NoHo Weekend

[PJ McQuade]

No reports yet? Good to see so many MRC 'cross junkies out in full force this weekend. Here's my report in verse.

Crashed several times,
Couldn't hold a line,
Grass, dirt, and gravel,
My bike skills unraveled,
The race predictor lied,
"Ride smooth!" Todd P cried,
But it was all still a blast,
Cause cyclocross kicks ass!

[RPerson]

Well done... my brain is way too scrambled to be that creative.

Saturday, cat 3: Ever start in the next to last row of 150 guys? Try it sometime. Better yet, don't. There was a massive pileup about 30 back in the field before we even got out of the start chute. Then we got to the run-up and just stood there and traded baseball cards for a while before we could even start heading up the hill. Fortunately the course is pretty open so after that it wasn't all that bad in way back land. I didn't flat, crash, or throw up although I really thought I had a chance on that last one.

Sunday, M35+: Still in the back, but this time behind 70 guys who all have to go to work tomorrow and know how to handle their bikes. Things were pretty civilized if not fast as all hell. I was going as hard as I possibly could the first two laps not that you ever would have known it relative to the actual fast guys in the race. I threw out the anchor on lap 3 so that I didn't blow any higher than I had. I blew my own little personal race (for lord knows which position) on one of the final turns when I pulled my front wheel out from under myself and had to put a foot down. Pleased to not get lapped and the waffles were delicious

Good times as always. Good to see everyone killing it.

[taudep]

What a fun weekend. The wether was great. Cold in the morning, though. That was a shocker. We've been spoiled with this weather. We're on borrowed time.

Saturday: Thought I'd be safe following PJs wheel into the top 20. That didn't work so well as PJ was stealing bases left and right. Had epic battles with Matt. Almost pulled him back in on the last lap, but he rode the sand cleanly, and I had a bobble and that was that and he got me by a spot. Liked the fact that I could ride the sand 2/4 laps. Last year that would have been a dream.

Sunday: I got hung up on the course, literally. A stake went through my shorts and ripped one side off. I'm sure there's some pics that'll be floating by. After collecting myself after a good portion of the field passed me, I rode really well. Some of my best riding of the season. I was just so far back that I had to claw my way to a 44th finish. I was a bit disappointed because I actually had a good start and followed Sweeney's wheel out of the death zone and into the turns...I was pleased that I rode the sand every lap. Figured out that you sit back, let the front end float up, and power through.

Looks like we'll have a couple more guys moving up to the 3's really soon, but I'll let them tell their stories.

[swawersik]

For the most of the last four weekends, mornings have been spent making pancakes for my kids. While I enjoyed the family time, I was jonesing to be racing my bike instead of testing my artistic capacities with batter.

I seem, however, to have traded my bike handling skills (such as they are) for pancake flipping ability. I had a hard time adjusting to the chaos of lap 1, and was slow and tentative on nearly every turn. To add to the joy, my four week hiatus has left me somewhat lacking in the power department as well, and I couldn't make up for my bad handling in the straight sections, so the first lap and a half were a steady gentleman's slide. Throughout all of this, though, I was happy as a pig in s*!t, because I was racing cross, and four weeks ago, there was a question as to whether that would happen again this year. More importantly, my calf felt good and handled the run-ups without problems.

In my absence, MRC seems to have turned into a cross machine, with everyone else in the 4's having great races. Congrats, guys - I hope to be racing with you soon instead of watching your butts slowly move away from me.

Congrats, too, to Doug who put in a great ride in the 35+ race today.

[Smudger]

Day 1 - Humble Pie
Rich has already covered the fiasco that was the 3's start on Saturday. Knew my race was over before it begun but thought I'd be able to pull back into the top 3rd. I kept the bike upright (cost Todd money on his 4 falls for Smudger bet), managed to mess up the ride up and loose a handfull of spots, couldn't pull back spots on the flats as I normally do in the 4's. Think I managed to hold my relative position but was about all. Pretty frustrated with my race (everyone could tell). When I checked the results and found out I was 64th out of 126 finishers I was stunned.
Observations of my 1st Verge race in the 3':
150 racers is ridiculous. The guys I was riding with were awful in the corners (yes and that's coming from me). I couldn't stay with the wheels I wanted to. Starting later in the day brings a new set of logistic that I need to work out.

Day 2 - "Don't let the guy in the jean shorts beat you"
Loved the course in pre-ride. Much better flow than Sat. Better warm up and nutrition timing. Felt a lot better about my prospects and thought I had a good chance of getting into the top 3rd this time. Lined up next to Chris 90 to 100 back. Start was better than Sat followed Chris's motoX experienced wheel through the 1st few corners. Got to the run up and Chris got tangled up and went down. I managed to keep clear and made up some ground on the field. Rode the course well, managed to hang better with the wheels I wanted to. Apart from not working out the right line through the sand until the 4th attempt the only mistake I made was kicking my bike and dropping my chain at the top of the run up on the 4th lap which cost me about 6 places. One of those 6 was the hipster dude that jumps his bike around street style and was wearing a pair of cut of jeans over his tights. I had his number marked but when I heard the "don't let the guys in the cut of jeans beat you" shout from the guys I had to make sure I passed back. Managed this pretty quickly thankfully. Finished pushing hard and feeling a lot better about my race than day 1. Got changed and headed over to see how I did. "69th" WTF!!! Still can't believe it.
Knew the 3s would be harder but thought I'd be a little more competitive. Start position may have something to do with it but need to work out how to overcome that.

[atomkin]

Day 1:
I underestimated how long it would take me to get my butt in gear, and get to the course. I arrived kind of late, and didn't warmup or even preride the course before they called for staging. I lined up with Matt and Todd, and made some room for PJ who had missed his call up. I didn't have very high hopes for the day, but I wanted to get off the line fast with the field size being so large. I slid in behind PJ since I knew he would be a great wheel to try and hold. That plan blew up when he got chopped heading into the first turns before the pavement, and I barely missed getting tangled up as well. I gunned it on the pavement, and was able to get the run up before things got too backed up. I rode a fairly conservative pace on the first lap, since I didn't really know what the course looked like, and just tried to maintain position. I managed to launch myself off the train tracks after the steep descent, catching way too much air, but landed safely. I ran the ride/run up the first time through, but made attempts to ride it after that, getting it on the 3rd and 4th laps. By halfway through the second lap, the course started to thaw, and was quite slick. Thankfully my fingers also thawed at this point, which helped keep me upright through the course. I raced pretty smart, and as well as I could have hoped, finishing much higher than I thought, at 29/130.

Day 2:
I did a better job of getting to the course at a reasonable time, which allowed me to get in a decent warmup, and some inspection laps. Attempting to ride up the hill on my warmup, I managed to stall and fail to unclip in time. I landed hard, and tweaked my upper back pretty badly. This was to be a sign of things to come. After riding clean on day 1, I was a mess on day 2, making lots of poor choices. I had a pretty bad start, getting hung up on the inside of the turn before the pavement. I was able to sprint back a few spots up the road, and even a few more by running very aggressively at the ride/run up where people were dismounting before the chicane turn. At the sand pit on the first lap, I made the poor decision to ride the same line as the guy in front of me, and rammed my right hood into his butt when he only made it about a third of the way across. I lost several spots, as I dislodged my bike from his rectum. He got out of the sand first, and I was stuck behind him again heading into the baseball field turns, when he decided that braking hard in the turn was a good idea, and I was forced to do the same. We both went down, right in front of Smudger, who seems to be my crash charm. I think he was seen me lay down my bike, or run into things more often than anyone. Sweeney and a few others pull by me at this point, and I am kind of fuming at my own stupidity. I manage to have another mishap at the chicane, again counting on people in front of me being able to ride (big mistake in the cat 4 race). The guy leading the group stalls his bike on the chicane, one of the giant Bikeworks/Hallamore Phenix brothers hits him, and I hit the brick shithouse that is the Phenix brother. Lost a bunch of places there. With my stomach full of anger waffles, I then proceeded to burn matches trying to make up places on the run up. At this point, I figure I must be pretty far back, and just make a point of trying to catch a few people on the last lap. Miraculously, I somehow managed to finish in the exact same place as I did on day 1, 29/132.

[onegeardoug]

That didn't work so well as PJ was stealing bases left and right.

LOL.

[onegeardoug]

Day 1: Lined up in row 4 and knew that I had to be aggressive from the whistle. Managed to settle into 16th or 17th for the first lap. Second lap, up in the trees, I slid sideways on a root and punctured the sidewall on my tubie. Almost as far away from the pits as possible. Rode it all the way around and gave up LOTS of positions before I made it to the pit. Put my clincher on and immediately realized that I hadn't checked the pressure pre-race. It was way too soft. Up the run-up, down on a root. crap! Nursing the bike so as not to flat again. Back into the pit for a floor pump. By now, I'm virtually DFL and I briefly consider DNF'ing. Instead, I decide to race from the back and pick off as many guys as possible. 4 to go, and I'm fired up. I picked off 3 per lap for the next 3 laps. I'm feeling pretty good about myself now. Bell lap and I have G-Willy in my sites. I catch him and another guy about half way around. Approaching the last twisties, G-Willy is still nearby but I'm not wanting to sprint with him so I drilled it gapped him to the line, beating him by 1 second. 42/61. Disappointing though, cuz I rode REALLY hard with not much to show for it.

Day 2: Riding the clincher with lots of PSI as a precaution. Row 4 start again. I scouted the course well and had my start all planned out. Go wide left across the finish line into the dirt/grass and pass everyone that is bottlenecked on the inside line. PERFECTION! I passed at least 6 or 8 here! I'm 19th (according to the guys) on the first lap. I'm racing with Corner Cycle, a Zanc and BikeMan. I traded a few spots, but basically stayed in the same place. I was on the rivet the entire race, completely anaerobic and but was riding very well. Cleaned the sand and the ride-up every lap. Railed the turns and was smooth over the barriers. At one point though, I sat up a just little and let a guy come up to me so I could suck wheel. That worked really well. Small victory. Final lap, and I'm chasing Cyclemania as we approach the sand. He bogs down and dabs. I clean it, just like every other lap. I'm in the big ring (Thanks for the advise Smudger!) and not waiting around. I drill it and gap him. Again, not wanting to rely on my sprint...which probably isn't so good. Onto the pavement, in the drops, screaming for oxygen...I hold him off by 1 second. Another small victory. 20th of 62. I scored points in the Big Boy race!!

Thanks to all that cheered me on. There were people all over the course cheering for me. It was great. Thanks!

Congrats to the all the MRC boys. Many had very impressive "career days". Great job all!

[onegeardoug]

"69th" WTF!!! Still can't believe it.
Knew the 3s would be harder but thought I'd be a little more competitive. Start position may have something to do with it but need to work out how to overcome that.

Don't get discouraged. You raced a very good race against a huge, stacked cat 3 field. Your skilz have come a long way, as evidenced by the fact that you weren't "stealing bases" all weekend. When you start near the back of 150, it's hard to expect much better than what you did. Next year, you'll score some points in the first few races and you'll have a better starting position...which will lead to better results.

And...if you look at your crossresults points...you got the same points yesterday as you did for WINNING day 2 in Vermont in the Cat 4.

(I got the same points for yesterday as I did for my 3rd place at Gloucester! I think crossresults points are more accurate than some people think!!)

[pierso]

Great weekend of racing for me. It was definitely a "career" weekend with my best race to date happening on Saturday, followed by an even better one on Sunday. Here's my tale:

Saturday - I got a crap warmup, wasn't dressed properly and was basically cold standing on the line. And about 6 rows back. Doug rolled by right before we got called up and told me to drill it to the runup to avoid a traffic jam. This should probably have crossed my mind, but I only did 1 inspection lap and spent more time thinking about my frozen fingers and toes than strategy. So the gun goes off, the seas part, and I get a great line and pass a ton of guys before the runup, and am able to run somewhat when I hit it. As I do, I hear Richard Fries announce that the guys in the back got to the finish 40 seconds behind the lead - 2 minutes into the race. I could still see the leaders, somewhat. Thanks for the advice Doug!! I spent the next 3 laps passing PJ McCrash every time he botches a corner or slides out, and then being passed by PJ every time we hit anything straight and flat. He would go on to beat me by a few spots once he figured out how to stay upright. I rode a smooth race without any crashes or rolled tubulars, and rode negative splits for every lap. I finished feeling like I finally raced for a whole race without any mental games causing me to sit up at all and without any incidents causing unnecessary spikes in heart rate. 35/130ish and I was pumped. Beer tent here we come.

Sunday - I got a great warmup, in the right clothes. Saw the course 3 or 4 times around. Doug's advice of the day today was to dismount before the off-camber chicane before the "ride" up. Today I was starting even farther back but I was ok with that, knowing where I could pick people off. The little chicane before the pavement managed to hang Stefan and I up, but I was able to untangle quickly and hammer all the way to the runup and pick up a lot of places. I even avoided Todd's shorts-ripping incident with the stake early in the race despite sitting right on his wheel. I dismounted as planned while everybody else tried to figure out what to do and took the high line in the leaves - passing a ton of people all the way to the top of the runup. Nice. PJ, Abel, and Sweeney are out in front of me within sight. ark VL comes bMy at some point in the first lap, and I think "there's no way he's beating me after all those free beers he drank in the beer tent yesterday" and start to drill it, eventually getting by him. I am finally trusting my tubular glue job around ever corner, out of the saddle on the rivet after every corner, and riding the barriers and sand smoothly every single lap. I ran the chicane and runup every lap and passed a handful of people every time. After the first lap I don't think I got passed at all, but picked off guys ahead of me one by one. By about halfway through the last lap I was totally redlined, trying not to puke, but had Sweeney and the 2 other guys he'd be riding with in my sights. I smoked the barriers side-by-side with Scott, remounted well and we rode away together. I rode the sand smoothly one last time and drilled it to the finish for a 25th place. Best race of my career.

Big thanks to everybody who was out cheering, and to Doug for the good advice both days. Good times were had by all and I've got the sunburn to prove it.

[Rob]

Great reports, i wish the forum had a "like" button
love reading this shit!

[ddeitch]

I lost several spots, as I dislodged my bike from his rectum.

Rectum? DAMN NEAR KILLED 'IM!

[michaelcole]

I totally misread "Stealing bases" as a positive. I was picturing PJ jumping forward in the pack 6 guys at a time.
I had to read the "pierso" post before I really had the right visual.
I should have been thinking "Pete Rose takes third with a headfirst slide."

Middle of that post I started cracking up out loud at the previous posts that I had just finally gotten.

Apparently I'm getting slow in more ways than one.

[taudep]

Check out Christina's air in photo #5: http://www.podiuminsight.com/2010/11/10 ... rnational/