Veterans Cross Report

This years Veterans Cyclocross race was one event that I was actually looking forward to and had on my calendar as a must do event.   Last year Roger said he wanted to bring back racing to the University of Saint Mary campus.  I remember those old races there from the De Stad Cyclocross Van Kansas Series.  Sadly Roger was not able to secure Saint Mary and moved his event across the street to the Leavenworth VA Medical Center.  

Last one?  I have heard this many times from my good friend Roger Harrison.  He says that this will be his last cyclocross race that he ever promotes.  I would not bet money on it.   This year Roger teamed up with Big D Cycling to promote the 2014 Veterans Cyclocross race.  They did a great job together and put on a very fun event. 

Carolynn and I were out taking some photos: 2014 Veterans Cyclocross Photos .  My photos of the Cat 4 was taken after consuming several beers but after reviewing them they actually came out great.  Maybe that is my new secret to great photos.

Prior to the race Roger announced that I had won a special award for the best looking racer with the longest hair.  I can not argue with that award and happily accepted a haircut  and style from Tom and Ann's in Leavenworth, KS.   Also got a free wax job.  It has been a long time since I got a Brazilian.....

Big D Cycling provided the food.  Post race I had one of the brats.  Very tasty if I do say so myself.

It was fun racing with my teammates today.  Doug Stone had a lot on the line with the KBCXR series title.  He got off to a fast start ahead of Rick Moseley.

There was a little crash in the first turn.  During warmups I just new someone would go down and it turned out to my by teammate Damian Almanza along with a few others.  I narrowly avoided the pileup.

I settled into a comfortably hard pace early on.  I wanted to ride strong for the entire 45 minutes and have my last 3 laps my fastest.  This season I have been along side David Romisch several times.  He paced me on the second lap just before the barriers.

I decided to pick up the pace mid race and actually brought back David and passed him.  The effort was short lived and David got back by during the last few laps when I burped my rear tire and had to slow the pace. 

My main goal for the day was to try to place in the top 3 in the 45-49 division.  My second goal was to beat David and Damian.  Both goals were reach  :-)

Roger put a $50.00 bounty on Steve Songer's head.  Any rider who beat him took home some gas money.  Steve worked his way through everyone except overall race winner Moseley. 

Overall I liked the course.  It was a bit fast and very bumpy in sections, but I did well on the tight corners.  Heck I even liked the very narrow course - no one could pass me there :-)  This course would have been great if it was muddy or snowed. 

I was happy to see the finish of the race.  The last 2 or so laps were hard.  I had burped my tire and lost about 10 psi.   The low pressure smoothed out the rough course but the turns were very tricky.  I should have just came in for bike change but the low tire really was not slowing my down much so I rolled on to the finish.

It took an act from Roger Harrison for me to actually win an award.  Roger gave out awards in 5 year age groups for the Masters.  With the competition this is actually a good idea.  An even better idea is to have a Masters A/B class.  The A class for Cat 1/2 masters.  The B class for Cat 3/4 masters.  

Doug Stone had another great event and took home the the series championship. 

Christopher tried to race the Kona single speed in the Men's Cat 4 class.  He got off to a strong start and looked good.  This lasted about 2 laps when he came in for a bike change and grabbed his old flat bar MTB bike that we built up for him.  Still unsure what to do for a bike for him.  He is about 6'1 now and needs a larger frame bike but his lack of training does not motivate me to spend the money on a new bike.  I was hoping that he would "earn" a new bike by putting in an honest effort to train some and not just show up on race day. 

I put my award to good use and consumed about 3 beers.  That is a lot for me but since Roger got Bud Light just for me and I was lucky enough to win an mug I just had to.

Time for some Gravel Grinding

I have raced 5 cyclocross races so far this year.  I started off the season a little behind on form but expected to slowly progress.  Well that has not been the case.  Saturday's Colavita Cup brought the same disappointing result - mid pack.  Even on a flat course the best I could do was 10th in the Masters 40+ class. 

I looked at myself in the mirror really hard over the weekend and came to the realization that it is time to call it quits. I saw no fight in my eyes.  There is no use paying $30.00 (or $60.00 if Christopher races) to riding around courses when I am not having fun nor getting the results I had hoped for.  It appears it is time to begin the Gravel Grinding Season. 

Roger's Veterans Cross is this Sunday.  That will be my last "planned" cross race of the season.  I might attend some other events if some true cross weather shows up or the course is fun.  I do like playing in the mud and on frozen turf.  That is something I would gladly pay for.

This Friday is the Full Moon Monty Gravel Grinder.   Weather is looking awesome for this year's event.

I am Pack Fodder

 

Two more cross races are in the books.  I can see very small improvements in my form but not much.  Having said that, it keeps me motivated somewhat but my results have not shown the hard work I have put in which is depressing.  Still, even being Pack Fodder I have enjoyed my cyclocross season.

A review of my last two races starting with the 360 Cup two weeks ago.

Day 1 of the 360 Cup brought cooler weather and high motivation to do well.  Course had a few cool features, but overall was a real power course.  Power is something I am down on now so my results were around mid-pack. 

A rider went down in my class on an off camber downhill section with a tight turn.  It was a little slick but nothing bad.  He ended up breaking his Fibula and Tibia clean through.  Pins were required and he should heal up fast.

There were 3 really tight sections of the course that caused havoc during some of the races.  I really did not care for these sections as it did nothing more than slow everyone down to a crawl and require a rider to accelerate hard out to get going again.  There were plenty of long fast straights for the power riders.  I like turns that allow a rider with skill to make up time or pass.  Corners that are narrow and tight do nothing but slow riders down which is fine if you need to slow them down for  scoring, but not to stimulate racing.

Day 2 of the 360 Cup saw Christopher test his legs again in cross.  He gets the award for the ugliest socks.

Christopher is focused mostly on school and girls.  The only riding he does is at the cross races and is hoping for a muddy cross race soon. 

Doug came out to race with me on Day 2.  He continued his strong cross season with a 2nd place against a solid field of racers.

Dan Hughes raced 3 events on Day 2.  Got up on the podium in two of the races - Cat 4/5 and Single Speed. Dan has a huge engine and endurance.  Two things I need right now.

For Day 2 the 360 Team changed up the course and put in a new section of turns.  The only problem was they were still very tight and only allowed one speed. 

This weekend brought us the Robidox Roundup Cyclocross in Saint Joesph, MO.   What a breath of fresh air.  The course was awesome and even had some short single track sections.  Christopher really liked the course.

The barriers were tall.  Even Christopher's tall frame had trouble getting over them.

The descents were a little slick but that was the fun part.  If you took the right line you could flow through them nicely and allowed a bit a recovery which you would need on the climbs. 

Course was great up in Saint Joesph.  Even the start was nice.  Kind of a "Moto" type start with a short sprint to the first turn.  Here Eric Burch gets the holeshot on the Masters 40+ field.

Corners were really setup nicely.  Lots of flow and they allowed you to keep your speed and pass.

There was an ass kicker of a climb.  I am sure glad I decided not to race in the single speed class because I think I would have broken a chain if my fat ass had tried to climb this monster on my single speed.

I went out hard at the beginning but could not keep up with the likes of Tige, Eric and Terry Higgins shown here passing me on a climb. 

Tom Price and Tige Lamb won the Masters 50+ and Masters 40+ respectively.  Tom killed it today.

I had two good laps in me on Sunday.  That was it.  My goal was to keep John Williams behind me during the first part of the race.  At least I accomplished one goal :-).  John had another solid race and finished in 5th place.  I would fall back to 8th by the end.

So far my season has been very unsuccessful.  Basically I am just Pack Fodder right now and I have to live with it.   I kind of feel like the Alaskan Pack Fodder.

Finding My Racing Legs

The past few cyclocross seasons have not gone well for me.  Last year I started to regain my lost passion for the sport and put in a lot of training to get ready for the season.   I actually had solid form and was looking forward to some good results.  Then Carolynn made me go to the Dermatologist to look at a few suspect spots on my body.  Turns out one was actually positive for skin cancer and they had to remove it.  All that training down the tubes as I could not race.

Fast forward one year and I find myself finally healthy and ready for a season of cyclocross racing with my team.  Only problem with this year is my form in not there and my weight is about 15 pounds in excess.  Most of that came from a summer of weight training and therapy to get myself all healed up from past injuries.

I have been following an older cyclocross training plan that in the past brought me good results.  At the first race of the season - Buffalo Bill Cyclocross Race, I tested that plan.  The result was not very good.  I ended up trying to stay on riders wheels only to get dropped each time.  The power was just not there.

Heck, even my dismounts/remounts were lacking.  Usually I am good at the barriers and attack those with some passion.  Every lap I dreaded those barriers.  Or maybe it was the uphill after the barriers that sucked.  Either way I needed to really work on my dismounts after that first race.

I found a picture from 10 years ago. Now if I could just attack those barriers like I did back then!  Check out that form and that bike.  Why did I ever sell that Sling Shot?  Sure it was a little heavy and handled like a wet sack of potatoes but it was easy on the back out on course.

My second race of the season was the CoMo Cyclocross Cup in Columbia, MO.  The course suited me well and after a week of hard training I was hoping for a better showing.  If the start was any indication I was starting to find my racing legs again.

The racing over in Columbia was fun.  Carolynn attended and rode the Rhett's Run Mountain Bike course before the race.  After she enjoyed the beer tent and some Logboat Brewing Company beers.

Out on course I was in the thick of things and felt better and was able to stay with everyone on the first part of the course.  When the masters caught up to the Single Speed guys who had started first I ran into trouble.  I took my time passing them and was quickly passed by a handful of master riders who had no such plan.  I guess I saw those single speed cogs and thought I was back racing with them.

On the barriers I felt better but had a little problem the first lap and got passed by a few riders. I am still feeling heavy when I jump up over the wood.  I guess that is what 15 extra pounds feels like.  Each lap I would get passed by riders on the barriers which was a little depressing. 

I like the descents and winding course at CoMo.  It allowed some rest and each lap I was able to pass back some riders or at least bridge back up to them.

Most of the race today I was actually racing with guys.  That is a sign of improvement but a mid-pack finish is not what I am looking for.  The last four laps I actually pulled pack some riders and was feeling stronger.  When I caught them with two laps to go I popped.  The final two laps were a real sufferfest.  Mentally I fell apart and could not push myself for the entire 45 minutes.

 Hopefully with another month of focused training I can get my old racing legs back and get back on the podium on a regular basis. I think some cooler weather and maybe some mud/snow would also help.  October will be all about getting ready for November and the early part of December.  

The Early Days of Cyclocross

It is hard to believe that it has been 15 years since I started racing cyclo-cross.  There were not many events to participate in so I made what I consider now an unwise decision to promote an event myself.  That first CrossLogic Cyclocross Challenge was a great learning experience. I worked my butt off to gain permission and create a new event.  A special Thank You goes out to Mark Thomas for lending a hand.  Now I know one reason why he was so helpful back then.  He just wanted to race.

It is hard to believe it but Kansas City grew to be the hotbed of cross in the early 2000's to well we will not go there.....  We had riders regularly coming down from Iowa & Nebraska because St. Louis' cyclocross scene hadn't developed yet.

This might have been one of my worst ideas ever.  A team relay cross race.  I actually thought it would work and that riders would like to race as a team.  I think we only had like 4 teams at the most participate. 

After a couple of good years in Parkville we got kicked out due politics basically.  The BOA were fighting with my key contact for the use of English Landing Park and when it came time to vote to allow our race again we were denied. 

I spent many hours (months really)  searching for a new venue that would I felt make a good cyclocross course.  I had access to a lot of parks which I could of used, but I was not going to use just any park.  I did not want to build just any course.  I wanted my courses to be fun and challenging.  It took many visits to Riverside's City Hall and a couple of presentation but I finally found a good venue in E. H Young Park. 

Every fall my team, family and I would work hard to produce what we thought were good cyclocross courses.  One of my all time favorite sections was the climb out of the river at E.H. Young.  If you were able to ride it (like me above) it was a nice advantage.  Plus is just sucks getting off your bike. 

I always like to put in a wide variety of terrain in my courses.  Sure it was not easy to build these courses, but that is what I felt all the racers deserved.  I made natural obstacles and rarely used things like barriers to force riders to discount.  My belief is to make a challenging and fun course that does not offer an unfair advantage but is best suited to an all around rider.  It did not matter if can from a mountain bike back ground or a road back ground.  You would going to enjoy my course.  Well, at least I hope you all enjoyed them.

 Damian looking good as always.  I think Damian my be the only person who has raced all of the races I have ever promoted.  Does he like my courses that well or is it the free entries?

The Riverside Cyclocross Festival was always held very close to Carolynn's birthday.  In fact, the race even fell on the actual day.   Never did she ever say anything about celebrating her birthday at the race.  Roger Harrison sings Happy Birthday and brough her a cake!

Why on earth did I ever decide to put sand into my courses?  Back then I thought they were cool, but now I just hate sand.  Funny how life works some times.

I guess I got insperation from my first state championship event I ever attended over in Columbia, MO.  Christopher in route to his first ever state championship in cyclocross.  One thing that kid can do is ride sand and rocks for that matter. 

I might have to bring back the beard.  Or maybe at least the chops

That little junior Redline CX bike was sweet.  Christopher earned a closet full of trophies and awardes on that thing.

He won so many that the Kansas City Star even wrote an article on him.  Those were the days....

10 years ago I was all focused on growing the sport especially the juniors.  Looking back I now realize I put a lot of pressure on Christopher without really know it.  That is one thing I would do differently now is to try and keep cycling more fun.

Back to sand.  I have to mention it again because I do really hate it (unless I am riding a motorcycle in it then I just love it)  Sand can be very challenging as you can see by the above picture taken at the  2006 Riverside Cyclocross Festivals.  

I still remember this poor beginner women's cyclocross racers.  She was a trooper and got up and finished strong.  Heck, she even showed up at the next round of the series and paid to race again.

This guy had an awesome handmade bike and he could ride that thing on that Riverside course.  I do miss those old courses and the cool features they had. 

One of my favorite pictures I ever took. Nate in action - they dude could bunny-hop just about anything. 

I can not tell you how much time I put in just to build this one feature.  When I look at most of  today's cyclocross courses I realize just how foolish I was.  Thinking that riders actually cared about the course.

I always like Shadd Smith. He came to most of our events and for many years took home the win in the Cat 1 class.

Mark Studnicki and I traveled to a lot of cyclocross races together for a few years there.  He was one hell of an athlete.   Those were some fun times traveling up to Iowa and Nebraska racing cross.

I was actually in good shape back when racing with Mark and won the Mid-America Cross Cup back in 2004/5 when John Lefler and I promoted it.

The money tree idea was a hit.  At the height of the De Stad Series it was nice feature.  Christopher (during his X-Box years) demonstrates good form.  He only wanted the dollar to buy another game...

I did really enjoy racing cyclocross back then.  Who know, maybe I can regain that passion this year.

Dave looking good in the mud.  One of the best parts of cyclocross is your teammates and the fun times you can have together.   Those good memories will last forever.

I can still remember this battle between Tige Lamb and Mark Studnicki back in 2009.  The final round of the De Stad Cyclocross Van Kansas Series (still love that name) and it was a cold rainy day.  The course was just getting slick and very hard to even ride.  These guys went at it hard and put on a awesome show.  I think Studnicki was a little stronger, but Tige was better in the mud.  It came down the the last lap with Tige Lamb taking the win and title.

That final round in 2009 was epic for me. Everything came together for just a great day. Racing in the mud is what cyclo-cross is all about.  Only wish we had more of those types of events.

We always tried to make the course look as good as possible with the limited resources that we had. 

Some of the best barriers ever.   Even though I did not like to use them, Rich Anderson build up a cool set so I just could not say no.  JP Brocket demonstrates proper form.

One of the most challenging events to hold was one of the Kansas State Cyclocross races held over in Leavenworth Kansas.  There was talk about endangering the riders and  travel concerns.  All I knew is I could not drive any stakes into the frozen ground and had to resort to cones.  It worked and no one died traveling to the venue.

Still to this day one of the best logos ever. Eric Tiffany always came up with some very good ideas and helped us out more than he know.  The logo was great, but the idea to also hold a trail run on the same day as a cyclocross race was not.

This picture brings back a lot of memories.  It is actually at the first Haven's Cyclocross event which is retuning this weekend.  Hopefully Brendan has a course for us with a lot less climbing.  The only thing worse than sand is hills :-)

Part II coming soon....