Hurts So Good

After six weeks off, it was sure nice to be back racing. I noticed that it’s the little things you miss. The elevated endorphin levels after a race. The laughs you have with the guy who you just spent 45 minutes fighting for position with.....when you point out the chunk of hide missing on your leg…….because you left it somewhere on his cassette on the remount off that last barrier section. The cool way the phlegm hits the back of you teeth as you have another fit of exercise induced coughing (A.K.A Cross Cough) due to spending 45 minutes at 90 – 95% of your max heart rate. Yup, good times.

This weekend was the first of two races in the On the Cross series put on by ICCC, our Frites en Mayo squad, and some group of skinny little guys. This race was also CX State Championships for the juniors, so it was really good to have Slipstream on board and have Vaughters and the boys maintain their continued support of the Colorado juniors scene.

The course was designed by Tom and Galen from ICCC. Tom put all the elements in this course that a big man likes to see: #1 – minimal elevation gain; #2 – tight single-track to keep things interesting; #3 – some open road that rewards power, while not heavily penalizing size; and #4 – no elevation gain.... or did I mention that already? Galen provided some sanity and safety to the 2.2 mile course, such as adding an S-turn before the quad barriers so that racers would not be at top speed when they hit the barriers and possibly clip one (read Mr. Keller’s personal account of doing this). We set up the course on Friday afternoon. The biggest decision of the day came with regards to fencing off a particular turn in the single track section. If you missed this turn and went wide by more than about 2 feet, your natural course would take you right off a 10 foot drop into the river. Tom and I were of the opinion that the water in the river would lessen the impact......so what was the big deal. However, we were definitely in the minority. After setup, Tom asked me what I thought of the course. I had to be honest. Six weeks ago, I would have loved it. It was creative. It was engaging. And it was going to be hard. However, the last time I tried to turn my CX bike at speed, the result was a 2nd degree shoulder separation. So, I had to admit to him that the turns on this course had me more than a bit nervous about the prospect of a re-enactment of said “fall down and go boom” event.

I woke up at 1:36am on Saturday and was soon sweating through the sheets thinking about how I was going to get through that single-track at speed. I rode the course on Friday a couple of times slowly while setting up (had stakes, hammer, etc. in my hands) so I knew the true serpentine nature of that part of the course. A left-hander, followed immediately by a right hander, backed up by another left hander, then right, then LEFT, THEN RIGHT, THEN LEFT, GAAAAAWWWWDDDDD MAKE IT STOP!!!! PLEASE!!!!! THE HORROR! THE HORROR!!!!!!! In an effort not to pee myself, I tried to think about other things. I tried to calm myself with …. “OK, fat-boy, let's see if we can figure out why you only have this problem on your CX bike and none of your others.” This, in turn, led me to thinking more about why the Kona handles like it does. I am beginning to really dislike this bike. But, let’s be honest, is it really the bike?. Point #1. This is the same frame that Treefarm uses and he is faster than a striped-ass ape on the thing. So, it is probably not the frame geometry. So…. What could it be? Think! Or, as Pooh would say “Think, Think, Think, Think, Think!” An hour or so later, I am applying some of the engineering principals I learned in my sophomore year in college and comparing that with some sage advice a friend got from CX frame builder extraordinaire Joe D. concerning this affliction I have.

A little background on the Kona. The Kona, in spite of being the largest CX frame I could find without going custom, is a couple centimeters smaller my road bike. In an effort to keep the same fit as I have on my road bike, I had to use a stem long enough to make a Shetland pony proud. The final conclusion at 3:15am is that with the long stem, I have too much weight on the front end. That settled, I tried to get back to sleep. At 5:45am, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was up and in the garage. I yanked the stem off the mountain bike which was the only one I had in the length I was looking for and bolted it on to the Kona. I know, I know… never ever mess with your bike on race day. But, I am telling you people, I am starting too really, really not like this bike.

During warm-ups, the Kona seemed better. But, said affliction has never occurred during warm-ups. It waits till you are going full-tilt boogie in a race before it would remind me it was there. Damn, I hate this bike. If the change in stems was going to help the issue any, I was about to find out real soon.

A couple quick things that I noted while on the start line. 1) No Taugimba. Mike, get well soon, we are all looking forward to you healing up and returning. 2) Some of the call-ups were AWOL. Kinda interesting considering that this was a BCR/BCT race. I have heard rumors that some of the top 35+ Cat 4 guys in points are starting to enter other Cats so they don’t have to Cat up before States. All I can say is...if this is truly the case, that must be some special kind of jacket they give out for winning States.....wonder why I've never seen anybody wear it.... 3) Rich was in the back after a last minute decision to join in on the fun. This year has totally sucked ass for him and it is great just to see him back out.

I got a 2nd row start spot. Not because of anything I have done in past races. I solely got it because it is our race and Tom gave me the hook-up with a low number. This allowed me to be one of the first to queue up after anyone with some resemblance of talent. I hear Rich shout out “This fat kid is heading to the back!” and hear two guys reply “We are here with ya!” You just gotta love the CX vibe.

TWEEEET the whistle goes and we were off. Half way through lap one I am settled in to somewhere around the 20th slot. We rip down through the paved part of the course with the sweeper turns and drop onto the single-track. Then……. here she comes…… the first hard turn on the single-track. It is a left hander that suddenly looks almost exactly like the turn I ate it on up in Frisco six short weeks ago. Just before I enter the turn, I remember one last time what a local pro had told me about regaining the mental edge after crashing. OK, OK, I can’t remember his exact words anymore, but they are along the lines of….. “If all you think about is crashing, you are going to crash. Instead, ride like you are never going to crash.”

I stomp down hard on the right pedal, look where I want to exit the turn and lean hard to the left…… and then it happened……. Holy Shit!!!! It turned! The fricken Kona turned! Screw the whole “it” thing…. WE turned! The Kona and I are one. I LOVE THIS BIKE! Now, we didn’t “flow thru the turn”, nor did we “rail it” to use a couple of Mud and Cowbells sayings, but the Kona and I….. we fricken turned at speed and did not wash out the front end! Out-fricken-standing! Half way through lap one, I am considering the day a success. The rest of the race was pretty non-eventful… simply because I stayed upright while others didn’t. I got more and more comfortable as the race went on. I gave up a spot on the last lap that I could have done without. However, given that I was coming back after a six week layoff, I will take the top 20 placing.

In three weeks, we will host the 2nd On the Cross CX Race. It is back out on the same course......only Tom is thinking about running it in the opposite direction. Now that I know it can be done staying on two wheels, I am looking forward to it!



Some pics of the day

Dash Ripock and I.

Probably not visualizing a fast start.... more

likely just trying to make sure we are clipped in.

Rich and some of his posse...

Chillin' at the back.

Scotty B. heading through the single-track.

Dash gaining some extra hangtime by using the log to jump off.

Gasping for air and trying to turn left.

Rich rode his mtn bike all summer

so he was right a home on this course.