What do we do when we do what we do?

Several photos from a recent ride. Basically, I had the bike in the car with me and was travelling from Morgantown, WV to Parkersburg, WV. It was a rare time when I could take a bit of time to get to where I was going. So I took advantage of the semi-nice weather and pulled off of Route 50, got out of the car and rode some of the North Bend Rail Trail.

With all of the rain we've had in the months prior, the ground was still pretty soft. It was pretty much riding on wet sand. So I guess it was more of a workout than a pleasure ride but it was still cool to get outside. After all, you don't see these things from the highway.

One of many tunnels. This one is 377 ft. long. Bring a light. Pretty cool.



This you don't really see from the trail. You have to wander around a bit.



Different ride. Chestnut Ridge MTB trail. See you out there.

Around the world and back

Yeah, not really. But I did go to the Masters Worlds Championships and made it back. A race I was nervous about right up until the whistle blew & then it was another race.

We started of heading down to Louisville, KY on Wednesday because you have to check in and pick up your number the day before you start racing. As well, the course was supposed to be open for a while on Wednesday for pre-riding. Well, in our usual style we didn't make it down in time to pre-ride the course but that was OK as it had rained all day and was a huge mud pit.

Thursday I push my lovely wife into getting to the track hours earlier than needed to get to the qualifying race. That gave me time to watch how other guys were getting around the track, walk the track, and prep for the race. By a stroke of luck we parked two cars down from Jared, CJ and crew from Crossniacs. Nice, good to meet the folks. As for how guys were getting around the track it was just trying to stay upright and get through the mud. It was as much survival as anything else.

When it was time for my race I didn't survive so well. Off the back a bit from the start but not too bad, until chain got stuck between the chain rings in the sand pit. Jump off, watch guys go by as I fix. No problem, I'm thinking. I've got a pit bike ready. I catch the last couple of guys, pass them on the run-up/flyover and head to the pits. Come out with B bike and catch up again. Get past these two guys after a bit of work, then fall in a corner. Get up, chase back on, work to get around them and then fall again. Even more spectacularly. Ugh. Get up, run up the hill, try to run down the hill (no way I was going to chance wrecking again!) and promptly fall. Get up again, try to get going and headed down the steeper hill I fall. AGAIN. By this time I'm laughing because it's better than curling up like a fetus and bawling my eyes out. Get to the pavement and I'm pulled. One of my worst laps of my life. It was like I hadn't ridden in mud before. Oh yeah, temps dropped like 20 degrees between the time we got to the track and the end of my race, which made trying to wash bikes with partially functioning pressure washers a chore. But they did have pressure washers. Can't argue with that. And I made it to the final championship round. Can't argue that, either.

The next day we washed out the clothes - we literally scrapped off 5 lbs. of mud off of my kit before tossing them in the wash. Went out to get better shoes as I saw the benefit on the muddy hillside of having shoes that allowed toe spikes. Ran in to the fabulous Rudy and Julie Lewis-Sroka at On Your Left Cycles. Good folks & good folks at the shop but didn't have what I was looking for. They directed us to Clarksville Schwinn who did have what we were looking for and offered us a great deal. Nice people, treated us great. We also had dinner with the only other Central-Ohioan racing that weekend, Doug Carraway. Good dinner, great company. We didn't race on Friday but the temps had dropped considerably overnight so that those racing had to deal with frozen ruts in the mud we made the day before. One broken wheel that I saw, one broken bone I heard of in those treacherous conditions. Yow.

Saturday was race day. Temps had warmed up some to above freezing. Which meant course conditions were a layer of mud on top of frozen ruts. That was real tricky because with the mud you could slide a bit, get caught in a rut and BOOM right on your butt. Or head. Lots of guys were hitting the deck. My beautiful bride Catie is my pitting for me and I'm thinking I'm going to need her for at least one bike change as muddy as everyone was getting.

Before my race I has seen the parts of the course where a flat-ish patch began to develop. Keep it in mind, new MO is to survive this race more than hammer. Then the whistle blows and we're off. I'm off the back at the start until everyone is trying to stay on the one foot wide path and it all jams up. I can make time up and pass guys if I can "float" over the ruts. Doesn't always work but does well enough at the start. Having a good race, back and forth with Mark Fasczewski. Everyone bobbles but half way through lap two and I catch a rut that sends me right into a course stake that promptly nails me in the jewels as I go ass over teakettle. Oh geez, that hurt. Took me a good minute to recover. Which means Mark got past me and got some distance. When I feel good enough I get on the bike and go go go. At the end of the lap I'm drawing pretty close and I think when we get on to the pavement I'm going to jump. Yeah, well, we got pulled at that lap - Mark, Devon Alvarez and myself. One more lap, I could have gotten by those two is what I'm thinking. Of course, one more lap and I could have bit the dust harder, too. C'est la vie, that's racing. Mark stayed up when I didn't so he's 53rd in the World and I'm 54th.

Afterwards I'm getting changed into not-so-muddy clothes and Beautiful Bride/Pit Crew offers to start washing my bikes. While she's standing in line for the pressure washers I wander off to cheer on my Crossniacs teammates. Then I walk the course cheering for Doug Carraway. Oblivious about the bikes. My wonderful wife takes care of both bikes while wondering where in the hell I went to. Yes, I left her holding the bag... er, bikes.  I owe her big time.

Mud collecting apparatus

Did I ultimately do as well as I hoped the week before? Yes but seeing how things unfolded I could have done better. More things to work on. Was it a once-in-a-lifetime experience? Yeah I suppose you could say that. And I owe my wife one heck of a dinner.

The crew that put on the Masters Worlds did one heck of a job. Each day after racing they were working on the course, trying to make it safer and better for the racers. Check in went easily enough. Podium presentation at Fourth Street Live on Saturday night was a great idea, showcasing to the rest of Louisville what sort of event was going on in their town. Results were almost immediate. I think they are ready for the Elite World Championship next year.

Today the neighborhood, tomorrow the World!

Looks like racing season is not quite over. "Really?", you say. Yep. I'm headed down to Louisville tomorrow morning to the UCI Cyclocross Masters World Championships. It's a big name and sounds pretty impressive, doesn't it?

I wish I could say I'd show up and post some impressive results but the reality is I probably won't be top twenty. Not trying to run myself down. I know, I should be more positive with myself and abilities. Self-reinforcing behavior and all that. But I'm trying to be a realist here. I did pretty good in the regular season given how much (or little, really) I got to train. I have been getting after it more in the past two weeks. The motor is there, the skills are coming along, but I didn't spend enough time with the wrench tuning the engine in the prior year.

So why am I doing it? Long answer: At first, good friend and racing nemesis Chris Freter was talking with me about it and said "It's the first time it's been on U.S. soil, it probably won't happen again any time soon. Might as well." Good point. Then we raced the USGP in Louisville and saw about where we stacked up in our age group. Because it cost a fair amount extra to get an International racing license (as opposed to a regular domestic license) and the cost of entry we both figured it wasn't worth the cost to get shelled in the elimination round. And then... and then... I was talking with my father shortly after his surgery and his statement was "Why not?" It is a once-in-a-lifetime event for me (I doubt I'll be flying to Europe even if I do get phenomenally faster) and his thought was there's little reason to not actually race in Worlds. Consulted with several other friends as well and Dad wins out. So packing up our bags and moving to Beverly... er, Louisville. For a short time, that is.

What's the plan? I already said I don't think I'll be top twenty. My smart-aleck answer is "not last". I am hoping to make the top 40  going in to Championship round. That's the main goal for now. If I don't make it, I'll probably be in the consolation round. But top 40 is the goal for now.

Then what? Take a few weeks off. Look at the mountain bike schedule. Probably the Muskingum Mayhem as I did last year. I'd like to hit the Mohican 100 this year. I'd like to do the Pan Ohio Hope Ride with my brother as well. And of course there's the next cyclocross season that I need to start tuning the engine for.

Thanks for reading.

And the beat goes on

What? Quoting Sonny & Cher? What has gotten in to my little mind?

It (my mind) is probably still a bit frozen over. Yes I ride my bike when it's cold out or when it's snowing. Typically not as long but I still ride.

Why?

Because Masters World Championships is coming up. Because I could stand to drop a few pounds. Because I need to get out and ride sometimes.

And because you don't see this from your bedroom window:

And here's the formerly nice bike that's now a single speeder employed to get me out to these parts:

It still needs some tweaking but overall works great. Big thanks to cyclistconnection for building up the rear wheel for me, it's perfect (Paul components flip/flop hub laced to a Velocity Deep V rim). Should stand up to my abuse.

And yes, water bottles don't do so well on the outside of the bike when it's 22 degrees F outside. Doh!

Thanks for reading.

2011 is a wrap. 2012 looks exciting.

Final cyclocross race of the year with Cap City Cross was Sunday, 11th of December at Smith Farms. As it was last year, this race was also the fundraiser for us and Wounded Warrior Project. What started out to be a chilly day turned out to be a slightly-less chilly day with sunny skies. Hey, any little bit helps!

I like racing at Smith Farms. First off, it's the closest to my house which means I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn. I can wait until slightly after the crack of dawn. It's also a more spectator friendly course and while it's mostly flat the Cap City crew always manages to come up with some great challenges for us. This year, thanks to all the rain we had until several days prior, it was a somewhat muddy race, too. Although less muddy than the Ohio State CX Championships and especially the Uncle Steve's race - Holy Wa!

As I have almost all year, I raced both the C race and the Masters 40+ race. In the C race I was duking it out with Duncan Spillman and another gentleman (man, I'm sorry I forgot his name... ugh!) for 2nd, 3rd and 4th. I thought we were further back but we had a good race going on - all three of us were trading places. Until the end of lap 3 when I bobbled on the short steep hill (both other guys ran it, I had ridden it). Those two got a small gap on me that I just couldn't close down. Yargh. I ended up with a 4th place for the day. Not bad. I had hoped to finish better, but not bad.

Good news is: with that 4th, I won the Series Champs in the Cs. Yay, me.

Then I lined up for the Masters race. I had a pretty good start, hung right with Chris Freter for the first third of a lap (I'm getting better and this start business), and then my legs reminded me of the effort I put in during the C race and I just couldn't hang on. I sure wish I could have and Chris and I have had a great battle all year. This was going to be the deciding race and I had to let him go. Several laps in I thought I could make up a bit of time on him - I was getting some back. But not enough and the last lap I was slipping back. But I managed to hold on to a not-too-shabby 5th place.

With that, I managed to card a 4th overall in this year's series. Not bad, me.

The best part about the day? Thanks to the help of Cyclocross Magazine getting the word out on our fundraising we managed to give more than $2,700 to the Wounded Warrior Project. The fact that friends, fellow racers and even complete strangers saw the value in our passion really made my day/week/month. Thanks doesn't sound like enough to say. I am deeply grateful to everyone who contributed.

It was a good year of racing. I learned a lot and realized I still have a long ways to go. I met more great people to race with and got better acquainted with other folks. We have some really awesomely great people who race and are somehow associated with Cap City Cross - you guys are the reason I really look forward to each race. I have to get some real training in, too, for next year. Why? Because in 2012 I will race for the Crossniacs, a national team with local "syndicates". Wow, I was pretty happy to be asked to join the ranks there. Very stoked.  The rest of the year I will be with Cyclist Connection, which has been great to me. But part of my obligations with Crossniacs means I'll be posting my blogs over on their site, so come visit over HERE.

In the next year I will be putting my fundraising efforts towards different avenues. One in particular is the Ohio Gran Fondo, which will be raising funds for Ride 2 Recovery, a project for the betterment of our injured veterans. I am flattered that I was asked to help out here. In a roundabout way it probably means I won't be posting here much. But I certainly am encouraging you to come on out and ride the Ohio Gran Fondo. It'll be a great event that will benefit those who really deserve it. Check out this video:
http://ride2recovery.com/

In the upcoming year I'll have a lot on my plate. I'm looking forward to it. See you out there.

Thanks for reading.

What a long, strange muddy trip it's been...

*Ahem*. I'd like to offer the following excuse for why I haven't been active here on the innerwebs for a while....

Yep. I don't have an one. One what? Excuse, that's what. I just got carried away doing them other things and, well... no excuse.

So what has happened since the Ohio State Championship races?

On October 29th there was the annual Uncle Steve's Halloween Race. As usual there was costumes, merriment, hard racing, barley-pop hand-ups and... mud.



Uncle Steve's special brand of mud.
Photo copyright 2011 Noah Hutson

   So how does one race their bikes in the mud?, you may be asking. When it gets thick and there's a hairpin turn, here's how:


Photo copyright 2011 Noah Hutson



Photo copyright 2011 Noah Hutson



Photo copyright 2011 Noah Hutson

 Hop on and do it again. Yes, I raced both the C race and the Masters race, which meant at the end of the Masters race, shortly after I thought I had a good sized gap opened up on Mr. Chris Freter, he jumped & went around me. By that time I just had no giddy-up left to go. Dang.  Good racing with a lot of great guys. And thanks to the unspecified-bike-store-folks for the hand-ups!

But wait! There's more!

Yes, yours truly headed down to Derbytown. Louisville, Kentucky was the host of the USGP Derby City Cup on November 12th & 13th. Those of you who are not familiar, USGP is U.S. Gran Prix, a premier traveling cyclocross racing series. Both days of racing were held at Eva Bandman park, a permanent cyclocross facility (a rarity) AND is home to the Masters World Championship in January of 2012 and then overall World Championship in 2013. What does that mean? It means if you play after-work intramural baseball, you got the chance to play at Yankee Stadium. Or if you're a Friday night Late Model stock car racer, you got to race at Daytona a few hours before the Sprint Cup guys made a few laps.

What did I think? How did I do?

I did about how I expected. Which was towards the back of the pack in my age group. Which means that I didn't finish where I would have liked but all things considered I held my own and placed a bit higher than I was "seeded." It was a longer course than I am used to and was certainly more challenging in spots but damn it was fun.


Chris Freter getting some speed



Some more Cap City locals, Doug and Derrick getting a bit blurry in a steep turn. Blurriness could be from thier hypoxia or mine. Not sure.

Thanks to Tony Viton and Chris I got down the importance of a good solid warm up. Instead of the usual falling back for the first lap or so and then coming back up through the pack, I stayed right with the guys I started with and was able to go from there. Hey, I learned something!

My lovely wife and I also took a bunch of photos and conducted a few interviews for Cyclocross Magazine.We had a good time, the weather was good (for a change this season) and Louisville turned out to be a pretty nice city.

Last race of the season is coming up! Sunday the 11th of December. Come on out and spectate, race & just have fun! Also, I just confirmed that it will the the fund raiser race for Wounded Warrior Project again this year - thank you, awesome folks at Cap City Cross for allowing me to have this opportunity! Hey, we're over $1,800 in funds raised for this fantastic charity - can you help us get past the $2,000 mark? ANY LITTLE BIT DOES INDEED HELP!

More to come after this week, I promise.



This little guy would watch the racers go by and then imitate them. Almost all day long. He was awesome!



Two Days in Dublin – Ohio State Cyclocross Championships, 2011

Last weekend was THEE weekend to be in Central Ohio if you’re a cyclocrosser, bike geek who likes to get a bit dirty or just a spectator who enjoys good, hard racing.  Being that I am a budding middle-aged cyclocrosser and a bike geek, guess where I was?  Yup.  In Dublin, Ohio at the Ohio State Cyclocross Championships. Two days of bike abuse and self-imposed leg-pain-laden hypoxia. Sounds grand, right?

Actually it was. After so many years of the State Championship being held at John Bryan State Park in Yellowsprings, OH it was moved to Dublin (a suburb of Columbus if you’re not from the area) as well as moved up about a month on the calendar. I think it was a good move as Dublin is a much more central location. There are also hotels and restaurants and all such amenities much much closer to the track making it better for people who are traveling from out of town and spending a night or two. The Championship races were also spread out to two days. This I think helped spread out the age group races to be more in line with Nationals although I am not certain. The results I believe were a well-attended, well-run event. I certainly hope to see it repeat next year. Thanks go to Ohio Cycling, the City of Dublin, all the crew who stepped in and stepped up as well as all the sponsors. It was a genuine first-class event. 




Surveying the course with the world-renown Mark Farmer
Photo copyright 2011 Chris Freter 

 

The course was what seems to my inexperienced mind a mid-length course. Which was, as seems to be the case for us, mostly in the grass. I don’t know how long it really was. Long enough, to my legs. It certainly was a pretty flat course but that did not make it easy. If there was a slight edge of a hill, culvert or slope it was used. We had a sand pit! Not often there’s a sand pit to slow us down and test our bike-handling skills. Steps were built into the course, too. Hop off, run up, remount! And to add another edge to slow things down was mud. Yes, it had rained several days prior to this event. So it certain low-lying areas retained water. What I thought of when cleaning off the bikes later: Didn’t ancient peoples make bricks out of compacted grass and mud? And what did we just compact on our bicycles?

But that came later. The first race for us was the first race on Saturday, a Cat 3-4 non-championship race. I know, to those who aren’t regular cyclist, you’ve heard me describe the different groups as “C”, “B” & “A”. Now I’m talking Category (or Cat for short) “3”, “4”, “2”, “1”… what? Let’s say that A)I’m not in charge of how these groups are labeled, and II) The smaller the number or letter, the better grade of athlete. Cat 1 is equivalent to the A group, and down the line. Being a non-championship race also meant there was no state medals on the line, so the winners were free to go for prizes. Which also mean sandbaggers galore. Which in turn mean Jovid wasn’t going to have much of a chance at getting to the front. So it goes. After the first lap Jovid seemed content to hang out at the back with Ben Ross. Jovid made a friend and rode his bike around. He did alright and hey, all is good in the world.



Jovid and Emily looking at all the mud that belongs on the race course.



Before Jovid’s race most of the race course that wasn’t barriers or stairs was rideable. But the increased traffic just made the ground rutted up, fill with water and get much muddier. During a pre-race warm-up lap I found that out the hard way. On my first pass through a sketchy muddy tight left handed turn I found that while most people were trying to stay close to the inside of the corner they were getting bogged down. If I took the corner wide I could get through the corner faster. Good to know for the race. But on my second pass through this corner on the pre-ride I endo-ed in spectacular fashion. Slow-motion ass-over-tea kettle plop into the muck. Not the way I wanted to start the day *but* better to get it out of the way before the race. Dig the bike out of the mud, wash it off real quick, straighten up the handlebars and go get ready. I also adjusted the race plan to run that section instead of trying to ride it. Better muddy feet with some forward momentum than risking a complete halt.

My race on Saturday was the Men’s 45-49, which is odd given that I’m only 44 this year. Another thing that I can’t quite explain right now. C’est la vie. Now this is the State Champion race for this age group only, not broken out into what class or Cat you are. Which mean that some of the guys in my age group were “Former National Champ this” or “Former World Champ that”. Crap. And yesterday I was thinking I had a chance since the age groups were broken into five year intervals. OK, all I can do is run my race the best I can. Which for the most part went pretty well. I had a decent starting spot, slid backwards at the start and just rode it out as the first 1/3 lap was everyone locked together. Not much room to maneuver.  We get to the barriers and things stretch out a bit, I’m able to move up a tick and the race is on. There were some good battles and slowly I was able to make my way past a few gentlemen. I also chopped Chris Freter in one corner – I’m sorry Chris. I did apologize to Chris during the race as well. From there our plan was to reel in the two men in front of us which I eventually did but Chris couldn’t stay with me. Dang. The last guy I got past on the last third of the last lap and when I went I thought I had a comfortable gap on him. But right before the end he made a great effort and closed that gap on me. Then it was a straight up sprint to the finish. I think I barely managed to hold on to the lead in our little battle but I’m not certain as it turned out we were in different age groups and scored differently. Nonetheless it was a good hard race and  didn’t leave anything on the table. And muddy – I was definitely muddy. I left with a 14^th place finish for my age group. Not where I wanted to be. I had honestly hoped to place higher. But taking all factors into consideration I am content with my finish but not happy.



See Mom, I go fast!
Photo copyright 2011 Chris Freter 


Day Two brought the general Category races, so I was going to race in the Cat 4 group. A category where I thought I was going to be semi-competitive but guys who didn’t have enough points with USA Cycling or who normally race a different discipline automatically got bumped down to Cat 4. Forced sandbagging as it were. Well, same thing as yesterday it seemed. So it goes. Then I got the first call-up. What?!?!? That can’t be right. But I’ve got to make the most of it. I launched at the whistle trying to keep my heart rate from doing the usual zero-2,756 bpm that seems to happen at starts. As will happen guys started sliding past me on the first half of a lap, and then as I start to settle into race pace my rear tire folds over in a tight corner and I loose most of the air. Luckily I was close to the pits AND luckily I had brought Jovid’s bike as a back-up. Catie wasn’t sure what to expect as we hadn’t rehearsed this move let alone even talk about it. But she was great. Held the bike up as I rode in, dropped the main bike, two steps, grab Jovid’s bike and I’m gone. I lost a couple of positions but still pretty fast change. The race is going well and I’m racing a bit above my head trying to gain ground and just as I had gotten past Mark and Dominic I bite the dust on a short steep drop into a small loop. Scramble, get up and go and … crap. The handlebars are pointed in the wrong direction. I get to the short paved section to get off the bike and straighten the bars and as I try to stand I feel like I’m going to pass out. Honestly I was trying to not hit the deck. I was about to call it and Catie kept urging me on. And I wasn’t dead so, according to our motto, I had to keep going. Two and a half more laps of trying to gain ground I lost and I couldn’t do it. I slowly made time on Ben, putting in small sprints when I could and trying to make up time in the running sections but we were too evenly matched to gain much.

Shortly before I crashed. This shot makes me look much better that I was.
Photo copyright 2011 Chris Freter 

All poise, no giddyup

Lessons learned this past weekend: I have got to work on my starts. I have to put in some of that dreaded interval training so when I put in a hard effort to open a gap on someone I can make it stick. And I had to rework my racing wheel/tire setup. Well, that one is easy enough.

Onwards and upwards, tomorrow is Uncle Steve’s Halloween race which has not been my focus as a race I planned on doing well at so it’ll be more relaxed.  Hope you have a good weekend as well. Thanks for reading.