Shedd Park

[Smudger]

Wasn't expecting much after 10 days in Mexico on business with too much eating and drinking and not enough training (Lifecycle need to create a cyclo-cross mode). Got a 5th row start and lined up on the inside. Saw Chris and Dan Baker on the outside and thought I should maybe jump over but hey my route should be shorter. Whistle blows I get OK start but with nowhere to go on the inside get pinched as we sweep round and get to the back stop. End up 5 or 6 wheels behind them heading for the tree. Some idiot in front of me thinks he doesn't need to break when there is a wall of cyclists in front of him and plows into the back of them. I jump off and barge through the melee. Passed a few going over the barriers and rode the switch backs well (for me). Had picked what I thought were better lines then the race lines during the pre-ride and they worked for me. Wanted to be in the big ring for the 2nd half of the course but every time it was a lottery whether it would fail to change or jump off to the outside. Kept loosing places as I fumbled with it and then gaining them back on the back section and the track. Normally I get stronger as the race goes on but the Fajita's and Negro Modello are showing and I am loosing places on the climbs and not making much headway on Chris and Dan. Unfortunately Chris pinch flats and I pass him just before the track. Resigning myself to a midpack finish I take a waffle feed on the ride up chew it 3 times and spit. Last lap and I start to get my race head on again and as I pass then get passed back (as I change up chainrings) by a NEBC guy. I pull back onto his wheel on the pavement and sit in redying myself for a Doug Kennedy'esque sprint. Keeping close to his wheel I drop down towards the track taking a tight line and my front wheel digs into the grass and I go flying over the bars, land on my face/head and knock every ounce of air out my body. Immediate thought was that I'd broken my ribs again and "Helen is going to kill me". I'm lying on the ground unable to move and moaning like a wounded dog, a spectator runs over and asks if I need a medic I manage to groan yes. I start to pull myself together as I get some shallow breaths but am still sitting in the middle of the course unable to move. Mark Bernard (HUP) and Steen who heard me groaning as they passed raced over as soon as they finished and helped me off the course. Medic came over and sounded me out to make sure there was not lung damage. Took a little while but I was able to ride over to pick up my warmup clothes and get back to the car.

I'm now growing a rather dodgy grey beard cause I can't shave. Maybe some opportunity for Christmas work though!!!

[steen]

Good to hear you were just heavily rattled. I was relieved when you could breathe and move both shoulders. Tough course yesterday I went arse over tea kettle myself. Of course that happens when a dude thinks it's a great idea to brake before a steep hill and you're on his wheel.
Hopefully you'll be shaving soon!

[taudep]

What a coincidence: "dude thinks it's a great idea to brake before a steep hill and you're on his wheel."

Good race course yesterday. I always like the Shedd Park course as it's a 50/50 mix of technical and power so it doesn't really favor any one type of rider. Great to see so many MRC racers this late in the season. Hopefully we can keep the momentum through the end of the year when it starts getting snowy and colder and muddier.

I'm waiting for video to upload before sharing my race report.

[onegeardoug]

I had another really good race. Started in the second row as the 10th seed. I got a good start and was 6th out of the first turn. BikeMan was drilling it off the front; I was sitting as the caboose on a 5-man chase group. I made 2 mistakes the first lap; washing out in one of the switchback turns and then pulling out of my pedal on the Wheelworks climb. I recovered quickly from both, but that was enough to relegate me to the 7/8/9 chase group instead. I think I belonged there anyway. 7th pulled away on lap 2, and I raced with Grey Eldridge (Corner Cycle) for the remaining laps in 8/9th. Gary David and a NEBC rider put a bit of a scare into us in the middle laps, but by the final lap we had a comfortable 30 second lead on them.

On the bell lap, Grey gapped me by a few lengths on the first hard climb. I struggled all around the upper section trying to get back on. I refused to concede and buried myself, eventually catching him on the fast dirt just before the street. Once I got his wheel, I stuck to it like glue until we hit the track. Then I unleashed a sprint that I didn't think I had. I was in the drops, click, click, click into a harder gears. Mud flying, and I'm passing him on the outside, moving around him easier than I thought would. Did I go too soon and he's playing me? I didn't look back until I crossed the line; I had him by 3-4 bike lengths. 8th out of 44. Very satisfied with that result.

Thanks again to all who cheered, especially the Piersons...who I heard at least twice every lap. Sorry I couldn't return the favor this weekend, but I had other things to do in the afternoon.

[steen]

Ron,
Manny was hanging real tough throughout the race. I remember yelling to him, when he was leading Adam, that he was just stalking Manny. Adam is no dummy and was just seeing who had what in the tank. If not for the tire issue it would have been fun to see how your young gun would have done vs. Hines and Myerson. Although, coming into the track for the finish it was clear Adam had enough gas to put up a serious fight; no matter who was on his wheel... Manny fought hard and I missed cheering for him with you. On the other hand - congrats on the newest Go-Go-Gougen! I am glad that #10 is healthy and the director sportif... err, mama Gougen is fine and dandy too!!

As for the cold - the hardest part, I thought was dismounting through the barriers. Every foot step felt like my feet had been asleep for hours. Needles in the feet with each step. I guess that's why Manny was bunny hopping!

As they say - See Ya At The Races!!

[RPerson]

About the only positive thing I can report is successfully taking a no-handed waffle handup on lap 4 and chowing the whole thing down (still no-handed) without choking. I rode both hills every time which is more than I can say for the switchback downhill which I just mangled most laps. My moral victory (other than the waffle) was winning the battle against the closest guy to me who would get gapped horribly on the uphills, but would then pull me back on the flats like he was riding Fabian's motorized bike. I dug deep on the final two laps and finally gapped him off for good.

Doug looked great. Bummer for Chris who I saw running with his bike with a broken chain. It wouldn't be cross season without a kit stained by the track at Lowell so it was still all good.

[SFC]

Thanks for the great reports, and thank goodness you didn't get too beat up there John.

I was lined up one row from the back with some familiar faces. I had a good start and passed a few on the track and then ran around a few at the first tree.
I rode as hard as I could thru the first half lap and then had to let up and settle in a bit. I lost a few places as I rode off the course a couple of times due to the tape being down. You would think after doing it once I wouldn't do it again in the same spot but I did:oops:

So I lost four spots on the third lap I chassed down one and then another at the line, that was nice. I rode to the best of my ability and I'm happy with that.

Congratulations Ron and Happy Thanksgiving everyone, see you Sunday at Sterling.

Tim

[atomkin]

I installed a new front derailleur, and ran new cables in preperation for Shedd park. For the first time this season, I had a decent starting position in the 4th row, and had a clean start. I rode hard around the outside on the track, and was sitting in the top 15 going around the tree. I picked a few off during each of the rideups, and had moved up to 9th wheel closing on the lead group. I was feeling very strong when I hit some broken glass, and cut my rear tire. With no wheels in the pit, my race was over. At least I got to see the other 4's race, and cheer/heckle everyone. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep my bike rideable for Sterling this weekend.

[pace21]

Showed up later than I wanted due to some family constraints, got my number and hopped on the track after Doug’s 35+ race to get in a couple laps (first time at Lowell so I wanted at least a couple laps in), after a half a lap, my chain snaps. No apparent reason, it was only 3 months old, it just snapped. Bummer. Of course it happened at the furthest possible point, right at the turn onto the uphill sidewalk, so I had to doubletime it back to the pits where thankfully the Wheelworks pit crew quickly installed a new SRAM master link while keeping the chain the same length. I took off quickly with John ahead of the 45+ race to try to get a full lap of preride in, but all I accomplished was going over the bars and sampling the dirt on one of the switchbacks. Shortly thereafter the 45’s were bearing down on us so John and I got off the course. So if you’re keeping track at home that’s a grand total of 2 half laps of pre-ride total, but both half laps were only the 1st half! To make matters worse, I went back to the car and intended to give my brakes a tweak to get a little less free play, but of course a combination of barrel adjuster travel limits and non-true wheels and asymmetric cantilever springs combined to turn a couple minute job into 20 minutes. Fun times.

The actual race started fairly well. I started around 5 rows back, took the outside around the track, made a sketchy pass on the 180 tree turn (went way left/outside through the brush) and was in the top 20 going up the bumpy hill. I hopped the barriers (I love 12” barriers!) and passed another 5 or so guys on the (non)remount. Settled in after that, passed some and got passed some into the 3rd lap, still around 15th overall when my favorite nemesis/victim Dan Baker passes me and I latch onto his wheel for the rest of the lap. Then it went bad. Somewhere in the rocky woods right before the track on the 3rd lap I flatted. Since I was near the end of the lap I rode it out, politely staying off the racing line and losing another 5 spots or so before reaching the pit. Of course I didn’t have any wheels there, so ask the nice guy who fixed my chain if he had a *gulp* nine speed rear wheel. Well he didn’t, but he offered me a tube, which I took him up on, and we repaired the flat tire right there on the spot. Of course between the slow approach to the pit and the 6 or so minutes it took to swap the tube, I was down a lap and pulled back into the race almost where I left off, about 30 seconds behind Dan Baker. With my brief respite from the pain cave, I was able to catch back up to Dan and one other guy, I passed them when I hopped the barriers, but then I checked up before the uphill so as not to take their line. They were both very puzzled but when I told him I was a lap down it all made sense. Rode around for another lap, eased up a bit, took some waffle handups, and crossed the line in 20th spot but 1 lap down.

Imagine my surprise when the results came out yesterday and I’m logged in 20th place. Hmm, the officials must have assumed they just missed my number on my tube-change lap and still gave me credit for that lap. They do have several officials around the course checking numbers so not sure how it slipped through. Anyways, the ironic thing is 20th is about where I think I would have finished if not for the flat.

Loved the course, it’s definitely on my calendar next year. So are either tubulars or a tubeless setup....

Caught up with Smudger right after the race -- he looked like a bag of spanners -- glad to hear your OK man!

[PJ McQuade]

I'd been looking forward to this race all season. It was one of my favorites last year as I came away with a good result. The course is on the less technical side which benefits the roadie in me. Also, I noticed a whopping number of MRC in the 4s. Always a nice touch.

Warming up with Matt P I observed two things: it's friggin cold, and runnup two is problematic. Definitely rideable, but technique required. Lose. A short descent, sharp right, then a 90 degree right-hander preceed this climb, all in a matter of seconds. I miss straightforward climbs. Like the ones in road races. Where you just simply _climb_. No cat-in-the-hat tricks required. Anyway, I knew I would either go into the corner too hot and crash, or brake before the climb and fizzle out 10 meters up. It was the latter, as Todd P found out on lap 1 (See new DoubleHop video for evidence). Without enough steam for the climb I was forced to dismount, run, then chase. I found out on the last lap the running the climb (after getting chopped by a bikebarn guy) was actually quicker for me but the awkward dismount on lap 1 cost me some key spots. I caught the chasers but never made contact with the leaders. I caught up with a distraught Abel shortly after (sweet bike slam!) on the jeep trail. Too bad for the puncture - guy was having a monster race! Long story short, I moved up a spot or two, lost a spot or two, busted out a massive mud-splattering sprint on the track and caught 2 guys on the line for 10th. Same result as last year. I'll take it, but I should have been with the leaders. I'm running out of races for a clean run. We'll see what happens at Sterling and NBX. Maybe I should be practicing skills during the week. Nah, I'll just keep doing intervals in the gym.

[taudep]

Seat cam footage from the Cat 4 race

[taudep]

And a bunch of photos of the Master's A, Master's 45+, and Cat 3 race, including Chris' jumping of the barriers is over at Double Hop