Bamacross #6: Sloss Cross 2011

It seems I have missed out on all sorts of happenings in the last four Bamacross races I have been unable to attend.

Yes. I have missed four out of six. I was busy. And lazy. And hungry. Mostly busy.

Boris put it on enough of the Cat 3 racers to earn himself a cat up to the big boys, Travis decided to er...crash the Cat 3 party instead of the 4's, and Will Fyfe sold his cross bike and took up knitting. Two of these three things actually happened.

More importantly, Bamacross has seen the advent of the Beer Fairy. This wonderful woman has taken it upon herself to supply the racers with all the beer and yelling they could ever want... or dread, depending on their level  of participation. The series is finally legit.

My cyclocross prep since the first Brookside race had not been the best. By this, I mean I have not ridden the Nature Boy since that race in early October. Oops.

I drove the entire 2 miles to Sloss Furnace this morning to see Kate riding into the parking lot as I was driving in. Meh. We can't all be green. The Singlespeed race started a tad late so I had plenty of time to preride the course. Nothing new, I still can't take a cross bike around a turn for shit. At least I am consistently awkward. The course had a sweet concrete step up I was able to ride instead of run, lots of tight turns on the backside, and some long straight sections that somehow all had a headwind. Man, so pumped we got some long straights with headwinds. I hate it when they forget to put those in.

I was in a daze before the start and let myself end up in the back row. I was at first upset by letting myself fall to the back before we even started but this was short lived. I noticed my watch picking up someone elses heart rate strap which was clocking in at 132 BPM. At the start line. Yikes. I was still pondering who the nervous nellie was when we were released. My back row position provided the perfect set up for a sneak attack hole shot. Not the best tactic to win, but it was time to have some fun. Taking cross racing too seriously misses the whole point.

George, Jimmy, Zach, and Other John quickly made their way around me on the first lap and made me hurt more than I wanted to this early, or at all for that matter. The course was killer and hurting me oh so beautifully. I grabbed my first beer from the Fairy by the Bici tent and made my first goal of the race - take as much beer as I could during the race. My secondary goal should have been to not puke. As we came around the first lap I took my chance to quickly attach myself to George's rear wheel like the wind avoiding leach I am. Karma quickly flew into my face in the form of a big ass lugee George sprayed over his shoulder. I had to pass him...I had to. If someone spits in your face and you don't pass them you might as well pull over and throw your bike in the woods. Seriously.

crushing gravel

Images by Carol Roark York

I settled into a good pace and began to try at catch Jimmy. I timed him at every chance I had and it seemed to be around ten or twenty seconds the rest of the race. He wanted to stay away as bad as I wanted to catch him. At three laps in they called three laps to go. Hell yeah, three more laps. No problem. More beer up. More yelling. More awesome everywhere. What a great crowd.

hope in a dixie cup

I wasn't catching anyone but George definitely wasn't catching me with two laps to go. Fair enough. I hopped back on my bike after another run up the stairs and noticed how smooth the float felt on my left pedal. Too smooth. I checked the cleats before the race and thought they were tight enough but alas they were not. Cleat wobbling to and fro, I set out on my fifth lap and tried to up the pace some. My only reward for this was puking on the back stretch of the course. I was spared some humiliation by the fact it happened on an isolated part of the course. I figured this meant I was going fast enough so kept the same pace for the last lap.

I really don't remember anything from the last lap, I just wanted to be done. Soon thereafter, I was done. In so many ways, I was done. Yet again Third place Singlespeeder. I'm okay with that. Sloss was brutal on everyone's bikes today and mine performed great. I have had my concerns about tubeless cross but it sure worked out swimmingly today. Michelin Muds on Stan's rims at low pressure ruled the roost. I bottomed them out numerous times, hit big rocks in turns, basically everything you aren't supposed to do to a cross tire if you want it to live another day. Score.

The spectating/heckling was as much fun as the racing. What an awesome scene this has turned into. Brent had the best podium ceremony I have been apart of and I scored another sweet size Large t shirt I can start wearing when I am fat and forty five. Good job to everyone that was a part of this today and thanks again Beer Fairy. You rock.

Stay tuned to the Bici blog, should be a team rundown in the next day or two.

Resurrection of the Beast

That sounds a bit apocalyptic. Sorry to disappoint, but no end times prophecies or readings from Revelation tonight.

The Beast is my 1983 Trek 500, a bike given to me by a friendly soul at the shop which I have probably ridden more than any other bike I have owned. It has spent most of its life as a fixed gear but that duty now lies with the Nature Boy. I sold my old commuter, a Soma Double Cross, to one of my friends and had the perfect opportunity to revive the Beast as my main road ride.

Its a slow POS on group rides due to a number of factors, one of those being myself. That's what a carbon Madone/Scott/Tarmac or whatever is for, this thing is for commutes on bumpy roads at 5 AM and the option to hit some gravel if I come upon it on a ride in the country. It rides pretty decent for being so old. I don't really weight enough to flex the frame and the brakes are now of  "adequate" status with the Kool Stop Salmon pads.

Specs:
Trek 500 56 cm frame and fork
Handbuilt Dura Ace/ Open Pro wheels. 36 hole.
Fat Hybrid tires
OEM brakes with Kool Stop pads
Sora compact cranks
Dura Ace 9 speed mechs with flat bar shifters (duh)
Niner Flat Top bar and Bontrager alloy post and stem
Cane Creek bar ends with green ESI Chunky grips
XTR pedals

2 cages via Rivnut

Fat front

Dirty Kanza 200 mud/cow shit on frame bag

Oh, and yes, that is a Bikestache on the handlebars. Melissa got this for me as a surprise birthday present and I think it really suits this bike. Gives it a bit of a Burt Reynolds theme. Classy.

Last time I visited my Mom's house I found my long lost Dremel tool. Given a four day weekend I went to work making some bitchin' homemade tools for an upcoming wheel build.

Optional revolution indicator

 I'll be a nipple spinning machine with this baby.

Mark your calendars.

Brent sayz:

 The "Skyway Epic" mountain bike race application was just approved by the U.S. forest service. Mark your calendars for 5/20/2012. We will race from Adam's Gap (bottom of Cheaha) to Hwy 148 (Sylacauga and back - 53'ish miles. Pre-rides as soon as this weekend.

According to the googleweb, a crop circle predicts "something terrible" will happen starting on 5/20/12...also a partial eclipse that will cover the usa. 

Brap, Brap,(sputter),Braaaaap!


Also, side note on a hamstring workout I found by Nick Tuminello:
My athletes haven't had a single hamstring injury since we started doing this circuit. That's not proof of anything, but I think these exercises have certainly helped keep my guys healthy.
Lie on your back on the floor with your legs straight, your arms out to your sides, and your heels on top of the Swiss ball. Your calves should also touch the ball. Lift your hips up and bring the ball toward you for 20 leg curls. Your heels should be flat on the ball at the top of the curl. Don't let your hips drop.
On the final rep, hold the curl position with your heels flat on the ball, and do 20 hip lifts, squeezing your glutes at the top. Finally, in the same curl position, switch to the balls of your feet, and do 20 more hip lifts.

If you're not crying by the end of those 60 reps, color me impressed!

Oops, I did it again.

Sorry, I had to. It popped into my head. Sorry.

Yet again, my yearly cyclocross campaign has disintegrated before the halfway point of the season.

I made a return visit to the ortho doc this week and we talked a bit about the MRI of my left leg. He thinks it was a lateral hamstring tendonitis that simply took a long time to heal. Imaging says everything is good (no cysts, tears, or any other abnormalities) and it has been feeling fine now that I am only riding and quit trying to run on it.

I have a real cross bike this year and had fun at the first Brookside race. Bamacross has really grown since Brent started it and I think it adds a lot to the Birmingham cycling scene. As much as I want to love racing cross, I really think my body just wants to be fat and lazy this time of year. I'm at home sick right now and have been off the bike for five days... Let's just call it my off season and leave it at that.

The Nature Boy has sat neglected for over a month now. I might have to break it back out for Sloss Cross in a couple weeks. Whoo!

Race plans for next year are spinning furiously in the medicinal cesspool that is my brain right now. I might actually register for some when my head clears.

Chainbuster Oak Mountain 9 Hour - return of PMFC

 *As a report on a 3 man team hopefully this will be about one third the length of a normal race report. No guarantees.

I did my first endurance race in a team format yesterday at the Chainbuster 6/9 Hour season finale at Oak Mountain State Park. I don't count PMBAR as a team format since both people are riding the whole time. I guess I should say this was my first RELAY event. Ah, clarity.

I originally signed up for the 9 Hour Solo Singlespeed race and changed last minute due to my concern over what was wrong with my left leg. I went to an ortho doc last week who checked it out and did an MRI. MRI says...not a whole lot wrong. Doc said go ride but don't run. I decided to try something new and play it on the conservative side for the race and had Kenny switch my registration to a 3 man team with Nick and Sean. Having just turned 26 I can already feel my wisdom increasing.

My planning for the race quickly went from obsessive to unconcerned. I made my race pile in the floor in about 5 minutes then went out for dinner and drinks with some friends. Guilt free.

Out at the park, I quickly declared I would not be riding first so I could avoid running. Nothing wrong with milking a minor injury. The order would be Nick, myself, and Sean bringing up the rear so to speak.

As Nick went to ride I began to get antsy. We had a trainer to ride to warm up under the EZ Up. On a beautiful day. With 25 miles of singletrack close by. Yes, I did a trail ride to warm up before every lap. Not the most efficient way to do things, but efficiency was not high on my list of goals for the race.

Relay racing is tough. It confused the hell out of my body, which is used to going to race for 6 to 12 hours and not sitting. The process went much like this:

-Bust ass on the trail at cross country race pace for an hour trying not to puke
-Sit still and eat too much food
-Forget what time the last person went out for their lap
-Spend ten minutes figuring out when I needed to be at the timing tent
-Go ride to get warmed up while full of sandwiches and soda

The course was tough. It went backwards from normal race direction which mean climbing Blood Rock and descending the freshly built and aptly named Jekyll and Hyde trail. My laps were pretty consistent at 51 minutes for the two day laps and 53 minutes for the night lap. I had a hard time seeing where I was going on the night lap and eventually realized my headlamp was on it's last legs. Batteries don't actually have appendages but it was putting out enough light to see that I was on a trail but that was the extent of what I could make out. Jekyll and Hyde was nasty in the dark but I made it through with no crashes or walking.

Sean finished his last lap at 6:08 and the race was OVER at 7:00. Hmmmm. This was a quickly solved conundrum. Nick was next and even if he pulled out his fastest lap of the day we would still be in fifth place. An executive decision was made to continue on with beer, food, and heckling whoever warranted the abuse. Soon after Lee Neal came around to cinch the 9 Hour SS victory and Jason Barksdale was the last official rider to finish the race. Stacey Davis rocked the women's 6 hour singlespeed style. 3rd place I think? Proud of all of them, good showing. Ed and Wael's team was first place for the 9 Hr relay with the PMFC still in 5th.

After doing this event, I have a new respect for the team riders out there. There is more strategy involved than I imagined and the planning between laps is a skill of its own. Chainbuster puts on some of the best lap races out there and hopefully they will be back next year. As much fun as the team deal was I think I will have to return to my solo roots next race to get a full helping of pain fueled by stupidity. Pics later.

I cannot finish this without congratulating my teammate Sam Porter on a 5th place SS finish at the USGP cross race in Louisville. Real talk. Way to go, Sam!

There in a fortnight.

When I worked (that really shouldn't be past tense but whatever, I'm a part timer) at Cahaba Cycles I was fortunate enough to overhear many conversations the other mechs had with customers over the phone.

My favorite:

Customer - "Do you sell pennyfarthings?"

Eric - loooong pause "Yeah, we'll have it ready for you in a fortnight sir..."

Anyway, I went to go ride the planned Chainbuster course at Oak Mountain again Saturday and bailed after the first lap. That was tough. I went ahead and committed to something I have resisted for months now - no activity for a couple weeks.

I have had a lingering hamstring strain for about three months now. It doesn't hurt, per se, but damn is it annoying and uncomfortable. I can ride just fine but running always fucks it up again, as does yoga oddly enough. Rejuvenating? Not this round. 

It took me this long to really realize what was going on with the leg. Basically, there are two types of hamstring tears. The first would be an acute tear, with swelling and a big loud POP. These are usually seen in sprinters. The next is a chronic tear, which is much smaller and less painful. It has a gradual onset and is mild enough to allow continued activity while never really allowing the tear to heal. Pretty sure I have the chronic version of a hamstring tear. Hopefully it heals up without me constantly aggravating it. Some good transverse friction and eccentric exercise should do it. Time to be the patient instead of the therapist for a bit, I suppose.

I joined the BUMP crew Sunday to help finish Quarry Road Bypass. This is going to be a new trail at Oak Mountain and is looking pretty badass right now. I want to ride it soon. My ribs are incredibly sore right now from all the tool swinging and rock carrying. Manual labor isn't so bad when it's nice outside.

Loyalty?

I finished half of a sponsorship app to a great tire company yesterday and stopped suddenly with the realization that there is no way I could make it an entire season on only one brand of tires.

I have not yet thrown the application away.

On one hand I have never had a company tell me if I could a deal on their stuff I could not use the product of a competitor but it almost seems like an understood standing condition. Maybe I am crazy. Or have a guilt complex.

In other news in the incomplete applications department, I almost signed up for a 24 solo this weekend and decided not to. The bike race will have to wait, other things have priority at the moment (suit shopping, dog bathing, and not being gone the whole damn weekend to name a few). Good luck to Lee and Zach, my Bici brethren.