I think the title describes my whole weekend. It was the provincials on Saturday and the National championships on Sunday up in Kamloops. I will give the rough scetch of both races.
Saturday- Drove up to Kamloops the day of the race. Nina and I had somewhere to be on Friday night and I did not really want to be away home from for 2 nights. I got to the loop in about 3:20 so it was not too bad a drive. Got there with tons of time to sign up, warm up and pre ride. The course was okay, not really my bag, but still a good challenging course. I got a 3rd row call up. The race was open to everyone who was there for the weekend to race Nationals. Not sure how they did the call ups, but given that it is BC's provincials I think they should have done the call ups for BC guys first. However, third row was fine. This was all racers over the age of 30. I got a good start, however we were all foiled when Meno rolled a tubular early and caused a bit of a back log early. I got around it clean, but had to scrub all my speed and sprint again to get going. The course featrued 2 beach sections and I ran really well on Saturday. I made a lot of hard passes and was overall pretty happy with that part. I was riding in 13th place at one point and came around a 180 after the barriers and washsed my front tire. down I went. I was up quick but not before 4 guys went by me. I was not able to regain those spots except maybe one. I managed to beat and stay within 30 seconds of a really good group. Guys that i don't normally ride with. Cressman beat me for the first time in a few years. He took advantage of my slide out and his superior running skills. He put me in the pain cave on that f-cking sandy run up. I had good power all day, but was just pretty good in all the corners. Man there were a lot of those. I really was staring a top 10 in the face but ended up with a crappy 17th I think. You get what you deserve in cross.
After the Saturdays race I did the proper cool down. The proper eating. The proper stretching. The proper sleeping. Guess what? It helped, but the race the day before took away all my snap. I felt good on the warm up and for any other day my legs felt good. Guys were gunning hard and I was not up for the task. I got a bit of a sub standard start, but actually made it up early. Nowak stacked it this time ( what is with these Frontrunners guys crashing in the first 500 meters of the race?) Got riding with some good guys, but did not have the snap to stay with them as they made forward progress. I just could not get it going. I was faster through all the lines, but overall I was riding slower. Even if I was riding the same, I was for sure running slower. At one point i made my way within about 10 seconds of a group of some strong guys. I was right there and felt that if I could get to them that I could move close to the top ten. I came into one of the dismounts, but bobbled it a bit and gave up about 5 seconds and they must have surged because it ballooned to 20 seconds. I tried to shut it down, but they were racing and I was suffering. My back was hurting and my general energy was getting lower. At one point I came around a corner too hot and went under the marking tape. This would have put me to about 10 seconds of the group in front, by cutting the course that is. I thought about just cutting this little section, but could not do it and burned a 180 back under the tape and back on the course. I finished about the same as I did the day before in a smaller field.
I knew doing a double day would be hard and I knew that having Nationals on the second day meant that I should have just done the one day. Just from a tactical standpoint it would have made more sense. I would have been fresher than 95% of the field and that alone would have made me better. If I could have combined my first days speed power and fitness with the second days overall cornering and bike handeling I would have been pretty stellar.
It is another double weekend this weekend. As of today I don't really care. I am stiff and tired. I was sick all last week and didn't ride and I am not sure how much I will ride this week. Then I may shut it down in about 3 weeks as all of the BC races will be done. Could go to Seattle, but with the new baby coming I want to get some stuff sorted out.
Well that is it for now. Congrats to Kelly Jones for getting 5th in the elite womens race, I hope this gets her to Worlds!
thanks for reading
Brent
Monday, October 22, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
some days U R the Hammer........
some days you are the nail.
Vanier BC Cup 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The race went on! There has been a city strike for the past 3 months that had basically stopped any and all cross racing from happening in the city of Vancouver. Not able to get permits for the parks. The organiser of yesterdays race held went ahead and held the race without pemitts or they were one of the few that swung a permit for the managment staff that have been working during the strike. Either way, I was racing 15 minutes from home!!!
Get to the race and manage to get a quick lap in before the B's start. I like the course it is both technical and fast. They did a nice little off camber section and a great sandpit.
I got my friend Brad's bike set up in the pits for him and warmed up while the B's were on the course. I went and watched the end of the B race and Brad get secnd in a 5 man sprint. He rode really well.
Onto the A race. It was a descent sized field of about 40 riders. Maybe a bit more. This pales in comparison to the B's that are more that double that. Anyway, I get the thrid line call up ( based on sign in for me and points for the first 2 rows ) and we basicallyget 30 seconds and the "go!" I get a really good start. We did a bit of a start straight for the start only that took us to the sandpit. I had good position and got to the pit in about mid pack. I knew that it would be a cluster so I knew I would have to dismount and run it the first lap. I actually rode half of it then ran the second half making up lots of spots.
The middle part of my race was good. Nto stellar but good. I was in the top 20 for most of the race. I was struggling riding around a few of the guys. Most of the guys in the A 's are well above average cyclists. Most are really strong. Stronger than me. I was riding with this one guy who was riding really bad. He was really strong but he just kept on trying to pass me back really aggresively every time I passed him in the barrier, in the corners, in the sandpit. He is a big man and he would basically elbow me out of the way. I recognize that I am the new kid in the A's and I am not jumping in finishing top 5, so I try race clean and keep my mouth shut. After he kept doing these wild accelerations I had to tell him to chll and just follow my lines for a lap or 2. Just relax! He either did not hear me or did not care because at the end of the lap he stacked it into the barriers and I never saw him again. I rode in 2 good groups that I wanted to stay in. I did not metre out my efforts well. When someone would hit me in the B's I could close it or close it and counter it. In the A's not so much. I ended up getting bounced out of my 3 man group and they eventually went on to catch the group in front of them and gave themselves a chance for a respecatable result. I ended up being caught and riding out the race with 2 other guys. The group in front of use was about 30 seconds up on us. So close but so far away.
There was a group of about 5 off the front of the race and I had to do some quick math as to when and if I was going to get lapped. It never happened, but had the race gone one more lap it would have. I am not sure where i finished but 30 of 40.
I wanted to go to A because I wanted to improve. It is making me better. I feel it more the night after the race. The harsh reality is that the front of the B race is the back portion of the A race. You start to wonder if it is better to hang out in the B's and win some stuff or suffer in the A's. If I can be 3% better I can actually be pretty competitive, but that 3% is pretty elusive at times. I can think of 4 times where my front tire washed and I had to chase back after having been gapped in the corners. That is energy that I don't have to spare. To ride at the front would be unrealistic at this point. I look at the top 5 guys and they are all guys that do really large road programs and are all 15 years younger than me. Not only that, they are very talented indiviuals. They are a big part of Canada's cycling future.
Some of the positves; perfect through the sand, fast on the off camber, fast in the grass corners, good through the barriers.
Some of the negatives; the gravel corners, the odd person heckling me? Most people are really supportive, but there were a few (2 I would say) that were heckling me? Part of me thinks that it is funny, becasue I think that is how it was meant. Part of me is ticked because these are guys that I was racing in the B's with and now that they are spectators they are given' er to me. When you are dying a million deaths and rumaging through your hurt locker you don't really want to hear people mocking you for your effort, or lack there of.
The vast majority of people are really supportive though. They know that you are in tough and they are really wanting to see you succeed! Thanks for the cheers!!!
Vanier BC Cup 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The race went on! There has been a city strike for the past 3 months that had basically stopped any and all cross racing from happening in the city of Vancouver. Not able to get permits for the parks. The organiser of yesterdays race held went ahead and held the race without pemitts or they were one of the few that swung a permit for the managment staff that have been working during the strike. Either way, I was racing 15 minutes from home!!!
Get to the race and manage to get a quick lap in before the B's start. I like the course it is both technical and fast. They did a nice little off camber section and a great sandpit.
I got my friend Brad's bike set up in the pits for him and warmed up while the B's were on the course. I went and watched the end of the B race and Brad get secnd in a 5 man sprint. He rode really well.
Onto the A race. It was a descent sized field of about 40 riders. Maybe a bit more. This pales in comparison to the B's that are more that double that. Anyway, I get the thrid line call up ( based on sign in for me and points for the first 2 rows ) and we basicallyget 30 seconds and the "go!" I get a really good start. We did a bit of a start straight for the start only that took us to the sandpit. I had good position and got to the pit in about mid pack. I knew that it would be a cluster so I knew I would have to dismount and run it the first lap. I actually rode half of it then ran the second half making up lots of spots.
The middle part of my race was good. Nto stellar but good. I was in the top 20 for most of the race. I was struggling riding around a few of the guys. Most of the guys in the A 's are well above average cyclists. Most are really strong. Stronger than me. I was riding with this one guy who was riding really bad. He was really strong but he just kept on trying to pass me back really aggresively every time I passed him in the barrier, in the corners, in the sandpit. He is a big man and he would basically elbow me out of the way. I recognize that I am the new kid in the A's and I am not jumping in finishing top 5, so I try race clean and keep my mouth shut. After he kept doing these wild accelerations I had to tell him to chll and just follow my lines for a lap or 2. Just relax! He either did not hear me or did not care because at the end of the lap he stacked it into the barriers and I never saw him again. I rode in 2 good groups that I wanted to stay in. I did not metre out my efforts well. When someone would hit me in the B's I could close it or close it and counter it. In the A's not so much. I ended up getting bounced out of my 3 man group and they eventually went on to catch the group in front of them and gave themselves a chance for a respecatable result. I ended up being caught and riding out the race with 2 other guys. The group in front of use was about 30 seconds up on us. So close but so far away.
There was a group of about 5 off the front of the race and I had to do some quick math as to when and if I was going to get lapped. It never happened, but had the race gone one more lap it would have. I am not sure where i finished but 30 of 40.
I wanted to go to A because I wanted to improve. It is making me better. I feel it more the night after the race. The harsh reality is that the front of the B race is the back portion of the A race. You start to wonder if it is better to hang out in the B's and win some stuff or suffer in the A's. If I can be 3% better I can actually be pretty competitive, but that 3% is pretty elusive at times. I can think of 4 times where my front tire washed and I had to chase back after having been gapped in the corners. That is energy that I don't have to spare. To ride at the front would be unrealistic at this point. I look at the top 5 guys and they are all guys that do really large road programs and are all 15 years younger than me. Not only that, they are very talented indiviuals. They are a big part of Canada's cycling future.
Some of the positves; perfect through the sand, fast on the off camber, fast in the grass corners, good through the barriers.
Some of the negatives; the gravel corners, the odd person heckling me? Most people are really supportive, but there were a few (2 I would say) that were heckling me? Part of me thinks that it is funny, becasue I think that is how it was meant. Part of me is ticked because these are guys that I was racing in the B's with and now that they are spectators they are given' er to me. When you are dying a million deaths and rumaging through your hurt locker you don't really want to hear people mocking you for your effort, or lack there of.
The vast majority of people are really supportive though. They know that you are in tough and they are really wanting to see you succeed! Thanks for the cheers!!!
Saturday, October 6, 2007
A Race
Did my first A race today. Went pretty well. Lets put some perspective around what pretty well means. I stayed on the same lap as the winner. I was probably the third last guy on the same lap, but I was on the same lap. Coming from B I did not have big expectations knowing that you can think that you are a stud riding near or on the front of B, but A is a different world in Cross.
I got the bad call up given that I have no a points. It was not all bad given that it was not a huge field. Weather today was shit! It was raining like crazy. I long ago stopped worrying about the weather. It is what it is and to be good in cross you have to be good in the wet. Whistle goes and we are off. I get a pretty good start, but I end up giving up some spots because the starts are so much faster. Actually not so much faster, but faster longer than I am used to. Today's course was fun, but it lacks elements. It had one set of planks and not much else. Don't get me wrong it was fast swoopy and fun, but it was not a pure cross course.
Back to the race. Basically I settled into a pace I thought that I could maintain with a goal of not blowing. It worked. I did not fully bury myself. If I popped I would be dead. I struggled in the first 2 laps. From about lap 4-10 I rode a strong race. I actually squeezed my brake so hard coming into on corner too hot that my brake straddle slipped leaving me with limited front brake. This was a good thing. Cross is not about who is the strongest ( I prove that weekly ) but who uses their energy the most efficiently. That is more of what I was doing. Working the slick corners better and better every lap. Trying not to go in too fast and coming out accelerating. I was good through the barriers, the only place that you had to run. I hopped on of the barriers on my last lap because the second barrier had been snapped in half due to a crash. Well, the hop was not pretty. Basically after I hopped it someone said "nice save" Jpow has nothing to worry about.
I would guess that I finished 18 of 24? Not sure for sure, but will find out when they are posted. There 3 guys within 10 secs and a lot within a minute. Having said that the winner probably put 3.5-4 minutes into me.
I have to mention one thing. I have been racing in one form or another for 15 years. Mostly as an expert, master expert 3 on the road. I have probably done 4 serious years of cross. Not sure that I should be racing A as I have never in my life raced as and elite or A. Why? Well, simple not good enough in the past. 37 years old with a career, wife and daughter ( one more on the way ) may seem like a strange time to jump into the fold, but I feel good about the way it went. I race casue I love to pin a number on and try to improve. Small victories I guess. I am hoping that next weeks race has more cross feel to because I feel that I can do better than just a pure drag race like this week.
Big thanks to Brad for racing A with me today. He has the start of starts. He was 6th after the first lap. Damn! He has the bad knee and pulled the pin after 45 minutes using it as training. He can race A, just needs to sort out some body issues and he will be killing it. His GF is doing a UCI race in Edmonton tomorrow, good luck Kelly!
I got the bad call up given that I have no a points. It was not all bad given that it was not a huge field. Weather today was shit! It was raining like crazy. I long ago stopped worrying about the weather. It is what it is and to be good in cross you have to be good in the wet. Whistle goes and we are off. I get a pretty good start, but I end up giving up some spots because the starts are so much faster. Actually not so much faster, but faster longer than I am used to. Today's course was fun, but it lacks elements. It had one set of planks and not much else. Don't get me wrong it was fast swoopy and fun, but it was not a pure cross course.
Back to the race. Basically I settled into a pace I thought that I could maintain with a goal of not blowing. It worked. I did not fully bury myself. If I popped I would be dead. I struggled in the first 2 laps. From about lap 4-10 I rode a strong race. I actually squeezed my brake so hard coming into on corner too hot that my brake straddle slipped leaving me with limited front brake. This was a good thing. Cross is not about who is the strongest ( I prove that weekly ) but who uses their energy the most efficiently. That is more of what I was doing. Working the slick corners better and better every lap. Trying not to go in too fast and coming out accelerating. I was good through the barriers, the only place that you had to run. I hopped on of the barriers on my last lap because the second barrier had been snapped in half due to a crash. Well, the hop was not pretty. Basically after I hopped it someone said "nice save" Jpow has nothing to worry about.
I would guess that I finished 18 of 24? Not sure for sure, but will find out when they are posted. There 3 guys within 10 secs and a lot within a minute. Having said that the winner probably put 3.5-4 minutes into me.
I have to mention one thing. I have been racing in one form or another for 15 years. Mostly as an expert, master expert 3 on the road. I have probably done 4 serious years of cross. Not sure that I should be racing A as I have never in my life raced as and elite or A. Why? Well, simple not good enough in the past. 37 years old with a career, wife and daughter ( one more on the way ) may seem like a strange time to jump into the fold, but I feel good about the way it went. I race casue I love to pin a number on and try to improve. Small victories I guess. I am hoping that next weeks race has more cross feel to because I feel that I can do better than just a pure drag race like this week.
Big thanks to Brad for racing A with me today. He has the start of starts. He was 6th after the first lap. Damn! He has the bad knee and pulled the pin after 45 minutes using it as training. He can race A, just needs to sort out some body issues and he will be killing it. His GF is doing a UCI race in Edmonton tomorrow, good luck Kelly!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
BC Cup
plan on doing a full update on the blog, but here are the highlights.
First off the course was amazing! The orangizers put up an amazing course. Better than anything I have raced. The elements included 2 volleyball sandpits, a bmx track, off camber grass, at staircase, some wide single track.
First they corall us up for the B men and tell us that the call up will be based on the sign in, not the results from the last BC CUP. That is dumb, I only say that because for the last 4 years it has been based on points. So much for my 6th place at the first BC cup. Too much trouble for what I assume most commasaires think is just lowley cross. I get lined up in the fourth row. Oh well need to make the best of it. Guys are riding everywhere. Trying really hard to keep their nice starting spot, so it is a bit chaotic. We hit the staircase that foreced us to either remount on pavement and negotiate the curb without your feet clipped in or to run up a small grassy rise after the pavement. I choose the later and when I remount on the slight downhill grass I my bike slides right out from under me mid air. Wow! The front wheel just came out form under me and I did a superman on the ground. WTF. I get up hop back on and I am dead last. I think there was 48 in front of me. I get by a few guys before the sandpit and most people that I can see are running, but it is totally rideable. I ride it right to the end and pass about 10 guys. Just as I hit the end I go over the bars. That is twice in 3 minutes. so much for the guys that I passed. Then in the bmx track i came too hot into one of the corners and got tangled in the marking tape. F-ck I could not get out of my own way. I was getting frustrated. I had marking tape in my wheel and I was having a hard time moving through the crowd. At one point I came through some wet corners and that were off camber. One of them goes into a blind corner, as I came through the blind one I ran into the back of the guy in front of me. WTF again. I did not expect to make the catch at that moment. Anyways, all in all I was not having a great day. I passed about 28 guys to round out the top 20. Wtih the race only being 40 min I ran out of time.
I am fine if I get beat, but I was beating myself. I deceided to line up with the A men. On the starting line ( not to mention the regular fast guys ) was Parbo, Danish National champ, and Max Plaxton. If you don't know who Plaxton is,well he is one of the fastest men on a bike. Won a bronze, maybe a silver, at the Worlds 2 years ago for MTB. I had a pretty good idea what my fate would be. Well, I gave it what I had and what I had. For the first half of the race I was actually pretty respectable. I rode about mid pack, perhpaps a bit back. I know I was not up front with Max and Parbo elbowing it out, but I was trying not to be a laughing stock. I had some great moments and at a certain point I gaining a lot of ground on other riders. Then at about 35 minutes the switch flicked and that was it, I was in survival mode. At one point I saw 6 to go and I thought I was going to die. Any form, for cross, that I posses was gone. I had some stumbles, hit the scond sand pit running into it and forgot to pick up my bike. I was bonking and getting that twinge feeling that cramps could be coming. Well, going onto to 2 to go Max and Parbo came by me. They were not pulling riders. Damn. I wanted to stop. I wanted to stop so bad, but I also wanted to keep going in a sick way. Max and Parbo lapped all but the first 6 guys. 1hour 40 minutes of almost non stop cross. Never again! I will however line up as an A for the rest of the year I think. I think with fresh legs I can keep myself from being the laughing stock I probably was. Plaxton beat Parbo in a close finish.
Sydor used the Hutchinson tubeless system and she said they were burping air on the off camber, Tubs are still the way to go....
First off the course was amazing! The orangizers put up an amazing course. Better than anything I have raced. The elements included 2 volleyball sandpits, a bmx track, off camber grass, at staircase, some wide single track.
First they corall us up for the B men and tell us that the call up will be based on the sign in, not the results from the last BC CUP. That is dumb, I only say that because for the last 4 years it has been based on points. So much for my 6th place at the first BC cup. Too much trouble for what I assume most commasaires think is just lowley cross. I get lined up in the fourth row. Oh well need to make the best of it. Guys are riding everywhere. Trying really hard to keep their nice starting spot, so it is a bit chaotic. We hit the staircase that foreced us to either remount on pavement and negotiate the curb without your feet clipped in or to run up a small grassy rise after the pavement. I choose the later and when I remount on the slight downhill grass I my bike slides right out from under me mid air. Wow! The front wheel just came out form under me and I did a superman on the ground. WTF. I get up hop back on and I am dead last. I think there was 48 in front of me. I get by a few guys before the sandpit and most people that I can see are running, but it is totally rideable. I ride it right to the end and pass about 10 guys. Just as I hit the end I go over the bars. That is twice in 3 minutes. so much for the guys that I passed. Then in the bmx track i came too hot into one of the corners and got tangled in the marking tape. F-ck I could not get out of my own way. I was getting frustrated. I had marking tape in my wheel and I was having a hard time moving through the crowd. At one point I came through some wet corners and that were off camber. One of them goes into a blind corner, as I came through the blind one I ran into the back of the guy in front of me. WTF again. I did not expect to make the catch at that moment. Anyways, all in all I was not having a great day. I passed about 28 guys to round out the top 20. Wtih the race only being 40 min I ran out of time.
I am fine if I get beat, but I was beating myself. I deceided to line up with the A men. On the starting line ( not to mention the regular fast guys ) was Parbo, Danish National champ, and Max Plaxton. If you don't know who Plaxton is,well he is one of the fastest men on a bike. Won a bronze, maybe a silver, at the Worlds 2 years ago for MTB. I had a pretty good idea what my fate would be. Well, I gave it what I had and what I had. For the first half of the race I was actually pretty respectable. I rode about mid pack, perhpaps a bit back. I know I was not up front with Max and Parbo elbowing it out, but I was trying not to be a laughing stock. I had some great moments and at a certain point I gaining a lot of ground on other riders. Then at about 35 minutes the switch flicked and that was it, I was in survival mode. At one point I saw 6 to go and I thought I was going to die. Any form, for cross, that I posses was gone. I had some stumbles, hit the scond sand pit running into it and forgot to pick up my bike. I was bonking and getting that twinge feeling that cramps could be coming. Well, going onto to 2 to go Max and Parbo came by me. They were not pulling riders. Damn. I wanted to stop. I wanted to stop so bad, but I also wanted to keep going in a sick way. Max and Parbo lapped all but the first 6 guys. 1hour 40 minutes of almost non stop cross. Never again! I will however line up as an A for the rest of the year I think. I think with fresh legs I can keep myself from being the laughing stock I probably was. Plaxton beat Parbo in a close finish.
Sydor used the Hutchinson tubeless system and she said they were burping air on the off camber, Tubs are still the way to go....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)