Harrisburg CX

Had to support the race down the street from me. Decided it would be best to ride to and from. Some days are best forgotten, and with the conditions of how hard this race were, it may be one of them. It was one of those classic “attrition” days and find a place to pedal instead of run was the name of the game.

Out for a stroll.

Andy stuck around and took some flicks. I think this was the only area where you could actually pedal.
I missed my pedal but was able to make up time enough to see the front of the race, but I just couldn’t turn the pedals on this course, it felt like i was pedaling on velcro. It was a true tractor pull. I don’t even know if having an easier gear would have helped. 

This probably would have been a spot where if it was dry you could ride, but what was not pictured was creek below that it crossed. I think this guy in front of me wiped out after this shot.

I rode the SS to and from, and I thought this was going to be as muddy as it would get. I had enough down time to eat a sandwich, try and “recover” and enjoy some family time. Change some diapers, feed some kids, etc. Was a nice break.

With the Cat 3 race at 3:55, I pedaled out at 3:00 to get a scope of the course. I ASSUMED it would have dried out somewhat; WRONG. It just became peanut butter. Starting towards the back and almost running over a teenager who rubbed wheels with someone had me trying to make up time on a course that was not make up time friendly. Sure, tons of optional lines and such, but man, just one of those back of the cassette slogs. You wanted to ride sections but it was just as fast/slow to jog them. Oof. I worked my way up to 6-7th or so and had some good racing going on, but I never rode a section at all that others were riding and was too afraid to try now. It was a steep off camber section. I lost time on it every lap. Second to last lap I’m a complete mess, just can’t keep it together. I drop my chain and lose the group I was chasing, but I don’t think I was going catch anyone anyway. I held onto my spot and finished 12 of 23, but just keeping my bike together this race was a victory.This will just clean itself, right?

With only one race left of my “CX Season”, I’m curious how it will go. I enjoy a good hard muddy course, but I’d like to pedal and go jussssst a little bit faster. And you know I’m not going to start working on my running now.

My Personal Stoopid 50

This is slowly becoming my favorite ~1 hour drive ride from our house. My homie David was the only one who was interested in going out this time. Last time we did this was in the summer and with a river crossing, so this time we weren’t planning on getting wet and made a couple of changes. We parked at this ghetto hick-ish gas station called the El Dorado Outpost and rolled out at 730am, ~20 degrees in the search for some gravel. I added a couple tweaks to this loop this go around, searching for some new stuff. This was Davids first time on his CX/Gravel bike, so it was fun to break it in properly. I could recap the whole ride, but I think pictures do it more justice.

From the top of Bells Grove Road

The beginning of Chapel Hill Church Road

The scenic part of Chapel Hill Church Road. It was like a magic gravel carpet ride.

This is the easier part of the jeep trail descent.

Towards the middle I thought how awesome this would be as a race course of some sort. The new sections we rode were amazing, had some extra steep climbs and killer views. The mix of gravel, road, climbing, jeep trail descent, you really are never on the right bike for part of it. Part of the gravel is fine for 28’s and road bikes, while part of it you were wishing you had 40mm tires. The jeep descent would be a lot more fun with a mountain bike and suspension, but is it long enough to actually make up time? I think my favorite bike rides are when you regret the bike you are currently on at the moment. That is when it turns into a real ride. Maybe one day we do a invitational ride and see how it would shake out. Or maybe not, I can just ride it and enjoy the scenery.

Photo dump

Rock Hill MTB Challenge – Singlespeed

Didn’t know what to expect, but any race at the Rock Hill Velodrome and the facility is worth checking out. A first time race that was on some trails around the road course, I didn’t know what to expect. I wanted to support the local race scene, so I figured lets do it.

Arrived early-ish and I was able to ride the first 2 miles or so of the 3.5-ish miles course. It reminded me a lot of NJ, rooty, hand built trails. It also rained less than 24 hours prior, so it was extra slippery to start. This would make for a fun race.

You can’t tell who registers for what categories, so I was kind of bummed at the low number of fields. Either way, I was going to let it hang out. Neighbor Andy joined me and knew it would really just be a race between the two of us. The course starts downhill on the road course and we just spin our little legs around. The geared category catches us from behind and we latch onto their wheels. Reminded me of SSAP, somehow we are able to keep up with the geared guys on the downhill. Before the ST starts, I pass the couple of geared guys and Andy follows. I’m not sure who I heard say this, but the plan was to race the roads/climbs, and ride the single track. I think it was Monte? Anyway, Andy was on my wheel and we started making our way through some lapped traffic in front of us.

Usually trails down here are all ST, all the time, no place to rest or pass. Here it was very northeast-like, trails connected to random gravel roads, grass fields, that kind of stuff. Every time we were out of the trail, I danced on my gear and pushed the pace. You could only go so fast in the woods without falling, so it was the only place to make up time, or create a gap.

I’m almost photogenic in this one.

At the end of the lap is a steep, slimy red clay climb. Strava says it was 25%-30% at the steepest part, and it totally is. No traction and singlespeed meant me and Andy were off the bike and walk/running. It eventually flattens out and is a perfect SS climb. I got back on and pushed it, opening a gap on Andy, but not enough to really stick around. I could tell he burned some matches to get back to me, so that was good.

I had maybe 10-15 seconds on him at the beginning of lap 2, not enough to be out of sight though. By the time we came around to the steep climb again, he closed the gap to be back on my wheel. Seems he’s riding the singletrack with a little more juice than me. I’m really banking on this climb to the finish to be the game changer. We come into the tight right and turn into the steep section and I feel the same way on lap 1, just no traction so I get off.

This time, Andy cleans it, which kind of got me nervous. He’s a bigger dude, but if he can ride this and I can’t, will I have enough time, if it comes to a sprint, to get away? He grunts “not sure if that was worth it” and I put in the same effort on lap 1 on the flatter section, roll next to him and say “We will see!” and motor past. It seems that effort put some hurt in his legs, and I have a bigger head start into the third lap than last time. I push it on the road knowing it will be the last time I need to spin this silly gear downhill.

Dude on the right was not impressed.

The last lap I just need no mistakes. I almost miss the entrance into the single track and remind myself to relax, just ride. I start seeing some of the open racers and make them carrots to keep myself motivated. Towards the end of the lap I see Alan ahead of me, and make him my target. I notice the third lap everything is really drying up well, and I can let it hang out a little bit. Now my goal is to finally make this steep climb, and I somehow keep the tire planted and make it work. I catch Alan on the end of the gravel climb before we dump into the road course and even though it doesn’t count, race him to the end.

This was an awesome event, Andy made me work for it. For $28, a beer and food voucher, awesome podium, and a local race, this should have been better attended. I will chalk it up to the fairweather racers thinking it would be a mud fest. I just hope enough people showed up to make this a annual thing.

The podium was in the velodrome, which made me think I need to get a track bike.