Records Falling, Enthusiasm Failing

See that map? The red lines represent the 32 miles I rode on my cyclocross bike today. Only a couple of them were at Hiestand Park, site of the penultimate WCA cyclocross race of 2015. I previewed the course, hated every inch of it, asked the USA Cycling official to remove my name from the start list, then went off in search of consolation. I had never seen the Hiestand course before, and I don’t expect to see it again.

Saturday’s trip to CamRock was a little disappointing too, though the course was very much to my liking. I rode well, probably even better than last year when I had a good result as a Cat 4. But I’m racing against a much stronger field now, and placing 18th of 26 overall in Masters 45+ Cat 1/2/3/4, 13th of 15 Cat 3s, won’t impress anyone. Fellow West Bender Troy Sable (unattached) made the jump to Cat 3 a few weeks ago and he also is finding the competition to be much tougher and much deeper at this level. On Saturday, Troy and I were locked in a really good back-and-forth battle for most of the race. Unfortunately it ended with an anticlimax. I thought we had 1 lap to go when we approached the finish line for the last time, so I didn’t put up a fight when Troy passed me. It was stupid of me not to realize that a late pass by 35+ age group winner Scott Daubert (Trek Cyclocross Collective) had put us a lap down. Mike Curtes (Milwaukee Bicycle Co.) won the 45+ age group.

On Saturday I surpassed 6,000 miles of cycling, year-to-date. It’s my first time above the 6,000-mile threshold, a place I never expected to be back in 2011 as I was approaching my first 5,000-mile season. What did I say then? Oh, yeah: “The next plateau, 6,000 miles, is neither realistic nor attractive.”

Well, I really mean it this time: nuts to 7,000. That’s just excessive.

Saturday was my 205th day of cycling this year, breaking my old record of 204. So, today was 206 and anything more will be … more. But rain and much colder weather—perhaps even snow—will arrive this week and I am looking for the exit. Today’s experience in Madison was the biggest “fuck this” moment I have ever had as a cyclist. I am physically strong but mentally fatigued, and my participation in the state championship race next Saturday is far from guaranteed.

It’s Not Repetition, It’s Discipline

This week my training has been … uniform. Let’s go with uniform. We have had good weather but there’s so little daylight now. I would like to go to bed soon after arriving home from my overnight job, but some days I stay up to complete chores, then I ride, then I sleep. It’s not ideal. Tomorrow and Friday will be exceptionally windy and not as warm, so I’m taking tomorrow completely off from cycling and on Friday I probably will content myself with a short indoor trainer ride.

Better weather will return for the weekend. It’s going to be dry, sunny, and 50-something in Dane County for CamRock on Saturday and TBD Cross on Sunday. I’ve been waiting for weeks for TBD to be determined, but it turns out the name of the event really is TBD Cross. I remember one day in elementary school when a kid wrote “Your Name” on the top of his answer sheet. He didn’t graduate with the rest of us and I lost track of him. Maybe he’s a race promoter now.

The 2016 WEMS Schedule

Late on Friday evening, the Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Bike Series announced its 2016 race schedule. These are the same events we saw in 2015, but reshuffled so that they hit different spots on the calendar. Thunderdown in the Underdown will replace Romp in the Swap as the season finale and championship.

04/30 The Wild Ride Buzzard Buster @ Hatfield
05/07 Northern Kettles Endurance Challenge @ Greenbush
05/21 18 Hours of Alpine Valley @ Elkhorn
06/04 Romp in the Swamp Epic @ Wausau
06/18 Southern Kettles Classic @ Eagle
07/16 Stump Farm 100 @ Suamico
08/27 RASTA Rock N Root @ Rhinelander
09/17 Northern Kettles Fall Epic @ New Fane
10/08 Thunderdown in the Underdown @ Gleason

Stump Farm fell on May 23 this year, and the weather was nice enough but I am really looking forward to racing there next July. I hope it’s hotter than hell. Mark me down for the New Fane race, too. The other races in the series probably don’t fit my still-developing plans for 2016.

The Switch In Time That Saved Nine

Special thanks to Jon Holcomb! The former race director of the Wisconsin Off-Road Series (WORS) event in Sheboygan has stepped up to keep the Northern Kettles Endurance Challenge on the WEMS schedule. Team Pedal Moraine decided early last week that it would not host the race. Holcomb will rally GEARS (our regional IMBA chapter) and the FatKats Mountain Bike Club for trail preparation and race administration at Greenbush. WORS will drop from a 12-race schedule to a 10-race schedule in 2016, and WEMS was in danger of dropping from 9 races to just 8. It would have been a shame to see the Greenbush race go away.

2015 Estabrook Park Beer Garden CX

(Steve Cummins photo)

In 2011 I had a disappointing day at the Estabrook Park cyclocross race in Milwaukee. On that occasion, my own inability to get clipped into my pedals ruined my start and put me hopelessly behind. Today I returned to Estabrook for the first time since that disappointment, only to have another.

It was no trouble getting clipped in as the Masters 45+ Cat 1/2/3/4 race began. I made a strong start from the middle of the second row, putting some very good riders behind me. For a moment I dared to entertain the thought of a high finish. I was running with the big dogs … until I ran into one of the biggest. JW Miller (Erik's) has been a prolific winner in both cyclocross and mountain bike racing. But even the best make mistakes. On a course that narrowed quickly after the starting chute, Miller got entangled with a pole and some course tape and slowed abruptly. I was inches behind him and had nowhere to go but right up his back. In the seconds that we needed to separate, Miller and I lost a bunch of positions. He was bleeding a little and I thought I had done real damage to his bike, but he was able to resume.

Today’s field was very strong and I knew that the crash had ended any chance of a Top 10 for me. As I resumed, my first order of business was to retake the positions I had lost to my closest rivals. Brian Petted (Team Extreme), Jeff Wren (Team Extreme), Scott Willms (Emery’s) and West Bend’s Troy Sable (unattached) were ahead of me now. It took me a little while to move up, and I never did catch Sable, who would finish in 21st place, the last man on the lead lap. The race leader put me a lap behind as I was approaching the finish line for what otherwise would have been my bell lap. Knowing that the leader had just come through, I redoubled my effort to overtake Peter Tampa (Rat City Racers). I caught him on a sharp little hill with just a few hundred yards to go. That gave me 22nd place out of 29 overall. I was 13th out of the 14 Cat 3 racers. I had the legs to be 3 or 4 spots higher. Mike Curtes (Twin Six) took the win, followed by John Lirette (unattached) and Tedd Jacobson (KS Energy Services / MOSH / Team Wisconsin).

Today was my 200th day of cycling in 2015. This is just the second time I have reached 200 rides: I did 204 back in 2012 and that record should fall next week.

Better You Than Me

nine minutes thirty-seven seconds later ...

Yesterday was a Halloween of more tricks than treats. I went through the day dressed as a guy who couldn’t be bothered with the rainy, muddy, and chilly cyclocross race at Washington Park in Milwaukee. By late morning my Facebook newsfeed was filling up with pictures and videos of friends who seemed to revel in the filth, but I didn’t feel like I had missed out. By mid-afternoon my decision to stay home turned into a very good thing for my son, who called for my assistance when he got his first glimpse of the dark side of car ownership. I drove to his location, took a quick spin around a parking lot to understand his concerns, then followed him to the nearest service center. Tomorrow we will know whether he has a $100 problem or a $500 problem.

Yes, Saturday was ugly, but hopefully it was just one bad day in an otherwise nice sequence for this time of year. Friday was nice enough. Today was even better, and I got back in the saddle for a 27-mile road ride. I am now just 232 miles away from my first 6,000-mile season. Getting to 6,000 isn’t guaranteed; I rode just 316 miles in the final two months of 2014. But I will push myself a little bit in the week to come. The next four days will be dry and 60-70 degrees, probably our last stretch of such weather until next April or May.

There’s more at stake than a new mileage plateau. I want to hit the four cyclocross races that remain on the WCA schedule, starting with Estabrook Park in Milwaukee next Saturday. To be fit for that race, for the following weekend in Dane County, and for the state championships on November 21, I need to get my training volume back up. In the week that ended today, I rode just 74 miles in 4.5 hours. That’s my worst week since March 23-29.

The 2016 WORS Schedule

Today the Wisconsin Off-Road Series announced its 2016 schedule. Racers who have grown accustomed to a 12-event season were surprised to see just 10 events on next year’s calendar. Long-time favorites at Wausau and Rhinelander are gone; the remaining events from this year’s calendar will be back.

If you are a series racer, then you should know that WORS has not reduced the number of races that will count toward the season-long points championship. You simply will have fewer opportunities to get those Best 7 or Best 8 results, and woe to you if you have a DNF or other bad result that you need to replace.

The 2016 WORS schedule looks like this:

1. Iola Bump & Jump @ Iola, May 15
2. Battle of CamRock @ Rockdale, June 5
3. Mt. Morris Challenge @ Mt. Morris, June 12
4. Red Flint Firecracker @ Eau Claire, June 26
5. Colectivo Coffee Bean Classic @ Waukesha, July 10
6. WORS Cup @ Portage, July 22-24
7. Hixon Forest Epic @ La Crosse, August 7
8. Reforestation Ramble @ Suamico, August 21
9. Treadfest @ Lake Geneva, September 11
10. Sheboygan MTB Challenge @ Sheboygan, October 2

I haven’t done any planning, but my 2016 mountain bike season probably will include a mix of WORS and WEMS events with no series ambitions in either. I am likely to do the short track race at the WORS Cup, and I definitely want to go for another win at the Reforestation Ramble. Lake Geneva and Sheboygan are out because they will conflict with cyclocross. Eau Claire and La Crosse are probably out because they are on the other side of the state and I won’t have a big travel budget. The WEMS schedule has not yet been announced.

Heckle, Jekyll & Hyde

Gray skies are gonna clear up … (Nicki Lock photo)

It’s hard to believe, but the end of this year’s WCA cyclocross season is already in sight. In just four weeks we will crown our state champions. I won’t be one of them. But at least I feel like a Cat 3 again. Yesterday I was just a rolling roadblock.

Sun Prairie Cup

Saturday was weird. It was very warm early in the morning and then got progressively colder. That’s opposite of our normal weather pattern. It also was overcast and very windy, which is sadly common. I worked overnight on Friday, then hurried home to find carpool partner Jeff Wren (Team Extreme) already waiting in my driveway. We got to Sun Prairie and pre-rode the course. Standard stuff. When the Masters 45+ Cat 1/2/3/4 race began, I got a decent start and was pretty happy with my position at the end of the first two laps.

And then it rained. It wasn’t a downpour by any means, but a persistent heavy mist that quickly changed the nature of the course. With so many off-camber features in play, racers soon discovered that they no longer could ride certain sections that they had ridden before. I fared worse than most, and with each position I lost I was less motivated to push on. The finish line couldn’t come soon enough. I took 21st out of 24 overall and was dead last among the 13 Category 3 racers. JW Miller (Erik’s) took the win, followed by Jeff Melcher (Team Pedal Moraine) and Arlen Spicer (Belgianwerkx). I can grind it out in the rain on level ground, but not on the sides of hills. It was just a bad race for me. In the parking lot, Timm Jacobson (KS Energy Services / MOSH / Team Wisconsin) said I looked skinny. It was the only compliment I got all day, and I wasn’t sure I deserved even that small kindness.

Celtic Cross

As it turns out, Timm was right. Today began with a weigh-in: 186 pounds, my lowest since … I literally don’t know. I bought a new bathroom scale in May 2014, replacing one that I knew was extremely inaccurate. I was 202 pounds at that time. So, I had a big bowl of cereal and two donuts for breakfast before heading to Fitchburg. And just before the Masters 45+ Cat 1/2/3/4 race started I had a Coke and not one but two packets of GU. I wouldn’t want to leave myself under-nourished.

Racing in brilliant sunshine on a dry, flat course, I made a strong start. But early in Lap 1 my front wheel washed out on a deep bed of pine needles and down I went. That may have been the moment that ultimately cost me a Top 10 finish, though I recovered quickly. The rest of the race was bobble free. I rode strongly and confidently on a course that was more technical when it came into the WCA series last year. This year’s version was perfect for a hammer-down rider of modest bike handling skills. And there was something to play for all the way to the finish line. Close rival Mark Badger (Brazen Dropouts) pressed me hard on the final lap but couldn’t out-sprint me on the short straightaway after the final turn. I took 11th out of 20 overall and 6th out of the 10 Cat 3s. John Lirette (unattached) was today’s winner, followed by Miller and Spicer.

Up Next

On Saturday I plan to be at Milwaukee’s Washington Park for the annual Halloween Cross race. The atmosphere is always fun even if I don’t usually race well on that course. The last Milwaukee-area race of the season will be at Estabrook Park on Nov. 7, then we do a Dane County double on Nov. 14 and 15 with races at CamRock and at Madison’s Hiestand Park, respectively. The state championships will be held on Nov. 21 at Waterloo, the course on which I had my highest finish in 2014.

2015 Grafton PumpkinCross

I guess this race just doesn’t like me.

Last year at PumpkinCross, my chain rattled off during a bumpy descent and I had to dismount to fix it, losing a handful of positions while I was stopped. I was able to regain some of those positions, but that mechanical issue prevented me from having a much better result. And it didn’t help that I was overlooked for a call-up at the start of the race, despite being the series points leader at the time.

Today at PumpkinCross, a flat rear tire got me. I had started reasonably well and was running in the middle of the pack at the end of Lap 1. But I pinch-flatted early in Lap 2. It took a while for me to realize I had a problem, but when I did there was nothing to do but hoist the bike onto my shoulder and run to the pit area. It took almost 5 minutes from the time I started running until the time I was able to ride again: I resumed with a borrowed wheel from the SRAM neutral support mechanic. But the front of the race then lapped me and my main rivals were impossibly out of reach. Though I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to take a DNF, I needed more than that for motivation. On my final lap I spotted Kurt Greenslit (Colavita Racing), who had passed me during my run. Greenslit is an opponent I know well—today’s race was our 22nd head-to-head matchup—and I was confident I could close the gap and make the pass. Retaking that position was just a consolation prize, but it was good for my morale on a disappointing day.

I placed 23rd out of 30 overall in a race that was tough on equipment. Four riders failed to finish, and perhaps it was just foolish pride that prevented me from being the fifth. I didn’t quit when I easily could have, and that means something to me. I was 8th out of the 9 Category 3 racers in the Masters 45+ Cat 1/2/3/4 field. Team Pedal Moraine captain Jeff Melcher was today’s winner.

Without the flat tire, I might have finished 10 places higher today. I had a similar result at Washington Park in 2011. Things break sometimes, and it doesn’t pay to worry too much about what happened today.

The WORS Cup Effect

The 2015 season of the Wisconsin Off-Road Series ended in Sheboygan on Oct. 11, but for many racers the season was effectively over in July. In almost every category and age group, the winner of the year-long points title was the person who collected the most points at the WORS Cup, held July 24-26 at Cascade Mountain in Portage. As I will demonstrate, the manner in which WORS awarded points on that weekend had negative and presumably unintended consequences. Bluntly stated, the WORS Cup provided the margin by which some racers obtained state championships that should have gone to others.

Like all events in the series, the WORS Cup features a cross country (XC) race. But it also features Super D and short track cross country (STXC), races that aren’t just unique on the WORS calendar, but also are the only USA Cycling-sanctioned races of their kind in Wisconsin. This year WORS awarded double points to any racer who competed in the XC race and either Super D or STXC. You had to do your best in the XC race, then those points would double if you merely lined up for one of the others. The WORS Cup did produce deserving winners in every race, but one result should not count as two.

Let’s look at what happened to West Bend’s Julie Schmitt in the Citizens series for women, ages 45-54. The points championship was based on each racer’s seven best results. Julie competed in all 12 XC races and finished with 9 wins. Her seven best results were wins, and yet she didn’t win the series. The new state champion is Wausau’s Christine Kysely. Head-to-head, Julie was 12-0 against Christine and the time gaps were enormous. The closest race between them was at Rhinelander, where Julie beat Christine by almost 18 minutes. So, how did Christine amass 1496 points to Julie’s 1425?

Julie won the XC race at the WORS Cup but did not compete in the Super D or STXC. Christine was 3rd in the XC race. She then placed 4th out of 4 in her age group and 10th out of 10 Cat 2/3 women overall in STXC, and based on her participation in that race she doubled her 186 XC points and finished the weekend with a 372-200 edge on Julie. Again, by season’s end Julie had 9 wins and only 7 of them were fully accounted for within the format by which the series winner was determined; each of her other finishes added 5 participation points to her total. New victories simply replaced old victories: 200 + 200 didn’t add up to 400, it added up only to 205. There was no way to overcome the 172-point bump that Christine got at the WORS Cup, no matter how dominant Julie was at every subsequent event. That’s the WORS Cup Effect.

This can’t be what WORS intended. The WORS Cup doesn’t just devalue every other race in the series, it also forces anyone with overall series ambitions to race in at least one discipline that he or she probably experiences just once all year. In some categories, that means racing on two different days during the three-day WORS Cup weekend. For some people, the unique schedule of that weekend presents a real hardship. Whatever the case, winning the XC series championship should not depend on your participation in a Super D or STXC race. If the double points incentive exists only to increase participation in Super D and STXC, then it’s well-meant but ill-conceived. The better solution is to recognize Super D and STXC as disciplines apart from XC, to offer a series of such races that includes other WORS weekends, and to honor separate sets of champions for them. As things stand, it’s easy to imagine a WORS Cup where some XC racers cynically roll across the start line of the Super D and STXC races and then immediately take a DNF. In any other race that would be worth just 1 point, but at the WORS Cup it’s worth at least 100 and as much as 200 points. For as little as $20 and at no hazard to body or bike, you can greatly increase your chance of winning the series. Come on. Let’s fix this for 2016.

Mid-Season Break

One of my goals this season is to compete in the Wisconsin state cyclocross championships. I have been racing cyclocross since 2011 but I have never lined up for the season finale. Usually that was because the weather was unacceptably cold. The -12 wind chill of December 2013 made it easy for me to stay in bed, and while that morning was uncommonly harsh it wasn’t alone in being too cold for me.

This year the championships will be held on November 21 and suddenly that’s just 6 weeks away. I don’t have any realistic chance to win the Masters 45+ Cat 1/2/3/4 title, but I want to give my best effort. To that end, it might have made sense to line up last weekend for the Trek CXC Cup. The 2-day, non-series event carried UCI C1/C2 designation, making it the highest ranking cyclocross event in the state this year. Defending national champions Jeremy Powers and Katie Compton were there, and if it were good enough for them it should have been good enough for me, right?

Yes and no. Racing is the best training and being thoroughly flogged at the Trek CXC Cup would have been good for my fitness even if it had been crushing for my ego. But it’s not a bad thing to step back momentarily from high intensity efforts to let body and mind recover. My weekend training consisted of endurance-pace road rides. I finished last week with 10.5 hours in the saddle and a total of 179 miles. That’s good training volume for this time of year. This week I will do a couple of shorter, harder efforts to prepare for PumpkinCross in Grafton on Saturday.

My mother was in town last weekend for a rare visit, so there was never a doubt that I would skip the Trek CXC Cup. On Sunday morning, Mom sat down with me to watch the Bpost Bank series cyclocross race from Belgium and then the conclusion of Paris-Tours from France. I think she was less impressed with the racing than with the technology that brings European TV into my living room.

I surprised myself by emerging from last weekend without any weight gain. Mom’s visit included a couple of big restaurant meals of the sort that kill good diets, but I guess I did just enough riding to keep things in balance. I hit my lowest weight of the year last Wednesday and with proper training I could lose a few more pounds before the state championships. There are hills at Firemen’s Park in Waterloo, so anything I can do to increase power-to-weight would be a smart move.