Scott's Right Of Way

Rocktown Cyclocross Festival 2011 - A Sunday in Virginia

So, a couple of weeks back I won a raffle on Facebook for a free entry into a new, first year race in Harrisonburg, Va, the Rockburn Cyclocross Festival.  This weekend was a break in the MABRAcross Super8 series and we didn't plan on making the trip to Granogue this year (next year we will), so we decided to go down to Harrisonburg.  We've had some fun times at Virginia cross races in the past, like Bryan Park in 2008.

I did the 45+ race at 10 and Jake would do the 15-18 at 11.

We got there in plenty of time to pre-ride 4 or 5 laps.  It was a short course, built on the side of a hill with a road start then a loose gravel climb, followed by some tight turns at the top of the hill, a triple barrier, then a more swooping fast lower half of the lap, which included a run up that had small barriers that begged to be hopped (but my old bones chose not to try).  Then a last 200 meets of climb up to the final road stretch.  We would do 8 5-minute laps.

It was a fairly small group.  They start the 35+ 1 minute before the 45+. I'm in the second row behind the guys with VACX series points.  Chris Huhn of Evolution is the only one I knew.  I got a so so start stuck behind the group but was able to pass some guys on the loose gravel climb.  Maybe in top 6 or so but the front 3 already had a little gap.  After someone crashed on the triple barrier I moved up a few spots.  Someone told me I was in 4th at some point.  On the second or third lap a local guy came up to me from behind.  He was strong on the road so I held on to him.  Lots of people cheering for him ("Bill").  For the next 2-3 laps we were making our way forward, starting to pass some 35+ guys (who also cheered for him; interesting being the stranger from out of town).  I could see that I was stronger than him on the gravel climb and, amazingly, over the barriers.  With 2 or 3 laps to go I made my move past him over the barriers and quickly established a gap, starting to chase Chris Huhn who was in third maybe 5 or 10 seconds up.  I rode alone for a lap chasing, growing my gap over 5th.  The last time up the gravel hill I went hard and closed to within a few seconds of Chris.  He knew I was coming and was taking risks, e.g., leg out on downhill off-cambers.  Unfortunately I bobbled slightly through some mud that threw me toward a tree.  I had to scrub speed and his gap then was too big for me to close with only 2 minutes left in the lap.  I came across in 4th, which was cool.

Just like Bryan Park in 2008, it was a good building race.  I felt good at Hyattsville last week and again felt solid all race today.

Jake's race was tough.  The Miller School of Albelmarle brought a bunch of boys.  Connor Bell, a 17 year old expert mountain bike racer, Chris Keeling, a 17 year old climbing Phenom who was second only to jeremiah Bishop and others at Devils Backbone.  I told Jake to try and stay with them as long as he could.  Well, he did, but maybe not the smartest strategy.  He stayed with Connor for 2/3-3/4 of the first lap, then he was ahead of Chris Keeling for a bit in second, then he tried to stay with Chris for a bit. 

 

Here he's just behind Keeling.

 

Then another older boy who looked to be a MTB racer (boy in red in the video) caught Jake mid race, moving him to 4th.   

 I could tell he was slowing down. 

He said later that he got a stomach cramp.  Going out too hard had caught up with him.  2 boys from Miller (who are older than Jake) caught him with about 2 to go and he was cracked.  He finished 6th, which disappointed him.  I'm sure that if he had ridden within himself he would have been 4th or at least dueled with the guy for 3rd (he was clearly older and strong).  Lord knows I've gone out too fast and faded many times. 

Luke Klausen also came and had a good race.  Here he is on the run-up.   

It was a fun race, even though Jake's result wasn't optimal.  These smaller races can be a nice change of pace.

 

Hyattsville CX and Psycho Cross

Saturday Jake and I went up to Sykesville for the Psycho Cross race, a new race in the “Sportif Cup” series.  Jake did his first 3/4 race and did great, finishing 12^th (out of say 30 or so).  I did the elite 35+.  It was a tough race.  There was a run-up that really hurt (and my right achilles started to bother me).  I had a great battle with Karl Kensinger of NCVC and was able to get around him just 1/4 of the lap before the end.  I was 15th overall (I haven’t seen the 45+ break out).  It was a good race.  The officials weren't going to short change us and I ended up racing 58 minutes.  Ouch.

Today, Jake, Liam & I went to Hyattsville CX, part of the MABRAcross Super 8.  This would be Jake’s last Cat 4 race.  He’ll do the 3/4 starting with DCCX.  He was hoping to get a podium result in a Cat 4 race.  Starting with a front row start, Jake immediately slotted into the front 4.

 

He got shuffled back a little early but by the end of the first lap was within reach of the front 2, but then had a hard crash and got caught in the tape.  I came into this late at which point he was in 4^th and the announcer was saying that Jake was chasing back.  Here he's chasing over the barriers (he would catch this guy 2 minutes later).

 

 On the last lap he caught and passed the guy in 3^rd, blowing by him in his chase for the front 2.  He didn’t have enough time to re-connect with the front but easily cruised across in 3^rd.  A great finish. I let the announcer do the talking this time.

 

 

 

After Jake's Cat 4 race, Liam did the 10-14.  He did it in clip-in pedals for the first time, which was a great advance. 

His friend Dustin Goodwin, who also rides under the Coppi banner had a good race, but the results were badly messed up so I don’t know what his ultimate finish was.  Top 10 I’m sure. 

Liam ended up riding with Will McNeely in his first CX race.

 

They had a tough time in the technical woods section. 

 

 

Then I lined up for the 123 45+.  My legs felt decent after Saturday.  I got a good start and was in 4^th until a little chaos in the woods on the first lap.  I rode with Steve Dontigny for a bit but was faster than him on the flats so went around.  Ultimately I ended up with Thori Wolfe of Route 1, who is super strong this year (he had dropped his chain like 9 times).  We were chasing David Kay of DC Velo for the last 2.5 laps or so.  I told Thori would help pull if he got us within strking distance. We came very close, but Thori pulled away from me in the last 1/3 of the lap.  He finished 1 second behind Kay and I was 3 seconds behind him.  I was 7^th and was only 14 seconds behind 4^th.   It was the first race where I felt strong.  So it was good.

Finally, Jake lined up for his 3^rd race of the weekend in the 15-18 juniors.  I kind of figured he’d be exhausted so I missed most of his race as I was at the car changing.  But when I got back he and Tanner Browne were sprinting for 2^nd and 3^rd.  Jake’s tired legs brought him another 3^rd, which was great given how many races he had done at that point.

 As we were about to leave, having just picked up the pit bike, we watched the start of the 3/4 race.  Kimani took the hole shot but crashed making the turn on the pavement.  His chain was all messed up.  Jake ran down to help, and after too long I yelled to meet me at the pit.  I ran down to the pit which was just 100 yards away.  Luckily Kimani uses the same pedals and the Jamis Supernova was set up for Jake and it fit Kimani fine.  We ran his bike to the mechanics who fixed the chain and the bent derailleur hanger.  Kimani did an incredible chase to go from 1 minute behind the field into the top 30.  In the mean time, Brad Evans scored a well deserved strong 2nd in the 3/4 field.  A great day for the Squadra

Winchester Apple Cross 2011 -- Life as a Soigneur to Juniors

I've loved the Winchester Apple Cross course and race since the very first year when it was a small race off series (by the way a separate set of thoughts on the importance and joy of non-series small races coming later).

Today Jake, Liam, and I awoke at 5:30am to make our way out to Winchester.  After a week of rain and 40% chance of rain, I had packed us for all possible contingencies, so the car was totally full.  Armies have gone to war with less stuff.  It was cold (mid 40s) and threatening rain.

It took us too long to pack the car and were late getting out of town.  We got there just in time to get Jake's number before they closed registration for the Cat 4 race.  He got one lap of the course as "warm up."  After 3 days of rain and rain over night the course was slimy with mud in the morning.  Jake was on the front row thanks to my registration skills.  I literally saw none of his race so this is 2nd hand.  He couldn't get clipped in until after they were off the road and so fell back into the 20s.  He says he moved to the front of a group and drove the pace dropping them.  At some point I got back to the course to get the pit bike (shared by me and Jake) to the pit and Bill Browne told me Jake was in 13th.  Ok, that's not great, but I had to get back to Liam to get him ready.  Well, Jake made his way forward and finished 7th, which is solid and a good come-back from his bad start.  Maybe not his best.  In an incredible development, the top 3 in the Men's Cat 4 were all juniors and add Jake's 7th and 4 of the top 7 were between 14 and 16 years old.  Hopefully all in the 3/4 race soon (Jake will move to 3/4 starting at DCCX).

So, while Jake was racing, I had to switch Liam's pedals.  He didn't want to race on the clip-in pedals.  Then I couldn't find his number.  It must have fallen out of my pocket when I was taking Jake's tights and giving him knee warmers.  We never found the numbers so 10 minutes before Liam's race we ran to registration and they let us write his number on the back of an old number with a Sharpie pen.  He and Dustin lined up and took off.  Liam did ok.  I rode with/followed him for the last half of his last lap. (Liam finished 11th and Dustin 9th)

Ok, so then it was supposed to be my time to "warm up" for my race.  I got a whole 10 minutes on the trainer before it was time to get off and line up.  Oy.  This isn't working.  So I felt so so, had the same clip in issues as Jake and slipped into 12th behind Jeff Anderson.  On the first lap it was going ok, we were right in a group but on the 2nd lap on a little greasy up-hill I was forced to the greasy side and went down.  Ugh, so that gapped me off the group.  I chased but never made up a lot of time.  I was catching Karl Kensinger and with one lap to go I was on his wheel but on the transition off the pavement at high speed on the back side my wheels, which were completely covered in mud, slid out and I went down on the pavement, landing on my hands and left side.  So Karl was gone and I just made my way in with no one behind me.  I never even checked the results.  Probably dead f'ing last.  Pathetic.  The life of a Junior Soigneur is not conducive to racing well (oh, did I mention I was changing out my rear brakes Saturday night).  My left hand is pretty tender now.

Jake then did the 15-18 race at Noon.  He did better than last week with the double up.  He and Tanner were together most of the race but Jake had some technical bobbles and so finished 4th a few seconds behind Tanner.  Not great but he handled the double up much better this week.  Justin Mauch rode away and Conner Bell was 2nd, so strong 16-17 year olds were ahead of them.

It was so chaotic I didn't take a single photo or video other than a podium photo of Jake on my phone. 
Joe Metro got a photo of Liam HERE

I'm disappointed in my race, but I guess I've committed to the Juniors this year.

other Coppis did well.  Kimani Nielsen got another 4th in the 3/4.