Cyclocross Season Wrap Up: Shawnigan Lake School

[Roland]

Finally, being more annoying than Peter paid off. A decent turnout of Easter Eggs at cyclocross.

In the beginner race we had Lister, Liam, Una, Galen & Jasper. It was the biggest beginner field of the year with 21. Liam absolutely crushed everybody in his first race, winning by almost 2 minutes.

Intermediate was also the biggest field of the year with 36 including Josh, Geoff, Ian & I. Being the series leader I got to start on the front row. Josh & Geoff unfortunately had to deal with the random callup and started somewhere towards the back of the massive field.

From the gun, Geoff Pendrel (ex pro downhiller) just rode away from everybody. Guy Gensey & I battled over second place for most of the race, switching places several times until a few crashes lost me the position for good. I thought I had 3rd in the bag until a hard charging Mitch Thacker managed to pass me with 50 meters to go. Oh well, 4th. I didn't see Josh, but he had me in view, finishing two places behind me in 6th. He's going to be dangerous next year. My 4th place finish was good enough to get me 1st overall in the series.

Jen, Rita, Glen & Katie raced in the women's race. In a huge upset, Allison Sydor didn't win, as she double flatted and had to settle for 2nd. Glen & Jen were also having a good battle until Jen flatted. I was on cowbell duty for this race, and I did a good job annoying the racers.

Seeing as I'm getting upgraded to expert for next year, I decided to race again, to see how my fitness compares to the experts. It was not a good test, and two 'cross races in one day is not a good idea. I was dead after my first race, my lap times were over 2 minutes slower per lap. Ouch, I suffered it out, going down a lap, but I did finish.

I'll let others share their race experiences.

[Plawless]

Awesome Work Roland! 1st overall for the season - that is fantastic and as the first ever OA podium for Tripleshot Men (after Kim taking 3rd on the Road this year in the VCL!) you will go down in history!)

As for the "more annoying than Peter" - you just need to change your outlook a smidge to discover that you are (as I am) simply inspirational - not annoying!

[iross]

Roland did awesome. He was even good-natured about the teasing that followed his ride in the expert category. And he certainly is a very specially gifted cow-beller.

It's also worth mentioning that there were some other TS folks in with series prizes: Jen got 3rd in the open women's and Katie got the Most Spirited Rider award for the series, which was super cool.

I'd write a race report, but it would mostly consist of swearing. Next time, I'm going to ride a bike with working brakes and try not to crash into the bushes at the bottom of every downhill section...

[Plawless]

So you mean that we put men and women on the OA podium?? WAAAA friking HOOOO Tripleshot!

Plus a Spirit award - KUDOS all!

[Lister Farrar]

Thanks Roland, and cograts to you and Jen on the series podiums, and Katie's spirit award. And for the course; I think you were one of the builders Roland? It was really fun, varied but fully rideable.

Liam ... in his first race

Wearing Roland's former Sidis I must add. Maybe that's what makes Roland fast? Gotta get some. Thanks also to Oak Bay bikes for the demo cross bike, and to Geoff Pendrel who loaned it to Liam immediately before his own race, and to Geoff Wong for his pedals so Roland's shoes would work. A true TS effort!

(By the way, he has outgrown the shoes since last year. He rode with toes curled under yesterday. Anyone got a pair of 43 or 44 spd compatible shoes they want to get rid of?)

At the other end of the beginner race, Una rode really well, staying on her bike when most others were walking. But this would eventually lead to her not really enjoying most of it, because she overcooked herself on all the climbs and just couldn't keep riding as well as she expected. She didn't know to pace herself by walking or running the climbs to keep her effort more even. But she's not the first TS'r to discover that.

After at least one "I wish Mum were here", and several "I suck" comments, (maybe she was channelling the absent Peter?) she recovered with a hot chocolate and the beach-like sun (give me some latitude here, it's Victoria in monsoon season...).

Warning: Boring parent sidebar
A few thoughts on kids and cycling. For those of you with kids or an interest in LTAD (Long Term Athlete Development), the concepts of endurance and skill windows (ie. periods of development better suited to certain kinds of exercise) were glaringly obvious to me yesterday.

According to the model, kids should focus on skill and speed up to the growth spurt, endurance during it, and strength and power after.

Liam is into the endurance window (ie. during the growth spurt), while Una hasn't yet entered it. Liam (14) is starting to revel in longer runs, trying to outrun the opposition in soccer, (and longer rides when someone less than 3x his age is going).

Una (11) (and Liam when he was that age) is much happier with shorter skill-based efforts, like mountainbiking with friends, where they get lots of exercise , but efforts are intermittant and focused on skill challenges they choose. There's also a weird expectation at that age to be able to ride everything they meet, that comes from mtbing, with little sense of pacing in a longer effort.

[Rolf]

That's great, cyclocrossers! Well done all. Roland: I hope the CX community recognizes you for the one-man booster you are.

Lister: I'm less than 3x Liam's age. It would be nice to have some other young people's company early in the morning. I can't keep up with the other young 'uns (Josh, Roland, Gavin...) But then it sounds like Liam would leave me in the dust, too!

[Rita]

Just a short note now, more to come later. You should have heard the crowd's cheering when it was announced that Roland won the overall Intermediate category!!! The only one who got more cheers was Norm, the race organizer himself, who really deserved it.

You are the best, Roland!

[iross]

Now, now. Don't go too far. He might think that the adulation of his fans gives him carte blanche to, oh, grow a moustache or something. And that just wouldn't be right.

And Rolf: you're younger than 42? Who'd have thought it?

[Lister Farrar]

Lister: I'm less than 3x Liam's age. It would be nice to have some other young people's company early in the morning.

Sorry, is the smell of my Depends getting to you? I'll try to stay downwind.

Or maybe it's the war stories. Either way, I'll try to be hip for you.

Peace. Out.

Dude!

L

[Katie]

After spending hours in the rain the day before pouding posts (well, Jen did most of the pounding) and stringing tape, I was somewhat apprehensive about spending the entire Sunday out in the rain, racing and spectating in freezing weather. But as luck would have it, it *POURED* with rain all night, then was sunny all day! The course suffered a bit with the overnight rain, causing what we thought were gravel fields to turn into mud pits, and a nice long downhill dirt walking path turn into a rocky, loose creekbed with several inches of running water.

Turns out the muddy field and the downhill through the creek were the funnest parts though. I had a lot of fun in my race, but consequently kept forgetting that I was supposed to keep going fast I was having so much fun wobbling and mashing through the mud, giggling to myself and laughing with anyone around, that my overall result suffered somewhat. I got lapped by the lead men 2x and lead women 1x, and was actually disappointed that I wouldn't get to fly down the creek one more time. If we could have somehow strung the mud field and creekbed together without all that other stuff in the middle, I could have played in it all day.

I guess that's how you win the Spirit award.

And don't forget about recent tripleshotter Glenowyn! She placed 2nd overall in the Women's category.
1st: Kristenn Magnusson
2nd: Glen
3rd: Jen

[Josh.E]

My biggest worry about trying a cyclocross was that it would be too much fun, and I’d have to figure out a way to get another bike. My worst fears came true, and it was even MORE fun than I expected. What a great sport, you push so hard you taste blood but you somehow still end up grinning like an idiot the whole time.

Upon pulling into Shawnigan Lake School, and seeing the grounds for the first time with orange ribbons strung out all over the place, you got the impression right away that this course was going to be epic. The school’s campus is sprawled out over several acres of buildings, sports fields, wooded areas, paths, and big (wet) open fields (probably where the school kids run their ponies)….perfect for a bike course. The sun was just starting to peek out, but the ground was soaking wet.

After arriving with Rita and Ian (thanks again for the lift), we unloaded Dave’s Trek from the back (thanks Dave for the use of the bike), and went to register. I couldn’t believe the turnout. There were over 100 registered riders and spectators everywhere.

I decided it was time to go out for a pre ride of the course, to see if I still remembered anything at from all that mountain biking so long ago. I strapped on my old lake mountain bike shoes. They’re probably 14 or 15 years old now, and just seem to never die. They were with me through seven years of mountain biking 3-4 days a week, but haven’t seen off road since around 2001, when I sold my last mountain bike, and had been relegated to commuting duty. I think they were ready as they clipped into the old SPD’s I’d put on Daves bike, as if to say. “OK, let’s do this”.

I went out for a pre-ride lap with Glenowyn, who, funnily enough, I also used to mountain bike with regularly 10 years ago on the Mac’s Cycle rides. Although she didn’t know it, she was about to witness my first attempt at off road in at least 5 years. We rode up past the start line. The first 100 yards or so was a gravel road with a slight up hill. At the end of the straightaway, the course turned sharp to the right onto a large, grassy, muddy, sloped field, with the narrow, ribboned off course traversing across the slope while twisting up and down, with lots of muddy, off camber turns.

Apparently riding a bike is a lot like riding a bike. It seems to come back right away. My first time across the muddy field I managed to do the entire section without having to put a foot down. What a relief. My pre-race nervousness completely faded as I did the rest of that lap, and by the time I got back to the start area, I was ready to go.

The intermediate field got called up, first by series ranking, then randomly. I ended up in the 4th or 5th row of about 35 people in the field. Roland was easy to spot in pole position with his pro city skin suit on. The gun (that wasn’t a gun) went off and the sprint down the first road was on. My plan had been to get as far up through the field as possible on the first straightaway to try to avoid the mayhem that was inevitable going into that first muddy field. My plan didn’t end up being the most original plan of the day, as the whole field sprinted flat out up the first road weaving all over the place looking for gaps. Not much room to make up many positions.
I ended up probably in 20th place going into the field. The pack was pretty chaotic, with almost everybody getting caught up on eachother in the mud. Not much you could do but wait for it to clear up in front of you and try not to lose any positions.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/reganpring ... 859138448/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

By the last part of the field on that first lap I could see the leaders entering the trees probably 40 seconds ahead. The second section of the course was a wide, fast downhill path through the trees which had turned into a creek with the runoff from the rain. This is apparently where being a pro downhill mountain biker can be an advantage, and where geoff pendral put a huge gap on the other leaders right on the first lap, as he is an ex pro downhiller. I tried to settle in off to the side of the wheel in front of me to avoid the rooster tail of water and mud in the eyes.
The bottom of the downhill turned into a tight, twisty little section of single track before opening up onto a fast section of downhill gravel road, around the bottom of a building, through a little trail and berm before coming out to the first dismount point, a climb up a long concrete staircase, back on the bike, around by some tennis courts, then out back onto the asphalt to climb back up towards the parking lot.

The pace had settled down a bit so I used that first on-road climb to pick off as many people as I could. I managed to get by at least 7 or 8 people on the first lap. After climbing on the road for a while, the course turned into a nasty little anaerobic single track climb up to the highest point of the course. After pushing it up the road harder than I should have, that section was NOT FUN. Mental note for next lap……single track section hurts, save something for it.

Coming out on the top field, the course traversed the edge of a sports field, then turned back towards the start line and twisted back and through another muddy field section. While circling the field, you could see the entire pack spread out in front. The leaders were half a field length ahead, and I could see Roland’s skin suit. He became my target.

By the next lap things settled down, and I became focused on moving through the other riders one position at a time, using the road climb to do most of my passing, and using the top field to see how far ahead the leaders were. Did I mention cross is hard? Did I mention how fun it was?

By the 4th and last lap I had Roland in my sights. Coming into the the last section of the top field I had the gap down to maybe 20 seconds with a couple riders between when a guy on a mountain bike went down hard right in front of me and managed to land sideways across the track blocking any chance of getting around him. I have no idea how his bike managed to fly that direction of sideways with his body going in completely the opposite direction. It really defied physics, or at least it did in my oxygen deprived brain. As he flailed out of the way apologizing for blocking me I got back to chasing, but realized then I was going to run out of room to try to get back up with my moving target..

I went as hard as I could over the last section and ended up 30 seconds behind Roland in 6th place.
Everyone should try a cross race at least once. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get myself a cross bike together by next season.

Full race results are here:
http://www.island-multi-sports.com/CX_B ... Champs.xls" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

[Josh.E]

Roland did awesome. He was even good-natured about the teasing that followed his ride in the expert category. And he certainly is a very specially gifted cow-beller.

It wasn't really teasing, as much as an observation by some of us that the expert field is generally faster that the intermediate, so he should have tried riding FASTER in his second race than in his first.

[wonger]

Well that was fun! As opposed to two weeks ago, I actually got to experience the cyclo in cyclocross this weekend. When you can actually ride your bike, it’s pretty good!

I finished around 25th in my first ever race in the mud two weeks ago, 13 minutes and change behind the winner. My goal was to reduce that gap in this race, and I did, finishing eight minutes and change back. It felt like I was a lot quicker though I still finished 25th or so. But at least I was man enough to do the intermediate race, unlike a few other people who will go unnamed. Lister and Galen. Oh sure, they may have brought their kids along as a cover for their lack of manliness, but you know, an excuse is just an excuse. I’m pretty sure that I couldn’t beat Liam though.

By the way, kudos to part-time tripleshotters Mary Wakefield and Dan Leonard who finished first and third respectively in the beginners race. Impressive, especially considering they left the OBB party at 1:30 in the morning!

Other things I learned…

Starting in the middle of the pack makes it really hard to get to the front, especially if you can’t “pick-them-off-seven-at-a-time-Josh-style-on-the-anerobic-uphill” each lap.

Those who go uphill fastest generally win (unless you're Geoff Pendrell). You might be brilliant in the 50 meters of mountain biking, but don’t kid yourself. That’s not going to do it.

I have much to learn about swallowing huge gobs of pain as evidenced by Roland’s escapade into the elite division.

An 11 second gap is really, really hard to close when you are chasing through a muddy swamp, but really easy if you are flying down a creek bed trying to figure out why you don’t have two flats from all the hits you’re taking.

Those big sheets of Styrofoam that they wrap around trees explode into little bitty pieces when a body hits them at speed.

Roland and Geoff Pendrell will be riding Expert next year – great! Josh is taking up cyclocross – great.


Anyone want to go for a cross ride sometime?

[Roland]

Wearing Roland's former Sidis I must add.

They weren't my shoes. They were my co-worker's roommate's brother's shoes. It's a convoluted story as to how I acquired them.

[Rita]

I think there is not much to add in terms of race reports but 2 things: 1. It is really exhilarating when you are going downhill fast through mud and water being blinded by the splashing mud, not seeing where you are going and surviving it without crashing.
2. It is puke inducing to have Roland with a cow bell next to you.

Here are our photos from Sunday.
http://tinyurl.com/yjrhnx5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

My choice of the day is this one:

[ART BOY]

Wow - great reports everyone!
I can sum up Jasper's experience with his words - "That was AWSOME Dad! I NEED a cross bike (with matching tires of course)!"
here's some more great pictures from Ian Craib - http://www.flickr.com/photos/oakbaybike ... 865992456/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

[BearPope Recruit]

Well, this is definitely a little late to post, and Roland's already got another race under his belt, but thought i'd share a few thoughts from last Sunday. I'll see how good my memory is, and what I can add as there's been lots of good descriptions already...

So one of my favorite moments of the race happened before it even started. I was the first to get called up to the line - the reason being that I'd showed up to all the races in the series. The lesson here is to show up and participate - it does count for something in the end! For the open women races, it seems a lot of it comes down to not getting injured, sick or pregnant - this year anyways.

For the first 3 laps, Glenowyn and I were back & forth constantly - I'd try to stay on her wheel as much as possible, then she'd drop her chain, I'd pass her, we'd hit the mud fields, I'd slow down & she'd pass me. Repeat. Lesson here for me was to not give up and always try to stay as close as possible as you never knew when you might have a chance to overtake due to an error or a mechanical. Then on the fourth lap, the wheels came off the bus for me - I dropped my chain at the start of the lap, struggled through the mud, and then flatted on a rock as I tried to go as hard as possible down the muddy river to make up some time on Glenowyn. I got off quickly and started running as I didn't think it would be wise to ride on the rim. I also realized I must be close to one of the last riders out as two elites were pre-riding behind me (they went by once I shouldered my bike & started running). This was kind of funny since I was trying as hard as possible at race pace & ready to cough up a lung on my last lap, and they had no trouble lollygagging behind me, checking out the course... I was glad to have stuck with Glenowyn as much as possible earlier on so I wasn't any further back! Thankfully Roland had a set of spare wheels in the pit so I hurried in there, swapped my front wheel, and carried on for the short piece that was left of the race. Turns out I was the last racer on the course not to get lapped, which equates to a 6 pack as a prize in this series!

It was a good race and I was happy with my effort despite the flat - I knew I'd have to push it in order to catch Glenowyn so was giving it all I had left. I also knew that I had to finish ahead of her in the race in order to finish ahead of her in the series. I didn't know at the time that it meant the difference between 2nd and 3rd. Congrats to Glen - we both agreed it was lots of fun to have someone to race with this year.

One more thing... Roland did do a great job of cheering with the cow-bell! And as for doing the elite race, I thought it was so he could do another couple of laps to look for my bat that I lost off the back of my seat?

Only 10 more months until Cross on the Rock again! I hope to see lots of familiar faces returning and new folks coming out for 2010 - Norm & Wendy do a fantastic job of organizing the series. I have very limited experience in bike racing but think that 'cross is a great way to get your feet wet, literally & figuratively! It's very social, fun, muddy & kind of silly! Roland has done a great job of recruiting (and providing bikes) so hope to see lots of easter eggs & Slackers out next September!