A New Racing Season

Well, it has been quite awhile since I have posted anything to this site. Don't see much point of writing when I am not racing. The problem is that I did start racing on the road at the end of March, but just couldn't find the time or motivation to write for many reasons.

As with most years, this year I started racing at the Mingo Road Series, which is promoted by Don Mosites from Trek of Pittsburgh. Don, with the help of Gary Bywaters and many awesome volunteers, does a great job at putting on this race series. Pretty much each of the Mingo Races came down to a sprint, though, so I never did all that well with any of my individual finishes. Overall, I did finish the series in 3rd in the 40+ male category.

During Easter weekend, I did another road race, which was part of the WVMBA Road Series and started near Mount Morris, PA. The course was mostly flat for the first 13 miles or so, but then had a few big climbs on it, which did split thing up nicely for me. The race was about 50 miles long in total and I ended up riding about 30 of those miles alone on a solo break. I must admit that I do like when a road course is designed with a climber in mind. I ended-up winning the 40+ male category with a long, hard individual effort, but I enjoyed every minute of the suffering.

Now for the exiting news! My first MTB race of the season was the Cohutta 100, the first race of the NUE Series. This year I decided to do the Nue Series on a single speed MTB instead of a bike with gears, so I lined up this past Saturday with my new MTB ride and a single 32x19 gear. The race went well for me. Like the road race I did in Mount Morris a few weeks earlier, I ended up riding the majority of the race alone. Initially, fellow single speeders Gunnar Shogren, Chris McGill and Matt Ferrari were all with me in the beginning single track section, but on one of the first big climbs my legs felt like they really wanted to get moving, so I went to the front of the group. I notice around a bend that my move created a pretty big gap, so I just stayed on top of my gear and kept it rolling during the rest of the race. About 85 fairly lonely miles and a bazillion pedal strokes later, I ended-up finishing in first place with a finishing time of 7 hours and 20 minutes.

So, in a nut shell, this is my account of my early racing season so far. In the future, I will add more detail and color to my race postings and will definitely start up dating this blog after each race, since the season is now in full swing. Thanks for reading and Happy Trails! - Gerry

KC Day #3

I was expecting an exciting race from the UCI Elite Men at Cross Nationals and I was definitely not disappointed with the show that I watched yesterday. The warm weather from the previous days racing had disappeared by the start of the elite UCI Race, but the course dried a little more, giving the elite riders super fast conditions. The usual group of top contenders in the sport pushed the pace to unbelievable speeds at the start and quickly had the pack strung out in a single file pace line. By the top of the first climb, a lead group of about 7 riders had separated from the rest of the field, which became the decisive move of the day. The biggest surprise of the race was Jamey Driscoll holding on to a second place overall finish behind eventual winner Ryan Trebon. Cross racing in the US has a bright future with young riders like Driscoll and also Jesse Anthony progressing as fast as they are. It was amazing to watch the speed and tactics of the race up close and personal like I did. To me, being able to watch cross nationals live was like being able to watch the super bowl in the front row on the fifty yard line. It was truly an awesome show of talent and determination.

The Elite Womens Race was also exciting to watch. Katie Compton pretty much dominated the race from start to finish, with Georgia Gould and Rachel Lloyd chasing hard, but unable to match the pace of the five time national champ. Below is a video of the womens

KC Day #2

What an exciting day of racing!!! Things went well for me, with a 9th place finish today. I was actually as high as 7th for about a lap midway through the race, but I just didn't have the power to maintain that spot for the remainder of the race. Andy and Ernesto had good races as well, finishing 20th and 18th respectfully in the 35-39 age class.




Compared to the day before when we warmed up on the course, things were much faster. The higher temps in the mid 50s and the strong wind really helped to dry up the course. I don't think the course conditions could have been any better. I found the course to be one of the better cross course I have been able ride. It was fun, somewhat technical without being stupid technical and allowed riders to pass without difficult. As a matter of fact, the winner of my race, Roger Aspholm, started about 6-7 rows back and was able to work his way to the front of the group by lap number two.

Today's racing is going to be spectacular with the UCI elite men and women racing. I have my cowbell ready for the action, along with my running legs to cover the whole course. I will be carrying my camera to record the action.

Update to come later. - Gerry

Check out the crazy start of Andy's and Ernesto's Race on the video below.

KC Day 1

I arrived at KC today to find sunshine and blue skies. This is a much better sight than what was forecasted earlier in the week. They did get some snow out here I guess on Monday or Tuesday, so the course is muddy, but it is only bad enough to stick on the wheels and nothing more. The course is the perfect for someone that can put out a ton of watts. It has more vertical climbing than any cross course that I have ever witness and is probably on the biggest hill in the KC Area, too. The course kind of serpentines up the hill to the top and then does the same coming back down. Don't get me wrong it is a fun course, but it is going to make racers hurt real bad. There are three dismounts per lap; one set of double barriers and two separate sets of steps going up steep inclines.

I did get to watch the end of the womens 30-39 masters race and the entire mens 45-49 masters race. Betsy Shogren rode to a 10th place finish in the womens race and her husband, some guy that very few people have heard of, Gunnar Shogren was 7th in his race. I put a picture of each of them above. There is also a picture of the first uphill run-up on the course.

There are tons of people here like there are every year at cross nationals. It is like a big party with bikes, mud and cold weather all thrown into the mix...always a good time. If you have never been to cross nationals, make a mental note to yourself to do it sometime in the future. Not much more to say for now, hopefully my race reports tomorrow will be a little more exciting. Later - Gerry

Spin Class

No, I did not enroll in a new gym, decked out with a room full of lycra wearing MILFs riding spinning bikes. Instead, what I did was get schooled at picking the right gear on my single speed at a cross race. When you race cross on a single speed, the most important thing is gear selection. I learned this very clearly yesterday when I raced with a gear that was way too low, a 34x18 to be exact. I guessed that the course at the final Bike Authority Cyclocross Series Race in Copley, OH would be a mess from the snow and all that the weather forecast was showing. I planned to race with an easy gear on the bike, so that riding the snow would be no problem. Well, I guessed wrong. The course did have snow on it, but by the time the elite race went off it was hard packed and fast. Unfortunately, I also did not bring a higher cog along with me to the race, so I knew from my first warm-up lap that I would be doing a lot of crank rotations to keep pace with the other geared bikes.

I definitely could not generate the power and speed that I needed with the gear I had on my bike, but I don't necessarily think that this was a bad thing. Spinning that easy gear gave me a great workout, albeit a completely aerobic workout. I just didn't have enough of a gear to give my legs a hard effort type of workout. But, from what I understand, this should be a good thing going into Nationals next weekend. My heart and lungs were still tested and they did feel good, even after my nasty cold that is waging a good fight with me. At the same time, my legs did not have to really work too hard with all the spinning, so they should be primed for a hard effort at the Nationals. Another thing I noticed about doing 100+ RPMs during an entire cross race is that it does keep one warm on a day when the temperature is in the mid 20's at best.

Spinning like a possessed mad man, I was able to finish 6th overall and win the 40+ race in which I was entered. The 40+ win was enough to give me the overall 40+ series victory as well, so I guess the race was a success today even though I was not at the front of the pack like I would prefer to be.

I am flying out of PIT early Friday Morning for Kansas City, MO to compete in my final race of 2008, the 2008 National Cyclocross Championships. I am not too sure if I am more excited about doing my 40-44 masters race on Saturday or watching the elite men's race on Sunday. Both of these races plus many others over the weekend are going to be awesome events to watch. At last count, my race had 138 riders registered. Many of the guys in my class are the top master racers in the county, so my thinking is that a finish in the top 20 would be a good result. Of course, my plans are to do much better than that, so please do wish me luck.

I will try to give an update of the course, venue and the race atmosphere when I arrive there on Friday. I will also add a recap of my race, Andy's Race and Ernesto's race after the battle is done on Saturday. As of today, the weather has a Murraysville Cross Race look to it. Lovely! - Gerry

Menthol, Mucinex and Eucalyptus

I used cough drops with menthol, an expectorant called Mucinex and an eucalyptus balm to help clear the green stuff out of my head and chest, but I obviously needed something more at today's race. Earlier in the week I got a head and chest cold. Of course, I did my typical thing and ignored it. I never seem to learn when my body needs a break. For some reason, I feel that if I stop training for a few days I will lose my competitive edge. Well, once again, I trained hard all week thinking that my cold and the green nasty stuff that I have been blowing out of my body all week would just automatically go away without rest. Needless to say, it did not, so I did the best I could to make my breathing at least a little easier. I must admit that the above mentioned products did help, but I doubt that any pharmaceuticals actually could make someone feeling sick race cross faster. Quiet frankly, I probably should not even have done the Murraysville Cross Race, especially since the weather was so horrible. But, again , being a little bit in denial about my health and wanting to support a local cyclocross event , I did do the race.

Surprisingly, the course was in better condition than I thought that it would be, so that was cool. I actually even surprised myself at the start of the race by going into the first left turn off the pavement in first place. But, pretty much from that point on, I was in suffer mode. It is not often that I have thoughts about abandoning a race; today I did. I made it through the race by battling against my two cross teammates Andy and Ernie. Without them being near me and having our friendly battle, I would have quickly lost motivation to continue. Mike Mihalik was in the mix with us Speedgoaters too at the beginning, but then he decided to turn on his turbo boosters and leave us in his wake of mud. Mike had a great ride to be sure, finishing in second overall. SteveO took the title as the Pennsyl-Tucky Champion and course designer Joe Ruggery rounded out the podium in third. Somehow or another I suffered through my illness and the nastiness on the course to finish in fourth in front of Ernie in fifth and Andy in sixth. Amazingly, Andy actually won the earlier 35+ masters race too, so he had a strong performance today. Ernie was riding right with me until he had a mishap over the double barriers, which caused him to go down, otherwise he would have probably been right with me until the end.

Thanks to Fred for promoting the race, all of the sponsors and Joe/Team FU for the course set-up and design. Also, thanks to David Burke for the posted photos above...me riding with Andy and me going into the course tape on the downhill off-camber turn. Overall, it was a nice race....painful, but nice. Now I just have to convince my body that what I just did to myself makes some kind of sense.

The Brewing Storm

Seems like there is a perfect storm brewing for the Pennsyl-Tucky Championship tomorrow in Murraysville. The weather forecast is predicting a 60% chance of a snow and rain mix. Boy, doesn't that sound wonderful, when you consider that the ground is already saturated! I have read Joe's description of the course on his blog (http://teamfudiary.blogspot.com/) but I really have no idea what the course is going to be like, especially when considering the nasty weather coming our way. I was able to ride outside in the snow two days this week at Mammoth park. I did one day on the fixie cross bike with J-Pok and the second alone on my Speedgoat Special Cross Rig. The fixie was faster on the flats, but overall my regular cross ride felt faster and easier to control, so it will be my choice for tomorrow unless the course is really bad. If the mud does seem to be the major obstacle on the course, I will use my single speed cross bike without the fixie set-up.

This cross season I have pretty much been able to pack all of my stuff and travel to the race that day. To prepare for Murraysville, however, I will have to prepare for tomorrow's race today because of being scheduled to work. I will be going to work later this afternoon and work until 11pm. I work again tomorrow at 7AM, which will only allow for about 5 hours of sleep between shifts. With this busy schedule ahead of me, I will have to prepare my bikes this morning and then pack them in my car along with all my clothing and stuff. I can tell you now that I will be packing a lot because the weather sounds like it is going to require a lot.

My goal with my clothing choice tomorrow will be to stay warm and dry. This will pretty much be impossible to do, but by using my thin neoprene gloves and socks I can keep my hands and feet pretty good. A polypro base layer or two under my skinsuit should keep some heat in my body during the race, too. I am sure that the biggest clothing challenge tomorrow will actually come after the race when I am trying to quickly removing the wet, muddy clothing from my body without a changing room before going into hypothermia. Sure does sound fun, doesn't it???? I swear cross racers are sadomasochists in disguise. For some reason we cross racers seem to enjoy pushing our bodies to the point where it feels like our hearts about to explode and then to add to our level of discomfort, we typically do this in weather that makes a sane person's trip to the mailbox a difficult expedition. Gotta love it!

One last thing I think that you guys might be interested in hearing about is my tire choice for tomorrow. Recently, I mounted a pair of UST tubeless ready Hutchinson Bulldogs Tires onto a pair of Mavic Ksyriums SL Wheels with some tubeless tire sealant and Stan's Valves. The tires sealed up easily without the use of tubeless sealing tape or a rubber rim strip being used on the rims. These things hook-up great in the muddy stuff, even better than the tubulars I use mounted with Tufo Plexus Tires. The tubular set-up is probably faster on the dry stuff, but I think this new set-up will be my first choice for any slick, muddy races.

I will type up another blog entry after the race tomorrow. I am sure the conditions will be epic!

See you Sunday - Gerry