So today – spent the day in hard labor. What some people call work. Lots of walking, heavy lifting, ya know work. It was a nice change. Doing something that is not terribly cerebral.
Couldn’t help but make a few mental notes. Course. And ya didn’t hear it here. The course is not what I would call ideal. Lots of pavement to curb transition. Ride-able steep sections like at Lowell and Plymouth but with stairs. Nice stevens stairs. Take a perfectly difficult, weed out those with shitty power to weight ratios, steep section and make it a running thing.
And defend it with the comment “there just isn’t enough running in cyclocross anymore.”
Bring this thought to bear: why not make the US national cyclocross championship a race that mimics the course where Worlds are held so that our country sends the best riders for that course to compete? Ah does it matter? Nys will beat everyone anyway. Yeah esp if the courses are like this with all the running stuff… not that running should not happen, but… I dunno… I’m obviously biased towards one type of course, which seems to be more or less what, from what I’ve been reading/watching, the current National cyclocross course designer has not done.
The transitions from pavement to grass I find scary. Little wooden ramps? Designed almost to weed out those who cannot afford to run tubulars. Sure I know a couple big name teams doing really well are running clinchers, so that’s not a total truth. Well I guess we’ll see come Friday.
I should take a second to address an individual who’s opinion I respect greatly and who’s friendship I value. But maybe lately it might not seem as such. I deleted his comment made in one post, put it in another entry (maybe he just doesn’t read what he doesn’t want to) and then he decided to come back with the same statement. I had 10 minutes online this afternoon and I was irritated so much that I lashed out. Too crudely too intensely. But after a day working for pretty much three subway sandwiches (which decided they needed to leave my system to make room for better food just a bit ago) and 4 cokes, that sophomoric ridiculous comment about me being a pussy in a post that, sure, from some macho emotionally devoid REAL AMERICAN man might seem to be a bit pussified. And yeah. Sure Solobreak, there are plenty of pictures of WORSE dislocated kneecaps, but the pictures had little to do with my emotions. Meg’s got talent. Talent as a writer. Conveying emotion with a great economy of words. I admire and respect and wish I had that ability. I make due with what I have. I am who I am. If you so decide to call me a pussy. If you so decide that me wearing shorts down to when the temperature reaches 45 degrees (cross races excepted – this year at least) is an attempt to make up for some unknown short comings? Well. Yeah, I know. You are pushing buttons. You are poking around in a hornets nest. That’s okay. Go ahead. I don’t know if any replies popped up there since I posted that. I’m offline. And will be for awhile.
So what to do. Move on I guess. And I will try.
It was cool working with the guys today. The event should be great. The $5 per car fee for the whole weekend kinda is messed up, but maybe it’ll help? (yeah right)
I heard from one individual that they were expressing pure increduality about why there was no major coverage leading up to the US Cyclocross Nationals… so why? Now that I think about it, sure the blogs are buzzin, the 1600 people who are racing are thinking about it. But what about the media, the spectators. The local press? The National Press? Who’s writing the press releases? Who’s sending the media relations packets out?
Have they just not done it? How hard do you have to try to make the US Cyclocross Nationals sound boring? Makes no sense. Oh well…. At least there will be about 1500 spectators. 1600 racers, 100 people smart enough to only show for their event (elites) and ya get 1500 spectators.
I’ve finally been talked out of prepping the Redline to be a pit bike. Seeing as I have not yet managed to make it work, seeing as I would have no time to ride it much less prep for the race, and seeing as I’ve been racing without a spare bike all year… I’m going to focus on cleaning my bike, preppin the legs, the mind. I think honestly maybe solobreak may be working to destroy my mental edge for the race… maybe its working. Racing two days? Who would do such a thing? Me. Why? Cross is cool. Cross is amazing. Even on a Tom Stevens course its fun. I might disagree with his point of view on the dilution and destruction of the sport by the Europeans sketching around the rules and making the courses too dependant on being strong riders (wait… it’s a cycling discipline right?).
I’m tired. Worn out. Not recovered from this weekend. Racing while keeping a family going and dealing with a job (even if it isn’t like what I did all day today) on top of trying to both recover and prepare… is tough. I can’t just come home, put my feet up, take a nap, wake up eat some pasta, get into bed, surf the net, fall asleep, wake up repeat. But that’s okay. It makes what I can accomplish, what I can do, all that much better.
There was plenty of talk about the numbers. I asked the course designer about putting in a prologue lap to stretch out the field. Ya know run them on the road all the way to the end. The reply was “Prologue laps are only for letting the spectators see, not for stretching out the field.” Or something like that – may not be a direct quote. I’m not a journalist, and I wasn’t taking notes. Although I believe that quote to be more accurate than most journalistic attempts. Okay not most, some. Many writers actually do a great job of communicating what the interviewee said. I’ve been interviewed enough times to know to expect that the quotes are going to come across in the written word NOT how they came out of my mouth.
Gotta stop for a minute. Take a turn watching the girls.
I got more rattling around in here, I might get back on. We’ll see. Reading through the first race announcement just now “second largest cycling event in the country”
No shit? That’s amazing.
Anyway… ‘Ctrl + s’
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6 comments:
I'm a cross newbie, what's this business about pavement/grass and clincher/tubular? How does a clincher have a problem rolling up a wooden ramp or hopping a curb? I'm so confused.
I think Dickie F is the press guy for the races.
I contacted the folks I use at the ProJo and WJAR (RACE SPONSOR) regarding the races and have not heard anything back.
It ain't a real sport.
I had lunch with a group looking to put on a Gran Fondo in New England and the state's sports council (who's job it is to bring in sports related income), had little use for Nat or really doing much to promote cycling other than buy us lunch.
I teased them about what we would have to do to get a "Home of" sing at the state line like the feckin' Scholar Athlete Al Feinstein Ball Washing Games.
Colin,
alot has to do with the rim profile and the tire, its close to (but not) impossible to pinch flat a tubular. Plenty of people do, but in general you can bottom out quite easily running tubulars and not pinch flat.
Same air pressure and clinchers will flat much sooner than a tubular. Lower air pressure means more traction, more traction = higher speed in corners = better results. In general.
But there are always exceptions.
Cross is one of the few disciplines where tubulars still offer a distinct advantage.
Gluing em on tho? Kinda fun but wicked technically demanding (ie lots of practice WITh good instruction).
See ya this weekend?
G, I hope you're right about the running sections. The more the better for me. It may be the only thing that'll save my single-speeding, long-legged, non-power-riding ass in this one especially with the pavement sections where I'm sure to get dusted. Should be a fun one.
Jesus, get a grip on yourself dude. Destroy your mental edge? I didn't even know you had one.
Glad you were touched by Meg's account of how the community helped her out when she was down. I'm sure you weren't the only one moved by the story. But you are the only one who has called me a sissy 20-odd times (just for having the common sense to nurse my own recurring knee injuries)and then wrote about holding back your tears, so fuck, if you're gonna dish it out, learn to take it.
It's all just amusement anyway, in case you forgot. And thanks for making me out to be a monster; I was a little short (pun intended) on negative press this week...
So the concern is that the pavement/grass transition has a curb with a ramp up it? And people running clinchers are more likely to flat on the ramp... or are you worried about people missing the ramps and hitting the curbs?
I gotta say anyone who can't get over a curb without pinch flatting probably isn't national champion material... but maybe I'm still missing something here.
g -- I'll be in Providence to laugh at the carnage, but I'm not racing some f'in 200 person B race for $50, thankyouverymuch.
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