Natz Play-by-Play
OK... you guys gotta keep the information flowin! C'mon... I'm living vicariously through our potential national champion team members in Bend. How was the drive/roads? How'd the B races go today?! What's the word?
We'll start with a twitter feed to get the vibe!
results
http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2010-3193
Looks like they survived to finish and crushed it today... nice work!! I'll just have to talk to myself since they seem to be in radio silence:
Terry 22nd in the 30-39 B race
Rob 20th in the 40-49 B race
Ladd 34th in the 40-49 B race
Rob's Race
So there I was... First, as a defending potential National Champion I knew that if I win I would have failed in defending my potential champions status, talk about pressure. So as terry rolled up just in time for the starting gun Ladd and I began to do a somewhat lame warm up and try and cheer for Terry at the same time. As we were warming up a guy mentioned they had neutral wind trainers set up under the stage. Talk about awesome! Ladd and I were able to get in a great warm up before the race. Bill Reed anad I were unlucky and were randomly started at the very back of 77 racers. I knew that Bill has been riding great lately so I wanted to stay with him and figured if I did I would probably have a good finish. The start was absolutely nuts, that is the most elbow/shoulder bumping I have ever experienced. I felt great right off the start and started working my way through the pack. However, that meant trying to get around a lot of slooow riders. My first lap was well over a minute slower that most of the rest of my laps.
At one point in the first lap Bill was fortunate enough and fast enough to make a good move and get around some slower riders that I got stuck behind. I figured I had to race real aggressive to make up some lost time. I went all out attacking when I could and hitting the cornors fast. I had several near misses passing people and nearly getting run into the barriers and fast dabs to keep myself upright, but was feeling good and gaining confidence. BTW my Dugast tires ROCK! I started to see Bill and was getting motivated, Bill is a good friend and it was not that I wanted to beat him, I just knew if I was catching him I was having a good race. I make the catch and am feeling like I still have a lot more in me to keep moving up. there was a group of about four or five guys that Bill and I were moving up on.
You know that saying about the best laid plans, well, just as I make the catch with 2 laps to go I go down hard on an icy turn. Bill bridged the gap and I did not, bummer. I recovered and was still able to finish pretty strong. What an amazing course! The weather and course conditions were a blast, we were wet from head to toe! The fly over totally cool. All in all an amazingly fun time, we miss you all and wish you were here. Tonight, surffing!
What a blast!
So here is my race report for todays race. As Rob has already stated I arrived at the start finish line with about 2 minutes til start time. I was dead last. When the race started my goal was to move up as fast as possible before we got to the first turn cause once we got there I knew I would be slowed up big time. It was a frantic pace at the start and I did a good job of weaving in and out of riders to move up. Although my plan worked pretty well I was still way off the lead group. I settled in and was feeling pretty good as I picked off riders that were ahead of me. Then on the 2nd lap my chain jumps up and over my cassette and gets wedged between the spokes and cassette. I lost A LOT of time and positions as I struggled to unstick the chain. I finally get the chain back on and get going again. Throughout the race my chain fell off twice as well. Can anyone say Dog Tooth? Man do I ever need to buy one of those. Anyway, I finally get back in the groove and on the 3rd lap I catch one of the guys who passed me when my chain got stuck. But similar to Rob catching Bill, I go down. My front wheel twisted in a groove of ice and that made my handle bar catch on the metal post that was holding the race tape and that sent me straight down on my right side. My knee got cut up pretty good as well as my right forearm but you know how racing is so I got up as fast as I could and tried to gap the guy I had just caught but at that point I was pretty spent so it turned into me holding off a few racers behind me. As Eric posted I took 22nd out of 39 riders. Considering I had no warm up, started dead last, had the mechanicals and a pretty nasty fall I am pretty happy with the end result. It was such an awesome day. The weather was perfect and the course had a little of everything; ice, snow, huge freezing-cold puddles, mud, wet grass, a fly over bridge, and a little concrete. Couldn't ask for more. Wish you guys were here.
Ladd's mistake...
Sorry, nothing to see here. Move along...
Trust me - no hyperbole in this report.
Sorry -- This is Ladd's report!
You'd think so, because I'm going to start off by calling this the best race day EVER.
Let's start at the beginning. It rained all night, and we drove to the Mill District in rain. The sun started to peek out, but it continued to rain. At registration, we ran into Mark "rides a fish" and found out that everything was delayed by an hour. I talked to a local guy who was here at 7:30, and he said it was frozen over an 'unsafe'. COOL, HUH?
I think Rob already mentioned it, but while we were warming up a guy called us over to the covered pavillion to warm up on a Lemond Revolution:
http://www.lemondfitness.com/product_detail/465/lemond-revolution
It was cool to test it out, and we got a much better warm up this way!
So they randomly picked a number to call up, and then went from there. I think I ended up about 55th called up, so kind of back but not as far as Bill and Rob!
The gun goes off -- no crashes :) Couldn't ask for more than that.
Soon we're headed by the pits. Crash! A guy goes down right in front of me! I've got people on both sides - no place to go! So I ended up riding RIGHT OVER his bike! I yelled "sorry" as I hit it, but at least I hit his bike and not him. Nuts, huh?
So I had a good lap, and seemed to move up a bunch of places. It was tough, slick, muddy, icy... Perfect cross conditions! So far, so good. (One minor problem -- my shifting was way off, and kept skipping around. Probably was switching to Eric's wheels right before the race. But the wheels were awesome -- thanks Eric!)
Then on a small run up, I made a 'heavy' remount, and heard a loud POP and my seat slipped so the nose was pointed up! Dang it! Oh well, that's cross.
So after about two laps Rob and Bill had passed me. I couldn't hold on, and ended up in a no-man's land for a few laps. It was such a great course, but I think you've heard that enough by now.
On the penultimate lap, I had a group of 3 or 4 starting to catch me. It was good incentive to keep pushing. All was good until I hit a slick corner where a few volunteers were trying to put new stakes into the frozen ground. It was pretty interesting. I watched enough that I ended up sliding out and skirting along my side for a long time! Note to self: On icy ground, watch the path! Two guys passed my in the time I took to get going again. Bummer, but nobody's fault by my own :)
Last lap, I'm about to catch another guy. Then I notice my back wheel is dragging! I stop and figure out that my rear wheel is OFF. I guess I didn't crank down the skewer enough. (I'm always a little nervous about cranking too hard, carbon and all). So I lost 2 more places there! But I caught one before the end, so it wasn't too bad.
After the race, we went back to the pavilion to collect our coats, and noticed the Pedro's van. They had a few guys there just doing free bike cleanings! How cool is that???
So if you sum up the beautiful location, the awesome course, the crazy conditions, the warm-up area, the bike cleaning, and the general atmosphere -- BEST RACE EVER!
Terry probably figured it out
On my 2nd to last lap I fell on my left side, and then a lap later my wheel was out of the dropouts. So Terry figured that my fall loosened my skewers -- that's probably the cause. (He's smart like that...)
Excellent!
Ahhh... OK, the reports are almost as good as being there. Good stuff! Man, I missed out!!!
Nice reports
Sounds like fun!
Very Cool
Sounds Awesome.
Tid Bits
As Ladd mentioned Pedros brought out a crew of guys from back east and they were offering free bike cleanings after the race. I will keep that in mind the next time I need to make a purchase. Also, no barriers on the entire course. Two short 5 feetish run ups and the stairs again but no barriers. With already having two-three dimount/remounts it was much better without the barriers.
My bed and covers are VERY comfy! Ladd's oatmeal devine, and my sweet potato's, well their... sweet.
Course Preview Vid
The course looks awesome this year. I like the extra pavement on the back stretch that's been added from last year... the puddles are HUGE though... and the flyover! Awesome.
Sweet
I have to say I hate all that are over there. Looks like way too much fun. Good luck all of you. We need to figure out how to build one of those flyovers for next year.
Tami Reed
Well we showed up to watch some of the race action today and were able to see Tami Reeds race. It was a very good sized field and she did great. I snapped several photos of her and Lori Smith. On the last lap Tami was being chased down by another rider and as Tami came up the stairs we were there yelling and cheering for her to dig deep and finish strong. When she got to the pavement for the final sprint it was awesome to see her push herself so hard and she held off the other racer, who was coming on strong, by about a bike length. Of course Bill was there too so we walked over to congratulate Tami and visit with Bill for a few minutes. Weather was great once again. It rained all night last night but during the day it only sprinkled here and there very lightly and only for a few minutes. Tomorrow is the time trial and it is suppose to rain all day. We went to preride the TT course but my brakes were all messed up so I didn't get to ride it but Rob and Ladd did. I will let Rob or Ladd talk about the TT course if they want to but I will definitely report back tomorrow on how it goes. The good thing is that my start time is in the afternoon so I should be able to get a preride in. One last thing, we took my bike into Webscyclery to get the brakes fixed and adjust my shifting a little and they did a great job BUT it cost me $45! That sucked. Anyway, hope everyone is doing well.
bike
dude... you should've taken Paul up on his free pre-nats-race-tuneup... sounds like you you're rocking now though!
bike
I was going to but ran out of time. The other thing is that my bike was working great but when I put Harris' wheels on the brakes didn't line up so I adjusted them. Then at the race the rear tire wouldn't hold air so I put robs wheels on and with the time crunch we were under I did the best brake adjustment I could and hoped for the best. Thankfully the brakes were ok during the race but they needed some expert adjustment and since you and Harris weren't here I was left to taking it to a shop. : )
Update and close calls
So today was the TT. What a blast! They had us start on an elevated ramp similar to the TT ramps you see for the Tour de France. How cool is that? I don't know what my time is yet since they haven't posted them on the usa cycloross web page but I felt pretty good so I am hoping for a decent time. Regardless it was a lot fun. The course had a snowy run up at about the half way point and it was there that I saw the racer in front of me. It was also at the run up that I got passed but apparently the guy who passed me had also passed other riders before me. I know he caught the guy in front me too so its safe to say he was really fast. After the run up there was a really fast, narrow descent that had big time wash boards at the bottom where you made a sweeping right hand turn. After the turn there was a false flat that took you to the last descent. At this part of the course you could just let the bike fly. At the end of the downhill portion you had a slight rise that helped scrub a little speed before you made a right hand turn. From there it was a straight shot to some barriers and then another straight that led to the final climb that wasnt too long but it got steep and at the very end of an all out effort it hurt! Nate took some really sweet photos of all of us so we will have to have him post them. My TT was at around 2:00pm but Rob, Tom and Ladds was earlier in the day so after their TTs we went down to the actual course and preroad it cause they made a few changes to the course. Once again Nate captured some incredible shots that really show just how muddy and wet the course is. The mud was probably 4-6 inches deep and the water was even deeper. The water was so bad that they brought in pumps to try and remove some of it. Tomorrow is gonna be so cool.
Here is the close call part. So we cleaned our bikes off and as I am putting lube on my chain I notice it keeps rubbing my front deraileur but only in one spot so I take a closer look at the chain and notice one of the links is broken. It is a miracle it didn't completely snap during my TT. I'm really glad I saw it tonight cause it would have broke for sure tomorrow. I ended up taking out two links and am optimistic it will last for one race. So, another fun and memorable day with memories that will last a lifetime.
TT result
Not a lot to add to Terry's report. It was a cool course. Rob and I pre-rode yesterday and it was softer. Then when Tom and I took off this morning it was pretty firm. But it was cool. I heard that Bill Reed blazed a fast 6:19, so I was hoping to finish in under 7 minutes.
Overall, I felt pretty good. I gave a hard, steady effort and felt like I was moving pretty fast along the roads. I'm always slow on run-ups, but I kept a steady effort up the steep, icy hill. On the next descent (the steepest and most icy) I ended up taking it a bit hot and swooping pretty close to a course official. The poor guy had to jump back, but I ended up making the corner and into the slight climb.
Into the final descent I felt like I was having a great race. I made the turn to the barriers and made the conscious decision to barrel into it as fast as I dared. They were pretty far apart, and I knew from yesterday that I could cover the ground in 4 steps if I really stretched out.
Unfortunately, after the first barrier I was thinking about the final corner and not really concentrating on the 2nd barrier. Yeah, you can see where this is headed. I ended up kicking the barrier and leaving orange paint on my shoe, going down, and finishing on my back! Lucky for me Nate was there to catch everything on film... Actually it's pretty cool. If I go down, I at least want to see it later!
So I get up pretty quickly and hop on, but my chain is off. I fiddle with it for a while, but it won't catch. In desperation I reached down and pulled the chain onto the chainring, and I was finally moving again.
Later, I found that I finished at 7:04. So if I could have cleared the 2nd barrier I definately would have stayed under 7 minutes. Bummer! But otherwise I had a great lap so I'm happy about that.
Then we wanted to check out the changes to the course, and I can't believe the mud. Crazy, deep, thick, soupy... I don't even know how to describe it. Maybe some of Nates pictures will show it.
Loving it! (\
And my knee and big toe hurts :)
Photos
Here are some shots from today:
More here.
Wow!
Great pics! The starthouse photo needs to go on Terry's profile. It is fantastic. Sounds like it is more than you hoped for!
YEAH!
Excellent reports. All I have to report is that my house is almost packed... and it's time to start hauling gear in the morning! Weeee...
Good luck in the main events tomorrow!!! Kill it!!
Well?
Now I know there is need of an update tonight.
Saturday Race Report
Sorry for the late post, but man, we were all so spent Saturday night that we just wanted to veg. So the race, as you would expect was a blast. My race was at 3:30pm which meant my race time temperature was much higher than Rob, Ladd and Toms race. I will let them tell you about their race but lets just say they were cold. Really cold. The wind was pretty strong for my race but other than that it was perfect cross weather. So for this race we got there plenty early and I was able to get a really good warm up in before the call up. Sitting at the start finish line looking around I could feel my nerves kicking in and I just wanted to get going. I was about 2/3 of the way back in the pack and so I figured I would keep the same strategy as I had on Wednesday and try and make up as many positions on the sprint as possible. Similar to Wednesday, I felt like I had a good first sprint moving up quite a few positions but after you make the first left hand turn onto the mud there is a long straight downhill section that was super deep and goopy with mud. I stayed left on the descent when all of a sudden I see a guy come shooting across from the right side trying to get to the left side line and he ends up going down right in front of me. I ran over his rear wheel but it slowed me down so much and the mud was so deep that I had to clip out. Nate has photos of me clipped out on the course and people are just flying by me. I was so mad. I get going again and realize that my legs feel like lead. I was giving it all that I had but it was just one of those days that your body doesn't respond the way you want it to. I had a few in race battles that I mostly lost. I knew that I was going to be pulled from the race so my goal was to catch any of the riders who passed me on the first lap crash and hold off any one coming from behind. I saw Jay Armstrong from the LOOK/Save a Life team was behind me everytime I came around a corner so it was good motivation to keep me digging and it was also nice to see a familiar face out on course with me. On my last lap as I came to the corner just before the stairs, some of the spectators had placed a dollar bill on the course so when I made the turn I jumped off the bike, picked up the dollar and ran to the stairs. Sweet! At least I didn't leave the race empty handed. : ) To sum up my race it was the most fun I have had during one of the worst performances I have had at a race. You just can't beat the feeling of thousands of people going nuts, hitting cowbells and a drumline pounding on their drums as you burry yourself in agony.
Great Report
Thanks for the Report Terry. Glad you had fun.
Now Rob I know you have nothing better to do with your day since you only teach one class the enitre day.
Come on Ladd, Tom, Steve, and anybody else that went. I heard we were going to have around 8 people there and I only see a few reports.
pdx cross cred
Looks like Ladd got caught looking good on photos. All dramatic and black and white and stuff too.
http://pdxcross.squarespace.com/galleries/day-four-from-bend-part-one/
scroll to about halfway in the bunch.
some more reporting
First I failed to mention that on Wednesday's race The announcer called out both Terry and I from Team Reel Theatre, pretty cool. So Dennings, if you see an increase in ticket sales it may not be just the Holiday rush :)
If you have been to Moab with us then you are familiar with Moab Miracles. On this trip we experienced an amazing Bend blessing! For Terry's race Tom loaned Terry his rear wheel and I loaned him my Reynolds carbon deep dish bomb digged tubular front wheel for the pits. After the race we got Terry and his bike all cleaned up, and went out to dinner. After Dinner we started back to Sunriver about a 1/2 hour away. About half way back Tom remembered we forgot our wheels. Terry and Nate had not left Bend yet so they went back to take a look. No wheels. After being back at the Condo for a bit Terry and I decided to drive back and see if we could find a race official to help locate the lost and found. We also looked around with no luck. I was stressed and my prayers were sincere! Sunday morning we got to the race course fairly early to try and locate the lost and found. Next to the course there is a greenbelt and in between the course and the greenbelt there is a row of landscaping complete with large rocks, bushes, and trees. As we are walking along the greenbelt I hear Terry from behind me yell Rob, NO WAY and he begins to walk towards the bushes. Leaning up against a tree about 200 yards away from were we put them in the pit are mine and Tom's wheels. Terry said the red tufo tire caught his attention. Believe me when I say we could have walked past those wheels all day long and not noticed them. I could not believe we found them that way. Someday I would like to know how they ended up there.
O.K., to my race. First, on Friday I had an absolute horrible TT and ended up being placed 92 (I think ) at the start. I am in much better shape than last year and hoped to improve on my result. At the starte of the race it was 34ish with sleet coming down and I decided I was not going to go crazy off the start and risk a bad crash when I was so far back already. Instantly I dropped a ton of places as riders went by me. I was just fine with that and figured I would just see how many guys I could pass in the race. Within the first 30 seconds of the race every racer was wet head to toe, with freezing cold water. Our fingers hurt as bad as they have ever hurt and it made shifting a real struggle. To give you an idea of how cold we were, Russell Thorstrom DNF after 2 laps because he got hypothermic and officials had to help him to the Med tent. After two laps my fingers started to sort of work again and my legs felt good. I started to pass a lot of riders and was having fun suffering, doing well, being motivated by a large crowd (a lot of Boise folks). As I ran up the stairs the last time my feet were beginning to hurt from the cold and I was leaving everything I had on the course when I became aware that I was blowing drool and snot out of my gasping mouth and nose and that Terry, Bill Reed and other local fans were right there. Funny thing about racing, normally that would be embarrassing but at the moment I could not have cared less. When I crossed the finish line I bent over my bike gasping for air I became very aware that my feet were like bricks and I was shivering from severe cold. By the time I made it to a heater I was in more pain than my feet have ever experienced. I was shaking like crazy and praying for the pain to go away. Even now I can feel that the front part of my feet are still feeling the effects of the cold. After about 50 minutes I began to recover a bit and the 17-18 year old race finished. One of the racers came over to our heater shivering, nearly in tears, and asked if the pain would ever go away.
You know, I have no way to explain why but as much pain as I was in I would do it again in a heart beat! Wow, that was a cool event to be a part of! I wish I could race with those types of crowds more often.
One last note. The Elite race was one for the ages!!!!!!!
Oh and thanks
to Steve for the use of his cool Team Reel trailer. We looked very cool and official. We also warmed up on our trainers in it before the time trial and it made a great place to change in as well.
Agreed!
Yeah Steve -- we really missed you this year, and we really appreciated your trailer!
Ladd's race
I'll stick to the highlights: Heavy, heavy snow/sleet falling at the start. I had a great start. I seemed to be able to stay out of trouble much better than on Wednesday's race, and I felt really good. Then about a lap into it I couldn't feel my hands and began wondering why I was racing... Good thing that didn't last long and I remembered that this race was AWESOME! Overall I felt good but I started to wind down a bit. Rob passed me in the infield on the 2nd lap and I couldn't match his speed on the heavy, wet grass. A lap later I was starting to get into a good groove and felt like I was making up ground, but that's when I got pulled. Looking at the results later, the last guy to not get pulled went 10:10 and 10:10 on laps 2 & 3. I went 10:15 and 10:14. So he was 9 seconds faster over 1220 seconds, or well under 1%! Looking back, I can think of lots of places I could have pushed a bit to make up those few seconds...
Oh well, it was a really, really fun race. I'm glad I was able to head up there and be a part of it, and I appreciate hanging out with my incredible friends Rob, Terry, Nate, and Tom!
PS - Colby just posted a nice picture of me on the short, muddy run-up. I think that was a pretty cool action shot.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1554036934215&set=a.1554006413452...
good video
crashes
Cool crash shots... check out Bill Reed in the 6th row on the right with some guy going down in front of him. http://bit.ly/eAG2ET