January | 2012 | Steve Tilford

I’ve weighed in all the facts and have decided not to race today. I just don’t see enough upside to it. The way the course was changing up yesterday lap to lap, I can’t imagine having a good enough result to offset potential downside consequences. Actually, I can’t see having a good enough result to be happy about it at all. I was getting called up on the 6th row, which isn’t that bad really, but I have only 3 days to rest before the first race in Louisville. And during that 3 days I have a 7 hour drive day. It is going to kill me watching the race, but I can’t not watch.

I stood around for over 4 hours again yesterday morning watching the 45+ race, which my friend, Don Myrah won over Jon Cariveau, of Moots. Then Bill was next up racing the 40+ race, along with a ton of other friends. Bill started back in the smoking section in the 6th row, but got up to the top 15 in the first minute because he dismounted and ran as soon as the group hit the frozen ruts in the soccer field. He ended up finishing somewhere in the top 25, with a potential broken rib from a fall in training the day before. Mark Savery, local from Omaha, finished an awesome 5th behind Brandon Dwight, Peter Webber and Adam Myerson. Shadd Smith, from KC, was 12th, which was great too, considering his start and how many days he has been sick the past month. It was a very good race to watch.

I was pretty frozen by the time Bill was done racing, feeling pretty beat. We left Madison and drove the hour down to Delavan to Trudi’s mom’s condo. It was nice getting out of a cramped hotel room. We went for an hour and a half ride later in the afternoon with the temperatures in the lower 30’s. I felt horrible at the start, but pretty okay by the time I was done. I’m just going to rest up the next couple days. I’ve had a pretty busy last week and don’t see much upside to getting any more tired. I have good form right now, so I’m only going to ride hard only once before Thursday’s qualifying race in Louisville.

This race today is going to be pretty epic. It depends on what the course condition is at 2:15 for me to make a good pick. I’d be picking Todd Wells for the win if he was racing. Super fit plus, great bike handling is the key in these conditions. If it is super sunny and melts a bunch, then it’s Trebon by a smear. If not, then it’s probably going to be between Paige or Powers I’d guess. I can’t pick Tim Johnson to be in the mix because of his recent sickness and season in general. I hope I’m wrong in that. I’d love it if somebody else got into the mix. On big, one day events, that is the time that athletes do incredible things. This is one of those days. It’s going to be super interesting.

You can watch the events live here. The live coverage begins at 12 noon CST with the women’s race first at 12 and the men’s race starts at 2:15.

The course was pretty much frozen ruts most of the morning yesterday. Pretty treacherous.

Close up of the soccer field. It is not conducive for skinny tired cross bikes.

Brandon Dwight riding smoothly on his way to a National Title.

Bill had a great start, faded a little, but made the best of the situation.

This is my friend, Kelly Fisher-Goodwin, riding on Friday, getting cheered on by Mr. Ed.

Riding back yesterday afternoon, there were geese flying over for nearly 30 minutes straight. WIth the moon being nearly full, it was very impressive. A very good sign for the Indian side of my brain.

Yesterday’s races at the Cyclo-X Nationals were excellent. Both the men’s and women’s races were great, even though they were complete opposites. Katie Compton dominated from start to finish. She is just that much stronger. The men’s race might of been the best cyclo-x race I’ve watched in person. The course was the best it was the whole weekend, with parts of the course matching each rider in the front group skills.

I learned a ton from watching even though I’m still regretting not starting. I’m not sure I’m doing all this for the right reasons. I race bicycles for new life experiences and challenges, not for the results or notoriety. The course yesterday was more of a hard circuit race, with two climbs, than a normal cyclocross event. I liked it a lot, especially when it hardened up some. I probably wouldn’t of had one of those days, but you never know unless you race. I didn’t.

There are lots of reasons Jeremy Powers won. But when it came down to it, he just was more powerful at the right time. Jonathan Page made some huge tactical errors with his pitting routine. That pretty much disconnected him from Trebon and Powers, thus lost him the opportunity to race for 1st. Trebon was loosing too much time, in micro amounts, cornering in the technical sections, thus not having the energy when he needed it. Tim Johnson just was a notch below the other 3. Lots of people will express their opinions, but there is no question that Powers dropped Trebon on the hardest part of the climb, the section of the course that should of been Trebon’s forte’.

The ride of the day in the men’s race was by Zach McDonald. He came back from the dead after the first lap and reconnected with the front group after chasing the first half of the race. He should take some credit for dislodging Tim Johnson and Jonathan Page from the front two. I’m not sure the results would have been different, but he definitely played the loyal team mate card when the smack came down.

The ride of the day in the women’s race was by local Midwest rider Kaitlin Antonneau. She is going to be very good at the sport. She already is. The main reason she finished 2nd is that she is so smooth and rode within herself. Her lines were better than most of the top men. And she never stops pedaling. That is a key in conditions like this. So, good ride Kaitlin.

The guys at Madison promoted an excellent event. Anytime there was a problem, it was addressed quickly and corrected. They got super lucky with the weather. Near record highs for some of the days, no precipitation at all. I’m not sure this course would have been raceable if there was a ton of snow on it. There was way to much elevation change to be able to negotiate it pedaling most of the time. I guess we’ll see again next year. USAC got the results out super quick and all the races started pretty much exactly on time. It was great officiating. I think a ton of people were scared off by lots of different reasons, mainly the weather I’d guess. But, none of that too much.

It is very hard to try not to compare lap times between the different races. I realize that it is completely irrelevant because the course was so much different depending on the time of each day. Plus, they changed the course throughout the day each and each and every day. The sand pit for Sunday’s race was nothing. That was probably 15 seconds shorter right there. But even though I know it is like comparing apples to oranges, I find it hard to ignore. I do know that Katie Compton was riding incredible fast and would have loved to see her ride the men’s Elite race. She is that good.

We’ll cross season is over for most everyone now, except those going down to Louisville for Master’s Worlds next week and those going over to Europe for real Worlds. I’m not as against this after Christmas Cross Nationals as I was last week. I’m going to have to think about it for a little bit before I take a solid stance.

Katie Compton had a few mishaps, even though she destroyed the rest of the field.

She got up quickly and got back to business.

Kaitlin Antonneau (Cyclocrossworld/Cannondale Cyclocrossworld), showing the correct line in the very same corner. 98% of the men were getting this wrong too.