Sunday, November 20, 2016

i like the roller coaster

"You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it."
-- Grandma, from Parenthood (fun clip below)


After yesterday's challenges, my goal today at WCCX II (West Chester Cyclocross -- part II) was to have a clean race and to support a trio of great friends who put on a great race. As so frequently happens at those races closer to home, I got lulled into a little bit of complacency and got to the race later than usual. I did not get to do my usual warm-up, but still felt great and seemed to have great legs. In warmup and in course inspection, the work came easy. I seemed to cherish the effort. Despite the windy conditions, I felt little resistance. I got a great start and quickly found myself at the front of the race. With Barry on my wheel and Bob in close pursuit, I wanted to set a quick and hard pace while remaining smooth and clean. Before long, I realized that Bob and I were alone and growing a gap to the others chasing. While physiologically shorter turns would have probably been more ideal, Bob and I took turns leading laps. Each time I got back on at the front, I reminded myself to ride clean and to be smooth, while also wanting to put a bit of stamp on this race. 

And it was amazing. Up and down. Turning and churning. My bike and I seemed to be one. Willing each other to go faster and faster. I railed the corners with a confidence that I don't often feel. My breathing slowed, the race slowed, and yet we were flying. Bob and I stayed together all six laps, but in the end, I was fortunate enough to get the "W". 

I've had my ups and downs this season, and while I don't care much for some of the downs, I'm learning to take from them what I can. I'm learning to use those experiences to become better, both on the bike and off. And, I love the ups.

I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

changing a mindset is a process

Drove last night to Suffern, NY to race in Day 1 of the Supercross Cup today. My hope was to race against some of the region's fastest, both to get a glimpse of many of the guys I might be racing against at CX Nationals and, if I did well, to improve my USAC points and move up my position in the starting grid for Nationals.

Rebecca Lewandowski captures my third attempt to get the
wheel to stay in place.
Photo: Rebecca Lewandowski
First lap, as I'm in 4th or 5th place, my pedal strikes a root as we do a 180-degree turn around a decent sized tree. I go down. No big, I thought, I'll just jump back on and get back in the race. Wrong! Wheel is loose. Tried to get it back in and tighten. Lose more time. Guys flying by. Finally get it in. Making up spots. Wheel comes out again running over barriers. Working to get it back in. Guys I just passed are passing me -- again. I resume trying to make up spots. A little while later it comes out again just climbing hard out of the saddle. Tightened it down. Rode it to pit. After being admonished at HPCX for not racking my bike, I asked (frantically? -- it seemed a bit frantically) if someone could rack my bike for me. Turned out Don S. was in the pits and took care of the bike for me. Next time around, he asked what the bike needed. I told him as best I could in about 5 oxygen-starved syllables what had happened. While I finished on the pit bike, he and I chatted after the race. Especially with the skewers I am running, he recommending running the QR level so that it points backward. This allows you to get more leverage on it (i.e. tighter) and keeps it as far as possible from the disc rotor should anything odd happen. One more Velominati rule to ignore!

First lap data capture:
breaks in lines show stoppages

Chasing back
Photo: Rebecca Lewandowski
In the end, I picked up enough spots to get into 12th place. When I looked at my Garmin data, between the three stops to fiddle with the wheel (:30, :20, and :26) and the one stoppage in the pit (:05), I was stopped for 1:21 during the race. This is pure stoppage time and not slowed or slowing time to deal with this problem. I suspect with those times factored in the real time cost of this issue would be even greater. Nobody seemed to have an answer for Roger today -- which is true most days --  but I was really hoping to see how long I could keep him in my sights. Without that 1:21 of stoppage time, I might have climbed much higher in the final standings. I'm not saying I could have hung with him, but I would love to have given myself a better shot at it. While it'd be easy to say the mechanical issues were something I had no control over, they were undoubtedly a result of my sloppy line through that 180. While it's also true that I've probably fallen a hundred times the same way I did in this fall and there's never been an issue with the wheel or the skewer, if I hadn't fallen in the first place, I might be writing a very different story right now.

Normally, I'd be pissed at a 12th place finish, even in a field this strong. But, today, I was happy that I was able to work through the challenges. I fought through every one of those stoppages. I never gave up. If that's what it takes to build grit and perseverance, I'll take it. Still begrudgingly, but I'll take it. One day, it will pay off. Today's effort earns a "Da Bom" from Wafel & Dinges. I'm getting there. Slowly, but surely.

"Da Bom"
Photo: Kevin Justice



Thursday, November 3, 2016

I won!

Photo: Don Madson
HPCX (Day 1): I won. I still can't believe it. My first CX win at this level. My first CX win since a win in my third ever CX race in the Cat4/5 40+ race at Providence in 2012. Even though it was 5 days ago at this point, I'm having trouble finding the words to describe it. For now, let me just thank my teammate Bob Reuther and my amazing sponsor/shop, Bike Line. First, Bob should be recognized for all the amazing work he does in helping to train so many area athletes whether they're on our Bike Line team or not, and for not chasing during this race and pulling some of the contenders back up to the head of the race. And, secondly, Bike Line has been a great sponsor, providing expert advice and service to me and to our local cycling community.

I got another good start, and traded places early with Reuther, Schlauch, Frank and Pflug. Not necessarily an organized paceline effort, but I think everyone got a turn at pace making. Noting where I was riding well, I took a turn at the front on the long sweeping right at what I considered the bottom of the course. This was just before a section with two greasy off-camber sections that were a little sketchy at speed. Noticing that I needed to brake behind others here more than in other sections of the course, I started here to put down a little more power. From what I remember, this is where I gained a little gap that just grew and grew. Apparently, at one point, there was a crash that put Eric and Monte on the ground. Monte would later say that this was what allowed me to get the gap. I suppose I would argue that as the gap began well before this section of the course and continued for another 2-3 laps. As the gap remained and/or continued to grow, I would notice the group of four chasers lined up neatly behind Bob. Being the great teammate that Bob is, it became clear to me that he was not chasing as he did not want to bring the others back up to me. I just couldn't understand why the others didn't mount a chase of their own. After the race, I talked to Bob about it. As the series points leader -- by a LOT -- he didn't see me winning as a threat, but didn't want to pull some of the other guys up to the front just to possibly have them beat either of us in a sprint. He said he rode at 90% and let things unfold as they did. Clear and rational thinking even when on the rivet, or at least close to the rivet. Regardless of the hows and whys, it was a great win and great validation of the work I've been putting in.

Whirlybird: Why, oh why, did I not run?

Great start @ Whirlybird
Photo: Tom Burrows
Cyclocross continues to teach me things every time out. Last week's lesson seems to multi-faceted, but rooted primarily in humility and reigning in expectations. I've been riding well lately, finding my way onto a few podiums here and there. But for some strange reason, maybe because I'm human, I always want more. I wrote a few weeks ago about how it took a change in mindset for me to allow myself to ride with the fastest guys in my age group. After that switch was flipped, I went from almost deliberately hanging back from the fastest guys to confidently riding with the leaders. Next logical step is deigning to think you can win. I'd ridden with Reuther and Pflug the Saturday before. I'd ridden with Reuther and Elliston the Sunday before. Surely, snatching a "W" from these guys was not impossible. In retrospect, I suppose I put a little too much pressure on myself to do so. Even checking in to registration before the race, a well-meaning friend on the Guy's team encouraged me by saying, "You've gotta win today. You've been flying." And the pressure mounts.

Tete de la course (r to l): Schlauch, Reuther, Justice
Photo: Tom Burrows
I had a great start this race. I felt things slow down a bit in my head as these things become second nature. Heeding the advice of still another friend, I allowed Reuther and Schlauch to find their way up to the front of the race and set the pace. Despite some early driving mistakes, especially at the end of the wooded singletrack and the log-over, I was able to close gaps as they opened.

On this windy day, someone must have ripped a section of tape on the second lap. By the time the leaders came around on the third lap that tape was fully laying across the course. As Joe Johnston and I battled to get back into contact with the Schlauch and Reuther, we came across this tape. Riding side-by-side, I wondered if the tape would mess Johnston up. I never thought that it would end *MY* race. A few pedal strokes later, it was clear that something was wrong. I looked down to see what the issue was. The course tape had gotten sucked into my cassette and derailleur. Angrily, I jumped off the bike to try to unravel the tape. Almost immediately, I noticed that the derailleur was snapped off, and this bike wasn't being ridden again anytime soon.

Course tape ruins the day
Photo: Kevin Justice
With my shot at a podium finish likely dashed and the LONG run at Nittany still fresh in my mind, I wrestled with whether or not to run to the pit. In the end, I let my anger get the better of me. I decided to pack it in. As I made my way back to the car, I started to notice the gaps that had opened up in the race. Could I have still been top 10 in this race? Top 5? We'll never know. And when you've got a bike in the pit, and could have taken a shot it, that, to me, is a bad decision. At the very least, with the size of this race and the way the MAC points are set up, even if I was DFL I would have been given a decent number of points to help hold my position in the overall standings. With MAC counting every race, i.e. no throw away races, this was, again, a very bad decision.

Walking back to the car and driving home, I was so pissed off at cyclocross. This was the second time this year that I've had major mechanicals just as I'm about to have a breakthrough race. With some time to move on from the emotionality of it, I can chalk these up to learning experiences. The rolled tubular, a reminder to more carefully and more frequently inspect my gear. The course tape, a reminder to be more aware what is going on around me. Perhaps I could have averted the broken derailleur hanger if I'd noticed the tape wrapping around the cassette sooner.