Anyone going next Sunday?  I'm reg'd for my first cross race in the men's 4 (signed up for USAC license before they had a cat 5 in cyclocross).  Niall would like to reg for the mens' 5 but he's having trouble convincing me to leave 2 hours early.  *sits up* Somebody else pull through on this one!

I am going to SCCX and have room for 2 with bikes. Leaving Brooklyn at about 7:30 and need to be back by 2:00 so I can offer rides for either the 10:30 or 11:30 race. 

Brendan, I haven't looked at the timing of these races, so I'm not necessarily saying you should go with Niall...

...but getting to the race venue 2 hours (or more) before a cross race start is NOT too early. This is a hot tip I picked up from Todd McLoughlin a few years ago.

And just about the worst thing you can do is show up an hour or less before your race. Especially your first race.

Yes, I was almost undone by problems of one sort or another at CXMeur after arriving 1:30 before my race. Even with all that time I somehow didn't manage to get in a proper warmup.

Jim,

In order to call yourself NJ champion, you need to be the first NJ resident to finish.

Eloy, you are in.

Jesse nabbed the other spot.

Full up.

Who wants to help me get NJ State champ this weekend in the cat 3 field. I'm a NJ Redident and trying to go for it but the racers I have to go up against are tough. Todd and Eloy can you cause some sort of disturbance during lap 3?

Nelson Martins said:

Who wants to help me get NJ State champ this weekend in the cat 3 field. I'm a NJ Redident and trying to go for it but the racers I have to go up against are tough. Todd and Eloy can you cause some sort of disturbance during lap 3?

Ahhhh, hahaaahahaa...can't tell if Nelson is serious or not. But clearly someone hasn't been racing cross enough to know better. Just ask "teammates" TimJohnson and RyanTrebon

Marc Bertucco said:

Nelson Martins said:

Who wants to help me get NJ State champ this weekend in the cat 3 field. I'm a NJ Redident and trying to go for it but the racers I have to go up against are tough. Todd and Eloy can you cause some sort of disturbance during lap 3?

Ahhhh, hahaaahahaa...can't tell if Nelson is serious or not. But clearly someone hasn't been racing cross enough to know better. Just ask "teammates" TimJohnson and RyanTrebon

Perhaps you never saw the Saturn team race 'cross.  The McCormacks and Bart Bowen, later supplemented by a young Tim Johnson, had no trouble working over lead groups.  

mugwump said:

Marc Bertucco said:

Nelson Martins said:

Who wants to help me get NJ State champ this weekend in the cat 3 field. I'm a NJ Redident and trying to go for it but the racers I have to go up against are tough. Todd and Eloy can you cause some sort of disturbance during lap 3?

Ahhhh, hahaaahahaa...can't tell if Nelson is serious or not. But clearly someone hasn't been racing cross enough to know better. Just ask "teammates" TimJohnson and RyanTrebon

Perhaps you never saw the Saturn team race 'cross.  The McCormacks and Bart Bowen, later supplemented by a young Tim Johnson, had no trouble working over lead groups.  

Come to think of it, there was some serious team action at a recent cross race that Svenness profiled.

In a battle of the old-timers, Bertucco snaps back:

Seen them? Come to think of it, there might even be a VeloNews article from 2001's Chicago stop on the SuperCup series out there with my byline where Johnson and Bowen featured prominently. Except in that race, Johnson took the lead early, forced Gulickson to chase and Johnson's "teammate" Bowen further behind. There was absolutely no teammwork in play there.

That said, if there were other races where Team Saturn used team tactics to work over lead groups, I have to believe the fact that all three were well supported and paid by and had to race on the same road team perhaps gave them extra motivation for working together. Not to mention the fact that Frankie and Mark are brothers.

More recently however, in a CX world filled with "teams" of one or two, it's been pretty much every man for himself. Johnson and Trebon wear the same jersey, but they don't exactly send each other Christmas cards. At Cincy3 Raleigh-Clement teammates Berden and Driscoll probably spent more time thinking about how they were going to drop each other, rather than worry about the chasers behind. Timmerman and Chabanov are rarely in the same group past the opening lap. Same could be said of Neon Velo's Durrin and Robinson. Hyde and Clark of the JAM Fund are more often, for longer, in the lead together, but mostly, their together until Hyde just turns up the gas and rides away from everyone. And it's not because Clark is "blocking."

That said, I suppose teamwork can definitely be used to good effect in cross racing but only if the stars are perfectly aligned. Only if all three KCC racers are in the lead group and in a position to sacrifice their own chances to help Nelson. I guess that's a conversation they can have on the bike if circumstances present themselves. Todd and Mike were nose to tail in the same group for much of the action at Fair Hill, and Martins has been racing strongly of late. So I suppose it's possible for Nelson to play Tim Johnson to Todd and Mike's McCormack-Bowen duo.

Granted this is at a whole different level than the McCormacks, but two years ago at Bubblecross Jim Stafford from Bike Depot had to make his way through me, Jules, and Patrick to get to second place as the gap to first kept inching out. He never made it to the lead partly because the three of us consciously took the best lines through those crazy grass turns and the long sand, clogging things up just enough to force him to either take a risk on a bad line or use more energy to pass in a less opportune moment. Nothing shady, just good racing. 

Marc, first of all a couple of 35 plus races doesn't entitle one to bestow the "oldtimer" badge on oneself. Show some respect, sonny!

As to the issue at hand, team tactics definitely work in cross. You needn't search the "age addled" depths of your memories for more recent examples. Recall the earlier. Version of Cyclocrossworld (circa red and black pro kit) in which Johnson Powers and Driscoll would constantly isolate and attack Trebon once Trebon lost the cover of a no longer relevant Barry Wicks at Kona. This is precisely what lead to TRebons famous reference to "Eastcoast Sh#*" and hois jumping to cyclocrossworld in a if you can't beat them join them moment.

For a Euro version harken back to how often Walseben and Albert would repeatedly attack Nys to free up one, force Nys to chase while the other sat on to counter. For an example closer to home, Roger Aspholm and TRoy Kimball did it to great effect for years in MAC races before they started racing in separate age groups in an attempt to win both.

Team tactics definitely work in cross but you are right to suggest that both teamates have to have similar form and ability and one has to be willing to forego winning, at least for today and it certainly helps in that regard when both are being paid well by the same employer.

BTW, Eloy posted Svenness 3.3 in the pictures/videos thread.  Go to about 16 minutes in and you can see teamwork in a battle between sunweb and fidea.

Or a lapped teammate can get in the way in the final sprint.

Good points everyone! Worth thinking about.

Related, I'm still trying to get my bike rideable in time for the weekend. If I do, I'll be racing the Cat 3s as well. But I know I'll be working just to crack the top half of the field, watching the action from the cheap seats.

Reg'd for the 5's. Brendan I'm not gonna ask you stand around in the cold november rain for two hours

Or a lapped teammate can get in the way in the final sprint.

Sorry Mike :P

I was referring to strategically fucking up your opponent! See svenness 3.4, you did it all wrong!

Nice vid.

Nelson, writing this question here cause I'm pretty sure you're checking this thread.

I'm about to strangle my LBS. After 3 weeks it's clear I'm not going to get any help from them. So annoyed. Ordered a part, they sold it to someone else. They won't order me another one until they have a big order to place.

So my questions,

a) does your shop have an cane creek 40 series, sealed bearing external cup threadless 1-1/8" headsets in stock?
b) if so can I buy from you/your shop, borrow headset press and that "hammer it out" thingy at tomorrow's race.

I did see a you tube video on how to construct my own lightsaber, but the force is weak in me...

I realize a big ask, but I'm just trying to get this f'ing project done already.

Prob shouldn't chime in, but... Marc if the race tomorrow has Neutral support, just ask them about it, they often have spare parts, like headsets, bottom brackets, derailleurs ... granted yours is a very specific ask, but if you get lucky, the SRAM support guy might just have everything you need. Come ready to spend more and come out with better parts than you thought -- also, come ready for no dice.

Marc Bertucco said:

Nelson, writing this question here cause I'm pretty sure you're checking this thread.

I'm about to strangle my LBS. After 3 weeks it's clear I'm not going to get any help from them. So annoyed. Ordered a part, they sold it to someone else. They won't order me another one until they have a big order to place.

So my questions,

a) does your shop have an cane creek 40 series, sealed bearing external cup threadless 1-1/8" headsets in stock?
b) if so can I buy from you/your shop, borrow headset press and that "hammer it out" thingy at tomorrow's race.

I did see a you tube video on how to construct my own lightsaber, but the force is weak in me...

I realize a big ask, but I'm just trying to get this f'ing project done already.

Headset press

Yeah, I found that video...found some of the parts at Home Depot, but not all.

PS I actually meant Sunday's race Nelson.

Nelson, writing this question here cause I'm pretty sure you're checking this thread.

I'm about to strangle my LBS. After 3 weeks it's clear I'm not going to get any help from them. So annoyed. Ordered a part, they sold it to someone else. They won't order me another one until they have a big order to place.

So my questions,

a) does your shop have an cane creek 40 series, sealed bearing external cup threadless 1-1/8" headsets in stock?
b) if so can I buy from you/your shop, borrow headset press and that "hammer it out" thingy at tomorrow's race.

I did see a you tube video on how to construct my own lightsaber, but the force is weak in me...

I realize a big ask, but I'm just trying to get this f'ing project done already.

I'll see what I got