CCCX #2

What: Central Coast Cyclocross #2
Where: Fort Ord
Weather: Cloudy 65 degrees
Laps: 4
Time: 40 minutes
Field: 26
Finished: 5th

All photos by Rick Rasmussen. Thanks Rick

Relaxing before the start.

This is the second cross race of the season and my 4th in my short cyclocross career. I was excited about this race because for the first time I had a teammate Duane from Velo Club Monterey racing with me. Our race was the first race of the day which is good when you race at Fort Ord. By the end of the day the sand just gets deeper and deeper.


A few minutes later all 26 of us are off.

Since this was Duane's first cross race I gave him a few tips.
1. Pace yourself
2. Allow yourself two bike lengths from the rider in front of you. If he make a mistake or goes down you can pass him with little or no problems. (advise I did not follow on lap 1)
3. Give it all on the last lap. Don't leave anything on the course.


Duane on the climb (lap 1)

The start as with all cross races was fast. I was able to get into the top ten going into the first set of barriers. Since I crashed at about the same time into the race the week before I was still a little cautious. Once I remounted and started climbing I found myself in a group of 5 with a gap back to 6th place. I finished 6th last week so my only goal was to finish 6th or better. The 5 of us kept the gap on the backside of the course and across the flat pavement. Up and into the single track again we kept the tempo high enough to keep the gap from the other riders. Coming into the third set of barriers I was able to dismount and run across the barriers clean and remount the bike. However, After I clipped into the peddles and looked up the rider in front of me had gone down and I rolled into him and went down in a spectacular slow speed crash. All I wanted to do was not step on or fall on him. I was able to fall off to the side and after I pulled my bike off him and made sure he was ok we resumed racing. At this point the three riders we were with were now long gone and the 6th place rider was right behind us.


Lap 2 of 4. Trying to stretch out my lead from the 6th place rider.

Going into lap 2 with still a bit of adrenalin flowing from the crash the two of us 4th and (me) 5th tried to drop the 6th place rider on the climb. This worked until we hit the paved section on the back side where he was able to get back into striking distance of us. I was able to recover a bit and at this point I was thinking how my teammate Duane was doing. The 6th place rider was able to get on my wheel at the start of lap 3 now it was the three of us racing for a podium finish 5th.


Now on lap 3 of 4 it's a battle for 5th and a chance to medal.

On lap 3 since the top three rider were now well our of reach all I wanted to do was try to recover and watch the two riders in front of me and take advantage of any mistake they might make. As it turns out we were all playing it safe so nobody made any mistakes that would allow one of us to take advantage and get a gap. We traded place a few times then we started the last or bell lap.


Coming into the last barrier section on the last lap. I try to remember what my dad told me about running. Keep your knees high.

Remembering what I told Duane about not leaving anything out on course on the last lap I kicked the heart rate up to 91-93% of max or around 182 to 187 bpm. I knew from training the I could only hold this pace for 8 minutes or so and that each lap was around 10 minutes it was going to be close is I blew up or not. I figured I could recover a little on the downhill and draft on the paved sections so I thought it would be ok.

Now with less than half a lap to go the three of us were still racing for 4th, 5th, and 6th it was time to think about a move. On the last barrier section I came in a little fast but was able to get over the barriers cleanly and remount the bike and clip in on the first try (first time ever). I thought Shit! I'm in 4th place now all I have to do is not make a mistake and I'm on the podium. Coming into the last turn I went too wide and the 5th place rider passed me. I dug deep to keep his wheel and to keep the other rider from passing me. Now with less than 100 meters to go the sprint to the line was on. The two of us finish with the same time but he was able to get a half a wheel on me for 4th and I finished 5th.



First podium finish.

Here is a video my friend Stene Woo took on the first lap. I can be seen in the first 20 seconds of the video in the blue NOAA kit.

2008 CCCX #2 Fort Ord (Day Camp) Lap 1 of 4 from Steven Woo

What now?

The road racing season has come to a close, Tuesday night track races are done for the year. So what's a person to do?

A. Take a few months off and wait for the road racing season to start.
B. Work on that landscaping project you put off during the summer.
C. Start racing Cyclocross.

If you chose C you are correct!

Last season I raced a couple cyclocross races here in Monterey and quickly became hooked. The local series Central Coast Cyclocross is well run and the people are great to be around. Perhaps the best part is that the races only 15 minutes from my front door. No more waking up at 4 AM and driving hours to a race.



The first race of the 2008/09 season started at Fort Ord today. The groups were a bit larger than last year. This is mostly due to the fact that most of the racers are just coming off the road racing season and still have good form. It could also be that cyclocross is becoming more popular. Could CX be the new MTB?


2008 CCCX #1, Sept 21, Fort Ord, C Lap 1 of 4 from Steven Woo on Vimeo.
My Flickr friend Steven Woo captured this video of the first lap. I can be seen passing Steven at about the 5 minute mark . It's a good thing Steven was in front of me the first part of the lap because coming into the second set of barriers I ate it.


Le Ouch

The rest of the race went well with only a few mistakes. I passed several people during the 4 laps but it was difficult to tell what place I was in during the race due to the fact that other people were warming up on the course at the same time.


On the last lap two people passed me on the road section. This was ok because I thought I was in the middle of the pack. I kept pace with these two until the last climb up a sandy section. I passed one of the riders halfway up the hill and tried to keep the other in my sights. As he increased the tempo did not think I could keep up so I let him go.


Coming into the last set of barriers before the finish my rear wheel hit the first barrier and the bike bounced up above my head. I was able to hold it together over the second barrier and finished in 6th out of 26. I found out later that I was just one spot out of the prizes (A flat of Cal Giant Strawberries).

6th?! I thought I was mid pack. Oh well, Lesson learned. Race to win.

Check out the Race Report.

Tuesday Night Track

Hellyer Velodrome, San Jose

September 17th was the last "Tuesday Night Races" of the year at Hellyer.
The previous races were two 24 lap "points races" with sprints every 6 laps. This time we were treated to two 48 lap races. Since I am not a pure sprinter the longer distance was better for me.





Friends came to watch and cheer.

I felt move comfortable on the track this time out so my goal was to get into the sprints and race for some points. The first points race I wanted to watch the other riders and pick up some tips and tricks on how to race a points race.



The tips must have worked. I finished 3rd on the first race and 2nd on the last race.

Giro Di San Francisco

This was my last race of the 2008 road racing season.


The race was 24 laps (18 miles total) around Levi Plaza in San Francisco.


Only one little hill was on the circuit.


Then a slight downhill to recover. This part of the race was littered with wheel devouring potholes. I hear that one racer had his $1,500 wheels eaten by one of these holes.


The race was so fast that I did all I could just to hang onto the back.

This is what it looked like inside the pack from Steven Woo's cam



By about lap 18 of 24 I tried to move up but the pace was still too high to move up more than a few places.


I did manage to move up enough to see the front...


...but quickly faded to the back again.


When I though I was in difficulty all I had to do was look around and see what the other riders looked like. I felt better knowing that I was not the only one in a spot of bother.


Here I am showing my "no pain" face to a rider.


The sprint finish.



Looking back on the race and the racing season I am happy to have come out of it with experience that I can use for next season.

My racing season would not have been such a succsess without the love and support of my Wife/Soigneur/Photographer Suzanne. xoxo