grolby

Well, if you're saying crashes are routine vs exceptional in cross vs. road it helps to be clear that there are different kinds of crashes. Falling off cause you slid out in a turn or something is fairly common in cyclocross, and sort of just part of off-road racing. Sometimes you have to dodge someone else who's crashed, but there's a significant experience and skill element in that. And then there are stack-up field crashes, and that's something different. The former is a thing that happens, and it can be decisive but it usually doesn't cost more than a handful of seconds. And a good rider on a good day will either not crash at all or only have one, because again, skill is a factor there. The latter is pretty rare in CX (or rare at the front of the field), and that's basically what happened at Orchard Cross. I definitely disagree with your position that a crash is usually what creates the gap to the contenders. It can, and does, but usually? No.

For what it's worth, I think we have really different perceptions of what makes a power course vs. a technical course. Overall, I prefer balanced courses and tend to enjoy courses on the extreme ends of the spectrum a little less. When I say "balanced," I think of something like Orchard Cross, or even Minuteman/Midnight Ride of CX: there are plenty of straights to drop some watts, with room to pass, but also challenging turns and technical features. Something like Canton or Fruitlands is way, way on the power end of the spectrum, and part of why people complain about them is what technical features there are might as well be absent they have so little consequence for the race. That doesn't mean those races should go away, but it does mean there might be room for improvement to make them both hard AND fun. Gloucester is an incredibly hard course that requires big power. But people love it. It can be done.

tommyrod74

I never argued that everything had to be fair. Those who show up every weekend are already rewarded - they are the ones most likely to place in the series overall. I don't see a reason to stack the start against good racers who can't race each race.

Before you equate putting in training hours to showing up at every race, remember that 1) not many other cycling disciplines make it so difficult for a strong racer to simply show up and win one isolated race (remember, he's still not likely to win the overall, so that's reward enough for the guys who always line up but finish 21st each time, right?) and 2) training hours are only a determinant of finishing order with all things being equal - including genetics, handling skills, etc - not to mention starting position...

I just feel like, for any given race, showing up strong and able to drive a bike should be the prime factors, not whether you bought the season pass to the whole series. For winning the series, that's different.

tommyrod74

Maybe this is a better way to put it - if I'm racing a series, and a fast guy shows up from, say, Maryland, I'd rather he start up front where he belongs, as I'd like to think that if I beat him it wasn't due to his having to wade through 25+ slower riders to reach me.

gsteinb

Cross ---->>>>


https://www.facebook.com/shingo.kami...67312190180623

Ygduf

****ing lol

tommyrod74

That. Was. Awesome.

shovelhd

Man, some of these comments are just out of left field. The crashing one in particular, like road races and crits don't have crashes that determine results. Okay. Anyway, crossresults.com is related to Bikereg but doesn't necessarily draw results from it. crossresults.com placings can be put up live as the results are official and rankings can be adjusted immediately thereafter. At Fruitlands we had an official doing just that. 30 minutes after the race was finished a rider could check their ranking on their phone.

TMonk

you guys have seen Joey's OK right?

OMG!!! Joey's OK!


edit: needs sounds to get the full effect... Her laughter is awesome.

grolby

Oh yeah. Joey's Ok is a cultural touchstone. Such an incredible error - he doesn't lift his bike up for some reason.

Anyway I did another race this morning. Eco Cross at Coonamassett Farm. I figured with light turnout (maybe 15 or so starters in the 3/4 race?), I had a very good shot at finally getting that win. The event turned out to be a slippery, slogging mudfest. Some mud that was very greasy and slippery, with lots of two-wheel drifting, and some that was a deep, heavy slog. The former was great for me, the latter, not so much. I was feeling pretty good, leading easily on the prologue half-lap, when someone I've never seen before caught up to me. Before long, he caught me on the run in the mud, then powered away. No way I could match him on this course. So much power. So, best of the rest again. Still knocking on that door! It was super fun to finally have some mud to play in, too, although my bike is still making terrible sounds.

So this guy told me after the race that he just started cross this year, has a background in running (unsurprising, the way he loped away from me on foot). I looked him up on crossresults after the race, and this was his fourth cyclocross race. Ever. He's still a Cat 4! Hey, what can you do? Some people are just going to be better than you.

ETA: also just totally locked my Cat 2 CX upgrade. I had 15 points, so it's not like I was going to be denied, but it feels better not to do it by just enough. Probably 17 or 18 now, maybe more after this weekend??

misterwaterfall

I know that Joey, and he's a solid dude. Didn't know him when the video was filmed and unfortunately didn't see it live.

grolby

Getting to the end of the cyclocross season. Had a so-so race Saturday, got 6th at Monstah Cross. At Shedd Park, I had a garbage start but recovered and fought up to the 3rd place group, top 6 sewn up, with a good shot at something better. Unfortunately, just before 2 to go, I was drafting my teammate on the cinder track when his back wheel slipped and he headed toward the tape. I was basically caught between his wheel and a course stake and I got high-sided off the bike and landed on the track, hard. The group was gone and I packed it in. Total bummer. My teammate managed to stay up, recovered and went on to place 3rd. So that was cool. I've got a hell of a bruise on my hip and my front wheel is pretty badly out of true but I'm otherwise okay. Good thing the season is almost over - I'm kind of tired of other people causing me to crash!

hubcyclist

This guy with my club got 2nd twice this weekend at those events (I think about to upgrade to 3 after several podiums), he's having a heck of a season. Congrats on your move up!

tommyrod74

Tough weekend of CX racing. Good training, at least.

Raced P/1/2 on Saturday, ended up 20th overall, rode very hard (slow, muddy, wet course) and had to spend laps 2-7 basically out of the saddle the vast majority of the time due to a seatpost that had dropped ~4 inches into the frame after a hard remount. Fixed that the next morning with carbon assembly paste and a healthy dose of torque.

Raced 40+ Elite the next day, and dropped the chain 4x. The first drop caused chainsuck, which twisted 2 chain links, so the chain would skip between gears each time the bad links passed through the derailleur cage. Time to go to 1x for next weekend (I had kept a 36/46 on so I could do some road riding on the bike without running out of gear), remembering lessons learned when I last raced CX 5 years ago - the simpler, the better.

Grabbed a nice HED Ardennes tubular wheelset with FMB SSC tires, barely used, should be here midweek along with the drivetrain bits to move to 1x. Hoping for a mechanical-free race next Sunday at the local stop of the series.

And, for the record, starting 4th-5th row still sucks. A lot. Happy with my effort and riding, just have to recalibrate expectations for a discipline I don't train for specifically. Still good fun.

Ygduf

I did the local Old La Honda hillclimb and came in 6th of ~150 riders at 16:09 per the strava segment we care about. My previous PR on that segment was also 16:09, but recorded on a generous iphone run so in reality I probably had a 3-4 second real-world PR. The hillclimb also starts from a dead stop, while solo runs come in at 20-25mph depending on your luck on the corner. The comparison shows my PR was 15-seconds ahead after about a minute, so, further PR from that point.

I should be happy, but my goal was to finally break 16:00 and I didn't so ****itall.

dz_nuzz

Mmmmm crashing. It does suck...

Anyways: Monstah Cross. That was a fun course. Sadly I didn't get to design it but it was really enjoyable, the ability to play with the tail and head winds made for a fun dynamic. It was really rewarding to actually get to race this one though. My team put on this plus Community CX earlier this year and at Community CX I was running around too much to be able to race it. At the risk of being an excuser I will note that I probably should have handed off course fixing duties far earlier than I did. I was trying to repair the course right before the start of my field and I ended up rolling up to find myself at the back of the pack and had neglected to let a little air out of my tires. Could have gone worse, could have gone better. I did finish though, 22nd I believe?

Putting on these races has been super rewarding. Exhausting. But rewarding. I think the best moment I had was when the Dad of a racer came up and said "I know it is tough, but you guys are doing a great job" , that really warmed my heart. From the race assistant-promoter perspective I can appreciate all the little things that go wrong in a race where there is someone sprinting (figuratively and literally) to get it fixed, to keep the whole thing running smoothly.

beatlebee 

Turns out I won a points series this past year: Copper Cup Series. Yay, another free jersey!

shovelhd

Congrats!!!!

revchuck 

TexMac

Holy Sh$$..lmao.

TexMac

Great job. Sounds like to be good in cross you need to practice running

TexMac

Congrats. Good deal esp overcoming ya prior injuries

grolby

Depends. Most races around here don't have extended flat runs. It's usually a 5-10 second sprint uphill, and that's about it. Prepping for long, flat runs has a cost, and if you do a lot of training for something that doesn't come up much in racing, you've wasted your time and probably cost yourself opportunities to do work on the bike.

Enthalpic

So the runner who is new to cross kicks your ass and you conclude that running is a waste of time?

#EvidenceBased
#LearningFromChampions

globecanvas

I have one teammate who is a former US national team rower. He kicks butt. Another teammate is a former pro distance runner. He also kicks butt. I am comfortable saying that both rowing and distance running would be time wasted if you are training for a bicycle race.

TheKillerPenguin

My ex was an alternate for the US national rowing team and went cat4-1 in like a year when she switched over.