Race 1: All City Intercontinental Cyclocross Championships Male Cat 3/4
First race of the season ended up in a DNF (mechanical) for me. First time in almost 20 races. Not the way I wanted things to go as I felt great coming into this race and liked my positioning.
With a second row callup, I got a great start and sat 4th wheel going into the first feature, a massive staircase run-up. Managed to work my way into 2nd wheel after lap 2 and held that position for 3/4 of a lap before settling in to 3rd wheel.
Finished lap 2 sitting comfortably in 3rd wheel only a bike length behind the guy in 2nd with the leader 5 seconds ahead. We hit a sweeping grassy downhill turn midway through lap 3 and I lost the front end. Hit really hard on the drive side and broke my shifter lever in half, rendering my doubletap lever useless. Tried to move the der/chain into a rideable gear but the derailleur was stuck in the 11t. No chance I’d be able to ride the rest of the race in that gear.
Bummed! I got too aggressive and paid for it. Fitness is definitely there though. Got a 4week break until the next race with a nice little 2-day camp planned mid-month. Time to get stronger.
Yeah, that’s a bummer of a first race. But you’re right, you’ve got the fitness, now time to execute!! Four weeks of Sleeping Beauty +3 should be about perfect!
Got in my races this weekend, boy what a wake up call lol Yesterday’s was anyway, it was a very climby course that generally favors the w/kg, which is generally my thing but it was definitely a tough day for me and not totally feeling the legs for it, finished 16th.
Today was much more technical with some power sections, was off to a good start, lost some ground through some early technical bottlenecks, managed to pass some guys along the way but got picked off by someone I had just passed near the end, got 14th, I’ll take it! But in more ideal conditions I’d probably have 11th place, I wasn’t too far off of some guys, including one guy who I trade spots with every other race, it seems.
I’m not laying down nearly as much power as I’m capable of (at least in comparison to my training), so hopefully that’ll come once I have some better race legs
Getting closer to the top 10 goal lol (especially if I keep improving by 2 spots per race!!!)
So I’m giving tubeless a try this year for cx. I can switch tires out if need be, but ideally I’d like to just run one set (one set of tubeless wheel). Weather here in the Midwest can be pretty unpredictable. We’ve had years of totally dry courses, complete muddy wet courses, and a mixtures of both. I had good luck with a set of pdx clinchers last year, and was leaning towards a tubeless set of those. However I’ve heard from some that, being a mud tire, that it doesn’t do as well on dry or grassy courses as something like a grifo or mxp.
What’s your favorite all around cx tire for a variety of conditions?
So my first ever cross race turned out pretty well. I was in cat 5 near the back of a 57 rider group since I have no ranking. There were over 55 cat 4s that went 1 minute before us so the course was pretty packed. The start was an uphill on grass into a couple hairpins and a long side sloping section. I was able to gain a few spots at the start and figured I was maybe 20th into the first few corners. I tried to be pretty aggressive in the corners and pass people. Since there were so many people on course I really couldn’t tell who I was actually racing against. I just went hard and trying to pass anyone I could see in front of me.
I was running tubeless Tracer Pros at 26psi and it felt great until, on the second lap, I took a corner too sharp, locked up the rear, skidded, and could hear the rear tire burp. Crap. It was right before the barriers and when I jumped back on I could feel that I bottomed out the rim. I rode the rest of the course extra carefully because I could feel it start to roll on some of the corners. I used the straights to put down some big power efforts. Not sure if it was mental or real but I started riding the entire sand section with the reduced pressure and probably passed 30 people total in the pits throughout the race. I measured it after the race…18psi So it wasn’t horrible but it was squirrelly for my weight (175lbs) and skill (noob).
I was able to finish the course and walked back to my car to grab my water bottle. One of my teammates told me he got 11th which means I was probably top 5 as I was way ahead of him. My other teammate walked back and said he was 2nd…but since I was about 20 seconds ahead of him…that meant…wait…I won? so yeah I got 1st place and didn’t realize it. It was impossible to know where the front of the race was and turns out I was 5th after the first lap and then 1st all remaining laps.
As far as effort goes, it was unlike anything I’ve raced except one crit that blew apart from the beginning. I was pinned the entire race with an average HR of 186bpm (max maybe 202?) for the 40 minutes. Nowhere to hide…just full gas.
So my first race experience was great! With my time I would have been 7th in the cat 4 race. However, I think I would have been able to stay more towards the front and not get so traffic jammed to possibly place even higher. Should I request an upgrade now? I am about to take 2 weeks off for a family trip before returning to racing at the end of the month. I don’t want to be “that guy” sandbagging races but who knows if this was a fluke with a course that somehow suited me.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts and I appreciate reading everyone else’s experiences!
Well done, first race, first win! 18psi isn’t that low in general, but at 175 I’m not surprised it felt funky. Sand is definitely easier at lower pressure; but damn, sand is just hard.
As far as upgrading, my two cents would be to do one or two more races in the gives, try to get a feel for rocketing off the start and riding on the front, and then go and stomp the fours!
I run Tufo Primus SG for everything, though a tubular. I keep a set of PDX mud tires for the really muddy races for my tubeless wheels. I also really like Maxxis Mud Wrestlers for do-it-all tires, the model name is a misnomer.
If you’re running tubeless, you should at least have two sets of tires, that’s the beauty of tubelessness. I also really prefer Stan’s rims because of their philosophies on tubeless tire fitment where the interior “shelf” is larger making for a more tight fit, contrary to ETRTO standards. I’ve never burped a tubeless tire in two seasons of running tubeless clinchers while running rim-ruiningly low pressures.
Honestly the tyre choice is so terrain dependent, I find it really difficult to say anything over the internet. Maybe just look what others (experienced, fast riders) are running and ask them?
I’m happy with my Terra Pro’s, but our races are nearly always muddy, at best we have squishy grass.
I’m really not sure that many low category riders gain much by choosing a low rolling resistance tyre unless its dry to the point of being dusty. In my experience, the extra grip is always much more welcome (and more noticeable) than lower rolling resistance.
I have the same feeling. I’m only a cat 4 (hoping for some higher finishing places this year to move up). I’d much rather have a better gripping tire for cornering than one that rolls slightly faster in the straights. Most of the courses I race on don’t have much for straights anyway. Cornering speed seems much more important.
First race of the year yesterday and I am pleased. First race with the elite masters and I got shelled, as I knew I would. Started in the back with a random call-up and was chasing from the get-go. I was interacting with a couple of guys through the first lap but then I dropped my chain in the middle of the second lap (weird, that hardly ever happens to me) and watched the guys I had worked so hard to pass ride right by. Fortunately I stayed calm and got going again.
The start order was elite men, elite master men, and elite women, with one minute gaps. After my chain snafu the lead women were right on me and made contact about half a lap later. I rode with the three leaders for several laps, taking the lead on the power sections, then they would be right one me/ahead during some of the tech sections. I was just riding hard and picking off as many of the guys ahead of me that I could.
Given the start order and the nature of the course I knew that the elites were going to lap me. I thought it might happen in the middle of the race, but I was very happy to hold them off until the last lap (I saw two to go, then they came by shortly thereafter, so that was my last lap). I ended up getting a gap on the lead women in the last lap and a half or so and held it to the line, while catching a couple more dudes.
Finished 26/33. Not really ‘in the pack’, but I didn’t embarrass myself out there. I’ve raced this course a lot and generally it’s not great for me. First race of the season, pan flat and fast fast fast, a real ‘roadie course’. The rain the night before didn’t do anything other than make the course faster. The fact that I didn’t finish last and held the elites off for as long as I did on a course that doesn’t suit me makes me feel good.
Looking at the lap times of the cat3 35+ race earlier in the day I see that I was moving faster than the winner, and I did eight laps rather than six. That makes me feel like I made the right decision upgrading.
First cross season, riding on a 2018 Trek Crocket with Force 1x and a quarq power meter. I have two wheel sets because I’ve been using the bike to commute as well. My plan is to get a mud tire on one wheel set and have an all around tire on the other. Still deciding what tires to get.
Had my first race on Sunday (I live in Boston). Came in last, but had fun. The race definitely went to my head because I forgot all of the skills that I have been practicing.
Next race is this coming Sunday. And I’m going to work on skills at race pace. Was confident with my dismount until I was doing it going downhill into a barrier section. And need to really focus on turning. I lost so much time in these sections.
hope you got hooked, quad is a fun event, it was my first a couple of years ago, I lost my crank arm (which I had installed myself, bad mechanic skills).
I’m noticing in my fields some smaller participation numbers, I’m definitely going to try to do my part in supporting our local races and encouraging folks to get into them.
my line of thought today is focused on tire pressure, wondering if I could risk going 25ish front 30r for my clinchers and not hugely increase the risk of flatting on 33mm mxp’s (at 160lbs). would love to find a way to cut 1-2mins off my time on courses. I’m like 3-5mins away from podium stuff, which isn’t even worth thinking about, obviously lol.
I really ought to gopro my races to analyze myself, but I haven’t done anything the past 2 days of racing that made me frustrated as far as bike handling goes (except for going a little hot into one corner yesterday but it was a quick save).
