US National Cyclo-X Championships Weekend-Friday

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I arrived in Providence, Rhode Island, Thursday, the day before the Master’s race on Friday. I am racing all three days, with the Elite race on Saturday the focus. The course is nearly exactly the same as last year, minus the snow and ice. I’ve kind of been a little under the weather since the ice water dip a couple weeks ago, so I’m uncertain about my form. Friday was a good check. The course was great. Good riding sections with slick corners. The skim coat of mud made it a somewhat bike handling course. I got to the course way early to watch Catherine Walberg from Topeka race. She flatted after leaving the road, 300 meters into the race. I went to the pit and made sure her spare bike was ready. She was 30 seconds back by the time she got “her” bike back and eventually rode back into the lead and won. It was the first time she had won and was super excited. Then Ned’s race was on. He isn’t the most beautiful thing on a ‘cross bike, but was riding great. He started back in the smoking section and got nearly into the lead before they hit the grass. He rode a couple laps with his main competitor, then rode the guy off his wheel. Super good ride. It was the first master’s event that he has every entered, MTB, road or ‘cross. I had been standing around way too long before my race started. I rode pretty hard the first couple laps and then took it back a notch, trying to save some energy for Saturday. But, obviously, winning is nice, especially at the Nationals, so I didn’t take the event lightly. I had the luxury at the end not to bury myself and won with a healthy margin. It is nice having so much spectator support

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Cyclo-X Nationals Elite Race-Saturday

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Can’t say things went as planned for ‘Cross Nationals on Saturday. Somehow I had enough UCI points to line up on the 2nd row, which is way better than I thought. I had looked forward to riding in the front group . I totally screwed up the start and pulled my right foot out of my pedal on the road. After clipping that back in I pulled my left foot out. That being said, I hit grass in 30th or so. Great start. OK, new plan. I kept my cool and tried not to make any more stupid mistakes, because mistakes on the first lap of ‘cross races are minutes at the end. On the first road section, I hooked up with Chris Horner and passed 10 guys at least. I knew the course would be good for him, with little to no technical riding sections. At the end of the first lap, on the finishing road section, Chris was off his seat going super hard and the banner on the barriers blew out and “grabbed” his bars. He hit the ground so fast and hard, I’d bet he hardly knew what happened. This is the 2nd year he’s crashed hard right in front of me. Last year, he fell hard on the ice on the fastest descent and slid head first into a metal pole. Anyway, that was the end of the backup plan. I was still 10 seconds off the second group that was going for 7-15 or so. I finally got settled down and ended up riding with Eric Tonkin(Kona) and Tristan Schouten(Trek-VW) and that was how it went pretty much the rest of the race. Tonkin did virtually all the pulling on the road sections. I came by and tried to lead on the off-road sections, but we weren’t making much if any ground on the group ahead. A few guys started fading and we finally ended up sprinting for 12th, which is the place I finished. Kind of disheartening, but it was pretty much the place I deserved with the race I raced. It’s pretty strange. I finished 12th this year and 12th in 2005 on the same course. Completely different races. About the same feeling mentally, though. The sport never ceases to amaze me. More on Sunday.

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Elite Men

1 Ryan Trebon (Kona) 59.37
2 Jonathan Page (Cervelo) 0.33
3 Tim Johnson (Cannondale/cyclocrossworld.com) 0.34
4 Todd Wells (Team GT) 0.36
5 Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly) 0.37
6 Barry Wicks (Kona) 1.04
7 Ben Jacques-Maynes (cyclocrossworld.com/SRAM) 1.43
8 Matt White (FiordiFrutta) 2.05
9 Mark Mccormack (Clif Bar) 2.21
10 Andy Jacques-Maynes (California Giant Strawberries) 2.25
11 Jonathan Baker (Primus Mootry) 2.27
12 Steve Tilford (Verge/Shimano) 2.48
13 Justin Spinelli (RGM Watches – Richard/Sachs ) 2.49
14 Erik Tonkin (Kona) 2.50
15 Tristan Schouten (Trek/VW/Michelin) 2.53