PsychoCross & Hyattsville Weekend -- highs and lows

This will be quick because I've got many other things to do.

On Saturday, Jake, Liam & I went to Psychocross which is part of the SportifCup series.  It's a great course, but very hard with some steep climbs and tough off camber sections.

First up was Liam's race.  It was a decent sized group of 10-14 kids (around 15 I think).  Not some of the really strong older boys, but some.   I didn't get to see a lot because I was warming up for my race, but Liam had a good start and I guess rode the whole course well.  He ended up 9th, which was a very good result for him.  Moving up from near last to being in the middle of things.  Plus he had a good time.

Based on scheduling, I did the 3/4 Masters (because it fit between Liam and jake’s race and because they send the elite 45+ at the same time as the elite 35+ and it sucks being on the course with Dave Weaver and Paul Rades and those other Cat 1s). Because I didn’t do the BCA CX, I started at the back. Crossresults.com predicted I’d get 2nd, but not from the back. I lined up on the edge of the grid and I shot from the 5th row to the 2-3rd row by the end of the pavement (elite masters skills). It’s a very hard course with a brutal run up and a lot of technical off-cambers and elevation change. I burned several matches to pass people in the first lap to get out of the crowd. But the efforts on the first lap led to me having a bit of a let down mid-race but then I rallied a bit for the last 2 laps (or at least I was pushing myself hard enough to where I was breathing really hard the whole time). I was dueling with Gus Grisom a little but he couldn’t keep his bike under him and I left him behind. I handled my bike pretty well I thought. I ended up 9th overall, but I just went through the results on USAC and I won the 45+ sub-category, which they break out for a sub-series. I know Pete Lindeman won the 3/4 45+ subgroup at BCA but wasn’t there Saturday. Not sure who else has points but I may be tied for the lead of the series or at least close.  So, in short, this was my first ever cyclocross race "win" (although it didn't feel like a win at the time). [[Insert picture of me in my office holding my arms over my head]]

Jake had a very hard day at PsychoCross.  Immediately he was saying he didn't think it was a good course for him.  But I reminded him he got 12th last year in the Cat 3/4 race, so he would do fine.  But his mind was not on point, I think.  During my race I saw him standing by the course in his casual shirt and I had to yell at him that his race was next and to get ready.  Then he wasn't at staging early enough and ended up at the back, taking his casual shirt off and fiddling with his helmet as the officials gave the 30 second warning.  So he got a terrible start in traffic.  Now, by the 2nd lap he had worked his way into the top 10 because he's really fast (and if he had started in the top 2 rows he would have been with the leaders), but then he started making faces at me when I tried to yell encouragement (mind not in the race).  He says he wasn't feeling great, which I'm sure is true after going full gas for the first 2 laps to move from last to top 10.  So after he snapped at me even though I literally hadn't said anything, I left him alone and was off riding to cool down my legs.  When I got back he was coming through the finishing stretch, clearly not going hard.  He pulled over after the finish line even though there was 1 lap to go.  He had crashed hard bunny hopping a log.  He landed on his left shoulder, the same one that hit the pole at nationals.  On the way home it became clear that his ribs also hurt.  So I took him to the ER.  I was pretty sure nothing was broken, he wasn't in that kind of pain, but I figured get checked and ok'd to race Sunday.

CX-rays

Indeed he was unbroken but increasingly sore.  Whether to race on Sunday would be a day-of call for him.

Sunday was a whole different ball of wax. Cold, light rain, muddy, etc.  As an aside, in the theme of "soigneur dad," the logistics for this day were huge.  Several other Coppis were able to bring tents, but I had the boys pack the car with everything we owned.  Multiple pairs of dry socks, dry clothes, towels, extra wheels, etc.   The car was bulging at the seems.

In the Elite 45+ I got a bad start after missing my pedal, but I was still top 10 maybe or around 10th when we went into the technical wooded section. I had pre-rode it 3-4 times and thought I knew the line, but damn if I didn’t crash on a root, tumbling down the hill and losing a couple places (and now my knee is scraped and sore and I have a couple little aches and pains). My mud tire on the front was great but the Griffo on the back was sliding a lot so I was struggling at times, but so was everyone. I got into a 3 man group with Karl Kensinger and Knight Elsberry of NCVC. Karl has been riding really well this year. They were both running the woods, which was faster at times but they lost time remounting. One time in the woods I couldn’t brake and ended up in the fencing, so they ran by, but I got back to them. On the last lap I pushed hard and passed them on the tight turns just before the woods because I felt that if I had a clean shot I could get through the woods a lot faster, and I did. I rode it clean and I came out with a big gap on them and was catching Thori Wolfe and George (who was struggling with some crashes in the mud). I got up to their wheel, but I was too tentative around the baseball diamond that was 100 meters before the final pavement so I got gapped off them. I finished 17th. Not great, not at all, but I’m no mudder probably. Wish I had the Limus mud rear. I still had legs but was too tentative with my fish-tailing rear wheel. It was definitely fun though, so that was good.

Liam had another great day, a bit of a breakthrough I think.  Sunday, Liam and Dustin Goodwin (also 11 and very strong) lined up in a big group of 10-14 year old juniors (I think 20-ish boys and another 10 girls). The promoter routed them to avoid the woods, which Liam wanted to do. It was raining when they started and the course was slick after the Cat 4s tore it up. Liam had a great start and was right with Dustin, who is very strong.

They were mid pack and duking it out with some Rock Creek Velo boys and some NCVC kids. Dustin slid out a few times but has a lot of power so made up for it. Liam handled his bike great and kept a steady speed, staying close to Dustin. In the end Dustin was 9th and Liam 10th out of 23 boys, and Liam held off a group of 3 RCV boys who were working together for the last 2 laps to chase him. Here’s some video from the first lap in the technical turns mid lap.

Seriously, this was Liam's big break through weekend, I think.  He had a great time and his strength and fitness is improving (even though he still doesn't ride at all during the week).  He really handled the mud great.  He's the family mudder.  The first few races he was near the back but in both races he was mid-pack, which is good for 11 when the boys in the front are at least 1 or 2 years older.

Unfortunately, Jake took a few warm up laps but the pain in his shoulder and ribs was too much for him to give a full effort.  Deep breathes hurt his ribs and pulling on the handle bars for leverage hurt his shoulder, ribs, and back.  It was his call but we decided best not to risk the rest of the season.  So he didn't race.  Everyone was crashing at least once and if he had hit that shoulder again, which has probably got some strained ligaments, he would have been in a bad way.  Given the pictures of the chaos in the woods in the 3/4 race, crashing was a high likelihood.  But a bummer to give up his front row (number 04) starting spot.

Now we have to clean the bikes and get ready for next weekend.  The cycle continues.

Winchester Apple Cross -- supplemental post

Doug Graham, photographer extraordinaire and friend of Thompson & Sons Racing LLC, got some great pictures at Winchester that I've snatched off of Facebook.  They fill in some interesting gaps in my version of events:

This is me around mid race when I had to work into the wind on the road; I dropped John Rogers & the Sportif Coaching guy after this I think.  Turns out I was first Cat 3 in my race, so that's cool.

Jake probably first lap among the crowd, looking quite comfortable.

Jake & Cody Alverez over the barriers early

Jake, also early in the woods.

Jake on the wall in traffic

Jake & Larry Miller climbing the wall

Then Larry uses his bulk to put Jake into the tape (Larry says Jake passed him right back)

This was on the last lap as the guy in green is catching Jake

And this is me having an aneurism telling Jake that he has to go and keep this guy off

That's awesome (someone tell me when my glasses make my hair look like that, please)

Winchester Apple Cross

I love the Winchester cross race.  I've done it every year.  It's a super fun course, and this year they took the steps off the "wall" so it was rideable for some (me).  It's got a great section through the woods.

Liam had Sunday school so it was just me and Jake today.  It's a beautiful drive out there through the mountains.  We got there in time for me to do a lap before the 9am race and 2 laps before the 10am race.

Based on my poor results at Tacchino, I was staged in the 3rd row (out of 4) in the "elite" 45+.  I got a decent start and was able to pass a few people during the first 1/2 lap. I heard people saying to people around me that we were around 15^th.  I was able to ride the “wall” every lap and that helped drop Pete Lindeman and George, who were running it.  I started to move forward catching up to some people.  Soon I caught up to people like Chris Huhn and then Scott Stahl and Sean Downing who were fading (Scott had apparently crashed).  I was able to move forward in that group of 4 or 5.  On the final lap I followed wheels into the wind on the start/finish road, then sling-shotted around them at the 180 turn at the end of the road; that put me into 2^nd behind Stahl.  I stayed 2^nd wheel, defending the corners while we were going all out.  Shawn Downing tried to come around at the barriers, but I re-passed him on the remount, then I cut inside stahl on a turn with about 5 turns to go from the road, I just went all out, pedaling all the turns; I had been going into the big ring heading to the road and I threw my shifter over but I don’t think it went up, but I was just dropping down through the cassette as I sprinted all out for the line.  I held off Stahl and the rest of the group for 8th which was a great result for me given my recent fitness.   

In between races  I had a nice chat with Joe Dombroski about his upcoming move to the European pro peleton.   

"I haven't ridden since Worlds" - Well sure, you hear that all the time

photos and videos with my new iphone 5.

Jake talked with Connor Bell who was at Junior Worlds for mountain biking earlier this month.

Jake had a good race, generally.  He started with a front row call up based on his Tacchino result.

Starting line up

Video of the start with my iphone

 But he fell back a few spots in the first 1/2 lap, to maybe 11th.  But by the 2nd lap he had moved forward to 6th.  But in so doing he had dragged some guy from V-Day the whole time.  The guy refused to work (of course he ended up 4th).  By the 4th lap, he ended up in a group of 5 guys who were 4th through 8th.  But Jake was on the back of that group.  He tried to come around on the road, but again Mr. V-Day blocked him.  Then coming into the pits the guy in front crashed (oh look it was the guy from V-Day) and that gapped Jake from 3 of the guys (the NCVC guy was stuck).

That seemed to throw Jake off a bit, and coming back through the pits after the back half 2 guys were catching him quick.

I was yelling at Jake to protect the corners to block the one guy, but the guy got by.  (In the parking lot later he told Jake next time to elbow him).

Technically Jake was 8th.  But Larry Miller had jumped into the start about 150 yards down the road (you can see it on the video above), so he was DQ'd from his 4th (it's a shame, it was a good ride by him, but definitely a no-no; he was a real class act about it, I will add; admitted that he had only himself to blame; he's a good guy).  So Jake was officially 7th (worth an Cat 2 upgrade point).  He got some nice prizes including a cool scarf.

contemplative after the race

 Jake wanted to do better, and I'm sure he will.  It was good experience, and the guy who won is getting a mandatory upgrade to Cat 2 because of 2 consecutive wins.

A big thanks to Ken Morris and Steve Breeden and all of Winchester Wheelmen for a great race.  And what super "swag" bags; each one included this cool knit hat.

We'll see if more photos come up.

Charm City CX 2012 - Two Day

It's Sunday night in late September, so that must mean I need to do a blog on a cyclocross race.  This weekend was the Charm City Cyclocross two day race.  It's a UCI race for the elite race, so it has slightly different categories for the rest.  Of special note, they have an "Elite" Under 19 race for boys who are Cat 3 or higher.

Saturday:

Liam, Jake & I all filled up the CR-V at 6:30 to drive up to Baltimore.  My race (45+) was at 10.  Crossresults.com predicted I would finish 26th, and I did.  My fitness is slowly improving but I struggled a bit mid race.  No one takes photos of me any more, so we'll move on.

Liam's race was immediately after mine.  It was a big field. I think that there were over 25 kids in the "regular" Under 19, including jake's teammate Luke Klaussen, who Crossresults predicted would win (but he had already done the Cat 4 race).  They send them after the Cat 3/4 and Masters women, so it's a pretty significant mess of mixed categories.  Liam did pretty well. I got some video of him dealing with the little wall that is a long-running feature of the course.

He was struggling a bit and going back and forth with another younger boy.

Another time over the wall

On the final lap Liam rode the sand pit that he had been running.  Unfortunately, when I went to film it the memory card was full.  Damn.  But I was really proud of him for riding it.

A shot of Liam entering the sand thanks to Doug Graham

Liam finished 12th, easily beating the crossresults.com prediction of 17th.

Then it was Jake's turn in the Elite Under 19.  It was a small group of 9, but it included a 17 year old Cat 2 from New Jersey and the youngest of the Keogh brothers from Massachusetts, and Tanner Browne, who of course Jake has been racing with since they were both 9.  They started them 20 seconds after the start of the 35+ elite race.

Well the boys caught and started passing the 35+ group immediately.  This is video of Jake at the wall after only 1/2 of the first lap.

He had caught and passed half their field.
The problem is that gaps had been created between the boys based on traffic in the 35+ race.  17 year old Noah Granigan from NJ had slipped away and initially Tanner and Ian Keogh were about 10 seconds ahead of Jake.  Jake eventually caught Tanner and they were together w/ 2 laps to go when some idiot 35+ guy didn't like being passed by juniors and put Tanner into the tape, crashing him, which put Jake home free for 3rd (not the way Jake would have liked to take 3rd mind you; really sucks people are like that).

This is what the crowd looked like photo thanks Doug Graham

going sideways in the sand by Doug Graham

Over the wall w/ his beloved Van Dessel Full Tilt Boogie

thanks to Doug Graham

Here's a split second of Jake & Tanner approaching the wall together (camera issues made it stop too quick)

Here's a photo of Jake and Tanner over the barriers together thanks to Dennis Smith

So Jake was 3rd.  He won $40, which he was very happy about.  Incredibly, we think he was about 30th in the 35+ group.

It was great to see everyone.  I introduced myself to British national champ Helen Wyman.  The drive home required us to drive through a section of Baltimore that is like driving through an episode of The Wire.

Sunday (sadly lacking in multi-media)

Liam had Sunday school so it was just me and Jake for Sunday.  We had just pulled onto I-66 when I said to Jake "Do you have shorts & jersey?"..."oh no" that's right, he forgot his shorts and jersey.  So we had to go to the next exit and turn around.  That kinda cut into my pre-ride time.

The course was reversed from the day before.  It was a bit wet from some rain over night, but a cool wind was drying it fast.  My race was a lot like the day before, except I didn't feel like I had a big let down mid race.  The course was getting faster every lap.  On the final lap I was able to duke it out with some guys I didn't know. One from NCVC had been up ahead the slipped back.  I ended up 28th which surprised me.  I thought I was a little better.  I think I passed some guys but got passed by others because I was starting number 29 on the grid.

Jake started at noon again.  Same basic cast of characters.  The gave them a little more gap behind the 35+ men which helped a little.  This time Ian Keogh slipped away.  Noah Granigan was 2nd and at first Jake was only about 5-7 seconds back from him.  I though he could close it, but he says that once Noah got through a pack of 35+ Jake got stuck behind them for a bit and that allowed Noah to open the gap.  Jake had a 15 second lead on Tanner and Sam Lear that he extended to 30+ as Sam & Tanner battled between themselves.  Jake ended up riding the last 2 laps in a group with Kimani Nielsen who was on Coppi last year and had won several Cat 3 races, finished 2nd in the 3/4 series and is now a Cat 2.  Jake lead that group up through the open field sections but Kimani got him by a few seconds.  Still, Jake rode really well and was with fast guys (that he had caught up to).  I think it bodes well for the rest of the season.
This time we got a podium photo:

podium photo with blackberry by me

I'll update with more photos if they get posted on the web.

Cyclocross Season 2012 -- Tacchino Cyclocross -- And so it begins

And we're back.  After a little break following road season it's time for the most wonderful time of the year...cyclocross season.  Jake may tear up the road, but at heart, we are cyclocross people.

The Tacchino is put on by my club, Squadra Coppi, every year.  This year I was out there all Friday afternoon laying out the course with Dave Pedersen and Jim McNealy.  It was actually a lot of fun.

Saturday morning, me, Jake and Liam all loaded up to go to the Park to work on the set up crew.  We were out there until around 4pm.  When we started home we heard that there were severe weather/tornado warnings in the area.  Then I got a message from Loren that she was in the basement because there was a tornado warning over Arlington and moving east.  So, basically, we would be driving into it.  We were on Suitland Parkway when the wind really picked up and the rain started. It was so bad that I pulled off and pulled in on the leeward side of a building because I was worried about Liam's bike on top of the car.  So we sat there for 15-20 minutes waiting for it to pass.  On the way home, Loren called to say that we had lost power.  We had no power all Saturday night.

Sunday we got up at 6AM and me and the boys packed using flashlights and candles.  It was the 3 of us, 2 bikes in the car and 2 on top (and that's no pit bike for me).  We got out there and the weather was beautiful (as it always seems to be).

I ran around dealing with some course logistics until it was time for Liam's race.  He lined up with his friend Dustin Goodwin who is strong and did some triathlons over the summer. 

Another great turnout in the 10-14 race.  Over 20 I think

Dustin gives "the look" to a competitor

 Oh, did I mention, current National Champion, Jeremy Powers was in attendance.  He was doing a clinic that was on Saturday and also then during the race.

 Jeremy is a former house guest of Team Thompson and actually slept in Liam's bed. It was May 2005, wow.

J-Pow 7 years ago behind Liam and Jake out in front of our house

Anyway, Liam had a decent start.  He had a good race but needs to work on his remounting and a little extra general fitness.  Here are a bunch of videos of him and Dustin (who is strong) in action:

and

The official results show Liam 17th.  But there was trouble with the results.  They had put at least one boy we know ahead of Liam and Dustin even though he was actually so far behind them he got pulled a lap early.  The officials wouldn't listen to Liam and Jake and I was busy racing during the protest period.  Liam was probably more like 15th I think.  He had fun and liked the course.  He's looking forward to more races.

I "raced" at 11am in the Category 123 45+.  Based on last year's series rankings I was on the front row and somehow clipped in quickly and took the hole shot.  I hope someone got a picture because it was all backwards from there.  I haven't trained and don't have the fitness yet to be competitive in the "elite" 45+.  I literally didn't look at my result.  I wasn't lapped, but I'm pretty sure I was dead last (PS: turns out I was 26th, 1 place out of series points, damn).  It was a good workout.  We'll leave it at that.

Jake is skipping the junior races this year (generally) to do the Men's Cat 3/4 race (aka the "killer Bs") with fresh legs.  His race was at 2.  But....he found out that Jeremy would be racing in the 123 race (immediately after the Cat 3/4 race) so he had me register him for the 123 as well.  Based on getting a few series points last year, Jake was lined up on the 3rd row.  There were 106 guys pre-registered but I don't know how many day-of.  Jake was lined up with Cody and Eric (you'll remember Eric was a great teammate and riding partner with Jake in the 3s last year, see report HERE).

It was chaos at the start.  After the prologue and first 1/2 lap, Jake was around 25th.  Now, I should say that Jake has not started his cyclocross training, per se.  The last month has been a lot of base training and a bit of recovery from the long road season.  Until last week, there have been essentially no intense/hard intervals that you need to compete at the highest level for cyclocross.  The plan is to ramp him into top end fitness later in the cyclocross season.  So, the goal was to ride a smart race and hope that his general aerobic strength would allow a finish in the top 25 to secure series points and a staging spot in the front 3 rows in the next race.  Just to understand, the "prologue" took the race into the back 1/3 of the course, so everyone did about 1/3 of a lap before passing the finish to start a full lap.

Here's Jake coming through the tight turns at the end of the first 1/3 lap.

He was looking good and surviving the chaos.  Then...he started to move forward....

He was top 15 by the middle of first full lap:

And then he moved into a group of 3 who were in 7th, 8th, and 9th.  There was another small group of 3 or so 10 seconds back of them.  Jake seemed to climb better than them and would emerge from the long climbs in front.

Unfortunately, Jake mis-read the lap cards and miscalculated, so he made his move with what ended up being 2 laps to go (now I will note that the officials mis-calculated lap times and sent them 1 lap too many, creating a close to 54 minute race). He looked real strong when he made his move to gap his companions.

Unfortunately, the extra lap hurt Jake and he lost 2 places, falling back to 11th.  Ultimately, it was a great result in terms of the season long "plan," and bodes well for where he should be in a month or two after he has a bunch of racing and intensity pushing his fitness and power up.  He was satisfied and pleased, except for the fade on the last lap.

So, we quickly changed his number and he downed some water and gu to line up against the National Champion in the 123 race.  Jake said "as soon as Jeremy laps me, I'm pulling out."  It was purely for fun and a little extra training.  But his legs were toast with extra jelly.

"oh, me and Jeremy go way back to when we were both kids"

Stars and Stripes at the front of the Tacchino, Very Cool

Unfortunately, Jake's legs were not recovered and he basically rode his own tempo at the back.  He got a couple of dollars in hand ups, and also a pastrami or some other "cured meat" from the "Suitcase of Sausage" as he played to the crowd (I heard the MC saying "Jake, college fund").  His legs cramped up before Jeremy could catch him and he had to pull out, which was too bad.  Jeremy won the elite race.  Jared Nieters and Wes Schempf put up a good fight.  It's really great for our little home town series to have the national champion as the current series leader.

Special thanks to Jim McNealy who devotes his heart and soul to the race, to Dave Pedersen for moving up to help Jim, and to all of my Squadra Coppi teammates (and former teammates like Kimani, Jake, and Luke) who pitched in to make the race so hugely successful.  600+ racers. National Champions. Awesome.

forgot to add this photo of me, Jake and Jeremy

End of Road Season - Page Valley Road Race & a Brief Retrospective

Road season is over for us.  Saturday was the Page Valley Road Race held in the Shenandoah valley in Stanley Virgina. The Cat 3 MABRA championship.   I would be there purely in a soigneur capacity.  It was a 11 mile loop with 2 *Serious* climbs each lap.  The Cat 3 race was at 11am and it was sunny and hot.  This would be a race of attrition.  The HPC Cat 3 boys (Jake, Matt Clements, Jacob Miller, Andy Mount & Avery Wilson) would try to help Jacob Miller finish well enough to get his Cat 2 upgrade points.

Hanging with Gino pre-race

finding some shade before the race

Staging

Liam and I drove to the feed zone, which was on the finishing climb.  It was steep.  The first time through, Jake looked ok, climbing mid-pack.  He didn't take a bottle, not even a neutral water bottle to dump on his head.  Jacob was near the back and someone thought his hand was bleeding.  We didn't know why.

The second time he was in the top third, but looked to be focused and bearing down.  The third time, Jake took a bottle from me and another from Liam.  He seemed to be fine.  But shortly after going over the top of the finishing climb he started feeling nauseous and lost touch with the pack.  Now, many others had already done the same, and by the time the "group" came back around they were much depleted.  Jacob and Avery were the only HPC boys still in the pack.  Andy & Matt rolled through together off the back, and Jake came along next.  He pulled over into the feed zone and was clearly overheated and dehydrated.  I pointed out that he was dry.  He had stopped sweating.  So we got some water bottles in him and some cold water on him and put him under the shade.  I haven't seen results but the vast majority did not finish.  Avery made a nice move to bridge across to a 4 man break away with one or 2 other guys.  He finished 7th.  As the video shows, simply finishing took a major effort.

 Remember, he is minutes ahead of the pack, so imagine how they looked.

Jacob came through a few minutes later in the remaining "pack" of 10 or 15 guys.

It wasn't the way Jake wanted to finish the road season, I'm sure.  But hopefully he'll learn from it and show more respect for high heat days.

So, here we are.  I remember when Jake and I lined up for the 4/5 race at the Snow Cone training series in February.  I was worried about Jake crashing and getting dropped and who knows what else.  He did well, finishing 7th and racing smart.

Snow Cone Training Race

I remember him leading out Matt Clements to the win at Black Hills, sacrificing his own result.  In February and March, we thought we weren't going to chase upgrade points.  But then the results and the great rides started to happen.  Jeff Cup 15-18.  Then the solid ride at Battenkill just days after my dad died with Jake in the room with him.

photo by Bill Browne

 Then 6th in Walker Park Cat 4 crit and hey maybe there is something there.  Then taking a Preme and going off the front of the Bunny Hop crit. Then the 9th at Poolesville Road Race.  At some point Jake said "I'm going to upgrade in time for Nationals."  And I sort of said "yeah, ok."  Not believing.  Then he makes the break away and gets 2nd at Stony Point.  The rest is too much to list.

The Cat 3 upgrade chase was exhausting.  But incredible.  Then Jake does the hard Crystal City crit as his first Cat 3 race and stays right in there.  Nationals was tough and I think there was a post-upgrade, post-final exams let down a little, added to some bad luck.

15th in the Cat 3 Giro di Coppi road race was an important result to show that he belonged in the Cat 3s.  Then at Miller School he is first to finish after the small front group of 17-18 year olds (and that dang Sam James, who won Page Valley RR by the way).

Jake at Miller School by Doug Graham

By any measure it was an incredible season.  Jake didn't win any races, but he started out as a 14 year old Cat 4 and finished it as a 14 year old Cat 3 who had stepped up to duke it out with and beat grown men, and being right there with boys who are 3-4 years older.  

As of right now, he's the 10th Ranked 15 year old in road races in the country according to USA Cycling.  He's already set high goals for himself for next year.  I won't even begin to doubt him now.

Jake's not the only junior racer in Team Thompson & Sons.  Liam was riding his bike up and down the finishing climb at Page Valley with ease.  I think he's building up for a nice cyclocross season, and it's great to have him hanging with the boys at the races on the weekend.

I won't even attempt to calculate the number of miles or hours we drove.  Too many.  I can pack the car with incredible speed and efficiency now.

Thanks to Bicycle Outfitters and Trek for supporting Jake and the HPC/List team.  Thanks to the other parents of the HPC boys.  Thanks to Doug Graham for fine photos and special words.  Thanks to Sue & Pierre for their coaching and direction.

And thanks to Loren for tolerating this and occasionally sitting in a ditch on the side of the road in the middle of the country.

Stay tuned for cyclocross season, very very soon.  Squadra Coppi presents the Tacchino Cyclocross on September 9th to kick off the 2012 Super 8.  National champion Jeremy Powers will be there.  Will you?

Shenandoah TT & Miller School RR - A long family weekend

Man that was a long weekend.  All four of us took to the road for a weekend in the Virginia mountains racing bikes (or as Loren would describe it, sitting in a ditch by the side of the road - yeah, that's it).  The Shenandoah Time Trial in Shenandoah, VA on Saturday and the Miller School Road Race out in the mountains by Charlottesville on Sunday, which would be the age graded champs for VA and MABRA.

Friday we left Arlington around 5:30 to drive out and spend the night in Luray so we could easily get to the Shenandoah TT on Saturday.  Packing 4 bikes and all our stuff in my car was tricky w/ 3 on top and one in the back. 

Mad packing skills

 We stayed at the Mayneview Bed & Breakfast, which was very nice.  Here's the view:

The view of the mountains from the Mayneview Inn

from the Shenandoah News

Up early Saturday morning for the Shenandoah Time Trial.  Liam would go first.  He's decided he wants to race more.  The Shenandoah TT is a fun course, with a decent amount of climbing and I was a little worried how long it would take him.  But he did great.  He did 35minutes which is 5 minutes faster than I'd guessed.  Here's a photo from the local paper

Jake started a few minutes later.  He's still trying to get used to his time trial bike and get the position dialed in.  He finished 4th just 7 seconds out of 3rd.  Not as good as he'd like.  His teammate Avery Wilson won decisively.

 Here's a photo by Jim Wilson

Jake takes the countdown (by Jim Wilson)

Finally I went off in the "Eddie Merckx" class, which means no aero equipment. 

I did this last year and it was painful.  40km.  This year my pacing was better and I felt like I was in a good rhythm. But I pushed too hard and with less than 1km to go I got cocky and took a hard right turn at full speed and overcooked it.  I touched the brakes with locked the wheel putting me in the grass and the next I know I'm slammed on the ground, hitting my head.  I hopped up quickly but my helmet was all askew and my glasses had come off.  I tried to get back on the bike but it was in the big ring and hardest cog and I couldn't get started up hill; I had to get off and shift while pedaling with my hand.  I got going and realized my prescription inserts had come out in the crash.  they would have to wait.  I finished, not full out but finished, then went back and got my inserts from the ditch.    With all that I beat last year's time by 2 minutes.  I'm sure I lost at least 1 minute which also made me lose 2 places at least.
A photo from the local paper (before I crashed)

My helmet was broken, taking the impact as it was designed to.  I was a bit battered and had a few bruises, but it was grass luckily.  We would have to get me a new one in Charlottesville before the Miller School Road Race on Sunday. 

Loren was a trooper, basically sitting in a chair in a ditch on the side of the road all morning.
It was a beautiful drive over the mountain to get to the Charlottesville side.
Saturday night we ate dinner at Jake's favorite dumpling place on the mall in Charlottesville.

Sunday up early again for my 9AM race.  64 miles (really? ouch).  I had no warm up and my body was not happy after the time trial and crash so I was dropped very early, but on the second and third laps I fell in with a 50+ group containing Gino Elysa of HPC.  So that was fun but then the officials told me to go do a 4th lap when they were finished after 3.  That was painful and lonely and I really needed to get back to help the boys.  Instead Loren had to handle it, which of course worked out fine.  But when I finished my long slog the officials weren't even at the finish anymore which pissed me off.

This would be Liam's first road race (non time trial).  We were concerned it would be too hard for him, but for the 10-14 they dropped the big climb and finishing climb.  Oh, did I mention that the National Champion in the 10-12 Road Race was in his race.  The plan was for me to drop Loren off at the feed zone to give Jake a bottle (his 15-18 group would go first) and I would follow Liam in the car to bring him back from the 10-14 finish area. 

Liam waiting for the start

Jake and HPC teammates

 So I dropped off Loren and went driving around the course to find Liam.  I got to a slow car and wait, it wasn't Liam, so I passed that kid went a minute or two then 2 more kids, also not Liam, passed them and drove a bit, another kid, not Liam, then drove a while and finally came upon Liam and another boy riding together being followed by the boy's dad in his car.  Liam was doing great. 

Liam and his companion climb together mid lap

Liam climbs away

 Liam rode strongly and then suddenly dropped the other boy on a downhill and started pulling away.  He pulled away and kept going, finishing strong.

He beat 5 or 6 kids and was 6th overall in the 10-12 group and 2nd in the 10-12 from MABRA

Podium boy junior

Jake's race was stacked.  His whole HPC team was there, including Justin Mauch fresh off winning the Cascades Classic Cat 2 omnium (and submitting for Cat 1 upgrad) and the Miller School brought Chris Keeling who is a Cat 2 and Sam James who won the Jeff Cup Cat 3 at age 16.  Loren said Jake was in a chase group the first time through the feed zone.  We watched as the lead group appeared with Justin sprinting with Jake King (I thought Justin was Shane, my bad).  Justin just got pipped for the win.  Jacob Miller and Matt Clements were right there.  This was the 17-18 strong men (w/ Sam James also)

Just a minute later a rider appeared and someone said "who's that" and I said "it's Jake" and there he was.  He had attacked the second group on the big climb several miles from the finish and held them off.

He was 8th(?) overall, but 2nd in the 15-16 behind Sam James for VA and MABRA, so he got some hardware

Bling

A very nice result on a hard course.  He likes hard, hilly courses.

Loren got to see life of the parents in the feed zone and was a big help getting lunch and taking care of the boys while I was off on my last lap adventure.  I know it wasn't her idea of a relaxing weekend in the country but I'm glad she came.  It was a long weekend and everyone is tired.