SPIN CX practice

Wednesday was a fun and really good CX practice out at Edgewater. Bart helped Zak layout the course and it was ripe with wet off camber turns.

After the intro lap we took off for the practice race. I stayed behind Bart and Zak because the course was long and I think we all wanted to be sure where we were going. The first lap wasn't a killer pace. About 1/4 way into the 2nd lap, I passed Zak and Bart going downhill heading into a long sweeping off camber section (Zak was unclipping his inside foot through there). I held the lead for almost 1/2 a lap where Zak put on a strong move after a corner on the open grass. Zak was slowly getting away from me and I got close to him after the other technical off camber downhill corner. Once we got up the hill on the road, he gassed it again at the parking lot and got a strong gap. I managed to keep him in site for the rest of the practice and was able to bring him back somewhat on the optional 5th lap.

The disc brakes on my bike were really making up for their weight penalty. The Ritchey SpeedMax Cross tires I used held their traction very well. I did end up going down once heading into the single track on the 4th lap, but that was mainly because of mishandling on my part. I was pretty worried at this point because I lost some time on Zak and I saw Bart heading into the single track just as I exited it. The temp was perfect with the rain, not too cold, but warm enough that I needed to keep my jersey and vest unzipped at the top.

2007 Weslake season's final race

Tonight wrapped up another successful Westlake race season for SBR. Dave Kovach took 2nd in the B race tonight after a strong leadout from Jim Nichols and Matt Orehek claimed fourth place. Series results should be posted at http://www.cvalleyvelo.com/westlake/results.php soon. All of the SBR regulars finished in the top 20 for the B's and Tom Keller finished *just* out of the money for the year in the A's. The competition was fierce this year as the series continues to grow.

The A race was the fastest of the year: 11 laps for approx 22mi at over 27mph avg

Photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gburkhol/sets/72157602154827574/ (Thanks to Michelle Mead for shooting the pics!!)

BA#1 Kirtland Park

My first CX race this year went pretty well. I was fairly well rested and prepared coming in. A HUGE hat's off to BikeAuthority for taking a look at my bike and fixing the brakes on it just before the race.

The Kirtland course was significantly longer this year, which is good because it was also a lot faster. We ended up doing 8 laps for the 'B' Race. I didn't get a good spot at the line and had to work my way up the whole race. I think out of all the people I passed, there were only 3 people that passed me and made it stick. I had some problems staying upright: I hit my pedal on the off camber turn across the hilltop; I had issues at the bottoms of both sets stair run-ups (including taking a spectacular fall when I slipped).

I was able to keep presure on Rick from lap 3 on, which helped both of us. I might have been able to finish higher, had I gotten a better start and stayed upright, but I am very happy with my first top 10 finish in the Killer 'B' field. The race was very fast and competitive. See the link to Ray's blog for a more detailed write up.




Results are posted on: http://teamlakeeffect.net/default.aspx

Dave Stiner kindly posted photos at: www.flickr.com/benjacat

While I couldn't stay for the whole 'A' Race, I took some pics which are posted here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gburkhol

More FUN at Westlake

Ahhh - the season is winding down; the days are getting shorter and so are the races. For this week and last it was 13 laps (about 26 miles) of pure enjoyment. Those in the points races (top 20 for A's) are trying to maintain and/or improve position. Most of the rest of us are just trying to hang on for DEAR LIFE.

The races continue to get faster (depending on the breaks and the chases). Rick and I managed to score back to back primes for SBR on Tues - right before a tear your legs off breakaway started. It was like being shot out of a cannon (backwards) as I was launched to the back of the field after the prime I took. Fortunately the field was strung out single file and I had some time to recover without going off the back completely.

I still have to download my Polar data, but I'm particularly interested in the hard turn on the final lap. I definately felt my front tire slide out about 3-4 inches at which point I slowed up a bit and looked down to still see 25+ mph. I've still got to work on getting my line though the appex of the turn.

Fall Challenge

It was rainy, but it wasn't too bad. The downhill was kinda sketchy - my glasses were fogging up a bit on it. I helped a break get away with 2 guys from Summit on the 2nd to last lap. I thought we were caught, so I settled into the field. The 2 guys from Summit stayed out, but one of them ended up crashing. So, it might have been better that I let them go. I worked the front of the field trying to bring them back on the first 1/2 of the last lap. There were a couple of guys from Orrville that did some work, but really no one else wanted to. There was also guy from Summit sitting at the front of the field.

I worked pretty hard at the bottom of the hill on the last lap, but I blew up through the rollers just before the finish. Chris B from SBR got 3rd which is cool. All in all, it was a good time.