Trek CX Cup 2024 - 50+

 Let's bring a Volkswagen to an F1 race.  Or, perhaps a better analogy, fuel that F1 car with E85 instead of rocket fuel.

Trek CX is always one of the highlights of the racing calendar for people and it brings people from far and wide.  This year, though, it isn't a World Cup.  So, only a couple of Euro pros were racing instead of most of the best.  But that doesn't mean the rest of the categories weren't stacked.

There were 3 days of racing and George, Bob, and myself did 2 of them; Saturday and Sunday.  All total there were probably 20-30 CCC people up there with some good representation (and at least 3 podiums).  We did the 10:30 time slot which had 4 different age groups starting each about 30 seconds apart: 40+, 50+, 60+, and 70+.  All told 120+ racers on course at the same time,

Before the weekend my Cross Results points were about 500.  My points aren't good but for a Cat 4 slumming with the 50+ age groupers they aren't horrible.  Of the 60 guys in my race I was predicted 58th based on points.  The top 10 all had sub-300 points.  Top 20-30 had sub-400 point.  This field was crazy stacked.  In fact only 11 guys of the 52 who actually showed up (8 guys paid and didn't show) finished on the lead lap.  41 people were lapped.  That's crazy.

I finished 40th out of 52 on Saturday.  Much better than predicted but still far down the line.  

The course is very different than anything we see in the CCC.  And we didn't even do the pro-only line.  Lot's of punchy rises along with 3 man-made flyovers.  A couple of slow drags uphill.  There was one descent that really should have been done on a mountain bike.  I am honestly shocked I didn't crash and I didn't see others wipe out:  bumpy, dusty, and steep.

Needless to say my Chicago legs were not ready for this.  I've raced up there 3-4 times so I know it is hard but it is always a shock to the system.  My last two laps were 30-40 seconds slower that the first 3.  I was burnt out.  One thing about doing things out of the ordinary is that you have to plan better to not forget anything.  So, I forgot to take any caffeine before the race.  My HR was an average of 161 so not too bad but not the 167 of the week before.  (More on HR later)

The rest of Day 1 I spent watching all the races including the pros.  It was warm and a lot of fun.  Lots of walking and not near enough water.  Trek has an area tucked away on course called the Secret Bar and they were giving away beer back there.  No water.  So I had a beer just for something - I'm not a big beer drinker.

That leads us to Day 2 where I was not in good form.  My legs hurt after the first day like I had just done 100 miles at Mineral Point.  They didn't bounce back for Day 2.  I actually did take caffeine this time but for some reason (lack of water/fitness?) I could only must a HR avg of 152.  My times weren't actually all that horrible but they weren't good.  I finished 44th out of  48 and three of those guys DNFed.

The highlights of all the races is hanging out with friends.  George and Bob and I had dinner together at a surprisingly good truck stop/restaurant.  So fun to hash out the racing and make excuses.

We also got to talk to some of the pros (Not the Taylor Swift security level up there) and got a picture with Maghalie Rochette.

Day 1 Lap 1:  https://youtu.be/Y8RfkHaD6zs?si=E-ozjcBAQ2Bt2Ey1

Day 2 Lap 1:  https://youtu.be/Gut1d-PPgj8?si=inFTzQO7-TCnNzCf

Glenwood CX 2024 55+

 I have graduated by virtue of the clock ticking.  I am now eligible for the 55+ category (I'm only 53 as I type this but Race Age is a funky thing in cyclocross.  I get to join the other great Tower Racers now instead of just watching them.  It also means racing an hour earlier at 8am which I wasn't looking forward to.  I had a nice rhythm with the 8:55 start I need to adjust now.

Glenwood is the first stop in this year's Chicago Cyclocross Cup (CCC) series. It is on the campus of Glenwood Academy and has pretty much no elevation.  The trickiest part of the course was around a couple trees where roots were exposed and my back tire kept slipping.

It has been dry and the course matched that.  By the end of the day the lines were probably pretty burned in which can make it a bit more slick but in the morning it was fine.  Not even any dew on the grass.

Before I get into the actual racing I wanted to take a minute to talk about my mentality for the 55+.  Being the youngest guy in the category in my mind meant I should be one of the fastest.  At least in my cloudy brain that made sense.  One thing about racing is that as you get older it is the good racers who keep racing and the others drop out.  So you are left with a higher percentage of good racers.  So when I started looking at racing points for the guys I'd be racing against my dreams of a wide angle podium started to change to more of a top 15.  Let's see how the season goes.

My call up was 4th row based on my points which wasn't great.  But the last guy in the 3rd row was lazily walking his bike to the start so I rode past him and snuck into the 3rd row.  This turned out to be very fortuitous for the start. It was also good that the slot was near the right side of the row.  The first turn was to the left and in my experience it is better/easier to move up on the outside of the corner as most people dive for the inside and it is clogged.

As it turned out the sea parted in front of me at the start and at the hole shot I was in 6th position without having to work too hard.  It was a paved start which also made it a bit easier if not potentially sketchy (I've been crashed on paved starts before - can anyone say new helmet?).  Now it was a matter of holding my position as best I could.  There are only so many places on course where you can pass but also only so many watts available in my legs. I started vaguely counting as riders passed by as well as checking out numbers.  If the number is higher than mine then I know I'm falling too far back.  By the end of lap 1 my top ten had gone away but wasn't too poorly placed.

Actually, after lap 1 only 2 guys passed me so once I settled in things were relatively good.  On the first lap there was a Half Acre Cycling guy who was having issues with the corners so I made a point to get by him.  Turns out he is a pretty good racer and I'm not sure what was up.  He finally got it together and snuck past on the 3rd or 4th lap (of 5).  At the end he was only 3 seconds in front of me.  Our friend Mark Misicko was only 9 seconds in front of me.  The company you keep....

After doing CX for so many years you get to know people.  At least on course.  Tim was one of those guys and he passed me on the second lap but I held him close.  He's one of the people I mark myself against so I wasn't happy to see him slide away.  But later in the race he started to come back.  I was getting excited that I might catch him until we were about to hit the berm which was the highpoint of the course (insert laugh here) and saw him pull over with a flat.  Ugh.

On the last lap I knew I has someone behind me but not too close.  Then, at one point he tried to cut me in a corner.  I had taken the inside line and blocked him (A great move if I had known he was coming).  But now I knew he was there and my mission was clear.  Keep on the gas and keep him back there.  I was able to do just that and finished ahead of him by 2 seconds.  Again, the company you keep; he is a Cat 3 with almost 100 points better than me on Cross Results.  That pushed me to my fastest lap of the race (which is how it is supposed to be).

I ended 17th out of 38.  That's top half of the field which makes me pretty happy.  It took me a long time to get into the top half of the 45+ category and even then I didn't always stay there.

Tires: PDX

Tire Pressure: about 24 front, 25 rear

Avg HR: 167, max 178 (40 minutes)

It was also fun to race with George and Bob.  Wishing Fran was there too.  (Read the sign George is holding).  Brad will join us for the next race.

Next race is Trek CX Cup in Waterloo WI.

Lap 1:  https://youtu.be/0wyeV0_D-7M?si=zC6VSh4KcZsYcEcD