Anyone like poor quality video of mediocre mid pack racing? Well have I got something for you. These are back to back races I did this weekend. It’s an event I’ve done for 3 years now and have generally am super familiar with the course. However, they made some changes this year and I didn’t get a chance to do a pre-ride on Saturday (I got there early but they didn’t leave any gaps between races), so there were some changes I wasn’t expecting and it really shows up in this first lap video. It’s too bad, I was staged 27/93 people and really squandered that
2nd day went a bit better, I got sloppy in later laps not shown here and probably lost 5 or 6 positions due to that. I was staged midpack and ended up that way
Raced this past weekend. Finished first in my age group (35+ Masters) at Fulton Star Cross in Minnesota, but was 6th out of 20 overall. No upgrade points, but still happy.
With lows in the 30’s over night and a dusting of snow, the course was extremely slick with cold, thick muddy grass that plugged EVERYTHING up. It was like riding on an ice rink. You really want to hammer, but you can’t.
I opted to warm up on the trainer and forgo a pre-ride in order to keep the bike clean and working. Given that I suck in these conditions, this wasn’t ideal. As a result, it took 3 laps to get comfortable and learn the course. Conditions like this are so damn hard, I feel like my fitness is there, but my handling in sloppy, slick mud is not. I have to find a way to learn how to improve in these conditions. It seems like I’m only able to experience this type of riding during the cross season and find it impossible to practice in the mud.
Cause, where do you find muddy cross-specific riding when it’s not at a race?
Been sick for the last 4 weeks so the training has tapered off significantly, sort of writing this season off and using whatever races I do to focus on handling and technique. If a good result happens, that’s just a bonus.
How much time and what else am I giving-up by running a front tire that’s closer to “mud” that from it, when the course is mostly dry grass or loose-over-hard-pack? I’m sure I give-up a little bit but this lets me run the same tires the whole season and in Texas we have widely varied conditions where it’s been dry and dusty but today starts the mud-season with three weekend races to go. There tires are three years old and I’m going to order new rubber for next season.
I’ve ridden a bunch of tires and I can honestly say that the only tire I could feel a big difference in rolling resistance with was the Challenge Limus. That tire is SLOW.
I run Specialized Terras currently, and even though they’re a “mud” tire, they roll very well. It has more to do with the specific tire than just being called a “mud tire.”
I do change tires at least once (usually only once) during the season. But I definitely switch ‘too early’ because I would prefer to be on a mud tire in a dry race than the other way around.
Cat-2 roadies in cat-4 CX…losing is not that bad. Move up, learn to race in the 3/4 races. You probably aren’t learning anything off the front since it’s so easy. Take the auto-upgrade, race with dignity.
Would the Baby Limus be enough tread (if I had to choose a tire now)?
It’s “used bike day” at my house, and I’m trying to decide if I should re-glue the tubulars that came with the bike (first/only set of tubular wheels), or go with something more aggressive, like a PDX.
The Baby Limus and PDX are pretty comparable tires - they’re both aggressive intermediates that are pretty good for anything. I’d say if you have them, use them.
It’s also worth remembering that there is no correct tire for any given condition, and that tread choice and pressure are very personal. I often end up running a different tread than the majority of the people in any given field I race, it doesn’t mean any of us are on the wrong tire.
Current game plan: Try re-glueing the Baby Limus tubulars and mount up my tubeless PDXs on my current bike (which will become the B bike in a week or so). If pre-ride suggests I need the PDX tread, I can switch wheelsets (or bikes) for my race the next day (non-championship 40+) and just enjoy the fact that I get to race this year (instead of sitting around waiting for my broken back to heal up).
Been trying to figure out what to tell you on this, but there’s just so much, and I want to keep it simple. So, I’ve literally been there with you, and worked through the field just as you are trying right now. And it’s a huuge field… so many CCC racers. Given your road category, I would be shocked if fitness is your limiter. Maybe you’re not repeatably-punchy enough or something, but that’s pretty easy to work on just before cross season starts.
Early on I decided the way to advance was focus my attention on staging position, and by proxy crossresults points. So I’ve done nearly every CCC 4 and 4/5 race since 2016. Sure, more racing will build bike handling skills, which is critical (though still my weakness). But more races means more chances to do better and thus improve your staging spot. You really need to take advantage of the 1yr/10-race-day rolling formula so that one or 2 bad races don’t drag you down. It’s hard to move the needle – you either need breakout races, or else persistent and steady improvement.
Looking at your results, I think the thing that most jumps out at me is you just don’t do many CX races. On top of that, the couple venues you frequent might not be best suited to you. I find I tend to do better on certain courses or in certain conditions (mud!).
Things have gotten better this season, as I’ve done more CX than ever, but it’s not my main discipline, so I tend to not race as many. My fitness is there for the most part, I’m usually a bit fatigued when CX hits since I’m always coming off a loooooooooong (March-August) road season.
I’ve never been a super technical rider, I can get away with my abilities on the road for the most part, but when it comes to anything else, my weaknesses start to show. @jeremy has been helping me out when he can, and even he says I’m improving a ton.
I need to focus on being more smooth and carrying more speed through some of the stuff where I scrub speed because I don’t want to slide out. At Campton last week I managed to make it into the top 10 for the first lap and a half of the 4/5 race, and was doing fine until I got a hunk of mud in my eye and was slowed down while trying to race and get it out. I felt plenty comfortable there, but just have to work on getting there more consistently.
Hah, I got a huge chunk of mud in my in the same race. In the middle of the starting sprint.
That was fun…
I’m bowing out for likely the rest of the season. Having surgery on varicose veins wed (I’m the guy out there with 1 leg sleeve on), so am just going to take a 3-4 week offseason. Good luck on the rest of the season. I might be back at Mobntrose Harbor just to start in the last row and get a workout in.
Had probably my best race of the season on Sunday. Super small field for the 35+; there were only four of us, starting a minute behind the open 1/2 (17 guys) and a minute ahead of the 1/2 45+ field (another 17 guys). Weird.
Got started and I was ‘expecting’ to be off the back pretty quickly, as usual. But that didn’t happen. We were pretty much together for the whole 66 minute race, it was fantastic. Gaps would open and then be closed down, lead changes (I never got into the lead, but each of the other three did), etc, etc. The two leaders of the 45+ field came through quite quickly and immediately disappeared, but we didn’t see anyone else from that field and were not even close to getting lapped by the open field.
I ended up with a hard-fought third; in the last half lap the two in front got a little gap, so at the end the four of us were separated by about 30 seconds. Honestly I wouldn’t have cared if I had finished last, it was just gratifying to finally be RACING in this category, rather than ‘riding hard alone on the course’, as I’ve been doing the past few weeks. Conditions were perfect, muddy but not sloppy, super super fun.
Next week is Woodland Park, usually the biggest race of the year and a good course for me, can’t wait!
Upgraded to cat3 for sunday. Got my butt kicked My excuse is I was cold and spent from the states cat4 race the day prior. We’ll see if that holds up next weekend. My power log says it was a quality effort, and a harsh reminder that fitness isn’t everything. I was obviously riding the course all kinds of wrong. I suspect riding too stiff (did I mention it was cold?), and braking too much. Oops.
Just got second in the Utah State Championship 35+B group (basically 3/4)! #1 was from out of state so that means i take the state champion jersey!!!
Thanks Trainer Road for preparing me! Haven’t tested FTP lately so i have no idea whether i’m stronger than last year or not. Tests so far show i’m about the same. it was a dry course up in soldier hollow where they hold the SOHO MTN bike festival. There was a good amount of uphill road, plenty of stairs, grass and a few technical downhill turns. For those of you asking about tires and watts- i used challenge griffo’s- file tread in teh middle with some angled knobs on the side for cornering. I found them to be perfect. i broke loose in a few places, but was able to corner effectively and the file tread worked excellent on the hardpack and road sections. EVERYONE else was on a more aggressive tread pattern. i’d say it absolutely added to my race.
My excuse is I was cold and spent from the states cat4 race the day prior. We’ll see if that holds up next weekend. My power log says it was a quality effort, and a harsh reminder that fitness isn’t everything. I was obviously riding the course all kinds of wrong. I suspect riding too stiff (did I mention it was cold?), and braking too much. Oops.