Provincial Masters 30-39 cyclocross

The provincial cyclocross races were held in Devon on Saturday. I made a strategic mistake on Wednesday when I decided to follow my race licence and register in my proper age category. Not wise for someone who finishes at the back of the slowest category to suddenly decide to race some of the fast guys in the higher category just because they have a similar age. We also had a small field of just 15 or so racers so there were very few other silly old men at the back of the pack with me. And by very few, I mean none. Well, I did pass Tim but he had wiped out on the gravel on the start of the first lap. It didn't take long for him to get back past me. I would find out later that he only completed one lap before dropping out since he bent his derailleur hanger. So, technically I wasn't last because there was one DNF but I'm pretty sure I was the only one who finished a lap down. Otherwise, it was an enjoyable race. It was a fun course with one climb which got a little steep at the end. The downhill was a little bumpy and had a sharp left turn at the bottom so I couldn't go down too fast. It took me until the last lap to finally ride through the sand pit by the playground. I had a little crash on my second-last lap as I went through the sand coming out of the forest trail. I quite enjoyed going through The Agitator except I see it really messed up my GPS. I'm missing about 800 m of the race since I did six laps and my longest lap is 2.55 km but my total is just 14.63 km and there was an extra 100 m or so from the start to the start line. The only part of the course I didn't really enjoy was the north end before coming back to The Agitator. There were no interesting turns and a few bumps on the racing line which I could never seem to avoid. I hit one in particular quite hard on a number of laps and was jolted by my saddle each time. I ended up with a bruised tailbone after the race and I think it's from some bumps in the north end of the course though it might have been from my adventures in the sand pits. It's been quite sore for a day and I think it'll take a few more before it completely goes away. In total, my GPS recorded 14.63 km of racing in 51:29 for an average speed of 17 km/h though I think it should be 15.4 km and an average of 17.9 km/h. My lap times were 8:06, 8:17, 8:26, 8:46, 8:58 and 8:47 plus the little run-up to the start. My average heart rate was 168 bpm and I had a maximum of 184 bpm. This was my last bike race of the year and the golf clubs are in storage too. I'm now waiting for it to get cold and start snowing so I can switch to skiing and skating. Since I don't ski that much, I'd prefer the snow to wait a little since I only need about 25 more commutes to work to break 3000 km for the year.

Tuesday night cyclocross #6

The last Tuesday night cyclocross turned out to be the most fun one for me. I decided to run a much higher tire pressure since I was having issues with my tires on grass at the 35-40 psi I was at in my previous six races. The grass was firm so I decided to pump them all the way up to 60 psi and they felt great. It seemed I had more grip in the corners and on the many off-cambre sections. I also enjoyed the course which, though lacking in technical turns, had a number of good, sweeping turns and the first barrier placed parallel along the slope of the hill that I've ever experienced. It turned out to be a great challenge to many as most cyclists dismount on the left side of their bike and that was the downhill side. For 'cross dismounts, I usually swing my right leg off the bike and coast with my left foot on the pedal so I had no troubles with this barrier. I did see a few racers crash through the barrier and I was able to make up a lot of time on the racers around me every time we went over it. During the race, I was always fighting for position with a number of other racers around me. While starting my last lap, I think I heard Corey yelling at me to chase down a rider a little ways in front of me. I had noticed on the previous laps that he had difficulties in the corners, relative to me, and was quite slow over the barrier. I caught him on the first few corners and made an easy pass over the barrier. I didn't, however, ride hard enough after getting back on my bike and he caught and passed me on the gradual uphill leading to the second barrier. I lost a little more ground on the dip section as I rode the wrong line in order to let someone from one of the higher categories through. I tried to keep the gap with the rider ahead during the straighter sections of the course and I closed some of the gap while going through the two sets of corners. By the final set of corners, I was right on the rider's back wheel. Despite not being in a big enough gear and not being able to change gears because I took the really bumpy line to the finish, I was able to get ahead by a wheel in the sprint for well back in the pack. I ended up 14th out of 19 racers. I finished the 6.3 km course in 21 minutes with lap times of 5:10, 5:13, 5:15 and 5:09 plus the run up at the start. A negative split of just six seconds on my last lap probably shows that I was mostly waiting for the final sprint finish instead of really picking up the pace on the final lap. I had an average speed of 17.6 km/h with a maximum of 30.7 km/h. My average heart rate was 166 bpm with a maximum of 179 bpm.

Red Cross

Sunday was the Red Cross cyclocross race. The course was the same as the previous day except run in reverse. This made the course a little faster than the day before but some of the descents became a bit trickier. I liked the course run this way a bit better though I rode the wrong line in two of the downhill hairpins which made those corners much more difficult than they needed to be. It wasn't until I was lapped on my fourth lap that I saw the better line that the leaders were using. My day started out better as I remembered to bring my GPS. This luck didn't last long as I crashed on a little downhill chicane about halfway through the first lap. I had noticed it was a little slippery going up the day before and, with the awkward, off-cambre exit, was even more treacherous going downhill. My front tire slid out from under me as I was going through the chicane and I ended up on my side with some grass stuffed up the leg of my shorts. My chain also came off in the crash and I tried, unsuccessfully, to turn the cranks and have it catch and put itself back on. This is much easier to do on the road when you're not on the side of a grassy ravine. I tried twice and the chain jammed each time. I had to relent and use my hand to put my chain back on. By that point, I was way off the back. Before the end of the lap, I was able to catch and pass the rider I lapped the day before but I had pretty much lost interest in the race as I was alone for the rest of it. I still rode the corners fairly tight and have a good scrap on my right arm from a brush with a wooden picket. I think a few of the riders I was with at the back of the pack during the Jim Horner GP decided to get a head start on their turkey on Sunday. My GPS data shows I lost a lot of time with my crash and chain issues. The first lap can be a little slow for riders at the back since there's lots of slowing down to get through the bottlenecks until the field gets strung out. My first lap had a moving time of 7:43 while it had a duration of 8:03. Twenty seconds of not moving seems like a lot and that doesn't include the going slow with my chain off. All my lap times were 8:03, 7:16, 7:30, 7:36, 7:41 and 7:41. My total moving time was 45:27 and I covered about 12.6 km for an average speed of 16.6 km/h with a maximum of 27.7 km/h. My heart rate averaged 167 bpm with a maximum of 177 bpm.

Jim Horner Grand Prix

Today was the Jim Horner GP cyclocross race down at the Argyll Velodrome. You'll have to take my word on that 'cause I forgot my GPS at home. I get a lot of enjoyment out of logging data while I'm riding and it felt a little odd to look down and not see my GPS on my bars. I think it's the first time in six years I haven't recorded a ride. The course made good use of the small ravine near the velodrome as the riders had to cross the ravine three times during the race and all the significant twists and turns were located along the ravine's edges. As per usual, I spent my race at the back of the field though I actually lapped one rider. I was close to three other riders for the opening few laps but my stamina is limited and they started to pull away after the halfway point of the race. While I was with them I noticed my usual catching up on the corners and falling back on the straights. I really need to get some power and stamina back in my legs. I should really spend some time at the gym and on the trainer this offseason. Before the race, I was talking with fellow ERTCers Marg and Greg. We got on to the usual topic before a race of tire pressures. Greg and I were both running about 40 psi, which he considered a little hard but good for the course and I consider to be about as soft as I'm willing to go. The difference in attitude probably comes down to our body weight. If I remember correctly, Greg is a little shorter than me but much leaner and has a slighter build. He remarked that he's just under 60 kg. At 40 psi, he only has a total of just over three square inches of tire in contact with the ground. Even in high school when I was relatively fit, I was still heavy for my size. I'm currently quite fat so I outweigh Greg by over 25 kg. I once got a rough estimate of my lean body weight and, if it is still the same today, at 0% body fat, I would be 7 kg heavier than Greg's current weight. My weight means I had nearly five square inches of tire in contact with the ground during today's race. That's not actually a bad thing during a cyclocross race as the tire tends to spread out and float on top of grass instead of trying to sink in and leave deep tracks. Greg and I also chatted after the race about trying to brake less through corners. Cycling is all about momentum and I wonder if that's yet more incentive to lose the 12 kg I should lose. In theory, I could go through corners much faster with the same centrifugal force because of my reduced mass. In today's race I covered an unknown number of kilometres in something over 40 minutes. My lap times may have been consistent but might have dropped off in the end. I felt I worked hard the whole time but I cannot quantify that with numbers on my heart rate.

Tuesday night cyclocross #5

This Tuesday's race should have been my kind of course. It was mostly flat with a good number of turns. After being okay for the School of Cross and last Tuesday's race but feeling slippery during the Hop 'n' Hurl, my new Michelin Mud 2 tires should have been in their element on the wet grass. I wasn't able to take advantage because my race started after the Sun had officially set and ended right around the end of civil twilight. It probably seemed even darker due to the heavy overcast skies. With my extremely poor night vision, that meant I couldn't go too fast and I was often left guessing as to where the course went. Luckily, I wore my contact lenses because my glasses were fogging up on the second lap and I had to take them off as they were making my limited vision even worse. I had the clear lenses in and left them on at the start in case I took a tree branch in the face; a real possibility with all the turns around trees. On my second lap, I was having so much trouble seeing that I entered one corner way too fast. I wasn't able to make my bike turn on the wet grass at that speed so I had to slow way down then lock up my back tire so I could slide it around to get lined up for the exit of the corner. A few turns later I completely left the course, taking another rider who was following me for a little circle so we could rejoin the race. By my third lap, I was starting to be passed by the lead A riders and I had given up trying to ride very hard. I stayed in just to get a little bit of extra exercise. My lap times were 4:37, 4:53, 4:51 and 5:07 with my second lap including a few seconds of riding in a small circle trying to get back on course. I averaged 18.3 km/h with a maximum speed of 27.3 km/h over the 6 km course. My average heart rate was 161 bpm with a maximum of 172 bpm. For comparison, my average heart rate during the School of Cross was two beat per minute above my maximum heart rate on Tuesday. Next Tuesday the start time will be moved up 30 minutes so my race should start before the official sunset. I might ride with my headlamp just in case.

Tuesday night cyclocross #4

After the problems I had on the weekend, things seemed back to normal at Tuesday's cyclocross race. I really enjoyed the course as it had a few good turns and the downhill section was fun. The quick downhill was a little intimidating during my warm-up lap but it was really no problem at all. I would have enjoyed a few more turns on the course but the long straight was slightly downhill so it went quickly. I felt good for the whole race and was able to push myself without extended run-ups on hills really pushing my heart rate too high. There is a noticeable dip in my heart rate on the first lap as I decided to draft another rider along the long straight, which I thought was into the wind. The wind turned out not to be that strong as did the rider in front of me. My heart rate starts to climb again as soon as I decided to make my pass. Official results were not available but I finished about where I usually finish in these races with just a small number of riders behind me. If you're interested to see just was cyclocross is like, check out these helmet-cam videos. I haven't seen myself being passed yet. I kept up my even lap times with laps of 7:00, 7:01, 7:08 and 7:05 plus the run to the start. I did 8.4 km in 28:35 for an average speed of 17.7 km/h and a maximum speed of 30.1 km/h. I had an average heart rate of 167 bpm with a maximum of 180 bpm. The night did end poorly as one rider collapsed after finishing. His status can probably best be monitored over at the race blog.

So long, suckers!

Today was Free Admission Day at some of the city's attractions. After my race and a nap, I pulled my girls in the bike trailer down to Fort Edmonton Park. The great thing about taking our bikes was that we got to pass all the cars idling in a one kilometre queue waiting to get into the parking lot. I had wondered if we'd make it to the park since I didn't know if the sidewalk on the Quesnell bridge had been opened yet. Naturally, the bridge was kept open to traffic and the road was completed a few weeks ago but the sidewalk must have just opened this week after being closed for about three years. The alternatives for pedestrians and cyclists was a long detour to the foot bridge between the Laurier dog park and Hawrelak Park or the shuttle. The shuttle has now been cancelled since the bridge's sidewalk has reopened. We used to watch the shuttle bus pass right in front of Mom's house; usually with no one on it. The City's website states that access to Fort Edmonton Park would not be affected by the bridge work. The City must only mean vehicle access as the sidewalk and path to Fort Edmonton Park were obstructed with dirt, gravel and trailers being used for the bridge work. Still, my wife and I were able to ride past all the cars just trying to get to the parking lot. We locked our bikes at the racks right outside the front entrance.

Flopped but didn't hurl

Sunday was Hardcore's Hop 'N' Hurl cyclocross race. It was run in the opposite direction of the School Of Cross race with just a few small modifications in the ravine. I was able to ride a few more parts of the ravine section but there were still six dismounts per lap. I felt better about the course and the race than I had the previous day but that came to an end on the first steep descent into the ravine. I twisted my front wheel about half way down the hill and went right over the handlebars. I got my only revenge against the course by going right through one of the stakes and breaking it. I continued on with grass in my right shifter and tucked between my front tire and rim. I was very surprised that my front tire wasn't a potato chip after twisting it in that rut on a downhill. I didn't really inspect my bike, or myself, before jumping back in the race but I could tell after a while that the rear wheel wasn't 100% and my lower body number was hanging on with just one pin. After the race, I noticed that I'll have to spend a little time aligning my rear wheel before Tuesday's race. Two of the three pins that ripped were still in my jersey. I picked up another DNF after three laps. In retrospect, I should have continued on in both races as they would have totalled about an extra 40 minutes of good training. After my fall, I was running second-last and starting to lose contact with the guy just in front of me. My lap times were more consistant at 9:14, 9:26 and 9:57. I had an average heart rate of 171 bpm with a maximum of 183. I was indeed trying as hard as I could but I don't go very fast for that kind of effort.

Schooled at 'cross

Saturday was the ERTC's School of Cross cyclocross race. I knew it'd be much tougher than the Tuesday races as I'd have to keep my effort up for twice as long. That turned out to not be quite true as I DNFed. This course was like two different courses in one and neither one suited me very well. Half of the lap was spent close to the school with some tight turns mixed in with lots of long straights. The ravine section was mostly steep climbs and steep descents. Over the course of a lap, I had to get off my bike six times. I might replace my small chainring with something even smaller for next year as one or two of the hills could have been climbed while on my bike, if I had a few lower gears. I ended up dropping out after just two laps. I was really struggling at the end of my second lap. I can blame it all on my lack of training though I was also fighting a sore throat and cold brought home by my eldest daughter from preschool. I ended up riding for just 20:09 with my second lap being about 50 seconds slower than my first. I averaged 173 bpm with a maximum heart rate of 184.

Tuesday night cyclocross #3

This week's Tuesday cyclocross race was back at Gold Bar Park. As much as the first course at Gold Bar played to my only strength, this one showed more of my weaknesses. The climbs were sprinters' climbs so I didn't suffer too much from an extended effort but I knew I would lose time on the long, grassy straights. I was behind one woman on the first and second laps who I would catch on the few sets of corners and on some of the little climbs but she was able to pull away on the straights. Shantel pointed out Lori-Ann Muenzer for me before the race and, for the second week in a row, I completed my first lap right behind her before she started to fade. The barriers were on a hill just after the start/finish line and I got over them faster than Lori-Ann and I didn't see her again until the end of the race. I introduced myself after the race and she's a very nice, very approachable person. Like a true track cyclist, she encouraged me to convert my commuter to a fixed-gear and come out for track next year. I was able to ride all of the climbs, though I ran up the climb after the barriers, but I had a little trouble with my back tire slipping on the last climb and I felt I was very close to sliding out on a few corners. I've been commuting on pavement on my 'cross bike using my Nokian tires tires almost the entire summer and the centre of the tires seem quite worn which would explain the trouble on climbs but not the corners. These are the tires which came with my bike but I've never really liked them for racing so my plan became to just use them as a commuter tire. I've just put on a pair of Michelin Mud 2 tires for this Saturday's School of Cross. I'm planning on leaving these on my bike for the rest of the 'cross season. I have a pair of Michelin Country Rock tires coming for my mountain bike, which is supposed to be my commuter bike but I had so many flats this Spring every time I put slicks on it I switched to my 'cross bike. I ended my night in 22nd spot out of 34 racers in my group. Two places worse than last week with six more riders. I completed 8.7 km in 26:35 for an average speed of 19.6 km/h and a top speed of 38.5 km/h. I averaged 169 bpm with a maximum heart rate of 182 bpm. I again had consistent lap times. Officially they were 6:33, 6:31, 6:34 and 6:44. I knew the little climbs and long straights were taking their toll on me. I also lost a little incentive to push hard as I finished 20 seconds behind the woman in front of me and 20 seconds in front of the man behind me. Although, my heart rate averaged 174 bpm on both of the final two laps.

Tuesday night cyclocross #2

This Tuesday's cyclocross race took place at Capilano Park. All my talk about starting at the front and fighting for the first few corners was not put to the test as, right after the start, the course turned right and climbed a hill then went over the barriers. As expected, I was slow up the hill but I'm much quicker than other riders around me over the barriers. The following single-track section was enjoyable but my least favourite part of the course was right after; some sweeping corners around trees on a gradual uphill. The top part of the course was good with more wide corners and a quick down and up dip. There were a few technical corners but this seemed to be more of an endurance course which didn't suit me. The full results were available this time and I finished 20th out of 28. I made up one position on the last lap as someone, who had just passed me, suddenly had his brake rubbing on something. He probably rolled his tire off somehow and was rubbing his tube as he suffered a sudden pop to his back tire. I made up one more place as I caught a fading Erin Middleton going over the barriers. She quickly took the place back around the baseball diamond but I hung on her wheel for most of the rest of the lap. Just after we witnessed the tire explosion, I passed her and was able to stay in front until the end. I felt I was faster through the corners and I went just before the last technical section. As I scanned the results, I noticed that I beat Olympic gold medalist, Lori-Ann Muenzer. I'm sorry to say I wouldn't recognize her if I saw her but Marg recognized her during the race and picked up the tempo. Unfortunately for Marg, Lori-Ann was toiling in the C race and not in Marg's B race. Luckily, there wasn't a velodrome section on the course. Corey's not going to believe that my lap times were 5:41, 5:34, 5:36 and 5:34 plus the run-up at the beginning. In total, I covered the 6.6 km course in 22:42 for an average speed of 17.4 km/h with a top speed of 29.8 km/h. I had an average heart rate of 164 bpm and a maximum of 186 bpm. I was a little tired to start the race as I rode 8.6 km to work in the morning and 20 km from work to MEC to Marg's to the race. I did another 19.5 km afterwards to get home.

Tuesday night cyclocross #1

I returned to cyclocross racing today after two years off. As expected, it hurt quite a bit. I'm about 10 kg heavier than I'd like to be and 15 kg more than where I'd ideally be for racing; though it's been over 20 years since I've been that light. My training this summer has consisted mainly of commuting 20 minutes each way to work. In fact, about 1650 km of the 2000 km I've done so far in 2011 have been classified as commuting.

Anyway, I registered in the slowest category and started towards the back. I'm debating about starting further forward and fighting for position around the first corner since I always get caught in the bottleneck and am all over the rider in front of me for much of the first lap in all my races. Today wasn't any different and I even got a little impatient and put an aggressive pass on some other racers through a few of the corners. I didn't hear any complaints from behind the few times I came into a corner from off the racing line, got position on the rider in front of me before the apex but had to sweep wide, across the racing line, coming out of the corner.

I really enjoyed today's course as it was mainly flat. I'm a poor climber but I like to think I'm a good bike-handler so it suited me. I was able to ride a steady race and didn't have to blow myself up once or twice a lap on a climb. I noticed I tended to catch riders in front of me through technical sections and lose a little ground on the straights. That's to be expected because of my poor fitness.

I suffered a little mental fatigue right at the end. I convinced myself that the last corner marked by blue tape was just after the blue tape. I was really deep in the corner when I realized I should be turning before the tape. I locked up my back tire on the grass and skidded sideways into the tape. A guy and a girl, each on mountain bikes, were able to get past me and stay there until the finish line.

Overall, I covered 7 km in about 22 minutes for an average of 19.3 km/h and a max speed of 27.2 km/h. My lap times were 5:36, 5:23, 5:29 and 5:27. It hurt a lot but I love racing cyclocross. I don't know the official results but I feel I had a respectable finish. My goal was to not be last and it seemed there were a number of riders coming in behind me.

Half active transportation

I was able to get in one and a half active transportation outings in this weekend. The half came first on Saturday when LP and I were looking after my cousin's two kids. The eldest is three days older than my eldest and the youngest is a year younger than my youngest. We didn't get their carseats from my cousin and we wanted to go to Kites Over Collingwood. LP loaded up our two in the bike trailer and took off down the lane. I collected the last few things we needed and buckled my cousin's kids into the van and started driving. LP and I arrived at Collingwood Park at nearly the exact same time. I measured the ride on Google Earth once and it's about 4.5 km. All four children had a good time with the kites that they decorated. The bouncy castle and squishees were also a big hit with all the young ones.

On Sunday, LP and I took the girls over to see their grandma for dinner. It was a perfect evening for cycling and, after doing a little yardwork, we got home just as the sun was setting. We had the turtle lights flashing on the trailer, just in case.

There was a bonus active transportation activity today. LP came downtown with the girls this afternoon. I'm told they went to City Hall and played in the fountains. They then came for a visit at my work. We took the bike route on 102 Ave home and were able to cover the 8.9 km in half an hour. Biking and pulling the trailer with two little dozing girls is truly a wonderful way to commute home.

A summer of exploration

LP and I are very happy with the location of our new house. We have been able to enjoy a number of activities around the city without relying on our car.

Foremost is our proximity to the school grounds. LP often took the girls to play in the park during the summer. She met a few other mothers and some of Julie's future classmates. Julie starts preschool in a week and we're planning on sending both girls to the school for its Chinese program. They'll have a short walk and will be able to enjoy hot lunches at home.

The first activity to which we enjoyed walking was swimming. The local pool offers an hour of free swimming each week to community league members. We're close enough that even Shannon could walk there before she turned two. LP has also walked to the local grocery store with the girls when she just needd a few items.

LP used her bike and trailer to take the girls to the library and new splash park a number of times this summer. After taking a route across the Whitemud and 170 St which wasn't very friendly for family cycling, we were able to plot a much quieter route on Google Maps. She can now get to the splash park in under 20 minutes along bike paths and residential streets.

We also travelled to three big events this summer by bike. In July, I pulled the girls in the trailer downtown to watch the Capital Ex parade. It's about 9 km to downtown along the river valley trails. LP pulled the girls home in an hour since I had to be at work. In August, we biked to Heritage Days at Hawrelak Park. Three weeks later, we again biked to Old Strathcona and the Fringe Festival. The kids' section of the festival seemed to get off to a slow start on its last day but the commute was enjoyable and the girls both napped for 40 minutes during the ride home. I guess my riding style just isn't exciting enough.

Thinking about thinking

Here's my attempt to try and start writing again. Now that I've completed my Masters of GIS, I've had to do much, much, much less writing. Issues of urban mobility are still on my mind and I'm planning on sharing some of my experiences. I now live in a more walkable neighbourhood and I'm enjoying not needing the car to do everything. I hope to post about the enjoyable walks I've had taking the kids to the pool and getting groceries. My wife's been pulling the bike trailer to libraries and splash parks all summer. We also opted to take the bikes for our family trips to Heritage Days and the Fringe Festival. I hope I'll also have a post or two about a new LRT line which is supposed to pass close to my home. It's still a long way away but I'm looking forward to it.

Plus, I'll soon have some stories about suffering at the back of the pack in cyclocross races.