmer then when I did it in 2007. I was worried about clothing, but I settled on wool bib shorts, knee warmers, arm warmers, jersey and vest. Sid and I met up with Matt and Mark, and we were able to put our stuff in their cabin. I planned bags with CO2 and tubes at both stops just in case.We talked about the course, and people were getting nervous.
The Start, Lippencote Trail, to Wigwam
Matt started fast and I was on his wheel, but then we switched. We got to the open road/trail, and Matt went speeding ahead. Mark eventually caught up to me as well and passed me. I had only been racing for 30 minutes and I was already starting to feel my back. I knew it was going to be a rough day. I was climbing ok, but I think this year my descending was going great. I felt really comfortable on the downhills. The road sections were not going well for me. I think that next year I will have to work on doing more road riding to work on my high-end speed. We did a paved road climb, and then it was on to the first real singletrack. One of the keys to racing this race is top levers on a CX bike. Going up the trail, I was riding smooth and slowly catching up to and passing some people. Once the trail went downhill I started doing even better. I somehow ended up behind two other mt. bikers or skilled riders, cause the three of us passed like 20+ people on the trail. We were going over logs (some over a foot high) and I made it past the part in 2007 where I walked. Now I was in front of 30+ people who had previously been in front of me. Just as in 2007, everyone was doing pacelines that were going too fast for me to even get in on. Matt caught up to me again (I had passed him) and passed me again. Wigwam to Aid 3
The good thing about having done the race was that I knew how much Wigwam sucks. This year I carried my bike across my back, with it kinda resting on my camelbak. I think this was the right way to do it, but I think that if you could have a bungee to hold on to so that your hands are not in a weird position, it would be bettter. Might work on that. Once at the rest stop, I took a minute to take off my vest, arm warmers, and knee warmers, put them in my drop bag, and fill up my bottle. Matt was just in front of me. I caught up to him and he was going a little slower, so I passed him. The next downhill was sick, I was riding it fast like 45 mph and felt comfortable (my back not so much), but was thinking if I wreck this is going to be bad. At one point I took a turn a little too hot and ended off the road, but I was fine. I dropped some people going down the mountain, but the problem with that speed is you can miss your next turn! So I went left at this Y and felt that there should be someone near me. So I turned around and saw some people up the road going into the woods. So I was now behind like 10 people I had passed. I saw Matt again, who was cursing me, the race, and his lot in life it seems. This was a new singletrack section, where my top levers, and 34-32 gearing was coming in handy. I was passing people and hooked up with a mountain biker. I actually passed the mountain biker on the downhill--pretty amazing. I was then mostly on my own to aid 3.
Aid 3-Fin
So at the aid station, I filled up my bottle again, and had a cup to go as well. This was the start of the big ass climbing. I had 2 interesting experiences. One was with Todd B. from the SS Outlaw crew was rocking it on his SS. I was climbing steady in my small gear as he was mashing away. We both said that our legs were getting some twinges. At some point Todd must had had both legs cramp, cause he fell into a heap on the side of the fire road. The other person I rode next to was a beast of a rider. She was the 4th or 5th place female (and I later found out she was 51 years old--go her). She was riding a bike almost like a touring bike. She was breathing up a storm, pushing a big ass gear. and she would pedal, then walk, pedal then walk. I was just going constant (slowly). We went back and forth, with her going in front until she had to walk, and me catching back up to her because I was still actually pedaling my bike. She then left me as it leveled out at the top. Once it started down hill I dropped her hard. I finally got to the last singletrack section. This is the funnest part of the course, but you are usually too tired to like it. The singletrack seemed longer, and more technical then before. I knew I was running slower, cause last time I rode most of the last walk up. After going though the last singletrack, I heard my tire rubbing. I looked at it and I had broken a spoke (I found out later it was 2). So I was thinking about what to do. I didn't want the tire to take off all my paint on the bike. I found the bad spot and just whacked it a couple of times, and that seemed to true it enough not to hit my frame. Now I had no rear brake though. The last pavement downhill was trickier then last time, since I only really had a front brake. My wheel was so messed up it made the bike do a lurching motion. I did the last 2-3 big rollers, then back to the finish. I made it just under 5 hours. I achieved my goal, but I thought I was faster. I think that most people's times were slower cause of the added singletrack (which is a good thing).
Thoughts
This race should be only CX bikes like the Three Peaks Race
Next year if I got up with some people I will try to have us ride as a group until the first singletrack
I need to work on leg speed for the road sections
I should make a small bungee thing to help hold the bike for Wigwam, and then dump it at the aid station
I plan to ride my stans wheels next year
Thinking about doing a spring training camp and doing the ride then
Seems like most roadies were riding mountain bikes, and it was mountain bikers on the CX bikes.
I think the Camelbak and one water bottle is the way to go, only had to fill it once.
A guy shot a video of the race, the cyclocross stuff you see that is only at the very beginning. You can see Matt E. @ 1:52 on the HUGE hike a bike. and you can see me at 2:02 at the rest stop eating a GU. Also I zip on by on the trail at 2:25 (had taken a wrong turn so had to pass a bunch of people I passed once already)
2009 was an OK year, I didn't push my back as much and was feeling good late in the season. I did one of my goals which was the SS class at Wednesday at Wakefield. I had much better time in that class which wasn't as fast as the expert class. I was able to actually race people and some top 10 placings and then the final week I got a 1st so pretty cool. I had my best race in August with the 18 hours of Scouts Honor. I also had my fastest solo ride the week before the SM100 I did a 40 mile ride without stopping with a avg speed of 21.6 with no time trial bars at my parents house so I was pretty stoked. The SM100 hurt my back again(had not trained enough), so I only did the DCCX and did not ride much in the fall, and I have been sick for most of December. Tandem- 140 miles
The good news about the tandem is that I think we have Sara's knee issue figured out for a bit. I think she pushed herself too hard and then the clipless pedals were hurting her knees. I had her ride with her normal shoes and toe clips, and haven not pushed the distance as much and things seem to be going better. Sara has started to do some spinning classes, so hoping to have over 500miles on the bike next year. Will have to see how Sara's body holds up.
Single Speed 29er- 266 miles
I like riding this bike on some of the trails in the area(Roseryville, Fairfaix CCT, Schaffer, Fairhill) . I had a blast riding the bike at the 12 hours of Lodi. I don't like the bike at Patapsico where there is too much elevation change. I improved the bike greatly with some Stans wheels and setting it up tubeless for the W@W events. In 2010 I will have a Rock shock Reba to use at events like Lodi or to have more versatility riding.
Dual Suspension Mt. - 643
My mountain bike had some good miles on it but if you take out Bakers, Big Bear, Iron Mt, Scouts Honor and the SM100 I think I only did like 400miles on the bike.
CX Bike - 1007 miles
Usually my CX bike doesn't get that much mileage since I stopped using it as my commuter bike several years ago. This year after I cracked my Raleigh last fall I road my CX bike as my road bike for all of spring until I got my Moots. I was bummed that CX season didn't work out but I did like riding it with a tubeless setup, only issue was that the rims were wide and were painted so did not brake very well might get Stans wheels for this bike next Fall have to see. I did not ride it much this fall. I hope to do some dirt road rides on it in the spring and then the Wintergreen ride/race in late August followed by the Iron Cross in October along with like 5 CX races in the fall.
Fixed Gear - 1022 miles
Pretty happy with how much I rode the fixed gear bike this year. I became my go to bike for commuting to work. With its 32mm SERV-T tires it can be ridden on the C&O Canal or cruddy city streets. I also didn't have to0 worry to much about the bike being messed with.
Race bike - 1379 miles
This was the biggest disappointment, I think I did a fair bit of riding, but not the distance. I stopped doing the PPTC Tuesday ride which brought my mileage down by quite a bit. I got my Moots in the early summer and I was able to pound out to OMGWTF Shepardstown Rides. Will plan to do that ride again with the more direct downhill. I was able to ride the bike on some good rides but would like to get some more mileage on the bike for 2010.
DCCX is the big CX race of the year for me mostly cause it is the race that our little team of 30 members puts on so almost everyone is involved. In years past I have done a fair bit of lawnmowing on the course, but this year with the rain the week of the race I could not get out there. The other big consideration is what kind of facial hair to have; this year I did Stache and Burns.
My Race
I wanted to finish midpack and try to hang with Corey on my team. I got a 50th start position and Corey was in the 20's so I knew I had my work cut out to catch him. I usually don't worry about starts, cause I seem to usually start fast but have more issues with holding that position. So we get sent off and I was able to close and pass Corey before getting to the pavement after the up and down hill.At the out At the out and back, I felt I was with some people a little too fast for me and held up a bit. By the second time through the start/finish line my back was done. The course was very slow, so you had to engage your back to get any kind of speed. So I was in pain, but I wasn't going to hurt my back worse by pushing it with my back. So I got up to the 30's I think but ended up in 65th place, with Kevin from my team passing me on SS! I had wanted him to race so I could beat someone :-( Boy, was I wrong. So now I am doing planks and other core stuff along with no CX racing this year to be back strong next year. Sara seemed to be happy with the way I did compared to my own feelings on it. The Event
DCCX yet again had beautiful weather, and with that came the crowds. We had over 500 racers and spectators. I think our team has created the kind of race that everyone wants to go to. I mean, there are other courses that are more challenging, but few in the area are able to create that atmosphere with the free beer, frites, and Dutch pancakes. We had a record 70 women, and that is the one area where we can improve for next year since we were at the field limits for the other races. It was also pretty cool to watch and hang out with my teammates and to see them put up good results.
Also want to give a shout out to Alex on my team who moved to San Francisco, sad to see him leave was able to do a mt. relay race with him and do some riding in GW forest and other places. Hope to visit him and his wife in the future.
Update 2 I Now have this video up on Facebook since Stage 6(divx) went under, and UTube doesn't allow videos over 10minutes long. The race is the full masters race, with cuts and text commentary. I like this format much more then the cyclocross montage videos that don't actually cover the race aspect.
If you can't see the Video it is because your work, or security settings are blocking facebook
I have the totals for 2008 and they are looking interesting. I have many bikes so for me I have to total up the different bikes to get an idea of what kind of biking I did.I have a total of 5346 miles for all my bikes, I believe this to be the most I have ridden mileage wise in a year.In 2008 I had less mileage, but I had more Mt. biking mileage which should be counted more since it takes longer to do and is harder.I will be happy if I can have similar mileage for 2009, I will be concentrating my efforts to be in shape for summer/fall.
Rigid SS: 47 Miles I had gotten this bike in September right before cross season, and I have put some miles on it, and I think it will be a bike a ride quite a bit. The bike is great at Roseryville, and Cross County Trail. I hope to ride it at Schaeffer in the coming year.
The Tandem: 307 Miles I didn't get out on the tandem as much as I would have liked to. Sara had a knee issue that came up and she didn't want to ruin her running with the Tandem riding that was hurting her knee. Hopefully in the future we will get out there again.
Dual Suspension Mt. Bike:644 Miles
I started the year off well with my AZ trip and then doing really well at the Bakers Dozen.I then hurt my back at Greenbrier and had a terrible 24hours of Big Bear where my bike’s chainstay cracked.I then laid off the mt. biking for a bit and got in some rides when I could.
CX Bike:878 Miles
I road this some to work, and did my CX races on it, as well as my Ohio Road rides.I like this bike, but I don’t get the chance to ride on dirt roads enough.
Fixed Gear Bike:1062 Miles
This is my go to bike for commuting in the off season, and for riding in the city.I like riding this bike have tried to get a 27inch fork for it, but have been having a hard time.
Road bike:2408 Miles
I have had bigger seasons on the road bike like one year I did like 4000+ but this was before I did as much Mt. biking and I did not own a cross bike then.I rode the road bike allot this year cause of back issues and I found that the road bike let me able to keep riding when the mountain biking was hurting.Next year I hope to do the Mountain Momma century since this year I was not fit enough to do it.
I haven't ridden in over 2.5 weeks a first for like 5 years! My back issues had come to a head and decided to take some time off the bike. I wanted to race cross this year, but with my back I wasn't able to push like you need to in cross. I had been rustic cabin camping on Friday night, and then slept at my sisters on Saturday. I got up and went to the Tachino cross race, to cheer on my teammates. I also brought the bike to do a lap on the course. I saw the end of the Masters 3/4 race, and was able to cheer on Michael, and Joel who were racing. Joel did an impressive job holding off a pack of like 8 guys the whole race. He was riding with upright bars on his cross bike, I guess that works for him. I find that I like being in the drops through turns, makes cross different to mt. biking. I then watched the 3/4 race, and it was fun cheering/heckling people as they went by with my cowbell.
After that Bruce, Steve(on Ryan's bike), and I did a short Leesburg dirt road ride. I had done this route like 2 years ago, and found it a good spin on some dirt in Leesburg. This was Steve's first dirt road ride and he was able to get a chance to feel the fun with riding on dirt, on cross bikes. Steve had done most of these roads on his enduro motorcycle. I had some issues 3/4 through the ride, either my seatpost had slipped or something the bike didn't feel right to me. I think I then also bonked, cause I had not eaten when I was watching the Racing. Well we made it back and had a pretty good first ride back on the bike.
Well, sometimes the hand of God is talking to you, and you don't listen. I went to the race, after doing the DCCX with a placing I could live with. I wanted to do the race mostly to ride the course--it seemed that it would be a fun one to race on. Mark, and I got off to a bumpy start by going the wrong way up 270. We recovered from that error, but Mark could not race the 55+ class since he got there 23 minutes before the start, which was less then the 30 minutes they required. Mark did get his registration moved to the CAT 3/4 race, so he was able to race at least.
I prerode the course, and by the time I got back the people were all lined up. Usually I don't care if I am in the back of the pack; I can start ok. Well this was the first race, where the start was very important. JJ was there and I thought he would be a good person to race, so I was looking forward to that little private battle. I started out not as fast as I'd like; kinda felt myself not really riding on top of my gear. Well, around half way through the lap, I was catching up to JJ and Pooch and I here a PING! I know what that is...a broken spoke. A lot of times when a spoke breaks not too big of an issue, but with these wheels they seem to go really out of true! So, within a couple of pedal strokes, I hear the tire rubbing the frame. So I had to get off the bike and move the wheel in the dropout. I do that, and then I am off again. I feel like I am really at the back of the pack now. Well, the rest of the race I go around thinking I will start to catch people, but it isn't happening. I got to the point that it was embarrassing; I mean, I beat some of these guys last week and now I couldn't ride for S&%t. So as they say one more to go, I just come in and took my first DNF in a cross race. The only up side was that once I started coasting I realized that my rim was so out of true that the wheel would not move unless you put considerable force on it. So that kinda explains why I felt so slow, but maybe not.
There were some good rides out there. Still impressed with Matt Parse--he is riding really well. Ryan Bannon looked good until he cramped up. JJ rode a good race; maybe I will get to race him soon. Matty had a good result considering he was getting over a cold.
The course was great, I would only change a couple of things, like maybe making one or two turns not as curvy and the prologue go up the big hill that we come down, which would give people who can crush it a space to move up while others would get in their natural position. This was a course that I really liked even though it is not the fastest kind of course for me. Tacchino Cross I will either be there racing or taking pics and filming.
The photos from the CAT 3/4 race were done by Schiek more athttp://www.flickr.com/photos/picturesoflily/
This was the big event of the year for the DCMTB team.We are a mountainbike team that races cross and road as well.I had helped with the course clean up and mowed the course to be as fast as it could be.The race is at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington DC.One of the few places where there is ample room to have a race.We pretty much doubled in size from last year.We became the biggest cyclocross race in Mabra's history of 400+ races.The nice bonus this year were the Frites cooked up by Scud, and the Keg beer.The Dutch club of DC came in as well with their treats which were great.
I had some of my friends come for the race and it was great to hear AB, Kristen, Elizabeth, Jon, Jeff, Diana, Ellen, and Sara out there cheering for me.
CAT 3/4 race.
I had a fourth row start based on my registration.I never really get that worried about my place at the start, since I am not going to win any of these races I just want to race people.I started behind Matty, and thought if things worked well I could maybe race near him for the race.The field was big with like 80 guys.The start went off well and organized, but on the first hill people were getting stacked up.By the time we got through the up and down section in the woods and on to the pavement groups had started to form.I passed Cargo Mike who was fixing a dropped chain at the brick section.I then took the next turn wide so that I rode the off camber straight on, a guy behind me was on my outside and I think wrecked going down the hill behind me.I felt bad, but if he would have followed me he would have been fine.I think on the second lap my chain fell off, I was able to put it back on quickly but that cost me a lot of spots.After this point I think Ryan from racing Union came up on me, this might have been his first CAT 3 / 4 race.It was good to see him, but I wanted him off my tail :-)I was by myself for a bit, I rode the road sections on the tip of my saddle just trying to get some speed out of the legs.There were a couple of people who I was catching up to now.Then before you know it Cargo Mike had caught up with me.We got to this little rise that was like an energy suck because it was so tacky (I bet by the time the pros rode it was hard), I had to let him go there.The rest of the race was me going hard then slowing a little so I could maintain the effort.Towards the end I saw Matty in front of me and he was a great carrot to try and catch.Matty is faster in most races, so it was good to catch him.I knew he had not slept much for the last couple of days and was rundown so I wasn't too surprised I caught him.So I went past Matty and one other guy, and just emptied the tank on the last lap.My knees did not give me too many problems and I felt my back from the effort, but it didn't get to the point where I hurt it.So I got 28th out of 78 or so starters.The rest of the day was good times with beautiful weather, and food and beer.I didn't get home until 7pm after doing all the take down and dropping stuff off at Wholefoods.Thinking I will be at the Rockburn cross race, I hope I can beat the guy with the chops who has gotten me twice now at Ed Sanders, and DCCX. Photos done by Sara,Jon,Diana, and Bucknell
I hit the Hagerstown cross race on the way to OH which worked out very well. I liked this course last year, and was looking forward to the race. I got there with a good amount of time to warm-up but only able to do 3/4 a lap on the course before lining up. I got a call up kinda, not one of the first two rows but I was called up so I was in row 4 I think. My goal again was to get into the top half of the field. So what happened in the race, was typical of my style starting of well and losing ground. This isn't always the best for moral. Sara said I was riding well, but when you pass noone after the first lap and about 7-8 people pass you while you are racing it is not a good feeling. I had two people that I dueled with a little. Steve a cool guy on a SS from AABC was on my tail for a bit, I tried to hold him off, but just didn't have the power, and didn't want to hurt my back more. The second rider was Patrick from Adventures for the Cure team. He passed me, and I could hear from his breathing that it took him some effort. It was the last lap so I decided that I would try and beat him. I got the lead on the second part of the course and got through the sand pit(Patrick ran) I had him on the U-turn and up the short steep hill. I then geared up 2 gears to sprint it out, I only needed like 3-5 more pedal strokes and my foot unclipped! So I lost that spot by a foot or so. My lower back was not that great, so to relieve that I decided to stand on the pedals more at this race. So I wasn't out of breathe the whole race, I just couldn't sit and grind it out like I normally would. Unfortunately this course you were better off sitting down. I really like the course, the only thing I would really change with it, is to get the course smoother. Now that isn't AVC doin' so it was just the park grounds were very choppy. I ran the WTB interwolf 38mm at 35 psi and it was the right call. I saw guys on tubulars flatting! The bumping was so bad I got unclipped several times. I found the best technique for doing the straights was doing a Roubuix style with riding the flats sitting back on the the bike keeping the front lite. Matty D from my team was in front of me and looked good, but got a flat and ran a lap and then got pulled so I was sorry to see that, I would have dropped out. Ryan Bannon is flying! The guy got 5th place and rode the last lap on a flat! I will go into our own race the DCCX with the same goals of the top half of the field and see what happens.
Photos by Sara I had heard of this race, but I had not raced it. Sounded like an interesting course riding through a garden of lily pads. Sara came with me and was my support, I told her not to expect much. Usually I will say that something of the sort but do pretty good. Well I have moved up from the CAT 4's to race the CAT 3/4 race so I was wanting a top half finish, and I didn't achieve that. I got to the race, and the CAT 3/4 masters were just about to start. They went off while I was getting ready and I saw from the racers that the course was muddy. Raul looked to be riding well and so did Mark D. Well they came off the course, and Mark D said it was so muddy he had to pit and get water on his bike to get it moving again. Mark also gave me the hint to run the muddy section(which I should of done). Ok so I try to warm up and not ever really getting a good warm up. I was not able to pre-ride the course, but was confident that my technical skills were not going to be the reasons I did well, or not so good at this race. The race starts I got mid pack to the outside, knowing I should be able to move up some spots in the beginning of the race. I usually have a good start, but then I fade as the race goes on. This year I was planning on doing a good start and then trying to find a place where I could maintain my pace. I get going and we are doing the grassy lanes near the ponds and then I rode into the "muddy" section this was that thick peanut butter farm yard mud. Well had to get off and run, and then on the remount my front wheel went into a hole and I jumped to a bike that wasn't there. In the process my bike computer fell off. I went back and picked it up, since I wasn't going to win this race no need to loose a bike computer. I lost like 10 spots there. Well we get the first lap done, and this was a long course! I mean I think we only did like 5 laps. Most cross races they fit in like 7,8 laps in 45minutes. I was riding with Jud from bike doctor, which was surprising to me cause I thought he was allot faster then me. So we are riding and he is has good speed on the straights and I was doing better then him on the back nine which was more technical. I think after riding a bit behind him, I decide to kick it up a gear, and big ringed it on the gravel sections. This is where my back issues came into play. Then Jud was off beating me pretty good. I hurt my back at the greenbrier race in April and since then it has been a curse I have had to deal with. I am trying to do some core exercise to help; hope it works so am I good for November. So after my back started to flair up, I was kinda in the dumps. One of my big goals was to have the race not hurt my back. So the next two laps I was fading and getting passed by like 2 people. At one point I was all alone kinda strange in a cross race to be by yourself. For the last lap I came up with the strategy of getting out of the saddle and sprinting where I could since it did not engage my back like sitting down and pushing the pedals does. I then was able to catch up to some people and wanted to get this one guy but couldn't at the last second, but I still sprinted to the line. Random Notes:
Matt Parse got a 5th great result considering he was racing CAT 4's last year I got a 3rd behind him at a race last year.
Ryan Bannon looking strong like he did last year got a 7th so he should be a good person to watch in the coming weeks.
I really liked the back 9 of the course, all cross courses are different, but I would loved a course that was like 2/3 back nine stuff, and 1/3 flat gravel.
Pretty location for a race
Next week is Hagerstown, I got 4th there last year in the 4's, but still going with the same game plan as this week-try to get in the top half and not to have my back hurt me.
Dates: 9/3 (Women Only), 9/10, 9/17, 9/24 Time: 6pm Location: Ft. Reno Park, Northwest Washington, DC Cost: Free; bring your USAC license is you have one, if not we’ll cover the cost of your 1-day license
Schedule: 6:00 pm - 6:10 - registration 6:15 - 6:45 pm - skills instruction 6:45 - 7:30 pm (light permitting) - unstructured skills work and ride on practice loop.
I had put this ride out to the masses and had 5 people that seemed up for the ride. Come to the ride itself that went to 1. So I did this ride with Mark, which was fitting since he did the Iron Cross with me last year. Mark did not do the SM100 this year, like myself so he is motivated to do the Iron Cross as compensation. The big issue on the ride was what effect did hurricane Hanna have on the dirt roads. Well it turns out she made the roads great! I was expecting the roads to be damp and have some major puddles. The dry weather we have been having really helped the water was just soaked up, and made the dirt roads have a little better grip and no dust. This was a different experience for me in that I have never done this ride in warmer weather. Mark and I did the ride together, with me trying to hit the climbs pretty hard and regrouping after the downhills. There were two blow downs that would have stop car traffic. The one was so big we had to work our way through the branches. The down hill of Busthead is always crazy there are two steep pitches that really test your nerve. Mark got an energy boost around the 15 mile mark and was kicking it to the rest stop in Middleburg. I thought we might see Jon who was doing a PPTC ride in the area cause of the other PPTC riders at the stop. I found out later that he did the longer option so he arrived after us. The second part of the ride as to climbing sections with the first easier then the second. The climbing is totally the opposite of Busthead with climb back over Bull Run Mountain being a bunch of ridgeline climbs not just one push over the whole thing. I remembered how much I like this ride with it's little traffic, and scenery. I am thinking in the future I might have to hit this route backwards which I have never done.
The DC-CX was being put on for the first time this year, and we as a team did a really good Job. I think Matt, and Marc deserve allot of the credit. I think if we are invited back we will have an even better race next year. I started the weekend off by helping the team all day Saturday raking, marking, digging the Brick Walk (gwadzilla way). While I was doing this I found out that I would be racing the "B" race not the "C" race because we ran out of numbers and I was the sacrificial lamb. I was kinda bummed cause I wanted to be in the mix of the race, instead of fighting getting dropped. At the same time this was our race that we were putting on so I wasn't really worried about a good result. I was given a good call-up because I spent a while bringing home the Mabra trailer from the Hagerstown race. I started really well I think I was in the top 10 for the first two laps. As usual with cyclocross I started to lose my steam after those first two laps. I was riding with Chris Scott for a bit he even gave my butt a push to keep me going. Chris also had a goof up that cost me a couple seconds, where I did a trackstand waiting for people to get moving again. No worries there I lost plenty of time on my own. As the race wore on I was falling back and back. Bruce started slow and then caught and passed me, I wish I would have riden with him maybe I would have done better. The course was fast and a lot of people liked it. I was proud of myself for how little I used my brakes, almost wrecked one time because of it. I think I only had one bad barrier jump, and I rode the course strong, but my season has been too long, and my knee got aggravated again(started with the IRON CROSS). My goal was top half of the Mens B field, and to not get bottom third. I placed 19 out of 32 so I just made my not getting in the bottom third. I think cross racing is like when I race expert at the W@W not really what I train for so I end up not doing as well as when the races are longer (12-24 hour relays). Next year I will race Bs for the couple of cross races that I do, but next week I am going to Cs again at the Leesburg Cross race, which favors my power over speed. Well check out the pictures that Jon Janis from Note to Jon fame took of the Men's B Race in the slideshow below. I give some commentary as well. Click on any picture in the slideshow to see hi-res.
Darren Biggs DCMTB/City Bikes 51/205 overall 32/97 Men Under 40 Time 4:38:31
The Iron Cross………….. I had heard about this race about three years ago. The longest cyclocross race in America… Well to let you know it is not really a cyclocross race , but a race that is best ridden on a cross bike. The race is framed after the Three Peaks race in England which has been run for over thirty years. I believe the race was canceled this year cause of the scare of hoof and mouth disease. The big interesting thing was the 5 time winner Rob Jebb and podium placing countryman Stuart Bowers of the Three Peaks race in England came to the IronCross V to race the event. The Brits came not to play, but to smack it to the yanks! They got 1st and 3rd I believe. I had talked to a bunch of people about this race, and last year I was about to do the race with Sid. Sid and I did not do the race, so I vowed to do it in 2007. I have had a long season. I have raced two or three times the amount I have ever raced in a year. So I wasn’t really looking forward to the IronCross, but I said I would do it so I did. I was able to talk Mark into doing the race, after he and I did the West Virginia Logger ride(on our cross bikes) in May We did the the IC in one day so I had to get up at 4:50am!! We picked up Roger Massi on the way to the race, and he was a good traveling companion, with his knowledge of the race (he has done it 3-4 times) and general friendliness. We got to the start with plenty of time to spare. We got our stuff together, did our drop bags (will do mine better next year) and got ready for the start. The weather was chilly but fine. I wore toe warmers, a vest, arm warmers, and heavier long finger gloves. Mark wasn’t dressed as warm so I gave him my long finger gloves, and I put my lighter gloves in the drop bag. Mark from my City Bikes team was there as well, so it was cool talking with him and lining up with him at the start. They start you down a gravel road, and I started with slower riders, which I will try not to do next year. The gun goes off and we start off going through the IC lite course that they did the day before. There is a spiral of death they call it in the course. Pretty funny, you basically go round and round for a long time, then over two barriers and you are off to the course. My ride from what I remember: So I start out passing a bunch of people, and am riding the road that goes to a walking trail, I am pushing myself but not too much, and I am loosing ground to a lot of people. We are going up this climb that goes a ways, I really pushed it up the climb to the KOM/QOM top with this Hagerstown guy Tim Lung on my back we get to the first trail section and he gets in front of me, but I basically would see him from time to time in front of me with him finishing 3 minutes ahead of me. The first single track I was loving my inline lever on the tops of the handle bar. My mountain biking skills were coming into play as I passed a lot of people in there. There was only one section that I bailed on doing, and I thought I would be faster if I didn’t crash. This went to another road section with some painful long rollers (this would be the case the whole day with the pavement sections). The fire road /trail to the run up I was able to get past several people on the climb with my low gear and power abilities. The run up is no joke! I stopped here and took off my vest/arm warmers. My back was hurting from pushing on the bike, so it was my back that hurt the most for the run up (next year more sit ups!) The run up is long and sucks the life out of you. After the run up is CP2 (I was 42nd place at this point) where next year I will put a bag to leave extra clothes at. After this part you are doing ridgeline gravel roads and it is pretty scary at times cause you are going over 30mph on the downhills just praying that you don’t hit a pothole, or one of the rocks that has worked its way to the surface of the road. I finally get to CP3, by now I am passing every now and then. I was making time on people by catching them on the down hills, or on the longer climbs especially the trail climbs. At CP3 I was out of fuel, and liquids so I had to get a power bar and refill the camelback. The bad thing was I had to piss, that made me lose like seven spots, or all the people I passed. The next part was a hill that was a doosy! I was in my 34-32 going at times as slow as you can go in that gear. I passed everyone that passed me while I was pissing. One big motivator was passing Steve Wahl from Hagerstown bikes, he beat me at a cyclocross race 2 weeks prior. After the long climb there was a scary downhill that had some tight turns. The course marshalls let you know they were ahead so I took the downhill easy, which was the right move. At CP4 you take a right onto the funniest part of the course, basically double track/single track trail that is totally ridable on a cross bike. I was tired so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have normally. There was a short run up here, then a hill that I rode up very slowly, but passed three others walking. After this was a pavement downhill to the finish, but there three or four rollers that were just killing your legs that you had to get over before going through the Spiral of death again and then doing two barriers and done. Well no more long races for me this year!!
Some observations of the race:
* The race started really fast to me, I was expecting more of a SM100 kind of feel where people just went their own pace. Here people were trying to stay with people they were around or bridge up to others.
* The field was strong I think at least ¾ of the field were on teams, so most of the people racing the event were strong riders that were shooting for a good time, not to just finish.
* I had fretted over what tire/gears I should use for the event, but my bike worked perfect 38mm WTB interwolfs at 60psi with 50-34, 12-32 in the back. I am a spinner so next year I will go with an 11-34 in back.
* For next year I am going to make sure I do some fast road rides, cause I was not able to ride with people on the road, but was able to pass them on the big climbs.
* The course was a good mix of one really technical trail, easy trails, gravel road, and pavement.
* I think I was 24th place for the second part of the course compared to 43 for the first part of the course. So I think next year if I can improve on the first half and get a <4:30>
This was the first cross race of the season for me and the only second cross race I have done. This was going to be a long day since I was picking up the race trailer with Kent’s Suburban. The weather was to get hot this weekend highs in the mid 80’s and humid, not really cross racing weather! There was a lot fog in the morning, with a good amount of dew on the grassy course when I did my pre-laps. The course wasn’t totally finished when I pre-road the course. I am very happy that I was able to pre-ride the course it helped me kinda get the feel of the course. I made one change to the tires I let some air out so I was running my WTB interwolfs at 38 lbs. They are a big 35mm tire so I thought I could that low without flatting. I raced the CAT 4 race which was allot bigger then I thought it would be. There was 55+ riders and almost no mt. bikes, boy has cross gotten big. Guys were riding the CAT 4 race with bling, bling carbon wheels and all. At the start I got there kinda late so I wasn’t going to have the best position, but then the announce was like you can use the whole lane, not just the gravel road. Well we started off, and I was like in the top 6 at the first turn so I kept it going. I think after one lap I was in 3rd place. I got on to Matt’s wheel who rides for capital hill bikes I have ridden with him before so I know his ability. I am riding with him and I find out we are 1,2 so I was pretty stoked. We get on this fast downhill section, and his tire came flying off his wheel. So then I was in 1st place, this was short lived, I then started loosing ground to the other guys and was passed by several people. I then road in no man’s land for the rest of the race, and was able to pull off a 4th place. I was happy with the result considering it was my second cross race, and my pre-race predictions was to finish in the top 1/3 and my goal was a top 10 finish. The course was good in that it had a lot of turns and felt like really riding cross. I also liked that the hill on the course was very ridable compared to some courses where it is maybe ridable, so you have to choose to run or ride. I think the sandpit should have been longer to get the whole chugging though the sand or run through it. I ran the right amount of air pressure cause the tires hooked up well. I have at least 3 more cross races for the season will see how they turn out.
I then went and did a 35-40 mile road ride on the new road bike and that was good but the legs were kinda blown from the race. I got back in time to see most of the Men’s 1,2 race. I was able to support Marc and Chris from the team. It was cool to see Marc do really well, and actually pace himself and past some really fast guys that he doesn’t usually beat. I think Marc was thriving in the heat better then others. All the racers looked haggard, Marc seemed not to get slower as the race progressed, but kept a consistent pace. Marc ended up finishing in 10th place, that being 1st for the masters’ A class. Chris was hanging strong and gave me a couple of smiles so I think that he was at least enjoying himself out there. I think he was able to pass a couple of folks as well.
