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race reports, tell us how you did?

1K views 19 replies 13 participants last post by  GMF 
#1 ·
How did your last race go? race stories please.
 
#10 ·
Epic conditions on the last race today. Temp was 12F, with wind chill of -7F. About 3-4 inches of snow on the ground. I only rode one lap on the pre-ride. I figured after the C race, the course would be easier to ride anyway.

So I started towards the back, because I wanted to stay away from the madness at the front. That was a bad idea. The start was actually pretty mellow, so, I ended up having to pass and close a large gap to the leaders after only a lap in. There was 4 of us in the lead group, and on the "last lap", I put in some big efforts (along with everyone else), and made it from 4th to 2nd. When we came through the finish, we heard "one to go!" Great. So 3/4 of the way through the real last lap, I got passed on a run up. No big deal. I tried railing some corners to get past, but was just sliding around. Figured I'll just ride clean. I didnt have the legs to get him on the final straight. So, I came in 3rd.

That gave me the points I needed to secure 5th overall in the series. So, 2 podiums today, and a great finish to the season! I actually had fun out there in the snow and cold!

On a side note...perfect conditions for tubulars. I did my pre-ride with 24.5 psi front and 26.5 psi rear. I let air out of both tires before the start, and never checked them. I'm guessing I let a good 2 psi out though. I'm a lightweight also, but, still nice to run such low pressure!
 
#7 ·
It was rainy, windy and about 50f today, -perfect cx weather. the course was pretty flat with a few very short hills and rolls, and two runups, mostly on slick grass and thin mud covering small round rocks (drainrock). I was sitting 8th in the series and got the last front row callup. Starts are always super fast (as you all know), a friend in my group got the holeshot but slid out baseball style in the first corner and had a bad race from there. I fell back to high teens, but after 2nd laps moved a few places up. Last half lap I thought I might be able to catch the guy in front of me, I really started pouring it on with about a 1/4 mile to go and got within 30 feet of him at the beginning of the wide-paved long finishing straight (he knew I was there), I had more speed and we both shifted up, he looked over his left shoulder as I was 20 feet back and closing, and I came up fast on the right for the sprint finish, and I got him by half a bike length! I have never been a good sprinter so that was fun. I finished 12th, I'm guessing 40-50 guys in my group, that should move me up a spot or two in the overall, and if 2 guys move up a category I may have a chance at a top 5 for the season, which is better than I had hoped for, I dared to hope for a top 10 for the season.
My 9 year old son had a head cold but raced anyway, he worked really hard to try to hang onto 6th as another boy was catching him, it was also a sprint finish and I'm not sure who won. My son puked shortly after, puking after a race is such a great rite of passage. Everybody remembers their first race puke.
 
#9 ·
Unfortunately, i don't really know how my last race went - maybe ya'll can help me out. Well, i do know I had fun, but I'm not sure if the scoring was messed up.

It started off bad - fast into the first corner, slid a bit on the loose gravel, dropped both my foot and my chain. Put the chain back on and continued in the race DFL out of 22 in the masters B. Average fitness but decent technical skills let me move up the field a few places, but I wasn't keeping track. I believe i did end up getting lapped by the race leader.

Where it gets confusing is that when i look at the split times, they list me as in 16th place, but call my final position as 13th. Also, I raced 6 laps - does that 6th lap not count because I was lapped? But if that is the case, I crossed the line on my 5th lap before the 12th place person (according to their timing) and know i passed one more person on the final lap (but they could have been in a different group).

Can you more experienced folk help me make sense of all this?

Place: 16 Rider: 642 Damon Campbell Time: 00:39:06.3 Laps: 5 Average: 00:07:49.2
Lap Lap Time Elapsed Time Place Notes
1 00:08:03.3 00:09:03.3 16 16th
2 00:07:37.0 00:16:40.3 14 16th to 14th
3 00:07:49.0 00:24:29.3 14 14th
4 00:07:48.5 00:32:17.8 14 14th
5 00:07:48.5 00:40:06.3 13 14th to 13th
 
#11 ·
Promised I'd post this weekend's results, so here goes:

35+A races 6&7 of 7

Course had over 75 turns, most of which were off camber, and many were tight, steep, and greasy.......... being 6'4", I didn't stand a chance.

I rode the sand well both days, and only went down once. (wrong tire choice on Sun) Several really good riders went down very hard and DNF'ed, so considering I'm not the best bike handler, I not gonna whine about getting outa there without a scratch.

Sat. 6/12
Sun. 5/10

Finished forth in the series, which is a little disappointing, considering I beat the second and third place guys, in the first two races.

FWIW, the series winner took all three races at Jingle Cross (55+) last weekend.
 
#12 ·
Tried my first cross race in the SoCalcross series this last weekend. 21 guys entered the single speed class. Had a mid pack start and worked up to 3rd by the end of the 1st lap. Got onto the leaders wheel by the 2nd lap and started to pull a gap on the field by the 3rd lap. We had a good cushion after that, I was running a tall gear so the leader kept trying to gap me on the short climbs but that wasn't working for him. Mid way through the last lap sitting on his wheel we go into a sharp right and he washes out. I took off for the win by around 30 seconds. Great first cross race, especially after racing and winning the day before in the final Southridge SS MTB race.
 
#13 ·
Raced last weekend in Grass Valley, CA, in C45+ group. Race is part of the Sac CX series. Early in the race got caught behind a traffic jam in a narrow section that had a series of railroad ties requiring dismounting. Course had more hills than earlier races and was able to gain back a few positions in the hill climbs lost at the jam. Had enough gas at the end to edge out another racer in an all out sprint at the finish line to finish middle of the pack.
 
#14 ·
To the complete a-hole in the masters(1-4)55+ field trying to pass me (while at the back of the 45+) in the tightest and most rooty section of the course by tell me to "get the F out of the way", I hope you crash in Sunday's race and smash your knee cap. It's D-bags like you that convince me I'm done with the NE cross scene. I miss the PNW scene, where racing is still cool. If you tell me you want my line, or you're coming on the inside of a corner, totally cool, I'll work with you especially because you were in the top 5 of your group. But to slow you down while you holler ridicules crap behind me was the highlight of my race. FU. Of course, I know mr. d-bag isn't going to see this post, he clearly was a roadie.
 
#15 ·
Survivor Cross 2013. Iowa. 16 degrees and breezy. Icy and snow packed.
14 miles(2 laps) on the grounds of Living History Farms. Creeks crossings. Steep climbs that you basically need to use ropes and backpack your bike up the 50ft embankments.
200 started. 41 finished. I was #41 at 2:10 total chip time.

Basically, it was stupid cold! Like the first 3 miles of cornfields and open hills, I thought that I might loose some fingers since they were so cold(even in double layer gloves!) but then the first creek crossing made me realize parts of me could be colder so maybe I should stop *****in and suck it up. I finished in complete darkness and was last to cross the line. My shoes were frozen to my feet(toes are fine, I had wool base layers and that saved my fingers & toes!) and once I warmed up(like half way back to Lincoln), I realized I had bruises in places I didn't even know existed! Funny how the cold numbs you all over to injury!
But actually during the whole thing, as people were dropping out left & right from frozen derailleurs and cold extremities, I kept making lists in my head of how I would do things different next year(dropping out never crossed my mind....like usual, I would die on the mountain...yes, I am that dumb!). So I guess my mind wants to go back.
I took and rode the Nature Boy and it was the perfect choice. Light, geared well. Brakes froze up mid first lap, but you just learn to put your foot down and push the bike sideways to like "dig stop" your tires sideways on the snow. Or tree. Or creek. Or livestock. I did have a chat with livestock(I love races that have spectators of the animal variety). Second time I passed the horses, I was like "Yup, y'all think we crazy, huh?! You right. I know, I know, pedal harder, everybody is a critic!"
I finished smiling, just like usual. I win. I did get a raffle win of a $250 bad ass cooler!!! Holy ****, that thing is awesome!

Bicycle tire Bicycle wheel rim Bicycle wheel Bicycle frame Bicycle part


Product Machine Plastic Windsor chair Games
 
#19 ·
We had our final race of the series today, it was really surprisingly nice weather for December, high 40s and high clouds. I did a 'proper' warmup on the trainer, and missed callups so I had to start at the back, -oh well. An old mtb race friend/mentor showed up to watch, that was cool, I haven't seen him in years; having an old race/training/riding buddy cheering you on is helpful!
It was at a fairgrounds, lots of grass, some mud, and a pretty big runup, probably 50' vertical, about 'stairs' steep, and some singletrack down from the runup area.
I worked up to probably 20th before the runup, I've been doing runups like this one as part of my regular training for about a year, and today was the payoff. I was able to pass about 5 guys on the first runup, and pretty much stayed even except when we came to the runup and I'd pass a couple more, working my way up to 13th at the finish, and 8th ( for the season I think). There was a section where we went through a covered arena (horse) with sand, kind of like a chicane off a main gravel road, the sand had a packed line, maybe 12-18 inches wide through a steady curve for 100' or so. First time through I got off on the soft edge and had a close call, the next times through I'd remind myself to 'look where you want to go' and I was fine. 2nd to last lap a guy passed me kind of unnecessarily close just before that sand arena, he got off the edge in the arena, went from one side to the other, and lost a lost of speed so I was able to blast by him again, I put a gap on him on the runup and even though I'm sure he was riding faster than me I was able to finish ahead of him due to the runup.
Dead legs tonight, and thankfully I was not in a sprint to the finish situation (like the last 2 races), those really hurt me.
 
#20 ·
Another race with the CCCX series in California central coast. Beautiful weather and finally got my family out to watch. Raced Masters 35+ C. Fairly small turnout - maybe 20 to 25 including masters and open. It was a fun, fast course, with some technical sections, hardly any running, though. I managed to get the hole shot and led for the first lap. There were some sandy switch backs that i kept losing a little ground on, but I more than made up for it on the speed descent (air time). I dropped the intensity a bit and stayed with the lead guys and tried to get out of the wind a bit dropping to 3rd.
The most exciting part of the race was when I tried to pass for the lead in an off-line on the inside/downhill side of a pretty steeply off-camper section. The other rider started drifting down into me and we were leaning shoulder to shoulder. I made it out unscathed and felt a bit bad, but apparently he was crashing quite a bit for the entirety of the race. In general, stayed with the lead, tried to ride smart, and was able to sprint for the win.

Time to move up to the Bs!
 
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