Cap City cross

I'd been feeling a little off the last few weeks and not riding tip-top as a result, so I ended up taking a weekend off from racing to let my noggin reconnect with itself. The cure was the maiden voyage on my new Epic, and it was exactly what I needed.
I got a fairly good start considering I was gridded in the 3rd row. I was maybe 4th or 5th wheel after the first few corners, then played pseudo-teammate for Ryan and went to the front for a piece.After he attacked I settled into a group of three for 3rd-5th. Of course, before he launched I did have to show Ryan how to hop the barrier/run up:I hopped it for the first several laps but I noticed my rear wheel clipping the leading edge so rather than bomb out on it I started running it, which really wasn't that much slower anyway. I was working the technical sections well, but I still didn't feel like I had my top end back so I ended up getting gapped over the last two sections and ended up 5th. It's still my best result in the Elite field of the OVCX series this year so I'll take it. Perhaps this is me racing myself into form. I guess we'll see how this weekend's Kentucky state championship goes.

later

-the ATM

Fitting

For those of you that add up the posts on the right side navigation page this is nothing new, but I'm guessing I'm probably the only one that knows this is my 100th post, so it seems fitting that it's a post about a new bike.

As part of my Grand Plan hatched in early 08, I'd get a hard tail and race that for a season then keep it and buy a full suspension rig to have two race day rigs in my quiver. Well, that kinda happened a little sooner than planned but as they say, I got a great deal!
I was really happy with the build of my HT and want to wait for 09 gruppo bits, so I figured I'd start The Great Component Swap from the HT to the dually after the Iceman. As you read below, it's after the Iceman so here I go:What better place for MTB pics than on a trail? Granted, it's not the full race build, but imagine about 5 less pounds in the wheels and you get the picture. It was a good build if a bit slow, but being a used rig I had to go through the bushings/bearings in the back and I only remembered that I have two bike stands after I swapped the frames out for the last time I needed to pull parts. Plus, for reasons unclear to me other than perhaps marketing, the headset for the HT uses 45x45 bearings ala Campy's Hiddenset while the Epic uses a 45x36 bearing more typical of MTBs HOWEVER they extended the head tube while keeping bearing position the same, so the bearing is recessed in the head tube which prevents proper stackup of the parts. To get around this I used a 5mm stem spacer under the cap until such time as I can procure the Specialized Mindset headset they list in the manual. It rode great today, so it must not be THAT bad.
Speaking of rides, the bike is pretty damned sweet. I'm still dialing in the suspension, but it seems reasonably close to where it should be, and I like it. Alot. I can only imagine how the 09 Epic rides. I wish I was good friends with Todd Wells so he could loan me one of his 09 race rigs. I guess he could do that any way, but I expect being friends with him would grease the skids a bit.

I hope PRO mechanic Zach is reading, since I have to pay tribute to his top tube routing of the rear derailleur. He implemented on Don's Epic and I was smitten with the full cable housing routing passing through the seat stay. I also hope he appreciates my front derailleur:OK, it's not baller Record but I had the Centaur with the right clamp diameter in stock. It shifts pretty good, and I expect it will get even better once I put my 108mm BB in (again, had a 113mm in stock) to tighten the chainline and allow a bit more fine tuning of the cage placement. All in all, 23.5 lbs with maybe another half pound to come off closer to race season next year. I'll take it.
Anyhoo, I'll leave you with a few parting shots since it's pretty rad.
the sun shone down on me, and it was good

it even knows which way to the trail

Later.

-the ATM

The Iceman Cometh...

...the Iceman goeth.
The last few years I've managed to score an invite to the Iceman as a result of winning my age group for Indiana, but I've always been low on motivation to drive almost 9 hours for a sandy double track race. Having reasonable form and more of a desire to finally do the race, I committed to it. A mini bonus was that I got bumped up to the PRO race. Sweet.
I really started to get nervous about it the day before, once I arrived in Kalkaska. Since I had nothing but time on my hands I stewed about it, going over timelines for pre-race and general race day plans. Once it was close to go time, I headed over to the start line and wound up 3rd row. I figured the start would be critical and that turned out to be true. Only I wasn't nearly as aggressive as I should have been. I ended up in a decent group of 5 guys, and we generally worked well together until the end. At the line I took 34th, which was disappointing but a mere 30 seconds up was 25th place, so I did my normal brooding for a day then got over it on the VERY long drive home. I have to say I felt very Euro when there was a crowd of people a few peeps deep on each side of one climb screaming their brains out - good for a few extra dubbyas of motivation.
In the mean time to help that pain, I figured I head to the Bell's after-awards party and drown my sorrow in booze. I've long been a fan of Bell's brewing efforts, and especially like their Porter so at $3 a pint I was in. A few beers in, I noticed the Best Brown I was quaffing wasn't exactly transparent, which isn't un-normal for Bell's since one motto they have is 'Live life unfiltered' but I've never had it that thick before. Mmm, mmm, good!

Indeed.

Anyway, I've finally given myself some time to post an update as I sit here in a hotel room in wonderful Peoria, Il. Life is pretty crazy for me these days, and I have what seems like zero time to do it all so I flounder a bit on everything. This, too, shall pass but in the mean time I'm pretty wrecked. Good thing is I am still motivated to ride and race my bike, which helps for this last stretch of racing before settling in to a long few months of endurance rides. This is bolstered by a new addition to the family, but details and pics are forthcoming.

On another positive note, I got a belated birthday gift tonight from one of my counterparts at my customer.
Quite possibly one of the best lines of all time. Period.
"which one is your wallet?"
"It's the one that says..."


Until then, later.

-the ATM

One of these days

...I'll be a bit more diligent about posting only one day post-race. Until then, you just can't rush greatness, I say.

ahem.

Anyway, The Louisville GP weekend was damned near perfect for both me and my team. I love unexpected surprises, such as the #1 bib for the 2/3 races of the weekend.
This gave me pick of the litter on grid position both days. It helped that PRO mechanic and teammate Zach got #2 and second teammate Ryan M got #11 to grid right behind me. Coach extraordinaire Don got shafted by his own silliness (ie, not registering before the week of) so he was #55, in about 8th row.
At the team meeting, we kinda joked that Ryan, Zach and I would slow things down so Don could use his mad pack skills to slice through the field, never thinking it could actually happen. But happen it did. I was in the lead, soft pedaling and coasting through the first two laps yet nobody wanted to come around. Far be it for me to complain. The best part was that a gap was forming to the rest of the field.
True to form, Don bridged so we just started working the lead group over. It was fantastic to hear the announcer over the loudspeaker (Richard Fries, BTW) talk about the tactics we were displaying. In the end I broke away with about two laps to go and held it to the line. I must say it was an awesome feeling to look back and not see anyone in sight so I could get my salute on.
It was even better to see when Don came across the line in second, and Ryan M take 4th with Zach a close 6th. Teamwork fo' sho'.

Day two had the same grid with a slightly altered course including a smallish ditch. I saw potential for somebody to stack it up so I wanted to make sure I was first through it. Having an open road ahead at the start makes getting the hole shot fairly easy. I wanted to push the pace a bit more so we didn't have 11 guys in the lead group as was the case Saturday. I think that was the cause of at least two crashes that slowed my teammates down a few times. Anyway, Don again bridged after a few laps and the smaller lead group again contained four DRT teammates. I had to laugh because Richard Fries was hamming it up on the PA, calling my boys "my henchmen" and me Mr. Mexler. Funny stuff.
Four out of five? you do the math!
With maybe three to go, it was down to three; me, Don and some other guy. I was a bit peeved when said guy did zero work throughout the entire day, but that just gave extra fuel to the fire for when Don and I attacked and countered several times.
Naturally he was forced to chase down and got tired in the process. We never dropped him but it sure seemed like he didn't have much left for the sprint. Don was leading us out and I was third wheel coming onto the pavement the final time. A self-proclaimed slow twitch man without a sprinting muscle in his body, Don was pulling away from the front of the 3-up sprint. Once I dispatched of what's-his-name, I wasn't really sure if I could close the gap to Don and figured it asshole-ish to punk a teammate on the line so Don took the win and I took second, a flip flop from Day 1. Ryan again took 4th - just shy of the podium. Zach had back problems but came in a respectable 14th.

After the post-race interviews, it was great to have Richard Fries off-mike say how that was probably the best display of teamwork he'd seen in a cross race. I'm guessing probably not ever but I'll take it.

So it was a good weekend all around. Another teammate of mine, Nicole B had strong showings both days for her first adventure into Elite level CX racing, netting two top 25s. Especially considering her back-of-grid starting position, she moved up well and represented!
Mike had shit luck on Saturday, which needed no less than 3 bike changes, and not-good luck on Sunday needing just one bike change. Ryan got a top 30 on Saturday then showed determination on Sunday by keeping at it to recover after hitting the wall good for a top 25. Isaac raced clean all day Sunday to get just outside the top 20. Awesome work boys!

the 'nati

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Friday started off pretty well. The course was super bumpy and I actively chose NOT to run my 32 spoke box section Reflex hoops laced to Record hubs. Why? I'm lazy. I simply did not want to swap brake pads. Plus deep section hoops look sweet.

Problem is they are crazy stiff. Alas, I'm lazy and therefore took a pounding.
The race itself was pretty cool, I yet again managed to avoid about 3 crashes, one of which was when Rad Skills Ryan took a digger in a corner. I dropped a few dudes towards the end mainly from me unexpectedly riding away from them. Once I had a gap I was just trying to hold it. With about 3 turns to go, a guy bridged to me then passed me going into the final corner. A little odd since he effectively put himself in position to give me a leadout. Regardless, my misinterpretation of the start line as the finish line (super PRO, BTW) and resulting bike throw had him shut down in time for me to realize the real line was about 30 meters later. I won that bike throw, good for 21st in a C2 UCI race. Not awesome, but not DFL either.
Friday night was not so good for recovery... delays and a fancy restaurant that took 45 minutes to serve a plate of freaking bread (honestly?) had me eating at 9p, well beyond the replenish window.
I started Saturday's race a little behind on food but my position in the OVCX series netted me a 3rd row start, behind Troy Wells and Marko Lalonde. Troy missed his pedal at the start and steered into the starting bunch, and I yet again missed the 30-man pile up. I hope my crash avoidance luck never ends.
Anyway, the two way sand pit was interesting... A nice downhill led to one side of the pit with a 180 turn back into it. I typically ride on the flats for sandpits so I don't drive the bike too much, but the immediate 180 required brakes, and didn't give much time to shift down for the return.

I rode it both directions all but once and no matter how hard it felt to ride, running was worse. I finished in 26th, probably from poor recovery on Friday night. Otherwise, top 15 totally.

Sunday's C1 race at Harbin Park had a killer course with a little of everything. And by everything, I mean a rising sand pit, hairpin corner on a descent, a crash, a rolled tubular, and my fast-becoming favorite - course tape in cassette.
To hit the highlights - my front wheel washed out when I thought I was anchored --> dropped chain and scraped right knee. Broke too late into said hairpin --> rolled tire, nice gouge on inside of left knee from canti brake, time lost remounting tire on wheel plus swapping front wheel in pit. All of the above led to me set to be lapped by the big boys, which leads me to my favorite - course tape in cassette.
I wanted to not be a dick so as the leaders were passing me, I pulled over to the right (wind coming from right and blowing the tape into the course) so the PROs could have the clean, un-taped line. Nice... after stopping to remove the tape, I rolled back to the finish line to get pulled and take my sweet 39th place.
So that race sucked, which sucks because I at least felt like I was able to hold a good pace when a lot of guys were cracking and hemorrhaging time. Eh well, there's always next time.

Later

-the ATM

"Oh, excuse me Russell,

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Sweet pain

Man, that was crazy. 100 guys lined up for a cross race and off goes the gun. I got shafted on the call up since I thought they would line up by reg number but when the mass of people surged forward I knew I was screwed. It actually helped tho since there was a pile up of about 20 guys and I was able to avoid it. The next 10 minutes were a blur of sprinting, pain and more pain.
The course was wide open but alot of sections were in deep grass that absolutely sucked any momentum I had. I was working the corners pretty well, even if the owner of Challenge tires told me after the race I had way too much pressure in my tires. No matter, I still got paid from dollar-hand ups. I grabbed $6 but lost one as I was just in front of two barriers on a run up.

Since I knew I was going to get lapped, I decided to gain whatever time I was losing by adding style points whenever possible. There was one section that was a perfect spot to air out a bit, so for the last 4 or so laps I was crossing up to the delight of the crowd. I sure hope I can find a few of those pics because that would be a hella-sweet blog pic.
So the final result is that I ended up getting pulled just over 50 minutes into the race, which is about 10-15 minutes longer than I expected to be in there. This was evident when at the start I saw no less that Thomas Frischknecht, Christoph Sauser - you know - current World MTB champ, Mud and Cowbells, plus the usual murderers such as Barry Wicks, Todd Wells, Ryan Trebon, J-Pow, current CX US National champ Tim Johnson. Oh, and Lance Armstrong showed up to boo's at the call up. Funny stuff.

With out a doubt, that was THE hardest race I've ever done. Period.

So Interbike is awesome so far, and I can only imagine it's going to get better!

-the ATM