Phillip Maronilla said:

I am going to agree with Marc here (and thanks Marc for always drilling this into people). I've always been no more than an hour to a race, but last Sunday, at Veteran's Memorial in CT, we got there 2 hours before and wow it made a difference. 

No rushing to pin up. Two hot laps before the race, time to talk to people. That's how it should be. 

I have to give credit to Todd McLoughlin for this advice that I now preach from the mountain top. A few years ago, we started going to some races together and he was usually there 3 hours early! We'd get there, with our street clothes, throw on helmets, shoes and doodle around the course. Pick up our numbers, kit up, warm-up on any neighboring roads/grass, wait until the next race is over by the start line, squirt onto the course as soon as the winner crossed the finish line (standard practice), get in two laps, then do that again before the next race.

THEN before our race, there was no, "do I have time to squeeze in a lap and not miss my call up?" panic. We had already done our laps.

Now, honestly, if you are the first race of the day, you don't need to be there that early because the course is wide open and you can get in 3-5 laps uninterrupted. But yeah, with my family, usually, in tow, I try and shoot for 2.5-3 hours early, and with family drama, that usually guarantees I'm there 2 hours early and then we're all happy.

Getting there early is the hotness, I wrote a pre race routine a few years ago, posted it in the cx thread.

eloy said:

Getting there early is the hotness, I wrote a pre race routine a few years ago, posted it in the cx thread.

Best racing advice I ever got:

"The will to succeed is the will to prepare."

Sunday HPCX SANDPITS 

https://www.facebook.com/midatlanticcross/posts/1638261533101349

HPCX'ers!

Sadly I won't be able to race as I have family visiting, but I *will* be there for the early show to (perhaps) pre-ride, heckle and DROP OFF SIXPOINT SCHWAG

Is there anyone attending both days that would like to put their hand up (see what I did just there?) to quarterback the Sixpoint Schwag for Saturday/Sunday?

This would involve passing out things like beer cozies as handups, probably posing with delicious carbonated beverages and generally being awesome in kit, with Sixpoint.

So if you sweat awesomesauce don't be shy - let me know.

True to form...here I am eating cereal at 8:30 instead of halfway to the race course. Well, I TRIED to get there 3 hours early. Sigh.

Well, it's been a rough week, Peter's had the "new kids in the hall sick blues" for a few weeks and my body has been fighting getting sick this whole week. Needed the extra sleep. See y'all in a few.

"Jeffrey White representing Kissena Cycling Club takes the holeshot."

"White mantaining his advantage"

I planning to head over for the 3/4 race at 3:30.  I'm not sure who it would be, but I've got room in my car or would take a ride too.  Planning to leave around noon.

I didn't have the heart to set a 6am alarm. Gonna try again tomorrow for the 9am 4/5

niallsmart said:

I didn't have the heart to set a 6am alarm. Gonna try again tomorrow for the 9am 4/5

@niallsmartI'm have second thoughtsnow too.  Up for a ride in town, road or Cunningham?

Hotness ALERT

It sounds like I'm in good company.  Still getting over a stomach bug.  Plenty of weekends on the horizon.

Day 1 report.

Beautiful gorgs park as always. Racing 40 minutes from home is the definition of hotness.

Sucky start, but the holeshot is long enough that still managed to get in the group, pass some or whatevs. Lap 2 or so, hit my pedal in a corner and went flying. Patrick right behind got to enjoy that --- Good sign, I suppose, that there was pedaling thru corners. ugh.

Kinda recover, but kinda struggle to find mega flow. Did not ride the stairs this year. Finished 30somethingorother. Looking forward to tomorrow: Crushing on sandpits!

Those that signed up but didn't bother to show up. Please don't talk to me ever again #banished.

Don't have any photos of kissenistas, so here are photos of Britt and Jena. Because cyclocross rewards heart and determination.

TOMORROW: SO MUCH SANDPITS HOTNESS.

should mention that Patrick paid with blood, for pre rides, pit stops, and crazy tires, but got a super start. Jim Nelson was super hot, literally no gloves or long sleeves. All finished on the lead lap.

Quick, Eloy-style report:

I rolled a tubular on an inelegant remount. A tubular glued with 5 layers of mastik and belgian tape fwiw. Rode 4 or so laps on a tire that I just prayed wouldn't come off again.

Can't wait for clinchers at 35psi tomorrow. NOT.

There are parts of this sport that I hate. This is one of them.

Marc Bertucco said:

Quick, Eloy-style report:

I rolled a tubular on an inelegant remount. A tubular glued with 5 layers of mastik and belgian tape fwiw. Rode 4 or so laps on a tire that I just prayed wouldn't come off again.

Can't wait for clinchers at 35psi tomorrow. NOT.

There are parts of this sport that I hate. This is one of them.

If you didn't throw your bike after rolling a tubular you're still in good shape. 

That does suck, but you still finished your race. 

Results bros:

https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2015-2538&bypass=1

For those of you having trouble getting out of bed in the morning, perhaps you would like to check out the live feed.

http://livestream.com/accounts/2043205/events/4424639

The fact of the matter is that the elite racing these last few weeks has been rich and exciting. As much as I love seeing ALL the pros race at Gloucester/Providence, things are much more exciting when the Howitzers that are JPow and Hyde are not around. Same could be said for Nash/Compton.

I could do without the thick deep sand today. I ran it each lap, two sections. Totally sapped my energy. Otherwise I felt good on a course without much slow grass. I think I will stick to the Saturday course next year.

Out of 82 prereg'd, only 58 showed up in the 4/5 this morning. Finished 42nd. Didn't get lapped so I'm happy (unlike last year).

https://m.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.912347348853065.1073741861.796427337111734&type=1&l=a145b13f03&refid=17&_ft_=top_level_post_id.912370682184065:tl_objid.912370682184065

Pictures of the sand in the 4/5 race.

HPCX day 2 report

JP broke his chain or so he says, he had a perfectly working bike when he left.

At some point early, Patrick and I caught each other and raced the race together and mostly against each other. Last lap, he dropped me in the sandpits, I dug stupid deep and caught him by the stairs, but he has too much class and still beat me to the line.

Awesome fun.

here's a photo of Dan Chabanov, full on leading the race on lap 1:

Better day for me. Dan R. and I lined up with about 22 other guys. A competing PA race took away some competitors from today's fun. And too bad for them. The sand riding was AWESOME.

The downhill-ish first one was totally rideable (if you took a leap of faith and went in at full throttle). Although the curvey exit that was filled both with deep-ish sand AND a thick root, was tricky. The second pit, I ran. Kind of a recovery section, because after that it was false flat up, up, up, up, steep ups, then 5% pavement up, etc. So you know take that rest where you can get it. Of course the Belgian stud along with some of the other elites looked like they just floated through that second pit like it was nothing. It was hella-impressive.

Nice cheers/encouragement from Patrick, Eloy and JP on the sidelines. I needed it. The last lap or so, I had a guy hunting me down big time. I was riding out of my skull, and every time I glanced back, there he was, 10 seconds behind looking easy peasy. It was like a zombie movie. I was being chased by a zombie and could not drop him for good. At least he didn't catch me.

I finished in 12th place, which is numerically my best race of the year. Of course, smallest field of the year. But still. Because results sheets can be a lousy way to judge, on thing I've been doing is noting my gap to the winner. It's coming down. Today, just 3 minutes behind Roger Aspholm. That's about 30 seconds a lap slower today. So you know, not awesome, but not terrible. Will continue to try to trim that number next week at Whirlybird.

Also, gun-shy from yesterday's remounts and another awkward remount today where I held my breath and hoped I didn't flat, was a good reminder that despite feeling okay about my technical skills, I actually have some work to do. Especially on the off camber remounts that come at the top of a rise where you have little forward momentum.

Dan rolled his tubulars and was a DNF. Jim Feehan in the 55+ field that started a minute behind earned his best result of the year with a 4th place!

Good to catch up with a lot of KCC and ex-KCC riders alike before/after my race.

Worst race of the year. Lap 1 right after the barriers, rolled my rear tubular remounting on the side hill. 2 hours of driving, 3 laps of pre-riding the course, 2 packets of Gu Chews, 30 minutes of warm-up, all for 2 minutes of racing.

Cyclocross is a temperamental mistress.

Dan Reiners said:

Worst race of the year. Lap 1 right after the barriers, rolled my rear tubular remounting on the side hill. 2 hours of driving, 3 laps of pre-riding the course, 2 packets of Gu Chews, 30 minutes of warm-up, all for 2 minutes of racing.

Cyclocross is a temperamental mistress.

Exactly where I rolled my tubular on Saturday. I stopped jumping on my bike mostly today. just flicked the pedal down and mounted like it was a horse. Very amateur hour, very the opposite of "the hotness." Oh well.

Saturday at HPCX was sort of forgettable as I took a bad tumble during a hot lap in which rode over a pile of acorns on the outside line (I hadn't seen them before) and ripped up my arm and bruised my leg. To add insult to injury Marc noticed that the sidewall on my rear tubular was ready to blow. So I pitted my Van Dessel and started the race on my pit bike. 

I had a good start but this quickly eroded as my rear Fango tubular was sliding out during every turn. The tire has a slow leak so I had a little more pressure than usual (because I figured it would be sitting in the pit for a while) which may be the reason for the sliding. It is also a couple of seasons old and the knobs are a little worn. In any case it sucked so I decided to take my chances and went to the pit to ride the Van Dessel and hope my tubular held. I was more conservative than usual in case the tire blew, and my performance was meh.

Highlight was drinking six point from a beer cozy

Sunday was a better (but colder) day overall. A rear clincher was secure is not a little jarring on the roots. I had a weak start but ended up battling it out with Eloy. I would pass him in the first sandpit and he would power by me on the claims elsewhere on the course. I have to admit that there were several times when I wanted to recover but that our little mini competition kept me from letting up. I think he was doing the same.

Overall Eloy was looking really good. Don't believe me? Check out my video. You should see Eloy for half the race expertly tackling corners. I think me may have stayed ahead of me just to get in the video. Otherwise he would have drafted off of me and pounced, no? Or maybe I just didn't have the legs to go any faster. Yeah, that.

https://youtu.be/lTb6OePWS08

eloy said:

HPCX day 2 report

JP broke his chain or so he says, he had a perfectly working bike when he left.

You can see me at 12:23 in Patrick's video, off to the left, shouldering my bike.

Too many watts.

Got a master link from a friend so I could ride from the GWB if I needed to.  
I did.

From the guy who brought us crossresults.com. A blog with a couple of "chainstay" videos which often surprisingly entertaining.

http://untilthesnowends.blogspot.com/2015/10/hpcx-race-reports.html

Registration is open. Be there:
https://www.bikereg.com/32606