Wisconsin Cup #5 - Milwaukee, WI

Today’s race was Wisconsin’s Halloween race. A few riders showed up in costume. While waiting for the whistle I looked at who was there and made mental notes of who to look for. Mr. Incredible? Yeah he can pass me. Fary? No problem, he can beat me at the line. Gorilla on a mountain bike? No way. I HAVE to finish before Gorilla on a mountain bike. Ended up not being a problem and also beat a guy dressed up as a baby, a cowboy, and yes the fairy. But still the Gorilla is a badass.

Wisconsin Cup #4 - Cambridge, WI

7:30am – Just woke up and feel terrific. Slept close to 11 hours (yes!), my legs feel good & strong, and my back feels like new (Double Yes!). Need to oil my chain and then I’m ready to roll.

3:30pm – Today’s race was a ton more fun than yesterdays. This despite I did significantly worse (31st place), but it just felt like more fun. The course today was in a state park, but this time the majority of it was on multi-use trails which meant for harder pack and faster racing. There were still some muddy parts that would bog me down, but there was also a lot of short ascents & descents that made it more interesting.

Really one of my favorite things about cross is that there is usually so much going on that I don’t have time to think about how much pain I’m in. The flip side is road racing where unless your in the pack or in the lead all you can think of is how to end the suffering.

How to clean everything

Okay so how do you clean everything after a muddy race when you live in a small apartment in Chicago and no hose or other outside water source to speak of? Well here’s how I did it:

Equipment:
Bucket – Mine is awesome and has two sections one for hot soapy water, the other clean & cold.
Brush – Stiff bristles
Toothbrush
Screwdriver – flathead
Shop rags – Old t-shirts work best
Degreaser – Simple Green foaming is pretty crazy, but any citrus works
Oil – I prefer something with Teflon in a drip bottle

I washed mine outside in the alley I thought about taking my repair stand in the yard, but it seemed like a pain.

1. Flip bike upside down (use a rag or newspaper to protect your seat if you care) & remove wheels.
2. Using the hot soapy water & the bristle brush scrub down wheels specifically the rims and the cassette/cogs. Do a once over on the tires, but don’t kill yourself over ‘em.
3. Using your rags squeeze clean water over the wheels so they’re nice and clean
4. Spray degreaser on the cassette and let sit
5. Scrub down the drivetrain as best you can using the brush. Use the screwdriver to pick out as much grass and mud as you can.
6. Spray drive train with degreaser
7. Using the brush get all the chunks of mud off the rest of the bike and use the rags to really get in the nooks and crannies. Spend some time on this part, but not too much time. 10-15 minutes tops
8. Put the rear wheel back on and flip the bike over
9. Using the toothbrush scrub the drivetrain & cassette as much as you can
10. Really wash with soap & water the handlebars, lever, and seat so they’re all grippy
11. Rinse of the bike with clean water from the top down
12. Dry off as much as you can with the rags
13. Let the drivetrain dry out as much as possible (preferably overnight).
14. Lightly oil the chain and shirt through your gears to make sure everything’s ok

It took me about an hour to do all of this so I’d be in working order for tomorrow. Then I scrubbed down my bike shoes which were totally soaked through with mud and tossed my team kit in the laundry. I can’t wait until I move and get my own laundry in-unit. There’s no way my shoes’ll dry out in time, but luckily I have a pair of old ones that should work. Now, I’ve got to go lay down and try and stretch out my back and hopefully get a good night’s sleep.

Wisconsin Cyclocross Cup #3 - Whitewater, WI

Sweet. Sassy. Molasses. Woke up early this morning to a steady downpour of rain in Chicago. I kept hoping that it would let up and that Wisconsin would be bone dry. The course was on a park built on top of an old landfill with grass that was about 3 inches long. This pretty much meant we were riding on 3 or 4 inches of wet mud with a layer of long stringy grass right on top. In places where the grass held up it the riding was slow; in other places where our tires cut through to the mud the riding was glacial. After one practice run I opened up my brakes so that mud wouldn’t get too caked on and my wheels could spin freely. The course was so bogged down that even on the descents I never touched my brakes. Worse still was once mud and grass got stuck in your drivetrain it would harden into a concrete mass. Right out of the gate (or whistle) it was pretty much a solo time trial. Normally about 10% or less of the course is considered “unrideable,” at Whitewater I ran about 30% of the time.

So the way a cyclocross race works is everyone in the field starts at the same time and the officials time how long it takes for the leaders to finish a lap. They then calculate how many laps can be done and add one lap. For the Men’s Category 4 (There are 5 Categories with 1 being the fastest) we do 30 minutes plus one lap. In the end you race for somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 minutes. The catch is this when the leader of the race has one lap to go the officials ring a bell for everyone on the course and everyone no matter what finishes their lap and is done. What this means is that even if you get lapped and the winner does 10 laps, but you only finish 3 you still finish on the same lap. At Whitewater I knew I was going to get lapped almost immediately so I made sure that when I got lapped it was to my advantage, namely not having to do a lap, but still maintain my placing. Confusing I know, but a key lesson when you know you are sucking it up on the course.

I’m racing tomorrow too so I’ve got to clean my bike, wash my team kit, and repack everything for tomorrow. There’s literally 10 lbs of mud & grass on my bike.

Edit – I got 15th

ChiCrossCup#1 - Carpentersville, IL

First cyclocross race of the year today and well it’s a good thing it isn’t the only one. First races are always tough because everyone is so excited and nervous. The Cat 4 Men’s field was a little over 60 strong which is an enormous group to all be racing at the same time. The Spring Prairie, WI road race had 75 Cat 5 men, but they also split us up into 2 groups which was very smart. A lot of the racers were racing ‘cross for the first time and for me it was the first race on my Waterford X-22 ‘cross bike. Last year this was my first ‘cross race too and I did it with Allan on my Bianchi track bike. Instead of riding fixed I raced with a singlespeed freewheel I installed the night before and just my front brake (the Bianchi can’t mount a rear brake by design). I crashed twice in that race the first time slamming my rear wheel into the concrete edging along a creek forcing me to run half a lap to get it repaired. The second time my front wheel turned while I was hopping back on after a run up causing me to flip over my handlebars. That 2^nd crash damaged my only working brake meaning I finished the race with no brakes(!).

Today did not go as badly, but was still a bit of a disaster. One addition this year was they (the evil course designers) routed us through the playground which was contained in a giant sand pit. Most of the Cat ½’s would ride through it getting a ton of speed and just hammering a huge gear all the way through. While I was taking a practice lap I fell and accidentally pulled my shifter cable knocking my gears out of whack. Of course I didn’t realize this until just after the start whistle. After the whistle I clipped in and clicked my shifter twice to bring me into a nice hard gear to sprint with when it felt like I took a step and there was no stair. I fell into my handlebars, but got up right away confused why I was still in my easy gear. That’s when I remembered pulling my shifter cable. Damn! 30 racers streamed past me while my adrenaline addled mind struggled to comprehend what was going on. By the time I figured out what was wrong I was back in the game pounding away trying to catch as many guys as possible. Right in the begging was a set of 3 barriers and a run up so I shouldered my bike and ran all the way up and around 10 or more riders who were negotiating past not only each other, but also 2 riders who had crashed among the barriers (see pic).

Now that I was going at a good clip I thought that maybe I’d be able to salvage the race and get in the 50% mark. That is until during one of my remounts my saddle came loose tossing me onto the ground. Immediately I shouldered my ride and was ready to run back to the mechanic’s pit and try and fix it. Along the way I see Nico West and he’s shouting at me “Why are you running?” which I breathlessly answer “I need a hex wrench!” which thank god he had on him. Fixing my seat cost me about 5 places, but since I didn’t do a very good job I was struggling for the last few laps standing most of the way. The race over the officials struggled to post even the top 25 riders, so I don’t actually know how I ended up placing. My guess is around 40 of 60 not too bad all things considering. Hopefully with the next few Wisconsin races as tune ups I’ll be better prepped for ChiCrossCup #2 in
St. Charles.

Equipment - part 2

Just got back from a training ride and more than anything I’m really happy with what I’ve got going for clothing this year. What to wear in cyclocross is so crucial since our first race is in the middle of October and my last one is in early December. This time of year in the
Midwest means low temperatures, harsh winds, rain, snow, and for the courses it means mud, snow, and ice. All of this while operating at 90-100% of your max heart rate. Here’s what I wear on a 45-50 degree (F) day of racing:
Bib shorts – the suspenders are must for keeping everything in ahem…place
Knee warmers
Short sleeve jersey or long sleeve wicking shirt – base layer
Long sleeve jersey
Lightweight wool socks – Anything too heavy will get sweaty or will soak in mud
Full fingered or short fingered gloves – great for holding on in muddy conditions
Cycling cap or lightweight cap under…
Helmet

Shoes in cyclocross can make a huge difference. I’ve got a pair of Specialized mountain biking shoes that are perfect. The big difference over road shoes is that they have traction on the bottom which makes running a ton easier. The one’s I have also have removable toe studs which are great for running up slick hills, but make walking on concrete hellish. Another great feature is they have a main buckle system that works really well in the slop unlike my old shoes whose Velcro would crap out if it smelled wet (like my cell phone!). Oh and they fit really well. Clutch. Last year I would carry a small water bottle in my jersey pocket, but usually I only had one or two chances to take a drink so this year I’ve been forgoing water. Having a water bottle cage on your bike can make shouldering a bike more difficult with extra stuff in your main triangle and besides with cross races only being an hour I generally just drink a lot leading up to the race. The unfortunate result is that right after a race I usually need to pee so bad, yet my legs can barely walk me over to the bathroom.

Equipment - Bike

As you can imagine being obsessed with cyclocross requires a cyclocross bike. In reality one could race on a mountain bike or even a road bike with good tire clearance for knobby tires (or in my case a track bike with no clearance and one brake). But for me I really wanted a decent cross bike. Instead of buying something out of the box I shopped on eBay and found an amazing ‘cross frame made by Waterford Precision Cycles in Wisconsin.

Waterford is an incredible builder with a long history of craftsmanship and all of their bikes are custom built to the specific rider. Luckily for me the seller was just about the same as me. In the end the frame fit perfectly with a couple small adjustments (namely an extra long seatpost [I have long legs]) and I bought it for a song. It took about 8 months for me to finally get it going by buying some parts through the xXx racing team discounts, parts off my road bike, and some items from Yojimbo’s Garage. However, now my ‘cross bike is in perfect working order and ready to race. Now if only I can make it proud.