Louisville Worlds 2013: Joey's Okay Cartoon

CX Nats: Day 2 - Time Trials, Old Folks and Single Speed

First Championship race of 2010 CX Nats

Day 2 of CX Nats brings the old folks (I mean that affectionately, as I am very near to racing on this day) starting bright and early in the morning and terminates with the Single Speed races. New to this year is also the time trials, which the Cincinnati area Lionhearts juniors raced today.

The old guys races started bright and early at 9am and saw a course drastically different than yesterday's snow fest. Almost no snow was left on the course, however the meltdown created pools of water large enough to rival the Great Lakes. If you pedal in these dang things you risk your toe being bitten off by an angry lake Trout or Salmon migrating up river.

The old guy races are always entertaining. They all take it seriously, but in a different way than the young guns.  Rather than risk a broken hip, they will cede a position to remain ambulatory the next day. Seeing as my bones are nearing this same spot in life, I deeply respect this point of view and hope for the same consideration when I am racing these races.

The US Bobsled team would be afraid...

With the increasing excitement associated with cyclocross in America, field sizes have grown exponentially in recent years. USA Cycling adopted a new strategy to place riders in the staging area - a TT to determine who the fast riders were. These "fast" riders would be placed up front and the slower riders in the back of the staging area. The issue became the fact that they TT course and the main championship course are not so similar. After 3-180 degree turns and an off-camber ice skate 180 into a boulder the size of Grant's Tomb, the TT course progressed to a 100 meter downhill bobsled run. At 10:30 in the morning when the Lionheart 13-14 year old boys heading into the TT course, the entire downhill slide was ice - and not just any ice. It was that ice that has been sitting underneath the snow that you keep driving over in your driveway and takes a  sledgehammer to bust off the driveway - lightly seasoned with a fresh rain of course.

Assuming you can get to the bottom without slip sliding into the sage brush, you go through a couple short power sections and then find yourself face to face with the monster. This monster is a run-up that would make Texas proud. (according to the internet everything is big in Texas)  The run-up scales approximately 80 vertical feet and is completely unrideable. You might be able to try riding it, but when we walked the course there was 6"+ of snow on it. For the first time ever I was trying to determine how to attach crampons to cycling shoes for the kids to make it up this monster.

The Best Runup EVER

Honestly, when I walked the course I was out of breath walking slowly up the hill. I may be past my peak, but I am not that far out of shape....yet. This was a serious hill that was going to challenge even the most experienced rider and not just kids. Assuming you still have any air in your lungs, you now have only about 300 meters to sprint to the finish. In short the time trial course was really hard and very difficult to do well on.

So, let's get back to racing.

The best race of the day was easily the Women 40-44. Two fabulous racers (Wendy Williams and Gina Hall) battled the entire day back and forth with a sprint finish down the final straight won by Wendy Williams. Hats off to these women for a great race on a hard course.

Wendy Williams battling Gina Hall

Adam Craig attempts to revive the Daisy Duke look

The most entertaining race went to the Single Speed. When you see a single speed race you are bound to see costumes and get-ups that make you wonder. Today there were a few notables. First place in the race and in the entertainment factor went to Adam Craig who won the single speed National Championship while sporting Daisy Dukes, a solid white BMX helmet and a Rabobank jersey. I didn't get a picture  of him standing on the podium receiving his medal, but I can only imagine what the brass at USA Cycling thinks of this look.

An honorable mention goes to the guy pictured below with the solid disc and the front Spinergy. After considering the possibilities I am certain that he confused the race for the TT and showed up with his SS TT bike. While weight on a single speed bike is often not the primary consideration, those wheels have to be in the 2300-2500g range. Even a non-weight weenie has to look at those and ask "why?" A search is out for this guy's friends to determine whether they even considered giving him any assistance on the approach. This looks a lot like letting your friend leave to a fancy dinner without warning him about his awful hat hair and spinach in his teeth.

Tomorrow will bring the juniors races in the morning and more Masters fun in the afternoon. After I get done coaching the kids in the morning, we will have several roving reporters with cameras wandering about looking for the best of CX Nats.

The Road To CX Nat's 2010: A Trip In FB Status Updates

It's a big truck-stop sized can of beef jerky or 2267.52 Miles from Cincinnati's Fountain Square to Bend, OR. Our correspondents Corey, Gregg and John have made the drive.  Non-freaking-stop!  Today is packet pick-up day at Cyclocross Nationals. Tomorrow our boys will tow the line for the time trial to determine starting position. As it appeared on Facebook, here's their trip in status updates:

The Packing Has Begun (photo inside of bike trailer)


(Sunday 6:02pm)
And off we go 6:02pm start (from last OVCX race Sunday in Indianapolis)


Corey pulled out with the e-brake on and then popped the hood rather than releasing the brake. Oops.

(Sunday 10:52pm)
Gonna see a lot of this tonight.


5 Hour Report: Gilson, IL - 245 miles. Avg Dist per hour: 49 miles.


Corey was at Kum & Go with Gregg


Confucious say: "To go fast, you must first go slow." Confucious had to have been pulling a trailer.

Over the Missouri River and into Omaha, NE. Looking for one of those trucks selling steaks.


(Monday 6:49am)
I swear the same convenience store clerk is working the last three stations we have stopped at through Iowa and Nebraska.


Gregg: "There's no snow in Nebraska." Corey: The wind blew all the snow to Iowa.


(Monday 9:06am)
15 Hour Report: I-80 Giltner, NE population 399. 853 Miles covered so far.


19 Hours in the car and the conversation and concern starts to turn to diet and the potential crop dusting impact.


Wyoming - Home of tough men, cold temps, wind and snow. Actually it's 48 degrees and sunny. Sensing a fraud.

(Monday 7:04pm)
Sixty miles until we cross the Continental Divide. 24 Hours and 1208 miles.


Corey: was at Applebees Neighborhood Bar & Grill in Rock Springs, WY

Gregg recieves quick education on the origination of Rocky Mountain Oysters, aka "Cowboy Caviar" or "Montana Tendergroins."

(Monday 10:12pm)
What Halfway looks like. Heading into the final night of the drive. 28 hours...1363 miles...162 gallons of gas.


Our CX Nat's Reporters are in Wyoming. What song should be stuck in their heads?


(Tuesday 1:08am)
"That was a courtesy! I did a pants shake and everything!"


Warning: Applebees's Cowboy Burger causes intense snoring.

3am, Twin Falls, ID = "Paradise?"

Everything he touches turns to broken. Gregg has now broken multiple devices owned by others.


(Tuesday 11am)
39 Hour Update: 1891 miles, 205 gallons and only 250 more miles to Bend. Only one more fill up required.

We have reached Oregon, and PST. Now to finish things off and get to Bend.


When in doubt follow the salt truck.


(Editor Note: as of 2:00pm Eastern Time, we have not heard a confirmation of arrival.  Hopefully that salt truck didn't steer them the wrong way.  How clever...a frickin' cliff hanger.)


Update- Text received - "Did you check the air in the spare tire (the trailer spare)?"...flat 195 miles out..." Hopefully our 3 heroes will re-surface soon.


Stay tuned...