Please RSVP to me with how many people you are bringing.

Jared Roy
jaredmroy@hotmail.com
970-389-8456

Well, if you read my last post, you know that I have been sick. So, I did not go up to Tennesee for the TN State Championship.  I was bummed, but there was no way I could pull a decent result without spending any time on the bike the past several weeks. But I was itching to get back on my bike.  So, even though I had been sick and had not been on the bike in the past 2 weeks and only once in the past 3.5 weeks, I heading up to the final race of the Rome winter mini-series.  My LBS (Cycle Theraphy) is the main sponsor of this race and one of the local guys has a few acres where they put this on.  It was a lot of fun.  Not a huge turnout, but we have to start somewhere.  And in the past there have not been any races in Georgia after the 1st weekend of December.  But with the milder winter, it is a great time to do some races.  Hopefully this will pick up speed.  Bob Kuhn, with HUP United really helped pull this series together.

So, I didn’t have any high hopes, but I wanted to race and wanted to support the local scene.  Of course, we had tons of mud again like we have had most of this season.  I’m starting to feel a little more comfortable with the bike handling in the mud, but it really sucks the power out of your legs.  It was like riding in quicksand yesterday.  I did a brief warmup and starting the first race (CX4).  I was comfortably in the lead group after the start.  Then one of the guys made a hard push and broke us up.  I tried to stay with the leaders, but the extra effort killed me.  My legs felt like crap and I couldn’t catch my breath.  So, I bascially sat up  for the last half of the race.  Just spinning to get through it.  At least I was not DFL.  AND the fans were doing hand-ups…beer, etc. and somebody starting pinning cash on the course tape.  I was able to get $10 in handups.  Not bad.

Then I took a break and caught my breath.  I watched the A/B race and then decided to give it a go in the masters race.  Several of the masters raced the A/B, so not many in the actual Masters race.  We were combined with SS race as well.  I got the hole shot and was just cruising when a SS guy passed me.  I grabbed his wheel and held on for a while.  He manged to pull me clear of the other Masters.  I finally let him go and then just tried to keep my pace steady without over doing it.  I rode pretty clean and only had one miscue where I went through the course tape.  I got back on course PDQ but a couple of the guys tried to come back to me.  So, the last lap, I had to push pretty hard to hold my lead.  My legs and chest held on and I won by about 15 seconds.  They did cash in the A/B men and women races, but I got some nice swag for my effort in the Masters race.  I didn’t win anything for the series since I only did 2 of the 4 races. But it was great to be out there.

Racing is done in Georgia, but there are a few more races up in Tennesee.  I’m not sure yet if I will be able to make it up for those.  My lack of training the past several weeks and my family is starting to grumble.  Plus I coach my little girls travel softball team and we start playing tournaments in March.  So, it might be time to hang it up for this season.  We’ll have to see how it goes.  BUT I am stoked about Master’s Worlds and the World championship being in Louisville in 2012 and 2013.  So, I am really going to redouble my efforts to start the season in shape and try to get ready for Masters.  I’m hoping this will help bring Nationals down south as well.

Talk to ya’ll later.

DS

Not much to say about this one.  Epic “el-nino” induced muddy conditions.  Wet mud, sticky mud, wet sand, pavement.  FUN!  Rode the bell lap on a flat tubular.  Good coverage of the weekend’s racing on CXmagazine.com.

Fun season.  I learned a ton and as Joe says “knowing is half the battle”.

ChrisM

Tex-Mex Syndicate

While I can’t quite compete with Jared’s reports and pictures from Belgium, I’m still racing here in the DS.  If you read my last post, you will notice that I had been sick for awhile.   So, I didn’t do the race weekend up in Tennesee, but I did do the Sunday race here in Georgia.  The local shop and an interested land owner are doing a small mini-series during the month of January.  Not a big turn out, but at least it is a start to keep cross going in Georgia during the month of January.

So, even though I wasn’t feeling too great I drove up on Sunday.  We had a lot of rain for a day or so before and a chance of rain on Sunday, but at least it had warmed up a bit.  The course was pretty cool.  It was really muddy in parts, but still rideable.  It also had a short run-up that seemed like a marathon.  The run-up was on the dam on the low side of the pond.  The dirt was already pretty soft, but the rain made it like quicksand.  Every step up, you would sink back down about half a step.  There was a decent paved section as well as some dismounts, including a double dismount over some big logs.  i.e.  You hit the logs going out and then again coming back in.

We only had about 13 guys in CX4, but a couple of them are fast.  I got a good start and had the hole shot.  Then I hit the first muddy section before the Dam(n) run-up.  I hit it on the right side and by the time I regained control I had skidded all the way across to the left side of the course.  I caused a pileup, but everyone was cool about it since we all were slipping and sliding through that section.  I managed to stay in the lead the first lap, then 2 guys made a jump.  I was stuck a few seconds back with another guy.  We stayed together awhile and then he made a move and I just couldn’t follow.  But luckly, one of the original leaders droped off the pace.  I think he had a mechanical due to the mud.  So, that left the top 3 all riding alone.  We stayed that way.  I managed to hold off 4th place and finished 3rd.  Not bad considering my cough and my lack of breathing ability.  But I paid the price on Monday as the bug seemed to take hold of my chest, stomach and head again.  The doctor gave me a new antibiotic and made me stay out of work for 2 days.  I was laid out at home.  Not sure if I will be able to race this weekend, but it looks like less rain so I’m hoping to be able to give it a go.  I’m just happy to still be riding cross.  I have to say that I really feel like I am improving my mud skills.  That can only help in the long run.

Also, we finally got the camera and the computer to work together, so check back soon for a few pictures from the UCI race and the bama race that I have been trying to get posted.  Talk to ya’ll later.

DS

Check out my blog till I can update this site.

once the belgium-boys return finishing posting about their little race over seas, we’re going to update this site.

We could use your thoughts/ideas/etc…

so what are you looking for in this site that is missing, hard to find, lame, cool, blah-blah…

Talk to us.. What should this site become?

FPA

OK.  So the title is a little overkill…but you have to understand that here in the DS, a little snow or ice goes a loooonngg way.  Of course the media jumps on board and gives it a name like a hurricane or something.  After my races in Columbia, I was really looking forward to the races this past weekend in Chattanooga.  I had been doing the intervals suggested by Bryan and felt some improvement.  But one of the kids got sick, then the next one, then me, then my wife.  The kids were starting to show symptoms before we left Nashville.  We all ended up with sinus infections of varying degrees.  My son got a lot in his chest as well and that is where mine seem settled too.  So, I was just hoping that the doctor would give me something that would knock it out so I could still race in CrossaNooga.  Then came the reports of Winter Storm 2010.   

At first the conservative media downplayed the whole event.  Then the liberal media called it all a conspiracy.  Then they all said no real accumulation.  But it did arrive.  It started Thursday right after lunch and by the time the Tide had washed over the Longhorns, the roads were covered with ice/snow.  Down here, it is not “fiscally responsible” to have enough equipment and manpower to actually handle this type of storm.  It doesn’t happen enough to warrant the expenditure.  So, if we get a little bit, it just about closes everything down.  They do have some equipment and by Friday afternoon, many of the “Main” roads were drivable.  But the local streets and roads were still a mess. 

I still wasn’t feeling great and with it staying below freezing, I decided that it wasn’t worth it to risk the icy roads on Saturday morning.  By Saturday afternoon we could venture out as long as we stayed on the busier roads and were careful.  My soon to be 4 year old son loves Monster Trucks, so Saturday night I took him to see Monster Jam with 65,000 other people.  Quite a show, didn’t get home til after midnight though.

But early Sunday “some ice still on the roads” and “a lack of sleep” were kicked to curb by my desire to race.  So, I headed out early Sunday morning to drive to Chattanooga.  I didn’t have any real great expectations after being off the bike all week and not gettng much sleep.  But I just wanted to go up and give it a go.  It took a little longer than expected since there was still some ice in places, so I only got there about an hour before my race.  I didn’t pre-register because I wasn’t sure if I could make it.  So, I had to do that and then started getting ready.  Not quite as cold as Nashville, but it was still in the low 20’s.  But I hurried and had just enough time to get an almost decent warmup. 

Since I didn’t pre-reg, I had to start at the back of the group.  We only had a little over 30 guys, but the start was a little narrow.  We started up a small hill on a paved road and I manged to move up to about 15th before we left the road the first time.  BTW, got a question for you…Who puts pea gravel down in their play ares?  Booker T. Washington State Park does.  So, instead of sand or woodchips, we had to ride through pea gravel to cross 3 seperate play areas each lap.  Not easy to do.  But other than that the course was pretty cool.  It was fast.  Had to really hit the barriers in full stride or slam on the brakes.  The ground was still pretty frozen, so the off-camber sections were tough.  There seemed to be quite a few true roadies out there.  I would pass them in the technical sections, but then they would motor past me on the flats or the small climbs.  I just couldn’t seem to get my breath to stay with them.  Managed to pass a few and hold my spot the last 2 laps, but I couldn’t really move up.  Just didn’t have the lungs. I had to spint at the end. But I ended up in 11th place.  Not too bad considering my sickness and such. But I would have loved to have a go at this course when I was healthy.  Except for the gravel pits, it was a good course for me.  It had some climbing, but not real steep or very long.  It also had enough technical stuff to hold the roadies down.

I ran my clinchers as low as I dared since the ground was so hard and slippery.  I could feel it bottoming out in some places.  But looking at the tires afterwards and the mud that was left on them, I could tell that I was pushing them pretty good through the turns.  I felt like I handled the conditions well. I really think that I will have to give tubulars a try.  So, it still speaks well for my continuing to improve and feel like I can ride with the leaders.  Not sure about next weekend yet.  Can’t do a Saturday race because we have a birthday party for my son, and the closest race for Sunday is 4+ hours away.  So, I will probably just do the training race here in Georgia.

Talk to you later.

DS

Happy New Year!  We did the 4.5 hour drive up to Nashville last Friday (new year’s day).  Took my family with me for a little get away.  It was nice.  We ate too much home cooking on Friday night at the Loveless Cafe.  It’s a downhome little place where the celebrities and us normal folks can all eat.  My wife saw it on the Food Channel and thought it would be cool.  It was pretty neat.  The food was good.  I wisely skipped dessert though.

Woke up Saturday morning to 15 degrees and snow flurries.  My family decided it was too cold for them, so I dropped them at the mall on my way to race.  The food from the night before caught up with me.  Had to make a pit stop.  By the time I got there, got registered, and changed and got the bike ready I had about 10 mins to get warmed up.  Did I mention it was cold?  Didn’t happen.  So, I hit the starting line woefully unprepared.  Didn’t even get a chance to preride the course.  Luckly (maybe) the start was down a long stretch of paved rode before it turned up into the fields.  I got a decent start, but my HR went through the roof.  There were 3 guys that took off for the lead.  I settled in with a group of 4 behind them and tried to catch my breath.  Then I had a problem.  My rear wheel went haywire.  I had noticed a slight problem before the start and tried to quickly fix it.  Thought it was ok, but not to be.  Had to run a little ways to get to the pit to switch.  I lost a little ground, but I keep on chugging.  I was actually starting to feel a little better.  I managed to pass a couple of guys back, but got stuck in no man’s land by myself.  I ended up in 9th place.  Not too bad really, because there were a couple of really fast guys off the front.  I didn’t do the “B” race since my wheel was shot and my family was waiting at the mall.  I was really hoping for a better result.  I felt like it could have been better.

Went by a LBS and the ceramic bearings were toast. Took my daughter to a few little shops while we waited.  Expensive art south of Nashville…. Anyway one of the rings around the axle was completely broken.  Not going to work for awhile.  We had a nice dinner and a little shopping around that night and then I swapped tires to a back-up wheel to get ready for Sunday.  BTW, I still want to try tubulars if anyone has an old set they want to get rid of.  AND, the Michelin Mud tires seems to work better in the mud over frozen ground type of course.

Woke up Sunday to 16 degrees and no snow…But it was windy.  Again too cold for my family, so they stayed at the hotel.  But this gave me a little more time.  I got to the course in better shape ready to ride.  I did several pre-ride laps to get warmed up and noticed to 2 spots where the wind was in you face.  I made a mental note to grab a wheel when we hit those areas.  Felt good when I got to the start.  We went across the field and then had a tough, tight 180 turn before we hit the first barriers.  I got the hole shot, but one guy passed me going into the tight turn.  He hit it a little too hard and we kinda bottled up.  But managed to pull out with 3 of us in the lead.  We traded the lead for the next lap and a half.  Then as we started to hit that same turn on lap #3, I made the mistake of being a little outside the wheel of the same guy before.  As a result I got pushed a little outside as he had to slow to make the turn.  Guess what, there was a hole about the size of my front tire right under the edge of the course tape.  I endod big time.  By the time I got up and going again a couple of guys had caught me and I was about 20-30 seconds down on the 2 leaders.  My adrenaline was pumping and I was mad at myself for letting them get away.  I knew we only had 2 laps so I just went all out in an attempt to catch back up.  I ended up dragging one of the guys with me.  We hit the paved road again and I almost caught up, about 5-10 seconds down.  Then I caught a lucky break.  The 2 leaders saw us right behind them and set up for some reason.  So, now we had 4 guys in the lead with just over a lap to go.  I guess they wanted us to help work the last lap and a half.

I was trying to catch my breath after the effort to catch up.  So, I sat on the fourth wheel for a little while.  Not the best place to be.  One of the 2 original leaders jumped on the far side of the field through a pretty fast section.  So, I had to claw my way up again.  We went through a barrier section and down a dirt road with me and #4 dangling just off the 2 leaders.  We hit the road and it was tough.  It was a couple hundred yards of road into the wind before we hit the grass and last little climb before the finish.  I hit the gas and manged to catch up and pull ahead just as we left the road.  But I didn’t have a lot left for the little switch back climb before the finish.  One of the guys passed me at the bottom of the climb and at the top he had about 4 bike lengths on me.  Then it was a 90 degree turn and a 75 yard sprint to the finish.  At that point I couldn’t catch him, but I did manage to pull away from 3rd. 

So, a 2nd place finish.  Not bad for an old, out of shape guy.  Maybe with Bryan’s suggestions I can finish the season strong with a few more podiums.  Honestly, I was disappointed that I didn’t win, but I was stoked with a strong 2nd.  I rode the whole race with the leaders; did my pulls on the front, suffered when I had to; and managed to survive.  The kid who won is about 15 and can’t weigh much more then about 90 lbs.  So, he climbed that last little hill like it was nothing.  It was all I could do to haul my 190 lbs up it and try to stay with him.  He is a tough up and coming junior.  3rd place was a guy who has beaten me several times this year and he has also had some strong finishes.  I think he placed fairly high at the UCI race in Hendersonville.  So, I felt good about it.   I was able to suffer when I had to and still had enough left to get to the finish.

So, trying to get my wheel fixed and survive the “icebox” conditions we have right now.  Looking forward to Crossanooga #1 and #2 this coming weekend.  Talk to ya’ll later.

DS

Sorry for the delay in this posting.  First our computer crashed.  Then for some reason I can’t get the camera to upload some really cool photos.  And my wife had family in for the holidays so we have been slammed.  It is hard to do this write up without the photos, but I will go ahead and hopefully come back with photos of Henderson NC and this race.

This race took place in Cullman, AL. a couple of weeks ago.  It was the final race of the Alabama series.  It takes place at a little park with a small lake in the middle.  The course winds its way around the lake.  As I have mentioned before, we have had a lot of rain this season.  Two days before Cullman was no different.  A day before Cullman was no different.  It finally started slacking off on Saturday afternoon, but everything was already soaked by that point.  BUT the big news was that the lake had overflowed into several small “fingers” (ditches really) around the lake.  The course crossed about 5 of them.  One of them was pretty major and the water was between 12 and 18 inches deep.  There was also a low-laying area between two of the fingers that was about 4 inches deep in water and who knows how deep in mud.

It was cold, but I got there in time to pre-ride the course.  Most of it was rideable at that point.  Even the deep ditch was rideable by a few riders.  So, I felt pretty good about it.  I was concerned about the deep water crossing though.  I decided that the risk in riding through something that deep, when you can’t even see what you are riding on was too great.  But that meant that I would have to take several steps each lap in the COLD water up to my shins/calves.  Still not sure how you stay warm when the tempature is just above freezing and you get that submerged in the water.  ANY SUGGESTIONS?

I got a pretty good warm up and felt pretty good.  Went to the Start line with the smallest field of the year.  It was only about 30+.  One thing I like about this race is that they have the drumline from the local high school come out.  Yeah, that’s right, we can compete with the Pacific Northwest.  It was cool though that they were pounding out the beat to get us going.  I didn’t get a great start, but it was a decent stretch of pavement before we turned to hit the first water crossing.  So, I manged to pass about 5 riders and hit the first ditch in 2nd place.  Hit is the key word here.  The mud had been churned up by the earlier race and the other pre-rides.  I made the first half fine, but as I hit the second dip, my front tire locked up in the mud and I ended up at a 90 degree angle.  Thus I was HIT by the next 2 riders behind me.  I finally got myself out of the mud, but at least 15-20 guys had passed me by then and the three leaders already had a gap. 

So, I was fighting at that point.  I got on the gas as best as I could.  With the exception of the water crossings, this course still favored me even with the mud.  So, I was working hard to pass some guys as I went along.  The deep water crossing was not really fun…I could do without that.  But the rest was cool and I was able to pass a few guys and I ended up in 7th place.  Not too bad considering my mad skillz in the mud…or lack thereof.

I then went to the car to try to get warm and changed my socks and shoes to get ready for the “B” race.  I got back to line…after everyone else had started.  But I was still feeling pretty good.  Caught and passed a few people and felt like I was actually riding better.  The back side of the course was down in some woods below the dam.  It had a lot of roots, etc.  About the 3rd lap of my second race a guy in front of me went down hard.  I’m not even sure what he hit.  He just ended up flying through the air and landing on his head and shoulder.  He didn’t look too good, so I stopped to check on him.  He said he was alright, but he wasn’t moving.  Another guy stopped, so I left to get help.  Cut the course to find the promoter, so I had to pull the plug on that race. Not sure how the guy ended up. Hope he was ok.  But it still was a few extra hot laps for me.  

All in all not a bad day.  My daughter went with me and took some cool photos.  I will try to get them up once we get the camera to upload correctly.  She braved the cold and it was fun to have her along.  Seems like I have had some good starts with no real results to show for it.  I’ve got to figure out something to fix it.  Bryan gave me some ideas for the next few weeks.  We have races in Tenn and NC and a local guy is doing a winter “race” series.  His will probably be more of a training series, but a guy from Hup United has managed to get some prizes together.  I will probably do some of the Tenn races and then maybe some of the local races in Georgia since they are much closer to me.   It looks like I will get in at least 3 of the next 5 weekends.  So, I will have 4-8 more races in this season.  Just depends on which races I can do and if I can do both days of the Tenn races.  So, maybe I can finally get a decent result this season.   Looks like I am going to Nashville this weekend for the Columbia Winter Cup #1 and #2.  I will let everyone knows how it goes.  I did Bryan’s first Interval training on Saturday.  So, hopefully that will help.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Talk to ya’ll later.

DS

The buzz is still in the air about Nationals in Bend, OR.  With that in mind this weekend’s race, the Psycho Cross Pseries held its final race the 19th.  Very small fields and i raced in my Clydes cat with the other Masters Category B 35+ Men/Masters 50+ (45min).  There was a steady rain all week, and warmer weather prevailed compared to Jared’s experience so far with Oregon.  Race conditions were sunny and 62 degrees, that is (62) and not (6) degrees.  It was fun, i had a whoppin field of 3 clydes, and the race was over by the second lap.  Course was a mix of river rock, sand, mud, alot of single track, water hazzards and 7 dismount areas.  When i started my third lap i asked the Official ‘where are the other clydes?’ they said a lap down.  So i pretty muched dropped a gear and just enjoyed a trail ride for the rest of the day.  I think ill get some free swag in the mail so that is cool.  Overall a fun race and a great way to end the year.