Pushing The Lance Boulder Down The Hill

The elephant is in the room riding a tandem and twirling a soccer ball on his trunk, and only CNN last night got a glimpse of it.  It’s bigger than Oprah.  It’s bigger than Lance’s ego.  I watched Mike and Mike on ESPN this morning.  While they summarized the interview well, they quickly breezed through and went right on to the bigger, easier and tastier story of the day, the poor Notre Dame football player who got catfished.  I don’t blame ESPN.  It has to hurt when the self proclaimed world wide leader in sports gets scooped by Deadspin, the world wide leader in telling Donald Trump to go F himself.  Not to mention, catfishing a college football player is way more interesting to the majority of viewers than doping in a sport that only makes the news for three weeks in July.  But, what if there’s a bigger fish to fry?

My TOC Photos Take on New Meaning

What if there is systematic doping in Soccer, Football, Baseball, Basketball…sports where the money is bigger, the fame more intoxicating and the rules are way more lax?  What if your kid, your nephew, the high school phenom next door doesn’t have a shot at making the team unless Mom starts making room in the fridge pronto to store some blood?  On Oprah, you may see a mature man in his early 40’s, but think about how young he was when it started to get real.

Who’s asking these questions Sally Jenkins?  Isn’t it obvious that if Lance says he saw himself as being on a level playing field, that this is way bigger than we can imagine?  C’mon it’s cycling.  By salary comparison, most cyclists don’t make in a career what most football players make in a year.  Still, Lance alludes to a peloton 200 or so deep, all with their doctors and support staffs systematically doping, for at least 7 years.  Doping has to be engrained deeper in other sports.  Maybe that’ll come out on part two tonight with the 2^nd place world wide leader in sports, the Oprah Winfrey Network.

What's behind those drawn shades?

Let me help pull the wool jersey from over their eyes.  It couldn’t have stopped with Lance.  It couldn’t have stopped with baseball player hearings on Capitol Hill.  It must be still happening.  It can’t be one or two bad apples.  It’s has to be orchards upon orchards.  Sure cycling now has the biological passport and out of competition testing, but come on.  They don’t do a whole lot of that in football or baseball, where penalties are measured in days not years.  I’ve never seen a doping control tent at a ball game stadium.  History has shown us that doping has a way to stay a wheel length ahead of the knock on the door.  It can’t be only cycling.  Who’s shining the light on soccer, football, baseball, basketball?  Who’s nosing around those doctor’s offices?  Who’s swinging by the baseball team locker room for a look?  What’s going on in the college team hotel before the big game?  What are those kids really doing after school?

Damn I Loved George

Maybe it is up to Deadspin to dig it up and steal some more world wide thunder.  Last night we saw the fastest guy from the fastest team admit to years of systematic doping.  While Lance danced around giving “the look” to specific others, journalists could pull up any team roster from any sport and find some names, players, doctors, trainers to start with.  February sweeps are right around the corner.  If anything, Lance proved it’s not a witch hunt and more likely shooting fish in barrel. 

When you discover that doping likely didn’t come to a magical halt with cycling in 2005, and probably takes place in other sports, sports with crazy rock star money, sports with much more lax penalties for doping, then you’re getting at something.  Then take a look at how these athletes get to the pro level.  Who missed the cut?  Who’s next in line to make the pro jump?  Look at the feeder leagues.  Look at college sports.  Seriously, take a look at high school. 

Right now there are talented 14 year old kids out there who might have a chance to go pro, only they need to be much bigger, much faster and have much more endurance to compete with all the drug users and enablers that currently occupy the team rosters and staffs.  Put your arm around one of those kids, read the “side effects” of EPO, Testosterone, and Steroids and ask yourself, does it really matter if everyone is doing it?

Or, you could just run with this catfish thing.  

Video: Oprah Lance Code Red Promo Parody

S4: E5: Juniors Day at #cxnats

Boys 13-14 Start

A few weeks ago during the Christmas to New Years week I found myself glued to streaming video from Europe watching the Christmas week races astounded at how fast the Belgians rode and how utterly ridiculous they make the rest of the world look, sans a select few. As I watched sketchy descents, slimy mud riddled uphills, and wicked off camber I came to the realization that if we want to be as fast as the Belgians we have to ride in those conditions - cold, wet, muddy, crazy disgusting days where it is way easier to pull up a Family Guy repeat on Netflix than it is to get on our bike and trash it riding laps at Kings in mud puddles. I even downloaded a preview of the Dutch Rosetta Stone thinking maybe I should dig in and listen to the announcers - that they would hold some secret to understanding how they do it.

Ed Fritzinger on his way to 3rd place

Today our juniors competed in arguably the toughest conditions I have personally witnessed on a cross course - and in recent years we have witnessed some crazy stuff. From 10 degrees and a foot of snow in Bend, mud puddles as big as a lake the following year in Bend, and mud to your ankles last year in Madison seemed really harsh - until this year.

We awoke to a hazy fog - that cool, damp, misty fog you get when the temperature warms up and the 12 foot piles of plowed snow start to evaporate. It had rained about 3/4" in the past 12 hours, putting more water on a frozen substrate, combined with the snow and black ice that was already on the course and basically turned the course into three courses. You could ride in slushy snow, black ice, or slushy half frozen mud - you had your choice. The only issue was that you didn't know where or when either of those existed.

This is the experience we need in America.

Boys 15-16 before pit #1

The trick to the course was knowing when to go fast. This is what I believe the Belgians know way better than America knows, and I am only beginning to understand. To ride the course this week you had to have a patience that surpassed your emotion. Time after time you would see guys power up big to go fast, only to end up on their backside kicking the bike back off them. The Belgians understand this - they understand that smooth is fast and that smooth is a matter of interpretation. And they have ridden that instance enough to know how to ride it again and again.

Spencer Petrov being interviewed

Practicing in these elements and repeating this for 11 days of insanely difficult races around Christmas has become their secret ingredient. For the US this is the second year of racing Nationals after the New Year and in line with the European Nationals calendar. For the sake of the future of our juniors we have to remain on this date. The experience they got today gives them a taste of what Christmas Week means in Belgium - our own little one-day EuroCrossCamp if you will. Each of the last two years it has been these elements.

It pains me to say that. I liked having it over before Christmas and being able to move on to road season. But the Belgians aren't going to change their ways - Christmas Week will live on, and we will continue to send our juniors and seniors over to compete against them. To compete on that stage we have to continue to build this skill, build this ability to ride on days when we don't want to ride - the days that take hours to clean up kits and bikes.

It is the only way.

S4: E4: #cxnats Course Pre/Review

Our typical nationals strategy is to partake in the B races, see how the course shapes up and then attempt to predict how the course will shape up based on weather predictions through the week. Usually the courses see continual degradation as the week progresses and the ruts get ruttier earlier in the day on each progressive day.

This year the course is going to be a mess from the start.

Early morning and still solid

The first B race this year was at 9:30am, with nearly a perfectly frozen course. The corners were sketchy, there was soft snow in places, but really the course was sort of predictable and very little mud on the bikes after this race. By the 10:30am race that was changing very, very rapidly and by the 3:00pm single speed race it had started to refreeze.

Refreeze you say? At 3pm?

Before we all got here Wisconsin was cold - like really cold. Up to three weeks in advance of us arriving the the temps struggled to get into the 20s and the tundra froze to a solid state. Whether those of us who only visit Madison on the first full week of January want to admit it, the temps really are typically very cold in January. The air temperatures aren't really the deciding factor on the surface area of the ground thawing, but rather the sunlight. Where there is ample sunlight there is thawing. As soon as that sunlight dips to an acute angle, things start to refreeze.

The kicker of this is that the low temperature for Thurday night and Friday night is in the mid-30s - but it won't matter. The ground is so frozen a lot of the areas will freeze back up as soon as the sun is gone - that snow layer is protecting the ground from thawing.

But it gets better.

Mid-day thaw - some water appearing

On top of very frigid temperatures, they got about 18" of snow. The course is plowed in its entirety from the start to the finish, leaving a 8"-18" berm, depending on location, along the course on both sides. At first it looks like Cottonelle tissue stacked and lining the course to prevent any injuries should you run astray from your intended target. While it is softer than the ground below it, it is creating a different problem - it is also thawing. In places this thaw is creating a  flow of liquid along the course, over the course, down hills, essentialy the path of least resistance. In the final 3:00pm course some of these areas were freezing and becoming slick while the race was in progress.

But, wait, there is more.

More you say? Sure, there is also rain in the forecast. Mid-30s, a solid breeze at 15-20 mph, and rain. What will rain do to course already surrounding by a large amount of frozen water? Worst case scenario planning has the Lionheart coaches heading to the local bait-n-tackle shop for some 40 lb test line, a rod and reel suitable for a Marlin, and a quick refresher on big game fishing. With a lot of rain this place will be undoubtedly wet and definitely deeper in mud.

What will it be like during my race?

Late day thaw with a stream of water

Who knows. Seriously, planning tires for the course right now is like sticking a dollar in a slot machine in Vegas - odds are not in your favor. Your tire of choice may work at the start, then be awful at the end. You also probably won't find a tire that works for the whole course. The shady parts continue to be snow/ice, the sunny parts have surface mud and very slippery, and the parts only partially in the sun are refreezing.

My perspective is that the focus may not be on the surface, but rather the solid underlayer. The much that does exist is not deep, and the ground seems colder and more frozen than last year, so odds are that it will stay frozen longer. Target the base, get a tire that makes you feel good, lower the pressure as low are your eardrums can handle and go for it.

Partial shade = half and half

Puddle of thaw beginning to refreeze

Apparently this is a sand pit

Black ice waiting to happen

S4: E3: #CXNats Junior Jitters & Preview

In the past couple years USA Cycling has created the racer ranking system.  At least to some degree, it has helped demystify racing at CX Nationals. For the juniors supported in this final week of the National scene it has done nothing to calm their nerves - in fact it may have made it harder. A large number of OVCX kids are highly ranked, so let's take a look at each of the junior races and see who has a shot at a podium in Madison.

Before the ranking system the races were a lot more random.  Knowledge of the other kids was non-existent. The staging was based on last year's podium plus a few other non-racing related criteria. You really didn't know until right before race. With the huge growth comes huge pressure on getting it right.  While there are some flaws in the ranking system, it seems to be the most consistent and fair way to execute the call-ups for Nationals. Our masters racers might not agree when they are racing 6 rows deep, but that is the beauty of racing at a national level.

For the kids it is harder. Remember back to 7th grade? Remember that kid that was a puny 4' 5" twig when you left school last summer? Seemingly over the summer he developed the ability to grow a 5 o'clock shadow by 2:30pm when the bell rang for the end of the school day. Having been to the last four CX nationals that is exactly what happens in the junior races. The kids that were slow (or fast) last year may not be so the following year. Sweaky voiced and hairy, puberty is the great unknown.

As the kids prepare for their races they have no idea who in the United States has suddenly developed Eric Heiden's thighs while maintaining Tyler Hamilton's scrawny upper body. A kid growing a mustache in the 10-12 juniors race tends to quickly intimidate an 9 year old with his seat slammed to the top tube on his hand me down 44cm Redline.

Junior 10-12

The 10-12 age group is probably the single hardest category to predict. Last year we watched Sydney Lach demolish the race on a physically demanding course. Just being large enough to ride a 700c wheeled bike is an immediate leg up on this field as the 24" Redlines are very popular in this crowd. On a physically demanding course the advantage in this crowd goes to the best overall athlete. This year they changed the 10-12 race, putting it on a shorter course and removing the pieces that were the most physically demanding. With the hardest element being a set of barriers the playing field is a bit more level, as the emphasis is on riding fast on relative flat ground.

OVCX Girls - 2 - (9) Kate Seiler and (10) Amber Payne

OVCX Boys - 10 - (1) Will Bobrow, (2) Thomas Francisco, (3) Nicholas Petrov, (6) Lucas Stierwalt, (8) Gabe Dobrozsi, (9) Brennan Foster, (13) Jacob Krynock, (16) Lewis Gatch, (19) Garrett McNear, (30) Keaton Adams

Wow!  TEN boys in this age group at Nationals? This race will be really fun to watch, particularly with the OVCX currently holding FIVE slots on the front row. Congrats to Greg Keller of Mud and Cowbells Blog and Boulder Junior Cycling for bringing an armada of young juniors. Out of the top 20 ranked boys, OVCX holds nine slots, and Boulder Junior Cycling holds seven. It will be a battle to see which program can gather the most podium slots.

Junior 13-14

While the 10-12 race is hard to judge going in, the 13-14 has a huge range of abilities. OVCX has kids in the 13-14 age group racing at the top of our Cat 3 races - in fact several of them. But this is also the category that sees the most "man-children" that hit puberty on the early side and make grown men jealous. If you look through some of the podium pics from the past few years it almost seems unfair that  these kids have to race against each other.

OVCX Girls - 5 - (1) Kennedy Adams, (4) Sydney Lach, (8) Veda Gerasimek, (14) Kate Dietrich, (17) Emma Hayes

OVCX Boys - 8 - Ed Fritzinger, Alex Christian, Jackson McNear, Enzo Allwein, Dylan Rockwood, Eli Woodard, Cameron Fisk, Mark Myles

Junior 15-16

Kids entering the middle teens start to resemble adults.  In some cases they start making adults cry. In our own OVCX series we have seen the development of a trio of 15-16 juniors to the top of the Elite field.  Sons start to stomp on their fathers leaving tears of pain and joy. Our 15-16 girls have fought their way to the top of our growing women's elite field as well, giving them the race experience they need to do well in Madison.

OVCX Girls - 4 - (2) Katherine Santos, (6) Mackenzie Green, (9) Rachel Dobrozsi, (10) Emily Falk

OVCX Boys - 9 - (3) Ian McShane, (4) Spencer Petrov, (5) Gavin Haley, (9) Nicholas Vorwerk, (15) James Francisco, (21) Jedidiah Fritzinger, (22) Zachary Ross, (29) Justin Bird, (30) Nathan Ross

Junior 17-18

At this age the kids, well really they aren't kids anymore. When Drew Dillman was still racing age 18 (just last year) he was making our Elites feel the pain and racing in Belgium. Kids on the podium in this race have a ton of experience and many of them have experience beyond the US.

OVCX Boys - 6 - (3) Stephen Bassett, (4) Gunner Dygert, (7) John Francisco, (20) Luke Beemer, (25) Nolan McQueen, (50) Daniel Santos

In all that is forty-four kids with OCVX racing experience heading to Madison to represent our region. Whether you are from Indiana, Kentucky, or Ohio take a moment to root for these kids and if you are friends with one of them on Facebook or follow one of them (or their parents) on Twitter take a moment to give them a shout out. You have supported them all year, whether you knew it or not, by giving them a fantastic opportunity to develop their skill in preparation for this moment.