(cross posting from Prospect riding thread)

Marc - Cross Crusade call ups are based on a random draw of the last digit of your season long race number. However, if you are called up last you get beer.

Jules - MAC results are posted. They have you listed in two places but you have a combined total of 174 points which is enough to put you in 9th overall.

Cool!  I only see being listed with two finishes (NIttany) does that mean I get squat for 11th?

All of the categories for Super Cross are now marked as closed at BikeReg. I think something is wrong.

Derek Chiles said:

All of the categories for Super Cross are now marked as closed at BikeReg. I think something is wrong.

https://www.bikereg.com/Net/17443

Technical difficulties - now resolved and the categories are re-opened.

Horseshoe Scramble pre-reg is OPEN

^reg'd

me too

@ Jim

Jules, that may be correct. My only pont was they hadn't consolidated your points into a single entry - they had your Nittany results listed separate from your Whirlybird. And we know there's only one of you!

BTW, I just swapped my B race entry at Town Hall for a Masters entry. Eric, you will not lap me.

Aha, that make sense.  Thanks Jim

Well, a few weeks later, and now that Whirlybird and Gloucester are in the books, it's time for another edition of the Kissena Hot List. This time, I'm going to inject a little editorial discretion, and not rank our guys strictly by cross results.com points. Because after a couple of full weekends of racing it's clear that some of us are still getting by on last year's results.  I hope I didn't miss anyone. So without further ado...

1. After another solid 14th place in the "Elite" Master's race at Whirlybird, Eric Ragot holds onto #1 with  272.51 points.

2. James Feehan with 376.83 holds onto #2 after continuing with really consistent results at Charm City (24) and Whirlybird (21). I hope he decides to do the KCC CX Champs, because I'd like to see how he stacks up against Ragot, McGloughlin and some of our stronger cat 4s.

3. Todd McGloughlin with 376.2 points is starting 2012, where he left off last year racing the cat 3s. A solid 30th place earns him third in the rankings. According to crossresults, he should be above Feehan and in 2nd, but we have to wait to see if he can keep up the results once he has a few more races under his belt.

4. Jules Roazen with 426.55 is next on our list. At Whirlybird, he just missed cracking the top 10 for the third time this season. His points suggest he should be in #5, but based on field size and overall competitiveness, I gotta give the edge to the Canadian Ginger.

5. David Stokes scores another top 10 in the 55+ category and that bodes well for the rest of the season, but the MAC series 55+ start lists have been small. So cross-category comparisons are difficult...but not impossible for this opinionated pontif.

6. Jeffrey White, grabs hold of the #6 spot with his strong 18th finish at Whirlybird following a good day 1 at Nittany. Day 2 he mechanicaled himself out of contention. He's got 498.22 points.

7. James Nelson, with 423.83 points, might be in contention for the #6 spot, but not this week. They've both been doing the MAC races and White's placings THIS year have been just a bit better.

8. William Doyle-Capitman, races the low-point scoring, ultra competitive 2/3/4 fields has earned himself 423.62 points, and would no doubt be a force on the HotCrossList...if he raced more. Dude mutters to himself about "other responsibilities" and won't be in action for the next 3 weekends. He'll drop even further in weeks to come if he doesn't get muddy with us.

9. Joe Mueller with 442.2 points is hanging out above other Cat 4 stand-outs Chiles and de Baca, largely because he's such a beast, and scored 3rd place at the always muddy and challenging Harriman course.

10. Derek Chiles with 428.25 points has had some nice battles at Nittany with other Kissena's including Joaquin de Baca, whom he edged out on both days. Plus, this dude goes out and races Cross Crusade races, so I gotta give him the lead here.

11. Patrick Grehan finished in 22nd place at Whirlybird and last year's 4th at Super Cross has earned him this spot, this week. He's strong, no doubt and is in prime position to crack the top 10 if he continues to race.

12. Joaquin de Baca with 474.01 points rounds out Kissena's top 12. He has been at times, the club's strongest road rider (finishing top 20 at a Bear Mountain 1/2/3 race a few years back), but he has not been racing much the past two years. Strong finishes at Nittany show he's back on track and he'll be lining up with the some of the best 4s in the land this weekend up at Providence.

13. Lucky 13! Marc Bertucco, me, with 414.94 has among the lowest point totals on the team. And if I was handicapped by poor starting positions at Nittany, I had no excuses up in Gloucester. Front row both days. Weak racing saw me fall back in the mid 20s to low 30s. I've still got good start position for Providence (yay math!), but Joaquin is going to be starting around where I've been finishing in the New England races...so will I fall back, will Joaquin move up? And Ben Reid isn't too far behind him. This should be interesting!

14. Dan Strika is another one of the team's quiet assassins, Dan has more cross races under his belt than most, so he knows how to drive. But he races the same ultra competitive 45+ Master's races that Jim Feehan does. While Jim is tickling the top 20 though, Dan with 503 points is flirting with placings in the 60s at the big races.

15. Ben Reid is poised to move up a few spots with strong performances this weekend. He's got 510 points, but has finished mid-pack both days at Gloucester amongst tough fields and tougher race conditions.

16. Keith Snyder is new to the list, but moving up 50 guys on day 2 of the extremely challenging Gloucester to finish in 50th place cannot be ignored. We'll see if he races more, but given what I've seen so far...he might rocket far up the list in a hurry. Right now, he'll have to hang out in 15th.

17. James Gironta had a solid finish at Harriman, and is a mid-packer in the bigger Mac races so far this year.

18. Joshua Ceasar continues to show improvement from last year, but he's got to get the eye-of-the-tiger during hectic starts if he wants to be competitive with our obscenely strong crew of "Cat 4s."

Josh, I did the West Point Sunday race last year.  Then, as now, they put it on the same day as a bigger race and got a small turnout.  The course was tricky, and they solicited advice from me and a few others as to how to improve the course.  The big thing was more than 400 meters from the start to the first technical section.  It's a bummer they're on teh same weekend as Marty cross.  It was kind of hard to get to via public transit.

"Canadian Ginger"

I'm gonna go get a sharpie and write it on the side of my mis-made skinsuit :P

OK, this is F'ed up but all along I was thinking that Town Hall cross was on SUNDAY! That is until just a few minutes ago. WTF? I can't race on Saturday so I'm going to have to bag out on Town Hall.

So....

I'm thinking about heading to Providence early Sunday morning and do the 9:00am 35+ Cat 4 Race. I've always wanted to check out that race so I'll just add a couple hours of driving to my day. Anyone want to join me? Prereg is closed but that field only has 89 registered out of an available 150 spots so I don't think it will be a problem. I need to be back in Brooklyn by 3:00ish so not a lot of lingering time but surely long enough for a beer (or two). Leaving Brooklyn about 4:30am (what else do I have to do at 4:30 on a Sunday morning?)

Oh yeah, anyone want my spot at Town Hall......

Jim I will take you up on the Town Hall spot. 

Marc, loving the long form. Kissena needs a zine.

Hey Mentors - what's the deal with the step-through?  Nobody on TV is doing it...

Myles says do it. Euros don't seem to listen to Myles.
I think it depends on your skill level and the circumstances of the obstacle. If you have time to set up, then step through. It seems safer.

A few years back, I asked this same question after obsessing over super-slow mo replays on my DVRed World Cup cross races. Jules, you are right, you almost never see the step through. I've watched Tim Johnson, who is known to be a top technician and I've never seen the step through. It's maddening.

A perfectly reasonable response I got to this question from JP suggested that if you are going to carry a lot of speed into barriers, swinging over that leg early and "riding side-saddle" until the step through is the way to go. Physics agree, you are keeping your momentum moving forward instead of the rock back.

Part of the problem though is that many organizers including Myles, insist on putting barriers at the bottom of hills, just after a button-hook turn, and other situations that really make focusing on getting a good step through a waste of time for most.

That said, if at this weekend's Providence, the barriers are where they normally are (or were last year), then the long flat fast lead-up should favor the step-through technique. I will not only try it, but watch to see what the pros do....

Actually come to think of it, I think I have video of last year's edition of that spot. I'll post on Facebook if it's good...

Marc, I was riding again (woot) with Michael Garrigan and asked him this question.  He answered that because most of the barriers are right after technical parts nobody did it anymore.

Jeesh, Jules...secret training with Canadian elite off-road riders. No FAIR!

It's the Canadian "Ginger Alliance"... ssssh don't tell anyone :P

Posted on the Kissena page now....again, ideal conditions for the step through. I notice the Smart Stop Mtn Khakies dude does it (probably, I think one of the Keogh bros), but no one else does.

I still do the step-through on fast dismounts.  The step-back is for slow ones.  

You know when I ALWAYS do the step-through? Coming home from work, on my 3speed, in my clogs, approaching the glass side door to my apartment.

Golden rule of cyclocross. It is ALWAYS faster not to crash.