A New Multisport To Try - Cyclocross

GROIN!

I’m sure that sends a tingle down the boys’ spines. It seems like a relatively innocuous word, but for men, it conjures a certain response usually associated with pain and a shiver. I’m sure we’ve all known men who have injured theirs. Luckily, mine is just really tight after Sunday’s initiation into the world of cyclocross.

Before the race, I was extremely nervous. I had watched videos of the proper techniques (courtesy of velonews.com), but only really practiced once at the dismounts and re-mounts. On that day (Friday), I ate dirt twice and had a nice bruise to show for it. Having run (but never ridden) some of the ‘Cross Crusade’ courses in the past, my warm-up circuits at the Hood River course left me even MORE nervous. Sure, there were barriers (a total of 4 dismounts with 6 barriers), some tight turns, and two sections of dusty single-track. But what REALLY had me scared was the 20+ feet of fist sized rocks at the bottom of a steep slope and the barrier right in front of a gravelly, double-switchback run-down complete with creek-side remount (note, don’t look over your shoulder at the racers behind you when attempting a creek-side remount). This was a reasonably technical course and I was ready to settle into a lounge chair and pick-up a cowbell. However, my carpool partner, Eric “The Bruise” White (see veloagogo blog link at the right), would hear none of my bleating and herded me to the line.

I raced Masters C and started at the back. I started at a very reasonable speed and just focused on my technique at the barriers and realized if I really slowed, then power-pedaled through the rocks, my back wheel didn’t fish-tail alarmingly like in my trial circuits. By lap 3 I had totally lost my carpool partner (he got stuck behind a mtn biker on the single-track) and started picking off the riders in my group and straight ‘C’ riders who had gone out before us. I was picking up speed over the barriers and made it a point to pass people on the run-ups. I did make one mistake on the single-track, attempting to carry too much speed through a right-hander and paid by sliding out on the pine needles. Luckily, it was a very soft landing. On lap 4 I heard an erroneous bell and so upon completing my 5th lap, pulled off the course. After 15 seconds or so, I realized the race was still going on, so jumped back in and re-passed 4 or 5 riders and found myself time-trialing the final lap alone to the finish.

I finished 19 of 37 riders in Masters C and didn’t break any bones. An awesome day! After the car ride home, I realized I should have stretched, you guessed it, my groin a little more (and that is not some hidden innuendo) before doing all those dismounts and flying remounts. I also rammed my right calf with a pedal on an aggressive dismount, so now my right leg is painful top to bottom. Overall, it was great fun and I’ll be back out there, groin willing, to give it another shot. Just stretch first.

Hulamantri 1/2 Ironman Race Report

Some folks don’t like country music, but I’ve always been impressed with how the lyrics can boil down emotions and feelings to fit almost any situation. Thus, I’ve used some country music lyrics to express my feelings about my most recent race, the Hulamantri ½ Ironman.

For the ultra-short version, here’s the summary: “Did I shave my legs for this?” – Deanna Carter
Overall – I worried that this first year event would not be well organized and the pouring rain pre-race was stress-inducing
Swim – went well, 41:52 included swim and T1
Bike – broken chain resulted in my first DNF in 22 years of racing
Run – did a loop for fun and to run with friends, sometimes it is nice to just be a spectator
Post-race: Great food, great band, no rain made it awesome.

Longer version:
“And somewhere in the darkness, the gambler he broke even.” – Kenny Rogers
As I’m sure we’re all aware, there is a cardinal rule in endurance sports that you only use on race day what has been proven out in training. I usually follow this rule, although over the years, I’ve sometimes ‘gambled’ a bit… like the new bike saddle 2 weeks before Ironman USA or the brand new tri-shorts before Pacific Crest. Well, this year, I took the gambling a little too far. I upgraded the drive train on my race bike and in the process, decided new aero handlebars and a more aero fork were easy additions. I didn’t count on the difficulty of the internal cable routing and how that impacts shifting quality. Not like you really have to shift much doing 2 loops around Hagg Lake (please read with sarcasm).

“It was raining, the day my mom got out of prison.” – Dave Alan Coe
Race morning didn’t exactly dawn bright, but by gum it sure was early. The 7:00 AM start time meant a 4:00 AM alarm and the first thing I noticed was the sound of the rain. It was pouring! I considered dumping the race, but then realized I had committed to a friend to carpool out to the lake and provide some water bottle holders for his bike. So, we drove my truck out to the lake and luckily, by the start time, we were standing in only a minor drizzle.

“Life ain’t always beautiful, sometimes it’s just plain hard.” – Gary Allan
The swim went surprisingly well, despite the fact that I’ve gotten in the pool 3 times in the last month. My recent laser vision correction gave me a good reason to skip the swimming up until the last week before the race. The swim felt really hard, especially since I got passed VERY early on by the fastest female and relay swimmers who started just 3 minutes behind us. Considering my total lack of prep, my combo swim/T1 time wasn’t too bad.

“I will let you down. I will make you hurt.” – Johnny Cash
The bike leg was a relatively challenging route, with 1 ¾ loops around Hagg Lake and it’s delightful rollers, then another 15+ miles of rollers culminating in a short, but steep climb over Clapshaw Hill. The remaining 15 miles followed on relatively flat roads to the Hillsboro stadium. On my first lap around Hagg, my bike was shifting pretty rough, so I turned off the SIS and went into ‘friction’ mode. Some of you old folks may remember the days before bike shifters just ‘clicked’ conveniently into the next gear. Well, I was riding old school. When I forced the bike into the highest gear going down the hill out of the lake, the chain met too much friction on the front derailleur and promptly exploded. My race was over for the day.
“I don’t know why they say grown men don’t cry.” – Tim McGraw

Luckily, my truck came down the road not 10 minutes later, on its return trip to T2, so I dumped my bike in the back and headed for the coffee shop. Arriving at T2, I noted the last cyclist I had passed before exiting the race had moved up to 12th place overall. Dang, I had been doing well. So, I waited for my friend George to come through T2 and ran the first loop of the run with him. He wasn’t having a great day, so the help was appreciated. I ran with a couple more folks who I had met in T1, so playing the super fan passed the time until the post-race feed was on. The food was good and when the band played a hip-hop version of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire, I knew I would be back next year… with a proven bike to ride. I would definitely recommend this for a nice, local, late season multi-sport test and expect that next year, the field will be larger and I’ll have no chance to arrive in T2 in the top 20.

“She’s the queen of my double wide trailer with the polyester curtains and the redwood deck.” – Sammy Kershaw
I really don’t have anything to go with this quote, but just thought I’d include it for fun.