Race Report: Quad Cross 2010 Elites: WWRMMD? He'd Pull

Special Thanks to Pedal Power Photography for providing images (excepting Kyle's sad face). Thanks.

First off, I like this race. Its very local (Cary and I prerode the course the night before the race). It is a nice challenging course with lots of tight turns and some good power sections. There are even a few places that require a bit of finesse. Its essentially a grass crit punctuated with a few tricky sections. It is a well organized grassroots event that has built on its popularity every year. I consider this the season opener.

My race is fairly easy to sum up. I got a front row start. Didn't pay attention, and the whistle caught me unawares. I got jostled off my bike as I was clipping in, nearly crashed. I was close to last coming into the hole shot.




I fought back for a few places, battled with Colin Murphy,





a troubled David Wilcox (I think he had some sort of mishap that relegated him to the scrum),






Cort Cramer and a troubled Mike Rowell.

I was feeling pretty good and felt like a lot of the race had passed (felt like more than half). So I decided to look up at the lap cards on the next lap. 8 to go. I was crushed. Colin says that I audibly cracked inside. I am pretty sure that I cursed, maybe gesticulated wildly to indicate disbelief. Either way, I knew I was screwed, but not for the normal reasons.

My lower back has been troubling me all week. Saturday, I put in a few efforts, which did not help matters. The morning of Quad, I was even questioning if I could race. But the prospect of putting the screws to an under trained Cary Fridrich (yeah, I now realize that I underestimated The Mantis),





new dad Colin Murphy (that didn't really go my way either)

and triathlete Cort Cramer (this was going OK, but I realize that this is a temporary state of affairs) was too much to leave on the table. Anyway, my back was spasming slightly for the whole race. The spasms built to a crescendo of agony which left me unable to turn the pedals.

It actually broke down entirely on the back section as I was powering up the little hill after the loose corner through the sand. I was on my way to closing down a small gap I had allowed to open between the Colin/Wilcox group, as was my plan since I seemed to be taking this section faster than Colin (I'd let a gap open before this section and shut it down easily in it).





I was feeling good, having taken the sandy corner well and was on my way to shutting the gap down before the curb.

My back completely locked up. I slow pedaled to the start/finish. I pulled. I had no choice. I was unable to actually keep a bicycle moving even at back of the pack cat 4 speed. In fact, I was unable to pedal up the little hill after the pavement. I walked to the officials stooped over in agony. I asked the officials to DNF me.

I am filled with shame. If I had scored a decent result, Colin Reuter inferred that he would have comped my race fee at The Night Weasels Cometh, aka Usurper of October 6th's Wednesday Night SuperPrestige. $38 out the window. I may be forced to raise the WNSP "donation" in order to recoup this shameful loss.

I was not able to "Reap" anyone, as Kyle Smith has become quite fond of saying. Speaking of which, Da Kylah crashed pretty hard and broke some bones and will be off the bike for a few weeks, send him your regards.



He likes wine. And fine foods. And attractive ladies. Bring these things to him.

Even though I am extremely uncomfortable (I am not allowed to take effective painkillers) and the doctor ordered me off the bike at least I didn't actually break anything, so I shouldn't complain.

As for the fast folks. This dude put the screws to Adam Myerson and pulled off the win:

Big congratulations to Dylan and Pedro's.

This guy:

While I raced with Wissell last year and beat him occasionally, I never saw him during our race. He must have gotten faster.

The Mantis finished in the money. God Damn It! Coach, altitude tent and EPO have all moved to the top of the agenda!

Race Report: Quad Cross 2009--CB Brought the Pain in Three Events: 3/4 35+, Women's 3/4 and Men's 4

As an intro, Quad Cross (had a different name) 2007 വാസ് my second cyclocross race. I broke my shoulder in a high speed fall in a fast corner. It ruined my season and put me in PT for the entire winter of 2007/2008. I was careful in that corner this year.

Quad Cross is a great little race, local to Boston in Bedford. In fact it is so close that I drove out the evening before the race to preride the course while doing my prerace openers. There had been a steady rain, so the course which features tall grass and became a mud bog last year, had become treacherous. Newly cut damp grass clogged my drivetrain and got caught in my brake pads. The Course felt slow, as there was hay stuck in and wrapped around all the moving parts on my bicycle.

I should mention that Quad did a great job with routing the course. The barriers were challenging offered you the option of remounting before a hairpin or after, which was then followed by a run/rideup. If your game was on, you could easily gap less skilled riders who were more fit than you. The "S" turns were tight, but routed so that line selection was important. If you hit turns properly and connected your turns well, you kept your momentum, if you bobbled or took a bad line, you squandered your speed and had to sprint. There were some off cambers thrown in to unsettle you.

The sun came out for the race. In fact, it was downright hot on the starting line. I only took one preride of the course before my race. Most of the corners were in similar condition as they had been and the run/ride up was still rideable.

I only had aggressive mud tires (Tufo Cubus), so I actually raised the pressure in order to decrease their considerable rolling resistance. I didn't notice any downside.

I shouldered my way into a front row starting position. Shamelessly separating 2 MRC teammates who had left enough room for me to squeeze in. I was lightly heckled, but I brushed it off. I was feeling fit and rested, so I planned on making good use of the front row start.

I got tired of registering for races with a normal team name. So I registered for a bunch of races with "CB/Igleheart Will be bringing the pain" as my team. I didn't think that anyone would even notice. They did. They poked fun. Even Diane Fortini got in on it by raising her eyebrows when it was brought to her attention.

The opening sprint was tame. I held back and went into turn one in 3rd. I moved up in turn 2, which I had practiced 12+ times the day before. Basically, I attacked right after the second corner, as I had taken the inside line and turned on a tighter radius than my competitors, which left me an open course.

As I rode out in front, I realized the folly of my attack. I was burning it hard right there in the beginning of lap one.




I didn't open up a gap right away; 2 or 3 dudes stayed on my wheel for the next half lap. I made sure to punch it extra hard out of the corners to open gaps. If these guys were going to ride my wheel, they were going to have to work hard to stay there. Also, my cornering was at least as good as the guy on my wheel, if not better, so after a turny section, I often had a 2 or 3 second gap, which I enhanced by putting the gas down.

I got away. At one point I had 10 seconds on second place. Even though it was the second lap, I thought that I was gone. I was riding well and not bobbling. My team mates and friends lined the course and enthusiastically cheered, jeered and heckled me as I passed. I even found the energy to heckle Matt Aumiller who was announcing. High Fives were slapped. Foolishness.

Mortals can't just ride away from a field. If I could do that, I'd be pro. Or at least someone would pay my race fees. Or at the very least, I'd have better results than I have been posting for the last year.

I didn't implode, but I definitely crumbled a little. Especially when I saw that we had 4 to go. I knew that I was done then. In fact, I wanted to quit. And vomit. My stomach was in rebellion. In fact it was so imminent that I was drooling and slobbering as my mouth prepared to spew.

My rival from Palmer, Sebastien Dumont of Cape Cod caught me with about 3 to go. I knew it was him even before he came around me. I had been stink-eying him on every straight away as he steadily reeled me in. It was a classic case of going out too hard.

I rode well and hung on for second. Sebastien dangled about 10 seconds up the road. I could have closed the gap, but I felt that if I put in the effort to catch him (or stay with him) that I would overdraw my account, which would cause me to slide out of 2nd and...who knows where I'd land if I detonated entirely.

It was heartbreaking. I made the pragmatic decision not sprint up to him. I don't regret it, but it was a hard decision to live with at the time. Obviously my team mates and friends heckled me mercilessly. I'm sure that the haters had their say too, but I didn't hear them.

In that situation, what would you do? Sprint up to the leader and risk blowing up and losing your second place or settle for second?

In speaking to Sebastien after the race, he explained that I was the only one that he was watching, which I took to be a huge compliment. I genuinely and heartily congratulated him on riding a great race. I have the feeling that Sebastien have kicked off a great rivalry. I look forward to seeing him at Sucker Brook.

In other CB news, Natalia Gardiol won the women's 3/4 race





and Nick Mashburn got second in the well attended men's cat 4 race. I think that 3 podiums in one day equals bringing the pain. So despite people's ribbing, my prediction proved correct. We brought the pain.

Also I partially announced the elite women's race as I recovered and ate. And I announced the men's elite race. I wasn't very good at it.




I feel like I would have been better if I had someone to converse with, like another announcer. Either way, I threw some stupid random heckles out at the pros. I have a new found respect for Dick Ring and Richard Fries.

I was happy with the race and with the venue. My only complaint would be to have only one 3/4 race instead of splitting us by age (Under 35 and 35+). While I realize that I wouldn't have podiumed in such a race, I really enjoy racing with my younger friends.

From Heckler to Announcer: Come Check it Out at Quad Cross This Sunday

As some of you know, I am one of most merciless hecklers in New England cyclocross. I am especially known for calling people out for sandbagging and coming up with creative taunts and comments to get a reaction from pinned riders.

Apparently my skills have been noticed. I will announcing at Quad 'Cross this Sunday

This morning, I got an email from Ian Sutton, the quiet promotor of Wednesday Night SuperPrestige, asking if I would be willing to help out with the race announcing. Obviously, this is my kind of thing, so I jumped at the chance.

Since my schedule is quite full currently, I will only be announcing the races right after my race, the elite women's and the elite men's races.

I may be lucky enough to be joined by fellow teachers, Matt Aumiller and Matt Miller, who have also agreed to help out.

It should be interesting to see if I am able to make the transition from mean and offensive heckler to family friendly race announcer.