With all of my hunger and desire to be racing a week ago, the Thanksgiving holiday kind of took some of that away--as did finishing off the MABRA series with a win. So it was no surprise that I wasn't as up as I should have been for my first go at an 'A' race. That's really a shame, because the course for this one was probably the best I've seen all year. It was set up in Taneytown, MD by Tracy Lea. This course really had everything: mud, run ups, off cambers, gravel, pavement, and lots of turns. It didn't really suit my style, but I had to admire how well laid out it was. It reminded me a lot of courses I've seen on cycling.tv.

So, since I wasn't planning for this one as well as I should have been, Jess and I went to church at our normal hour and didn't make it to the racecourse until thirty minutes before the gun. I did almost no warmup--consisting only of a few minutes on the trainer and then riding around nervously near the start line. When it was time to go, I found myself on the line with oldies but goodies, Gunnar Shogren and Kris Auer as well as junior phenom Nick Bax and Evan Ellicott, also making the upgrade from the B's. Since there were only about 10-12 racers, we all had a front row position. I got a good start and found myself in third place behind Shogren and Auer at the first turn. But that's where the positives would end for the day.

Having not preridden the course, I immediately found myself in trouble. I had absolutely no clue what was coming and I messed up nearly every feature on the first lap. I took turns too fast, too slow, and even had to dab my foot a few times where I shouldn't have. By the end of the first lap, I'd dropped every single spot except for a couple. I was really frustrated, but not so much as I might have been had I known what was on the course.

Judd, another Coppi in the race, eventually came up to me and passed. I tried to go with him, but my horrendous technical skills gave him a gap and I never could make it up. I tried really hard for a few laps, but his lead got bigger and bigger. I soon realized that I was only one spot out of dead last. I started looking for the guy behind me as well as trying to make sure I wouldn't get lapped. When I realized that neither was likely to happen, I got my head back to riding the course and started trying to learn from what I was doing.

To be sure, I was exhausted. Racing for an hour was difficult, especially when I had no one to race with and nothing to strive for in the last few laps. Most of all, I realized that pre-riding isn't just a good idea, it's a necessity. I had not forseen how impossible it was to ride a muddied and technical course like this without knowing what was coming. I found myself taking the wrong lines with all the wrong gearing and it cost me bigtime.

I guess one positive is that Ellicott did pretty darn well and I've beaten him and Bax in the past. Though I know they are superiot to me in technical skills and endurance respectively, I can reasonably expect that with more focus, desire, and a preride, I would have done much better. Next time, I'll have a chance to test that theory. I'll race once more, this time the final MAC race of the season this Sunday in Reston, VA. Hopefully I can go out on a little bit of a high note.

I finally decided to do something other than just put the miles in. I warmed up for a couple miles, then hit it hard, doing six minute intervals with three minutes rest. I did five sets and managed to avoid any long stops at intersections. My legs felt pretty strong and I was able to use one rider as bait. We'll see how I respond in the next few days. I hope I'm strong enough now to keep the mileage up and add just a tad bit of quality.

I haven't updated in two weeks and I never finished a race summary for IC Lite, but rest assured that I haven't been nearly as lazy with riding. Today marks my sixth consecutive day of total bike commuting (i.e. 40 miles/day no car). I even used my new rain gear to navigate through the storm this past Friday. I took the weekend off and this morning, my legs felt amazing. I'm building a massive base and in doing so I'm as hungry as ever to get out and race this weekend when the MABRA series resumes.

Hunger really doesn't do my feelings justice. I'm flat out anxious to get back on the 'cross bike and race. It's unbearable to read and look and photos of the MAC series and the World Cup races over in Europe. This is going to be a long week, I'm sure of that. I'm planning on at least riding some barriers soon and probably throwing in a tempo ride before this weekend of racing on Saturday and Sunday. Logging upwards of thirteen hours on the bike a week is starting to feel more natural. We'll see how I do as the weather gets colder, but so far, I'm holding up.

As for my training as a whole, since I don't have a car (nine weeks now) I haven't been able to really do much planning of workouts. In the past few weeks, I've been tired from commuting everyday and didn't feel like I could handle any extra load. The only real hard efforts I've done have been the random times I've felt up to catching folks on the trail. But I'm hoping that I'm now handling things better and can add some quality to the quantity in time to get some benefit this 'cross season.

I'm thinking right now that I'd like to keep riding this much through the winter. That means, I doubt I'll be taking the break I took last season to train for the Alumni track meet. Should make for an interesting mile time come January, but hopefully it'll pay dividends when road season starts up.

Here's an interesting tidbit from Pez' interview with Greg Lemond. It's very encouraging to hear such an established road racer recommend cyclocross racing in the winter.

Pez: Cyclo-cross has always been popular in Europe and is now booming in the United States with the Crank Brothers U.S. Grand Prix of Cyclo-Cross, Verge events, and others. What was your experience with cross as a competitor and did this influence the design of the highly popular LeMond Poprad cyclo-cross bike?

GL: If you go back to when I first started cycling, cyclo-cross was a mainstay of my winter training. Cyrille Guimard was the coach and each year I was on Renault that team won the French National Cyclo-Cross Championships. Each week from October until January riders would race a minimum of once a week and train 12-14 hours per week with two of those days doing cyclo-cross, very intense, kind of like a time trial. If you think about the physiology of it you maintained a high level of fitness, what you gained all summer. Guimard was really forward in his training regimens by saying you don’t gain all this fitness only to take three months off in the winter and have to start from scratch. That’s what was happening. Back in the 1970’s that’s what riders did, except Merckx. Merckx was racing year round and it showed in his performance in the early season.

It's also noteworthy that he says they were training only 12-14 hours a week. That's about what I'm doing now. Hearing that Saul Raisin was riding 28 hours in a week while he starts his comeback from a brain injury is stunning. That's nearly twice what Lemond was doing.

Another interesting note was what he had to say about young racers starting out. I'm not as young as he's speaking about, but I think it applies to anyone starting out in the sport, regardless of age:

Pez: What advice do you have for juniors and young racers starting out?’

GL: First, get a good coach and especially get connected with a local club or team that has some ex, older, good racers who they can learn from. Bike racing has, in the last 10 to 15 years, become so much about physiology, training, how you do intervals, but bicycle racing isn’t just a physical sport, it’s a tactical sport. You have to learn tactics from other racers and also from racing. As a young racer the more you can race the better. All types of racing, road, track, and criteriums. If you want to be a winner you have to do it all. Even mountain bike races should be included in a young person’s repertoire. Riders should not focus on the quantity of riding but on the quality of their rides, they should learn how to sprint properly and how to do an echelon. I am shocked sometimes when I ride with experienced racers who do not know instinctively to switch an echelon when the wind changes. They should also develop a very good pedal stroke and an ability to rapidly change cadence from low RPMs to high RPMs, where you’re able to use the high pedal speed to accelerate.

Cool to hear such good advice from the first professional cyclist I ever heard of growing up.

I was back up front, where I want to be . . . finishing 2nd at IC Lite. Race Summary to come.

Photo by James R. Wilson

Wow, the cold weather came in a hurry. Just last night I was riding home in a jersey and shorts. I woke up this morning to temperatures in the high thirties and low forties. I didn't think it'd be as cold as it was outside and I left the house in my thermal jacket, leg warmers, and gloves. I originally thought the jacket would be too much, but after about five minutes, I was wishing I had my hat, booties, and bigger gloves. It was darn cold. Needless to say, traffic along the trail was down significantly. The same troopers I saw throughout the winter last year were out there, but there's never anyone headed in my direction once the weather gets chilly.

The skies looked like they might get anrgy, so I was more than happy to hitch a ride behind Pat's electric bike to get home. Riding behind him is just like motor pacing and it's a lot of fun to fly by folks on the trail. We can ride at 26-27 mph consistently and it can be hard work when we hit a long but slight uphill.

Once we hit the gravel on the way to Vienna, I attacked Pat just to see what his bike could do. I got a gap and then settled in to work and try and maintain it. I was tucked and cranking a huge gear TT style and I just held him off to the depot. What a blast! I got back behind him and chilled out the rest of the way home--with the exception of the obligatory KOM point before Hwy. 66.

I had to do a few things around the apartment before I left for work this morning, so the commute started a bit late. But I finally got on the bike and started pedaling. My legs felt like garbage, which is a little bit surprising since I've only ridden three of the last four days. Maybe they're just complaining about the lack of work. Well, I put 'em back to work but really didn't enjoy a single bit of this trip. I was glad when I finally got to my destination and I took a long shower.

Coming home was a lot more interesting because I had the new light to play with. I even stayed a little bit late at work so I'd get a chance to use the light in the conditions I'll face once the time changes. I have to say that the light performed wonderfully. It's incredibly bright. I was blocking it with my hand to keep from blinding people. It was shining on street signs at least 200 yards away. It is without question brighter than my 10W halogen. I'd like to see how it compares to the Cateye Triple Shot Pro or the Niterider MiNewt. If anyone's got one, I'd like to give them a try. Pat certainly got this one built for a lot less than they're asking for those lights.

To round out my day off, I finally made it down the road to check out Pat's new light. It's been a small project of ours to get a bright, yet cheap LED light for commuting once the time changes in a couple of weeks. This is the first go round and it looks pretty good. I didn't get a chance to see it shine after the sun went down, but I think it may work out. It definitely seemed as bright as my 10W Halogen.


The light is about as simple as it gets. It's four Luxeon K2 LED's mounted with lenses to a piece of Aluminum. They're wired in series and connected to 12 AA NiMH batteries that are housed in the water bottle. Running them in series is about as simple as it gets and for now, that's the goal.


The backside looks a bit more complex that it actually is. Being the aerospace engineer that he is, he's doubled the connections coming into the lights. The connections are made with PC jumpers and pins.


And just to speak on the first picture. Pat's big into electric bikes and the wheel covers on the front are hiding a hub motor. So, please, if you see a middle aged dude who's probably not as fit as you and he's taking you to the shed on the trail, think! It's hilarious how many folks have been riding with Pat on the way to work that think he's a freak of nature with incredible acceleration and stamina. He's no freak, just a crafty veteran.

One of the most interesting things about this cyclocross season has been being both racer and mechanic. I've done every single bit of mechanic work on my rig this season, and with that has also come some mistakes. Fortunately, none of those mistakes have cost me in a race--or at least not noticeably.

The first mistake, I made two days before Charm City and I'm hoping it'll be the most expensive one I make this season. The left rear brake boss on my Javelin isn't aligned properly. That's a manufacturing error/QC issue, but the result is that my rear brake pads weren't contacting the rim at the right angle. In trying to bend the brakes to overcome this error, I bent the bolt that holds the smooth shaft brake pad. In doing that, I damaged the threads to lock it in place and when I tried to screw it shut, I sheared the bolt! This bolt is unique to Empella brakes and since Cyclocrossworld.com is the only company selling them in the US, I had to shell out for next day air and a replacement sent of bolts. I have since learned how to properly bend the brakes and now they're at the right angle.
Cost: $40.49

The second mistake I made was beyond a rookie mistake. It was purely a stupid one and so far it was the most dangerous to my race hopes. I lost a bolt out of my seatpost during Charm City and upon examination, it was because I had the top part of the clamp oriented backwards. Basically, I didn't read the piece to see the 'FRONT' stamped on well, the front and I had it in there backwards. That meant it was tough to get the angle I wanted and so I had the back bolt just barely screwed in. One race on the dirt, and it worked its way loose.
Cost: $4.95

The third mistake, I didn't notice until late last week. I lost the crank arm cap/washer on my Dura Ace FC-7700 drive side crank. I didn't think it was much more than a cosmetic error until I noticed the crank bolt was loose moments before the start of my race on Saturday. A new one should keep that bolt tight.
Cost: $8.95

Unfortunately it wasn't the cause of the most perplexing of all problems . . . Moments before the start of my race on Saturday, I started hearing an awful cracking/creaking noise coming either from my bottom bracket or somewhere in the hub/rear derailleur area. I wasn't sure which and I had no idea how to fix the problem, so I had to race with the noise. I did get a little bit better during the race, but never the way it should sound.

So today, I set off on a quest to determine what in the world this noise was. It never happened on the stand. So shifting up and down without any real pressure on the crank sounded just fine and the shifting was normal. So I took it outside and confirmed that the only way to make the noise was to put a lot of resistance against the crank. That meant the noise was heard when starting from a dead stop in just about any gear, but worse when starting in the 42x12.

I first wanted to rule out the hub. That would be the worst case since the Mavic Cosmos I've been riding on have seen very little 'cross action so far. I switched the rear wheel with my road bike's rear wheel. I took it outside again and was actually thrilled to hear that the problem persisted. That ruled out the hub! Or did it? My rear hub on the road bike actually seemed to have some play in it. I tightened it up to take out the play and fortunately, the sound continued. I checked the tightness of the hub on my cross wheel and it was fine.

The remaining possibilites were the BB and either the rear derailleur or chain. It was hard for me to determine where the noise was coming from since I had to ride the bike to hear it. But on Saturday Jess seemed convinced it wasn't the BB. So I went with her recommendation and turned my attention to the rear derailluer and chain.

The more I looked at the problem, the more I became convinced that the chain was somehow slipping to make the noise. And that was consistent with my thought that the chain was one link too long. In my quest to improve the shifting last week, I hadsd finally concluded that the chain was just barely too long. But when I went to shorten it, I realized that the one reason I loved SRAM chains was not a feature in their 10 speed chains!

The link that I thought was a PowerLink is actually called a PowerLOCK on the new chains. That means that you can install the chain without a chain tool, but to remove the chain, it's back to the same old of using a tool. And once you remove the PowerLock, you have to get a new one to reconnect the chain! Ugh. I'm no longer excited about SRAM 10 speed chains. But that's the reason that I decided to leave the chain at its current length. And that one extra link, it turns out, was the cause of this horrible noise.

I had to ride over to Big Wheel Bikes, the closest LBS and snag a Shimano CN-5600 (105 Chain). I checked the length with the SRAM chain I removed, then installed it and voila! The problem was gone. So until I get another PowerLock, I've got a useless SRAM 10 Speed chain laying around.
Cost $27.95


I should comment also that so far the shifting does seem to be better with a Shimano chain the Shimano drivetrain. Go figure! Shifting it more precise also without so much slack in the chain. In the 27 cog, the cage is at about 45 degrees with the horizontal, which in my opinion is about as far as you should go. In the 12 cog, things look exactly as they should, with the two pulleys nearly inline vertically.

Before I go into all the reasons *excuses* that I sucked this weekend, I should say that we've got quite the community racing 'cross. I don't want to dump on the road racing scene, but it's just not the same. I don't know if it's all the MTB'ers racing or if it's just that we've got smaller crowds, but in any case, the guys that race each week are fun to be around. They're good people. It was nice to get some positive words from folks after the race who were probably as upset about their races as I was. They kill me in the sportsmanship department.

This was a strange race for many reasons and the first thing to note was the weather. It rained hard all day Friday and into Saturday morning here in the DC/NOVA area. As a result, the ground was completely saturated and any race here would have been a mudbath. So it was expected that driving north on I-270 in a torrential downpour Saturday morning that we were in for a mudbath similar to that of last year's Hagerstown race. But the surprise came when we hit I-70 and realized that the ground in Hagersown was dry as a bone. I'm not sure if it had rained at all! I also figured that the prospect of rain would have kept folks at home, but there was a full crew in the parking lot when we pulled up.

Since I arrived a bit late due to traffic on 270, the Master's were racing when I got suited up and ready to ride. So instead of getting in my usual pre-ride, I had to just hit the trainer and take in the advice of my teammates who'd already raced. I gleaned two bits of knowledge from them about the course: (1) it was short and (2) it was bumpy. I hit the trainer and had myself a great warmup. My legs were fairly sharp, even with all the miles from the week in them, and I was ready for action. Unfortunately, that's where the positives ended for the day.

As soon as the Master's race ended, I got on the course to pre-ride for a bit before the start. And when I did, I noticed an awful grinding noise that happened each time I applied a lot of pressure to the pedals. The sound was absent if I turned the crank when off the bike, so that explains why I didn't pick up on it on the stand at home. In any case, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was causing the trouble. I couldn't tell whether it was coming from the BB or the rear derailleur area and so it was pretty hard to fix. I was hoping it was something as simple as the jockey pulleys rubbing the cassette and praying it wasn't as expensive as a ruined hub.

I had Matt Donahue try to tell what the problem was while I rode slowly beside him. He noticed the drive side crank, where I was missing a washer and amazingly the crank bolt was loose! I hurried over to his car to tighten it down, but after I did, the sound still remained. There was no time to work on it anymore, so I headed over to the start, still very worried about the noise.

I guess in worrying about the noise, I forgot to test out something that might have actually helped quite a bit during the race. I'd checked the tire pressure briefly before going on my pre-ride and they seemed ok, but I guess I was in too big a rush and didn't check them well enough. The result is that I raced tires that were probably in the 60 psi range and I got knocked around because of it. I thought of this midway through the race when my hands were cramping from applying a deathgrip to the handlebars. I thought, "Wow, my hands haven't hurt like this since Charm City last year--my first 'cross race. Let's see, why'd they hurt there again? Ah, right I was new and thought I should pump up my tires to the max to go fast. Oh crap. My tires are pumped up to commute on, no wonder this hurts."

The course was vastly different than last year due to moving from the high school venue to the Fairgrounds. When I heard Fairgrounds, I had a hunch this course wouldn't suit me, since the last time I raced at a fairgrounds type area was at the MABRA Championships at Fair Hill. Courses made in large open areas tend to have lots of manmade switchbacks in their attempt to be interesting. These switchbacks typically wreak havoc on my day and last season, I crashed three times and really hurt my right knee. I was hoping for a different outcome this time.

As I suspected, this course relied heavily on switchbacks, but it actually had plenty of interesting features. There were two sets of barriers, a sandpit, and a steep hill that was just barely rideable. There was also a very tricky off-camber section. One thing this course was lacking was any assemblance of a power section. Neither the fields of Charm City nor the gravel of Ed Sander were here. I was going to have to grind this one out somehow without the opportunity to make up for my lack of skills.

The only real complaint I had with this course (other than being designed to diminsh all my strengths) was the start. We were lined up literally about 30m from a 180 switchback, going from asphalt to grass. So once the whistle blew, we "sprinted" those 30m only to sit there and wait for the bottleneck to subside and let us continue. Since I was on the front row, I should have no complaints as I was still in the top ten despite not knowing what to do in a start like that. So I had the opportunity, but I failed to capitalize.

My plan coming in to the race had been to put the hurt on early. I wanted to get to the front at all costs and see where that led me. But I had all kinds of trouble navigating the off-camber in a crowd and the bumpy terrain was battering me all over the course. I felt incredibly slow and my place in the race confirmed that. I was also dismounting very poorly and my remounting was even worse. The bumpy terrain after the second set of barriers gave me fits. I couldn't get any rhythm at all and I eventually found myself in a no-mans land. The competition of the race was being decided while I floundered away and that was Todd Hesel soloing to leave everyone (and I mean everyone) in his dust. He was in a league of his own today and made us all look pretty foolish.

I spent probably six laps sucking badly, lamenting my place in the race and trying to figure out what my problem was. I was pissed at myself for being so mentally out of the race and yet I felt helpless to improve my position. Finally, in the last five laps or so, I started to get out of no-mans land. I was hammering the only section resembling a power section on the course. It came right after the sandpit and ran until just before the steep hill. After eyeing a few folks in front, I was able to catch up to Steve Fife on that section and I was thrilled to finally have someone to race rather than floating out in the open just doing rounds of the course.

I figured since I wasn't doing much right, that I'd follow Steve for a bit and see if he was riding any better lines. Unfortunately, he wasn't. He was mainly just going over the barriers better and riding the sand and run-up better. But I was able to hold on to him for a lap or so before finally atttacking him after the sandpit and looking for more riders to catch. I started racing as much as I could and I stayed as focused as I could manage on this course, all the way until the end. Hostetter and O'Hara were on my tail for a while, as was ETown and I'm proud to say that only ETown managed to pass me.

I was desperately trying to make it up to Marc Vettori and Jared Nieters who were riding together just a bit ahead. But I didn't matter how close they seemed, I never made up any ground on those two. Over the last two laps, I did manage to catch Evan Fader, who'd taken a hard spill a few laps prior. Knowing how strong he is on the road, I wasn't sure how to attack, but I danced with what brung me and took him out on the final power section. I stormed up the hill and finished as best I could, taking tenth place, my worst finish this season and a quarter of the points total I took at Charm City.

Looking at the results from this one, it was pretty strange what I saw. The winner was no surprise and second place, Evan Ellicott has raced A's before. But in third and fifth were Brian Fouche and Nieters, both of whom are known for road racing and haven't done all that well in 'cross. With a course as seemingly technical as this, I'm a bit surprised that those two, as well as Evan Fader (pre-crash) faired as well as they did. Taking fourth, sixth, and seventh, were Campbell, Nystrom, and Vettori, stalwarts of the MABRA B's so far this season. Campbell solidified his place and is making that 30th place at Charm City look odd. In many respects, I got lucky on this race. Having a bad day and finishing tenth I was lucky to have so many top spots taken by guys with very few series points coming in. By winning, Todd all but sealed up the series. But Vettori had a bad day as well and I'm still in second place overall despite only garnering six points.

Looking ahead to next week, I've got to compete the entire race. I can't afford to get so shell shocked and end up doing a time trial. I have to get near the front somehow some way. Last year, I had really my first good result here and finished eighth. I'll need to do better than that this time around to hold on to my spot in the standings. Thankfully, if the course is unchanged, there is one huge power section that I consistently made up time on last year. Here's to hoping they haven't changed that!

It was rather chilly this morning, as it has been for the past week, so it didn't matter too much that the only reasonably smelling jersey I had was long sleeve. I suited up and was on the trail at a reasonable hour. I took it fairly easy until latching on to a Master's rider after Gallows Rd. I took the lead once we hit the long stretch after Vienna and I punched it hard. My pack was pretty heavy since I was carrying in shoes and a book, but still, I was moving. Well, he hung tight and was still with me just a little ways behind when we came to the next crossing. I, embarassingly, dropped my chain. By the time I got it fixed, I had to catch up to him and just after I did, he turned off. Anyways, that was fun and it was good to get the legs crankin' since I felt like I didn't get enough work yesterday.

I got to ride home in some great weather and I had to ride all the way with my jersey totally unzipped. The temps were in the upper 70's and it was gorgeous. I was pretty tired and hungry when I rolled into my place and I downed just about any food I could find before heading out for French class downtown. I'm eating so much right now that I feel a bit like a pig. I thought early this weekend I was just eating because I was bored, but then I realized if I stopped eating, my stomach was hurting. So I just kept feeding my face.

Coming into this race, I wasn't quite as focused as I would have liked to have been. My Dad and I drove back from my cousin's wedding the night before. We left Albemarle at 8p and drove till we hit North Richmond at just after midnight. We stopped and slept (or he did, I couldn't because of the snoring) at a Super 8, then got up at 6a and drove home. I threw my bikes in the back of the truck and loaded up the rest and we drove North even further to Lilypons Water Gardens.

We were perfectly on time, so I was able to show Dad the pits and register before riding the course a couple times. I chatted with Morgan Gerlak for most of the first go round, and I was pretty sure this course wasn't going to favor me the way a dry and fast course like Charm City did. It had rained the night before just enough to make things fairly muddy. It wasn't mud like last year's Hagerstown where it was hard just to walk in it, but it was bad enough, that I needed skills.

I warmed up on the road since Jess has my trainer up in Pittsburgh. Jordan, Ryan, and I rod out and back along Lilypons Rd. and I must say that you'll be hard pressed to find a better place to ride. The surfaces are silky smooth and there's a huge shoulder that's almost a designated bike lane. I did a few hard efforts and one start before heading back down and dropping off some stuff with my Dad. I made the last minute decision to keep the glasses on and that was a good call, because otherwise I would have had mud in my eyes.

(Pictures Courtesy of Michael Kirk)

The start was pretty neat because I had the honor of first callup due to my win last week. Todd followed, then Marc, Morgan, and the rest of the contenders. Very cool. The then proceeded to hold us for five minutes for no real good reason. I swear, if they ever did that in a running race and actually expected you to stand still, we'd revolt. But in cycling, they do it all the time. When the whistle blew, I missed my pedal at first, but got it on the second go round and had to wait in line to make the first turn. My start was plenty adequate though and I was in the top ten after the first set of barriers.


The course was exactly the same as last year, with basically four "sections" in my mind. The first is out around the ponds, with the barriers being at the beginning. It's fast, but has quite a bit of switchbacks that slow you down. The second is the long gravel road, which this year was blazing fast. The third is the notorious (for me) run up and steep downhill followed by a steep uphill, a gnarly downhill and then a series of punchy hills. The final section is the downhill back to the start along with a small gravel pit and then the finishing straight past the store. I knew I'd have to own the gravel section and try not to give back too much on the third section.


Coming into the gravel the first time, I was probably in eigth or so and I wanted to move up. So I punched it pretty hard and passed everyone. They were all in single file on the right side, so I just took the left lane and just like that I was in first. It felt great. I wasn't overextending myself and I had gained eight places in a matter of seconds. But when we got to the short run up, I bungled it all away. I chickened out, or stumbled or something and didn't get down the hill fast enough. When we finally finished that third sector, I was right back behind all those guys it seemed. And unfortunately, that would be a microcosm of the day.


Somewhere in the next couple laps, Morgan and Todd built up a lead and I had to concede that I wasn't going to win today. I was getting frustrated that I remained in around the fifth spot and had plenty of folks on my rear trying to pass me. Each time around, I tried to get some rhythm around the ponds, but I felt so slow there. The ground was a bit tacky on the tires and my legs didn't put out the power I needed to be smooth there. The switchbacks killed my momentum because of the narrow passages and I don't feel like I rode that sector well in all of the five times we did it.

But fortunately, I could rest my laurels on the second sector of the gravel. Every single time I hit that, I would stand and hammer as best I could. Only once did I not go full bore--and that was when I was trying to draft off of Steve Fife. I eventually had to go around him and battle the wind.

That third sector gave me fits and really dictated my race no matter what I tried. After doing so poorly on the first go round, I tried to speed up the quick remount and descend, but I never felt comfortable. The hills after that would have been perfect for me had they been dry, but I couldn't ever figure out the best way to ride them. If I stood at the wrong spot, my back tire slipped and I couldn't keep my speed very high. If I sat, I wasn't able to make it to the top. Mike O'Hara actually ran one of the hills and I contemplated following suit, but I felt like it would cost too much time, so I kept riding.


With around two laps to go, I could hear the announcer saying that Morgan had fallen off and was coming apart. That meant Todd had the race sealed up. In front of me then were Marc, Morgan, and an NCVC rider (Rob Campbell). Nipping at my heels were Nystrom and O'Hara. I was desperate to move up and I told myself I had to absolutely bury everything in the gravel. I just couldn't do it enough, or Nystrom and O'Hara could hang, but after another horrid outing in sector three, they actually passed me on the final uphill before sector four, the long downhill back to the store. I was pretty frustrated at that point that I was moving backwards despite my best efforts and I made sure I got those two places right back on the downhill. I passed Nystrom early and then got by O'Hara at pretty high speed.


The last lap was me trying even more desperately to catch Morgan and Campbell. I could finally see them up ahead and when we hit the gravel, I was digging so very deep to make up the ground. I just couldn't quite do it there, but I told myself if I could only ride sector three well, just once, I'd have a shot. Well, I felt as though I rode it the best I had all day, but when I emerged and hit the downhill back to the start, I should have known it was over. I didn't though, and hammered as hard as I could through the mud in the hopes that I could get close enough before the final sprint. I have a lot of confidence in my finishing sprint in 'cross. It's about as close to the kick in the mile as I've found in cycling and I love it. But when I came around the building and saw the finish, Rob was already having his way with the kid. I looked back to make sure O'Hara wasn't close and then sat up. I finished in fifth. Top seven were: Hesel, Vettori, Campbell, Gerlak, Me, O'Hara, Nystrom.

I was disappointed with how the race went. While I knew the conditions would play a role, I hadn't expected to lose so much time. I got in a hole early and never had the skills to get out of it. I was constantly being aggressive and racing, but I didn't have much to show for it except for holding my spot. I think the guys up front have a bit more MTB experience and today it helped a lot. I could have easily wound up seventh or eighth, so I'm at least pleased that my off race wasn't a catastrophe. But with the bar now set so high from my first win, I'm not going to be pleased with fifth. I felt as though with one more lap I would have been third. I did make up ground on the Campbell-Gerlak pair in the final lap, but I had too much to get back. I was frustrated also because I never reached the cracking point the way we did at Charm City. My fitness wasn't the limiting factor in the end, but rather my position and my handling.

I dropped out of the series lead since Todd won. I'm eight points out of first and seven points up from third (Vettori). I'm going to have to get back on the higher steps of the podium to make that back and have Hesel have a day like I had. The series is one quarter over, so there's time. More interestingly is that Nick Bax, who was supposed to be in our race (and whom I picked to win) opted for the A race. And uh, he was fourth! So I guess, he's done with us. We didn't really get much of a crack at him, but he outclassed us with a great race nonetheless.

I commuted in and out early today so that I could catch a train South for my cousin's wedding tomorrow. I took The Crescent Line which continues all the way to New Orleans. Riding the train is generally nice, but I didn't enjoy this ride all that much. The train was packed, with nearly every seat taken and the folks weren't all that nice. There was a lot of really inconsiderate people making quite a bit of noise at inopportune times. But I was in Greensboro by midnight after leaving at 6:30p from Union Station. Funny how the ride home in the car is more tolerable after a plane flight! I know if Jess were along for the trip, this one would have been far more enjoyable.

I'm back commuting on the road bike for the rest of the week, so that's good. I kept it nice an controlled this morning. After Vienna, I tagged along behind a guy in Disco kit and he gave me a nice pull. Eventually he slowed up and I moved on. Other than that, there was absolutely nothing eventful about this ride. I made it to work.

About the time I was due to ride home, the skies opened up in a big thunderstorm. It ended up lasting most of the night, so it was a good thing Pat drove in today. I hitched a ride with him and got home dry and toasty. My legs were happy about that as well. The odd thing is that I've got soreness the way I used to get when I'd miss several days of running. I call it 'guilty soreness'. I'm thinking maybe that started up because of the little bits of running we did for 'cross practice. Perhaps they got to thinking it was cross-country season all over again.

I endured another long commute on the 'cross bike and in the morning I felt like I was near bonking. I need a rest most likely and some food. But I made it in ok--albeit late and then after work I rode over to Lake Fairfax again for 'cross practice.

I worked more on the step through and I'm definitely getting more comfortable. I may even use it in the race on Sunday. Unclipping the left foot will be the last piece and I'm not sure when I'll add that. Right now, it's just too much to think about.

Practice today wasn't quite as productive as yesterday. After doing barriers, we rode laps on a short and long course that Judd had set up. I rode it decently and enjoyed the long run up he put in, but I certainly wasn't riding away from anyone. I'm not sure how it is I won a race with some of the guys there sucking my wheel. If they ride like they did today, but in the race on Sunday, perhaps we'll have a little bit better result from our crew. My technical skills still need tons of work. But I have improved.

George hooked me up with a ride home again. Thank God, because my legs needed a break. I'll be taking it super easy tomorrow and Friday, then Saturday will be off since I'll be in NC for my cousin's wedding.

Shockingly, my win on Sunday impressed folks enough that they gave me my cyclocross upgrade to Cat. 3. I'm now Cat. 3 on the road and the dirt. Now to make those both 2's . . . may be a bit tougher.

I really hate commuting on my 'cross bike. It just makes things frustrating because I can't stop and play in the dirt and it's real slow riding it on the pavement. But I do it anyway so that I can meet up at Lake Fairfax every now and then with Judd, Mel, et. al. to work on my skillz.

Today's workout was exactly the kind of workout I need. I made me feel totally inadequate as far as my cross skills go. I started working on my dismounts. I definitely want to be stepping through with my right leg rather than just dropping it behind my body. And I also want to unclip the left foot before reaching the barriers. That's tricky, but done correctly, it's faster and safer. Judd and Mel both have the dismount/remount down cold. It makes me look like the newbie that I am.

We also worked on some longer run-ups. I did quite well at those given my running background. But I wish I'd actually see one of those in a race. Around here, no one seems to like running. After that we did some climbing of steep hills, trying to simulate hills that are just barely rideable--getting used to going from a quick spin to a grind. Then we went up to the cricket field and rode a bit of leg tensioning/tempo around in the grass.

George was able to give me a ride home again, so I was able to stay for the duration and not have to worry about lights. Tomorrow, I'll be back out at the park for some more 'cross action. I just wish I wasn't commuting on the bike. Maybe I'll get a car soon?

Today, DennisBike, a.k.a. Dennis Smith, posted his shots of the B race on Sunday. As usual his work is stellar and we're lucky to have him working our races. So far he's the only one I've found with shots of the finish. They are quality:

What a great ending to the day. I came home from class tonight and found that my road upgrade finally went through. I'm officially a Cat. 3 now. Bring on the big boys. With a few more good placings, I should be able to match that upgrade in 'cross as well. Also, thanks to Morgan and Georgia making our race notable, we got some mild pub on the BikeReg summary of the race. Pretty cool.

I got back on the bike the morning bright and early for the commute. My right knee is still a bit sore as are my back and my right calf. The weather was downright chilly and I wore my windbreaker for the duration of the ride. I might have even used gloves if I'd had them handy.

I kept the pace to exactly what it should be a day after such a hard effort. My HR rarely ever peeked over 150 and I kept it below even base training pace for most of the time. It's nice to see that the trail is getting less crowded as the weather gets colder. 'Cross season is fully upon us.

It's been hard not thinking about yesterday's win, but once I got the race summary written up, I started to turn my mind towards next week's race at Lilypons. I think it will only get tougher from here. Todd should be ready for more battle and MikeO will surely be looking for redemption.

The ride home from work was great. I had a tailwind the whole way. The temperature was perfect and the sun was out. Since I left at 3p to get home early, the trail was pretty empty as well. I hit tempo for only about five minutes and the rest of the time was easy. A good recovery day.

Charm City Cross

To say I was excited for this race would have been a gross understatement. I made my bike racing debut here last year only two days after discovering clipless pedals. I rode on a hybrid and I had mechanical problems. But I had a blast and that was the start to my love of cyclocross. So I was really looking forward to coming back here with loads of experience from last season as well as a full year training on the bike and away from running. I actually have a bike suited for racing, I'm on a bike team, and I had extremely high hopes for what I could do here.

If you like picture books better, check out the pics Jess took. I've posted them with captions. I thought about firing her for missing the finish, but my agent informed me that I'm contractually obligated to continue the relationship. Seriously though, she took some good ones and it was great know I had her in the pits if I needed her.

My warmups for road races have been pretty lame, but I knew with the way 'cross races start, I couldn't afford not to get the legs snapping. I did some spinning on the trainer and then did starts to get ready on the roads around Druid Hill Park. I then rode one final lap on the course before making my way to the start line just minutes before the whistle. I was fortunate enough to have a starting box on the front row due to my tenth place in the MABRA series last year. On the front row with me were the usual suspects. My favorite for the race, Mike O'Hara of LSV along with C3 riders John Hostetter III and Chris Nystrom. Geogia Gould, the 2006 women's MTB National Champ joined us as well.

Last season my starts were horrendous and I bungled away the only callup I got at Fair Hill. I've been working on starts in practice and most every day because of that weakness and today it paid off. I hit the pedal on the first shot at it and was surprised how quickly I was clipped in. I nailed it, but unfortunately the riders on my left and right converged towards the corner and cut me off a little bit. I had to slow up some, but still made it to the first turn in aroudn 5th place.

O'Hara hit the dirt at top speed with his customary jump into the air. He seemed as excited about the return to 'cross as I did. But unfortunately, his excitement quickly went awry as he took the off carmber left hander at too high a speed and slid off into the course tape. I ended up having to stop when I hit his handlebars, but I was lucky enough to get around him and avoid the carnage behind me. That said, there was a decent gap that had formed up ahead. I started working to close it.

I believe we did eight laps total and the first three were brutal. I was thinking all kinds of negative thoughts and I was hurting. I started thinking that I wasn't fit enough, that I wasn't going to be able to hang in the lead group and that my handling skills weren't any better than last season. But I tried to keep those thoughts out and focus on the task at hand. I had the start I wanted and I was in a great position to do well if I could hang with the pace.

After those first laps, the pace did subside some and I was able to settle in a little more comfortably. I had some trouble in the sand pit when I forgot to dismount and I ended up getting a fist full of sand before recovering quickly. I handled all the other dismounts adequately and my remounts were going very well. I ran most of the hill out in the fields rather than remount immediately after the barriers as some riders were doing.

I was finally able to work my way past Steve Fife on the fields and eventually it was myself and Morgan Gerlak chasing Geogia and Todd Hesel of HVB. I was very impressed by Morgan. He's a 14 year old and last year he wasn't having much success in the B races. I mean, how well can a 13 year old do against men? Well, today he damn well proved he belongs with us and he was keeping me focused when I hurt the most. Needless to say, he had plenty of fans cheering for him on this, his home course.

At one point, I noticed that the gap was growing between Morgan and I and Georgia and Todd. So I said to Morgan, "We've got to close that gap!" He responded with an agreement to work together to work up to them. That's exactly what I wanted to hear, so I did the first of the work. I'm not entirely sure how to work together in a 'cross race. There's not really an advantage gained from drafting, so the effects seem to be more like running in a group. Folks serve to keep you focused, but I'm not sure how much you can actually rest when you're not leading.

In any case, I was able to close down the gap and I'm not sure if that's where Morgan was finally lost or not. But from then on, it was Todd, Georgia, and myself in the lead group. Coming up the asphalt through the start/finish, I was actually in the lead for the first time ever and I was feeling the effort it had taken to get me up to that point. So I sat up in the same way I've seen Vervecken and Nys do in races and I took a gander back at what what behind us. We had a solid gap and I was pretty sure that it would hold to the finish. But Georgia, wasn't as content and she said, "We've got to go, or Morgan's going to catch us." I think she just may have not wanted me to rest, but I went ahead and punched it pretty hard. The announcer loved it and I got to hear, "And the Coppi rider is attacking Georgia Gould." It was cool.

In the closing laps, I was absolutely flying through the off-camber and that time was no exception. I looked back and I had a gap on Todd and Georgia. But after several turns, they were shutting me down and coming into the sand pits, my lead wasn't much any longer. I led at least one lap and nearly two and Georgia was back into the lead at points as well. Todd stuck his head up there now and then, but we were all working hard and the race was on.

Coming back across the road on the penultimate lap, I felt and heard a bolt and washer come off my bike! Inside, I was freaking out, but kept pedaling. I was sure it was a brake bolt, since I'd done so much tweaking in the past week, but a quick check showed me it wasn't--they were working fine. My next guess was the chain ring bolts, but as far as I could tell, they were fine too. I yelled to Jess to get my bike ready as I passed the pits. I didn't know what was wrong, but I assumed I'd find out sooner or later. My mechanicing didn't cost me the race as I didn't find out that it was one of my two seatpost bolts that had fallen out until after the race. There was no problem--thank God!

On the bell lap, Georgia attacked and the announcer noted how early it was for her to be attacking. I'm not sure if that was a mistake or not. Maybe she knew that her handling was her best chance since I think Todd and I were stronger. But in any case, she gapped me and Todd was able to latch on. I was falling back! I didn't panic yet. I just wanted to get through the technical sections without making a big mistake and then get out into the fields where I could make up big ground as I'd done before. I did just that and coming to the barriers at the base of the hill, I passed Georgia and Todd by running up the hill before remounting. They were all on my tail and I tried so hard not to touch my brakes as we flew back across the road.

I nailed it up the hill to the set of natural barriers and from then on, my focus was to protect the lead. I knew that if I could lead after the final set of barriers, that I would most likely win. I could ride the final twists and turn at my own pace because there was no room to pass (remind folks of last year?). As soon as we hit the asphalt and made the turn for home, I knew I had it won. I only halfway sprinted to start with to see if Todd would try to come around or suck my wheel, but I instantly had a gap. From there, I downshifted just as fast as I could and I sprinted all out to the line. I let out a yell, gave the salute and fully enjoyed my first podium and first win in cyclocross.

To win today at Charm City was awesome. It's my favorite course with the exception of Granogue and the competition here is always strong because the MAC season hasn't yet started. I came in with the goal of beating Georgia and putting my nose up front for a spell. I had aspirations of winning but didn't know yet if they were pipe dreams or not. I was hungry but nervous about my chances and to win was more than I could have hoped for. Hat's off to Nystrom, Bernie, Vonteity, Auer, Hostetter, etc. for another great race.

Charm City Preview

I didn't have the time to post this before the race, but here were my predictions for Sunday's race based on the folks who'd pre-registered. I was pretty much right about the heavy hitters. MikeO had a bad day and I think Mayhew is getting into form since he raced the B's and A's on Sunday. Gerlak definitely showed he belongs. Nick Bax didn't pre-reg or I'dve had him in the top 3 for sure.

1. Mike O'Hara 28 Baltimore, MD An avid urban photographer and blogger, Mike surely plans to make this second season of 'cross one worth capturing on film. His rookie campaign was a memorable one with multiple MAC series top ten finishes. He finished 2nd here a year ago--albeit in the C race. He became one of the most consistent Killer B's around last season and he enters this one with a definite bullseye on his back.

2. Georgia Gould 26 Ketchum, ID This course will be all-to-familiar to Gould. Baltimore is where she was first introduced to the sport and ever since then she's been a rider to watch. A relative newbie to the 'cross scene, she nonetheless proved she belonged on the national stage last year. She even dropped by to open up a can on the Killer B's at a couple of MABRA races. But this year on the MTB, she left everyone in her dust and took home the Stars-n-stripes jersey at Pro Nationals. We can barely wait to see what this Idahoan has in store for this year in the mud.

3. Chris Mayhew 30 Pittsburgh, PA Far more well-known for his announcing skills on the MAC circuit, Mayhew put together quite a consistent season a year ago. He's one of the top returners to the B circuit and that experience should get him off to a strong start this season. Certainly, he's capable of winning this one if he's on good form.

4. Steve Fife 32 Reston, VA It's impossible to miss the Rockville Harley colors on this rider. He's always near the front and looking to attack. Last season he showed he can handle a bike off-road and this summer he's shown he's got the engine to do it on the road as well. Narrowly missing the overall at this year's Cat. 4 Tour de Toona, Steve must have plans to give the MABRA 'Cross Crown a shot.

5. Ray Ignosh 32 Breinigsville, PA A relative unkown to the MABRA racers, this rider has proven himself to be very consistent on the competitive MAC circuit. He's a seasoned vet and performs well on the track, the road, and the trails. Surely he will leave his mark on B'more. It's all a question of where his form lies this early in the season. If it's right, he could be a sleeper pick for the win.

6. Marc Vettori 35 Elkton, MD Another popular blogger, with the most off-beat humor in the area. This year he's joined up with the ever powerful Fort crew. Last year he raced mostly Masters races and accorded himself quite well. It's somewhat of a mystery how well he'll perform in B's this season--or even whether he plans to stick around in the category, but to be sure, there will be plenty to write about this one after he's toed the line at Charm City.

7. John Hostetter III 32 Perryville, MD This rider has been a consistent B racer for the past couple years. Last season he showed some great form to reach the podium in a MABRA race, but this season he's no doubt looking for more than that. It remains to be seen whether this is a course that suits him or not. Last season he finished 20th here. We expect a better result the second time around.

8. Chris Nystrom 35 Ellicott City, MD Another one of the B Bloggers, Nystrom is one of the promoters of this fine race. No doubt he will have all the inside information about the course here, but whether all the stress and time spent setting the thing up will take its toll is a question that must be answered. He finished 13th here last year and went on to be very consistent throughout the season when not maligned by mechs and sickness. Big things are expected by folks riding Dugast and Nystrom hopes to do those supple casings proud.

9. Bernard McDonald 39 Baltimore, MD Another one of the tireless promoters, we'll see if he's ready for the season on race day. Trying to gain some for for the season, he's raced sporadically on the roads with relative success. He too fell victim to promoter fatigue last year and finished 22nd. He recovered nicely to finish 7th in a very strong field the following week. But the rest of the season was up and down. He finished it on a high note however, with the birth of a child.

10. Jared Nieters 29 Washington, VA An impressive Cat. 3 racer on the road, it's pretty hard to believe that he won't improve from his 51st place finish here a year ago. There's no doubt that had a little something to do with mechanical trouble. Nieters was conistently just outside the top ten in the MABRA series last year, finishing a season best 7th in the mudfest that was Hagerstown. We think there'll be quite an improvement this season as a season of experience will allow him to use his powerful engine to make a statement on the 'cross scene.

11. Zach Adams 16 Carlisle, PA Last year he proved to be the best junior in the region not named Bax and he did it consistently throughout. He ended his season with a 15th place at Nationals and this season he's joined up with the Fort crew--bringing a strong junior to their fold. Methinks he wants to prove that he's more than just a "junior" and hopes to mix it up quite a bit with the big boys. It's going to require some strength and maturity, but if Adams puts it all together, some of the older folks could be left watching youth pass them by.

12. Todd Hesel 28 Parkville, MD Riding for the black and green of 'cross power HVB, Hesel will look to make up for the loss of Sean Mealey to the A ranks. Hesel raced only sporadically last season, with mixed results, but he proved this summer that he has an engine to be reckoned with. He finished third on the Queen stage of the Tour de Toona and did it emphatically--finishing on that same step of the podium for the KOM competition. Will he be able to put it all together offroad this season? We'll see, but it's hard not to expect success from this rider any time he strikes a pedal in anger.

13. James Ambagis 36 Newark, DE FortJames spent most of last season as a stellar pit-man for the Fort crew. But he also spent most of last season in search of that elusive C race win. He came awfully close two cold days in a row at Fair Hill. There's no telling how he and his fellow C racers will make the leap to the B's, but good things seem to happen to those with hairy legs. We might see a Sampson situation here if he gives in, however. Here's to hoping FortJames can hold off Delilah and put Fort in the thick of things in the only series they didn't dominate last year.

14. The Field: Pomajevich, Milinkovic, Sauder, Berson, Bowman, Gerlak, Harshman, Kirk, and Lea, and Fader. These are guys we either know nothing about or just didn't crack the top 13. Any of these riders could easily ride themselves into the top 10 or perhaps pull off the win. And that's saying nothing about those who scorned pre-reg. One thing's for sure: we're in for a terrific season of cyclocross this year. Let the racing begin!

Today's race was in Wilmington, DE. When we arrived, it was supposed to be exactly one hour to the start of my race, so I suited up and went to register, but I found out then that they were running an hour behind schedule because the cops didn't show up on time to close off the downtown crit course. Once they did, we had a great course to race on. This was easily one of my favorite courses.

The course was of the 'figure eight' variety, with eight corners, rather than the usual four of a rectangle. And this made for a fun course. Just after and just before the start/finish, there were two decent hills, and in the middle, there was a steep downhill. It was in the very urban downtown setting of Wilmington, DE. It was a great venue.

From the gun, three riders including Clifton Chamberlin of Harley built a small gap. I was in front of the peloton and I, nor any of the others, really felt like closing the gap. It was early, there were 18-19 laps still to come and what was the point? The gap got a little bigger in the next few laps, but still nothing huge. Eventually, Clifton dropped back to the peloton. I'm guessing he did this because he assumed the break would be caught and he didn't want to work as hard. Jess seemed to think he couldn't hang in the break, so I'm not sure what he was up to.


Well, after Clifton returned to the peloton, the break got further and further up the road. The gap was large enough that they would disappear around corners. I started asking Jess for time checks with ~15 laps to go and when I heard 19 seconds, I was scratching my head a bit. There was no reason those two guys should be adding time.

I started trying to get the pace up and I went to the front a few times and pulled. Each time I did, no one would aid in the pacemaking, with the exception of my teammate, Mark Skubis and a few other random guys--no of whom really pulled all that hard. This being the Delaware State Crit Championship, I assumed that FSVS would do some work, considering they had a lot of riders in the field. I told them as much in the race, but they never did anything. I told Skubis that I thought we'd start catching the break, but if we didn't, at 6 to go, we should bridge the gap as a duo.

Well, somewhere in the neighborhood of 11-12 laps to go, I wanted to bump up the pace, so I went to the front and hit it hard. I looked back and had a gap. Oh well, I thought, I guess I'm going for the solo bridge . . . It was decently windy--the way it can get in downtowns with large buildings. So I was a bit worried about whether I could actually bridge on my own. But I settled in and put my head down.


I had Jess giving me time checks and I started gaining on the leading two riders. I closed to within eight seconds, and had them in my sights, but I couldn't quite close the deal. They dangled out there in front of me and I kept losing time in some of the more technical turns. Eventually I started hearing time checks that were about like twelve seconds to the leaders and twelve seconds back to the peloton. I was well in control of no-mans-land. With less than five laps remaining, I started to think the peloton was gaining. They'd widdled my lead down to twelve seconds from about eighteen seconds, so I realized I'd better worry more about preserving my spot than on chasing down the front two.

With four remaining, I was hammering a straight section before the finish when I heard a rider on my wheel. I was stunned, I looked back and saw Clifton and assumed that the peloton was with him. Thank God they weren't! I told him to pull, but he wanted to rest some and I was ok with that if he'd help us close the gap once he did. I pulled through the finish and then motioned for him to take over.

Well, he did a bit too good of a job. Since I'd been out there for about 10 miles without any cover from the wind, I was pretty gassed. When we went to pull, he instantly had a tiny gap and I should have closed it immediately. But comiing into a technical turn, I lost a bit more gap to him and it only got bigger. My legs were starting to really hurt.

Clifton eventually made it up to the two leaders and I was happy to keep my fourth place. The two leaders duked it out for the win, with Clifton a bit too tired to fight, rolling in behind them. I came a short time later, followed by my teammate Skubis winning the field sprint for fifth.


Looking back on this one, it's somewhat a bittersweet result. I got fourth place and sealed up my upgrade to Cat. 3, but I came into this race reenergized to race well and knowing I could win. Had I gone with the two leaders early in the race, I think I would have won or at worst been second. But with all the knowledge of a year of racing, I still would never go with a break that early. Without the peloton being so unmotivated and poorly organized, that break would have easily been brought back. But that's racin'. They got lucky today and pulled off the win.

Today my legs were crappy--what else is new? I'm pretty sore on my right side from the crash, but it's not that big a deal. I rode fine. I'm back on the road bike for a bit. This is mainly to add speed to my commute, but I'm also planning to race twice more on the road before calling it a season. This weekend, I'll be in Wilmington, DE and the following weekend will be the district RR championships out in Poolesville, MD. Too bad there won't be any dirt involved this time.

Coming home, I was bored and wasn't all that thrilled about twenty more miles on crappy legs. So I decided to follow the advice of this article, and see if I could maintain a cadence of 105 rpm. That's a very fast spin considering I'm usually in the low to mid 80's. But I spun things up and shifted to keep the spin going accordingly. That usually meant lots of upshifting. A funny thing happened: I had fun! It was something different mostly, but I had something to pass the time with and it kept me from getting frustrated with my legs.

With the wedding, moving, and all of that this summer, I basically gave up on any assemblance of a training plan, and since starting back, I've mostly just hammered my way back to fitness. That's only partially worked and it's left me with consistently tired legs. Being sick didn't help matters and the crash yesterday was just piling on. But I'm much more optimistic about 'cross season. I plan to rest more. There, I said it: Rest.

For the second Wednesday in a row, I met up with the crew for cyclocross practice. We had a bigger group this week with Eric Marshall, Peter Nicoll, and two other non-Coppis joining up with myself, Judd, and Mel. With all the rains of the past week, we decided to avoid Lake Fairfax and Difficult Run and to instead hit the gravel heading West.

We started tearing up the trail. I was feeling strong and having a blast until the tril decided to tear me up. Riding behind Eric, I entered a section not far from Orbital that I've ridden many times heading East. It's easir that way as you see the ruts in the ground a little more easily. Since I was riding behind Eric, I couldn't see very far ahead and I didn't pick up the rut very fast. When I did, I was able to get up on the ridge going around it--or so I thought. Apparently I got the front wheel up there, but the back wheel decided to stay put and I went down hard.

We were probably riding in the 18-20 mph range and I hit the ground on my right side and slid for a ways. The gravel I was in was about like what you'd put in your driveway. It hurt. I layed there for a short bit composing myself and letting the sting of fresh flesh sink in. I was bleeding on my right forearm and right hip. There was quite a bit of dirt in my arm. My shorts were only slightly ripped. My right shifter was pushed way out of alignment and had some dirt inside it. My bartape had a huge gash in it.

I picked myself up and reseated the chain, which despite my 2 guards, came off after the crash. We continued on West until the crossing with 28 and then turned around to head East. On the way back, we played a game where the guy in front would yell, "Run," and then we'd all dismount, carry the bike over some imaginary barriers, shoulder it and then run for a bit, all before remounting the bike and continuing on our way. We did that a few times before making it back to Michael Faraday Ct.

Once we got back, it was time for Peter and I to start heading home to Arlington. I was feeling pretty whipped at that point, but we kept the pace very respectable. I even raced him up the hill at 66 and got a little mroe than I bargained for. I was wearing the dots, however, so I had to gut that out and nip him at the top. From there we mostly chilled out and I turned off at the Custis Trail.

When I got home, David gave me a hand cooking while I scrubbed my wounds in the shower. After we had the meal ready, I was feeling weak, the way I did a couple weeks ago when I was sick. I forced down the food though since I hadn't really eaten much since lunch. Then I called it a night and tried to figure out how I could sleep without bleeding all over my sheets. Ugh. I'd post pictures of the carnage, but Jess has my camera up in PA.

It was lucky that I decided to hang on to the rental car until this afternoon as it was pouring when I woke up this morning. I left the 'cross bike in the back of the car from the trip back home last night, so I was all set to head to work. Since I'd told Pat I might need a ride in case of bad weather, he was pretty stunned to see my bike in the office. No, I'm not quite that hardcore.

It cleared up nicely by quittin' time and I hit a few trails on the way home. Since I'd accidentally left my trail pump in Pittsburgh, I was a little worried about flatting and I considered stopping in Reston to get another pump. But ignored that though and kept on riding. I was riding the trails and just before Hunter Mill, I started feeling a little more bottoming out on my rear wheel than I'm used to. When I stopped to check the tire, it was really low. I was stunned I was able to ride on it, but I continued on. Well, not long after that, I was riding on the rim--I had a flat.

I walked up the hill and then stopped at the bench in front of Hunter Mill Rd. Since it was so wet out, there weren't nearly as many folks out and I started to get worried that I wouldn't see anyone with a pump come by. But after a few minutes, I yelled out to a guy riding a nice Bianchi fixed gear. He didn't have a pump, but he had some CO2 cartridges and was more than happy to donate one to my cause. I only had a tube for my road bike, but I stuck it in there and pumped it up and continued on to Reston. He was an Army infantry officer stationed at Bolling AFB. Nice guy.

When I got to Reston, I stopped in at Spokes and picked up 2 tubes and a pump. Jess needs one too, so buying another pump was probably long overdue. I kept my wheels as is and rolled home without incident. When I got home, I took out my PVC barriers for the first time and went down the street to set them up in the park. I rode around in the mud and got good and nasty. I did quite a few barrier drills.

My biggest problem with barriers right now is doing them under control. A few times I came in with a bit too much speed and would have crashed into the first one. I also tend to get to much momentum for the remount and I nearly missed the saddle in the wrong spot a couple of times. My weaknesses were exacerabated by the wet conditions, but I got in some good work nonetheless. It was true 'cross weather today to be sure.

The rains of Ernesto finally subsided and today has been pretty nice. I'm up in Jefferson Hills, PA helping Jess get all settled in to her new place. After church this morning, the plan was to go mountain/cross biking some in Pittsburgh. Well, after a long nap, we finally got our act together and loaded up the car.

After a decently long drive into the city on the Blue Belt, we made our way to Frick Park. I found the playground off of Beechwood Ave., that I read about, but there wasn't any good parking other than the street, so we kept driving until we found a small parking area at the base of a huge hill. It was at the enterance to the "Fire Trail" so we upacked the bikes and started cranking.

The trails of Frick Park are a lot of fun. We didn't do really any of the singletrack that I'd read about, but instead explored the park on the double wide gravel paths. We rode up to Cowboy Hill and the Bowling Green, the Northernmost sections of the park. We explored a bit more around there before checking out a map and realizing we needed to head West to get to the bulk of the park. We rode along Beechwood to the playground and the across the wide open fields.

It was just getting dark as we were discovering more interesting trails, so we had to hightail it back to the car. Neither Jess nor I had previously gone as fast offroad as we did descending back the car. The 'cross bike was absolutely perfect for these trails and I'm looking forward to exploring some of the singletrack next time we come back. It's a shame that the six months Jess will sepnd here that most of it will probably see this park covered in snow. I worked on a few starts and remounts before calling it a day.

So far, I have to say that as a city, I really like Pittsburgh. The downtown is pretty cool with all the rivers and bridges and it seems like its got some intersting things to do. We drove through Squirrel Hill I believe it was as well as a few other neighborhoods and I had to pick my jaw off the floor after seeing a few of the mansions along the way. It's easy to see that there was once quite a bit of money around these parts. There must be some here still.

I didn't think losing my cellphone was that big of deal, but after looking at the cost of a new replacement (CraigList and eBay are a helluva lot better) and also realizing how many numbers I'd lost, I got a little more motivated to try my hand at finding the thing somewhere in Lake Fairfax Park. Finding the phone was also a great motivation to get out for a second day on the 'cross bike riding some trails and I conned Jess in to coming along for the ride.

We rode the Difficult Run section several times looking for the phone and made many loops of the fields, but we came up empty handed again. I spent the rest of the time exploring the park with Jess and finished things up with a few mounts and remounts.

Ernesto decided to hold off on the big rain for a day. Tomorrow we should see plenty, but today was just a Boston-like kind of day. It feels like Fall and the overcast skies and getting me ever more prepared for a cyclocross race.

Today was the first of what will be weekly cyclocross practices with the team. It was the day that Ernesto started to rear its ugly head, so Judd and Melanie were the only ones to come out in the misty rain. We started from Michael Faraday Ct. and rode on Difficult Run to Lake Faifax Park. From there we rode loops around the fields there to warm-up some.

All was well until Melanie noticed a tool fall out of my seatbag. As soon as she mentioned it, my heart sank because I knew my cellphone, drivers license, and credit cards had probably already fallen out. I was right and so we started retracing our steps around the fields. Melanie found my license and credit cards, but after several loops we were unable to spot the cellphone. We gave up and then rode back along Difficult Run to the W&OD and headed East.

We rode the gravel trails alongside the paved trail that I commute on and I was decently pleased with my bike-handling. Occaisonally, we'd dismount and run with the bikes for a bit, then remount and continue on. We finally made it to Vienna, and for lack of a better place, we found a spot in the park there to do some barrier drills. Judd set up a board against a lightpost and we were set. I did more mounts and remounts over that barrier than I probably did all of last season. And for that, I know I'm already better. It's going to be a great season.

I had to leave Vienna with enough time to make it home before it was terribly dark. I had to ride the last few miles with the guide of the trail lights, but I finally made it home around 8p. My bike definitely looks like a cyclocross bike now--there's plenty of dirt and mud to go around.

I had to take a day off from work to go with Jess up to Pittsburgh to meet the movers bringing her stuff to the Steel City. More precisely, it's the West Mifflin area, but in any case, I sure wish we could have the place she'll have there for what that rent will be. The drive's about 3.5-4 hours. I'm sure I'll have those roads memorized soon enough.

When we got back this evening, we grabbed the bikes and went out on the trail for a bit. I took the 'cross bike to slow me down a bit. We rode mostly on the W&OD with a few explorations on the Four Mile Run Trail. When we finished up, I spent a few minutes outside behind the apt. working on my dismounts and remounts. I'm already lightyears better than I was at any point last year.

Negatives? Well, I'm not liking it when I hit the tire on my foot in a sharp turn. I moved the cleats forward a bit to match the position of my road shoes, but there's still too much overlap. I'm hoping I get used to it because I almost crashed messing around on a hill tonight because of it.

Probably the bigger concern is the front brake chatter. It's ridiculous. I'm not sure what I can really do about it. If I'm braking going downhill, it's almost not worth using the front brake at all. You can actually see the fork deforming when it chatters. I guess I can setup the front brakes not to have so much mechanical advantage, but then what's the point? I won't have much stopping power. Ideas??

My Ride

My cyclocross bike is a 54cm Javelin Primitivo. The top tube is effectively 53cm--giving me a shorter reach than my road bike by 2cm. With the slightly raised bottom bracket (1.5cm higher than the Amarone) it's just the right standover height. The frame is made from 7005 butted Aluminum tubing. It has S-bend seatstays and chainstays. All the cables are routed along the oval-shaped top tube.

I have a Zero 1-1/8" Cyclocross All Carbon Fork, which so far likes to chatter quite a bit. The Alpha Q CX is a bit out of my price range at the moment. Perhaps that will be a future upgrade? Changing very little from last year, I think I'll remain with the Mavic CXP-22 Rims laced to Shimano 105 Hubs. The came with the bike off eBay, so I'll use my Mavic Cosmos' as a spare set. They're up for a beating.

I plan to ride clinchers for a while unless I happen upon a pot of gold. I'll be using the Michelin Mud 2 (700x30c) when the rain starts and until then, I'll probably run the Ritchey Alpha Bite Trail Mix (700x35c). Whatever tubes I happen to have on hand will work just fine.

I picked up an old Shimano Dura Ace FC-7700 172.5mm crankset off eBay. I added a Shimano Ultegra FC-6500 42t, 'A type' chainring along with a pair of Rapuano Carbon Guards. Since I didn't shift once last year, I think the single ring setup will do just fine. It's simple, clean, and lightweight. It should eliminate the problem of dropping the chain.

The bottom bracket is a Shimano Ultegra BB6500, 68x109.5mm, English Spline V1 BB. If you're wondering about the single ring setup, I used a Sugino triple bolt set of 15mm backing nuts and bolts along with 3.5 mm spacers. Only a single carbon guard is put inside the spider. All else is put outside. Chain line looks to be fine this way.

I actually added the Time ATAC XS to my bike last season but only had the opportunity to try them out once. I didn't have them properly setup and I went on to my worst race of the season. This time, they're ready to rock and should do a great job of clearing mud.


Finishing off the drivetrain is an Shimano Ultegra RD-6600 SS rear derailleur along with an Shimano Ultegra CS-6600 12-27. The chain is my favorite: a SRAM PC-1090. Finally there's an alternative to Shimano's 10 speed chain and this one has a PowerLock--making it that much easier to clean up after a day in the mud.

The cockpit in all it's glory: A 44cm FSA Energy T handlebar (31.8mm) with classic bend. On the right I have a Shimano Dura Ace 7801 10sp STI Lever and on the left simply a Shimano R600 left brake lever. I made the mistake of getting used to the precision of Dura Ace shifters, so there's no going back now.

The cockpit is covered up nicely by a matching color of F'iz:k's silver Microtex tape. It's been great on my road bike so we'll have to see how it hold up to a season of 'cross. I picked up an extra roll to maybe give the bike some clean threads before Natz.

I have the same on my road bike and after hearing horrors of broken seatposts, I'll accept nothing less than a Thomson. This one is an Elite 27.2mm x 330mm. At the end is a F'iz:k Pave saddle with Cro-Mo rails.



Also the same as my road bike, I've got an FSA OS-115 120mm stem. The brake hanger is the ubiquitous Problem Solvers. The Cane Creek S2 headset is of the traditional variety, one of the reasons I like the Javelin. Jess is a big fan of the skink on the Cane Creek label.


I've yet to race on a wide profile cantilever, so this will be an experiment. But these Empella Frogglegs definitely give more clearance than an Avid brake lever. So far they definitely have less stopping power, but I'm still working on the adjustment. The brake pads are standard issue with Frogglegs and both the shift and brake cables are Jagwire Ripcord.

Day two of my sickness wasn't quite as bad as the first. I think skipping the planned race this morning had a lot to do with that one. Tylenol Cold and Sinus is doing wonders along with the fluids that Jess keeps on me to drink. It was great to be in church for a second week in a row.


After church, Jess and I were treated to a tour of the West Wing of the White House. Thanks so much to our guide--one of the guys I ride bikes with. He was a great host and it was a thrill to see so much history before us. The Oval Office is pretty special.


We were also able to catch a glimpse of the President as he exited Marine One on the South Lawn. We had to peer through a doorway to see it from a distance, but it was still neat to see any President in living color. We even exchanged a few words with Josh Bolten, the new Chief of Staff as he was walking along the colonade.


After the tour was over, we met one of the President's personal photographers as well as seeing the President and First Lady's personal aides. Coming in the gate as we were exiting was none other than Karl Rove. I stared at him for a while to make sure I had it right and he gave us a wave. I wonder who else was in the black SUV? His face was so distinctive it was easy to make out.

It's nice to race so close to home and today the race was just in Chantilly. Jess and I made the drive out there real quick. I met up with John Larson and we rode warmup laps on the course. The course was basically a backwards and longer Quicksilver, with smaller rolling hills. For those not familiar with Quicksilver, this course is 'D' shape, with the start/finish on the straight section and the race running down on that section. The start/finish was at the end of a long very subtle rise--enough to make your legs burn, but certainly nothing worthy of being dubbed a "hill." After many laps and a few hard efforts, I was ready to roll and I started from the front row.

On this course, I knew starting at the front wasn't terribly critical and I'd already committed myself to not being aggressive until the final couple laps. I knew this pace would be blistering because of the rolling nature and the immaculate pavement. I was certain that this would be about riding around in circles for a while and then sprinting for the line. Obviously, this is not my kind of race but hey, I still need those points.


The plan was supposed to be most of the Coppis (and there were a few in this race) working for Skubis. He said he had good legs and after Quicksilver, he was the only guy who'd shown any assemblance of a sprint. I'd be on my own, just trying to sneak in for fifth. Well, I'll spare the details of all fifteen laps, but bascially it went like this: I actually made good on my committment not to take a pull and sat mostly in the middle to front of the group. I tried to find the right position for coming out of the final turn, but never really settled on something I liked. A few Coppi's and random other riders took a few pointless flyers off the front and they were all reeled in with ease.


With two laps to go, I started contemplating when to get aggressive, but I was not at all feeling strong. So I spent those final two laps trying to rest until the last possible moment. I was able to get into a good position near the end when Coppi teammate, Eric, took a flier that people actually got a bit worried about. There was no need since we were pretty far from the finish, but the pace picked up anyways. Well, Eric did an incredibly stupid and dangerous thing and sat up right in the middle of the road. That meant the pack was closing on him probably ten mph faster and he was in the way. I'm amazed no one crashed. But I made it around his outside and into good position in the final turn.


I came out of that turn with a chance to make good on my goal and I gave it absolutely everything I could muster. At some point Jose and another rider sprinted away, then another two did the same. That left what was left of the field vying for that fifth spot I so coveted. I wasn't in a great position, but I hammered to see what I could get and started having some hope when I passed several riders. But with probably twenty meters to the line, I had to sit down and pedal. I got passed by three guys, ending up in eighth.


Immediately after I crossed the line, I felt horrible. I'd woke up this morning feeling a bit strange, but nothing too bad. But after I crossed the line, it was pretty obvious--I was sick. After waiting around forever for results, I finally left before they were official and headed home to bed. I slept for four hours and pounded the liquids. Then I woke up and watched the night race at Bristol. I was running a fever and possibly the worst headache I've ever had. But I think this'll blow over in a day or two--it usually does.

Finishing eighth is frustrating since it seems like it's been an eternity since I finished in the points. But really to finish eighth on a course so poorly suited to my strengths isn't all that bad. Perhaps if I hadn't been so under the weather I might've had what it took to sneak in there for fifth or even take a flyer to win. Since Pfeiffer Hill, I've raced five criteriums, two road races, and a time trial. I've finished 7th, 8th, and 11th (twice) but otherwise haven't been a factor. I think my time off is the excuse for Toona, the competition the excuse for Christiana, and the rest are just crits that I haven't quite mastered yet. But I'm still close and staying positive.

Unfortunately, since I'm sick, I won't get to try my hand at ending the wait at the Back-to-School criterium up in Charm City. So I guess I've got only a few more chances this season: Wilmington Crit., two weeks from Sunday, followed by the MABRA RR Championships and Turkey Day Race the following week. Ugh! I'm ready to focus on 'cross.

See all of Jess' pictures here.