[DrWJODonnell]

Criss Cross Crash

Anyone remember that, or is it just me? Anyhow, today was my foray into the world of ‘cross (CX? Is this how people in the know write it?) under an interesting set of circumstances.

I blame LJ (Jeff Johnson) for enjoying watching his GF at Westwood cross a few weeks ago. Not that there is anything wrong with enjoying watching girlfriends, or girls who race bikes, but it started a cascade of events that, well, maybe I should just blame Troy and Chris Facas for putting on a good event?

So it goes like this. LJ has a ball watching ‘cross. The next week, he goes out and races ‘cross on his mountain bike and gets his butt handed to him. He tells me about it and I get to say, “Hey. I don’t own a cross bike or a mountain bike, so have fun, but it isn’t for me.”

But he makes me curious. I mean, isn’t a ‘cross bike just a road bike with fat tires? I have my backup road bike (’03 specialized Allez) that just gets zero ride time except in an emergency. So I think, why not get some fat, knobby tires and put them on that. Viola. Instant cyclocross.

As it turns out, no. Not so simple.

I ask coach, and he says, in a nice way because he still wants my money, “Will, you are an idiot.” Which is true, but he means it about thinking that I can do cross on a road bike.

My thought was that I cold run 25mm tire. Maybe what? A 27? Well apparently ‘crossers use 35s or some crap. I am pretty sure that ultegra brakes and a road fork would probably not give enough clearance. Oh well. No ‘cross for me.

I ask Mark at the shop about the tires just to find out if they do have smaller, thinner ones, and he laughs at me too (two for two in “will, you are an idiot” ratings). He tells me that he will loan me a bike to try the discipline out.

Oh, brother.

So, long story made longer (how can you make a long story short if you continue the story at all? I never understood that phrase), I picked up the bike, dug out my old shoes and spd pedals (that’s what I started racing on. I didn’t know there was a difference between mountain and road equip).

I didn’t care about winning (like I could actually win) and so elected to get rid of the 44/34 gearing and toss on my 54/39 SRM. I put my saddle on the bike and I had a cross bike!

Concert Saturday night for work got me in to bed at 2:30am, and then I had to be up at 5 for the race. Oh, bother. Trip was uneventful (though the desire to pull to the side of the road and sleep was enticing), and an Accel Gel for breakfast rounded out my poor race prep.

38 degrees, and I am hopping on the bike for the first real ride. I pre-ride the course and besides being vibrated all over hell, I dump it in this weird downhill 270 degree left turn. Great. This is going to be a long day.

Lots of grass, strange turns (to my roadie four corners mentality) and sand made for some amusement. I let some air out of the tires (had 60 lbs in, but a drop to 35 and a re-ride of the course said that this was better) and planned on getting to the front of the starting line.

But, they did things alphabetically and so I had to be 8 or 9 rows back. So much for the good start. Crits are so much easier that way!

The race? Interesting dynamic to be caught behind 40 guys negotiating small turn and while you are doing a trackstand trying not to run into the guy in front of you, another guy carrying his bike runs past you like you are standing still (which, I guess I was!)!!

I moved up when I could, and by the fourth lap I could pick my own lines and there were only a few people I could see ahead of me. The sand got ridden down to where I no longer rolled my bike through it (not needing a bruised shoulder from carrying the bike) and actually rode through it. There were lots of people cheering me on and before I knew it, the race was over – 32 minutes long and third place.

It was fun. I dumped it once as I tried to hit a 180 turn too hard when I was approaching LJ, but was able to do the runs and the barrier thingies quite well I think…at least for a guy racing the “C” race. Average watts were around 200, and overall, I found it interesting, but I am not instantly addicted in the way I was after my first road race. Maybe it is a lack of sleep. We will see. I will probably try another sometime if I can get a bike (LJ actually used a demo bike…I need to ask him how he scored that one), but for now, I have no plans.

Thanks to LJ, Theresa, and her teammate Anne for the conversations, encouragement and pictures. Also thanks to Chris and Alex and all of the Westwood guys I saw out there and who were very encouraging and patient with the idiot TT guy WAY out of his comfort zone. You guys all cheered me on (probably because I was slow – “Come on, Will.”) and it was cool to hear that kind of support in a race.

Finally, a huge thanks to Mark and Alan Albert at Westwood Cycle who as always did an excellent job seeing that I got the right machine and was fit perfectly so that I could enjoy my experience. You guys rock.

Here is a video link to last years version of this.

And this is sort of what it looked like to me.


Some LJ/Anne pics of my pretty kit/ugly face?




and of course why put the SRM on if you aren't going to show the world a bunch of squiggley lines?



The numbers? nothing exciting.

Race:
Duration: 32:46 (33:01)
Work: 448 kJ
TSS: 30.6 (intensity factor 0.749)
Norm Power: 269
VI: 1.18
Pw:HR: -11.77%
Pa:HR: -4.34%
Distance: 6.899 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1021 228 watts
Heart Rate: 102 193 178 bpm
Cadence: 29 145 94 rpm
Speed: 0 24.2 12.6 mph
Pace 2:29 0:00 4:45 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 843 203 lb-in

Lap 1:
Duration: 8:55 (9:10)
Work: 119 kJ
TSS: 7.9 (intensity factor 0.728)
Norm Power: 262
VI: 1.18
Pw:HR: -23.08%
Pa:HR: -29.1%
Distance: 1.829 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 938 223 watts
Heart Rate: 102 187 173 bpm
Cadence: 29 145 96 rpm
Speed: 0 22.1 12.3 mph
Pace 2:43 0:00 4:53 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 843 195 lb-in

Lap 2:
Duration: 8:12
Work: 106 kJ
TSS: 7.7 (intensity factor 0.749)
Norm Power: 269
VI: 1.25
Pw:HR: -44.44%
Pa:HR: -31.2%
Distance: 1.712 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 875 216 watts
Heart Rate: 173 187 180 bpm
Cadence: 30 127 95 rpm
Speed: 2.2 20.7 12.5 mph
Pace 2:54 26:49 4:47 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 781 192 lb-in

Lap 3:
Duration: 8:06
Work: 105 kJ
TSS: 7.2 (intensity factor 0.73)
Norm Power: 263
VI: 1.22
Pw:HR: -27.82%
Pa:HR: -29.32%
Distance: 1.715 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 969 215 watts
Heart Rate: 171 185 180 bpm
Cadence: 31 131 97 rpm
Speed: 4.3 21.2 12.7 mph
Pace 2:50 13:60 4:43 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 772 188 lb-in

Lap 4:
Duration: 7:40
Work: 119 kJ
TSS: 8.2 (intensity factor 0.802)
Norm Power: 289
VI: 1.12
Pw:HR: -11.69%
Pa:HR: -21.95%
Distance: 1.677 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1021 259 watts
Heart Rate: 166 193 180 bpm
Cadence: 29 129 90 rpm
Speed: 4.9 25.2 13.1 mph
Pace 2:23 12:13 4:34 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 743 238 lb-in



That’s all for now.