Outlaw Cross '09 #3

We raced again on Saturday for the third race of the Southern Oregon Outlaw Cyclocross Series. There was mud again. Only a couple of places on the course were muddy but it was a sticky mud that caused a derailleur carnage. The last count that I heard was 13 broken derailleurs out of about 60 racers. I saw two derailleurs broken during warm up laps. I decided I didn't want to ride the course until it was time to race. I was surveying the course and spoke to Thom Kneeland who is an experienced cyclocross racer. He said "work the edges and power through the sticky stuff as fast as you can go". I did that and I survived the race. I not only survived, I finished ahead of several people who always beat me. Steve Law was one of them. He broke his derailleur on about the fourth lap. I think that I might have been able to beat him even if he didn't break down. I was passing him at the end of the course on every lap. He would then catch me but always after the start/finish line.
Look at him. He knows I'm coming and he's hurting. Doesn't it look like he's having some kind of attack trying to stay ahead of me?
















There was a run up that was really muddy. That was the only section that I didn't ride. There were a couple of other muddy sections that I was able to ride without clogging up.
















This was Vern's bike after the race. I lapped him again. For some reason I didn't feel bad about lapping him this week. In fact I had to speed up right at the end to catch him before the finish line.













I feel pretty good about my racing. I think I'm still getting stronger and I'm continuing to learn how to race smarter. I'm think I might be on track to peak for the Nationals next month.

Photos by John Raedake

Outlaw Cyclocross #2

We raced yesterday in Grants Pass. We had mud. It was the Halloween costume race.














I started out going what I thought was pretty easy. I am still hurting from crashing last week and really didn't want to crash again. I was hanging right behind Vern and I quickly realized that he was setting a pretty fast pace. After a couple of laps I noticed 7 on the lap board and started to worry that I might not be able to keep up for that long. Vern started to fade after about three laps and I passed him . He told me his wheels were clogging up with mud. I was running my carbon wheels with the Dugast Rhino tires and they were working pretty well. I was still picking up a lot of mud and it got harder to ride as the race went on. About half way through the last lap I caught Vern. I decided I wouldn't lap him as that might be pouring salt into his wounds. He stopped to clear out the mud and, with a grin on his face, threw a handful at me. So I stomped on him while he was down (figuratively) and lapped him.
This was my bike after the race.













It's pretty amazing that it was even functioning.













The race really took it out of me. When I was walking back from picking up my pit wheels I felt like I might need to sit down a take a rest so I could make it back to my truck. Maybe I shouldn't have ridden 30 miles the day before. I usually don't ride the day before a race but the weather was so nice I just couldn't resist.
Next week we'll be at the Speedway in Medford.