Cyclocross season is over, sort of.

This past weekend was the MFG Subaru Cyclo-Cup in Lakeville, WA just south of Seattle. With no Jingle Cross out here, I choose this as my Cyclocross season end. It’s been a pretty quiet season for me, staying mostly local and racing just enough to have an excuse to stay in shape. But let me take it back to the last race and tell the story.

After having a blast at Rolling Thunder I took the week to train a little more in my build up and then made the short drive up to Coure d’Alene for the Inland NW Cyclocross race up there on Saturday. It had been raining in town since Thursday and so Friday I got out in the mud and did some practice. The conditions were the same up in Cd’A so I was excited. The soil is a little bit sandy, but still muddy which made for a lot of fun. Unfortunately I had some trouble in the first lap, flatting my tire and riding a lot of the bumpy rocky course on the rim. My Psi-met wheels handled it like champs, but I lost a lot of time riding the flat and getting a pit bike. But with a fresh wheel and sitting in last place I had some time to make up. In just the lap back on I made it back up with the leaders in sight, but suffered another flat! This one was much closer to the pits, but with 2 rear flats, I had to tell the people in the pits to get something working for me, and ride another half lap on the flat. Back to the rear of the field and more work to do. But I got a fresh wheel, and after being skeptical, it seemed to be holding air.

So I got right to work, full gas to the finish. I had about 5 laps of effort to see if I could get back up to the leader. I slowly picked up the tail end of the field and started passing rider after rider. The course was super slick in some spot, but it was working to my advantage in a lot of cases. I was able to take lines that others weren’t and make passes. It was super fun, but in that suffer kind of way. I eventually made it back to the front end, with the leaders in sight. There was one rider out front, then 2 riders closer to each other riding for second. I was about 1 minute down on 1^st, and 30 seconds down on the other two with 2 laps to go. During 2 to go, the two riders split up and I was able to catch and pass the other. With one to go 30 seconds down on1st and 15 seconds down on second. I gave it everything I had, but at this point I was writing checks my legs couldn’t cash. In that last lap I was able to close the gap on second, literally, just off his back wheel for a moment, but at that point we were coming into the final section and I just didn’t have it to go any faster. We came in just a few seconds apart, third for me on the day after 2 flats and a hard fun, sloppy race.

Sunday, I decided not to race. The mud is hard on the bikes and this race just wasn’t worth risking the equipment. Mostly it was a tire issue. I only had 2 tires left and I didn’t want to risk flatting them, and not having them for Subaru CycloCup. I stayed home, trained and kept the focus on the UCI race. But it wasn’t just equipment. I was undoubtedly tired and just wasn’t mentally focused enough to push through and race. Disappointed in myself for that, but understanding that this is the time of year to give yourself a break, at least for me being focused on the mountain bike.

The Sand was a real challenge.

The following week, I had some good training. I was feeling like I was back at it, training not only hard, but to my limit. The day off might have helped, but I also think the mental break gave me the juice to push it a lot harder. I feel I had a break through workout with some race winning intervals that Monday, knocking out all 8 with some big, big numbers. And finishing the workout feeling completely spent, in that satisfied kind of way.

I decided to keep the good training going and skip the Wild West Finals in Spokane to stay home and get one last bigger ride in that weekend. I was a little bit behind on where I wanted to be, and in hind sight I think I made the right call. The following week was spent relaxing mostly, working, and getting ready for the coming weekends race. Oh and learning to swing dance. Sort of, our group got a little bit distracted and we ended up singing karaoke mostly, but still welcome fun.

On Friday I loaded up the car with local buddy Jason to drive to the host house in Puyallup (still don’t know exactly how to say it) and getting some sleep. In the morning I did a lap of the course, before getting some food. The area had had rain for the week prior, and it was still raining. Raining harder than it normally does. The course was super sloppy. It started on pavement before turning into the grass which had become a giant mud puddle. A few deep mud corners and straights followed before heading past the pits on the way to the run up. The run up was pretty long and a complete mud pit. Luckily there were foot holes, because the mud was seriously 6 inches deep. The kind of run up where you’re running, but it looks like you’re just walking. Heavy and slow and at the top you were rewarded with a short flat before a ridable (but very slick) uphill to get to the top of the course. The next section was full of deep mud as we tackled a big off camber chicane. Out of all the section, this was true mud. It was a proper deep mud, all-out effort just to keep moving. Not much in the way of spectators there, but a super fun section.  Then a fast gravel downhill into a long pedaling section where I was making up a lot of time. Some more corners, the pits again, and then barriers and a sand pit. The sand pit was extremely hard to ride. I was happy to see pictures of even the leaders running it because I was worried it was just me. There were a couple more muddy sections and then the finish.

Riding with fellow Psi-met-er and crazy dude Anthony Clark.
He was caught up in the crash and was my ticket back to the front.

But that description only goes so far. One of my favorite parts of the course was the general character of the mud. The ruts in the corners were deep, 3-6 inches deep and you could just rail them. I originally had pretty low pressure in my tires but opted for a little more because of how hard you could push the ruts. It was not only fun, but seemed to be a place where I could make up time. A lot of riders were opting out and riding the long lines around which in some cases was faster so I did that, but in a lot of cases I was rewarded for taking the risk and railing it on the inside for the pass.

Saturday I had a good start and quickly found myself in a position I’d been in before, fighting for the top ten in a C2. I was sitting in a small group fighting for 11^th with 10^th just up the course. All but one rider  couldn’t handle the pace and eventually left me to go fight for 10^th up the course. I was disappoint at that moment because the gap was growing, and I was in the hole and soon joined by Carl Decker, fighting for 12^th. It was a good battle though. Carl came around me and started slowing the pace a little bit. He had just broke away from the group behind. My attempts to pass were unsuccessful as he would block and when we came to the finish straight to see 2 to go, we just worked together. I made a move to get in front before the pits, but in a corner coming into the run up he had a better line and passed me back. We ran up together, but I was faster there, but couldn’t get around. On the remount I attacked and tried to get away on the climb, but in the muddy chicanes made a mistake and we were back together. Coming into see 1 to go, we again came back together. I made my move just like I had before but this time took his line and went into the run up first, pulled away there, and continued to attack up the climb stretching the gap out and eventually he seemed to give up. 12^th place, no point, but a fun battle with Carl.

Sunday was a little different. The major course change was that the run up was replaced with a long paved and gravel climb, and the barrier and sand were moved. Sand first then barriers. It also didn’t rain as much so the mud was drying up and turning into peanut butter.

I had a terrible start, missed my pedal on the start and came into the first corner nearly last. But I was lucky there was a pike up in the second corner that I was able to avoid. Came out in the top 25 or so and kept pushing to try and get closer to the top ten. I really wanted points that day. But the legs just weren’t having it. I seemed to be bouncing off the rev limiter, if you know what I mean by that, missing a gear. But as the race continued I seemed to find my rhythm and starting riding smoother. In reality I found that it wasn’t a leg issue as much as I wasn’t riding the ruts as well. The peanut butter is less forgiving than the super slop mud. Everyone was dealing with day 2 legs. But once I found the rhythm I was able to go from 18^th or so to 13^th in the last couple laps, passing people like they were standing still in some cases. No points again, but worth the fun, and made some cash as well. So thank to MFG and Subaru for the great event.

So that’s a wrap on my CX season, sort of. I’ll be heading up to Spokane again for the inland NW CX finals on Sunday, but I’m taking this week off and planning out next year’s training as well as getting ready to hit the gym for some weight lifting. Thanks to all my sponsors for the support this year and this CX season. it was short, but it was good. I've had a lot of fun battling with Kevin at the local races and last weekend was one of the most fun I've had at a CX race in a while with the conditions.

I’m working hard to make next year my best year yet. I feel as though I’ve hit something of a plateau in my racing and that means something has to change, I have to get stronger and smarter or I’ll start falling behind. 2016 will be a little bit of a make or break year… Wish me luck.