S4: E2: #CCCNYR Pro race review

Chicago Cross Cup New Years Resolution, aka #CCCNYR, is seen by many as a tune up for the National Championship race a week from today in Madison, WI. If the racing seen the past two days is any indication we will have quite a race to watch on Sunday.

Saturday and Sunday were similar and different all at the same time. On Saturday snow fell literally right before the elite race, with the women racing through almost blinding snow at times. The racing was very, very fast with a strong group at the front trading punches. Sunday was without snow and with the sun during the day have become almost tacky. Again the racing was super fast with a large group trading punches. 

J-Pow sighting - somewhat rare in recent weeks.

The field Saturday featured Jeremy Powers, Tim Johnson, Troy Wells, Yannick Eckmann, Brian Matter, Tristan Schouten - and even our own Ryan Knapp. With the course lacking a lot of technical features, tire selection and grip in the corners was key today. Jeremy Powers seemed to struggle with tire pressure as he was in and out of the pits frequently and even admitted on Twitter to have taken a non-standard line a couple times to prevent the tire from bottoming out.

That action was fast all race long with each of the stars in the front six trading punches trying to split others off the back. Eventually J-Pow punched late and went on to victory with Driscoll close by in 2nd place. Eckmann and Johnson battled for third with Eckmann taking the final podium spot. Our own Ryan Knapp fought to 7th place after an initial separation during a dual 180 off camber twist.

First bottleneck proved costly for some - this wreck gave Johnson, Powers, Matter, 

Eckmann and the leaders through the sand.

Tripods were very common.

Former teammates converging in the sand.

Sunday the lineup was similarly star studded, but without snow. This lead to an even larger front group and extremely fast action. I believe the racers did 10 laps of the course which is a blistering pace to keep. Similar to Saturday a large group of stars formed at the front with Page, Johnson, Driscoll, Matter, Eckmann, Wells, Werner, and Marion. Marion? Yeah, Robert Marion - a relative unknown - was hanging in this crowd.

As the race progressed road race tactics started to play out on the course. Without a lot of technical features it was attack/counter-attack lap after lap with no one getting away. All the attack/counter-attack action had Robert Marion (Carpediem Racing) on the ropes about halfway through the race. But, the lead group of seven checked up through the start-finish and started trading quiche recipes, giving Marion a chance to catch on.

He thought catching on meant counter-attack (classic road strategy) and almost as soon as he caught the sleepy group of riders he punched it. Cannondale had two riders in the group and road strategy played with Johnson letting Driscoll attack and chase Marion. Page was following Johnson everywhere and given that Johnson stayed in the larger group Page was content to hang out. This left Wells, Eckmann, Werner, and Matter to do the chase making with Johnson disrupting when given the chance. In short order Driscoll had caught and passed Marion and had built a 10 second gap on Marion with another 12 seconds to the group.

Having seized the day Marion was now in no-mans land riding his guts out, snot frozen to his scraggly beard, laying everything out trying to nail a podium spot in the race. With a lap and a half to go the gap remained the same, but the tension was mounting. The CCCNYR was cheering Marion at every turn, knowing at some point Page and Johnson were going to try to nail him back.

With a lap to go Marion still have 12 seconds, but then Johnson started to drill it. Everyone watched the suspense as Johnson reeled Marion down to 5 seconds, then finally passed through the sand section with only a four turns left to the race. Now the attention turned to Page and his chase of both Marion and Johnson. Relief spread through the crowd as Marion was able to hold off Page to score a podium position with Driscoll and Johnson.

If the racing of the last two days is any indication of the horsepower that will be in Madison, then Sunday this week will be a special treat - don't leave Madison early...you can be late to work on Monday, just tell them The Best Bike Blog Ever said it was OK.

Great elite field with Page making a rare US appearance.

Page leading the initial line through the sand.

Drisoll getting some air out of the sand dunes.

Drisoll leading Marion after splitting the group.

All eyes on Page as the chase continues.

Robert Marion - clearly the man of the day.

S4: E1: #CCCNYR Pre-ride - the return of Goose Poop Hill

Its Friday, January 4th and our main characters are headed to Chicago, specifically Indian Lakes Resort, on a pre-ride mission. Racing is always more comfortable when you have a pre-ride in the day before to settle on what is fact or fiction about a course, so for those of you arriving after dark (including Biker Joe, who is somewhere paying tolls as I type this) here is a preview of the course.

Nickzilla!

Our three juniors hit the course a little after 3:00 PM CST. Wait...three juniors? Didn't we cover this in the last installment - we have two protagonists? Well, in 2013 we introduce a new player (or playa as he says himself) to the mix with Nicholas "Nickzilla" Petrov. Being only 9 years old we can't really delve too deeply into the details that make Nick tick, but I think we can easily divulge that Nick has "the moves" and will be a fun addition to the traveling circus.

Goose Poop Hill - frozen solid.

If you recall from last year, the main element at Indian Lakes is a hill affectionately referred to as "Goose Poop Hill" based on its construction. Apparently the way to build a hill in some place as flat as Chicago is to collect all the aeration cores, grass clippings and golf course waste and pile it in one place. After a while a hill is formed. Because it is golf course waste the ground is soft and sticky and particularly on the 2nd day last year started freezing to bikes, shoes, skin, and generally anything above the ground that was warm and receptive.

The problem with Goose Poop Hill this year is that it won't really factor into the mix. You see the hill is so frozen it would take a week of direct sunlight to thaw it to the muddy exquisiteness it was last year. In fact the whole course is frozen enough that workers were seen drilling holes for all stakes - including the simple metal point step in stakes commonly used for cyclocross.

This year will be about speed and using your big ring. With the wind in your back you can coast for long stretches of the course as if you were riding pavement on your road bike. Pack riding could be a reality for tomorrow's races.
 

After a fast start and a couple sweeper, this will be the site of the first bottle neck - double 180 off cambers

Large berm exits on the sand pits make line selection important

Season 4: Rollin' #CXNats with Young'ens

The juniors are strapped to the roof rack (with I-phones...cuz we're not cruel.)  The trailers are packed with spare cables, bikes, tents, and heaters.  Real cross season begins today as Gumbo Boy and the rest of us make tracks in the snow to Chicago, Madison, Cincinnati and Louisville.  For the next four weeks stay tuned for reports from the road to Cyclocross Nationals and the World Championships.  Like us on Facebook and follow on Twitter for periodic nuggets too small to blog about.  Juniors with smart phones make great stringer reporters.  Also, special thanks to the best sponsors ever: coach Chris Mayhew at JBV coaching, Pearl Izumi, GU Energy and Injinji Performance Toe Socks (compression garments are great).  Look for links on the main page.  As the lock goes on the trailer gate, here's the first installment from guest blogger Corey Green...aka Gumbo Boy.

I'm BACK! Time for season 4 (really?) of guest blogging on the The Best Bike Blog Ever during the true CX season - late December and early January. Once again we will be taking a week's vacation and traveling to the most luxurious places on earth to race cyclocross - Chicago, IL and Madison, WI. Its January, its below freezing and there is 18" of snow on the ground in Madison - how much more luxurious could this possibly get?

Current conditions at Badger Prairie State Park, Verona, WI

To reacquaint you with our traveling circus our two main protagnonists are Spencer Petrov and Mackenzie Green. Two kids that over the course of the previous four years have grown immensely in their ability to race cyclocross and endure physical elements - not to mention that they have each grown 8"+ over that time frame. Four years ago they were each riding 44cm Redlines - the smallest possible bike. This year they are both on 54cm bikes - imagine trying to convince your significant other that you need to buy new bikes every single year because you look like a clown riding the one you have?

Before I go into the details of the two main characters in our plot, let's take a moment to talk about the OVCX junior population headed to Nats. There are FORTY juniors from OVCX headed to Nationals in Wisconsin - yes, that is FORTY kids taking a week of vacation from very important Albegra and English classes to race cyclocross. FORTY conversations explaining to the parents that yes, all the other kids are doing it!

Many of you know the two juniors I am traveling with, but let's take a look at each one of them a little more in depth.

Spencer Petrov is well known in these parts, along with his compatriots Gavin Haley and Ian McShane. This trio push each other week in and week out in OVCX making each of them faster - and at this point faster than many of our Elites. All three will be competing in the Juniors 15-16 race in Madison, though Spencer didn't officially turn 14 until September.

Spencer: 2009 OVCX Opener to 2012 OVCX Finale

This inner competition between three kids who are great friends off the course has made each one of them faster, better, and more confident. It is like three mad scientists in their own lab trying to figure out how to get a leg up on the other one. Gavin has hopped almost every barrier this year - as a result Spencer and Ian worked hard to catch up to that skill. Without this inner competition they would each be fast, but that competitive drive makes each of them better - and has made each of them a serious contender for not just a CX Nationals Podium, but a CX National Championship.

Mackenzie Green started racing in 2009 as well, with the introduction of the Lionhearts Junior Racing program sponsored by Queen City Wheels. Her story is way different than Spencer's, but the results are no less remarkable. As a father and a coach I can relate that trying to get your daughter into one of the hardest, most physically demanding sports as their first sport isn't all butterflies and unicorns puking rainbows. You all know CX is hard and to start a sport like this with absolutely zero athletic or aerobic base is akin to deciding to speak Latin as your first language - sure you can do it, but you are going to hate yourself for a while. Mackenzie has been motivated by three other junior girls in her age group in the OVCX that are also headed to Nationals: Katherine Santos, Emily Falk, and Rachel Dobrozsi.

Mackenzie: 2009 OVCX Opener to 2012 OVCX Finale

So...here we go again. Chicago NYR then a week in Madison, WI for the biggest show in the US for CX. This year I don't think we will get the weather gods smiling on us like last year.

Arrival: Mud Insensitivity #cccnyr

TBBBE Stock 4-Runner Photo

Friday we loaded up the Toyota 4-Runner and ended up in a caravan with another Toyota 4-Runner, once again the official race vehicle of the The Best Bike Blog Ever, and headed north. It will come as no surprise to anyone that just like the last several races in the OVCX series it rained from the time we left our driveway until we reached Indian Lakes Resort in suburban Chicago. Good thing I packed that 33 gallon drum of chain lube.

The odd part was I didn't care. Am I tired of cleaning bikes? Yes. Am I tired of lubing chains and replacing bottom brackets? Yes. After two days of promoting Kings CX in derailleur clogging, hanger breaking mud it didn't phase me in the slightest. Was I expecting mud when I signed up for Chicago and Madison a couple months ago? Not in the slightest. Of course I could have sub-consciously realized that mud and 46 degrees beats the pants off icy and 20 degrees - THAT is what I expected.

Upon arrival we set into motion and started preparing ourselves to pre-ride and set up. We obtained Club Row treatment through ChiCrossCup and got to set up our tent in advance just feet from the starting grid. This is a primo setup, with tents on either side of us to secure everyone together from the Chicago wind and literally be able to hear our names during callups from our tents. Stay warm to the last minute kids.

Showing that I have been completely desensitized to the mud, I put on my shoes, a rain jacket, and my helmet a rode a lap of a very wet course in my jeans. Surprisingly the ground was very, very wet, but very, very firm. The course reminded me of Storm the Greens back in its heyday with its flat runs, a few small off camber hills, and some sculpted and contoured sand pits. Mostly it was flat with lots of straight aways. It was very calm today, and I think as a result I am not taking into account factor that race day might bring - wind. Chicago is well known for its wind and with long flats and wide open spaces that wind could make or break your day. They put wind turbines in the fields on I-65 for a reason.

Mackenzie and Spencer try to walk Goose Poop Hill

For technical features there are two notable features. The first is a "hill", literally the only hill taller than my official TBBBE race vehicle on the entire course - and for as far as you could see in the misty, wet day. That hill appears to be very special in its construction, something you can only get on a golf course. It is constructed of waste material from the course maintenance - literally consisting of grass clipping, extra sand, goose poop, aeration cores, and whatever else might have been collected in the grass catcher of the lawn mower. Walking up the hill we realized we shouldn't have. My shoes weighed about 5 pounds each by the time I got back to the bottom. Whether this is rideable or not will depend on the weather - but if you have to run it, you are not going to clip in clean. The hill was quickly nicknamed "Goose Poop Hill".

Sand trap love, Indian Lakes Resort style

The other technical feature of note is the many sand pits in use throughout the course. None are UCI legal length, but none are like riding sand either. The rain and elements and dormancy of the course have left them firm and rideable, but the lips riding out of them are similar if not greater than the lip to the right side of the long pit used at Kings CX a couple weeks ago. All of this is rideable, but those grunts up and out with the sand at the end of the lip getting churned up will definitely create some issues and opportunities during the weekend.

That is a wrap of the Chicago Cross Cup New Years Resolution course preview - I have to go get those jeans out of the hotel washer - there wasn't a "heavy soil" setting, so I have my fingers crossed. Stay tuned for more reports from the upper midwest.

P.S. - Here is Mackenzie's reaction to the course preview:

If you've ever ridden at Kingswood, you would recognize it here in Chicago. This course is a golf course, with a hill right smack in the middle. Just like Kingswood, except the hill is made up of random debris they don't want on the course and is smaller and only one hump...but that doesn't matter right now! Soo the course was really familiar feeling, fairly flat and straight. A few s-turns and u-turns thrown in, for variety. The start will be iffy for sure, long relatively thin pavement that's curvy with a strange turn onto the grass with off camber right after it. The hill that's pretty much literally made up of mud, goose poop, and unwanted dirt (lovely combination, right?) is slippery and has bumps, reminds me of the big hill at nationals the past few years, except not nearly as steep. After you go across the first time you go back later and go up and down the side a little around a tree, similar to what we've done at Kings before. Plopped at the end of the course are 6 sand pits - a lot of sand pits.