Bier en modder

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Huge thanks to Tyrone Long who stuck around in the far end of the course and took the photos.

Deschutes Abyss will be released in February according to the Belmont Station blog.  I only picked up a couple last year and stupidly drank them both within a  few months.  While the price is projected to be near $10 a 22-oz bottle, I’m thinking about getting a few to cellar for a while.  I distinctly remember thinking that they needed time to settle down.

Hopworks is starting dock sales now.  Erik picked up a keg of the winter beer for the Turkeyday weekend.  The keg ended up not working well but we squeezed a few pints out of it before he brought it back for a replacement.  The winter beer was pretty good.  A bit more in the body and sweetness than I was expecting but good nonetheless.  My immediate impression was that I’d probably only have a pint, maybe two at a time…which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The Winter beer festival downtown is next weekend. (the home page is a dead end.  Try here for more info).  There’s a big list of pretty strong winter beers there.  I usually limit myself to 3, maybe 4 different tastes and then return to my favorite for the finale.  Here’s my projected list (in no particular order):

•  Alameda Brewhouse - Papa Noels Olde Ale.  I thought I heard a while ago that the Alameda brewer came up from Lagunitas.  Whoever he/she is, their beers have improved substantially from years back.
• Tucks Brewery - Gluteus Maximus.  I don’t get out to Tuck’s as often as I should.  I really like their stuff.
• Walking Man Brewing - Webfoot Winter Ale.  Walking Man beers are always worth a try.

Hmmm, that’s all that’s really jumping out at me right now.  The rest either mildly interests me, I’ve had before, or is easily available on tap around town.  I’m sure that there will be some other Brew Crewers there so I’ll see what others are thinking.

Final (tenative) results showing the top 19 riders. Please note that the best 5 results were scored. In 2 instances it affected the placement - I moved up 2 spots to a tie for first with Johnny V, and Ben Johnson moved up 1 over Chris Tauscher into the 7 spot.

Just got the OBRA preview schedule for ‘08 in the mail a few days ago.  Some stuff looks intriguing but without more specific details, it’s hard to start setting a schedule yet.

I raced a decent amount this past year, more than some but probably less than most: a few road races, couple PIR’s, the Tabor series, one MTB race, one short track, and 5 Cross races.  It kept me in shape and motivated during the year while not feeling burned out by July like last year.  I did Elkhorn in June of ‘06 and never really recovered until after cross was over.  For a new rider, it was too much, too soon.  I wasn’t all that interested in repeating that again.

For ‘08, I’d like to do about the same with a few changes.  I’m an opportunistic-type of racer, meaning if I see an opening or free weekend, I’ll take whatever I can get.  Here’s my tentative schedule & goals for next year.

Overall

• Find a team
• Move up a road cat.  Am I a 4 or still a 5?  How am I not a 4 yet?  I need to follow up with Kenji or somebody else at OBRA on this.
• A top 10 finish in MasterA’s.

Road

I wouldn’t mind doing a couple of the Banana Belt’s this year with one caveat - not if I’m still a 5.  There’s way too many brand new riders out that early in the season.  There’s a reason they dub cat 5’s as ‘The Crashers’.

I need to think, and decide relatively soon, if I want to do the Mt Hood SR (5/13).  I’d like to but judging on how I did at Elkhorn, I will need to get more longer rides in.

Hell of the Cascades (7/6).  Any race title with ‘Hell’ and ‘Cascades’ has my interest.

Mt Tabor series.  5 minutes from home.  25 minute race.  How can I not do these races.

MTB

3 MTB races, moving up from Sport to Expert.   I don’t know which ones yet though.  There are very few relatively close to town so I’ll need to wait for more details.

A couple short tracks.  It’s a bummer that it overlaps the Tabor series and also that it takes roughly 4 hours to get there from SoPo during rush hour.

Track

I keep telling myself each year that I’ll go and give it a try.  But each year rolls on by and other stuff takes priority.  Maybe I’ll surprise myself this year.  Probably not though.

Cross

Move up to Master A.  5 to 6 races, typically skipping the Halloween one and one other.  I may, repeat may, go back east for a USGP or other big race if there’s one held in New England.

The Kruger’s Kermesse series looks interesting too as a good tune up.  I didn’t head out this year as my bike wasn’t in yet but maybe next year if the timing works out.

That’s all I can think of so far.  I’m sure this will change as more details come out and the exact schedule is finalized.

Hillsboro - Cross Finals

In case you missed it, fall/winter is officially here: Grey skies. 45°F. Steady rain. Perfect hot tub weather…but more on that later.

Rach stayed home with the kids (wise move) so I headed out with enough time to warm up and get a quarter-lap pre-ride in. I walked around a bit to check out the rough stuff. It was fairly clear that Sunday’s race would be like none other this year. Results from the previous 6 races wouldn’t matter much as the conditions would require a much different set of skills and strengths.

Gone would be the high speed cornering and the straight stretches that called on aerobic endurance. Getting through the mud would require intense, muscle-searing, power-based bursts and handling skills to stay on track. The mantra for this race would be - keep your momentum.

I got a quick warm-up in on the trainer, lubed up with some Atomic Balm, and headed to the line. Brad forgot the current standings so we were left to best-guess the top 10 or so. It all worked out just fine but in the short 15 minutes we were standing at the line, the cold started to seep in through the layers.

My goal for the start was to stay in sight of the front and stay calm. It’s a 45 minute race and we were told that as the previous races had been running 12 minute laps, 4 laps would probably be it.

The gun went off and Mike Alligood, Johnny Vergis, 2 HFV (Wade & Kevin), Jeff Standish, and I moved out front early down the parking lot. The pace seemed fast but manageable. Winding through the muck out back, I found a line to the right that made it rideable up to the short hill. This part stretched out the field a bit.

Mike was out front setting a pretty hard pace as we wound around and then back the straightaway to the start area. Wade and Kevin were behind by 10 yards or so with Johnny V and I chasing.

Grinding through the second mud area, I found a decent line to the left this time and powered through. Having watched a bit of the C race, I knew the turn around the power tower and up the hill was not rideable. We all dismounted and trudged up the hill in what seemed like slow motion.

This group stayed together until the far part of the course by the entrance.  By now, our 5 man group was showing signs of breaking up. We went up and down the berm and then back to the slippery downhill by the power tower. Grinding out the bottom section, Jason Crago and I emerged out front.

Jason put a nasty pace on by the finish and out on the pavement. Looking behind, we agreed on trying to open up a gap. I took the lead before we hit the mud.

By now a certain sort of zen was setting in right before we entered the sticky, gloopy mud stretches. Shift down, sit back a touch to weight the rear wheel, point the front wheel where you want it to go, relax the shoulders and start spinning. I think there’s a tendency to tense up when you first hit those stretches because you don’t know which way the mud will take you, wondering if that 6 inch rut is firm or soft. Almost like you’re submitting to it. Not today though. Mud - I am so the boss of you.

Jason and I hammered the 2nd lap. He seemed to lead out on the flat stretches and I was making up ground through the mud. He grabbed the lead going down the mud slope to the power tower. I was right behind, powering through again when something happened right at the transition back to the pavement. I don’t know exactly what but I went down hard on the pavement.

Luckily no one was on my tail so I didn’t get run over or passed. Jason looked back and hit the gas, opening up a quick 15 sec. gap. I got up, remounted and took off with a now-throbbing left hip to chase.

Jason kept the gap for the next lap and a half, pushing real hard. We were running solid 11 min. laps, maybe a touch below in the 10:50’s.  I tried a few quick bursts in the big ring to make up some ground but the gap was holding strong at a good 5-10 sec.

Heading into the last lap I knew two things for certain - Jason was riding strong, especially on the flat stretches, but was dismounting early through the mud. I was probably only going to make up ground riding hard through the mud.

I caught him on the mud section by the pit area. We hit the run-up by the crowd together and came up on some junior & clydesdales that he navigated better than I did. He opened up a couple second gap on the low, flat stretch. Entering the mud area by the entrance, he lost his line and dismounted. With the conditions, he wouldn’t be able to get back on until after the run-up after the barriers - about 50 yards or so.  This was it.

I took the line to the right that had been working so far and started spinning.  Around the pine, I went to the middle, which was surprisingly rideable.  I caught him on the turn before the barriers and kept pushing.  Up the hill and back on the bike we headed to the slick up & down.  Once back up top, we remounted and he took the lead.   I’m running out of gas.

We had just the muddy downhill and the short 70 yards to the finish.  I had one match left to burn and I chose to use it to pass through the mud at the bottom.  For a split second though, mud ended up being the boss of me.  At the top of the hill, I lost my line and veered right, losing momentum forcing a quick foot dab to get back on track.  Jason had maybe 5 yards heading into the pavement and put a sprint on that I could not match.  2nd place.

It took all of 2 minutes for the cold to set in and my left hip to start barking at me.  I was shivering by the time I got my wheels from the pit and downright chattering by the time I got back to the car.  This isn’t good.  Peeling the clothes off, I changed quickly envying the junior parked next to me with his parents helping him get changed, washed off, and warm.  I poured a cup of hot tea from the thermos, packed up the car and headed home with the heater on full.

I skipped the post-race wash, still shivering after the 30 min ride home.  I got a quick shower in and parked myself in the hot tub with a beer.  That’s right - 104 degrees of love.

For me, this should do it for the year.  My hip is trashed.  I’m exhausted and have a bunch of other stuff to do that I’ve basically put on hold for the last couple months.  I know the USGP will be a good race but I’m just tapped out of energy right now.  I am, however, looking forward to the party.  I’m sure if you track me down I’ll have a few tasty beers - the good stuff from the cellar, homemade and commercial.

Yes, the race for 306th place is on and it’s gonna be a rumble!

Here are unofficial, non-sanctioned OBRA standings of the B+35 field..

The places in italics are those who, to the best of my knowledge, have moved up to A+35. The bold numbers are the top 16 active B+ spots that may get called up Sunday.

Because of upgrades there are 6 racers between 61 and 47 points, a difference of just 14 points. For the double points race, a 1st place by one of the top 5 will win the series.Gregg Rouse in 11th has a shot with a win but only if Chris Tauscher places at or below 3rd. Kevin Thompson, with 41 points, also has a chance but he needs a win and people in 5th place on up to finish out of the top 3 . Below that, there needs to be a lot of bad days in the top 10. But hey, it’s cyclocross - anything can happen.

There’s a number of us, myself included, that have been lamenting the lack of rainfall this year. You could make a (valid) argument to shut up and just ride but let’s face it - riding in the mud is much more interesting than on dry ground. I won’t necessarily say ‘fun’ but just different, and in my opinion, challenging.

After what looked like a promising start to the water year (defined as Oct to Sept), it’s been basically dry. But historically though, each year has it’s ups and downs. I compiled the rainfall data for the past 4 years, loking at rainfall depths over a 24-hour and 7-day period.

2004 is the first year I have any reference to, having started in the beginners that year. With the exception of Barton Park on 11/6 and Nationals at the end of the season, it was a fairly dry year.

2005 was more interesting. We had an off-week during the most intense period of rain but it kept Barton and Estacata pretty well saturated for the rest of the season. I didn’t take the data past the end of the year, but as you can see, the late December rainfall was pretty intense.

The 2006 season had the epic rainfall during November. For those in the water resource business, we have classified the November ‘06 event as a 5-year event - which is to say there’s about a 20% chance of something like this occurring each year. We peaked out at nearly 8 inches of rain in the week before Estacata.

It’s interesting to note though that the USGP finals was really where the rain and mud took it’s toll although the really intense rain had died down for a week. There’s another term we use - antecedent conditions - that generally describes how saturated the ground is. Rainfall during dry conditions tends to soak right in, which is why big early season events typically don’t cause much flooding. Depending on the soils, it can take days or weeks for an area to get fully saturated. But once fully wet, even a little rain can cause problems. By the time the USGP finals rolled around everything was good and wet and that weekend rainfall was like icing on the cake. Whatever rain fell had nowhere to soak in.

This year, by most accounts, is a hydrologic dud. We’ve had some good stretches of dry weather and whatever rain that did fall in early October is long gone. Shifting the schedule to get a more muddy Barton Park race unfortunately didn’t work. Even the Rainier race which took place after our most intense rain of the season wasn’t all that bad. Failing an intense storm from the Pineapple Express, Hillsboro may look more like the early-season race we had there last year instead of the epic mudbath.

Someone started a thread in the Cross Forum about upgrading and tewills chimed in with a couple ideas on the upgrade process. According to Candi Murray, OBRA currently has the same 3 top 3’s / 5 top 5’s criteria for cross that it does for mtb racing. It isn’t the stricter, more elaborate set that road racing has probably due to having less races to judge a rider by in a season. However, the field sizes are growing. I don’t think it’s the ideal criteria but failing a better suggestion, it’s the best we have.

Caveat - I am currently a B+35 racer. My season results (5th, 1st, 3rd) put me right at, but just below, the upgrade limits. I will not say I should or shouldn’t cat up although I am sure that 99% of any comments will say that I should. If you do think I should - I am genuinely interested in hearing why.

Anyway, I was thinking about the process this year, particularly after Brooke Hoyer began posting lap time information on his blog and the overlap that happens between categories. Brooke put the Barton lap times here. Comparing the A+ to B+, the average B+ lap time for 1st, 5th , and 10th places (about 8:10) was right at the 10th place A+ lap time (also 8:10…assuming I’m reading the data correctly). You could make an argument that those top 10 B+ riders would do reasonably fine in the A+’s. Comparing the open B’s to A’s, the difference is even less noticeable. But by current criteria, only the top 5 really get scrutinized.

So is placement a realistic indicator of performance? I’m beginning to think that maybe it isn’t. Perhaps lap times would be a more accurate representation of ability…and category placement. Instead of 3 top 3’s, maybe 3 races where your lap times are better than the 10th or 20th percentile of the next category up is sufficient. This may be the top 3 racers or the top 10. Aside from deliberately slowing down for an entire race, sandbagging would be much harder to do. Simply ‘bagging it to drop a spot or two down into the 6th-10th places that fly under the upgrade radar might actually be counterproductive.

The reality of it though is that implementing this criteria would mean significantly more work for the race officials. In addition to the time they spend getting placement right, they would now also have to track finish times and # of laps to get average lap times. The race chips would be a potential solution but they’re expensive and are reputed to be somewhat unreliable.

Obviously this is just a thought. But if we’re looking to have a category system that feels fair, maybe lap times are a better indicator of performance than placement.

Timber Park (Estacata)
November 11, 2007

Pre-Race

With my parents in town, my schedule has been a little off, plus the fact that we’re usually on the go from 7 am to 10 pm means that I’m getting a little worn down. I was able to sneak a quick hill sprint session in Friday but it was short and my mind was wandering a lot.
We got there in plenty of time and got set up. I took a quick look around at the course, particularly the bowl area, which is where any tricky sections or obstacles would likely be. The same loop around the big pine was there plus a nice sweeping off-camber downhill-uphill to the finish. The back sections near the power lines and the treatment plant would probably have some tight, slick turns through the trees but nothing too surprising. It looked like a fast course with little place to rest.
I got to the line late and ended up with a lousy position pretty far back. I tried to remember that it’s a 45 minute race. Keeping the leaders in sight for the first couple laps would be a reasonable goal. I didn’t want to repeat Rainier where I went out way too fast for the first couple laps and then spent the next 30 minutes recovering.

The Race

The gun goes off and it takes a few seconds for the lag to catch up to me. As I thought, the corners were a little slick. I weighted the front tire and took the outside on a number of them to keep momentum and gain a spot or two. It looked like people were using the pavement uphill as a little rest so I resisted sitting up and sprinted to move up a few more spots. The back stretch around the fields was far bumpier than it looked. It took a little more energy to get through there than I anticipated. I wasn’t able to find a good line to ride up the bowl so I resigned myself to running it. By the time I got up the hill, through the slop and over the barriers, my HR was in the low to mid 170’s. I felt cooked. I shouldn’t be able to sustain this pace for a whole race.
By the end of lap one, I figured I’d moved up into the top 15. I cut that in half by lap 2. Based on how my heart and lungs felt, I thought that this was about it. The leader, Geoff Standish, opened up a pretty sizeable gap with one chaser (Hugh Gapay maybe), and a group of 3 or 4 a little bit behind him. I was riding solo trying to bridge the gap up to the chasing group.
With 2 and a half laps to go, I was holding 5th and very slowly gaining on Bob Jacobs and another rider in the 3-4 spots. Bob and I gradually dropped the other rider and we swapped the 3-4 spot until the last lap.
I took the lead going by the start line and kept it until we went into the trees. I took one of the corners too hot and while I recovered, Bob moved ahead. I grabbed his wheel and we took off to chase 2nd place. Rounding the big pine in the bowl, we were maybe 10-15 seconds back. I decided to use the pavement to make up time by shifting up in the big ring. I didn’t look back but Bob must have stayed on. We caught 2nd place behind the now very ripe Honey Buckets. I stayed on his wheel by the parking lot and started to build speed when we made the turn back in along the fence.

The Finish

With maybe 1-2 minutes left in the race, I committed to the attack on 2nd place. I didn’t see him respond but I knew Bob would be on my rear wheel. Heading over the bridge, I was concentrating on keeping momentum up the hill. It wasn’t until I swung wide and dismounted that I remember seeing Bob take the inside corner up the hill and riding it each lap.
Remounting at the top, I probably had a bike length at most. I didn’t bother trying to clip in for the last 10 yards. I just put my head down and started pedaling fast.
For 10 yards at a conservative 10 mph, you cover it in 2 seconds. But it feels like slow motion, especially in the mud. First you see the wheel in the bottom corner of your eye for a fraction of a second, just long enough that you know it’s gaining. Then you look up at the finish line, comparing that wheel’s rate of speed to yours. Finally, your brain figures out it’s going to be close. Very close. But it’s too late. You stomp on the pedals as hard and fast as you can but you simply can’t change your rate of speed that fast. The other bike crosses the line first by 3 inches at most (ok, maybe it was a foot or two.  Candi said the camera timed it at -0.14 seconds).

Crap.

Post-Race

After swallowing my lungs, dropped my bike to head over to the Kiddie Cross race with Owen & Ingrid. Owen took off fast and nearly lost it on the final turn. He recovered nicely and finished.
Ingrid, on the other hand, was being pushed around by my dad. She started off happy but tipped over once. That was the end of that.
Got a PBR to re-hydrate and then stumbled on one of the kegs of Snow Cap. Much tastier.

The Summary

I can’t recall being quite so miserable for a long period of time. As I thought, there really wasn’t much room to rest and hide during the race. You were either moving up or you were moving down.
The corners were slick at first but I felt they dried out a bit during the race. I ran about 36-38 psi on both tubulars and was bottoming out a lot. Traction was probably as good as it was going to get. The glue jobs held, especially on the transition from the downhill to the pavement. I love the Challenge Grifo’s but felt the soft sidewall of the rear wheel give a lot there. I’m glad they stayed on.
No real damage to either myself or the bike.
Today’s post-race beer was brought to you by…Hair of the Dog 2007 Fred from the Wood. Smoky. Lots of oak character present with tobacco and dried fruit flavor and aroma. This beer needs many, many years to settle down. It’s a little too intense for me right now.

My parents are in town visiting from CT which has kept me busy.  It’s a good visit but with I have a growing list of junk to take care of which has added to the stress level.  Luckily, a lot of the stuff I have going on will be over soon.

Spent the morning in line at the Hair of the Dog dock sale.  Got there 5 minutes early only to find a line winding around the block.  Took about 80 minutes to get up to the front.  90 seconds later I’m out the door $210 poorer but 2 cases of beer richer.  Got the usual case of Doggie Claws to throw in the cellar plus a last-minute addition of case of Fred from the Wood.  $130 a case.  F___, that’s expensive.  I’ll need to s-l-o-w-l-y drink these.

The rain was a delightful sound last night.  I was hoping it would continue through the day to loosen up the race course tomorrow but no luck.  On the other hand, I’d be a fool to complain about upper 50’s and sunny in mid-November.  I need to remind myself of the pre-school rule: “You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit”.

Picked up some Barge Cement and fixed the rear wheel.  Looks good.  I hope it holds together but I have no reason to think it won’t so far.  I also took a few minutes to straighten out a chainring tooth that probably got bent out during the chainsuck I had at Barton.  A final re-toe of the front pads finished out the pre-race tune.

I’d also mentioned recently that the sandbagger discussions had been heating up which, having a win, I wasn’t immune to.  Historically, I have a fairly consistent pattern of progressing up through a category and then self-upgrading.  I made the same goal this year even before the season started.  I’ll admit it bothers me a little because I’ve always tried to have some reasonable moral standards when it comes to self-placement.  You should have some gut feeling deep down inside when you know you’re done with a category so I don’t believe in sticking around in a category after you’ve had some success.  But the grey area is - what defines success?  One win?  Two 2nd places?  7 or 8 top 10’s over a couple years?  I don’t know.  OBRA has tried to address this with their “3 top 3’s and/or 5 top 5’s”.  To me that seems reasonable.

Anyway, I’ve written more about this than I’d planned.  I hope to give it more thought after tomorrow - perhaps Tuesday after my parents leave.  I’m off to Russel St. BBQ for a Meatapalooza.