C'mon!!! MAC series and Bubble-dudes. It's Thursday, post your results from last weekend please. Hotlist has work to do! Grrrr....

Seriously.

Hotlist thanks Perlberg for the link. I had some back and forth with Colin at Crossresults and I ended up sending him a text file version of that pdf and voila...weekend's races are up! But hotlist has got an apartment full of rump roast smoke, a screaming baby and more dirty dishes than clean...

what, you don't think the rest of us don't have smoke, screaming, and dishes?  

Just registered for Hop Brook.  Cool.

Also, I'm considering going to the NBX GP on 12/1 and 12/2.  It's a pretty good one.  Anyone else?  Unless you race the elites on Sunday, getting back for the year end party should not be a problem.

Thinking about doing the 35+ at Hop Brook. I like morning racing.

I'll probably stick closer to home on the 2nd and do the Horseshoe Scramble. I like that course.

NBX is a good one. I did it last year and plan to go again this year. In a park, pavement climb start, in the vein of Gloucester and Providence. Beach run, steep run up. Twisty bits through trees. GREAT kids course. Tasty local donut specialty bakery. You know all the good stuff.

But Marc, you're going to be in a solid 3rd place in the NJ Cyclocross Cup 40+ Cat 4 series. Not defending that at Horseshoe?!

Hotlist is sad. For weeks, we've been looking forward to the big showdown. Ragot was certainly the odds-on favorite to take the KCC CX Championship crown, but Todd McLoughlin was raging in Maryland and Michael Perlberg found some fine form at Bubblecross, and Handsome Joe was ready to prove that he's a legit cat 3 crosser. But how would have our Cat 4s and Master 40+ dudes done? Hotlist easily could envision a strong Cat 4 or Master-class racer stepping up to third on the day.

But thanks to Sandy, we've got to wait. But that just gives us more time to catch up on our sleep, get our training in, change our brake pads and visualize some sweet revenge fantasies in preparation for an early December maybe-snowy-show-down.

With many of our regular crossers hitting up FSVS and getting Bubbly last weekend, it's time hold your nose folks, because it's about to get real rank up in here.

1. Eric Ragot. Sick of Teacher man sitting on top of the list? Then you better get to gett'n because while Hotlist would have liked him to sharpen his start, dispatch of the jokers more quickly, leave the excuses behind and finish better than 11 out of 21 in a local race, he's still better than you...and you too. But not Mike Garrigan. That guy was SICK and made Aspholm look like a mediocre cat 3.
   
   
2. Todd McLoughlin. Hotlist learns that the first thing this dude does after he parks his car, is thrown on a helmet, roll up his right pant leg, put on his MTB shoes and pre-rides the course two hours before his official start. Nice. The preparation payed off, and Todd blasted his way in a competitive MAC cat 2/3/4 field of 56 riders up to 17th place earning 345 crossresults points. His best race of the year, earns him number 2. Plus, he makes all of us want to see if he can handle Ragot in the KCC champs.
   
   
3. Joe Mueller. Handsome Joe was visibly bummed that a big win eluded him this week by about 12 seconds or so, but hotlist was impressed with his decisive 2nd place at Bubble Cross in the Cat 4s. Crossresults too was all like, "not too shabby, young man" and awarded him 356 points for his efforts.
   
   
4. Michael Perlberg. If the team's other teacher turns in some extra credit, gets some after-school tutoring to help turn this week's 13th into top-10 at a local cat 3 CX race, then he'll be all over number 3 on the hotlist. Crossresults gave him 380 points for his "unlucky" placing this week. Hotlist is very much looking forward to a front row seat at the Mueller/Perlberg bare-knuckle fist fight at the KCC Champs. There will be blood.
   
   
5. Jules Roazen. I expect certain Psychologists to come after hotlist with a B52 bomb (5 of Haldol, 2 of Ativan), and whisk him away to give him ye olde "Clockwork Orange" treatment for ranking Jules above a certain other rider who finished in front of him at Bubble Cross. But like Hotlist's favorite cooking show, "Chopped" one must consider the entire meal and not just a single course when considering who gets the 10,000 dollar prize. In this case, a strong 4th from a back-row starting position (that is one of Jule's top 5 performances point wise this season), that follows that damn 9th place at HPCX means he wins the better ranking this week. But look out Roazen...you've got hungry and dangerous 4s nipping at your heels.
   
   
6. JP Partland. Leaping ahead of Jim Feehan this week by one, Partland didn't have, if Hotlist is honest, a strong outing in the 1/2/3 race, but he did manage to outlast Brian Breach and beat a few other jamokes, and only cursed a little when he endoed and subsequently got heckled by the entire world in the Bubble sand pit. Just like Hotlist doesn't like a sandbagger, he also doesn't like when dudes race in categories that leave them TT-ing solo OTB. This week Partland didn't have a choice, but hotlist would love to see this guy race some more Cat 2/3/4 and/or 35+ Elite races before the season is out.
   
   
7. Jim Feehan. If Todd v Ragot is the main event, one the undercard fights might be Feehan v Partland. Both guys have tons of experience, both guys probably down on total package power compared to the club's best. Hotlist desperately wants to see this match-up. Feehan slips one this week because of a weaker than normal performance at Fair Hill. Crossresults.com gives his 21st place 432 points, significantly more than his standout performances at Nittany and Whirlybird.
   
   
8. Joaquin de Baca. Gets a free pass this weekend, despite not racing at Bubble. His brute strength and previous solid result keeps him on the list this week. But he'll be gone for sure, if he doesn't suit up this Saturday or Sunday.
   
   
9. Marc Bertucco. After being there and thereabouts this season in New Jersey 40+ Cat 4 races, Bertucco rides in front of a wall Kissena blockers to take the win. Crossresults gives this win 386 points.
   
   
10. Patrick Grehan. Cracking the Hotlist top 10 and knocking perennial listee David Stokes back to his workshop where he is attempting to rebuild (again) a smashed shifter, Patrick has also proved to be a formidably contender in the New Jersey 40+ Cat 4 races. Despite a mechanically suspect racing rig, he very nearly made it a sprinting grudge match between he and Bertucco. Grehan faded in the last lap, but still held on for a solid 3rd place on the day.

From the online chatter, sounds like there will be a few Kissenas racing in Connecticut on Sunday. Good luck to everyone and be sure you check out the cross calendar, there's plenty of good racing left in the season!

Has hotlist missed a Kissena cross racer this year? Dude named David Thompson is on the KCC Champs pre-reg list, has 6 events this year, including Marty Day 1 and Providence (two events that included other Kissenas), but has no team name attached on crossresults.

If anyone is interested, there is live coverage of Canadian nationals today.

http://cyclingmagazine.ca/2012/11/sections/news/live-coverage-2012-canadian-cyclocross-championships-elite-women-junior-men/

Garrigan going for the win at 6:15

marc won hop brook. 

Quiet weekend for Kissena's usual crew of crossers. Trolling bikereg.com, I see that Jim Feehan and Dusan Strika were scheduled to race at Kutztown in Pennsylvania, while Todd McLoughlin and myself wandered north about 1.5 hours to race in Connecticut at the "Hop Brook Cyclocross" race. Results are posted online for either, so I can only report on what I know happened at Hop Brook.

Todd, racing his first 1/2/3 race lined up with the likes of Dan Chabanov and Former Canadian National Master's Champ Todd Bowden and about 25 other guys looking for a little racing action on a Sunday afternoon. Bowden and Chabanov, pulled away gradually, but decidedly and battled for the win. Chabanov reports that he was taking a rocky, descending sweeper better than the Canadian, and left him behind there in the last lap to take the win.

Kissena's own Todd McLoughlin had another strong outing, slugging it out in a group of 5 who were battling for 12th place. McLoughlin later said that through the long beach ride and the dragging 3% road climb, he was strongest, but couldn't quite keep the groups' wheels through the more technical portions of the course. For the last two laps, Todd was in the "Jaime Driscoll" position, about 6 seconds off the group but he was "all in," no give-up in that guy's face. It was impressive way to finish in 17th place on the day.

(Hudson's Van Winkle finished in 9th after riding together with 10th for most of the race. Neither of those riders were even close to 8th).

In the Cat 4/5 race, I lined up knowing while there were probably more true beginners than at Bubble Cross, there were also a few guys who were certain to give me trouble if crossresults.com was to be believed. Plus, I didn't have the confidence/support of the Kissena Cat 4 wrecking crew riding behind me like I did at Bubble Town.

And sure enough, right from the start, I knew I was in for trouble. Cicli Devotion dude takes the hole-shot and is ripping it up on the grassy straight-away. I'm getting gapped and can't do a damn thing about it. Then the first turn comes and I see a hint of what's to come. I catch right back on his wheel as he takes the turn what feels like disproportionately slow to his straight-line speed.

But there's a lot of straight, power sections and I'm still hanging on for dear life as the next technical bits come. "WHAT, why are you braking THERE? NO, you did not just fall off your bike on the steep dirt ride up!" From then on, I pull to the front during technical bits, and get my gaps, but cannot shake him on the power stretches. We briefly discuss...

"Looks like we've got a nice little gap on the field," says him.
"Yeah, I'm happy enough to work together and then beat on each other the last lap," says me.
"Okay, sounds good," says him.

Problem was, our good-natured conversation resulted directly, in us slowing down enough that two guys managed to magically bridge up. "Where the hell, did they come from," I wonder?

"Not good," I say out-loud.

No more conversating is necessary, and we just get to gett'n. I let him drill it on the flats and I try to take the lead on the technical stretches. It's working sort of. We're down to 3. And coming into the off camber ups and downs, I can hear number 3 on the verge of an asthma attack. "Jeesh, well at least he's working hard too!"

We continue to push the pace and soon it's just the two of us again. I make the mistake of letting him take the dirt climb, because he flubs it again, and forces me to dismount. And when I do, on the remount, I drop my chain on the remount and he's gone. There's single speed traffic ahead and he's got a substantial gap. CRAP.

"Don't panic. You know where he's slow. You know where you have to push it."

Through the beach, where Todd tells me "no brakes," and he's 100% right. I channel my inner Mike Garrigan and use all my momentum (and by "momentum" I mean belly fat) to fly through the thick sand only turning as the water of the lake comes dangerously close. I'm in and out of the saddle constantly. "More power, I need more power." I get to him before we hit the fast sweeping descending turns. I take the lead. I bomb the descent, hands off my brakes, listening to his binders squeal and scream behind me. Steep drop off followed by a sharp right where you have to thread a needle or...

GET STUCK between a large rock and an a prickly evergreen bush. CRAP. He flies by me again. I can't back up, so I push through the poor bush and get back riding. Third and fourth are coming back again too. Noooooo! Nerves get the best of me, I'm terrible on the off camber, slippery ups and downs. Back on the power on the straights. I have to believe. I have to believe. (but he's so, so far away).

But getting closer. No fear on the chicanes, gravel stretch you are but a nuisance. Approaching the short steep climb, I gear down to my biggest cog, and hit it hard. And like karmic justice, I see my rival off his bike 5/8 up the hill, hunched over his bike. Dropped/jammed chain? He's down there for a while. I blow by him and fly down the pavement, onto the grass, through the sandpit.

Nooooo! He's back on my wheel. Damn too strong. He mistakenly clues me in though.

"Dude, I totally rolled my tubular."

Oh, no, buddy...I smell blood now. I stay in front of him. Everywhere he had been braking, I make sure to accelerate. A fast uphill left hand sweeper leading to a gravel ride up/dismount, double barrier leap, then run up to the top. CRAMPS. Shit, shit, shit. "Please don't seize up on me, PLEASE, legs."

With one to go, he's still on me like glue. So much for rolled tubulars! He gets in front of me again with 3/4 of a lap to go. He's got the lead on the pavement descent to grass to the beach ride.

"Okay, I've got one more shot at this. Drop back a bit, Marc. You're going to need some room to execute this pass." He hits the grass, I hear his brakes squeal. He's getting bogged down in the sand. I fly through the sand full speed, no brakes and fly up on him real, real fast. Yikes. He squiggles and squirms and gets pushed to the left and I'm forced left too. Water is coming up way too fast. I'm about to go swimming. "Stay on target, stay on target. Pull up Porkins, PULL UP."

My wheels hit water but it's just an inch or so deep here. Out of the saddle I hit the turbos. Wings in attack formation. Onto grass, another needle to thread between concrete pylons, two choices. The one of the left is a more natural line from an entry point, but has more jagged rocks to pinch that flat. I go right and take the turn extra double wide, but keep pedaling full speed. Keep the arc smooth, another left onto grass, around the tree, more gravel, climb that pavement sharp left, out of the saddle.

Legs screaming. Stay away cramps, dear lord, stay away. I get to the barriers first, I can't fully extend my stride anymore. I'm running using "baby steps" and have trouble jumping back on my bike. But I've still in front. Now is when I put his rolled tubulars to the test. Carving the steep descent, I just let it all fly. I say a prayer, thread the needle at the bottom passing the dreaded rock that stopped me before.

I gotta slow down on the off camber ups and downs. They are TIGHT, and if I ride into tape, my few second lead will evaporate. I get through them, still in the lead. I'm pedaling squares. TWO MORE WIDE TURNS TO GO. I carve through the last rising left handed banking turn and onto the straight away. 50 meters to go, but I'm dying. I'm halfway there. My nemesis hits that last turn and I hear the sweetest sound ever.

"Fphwump." That tubular has rolled off completely.

I'VE GOT IT I'VE GOT IT I'VE GOT IT I'VE GOT IT.

Man, for a small local race, that sure was f-ing hard.

^ possibly the best race report of the season.  I'm counting the time I spent reading that as "threshold"

eragot said:

adrenalin flowing moreso than when I race.

nice work compadre - ready for the 35+ with me now?

you too JP.

35+ Elites a whole 'nother ball of wax. I get killed in that category--Ragot, you practically lapped me at HPCX. I've got a few more weekends of bigger cat 4 New England fields in front of me. I reserve judgment on my own abilities until after NBX.

Yeah ... Sunday was fun.  It was a low key event, but it had all the right ingredients.  Good course, good weather and nice people.  Marc's race was by far the highlight of the day.  I don't have much to add.  Except, he had the Cicli Devotion regardless of the rolled tub. 

My race was pretty good.  This was my first 1/2/3 race (I've always stuck with the B's), and my goals were modest.  Stay on the lead lap and beat the 1 or 2 guys I know from the B's.  I did both.  I didn't have a great start, but once I got going I was able to move up.  After 3 or 4 laps I settled into a group of five.  As Marc indicated, I was faster than the rest through the sand and up the road drag, but slower through the technical parts, esp. that slippery, rocky downhill sweeper.  I really sucked on that turn.  The real problem for me was that the technical parts came right before the finish.  The last few laps I actually got dropped near the finish and had to use rest of the course to catch up.  Eventually, probably predictably, I finished at the back of the group.

Next up is NBX, which has plenty of sand.

Way to go Marc Bertucco! And what a great RR—nail biting stuff. 

Unfortunately, my chief photographer was home with my chief in charge of cuteness.

But Todd captured the podium shot!

Sweet result Marc.

And awesome gut suck for the podium shot!

nice work, marc - thrilling report.  i know matthew bowne (2nd place).  he's a good dude and he started my second favorite bike racing team (Cicli Devotion).  I heard that he got second with a rolled tire and I was thinking "Damn!  poor Matt!"

Cyclocross Hotlist wants to wish the whole team a hearty and happy Thanksgiving. Please remember the less fortunate out there today as you feast on awesomeness. And by "less fortunate" hotlist means your non-crossing teammates who have nothing better to do and are already obsessing about Battenkill.

There's only "one page" left of cross races on the bikereg.com registration page, and that makes Hotlist sad. Fortunately, that one page contains some good events--and so Hotlist's frown has been turned upside down! And since this past weekend, the racing was light, with only 4 club members making it out to Connecticut or Pennsylvania, and none of those promoters having it together enough to actually get some results posted online, let's skip this week's hotlist and talk about some of the racing to come.

11/24 - 11/25 (THIS WEEKEND!)

BAY STATE, Sterling MA. Without question, the big show this weekend is the Verge Series finale. In addition to exciting battles between Roger Aspholm and Brian WIllichowski, Alec Donahue, Todd Bowden and the rest of the New England Master Elites, Jeremy Powers is also slated to race. Of course representing NYC, so far only Kissena's Marc Bertucco and the mysterious, "maybe he's a Kissena, maybe he's not," David Thompson have signed up. They'll both be racing the Cat 4 races, and according to Alan Atwood, the promoter HATES crossresults.com and will be lining Cat 4s up by "random draw." Starting in the middle or back of a 115 rider field virtually guarantees even a strong rider to finish in the 30s at best, so rumor has it that Bertucco is grumpy.

SCCX, Hamburg, NJ. Originally slated to host two races, Skylands Cycling and Team Bulldog managed to find a new venue for their second weekend of racing only. Part of the New Jersey Cyclocross cup, Kissena is going to be represented, so far, by Daniel Hubbard in the Cat 3s and Patrick Grehan and David Sassonian in the Cat 4 40+ masters race. If hotlist memory serves, Daniel's last race was Marty Cross Day 1, so dude's either super fresh or super looking to burn some calories and have some fun this weekend. Grehan has Turkey blood in his eyes, as he's looking to improve upon an impressive 3rd place at Bubble Cross and take to the top step of the podium. Crossresults.com is predicting him to win, and hotlist knows it's his race to lose. Sassonian's last outing in one of these Jersey Cat 4 40+ races at Marty Cross netted him an 8th place and as such, Hotlist is looking forward to another multiple-top-ten-Kissena domination of a New Jersey Cyclocross Cup event. They'll have to write up reports though, because these Jersey guys can't seem to get their results posted online without a little prodding. (Team Town Cycle's race, Bubble Cross still not tabulated in the cup series results yet.)

12/1-12/2

NBX, Warwick, RI

If Gloucester is the biggest cross 'splosion of the year, then Providence, then Northampton? THEN NBX is your final opportunity to race a super-pro, super-big New England cross festival of pain. Mapquest this baby...Warwick, RI is not that far.

Horseshoe Scramble, Watchung, NJ

The finale of the New Jersey CX Cup, in nearby NJ, Hotlist expects many Kissenas looking forward to fine-tuning their form for the World Championship of All that is Awesome (or Supercross) to attend. A good opportunity for our Cat 4 40+ racers to add to their points earned all season towards the overall cup.

12/8-12/9

SUPERCROSS!!!! Nuff said.

Limestone at the Kiln, Emmaus, PA. It's the finale of the MAC series, it's nearby, and the race is similar to Harriman in that it's kind of tucked away at the bottom of steep slopes, so I expect it to be muddy and slippery regardless of the weather in the days before the race. If Supercross doesn't go off, this is the alternative of choice.

local racing this Sunday:  https://www.bikereg.com/Net/17524

I'm departing 11am. Can go earlier if you need ride.

I'm thinking about going for the B race.

Biffed onto days ride @mperlberg - wanna ride there? Happy to drive

Quick update from Bay State in Sterling, MA. Apparently the race organizer doesn't like crossresults and so "random draw" was the order of the day. And so despite being predicted to finish in eighth place, I was lined up SEVEN rows back in a field of over 100. During my warm-up lap I noticed a rider down at the bottom of a seriously steep hill, blood all over her face, EMS was on scene, but just one dude, and this looked serious. I stopped to help and after we got her on a backboard and onto the Gator AWD vehicle, I rolled to my "primo" start position. Can you tell where this is going yet? Since I am not a 360 point sandbagger like many in my field, I rode my best and went pretty well, but only managed to climb to 30th place at the end of four laps. There were plenty of guys in the top 15 with like 450-500 points...so it hurts because I know that my fat 422 point ass had the legs for a top 10 and maybe, a top five. Maybe tomorrows random draw will be kinder. Anywhere in the first three or four rows will do just fine. Seven rows back though? I'm just not that good. Exciting elite race, lots of wind and lots of roadie bits made for a tactical race, tightly grouped for the duration. Kissena super secret elite rider Mike Garrigan (he knows he's on the club now right?) rode a more conservative early race and kept himself in the mix all day long. In the end only Jeremy Durrin could beat the Canadian to the line. A well deserved podium placing.

Garrigan needs three podiums in a row to get to worlds after race-pocalypse at Canadian Nationals. Looks like he just knocked out the first one.

I hate seeing gore before races, always shakes me up; I remember Branch Brook this spring -ugh.

Glad you gave it full gas to spite your bogus call up.

Tomorrow is Kracken Release, eh?

@ hubbs - I'm not going to race, thanks for the offer.