The 2016 CX Season Begins

Suyko killer, qu'est-ce que c'est?

This was the opening weekend of the Wisconsin Cycling Association’s 2016 cyclocross season and for me it was a humbling but useful experience. I did three races and got the result I deserved in each. On Saturday I felt pretty good about that; today I’m looking for the silver lining.

Cross-Shooshko

We’ve had a lot of rain recently and even more threatened on Saturday. But I knew a damp morning would turn into a dry afternoon at Kosciuszko Park in Milwaukee. I previewed the course about an hour before my 2:15 start time and found it slick but rideable. The course was a well-balanced mix of fast straightaways, meandering hill climbs, and off-camber sections with multiple lines but no consensus “best” way around. I was a little worried that a rideable course would become crash-filled at race speed. The sun and wind did their job, however, and the course was in excellent shape as I lined up for the Masters 1/2/3 race.

I didn’t merit a spot on the front row, but that’s where I found myself when nobody else seemed to want it. Immediately to my right was John Lirette (Ben’s Cycle / Milwaukee Bicycle Co.), who would go on to win. I let him know that I wouldn’t contest the holeshot. Whatever advantage being in the front row gave me, it wouldn’t have been right for me to impede the heavy hitters in my age group. I got a decent start but it didn’t take long for the faster guys to pull away. In the first minute of the race, I lost almost every spot I was going to lose. I was left with a very fun fight with age group rivals Jon Suyko (BELGIANWERKX), John Young (Hollander Benelux Racing), and West Bend’s Troy Sable (unattached). Suyko wanted to be in the lead of the group and I couldn’t stop him from taking it. He never really pulled away, but I never really threatened to pass once he got around me. Young seemed content to follow. Sable passed me on Lap 2 but couldn’t get a gap. I retook that position at about the time we ran into the back of the 35+ age group that had started 1 minute ahead of us, and Sable dropped back, eventually finishing in 15th place. Suyko, Young and I worked with 55+ age grouper John Lichtenberg (Diablo Cycling) to get clear of any pursuers by the midpoint of the race.

Young then went around me but I kept him close and felt sure I could out-climb him late in the final lap. Lichtenberg and I gapped him before the uphill barriers and then made a last-ditch effort to overtake Suyko, but ran out of racecourse. Suyko was 11th of 17 racers in the 45+ age group while I took 12th and Young took 13th. I would have liked one more lap, as I had really settled into a nice rhythm. The deep endurance I enjoy at this time of year was there for me on Saturday … and would be tested again today.

Cross Of The North

I’ve written before about the reluctance of Milwaukee-area racers to travel outside of southeastern Wisconsin, and today’s race in Wausau was way outside of southeastern Wisconsin. For me it was 320 miles, round-trip, and as long as I was going to invest that much time I was going to get my money’s worth in the suffering department.

I entered my first-ever Elite Cat 3 race and found myself in a field of only 6 competitors. The other guys were all from Dane County and ranged in age from 25 to 35. I didn’t have a prayer, but I did the race as a warmup for the Masters race that would follow. Cross Of The North ran over a really interesting and imaginative course, featuring several very technical sections. I was dead last in the Elite Cat 3 race, but it was a good warmup that gave me a lot of familiarity with the course.

In the Masters 1/2/3 race that began just 15 minutes after the end of Elite Cat 3, I actually finished 3rd out of the 5 Cat 3s, benefiting from that deep endurance. My average speed was the same as it had been in the earlier race; I didn’t suffer any performance dropoff from accumulating fatigue. But that really is looking for the silver lining, because I was 11th out of 13 overall in the 45+ age group, taking a serious beat-down from a strong group of Cat 2s. Minnesotans took 1st, 3rd and 4th. The top Wisconsin guy was Appleton’s Jeff Abitz (Diablo Cycling) in 2nd place.

There were 254 pre-registered racers at Cross-Shooshko, a SuperCup race in the heart of Milwaukee. There were only 56 pre-registered racers at Cross Of The North, only 1 of whom was from Milwaukee County. But I understand not wanting to drive 400 miles. (For the Dane County guys, it was still about 300!) Needless to say, fields were small in every category. That’s too bad. The course was cool and the weather was beautiful.

Cyclocross Eve 2016

The 2016 Wisconsin Cycling Association cyclocross season begins tomorrow with one of its top events: Cross-Shooshko at Milwaukee’s Kosciuszko Park. Cross-Shooshko is the first of eight races in the SuperCup, our state championship series. SuperCup events bring out more racers and, generally, better racers than non-SuperCup events. Tomorrow’s fields will be stacked with everyone who has championship ambitions, plus anyone who’s tuning up for next weekend’s Trek CXC Cup, a non-series event in Waterloo that some people consider an even bigger prize.

I have no SuperCup or Trek CXC Cup ambitions, but I do look forward to tomorrow. Cross-Shooshko has been a good event for me historically. I don’t expect to beat the Cat 1 & 2 guys in the Masters 1/2/3 race; my goal will be to place well among the Cat 3s and to catch some of the guys in the 35+ age group that will start 1 minute before my 45+ wave. On Sunday at Cross Of The North—a new, non-SuperCup event in Wausau—my challenge will be a little different. I will double up for the first time in my cyclocross career. I’m registered for both the Elite Cat 3 race at 1:15 and the Masters 1/2/3 race at 2:15. Each is 45 minutes long, so I will have just 15 minutes to recover between races. Why double up? To have more fun is probably the best reason, but there are competitive advantages. More racing is more of a workout, more time spent on cyclocross-specific skills, and more experience with race tactics. There’s also the matter of USA Cycling rankings, the less-than-perfectly-calculated numbers on which the WCA bases call-ups. Competing against a (presumably) larger field of (presumably) younger racers should help my ranking and therefore my position on the Masters starting grid in the weeks to come. But there are no guarantees: if pre-registrations are any indication, then both the size and quality of the Elite Cat 3 field will be inferior to that of the Masters 1/2/3 field at Wausau.

Moving up to Cat 3 at the start of 2015 was the equivalent of moving up to Cat 1 from a competitive standpoint, and I’m not that good. This season I hope to be one of the best of the Cat 3s in a Masters field that is rich with talent. And, of course, I hope to compete in the state championship race on December 3. I still have never made it that deep into the cold part of the season.

Bike & Pedestrian Funding Awarded To Washington County

Here’s great news from Debora Sielski, Deputy Planning & Parks Administrator for Washington County, reprinted verbatim from a news release she issued last Friday:

“The Wisconsin Department of Transportation announced the award of the 2016-2020 Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) to the Washington County Planning and Parks Department for the development of a Bike & Pedestrian Plan for Washington County. The project has been awarded up to $72,000 of federal funds. It is one of 33 projects and $15 million of approved TAP funding for the 2016-2020 program cycle. The Bike & Pedestrian Plan for Washington County is being developed in an effort to increase opportunities for non-motorized vehicle transportation. The Plan will make recommendations to develop a countywide network of trails and routes as alternate modes of transportation that can be integrated into a user’s daily routine. The Plan will focus on creating trails and routes that provide accessibility to essential services, such as schools, commercial centers and major employment centers as well as creating a trail network that provides varied recreational opportunities that are enjoyable for all residents. The Plan will promote recommendations for policies, programs and ordinances that will support development of a safe and accessible network of trails which encourage active lifestyles in a way that is safe, comfortable and enjoyable for all users. The Plan will consider connections between existing trails throughout Washington County as well as trails in adjoining counties. By providing connections to existing trails, Washington County residents will have access to a greater variety of opportunities and destinations.”

Last Of The Big Blocks

It’s Sunday, the end of my training week. I screwed up my ride stats today by pausing my Garmin during a water stop and then neglecting to un-pause it when I resumed. I lost a few miles and several minutes of riding, so “officially” today’s ride was just 45 miles. I surpassed 4,000 miles, year-to-date, on Friday, so I can live with a few lost miles today. But if I add back the lost time, then this was a 10-hour week. It might prove to be my last big block of training this year.

The days are getting shorter, the temperatures are trending lower—though there is a nice dose of summer in the forecast for the new week—and the cyclocross season is scheduled to begin on Saturday. My base is very solid and I can afford to drop the volume if I increase the intensity. I’m going to use Mondays as flex days to focus on any part of my game that needs extra attention. (Tomorrow that means mountain biking, as I don’t feel prepared for the WEMS race at New Fane on Sep. 17.) Tuesdays will continue to be dedicated to cyclocross practice at Royal Oaks Park through the end of September. That’s a hard effort, but a short one. Wednesdays will be rest days. Thursdays will be long-steady-distance days. Fridays will be reserved for time trial efforts: hard, short, and hopefully the right workout to take me into the weekend primed but not fatigued. There are a lot of back-to-back races on the cyclocross schedule this season. It’s not good enough to be prepared for Saturday’s race if I’m exhausted in the starting grid for Sunday’s. I’m probably looking at an average of 6 hours of training per week during cyclocross season, not counting the races themselves.

On today’s ride I performed like a big block engine: plenty of power at low RPM. It was a sweet-spot ride for me … and nothing like the effort required by cyclocross. Fine tuning began back on Aug. 2 at Royal Oaks. Now it’s time to take the intensity up another notch.

Lighten Up!

Why have your own blog if you’re not going to brag about yourself from time to time? Today I weighed in at 185 pounds, and that’s a good thing. It’s not just my lowest weight in 2016, but it matches my lowest weight from 2015.

Last year, I didn’t hit 185 until October 29, and I last hit that mark on November 15. By December 1, I was already at 191. On March 20, I hit 200 pounds. I stopped the damage at that point, but I didn’t get back under 200 on a consistent basis until April 20. Losing 15 pounds in 4 months would be a big deal for a lot of people, and obviously I wouldn’t be writing about it if it weren’t significant to me. But this has been a pattern for me for the last several years. The thing that makes today’s weigh-in truly notable is the date: I am far ahead of last year’s schedule and that’s a good sign as the cyclocross season approaches. I don’t have as many miles in the legs as I had last year on this date, but the intensity has been there. Racing—cyclocross in particular—is the reason my weight bottoms out late in the year. The recent combination of Race The Lake, the Reforestation Ramble, and the Tuesday cyclocross practice series has given my fitness a jolt. I’m down 5 pounds since August 10!

Chicken & Egg

Do we lack choices because we lack interest, or do we lack interest because we lack choices?

I know I’m like a broken record with this, but I’m thinking again about the uniformity of mountain bike racing in Wisconsin. I don’t expect any changes to come from the Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Bike Series (WEMS), which exists to promote the cross-country marathon format. The Wisconsin Off-Road Series (WORS) offers one Super D and one short track cross-country (STXC) race per year, but otherwise sanctions cross-country races that look very much alike. Super D and STXC are on the program only at the Midwest MTB Championships. That three-day weekend—the less-prestigious remains of the WORS Cup, which, in turn, was less prestigious than the Subaru Cup—is supposed to be the jewel in the WORS crown, but the top pro riders who used to compete here now compete elsewhere. We’re no longer on the map of the big national series. Nonetheless, the inclusion of Super D and STXC make that event unique in Wisconsin.

Well, unique for two more weeks. There's a great-looking weekend of collegiate mountain bike racing planned for Sep. 10-11 at Alpine Valley. It’s too bad the weekend is open only to collegiate racers. The format is almost identical to the Midwest MTB Championships, with cross-country, Super D and STXC on the schedule. And the downhill run will be significantly longer than a typical collegiate downhill, which should be very welcome news for racers and spectators alike.

Super D wouldn’t work at every WORS venue, but think of the series you could have with just Iola, Mt. Morris, Portage, La Crosse and Lake Geneva. That’s half of the calendar. And who says a Super D race has to be only an undercard fight before the main event on a WORS weekend? Have a date at Alpine Valley for everyone, not just for collegiate racers. Come to Washington County and race again at Sunburst, or create a Super D and Freeride event at Little Switzerland. When you don’t need miles of singletrack, there are lots of possibilities.

STXC could be a feature of every WORS weekend. At Nordic Mountain in Mt. Morris, former home of the Subaru Cup, they probably still remember where to set up the course. CamRock and Sheboygan have hosted cyclocross races, so those STXC courses would be easy to define. Even the Brown County Reforestation Camp—normally a challenging place for spectators—can host STXC. It proved that last Saturday night when local organizers ran a short track race on the lighted ski trails. The camp has about 3 miles of those, and the STXC race was a great addition to the Reforestation Ramble weekend … even if it wasn’t technically part of the USA Cycling-sanctioned WORS program. The prospect of bad weather kept me in West Bend until Sunday morning, but friends had a blast and the entry fee was only $10. If the STXC race comes back to the camp in 2017, then it will go on my calendar.

2016 Reforestation Ramble

It  would be dishonest for me to say that I went to Suamico today with no expectation of doing well in the Reforestation Ramble, race 8 of 10 on the Wisconsin Off-Road Series calendar. After all, I won my age group on those trails in 2012 and 2015. But this year I have done very little mountain biking—today was just my 7th time on singletrack—and it was my first ride on my 29er since the WEMS race at Suamico on July 16. On Wednesday I paid a rare visit to the Pleasant Valley trails in Ozaukee County and spent about half an hour on a Rocky Mountain Pipeline at a Belgianwerkx-sponsored demo event. Sure, that was mountain biking, and perhaps riding an unfamiliar bike on unfamiliar trails resulted in a quick boost of my handling skills, but I was not perfectly prepared for today. Ideally I would have attended Saturday’s pre-ride, but with rain in the area I elected to stay home. Arriving at the Brown County Reforestation Camp this morning, I had only enough time for a quick tour of the newest section of singletrack before I was forced off the course by the start of the Cat 3 (Citizens) race.

It didn’t matter. I was strong and focused and ultimately very happy to take 3rd place out of 20 in my age group and 29th of 141 overall in the Cat 2 (Sport) race, finishing in 1:21:49.59. Series leader Lloyd Cate (Wheel & Sprocket) won the age group in 1:19:29.79, followed by Mark Badger (Brazen Dropouts) in 1:20:13.61. Both men are new to the age group this season, and Cate has a stranglehold on the series points that will determine the state champion. Today they benefited from call-ups that put them in the first row, while I started in Row 3 and had to work through traffic. I never saw them after the start.

Prior to today, the Reforestation Ramble differed from other WORS races in the length of its laps. In past editions of the race, it wasn’t unusual to do just two 12-mile laps, but today we did three laps of about 5.5 miles. That meant a higher percentage of singletrack and less time on the cross-country skiing trails where I excel. But I rode the singletrack as well as I ever have, and my lap times were super-consistent: 27:32, 27:13, and 27:03, respectively. Lap 1 was a dash through most of the series regulars who started in front of me … and it was a get-to-know-you lap on a trail system that can be configured in dozens of ways. As Lap 2 began my confidence soared because no one was passing me and I was moving steadily through younger riders who had started earlier. Late in Lap 2 I overtook a trio of rivals who would be very dangerous if I couldn’t get a gap, so early in Lap 3 I worked with riders from other age groups to build my advantage. But then I was unpleasantly distracted by a pair of crashes by riders in front of me, one of which forced me to dismount and hurdle the fallen rider as if he were a cyclocross barrier. I can only assume my pursuers were delayed longer than I was. In the final miles, the leaders were out of sight and I no longer felt pressure from behind, so I continued to work with younger riders to consolidate my position.

Last year the Reforestation Ramble was my only WORS race, and that will be true again this year. But I’m not done with mountain bike racing in 2016; there’s still the WEMS race at New Fane on Sep. 17. I should probably start riding there again. I haven’t been to New Fane since July 12!

Cyclocross Tubeless

Last year at this time I switched my mountain bike over to a tubeless wheel/tire setup. Now I am experimenting with tubeless for cyclocross. The objectives are the same in each case: run lower tire pressure to increase handling and ride quality while eliminating the chance of a pinch flat. Is it a cure-all? Certainly not. The risk of a pinch flat is gone because there’s no innertube, but in its place is the risk of a burp. That’s a momentary separation of tire and rim, resulting in a big pressure drop and, probably, a bit of a walk. I have had a couple of promising cyclocross races ruined by pinch flats, so I want to see what tubeless can do for me.

The really serious cyclocross racers swear by tubular tires, which offer even lower pressures, unbeatable cornering and run-flat capability. No, thanks. The cost is prohibitive and, anecdotally, I have seen more tubulars come unstuck from their rims than all other in-race tire failures combined.

On the mountain bike, I haven’t had any trouble with my tubeless setup. On the cyclocross bike, the jury is still out. I tested the setup for the first time at the end of our practice session at Royal Oaks Park last Tuesday, then did the entire practice session with that setup this week. There were no issues, and I felt like I could have gone even lower with my tire pressure. I’m counting on the extremely tight fit of Bontrager CX3 tires on Shimano Ultegra rims to burp only under extraordinary circumstances, if ever.

For me, tubeless is worth a try. If things go badly, then I will fall back to a traditional setup. Even accounting for the extra weight of the tubeless-ready tires, running the new wheelset with tubes would be a lighter and stiffer alternative to my aging Mavics.

Ain’t Been Home In Years

When I moved to West Bend in June 2001 to take ownership of the house where I still reside, I was 36 years old. The move was the 24th time I had changed residences. I was already on house number 5 as kindergarten began and house number 8 as high school ended. I had 11 addresses in the 1990s alone, including an insanely turbulent 50-week period between September 1993 and September 1994 during which I moved from Milwaukee to Nashville to suburban Chicago and then back to Milwaukee all for the sake of a lousy management job with a now-defunct retail chain whose only saving grace was its willingness to cover my U-Haul bills.

I wouldn’t recommend my experience, and that sort of instability wasn’t something I wanted to inflict on my children. My oldest was just 2 years old when we arrived in West Bend, and my youngest was only 8 months old. This is home for them, as I hoped it would be.

But it’s not home for me. I haven’t been home since August 16, 1976. That was the day my family pulled out of West Newton PA, bound for Charleston IL. West Newton had been my home for 6 years—more than half of my life at the time—and it was where life really began. West Newton had given me friends, school, bicycles, baseball, comic books, Hot Wheels, monster movies, Saturday cartoons, rock ‘n’ roll, and even the most hopeful and tentative introduction to romance. It was idyllic.

Of course, the needs of a child are relatively few and simple to satisfy in most places. West Newton wasn’t magical; it was magical to me. I was a nice kid with nice friends and we all were protected by loving adults. West Newton itself, like many Rust Belt towns in the 1970s, was in decline by almost every measurable standard. Had I stayed, I soon might have regarded it with contempt. The childhood I enjoyed likely would have given way to a bored adolescence with all of its pitfalls. In a way, my departure stopped time. The real West Newton continued to crumble and the people I had known there moved on with their lives, but my West Newton was preserved. No, not just preserved; it was mythologized. It was my Camelot and I was its Arthur, the once and future king. I could go back. I could do a lot of good there.

In recent years, West Newton has made a modest comeback thanks to the conversion of an old railroad line into a key section of the Great Allegheny Passage, a recreation trail that links Pittsburgh and Washington DC. West Newton has its own bike shop now, something I would have loved as a kid. We had a little BMX course on the banks of the Youghiogheny River. That wouldn’t fly with me now because it was set up without permission on private property. I know just where I would put a public pump track and skate park today, and I’m sure those facilities would get a lot of use. And I know I could squeeze a cyclocross course into Goehring Park to put West Newton on the map in the too-short ABRA season. And, boy, that 300-mile-long recreation trail must be nice.

But I am at least a decade away from retirement, so I am probably at least that far away from relocating for the 25th time. Still, when the time comes, West Newton will make its case. It may not win—I almost always side with reason over emotion—but for a long time West Newton appealed only to my emotions. Today it’s a place with low real estate prices, low property taxes and low crime rates … attractive attributes for the prospective retiree! The fact that it now is a place where I could continue to be a cyclist only strengthens its call for me to come home.

2016 Race The Lake

Partners on the road: Brandon Moscho, Mary Reichardt, and me.

Well, that was good fun and great training. Race The Lake is an 88-mile road race around Lake Winnebago, and it’s the largest cycling race in Wisconsin. This year there were 904 finishers. I was 283rd, but I should have been so much higher.

We started before sunrise, leaving Fond du Lac in waves separated by several minutes. The pros went first … and finished first: the overall winner was 24-year-old Stephen Wagstaff (Lakes Area Physical Therapy), who completed the course in 3:21:25, averaging 26.2 mph.

I started in Wave 4, which quickly proved itself to be a disorganized mess of riders who were reluctant to get into a paceline. Early miles were slower than they should have been. Approaching Oshkosh, I found myself in a “breakaway” with 28-year-old Brandon Moscho of Manassas VA and 34-year-old Mary Reichardt of Alpena MI, who would go on to win her age group. We worked well together, first dropping the rest of Wave 4 simply by increasing our pace and then picking up riders who fell out of the waves that started earlier. At the midpoint of the race I led us up the big hill at High Cliff State Park, the only real climb on the whole course. I had never seen that climb before, so I was relieved to find it a relatively easy obstacle.

Emerging from High Cliff, our little band turned into a proper peloton as we scooped up more riders from earlier waves. This should have been a good thing, but it proved a burden because none of them would work. I urged riders to take their turns on the front, but only Mary, Brandon and I were in the rotation. We sensed each other’s frustration, and when I uttered a simple “let’s go” we attacked and quickly dropped the wheel suckers.

Our trio continued to work well together a while longer, but at Mile 64 things went badly for me. A little bonk, I guess … all I know is that the power went out and I said goodbye to my new friends. I soldiered on as a solo rider for a few miles before a group caught me from behind and dragged me to the little hamlet of Marytown, where a fresh sports drink handup was gladly accepted. It was clear that I still wasn’t out of trouble when I got dropped on the hill out of Marytown, but I had caught teammate Justin Schroeter. Due to a registration mistake, he had been forced to start with the pro wave and now was drifting back in the field after hanging with the fast guys for a while. Justin and I worked briefly as a duo before I continued alone.

Just north of Mt. Calvary—now heading west into a strengthening breeze—I caught on with a small group that stayed together until Taycheeda, the last little town we would see before re-entering Fond du Lac. I had recovered some snap in my almost-cramping legs on a long descent and was looking forward to the finish line, just 3 miles away.

Then I got a rear tire puncture. My first attempt to fix it failed: something’s wrong with my inflator. Training partner Jeff Wren (Team Extreme) saw me at the side of the road and offered another CO₂ cartridge. My attempt to use it failed: apparently I forgot to re-open the valve on the tube after my first attempt. Then teammate Justin arrived with a third CO₂ cartridge and this time I was able to get enough tire pressure. I did what I could with the last 3 miles but I lost dozens of positions while I was stopped. There was no way to retake them all.

So, yeah … 283rd place, finishing in 4:04:33 with a 21.5 mph average. For what it’s worth, my Garmin device measured my average moving speed at 21.9 mph. I might have been 240-something if not for the flat tire. And there’s no trophy for that, of course, but I’m still a little disappointed. I was 38th of 113 men in the 50-54 age group. I guess that’s OK for someone doing his first real road race since 2008.