Slow Motion with D

So, we’re trying to shorten the name and are currently taking suggestions! Although it would be pretty entertaining if the announcer said the whole name every time we crossed the line. Cross season is in full swing and we’re 2 races deep in the nations, make that that WORLDS largest, craziest and most fun cross series, the Cross Crusade. All I need to say is we had over 1260 racers in race 1 and another 1230+ in race 2. Insane! Does your series get 150+ women who kick ass showing up? Over 70 elite field racers in a non UCI event? I mean, this stuff is out of control, in a good way! Not to mention the crazy family, friends, fans and supporters cheering every single racer on as they suffer over the course of an hour. Cheering, yelling, heckling, cowbells, ooohs and aaahs as riders rail and flail. As I’m writing this, I’m forgetting the pain I felt from last weekend and I just want to race again. Speaking of races, I’ve got a few reports from a handful of races that we’ve been doing. I’ll give the shortened versions since I waited so long in between to post ‘em.

Thrilla wrap up.

Bend’s own early season prep races concluded with a few of my best rides at the Thursday nighters this year. Race 1 was a botched tactical error in which I let Jimmy lead so I could attack him on the last lap. Unfortunately lapped traffic plays a huge roll in the Thrilla series and you can chump your buddies pretty easy if you’re aggressive with some passes. A third place followed by a 7th, in which I took myself out mentally since I didn’t like the aggressive passing nature that the course requires, basically took me out of the running for a 2nd consecutive overall title. Well, Ryan Trebon showing up to all the races may have had something to do with it too… in race 3 I made it my goal, as in the previous races, to take the hole shot and keep it as long as possible. I also wanted to work on my standing up and accelerating out of corners and up hills. Mission accomplished and I took top unpaid honors with a 2nd place finish. Race 4 went much the same with the goal being taking the hole shot and keeping it as long as possible. I did A.M. intervals and felt like poop, so I wasn’t expecting too much. To my surprise, Ryan didn’t take the lead until 2 laps to go and Brig and I battled the rest of the way for 2nd place. We’re both pretty nice guys when it comes to lapping traffic and neither of us wanted to be jerks, so due to my leading the last lap Brig wasn’t able to find a way to pass me, so another 2nd place led to 2nd overall in the series. Missed out on the cool trophy, but what can you do?

Hood River hosted a pair of races and Hood River is always a good time, so the Damian and Scotty’s super fun cross team presented by Edge Composites, Hammer Nutrition, TRP, Oakley, Crank Bros, DT Swiss, Chris King, Marcroft Cycles, Redline, Sunnyside Sports and Hutch’s Bikes headed north for a weekend of racing and hanging out with the Penningtons! Good times for sure. Here’s what our race day mornings have been looking like:
group breakfast

doesn’t he look like he’s having fun packing?

an extra passenger

coffee from Kent at Thump!

driving…we’ll memorize these roads by season’s end

bathroom and fun stops
and riding bikes

Hood River race 1 went pretty well with myself or Eric Sheagly leading most of the race. Carson Miller rode a great, steady race and joined us with 2 laps to go…It would have been nice to have a bit more help (if you know what I mean) as we rode around for the last 2 laps, but no one was interested in pulling through and with Chris Brandt dangling close behind, I chose to do a pretty good chunk of the work. Just outside of 1 lap to go I decided to start accelerating every now and then to see how people were feeling. Carson was keen on chasing me down, so on the last lap I decided to play my card on the run up. I’d felt strongest at the top in the soft sand, so I tried to stay in front going into the run down/run up. Carson punked me with a hidden line through the trees and punched it on the run up gapping me and that’s all she wrote. Sheagly followed Carson and then gapped him in the last 100 yards for the win. We all finished about 3 bike lengths behind each other. 3rd.

Day 2 brought out a few more fast guys and Blackwelder, Hulick and Brown were gone in a blink of an eye. I didn’t exactly line up in a good row, so I was bummed that I had to chase the whole race. 1/2 way through I saw Kevin running with a flat and set off in search of the leaders. I joined then dropped Sheagly, but he soon joined back up. Again, it would have been nice to have a bit more help as we tried to real in the leaders, but Sheagly played it right and as I drilled it the last lap he waited patiently and dove in on the last corner to take 3rd with me finishing 4th on his wheel. Anyone who has raced Hood River knows the grass/pavement/gravel with a fence transition and I didn’t feel like chancing a face plant in the early season. I told myself that if I couldn’t get rid of him by powering away on the pavement that I wouldn’t risk the last corner. He took it fast and I let him have it along with top weekend honors. Another cool custom trophy lost in the early season, but that’s ok with me!

Alpenrose is amazing and this year didn’t disappoint. Over 1260 racers. Are you kidding me? Crazy. Brad Ross and crew do a great job promoting fun as well as racing and that’s why so many people come out for this series. It’s not just about the racing, it’s about the atmosphere and carnival like environment where the racers in tights are just one attraction. One of these days, I’ll get a darn call up for Alpenrose. A 3rd row spot isn’t really where you wanna be when most of the top 10 in the results come from the front row. I thought I was good being lined up behind Jon Frey, who is a really fast starter, but I was wrong. The yahoos next to him both ran into him and he slipped a pedal. This caused me to stop less than 2 seconds into the blazing fast start. Oh well, chasing would be the order of the day and chase I did. It took me a long time to get to my normal group of people, but I made it. The course was fun, muddy and slick. It started raining at the start and that made it epic. The mud wasn’t deep, but was more like a layer of ice making every corner tricky. I did my best to keep it upright, but failed a few times as Brandt, Kic and Paxon all battled around me. I felt awesome, but I also felt like I couldn’t open it up for very long since every corner took more concentration than usual. After an hour of riding in the mud I crossed the line in 13th. I was pretty happy considering I watched everyone ride away in the beginning, but I couldn’t help but think I had a better result in me on what is my favorite course in the Crusade series. Good times.
how we roll

Scotty isn’t the only one who gets to have fun

Did I mention it snowed in Bend already? Yeah. Lame, but kinda cool. It was cold enough to bust out the full winter gear for my short ride before this last weekend.
This is how my living room looks before race weekends. Gluing tires is fun!

Big race weekend #2 meant racing outside of Salem on Saturday. Great course with fun sights and a pumpkin cannon…yes, a PUMPKIN CANNON!!!!!! How could you guys not come out for this???? Seriously? Only 1 Portland elite racer came down? 100% payout for the A field and only 8 racers. Are the other 60+ people from Alpenrose that spoiled that they can’t drive and hour for a race that actually pays? Rant over. We raced in loops, much like every other cross race. Brett Lueling took the hole shot and very quickly gave it away as he ate it 20 seconds in. This put me in the lead and I didn’t pre-ride, so I was going very cautiously around the loose gravel corners wondering where this crazy mud puddle I had heard about was. When we got to it, I punched it up the other side and had a gap. I kept going as Evan Plews joined me on lap 2 and we slowly pulled away from Ian Brown until he ate crap bunny hopping a barrier. Then we pulled away rather quickly. I would lead, then Evan would lead and I decided that I didn’t like riding behind him going through the puddle. I took the front and hit the puddle taking my own line, punching it up the tricky, muddy hill after and I never rode with Evan again…well mostly. I figured he must have wiped out and I took a 10 second lead. He brought it back to 6 seconds and with 2 to go I pinned it (wasn’t exactly feeling good all race and didn’t want to be too tired for Sunday). With 1 to go I had established a pretty good lead and all seemed in hand…seemed like it anyway. I just concentrated on taking the corners smooth and not pushing my tired legs too hard on the last lap. I approached the puddle, rode clean through it and punched it up the other side feeling stronger than I did at the start. Something was wrong at that point and my tire soon went flat. Lame. I started coasting and contemplated running as I climbed the next hill leading to a double barrier. I dismounted, jumped and gently remounted. At that time I decided I could ride the course at least since it was pretty darn smooth. I told myself that the first time I felt like I tanked my Edge carbon rim, I would get off and run. After that I just kept it smooth with more weight up front than on my rear flat. Then it happened…about 100 yards from the finish Evan passed me and I finished just seconds behind him for 2nd. Blah. Fun race and great course with super thankful promoters. Like I said, DO THIS RACE! Pumpkin cannon!
Damian and Scotty’s super fun cross team presented by Edge Composites, Hammer Nutrition, TRP, Oakley, Crank Bros, DT Swiss, Chris King, Marcroft Cycles, Redline, Sunnyside Sports and Hutch’s Bikes!
see the cannon in the back?????

Cross crusade numero 2 was…interesting. Bumpy as sh@t more like it. I didn’t ride the tubies (fixed the flat) on advice from a buddy. Wish I would have. No pre-ride means no opinion on tire choice. 45psi in clinchers was way too much. After a sweet call up I had my best start of the year tail gunning the lead group for a lap and a half. I was waiting for my legs to feel fresh, but it never happened and I started drifting back as I bounced all over the course. I felt like I could still be in store for a top 10, but it wasn’t meant to be. Sometime in the top 15 this happened:
I’m actually a little more beat up than you’d think. Who crashes on an UPHILL? Oh yeah, Justin Finn does. Granted it was a tricky up hill with many different lines to take. I had no time to do anything but run over him and flip off my bike. Luckily for him he was still with his bike and he quickly rejoined the race. I, on the other hand, had to go grab my bike and watch about 5 As pass me. I would never get them back, but had fun trying. Thanks for the water and bread feeds on the far side of the course! Bread doesn’t really go down that easy when you’re racing FYI. Brig Brandt, buddy and kinda teammate, passed me late and quickly established a gap. On the last lap I decided to drill it on the few road sections and closed in on him near the end. He botched his next remount and coming into the final barriers he botched him mount again. Brig is the same guy that I battled with at all the Thrillas and I wasn’t about to chop him on the tricky downhill corner, so I geared up for a drag race down the finish stretch. I was actually excited to see what kind of sprint Brig had, but unfortunately he wasn’t so into it and after we hit the pavement he looked back and told me to take it. Oh well, maybe next time we can wind it up. An unimpressive 21st place was the result on the day. That might go to 20 unless Andy Redden really uncorked a great ride and did actually finished 15. If he did, that’s a great result for him! He used to be a Bendite…maybe he still is?

The week leading into Cross Crusade #3 has been super mellow as far as bikes go. I’m tired, beat up and sore. I’m hoping a rest week will bode well for Rainier, which is a course that I’d like a little redemption on from last year.

That’s it from Damian and Scotty’s super fun cross team presented by Edge Composites, Hammer Nutrition, TRP, Oakley, Crank Bros, DT Swiss, Chris King, Marcroft Cycles, Redline, Sunnyside Sports and Hutch’s Bikes! Thanks for reading and I’ll see some of ya’ll this weekend!

D