The new cog required a special tool for removal which I did not have. Once it was installed, it was on there until I could acquire a tool. I was ready for the easier gear, but I have raced Crossfire before. It features minimal climbing so I was a bit nervous that the gear would be too easy, but I was willing to risk it.
We were treated to some beautiful December weather, quite the opposite of the previous week's rain and cold. It was a sunny morning with clouds building in the afternoon. The temperature started in the upper-40s and raised to the mid-60s by the end of the race day. There was a slight threat of rain for the final race, but it held off until several hours after racing wrapped up.
The Crossfire CX race takes place on a farm just east of Franklin. The course is mostly grass with a little bit of dirt path thrown in amid some trees. My favorite part of the course has always been the barn we go through at the start of each lap. It's a fast course with minimal climbing and few technical features, best suiting those riders with a lot of power that can hold a high pace for the full race distance. As far as obstacles go, other than a few sharp corners there was little to slow us down other than a pair of barriers, one small log and an off-camber bank. The biggest challenge I saw was that the course looked to have been mowed very recently through some thicker brush. Half of the course was grass, while the other was a mix of pasture weeds. I saw lots of sharp stobs in the second half of the course and more thorns than I could count. It looked like a scary place for skinny cyclocross tires. I was just hoping to make it through the day without a flat.
Singlespeed was the first race of the morning. There was no real path on the grassy sections yet so we were riding on a fresh, soft course. We had a stacked field with all the local hotdogs of singlespeed cyclocross on the start line. We had seven starters, including Michael Edens and Paul Gates who both got the best of me last weekend. Also on the start line was Justin Lowe, who rides more than any man I have ever met. He was talking about how slow he is feeling lately and how he wasn't ready for cross. If you have ever been to a bike race you have heard this kind of talk from at least one person before the race, and chances are those people smoked everyone during the race. That's just the way it goes. So, of course, I was watching Justin.
Emerging out of the barn on lap 1 of the Singlespeed race
photo by Mark Keranen
I had a much better start than last week, making it to the barn in second behind Edens. Justin came flying by me a few corners later, but he and Edens then sat up in the first open field stretch. I came flying up on them and went straight past, putting in a good dig to try to stretch things out. On the next rise, Justin came to my right and we had a drag race to the top of the hill. We were bar-to-bar all the way up the rise before he pulled past me as we started down the descent. He spun like a mad man down the following hill while I decided to slow things down a bit and settle into my rhythm. It was a pretty intense start, made even more crazy by the fact that they were actually still out taping the course as we came around the first time.
Justin got a bit of a gap that got bigger in the worst section of stobs where the barriers were. The scruffy ground felt like sand and it sapped my speed making my gear feel no better than it did before the cog change. I lost three spots and a big chunk of time in this section the first lap.
On lap 2, I pulled back up to 4th, only to lose it again in the stobby section where I just couldn't turn the gear. I had to run the off-camber bank every lap, but one as I just couldn't turn the gear over in that slow of a section. The riders ahead of me were able to ride it and pulled away from me every lap. Halfway through the 30-minute race I secured 4th and set out after Michael Edens. The Juniors started just behind us and Harrison Klapheke was able to pass his way up toward the front of the Singlespeed race. He kept giving Edens a tow in the open sections where the wind was a big problem. I could close down the gap in the first part of the course, then maintain on the open sections where Harrison was pulling, but then I kept dropping time to Edens at the end of the course. I worked hard all the way to the end, but never could close down those last few seconds on Edens. I may have been pushing with all I had, but I did take a second to swipe a powdered donut off a stick that someone was holding out into the course on one lap. That was my first ever powdered donut hand-up in a race. There were some kids holding out sticks as well, some with donuts on them and others with marshmallows. I tried to take a donut from a little girl, but ended up missing and shattering her stick. Ooops!
I finished the race in 4th. Justin was long gone and finished way out front to get the win. It was a good course for him and he picked a good gear. So much for being worried about having too easy of a gear. If I hadn't changed to the bigger cog I would not have even been able to ride that last quarter of the course.
I ran my GoPro handlebar cam during the Singlespeed race. You can see a clip of the donut hand-up directly below, followed by the full handlebar cam video.
Video: Powdered donut hand-up
Video: Full Singlespeed race from my handlebar cam. Exciting first lap!
Dina raced the Fat Tire class on her mountain bike, which raced at the same time as Singlespeed and Juniors. She ended up 4th in a combined male-female category. She also raced the CX 3/4 Women's race later in the day, taking 2nd in a really good race that saw lots of positions change during the race. I had a great time cheering her on, snapping pics and watching some really good racing as I waited for the Pro/1/2/3 race which was the last race of the day.
Dina leading the CX 3/4 Women's race
CX 3/4 Women podium
CX 4/5 rider
The highlight race of the day for me was the Masters event, which saw a large group together the first few laps before the torrid pace and flat tires whittled the group down to four. Justin Lowe made that front group despite getting gapped several times due to mistakes in corners and over the small log jump. If that guy ever gets good skills every cross racer around here better beware! The Masters race ended with a good sprint finish taken by Alessandro Zanetti over Zdenek Fiebinger.
Nago goes over the barriers
Lawrence Czarnecki
The ageless Tom Gee
Dave Richardson
Chris Cooper hops the log
Cooper
Lee Clayton
Dave out of the saddle
The leaders pass by the pond along the course
The Pro/1/2/3 race was late in the afternoon. The opportunity to shorten the race was there due to darkness so of course we were shortened. My fellow riders were good with changing to 45 minutes. Actually, they were asking the official to shorten before he even brought up the daylight issue. I did not agree with them, but arguing is pointless when you are the only one that feels the Pro field should race a full hour like the flyer said. To me, if you don't want to race the scheduled distance then don't come. Fifteen minutes in a Pro race is a long time. The outcome of a sprint or attack after 45 minutes is very different compared to one after guys have 60 minutes in their legs. If distance didn't make a difference then every category would race the same distance. A short race does me no good because I am preparing for a season of XC races around two hours long.
I got a good jump off the line on the start. I was three-wide with Justin Lowe to my outside as we came through the finish line. Justin and I both slid through the sweeping left turn as we headed up to the barn for the first time. I was into the barn in the top four out of our seven riders, still battling for third with Justin. As we came out of the barn with a sharp right turn, I felt the back tire roll out. I had a flat! I must have found one of those thorns on the way to the start and it leaked as we sat on the line. That's why I slid through the first turn. It had a little air in it, so I was able to limp through the first half of the lap to reach the pits, which saved me a lot of time compared to running. By the time I reached the pit and changed over my Garmin to the singlespeed, I was over a minute behind the other six riders. It was not impossible to catch back up, but it was going to be really hard to do it on a singlespeed, especially considering how much I struggled on this bike earlier in the day and the fact that our race was now just 3/4 of the usual length.
I had a lot of adrenaline flowing when I got back on the course. The line was much more rode-in than in my first race of the day, so my lap times were better. About halfway through the race, I caught Josiah Lightle and moved up to 6th, but that was as far up as I could get. I gained some time on 5th, but not enough to really make a dent into a gap that big. My legs were destroyed by the time I got to the end of the official race at 45 minutes, but I kept going for three more laps to get in a full hour. I bet the guys tearing down the course thought I was nuts still out there hammering laps after the race, but I know I need it to be ready for the real races next year. Darkness was not an issue. Even with the clouds that had settled in overhead the light had not dimmed much at all. We had so much light left that I was able to finish my 60 minutes, change clothes, load the car and drive all the way back to Nashville before it got dark.
Josiah Lightle
Hopping the log on the singlespeed bike after a first-lap flat
A group of three stayed together for a sprint finish on the final lap, which was likely on a course this fast with little technical features and such a short race. Travis Werts wound up taking the win in a close sprint over Ian Umstead. Shannon Williams took third. My result was nothing to speak of in either race, but I got in another good workout which was my main goal. Video from the full day of racing shot by both me and Dina is posted below.
Leaders at the log
Me at the barriers near the end of the race
Video: Crossfire CX
I've been working hard to drop some weight prior to the holidays. We had our work Christmas party the day after Crossfire and I fell off the wagon a bit. I had to work late that night and wasn't able to ride until 9pm. It was late to be on the trainer, but I knew I needed to ride off some of that big meal. I had great legs despite being so tired the day before following the racing. I was settled in on the trainer which never happens so I just kept going. I ended up burning off all the extra calories I consumed plus some, clocking three and a half hours on the trainer before getting off at 1am. It was a new record for me as far as length of an indoor trainer ride. It feels good to be motivated enough to mentally last that long in addition to having the legs to ride that far after two races the previous day.
There's one more cross weekend to go next weekend, and then cross is over for the season as far as official races. But you can count on us having some home races for training over the next few months as we just have so much fun riding cross at home in the winter time. More on that in the next blog as I struggle to get caught back up on my posts.
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