Palmer Jungle Cross

[Rob]

I raced my MTB today, after last year I figured the MTB was the right tool for the job.
only problem, my MTB is a SS... I spent a lot of time spinning like a mad man

Bungy won the <12 race, they, again, did a full lap of the course. he worked hard, really hard.
those runnups are killer, but at the end he came to the finish line with some time to enjoy the WIN and salute the crowd!

check http://doublehop.blogspot.com for some images

[michaelcole]

Hey Rob,
You need to call Colin. Crossresults from Blunt last week shows Bungy getting 3rd.

[Rob]

His code can't handle 2 separate junior categories, right now, I have a feeling it is the last thing on his list to fix!
so he lumps the under 12, right after the junior (17 and under) results.

either way, Bungy has 2 trophies at home, and he doesn't login to crossresults, so life is good

Rob

[onegeardoug]

What a difference a day makes. Was a bit discouraged by yesterday's DNF from the 3/4's and feeling like I got run-over by a truck in the M35+, I drank a bit last night; 1 mojito and 2 martinis. Went out today to attempt another double...only cuz I already paid for it.

The M35+ kicked my butt, again. I felt like I was going backwards from 5th, to 6th, to 7th to 8th....mostly cuz I was. I actually thought I was in 9th at the finish, but they scored me as 7th. It was FHot as Hell, but I actually kinda liked the course. I hit one root so hard on my first lap, though, that my bars rotated in the stem, and dropped my hoods about 2-3 inches. Other than that, the bike handling was good. The legs didn't feel too snappy.

I lined up for the 3/4 with much lower expectations. Calm, cool and not caring. They said "go" and felt amazingly relaxed as we raced down the pavement. By the end of the first lap, I was in 7th or 8th, but the leaders were right in front of me. Wow. I made a few passes on lap 2 and the top 3 were riding together with me chasing. Another lap to close the gap and I'm sitting on the 3rd wheel. I'm thinking "I should sit in for a while and let him work" but he wasn't going fast enough and first & second were getting away. So I passed him...and gapped him. Same with second. 2 to go and I've gapped 3rd place and I'm chasing first. I felt a twinge of a cramp on the last run-up, but the bell lap was coming up. That was 12 times up that damn hill, and it hurt...but I'll live. Once more around, with no threat from behind and first is too far to catch...I relaxed a bit and the final lap was actually kinda fun.

I stuck around to hand water to Allison from Landry's. It was so hot she took a bottle every lap. Most of the racers in the final race did. Not exactly "cross-like" weather. LF had a good showing though with Christina 2nd, Anna 3rd and Allison in 9th or 10th.

[michaelcole]

...I felt a twinge of a crap on the last run-up, but the bell lap was coming up...

did you mean cramp or crap?

[onegeardoug]

Cramp. If it were crap, I would have used the proper designation of "turtle head".

[taudep]

My race report, posted over at Double Hop

Racing cyclocross in August is sacrilegious. Especially because there was an alternative mountain bike race (EFTA #7 Treasure Valley) that I could have attended.

Here’s my list of things about cyclocross in August that shouldn’t be true:
1) Sunburn
2) Racing in short-sleeves
3) Beach day with family after morning race
4) The use of mosquito repellent instead of embro
5) Sam Adams Summer Ale

Anyway, why did I race? Easy, my ranking over at Crossresults blows. And in the past year, I’ve dropped another 10 pounds, and have gotten some expert guidance from Cramer Performance in how to not be at the back of the pack. If my road season is any indicator to how much I’ve improved, then Palmer is the perfect test, and might improve my ranking.

I lined up in the front row, thanks to teammate Chris making way for me. There were about 50 of us total…a nice showing considering I can’t be the only one thinking I should be at the beach. I had a clean start, clipped right in, and dropped into about 12th wheel. I was far enough back that I basically coasted the last half of the sprint and dropped into the woods where we rode double-wide on a root-veined path that had only one good line. I rode crappy lines, over roots I’d not normally want to face with my CX bike. But part of me thought I was on my 29r mountain bike, so I powered ahead.

The first lap sorted us out into our rank and order. There was a group of 4 or 5 gapped behind me. I learned quit quickly how positions can change when I dropped a chain during one of the run-ups during the third lap, and I didn’t realize it until I had mounted my bike and spun the cranks like Fred Flinstone. I clipped out, fixed the dropped chain and watched 5 guys blow by me. I couldn’t believe that they didn’t WAIT for me! Wow, it doesn’t take much to shift positions. It took an entire lap to just catch back one of them.

I’m learning that doing well at CX race is an accumulation of many small efforts. When you have that moment to pass, you’ve gotta take it. I used to think, “this riding is going a good pace, I’ll just ride their wheel”. Today, I went in with the attitude that I’m taking the pass, if they’re stronger, they won’t let me through, or they’ll pass me again. Because of this strategy, I didn’t do that continuous fading of the faster groups. I put efforts in on passing on the runups; I passed during the remounts. I was surprised by how many people I passed that I never saw again.

The last couple laps were uneventful. I kept a little battle with a Cycle Barn rider and we were basically in no-man’s land with no contenders behind us, and no one worth catching. During the last lap, however, my calf started cramping – probably from the long-ass runup. At least I thought it was a cramp, I battled through because the race was almost done. Today, however, I’m suspicious something else is going on as I’ve never had a cramp with a sore muscle 24 hour later.

So, how did I do? I finished 14th, which is my best result to date for a CX race. It’s taken two years and 30 pounds to go from getting lapped at my first race at Quad Cross in 2008, to being able to battle in the front third. Let’s hope this result foretells more good stuff for this CX season.

[Doran Abel]

Not much to report - Cat 5 bottom 25% (ok, I beat maybe 10-12 guys) - except I can make a bunch of excuses:

Haven't trained a lick (no Bruce threshold sessions), just pulled my cross bike down for the way high hooks in my garage the day before, haven't mentally transitioned from the road - not that I am fast there either, not a fan of "the jungle" roots and being deep in the trees all the time, not sure about CX in Aug either, should have road my hardtail perhaps?

I can't blame the bike though, it's been great - just the motor driving it. At least I survived in one piece. Didn't ride hard enough to even get sore really. I hope to ride close to Taud's pace sometime this year - that could be a goal.

[Bruce]

Wow! I'm getting all nervous and shaky just reading this stuff.

Todd:

I put efforts in on passing on the runups; I passed during the remounts. I was surprised by how many people I passed that I never saw again.

Put a stake in their hearts and they'll get too discouraged to respond.

Doran -- I have to do those intervals just to finish on the same lap as you youngsters!