JonRags

From a race in Portland on Saturday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbl4V9u2xtI

ridethecliche

The sound of his feet is mesmerizing...

It's pretty much keeping a beat...

Andy_K 

He lapped all but one person in the A race. It didn't look much like that when I did it (not in the A race).

knobster

How was this course? It's about 2 miles from my house.

Andy_K 

It was brutal. About 80% of it was covered with stubs from freshly cut straw, which was surprisingly slick. I imagine the straw was particularly bad for the beginners because even on the third race of the day I found that whenever I took a wide line (to let faster racers lap me, for instance) I could hear it crunching under my wheels as it bogged me down.

The course started with a fast, slightly downhill stretch that went into a sharp downturn for a nasty off-camber turn (mostly nasty because of the straw) that was taking people out all day. Following that it came back up to the ridge through a few switch back sections and then along a dirt road. As it approached the first barriers (a pair) it got so dusty that I could barely see (until later in the race when even the slow pack had dropped me). The road dropped sharply, turned right and had a couple of short switchbacks before dropping into the woods.

The stretches of soft dirt were easy if you picked the right line but could be treacherous if you didn't. The pass through the woods (one of the soft dirt sections) was followed by a horrible, long, steep walk-up (I didn't see anybody run it). Even though I walked it, I was still completely dogging by the top every time through. At the top of that there was a straight-away with a single barrier in the middle of it. Then you has a fast, angled downhill section into a hairpin turn then a steady climb up the same stretch, followed by another tight U-turn into a sprint + triple barrier for the finish line.

Ordinarily I love barriers, especially in groups, but by the time the course hit the three at the end, I was always in such oxygen debt I could barely see. The first time through I didn't keep the bike up enough and planted my front tire firmly into the second barrier. Luckily, I was going slow enough not to fall. I felt better later in the day when I saw the guy who went on to win the Masters B race trip over the first of these three barriers his first time through.

My first thought upon finishing the race: "That completely sucked. I can't wait for next week at Hood River!" Overall, great fun but it lived up to its name.

Pictures here: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...01#post9665301

Andy_K 

The amazing photographers at PDX Cross captured the "run-up" nicely. Check it out in the sixth picture here:

https://www.pdxcross.com/galleries/pain-on-the-peak/

mr.smith.pdx

+1 I wiped out 3 times on that damn off camber turn at the start.

If the guy in front of me hadn't made a noise when he went down in the dust, I would have run him over the cloud was so thick.

I ran the run up. If running is mincing little steps up a brutally steep incline. One of the juniors (Kolben) rode the run up every lap. He started a minute behind the Master C's and finished 2 minutes ahead of all of them.

I practiced barriers at high speed. I never hit a barrier with any speed in the race.

It was more fun when it was over.

Andy_K 

Yeah, I rode Master C for the first time in this race. At the beginning, I was hoping at least none of the juniors would beat me. Kolben disabused me of that notion before the first barrier. I see he finished fifth in the men's B's the next day at Psycho Cross. I hate it when the juniors sandbag.

In the end, I think at least three of the juniors beat me, but at least I finished on the same lap as most of them.

I think DeyShuan Lee was the second junior to pass me. He had a tough day with a few crashes and eventually went out with a mechanical. When I saw him sitting on the side of the course, I thought for a second about passing him my bike because he had been doing better than me (and I wouldn't have had to drag myself up that run-up any more). Is that allowed?

funurdiesel

Nope.
5C4. The exchanging of wheels or bicycles between riders shall be forbidden.