Whadya know? I can finish a race on the road. I was down in NC visiting family this weekend and stopped over in Salisbury, NC to race the High Rock Lake Road Race. This time out I managed to do a lot better.

The course was a 13 mile nearly-pancake flat loop on immaculate tarmac. Apparently it had just been paved and boy could you tell. It was silky smooth and clean. Chances of getting a flat today were way down. The field in my Cat. 3 only race was rather small with no team really having more than about five guys. Franklin Street Cycles, Salisbury's team, and Pfeiffer University were the main groups. The rest of us were on our own.

We did five laps plus a finishing section of about a mile--the total listed was 68 miles. I can say that I raced this one tactically very smart but just got a bit unlucky in my final decisions. I spent the entire race sitting in the back and avoiding taking a pull at all costs. It was really amazing to me how many times people tried breakaways when it was obvious they weren't going to work without happening very close to the finish line. So there I sat. Many times I would look back and find myself completely in the rear. That doesn't work so well in a crit, but in a RR like this one, it's not such an issue.

It was without question the most boring race I've ever done. Each time we came through the feed zone I could casually chat with Jess while exchanging a bottle and wave at my parents. The pace wasn't all that slow, but when you never find yourself on the front, it isn't that hard. My biggest concern most of the time was that I really needed to pee. Not being confident enough to do that on the bike, I had to try and focus on other things.

Heading into the final lap, I was poised to see what I could do. My bet was that it was all going to end in a bunch sprint so I continued to ignore the breakaways. But somewhere in the last four miles or so a group of 7 or 8 made it off the front and there wasn't the usual push to bring them back. Either everyone was thinking like me and not wanting to waste energy or they were tired already. I'm not totally sure. I tried to surf between a few of the guys that were trying to bridge across and they didn't like that at all! Shocking ;-) I was still thinking that the break would come back so I didn't want to work at all--just cover my bases if it didn't.


Well, we never bridged up far enough and that group never came back, so I retreated to the peloton just before the entered the finishing mile and tried to get ready for the sprint. I was able to bully my way into a line of riders once the finish line came into sight and once the sprint started I gave it all I had. I finished 3rd in the field sprint and somewhere around 10th or 11th on the race I think. Not bad for 'cross training. Good base miles. Considering that I got 3rd in the sprint, I think the field may have been more tired than I anticipated. Had I tried to take off and bridge on my own, it may have worked. Who knows? That's road racing I guess.

I finally got some pain in my legs today. It came via basically derny pacing on the trail home from work. Pat rode his electric hub motor powered bike in front of me and gave it full gas. I sat in his slipstream and held on for dear life. The stops to cross roads and slow down to pass folks on the trail served to make this a blend of tempo and intervals. In short, I think it was a perfect workout for a crit or for 'cross. I'm thinking if Pat's willing that I'll make it a fixture of my workout routine.

The legs felt good, but I'm glad I'm finding the holes in my fitness real quick. I don't have much of a sustained top end power push. The few accelerations I did were solid and overall I'm in good shape--meaning I'm not dying right now writing this. So more work this weekend in the High Rock Lake Road Race at home in NC and then we'll see what I've got after another week of training.

2007 Cyclocross Schedule

Looking back at last season, I raced only eight times. I raced every MABRA race (Charm City, Ed Sander, AVC, IC Lite, Coppi, Race Pace, and the Championships). I only raced once in the MAC, my home turf of Lake Fairfax Park for the Captial Cross Classic. Most of that season schedule was determined by splitting time between Arlington and Jefferson Hills, PA where Jess was living.

This year, there shouldn't be any restrictions on travel, so I'm set to race a full slate. The plan now is to race sixteen times. I'll race all but two of the MABRA (AVC and the Championships), all but one of the MAC (Highland Park), as well as Whitmore's early in the season, the new DC race, the NJ stops of the USGP, and the late season Rockburn 'Cross. IC Lite was dropped from MABRA and is now part of the PA series.


It's possible, depending on how I fare during the early MAC races that I could end up going to Highland Park. But the drive is awfully daunting when there's a race so close in Sykesville, MD. It's also possible that I could end up racing the MABRA Championships if we don't travel for Thanksgiving. With a schedule so full (10 out of 12 weeks racing) I think I'll be challenged to keep races rather than to add more.

Highlights of the season:

1. Charm City. This is one of the most enjoyable racing experiences around. It's the first week of the season here in the Mid Atlantic and everyone is jazzed up for 'cross. The course is well designed and fast. Not to mention that I pulled off a B-series win last year.

2. Whitmore's. I've heard great things about the course design here and with family on Long Island this trip should be fun. I figure a weekend experiencing the big time racing scene will get me better prepared for . . .

3. Granogue. The MAC opener. I've raced it only once, back in 2005 and I loved it. Hopefully it hasn't changed much because the course was epic and seeing the Kona boys roll was the highlight of my first year in 'cross. Reviews from last year were more than enough to make me feel bad about missing this one. I won't make the same mistake again this year.

4. DCCX. To have a real cyclocross race inside the district will be a unique experience. In its first year, there's very little info out there about this one, so it's anyone's guess at to the venue and course layout. But knowing a few of the CityBikes crew, they'll pull off a great race.

5. Tacchino. This is Squadra Coppi's race and the one course that I get to play a hand in setup. Last year the course was a good blend of technique and power. The hill in the middle helped me shed some of the competition and I do more than hope that this year's course will again play to my strengths.

6. Beacon. I've never been to this one, but every picture I see of the sand and the stairs reminds me of the action across the pond. I'm very much looking forward to a race that requires a good bit of running. Hopefully by this point in the season I'll be battle hardened.

7. USGP. I don't always hear good things about the USGP series, but there's no denying that it always draws out the big boys. It's too bad we lose 2 races out of the MAC series because of it. I can't wait to see the action after I'm done racing. It'll be my first time in attendance at a USGP race. I'm not sure what to expect from the racing at my level at an even like this. My guess is MAC+, so a very high level.

8. Cap Cross. I can't say that I truly enjoy this course because every time I've raced here I've performed below my expectations. But this year, if I can stay focused on racing for the entire season, this race will be a grand way to finish things off. It's my home course, so I think it's about time that I did something here that I was proud of.


One topic that's been very interesting to me this year has been budgeting. Jess and I are detailed about our budget and so I figured I'd come up with an estimate of exactly what it will cost to race this season of 'cross. I figure the cost of just racing comes in three ways: fuel, hotels, and entry fees. With the cost of the races being $25 plus a $2.80 BikeReg.com service charge, the grand total for waging war on two wheels comes in at $27.80 per race. My estimate of fuel is based on the roundtrip mileage in the car listed above. Conservatively (at least right now) I'm estimating gas to be $3.00/gallon and the Honda CR-V to get 26 mpg. That works out to $0.12/mile. Planning ahead, it looks like I'll only need 3 night in hotels. Staying in a HoJo and a Days Inn keeps the costs low there. Grand total: $976.45 for a season of 'cross.

Of course, this calculation doesn't include things like some of the inevitable eating out on the road rather than cooking at home. Nor does it include equipment costs in the case that something breaks. But I think $1K for the season isn't a bad estimate of what this hobby truly costs.

Raceday! Wake Up Call! I traveled up North to Williamsport, MD for the River City Classic. It was again this year, the Age Graded Criterium Championships, but they also held a 3/4 race. Last year I led this race solo for quite a while before being reeled in to setup for the sprint. This year, well, things didn't exactly go the same way.

I've made it no secret that I haven't raced much this road season and that any racing I do at this point is with the intention of getting ready for cyclocross. It's a good thing that I did get out to race today, because I got the wake up call and additional motivation to train that I have needed for months. This was quite a quality field on a moderately technical course and I was no match.

I lined up near the back, intent on being passive the entire race. Once the gun went off I found a spot 3/4ths back from the front in the peloton and settled in. The first several rounds, the turns were pretty slow as folks figured things out, but after that we got crankin'. I never really found my way up towards the front as I should have, and instead I started losing ground.


The final turn before the finish was just slightly more than a 90 degree turn, and I really never figured out how to make this one at any speed. It's been my MO in crits that I can't corner well enough to be a factor, but I've never had it cost me the way it did today. Each time we came to that critical juncture on course, I lost maybe five yards. And every time I did that, I had to get out of the saddle and sprint up the slight incline to catch back on. It was a classic case of the criterium accordion--except that I didn't do the contracting part for too long. I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but at some point, a group of three of us lost contact with the peloton and that was all she wrote.

We were toast. But silly me, never having been dropped before, I got more and more frustrated at myself for sucking in the turn and not having enough power to catch back on. I didn't start working with the other two until after a few laps and by that point it was painfully obvious we weren't going to finish the race. The peloton eventually was out of sight on the straightaways, then out of sight through the alleys and then, with ten laps to go, the official blew the whistle. I sat up, unzipped my skinsuit and coasted uphill to the car.


Probably the most embarrassing thing was that I had enough time to change into my street clothes and jog back to the finish in time to see the winners sprint to victory. Ouch.

So why did I suck so much today? Well, I've got three reasons er excuses. The first is that I think the quality of the Category 3 group this year is a lot better than it was last year in my first season on the road. Back then, I was continually frustrated with the lack of aggressive pace and that's why I was out solo. This year, there were some major players in the race and they made this one the hammerfest that I've always been looking for. Congrats to all the racers who finished in the main field. You guys raced hard and should be proud. Especially the three juniors who were in there battling right up to the finish.

The second is one that's already been discussed: I can't corner worth a crap. I did improve some as the race wore on, but I never mastered that final turn. I think I could have masked the third reason a lot more if I had been good at riding the corners fast.

The final reason is of course the reason that I'm glad I showed up today: I'm out of shape--or I'm at least I'm out of top end speed and raw power. I have a decent amount of fitness. My legs are used to lots of aerobic mileage, so I've got some base to work with. They have not, however turned a stroke in oxygen debt in quite a while and today showed that. The speed of the race was a shock to the system and my legs were screaming.

Between now and September 23, when cyclocross kicks into gear, I've got to get some speed back. It's going to take some tempo workouts and some racing. I need to spend some time in agony, some time remembering what it's like to pedal in anger, and some time riding with the motivation of not embarrassing myself. In short, I've got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in. But I've got motivation now, and this year, that's been half the battle.

It's time for me to start blogging again. Charm City is only 39 days away and 'cross season will soon be upon us. Let's see if I can make some regular posts as a sign of the cyclocross season.



I've dropped off the racing map since the Poolesville Road Race back in May. My motivation for racing on the road completely deserted me and so I deserted the racing scene. Since then I've only raced once--a lap at the Pleasant Valley Road Race--and I flatted. But there's something about 'cross season that I knew would stoke my competitive fires again.

I'm now riding every weekday and trying to regain my form. I think I'm nearly back to having a reasonable base and since 'cross isn't as reliant on lots of mileage, I'm hopeful that this season can be a full success. I'll start throwing in some tempo eventually and next week I should have my 'cross bike setup to start skills work. "Racing" at MIT's alumni meet should be a shock to the running system. Maybe by then I can get enough miles on my new shoes to make the purchase worthwhile.

If nothing else, I'm motivated by the fact that I'll be a step above the MABRA B's this year. Since I finished second in the MABRA B series last year to Todd Hesel and won two races (bookends), I think several of us are due to take a step up. I'm planning on racing the MAC B's and MABRA A's. MAC B's are a lot more competitive than the MABRA B races, so that will be halfway between where I came from and fully making an A leap.

I raced last year's MABRA Championship with the A's and that's what I've remembered all off-season. It was Thanksgiving weekend, I wasn't training well, the course was awesome--though muddy, and I sucked bigtime. I remember that racing for an hour was a long time and I remember the lonely feeling of knowing only one man was behind me in the race. I had no speed and no control and I felt like I had no business being in the race. So this year, I'm hoping to erase some of those memories and find some success at a level above MABRA B's.



Since my first exposure to the MAC scene at Granogue two years ago, I've been hooked on 'cross. I can't wait to finally get in a full season of MAC racing--though I'm not especially looking forward to all the cash I'll have to spend on gas and hotels. It will be intense and a little less laid back than the MABRA races, but I think it will be a lot of fun and I can't help but get better.

One of the toughest parts about getting up at 6a to ride in to work is dealing with my stomach. A lot of times I wake up with an upset stomach and I have to spend time just hanging around until it calms down. It's usually worse when I haven't slept all that well, but the good news is that if I have a little bit to eat and maybe a trip to the toilet, things settle down.

The other tough thing is when it's either bitterly cold or rainy. Lately, it hasn't been much of either, but today it was rainy. I left the house in my Coppi windbreaker (ie not waterproof) and just after crossing 7, the rain got worse. So I pulled over and put on my raincoat and booties--along with my new neoprene gloves. From there on, I was feeling pretty good. Since it was so warm out, I didn't put on my rain pants. My legs didn't mind the dampness one bit. Coming over the rise just after the stretch in Vienna, I was all alone and hearing The Bruch in my ears what just what I needed. It doesn't get much more beautiful than that.

Today was only a half day since I use Fridays to catch up on work hours. Jess drops by and picks me up on her way home from Pittsburgh, so it's nice to have at least half a day off once in a while. Overall, my legs feel terrific. If I could just sleep a little better, I'd be perfect.

Well, it's that time of year again . . . the time after all the seasons are over and I'm building up a base that I become completely enamored with the sport all over again. I'm happy to report that my enthusiasm for the bike is at it's annual winter peak. Seeing as I'm now at week 18 of living without a car during the week, that's good timing. Right now I'm spending my time building up a base as big as I can handle. I'm back home after spending the holidays with Jess in Pittsburgh, so I'm seeing 2.5 hours of riding each weekday, split up of course into 1.25 hour segments in the AM and PM. That's the 40 mile roundtrip to work everyday. I'm hoping to make it out the DC Velo 7am ride or a Coppi jaunt this weekend, which should add at least 50 miles and 3-4 hours to the total--not to mention some climbing, a bump up of the pace, and some friendly competition. My goal, I think, is to settle at 300 mi/week, which should be about 18 hours in the saddle. Because the volume is so high for me, I'm not really hammering much these days. Waking up at 6a every morning is tough, but I'm getting in the miles and so far I'm not sick or really feeling all that tired. Of course, I haven't done much on the weekends up to this point, so it's possible that once I start doing rides on Saturday and Sunday, I could feel it a bit.

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.