YoungBlood

Karin and I crossed the MN border just before dusk on Friday as we zigzagged our way down rural highways and country roads into Northfield.  Daniel and Linda were awesome and put us up for the night.  The following morning we split Northfield pretty early to get a good breakfast at Birchwood Cafe in Minneapolis before arriving at the Singlespeed Regional Champs venue.  A big thanks to Dave W. and his wife Lisa for showing up all the way from Milwaukee!  The field was pretty stacked and I went for it right from the start.  I got the holeshot before Hollywood came up along side and pulled the group through the next portion of chicanes.  Just before dropping into the velodrome Marko went and I took the cue to follow.  I was feeling good and was about to power up a steep 180 bank when I heard a crack and spun my chain off.  I looked down to fix the chain but my chainring was hanging around my pedal (see previous post).  I cut a short corner and ran down just beyond the pit taking a bike handup from Hurl.  I don't know what I was on but it was steel, it fit pretty good and the gear was just right.  I was probably sitting 5th and trying to make up time.  About a lap into my chase I came around a corner just before dropping into the velodrome again when an official pulled me from the race - DQ'd for cutting and taking  bike hand off outside of the pit!  I was forced to withdraw and on the drive back home decided to redeem myself at Estabrook Park the following day.  

Photo: Al Haas

Local stud Chad Hartley led us out on the roadie favored course.  Into the first turn my pressure felt a little low in the rear tire.  We cleared the first barriers and entered a small technical section when my rear flat was confirmed.  I held my line and picked up my spare bike in the pit.  

Photo: Al Haas

Coming out of the pit I was sitting 5th and the group eventually began to break up on the flat straights.  Kevin Klug put in a lot of hard efforts and strung us along for several laps.  I went out front when I could and tried to return the favor but nobody besides Kevin wanted to do any work.  He was riding really strong and I could tell we were gapping the rest of the field in the technical sections.  The final 2 laps it was down to Kevin and myself.  We had a decent gap on Hartley, though a couple times when I looked back around corners he was down in TT pursuit mode.

   Photo: Al Haas

On the final lap I came through the barriers and put in an effort to gap Kevin but I could see his shadow close behind.  I bunny-hopped the log climb and put in another surge creating a good enough gap to win as long as I could maintain the same speed.  

Photo: Al Haas

I felt the course was a significant improvement from last year.  The 4-pack of barriers and pinwheel were a nice touch.  It seems every year as the WCA Cyclocross attendance grows the venues continue to get better and better.  It could be a slow upcoming weekend but I'm planning on racing at least one day locally.

snap crackle pop

 

An Attempt to Keep it Short and Sweet..

Karin and I buzzed over to Milwaukee early Saturday morning so I could race the Velo Trocadero Halloween cross race.  Poor planning on my part and short notice on actually doing the race I failed to get a proper costume together.  The race fired off right on time and Popper exploded off the line as Casey Masterson tied himself on to Popper's wheel.  The rest of us filed in quickly and I sat 5th for the first lap.  The course had changed a little bit from last year with some added S turns to crank up the technical level of this course.  Expo Racing was in full force on the hill runup as the beer was flying and the music was pumping!  Shortly into the second lap Tristan Schouten surged to the front and I saw an opportunity to go with.  While Tristan pulled away from me I separated myself from a group of three.  For the remainder of the race I gauged the chase group at the same points of each lap and determined I was slowly increasing the gap.  I finished 2nd  for my second WCA race this season.  Can't wait to race the Ellis singlespeed this weekend in Minneapolis at the Midwest Singlespeed Championships.  Word is some maniacs are showing up...The Darkness?  Eppen?  Did Ezra really shave his beard?  What is this I hear about a single speed carbon Ridley?   

 

what i rode today

Trying to gear up for THIS!

Sunday

 

so much for staying local..

Both WI cross races canceled this weekend!

Skipping out on KY USGP this weekend and staying local.

Planet Bike Toronto International Cyclocross

Saturday, October 17 - UCI C1

Women's Pro

Linda Sone - 2nd
Kristin Wentworth - 3rd
Katie Antonneau - 4th

Men's Pro

Tristan Schouten - 5th
James LaLonde - 13th

Sunday, October 18th - UCI C2

Women's Pro

Katie Antonneau - 2nd
Linda Sone - 4th
Kristin Wentworth - 6th

Men's Pro

Tristan Schouten - 5th
James LaLonde -13th

I couldn't be more please with the placing of the Planet Bike crew in Toronto this past weekend.  A huge congratulations to junior Katie Antonneau (Planet Bike) who was within grasp of the win behind Canadian Natasha Elliot.  A good recap of the race can be read here.

The courses were both of similar difficulty each day with steep climbs and technical sections.  A huge thanks to Dave from Minneapolis who sat in the pit and kept us organized.  

 

My anticipation for Providence was high, as it would be for any cyclist traveling across the country for a weekend of bicycles and racing.  Though the Outdoor Demo was primarily for work I took the leisure of shipping out the Ridley for the double cross weekend.  I arrived on a wicked windy Wednesday.  The kind of day where your throat is in your stomach because the plane is getting thrashed around so severely it feels like you're on a roller coaster.

The following morning I met the Downeast crew (along with some folks from Michelin and Pam from Kinetic) for breakfast and headed to Roger Williams Park.  The first two days of the demo were industy/shop only.  Traffic was light and rain on Friday night seemed to drag it out even more.  Regardless, the course opened up around 5 p.m. and Mike D. from Downeast, Kurt Johnson from Cycleloft and myself were able to get out and preride the freshly saturated course.

To say the least I was impressed with the layout of the course and was informed that it was a mild interpretation of the 2006 Cyclocross Nationals.

Day One I had an OK start.  There were quite a few riders in the field.  Coming up the first stair runup and onto the road I was forced to ride the pothole infested gutter.  I hit one of the sink holes pretty hard and just hoped I didn't flat. Into the first turn off of the road my rear tire was just that...flat.  I was about the farthest away from the pit that you could be so I ran the majority of the natural half pipe finding myself in last place before entering the pit.  I had no support and since I flew to Rhode Island it was hard enough to get one bike out there.  I immediately hit Mavic neutral support and within seconds had a fresh clincher on the back.  I was pretty demoralized and considered dropping out but figured it would be a good workout so started climbing back into position.  I gained considerable time and before I knew it the UCI official was ringing the bell for the final lap.  I gave it one last push and out sprinted another rider for 32nd place.  It was a phenomenal placing but considering the circumstances I was pretty happy.

Day Two was no different regarding mechanicals.  My rear wheel was toast but Ridley lent me a clincher to use for the day.  I had a decent start and was sitting within the top-20 when on the final lap I realized my crank bolt was hanging on to the last thread.  I quickly ducked in to the pit and again hit Mavic only to be told that a 10mm wrench was nowhere to be found.  I finger tightened the bolt, put the extracting nut into my mouth and carried on.  Knowing I had a mechanical I was cracking mentally and within two minutes from finishing my crank arm wiggled and I pulled to the side.  I was done, finished.  

I wasn't terribly impressed with the racing but mechanicals happen and are soon forgotten about after the season goes on.

I had never raced in New England before but the scene was good.  The competition was stiff and the course layout was excellent.