Who wants to do one more CX race this Sunday? I'll be driving up for the 9AM 40+ race, and back to NYC by 1pm or so.

https://www.bikereg.com/elmcitcx15

Elm sounds super cool. I am likely to make it to Kiln, last of the MAC series:

https://www.bikereg.com/limestone-cross-at-the-kiln-final-mac-event-8

Will probably race the 35+ at 11am. I see Jeff is already signed up for the 8 am race. 
(raced there last year. it was definitely fun)

@Dan Reiners come join us.

Limestone at the Kiln is worth double MAC points. If you are waffling between events/venues, earning series points is as good a reason as any to choose Limestone. Myself and Jim Feehan will definitely be there as well.

PS Maybe Jeff had a change of heart, but last I spoke to him at NBX, he was done for the season.

And as long as we're I'm talking the MAC series points, it might be worthwhile taking stock where KCC racers stand in the series. Hotlist is still MIA, but as the season draws to a close I think it's worth looking a little closer at where KCC racers stand.

It is probably important to note that with the exception of myself and Jim Feehan, to my knowledge no other KCC racers were specifically targeting the MAC series overall. It's a series that rewards participation and performance, but really a handful of steady and unspectacular results will pop you into pretty good company and set you up pretty nicely for startline position at Nittany.

So, I'm not going to make a big production out of this MAC business--Feehan and I will have to toss back a few brews or something after Limestone--but it is a pretty important CX series and we've got guys who are ranked and have scored points. I'll try to do a similar post for the NJ cup series.

In the 45+ category, Eloy is leading the KCC racers in 49th position, Patrick in 63rd and James in 114th.

In the 4/5 category, Jeff is currently sitting in 16th place overall. Because 4/5 races still use order of reg call-ups, there is actually no urgency for him to race this weekend in order to score points to hold onto his "second row call-up."

In the 35+ category, I'm clinging on to 14th place. Even with double points on hand this coming Sunday, I'm likely only to hold onto my position at best. The last few MAC races have been sparsely attended and that has helped me rise in the rankings despite just okay to decent results. However, of the 13 guys in front of me, at least 10 are clearly better than me and all care about the series too and they are showing up at every MAC race on offer.

In the 55+ category, Jim F is looking again to crack onto the podium in 2015. Currently sitting in 4th position. Good racing and good fortune will be required. Last year he had both and finished in 2nd overall. This year's "drop your worst race" rule change complicates things somewhat, but it's still a pretty exciting battle that will come down to the action at Limestone. Dan Strika, another long-time KCC racer and New Jersey-resident striker, is in 34th in the category.

Heh...who you calling "steady but unspectacular"...

Jim Feehan said:

Heh...who you calling "steady but unspectacular"...

Me, totally me. Not you. Definitely not you. I've gotten a bunch of like 12-15th out of 17 starters and that's basically gotten me where I am today.

I was kidding! I will proudly bear the title of "steady, if unspectacular"...although I would prefer to be considered "consistent". In the words of Dirty Harry- "a man's got to know his limitations"

Weather forecast for Emmaus on Sunday. Low of 53. High of 65.

I can't believe I could have raced the ENTIRE cross season in shorts. There were a few nippy race morning/afternoons in the 40s where I chose knee or leg warmers, but would have been fine with shorts. #notcomplaining

For those of you who haven't done the the Limestone course, it's set up in a gully, rather compact in exterior diameter (making for some pretty good "whole course spectating), taking advantage of some steep climbs/run ups. Mud-master Mike Yozell designs this course and he likes things technical. That said there are a fair amount of "Pedal Hawdah" sections too.

I'm looking forward to it in the dry frankly. Most years it's sloppy and muddy and snowy. And while I had some good times in those conditions, I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do on a dry-ish course. (it's in a gully, so like our Supercross course. Any moisture that area got in the weeks leading up to the event likely is still there)

Failed to pre-reg but still targeting the 10am Kiln/MAC race on Sunday.

Leaving Park Slope around 5:45ish am. Returning probably no later than the men's elite race.

Can take one person. Hit me up if interested:
eloy@groovlab.com
347.225.1058

Calling all Master's Cat 4s...if you want a shot at Master's Nationals in nearby CT next year, this is a friendly reminder that you must be a Cat 3 to enter Master's Natz championship events.

Eloy in the 45+, myself in the 35+, Feehan and Strika in the 55+. I sort of forgot how brutal this course is. That combined with questionable fitness/energy and back situation (as a special bonus to the outstanding weekend I'm having that began with getting towed, I totally threw out my back yesterday lugging cases of water to my son's school's Holiday party), had me fighting for "not last place" again.

Slick corners had me on a rear mud. A tale of two course, nice wide open power stretches, but lots of sketchy mountain bike stuff, plus intermediate level climbing/running bits. Last year, I was almost lapped by the leaders of the race and this year was shaping up to be no different, when my rear wheel latex tube exploded in such a spectacular fashion on a sweeping off camber. I thought about quitting, but then there were those damn points. I didn't have any equipment in the pit, but I thought if I ran there, maybe i could get my P&P there. So I ran up a big hill, down a big hill, up a medium hill, down a medium hill and into the pit.

Nope. Gotta cross the line. Okay, fully prepared to run 3/4 of a lap more to the finish line a dude in the pit offers up his mountain bike with flat pedals. It was his, and seemed to be there just for this kind of thing. So I took it. It was weird and tall and surprisingly hard to pedal flat pedals with cleated MTB shoes on, but whatever, I crossed the line, DFL, I'm sure, but still in the double points.

I think Eloy had a solid day too. I missed his finish, but early on, he was doing his thing. Incidentally, he had me and Dan Strika cracking up when I asked him about fixing brake squeal and in no uncertain terms he made me promise not to use his "rubber band" technique until at least 2:30pm, well after my race was to finish. It was sort of hilarious. You had to be there I guess.

Dan was his usually cheerful self after his race and seemed to be happy with how it went.

Jim, well, he wins the day. After riding some time with the 4 leaders who quickly separated themselves from the rest of the pack, he dropped back somewhat and held onto a top placing. The BIG NEWS here is that for the second year in a row, Jim cracks the MAC series podium. This year, his strong and consistent performances put him in 3rd place. Congrats to Jim for another stellar year of CX racing. He'll be heading to Nationals, I eagerly await to see what he can do against a national caliber field.

For what it's worth, I turned and burned after some post-race chit-chat and was back in the city by 2:30, which is not too killer, considering I've done Sunday GWB rides that have me back around that time or later too.

ALSO, they have done some park renovations to the course and there is a pretty wicked cool kids playground with zip line action, lots of climbing stuff AND...I kid you not, a pump track. Had I known, I might have pushed harder for my family to join me. Next year.

Also, it was like 60 degrees. That was both beautiful and ridiculous.

Elm City CX New Haven CT -

I did the 4/5 at 11am today. Lt. Dan did the Masters earlier.

This is the second year they have this race. A fairly compact course with just enough technical (not super technical) features to interrupt my flow and slow me down. There is one short steep gravel hill that according to Strava went between 11% - 19%. I don't know how accurate that is but I was on my granny gear each time. Some small off camber turns, some turns with acorns covering the ground (I slowly took the turn each lap), otherwise it's power power power. There are a couple of sections on single track, which were fast. 

There is part where everyone goes in between two trees (one by one) and as expected, on the first lap it was gridlock. After the leaders went through, everyone else had to jockey for position and walk through it. Got through that, went through the bmx park, a turn then the barriers then off to the dirt single track. On the first lap I overcook a bend. I was going fast and got fixated on some fallen logs and sure enough, that's where my bike went. Ugh. Thankfully no one passed me. A right turn with some loose dirt and we're back on grass and turns. Go go go and I get to the hill. No problems there. I stay seated and just grind it out. At the top is a straight fast dirt section, punctuated by an S turn in between trees, then straight dirt again onto two logs. After that is a downhill (would have loved front suspension here) then a right turn on another single track with some roots. Fast section again. It eventually transitions onto grass where on lap two, I ran straight into the tape. Stupid mistake. 5 guys pass me. I spend the next two laps trying to catch those guys.

On the last lap, on a minor off camber turn, my front wheel washes out and I fall. One guy in a mtb passes me. I get on his wheel through the hill and up top before the logs. He rides over the logs (bastard..) and while I'm getting off, jumping and remounting, he was long gone downhill. I roll in 43 out of 63. I know I could have done better, but a couple of mistakes today did not help.

* A 45 min race. Temp was in the mid 50s. I was on Clements MXPs clinchers since I thought the steep hill with gravel would be an issue with my Chicanes. ~30psi with latex tubes.

Also, free ham and cheese sandwiches and drinks for everyone and full facilities. I love those features. So civilized.

Limestone at the Kiln.

Long report:

• As Marc said, this race is brutal, probably hardest course of 2015.
• Love love loved: no planks/barriers.
• Plenty of other stuff to deal with:
  • 2 sets of quick stairs
  • one big ass log, about five riders were actually able to ride it! amaze.
  • 3, count them: three, ride/run ups
  • remounts are over roots, rocks, uphill, mega downhill
• The one ride/run up is probably the hardest hill of any race in 2015. Holly shit hard. Even if you can ride it, you have to dismount at the top, because rocks.
• Had a decent first lap
• But no fitness, so in retrospect went too hot at the start. Ah, hindsight!
• 2nd time up that hill, I was like "can't climb this monster again... ugh... maybe we only have one more lap to go"
• Cards would say 4 more to go.
• Last lap climb was like really really hard. Deeeeeep pain cave. I mean deeeeeep pain.
• Scary to race in mid December with shorts and summer gloves.

Of note:

• Carrying fitness thru December is tricky, and will require some thinking if targeting the Jan 2017 Nationals in CT.

Kissenistas:

• Marc blew up a tire, because 60psi
• Jim killed it, and finished 3rd on the MAC series.

Additionally:

• Arley Kemmener seemed poised to win, but flatted at the worst spot of the second lap, pretty much everyone passed her, she jumped back and fought back to third. Even when everything goes her way, she always races in fight mode. Inspiration.
• Laura Van Gilder would win. Legend.
• Former New Yorker Rachel Rubino had a great race.
• Chabanov also seemed set to win, but eventually Gunnar caught him. It was interesting to see Dan shut it down, and just ease his way to second place.

Lastly:

• Expecting a real CX hangover tomorrow.

Took a few photos:

Oy, that Elm City is a great course. Nothing super technical with a ton of very straightforward "single track" with a few exposed roots but it was all super fast and good for dropping the hammer. The hill was a nasty little grinder that was hard on the back. It was recently covered with fresh gravel so it required staying seated or else you would spin out.  Between the short closely packed barriers that were right after a BMX park bump and a u-turn, and the two log barriers there were very few opportunities to get off the bike and stretch the back. 

My back seized up 3 laps in, and I had trouble keeping the hammer down, even though I felt strong and I was riding smoothly. I was keeping the rubber side down, and staying smooth. My goal was not getting lapped and I finally finished unlapped for this race, even though my back was praying for a P&P. 

Results bro:

https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2015-3585&bypass=1

Eloy, Marc- Thanks for the kind words. Not sure I would describe yesterday as having "killed" it but more than satisfied with result! Tough course, hard race. Now to try and find some sharpness before Nationals. To be continued...at the Biltmore where 65 degrees and short sleeves is probably a bit much to hope for. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all!

Just noticed, and now I know why he had such a big smile on his face after the race, but Dan Strika had, what looks like one of his best, if not his best race of the year. 13th place! I don't think Dan "forums," but congrats to longtime Kissena member who holds the crossresults record for most number of races in the last 120 months.

Also, Dan if you are out there...Peter loved the dinosaur sticker book, thanks!

Marc,

Two things. Excellent running form there, I am sorry your latex tube gave up the ghost.

It may be forced perspective from the photo but your saddle looks like it has taken a few too many hard remounts and needs to be re-positioned so the nose isn't pointing up into your "tender vittles"

Dan Reiners said:

Marc,

Two things. Excellent running form there, I am sorry your latex tube gave up the ghost.

It may be forced perspective from the photo but your saddle looks like it has taken a few too many hard remounts and needs to be re-positioned so the nose isn't pointing up into your "tender vittles"

I actually need to work on my running this off season. I used to be a fair runner (ONLY in the context of folks who didn't run track/CC in highschool/college of course) 6:07/mile for 4 miles, I think was my best. Before cyclocross, I did NYRR road and cross country races in the fall/winter. Now whenever I run for more than a minute or two I get bizzaro-mystery-compton cramps.

This was me going down hill, I still had not yet decided whether I would run the rest of the lap, or just retire in the pits.

I actually tend to favor the "tender vittles" position. Although my latest saddle positions are much closer to level than they ever have been.

That saddle position just looks hard on your undercarriage, but to each his/her own.

My focus this off-season is going to be core strength, get that back from becoming a giant wad of suffer that saps my ability to put power to the pedals.

CX Nats start...today, well, tomorrow really. Non-championship warm-up events today. But tomorrow the Master's Men categories kick off. KCC will be represented by Jim Feehan in the 55-59 age category. A category that includes perennial favorite, multi-time national/world champ Steve Tilford. Yikes!

Jim will have to fight his way forward from the 5th row, instead of his usual front row start. Fortunately for him though, the course appears to be wide and fair.

Good luck Jim, crush it!

Go Jim. Does anyone know if there's a way to stream the races live online?

Wait - Jim? What about HOTLIST?!?! You've been shredding all season and now, with Nationals nearby you're opting out? What madness is this?

MaxThorn said:

Go Jim. Does anyone know if there's a way to stream the races live online?

Yup, elite races only though. Check out www.cxmagazine.com on Sat/Sun.

Jules said:

Wait - Jim? What about HOTLIST?!?! You've been shredding all season and now, with Nationals nearby you're opting out? What madness is this?

I was "this close" to going, but some financial calculations and a real discussion with my coach made us all realize that I wasn't going to make it happen this year. Too much money, too complicate to coordinate childcare, too much stress on family, and ultimately not enough up-side. Next year though...obviously, because CT.

Thanks Marc.

Heard from Jim who did 4 recon laps yesterday. He reports that the course is "HARD." Which is something...that guy has skills and a full quiver of tubular wheels with all the right treads. Apparently the section into the forest then the steep drop off is the most challenging. Paraphrasing, "nowhere to rest. And plenty of places your race can end real quick."

Siiiiccckk

On Tuesday, January 5, 2016, Marc Bertucco <
kissenacycling+d794@email.vanillaforums.com> wrote:

> Heard from Jim who did 4 recon laps yesterday. He reports that the course
> is "HARD." Which is something...that guy has skills and a full quiver of
> tubular wheels with all the right treads. Apparently the section into the
> forest then the steep drop off is the most challenging. Paraphrasing,
> "nowhere to rest. And plenty of places your race can end real quick."
>
> --
> Reply to this email directly or follow the link below to check it out:
>
> http://kissenacycling.vanillaforums.com/discussion/comment/82347#Comment_82347
>
>

Good luck Jim.

Course preview:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/01/video/video-2016-u-s-cyclocross-nationals-course-preview_392157

And forecast is for rain in Asheville both Friday and Saturday. That course will be a killer when wet.

Besides Jim Feehan, are any Kissena's at CX nationals?  
In any capacity?