I just teared up a little.

Jules and JCdB should take that show on the road! Or, you know, continue to do so. Who wants to be my cross buddy??

Nice work guys.

FWIW the guy who won the race normally races in Canada the Masters 2 level, they have a level 1 and 2 up there. Nice guy he just raced the category they told him too. I think they told him to race in the wrong category.

Awesome job guys.

@marc - I'm pretty sure if Jules and Joaquin went to Canada the Canadians would be confused about why 2 strong and experiencef dudes were racing in the beginner/old guy category.

Sandbaggerz!!!!!!!

Race Report: The Other Kissena guy in the 4/5 35+ field.

Meeting up with Jules before the first race of the day I asked for a more complete description of Myerson's advice, "just say no to free speed." Basically, just because you CAN go faster at any given moment, you may not WANT to depending on what's waiting for you on the other side.

It turns out this advice, specifically, me not heeding it, would be my undoing.

I've always like the Providence course and having had to miss Gloucester unexpectedly this year, I was super motivated to see what I could manage. Fortunate to get a second row call up, I was anxious to not let it go to waste. I didn't have the world's greatest start, but I was solid, withing striking distance as we jumped a curb onto the still slick grass.

Desperate to move up/maintain my 15th or so place after the hole shot, I was carrying way too much speed coming into a right left combo turn. I very nearly went over my handlebars and got up close and personal with some hot orange snow fencing. It was a rookie mistake that would cost me big. Droves of riders trundled past me. I did my best to work my way through them, but was thwarted again early, when we got to a slick (from morning rain) flyover meant to ride, and guys were dumping it left and right. I was forced to awkwardly run up and down the flyover as I watched helplessly as more riders passed me.

Hrumpf. From then on, I was in, "just do your best" mode. And in the end my "best" on the day was 37th place. Sunday I'm just going to have to get a little "holy."

I can't believe Joaquin didn't bust out the podium shoes.  Maybe he's saving them for the top step.

Another podium for Joachim who got 2nd on Sunday's 35+ race. Jules (who lead for a while) got 4th. I got 9th, improving on my 13th from yesterday. I think Marc got 14th. A good day for Kissena

Same ringer won; again he put 40-45 seconds into the field in under a lap...

Bit of a bummer to get pushed off the podium today and lose a first place for each of us because some dope let him reg in the wrong field but c'est la vie.

Bike racing is hard, yo. Wins don't come easy or often to most of us.

In the car, headed home I thought id share the best Overheards of the weekend:

Day 1 woman running by the tape screaming to some elite lady racing, "Come ON!!! You are a fucking Cat 2 on the road goddamnit get up there!"

Day 2 announcer, "Oooh I hope you're all wearing eye protection out there, we've just seen our first failed snot rocket of the day..."

Better than a podium; all three babies asleep in the back...

#familyman

SCUMBAGS STOLE HOTLIST's BIKE!!!

WHAT!!!!!
Please tell me this is some kind of hidden meaning, hashtag joke.

No.  I was all set to type up some epic race reports, link in a video I found of this year's course and wax fondly about how Amazeballs this race is.  Now I just wanna 

Providence CX says their staff caught four guys with four bikes; a ring of thieves.  You can follow the story on twitter but it looks like the sun may shine yet.

HOTLIST REUNITED WITH HIS STEED!

Great news everyone. You can now feel free to type away your epic race reports (and they will be epic, because our guys were outstanding against the best of the best!), because my bike was one of the lucky ones recovered.

Now I just have to arrange childcare for Peter so I can drive back up to Providence to pick up my beloved Kona!

Cyclocross is so damn hard.  Unlike road riding where people will ride away uphill, or sprint away from you with an inevitability that speaks to either their indisputably stronger legs or your having burned your matches somewhere else in the race, Cross will make you weep with frustration.  Stronger, better rested riders will grind their teeth as someone with better handling skills will effortlessly ride away, working strange voodoo in each turn before they vanish up the course.  Placing well is not about being stronger – it is skill, and then skill again when you are frothingly anerobic and then strength and fitness, and of course, some tactical sense that makes the difference.

 

It reminds me of chess, or more closely rock climbing (a sport  used to be pretty good at) where the rewards come to those who can anticipate best the consequences of the moves ahead.  Strength & fitness are prerequisites, not the defining criteria.

 

Adam Myerson’s advice from the Friday clinic, “Just say no to the free speed… sometimes!” was spot on.  There are times when speed is good but it costs you dearly to generate it and times when speed is offered freely on the course but it’s a trap because it will put you in the wrong position for the next move…

 

I’ve been chasing the podium for such a long time that this weekend was really special.  Even though I’d nailed two top tens the weekend before at Gloucester I was still smarting from last season where top ten in the local races seemed pretty consistently achievable but the difference between 6^th and 3^rd seemed as large again as the distance from 20^th to 10^th was.  It’s a whole other jump from top ten to podium, or so it seemed.

 

Cross season always seems to come with a major (or this season) minor case of the flu/headcold/sore throat.   This year was no exception; I’m never certain if it’s the logistics of out of town races, or the time of year, or the mud… but we were all pretty tired and not a little bit sniffly by the time we got to Providence.

 

Day  1:

 

I left my sleeping family and snuck out of the B&B around 6:30 with an extra set of tires on my back and rode quietly through the mist to the race course.  I found registration and asked someone random to pin my skinsuit number – turns out the number pinner was from Brooklyn - one of Charlie I’s moto drivers from the Prospect series – what a small world!

 

I pre-rode the course with and Marc and fretted bit about tire selection but after a final hot lap I decided the traction I had was good enough; and it was getting drier.  I would stay with the Griffos and forgo the mud tires I’d brought.  I silently wondered if Marc’s solution (mud tire in the front, all-around tire in the back) was the best for the day.

 

We chattered a bit on the starting line and listened to the starting marshal’s Bostonian preparation speech,

 

“Pay attention to the lap CAHHd…”

“You’ll be racing for FAAAWty minutes…”

 

Then the usual: whistle, one hundred and thirty feed clipping (or trying to) into pedals and the strange muted sound of cross tires churning furiously on pavement and gears changing as we all accelerated and raced pell-mell for the hole shot and the tricky right hand turn-up-a-curb-onto-the-grass start.

 

I slotted in behind Joaquin and we were 6/7  on the grass.  I snuck by some people (and I think Joaquin again) and felt someone’s tire catch, clank then bounce off my rear derailleur… “Yikes” I thought to myself as I rode on; usually that results in a race-ending bit of bike destruction… I guess the bike angels were looking out for me that day.

 

Joaquin and I took turns smashing the front of the field and we had a pretty big separation early on; we were one-two-three for a while with a tenacious guy on a silver bike before some guy in red kit came cruising past us.  This poor guy had come down from Canada (Orillia actually, just north of my hometown Toronto) and been told to reg in our field… he put about 45 seconds into us in a lap and it was instantly clear that a) he wasn’t coming back and b) he had no business racing with us – he belonged in a much harder category.  Oh well.

 

There was one big up & down “pump track” section where I lost my chain on the bumpy terrain but I managed to shift it back on while riding… other than that each turn was a rapid-fire case of my brain screaming, “slow down, weight low, shift into the right gear for the exit-sprint, look where you want to go, quick shoulder check, who is still there? Weight back, lean the bike - not your body, no brakes, not brakes NO BRAKES… Through!  Attack! Out of the saddle…!”

 

I was leading coming into the paved section with Silver Bike on my wheel and Joaquin on his… behind us there was a lot of daylight.  I didn’t quite go full gas but went hard enough to keep him pinned to my wheel for safety (I thank road racing for teaching me how hard I need to go to make people seek shelter behind me) and then like a beautifully choreographed axe-kick Joaquin attacked on the right and I watched Silver Bike take out his match book, spark the whole thing and dig deeeeeeeep to get on Joaquin’s wheel.  I smiled and hopped onto Silver Bike’s wheel.  I was too sportsmanlike (or timid) to say, “That must’ve hurt!  He’s fast, isn’t he?  We can take turns attacking you all.day.long.”   I didn’t say it, but I though it – and smiled.

 

And so we did.  Haymaker, haymaker, right hook, haymaker.  Before long Silver Bike was leading with me on his wheel and he completely botched the dismount leading into the big staircase.  He dismounted, smashed his bike into the bottom stair like he was Jimmy Hendrix trying to ruin a guitar and I heard his chain come off.   As we ran up side by side I say calmly, “Chain’s off.”

 

And then there were two.  It was the Canadian ringer waaay up the road then me then a small – ten second maybe? – gap to Joaquin and then another big gap to the chase group.

 

From time to time I’d hear Lisa & my kids screaming “Go daddy go!” and I tried to wave when I could find them.

 

As always, when the bell lap came I was praying for death – sooooo cooked.  I just rode as hard and as smart as I could for the final lap and much to my amazement and delight I was able to cross the line alone – enthusiastic fist pump/salute – I’d done it!  Second place at a major CX race.

 

Joaquin rode in close behind me and we celebrated our “Tango & Cash” victory.

 

I felt like Joaquin & I had gone into a street fight with our backs together and come out victorious.  SO much more satisfying than a solo result.  

 

So.  So.  So. Sweet.

 There was a very long wait to the podium ceremony but it was worth it.  Plus they had podium girls to give us our medals – how “Pro” is that?

http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/NBKU5OPBCJXZQFKUYOXGJSQFPQ

Finish Photo

@Jules & @Joaquin - Hell yes!  Super mad ups to you both.  Marc (and hopefully everyone else) getting his bike back is icing on the sweet, sweet victory cake.

Another FWIW, I had another nice chat with the Canadian Crusher in Red on Sunday, and he told me he did the Cat 3 Night Weasels race (another no-joke race) the previous Wednesday. He started at the back of the pack and finished in 30th out of 100 finishers. STARTED AT THE BACK and finished in 30TH out of 100 CAT 3 racers.

Day 2

 

I don’t even remember what we ate for dinner.   Slept like a dead man and rolled out in yesterday’s skinsuit (number still pinned on) feeling every single day of my racing age and then some.  “Maybe I’ll just watch today…” I thought as the fatigue in my bones and the bruises from my Friday clinic began to make themselves fully known.

 

The weather was Seattle standard; drizzle without beginning or end.  The course was going to be slick.

 

Usually as I ride a bit and the coffee works it’s magic my legs come alive and a race (or hard workout) seems less impossible.  Not today.  Through the pre-ride, registration, even until we were lined up in the starting grid my brain was saying “Captain, the legs are not responding, shields are down, you are going to SUCK today.  Anticipate a terrible blow to your recently elevated cross results ranking…”

There were two spots that I had trouble with the day before – an off camber muddy lefthand turn right before the flyover and another off camber lefthand turn (this one dry and loose) by “the tree” right before the “last place to pass someone before the finish line” that Myerson had pointed out.

 

I rode, re-rode and re-re-rerode the muddy off camber until I had a sense of how to take it with speed. 

 

Probably the best lesson from Myerson’s clinic is one that I can share with everyone; taking the time to ride a tricky section two, three or five times is worth it’s weight in gold.  You can try different lines and see how they go without losing places in the race.  I was riding the section so much that Patrick would ride it with me, go do a hot lap and then come back a and I was still there.  You get the idea.

 

In the end I found a consistent line that let me accelerate out of the turn which was great.  I wouldn’t be repeating yesterday’s mistakes.

 

My brain continued to complain, warn and threaten me with a terrible race.  I threatened back but ultimately ignored it.  One thing I’ve learned is that sometimes Mr. Brain doesn’t have any idea what legs & lungs can do.  Actually, most of the time he doesn’t know.  It’s a hard fought lesson that I seemingly have to re-learn several times a year.

 

Joaquin & I lined up next to one another again in the starting grid, and we conferred a bit.  We were going with “Plan H” aka “Hulk SMASH” again; beat the field like a piniata until it broke apart then beat it some more before feasting on the candy.

 

Whistle, hole shot… wow I was in the front, staying in the front, still staying in the front, shifting, STILL in the front… why won’t these fuckers slow down and let me go already?!?  Twelve seconds at 980 is a big deal for me (I can see you rolling your eyes sprinters – I SEE YOU!) and that’s what it took.   In all it was eighteen seconds at 900 watts before the swoop left, swoop-hop right and we were on the grass, with me in first place.

 

Holy Cow.  I’ve posted before about how hard (or different) it is racing at the front; you want to go MAXIMUM SPEED but don’t want to bobble; you don’t have anyone else’s lines to review/improve on and you have 130 of your closest friends waiting to pounce when you make an error.

 

I smashed it as hard as I could and led for (I think) almost or just past the two lap point – the announcers were going wild talking about “Kissena Cycling from Brooklyn, who swept the podium yesterday…” and I loved every second of it.  We didn’t exactly “sweep” the podium but why let the facts get in the way of a good story?  Soon enough though good old Mr. Canadian Ringer came sailing by again and put another 45 seconds into the field in a lap.  This time the group casing him was much bigger – maybe six or seven guys.  I could see that Joaquin was back there and that Patrick was just behind them.  There was a stocky guy who played cat & mouse with me for some time; he was a mountain bike racer and would take the turns better but he didn’t have the gas or the will to hold on in the straights so I attacked him relentlessly; out of the “lollypop” turn, at the top of the stairs when we hit the pavement, again on the gravel, again on the steep uphill, on the start/finish paved stretch… Hulk.Smash.Repeat… but they were sill all there!

Slowly though, they began to fade, the elastic stretched and then snapped, and they either faded or made mistakes they couldn’t recover from.   It is sort of a terrible, wonderful thing to see a competitor slide out ahead of you on a turn; you know they aren’t hurt but they are out of contention.

 

One of the last trips up the finishing straight Joaquin & I did the exact reverse from the day prior; with Joaquin leading, Mountain Biker on his wheel and me following – Joaquin drilled it and I came around them both at the top and punched it as hard as I could over the last pavement and onto the grassy straight away.  One final Hulk body slam before I began to fade…

 

Joaquin & Mountain biker gapped me and in the final lap there were two on my wheel; I went as hard as I could, afraid that I’d get passed and they’d make it up to Joaquin; at the dismount by the treestump (a very nasty little technical bit) where everyone had to run two sets of stairs (everyone but the pros who rode it that is) I did a sort of dastardly “early” dismount, a human brake-check/left right shimmy and then tore off on foot up the stairs.  I could hear the pandemonium behind me as they guys who had to brake/dismount early tried to regain their momentum… inside I chuckled an evil, evil laugh.

 

The last lap was excruciating.  I was trying (and failing) to catch the Joaquin & his Mountain Biker competitor, watching the podium ride away from me and realizing that with a bobble I’d go from fourth to sixth.

 

I went full gas on the last stretch where passing was really possible, then bunnyhop onto the road, that cratered right hander over the broken pavement, avoid the puddle, maximum power up the steepest climb, big swoopy left hander (don’t slide out, don’t go wide enough to let them pass on the inside) then the right swoop, left swoop and it was a grassy fifteen meters to the finishing paved section.  I could hear them on my wheel…

 

I went into the final two turns in the gear I wanted to start my sprint in; and I as soon as I was out of the last corner I jumped – still on the grass I launched over the curb and hit the pavement, with them both on my wheel – I put my head down and went As.Hard.As.I.Could. dreading them coming around at the last moment.  Amazingly I held them both off.

 

Fourth wasn’t a podium but I am delighted.  Joaquin beat his man in the final ten meters as well, so second place for him!

 

With or without the Canadian Ringer (although in my heart of hearts I take him out of the mix) it was a phenomenal weekend.

 

Another interminable wait for the podium, during which the Canadian Ringer came by to apologize profusely explaining he entered the field he was told to, and they have a different ranking system in Canada, and he hoped he hadn’t screwed up our “points” etc, etc.  The fault wasn’t his, and he was a super nice (of course) guy so it was tough to be too bitter.

 http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/ROGZBU6SP5CTFQSMRCOX4WPNRI

Marc Bertucco said:

Another FWIW, I had another nice chat with the Canadian Crusher in Red on Sunday, and he told me he did the Cat 3 Night Weasels race (another no-joke race) the previous Wednesday. He started at the back of the pack and finished in 30th out of 100 finishers. STARTED AT THE BACK and finished in 30TH out of 100 CAT 3 racers.

That's some serious bullshit then.  He knew exactly which field he should have been in.  I feel more than a little robbed.

Jules said:

Marc Bertucco said:

Another FWIW, I had another nice chat with the Canadian Crusher in Red on Sunday, and he told me he did the Cat 3 Night Weasels race (another no-joke race) the previous Wednesday. He started at the back of the pack and finished in 30th out of 100 finishers. STARTED AT THE BACK and finished in 30TH out of 100 CAT 3 racers.

That's some serious bullshit then.  He knew exactly which field he should have been in.  I feel more than a little robbed.

Don't....enjoy your epic race results. He may have known, or suspected, but they still didn't let him register for any other category.

Marc Bertucco said:

Jules said:

Marc Bertucco said:

Another FWIW, I had another nice chat with the Canadian Crusher in Red on Sunday, and he told me he did the Cat 3 Night Weasels race (another no-joke race) the previous Wednesday. He started at the back of the pack and finished in 30th out of 100 finishers. STARTED AT THE BACK and finished in 30TH out of 100 CAT 3 racers.

That's some serious bullshit then.  He knew exactly which field he should have been in.  I feel more than a little robbed.

Don't....enjoy your epic race results. He may have known, or suspected, but they still didn't let him register for any other category.

Enjoy your results. Celebrate. Drink beer. You guys raced like badasses and have been slowly moving up through the fields over the last few years. Sometimes, guys are in your race that just kick your ass.