sweet photos. favorite moment, racing with the Jules is the hotness. 2nd favorite was Lt. Dan R. dealing with all the craziness in his race. Dan, you might not think so, but you looked great, and all the kids loved you!

also my red hubs look amaze.

It's odd they removed the barriers after the 4/5 race. 

That's interesting -- did they remove them immediately after?

Also, was it just me or did they seem taller than normal?

For those of you who don't know this about me already, I'm a "goal guy." I like goals, targets, objectives, the more specific the better. And coming into this cross season I was struggling a bit to come up with some for me to target. After today, I now have a pretty clear goal to add to my list:

• Finish high enough that they stop putting lapped riders ahead of me in the results sheet.

Haven't seen the double-official final results, and there was lots of confusion in the 50+ final as they were given mixed messages about how many laps to go, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they sorted out who was lapped and who was not and place me accurately.

Aside from that, and kind of a crappy start, I felt like I had a good race. I was telling Phillip that as we take measure of ourselves, usually a bad place to look is the results sheet. For me, absent an impressive result, I turned to a different measure.

Last year, after I upgraded to the Master's 35+ fields, I would ALWAYS get passed and dropped by the 50+ leader, Al Blanchard. I'd usually keep him within sight for 1/4 to 1/3 of a lap, but then he was gone.

This year, Al comes charging through like clockwork and I'm like "maaaaannnnn, again, so soon?" But then something funny happens, he gets a couple of bike lengths ahead of me and then I'm like, hell no, let me follow this guy and see what lines he's taking. Maybe I can learn something here. And so for the next few laps, not only am I keeping him in sight, but when we get to the long power stretches, I pass him back! Along the way, I'm passing other 35+ competitors too. It feels good to be able to reel dudes in and pass and drop them. But on the other hand, I'm kind of nowhere...the leaders are long gone. I don't have too many guys putting real pressure behind me. I literally saw a few of them just give up chasing me. And so other than "keeping up with Al," I'm just keeping it kind of steady and it's not as intense/fun/hard as cross should be. Okay, back to the action...

With 1/2 a lap to go, I make what ends up being kind of a tactical mistake. In front of Al heading into the single track, rooty woodsy section, I realize that I'll probably just slow him up. I don't want to mess with the outcome of the 50+ race and so even though I have a couple of bike lengths at least on him, I sit up and let him and a few of the chasers go past me. It turns out they are not THAT much better than me through the twisty, roots and woods and I'm right there as we head into the trickest bit of the course. Sure enough heading into a muddy, slow, slippy off camber up/down, Al gets through cleanly, but his chasers just eff it up royally. I'm too close to avoid and go down too.

This was a trouble spot all day. It was the second time riders in front of me fall here and force me onto the ground. Of course it's not their fault. I was following close; banking on the fact that they would make it through clean. Some laps this worked, others not so much. But you know what? That's cross racing. Follow close and you are basically counting on someone else's handling skills. Follow too far, and you risk losing the wheel now and forever, or not catching a nice draft in a power stretch. It's part of the game.

Well, tomorrow's a new day. One more chance to get some MAC points to keep me closer to the front than the back at these big MAC races. I need to be full agro at the start, after today, I feel like I've got some potential to be a top 20 guy in these MAC races. And that would be all kinds of shuuuweeeet.

barriers were taller than 40 cm which I would bet is why they were removed for the Masters and UCI level races.

Adam Fabian said:

That's interesting -- did they remove them immediately after?

Also, was it just me or did they seem taller than normal?

I heard their removal was a UCI thing. Only allowed to have 1 man-made obstacle, and steps up the hill counted as that one. Not sure if that's entirely accurate assessment, but it's one thing I heard on the course.

The announcer, and take what he said with a grain of salt, announced they were removed because people were complaining of not seeing them. That makes no sense to me.

At first I thought it was for the benefit of the juniors racing after the 4/5s, but when the masters (men and women 45+ 35+ 55+) started racing after, it still wasn't put back. 

That UCI rule doesn't sound right either. 

@Marc - did you have any issue with slipping with the Challenge chicanes? It was drizzling by the time you raced. A few people started running the slight downhill uphill u-turn because of the mud developing at the bottom.

Phillip Maronilla said:

@Marc - did you have any issue with slipping with the Challenge chicanes? It was drizzling by the time you raced. A few people started running the slight downhill uphill u-turn because of the mud developing at the bottom.

Little bit, more so in some of the turns. First race on them, and I think there's a learning curve associated with them. On that particular turn you're referencing, I definitely could have taken faster with full muds, but the rest of the course was thick with grass enough that the file treads seemed like the perfect choice. What I really couldn't do with the Chicane's on the "mud" climb, was climb as fast/hard as I wanted to. More power would have sent that wheel spinning I felt and so I just tried to keep it smooth and steady and save the watts for elsewhere.

Tomorrow though, I'm going full muds...unless there is a miraculous overnight drying.

Adam Fabian said:

That's interesting -- did they remove them immediately after?

Also, was it just me or did they seem taller than normal?

Yeah they did seem high.

Phil those pictures are sweet - thank you!

my big kids had a blast in the Little Belgians race too.

Those pictures of Dan are amazing. I feel like they're pieces of art aimed at capturing the human condition or something existential like that. I legitimately love them. 

getting ready for today #mudwhat

I'm being conservative and sitting out today. I'm super bummed, but it's a long season, and I don't want to jeopardize it for one day. Good luck out there today and enjoy the mud!

I'm having a coffee and croissant waiting for results, nay, epic Reiners wipeout photos bros.

David Yang said:

I'm having a coffee and croissant waiting for results, nay, epic Reiners wipeout photos bros.

Sorry, but yesterday's photos are all you get. unless the guy who has video of my wipeout into the underbrush posts it on YouTube. That was epic. #CanStopWon'tStopBrakesDon'tWork

dale post race.

I guess it was muddy running through the Nittany Enternal Bog of Sadness on Sunday.

dale a moment ago:

^FWIW, Dale's got skinny face going on...which is, as we all know, the first step of, "look out, I'm coming for you!"


Day 2 Report:

Bittersweet day for me. (Well, if I'm honest, mostly bitter) I've always liked day 2's start better, and with renewed vigor and memories of yesterday's lackadaisical start haunting me, I was much more "assertive" at the beginning of this one. As a consequence, at the end of the first lap I was hunting and pecking around the 25th-ish spot. Or at least that's what Sarah tells me. This was good. I was pumped.

Next few laps I spent collecting mass quantities of mud and grass (seriously, I brought a brush with me to clean my bike, and I still couldn't get all the grass out of my chainrings. I'm going to need other tools). The mud bog/pool of despair was truly epic. I eventually found a "good" line through by the end of my race (memo to self, must get in actual hot laps before race...except, family Bertucco slept in this morning, and Sarah deserved to get in a run before she was on Peter/Penny/Cheering duty, so I was kind of scrambling to get ready today), but mostly it was a monster truck/torque power tower of "holy shit, this is hard" every time through.

Halfway through the race I was continuing to pick off riders and feeling good. The long power stretches continued to be good to me and my roadie fitness and I didn't totally suck in the corners.

And then IT happened.

I hear this sound, flliipp, flliiiip, fliiip. What the hell, is my tire flat? No, but what is that sound. Heading into a series of turns near where family Roazen had been set up, I slow down and think about dismounting. Guys pass me. Down the hill, I think maybe I just have some sticks and mud and hot nasty that will "spin out." Nope, dismount again, still not spinning. More guys passing me. Looks like maybe I broke a spoke or something.

The wheel appears out of true. Undo rear brake. I don't need rear brakes on this course I'll race without. Pedal, pedal, pedal. POP-splosion! More dudes gone. All eyes on me. Lost my tube coming under the banner. Run to the pits. Hollar, 10-speed, 10-speed, anyone have a 10-speed wheel?  I get a Zipp. I exit the wrong end of the pit (rookie mistake), turn around get back on, and dammit I keep skipping gears. I can't get it to stick in a gear. I attribute it to the small thatched roofs I'm building on the lower end of my bike.

After the race I realize the real reason why I had two gears that wouldn't skip (slightly too easy--forcing me to spin like crazy 8000rpm revving 4-cylinder, and slightly too big forcing, just ouch), is because I don't run 10-speed on my cross bike. Yes folks, I'm on 9-speed. Brilliant. I'm an idiot sometimes. Sigh. No matter, SRAM, shockingly enough doesn't carry 9-speed wheels, because why would they carry wheels from a shifting system that's, how old?

Anyway, back to the action. Once I realize which two gears I have, an overwhelming sense of rage and anger fills me. Through the mud pit, I hear KCC cross stud Jim Feehan, a top 10-guy in the 55+ category shouting at me. I don't know what he's saying to me exactly, but I kind of assume its something like, "Move it or lose it." And I'm moving. Passing past guys, hurting like hell, hitting those corners like I don't care if I wipe out.

Those last two adrenaline-rage-fueled laps saw me hit some of my best corners. I even got a couple of "Woah, nice pass" cheers from guys I was passing (that was nice, I thought only the cat 3/4 women cheered each other on).

During clean-up, I squeeze the spokes, and spin my "broken" wheel and discover it's fine. And I'm like WTF?!? And then I remember the exploding tube, the rubbing sound and way back to last December at NBX where something very similar happened. Basically, the tire worked it's way off the rim. Probably in one of the harder corners when I was putting down some real pressure on the sidewall, and then the tube snuck out too and the pop. I might have seen this on visual inspection, if not for the "so much mud." Or maybe not. Today I was racing hard all day and you know what happens to the brain when you do that.

In the end, it looks like I managed 42nd place, two places out of MAC points which stuffs me back in the back of the pack for Charm City. Sigh. This is not the start I needed to the season. One guy who I had passed in the first half of the race finished in 31st place. So, you know...

Still that's cross. There were definitely some good takeaways, and I'll keep at it until it all comes together.

Couple of post race weekend shout outs:

Big thanks to Todd McLoughlin who loaned me his front Dugast Rhino tire on an Easton Tubular rim. It was amazing and I wish I borrowed his rear too.

Big thanks to all the cheers from fellow KCC racers and fans. Your shouts do not go unnoticed and are always appreciated.

Big thanks to Jules and Eloy who both shared good race intel about better/worse lines through tricky bits this weekend.

Good times in the mud today. Very sorry to hear about Jeff's Double-trouble-whammo at the start.

I felt better than I have all season (which isn't saying much) but I was able to actually think about closing in on guys, or keeping them at bay, which was more than I could do yesterday (until the very end where I won my sprint finish in the final meters.)

Made a couple of errors I'll share:

1) I pre-rode the bog TWICE because I knew getting the right line would help - so I had a good exit plan for momentum but I pre-rode the line I wanted and when the first lap scrum hit I was stuck with one I didn't want and hadn't taken the time to try. So lesson learned; pre-rides are for good AND ugly lines.

2) I have not been doing enough core. #ouchmyback

3) first ride of the year on this cassette and the fucking thing was power-shifting on me like crazy. I took it to the SRAM guy before the race and ran it up & down the gears before shrugging and saying "looks fine to him." So lesson learned; check your gear before the day-of! (doh)

It was double extra awesome to have the kids race two days in a row - day 1 while I was running behind my younger kid the marshal looks at me and says, "Stay with them down the hill!" At which point I dropped Isaiah and sprinted to catch Sophie who was way ahead and by this point careening down the steepest descent she's ever done - and nailing it! Couldn't have been prouder - or more worried.

Big props to Pappa Bertucco who barely had time to wipe the mud from his eyes at the end of his race before he had to chase his two wheeled progeny around as well.

Wait, what happened to Jeff? Let me scroll up and see if he wrote anything.

During the pro race, I saw the most amazing thing. Bosmans the Belgian who crushed both days of racing, was riding over the barriers AT FULL SPEED EVERY TIME. Seriously, I've seen guys hop barriers, but these were fully 40cm high and jeesh, the guy was almost literally flying over them.

Marc Bertucco said:

Wait, what happened to Jeff? Let me scroll up and see if he wrote anything.

During the pro race, I saw the most amazing thing. Bosmans the Belgian who crushed both days of racing, was riding over the barriers AT FULL SPEED EVERY TIME. Seriously, I've seen guys hop barriers, but these were fully 40cm high and jeesh, the guy was almost literally flying over them.

Those were easily the highest barriers I've ever seen. Marc please tell me you got video.

Bad ass ^ ^

Okay here it is...but he did it every lap, in traffic, out front whatever. In fact this was one of his slower passes. Not kidding.

I got 15th day one with bib 31. Should have been bib 11 according to the tech guide, but that's not the "organizer's" problem.

Day two I got bib 33 (instead of 11) and I DNF'd about 30 seconds into the hole shot sprint by crashing heavily before the mud pit. A guy screaming "INSIDE!!!!!" while stretching the tape with his line decided to violently body check the guy next to him (who went down hard) instead of letting off. I ran into the downed rider so hard both my thumbs are sore today from getting slammed forward over my hoods. I have some aches and pains, but am otherwise OK. My front tubular (brand new $150 FMB) was destroyed and I wasn't into the idea of running through the mud pit and a half mile to the pit for a disc-brake wheel that probably would rub, so I retired. Also, I had to remove myself from the premises due to danger levels rage.

It all comes down to what I deep down already knew: Nittany is a shit race on a shit course. And apparently it's run by a shit organizer too. Never wasting my time there again. There is so much better CX racing.