Pre race Fridays. Northampton sandpit edition

Good luck in NoHo! Sounds like they extended the opening prologue loop so you won't get funneled into the traffic jamming run up 60secs into the race. But still. Start strong, finish stronger!

wout at Cunningham wut wut

Really Wout is here?

Well, I do know that this article is here:

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2015/11/05/supercross-stony-point/75233536/

Looks like we've got a bit of a split field racing this weekend.

Jim Nelson and Eloy up in Northampton (anxiously awaiting reports back on the modified course)

Then...

Jim Feehan and myself in the MAC race at Fair Hill on Saturday.

Then on Sunday at Westwood, the NJ State Championships*, we've got: Jeff, Avi, Dan, Patrick, JP and myself.


GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU. Or something, just try and go kick some ass, okay?

*Which reminds me, I think it would be awesome if Supercross was the NY state championships next year. It seems like the last few years they've been held in "way the fuck over there." I mean, I thought Saratoga Springs a few years back was a haul; but nothing beats as far as you can possible get and still be technically in New York state than this year's event held in Buffalo!

Jim F and I at Fair Hill today. I don't think either of us had the races we wanted, but we both gave it our all. Nice course. Lots of accelerations, climbs and varied terrain. I'm tired. Nice eats afterwords, including a full-on homemade gelato bar.

Despite all forecasts to the contrary this morning, it was raining for the 11am races and continued to fall for our staggered 12pm start. Made for some greasy turns and slippery climbs but traction overall was good.

Later in the day when the rain stopped, I did another lap to warm-up (it was the coldest 60 degrees you have ever experienced), and the course had tacked up perfectly. I actually felt fast in the corners. Too little too late.

Was on track for a "respectable" performance when I found myself overcooking a couple of turns and broke some tape all in one terrible lap. Also, I weirdly decided it would be a good idea to pull down my arm-warmers mid-race and a couple of guys just scooted right by me never to be seen again. Sigh. Don't do that again, dumb-dumb. This is not road racing.

So instead of "respectable" I had to settle for, "not terrible." 17th place, in a small field, but it was stacked with all the MAC leaders. I have to say though, I don't have any excuses to toss out here. The guys that finished in front of me all, in one way or another just out-rode me. Plain and simple. They were better than me.

Tomorrow I'm going for "good." But if you look at the crossresults predictions, there's kind of a comically large gap between my 10th place predicted finish and 8th place. I come in with 339 points, 9th is at 309 and 8th is 279. And of course it just goes down from there. Anyway, the 40+ race is going to be hard.

Jim got 7th in the 55+. He's fighting off a bug, and continues to rack up MAC points. He's got potential for another season long podium in that category which is both a testament to his abilities as a top crosser, but his focus on racing the series with intent.

NBX reg opens Monday at noon
https://www.bikereg.com/nbx

Holy Sh*tballs did Britlee get 21st at Koppenberg?!?

DAYUM!

Jules said:

Holy Sh*tballs did Britlee get 21st at Koppenberg?!?

DAYUM!

last week. yes.

For pretty obvs reasons, I'm planning on joining the Randall's practice tonite.

If you are too, let me know. Life is always better with teammates and friends.

Post here or text: 347.225.1058

#jpows #huphup

eloy said:

For pretty obvs reasons, I'm planning on joining the Randall's practice tonite.

If you are too, let me know. Life is always better with teammates and friends.

Post here or text: 347.225.1058

#jpows #huphup

I wouldn't know.  When I asked to join the NYC CX FB page, it disappeared.  

Last night was awesome. Photos by Matthew Vandivort

http://teamhealthwarrior.com/2015/11/cross-practice-with-jeremy-powers/

ELOY WITH THE PHOTO HOLE SHOT!

Jules said:

ELOY WITH THE PHOTO HOLE SHOT!

Kissena has the Kavorka!

Hey Gang, heading to SCCX on Sunday for the 9:20 race. Leaving Park Slope at about 6:10 and Crown Heights at 6:20. Have room for another. Need to be back in Brooklyn by about 2:00pm so leaving venue by noonish.

I'm in for Sunken Meadow on Saturday, 11/28.  Men's 4/5 @ 11am.  Would be great to share a ride with someone there and back, I'm happy to rent a car for it.

Myerson on CX warmups:
http://www.cxmagazine.com/adam-myersons-guide-to-warming-up-for-cyclocross-racing

Nice to see confirmation of many of my points in my pre race primer .

Don't give it up yet! Good CX racing left this season.

Dec 5/6 NBX in nearby-ish Warwick, RI. Last stop on the Verge series. Entertaining course. Beach ride/runs, crit-like pavement action, single track with roots. And plenty of parking, good eats nearby, and cool kids course. Also fire pits, lots of fire pits in key spectator zones.

Or in West Chester PA-ish on Dec 5/6. Don't know anything about these courses though.

The following weekend, December 13/14 we have a couple of races in the Emaus area of PA. The "most important" of which will be the MAC series finale at Limestone. Double points for all finishers. This is a good opportunity to improve your start position for next year's Nittany and other early season events.

I've preached this before, but a good finish at Nittany, aided by a good start line position can set the tone and tenor of your entire season if you plan on doing races that stage by crossresults.com rankings.

What a beautiful day for a cross race! In LI

Phillip Maronilla said:

What a beautiful day for a cross race! In LI

Can't wait to hear about it! Crush it!

Fun times out at Sunken Meadow. On the first lap washed out twice from the leaves!  Tons and tons of leaves, where was Myles leaf blower?  I was prob trying to be too ballsy on the corners, was passing a good number of riders, but I assume my weight was too far forward and on my ass I went.

Then on the second lap, my rear derailleur became jacked up (prob due to one of the washouts) and spent a couple of minutes trying to fix it with Patrick's help.   I couldn't use the highest three gears for the rest of the race which made it interesting on the climbs.

Washed out one more time, and snapped a spoke on the front wheel on the 3rd to last lap, so "clangy clangy" I was as I came through the finish line. 

Good to see Phillip, Rick and Patrick out there.  Patrick was bummed he didn't get one of my washouts on camera.  I'd be too, cause the second one was really good.  Eloy and Dan would be proud of my mounts and remounts.  Thanks to Rick for driving Phil and I back as well as driving by Redbeard to visit the bike doctor.

I saw some pics of Phillip and was wondering about all those leaves. There's a reason why I kvetch-obsess about rakes at Supercross!

let us go race bikes

LI cyclocross @Sunken Meadow:

It's like a mini HPCX course. The 4/5 race was 40 mins long. The first third of the course (right after the start) had some elevation, the middle section was mostly flat, and the last third mostly downhill. Some loose gravel on the hilly section and lots of dead leaves on the ground. I looked at the leaves as another obstacle and a course feature. I didn't mind it after I adjusted my riding. Not a lot of grass either.

This was a low key event so no calls up, just a mass start. Right at the gun, someone from Kruisx falls and holds half of the field, me and Rick included. After a straight uphill, we go onto the dirt and in and out of trees. One set of barriers and then another straight uphill on gravel. Still on the first lap, i was following someone closely when he flips forward and faceplants. Ouch. His front tire dug in and punished him for his lack of handling skills.

Most of the field pass me but thankfully the next section was dirt going slightly down so I was able to catch up. The middle section was mostly flat and in and out of trees and this is where I caught up with a few people and Scott, who I believe took a spill and was just getting back on the bike. 

I latched on his wheel but on the second lap, he started having issues with his chain so I pass him. The rest of the race, 9 laps I believe, was just chasing the person in front of me.

I went steady on the hilly part of the course, tried to catch or sped away from people on the flatter section, and tried to recover on the last part knowing that after that, there was climbing. Repeat for 9 laps.

This course suited me because there was no running. No run ups, no running on sand, one set of barriers. I found that running takes a lot out of me.

I was on Challenge Chicanes, clincher, running about 28-29 psi. Bottomed out a couple of times, but otherwise no issues. The temp felt like it was in mid 50s or higher, warm for later November, no complaints here. The ground was dry.

I'm not sure if this is my last race for this year, I'm still on the fence about Elm City next month.

sunken meadow day 2 report

Avi, Jim Nelson, Patrick, myself and a few other nuts lined up for the 45+ masters.

Nice short course. You were going up or down, most corners were downhill, so kinda a fastish course. Only difference from yesterday is the location of the barriers. 

Pretty sure I was the only person to crash in our race, because suck, took a wood stake straight on, did recover quickly, and battle most of the time with some red jersey dude, who I eventually drop.

Patrick would finish one spot ahead of me, second to the winner who's heading to nationals. I finish 3rd. Jim 5th.

So fun to race with friends and teammates.

Warwick next.

photo by John Allgood

BOOM!

Good times at the LI cyclocross at Sunken Meadow. The rain the night before had not been enough to soak into the ground and luckily the leaves were not a death trap of slipperiness. Yes, I would have preferred that Lt Dan was around with his leaf blower, but the leaves did not present a problem. 

As mentioned by Phil and Eloy, this was a short course (5 min or so per lap) that was constantly climbing, descending, or turning. Apart from the corners and one set of barriers it was not particularly technical. 

My start was poor as I had trouble clipping in on the uphill start. I picked my way back up including past the guy who got the hole shot and seemed to implode after the subsequent climb slotting in behind the leader in a Castelli kit half way through the first lap. The Castelli guy went down when he tried to corner too fast in some loose dirt and I was briefly leading the race until my nemesis Wayne Lewis flew by me on the the uphill grinder on his single speed bike. Yes, a single speed. Last year I raced the LI CX @ the Asylum series and twice finished one ahead of Wayne. This year the tables were turned. He clearly had good fitness as he would slowly pull away from me further and further after each grinder. Wayne is heading to nationals and raced the 1234 field immediately after winning our race. Animal.

The rest of my race was comprised of trying to claw back to Wayne (I couldn't) and keep the chasers at bay. Early in the race I could see Eloy, Castelli guy and Jim close behind. I extended my lead focusing on going hard on the uphills and being smooth in the technical sections. I finished comfortably in 2nd. Eloy and Castelli were having a fierce battle for third. Cool to see Eloy win that competition. I have been plagued by leg pain this month so my training has been practically non-existent for the past several weeks. Fortunately today my legs felt pretty damn good. A good way to wrap up my cross season. 

It would have been good to see more photos of our race but Percy Zahl who took great pictures of the 1234s was racing in our field.  I have posted video of the race here. 

Speaking off the 1234 race, there was a great competition between the two leaders from yesterday's 1234 race and Keith Garrison and another King Kog rider. Those guys were FLYING. I didn't stay for the finish but hear that Keith beat Roger Young by a bike length.

Long Island race results:
http://krebcycle.com/about/cx-results-11-28-11-29-pg537.htm

Phillip Maronilla said:

Long Island race results:
http://krebcycle.com/about/cx-results-11-28-11-29-pg537.htm

Wayne Lewis who won the 45+ race on Sunday got lapped by Keith and 6 other guys in the open race. Ouch.