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.