now that's old school...

Eugene Christophe on Cyclo-Cross (1921)

capital 'cross classic...

raced my second B race this weekend and had a pretty different result than 2 weeks ago, but not far from what i expected. thanks to bad weather and various holiday events i haven't managed much riding in the last few weeks so i was definitely off from the form i was in for the first few races of the year and on top of that i stayed out a little later the night before and had a couple more drinks than i normally would have had, so i wasn't expecting a great day. the field was definately bigger and looked stronger than the leesburg race as we waited to line up for the start and my sizing up of the field was not incorrect.

the start of the race was really fast and the pace never let up. i was somewhere in the middle of the pack for the first half of the first lap, but got caught in the back of a bunch going into one of the courses technical features (a short steep and slick climb up around a tree) and was forced into a bad line and crashed, then got the bike hung up on a small tree while i was trying to get back on and wound up being passed by a lot of guys.

the course was a typical reston course: fast with a lot of climbing, a couple of turns that get muddy, and a couple of technical sections. i was able to use the climbs to get back up to where i was a the start by the end of the 2nd lap, but then the length of the race (and the sake and beer from the night before) started to take it's toll and i started drifting back through the pack. i ended up in 38th out of 49 finishers, about where i'd expected to be in a B race, but a little disappointed by the fact that guys i was near 2 weeks ago at leesburg where 10-15 places ahead of me. i'll be heading up to fair hill next weekend for at least one of the races, probably sunday's.

winter riding rules: freeze, thaw, don't ride...

sure, it's not even december, but it's time to start up the winter riding rules... saturday's ride at schaeffer provided plenty of evidence of the freeze-thaw cycle and it's impact on trails. pay a little more attention for the next couple of months and if the ground is freezing over night make sure that you get out there early before the trails warm up and start to thaw.

if the trails freeze overnight then once the trails start to thaw in the morning, they get really soft and become muddy very quickly and are easily torn up. as a personal rule, i only ride places like schaeffer this time of year if there is a prolonged cold snap and temps are consistently below freezing (or are covered in snow).

be careful out there and don't destroy the trails...

fairmount...

while i was up in philly this weekend i met up with Pat, a former City Bikes guy who's living up there these days and he showed me around some of the local trails. we rode from downtown on relatively calm streets, past the art museam, then up along bike paths that run along the schuykill river to fairmount park. the trails were tight and twisty and with plenty of steep climbs littered with tricky roots the park reminded me of Lodi Farm down in fredericksburg. we rode the trails in the park for an hour or so and then headed back into the city with a quick bike shop tour that included the blingy shop and this one...

tryptofantastic...

thanksgiving 1 of 3 down and it was a tasty one...

beer

no riding last night, since the storms rolled in just before the schaeffer night ride was supposed to start... i'd figured as much and hadn't even bothered to get my gear together to ride. instead, i bottled a batch of beer (honey weizen) that's been sitting in the basement since late spring. tasted about right when we sampled it and hopefully in a couple of weeks it'll be ready to drink. a trip to the gym tonight and a few errands i need to get taken care of before the weekend.

evolution C race pics...

evolution C race pics are up on flickr

evolution racing cyclocross

these 'cross racing days are a lot more relaxed when you're not rushing around to be ready for a 10 am start. hit the road aound 8 to head out to leesburg so i could shoot the C race and cheer on some fellow city bikes riders. took a spin around the course with mike before the C race and saw a lot of differences from last years' race... one more steep climb in the first half of the course, but since they were dry they were all rideable, a new section around the back half of the course that replaced a grassy section in the first half of the course, and a new finish with 2 climbs and a couple of tight turns. took a spill in the final turn, so i got early notice that this could a potential problem in the race.

shot the C race - won by my city bikes teammate, mike scardaville - then watched the first part of the masters race then started warming up in preparation for my first B race. lined up in the 3rd row at the start since my intention for the race was to play it safe, stay out of trouble, and get a feel for the Bs. there were a bunch of call-ups, but a lot of no-shows amongst them and 2 pro women who decided to add the men's B race to their racing for the weekend: sue haywood (trek/vw) and georgia gould (kona).

at the whistle were off and heading up the hill on the road toward the course... i'm sitting about 2/3rds of the way down the 20-30 rider pack but then around the first corner of the course a rider ahead of me overshoots and gets caught in the tape, tangling 4 or 5 of us up. we got sorted out pretty quickly and headed towards the barriers and off towards the back section of the course. once we settled in i started to pick up my pace a bit and pick off riders on the short steep climbs on the back side of the course. took one turn a little too wide and almost hit a short wooden post on the outside of the course.

by the end of the first lap i was somewhere around 15th, and then by the end of the 2nd lap i was up to 10th and was actually closing on a large group of riders that made up the main chase. i managed to pick up one more place as a rider dropped off the back, but i wasn't able to get any closer to the rest of the group. 3 laps in i finally got a look at the lap cards which were showing 3 laps to go. with a lap and a half to go the last rider that i passed came back around me and i while i closed the gap down a couple of times i was fading pretty badly and wasn't able to catch him again. the chase for 9th place may not have worked, but it got me a pretty good gap on the riders behind me and i finished in 10th (of 25 according to the results posted later in the day).

evolution (cyclocross)

evolution racing cyclocross in lessburg tommorow... first race in the Bs so it's going to hurt even more than normal.

found this by accident this morning... Banterist

yeah, i'm a 'cross geek...

is it normal to get really excited about getting a hit from belgium?

rosaryville...

another great ride tonight... rosaryville this time, ripping up sweet singletrack sweeping in and out of little hollows and valleys on the southern side of DC. fast again, pushing up on the edges of the envelope as we floated around the rythmic flowy turns. to put it simply, this place rocks...

the trails were covered with leaves and blended into the forest floor so you had to watch the rider ahead to see the turns. somehow i managed to spend most of the night with ricky & jeremy in the lead group but i was on the edge the whole night. there's another night ride coming up at rosaryville on the 30th, keep an eye on the MORE ride calendar to details.

tuesday

good ride at wakefield last night... a good sized group, everyone seemed to be having fun. chris, the ride leader, had light problems so i ended up doing some of the leading and pushed the pace a bit up the climbs. plenty of fun to be had dodging trees on the phase 1 trails and carving through the new trails in the powerlines. had one of those great mountain biking nights where you're right on the edge of being out of control, flirting with the line, crossing it a little every now and then, but bringing it back before you get into too much trouble...

had a couple of bobbles while i was in the front when i lost the line and ended up somewhere i didn't expect to be... rain started falling towards the end of the ride but we managed to get in a couple laps of the racecourse a trip through the bowl and a couple runs down the creek trail.

rosaryville tonight, but the weather is looking a little iffy...

no blog...

no racing this weekend...
no riding this weekend...

but i don't care
i wouldn't change a thing

wind power takes to the high seas...

haven't had a chance to check out if the engineering is sound behind this (and wouldn't know enough to do so anyway), but these seem like a really good idea [via slashdot]...

drunkcyclist.com linkage...

somehow my pics from gloucester made it over to drunkcyclist and he's posted a link to the elite race shots... pretty cool to get a link from such a big blog and it looks like i've got a bunch of extra hits to my flickr account this morning... http://www.drunkcyclist.com [not work safe]

gloucester pics...

the rest of the gloucester pics...

Elite Women * Elite Men * Juniors * Killer Bs * Masters