2011 Blunt Park

[rusto]

Flying in the face of the "don't race cross in August crowd", I headed to Springfield today to do the Cat 4's at Blunt Park.

Despite a very late night out, I got there nice and early to get some pre-ride laps in. I should actually count them as "training laps" considering I only put in 2.5 hours on the bike last week. Even so, I now wonder if 4 laps, even at an easy pace, was too many.

Got a nice front row position at the start and the marshall did the usual countdown announcements of "10 minutes to go", "5 minutes to go" then finally when he said "about a minute to go" - he IMMEDIATELY followed that with "GO" and totally caught me snoozing.

Despite that flub, I made it through the acorn covered hole-shot in about 10th place or so. The course was in good shape as far as I could tell: a couple of rooty spots, a couple of deep potholes on the single track, but overall I thought it was a good course though with not very much up and down.

The first half of each lap featured a number of logs across the course. After the first lap, I followed the example of those in front of me and merely rode over them instead of dismounting/remounting (thankful for all that MTB action this summer!). The last log was just a bit higher than the rest and situated right after a turn in the midst of a lot of loose pine needles, so that one I did carry the bike over.

Special pat on my own back for noticing during the pre-ride that the ground immediately after was very bumpy and would have made a quick remount dicey, so I went an extra bike length before getting back on: very helpful.

Next was one of the long straights followed by a buncha turns, short straight, more turns then the barriers, there were FOUR, which were set at exactly the right distance apart for me to take TWO steps in between. This meant I pretty much felt like, and probably looked like, I was galloping through them.

The barriers were followed by the "climby" portion of the course which was really not very, but there were turns, loose dirt and roots that made you pay attention then finally back onto the start/finish straight.

The race itself pretty much settled out to me and about 4-5 others dicing back and forth for the duration. This group shrank to 3 and re-combined to 5 again later in the race. I passed a coupla guys and 2-3 passed me. I remember Dylan McKeon, a young (18?), tall Cyclonauts guy who was able to get ahead of me on the straights but every time the turns came along, he'd falter, slow or, once, fall and I'd go by him. I really felt like I was handling the bike very well today.

Another guy who was ahead of me for at least 2-3 laps went down pretty hard on a 180 right hander that had some exposed roots on the inside line - he must have slid his front wheel on them and boom, down he went. I dodged him and got a good 10 yards ahead of him and yet another guy passed him too. It took him a full lap but, kudos to him, he battled back and got ahead of our whole group.

Last lap, I had 3 of our group ahead plus one additional guy who was further ahead earlier but fading. I waited until the last series of turns to pour it on, thinking I could get ahead of at least a couple of them but it was too late: I should have made that move at least a 1/2 lap before the end. Lesson learned.

Finished 12th, 4 places ahead of the race predictor, happy with the result.

I was pleasantly surprised to see and hear both Doug and Coley cheering me on at separate sections of the course, looking forward to reading their reports.

[michaelcole]

First race since Ice Weasels 2009. But I have ridden a couple of times this year so I figured it was time to race (even though the equinox is still a month away). Started at the back but came out of the woods two places behind OGD and felt comfy. Faded quickly as fatigue set in. Jumped every log barrier and passed a few guys in the process. Cat 6 fitness, the heat and a crazy stiff back conspired to put me near the back in 14th. Results indicate I would have been in the same spot in the elite race. Got to gain some fitness in order to compete on courses without 7 log jumps and 47 180's.

[onegeardoug]

My race had moments of greatness and moments of...well...crap. They started the M35+ a few seconds ahead of the Elites. I had a great start and was sitting in the top 4 through the hole shot. I moved up to third, then second, and was chillin' there for a few laps. 2 Elites caught up to us and were mixing it up with us. I was killing it in the woods and turns, riding up the back of the group and getting impatient. Then in the straights...I was gapped. A few times I thought "I need to get out front so I can get away in the woods". Shortly thereafter, I was gapped again...this time for good. How quickly things change.

There were several log jumps and one big pile of logs; all rideable and somewhat fun. I cleaned them all for the first few laps. Then the crap began. The last log was about 15" high, and I endo'ed trying to jump it on about lap #4. Concerted effort to be better on the same log next lap...didn't work out so well. boink.

I'm now riding all by myself in 5th overall for quite some time, 3rd in M35+ and without much in the way of confidence. The bell lap. The gap behind me is shrinking and the gap to the leaders is growing. Time to go fast! I go into the woods and wash out the front wheel on a hard left-hander. The bars slammed the ground and I heard a big CRACK! I'm pretty sure that was either my shifter overcoming its static friction and rotating about 45 degrees on my bars, or it was my stem overcoming its static friction and rotating about 15 degrees on my steerer tube. I jumped up and did over 3/4 of the final lap with my bars & shifters in complete disarray. FUBAR. Needless to say...I gave up a few spots. (The bike seems okay after restraightening everything.)

I finished 4th in M35+ and 7th overall. $30 payout. Dripping sweat and completely wrecked.

I then jumped on my newly built Surly SS and lined up 10 minutes later for the 3/4 race. My intention was to basically shake-out the SS and see how the new tubeless performed in a race...then DNF. I had a good start and was sitting comfortably in 4th place for the first 2 laps. Blunt is a GREAT singlespeed course. Sean Kennedy rode away from the group and was killing it! After 2 hard laps, I decided that I'd had enough. I did another lap...slow...giving up a dozen or more spots...pulling completely off the line to allow racers to go by....then rode under the tape. The Surly is ready for Quad. I wish I could say the same for the driver.

[jraguin]

Time to report as I was the last of the MRC crew to the line. I lined up on the front line and scoped out the other riders around me. A bit nervous since it is my first race of the season. The start went and I had a bit of a hole shot. However I braked too hard on the first turn and a rider went inside of me. I got him back over the first log as I rode over it and he dismounted to cross it. I led for a bit, but I had a tough time negotiating a turn, spun out a bit and he passed me back. Then I noticed some kid was right on me like a stink on poop. I took another bad turn and he passed me. I drilled it on the long straightaway and all of a sudden all three of us were together crossing the road. We hit the quad barriers which were tough. My bike felt like it weighed more than I did. I passed one of the kids, but the rear wheel hit the last barrier and the bike went squirrely. I got on but they gapped me a bit. I gave it my all around the last turns and was gaining. My ride was yelling at me that the finish was coming and I had to give it all I had. So I sprinted and almost caught second at the line, but was third. My first podium in CX (but I should have beat those kids if it wasn’t for the too slick tires)! Got a trophy… can’t wait until the next one. And those kids were older than me.
* Oh wait, that is my 10 year old son Eric’s race report. *

My race report wasn’t quite as exciting as Eric’s. In the 3/4 race with about 30 other guys including Doug. Got a good start and was 8th wheel most of the first lap (with Doug a few riders in front of me, even yelling encouragement around the turns). I was not negotiating the turns well and felt like I was struggling. Near the end of the first lap on the downhill-180-uphill, I took the turn too tight and slid out. Got right back up but my bike wouldn’t go anywhere. Riders passing. My brakes clearly were locked to one of my rims. I thought it was the back and then realized it was the front. Lots of riders passing. I then try to disconnect my front brake completely. Can’t do it. Lots more riders passing. I finally quick release the front wheel, align the wheel in a place that it doesn’t rub, and then close the quick release again. Jump on and start riding. I am now pretty much at the back of the field. I never thought about packing it in since my son was there, so am riding hard to do what I can. I finally catch back up to some guys and pass them fairly quickly. The rest of the race I felt that I rode pretty well and just kept passing people. Every time I passed someone I made a big push to catch up to the next guy. I still struggled at times to find a spot to pass guys, but I found enough, passed a lot of guys and ended up 12th. I am really happy with that given what happened. Note: Turns out that my first lap was 4 minutes slower than my other laps. Also the difference between where I was pre-brake issue and where I ended up was more than 4 places, because Doug and probably at least 1-2 other guys masters guys doubling up dropped out and all of them were in front of me in the first lap, so in the first lap I figure I was probably 4th-5th amongst the actual 3/4 guys.

As anyone who knows my riding, my turns need lot of work, but my dismounts and mounts were generally good partially thanks to some of the work this week at the MRC CX clinic. I definitely need to pre-ride every course and determine the right lines, however this time I was pleasantly distracted by pre-riding the course with my son who had a great time.

[Smudger]

Contests to your son John. Great podium in his 1st race.