NCCX 1 and 2 Weekend
Two of the local races in Davidson and Salisbury… they just happen to be on the same weekend, which would make for a lot of running around. The weather could not be more different.
QCCX #2 and 3
Race number two, a UCI junior who is super duper fast showed up and kilt us all. I ended up losing a cleat bolt somewhere on the course and had to pull out since I couldn’t clip in, but was rolling in second with a healthy gap.
Race number three of our series was interesting, mostly because I got too gnarly crashes on film, but also had some more competition. And the course was dope. I got blown away by another legit cat 2 rider, but was feeling good with my fitness and such. Hoping this is a good trend going into the first weekend of the NCCX races, but I’m kind of nervous that it’s a false sense of strong fitness… Time will tell!
2019 QCCX#1
First race of the training series of the year in the velcro-y, bumpy and fire ant infested grass of Renni.
First 3/4 Race and photodump.
The last MAC race was a wet one, and I decided to race with the Classic Crew as a team. Which meant A) soggy video footage that was useless B) Me chasing and attacking to keep the pressure on. With zero hard efforts in my legs since the Statesville Crit, I wasn’t sure what was going to show up.
All but one of the squad for the 3/4 race.
I got busy from lap one attacking and trying to dish out some pain. I spent maybe 3-4 laps away forcing others to chase.
My efforts did not go in vein as a break with our strongest rider did get up the road about 75% of the race through. Then the rest of us spent the time chasing attacks and sitting in, which hurt. I felt good and as the end of the race came closer, I was feeling my efforts. On the last lap I gave it all I could to move up the first half, and was gassed at the end.
We can pretend that he would have been able to get up the road without a team, but We ended up having riders finish 1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th on the day. It was fun being a dumbestique. Happy to finish the year as a 4 now. There is one more crit at this place (Not a MAC one) that is the day before the QCCX race which, if I could, I’d like to try and race. Time will tell.
Cross is close, so I put the carbon wheels on the psychedelic aloominator and mucked it up really nice. Felt good to get some dirt on this. I’d like to ride it some more in some grass, but this shake down was nice.
The Red Camo bike was sold and sent to NJ and been replaced. I’ve always wanted this frame and when I saw one come up for sale, I knew I had to make it happen. The paint is a little rough and needs some love, but as of now, It’s a solid bike. Without even riding it, I’m happy with the “upgrade”.
Crossroads Classic – Cat 4/5
After doing tons of the Rock Hill “Crits”, it was fun to finally jump into a real one. It was easily the most technical road bike race I’ve ever done, and it was extremely techy. The Crossroads Classic used to be a whole week of road and crit races, but now is only down to one race, which is a shame. Statesville does a great job of putting this on.
Here is the last 5 laps or so:
In this video you’ll see:
Some shoulder checks, almost some wheel crossing, some pedals clipping the inside of turns, some by me, and me not being able to move up at all in the last lap.
I was more worried about not being too far in the front on the last lap, but I really should have been more aggressive to be in the top couple of wheels with the way the course was. With 2 guys off the front, I was really just focused on not being taken out on the last lap. I finished 15 of 29, where I could have battled to be in the money, I just was not in the spot to be able to do that.
Found this stalking instagram hashtags.
My Rock Hill Double Down
Had this amazing idea to do both the MAC Crit and the Rock Hill XC race on the same weekend. I’ve never done two different events back to back, but really wanted to support both. I took it easy most of the week and I think it paid off.
I most certainly did not ride smart the whole beginning of this race. I was hell bent on trying to keep it fast and make a break. A couple times I had a go but it just didn’t happen. A break of 3 went up the road and we chased it back with 3 or 4 to go? I go into the sprint as the third wheel and surprisingly, no one attacks the big hill. I’m 50/50 if I should have, but Austin was putting out a solid enough tempo that I didn’t want to. Take a good defensive line on the corner, then wait… which felt like forever. I for sure thought I was too close to the front at this point, but at some point I figure it’s now or never. I feel like I get a good jump, but I notice over my left shoulder that I’m dead as the winner, Juan, is easily doing 3mph faster than me, and I roll across for second. Kind of bummed to lose by that much, but I think I did the right thing in the right situation.
I try and spin around a little bit more than normal, I’m really unsure how my body is going to recover, or what I should and shouldn’t do, I’m really flying blind during this time.
Try to get a solid nights sleep, but Lucas decides to poop at 2AM. Joy.
Arrive earlier than normal and pre ride the first half of the course, which is the same as I remember. A little dew which would burn off, but I don’t feel horrible. I do feel weird that only 2 other people are racing in my category, but that’s racing. Thankfully they let all the Cat 1’s go off at once, so that’s fun.
Here is the first 12 minutes of the first lap, I was dropped by the leaders and really nothing interesting to see at that point sadly.
I find my battle is with Brandon Hicks, who has been doing the series. We chat for a tad and he has marked me, so lets battle. I find that after lap 1, I don’t feel horrible. I’m hammering out the climbs and flat sections, and opening gaps to Brandon and one other 40+ rider behind him. It almost seems like the 40+ rider is working for him, which is interesting. At the beginning of lap 2 I come into the first bit of ST with a gap, but then dump my bike and take a spill. Fart noise. The duo of them passes me and now I chase back on, after I pick up my GoPro off the ground.
The gravel climb back up to the start/finish.
About 5 minutes later I’m back on their wheels and challenge Brandon up a short gravel climb, which he then says “after you”. Interesting, I think. I’m pretty cooked from the chase of them, so I’m happy to ride the ST at my pace. The next two laps we are locked together, and Brandon and I chat for a little. He mentions that he dropped his bottle on the last lap and hates wearing packs. I tell him I only wear packs now for racing, not worth the risk. Says he gets too hot. Well, that just reminds me to drill it when we pass his water bottle station table thingy, to put some more pressure on him. At the end of the third lap and the climb back up to the road course, I push it and see he actually stopped this time to grab a bottle. Well this is going to work for me, if I still have legs.
The course twists back on it self so I can do some time checks, and it seems that I have over 30 seconds. I keep my shit together and just keep moving forward to beat Brandon by about 5 minutes.
Far from my best effort in terms of racing, but I was gassed the whole time. I’m happy that I’m old enough to race the 30-39 category and not with the real big dogs.
Needless to say, Monday morning I feel like I got hit by a truck. I guess I may be getting older and those crashes add up a little?
MAC Rock Hill #3 Cat 4/5
Felt good. First time having the whole squad at a road race, I think the added pressure was helpful. I was too far back on the last lap to be successful last time we raced this course, so this time I had it timed just about right. Last race I was hell bent on making a break stick, and this time I was much, MUCH more patient, and the legs came around to show me that. I burnt a match to close the gap after the short hill, which I think I had to do in order to be in a good sprint position. Waiting for someone else to close it and lose my spot in line is a bad idea. The only regret I had was that about 3 seconds before the last right hand turn, Ryan hesitates and causes Matt and myself to stop pedaling for a split second. Matt realizes it and jumps to the right, but I feel if he timed it better, he would have been able to catch him taking a quick breather before the sprint. Matt is a killer track racer so I knew he always finds his way into the right spot. Ryan took the race by the horns and the slight hesitation by everyone behind made it stick. Kudos! 
Shoulda wore my sunglasses, squints.
Aloominator with new skin.
The anodization on the Aloominator has been so weathered, I decided to dress it up. I decided to go all in on some spray.bike paint, since that stuff is what everyone loves. 
Once I got to this point, I really wan’t in love with how it was turning out. The blue was too blue, it almost reminded me of painters tape. The paint was a little too powdery for my liking. I let it sit for a while but eventually…
The good thing about anodization is that you can strip it back down to nothing and it still remains. Something I learned while prepping the frame. At this point I reached out to some powder coating companies local and was thinking of going that route. But one solid color, I wasn’t sure I could live with that. I wanted to do something different. I’ve seen some videos of people DIY spray paint hydro dipping stuff, so I figured I’d test it out on some smaller parts on a smaller scale and see what happens.
Okay, this is pretty rad. I decided to go all in on this.
Which meant I had to fill up a garbage can with water. This is gonna be fun.
Primed and masked for the decal.
4 Colors sprayed in.
End result. It isn’t perfect, but it’s different for sure. If i had another set of hands I may have been a little better off, but man, this is wild.
All built up, and everywhere you look, it’s something different. The clear coat on the frame really leveled everything out. Lets see how it lasts through a cyclocross season!
New Jersey Photo Dump.
Never enough time to do all of the things you want or see all the people you want to see, but it’s better than nothing.
jamespearl 