Saturday, September 25, 2010

School of Cross

Finally it's ‘cross season…and it seems like it’s been far too long. So far it’s been a pretty tough start to the season with 2 midweek CX races cancelled due to rain and the Bow 80 cancelled due to inclement weather. It had been almost a month since my last ABA race and I now really pretty anxious for ‘cross to start up. I hadn’t done this series of races last year so I decided it would be worth the drive up to Edmonton to get a couple races under my belt before the Dark Knight and Oval ‘cross races.

After meeting up with my buddy Simon and his wife for breakfast buffet at our hotel, we headed down to the venue that would be hosting both races. We got to the race site and it was actually really warm outside so the course was probably going to be pretty dry and fast. I went to sign in and I was fairly surprised to see I was going into the race ranked 3rd out of the registered racers based on my results from ‘09. After getting ready, we both went out for a couple warm up laps.

The course had a road start, which went into a criterium like sharp turn then onto the grass portion. The first section was fairly technical with some really high barriers (I read somewhere they were actually 6cm too high). The next section was totally sketch with a deep grass off camber into a really steep descent into a small forest. After climbing out of the forest, it was another off-camber section into a set of man-made stairs. The next section was fairly windy with short power sections and a couple power climbs. Then came the double sand pit…both of which were completely unrideable with a short section of pavement separating the sand pits.

Stappy running the sand pit

After doing another warm-up lap, I went to what I thought was the start line. I waited for a couple minutes with another ride wondering where everyone was…but then Simon started calling me to the right start line. Late again…d’oh. I got to the real start line and had to seed myself somewhere mid-pack. After some instructions and a quick about some of the technical sections of the course we were off.

The race started which a paved section which was fairly fast, but slowed down as we all had to try and make the sharp right turn with a little bit of gravel so the group filed out pretty quickly. As we negotiated the first lap, Simon and I were pretty much calling “on your left, inside, outside” as we tried to move our way up the field. I was trying to move up as quickly as possible as getting stuck behind slower riders through more technical sections can really break your race if the leaders can gap the main field. As the race progressed I tried not to panic about my bad start and just tried to ride consistently. I knew I was moving up the field but still could not tell how many riders were in front of me.

Second last lap, my friend Masa calls out to me that I was only 40 seconds behind the leader so now I started to put on a little more pressure to try and close the gap. I had gotten a cramp on the second lap in my stomach from eating breakfast late so I was also battling through the pain while trying to keep riding hard.

Last lap I was starting to lap riders on the course but still wasn’t sure if I was even in the top 10. It seemed like there were still quite a few riders in front of me so I kept going hard…in fact midway through my last lap my breakfast started to creeping its way back up….which is pretty much a sure sign I was going all out.

I crossed the finish, completely exhausted and surprisingly there were only a few guys there and they were all telling me I had done awesome in the race and I had finished in the top 5. I talked for a bit with the top 3 riders but headed out to do a recovery spin as my heart rate was still pretty maxed and my stomach cramp was really painful. After spinning around and getting back to the race site, I got changed and went to watch the Expert race.

Result: 4th

My best racing result so far (I have finally broken the 5th place barrier) and I was actually really surprised that I finished that high up. I was slightly worried about being burned out for ‘cross going into this weekend as I had been riding, racing and training way more than last year. It was great to see that it all paid off and I was keeping up with the race leaders now.

Photo: Bill Quinney

Hop N’ Hurl

Today the race was same ‘cross time, same ‘cross place…only backwards with a few modifications.

I was feeling pretty confident going into the race with my results from the previous day. I had a good idea of whose wheel I should try grab and stay on. Most of the guys that had raced the day before were back again for more pain and suffering.

After doing a few warm-up laps and chatting with a bunch of people I got to the proper start line this time but was once again a little too late. I seeded myself in the middle of the pack and then all the guys told me to move myself up to the front, which felt really awesome. After joking around a little bit as staging had started a little early the commissaire announced that there would be call-ups for the top 5 riders based on the previous day’s results. Sweet…I got my first call-up!


The race started and Mark Jung went out for the hole shot on the road part. Right away I grabbed onto his wheel and decided I would sit on him for the first laps as he did really well the previous day and together we might be able to gap the field. Finishing up the lap I was going into the right nad turn on the road when my back tire slid out on a bit of gravel. I was just barely able to keep the bike upright but had to remind myself to corner a little wider and slower due to the gravel on subsequent laps.

After a lap it looked like we had a good group of 5 and developing a good gap on the rest of the field. Second lap in Brian Loewen went on the attack. Mark and I decided to let him go as it was still early in the race. Then Chris Hubrick and a Pedalhead rider went on the attack.


2 laps to go I pulled ahead of Mark and was trying as hard as I could to gap him but he stayed on my wheel and would never let me get to far ahead. During the last lap, Mark attacked and flew off his bike into the sand pit. I was behind a lapped rider so I wasn’t able to respond. I pushed hard to try and catch up to Mark but wasn’t able to get the lead. Halfway through the last lap we had Chris in our sights and we were trying to catch him but it seemed neither of us could close the gap.

Mark sprinted out onto the final straight and I tried to out sprint him on the road but slowed down through the sharp turn on the road as I didn’t want to slide out and crash.

Result: 5th

Today’s race was really good. Our group of the top 6 riders had a wicked battle the entire race with lots of position changes and plenty of attacks and counter-attacks. It felt awesome to have another clean race and finish up in the lead group again.

Photo Credits: Mark Kay