Was the young kid you eventually beat in an AFC jersey? A guy I ride with has a son that finished a couple places behind you. He's only 16 (racing age). His Dad has been racing great... that kid has good genes and if he stays in this he'll be kicking all our old buts in a couple years.

Yeah, it was back and forth for a good two laps. His older brother killed me at Kelley Acres last year and the dad (who posts on BF occasionally) does the damage in the Master's race. Prolly doing the Master 3/4 at Taneytown next week. Almost praying for mud - if it's flat and dry, I'm toast (which is flat and dry now that I think about it).

Well, I'm in for the 3/4 Masters. I'll be starting in the same row as you so it's ON!

I'm definitely NOT praying for mud as I haven't had much (read: ANY) practice in muddy conditions. I only bought my cross rig in late October. All four of my races have been tacky mud in some corners at best. Nothing like last years Ed Sanders or Granogue races if that's what your calling muddy.

I did the Backyard Cross in Bargersville, IN on Saturday, second cx race ever. The course was in an incomplete subdivision so we were on paved roads, over curbs, empty lots, through small wooded areas and around a pond. It had 1 double set of barriers, a big downed tree and a 'N' shaped steep up/down/up section forcing you to choose your method.. carry, or attempt to ride.
Line up, whistle and go! I went much more aggressive on this start, stomping it right out of the gate, trying to get around as many guys as I could, a couple of people got into my back end as I was avoiding guys in front of me and I heard one guy go down in the third turn. Pretty intense but it quickly started to string out after the first 180 turn.
The course was a bit wet but more 'tacky' (for lack of a better word) than muddy. A couple guys in front of me overcooked a down hill left and ended up through the tape. As we cornered another 180 I counted 5 '500' series +35 guys in front of me putting me in sixth. The first two went down pretty easy, now I'm sitting fourth and dreaming of the podium. There was a BGI guy in orange, him and his teammate were second and third, sticking together pretty good a few seconds in front of me. Struggled for all I was worth to latch onto the back of #3, drafted him on the long paved section across the start finish, rested up a bit through a technical section, then blasted by on the next straight, now for his buddy..
Suddenly, things were getting hard. This guy didn't want to lose his #2 spot. I caught up pretty easy but once he knew I was there he started to fight. One full lap around, I tried the same thing, drafting on the pavement, resting up, but he would have none of it. We get to the log, I hold off till the last second go over it super clean pulling ahead as I start up the hill.. and can't clip in. He comes back around with real purpose and opens a gap I never get back. But hey, I'm still on the podium so I try to simply keep him in sight and hold off the others.
Two laps to go and an 'open' class guy comes around me. I am hurting like I should be, thinking to myself.. this is stupid! Why am I doing this? That's when I notice another 35+er slowly gaining on me. I worked hard to get third and wasn't about to let this guy get me so I just kept pushing trying not to make mistakes and held him off till the end finishing 3rd of 11 in class, 9th overall out of 34.
Top three! Sweet, and I actually won something for riding my bike!

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_jKcGFdmcEfk/TO...0/IMG_3738.JPG

I kicked 48 butts this weekend in a race of 67 :innocent:

Hahaha... I met you and your brother with your Dad. You'll be kicking 66 buts in a couple years. Come out tomorrow AM for the TMR... you can kick a few more old guys up the hills.

I don't have a dad or a brother.

No really. Wrong person.

I was just trying to be cocky about my result. I was pleased with it. Youngest highest placing person. 17. Racing age 18.

Oops, my bad. Got you confused with someone else when you quoted me. Great race, 19th place. My first race (granted I'm old from your perspective) was only a few weeks ago and I got a 46th out of 89. You beat me by 11 places that day. I'm sure if I raced CAT 4 on Sunday you'd have beaten me by more than a few places....

This was my first season, except for one last year at the tail end of it. I might upgrade soon.

Schooley Mill was better for me than Rockburn but I had a great time both days. I'll be there tail gunning in the B-Masters race at Taneytown and then hanging around to watch my team mate fight it out for the jersey in the Elite Masters races.

www.georgia-cross.com Serenbe C race.

Nothing exciting performance wise but a fun race. Shot out of the back of the lead pack from the start. Stayed in no mans land for the remainder of the race with a few other guys strung out. The course had a beautiful downhill that was pure mud with a 90 degree right hander ad the bottom. I gained on folks here by getting my butt back and bombing down hill with my belly on my seat, rear wheel locked and holding on for dear life.

There was nice run up going up a fairly steep and rutted gully. I rode up it in practice, ran up it the first lap, tried to ride up the second and fell, walked up it the third, and rode up it on the fourth lap just for kicks.

Good times.

After doing a few training races in Jacksonville on a single speed, I was able to get a new Bianchi Cavaria and started riding that a few weeks ago.
Since then I've finished out the last 3 training races and 2 more Florida series races. I raced the C races at The Little Everglades Florida State Championships and Swamp Cross in Gainesville, taking 10th and 4th. Next up, Cyclo Cross at Santos on 23 Jan.

What can I say about Socalcross Santa cross... It was muddy. muddy. muddy. muddy.

There was nothing other than mud! There was about 100 yards combined of wood chip or pine straw. The rest was uber sticky mud. Clay soil drenched for three days then given a chance to dry slightly made for clinging sticky slop. Peanut butter mud would have been better as it would have been softer. This mud caked on like bread dough and stopped the wheels from turning!

Ugh. Ran basically all through the three laps.

Santa Cross was brutal for me. Mud was horrible and I found it very hard to ride any of it. On the first lap I unhooked my front brake and it made it a bit easier. Most needed accessory was a stick to get mud out. At the start, I finally got that rumored beer handup from Bobby Langin Sr.!
At the end of lap 1 I got another beer handup as I was carrying my bike. I don't know how guys were riding, my wheels wouldn't even roll most of the time. I was lapped before I even finished the first lap. After the runup on lap 2 while coasting downhill I heard a horrible sound and joined the ranks of those with broken derailleur hangers. I think about 15-20 of those today. One guy even broke his frame at the dropout. I ended up shouldering my bike and walked/jogged about 2/3rds of the lap. At this point I was wishing I had a bike with a flattened bottom of the top tube - I've got a decent bruise there right now. Ended up in a running sprint at the finish to beat a lapping rider in a photo finish by about 30/1000ths. I wasn't DFL, but second to last. At least I didn't DNF and completed two laps.
I watched some of the next race, the 35+. It was raining heavily in this one and now the mud actually was rideable - I saw nowhere near as much mud buildup on the bikes.
Now off to order a couple of der hangers.

Glad it was just the hangar that broke i was glad I didn't break mine as its an older frame with integrated hanger tab. I would have been SOL.

Friend of mine was one ahead of you I think. He got two laps in. I got three laps but ended just in front of him.

I was totally jealous of the next category. A little rain made it seem like a ride in the park compared to the hell we endured. Nice bruise to show for it myself too. Badge of honor I guess!

Looking at today's results I see 4 DQ's; 2 in the 35+ and 2 in the elite race, I wonder what that was for? I didn't stick around to see those.
They had full lap totals and times, so I wonder what they did to DQ?

thenomad - was your friend Chris? If so, then I was actually a couple minutes ahead of him. There was one guy near me on the first lap that was talking about getting talked into racing it the day before. Had gym shoes or something on with platform pedals. I just looked at your pics, pretty sure we were talking before the start, I was in my red and black bikeforums jersey.

I honestly don't see how anyone was able to pedal their bicke in our 4 race - I too was very jealous of those 35+ riding thru soup instead of peanut butter.

I'm hoping it's just the der hanger, I couldn't see much with all the mud. I carried it over to hose off the gross amounts of mud and then put in the back of my truck. It's still there, pretty muddy. I had other family stuff to do. I'll probably look at it again tonite.

Yep, my buddy Chris did the race and rented a bike. I should have rented a bike too.
I didn't notice the bike forums jersey but I probably did chat with you then. I should have hit you up on email so we could formally meet. Maybe I'll make a January race.
Hope it works out for your bike. I'm scoping things out for a single speed bike. That would have been good yesterday.

I saw the results today and saw Chris was DFL. Good work on him though for giving it a go and I'm glad he didn't break the rental bike and have to pay for it.

What size tires did you use? I used 700x35 knobbies which gave me even less clearance (but its what I have on hand).

Well, I actually looked at my bike last nite and it's much worse. The derailleur pulley cage broke off and only one pulley is there. It looks like Performance has Ultegra's on sale and I just got my bonus from work. They doubled it this year, instead of $50; we got $100! Woohoo!

whoa crap, glad the frame's ok though. You might even look to get a used ultegra RD off of ebay since it may be a casualty again.

It was probably the rocks and sticks that were a part of the mud.
I found a nickel sized rock wedged in my FD after the mud washed off. My paint was rubbed clean off of one of the seat stays near the brake as well.

There are great pics of this on the "light and shadows" photo set
http://public.fotki.com/quatre24/cx-...jpg.html#media

Hey, thanks for that link. I know who that photog is.

I had my first race of the year yesterday. David Douglas CX #1 in Vancouver, Wa.

I discovered is that my fitness totally sucks, but my skills are remarkably intact from last year even though I put in no practice whatsoever. The course was mostly very flat with lots of grass and pavement, but it had two sections of singletrack that dove down into the woods and then had long (by CX standards) climbs back out. The first climb was mostly rideable, even for me, but the second was steep enough that even a lot of the guys in the A race ran it. This hill did me in. I ran it pretty fast on the first lap but then spent half a lap going slow and gasping for air, so I dialed it back the rest of the race. I ended up 53rd among 53 finishers with 3 DNF. But hey, somebody has to finish last. Maybe I can get Pizza Caboose to sponsor me.

Cross season opened up in N.E. Ohio on Saturday with 93 degree temps. The race was at a Boy Scout Camp and had a lot of rooty single track and some loose gravel drives with over 50% of the course on grass. After warming up I decided to race on my 29'er because of the gravel and single track. New this year, the B race is now 2 different races Open B, U35 and women, and in the other 35+, 45+ and single speed racers. I'm 58 and raced in the 35+, 45+, single speed race. I don't know my final overall finish but did finish 9th in the 45+ race out of 23 starters. In hind sight I would have used the cross bike, as I struggled in the grass and had a difficult time passing anyone on the narrow single track, and would have put at least one bottle on it.

Interesting to hear your report on the 29er. There are a couple of races around here that I've suspected would be better suitied to a mountain bike, but now I'm thinking maybe not.

I was not the only one to make that choice. On the single track I could fly but usually got behind another racer who held me up taking away my advantage. In the A race the 2nd place finisher was on a 29'er. The winner of my 45+ race was also the winner of the B2 overall and he was on a 29'er.