Soigneur Dad Rides Again -- Cincy3 CX weekend

It's been a while since I posted.  Just hasn't been a post-worthy kinda time.  But this was a big Soigneur Dad kinda weekend so I'm inspired.

Intro
This past weekend was the Cincinnati 3 day cyclocross festival (aka Cincy3 CX).  It is special because it is one of the few races in the US that has the "UCI 17-18" race, which draws the top 16 and 17 year old boys in the country seeking UCI points and bids for Euro Cross Camp and the US National Team for cyclocross World Championships.

Now, Jake's cyclocross season hasn't been up to his usual standards.  He took a forced 2 weeks off the bike when he got back from Europe in late August, which is just a terrible time to take a break before cyclocross season.  Then his races have had various problems (tires losing air, chains getting jammed in the frame), so his race fitness/strength is still behind by like a month or more.  So, the approach and expectations have been adjusted, but Cincy was on the schedule and we were going.

We would not do the Friday race, but the Saturday race was a twilight race for the boys and then the pros would race at night, so we could watch them immediately after the boys' race.  So, that would be very cool.

My Best Man from my wedding, Brent Peebles, and his wife Laura (Brent and Laura were our best friends in law school and for several years after, until they moved away, abandoning us) live in Mason Ohio just a few miles from the Saturday course, so Jake and I would stay with them in their palatial Ohio home.  I drove down to Charlottesville Thursday night, then got up early and picked up Jake from Miller School at 7:30 Friday to start the 6.5-7 hour drive through West Virginia and central Ohio.  The Hylander was jammed with stuff

West Virginia was beautiful.  The trees were actually a little past peak, but the early morning light in the mountains was incredible.  The iphone from the car doesn't do it justice:

We got to Brent & Laura's house around 3 and after I had a conference call, we went over to the Saturday course to pre-ride and loosen up.  It had rained and it was muddy and soft already with some long soft power sections, a hard, heavy sand pit of may 50 yards long.  Hundreds of riders the next day would definitely turn it into a muddy course.  Boy would it.  Friday night we hung out with Brent (Laura and their daughter were at a high school football game)

SATURDAY
Saturday morning I met Dan Klaussen (Soigneur Dad #3 and Coppi master racer) and Bill Browne (Soigneur Dad #2 and retired Cat 2) at the venue to set up tents for our Mid Atlantic compound.

Dan raced the 45+ Cat 4 race at noon....AND WON! That happened just as I got there 2 hours before my race, so I didn't get a photo.  Luke supposedly has one on his phone, but blew through his data package so we don't have the photo yet.
and here's the photo

I was registered for the Cat 3 35+ race.  They run all the Cat 3s as well as the single speed racers together in a giant wave.  Due to a staging rule I didn't know about, I was staged 123 out of 137 racers.  It would be a game of how many people could I pass.  I was at the very back of this:

I won't give a blow by blow, but it was so crazy that multiple times in the first few minutes a mass of us were off our bikes standing still waiting to get through a turn.  I wiggled and bumped my way through pretty good, but by the second lap didn't feel super.  It was a heavy effort.  Here are a bunch of photos by Laura (hers are with the phone) and Bill Browne (his are the ones from a nice camera) that show conditions:

green means go (by Bill)

 

Bill got good shots of my poor drivetrain

by Laura

this was a slog of a climb; really soft ground

Bill's zoom gets in close

here I ride the grass at the edge of the tape for traction

it became faster to run

early action by Laura

 

Bill captures the running

 

the sand pit; I'm on the left up at the top (by Laura)

 

I finished 60th overall, so passed 60-ish people.  I never saw what I was among the 35+ subgroup.  This is what my bike and drivetrain were like after.  It weighed a solid 5-7 pounds more after the race, and I really could feel it on the last few laps.

My new shoes

 

But then it was time to jump into Soigneur Dad mode.  Jake and Luke and Tanner were pre-riding the course and warming up on the trainers while Dan, Bill & I scurried around them like a bunch of over-active mother hens.  We worked well together.  Dan cleaned my bike so Jake could use the mud tires on his pit bike.

Every Soigneur Dad's dream -- the UCI Pit Pass:

The boys got staged.  Random draw for those without UCI points, which meant everyone except for 4 boys.  Jake and Luke were on the second row.  Jake lined up center right, Luke and Tanner more to the left (foreboding).

Jake rocks the hi viz jersey for the twilight race

I ran down to the end of the starting pavement to get some video, so I didn't see what happened, this is the video I got as they came around the corner

Yep, I heard crash from the announcers. Jake made it by and sprinted hard to get up with the front.  Here are Laura's photos of what happened:

Jake and Tanner

Tanner and Luke go down in this

 I don't have much coverage after that.  I was in the pits.  Bike changes would be necessary to keep them from having the 10 pound weight I had.  Laura got a few shots that show just how bad conditions became

Jake runs the mud

Luke goes knee deep

Jake was doing ok, hanging between 15-18th, he had a bike change twice for a clean bike, but then one time coming back into view off the road start, he wasn't there with the guys he was with, until he came walking/trotting with his bike on his shoulder.  I yelled to coast on it, but then I saw his derailleur was gone.  The mud had caught the derailleur and boom, this:

He was as far from the pits as practically possible, so he had a long walk trot around half the course to get back to the pit.  He got another bike and kept going, but the officials pulled him because he was lapped.  So that was a bummer.  We've never had such catastrophic mechanicals before.  I ran around working on getting something set up to fix that bike for Sunday.  Then we watched the pros, which was a lot of fun, even though not technically the best way to recover before the Sunday race.

not happy face

We chatted with Tim Johnson, who won (good luck charms)

We met Colt from Behind the Barriers TV (my stated goal for the event). And we watched Zach MacDonald give a clinic on the "fast" line.  My new heckle became "that's not the line Zach MacDonald took"

A little video

SUNDAY
Tom at Swallow Bicycle Works had kindly offered to meet me at his shop at 7:30am to fix Jake's busted derailleur, so I got up early and headed over there.  He fixed it up, thanks again, and I ran home to get Jake out of bed.  My race was supposed to be at 10:55 and Jake at 1:15.  But then I realized my bottom bracket was nearly frozen stuck because of the mud/sand/crap the day before.  I figured I was not going to race.
We got there at 10am and I forced the crank to spin and figured what the hell.  I just had time to get my number.  I would not get to pre-ride the course at all or even really warm up more than riding around the parking lot/field for 10 minutes.  No problem, I was staged 101 out of 113, so there were literally only a few guys behind me and 12? 15? rows ahead of me.  I was slightly more conservative about bombing through the crowd since I didn't know what was coming next, but I used experience to make it past a lot of chaos and a lot of people in turns to steadily move up.  It was a fun course, and rewarded you for taking the right lines in flowing turns that had some greasy mud at times, plus it was a bit punchy and less of a slog so it suited me.  I had fun.  I was 20th out of the 35+ but I don't know where in the total 113 starters (need to tabulate kill points).

Jake, Luke, Tanner, Dan and Bill all sat at a pavillion and heckled me while I raced, but not nearly as bad as the little girls just past them "it's the last lap, you can go faster than that"  ouch.

But then it was back to Soigneur Dad mode with Dan and Bill.  I applied the embro to Jake and Luke while they were on trainers, then they warmed up for an hour before their race.

Just for some perspective for a minute here, these are a few photos of Jake and Tanner when they were racing their first cx races together at 9

Tacchino 2006 at Ida Lee Park (Justin Mauch won)

and here they were 12

Sander CX 2009 (Jake's saddle too low)

Anyway, Jake got the front row call up with the random draw, so I got video and audio, which was cool.

Luke and Tanner in 2nd row

I got video of the start.  Jake's legs weren't too snappy after walking around the pro race until 9:30 the night before but he and Luke and Tanner slotted in to a fast fast group.

Then it was over the pit with the other fathers.  It had a beautiful view and the action was light without the massive mud from Saturday.

It was a tough course.  Tanner did well, fighting to 13th.  Jake put in a solid effort.  It wasn't the final placing he wanted but I was very proud of the solid race-long effort and the fight he put in with a couple of boys.  It was really only his 5th or 6th complete cross race this year, so it's a building process.  Luke did well too (although again, probably a little sapped from Saturday).  He went out fast but told us at the pit by the final lap he "had nothing left".

We chatted a bit with some boys that Jake knew from CX Camp, like David Lombardo and David Obrien.  Cooper Willsey from camp and Europe won, and I raced with his dad Jamie on Saturday, both starting in the "way back"

It was a long drive back.  I had to take Jake to Miller School then drive me to Arlington.  So I didn't get home until midnight even though I drove at significant speeds.  The ride through the middle Ohio valley area was really beautiful with the low sun and the peaked leaves.  Again, I phone doesn't do justice

I really enjoy the long car rides with Jake.  It's special time and I realize that.

MEANWHILE BACK IN MID-ATLANTIC
Loren played "Soigneur Mom" for Liam at the NCVC Ed Sander memorial CX.  He had fun and got special team socks for the event.  And Loren got a corn beef sandwich she's been craving.

Pre-race

by Adam Sidel http://www.flickr.com/photos/apsidel/

post race, pre-waffle

the spoils of war

 

Soigneur Dad goes to Belgium and becomes spectator dad

I've been remiss, but it's time for a new update.

So, Jake's 3 week adventure racing in Europe is halfway done.  4 Belgian "Kermesses" have been a learning experience by fire.  A Kermesse is a local race, typically a circuit about 5km (3.2) miles long around some small town.  Jake is racing in 15-16 year old category races,  a category that the Belgians call "Nieuwelingen." The fields can be very big, and they are as super aggressive as we had heard. He has been pushed off the road twice (into the bushes one of them) and gotten a face full of mud and cow poo.

Poo face and drool chin after a race in the Belgian rain

On Sunday, August 11th, me, Loren, and Liam made our way from Amsterdam to Heers, Belgium.  (side note, the driving is awesome. Everyone goes fast but stays to the right lanes except to pass).  Heers is a very small town in the eastern part of Belgium.

In advance, we had been emailing with the parents of Cooper Willsey, from Vermont, who would also be making their way to the race after spending a few days in Luxomburg.  We decided to meet at the local pub that was the start/finish/registration point for the race.  After some minor GPS issues and missed turns, we got there around 12:30 for the 3pm race.  The Willseys got there just moments later.

So the "pub" was very small and very much locals only.

Crowd around the pub

The local masters cycling club was in there having their post ride beers when I walked in to ask if it was the right place and where we could get lunch.  They didn't sell food but pointed us toward the only restaurant in town.  That place was occupied by the sunday lunch crowd who very much scowled at us.  So we at outside (it was a really nice day).  A nice young couple from the Netherlands helped translate for us with the local waitress.  The most interesting thing was the "hamburger" that Liam and Cooper's younger brother Camden ordered, it looked like this 

The "Hamburger"

Service in Europe is slow and we finally had to track down our waitress to pay the check.  Then we drove back down to the start area and parked.  It really was not much different than any race in the US.  There were parents dealing with bikes and setting up to take pictures (it's not just me).

parents are the same everywhere

We saw the boys starting to ride around a bit.  It was exciting to see Jake in his USA Cycling jersey on his bike with USA on the downtube.  I took some pictures (because I had promised other parents and just because) but Jake objected.

damn paparazzi

The boys lined up.  They did gear roll out before the race.  Jake got a good spot on the front line.

The families sat by the pub to wait.

Liam, Loren, Cynthia Willsey & Camden Willsey

 I went down to the first corner to get some video, and I talked to the USAC soigneur, Vigo (I think that was his name).  He said that the first lap was supposed to be neutral, but that clearly went out the window within the first 100 meters.

After just one lap there was already a small breakaway group that had Jack Maddux and Gage Hecht, and Adrian Costa was bridging up.  Jake, Cooper and Marcello Cesario were in the main pack.

By the end of the second lap, the break was 7 boys and had a sizable time gap.  I lose track of the laps, but we moved up the hill to see some different action and after another lap maybe 2, Cooper went off the front with 2 other boys on the hill.  They were almost 2 minutes behind the lead group.

Jake and Marcello stayed in the pack, which was shedding boys off the back.

 We were watching up at the top of the hill, and talked to some of the locals who were watching. It was quite the event, with people having beers in their front yard to watch.  Liam was "bored" and read a book.

party in the front yard

 

At some point, maybe 7 or 8 laps in, the ambulance went up the hill, and we said, "oh, that can't be good."  Well, the next time around, the pack came through and no Jake.  You can hear me on the video say "you've got to be kidding me."

Well, maybe 20 seconds later Jake came up the hill, dropping some boy that was trying to follow him.  I encouraged him to make it back to the field.  But the next time around he hadn't been able to close and the officials stopped him.  Oh, he was pissed off.  I was able to get out of him that some boy slid out in front of him and Jake hit him and flipped over the handle bars (the boy ended up in the ambulance).  Jake wasn't badly hurt but was very frustrated and angry to have been knocked out of the race.  Now, the next lap they rang the bell early for the field because the leaders were about the catch them.
In the end, Jack and Gage broke away on the last lap and Jack won.

Gage and Jack after the race

Adrian was 4th.  Cooper's little group became 5 or so boys and Cooper was 10th.  Marcello finished just off the back of the field after last lap attacks, 24th.
All of the videos are collected here: Heers Kermesse Video Collection
It was really tough to have to watch Jake's frustration.  He's had terrible luck.  Now, we did find out the next day that because of the crash they didn't count him as DNF, but rather scored his place and even gave him the same time as the main pack.  So he was 26th, and he sent me a text message that he won 5 Euro (he said they noted "crash" next to his name, so must have treated it as essentially a free lap and placed him at the back of the field).  It's not going to make up for the stupid crash, but it must help a little.

I've stolen a few photos of the boys that USA Cycling's Billy Crane has posted on Instagram.  Otherwise, communication is sparse.

Dirt Roads, Flat Tires, Castles -- riding in Europe (photo by Billy Crane)

they will do a Team Time Trial at West Vlaanderen

On Friday we will go see Jake and boys in the West Vlaanderen Cycling Tour, a 3 day, 4-stage UCI stage race.  In that race, they'll wear these -- pretty cool.