Little Zonhoven on ride today

Psycho Cross 40+

Teamie Greg during the 30+ race

I went into this race determined to move up as far as i could at the start and then see what happens.  Long story short I found myself in the top 10(i think) for about a lap before I lost power.  Then it was a case of me just trying to hold off anyone I could for the rest of the race.

I ended up finishing 19th which is exactly the same position I got last year and equals my best ever official finish in a masters race. I had 12th at Campton last year before my derailleur exploded 600m from the finish but I digress. So with about half the training time and clogs to 20lbs extra weight I equal my best finish ever with more racers this year than last year. Go figure.

Bar cam vid.  I'm in around 9min. but the first lap is much more interesting.

Hopkins Park 40+: Reason 42* why I love cross

This year has not been a typical year for me as far as racing and training goes.  While i intended to lay off the road season a bit I didn't plan to not do any road racing but that's the way it goes sometimes I guess.  So because of that i've entered the cross season with lower fitness than normal.

Sunday was my first race of the season, the second stop in the Chicago Cross Cup, Hopkins Park in Dekalb, IL.  Even though my fitness is lower than it should be I was pretty confident that i could improve on my finish from last year.  Due to too much air pressure in my tires last year i ended up on the ground about 5 times and finished 56th.  This year all I wanted was to finish higher than that.  The course was amazing.  It features a great combination of straights and corners, pavement and singletrack, and even has a flyover.


So Reason 42* why I love cross is that no matter what your fitness level is, there is still a race for you in cross.  Once the race starts and things settle in you will usually find yourself in a group of riders with similar fitness and ability and you will have a full race of using what fitness you have, the technical skills you have to race those you are with.  I ended up in a group of about 6 or 7 who I traded punches back and forth with the whole race.  You quickly figure out what sections of the course you are good at and what sections your competition is good at.  Then you use tactics to figure out how to maximize your strengths and limit your weaknesses.  So even though we were fighting for 31st place, we still had a blast.  That is reason 42* why I love cross.

Here's a handlebar vid from my race.  I spent the whole race way behind this guy but it lets you see the course if you weren't there.



Next race for me is the 10/19 Psycho Cross in wauconda.

*42 is just a random number i like.  Sorry I don't have 41 other reasons, well i probably do, i just haven't written them down.

Bike is race ready!

Not that you can really tell from the photo but I did the final mod to the bike which was to put the rear brake on the left hand lever. Now it's ready for its first race on Sunday!

Cyclocross 2013 Season Tip # 01: Don't clear your front brake while rolling.

Retroshift derailleur

I swapped the shimano deore long cage derailleur for the retro shift derailleur. Now all that's left is to swap the brakes so that the left lever controls the rear brake and the bike will be cross ready!

New Ride

Pedals, Check!

Galena Gravel

I was in Galena last week and did some gravel riding. Here are some pics.

River rd at the Bottom of Chesnut Mt  

River rd. 

River rd. 

Devils Ladder Rd at Rt 20

Devils Ladder Rd at Rt 20

Devils Ladder Rd from the West. 

S Rodden Rd

New Ride!

Strava followup

I emailed Strava's customer support asking what the accuracy of a segment that short would be. Here's their response. The accuracy of very short segments depends entirely on the quality of the GPS hardware recording the data; however I can say that the shorter the segment, the more prone it will be to GPS errors. Most GPS devices have sampling rates anywhere from every 1 second to every 10 seconds. Clearly a ten second sampling rate is going to render a 5-second-long segment completely inoperable. Unfortunately there isn't really anything that can be done to improve the accuracy of the segment - other than encouraging your friends to get high quality GPS devices. I did some experimenting in a field during barrier practice where i set a lap marker on my garmin before and then after the barriers i set up. I had the auto lap feature but it was a total crap shoot as to when it would trigger a new lap. It was a difference of up to 20 feet. So long story short it might not be that reliable.

Using Strava to analyze Cyclocross Technique

I don't use Strava on a regular basis but if I have a ride i did well on or a race i'll upload my file. After uploading my last cross race i had the thought of what if i created a segment that was just the barrier section, or in the case of the Psycho Cross race, a flyover. I was hoping i could see how i compared on these sections with whoever else raced. I can't verify the accuracy of this but it's fun to see. You also have to filter out the year due to course changes from year to year. I created the segments just guessing where it was. I think for the next race i'm at i'll create a lap with my garmin during warmup for each section just to try to be more accurate. Anybody ever messed with this? Here's a couple segments from our race yesterday.

Eye on It - 2012 CCC theme song for me

Not a real music video but it's in my playlist right now.

Treepow

Good to be racing!

This past sunday i took part in my first race since july.  All i can say is that it's good to be back.  In May my back flared up on me and though i limped thru racing until July i called it quits after superweek.  After taking a good month off I started riding again and finally in the middle of October I was able to start doing some cyclocross specific training.  I'm nowhere near i'd like to be fitness wise but cyclocross is just too fun to miss.

New Bars on the Cross Bike

Long story short is that my back has been messed up since may.  Raced a bit thru July then called it quits. I've been riding again now for a few weeks but it's all easy endurance paced riding until i can do that pain free.

About a month ago i dropped the chain on my road bike and it sucked my derailleur into my rear wheel.  Shredded the derailleur as well as bent the dropout/hanger.  I'm sitting on the frame for a bit before i send it back to Trek to have the dropout replaced.

Since then i've been riding my cross bike.  When i built the cross bike last year i threw my old road bars on it that were 42cm.  My road bike is now a 44cm bars and i always felt a little cramped with the 42cm bars.

This week i bought a 44cm wide handle bars and i can't believe how much better it feels.  Now the cross bike feels like my bike.  Now i'm really loving this bike.  

Also i grabbed some Forte Grip-Tec Handlebar Tape.   This was the first time i've used this stuff and i have to say it's gotta be the easiest tape installation i've ever done.  Great tape to work with and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  It's quite comfy as well.  We'll see how it's durability is.

Fox River Grove

Thankful to be alive.

This past weekend we took a mini family vacation to Galena. As always the bike came with and the plan was to get a couple rides in on the course for the Tour of Galena RR. In later posts I'll profile the climbs on the loop and I'll also have a review of the Sea Sucker Talon+ bike rack I recently purchased but this post is about how I feel very blessed to be writing this right now.

Saturday morning I woke up to clear skis. It had been overcast and rainy and Friday I actually got sleeted on so this was a welcome change. I headed out from our hotel at about 6:35am for the 20min or so ride from the hotel to the southernmost part of the course.

When I left the hotel it was twilight as the sun wasn't above the horizon yet. I had 2 white flashing lights on the handlebars and two flashing red lights on the rear of the bike. By the time I made it to Gulliford road and started the climb the sun was above the horizon. I went over the climb and descended down to Stagecoach road.

Stagecoach is a road I don't like to be on too much because there isn't much of a shoulder and it's the main road heading East out of town. Traffic isn't that heavy but speeds are high and you do have to be careful. The sun was on the horizon at my back and looking back it was blinding but it was behind me so I wasn't too concerned but was very aware that any oncoming traffic might not see me.

From Gulliford rd Stagecoach takes a soft right curve then straightens out for about 1km. I had just entered this part and was hugging the shoulder as close as I could. I heard what sounded like a pickup coming up from behind so I steadied myself and waited for the truck to pass.

What happened next took only about 1.5 seconds. The first clue that I had that this wasn't going to be a normal pass was that startling feeling you get when someone buzzes you. You know they are coming but unless you have done a head swivel to check if they are giving you space, the proximity of their front bumper to you as it enters your peripheral vision startles you. I didn't even get to complete the thought of "damn that bumper is.." then WACK! The trucks mirror tags me on the back. The sound was loud.

Somehow by the grace of God i didn't go down. Then to my surprise the driver of the pickup just keeps going. He did not even adjust his path or tap the breaks. Just kept on driving. Completely stunned I came to a stop and quickly checked myself out. Other than feeling like I had just been slapped really hard on my back I seemed fine. Then I started taking tabs on the truck. All white large pickup, maybe early 2000's. I don't think it was a dual rear tires but it was large, with large black extended mirrors.

As the truck disappeared around the next curve I continued into town. Once in town I did a couple loops looking for the pickup but didn't see one. I then went to the county courthouse and talked to an officer there who took some details down but said that it was a county sheriff's deputy that needed to interview me but he was in East Dubuque dealing with overnight vandalism. Long story short, I finished my ride of the RR circuit and rode back to my hotel. A little while later a Deputy met me at the hotel and filed a report.

This photo shows the exact point where i was hit. The orange line on the graph is my cadence. I stopped pedaling the moment i got hit. The blue line is my speed.

Will anything come of this? I don't know. I just wanted this on record so if it happens again there will be a history recorded.

Could I have done anything different? Well I actually had a GoPro camera on the bike but it was off because I was saving it for some of the climbs later in the ride. I had the blinky lights going and was in colorful clothing so I don't think I could have been better prepared. I was as close to the shoulder as possible as well.

Being that there was no oncoming traffic I'm pretty certain that the driver was either impaired or that this was deliberate. I just can't believe that he didn't see me before or after.

Location:Galena, IL

Getting reacquainted with the road bike

Tonight I rode the road bike for the first time since I think October. I've been using the cross bike for trainer rides all this time and switching back to the road bike was a bit of a shock.

I've yet to get an outdoor ride in yet but hopefully that all changes tomorrow.

Quick Update 2011 season

I have just completed a 3 week base period training block that has to be the best one i've ever had this time of year. I was able to make my hours all 3 weeks with almost all of the time being indoors on the trainer and rollers. It's getting a bit mind numbing but it's awesome to have friends over for the early sat. am long rides. Makes the time go faster.

I had been afraid to compare to last year since i feel i haven't been as driven as i was at this time last year but the good news is that i'm a little ahead of this same time last year so i'm excited about that.

After hearing about all the exciting things happening in the midwest this fall for cyclocross i've decided to make a somewhat focused run at cyclocross this fall so the current plan is to build up for Superweek in July and then reset for the fall.

I've also gotten myself into another Gatorade Study that i'll be doing the month of April. If you'd like to get in on the study check out Provident Clinical Research's website to get signed up.

That's all for now.