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Cross racing!

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
Its that time of year again! We need to get our cross race thread going. I registered for a local cross stage race in SS and A....should be one hell of a workout. There is a TT, crit, and a long cross race. I've been racing our local short track series on my cross bikes and its been going alright. I would have won the SS tonight, but I crashed like a total newbie and then I fell apart in the pro race...oh well, sh!t happens. Who has what planned? Anyone doing any UCI races early on? Maybe some USGP? Cool local races?
 

Heidi

Der hund ist laut und braun
Aug 22, 2001
10,184
797
Bend, Oregon
Thursday night I'm helping to work on the local Webcyclery weeknight race course. It should be fun as usual. Again, I don't know if I'll actually do any races since running and jumping KILLS my knee, but we'll see. I'd like to get out to some of the Crusade races, maybe PIR.
 

Squeak

Get your pork here.
Sep 26, 2001
1,546
0
COlo style
I will do a couple races, but money is super tight right now.

Its like 30 - 35 bucks to do a race around here when all is said and done.
 
Alright....I'm diving headfirst into this cross thing this year.

I've been racing my SS mt bike at the local Wednesday night mt bike race series and have been digging it. It's been a few years since I raced and it has re-stoked the fire!
I picked up a SS cross bike and plan to ride as many of the local races as i can.

My question... Should I race the 45+ Cat 3, or the SS class?
I'm guessing the SS class will have a handfull of ringers (ire?) :-). Do i take my chances there, or battle it out with the old guys on my SS?
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,225
20,003
Sleazattle
Alright....I'm diving headfirst into this cross thing this year.

I've been racing my SS mt bike at the local Wednesday night mt bike race series and have been digging it. It's been a few years since I raced and it has re-stoked the fire!
I picked up a SS cross bike and plan to ride as many of the local races as i can.

My question... Should I race the 45+ Cat 3, or the SS class?
I'm guessing the SS class will have a handfull of ringers (ire?) :-). Do i take my chances there, or battle it out with the old guys on my SS?

Half of the SS cats are usually full of dudes who just always miss the podiums in the other levels.
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
Half of the SS cats are usually full of dudes who just always miss the podiums in the other levels.
:stupid:

The year I won the B state championship, the other guys in the top five elected to transfer to the SS class instead of racing A. I'm doing both cats in the early races for training, but my focus is on the A class.
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
It was a short track race, but I raced the series on my cross bikes. I won the SS tonight and in the pro race a guy and I had a large lead and I took a digger on a pavement corner. I was up quick and chased hard, but I couldn't quite close the gap. 2nd in both series, but it would have been nice to win the pro and SS race tonight. Here are some pics of the race and carnage.

our team


pro race


ss race


the race was held at the state fair (kinda chaotic)


The aftermath of my pavement slide

 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
I forgot to mention what I won...I received cash for both categories and because I was the only person to do both SS and Pro every race they gave me this photo (of myself)....cool eh? I was super stoked! Best prize I've received.

 

Secret Squirrel

There is no Justice!
Dec 21, 2004
8,150
1
Up sh*t creek, without a paddle
What the hell did you do to your knee to justify that battle scar?

Also...each muscle in your quad should have it's own name. Chester, Edgar, etc...

I'm thinking about actually training through the winter this year (read: riding...at least some) and getting into the cross scene up here next fall (2010).

Hopefully I'll have a bigger budget for post ride beerz then...
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
What the hell did you do to your knee to justify that battle scar?
I used to ride urban and I was pedal grinding a stair set ledge when I crashed onto a metal grate. The grate had a piece of metal sticking up and it sliced my knee open exposing the bone...wasn't very cool. They had to operate to get the dirt and such out of my joint.

Me vs. Grate = teh loss
 

Squeak

Get your pork here.
Sep 26, 2001
1,546
0
COlo style
I used to ride urban and I was pedal grinding a stair set ledge when I crashed onto a metal grate. The grate had a piece of metal sticking up and it sliced my knee open exposing the bone...wasn't very cool. They had to operate to get the dirt and such out of my joint.

Me vs. Grate = teh loss
Just noticed that scar. That must have stung a bit...
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
Its going to be a good cross race tomorrow! Its raining pretty hard right now and we'll have rain all day tomorrow. I have the TT in the morning, crit in the afternoon and then a long cross race on Monday. Should be a blast.
 

maddog17

Turbo Monkey
Jan 20, 2008
2,815
105
Methuen, Mass. U.S.A.
if anyone's interested a buddy of mine is selling his Parlee cross bike complete build. figured i'd mention it here rather than in the classified section. if interested let me know and i'll get you in touch with him direct and he can answer any questions you got.
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
Well....I won the SS and A time trial and then the crit we had to race was basically a road race (small smooth gravel section, rest was pavement). In the SS race I wasn't geared properly and I killed myself to hang on for third but I lost a bunch of time. The A race went dismal and I had nothing in the legs by that point. I was lapped a few times, it sucked. Now I have to attack tomorrow in SS race to win the stage race and I want to put on a good showing to show the cat 1 roadies that what you do on the pavement doesn't count for sh!t in the dirt.

On the bonus I spent some time talking with Molly Cameron (a really good local racer). He has a deal now with Ridley and Shimano. He didn't have his x-night yet, but he had an x-fire with full Shimano Di2 and a Quarq powertap. I should have taken a photo, I may tomorrow. Damn nice bike and he rode it to an impressive win in the crit.
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
I am brutally wrecked! I attacked and attacked on the SS and couldn't seal the deal. I ended up second in the race and second overall. In the A race Molly and I opened a gap right off the bat and as we came around for the first lap I flatted and that dropped me several spots. I gained/held but couldn't overcome the next rider (I was way too tired). The cross course was cool, lap times were 9-10 minutes. There was a wide mix of terrain.

Here are some photos of Molly's Ridley X-Fire with Shimano Di2



 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
used to ride a Vanilla, didn't he? think i tried to buy some 404/ King tubies off of him.
Yeah he was a long time Vanilla rider. He had some sponsorship changes since last year. He said he has an x-fire coming, I'm looking forward to checking it out.
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
I had something weird happen, I guess kinda cool, but weird. A local promoter has a cross race this Saturday and a new mountain bike race on Sunday. Trebon has committed, and typically does, the cross race. He sent an invite to those of us that race Cat. A and Pro on our team to do the cross/mtb races and he offered to comp the entries and provide lunch. I was planning on heading to a different cross race on Sunday so I sent him an email thanking him and explaining that I was heading down south on Sunday. He sent a reply back saying that if the three of us invited showed for both races he would offer $300 to the top placed person on our team. I'm leery of his intentions or why he would offer that. One of my teammates is well known, but the other guy and I are only known locally and its not like we win a bunch of races between the two of us (as a matter of fact, neither of us won a mountain bike race this year). One of my teammates (the one who wins a bunch) has been burned by promoters promising things and not following through....so I'm pretty skeptical of this "deal". He already has Trebon, Sager and some others showing. I still think I'm going to head down South on Sunday...I can handle paying $20 for my race entry.
 

loco-gringo

Crusading Clamp Monkey
Sep 27, 2006
8,887
14
Deep in the heart of TEXAS
Not really sure if I'll commit to any dirt derbies, but I have a TriCross on the way. It'll be built the week after next, when I'm back from vacation. Sadly it's gonna be 53-39 for a bit, as I have to save a dollar or two for some decent cranks.
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
Raced against Trebon today...didn't go to hot. I held on for one lap but then he really turned it on and started to open a gap on me and 3rd place. I ended up cramping really bad on the 3rd lap and slowed waaaay down....did horrible. I don't do that well in 90 degree, in the sun, races....I suck in teh heat
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
Raced again on Sunday...had to settle for 3rd. I've been having issues with stomach cramps and these two races were the first cross races where I carried a bottle. I think the issue is that I'm going so hard that my body can't give my stomach enough blood to digest fluid. I guess I'll have to be content to dehydrate during races....like I did last year.
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
Well....I went up and raced Star Crossed and RAD this weekend. I was a little bit surprised at the size of the events, I thought they would have been bigger. I was also disappointed w/the race organization....our local Cross Crusade series is much better run with better announcers. One of the announcers dropped an F bomb during the pro woman's race...kinda funny.

For our race we got to race under the lights at Star Crossed which was cool. The Cross gods started dumping rain a few minutes before our race and it stopped about the time I finished. I made lead lap, but still didn't do so hot (35th). The group split right off the bat and I was with the front 20 but after two laps things started going bad, I kept crashing. I coulda/woulda/shoulda ran my rhino tires and kept from crashing...oh well. Overall it was a fun race.

The RAD race was the hardest cross course I've been on. I only did two practice laps because of the long run up. The run up took around 30 seconds which doesn't sound like much but when you've been burying yourself on the rest of course that run up was too much. I knew it was going to be a rough race when I was winded from walking up that hill :) I simply survived this race, and that was enough for me. There was a long pavement section coming into the run up and no one was going very hard on it because we were all saving ourselves for the run up. I'll attach some photos in a bit.

<edit> Here are some photos

Nice dark photo from Star Crossed


The infamous run up, a hell of a lot harder than it looks


Here I am holding down DFL (I think). Someone has to make Powers and Trebon look really fast :)
 
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ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
Is anyone else racing? Last year we had a thread a fair number of posts.

Per usual, I raced twice this weekend. The Saturday race I sat in most of the race and I thought I knew how the race was going to play out, and I turned out to be wrong. Waiting to make my move cost me the chance to contest the win and I ended up 3rd.

On Sunday we had another Cross Crusade race with around 1,400 racers. The course was flat, muddy, and pretty slick. I started in the third row and was able to snag 15th off the line and sit and draft for the first long section. The group started breaking up fairly early on. Despite racing the day prior I felt good. I kept moving up, going to the front, and dropping everyone. With three to go I had moved into 4th about 15s back from 2nd and 3rd. I fought hard and came close to closing the gap, but I ultimately ran out of race. I've had a lot of bad luck at the Cross Crusade races and I've never even placed in the top ten and now I've got a 4th place finish! This should get me a front row call up at the next race and I'm hoping that will allow me to be with the front group when the split occurs. We have two CC races this coming weekend, on a course that suits my riding style. Who knows, maybe I can get a top 3.
 

Buck Fever

Monkey
Jul 12, 2004
255
0
Hipsterville USA
Is anyone else racing? Last year we had a thread a fair number of posts.

Per usual, I raced twice this weekend. The Saturday race I sat in most of the race and I thought I knew how the race was going to play out, and I turned out to be wrong. Waiting to make my move cost me the chance to contest the win and I ended up 3rd.

On Sunday we had another Cross Crusade race with around 1,400 racers. The course was flat, muddy, and pretty slick. I started in the third row and was able to snag 15th off the line and sit and draft for the first long section. The group started breaking up fairly early on. Despite racing the day prior I felt good. I kept moving up, going to the front, and dropping everyone. With three to go I had moved into 4th about 15s back from 2nd and 3rd. I fought hard and came close to closing the gap, but I ultimately ran out of race. I've had a lot of bad luck at the Cross Crusade races and I've never even placed in the top ten and now I've got a 4th place finish! This should get me a front row call up at the next race and I'm hoping that will allow me to be with the front group when the split occurs. We have two CC races this coming weekend, on a course that suits my riding style. Who knows, maybe I can get a top 3.
3rd and 4th are great results. Strong work, keep it up!

I'm not racing this year and all I have are excuses. I used my personal CX bike build slot to build that bike for Manifest and had to get immediately back to work on customer bikes so I don't fall too far behind (easy to do when you're a full time dad).

Next year.
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
3rd and 4th are great results. Strong work, keep it up!

I'm not racing this year and all I have are excuses. I used my personal CX bike build slot to build that bike for Manifest and had to get immediately back to work on customer bikes so I don't fall too far behind (easy to do when you're a full time dad).

Next year.
Next year the Cross Crusade will be awaiting your return :)
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4

Dogboy

Turbo Monkey
Apr 12, 2004
3,208
581
Durham, NC
This past weekend was the opener for our local series. Last year was my first year racing and I moved up to CX3 this year - quite a change! So far, so good though. I am hanging in there and finishing in the top 20. My goal is to break the top 10 at some point this season. I must say though, I am really just trying to keep it fun and not take it too seriously.

A couple of pics:

 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
I'm off to Astoria for two days of the Cross Crusade! This is our Halloween race, although (oddly enough) we are dressing up on Sunday not Saturday. It has always been tradition to have the dress up on Saturday but I thought they would have changed it for this year. I'm going to cover this race for Ridemonkey, so watch for it. There will be lots of pictures of crazy costumes :) Some of the chicks, and guys unfortunately, will race almost naked.