The third weekend of cross was a true weekend of racing with a double-header at the Cross the Harpeth CX races in Kingston Springs, TN. The races take place at Harpeth High School, which was one of our rival schools when I was in high school at Sycamore on the other end of Cheatham County. It's a race that's close to home and is put on by my favorite local promoter, Michael Edens. Edens always puts on good races and comes up with some really creative course features. The race was a lot of fun last year so I was excited to go back. The race also supports the Harpeth Youth Cycling Team, which is a high school cycling team. Harpeth might have been one of our rivals, but I am proud of them for creating the first cycling team in our area. I hope Sycamore can have a team one day in the future.
One cool thing about the course this year was that it got much closer to the school building. The layout of the Harpeth building is the same as Sycamore, so it was like I was riding right outside the classroom windows I spent so much time looking out. I would often daydream about riding some of the features near the building. I would even dream about cross courses some days. Now, it felt like those daydreams were actually happening!
The two days of racing could not have been more different as far as the weather goes. We started with a really warm, damp race and followed that up by one of the coldest days I have ever raced a bike combined with a really wet course. It was a strange 24-hour period for sure.
We had a cold week leading into the race. It felt more like February than December with highs in the 20s for several days in a row. But the warm air found it's way north to Tennessee on Friday and hung around for most of Saturday. It was over 60 degrees for most of Saturday, hitting 66 at the start of the Pro/1/2/3 race in the afternoon. The course was a tough, but fun loop that started with some off-camber grass turns before a giant tape spiral and then a longer climb up a dirt road. At the top of the climb came the big dirt hump that I thought was the most fun feature of last year's course. Most people hated that hump, but I thought it was quite fun. It was like jumping a spine at the skatepark. After the dirt pile came a quick descent off the hillside back down to the parking lot. This descent included two tight, off-camber grass turns. You had to punch it across the flat parking lot at the bottom because a short, steep hill awaited in the grass on the other side. If you weren't going full-blast you didn't make it up the climb. We then went behind the baseball dugout and then down a sidewalk before some more grass turns, a short piece of pavement, then the barriers. We then took a lap around the building. Edens found plenty of corners and slopes for us to ride. The front of the school was a long stretch in deep grass with a gradual incline to it before a flat stretch to the finish.
Course map for Saturday
I did not feel very good in my warm-up so I started slow. Everybody went up the dirt road climb very fast the first lap. I was surprised to find myself able to latch on to the end of the line without too much difficulty. I started to move up through the more difficult sections and found myself battling Jeff Kauppi for 2nd on lap 2. We went at it for two and a half laps before Kauppi crashed on the sidewalk section of the course.
Jeff Kauppi taking an off-camber turn with me chasing after him
I like the new black skinsuit
Kauppi on the steep grass hill
My turn at the hill
Three other riders on the hill
Kauppi and I on the grass section after the sidewalk
Jon Card was out front from the gun. Card is from northern Ohio and came down to avoid some frigid temps in his area and to prepare for Cyclocross Nationals coming up in January. I didn't know who he was, but I could tell he was fast the way he gapped everyone on the first lap. He opened up a 20 second gap before I got up to 2nd. I was able to hold the gap for one lap, but then he began to creep away at a rate of about five seconds per lap for the first half of the race. I faded a bit in the second half and gave up 10-15 seconds a lap in the final few laps. I had a good time riding the steep hill. I made it every single lap by using the bigger gear technique I picked up at the Red Kite/Halcyon Cyclocross race two years ago when I got schooled on their steep hill most of the race. Card took the win and I pulled away from the rest of the field to take the best-of-the-rest title in 2nd.
Jon Card
Card dominated
Kauppi and I battling for 2nd before he crashed
Completing a lap
Card on the dirt pile
Card was on another level today
I chased hard but ended up 2nd
Mark Myles hopping the barriers
1 to go
Jon Card wins it
photo by Jack Kapanka
2nd for me. Always hitting that lap button.
I also rode Singlespeed today, the final event of the day. I had a better start in Singlespeed, but could not hang with the other two riders in my class. I was 2nd for a while, but the climbs were just too much for me to push over. There was not much rest between each of the climbs and my legs just weren't strong enough to turn the gear. I ended up 3rd out of three with a pair of really tired legs.
Singlespeed/Junior/CX 4 Women start group
photo by Jack Kapanka
Edens with the hole shot. Harrison Klapheke on a wheelie.
photo by Jack Kapanka
Out of the first turn
photo by Mark Keranen
Edens leads into the grass
photo by Mark Keranen
photo by Mark Keranen
photo by Mark Keranen
Scott Marx and Edens battled for the lead in Singlespeed
Me in 3rd with Harrison leading Juniors behind me
photo by Mark Keranen
Marx eventually gapped Edens
Harrison Klapheke
Me chasing hard yet again today
Good battle going on for the younger Junior win
Tammy Richardson
Marx jumping the barriers
Marx rode the hill
Edens too
Harrison
I couldn't turn my big gear and had to hop off every lap.
Little Edens, Matthew Edens
I stayed with Harrison most of the race. Chasing him made me push hard.
Marx
Jessica Ratcliff
Edens
Tammy
Scott Marx wins Singlespeed
Edens trying to get this kid to sprint all the way to the line
Harrison finished like he started
Lap button...
Pro/1/2/3 podium
Junior Women podium
Junior 9-14 podium
Junior 15-18 podium
CX 4 Women podium
Singlespeed podium. Yeah, the v-neck skinsuit looks weird when you stand, but it sure fits good bent over on the bike. Definitely cut for riding.
Video: Cross the Harpeth CX #1
Video: Singlespeed race footage from my handlebar cam
After the race, Shannon and I went to a Christmas party at one of our neighbors' house. It's always my favorite party to go to each year. There's lots of good food and and fun times with people we don't get to see a whole lot during most of the year. The weather was insane while we were there in the evening. It was 73 degrees at sunset. Then thunderstorms came through with some nasty wind and lightning. They dumped a lot of rain in a short amount of time. The temperature then began to drop. In one hour it went from 73 to 34 and the rain changed over to sleet and snow. We drove home in a mix of all sorts of precipitation. We actually ended up with more ice than snow reaching the ground, so things were not as white as I expected the next morning. But there was plenty of ice on the trees that shimmered in the morning sun as I drove back to Kingston Springs for race two.
It was 22 degrees when I got to the race. The course was a muddy mess. The surface of the ground was still too warm to fully freeze, especially with so many riders churning up the mud. I expected a lot of frozen ruts, so I brought my mountain bike as well as the cross bike. I was disappointed on my first lap, finding only big puddles of water and some deep mud. I decided to go with the mountain bike anyway to help in the deep mud and never took the cross bike out of the car.
We had several riders pre-registered for the Pro/1/2/3, but only Jon Card and I made it to the start line. This sort of weather does weed out the softies. My mountain bike choice turned out to be a bad idea as the deep mud sections were removed form the course before our start and it was too late to make a bike change. I knew Jon was stronger than me after yesterday, but I thought the mud would help equalize things. It had warmed up to 26 degrees when we started. There were only two people standing outside watching us start. The course was basically the reverse of yesterday's course with some slight changes. We didn't go into the courtyard of the school as that's where the deep mud was. Edens also put in the concrete stairs we had to negotiate last year. We did not descend the super steep grass climb, but instead stayed along the ridge on a dirt road that took us to the big dirt pile and dirt road descent down to the front of the school for the famous Edens tape spiral.
Card went hard on the start and easily beat me to the first turn as my fat tires were a bit slower to get going. He slipped a little on the inside of the turn, so I opted for an outside line. We went into the turn way faster than I expected and it was a little tighter on the exit than I thought. I found myself in the tape and I hit a stake, which sent me over the bars and down hard on my right side in a puddle. As if the cold wasn't bad enough, now my right hip, arm and hand were soaked. It took me a minute to get out of the tape and get going. I actually lost my glove and had to find it in the puddle before I could put it back on. My race quickly went from fun to a battle for survival. Card was long gone and it was now just me against myself.
I was so cold the first three laps. My skinsuit actually froze to the skin on my hip. I kept trying to rub it with my hand. The rubbing, combined with my body heat and the wind, did finally dry the skinsuit and I got warm again. I was seriously getting worried about some frostbite for a minute there. For the middle portion of the race I didn't see anyone out watching, not even an official. I think it was just me and Jon out there riding our bikes around in frigid mud on opposite sides of the course. He ended up lapping me with one lap to go in a race that was shortened by a lap. Once he lapped me I was able to stay within 10 seconds of him until the end. The mountain bike was a bad choice. The fat tires did not roll near as fast as the cross tires. I could really see the difference when following Jon on the dirt road section. After the race, the officials were apologizing to him for there not being any "good riders" in attendance. You sit out there in temps that made most people stay home and you crash on the start, get soaked, but push on to the finish and nobody gives you any respect. One of the officials even went so far as to suggest I be downgraded. I got 2nd both days, even when there were more people in the race. Downgrade me to what? A CX 3? It was a Pro/1/2/3 race so if I don't belong then I guess I should be a CX 4 right? Yeah, I bet that would go over well with the other CX 4 riders. Geez.
The time between the Pro/1/2/3 and Singlespeed races seemed to take forever. It was worse than riding outside in wet clothes. Everyone was huddled in the back gym lobby of the school trying to stay warm. I didn't see much course pre-riding going on between the CX 4 Women and Juniors. I was freezing to death by the time they called us out to start. Edens told me to leave my jacket on to help me get warm, but the official wouldn't let me as he said he couldn't see my number. That is true, but there was only two of us racing this race as well, just me and Edens. That should be pretty easy to keep up with.
I was experiencing some uncontrollable shivering on the start line. Finally we took off. Edens got the hole shot while I got swallowed up by a few fast Juniors that got awesome starts. It took me a lap to get going, but then my legs felt pretty good and I got warm again. Well, everywhere except my hands. They were so cold I couldn't pull the brakes so I spent most of the second lap just trying to sling blood back into my hands, which did eventually work. During that time though, Edens smashed me and was 30+ seconds ahead. I couldn't ride one section as I didn't have enough grip on the rear tire in the mud to be able to put down the power necessary to turn my monster gear. I would gain on him, then have to run that section and he would pull away again. I stayed ahead of the Juniors though and took home another 2nd place out of two. At least I ended up with two podiums today and a little gas money to get me home. After the race, I stayed a few minutes extra to help clean up the course. Several other riders also pitched in and we had to the course torn down quickly. I then made my way back to the house and sat by the gas fireplace.
Video from my handlebar cam is posted below. No pictures as nobody wanted to stand outside and take them today.
Video: Cross the Harpeth CX #2 Singlespeed Handlebar Cam
It was an interesting weekend to say the least. I was happy with how I rode on Saturday. That was by far my best cross performance in a long time. My level of fitness is about right where I want it to be for this point in the year. I've been working on dropping weight, which has been a challenge with all the holiday sweets that appear this time of year. So far I have just stopped gaining which is half of the battle. I've been tracking my intake and making sure I burn off as much as I take in. We had a work Christmas party on the Monday after Cross the Harpeth and I fell off the wagon a bit. Actually, I fell off and it ran me over. Then the wagon driver backed up and ran over me again. I hopped on the trainer when I got home from work, even though it was almost 9 PM. I felt awesome and just kept riding until I got tired. I ended up on there until 1 AM, getting in over 3 1/2 hours of trainer time. I can't believe it, but it was actually easy to stay on there that long. That is definitely my longest trainer ride ever and a good sign for my motivation level right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment