More later, but just take a gander at my ugly, yet happy face...wait, that was way too big a picture.

The so-called "New England Holy Week of Cyclocross" concluded with decidedly un-New Englandy weather in Roger Williams Park in Providence, RI. Nothing but sunshine. With two UCI C1 level events on Saturday in different parts of the country, most of the pros went to Fort Collins, CO to chase both UCI points and a USGP leaders jersey, leaving smaller budgeted teams and elite amateurs here to battle for UCI points that went 15 deep.

Unlike the sacrilegious pros who left "Holy Week" early, the masses were faithful and flocked to the fields of Roger Williams Park for 2 days of spectacular racing, eating, and swap-meet bargaining at the Providence Cyclocross Festival. 100 riders fields were common, even the cat 3/4 women's field boasted 84 pre-registered racers, festival food trucks were running out of pulled pork, tacos, vegan ice cream, the on-site wood fired pizza oven had to be shut down because of lack of dough (the edible kind), not dough (the green kind), the beer garden was filled with megaphoned idiots hanging their rear ends over fencing shouting, "take the butt dollar!"

The kids were in for a treat too. Requisite bouncy castle on Saturday, the most technical kids race course I've seen to date, and on Sunday there were pony rides. That's right. Real live ponies. While they were not technically part of the race festivities, there were 2 ponies ready for action in a nearby part of the park where most racers were parking. Also an old-school carousel for people that wanted to "saddle up" but are allergic to equine dander.

Kissena had myself and Ben Reid flying the orange, white and blue in the Cat 4 Masters 35+ category and new member (and Colby College student) Cosme Del Rosario-Bel racing in the Cat 4 under 35 category. And after I dragged Alan Atwood away from the ponies, he was doing his starting/finishing line thing on Saturday. Ben and I both had solid performances the previous week in Gloucester, but we were both looking to improve this weekend.

...continued in next post...

...as promised...

For me, improvement required that I address some of the fundamental mistakes I made last weekend.

Know the course. I scheduled my travel plans to allow plenty of time to pre-ride the course on Friday afternoon before my early morning Saturday race. This is something that our veteran and successful team crossers like Myles Romanow and Eric Ragot preach and they are 100% right. Knowing the lines, knowing where you can push the pace, where you have to dial it down, is critical to having a good race. And while you can spend the first 2 laps figuring all that stuff out, you'll be watching the leaders roll far, far away from you. Tricky sections, I doubled back and repeated multiple times to figure out a better way around those corners.

Warm-up. As the announcers were fond of saying, 1/2 the race is done in the first lap, so if you roll up to the start line with cold legs, you might be in trouble, so be sure to leave yourself enough time for a good warm-up. CycleOps made it easy with a tent full of trainers at the staging area and despite this I couldn't get moving early enough to get this important part of the successful cross racing equation done. I blame the fact that it was like 40 degrees when I woke up in my tent and just couldn't drag myself out of my sleeping bag until I risked being late to the actual race.

Get a good start. Last weekend I had one bad start and one good start. This weekend I was determined to go 2 for 2, but was nervous that I didn't have a chance. The Verge Series website says cat 4s are called up by registration order (bad, because I was like the 90th guy to register), the race website says we were going to be called up randomly. Either way, I was anxious. Based on my registration numbers from Gloucester, it seemed like they were using crossresults.com rankings/predictions for call-ups, but I don't know. I was hoping that I would get a "crossresults" call-up this weekend, because according to their predictions I would finish in the 20s, which would put me in the 2nd or 3rd row.

Pick up the number and pin in it on. 720. Yes, indeed. I was either "randomly" lucky two weekends in a row, or my "crossresults" theory has some merit. Second row start line baby! The whistle blows, and we're charging up the asphalt hill. I don't need to win the hole-shot, but I need to be close. Hard right turn over a curb with a few planed-off 2x4s to make a kind of mini-ramp that was only marginally successful. I'm about 15 or so guys back. It's easiest to pass people early, so I'm full gas, making my moves at every opportunity.

Up and down, side to side, whoopty-do hills, two shin busting barriers at the top of one hill (the course designer evidently consulted with Myles R. when making this choice), single track climbing on the cusp of a ridge, grassy off camber straight away that's still slick with morning dew, mushy corners worn in by the previous race, a screaming bumpy downhill with slick right turn where I was sure I was going to end up in the pond that was the course backdrop, 90 degree turns on to and off of loose gravel. (I was disappointed with the lack of running sections...if there were a running with your bike race, I would be Tim Johnson good...of course if there were more running on this course it would mean it was because it was muddy and sloppy, and so I'll take the dry any day.)

After a strong start that saw me as high as in 4th position on the road, I started to fade in the final 2 laps of the race. I was still in the lead group, but guys were passing me on some of the more technical sections (including those that I had practiced the night before), I slammed it in the big ring on the straighter sections to motor back to their wheels whenever I could. In the end, with last week's winner chasing me down, I sprinted up the paved homestretch climb and held on for 9th place. My best finish of the season, but I wanted more.

(Ben has promised to post pics and write about his experience, but he raced well too and finished 60th place)

After the race, Ben, his lovely girlfriend Jane, and I went to get breakfast at a joint featured on Diners, Dives and Drive-ins that is famous for their "Johnny Cakes." Breakfast was very good, the omelets were hot, the orange juice fresh squeezed, but I'll skip the Johnny cakes next time.

Great race report Marc!

"The will to succeed is the will to prepare"

I can't hear it or read it enough. Doesn't matter if it's pre-riding the course until you have the tricky spots dialed in, or pre riding the finish in a road race, or getting enough sleep while you are training, or taking good care of the bike... 80% of the result is achieved long before the gun goes off at the start line.

Nicely done sir.

j

...day 2...

Warmer night in the tent, so easier to get up, but I need more time to break down camp and pack the car. (Jeesh with my excuses, right?) Net result? I get to the start of day 2 with no time to pre-ride the whole course. But I do get a decent warm-up in by sprinting around unused fields filled with trees. I see Ben set up on one of the CycleOps trainers getting his groove on. That's good.

Today, no Alan staging us by number. Instead Richard Fries is calling out our names. My number today is 717, but my name isn't called until the third row. It's a little messy at the start, guys not really sticking to their lanes. Whatever. Stay focused. I'm directly behind the jersey of yesterday's winner, who road clear away from the field leaving the real fight to be for 2nd place. He's got 21 upgrade points, 3 wins this season and has never finished below the top 10. I'm thinking maybe he should upgrade...whatever, I'm not going to let him go anywhere without me on his wheel.

The whistle blows and we start to charge. I hear the unholy screech and squeals of composites and old guys going down in a pile to my right rear flank. I hammer towards daylight on left. Today's hole shot to the dirt was roughly twice as far on pavement as yesterday's. Good for me. I've still got time to pass. The pavement starts to get rocky. I slip through the middle of the field, not touching anyone on this narrow paved stretch ("Use the force, Luke"). Up another makeshift rampy curb, not sure where some of these turns are heading, but I keep the power on only letting the extremely motivated pass me. Down the hill, hello lake, not today please, the rider wearing the red jersey of yesterday is letting a gap open to the leaders. Is he taking it easy not to draw "automatic upgrade" attention? Is he just on an off-day? I can't figure it out*, but I do quickly get my head back in the game and charge past him up to the leading group.

At least I think I'm in the leading group. Yesterday, I was sure I knew exactly where I was, and I rode accordingly. It turned out, I had lost track of 1st and 2nd place early on in the race. So today I was doubtful of my actual position. No matter, I also made the mistake of not pushing hard enough at all times. So I would ride as hard as I could and let the results stand. Climbing up the homestretch once again our lead group of 4 has a gap on the chasers. But we've slowed. Are you kidding me?!?!? I didn't want the riders from behind catching back on and so I charge to the front and hammer hard. I get to the dirt a little winded and I struggle to keep up.

I lose ground on some twisty's but make time over the barriers. Today they are flat and fast. And taller. That's right. Myles must have seen the hill top set-up, noticed that 2 guys could still ride over them and texted the organizer to raise up the barriers some more. So there's an extra few inches of wood placed underneath the main body of the barrier for extra measure. No matter, I glide over the bad boys. Late braking, I Grand Jeté with either foot first to catch back on. That's right. High School dance troupe paying benefits 20 years later. I'm back on the group.

On the new back twisties with the grassy mumps of madness, there's an attack from 2nd position. I'm too far back, I'm losing ground. I fumble a dismount/remount section. No momentum. I almost tip over. So bizarre. We're spread out. I'm chasing 1, 2 and 3. Pushing hard. Push harder. I look behind me for the first time. Noooo! Don't look behind! I see the blurry mass of a single rider closing in on me. Need to stay away from his train. Lots of twisty turny bits left for them to close down on me. Tired of the swirly ups and downs in the woods, I'm forgetting to pedal over the top and simply coast down the next sides. Noooo! What are you doing?!?!?!

I hit the narrow single track ridge climb. A lapped rider is in my way, I won''t move him off his line (that would be wrong), but I can make a new line to the left. It's uneven and lose, but I have to. I come up to another lapped rider. "On your inside brother." It's safe and so he gives way. Approaching the high speed barriers for the last time, nerves get the best of me and I stutter step. My ballet skill failed Damn, and I thought I was so smooth. Hit the pavement, one last climb, a quick look back and I'm in the clear.

I cross in 4th place knowing that I had given it my all and the riders in front of me just plain out-rode me. Sure would have been nice for a podium picture in front of the park's massive Greek-revival columns...

(Ben rocked the house moving up 16 spots from yesterday's finish earning an impressive 44th. Cosme had a broken chain in his race).

*It turns out that this red-jerseyed rider, was only on the same team as yesterday's winner. The actual sandbagger was a no-show on Sunday.

Some pictures...posted as "public" on my FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2281174463574.122804.1075176960&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2281265905860.122809.1075176960&type=3

another vivid set of reports

thanks marc, and nice job!

Marc,

looks like it is almost time to upgrade!!!

Don't worry, you can downgrade to a 4 again next season.

Mike

@Perlberg...I will definitely upgrade as soon as it makes sense. You know I often preach the value of staying in a category until you really learn through experience how to race for the win. And these last two races have shown me that while I think it is possible that I will get a win, I've definitely got a ways to go. For example on day 2, I made the decision to let the better bike handlers take the twisty bits. My thinking was that I wanted us to stay away from the chasing pack, and to that end, it probably worked. But it also put me on the ropes a bit, forcing me to chase back harder on the straightaways. And when the eventual winner attacked on said twisties, I had no shot at catching him from 4th wheel.

Of course, I have to go back to work this week, so I will probably go back to sucking again now...

some video from the men's elite race on day 2

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2283304436822&saved#!/photo.php?v=2283144752830&set=vb.1075176960&type=2&permPage=1

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2283304436822&saved#!/photo.php?v=2283019389696&set=vb.1075176960&type=2&permPage=1

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2283304436822&saved#!/photo.php?v=2283304436822&set=vb.1075176960&type=2&permPage=1

marcO! &Ben,
very cool report& results! well deserved. sounds like adventures worth exploring for more kissenas...
-h

Oct. 5-Oct. 6.

Providence is the finale to New England Holy Week. Gloucester is the opening, and in the middle there's a Wednesday night cross race that is NOT UCI, called The Night Weasels Cometh.

https://www.bikereg.com/Net/the-night-weasels-cometh

I haven't been, but from watching some of the videos, it seems like it's about as close as we get to a Northwestern US style/attitude cross race.

FROM: Providence Cyclo-Cross Festival, NEPCX, NECXS, UCI C1/C2

-------------------------------------------------

Junior UCI Races Moved to Weekend, New CX Madison Introduced Friday

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Sept. 11, 2013) - The Providence Cyclo-cross Festival will move its junior events to Saturday and Sunday to comply with a request from the Union Cycliste International, the governing body of the sport.

The Festival will still host racing on Friday afternoon that is not subject to UCI restrictions starting at 4 p.m. New to the schedule will be an innovative "Cyclo-cross Madison" that features two-rider teams that can make exchanges in the pit area.

Registration for those newly scheduled events will open Monday, Sept. 16, at 12 noon EDT.

"We want to offer the best racing possible for juniors in the Northeast. Without any UCI events in our region, some of the best riders in the world were struggling to travel to earn those critical points," said Event Director Richard Fries. "We wanted to have an event here. But we also wanted to respect the Verge Series standards, which only holds Junior 15-18 categories."

Providence staff initially scheduled a single UCI 17-18 race for Friday evening, with those juniors receiving premier treatment. Last week, however, the UCI informed the organizers that regulations require a junior race to be held on the same day as the elite men. Hence, the organizers will host a UCI 17-18 race on both days of the weekend.

This will create a separate 15-16 race on the weekends as well. Those races will not count towards the Verge New England Championship Series overall standings.

"We apologize for any confusion but realize this also creates amazing opportunities," said Fries. "We are also thrilled to enhance our fun Friday offerings that are non-UCI events. With this new slot opening up on Friday evening, I get the chance to promote something I've always wanted to see, a cyclo-cross Madison."

The 60-minute event will be open to all categories but there will be combined age brackets. Racing for merchandise prizes, competitors will be competing in one of four categories: overall, Under-46, 80-plus, and co-ed for mixed teams. The entry fee will be just $25 per person.

"We cannot think of a better way to pre-ride the course," said Patrick Goguen, the competition director. "Effectively riders are getting in four or five hot laps if they race 30 minutes apiece."

Final rules will be outlined at the start.

Depends on what time your race is. It has not rained before Gloucester but the course was still super wet in the morning from dew and fog; and dry later on in the day. I had a super mucked up bike from hitting the course at 6:30 to preride.

Alex Vaughan said:

Weather report: hasn't rained since the 22nd, likely to be dry all week.  Maaaybe a little rain Friday night.

http://weatherspark.com/#!dashboard;q=providence, ri, USA

Wish I had some file treads!

Point taken. I'm not up for buying new tires right now anyway, so I think I'll go with Hutch Bulldog front and Pirahna rear no matter what.  I ran the opposite last time, which I think was a mistake - not least because the Bulldogs rubbed the paint off my chainstay.

Hot tip....just saw a tweet that they are building a flyover for Providence. Last year's approach to the flyover top shelf was steep enough that if you happened to be at the bottom of your pedal stroke, you would clip a pedal. Careful yo!

Okay all...here it is. Balance is returned to the universe. Cat 4s get crap weather and everyone else sunshine and roses. Still, should be a fun weekend. For those of you into custom bikes and what not, the Builders Ball on Friday night is the place to be.

And course pre-riding open from 2-3pm-ish. Small window due to this year's inclusion of Friday events including single speed races, "Madison" style cross racing with bike/rider exchanges in the pit. I'm a big fan of pre-riding the course. Unfortunately, for my family this year, not possible. Grumble. I guess that means extra early arrival for us at the course to get in plenty of laps before the first race of the day.

You probably already received this, but here's an official email from the promoter about the weekend:

FROM: Providence Cyclo-Cross Festival, NEPCX, NECXS, UCI C1/C2
-------------------------------------------------

Well it is here - the 2013 Providence Cyclocross Festival kicks off in just a few short hours.

A few quick notes to help make your weekend a little smoother.

- Number Pick-Up will start at 7am each day.  Please ensure that you have your USAC License, Authorization to Ride, or smart phone app ready to show when you come to the registration tent.

- Same number will be used each day BUT you will have to still sign-in on Sunday.

- Numbers will be on the left.  Please place them on your side not on your back.
Elite Riders - "shoulder" numbers will be on the arms (biceps) facing forward.

- It may be warm again this weekend so please ensure you have plenty of fluids.

- If you want to get a jump start on the weekend don't forget you can pre-ride the course Friday from 2-3pm (maybe longer?!).  You will need to stop by the registration tent with your license to get your number so the crew knows you are supposed to be on the course.

- There are also the Friday races (Fat Tire, Single Speed, & Madison) to watch.

- AND the Builders Ball starting at 7pm at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Providence.  Check http://providencecrossfest.com for more information.

Thank you all for your participation in this year's event.

Here's a little sample from last year's fun...never mind...taking forever to upload the 1 minute video...it wasn't that good.

Prerode today with Myerson; lots of great tidbits - "just say 'no' to the free speed" being a particularly good one. Very tricky course - lots of places where he good line for turn 1 totally screws you for turn 2.

Two count 'em flyovers the off camber hill of deth and a gnarly steep double set of stairs with a U turn between.

I love that course - wish I was there. Have fun.

Lucky Jules...

What the hell does "no to free speed" mean?

If last year was an indication, they will realized that some of the corners they placed were totally ridiculous and change them for the later races. One steep ride up last year, had way too many people falling off just before the top, and is one of the areas where both Joaquin and I got double jacked and essentially out of contention, but I noticed they moved the tape down the hill a bit and then it became very manageable for at least the Pros. Because you know...they needed the help.

Staying in the same hotel as Van Dessel and ProGold. One of my all time favorite hotels, a Holiday Inn express that is very nicely done, very welcoming of pets and has a very nice breakfast area...(not that I partake of that pre-early morning race).

And as far as choosing which bad line to take when you've got two from which to choose, this is where pre-riding becomes very important so that you can figure out which turn you sacrifice for the ultimate good. Hopefully we can get there early, early to get err done tomorrow.

I NEED REPORTS PLEASE.

Jules and Joachim 2nd and 3rd in 35+ 4 field!

crossresults is posting the results live

Teamwork!!!

Congratulations @jules and @joachim!

While I clicked the awesome button, I don't think that is enough. Totally awesome job guys.