MABRA Championships -- In which I get a new Hat & Jersey

Ok, so after 2 years of getting smacked around generally in the “Elite” 45+ races in the Super 8 series (Tacchino, DCCX, etc), and based on the fact that the 3/4 35+/45+ (aka “B Masters”) race at the Sportif Cup series races was earlier in the day, I did the B Masters at Psychocross a while back, and hey, I won the 45+ subgroup (let's be clear, I didn't win the race overall, I was like 8th or something). Suddenly I was actually tied for the lead in the 45+ part of that series with Pete Lindeman who had won the 45+ BCA race (that I skipped because it sucks).  What to do? well, I decided I’d need to defend that series.  So, I started doing the B-Masters races in the Sportif  series.  I had a disappointing 3^rd at Seneca (all these placings are w/I the 45+), but I won AACX, beating Pete; after AACX, Pete was slightly ahead of me, but he also admitted he was burned out and done racing.  I didn’t have a great Patapsco, getting 3^rd again among the 45+ subgroup, but it put me well ahead in the series.  Going into the MABRA Champs at Taneytown today, which is also the end of the Sportif series, I had a 40-something point lead over Pete, and a 68 point lead over Eric Schmidt of Cycle-Smart.  Eric would have to win, and me get worse than 21^st among the 45+ subgroup for him to overtake me.

In the past, I haven’t really like Taneytown, mainly the thick-ass mud, but today’s course was good, wide and flowing, but challenging with off cambers in good places.  However, it still is fundamentally flat.  It was a big ring power course, which doesn’t fully fit my profile (steep nearly unrideable hill, why yes, thank you).  Oh, and it was freezing cold.

The boys and I loaded up the car pre-7AM, as the sun was rising:

Liam went off first.  I got no photos or video because I was warming up for my race.  He didn't have a great race after several weeks off from racing. 

Then it was my turn.  It was grey and in the 30s (Garmin says average temp for the race was 35).  I got a front row start based on my points in the overall series.  I got possibly my worst start of the season, but my sole goal was to keep an eye on Eric Schmidt.  Well, I slot into the top 15-ish, and there is a cycle-smart guy right in front of me.  I’m fine with that.  If I can see him, I’m winning.  At some point, maybe 2nd lap, he got a gap after the wheel I was following didn’t go hard enough.  Still, I’m fine. (At some point a few laps in, something started hitting me in the face, and I thought it was gravel but then realized it was sleep & snow, just a burst).  Eventually Marc Klein rides up to me.  Now, Marc has a big engine, and this course should have let him kill me.  I jumped on his wheel and let him pull a bit, but he wasn’t going fast enough at times, so we worked together a bit.  Then with about 2 laps to go, I noticed some guys coming from behind (not super close, but getting closer), including a second guy from cyclesmart (that I thought was the 35+ guy from that team; I don’t really know either of them).  Still, I drilled it to put pressure on Marc and move us forward.  Marc indicated at one point that he couldn’t come to the front to work, so I thought he was on the ropes a bit.  On the last lap, going up the gravel road “climb” (more like a false flat), I got Marc to pull, but at the top I went around him so I could be first through the twisting section that was the last 1/3 of the lap.  It was all out time now, no holding back.  Marc was tenaciously holding on.  There was a technical drop-in that was barely rideable, and may have been faster to run.  On the last lap we were catching another guy, I tried to ride the drop-in, but he bobbled so I bobbled and basically stopped both Marc and I.  This was within 1 minute of the finish line.  I remounted and “hammered” as carefully as I could around the final off camber turn, and going on to the finishing pavement I fish-tailed in the gravel, but then sprinted all out to gap Marc, which I held.

When I crossed the line (12th overall), I gave a happy little pump of the fist, figuring I had secured the series.  Oh, but wait.  The Cycle-smart guy who was in front of us was 35+.  Eric Schmidt was the one who was chasing us.  I had won the 45+ 3/4  sub-race as well as the series!  So, I am the Cat 3/4  45+ MABRA Champion (I have a hat to prove it) and the Sportif Cup Cat 3/4 45+ Series Champion (I got a jersey to prove it).  I am officially the King of the Old B-Masters!  ;-)

New hat

Eric apparently left before the podium

 

Me & 55+ series winner Jim Bronsen photo by Broken Spoke Photography

a photo by Doug Graham

It may sound stupid, it's a minor thing, but I really wanted to accomplish this, and I’m happy I did.  I’ve actually never won a cross race, or series, or anything, so I’ll take this. Pete and I were talking about this.  We're good Cat 3s for our age, but will never be competitive with the guys who have been life-long Cat 1s and 2s.  So, among a bunch of strong guys like Pete, and Marc, and George Schultz and Eric Schmitt, I'm happy to have pulled this off.

Jake's race was much later (4 hours later).  He lined up in the back with the other newly minted Cat 2s.

Elite "scrub" zone

Jake got a poor start, slotting basically 3rd from last.  He admitted that he was surprised by just how fast the start and first lap really was.  He got gapped a little so didn't have the advantage of a draft so was working that much harder.  But I encouraged him to ride hard and try to catch guys from behind, which he did.
Here are some videos.  Prologue (he needed to be closer to the wheel in front of him):

 Jake has caught one guy and is catching a guy from Freddie Fu racing

He rode with him a while before dropping him

Jake chases another guy on the final lap

He was 16th, 7th among Cat 2s.  A learning experience.

It was a long day.  We didn't get home until 6PM. 

sunset on the drive home

Still 3 more races left in the season.  I’ll be back in the elite 45+, and playing Soigneur Dad to Jake.  Thanks to the sponsors of the Sportif Cup Series for the races.

Rockburn CX - a Story of Redemption & Victory

So, last week I didn't do a blog.  I'll tell you why: Jake had a bad race and was very upset about it. At Schooly Mill Jake went hard to win for the first 80% of the race, going off the front, but some mistakes in fueling and drinking, and the hard efforts caught up to him and he cracked bad on the last lap. He was very unhappy about it, very upset.  But we talked about as a learning experience.

And Saturday we tried making the Rice Cakes from Allen Lim's "Feed Zone" cookbook.  He had 2 before the race today.

 Well, during the week I had to fly to California on Wednesday and home on Friday, for my 3rd week in a row of travel.  Not good for me. But Rockburn is a great course for me. I've done well there, and this year's course was another perfect blend of speed and flow and technical demands. I got a decent start in the Elite 45+.  Some chaos in the sand left most of us behind the front 10, but they are the Cat 1s and 2s.  I was near George and Shawn Downey and Jon Hicks so I was doing ok.  I was a little off that group fighing the wind on the 1st lap, but got up to them mid race and was able to go by them at some point.  For the last lap I was battling with John Rogers, who has been riding really well this year.  We went into the final U-Turns before the pavement finish, but when I tried to shift into the big ring to sprint (a mistake) the shift didn't happen and so I never had a chance to sprint.  But I was 12th, which was good. I was happy with the guys I battled and beat, who have been beating me all year.

So then it was time for Jake to get ready.  I told him a few things about the course and we talked about him riding smart.

Jake got a good start and sure enough jumped off the front pretty much immediately.

 By the barriers and then climb mid lap he had a 50 meter gap. (you can watch a larger version of any of these videos by clicking on "YouTube" in the lower corner)

But when he came back out of the woods he was in 8th.  He had crashed on some loose gravel.
He made his way forward through that group and got together with Jay Dove and another guy.

They had a sizeable gap on the rest of the field after 2 laps and were taking turns at the front.

Sand on Lap 3

Some photos by Doug Graham

Here's the end of the lap on the technical U-Turns before the pavement

Jake made his move, attacking just after the pavement right after this.

photo by Doug Graham

 After the sand, which was about 1/4 of the way into the lap he had a big gap (that's Neil Shirmer going to tell him too). I'm not much of a fan of "heckling" but listen to the end of this clip:

The game was on.  He had 2 laps to go and was off the front.  What I didn't know was that his front tire had lost air.  It only had 18psi when he was done so he was having to be careful in the corners (and he said he tried to put it in cruise a little to make it to the end)

Jay Dove put in a hard chase and ultimately closed to within 10 seconds.  Here Jake gets the bell for the final lap.  Jake had about 15 seconds with Jay chasing hard.

Jay was sliding around corners try to close, but Jake was clear for the win:

Doug got this great shot (we should get this done life size):

Photo by Doug

Photo by Doug

It was awesome. I'm so proud of him for coming back from the bad race last week.  Thanks to his sponsors and supporters, like Bicycle Outfitters, Van Dessel bikes, Doug Graham, and Coach Sue Hefler.  And thanks to AVC for the great prizes including a beer preme that I gladly accepted on his behalf (and am drinking now), although he did get a taste. Thanks to the guys in the Cat 3 races, like Jay and Larry who have been so great

This was his 2nd win as a Cat 3, which under USA Cycling rules means an automatic upgrade to Cat 2. He also has 25 points and needs only 10 to upgrade, so this evening we submitted his upgrade request.  He is one of only 9 15-16 year old boys in the country who are Cat 2s.  His goal for the season met.  From now on, he races the Elite races, which are 60 Minutes (ouch).

Patapsco Cyclocross

Well, this weekend turned weird.  We had never thought we were going to race the Patapsco CX race in Mount Airy, MD. I had to fly to California on Thursday for hearing on Friday and then fly home, scheduled to arrive around Midnight. So we were going to skip the Saturday race so that Jake would have fresh legs for the NCVC Sander Cyclocross race at Lily Ponds, a course that Jake should be able to crush.

But then Superstorm Sandy dumped too much water on Lily Ponds, literally 2 feet of standing water, so NCVC had to postpone the race, rescheduled to December 18.  So we made the last minute decision to get our race in on Saturday at Patapsco.  I would have crap legs, but it would let me get some points in the 45+ Cat 3/4 series in the Sportif Cup series.

I got to California and my email immediately informed me that the court had postponed the hearing until 11/15 and so my trip was pointless.  But I got to fly back a little earlier, still arriving around 6pm on Friday.

It was pretty cold and the sky was gray, when me Jake and Liam got up early for the 1 hour drive.  Temps were around 40, but then the wind came up big time and the wind chill got pretty cold. It seemed like December.  I will note, as Soigneur Dad, that we have really got our car packing routine down pretty solid.

the view of the mountains from Mt. Airy

The course was hilly and challenging with a small sand pit just before the final 100 meters of pavement to the finish line.

Liam got a good start, but didn't have a great race, I thought.

Unfortunately, he had a bobble on a tricky uphill off-camber turn and his right shift lever hit a little tree, bending it.  it worked but not properly.

He rode the sand the final lap, which was really good

He ended up 7th out of 10.

Following last week's lead, I did not warm up on the trainer, instead just used the laps of the course I did.  Plus the wind was picking up and it was cold.  I was shivering at the starting line.  Based on series results I was on the front row.  I started and just down the pavement didn't think we were going hard enough so I went hard on the front.  This got me through the potential pinch points cleanly, but probably was too hard.  I stayed with the top 5 for most of the first lap but that was probably too agressive.  I started to loose pace and places.  George Schultz and Kosta caught up to me but I couldn't stay on their wheel.  This was a problem because I know George is 45+.  Then I botched the Sand 2 laps and lost a place to another 45+ guy. The wind was tough.  I felt like I was able to start going fast again for the last 1.5-2 laps, and caught one guy and was closing on George, but it was too late.  I was 3rd in the 45+ and 14th overall.  Not good.  I blame the travel and the foolish start. Kosta finished 9th. Wish I could have stayed with him.

I quickly shifted into Jake mode as his race started immediately after mine.  He also was on the front row.  Crossresult.com had predicted that Jake would be second behind Andrew Weber of Wooden Wheels who is from Pennsylvania (and who it turns out won both races up there last weekend).  He's the same guy who caught Jake on the last lap at Winchester.

Jake was about 3rd off the pavement.

But Jake immediately went to the front on the hill after the pavement and quickly had about a 20 yard gap on the field; Here's a photo by Tanner's Dad, Bill Browne, of Jake taking the front at the top of that climb, Tanner hot on his wheel (Bill had said to me at the end of the last year that Jake and Tanner would be on the podium of Cat 3 races this year, and he was right)*.

Photo by Bill Browne (thanks Bill)

By the second hill, Jake had a 30 yard gap, and then the guy in 2nd bobbled creating and even bigger gap.  I was worried that he had gone too early. Jake won the Preme they had for first to the sand pit.  By the time he came back into the mid lap it was him and....Andrew Weber off the front with Tanner Browne and one of his Bike Doctor teammates about 7 seconds back. Jake and Andrew worked together a bit and Tanner and his teammate were working hard to try and catch them.  But after 2 or so laps the gap was solidly at 15 seconds. Andrew created a little gap after the 2nd lap, and the fight was then to close that gap. Jake and Andrew both botched the sand at one point. Which let the chasers get a little closer, but they opened it back up to 15 seconds.

here are a series of videos about "the gap" (and some you can see the gap to the chasers)

He was very close with 1 lap to go. Here are some coverage:
Mid lap final lap

the downhill heading back to the final half lap

Photo from Andy Fleming

Here he is just 4 seconds behind going into the last minute

And the final time through the sand.. jake was closing

But not to be.  Jake was 2nd (and Andrew Weber 1st, just as crossresults.com predicted (damn them)

The pain of not winning (I wish I were good enough to suffer this)

After fighting off a late surge by others, Tanner's teammate took 3rd and Tanner fought well for 4th.  Larry Miller made his way up to 5th after hovering around 7th much of the race.

We need to get him a Team Kit jacket so he can get out of his skinsuit

Still, a good race.  It gives him plenty of points to upgrade to Cat 2, which he will do for the races in December (unless he wins before that and gets the "mandatory" upgrade under the rules). So, yeah, watch it guys in the 123 race, you've been warned, he's coming ;-)

Luke Klausen had a good race in the Cat 4 race, battling for the win also, but just coming up short for 2nd.  Poor Andy Fleming destroyed his rear derailleur somehow (his great comment on FaceBook "My (dad's) wallet suffered DNFing")

After the race we went up to Patapsco Bike & Sport, which had sponsored the race, and used the Preme gift certificate to buy Jake some nice mid-weight gloves that would have been good for today's race (he wore heavy gloves and his hands were very sweaty).  Thanks to the shop for the sponsorship.

*Jake & Tanner are two of the top 15 ranked 15-16 year olds in the country, but neither are going to Nationals, fyi, USA Cycling.