Really hoping for some solid frozen ground on Friday
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Really hoping for some solid frozen ground on Friday
ChrisG
Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
Me too.
We may get that....
Ive been stalking that weather forecast for days
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Today was so rad. I had hope to recap tonight but I had so many chores and I'm beat.
Tomorrow.
You all better pray something changes and the high gets above freezing. Will elaborate later. High 30? The fuck am I supposed to dress for Saturday???
Tomorrow.
You all better pray something changes and the high gets above freezing. Will elaborate later. High 30? The fuck am I supposed to dress for Saturday???
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
2017 National CX Non-Championship 23-39 – Hartford, CT
11:54, I’m in the grid. Call up #4, first row, one lane in from the right. Stage Right. Scott smith is on my left, Jack K next to him, and Robert Marion next to him. @Consult_Ant is on my right next to the barrier. The grid keeps filling in, 40 starters. For some reason a 13 people did not show. Maybe it was the spitting rain and 38 degree temperature? Maybe they just couldn’t handle the natz hype? Maybe they didn’t want to have their legs torn off by three pros??
I keep my rain shell on until 2 minutes to go. I completely changed after my 1 inspection lap, I’m relatively dry which makes the grid tolerable. The natz hype is real, there are two USAC arches, one at staging and one at the start finish, white tents galore, and a ton of officials I’ve never seen before. The grandeur of this event hits me. The whole production is very impressive and only at partial capacity for this first day of racing. A photographer snaps photos and I think for a moment, “man, this is pretty neat.”
We receive our instructions, they will not be pulling riders to see how that goes for the rest of the week. 30 minutes of racing.
15 Seconds.
Eyes on the whistle, I see Scott eyes forward in my peripheral, cheeks inflate, and we’re off. Jack jumps, Scott, Robert, Matt and I are in pursuit. Clean start, no incidents. The first right is open, and WET. My speed carries me across from the inside to the left which spits me onto Marion’s wheel. I draft and force myself to stay keep that spot, the ground is soft and so much of my power is just being thrown into the muck. I average 430w for the first 1:10 to the base of the mega off camber wall, WHAT?!
Everyone is off the bikes running. Jack and Scott go to the top, Marion, Matt and I go low in that order. Marion is taking his time. This feature is pretty ridiculous. It’s a 30+ degree slope that’s about 25 yards wide and with the temperature and rain every step you take the ground moves under your feet. I pop out of the tape line and make a double pass around Matt and Marion. 3rd!! At the far end there is a tape line that goes ¾ of the way up the hill. Whether you run high, or low, you need to scale most of the hill. Advantaged of high is an easier run with less off camber and pretty solid footing, an advantage of low is less run-up. Either way, mounting to descend was sketchy. I rode it 5 times the day before but with the mud covering everything I opted to run down. Brakes were basically non-existent and I wasn’t mentally prepared for a rodeo ride.
I mount at the bottom, pedal the 180 and sprint into the run-up, shoulder then die. That start sprint then wind sprint totally toasted me. I’m lightly “jogging” up the right pulling myself up the fencing when Marion runs right by me like I’m standing still. 4th.
From the top of the levee the course goes over the top onto a short off camber. The high right line is stripped of grass. I liked dropping in from the left and hitting the lower/middle grass then looping up near the far tape. Not a big loop, but enough to clear people on the ground if need be. From there you ride the top the switch back right off camber 180, followed by left off camber 180. These are two finesse corners, totally ride-able but you need to respect the speed, and ride light. If you pedal too heavy after the left you will wash out. When you crash run to the high line and mount in the fresh grass.
90 degree drop down the bottom half of the levee into a slight right, I tripod this and surf the mud ruts. The woods here is all mud with standing puddles. The frozen ruts from the day before are thawed and knocked down, on Monday this was the sketchiest 150’ of the course. Quick up with a >90 right. This was ride-able Monday but too slick for me to keep traction in the wet. Marion ace’s it. Quick slight descent into a hairpin left off camber, again ride-able Monday, run today. Mount, ride straight grass off camber, then drop back down to the football field and POWER the straight!
The next zone is some fun wooded corners, there are big apex ruts formed that if you can rail send you quickly through the corners. If you miss you end up sliding to the outside losing momentum. MOAR POWER BY THE PITS! Then back in the woods for some loosey goosey corners. One 3’ rise is a run in the mud. By this point Marion dropped me when he was able to ride back up the Levee. Matt, Matt and Pearl’s NC buddy Keith are all in proximity. Behind me.
Around the boat house, and finally some easy corners. Wet but low stress. Barriers are greasy and tall. Short power climb into a right which goes back down just to loop left and go back up to the gazebo. This is unrideable in the mud conditions. And my momentum takes me outside. Keith and Matt run tight on the tape and pass.
A couple fast slightly downhill corners with ruts to rail into my second least favorite feature, a quick down up drain ditch. It’s so small, but so steep, it’s maybe 2’ down and 3’ across. Steep enough to make you feel like you’re going to go OTB and rutted with mud tracks. You need to hit it square and hope you find a rut. Matt M bobbles, I pass, Keith, me, Matt M 4,5,6.
Directly after that drain ditch is a small steep 2’ roller. It’s a total weight back bottom your front tire out kinda deal. Not fun but easier than the drain ditch. Keith goes right, I go left and beat him to the top of the power climb. 4th. Me, Keith, Matt M over the line with 2 to go. Lap two they gap me on the run up after the off camber death section. The race becomes a game of just not crashing. At some point I come around Matt M and it’s just Keith maybe 6-8 seconds ahead. I dig a hard VO effort on the grass pit straight, catch Keith and pass before the off camber. I go low with a gradual line aimed at the top of the tape, Keith goes high and runs the top. We are right next to each other running, jogging, barely walking across this god damn hill. My bike is high side supporting me as every step slides the earth under me. It’s a slow motion race, we are both hurting so bad.
I get to the drop in first, I hyped myself knowing I NEED to ride it to keep a gap, I can’t get myself to throw a leg over the bike, my shoes are caked and my hands are sliding off my hoods. I run down, mount, turn then run back up. Keith passes me and puts a couple bike lengths in on the top. We hit the backside off camber, he goes high, bobbles and scooters, I go low, pass and we are neck and neck in a slow motion sprint coming back up onto the top, I beat him there and lead the off camber turns. Keith gets ahead of me at the next run up and puts 4 bikes on me by the time we hit the woods. I finally shut off my brain and RAIL some wooded rut corners at uncomfortable speeds and get on his wheel. Keith pits and I dig out an attack. Need to go NOW. I keep space all the way past the gazebo but catch 2 lappers coming down to the drain ditch. One gives me the racing line but the second holds his line right at the ditch I’m forced to hit the ditch at an angle and crash. Keith cleans it and attacks. I lost 3 or 4 seconds on him there and bled back a few more after my counter popped me. Such a bummer so close to the end, 5th.
I don’t want to say that lapper lost me the spot, Keith may have passed me after that feature, but it would at least have been my fault. I prefer it being my fault, I don’t have to say “what if that guy wasn’t there.”
Jack, Marion, Scott, Keith, Me Podium goes 5 deep, homie got a 5th place non-championship medal and a Sierra Nevada Torpedo tallboy. LOL!
That race was pretty sweet. I really would have liked to have been 4th but I was sooo badd off the bike and I should have been riding the drop. My run was quickish, but way slower than a roll down. I spent some time on the ground but so did everyone.
To everyone racing the rest of the week:
This course is going to change A LOT come tomorrow. The entire course is rutted and once the temps drop and the surface freezes it’s going to be very dangerous. USAC already announced they would be removing the ride down/slide down for at least today. Monday while pre-riding the course was mostly frozen. The woods were dangerously rutted and I have never seen so many people on the ground just pre-riding. I saw a woman slide out on grease over ice on the corner before the gazebo and her head hit so hard it popped the rain shell off of her helmet. Please be careful, safe travels and have fun.
I’ll be racing SS on Saturday and hanging Sunday, hopefully I’ll see some of your beautiful faces up there.
11:54, I’m in the grid. Call up #4, first row, one lane in from the right. Stage Right. Scott smith is on my left, Jack K next to him, and Robert Marion next to him. @Consult_Ant is on my right next to the barrier. The grid keeps filling in, 40 starters. For some reason a 13 people did not show. Maybe it was the spitting rain and 38 degree temperature? Maybe they just couldn’t handle the natz hype? Maybe they didn’t want to have their legs torn off by three pros??
I keep my rain shell on until 2 minutes to go. I completely changed after my 1 inspection lap, I’m relatively dry which makes the grid tolerable. The natz hype is real, there are two USAC arches, one at staging and one at the start finish, white tents galore, and a ton of officials I’ve never seen before. The grandeur of this event hits me. The whole production is very impressive and only at partial capacity for this first day of racing. A photographer snaps photos and I think for a moment, “man, this is pretty neat.”
We receive our instructions, they will not be pulling riders to see how that goes for the rest of the week. 30 minutes of racing.
15 Seconds.
Eyes on the whistle, I see Scott eyes forward in my peripheral, cheeks inflate, and we’re off. Jack jumps, Scott, Robert, Matt and I are in pursuit. Clean start, no incidents. The first right is open, and WET. My speed carries me across from the inside to the left which spits me onto Marion’s wheel. I draft and force myself to stay keep that spot, the ground is soft and so much of my power is just being thrown into the muck. I average 430w for the first 1:10 to the base of the mega off camber wall, WHAT?!
Everyone is off the bikes running. Jack and Scott go to the top, Marion, Matt and I go low in that order. Marion is taking his time. This feature is pretty ridiculous. It’s a 30+ degree slope that’s about 25 yards wide and with the temperature and rain every step you take the ground moves under your feet. I pop out of the tape line and make a double pass around Matt and Marion. 3rd!! At the far end there is a tape line that goes ¾ of the way up the hill. Whether you run high, or low, you need to scale most of the hill. Advantaged of high is an easier run with less off camber and pretty solid footing, an advantage of low is less run-up. Either way, mounting to descend was sketchy. I rode it 5 times the day before but with the mud covering everything I opted to run down. Brakes were basically non-existent and I wasn’t mentally prepared for a rodeo ride.
I mount at the bottom, pedal the 180 and sprint into the run-up, shoulder then die. That start sprint then wind sprint totally toasted me. I’m lightly “jogging” up the right pulling myself up the fencing when Marion runs right by me like I’m standing still. 4th.
From the top of the levee the course goes over the top onto a short off camber. The high right line is stripped of grass. I liked dropping in from the left and hitting the lower/middle grass then looping up near the far tape. Not a big loop, but enough to clear people on the ground if need be. From there you ride the top the switch back right off camber 180, followed by left off camber 180. These are two finesse corners, totally ride-able but you need to respect the speed, and ride light. If you pedal too heavy after the left you will wash out. When you crash run to the high line and mount in the fresh grass.
90 degree drop down the bottom half of the levee into a slight right, I tripod this and surf the mud ruts. The woods here is all mud with standing puddles. The frozen ruts from the day before are thawed and knocked down, on Monday this was the sketchiest 150’ of the course. Quick up with a >90 right. This was ride-able Monday but too slick for me to keep traction in the wet. Marion ace’s it. Quick slight descent into a hairpin left off camber, again ride-able Monday, run today. Mount, ride straight grass off camber, then drop back down to the football field and POWER the straight!
The next zone is some fun wooded corners, there are big apex ruts formed that if you can rail send you quickly through the corners. If you miss you end up sliding to the outside losing momentum. MOAR POWER BY THE PITS! Then back in the woods for some loosey goosey corners. One 3’ rise is a run in the mud. By this point Marion dropped me when he was able to ride back up the Levee. Matt, Matt and Pearl’s NC buddy Keith are all in proximity. Behind me.
Around the boat house, and finally some easy corners. Wet but low stress. Barriers are greasy and tall. Short power climb into a right which goes back down just to loop left and go back up to the gazebo. This is unrideable in the mud conditions. And my momentum takes me outside. Keith and Matt run tight on the tape and pass.
A couple fast slightly downhill corners with ruts to rail into my second least favorite feature, a quick down up drain ditch. It’s so small, but so steep, it’s maybe 2’ down and 3’ across. Steep enough to make you feel like you’re going to go OTB and rutted with mud tracks. You need to hit it square and hope you find a rut. Matt M bobbles, I pass, Keith, me, Matt M 4,5,6.
Directly after that drain ditch is a small steep 2’ roller. It’s a total weight back bottom your front tire out kinda deal. Not fun but easier than the drain ditch. Keith goes right, I go left and beat him to the top of the power climb. 4th. Me, Keith, Matt M over the line with 2 to go. Lap two they gap me on the run up after the off camber death section. The race becomes a game of just not crashing. At some point I come around Matt M and it’s just Keith maybe 6-8 seconds ahead. I dig a hard VO effort on the grass pit straight, catch Keith and pass before the off camber. I go low with a gradual line aimed at the top of the tape, Keith goes high and runs the top. We are right next to each other running, jogging, barely walking across this god damn hill. My bike is high side supporting me as every step slides the earth under me. It’s a slow motion race, we are both hurting so bad.
I get to the drop in first, I hyped myself knowing I NEED to ride it to keep a gap, I can’t get myself to throw a leg over the bike, my shoes are caked and my hands are sliding off my hoods. I run down, mount, turn then run back up. Keith passes me and puts a couple bike lengths in on the top. We hit the backside off camber, he goes high, bobbles and scooters, I go low, pass and we are neck and neck in a slow motion sprint coming back up onto the top, I beat him there and lead the off camber turns. Keith gets ahead of me at the next run up and puts 4 bikes on me by the time we hit the woods. I finally shut off my brain and RAIL some wooded rut corners at uncomfortable speeds and get on his wheel. Keith pits and I dig out an attack. Need to go NOW. I keep space all the way past the gazebo but catch 2 lappers coming down to the drain ditch. One gives me the racing line but the second holds his line right at the ditch I’m forced to hit the ditch at an angle and crash. Keith cleans it and attacks. I lost 3 or 4 seconds on him there and bled back a few more after my counter popped me. Such a bummer so close to the end, 5th.
I don’t want to say that lapper lost me the spot, Keith may have passed me after that feature, but it would at least have been my fault. I prefer it being my fault, I don’t have to say “what if that guy wasn’t there.”
Jack, Marion, Scott, Keith, Me Podium goes 5 deep, homie got a 5th place non-championship medal and a Sierra Nevada Torpedo tallboy. LOL!
That race was pretty sweet. I really would have liked to have been 4th but I was sooo badd off the bike and I should have been riding the drop. My run was quickish, but way slower than a roll down. I spent some time on the ground but so did everyone.
To everyone racing the rest of the week:
This course is going to change A LOT come tomorrow. The entire course is rutted and once the temps drop and the surface freezes it’s going to be very dangerous. USAC already announced they would be removing the ride down/slide down for at least today. Monday while pre-riding the course was mostly frozen. The woods were dangerously rutted and I have never seen so many people on the ground just pre-riding. I saw a woman slide out on grease over ice on the corner before the gazebo and her head hit so hard it popped the rain shell off of her helmet. Please be careful, safe travels and have fun.
I’ll be racing SS on Saturday and hanging Sunday, hopefully I’ll see some of your beautiful faces up there.
Doooood... I could feel my heart rate increasing higher and higher as I was reading that. After watching all the clips on the interweb machine and reading your reacp... holy shit. PUMPED/SCARED
Delish
Well-Known Member
Dramatic-Blakc-and-White-INSTA-Vid of @The Heckler an the pack on THE hill
ChrisG
Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
Taking into consideration everything you've reported, it sounds like we're fucked, no matter what the weather does. If it doesn't freeze (which isn't likely), it will be a sloppy, slippery mess. If it does freeze (which it will), it will be a rock-hard, even more slippery mess. And if it freezes and begins thawing, it will be all of the above, at once.
The Squirrel
Well-Known Member
An amazing recap. Inspirational, actually. Thank you for such vivid detail.
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Yes to all. Bring your wide tires. Hell, bring an MTB, you might just be national champion!
Is that allowed?
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
CONSULT TECHNICAL DOCUMENT
Sounds like the cross conditions people always say they wish for.
ChrisG
Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
Not this person.
Delish
Well-Known Member
Great recap indeed. i have no idea how you remember details. I usually just make it all up in the racap.
35mm max for non Elite field. not sure if/how they will check that. Looking at stamped tire size is no use. Even in UCI races I have seen a liberal acceptance of what "fits" in the 33mm checker...at least back in the scrub zone. no flat bars at Nationals for Masters, Collegiate, or SS
35mm max for non Elite field. not sure if/how they will check that. Looking at stamped tire size is no use. Even in UCI races I have seen a liberal acceptance of what "fits" in the 33mm checker...at least back in the scrub zone. no flat bars at Nationals for Masters, Collegiate, or SS
The Heckler
You bring new meaning to the term SUCK
Things got a little hazy on lap 2 but i think i nailed the last lap, and start.
Defo bring out those 35mm's