Lion Roar Race at Lions Park, Raleigh NCCX #2

Karen got to go with me to this race. another double race weekend for me! It all good though. Got there in plenty of time, parking rough, nice close to home race is very nice as well. Legs felt good, did a little recoonaissance of the course, didnt ride much just looked it over and then warmed up a little bit. Now this is the style we see in midatlantic. Music pumping, people having fun, racers and families enjoying all sites and sounds, a grand scheme of a monster cross is sometimes which makes it so enjoyable! Started this race on the road which is nice. started in the mid pack area. Whistle blow, fast startup slight incline to sweeping left on road to a sweeping right over ramped curb into the grass. followed a dirt(mostly loose) trail to go around a tree at a  left 90 deg angle. still have good position but will move up later. follow slight incline to grass again and then hop curb to go to street again, which is a fast 150-200 feet section then dives back into the grass with a sharp left and then 40 feet to a 180 deg switchback. this switchback you could either go wide and be in mud or go shallow and hug the tape and dodge some tree limbs and stay on solid ground. a sweeping left to a short fast downhill which had a a nice 180 deg  switchback and short climb (@12 feet) to another 180 switchback which led downhill to a left sweeping turn onto a ramped curb section. This led to the parking lot and then into a loose gravel fireroad, which the course went into the grass and then gravel and than grass again to make it interesting.

Back up on the fireroad, we do a sweeping slight incline to a grassy and drainage divet up a short hill through some loose sand to a left that led back to a gravel /dirt road section. This had a quick sharp right turn then and then through some slight drainage pit divits into the woods , to around some trees and then back out again. a few more turns and a gentle sweep led into the barrier scetion. go straight for another 20 feet and then left turn into a grassy section which winds about and then traverse a small wooden bridge to a sharp right  and then few feet to s sweeping left turn. a nice little downhill section that sweeps to the right ever so slightly. Then you come upon soem loosemulch and another drainage section to a mulch uphill which turns into a loose sand section on the steepest part. This section was fun. made it everytime but when someone knocked me over. no worries got up and kept going! a few s curves and some sharp turns up on the flat section and then come back down right near the last loose sand hill to a loose sand downhill section that sweeps to the left by the time you reach the bottom. . It sweeps to the left and then goes @ 150 feet back to mulch/grass and then the street , back to the finish stretch! This course suited me great, made every hill(except when I got knocked over) and rocked the barriers. Dry dusty day though but loved this course. did 3-4 laps, lost track. Made up quite a few places overall and came onto last stretch of road with a rider in front of me @ 10 feet, shifted to 46 chain ring and gunned it. He got me at the line just barely even after tossing my bike across the line, but it was almost a photo finish.

Still got 19th(or 20th depends which place you look at, but NCCX says 20th) place out of 70 riders, so my best result by far for sometime. I had signed up for Masters as well but went back to Cat 4 so, i got a DNP(38th out of 38th in that race). Oh well. Rode hard and felt great and definitely my style course. Had a blast here are a few pics to go along.

Southern Pines Cyclocross Race NCCX #1

Well this race not too far from house. Got there in plenty of time. My 2nd attempt at the masters 35+ races. Legs felt loose, they were behind on getting registration going, so slowed up stretching and warm up time. Race at 1000 hrs in am on Sat. Oct. 23rd, 2010. Very fast and not technical course. Lots of lfats few short uphills and only trouble area was mid length climb up fireroad which turned completely into loose sand up top. Got to starting line and ready to go,  whistle blow and off we go.  Starts stright and then loops a little to sketchy run around a tree(quick short down/uphill section). Hop back on the bike and flat to sidewalk area and then sweeps around in large gentle s curve to a sharp right and 50 feet than barriers off a quick v shaped section in course. Hop back on the bike and go down packed dirt/rock fireroad to a sweeping left 90 angle into some loose but very ridable sand sections(which actually was slight downhill area). Man this course is fast and no holds bar style, too much Gran Prix style for me! 

We than traverse a water section on an elevated grass section and then quick sweep 90 deg turn to right into loose dirt/sand/packed dirt fireroad. follow that to another sweeping right up onto a grassy section . Went about 150 feet to a slight uphill of loose dirt and packed dirt fireroad. then a gentle sweep to the left and start the only real climb in this course. It is packed dirt, easy going and then right near the top it turned into very loose sand and very easy place to loose momentum! Crest the hill with a slight sweep to the left and then to the right and back to a flat to a real short uphill back to the large field of the start finish line area. did a big loop that brought you out on the pavement and then a gentle turn back onto the grass to sidewalk and then sweeping right back into the grass. a few more turns and roundabouts and back at the start line for another lap. Well the 35+ group is mostly cat 3 only with the speed they were flying around the course. Up in the midatlantic there are 2 cats of 35+ with 3/4 and then 1-3 level. down here it is just
   cat 1,2,3,4 together! I got lapped bout 1/2 way through the total number of laps. this was not my style course, way too fast! the winners ended up doing 9 laps total and i did 8 since got lapped midway. Got 27th out of 33, which i figured as much. shoulda just stayed with cat 4 but my head/mind had better aspirations than my legs had. Still had fun and found a cool course.  

Trek Raleigh Cyclocross Kick off: Oct 17,2010

Well, 2nd race of the weekend. Another timid day in a way? Woke up to 41 deg weather. Had to do Cat 4 today b/c of only 4 different categories in this race. Bike ready to go. Gathered last meal, gear and K and off to the races. this one was the Trek Raleigh cyclocross kick off to the season. We got there with plenty of time to spare. I changed wheels once I saw the course. took the IRD knobbies off and put on my Kenda Kommando(fr)/Vredstein Prematio(r) on. grass wet but not that bad.

Course started on wide gravel/stone road and goes straight to sharp left turn and down ontp more smaller gravel roads winding through the woods. Then sharp left into the woods to a doubletrack section with lots of small rough ground to go over, but fun indeed.   Then the course came out after few turns and back onto the loose gravel road. followed that alittle longer which then led us to a slight incline of loose gravel/sand/grass combo. No easy trail at this section. It turns flat next and then back onto grassy fields. We zigzag through the field with 120-150 deg turns and then come out and loose roundabout onto to straight away on to the only 2 barriers on the course. then back to start/finish line. A sweet and fast course. 

Well started out fast as I predicted, and I started out close to the front. I love these type of roads with loose gravel no brakes, just gun it as much as you can. first lap steady pace, got slowed down through the tree/trail section of woods but did pass 2 folks there. Out on gravel road , felt good. slight uphill on loose trail didnt fair well so slowed down /lost some gas there. flat and grassy section, hard to keep up good pace but keep pushing. came upon barriers and wanted to jump them but not this time wanted to keep my placing high. I continued this next 3 laps. lost soem time on grassy flats but made time and places up in woods and on loose gravel roads. felt great overall and pushed hard. got passed last lap by one rider in grassy section and just missed catching up to him  before barriers so came in right behing him in 10th place out of 30 overall in the cat 4 race. Thats more like it.

also a little note of styling some new knee highs this race. got some usual funny comments and looks, buts its all good!!!

 

Wake Forest Cx Race: Oct 16, 2010

This was a first race in many aspects. My first race in NC, first race in over 35 age group, and first race with riders I have no idea of their strengths and weaknesses. Got there a little too early. Ended up doing to warm up laps. It was mid 50's-60s at time of race. warm in the sun, but cool in the shade. Course looked easy on paper but proved a little technical and difficult with long slow climbs. It was a field that had been cut to low rolling grass to yield some decent rolling terrain. start line and to the first turn not bad, then slight down and up slight again to straight which led then to 90 deg. left turn and than straight for 20 meters. Then a sharp right 90 deg. turn and than a long fast slight downhill which did a 180 deg switchback and then ride 30 meters to the barriers. dismount and then remount and start on slight incline. this incline went on till slight drop and than right turn into the woods(which was not on pre race map but a sweet welcome). A nice singletrack section of some roots, slick dirt, and many small divots. some nice switchbacks led to short sections and then roll out onto the grass again and 90 deg left turn and down hill toward another 90 deg. turn to left and then flowing right turn into a real fast section to a 180 switchback and then into another unmarked section. this section was on loose dirt/mud to slight downhill to a short 1-2 meter crevasse , which could jump but uphill in mud/dirt right away. A small transverse section to a bidirectional area. there was a short downhill to the left(which was sketchy) or one less direct route to the right which had a 150 deg. switchback at the bottom and then led to a short wood bridge traversing mud/water and then another step climb/run up. This led to a crest of the small climb with a 20 meter straight and a 180 switchback again and then to the right leading to a crueling gradual incline back to the start line.

Well struggled in some sections but flew on the downhills and also loved the singletrack sections. My kind of race. The slight inclines/uphills took the wind out of my sails though. Well finished decent enough with 5 out 8th in age group and 11 out of 22 in combined 35-55 age group. Drive was nice but 2.5 hours long drive for race. still fun day and K was with me as well. Wish the dogs were along but no such luck. Here are some pics of the race. May not have done well, but stylin with the knee highs and rocking the team kit to a tee!!!