Sitting at home now after returning
from Cross nationals in Boulder, I do find it somewhat hard to not be thinking
about racing bikes. Thinking back on my cross season, I have had some tough competition
and some great races throughout, from AZ Cross to CrossVegas, CXLA, and to
Cross nationals.
This was my first season using a
Quarq powermeter to train more effectively, race with more insight on output
and to measure progress with more accuracy and it has been quite eye opening
with very positive results and gave me some great insight on my progression
throughout my season! Although most of my races resulted in either a flat or
some other sort of other mechanical, I still found this season to be very
successful due to the strides I had made in my training.
After starting to work with TJ
Woodruff, founder and head coach at Momentum Endurance, I found myself to be
making some great strides in my performance on the bike. After discussing a
long drawn out season of 13 start lines including the full AZ Cross Series,
CrossVegas, a double header at CXLA and finishing it up with U23 CX Nationals,
I knew that I was in for a big season but at the same time, I was extremely
excited to be racing my first full cross season.
My first race of the season being
CrossVegas, also my first national caliber cross race, was very exciting;
flyovers, grassy corners, 180 degree switchbacks, off camber straightaways and
a mass start of over 60 racers I thought all made for a phenomenal experience,
not to mention that it was a little hotter than usual which put me right in my
element coming from Phoenix.
The AZ Cross series, put on by Jeff
Frost, Mark Bibbey and Matt DeMicco was awesome! Every race had some cool
features, one even included running up and through a trailer, however my
favorite race was the one that was put on at Horse Lover’s Park in Scottsdale,
perhaps one of the only AZ cross races where mud was a huge factor rendering my
good friend Adam Atkinson and I to have a great time playing in the mud like children:
CXLA was another dry race for me
and also ridden with not the best of luck. In warmup the day of my first race,
I managed to roll a good section of my front tubular off the rim. I immediately
threw on my pit wheel and got ready to line up. I was racing the Cat 1-4 Men’s
A race which was sent off with the Master’s and Cat 3-5 Men’s B race. I found
myself at the front of the pack, shifting around in the top 5 for most of the
race until halfway through 1 to go when I flatted my front tire and lost any hope
of gaining back my position which was quite frustrating, but anything can
happen when it comes to bike racing. Day 2 at CXLA, I was definitely feeling
the fatigue from day 1, I found that at the start line a lot of the guys I was
racing the day before, didn’t plan on racing the second day and a lot of the
guys I was racing the second day hadn’t raced the first day, a fresh group to
start with. I held a good position for the first few laps but began to fall
back quickly as the fatigue started to set in and by the last lap I found
myself not making the same power through most of the sections I had on day 1
and not riding as smooth either leading to a disappointing result but
nonetheless, I was racing bikes and having a great time; also as bike racing
can be and almost always is!
Finally, Cross Nationals, Boulder,
Colorado in January. If there is one word to describe the conditions it would
be cold (runner up: muddy honorable mention: gnarly). Rolling into Boulder with
my good friend Tyler Coplea (who is a heavily experienced cross racer) we had
enough time to spin over to packet pickup to get our numbers and pins and then
to go pre-ride the course. Riding the course reminded me of everything I had
ever thought about when it comes to Belgian, World Cup style Cyclocross racing,
beyond cold (at least for me), deep and slick mud EVERYWHERE, long run-ups, and
nasty off camber corners, all made for perhaps one of the best cross racing
experiences I have ever had! After we did some laps at Valmont Bike Park, we
made our way over to our VERY generous host’s house for the night (thank you
very VERY much Aden and family if you are reading this). The next day, the day
before the race, Tyler and I made our way over to the course to do some more
recon to find that it was incredibly windy out, still cold, but one nice
surprise, the mud in some of the harder sections had dried up considerably (don’t
get me wrong, it was still beyond muddy). After riding five more laps of the
course and doing some openers, we made our way back to Aden’s house where his
mom very kindly cooked an awesome dinner complete with pasta and kale salad,
good fuel for the race the next day. The next day, 11:30, one hour before the
start of our race, Tyler and I made it over to Valmont Bike Park to race our
legs off on the slip-n-slide mud fest that it was. Waiting in staging for our
call-ups Tyler and I did some active stretching to get our legs ready for the
sufferfest that was about to ensue. At this point it all seemed like somewhat
of a blur and the start seemed to me to have come out of nowhere. I had a hard
time moving up at the start which was unfortunate because I count my ability in
dealing with starts and start traffic to be one of my strengths that I strongly
rely on in most of my races. After 3 laps of being toward the back with a few
other guys I was racing, the officials started pulling riders and I was pulled
from the race. I was disappointed that I got pulled but at the same time relieved
that my long, strenuous season was over and I was ready for some well deserved
off time to reset my body for the mountain season.
After the madness of bike racing, I am very much looking forward to
doing a whole lot of hiking and off-trail exploring in my home trails of South
Mountain – probably with Molly:
Lastly, I would like to extend a big thank you to my coach Travis Woodruff of Momentum Endurance for always having my fitness on the top end for all my races
Also I would like to give a big shout out to all my awesome sponsors and all the incredible people behind the scenes that help to make the magic happen:
