Race Video

I knew I'd find one. This is the fast corner, lap one, I eat it 44 seconds in. This is were I lost the skin on my left knee. It's a little far away to see clearly. The two guys in front of me are clearly not stopped but I was not right on them during the descent. I was coming up fast. Sorry to they guy that was right behind me, thanks for not running me over.

Boulder CX Series #1 - SM35+ Cat 4 Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Look at all those people in front of me and who pass me. Can't believe I made it back up to 11th.

Update 9.30.10:
Found another video of my second crash site and me, but earlier in the race. At 0:57 you can see me successfully ride the downed tree. Now imagine a few laps later not being so successful and I went over the bars.

Bouder CX series # 1 - SM35+ cat 4 Lap 2 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Ohh What Could Have Been: Sunday's Race Report

Sunday was Alpha CX #1. After Saturday's crashes and big efforts I wasn't sure what to expect. My arm, shoulder and hand was sore from landing on it after going over the bars and my left knee was pretty skinned up. I bandaged up the knee, pulled on the big girl panties and decided to go racing.

If Saturday's Boulder race was rough, Alpha cross was out of control. Half of it was smooth shallow sand and the other half was mind pounding grass clumps surrounded by sand. I really wish I had brought the mountain bike. This wasn't a course were you could just power your way around, if you did it would eat you up. It would require you to ride your ride, at your pace, under control and with some technical finesse.

The field was about half the size of Saturdays race and I got a call up (based on last years results), putting me in the front row. I had a good start and slotted in behind my friend Wes, who won the hole shot as well as Saturday's race. Things were quickly getting strung out on the upper soft sand. We dropped off the dirt onto a paved section and upon re-entering the dirt Wes had a terrible crash. Right at the transition from the pavement to dirt he spilled it out, body flying right and bike going left taking up the entire coarse. You could hear the tubular blowing out during the crash. Everyone was in full flight coming down a paved hill right behind him. Fortunately he wasn't hurt and quickly pulled himself and the bike out of the way. Thankfully everyone avoided stacking up and over him.

A racer pulled through and I took up second spot again. Once he started to fade I went by to head out on my own. I could feel Saturday's effort in the legs but now that I could pick my own lines, I went for it. After about a lap I was caught and passed, then about a half lap later I was caught again. I kept driving. The next group wasn't getting any closer and I had a good lead. At the bottom of the coarse there was a soft 180 turn around and during a couple passes through that section the front tire burped some air. The third and second to last lap the front tire was getting obviously low and more difficult to control. By now I was running the corners and difficult obstacles just to baby the front tire. I didn't think I had time to grab a pit wheel and it had held up for 2 laps, so I took the risk to hold on. With about 2/3 of a lap left the tire completely failed and when flat, I was just beyond the last pit. My gamble didn't pay off. So I picked up the bike to run, I was still going to finish. During the run in, my 3 year old son yelled from the jump castle as I ran by "Dad, what are you doing?" I just kept running.

I wasn't aware until the end but the lead rider had rolled his front tubular and quit the race with about two to go. So I was in second place on the final lap. My teammate Todd was racing well and was in the pack just behind me. He went on to take second place. I ran in to finish and ended up 25th even after running ~2/3 of a lap carrying the bike. 25th, that's how far ahead I was. In the end, the race had 51 starters and only 43 finishers.

Next time the old CX pit bike will be available. A quick, easy switch could have saved the day. The spare wheels I had just keep you from ending your day early. A CO2 inflator may have also helped but it would have take almost as long as a wheel change.

There's never a perfect CX race. Better luck next time. Thanks for reading.

Great Legs, No Results: Saturdays Race Report

Saturday was the Boulder Racing CX Series kick off. They always have a pretty nice race setup. The races are well attended, there's music, announcers and extras. Saturday was at Xilinx in Longmont, a Colorado CX standard. For this first race, the director was doing call ups based on last years Boulder Racing Series points and some how I missed all their races last year. So, no call up for me. But I still wanted to race, to see if I could still move up from behind.

The coarse was a little over the top. Rough, narrow and too many wheel eating ditches. You had to be fast but patient and smart. I got a 5 or 6th row start (mid pack out of 98!! Starters). There were way too many racers clogging the road to move up quickly and the first pass through the narrow trees at the top of the coarse was mayhem. Once through that section I started to move up a bunch of places on the road at the top of the course. Once the decent, the fastest part of the course, coming back to the front side of the Xilinx campus there's a little off camber section at the bottom. The two guys in front of me total wimped out and slammed on the brakes. I had two choices, hit them HARD or try to drop down the off camber and see if I could ride around. I tried the later only to have my wheel wash out sending me ground hard. It was fast and I went all the way down to my head, knocking one of my helmet "rockloc" straps out of the helmet. Once I figured out were I was and got my stuff back together got got back to work, my helmet was flopping all over the place on the rough trails.

The next few laps I was killing it. I couldn't believe how quickly I passed some people. The race was shattered and I was moving up fast. The body was in go mode. On what turned out to be the last lap (I didn't know it them because the announcer sucked [who was that clown, playing 80's music during call ups, couldn't hear a thing] and their bell must have been broken) I caught the lead chase group. They were racing for 4th. I couldn't believe I had chased back from mid pack to the front. At the top in the trees I decided I would try and get over the downed tree by riding it, it worked when I practice road the coarse. If it worked I would be in front of the lead of the group and could attack on the pavement just out of the trees. Sadly for me I when over the bars straight onto my hands for my second huge wreck of the day. This one took a little wind out of my wings.

I tried to chase back those places and if I'd had one more lap I may have gotten them but it wasn't to be. So I finished 11th despite the poor starting location. I felt great, the legs were strong and I dished out some pain. Sadly a lot of that pain was on myself. In the end, I just lost some skin, bruised my hands, arms and shoulders. I would race again Sunday but feel like I got hit by a truck.
There were a lot of cameras at this race. I'm sure someone got the shot of my crashes. If I find them I'll post an update. Someday I may find myself of sports bloopers or funniest videos.

What gets you ready to toe the line?

I'm guessing it has something to do with my fist exposure to cyclocross, when we lived in Portland, Oregon.

I just feel like it should be cold, dark and rainy. If the weather is going to suck, you might as well have fun!

The atmophere and energy at those races is awesome.

Cyclocross - Starcrossed 2010 from Geoff Agnew on Vimeo.

2nd Race of the Weekend GMSV CX #1

Sunday morning I was hopeful for a cool morning and it was cool early but it warmed quickly. By the time the race rolled around it was just hot. The Golden track isn't may favorite, in the past it's been so rough it'll rattle out your molars. After a few years of use and a lot of work by GMSV, it's getting better.


So hear we are, fourth CX on the ACA calender and their making call ups based on 2009 BCR results. So I'm back on the front row. I actually feel the new CX cup system is really lame, are they really going to make call ups through out September based on last years results? Even if you do well this year you get no love at the next race. If you ask me, its just stupid! They should have the first race a points race to get things set up for this year. Then have more races in October so that people that want to start later in the season still have a shot at the call up points.

The Sunday race for the SM35+/4 was huge. There were 96 racers! This photo shows how important it is to have a good starting position. Click on it and have a closer look, I'm on the left in full sprint for the start, back a few rows the guys are still standing around waiting for their chance to ride. Proof positive it's better to be at the front of a starting CX race.


Here is a movie of everyone diving into the first single track. I'm in about 5th place.

GMSV Cyclocross # 1 - SM 35+ Cat 4 Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Throughout the race I tried to race a little more aggressive, chasing people down. The lead 5 to 6 guys got way off the front. Looking back there were very few people close behind us. There were actually some pretty big gaps between the lead riders.

The coarse had a gnarly steep little climb.


Barriers


Fun little hills
In the end, I finished fifth and totally surprised with my results for the weekend! It's a good sign for the coming Cyclocross Season.

Photo Credit: Mountain Moon Photography

GMSV CX #1

Kailee gave me my reward.

The dots are fireworks! Nice:)

Race # 1 PPV CX #1

Well, my first cyclocross race of the year is in the books. I went back to Colorado Springs for a rematch. Last year I finished 21st, this year I was up to 7th of 40 starters. My legs felt pretty good and I had a decent start. I was perhaps overly patient and too conservative but it worked this time. I'll have to be more aggressive as my legs come around.

Interesting note, the SM35+/4 had 40 starters. The SM4 group had 10 and at least one of them can race in the SM35+/4 group. Were are all the young dudes?

The movie is from Josh, racing in the smaller SM4 group. It gives you an idea of what the race coarse was. I'll put pictures up as and if I find them.

Update:
I found some good photos of this race so I thought I would put them up. There were all taken by Mountain Moon Photography. She is so nice out on the race coarse and I love the pictures. Go find yourself in her race photos.

The start, I was front row middle.


Didn't want the hole shot (I've blown up doing that), I tried to ride within myself.



Todd was flying caught and passed me near the end.


Get off the couch and up that hill slacker!

Amatuer Racers are Doping

Ever wonder how that dude got so fast? Have you ever thought about it? I bet it's less expensive than a new $5,000 race bike or sweet carbon wheels. Is the local race something you would dope over?

I guess for some people it is. Velonews reports that Johnathan Chodroff (currently a Pro for Jelly Belly) took a two year ban from cycling for EPO doping in 2007 when he was a Cat 3 racer!

Wow, for some reason that blows me away. I know I'm not genetically gifted with speed (thanks anyway Mom and Dad) but getting faster isn't worth cheating.

Dopers Suck

The Event Horizon

I'm standing on the cusp of the beginning of cyclocross season. This weekend will mark my entry into the fall racing season. My plan is to head down to the Colorado Springs race on Saturday. I've raced the Springs race a number of times, it was also the first race of the year last year. My plan, relax and be patient! In years past my first race has always ended up with some preventable issue. Last year I was too excited, shifted too late into an obstacle and dropped the chain on the first lap. Had to stop and fix it, causing me to loose a lot of places. Later in the year I found I was more successful when I was a little more 'patient', especially on that first lap.

This year I'd like to start out were I left of. Keep the patience and add flow. Conserve my momentum, minimize non-essential efforts, stay off the brakes and not fight the coarse. I've had high hopes for this season but as I've looked back through my training files and power readings, I'm not sure I'm any stronger than last year. I'm a little sad about that but hey, I had fun last year!

Tonight I'm off to fine tune some equipment choices for the coming races and make sure the bike is ready to go. Wish me luck, I'll see you at the races.

Tuff Fall

Road up to Loveland today. Great ride!
There's a new fire up North. Just north and maybe a little west of Carter Lake. When I passed Jeffco airport there were slurry bomber planes parked waiting for the Boulder fire. By the time I got to Loveland I could see three of the firefighting planes circling the smoke plume. Black smoke would billow up, a slurry bomber would drop in and the column would turn white.
Some rain would be nice to help the foothills fire condition!

Hello Fall

Lunch time skills at the park and it's 55F. Nice! Working on my flow and remembering the feel of this beautiful lady.

FTP Estimation

A while ago I wrote about trying to estimate my Funtional Threshold Power (FTP). This is the maximum power you can hold for one hour and is the basis for your cycling power levels. After that initial FTP test I tried again after a few weeks and found my power had dropped. So I started resting to make sure I was fully recovered. Each time I revisited the test, things looked worse. I was questioning everything, diet, workouts, fitness and finally the powermeter.

Just before the Mt Evans HC the powermeter was really reading my power low. I felt great and didn't believe it. So I sent it back to PowerTap to get recalibrated. It was off. The sad thing is how slowly the thing drifted lower. I would be fine if it just stopped working so I at least knew it wasn't working. But to die so gradually, 5%, 15%, 20% then 50% off is hard to catch until the end. Honestly, it makes me less trusting of my wireless powertap SL hub.

Anyway, after getting the hub back from the PowerTap folks I tried Joe Friel's FTP approximation test again.

I also made some modification on my LTHR. Previously, I was using data from shorter races and not correcting for the short duration or the fact that it was a race. The new result of ~156 - 158 is consistant with the longer races I done recently too. (WP races and Mt Evans HC).

From the test on 6/3/10 my LTHR of 157 was hit during an interval with a power of 286W. So my FTP at that time would have been around 286W. This past week I hit a LTHR of 156 during an interval with a power of 293W. This means things have improved some over the summer despite all the resting I tried because of the powertap loosing its calibration.

Now that things are back on track I've been loading up the training the past few weeks to get ready for CX. We'll see how things progress throughout the fall. Currently I'm estimating, based on last years power files, that I have similar fitness to what I had last year this time. My plan was to be faster, we'll see if I can make it happen.