Ricky Bobby Cross on the Rock finale!

[4827north]

Race reports, please. What a way to end the season! Talk about mud! Great course. Very challenging and very hard. I heard no less than 6 rear derailleurs met their demise. Lots of DNFs. Hats off to everyone who helped all year to make this a fantastic season! Kudos went out to Katie and Roland for their superb results recording!

After having a crash on lap one every race this season, I was excited to be sitting in 11th place after lap one, well, until I hit a huge rock hidden in a puddle up on the dirt track. That kicked my rear tubular off the rim. I stopped and put it back on then carefully rode to the pit. I did a reasonably fast wheel change.. Fast because I sort of forgot to put my brake straddle cable back on! Fixed that right before the barriers. Then carried on, now down to around 25th place. I was going fine until I smacked the curb a little too hard at a transition. That triggered a leak in my rear, rode the last three laps with a flat tire. Thankfully tubulars are not so bad in the mud running flat but downright scary on pavement.

Finished a typical 22nd place. That's cross racing! Next year I'll try to race one clean race...no crashes or mechanicals!

As many of you know, I donated a set of hand built Zed Wheels CrossRock AX cross tubulars for a season ending giveaway. These feature exclusive blue hubs and blue nipples. I'm happy to say that our own junior Brenna Pauly is now the proud owner! I was so happy to have these go to a junior never mind a Tripleshot junior! Congrats, Brenna!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedwheels/6366719705

Please post your Ricky Bobby Cross race stories and pix!

[EricS]

That is quite fortunate for Brenna, because I require all my physics students to submit one pair of hand built wheels to me in lui of a final exam. Lucky.

[Roland]

I doubt I can match Lister's epic tale of track racing, but here goes.

I arrived at Western Speedway at 8:30. The course had been staked the night before but still needed to be taped. IRC had a crew on setup since about 8:00. Once the course was taped we took a preride. 2km and 9 minutes at an easy pace. Yikes, too short a lap. With a short lap, there is more data to enter, more people get lapped. Results are more time consuming, not usually a big deal, except at the series final we need standings done asap after the last race ends. It was cold, no building to hang out in like 2 years ago at Shawnigan Lake. The lap need to be longer.

I joined the IRC crew to increase the lap times. That means more distance and more corners. We didn't have much time. Here is the original course compared to the modified course.



Notice: More squiggles. They slow people down. Sorry Brad, the curb was part of my design changes, as was the hairpin behind the dumpster that seemed to cause a lot of crashes.

At 10:30 I was still taping, Norm was calling for Adam to lead the beginner clinic, but he was nowhere to be found. Apparently he was teaching his brother (Who was riding my old Empella) how to use clipless pedals 30 minutes before the start of his first bike race.

I took the beginner clinic, since it needed to start, if we were going to keep the event on schedule. I did some graceful mount / dismount demos while wearing jeans. Crashed while demoing the moto cross track. I'm not sure if anybody in the clinic noticed until Lister started heckling. One beginner broke her chain during the clinic, which was surprisingly hard to find in the mud. I sent her off to get it fixed by anybody who was willing to help. Apparently Adam fixed it, I'm not sure how, since I thought he had joined me to lead the clinic. I guess he had left. Norm now knows Adam's name, which made his day.

I finished up the beginner clinic with about 5 minutes to spare and sent them to the start line. At the start line we had the first mystery of the day. One rider, from Seattle, was missing. We figured that a Seattle rider wouldn't travel to race beginner so we figured he was written down on the wrong start list. We started the race without him. Turns out we were kinda right, since he raced Intermediate and won. But, his number also appeared on the beginner timing sheets finishing back of the pack. No idea where the phantom rider came from, since he wasn't on the start line.

There was a large ice patch to the right of the start. Norm warned everybody to stay left, and the beginner men managed to get away safely. Beginner women weren't so lucky, one of them hit the ice and took a tumble. We needed to do something about the ice puddle. I went to break up the ice by stomping on it, stomp stomp stomp slip... flat on my back. Ouch. Decided to just cone it off instead and move the start line several feet to the left.

Race on. Time to get to results, I'm behind schedule now. The computer isn't set up. I haven't found power. I'm running around a little frantic. I get setup. Now the software isn't quite working right. Arg. I need to get the beginner names entered before their race ends.

My brother is in his first cross race, on my old Cannondale. Why do I have so many old cross bikes? He's got a decent lead on the field, Norm is heckling him with the megaphone until he rides right off the course distracted. Hmm.. that spot needs a bit more tape. Katie later sees him riding around the oval, apparently he isn't so good at staying on course. He finds his way back on course but has lost first place. He regains it quickly and wins his first bike race. He probably should have raced intermediate, but I'm not sure you are allowed to do that in baggy shorts and a DH jersey.

Beginner race finishes. Time to get the results in. Arg, why aren't they sorting correctly. Intermediate races are starting soon, need to do the start lists. Search the series standings to rank riders for callup -- there needs to be a way to automate that. Now to enter the intermediate names -- 40 men / 22 women, that's a lot of typing for cold fingers. I get the names entered before the race ends, I have a few minutes to chill.

Somehow Adam and his mom have gotten the megaphone. They take turns heckling the riders and each other. Funniest thing I've heard in months.

Intermediate race finishes, time to enter results. I recruit a friend who came to watch to read me numbers. Once the results are entered it's time to fix results. If you ever do this, you will understand why it's important to wear your number the right way up and on the correct side of your body. Katie's magic spreadsheet has turned an all night job into a 20 minute job or so. I've got the intermediate women's race done and men's close. My race starts in less than 45 minutes, and I haven't even registered, changed or eaten yet. Luckily I know the secret handshake to get a free waffle.

Register, change, hop on the bike for a bit of a warmup. I'm pretty sore now from the icy puddle indecent. I can't hold the hoods with any strength. I figure for the start I can hold the drops, otherwise it's on the tops. My usual starting gear of big ring / big cog is way under geared for the speedway start. Oops, no hole shot today. By the time I am in the correct gear and going I've drifted to near the back of the pack. Arg, that's where I'll end up anyway, but I like to attempt to get my 30 seconds of glory each race.

Sore arm means I can't stand out of the corners. I'm getting gapped exiting out of every corner -- this sucks. Mud is worse, hard to control the bike. Can't put the power down. Things are getting worse as I drift off the back of the pack. Cogs are skipping in the highest 5 gears. I stop for a wheel change, maybe a clean cog will help. It doesn't really.The mud is everywhere, nothing is working, I can barely hold the bars, I'm grumpy. One more lap for 5 and DNF.

Second year in a row I've ended the COTR season with a DNF.

Off to see if Katie needs help with results, but she's got it under control. Just need to wait for the final timing sheets to come in. Time to get changed. There are no more waffles. Expert race is over, time to read timing sheets to Katie. It goes fairly well, but who is 112. They aren't on the start sheet. Ahh, somebody decided to wear their cycling bc number, not their COTR number. Try and ignore the distractors, not sure what it is about huddling over a computer that makes people think you want to chat. Cut up names for the draw and then it's off to watch the prize ceremony.

Did I mention it's cold and I'm cold?

No performance awards for me this year, but I did get a toque as a draw prize and Katie & I picked up a volunteer gift.

Then it's clean up, pack up, go home. Home by 6, Katie double checks result while I acquire pizza. Food of race champions. I post the result on the website, let everybody one Facebook know, do a bit of PR and my race day is over.

---

For those who are counting: 1328 words.

[Roland]

Video:

[AlW]

"Dude, what the h#ll, I could have flipped that sh#t on the interwebs bro"

Hilarious...

[4827north]

Brenna, receiving next year's race wheels..

[Lister Farrar]

David Brown gets the holeshot in beginner men's. A clogged pedal stopped him later, but he entered intermediate men as well, so got his money's worth of mud. Chris Macleod was close behind, and went on to get 3rd.

[spearson]

It was a little double-cross action for me on Saturday.

The beginner's course felt different on each lap. The ground started off really hard and I kept wondering if my tires would get stuck in the frozen car tracks throwing me to the hard ground. After a lap, the slight change in temperature gave the course the consistency of a week old cow pat; solid on the outside, but easily broken through to the gooey under-layer. Grease tracks were starting to develop which were easier to ride, but effectively turned my bike into a single speed. The third lap had the entire course warm enough to look like we were riding through pudding. I finally felt a bit more adventurous (obviously falling into pudding wouldn't hurt) and rode a few of the downs that I had been previously running through. I caught up to JC de Vos and the two of us went back and forth a few times over the last lap. Coming into the final straightaway I was peddling my brains out in my lightest and only gear while JC tried frantically to clip in. Maybe it was the mud, maybe the fact he had never used clipless pedals before, but I edged him out at the line for my first top 10 finish of the season.

I rode through the finish line, bought a waffle, changed bikes, and got down to Thetis Lake for the start of the Gunner Shaw 10K trail run. This race features mud, rocks, moss, two thigh-deep bodies of water, 5 steep hills, an exceedingly brief view of the cross race, and a finish chute accessible only by going through the lake. I ran fairly well, but the biking left me feeling a little less in control on the technical sections. I finished unscathed and launched myself head first into the lake before crossing the finish line. Full immersion is not required, but is always a crowd pleaser.

Fourth change of the day and then back up to COTR for the expert race and awards. Great to see Brad hand the wheels to our Provincial Champ, none are more deserving.

Many thanks to Andrea who generously popped my front tire in the Intermediate race, which enabled me to accept a ride home rather than biking back in the dark. She did her own double-cross deciding to run a full lap shouldering the bike rather than take a DNF – nice! Thanks again to Norm, Roland, Katie, and everyone else that makes COTR possible.

This Garmin track is going to be posted on the fridge for a while.

[glenowyn]

It has taken awhile to process the Ricky Bobby Cross Finale. I think a lot of strong riders didn't get the race they hoped for to finish the season. Congratulations Simon for your top ten finish and strong Gunner Shaw Race.

In the Open Women's Race the unexpectedly bad happened. 20 seconds into the race, gunning for the hole shot, 3 out of 9 racers went down. Carey Sather the 4th was the closest and stayed with the down riders. She said later ' what else do you do, you would hope for the same. It wasn't until Tanya started joking that I joked back and said okay I'll go now and win the race." Carey came back strong and got herself back in the race. Unfortunately she got a flat on her final laps, was given a spare wheel outside of the pits and took a DQ for the race. She did go home with a cake that Jamie C had baked because he grabbed her bike out of the pits at a previous race so that he could finish his race.

The pace came down a bit at first as the leaders tried to make sense of what to do. I think everyone felt a little more vulnerable that random things happen and they can suck. On the 2nd lap the ambulance was at the Speedway and the race carried on. I went from third to last. I snapped my derailleur and thought if I walk forward maybe I can salvage something. Jen passed me and when she went by the pits told them I needed a bike. When I got there I was told there was a bike I could borrow we just had to swap out wheels. I was a little stunned, followed the instructions and than jumped on the bike than I realized I would complete my last lap on pedals that didn't match my cleats. My feet slid out a lot and I finished one lap down.

Unexpectedly when the overalls were called out I finished 3rd for the series and I think Jen 4th, not what we expected. The t shirts we were given say " Chill out.. we got this." I think they should say " Chillax .. we've got your back." I had to borrow a rear wheel because I broke the rim on Friday, borrow money from Jim Pauley because I left my entry fee in the ATM. If anyone has a slightly used rear wheel or derailleur I can buy I really want to have a bike to race provincials and the BC Cup Finals. When Islanders go over to the mainland for races it is because of race series like COTR that we feel like we are a team and support each other. Its hard to get on the podium but creating a race series where people feel comfortable to challenge themselves is pretty incredible because we all like the hope that racing creates.

If anyone wants to get together, maybe at the family friendly Fernwood to congratulate each other on their COTR Season let me know. It was too cold on Saturday to go out after the race.

[Plawless]

It turns out that Glenowyn is a philosopher-poet:

" ...a race series where people feel comfortable to challenge themselves is pretty incredible because we all like the hope that racing creates."

Well said Glenowyn and well done all Tripleshotters at COTR and beyond!

Peter

[Lister Farrar]

It turns out that Glenowyn is a philosopher-poet:

" ...a race series where people feel comfortable to challenge themselves is pretty incredible because we all like the hope that racing creates."

Well said Glenowyn and well done all Tripleshotters at COTR and beyond!

Peter

+1. That is very well said Glenowyn. Never heard it quite that way either.