I finally raced in my first cyclocross race yesterday. Lucky for me Eloy and JP were there to cheer me on. I stuck arounf for their race and took a bunch of pictures. I’m not a great photographer, but at least I tried.

SCCX was definitely a ton of fun!

Good to see a HUGE contingent of Kissena at SCCX yesterday. I enjoyed cheering on all the orange and blue in the various fields. Niall and JP were racing their first CX of the season, Rich raced his first ever CX race, and Rob podium and upgraded to Cat 4!

Andrew's back was not recovered from his injury this week, so I am looking forward to his PRO pictures. We kept talking about getting a group picture, but it never happened (at least while i was there). Here are some pics I got of the early race with Rob and Rich. 



Eloy taking pics of Rob


Go Rich go!


A fast start



Mike in the RedBeard kit chases Rob



Andrew and Anthony cheer on the sidelines

Here is a link to the onboard photos from my (50+) race

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GqfGRDLEyzRB6M676

Looking through the pictures today. Not so sure I did a good job. I think nothing was working for me yesterday... Once I have edited and stuff, I'll post a link.

Thank you, @AndrewJohnsonfor driving the team bus!

And sorry, posted some SCCX pics in the wrong thread - still getting the hang of this!

James Reeder said:

Thank you, @AndrewJohnsonfor driving the team bus!

And sorry, posted some SCCX pics in the wrong thread - still getting the hang of this!

You're very welcome. It's always fun to have a group in the vehicle. I'm sorry I could not get out there and properly mix it up with you guys. But at this point I need to let my back properly heal, which will probably mean not racing Supercross Cup on Saturday :'( . I'll know for sure by Wednesday.

Photos are up. I have a Kissena tag though it tags all my Kissena photos from previous races, so this link will take you to Page 2 where SCCX starts as the 3rd photo:

https://awjohnso.piwigo.com/index?/tags/24-kissena/start-30

The link to the full album is here:

https://awjohnso.piwigo.com/index?/category/125-2019_sccx_2019_new_jersey_cyclocross_cup_event

@eloy I got some shots of you too 

Really enjoyed the race + whole day. Learnt a lot in the pre ride from listening to Rob and Eloy. First lap was a blur of excitement and aggressive accelerating, followed by 6 laps of trying to catch the man in front whilst trying to hold of juniors...Thanks to @RobertMullen for the drive, @eloy for the coaching and various others for the meal advice in the diner. Corned beef hash was a solid winter warmer. 

SCCX brought it kinda awesome, sweet to hang with so many Kissenistas at the races. Also hot results too. Rob finished 3rd and Jim Feehan won his 60+ race!!

Quick but too long report:

• Patrick, JP, and myself lined up for a smallish but competitive 50+ field, the cat 3s one minute behind with Anthony single speeding it
• The lap weren't very technical, were kinda short, and include a pretty significant amount of climbing. 
• 3 times up the hill per lap, ouch!
• We ended racing 8 laps
• Eventually settled with a bit of a group, including JP, as slowly but surely Patrick rode away from us
• JP attacked the climbs hardcore on the first few laps, destroying the legs of everyone in the group, and omg forcing me into HR numbers I did not know existed. OUCH.
• Generally, sure looks like I'm that part of the season where I'm having a ton of fun, but running on fumes, FUMES!!
• Digging deep in the climbs felt awesome, ripping the descends was sweet! can't wait for more!
• Felt like perfect preparation for SuperCross coming up -- Patrick reports even moar climbing there!
  

Let's go race bikes!!

All of these pics are the business 🔥

Awesome pics, seriously professional quality! @AndrewJohnson

BrianStan said:

Awesome pics, seriously professional quality! @AndrewJohnson

Thanks. I still don't consider myself a professional, even though I did sell one pic early in the cx season. Glad they can be enjoyed.

New course for SCCX in 2021, at Kittatinney Valley State Park, NJ. Beautiful location. Not a super hard course, minimally technical, one dismount for barriers, not a lot of elevation, a fun but too brief section of tight and fast turns on grass, a few muddy turns with good lines, a rooted single track section along the lake, and some long power sections. A really fun one to string together. The transitions between pavement and dirt caused the most problems. 

SCCX suffered the most from the over abundance of racing this weekend (6 races over two days) with only 79 racers in total signing up.

Still, this was a fun one. Robert (finished P3), Thierry, Remy and Cedrick (P2), Jim (P3), and James (P3) raced.

My race: after a good warmup, I thought I had time to pee once more (nerves=pee), then realized my field of 15 riders was already lining up first come first serve. So still ended up lining up in the back!

The start led into a chute with brush creating a natural wall on either side on muddy slippery but fast grass. I couldn’t see who or how many I’d have to chase down (all of them?) so I sprinted past riders where possible, moved up a bunch of positions, kept picking off riders. 

I knew Piotr was going to be there and that I had to beat him. I came around him in last half of lap one with a lot of speed so that he couldn't jump on, and it worked and easily gapped him. Put more time on him in the cyclocrossy section with the barriers and slight off-cambers. Didn’t let up with the hard efforts and got more distance along the finishing straight and narrow chute at the start of the next lap. 

I don’t know it yet but now I’m in fourth position, with George in front. I catch him, slot in behind to recover a bit through the section that I know Piotr was struggling with. Feeling pretty happy with how I’m recovering from hard efforts at this point in the CX season. George keeps looking back, he doesn’t like that I’m there and pulls off once we hit the pavement at the start of the long power section. I look under my arm and seem him jumping on my wheel. I don’t want him there so I attack hard and get a large gap. I’m gasping from the effort but keep it going all the way to the grassy turns and barriers. Nail those cleanly, push the pace again through the finishing straight and the opening chute. 

Eventual P2 of the 60+ comes around me, I get on his wheel and stick with him until the rooted single track. Now it’s a dirt TT for the remaining two laps. I don’t know who’s in front of me until the finish, where I learn I got 3rd place (40+ 4/5 field).

SCCX video by Cycle Craft: https://youtu.be/fpkQvuK8nWk

some pics:

Just want to acknowledge the level of amazing awesome of all you heading to the small local race and killing it with the results and podiums. Hotness.

Anyone have pics of James’ podium? KCC got a few medals this weekend and would love to post a lil collage on the web 😬

Quick/Long 2022 SCCX Report:

Gotta confess that after James posted that video of last year's course, I almost bailed out and headed to Sly Fox... Glad I stuck w/ SCCX, while the park/venue was the same from 2021, promoters fully revamped the course, making it a straight up solid power and challenging cyclocross track. Still fully grassroots.

Some cool gravel, including some trick(ish) rocky climbing, followed by some proper grass turns, then a little bit of asphalt, with another climb, some sweet grass off camber dropping us into a rooty single track, followed by a muddy grass track to a set of 180 barriers, etc...

Tough to find a place to rest, they are definitely some downhills, but pays to attack them.

• My Masters race has about 15 starters, including bangers Edwin Bull, Jason Livingood, Ralf Warmuth, & Marc Bertucco
• I have a good start, even takes a moment for Edwin to pass me.
• Lap 1 I settle(ish) in this group
• Somewhat struggling to keep up, at the back of it, thinking oh shit I am last
• the grassy turns reveal plenty of riders behind
• Duh, this is the front group, these are the top five guys -- including Ralf, Edwin, Jason
• We fully smoke lap 1 like the firah
• I am already getting gapped as we approach the start/finish
• The gravel climbs do me and Jason in
• We wont touch those lap 1 times ever again 
• Jason is better in the grassy turns
• So the next 2 or 3 laps I'm riding solo, my gap to Jason seems about the same, but slowly moving to his advantage
• I can see two riders together slowly closing the gap from behind
• One of them eventually passes me
• He lets me know he is a cat 3 (winning) that started a minute behind
• Second dude is gapped, so I don't worry much about him
• I ride on the Cat 3's wheel for a bit, but he closed a minute gap, he is duh faster
• Second dude suddenly reappears, passes me, and latches again to the Cat 3
• Second dude is clearly masters, but oh well, he is going good
• They'll gap me, and I am solo again for a lap or so to the finish
• Second dude finishes 6th Masters
• I am 7th
• Wonder if I should have pushed deeper to stay with him, but that strategy has not proven wise this season.
• Wonder if maybe being slightly more conservative in lap one would have allowed me to stay ahead, this strategy proved smart last season.
• Oh cyclocross, this forever discovery of sweet balance and how to be better tomorrow

A few minutes later James races the 40+ 4/5 he is leading the NJCX serires,  a minute behind Matt starts his Cat 5 race. I wait for them by the barriers, their clear urgency and hotness as they ride by indicate awesome races.

Look forward to their reports, but the photos below tell some of the story 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 

Also, worth note, Edwin's Peugeot!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

LET'S GO RACE BIKES!

Photos of me bullet listing excuses by James. The rest by me, duh.

Looking forward to Matt and James’ reports!

I headed to SCCX to round out the NJCX series, but my field was looking very light (me and one other were preregistered). I prerode with James and I was loving the gravel and the cornering sections but knew the single track section was going to be my weak point. We lined up and there were three of us (a 13 year old named Gavin signed up day of for his first non-junior race), I made jokes about guaranteed podiums and we all seemed pretty at ease.

The flag drops and I had a good start and hit the gravel first. There were well traveled paths through this section so as long as you stuck to those, you could rip it pretty hard. As we came out of the gravel I realized I had a sizable gap, so I kept pushing. The cornering was super flowy; hit a good line, hammer down some power, into another switchback, rinse and repeat. Once we hit the road section, I started catching the Masters 60+ field. 

I kept working away to grow the gap and then we hit the single track section. I rode the first few bits, then got caught behind a rider who was struggling. I passed him on the climb out of the single track but looked over my shoulder and saw my gap was much much smaller, so I started pedaling with a strong sense of urgency to grow it back out. I felt good at the barriers (they were one, 180 switchback, then the other), came around the off camber corner and kept it pushing into lap 2.

Nothing really to report for laps 2 and 3; played to my strengths and grew the gap out some more. Railed the gravel sectors, had fun in the cornering and then hit the single track. Lap 2 I rode the single track but didn't feel all that confident getting around a big root. I lost a lot of speed and it kinda threw me off, so for lap 3 I dismounted and jumped it. I felt like I got through the section faster overall, but also was learning better lines with each lap so it was likely a combo of things.

Lap 4, I got a little sloppy. I had a 2+ minute gap at this point and was still picking off 60+ masters. Coming into the single track section, I hit a root or a rock right on the entry and got bounced off and unclipped. Eloy yelled for me to pedal and I think I responded. I jumped the big root again and continued on my way. After the single track there was a pretty rutted out mud pit. Every other lap, I rode it fine, but this lap I drifted too far left into one of the ruts and my wheels slipped. I caught myself and told myself to keep it together.

Lap 5 was a fun one. At this point, I knew I just had to stay upright and not make any major mistakes and I was going to win, but still gave it a full effort. I figured out the single track a bit more but was happy to be done with it. I crossed the line and was elated.

 With the win here, I think I totaled 102 points in the series, which is good enough for second place!

Edit: I just looked at the spreadsheet Tom put together and I think the first place finisher upgraded to Cat 4 so I may be in 1st for the series, not entirely sure.

Eleven of us line up for the 40+ 4/5 race at SCCX. We start a minute ahead of the 60+ and cat 5 fields. The top competition seem to be Joel Erickson, who'd already raced earlier, and an unknown new face in this series, Kristopher Judd/Automatic LH. 

Started off taking the lead up the gravel section and got a 10-15 second gap before the grassy turns. I'm at the front of the race, going slightly too hard maybe but what a nice feeling. Until the long pavement section between the grassy turns and the rooted single track: the Automatic Lonely Hearts guy is closing the gap quickly. I realize at some point he's going to come around so I push it on the off cambers and single track, the barriers, the gravely uphills. He's staying with me, though sometimes I can get a 1-2 second gap. So OK, I tell myself I just need to not loose his wheel whenever he does come around.

Lap two, the same, still leading. Though I've had to ease up just a bit in some sections, still pushing it everywhere but the longer power sections. Kris isn't making any moves to come around. Into lap 3, coming down the gravel descent into the grass with a small gap on Kris/ALH and my chain drops. Kris comes around, I loose about 15 seconds getting the chain back on, Joel catches me. Trying not go go to hard, limit the damage, but I know Kris is going to punch it on the pavement that follows the grass. He does and eventually has a 47 second gap by the end (turns out he is this year's NJ criterium state champion). Joel is staying with me, comes around on the pavement, I come back around because I want to be in front through the single track. He comes back around right after the barriers. It's back and forth into the final lap. I know he can't drop me even though I'm on the limit but I still wait too late to come around before the finish and have to settle for 3rd. I have the points to upgrade now, and 1st place in the NJCX Cup division series is locked in so that will have to be enough.

Love to see Kissenas standing on boxes! Awesome job guys.