More pics

It seems the photographer warmed up on the B race and really got his stuff together for the A race. I recommend you watch the entire #2 race in slideshow. http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=3200066

It really gives a feel for the course.

I especially like these shots:

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=05U100BJ000061&po=61&c=

and

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=05U100BJ000089&po=89&c=

Pictures from Lakefront Park

www.moments.photoreflect.com are pictures for sale from the race.

As my wife says, always a funny look on your face. These ones are called pain.

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=05U100BI000088&po=88&c=

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=05U100BI000126&po=126&c=

and get a load of the course!!

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=05U100BI000085&po=85&c=

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=05U100BI000087&po=87&c=

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=05U100BI000107&po=107&c=

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=05U100BI000140&po=140&c=

BA Cross Race #2, Lake Front Park

As I lay in bed napping I tried to think of a clever way to start off this race report. A unique and fun way to say that I got my derrier handed to me today. I am not bitter, not at all in fact I am happy for those young whipper snappers who have won the last two B races. Tony in week 1 and now Cameron Jackson in week 2. Congrats Cameron!! Hmmmm...nothing inspriring is coming....

I am also in perfect understanding in what went oh so wrong today. Plain and simple I didnt know how to ride in sand and it cost me 30 seconds on lap 2 or 3 at least and easily massive chunks of time every other lap. I am also still slow as dirt in the technical riding sections. I am getting faster and braver, but basically as I have said before i am not wired for this stuff. Show me and I can start to work it out for myself. Problem areas as they appeared on the course were the right handed steeper descent followed by the sand dune and the brief, but deep sand run back to the parking lot. And not to be outdone the long sand run that finished with the logs. But hey I was pretty good through the barriers and I handled the tight 180 at the top of the hill and the following left hander donwhill pretty well.

So again I dont have a great start, but I am hanging top 10 as we make the run upthe hill and I make up some positions. I lose precious time in the right hander as I would every lap and play catch up on the short run to the crazy convuluted rythm section. The A boys are great and are shouting gaps and they say 15 seconds to the leaders I think. A lot, but doable. I am accelerating and going fast where I can to make ground up.

But on lap 2 or 3 I blow everything. I make a mess of the deep sand after the dune and have to get off from a dead stop. Then I stop twice or more times almost falling over on the beach and end up running to the logs and remounting. That right there was basically race over for another top3.

I get passed by 3 or more guys and spend the next two laps (along with Brett Davis) tracking them back down and slowly dropping them one by one. I got to thank Brett because without his help, I wouldnt have finished anywhere near as high as I did. He says to keep my weight back on the sand and I do and it helps...kind of a LOT!! I am still slow in the sand, but now I am staying pedaling. I am pretty clean in the sand the last two laps. Brett and a UPMC rider gap me and I dont have the HP to chase them down.

A rider with a Camba outfit on and I have a good race. I blow by him like hes standing still and he is so much better than me that he passses me back anywhere theres sand. I mean he is making up a lot of ground quickly-poor poor me!! We go back and forth and its fun, but he blows the line as we go through the deep sand and we go off course and we both do a 2' stright drop down onto the sidewalk. I am amazed the fork and wheel on my CSK bike withstood that and I ride away clean. He hurt himself-I am guessing where-you can too!! But I take off. He again gets me in the sand on the beach and for the last time I drop him on the bell lap.

I run clean the last lap all the way around and I finish a very dissapointing 7th. But again its not all bad. I did get better in the sand and its the truth, I have never raced or ridden in sand before. Well sure maybe across a volleyball pit, but thats a whole lot different then 200' or a deep sand dune. OK, I am making excuses so I'll stop!! I ran hard the whole race too and I am kind of sick right now from the effort. Ughh...morr meds please.

After the race I go do a lap with Brett who does his best to show me how to descend the right hander. I get faster, a lot faster, but now I miss the barrier and go off course to the left. Did I mention I was losing a ton of time at this one point too? Yeah-wheels locked up skiddering down the hill every lap, but I never crashed. I thought I worked out those bugs at Edgewater!! Hey practice makes for more practice-I said it and now I am living it.

So maybe racing on the beach at Lakefront is a game for kids. Yeah thats it. Let the young guns play on the beach, next time I'll kick my flip flops up and down a tasty Pina Colada!!! And get this, my daughters friend brings over her Magic 8 ball. I ask it "Will I win the next BA CX Race??" I give it a shake and wait for the answer.....It says "dont bet on it" OUCH!!! Any other little whipper snappers want a piece of me next race?

CSK Cyclocross Frame

Here is my first piece of hardware from one of my sponsors for 2008. I played around with the idea of custom as you may ahve read, but in the end went with off the rack. THis fits like a glove and so far it sprints fast and corners really balanced, but still aggressively. IT gives me the confidence to pick my line and it stays on it. Got to love that. AT least on grass. Havent experienced the mucky muck yet!!!

I think it goes without saying that fit is everything and although I thought it would be wisest to go with the Fuji till 2008, now that I (And Mark Lopresto) built this, I know it was the right decision in so many ways.

Just a few ways are that I can pick-it up and shoulder it in one move, it feels balanced and aggressive in corners and I feel like I am over the center of the bike if you can feel in your mind what I am typing. When I hit bumps I dont feel picthed over the nose is kind of what I mean and more.

The frame is imported by Seigler Imports www.seiglersports.com Talk to Joe Holmes if your interested. Please take it for a test ride on any given Sunday. Maybe a local bike shop will pick-up the line.

Practice Makes......

Rain, yes rain, rain more. Thats what I was thinking all day yesterday. I wanted it to rain so when I got to Spin's Edgewater CX practice I could flounder around on wet grass in semi race conditions. It did rain, it was cold (49 degrees) and Zak did not disappoint on his course. Technical is what we were calling it, but I got to thinking about it more in auto racing terms and it was a course needing commitment. Like going flat out into a blind apex. Commitment.

I'll be honest, on the warm up lap I was thinking, maybe I'll just do my own thing. The course was kind of scary. But once the race started for our 5 laps (which finished in near darkness!!) I was having a blast and I didn't crash once and only once dismounted other then for a run-up or barrier. I really blew a lot of remounts though so I'll have to practice those more.

Also every descent was curving, two were off camber and they were all of course on wet grass. Two were full on brake affairs that ended on the gravel road by the lake. I heard that a few guys crashed at the bottom of these instead of taking a plunge into Lake Erie, but that might be a bit dramatic. And instead of going down the hill in the single track, we approached it from the other way and ran up it. My favorite descent was off camber downhill towards the lower parking lot then turn around and climb up the slippery leaf hill. It was fun because it was modulate brakes, get off brakes, trail brake to the apex (a tree) and grind up the hill all while feeling like you might just slip down the side of the hill due to the camber. By the last two laps it was so wet that my rear tire slipped multiple times up the hill. I need traction control.

I am constantly on these steep learning curves and thats fine with me. I like the challenge and I think its a riot trying to stay upright in these conditions. Thank goodness many of the local riders have been so helpful, but theres still so much to try and learn on your own. Like first time down the big long descent its all good till the bottom where the ground gets bumpy and being full on the brakes pitches your weight forward as you hit them. Every next lap I'd ease up more and more on the front brake as I hit these bumps and it would be better. In retrospect I now think that I should have let go of both brakes for the last 5' and just rolled onto the gravel road. But hey I made it 5 for 5 on every challenge last night so thats a plus.

Some things are just a matter of sheer will to overcome. You just have to drop in, see what happens, try not to screw up and definitely do it better then the last lap!! Sometimes you do, sometimes don't.

How did the race/practice go? Well I rolled around sheepishly for a lap then picked off a few guys who I had been following or dicing with including Gary Burkholder. I put in some big accelerations by the highway and across the open fields so that I was solo for the last 3 laps. A spin rider slid down the off camber descent when his cassette packed up with grass and he lost drive and I got by and pushed a few times to open up a gap. Up front Zak and Dave Steiner were duking it out and Dave attacked on the last lap to win and I came in third around 30 seconds back. I maintained the gap to them pretty evenly, but didnt push 100% to try and close it. Thom on his single speed finished 4th I believe which is quite an achievement considering this was not a single speed course this week (if Edgewater ever is).

In the end, Practice makes for more practice and some day maybe practice will make for perfect!!

Fall is here

Ahhh...the leaves are a changin and the weathers getting cooler (YEAH RIGHT!!!). But its nice now that the road season is over that I can play a bit. Thom Domonic helped me build up a "hooptie" fixie out of old parts and a way too big frame. I finally took it for a long ride (1 hour, so not that long) and with the exception of a few "what do i do" little situations at stop signs, etc. it was as expected. A pure cycling experience. Its kind of annoying though not getting to coast on long downhills. Theres only so long my legs like to be spun at 140 or 150 rpm it seems.

I do like the near silent whir of the drive train and the sound of the tires on the road. The old frame is Tange 1 butted steel and I got to tell you, steel is real. I always get this buzz or connection with the road on steel frames. But I am such a weenie I cannot give up the weight that aluminum and carbon bikes offer. I will build back up my Waterford Paramount one day. It will be 10 speed with downtube shifters. A little of the old with a little of the new. Mate that with a nice set of handbuilt tubies and it will be one sweet ride for those long Sunday centuries.

I also recently sold my mountain bike (Thats was new). No one was more happy than my coach because every time I got on it I hurt myself. Two times I got hurt I was at Ray's Mountain Bike park though. Other times were pulled muscles from trying to bunny hop and do wheelies. Sometimes you just got to admit your not as young as you once were. Not that physical adaptations wouldnt occur if I rode them more. Thats code for just quit being a cry baby. I'd sure love to get another mtb though so Ive got the option to hit some easy singletrack when the boys decide to go to West branch.

For now the cross bike will have to do for the offroad thrills fulfillment job. Talking about Psycho cross, I should have a new frame soon to to replace my too small Fuji. I am going from a 48 to a 52 which sounds huge, but its actually only one jump for a lot of companies. The problem of being short of inseam!! I'll have pics as soon as I get it. I am excited and hope it builds up fairly light with all my not so light components. It will depend a lot on what the carbon fork weighs.

Well, enjoy the fall weather, pumpkin pie and apple cider.

brrzzzrppp...short circuit

Did you get that Brrzzzrp-think the sound of sizzling electronics, popping diodes and acrid smell of melting wires, only this is my brain and this is my brain on frame geometry. I mean its really not that hard on one level. Seat tube, check!! Top tube, check!! OH, but what about if the frame has a raised bottom bracket like a cross bike? What seat tube length is right for you now? Or maybe its a cross bike and has a low BB like a road bike (trendy now they say). Some give you the dimension of BB height and some use BB drop.... One I know, one I dont....

I buy myself a cyclocross ebay special thats small. I actually like it, but when I get serious this week about dialing it into my Wobblenaught position I find out its not even close. And get this people, Fuji has stated in its catalogs for years that its 48cm frame has a effective top tube length of 534.6mm and I believed them. Guess what-its 508mm!! What does that mean? It means that I bought a frame with a 2.5cm too short top tube. How is that possible? Maybe its done with the new math my daughter will be learning.

I contemplated a custom Cross bike too. Most likely a steel frame from Zak Dieringer. But I have decided I just dont have the computing power to make all the right decisions on trail, rake, seat and head tube angles, Compact or level top tube, BB height, front center distance, chainstay length, wheelbase and how they all interact to bring together a dream race machine that plain old just WORKS on the race track. I mean, one major mistake and its all my fault. NO blaming the manufacturer on this one. Too bad too because Zak's frame will probably never be this reasonable.

So its looking like its off the shelf for me. Ahhhhhh, thats a load off my noggin. But is it?? Lets see there is the Cannondale X6, Jamis Super Nova, Kona Jake the Snake and Major Jake, Specialized Tricross, S-Works tricross, Ridley Supercross, (old) Lemond Poprad, CSK Cyclocross, Seigler Sport carbon.....

Uh ohhhh...Brrzzzpppp...sizzle, sizzle, pop......