I looked for more cyclocross races over the past weekend, and found two.

Saturday: 

Bel Air CX Festival in Bel Air MD

The Bel Air CX Festival course was just about as great as Cycle Smart Int/ Noho! Wide, really great flow, rewarded attacking everything, every obstacle was rideable so no dismounts on this one, lots of elevation change between the upper and lower sections.

Battled a cat 3 rider for 8th and had an edge on him on every hill and obstacle - Belgian steps, log barriers, weird tall cement curb - got about 10 seconds ahead on lap 3, I made a stupid mistake and rode into tape, plus he was cornering better and caught me on the grassy turns and off cambers. I sat on his wheel for a lap and figured out his lines, then sat in on the last big uphill so that my heart rate wasn’t at threshold when I hit the grassy off camber sections leading back to the finish, and attacked there instead and used his lines through it. Held him off until two turns from the finish when he bombed my line as i entered the turn. I finished 9th out of 30 in the 45+ 3/4/5 field, 2nd best finish of the season.

witness the awesomeness of this course (not my vid):

https://www.youtube.com/embed/6RtZK9BUNjY

Sunday:

Capital ‘Cross Classic in Reston VA

This course was also extremely well done and rewarded going to your limit. Great flow through the grassy turns and off-cambers. There were two dismounts (four if you couldn’t ride up two rooted run ups): a set of tall barriers at the top of a small rise after a sweeping off camber left turn, and three tall Belgian steps on the first half of a steep hill leading to the top half of the course. Most were running up the entire thing, I successfully figured out a way during pre-ride to remount immediately after the steps and used that as a place to move up and put time into other riders. There were bacon handups at the top of that section. Descending from the top half of the course back down to the lower section was a thriller. 

I signed up for the 40+ 3/4/5 race, and like Bel Air, didn’t have a good call up, so just focused on moving up as quickly as I possible. The official was pulling riders aggressively. The group I was in was pulled even though we had not been lapped (I finished P27 of 69). This was frustrating and made for a short 35 minute race for having driven so far. So I signed up for the next Cat 4 race. Signing up day of meant I started in the last row but I was feeling great and my lap times were faster in the this race (ultimately finished P21 of 54). The official was even more aggressive in pulling riders and only the top five did the full 6 laps Most of the rest of us did five though we hadn’t been lapped. I asked the official and he said they had to keep schedules tight ahead of the state championship races later in the day. Anyway, a seriously fun course that i didn’t mind riding 11 laps of.

ok quality, but you’ll get the idea (not my vid):

https://www.youtube.com/embed/IUzhKcHxB6I

race 1 cold.

race 2 less cold. this is a steep twisty descent they called the zombie maker

Next Saturday: 

Twining Valley Cross in PA. 68 degrees and rain is the forecast as of today.

I am stoked to have been able to race CX Nats in Chicago this year. Here are some highlights for you all.

First things first. A bunch of us went to National in Hartford a few years ago. The camaraderie and the professionalism was amazing, but the course was full of icy ruts and hard as hell. Ever since then I have hoped to have enough fitness and the time to go. I had the time as my boys are both in college this year. My fitness this year has been poor given my rotator cuff surgery this Spring. I was working on building a base this summer only racing once in the park where I struggled to hold position. I kept working on building fitness and by the time NoHo came around I felt like I had my race legs back. 

As the end of CX season approached I started monitoring the flights and found I could fly round trip to Chicago for around $130 plus bag fees. I decided to rent a small SUV and book a hotel room to fly in on Wednesday for recon, race on Thursday and return that night. I couldn’t stay later as my sister in law had arranged a surprise 50th birthday getaway for my brother that weekend starting on Friday. 

I watched the weather carefully. It was going to be cold, but at one point the forecast was for 3-6 inches of snow. There was no way I was going to trudge through mud and snow and then jump back onto a plane. One week out from my race the weather looked cold and windy (aka Chicago) with only a small chance or rain, so I made the decision to go. 

The next hurdle was figuring out what to bring. My Christmas gift to myself was an EVOC bike case that works with thru axles and didn’t require removing anything other than the pedals and wheels. Speaking of wheels, I wasn’t sure what to bring. My gut said mud tires but I really wanted to race my Griffos, so I decided last minute to bring them both. This meant I had two checked bags and I had to fit EVERYTHING else into carry on. I got my kit, tools and the little details that could impact a race like toe spikes and valve cores (needed them both) into my carry on. 

I felt pretty proud of my packing job until TSA took my adjustable wrench (for the cassette removal) on the flight out and they took three allen wrenches and my disc brake removal tool (all for being longer than 7 inches) on the return flight. Oh well. On both legs of the trip I was offered to upgrade to first class at checkin for the same cost of having two checked bags, so I jumped on it given the bags were included in first class. First on the plan first off and bags got “priority” treatment. Pretty seamless apart form the TSA snafu.

At the venue I chatted with Carl Regar, a CT watt monster, who had some bad luck on his 60+ race, and said hello to Mark Steffen of Sun & Air. While I did not see many NYC folks, I met racers from Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan and Oregon. As is often the case, CX racers are super friendly which was good as I often needed to borrow their floor pumps. During the race a guy was calling out to me because he saw my kit and had learned to race a the Kissena velodrome. Later turned out that he had moved out to Portland and got into cross by going to Tacoma Nats two years ago. 

For all the criticism that USA Cycling gets, I have to say that they put on a classy and professional event. The setup with the team areas, parking, power wash, food trucks and sponsors was all really well organized. They made amazing use of the features at the venue. We went over the only hill in the area three times and there was enough space on top of the hill to spectate. This was a power course (as evidenced by who won the elite races) with several short kickers, a legit sand pit, Belgian steps, some crazy bumpy sections, and so many off camber turns that you would think Myles was involved. 

Wednesday the temperature never really climbed out of the 30s and was even colder with the windchill. The ground was frozen solid as I discovered when I wiped out trying an alternate line on a descent during pre-ride. A woman at the other side of the course tape told me she fell on the exact same spot and broke her thumb. I wasn’t sure if she was kidding as the was pointing to her thumb and it was neither red, swollen or bandaged. I decided to move on. My first attempt were with the griffos but found that I was sliding all over and felt I was better able to get grip in corners on my PDX tires. Low pressure on tubulars also helped. 

Wednesday night I met up with Anthony Ott who took what he learned volunteering for SupercrossCup and had spent two days on course set up the prior weekend. We met for dinner and had a few beers and caught up. He lent me a teammate’s CX bike so that I could at least finish my race should I have a mechanical. Luckily I didn’t need it. Super great to see him. 

Thursday I regretted the beers but was looking forward to my race. The temperatures had crept into the low 40s but the wind had picked up. As a result several of the turns had become more slick. The lead into the Belgian Stairs was a mess of slick mud and dried hay like grass on top of bumpy frozen ground. Lots of people fell there. I managed to stay upright, but just barely. 

My bib number was 666, but I guess I din’t use the correct incantation as Beelzebub didn’t give my legs any more power than usual. I started in second to last row and was predicted to finish 55 out of 60 starters. I finished 45th with the best crossresults points of my season, so I was pleased. The first time through the sand pit was a shit show, which was to be expected. This was a power course and there were plenty of guys I just couldn’t keep pace with. I was somewhat pleased to watch the FloSports coverage later and see that the racers at the front of the race were handling the off cambers only slightly better than I was. While I had nailed the sand pit and the climb up Abus hill in pre-ride, my success rate was 25% in the sand and 75% on the climb during my race. Speaking of FloSports, it was pretty cool that friends would spot me with my orange helmet in the background shots of the race broadcast.

Once the race got spread out I was battling it out with a guy in green from Rocklobster, A guy in a black and blue vision kit, a guy in blue with a neon green Trek, a guy in a red and white One2go kit, and a guy in a light blue Belgianwerx kit. You can see me battle and pass those guys on the video. Besting most of the guys I was racing with felt like a win for me. What you don’t see in the forward facing camera is that three of those guys were chasing me until the end of the race. 

Only the first 16 racers finished on the lead lap, so I along with 43 other racers got in 4 laps. I was happy to have gotten a full 43 minute race after traveling all the way to Chicago for a race. 

Overall, it was a great time and I would totally do it again. Next time I will convince you all to join me!

https://youtu.be/DbUtOneP-_I

• Forecast is for crazy town rain & wind 50° F
• We drive in definite rain
• Conditions don't quite live up to the forecast, phew 😅
• Still muddy and slip and slide almost everywhere, finding green is key
• The forecast prompts the promoter to make a decision that I've only seen once before and love love love love: there are no man made obstacles.
• No barriers, no 'belgian stairs' just a proper course setup and go ride the challenge it brings. #hotness
• Thierry, James, and myself line up to the Masters 50+ race
• I know my top end is a bit late season lacking
• This is evident at the start where I do everything right, but don't quite seem to be moving forward
• "At least James is not ahead" he then immediately flies by 
• The start is all grass super wide long, then "holeshots" single file 
• So now there are a bunch of riders between us
• Top end might be gone, but my diesel fitness is seriously there
• Course is up and down, finishing with a relatively long uphill with some muddy slippery 16~17% moments
• Inspired by what I saw in the Natz Masters streams and Patrick's race, I keep on keeping on
• Pedaling whenever possible, even if downhill or cornering
• pressure on!
• Slowly but surely, start to put together a good race
• Eventually catch and able to finagle past James, who is looking like the fire!
• There are a few muddy off camber corners, but one is specially challenging and while I ride it on lap one by climbing up it a few more meters, decide to run it on other laps
• James seems to be having a good race too, gotta keep pedaling!!!
• one to go one to go one to go!
• Last lap of the season, yo. ALL IN.
• Surprisingly, Sean Smith passes me out of nowhere
• Not sure how he was behind, he usually podiums races when I'm 15ish
• "We got a battle now" I tell him, he slowly rides aways
• He is better on the downhills, I am closing whenever uphill
• He rides the off camber corner, so I do too
• Gap opens downhill, closes uphill. If I keep him close, I am counting on the hill to the finish
• We get there, and I find myself on his wheel
• Two pedalstrokes and it is obvious he has reserved something, no way I am just gonna pedal pass
• I go left hoping for better traction, he stays right
• DRAG RACE MOFOS
• Oh cyclocross here we are racing for 10th in a little local race world championships
• It’s Just Stupid Bike Racing, But It Means Everything
  
• He totally gets me to the line.
• Congratulations, fist pumps, "I knew you were gonna..." 
• Once home... my powah numbers were the best all season, even avg power and NP are higher than any race I can remember
• James and Thierry would finish a moment behind.
• Once again, Kissena looking sharp at the races.

James Reeder said:

haha clearly i'm upset that the seasons over... great pics!

I know. What do you do until next fall?