I’ve finally made a decision and am going to drive down to Dallas on Friday and race the Resolution Cross Weekend. It is 2 UCI C2 races and is put on by Jeff Lucido, who promotes a ton of super good events and is a super cross enthusiast. I originally had a ticket to fly to San Franciso for the cyclocross on the Master’s Worlds course, but decided to go to Texas and enjoy the weather some.
I was a little worried about there not being enough guys racing the Elite events to be alright, but there seems to be a few more guys entering every day. I can’t finish in the top 10 of either day or face disqualification for the Master’s World Cyclocross Championships in January. Most of you know my views on that, it sucks. But the way I’ve been racing cyclocross this season, top 10 might be a challenge.
Jamie Driscoll and Troy Wells, two guys that were going super fast in Iowa last weekend at Jinglecross have entered now, so Tristan should have his hands full. Plus a few other really fast guys.
This is nearly the last weekend of UCI cross races of the season. If you don’t have any plans, try to make your way down. It should be a fun time.
The next weekend is two more UCI races in Waco. This is the last two day UCI race weekend before the holidays and Cyclocross Nationals in January.
Yesterday it was a record high here in Kansas and it was 70 degrees. I rode nearly 80 miles. It was windy as it always is when it is that warm in December. Joseph rode over from Lawrence and Kris and I rode him the long way back to Lawrence, then back home. I have been feeling pretty beat since Jinglecross, but felt okay riding. My legs hurt but I had okay power. We had a 20 mph average for the ride and like I said, it wasn’t easy conditions.
My hamstrings have been aching the last few days. I’m not sure if it is from slogging up muddy hills in Iowa or automobile repair. Leaning into an engine compartment always does a number on hamstrings. Right now I’m putting in a new injector wiring harness in my AWD van. I self diagnosed the problem and it looks like I was right. Many of the wires are exposed and have to be shorting. It wasn’t running that rough, which is mildly unbelievable. I was planning on fixing the harness, but it is so screwed up I ordered one next day. It was close to $200, but that is 1/2 price of the dealer. I should have it done by tomorrow if the harness shows up.
Today I’m going to take a flight in a KC-135 air refueling aircraft. I was invited, along with a few other guys from Topeka to go. They are going to be refueling some B-2 bombers, (stealth bombers) from Whiteman AFB. It should be an exciting and memorable experience. I’ll post some photos tomorrow.
The wires of the injector harness were toast. This should be a recall situation.
I had to take a lot of stuff off the top of the engine, so figured I’d change the valve cover gaskets while I have access.
Kris and Joseph out riding yesterday.
That Jog Mate jersey has held up pretty well!
Yeah – Those were nearly the original Verge jerseys and that was a 5 color edition. Colors are still really bright.
Dallas area weather Saturday: High 72, wind 18-20 mph, 90% chance of rain.
Remember to sandbag it to avoid scoring any points before worlds!
Steve, I got an e-mail today from the promoter stating they “postponed” the 2016 event till 2017/ You may want to check that out before you book too much stuff.
That is for Masters Worlds.
And you won’t see this at cxmagazine.com for a day or so. Because they aren’t quite there.
And CX is dead.
And after the sandbagging comes the cherrypicking, right? At least that’s what we used to call finagling your way into a racing category where you have a better chance to win. If I was a lower-category Masters racer unable to race in the UCI class and found myself racing in the Master class against a guy who could and did race there, but cleverly made sure he finished out of the top 10 just to show up and beat the likes of me, I’d be tempted to jam a nail into his tire on the start line!!!
http://www.cxmagazine.com/2016-uci-masters-cyclocross-world-championships-san-jose-cancelled
Larry-I assume you are applying you comment to me. It is the World Championships. I didn’t make the rules. Seems to me that to win an age group World Championship, the qualification would be by age. But, that isn’t the way the UCI see it. So, if you happen to line up next to me in San Jose, keep your nails to yourself.
A former pro is never a true master. Master implies amateur doing it purely for the love of the sport and not for reward. Former pros have such a huge advantage from having trained full-time for some years that regular amateurs can hardly compete on a diet of 10 hrs/week.
Masters is not just by age. Why would anyone who raced at Elite Road Worlds, CX Worlds and MTB Worlds have any interest in racing a masters champs? Leave it to the old farts with jobs and families.
Sandbagging races to avoid collecting points is cat 4 stuff.
While I really enjoy reading this blog Carlos has hit the nail on the head. Enough with all this Masters stuff Steve.
Don’t hold back Steve…Worlds for Masters is cancelled! Go get you some UCI points!
I have to agree with Steve. Age-graded means just that. The fact that some are better than others is a hard nut to swallow. The same one swallowed when you subtract X number of years from the category and you were all competing as Seniors. Frankly, I don’t think there should be Masters races under the age of 50+
We already separate riders by ability, why the need to further do it by age, except to add to the number of races per day, which always shortens the length of the races on that day.
Steve, how do you finance all your travels ? Just curious. Also, remember Dan Chew from Pittsburgh ? Mr. mega-mile man. Any memories or stories?
Thanks to Thurlow, ex-pro riders can ride veteran/masters events in the USA. Doesn’t happen in the rest of the world. Ex-pros there just fade away, race top category until they can no longer influence the race outcome/not do teamwork/ride in the peloton.
Uncle-Why thanks to Thurlow? There are a ton of guys that are racing pretty much full time over the age of 40 now. Thurlow is probably making more money riding his bike than 90% of the D3 pros in this country.
Thurlow was the first ex-pro to race veteran/masters races after he got the rule changed. (He came back crying after the La Vie Claire days)……….Really think you could go toe to toe with Vito Di Tano or Adri Vanderpoel? You won’t have to— we might be the only country in the world which allows pros/ex-pros into veteran/masters racing. Shouldn’t have to explain the reason for that :~)
So….why DO ex-professional racers compete in amateur races?