I'll keep these short and sweet since they did me in pretty bad and my body needs some rest.

Saturday 14 November - Iowa State Cyclocross Championships in Altoona, IA

The Cat. 3 race was small but, there were some great riders there including Louis Dewild (ZOOM Performance), Ryan French, Scott Robinson, and Matt Gumm (All9Yards), and Nate Klein (Rasmussen's) which meant that the pace would be high. The course did not have very much technical aspect too it which was great for just riding fast from start to finish although, it doesn't suit me too well. I need some twisties I guess. I actually had a great start and was sitting in the first couple of spots before taking the lead after about 90 seconds of racing. I stayed on front for most of the first lap before my Nate Klein came by and took over. The pace stayed high throughout the duration and although I had no real problems other than feeling very slow through the barriers, I went backwards until I was in sixth spot with a couple laps to go. I was able to pull back Ryan French and get myself into 5th but, everyone else was just plain out of reach.

Sunday 15 November - Devil's Glen in Bettendorf, IA

This course had a bit more technical challenges to it than the Saturday course did which I liked but, my legs were throttled before we even got started. For some reason, I seem to be having some issues recovering in the last few weeks. Maybe it's time for a little rest I guess. Long story short, with our small group of 4 in the Open class I was off the back of that group pretty quick and picked up by the group of 23 Master's behind me. Found of few of them to work with which made the laps go by a lot quicker but, the other Open class racers were out of sight. It turned into a training ride of sorts for me where I just stayed focused on good lines, controlled breathing, and chasing down any Master's riders that I could lap. My lines did get smoother as the day went by at least.

Legs are totally throttled today. Might try for a recovery ride today and then the rest of the week off. Sunday the 22nd is the last race of the Series and I am currently sitting third in points with a very small lead over Kevin McConnell who won both races this past weekend by the way. He is absolutely flying right now and I will need a ton of help to preotect my small 10 point lead.

Labels: 2009 Cross Racing, cyclocross

With daylight savings time over, my afternoon rides have turned into night rides lately. Sometimes I can get out of the house while it is still light out and finish my ride in the darkness although, the majority of them start in the darkness as well. Not a big deal as long as you're not scared of the dark or something like that. As a safety precaution, I try to avoid riding on the roads as much as possible since I am only one mile from the paved trail system and I can take ride on either the sidewalk or some low travel roads to cover that short distance. There isn't a lot of lighting on the trail system here in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area unless you ride in the downtown area, which I do not do very often, so you have a few options.

#1 Moonlight. Obviously only works around the time of the month when there is a full moon and hopefully no clouds. It's actually pretty fun riding with nothing but the moonlight although it works a lot better when the space above you is open as well such as, no trees. Also a tough thing to do unless you are out riding gravel roads.

#2 In the darkness. Not recommended for the most part. Your eyes will adjust to some degree, assuming that there is NO light source, but that actually takes a while to happen and riding at speed still might not be the smartest thing in the world.

#3 Lights. Definitely the best choice. Lots of options available to people although the best options for purposely riding in the darkness are those systems that have rechargeable batteries with extended burn times.

With that all in mind, I head out into the darkness each evening for a spin with my trusty Cateye HL-EL410 strapped to my helmet. This light produces a not-so-whopping 180 candlepower which is enough for me to see the general form of a trail at 16+mph but, if there is any other lighting that I pass such as street lights, trail lights, or others with brighter lights, the EL410 pretty much just disappears. Probably not the smartest thing in the world for me to be doing but, that's what I have at this time.

Anyway, with the temperatures slowly working their way down I am seeing fewer and fewer people out on the trails after dark and so it really isn't much of an issue aside from me not being able to go very fast. Even the 16ish mph area can get a little sketchy in some of the sections of the trail where it gets twisty through the trees. Need to keep my ears peeled for the edge of the trail in those situations.

Last night's ride was one of those that started in the dark and it went really well with me only seeing one other trail user, although I suspect there may have been a second at one point, who was out running in the Black Hawk Park area. He had a headlamp on so I saw him with plenty of warning and he didn't even seem startled when I announced that I was passing him. Always a plus. I continued down the trail to my turn around point and waited for him to come out of the trees before I proceeded back. His headlamp was actually a lot brighter than mine and would have probably taken what little night vision I had going for me at that time. My belief in a second trail user came while I was riding through George Wyth. It looked like the outline of someone standing along the treeline off of the trail with a small reflective area on a hat but, I could have been wrong.

One other small, or large in some cases, problem with riding in the dark through the parks is deer. Lots of deer. Lots of big deer. I saw a couple of really nice bucks along the trail last night in George Wyth as well. They did not seem to be overly concerned with my presence which was nice so that I didn't have to worry about them making any sudden moves as I came by such as running me over. That would make for a great headline on the news. "Cyclist ran over by deer" just doesn't seem like any way that I would want my name to be associated with a news article.

I suppose that I could just get the rollers out and avoid the night riding all together but, it's just not that cold yet. At least not for me. I usually hold out until the temperatures get into at least the low 20F area or there is too much snow on the ground. Although, speaking of snow, it helps out with the night vision quite nicely so maybe we could get a couple of inches of the white stuff.....

Labels: Cateye

Do you know why you can do whatever you want when you want?

Do you understand the sacrifices that have been made by so many Americans for your freedoms?

Thank a Veteran. They helped make it possible.

Temps this past weekend were definitely not your typical November in Iowa. With the sun shining and the thermometer reading 70F, it is no wonder that so many people were out enjoying the warmth. As for me, I spent Saturday in my basement tearing out carpet and cleaning up a few things in my "bike room". The carpet removal went pretty well and the rearranging of tires seemed to be what slowed down my day. I would have never guessed that I had so many tires that still have some life in them, especially the road tires. As long as the snow stays away I should be able to wear some of them out. I find a few sets of MTB tires that should get some time once the snow flies too so all is covered. On the other hand, I did come across about 7 or 8 tires that were questionable so those need to be tossed out. All in all it was a fairly productive day.

Sunday was more of the same in terms of sun and 70F temps although there was a strong breeze out of the South as well. I opted for a ride with J.Fry and Bullerman to get a few intense miles in on the road. There was not a lot of "casual riding" involved as the two of them picked the pace up as soon as we hit the edge of town. The pace stayed up pretty high through out our tailwind/crosswind sections and then the pain started to creep into my legs as we headed South back to town. Feel the burn!!! I hung in as long as I could but, the final hill coming into Cedar Falls kicked my butt, as usual. I'm not sure what it is about that hill but, it seems to have my number no matter what. Long ride, short ride, casual ride, or intense ride, that hill does me in and it doesn't seem like that bad of a hill. Oh well. Still a great ride, thanks for the whooping guys.


70F in November....working on my tan

The dynamic duo must have seen me grab my camera....

...and they attacked.

J.Fry still smiling as always...

...probably laughing inside at how slow I am.

Had some time to myself last night as Amy and Rhea went to hang out with some friends for a "play date". I took the opportunity to get some things done on the 'Cross bike. Starting with getting 98% of the dirt off of it from last weekend's racing and finishing up with a freehub swap on this set of HED Alps to switch it from Shimano to Campagnolo. Once that was all done I took it for a ride around the block and quickly noticed the difference in acceleration and cornering control. Can't wait until next weekend's races now. :)

Once the season is over at the end of November I think that the 'Cross bike will probably get a full on tear down and rebuild, it's due for it. Cables, housings, and chains have been getting replaced already this season but, the headset and bottom bracket bearings probably need a little love too. I know that my Campy Chorus/Mavic Open Pro wheels are in need of an overhaul. They seemed a bit slow to turn when I checked them last night as I took the cassette off to swap it to the HEDs. One more thing on the list.

Yesterday's ride was a great one. I received and invite from J.Fry to join him and Bullerman for a little crit simulation at one of the cemeteries in Waterloo. Fast turns, couple of small hills, decreasing visibility as the time went on, and a couple of potholes made for some sweet riding. Most of the corners can be pedaled through so that makes for very few recovery zones, especially when J.Fry and Bullerman are constantly putting the hammer down. It stayed under control really well though with no one taking any crazy flyers and the three of us really just taking turns on the front. Kind of working on the basics I guess.

We did not finish until it was dark out which meant that the ride home was strictly kept to the paved trails. It's one of those times when I am grateful that we have a ton of trails in the area. Most of the year they are packed with other users but, once the temps get lower the vast majority of users tend to shy away leaving the trails open for the most part. There are a few runners here and there as well as a couple of walkers but, everyone using the trails this time of year actually understand the rules of trail usage and they are all very considerate of other users as well. Now if only the fair weather users could figure that out.


Riding into the darkness....

...along the empty trails

Yesterday afternoon's plans included a 90 minute spin through the trails of Cedar Falls but, I called that one off on the grounds of the skies getting ready to open up with water so back home after a whopping 3.5 miles it was. Not a huge deal. I ended up getting in a nice run a few hours later. There's something about running right after it finishes raining that is pretty refreshing. It was dark, quiet, the sidewalk was almost entirely empty, and there were very few cars out and about. Quite peaceful actually.

Well, hopefully today will be a little better since there is no rain in the forcast. I just have to hope that my Mom is home after I get off of work so that I have someone to hang out with Rhea for a while. Rhea really likes to hang out over there and my Mom likes to spoil her so it works out for all of us really.

One other thing. When I went to my parents' yesterday to pick Rhea back up, I snuck into the basement where Blue keeps all of his bicycle things and "borrowed" a set of wheels. You see, I needed another set of Michelin Mud2 tires and he has a set, although they are mounted on a set of wheels, that are not being used. I just figured it was easier to swap wheels than tires, right?They do have a Shimano freehub but, I also found a Campy freehub on his desk so I still need to do that little swap there. Hmmmm, freehub swap instead of a tire swap......that's doable. I have used the front wheel in a couple of races this year and i really like how the bike handles with the deep section wheel on front so I will have to see how the ride changes with both wheels mounted up. I could not resist putting them on just to see how they will look together on the X6. I might just have to run them for the remainder of the season, assuming they feel right of course. :)