The mystical, frozen tundra!
Kansas. Cross Nationals 2007. Months and months of trying to stay focused. The big goal of the year. Base miles, intervals, traveling, good race results, poor race results. Highs and lows. Good weather, epic conditions that challenge you mentally just as much as physically. This year has held a little of everything for me, so why would this weekend be any different?
My actual journey to Kansas started the Monday before. As has been typical this cross season, I loaded up the Pedro’s van with gear and dog. As hard as I tried to find an English speaking co-pilot, I was alone for this journey to middle America. 3 days of driving. Crazy ice storms hitting the roads that map quest had laid out for me. Worried emails and calls from the mother ship. Don’t worry mom, I’ll drive safe. I have no desire to drive off the road, even before you told me to be careful. It’s nice to know she cares though! Fortunately, the storms seemed to be just ahead of me the whole time. As I pulled into a rest stop in Kansas, there were signs of the terrible ice storms. Signs of no power, but my path was clear. Every tree, every bush, and every rock covered in a smooth, even layer of ice. My pictures don’t do the beauty justice.
Upon arrival at the race venue, we were greeted with a wet, muddy course. All the trees had started melting right onto the course. A few pre ride laps after Thursday’s races got me mentally ready for a slow, muddy, and power sapping race. The course was a fun mix of fast sections, off camber challenges, slow mud and cornering. The start stretch was 150 yards or so of uphill pavement followed by a tricky right turn, ditch/rise combo. A tricky start at high speed for sure. Friday’s races dealt with the same conditions and the dropping temperature made the mud a bit thicker and slower, creating many different, deep lines all over the place. With all the previous storms, the weather reports for the weekend were all over the place. I heard 2” of snow, 6-8” of snow, 50 degrees+ with sun. As I went to bed Friday night, I was prepared for anything.
When I woke up Saturday and looked out the window….snow! Not 6”, but there was a layer of snow that had blanketed our area of Kansas. I rolled over to the course to warm up and watch the U23s. Amy Dombroski of Velo Bella took her 2nd stars and bars and my boy Nick “The Killer” Weighall (whale, get it?) from Seattle took 4th in the men’s race getting out sprinted by Danny Summerhill. Carson Miller rode great taking 6th, just off the podium. Boy doesn’t wear knee warmers. Crazy.
Having no idea what the course was like, I lined up for my very first age group race. Masters 30-34. My racing age is 30 even though I have 9 months until the big 30 hits. I’ll take the extra opportunity to learn the course before the elite race. I started 5 rows or so back when the gun went off. I think this was my best start ever! I hit the right turn top 20 or so and as people flailed all over the now icy terrain (including myself) I found myself top 10 midway through the first lap. Over the next laps I just concentrated on riding my own race flirting with top 15ish. The deep ruts from the previous days had turned into frozen trenches of death! Racers would arrive at a corner, or churned up section, pick a line and hope that it took you in the right direction. Many times it didn’t. I would be carving the turn just as expected and then suddenly I would shoot off to the side. I even went through the tape a few times. I was fortunate to stay up right and floated just outside of the top 10 with 2 laps to go. I set my sights on the all white skin suit of Jed Schnider up ahead. I had figured out where I could lay down the power, and where I had to back off. I started passing people and closing the gap to Jed quicker than I had expected. I was putting myself in great position to battle on the last lap.
riding well in the top 10!
Then my pedal started squeaking. No big deal I though as I approached the first of 2 run ups. As I ran up, I looked down and noticed that my pedal was ½ way off the spindle. Without much thought I reached down and hit it, hoping that it would go back on and allow me to get to the pit. I mounted and took the next downhill and that’s when it happened. My foot slipped and I came of my seat. I dismounted and started running to the next set of stairs and as I looked down again…no pedal, just a gold spindle. Without hesitation I remounted and started pedaling to the best of my ability. I rode the next off camber downhill, then slipped on the following muddy rise. I remounted again and hit the pavement. What followed next was extremely frustrating. The pit was 1/3 of a lap away and it was the part of the course that you could hammer the most. All of the uphill, the following turn onto the mud/ice, longer sweeping corners and the straight a ways were done with basically one leg and sitting. Riders went off in the distance and riders came flying past me. All the hard work I did to get into the top 10 rode away on 2 good pedals. I did what I could, considering my dilemma and got to the pit. Took a bike from Shanks and off I went to finish the final lap. I rode well, passing a few guys back and almost got another at the line. 13th place, out of 124 starters. 1 min 11 seconds off of Jed. Jed finished 7th.
Ah, what could have been. Not saying I would have beat him, but I would have gone down swinging. Molly was another minute up, so 7th would have been the best virtual result I could have obtained. The worst part of the whole thing is that top 10 get a call up for next years race. 27 seconds away from a front row start at next years race. Whine, whine, whine, boo. That’s the way it goes. Only 1 younger guy beat me…the winner Andy Jacques-Maynes. Yeah, he raced age group, then finished 6th in the elite race. Oh yeah, -6 degrees w/wind chill is what I heard.
Sunday brought more of the same, but with a worse start spot. My start wasn’t bad, but not good. People went everywhere as they hit the same frozen ruts that were now coved with a layer of mud. The course favored skill just as much as power. I’m sure you’ve all seen Ryan getting the wind knocked out of him. There were people going all over the place including me. If you watch the video of Ryan, you can see me cross the course too. I was constantly on my toes reacting to the ruts and other riders. Certain things couldn’t be avoided and it’s unfortunate that Ryan was a casualty of bad course design. He wasn’t the only one (look at the guy he collided with collapse in the video), but he was the highest profile. I rode clean other than one time when my bars got clipped by one of the course markers. It grabbed my bars and threw me down, bending my shifter in the process.
disaster
I remounted, tried to fix the shifter on the fly, but no luck. I had to stop and mess with it. With that one mistake, I went from a few spots behind Molly C (23nd) to finishing a lap down in 37th. I’m still pretty happy with that result and my legs felt great again. A guy that started next to me, who I also battled with in the age group, finished 12th! Sean Babcock finished 17th!!! I wonder if Page is upset that the finishing time was only 52 minutes. He was closing fast on Johnson and one more lap would have been sweet to watch. Not sure if it was my level of skill on the bike (well, almost skill), actual fitness, or a combo of both that had me riding well. I’m hoping it was both because I’m already excited for next year and want to build on a rather successful weekend….is it cross season yet?
See you in 2008 Kansas!
My actual journey to Kansas started the Monday before. As has been typical this cross season, I loaded up the Pedro’s van with gear and dog. As hard as I tried to find an English speaking co-pilot, I was alone for this journey to middle America. 3 days of driving. Crazy ice storms hitting the roads that map quest had laid out for me. Worried emails and calls from the mother ship. Don’t worry mom, I’ll drive safe. I have no desire to drive off the road, even before you told me to be careful. It’s nice to know she cares though! Fortunately, the storms seemed to be just ahead of me the whole time. As I pulled into a rest stop in Kansas, there were signs of the terrible ice storms. Signs of no power, but my path was clear. Every tree, every bush, and every rock covered in a smooth, even layer of ice. My pictures don’t do the beauty justice.
Upon arrival at the race venue, we were greeted with a wet, muddy course. All the trees had started melting right onto the course. A few pre ride laps after Thursday’s races got me mentally ready for a slow, muddy, and power sapping race. The course was a fun mix of fast sections, off camber challenges, slow mud and cornering. The start stretch was 150 yards or so of uphill pavement followed by a tricky right turn, ditch/rise combo. A tricky start at high speed for sure. Friday’s races dealt with the same conditions and the dropping temperature made the mud a bit thicker and slower, creating many different, deep lines all over the place. With all the previous storms, the weather reports for the weekend were all over the place. I heard 2” of snow, 6-8” of snow, 50 degrees+ with sun. As I went to bed Friday night, I was prepared for anything.
When I woke up Saturday and looked out the window….snow! Not 6”, but there was a layer of snow that had blanketed our area of Kansas. I rolled over to the course to warm up and watch the U23s. Amy Dombroski of Velo Bella took her 2nd stars and bars and my boy Nick “The Killer” Weighall (whale, get it?) from Seattle took 4th in the men’s race getting out sprinted by Danny Summerhill. Carson Miller rode great taking 6th, just off the podium. Boy doesn’t wear knee warmers. Crazy.
Having no idea what the course was like, I lined up for my very first age group race. Masters 30-34. My racing age is 30 even though I have 9 months until the big 30 hits. I’ll take the extra opportunity to learn the course before the elite race. I started 5 rows or so back when the gun went off. I think this was my best start ever! I hit the right turn top 20 or so and as people flailed all over the now icy terrain (including myself) I found myself top 10 midway through the first lap. Over the next laps I just concentrated on riding my own race flirting with top 15ish. The deep ruts from the previous days had turned into frozen trenches of death! Racers would arrive at a corner, or churned up section, pick a line and hope that it took you in the right direction. Many times it didn’t. I would be carving the turn just as expected and then suddenly I would shoot off to the side. I even went through the tape a few times. I was fortunate to stay up right and floated just outside of the top 10 with 2 laps to go. I set my sights on the all white skin suit of Jed Schnider up ahead. I had figured out where I could lay down the power, and where I had to back off. I started passing people and closing the gap to Jed quicker than I had expected. I was putting myself in great position to battle on the last lap.
riding well in the top 10!Then my pedal started squeaking. No big deal I though as I approached the first of 2 run ups. As I ran up, I looked down and noticed that my pedal was ½ way off the spindle. Without much thought I reached down and hit it, hoping that it would go back on and allow me to get to the pit. I mounted and took the next downhill and that’s when it happened. My foot slipped and I came of my seat. I dismounted and started running to the next set of stairs and as I looked down again…no pedal, just a gold spindle. Without hesitation I remounted and started pedaling to the best of my ability. I rode the next off camber downhill, then slipped on the following muddy rise. I remounted again and hit the pavement. What followed next was extremely frustrating. The pit was 1/3 of a lap away and it was the part of the course that you could hammer the most. All of the uphill, the following turn onto the mud/ice, longer sweeping corners and the straight a ways were done with basically one leg and sitting. Riders went off in the distance and riders came flying past me. All the hard work I did to get into the top 10 rode away on 2 good pedals. I did what I could, considering my dilemma and got to the pit. Took a bike from Shanks and off I went to finish the final lap. I rode well, passing a few guys back and almost got another at the line. 13th place, out of 124 starters. 1 min 11 seconds off of Jed. Jed finished 7th.
Ah, what could have been. Not saying I would have beat him, but I would have gone down swinging. Molly was another minute up, so 7th would have been the best virtual result I could have obtained. The worst part of the whole thing is that top 10 get a call up for next years race. 27 seconds away from a front row start at next years race. Whine, whine, whine, boo. That’s the way it goes. Only 1 younger guy beat me…the winner Andy Jacques-Maynes. Yeah, he raced age group, then finished 6th in the elite race. Oh yeah, -6 degrees w/wind chill is what I heard.
Sunday brought more of the same, but with a worse start spot. My start wasn’t bad, but not good. People went everywhere as they hit the same frozen ruts that were now coved with a layer of mud. The course favored skill just as much as power. I’m sure you’ve all seen Ryan getting the wind knocked out of him. There were people going all over the place including me. If you watch the video of Ryan, you can see me cross the course too. I was constantly on my toes reacting to the ruts and other riders. Certain things couldn’t be avoided and it’s unfortunate that Ryan was a casualty of bad course design. He wasn’t the only one (look at the guy he collided with collapse in the video), but he was the highest profile. I rode clean other than one time when my bars got clipped by one of the course markers. It grabbed my bars and threw me down, bending my shifter in the process.
disasterI remounted, tried to fix the shifter on the fly, but no luck. I had to stop and mess with it. With that one mistake, I went from a few spots behind Molly C (23nd) to finishing a lap down in 37th. I’m still pretty happy with that result and my legs felt great again. A guy that started next to me, who I also battled with in the age group, finished 12th! Sean Babcock finished 17th!!! I wonder if Page is upset that the finishing time was only 52 minutes. He was closing fast on Johnson and one more lap would have been sweet to watch. Not sure if it was my level of skill on the bike (well, almost skill), actual fitness, or a combo of both that had me riding well. I’m hoping it was both because I’m already excited for next year and want to build on a rather successful weekend….is it cross season yet?
See you in 2008 Kansas!
