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.