UTCX#3: Fort Jesse Ventura
It’s funny how a race that is only 1 hour long can have such an effect on you. I’m talking about how long you prep for it, especially when glueing tires is part of the mix. I’m also talking about the time that goes into cleaning your bikes or bikes if you are lucky enough to have a spare, just so you can get on the gas in training and do it all over again. That’s why we love cyclocross, I suppose. The Rev (aka Art O’Connor) has dubbed one of Ogden’s cross venues, Fort Buenaventura, as Fort Jesse Ventura. From this day forward, that’s what I’ll call it. Below is a video put together by Grizzly Adam (Adam Lisonbee) that I think captures the spirit of the day. Plus, if I don’t mind saying so, I rather enjoy the way it ends.
UTCX3 – Fort Buenaventura from Grizzly Adam on Vimeo.
Contender Cyclocross Clinic
Years ago, the X-Men put on the first cyclocross state championship race Utah had seen in a long time up in Park City. Some old time racers said it was the first state championship cx race since the 1970s. Last year, Matt Ohran (promoter of UTCX series) and I were trying to figure out the timelines, because he started his series a couple years after that first race, and he was trying to remember how long he had been doing the series. I think it was around 1994 when we did that first race. There were not many of us, maybe 15 racers total. Cris Fox did cross on his titanium Nuke Proof mountain bike. Pro racer Max Lawson who was racing for Jamis at the time, had some sort of touring bike cobbled together into a cross rig. There was a guy from Park City named Ron, who we all called the Happy Crosser, because we’d see him riding a vintage Alan cross bike all season long on the mountain bike trails.
There weren’t many places to ride cross bikes that weren’t mountain bike trails, so every once in awhile, we used to gather at Sugarhouse Park for “cross practice” which involved riding as hard as we could around the outside of the park and dismounting and running up the steepest hill we could find. Me, Max, Glen Adams, Craig Thomas.
Keep in mind, my memories of these early days of cyclocross in Utah are spotty.
Dr. Cross, (Darrell Davis) has taken that idea of cross practice at Sugarhouse Park, and turned it into a really valuable clinic for first timers, as well as seasoned crossers who need to get out and brush off the cobwebs. He sets up barriers, does some basic instruction and tips, and takes groups of all abilities around the park. It’s important to note, that back when there were only 4 or 5 of us meeting down there, we were riding rogue. Darrell has done a lot to work with the powers that be at this park to ensure a good relationship between us weird bikers and the other users of the park. It’s worth signing up for this season long clinic, even if you only drop in a few times. Check it out:
It’s time again for the Contender Cyclocross Clinic at Sugarhouse park.
http://events.sportsbaseonline.com/CONTENDERCXCLINIC2011/
Notice that as was the case last year, it’s pre-reg only and the price is unchanged.
Cross it up,
-Darrell
Cutthroat Cross Race Report
Sometimes when we race, we are looking for fitness. It’s hard to make yourself go hard when you are just training, so a race gets you that intensity that you can’t get on your own. Sometimes when we race, we are looking for redemption. In this case of Cutthroat Cross, held in West Valley City on Sunday, November 14th, I was looking for a little bit of both. I was a little tired from the previous day’s State Championship race up in Ogden, but more disappointed that I had blown my chance for a victory with one lap to go because of a rolled tire. I was ready to race hard, even if there were only 8 riders in the A field. They even offered B riders half price entry fees if they wanted to double up, but there were no takers. Maybe that’s because Jason Sager And Eric Rasmussen showed up and nobody was looking to pay money to get stomped, even if it was half price. A half price stomping is still a stomping.
The course was mostly grass, sidewalk, and some pavement in the start finish area. It was quite twisty and turny, requiring a lot of skill to carry speed throughout the course. Sometimes on courses like that, you don’t feel tired because you never really get a chance to get things pumping, but this course had me tapped. When the gun went off, I led out the first lap, trying to not go redline knowing that Sager was right on my wheel. On lap 2, Sager and Rico went by and I did everything I could to hang on. I noticed Art had come off, so I tried to stay with the Sager train as long as I could, but somewhere in the middle of lap 3, I was exploding. On lap 4, Art caught me, and we rode a redux of the day before, trading punches and pulls all the way down to the final laps. With 4 laps to go (seriously, 4 laps to go? Who throws a shoe? WTF?) I noticed SLC TBird (recently retired, ex-pro Burke Swindlehurst) was making an effort to get close, so I led it out until 1 lap to go. Art hit me hard a few times, but I was able to get by and shut the door in the last final turns, which led to a half decent sprint and a podium placing for 3rd. Seriously the hardest cross race I have done all year. I learned this lesson: the course can make the race hard, but the racers make it harder. Shadow boxing with Art for 50 minutes has become a recurring theme, and I don’t think we’re done for the season yet.
I saved some water by drinking a beer right after the race.
UTCX#8 State Championships Video
Saturday, November 13, was the UTCX race #8 held at Mount Ogden Golf Course. It was also serving double billing as the State Championship. The X-Men had a lot at stake. Steve Briley was defending his title in the Men’s 45+ category, which he had won last year at the Heber Fairgrounds course. Steve and Tim Briley have been riding great as a two-man wrecking crew, racking up multiple podium appearances, but not yet reaching the top this season. I’ve been doing battle with The Church of the Big Ring team, literally, the whole team. But with Bo Pitkin and Tim Matthews away at the USGP New Belgium Cup event in Colorado, I was looking forward to a showdown with Art O’Connor, aka The Rev aka A-Train. The course was reminiscent of the old Seven Peaks course, but with a much longer hill, and a few tricky, slicky, off camber grass sections. Everyone seemed to agree, it was worthy of a State Championship race, and everyone is looking forward to racing it again. So here is the race report, in a nutshell: Steve fought hard in the 45+ race to pull in a fine 5th place. Unfortunately for him, John McKone who has been racing 35+ A’s all year, decided to race in his actual age group, and rode away to a convincing victory. In the 35+ A’s, the epic battle between myself and A-Train took shape on the first lap, and the two of us hit each other hard until just before one lap to go, when I rolled his rear tire off my rim on a really tight corner right before the barrier section. A-Train look down and said something “aw, bummer dude,” then rolled away as I had to stop and pop it back on the rim. I was able to get close to Art the last time up the hill, but had to take it easy around all the corners on the way down, and there was just no way to keep my speed, or else risk rolling it off again. The video below from Sam Ray shows some of the action from our race. I had an opportunity slip away, but that’s cyclocross.
Halloween Double Cross: Wheeler Farm
Halloween is the traditional Double Cross weekend at Wheeler Historic Farm, the battlefield for this year’s UTCX#5 and UTCX#6. We’ve got some history, the X-Men and Wheeler Farm. The cross historians may dispute the date, but let’s just say for the sake of argument that it was 1997; Thomas Cooke promoted the first cyclocross race at Wheeler. That was the 3rd State Championship race the X-Men Club sponsored. Not long after that, most of us decided we liked racing a whole lot more than promoting races, so a hand-off of sorts was facilitated. Matt Ohran took over and his crew built it up to a regular series venue for UTCX.
Double Cross usually has folks racing in costume on Saturday, with record-breaking numbers of participants, and huge crowds. The number I heard thrown around for this year was over 450. It’s super cool to race with that many people around. Sunday is usually a lighter, ahem, turnout, because, well you know, it’s Sunday. Sunday’s course is usually a redux of Saturday’s, only run in the opposite direction. I’m still trying to figure out which was harder, and in the end I decided it’s the racers that make it hard. I got worked over by Church of the Big Riders on both days, but probably had a stronger race on Sunday. Here’s some video generously provided by Sam Ray:
UTCX#4 Video of Masters 35+ A Race
UTCX#4 at the Weber County Fairgrounds was a mixed day for the X-Men cross team. I drove from Park City in a torrential downpour all the way through Morgan, knowing conditions were going to be wet and mucky. Which they were for the early and late races, but for the Masters 35+ A race, it dried up, didn’t rain a drop, and the corners were rather tacky. Tim Briley raced earlier in the muck to a fine 4th place finish in the Masters 45+, and that was without his brother Steve to rough people up. The video below from Sam Ray pretty much sums up the Masters 35+ race: T$ had a weak start, rode into contention, then was able to squeeze out a decent sprint at the end and take his first cross victory since the Ice Age. Granted, A-Train and McKone were no-shows, and Sam had some bike problems. This will create some drama going into the Wheeler Halloween double weekend. Bring your vampire teeth and fake blood, it’s going to be a real scream.
Park City Psycho Cross
If you haven’t been to one of Bo Pitkin’s Wednesday evening Park City bandit race series, they are pretty fun, but you didn’t hear it from me. This video was shot at the Quinn’s Junction gathering this Wednesday. McKone was there. Bo was there. Potter was there. Jay Ride was there.
Video from UTCX#3
Here is a video shot and put together by Sam Hill. It pretty much does a great job of showing how “turny” and technical the Utah Fairgrounds course was. I was in the mix with the leaders for a few laps, but a crash took me out of it, and I spent the rest of the race duking it out with Tim AZ for 4th place, which of course, is the first place that doesn’t get to stand on the podium. Oh well. Rev, Sam and Bo were all going good, and I should just be happy enough to squeeze in the top five in between the Church of the Big Ring human sandwich. See for yourself.
Tubular Time Machine: Soldier Hollow 2002
I love the fact there is so much buzz about cyclocross here in Utah these days, but some people forget how instrumental the X-Men Club has been in getting that rolling. Our club promoted the state championships 3 years in a row, and they were the first state championships since the 70′s (so I was told by Gary Bywater). Granted, the first state race only had 15 people show up, in all categories, and nobody really had a real cross bike. But that got the ball rolling, methinks. Another first brought to you by the X-Men: the first UCI-sanctioned cyclocross race in Utah. Check out the video piece put together by Park City Television (PCTV). Tells the story of when the big men (and women) of the sport came to town on a warm, sunny, November day.
Thanks to Stanton Jones of PCTV for his generosity in allowing us to share the clip.
UTCX#1 Race Report: 90 Degrees and No Frites
Saturday, October 2 , was the kickoff of the UTCX (Utah Cyclocross Series), with a hot, dry, and dusty affair out at the Ballard Equestrian Center in Draper. Otherwise known as the Draper Goathead Farm. As I arrived at the race venue with Potter and the Snow Chicken, we saw Steve, one of the Briley Sisters sitting on the sidelines with flat tires. He picked up goatheads in his race wheels, switched in the pits, and still fell victim to the spiney little mofos in the Masters 45 A race. Brother Tim must have fared better with the thorns and finished 13th in the 35+ Master B race. The word on the street was the earlier racers did a good job of clearing the course, and that you needed to stay in the middle of the trails to avoid picking up the little air sucking passengers. So basically, I warmed up on the road, not wanting to risk getting holes poked in my tires during warmups.
I’ll spare you the details of how my race went, other than to say I went out extremely hard, set the pace for the first half lap, but wasn’t able to stay with Sam and A-Train up the road climb. I got passed by a whole bunch of people, but was able to settle in and get back to the group that was riding for 5th. As we were riding up the hill approaching the line for the bell lap, I looked back and saw someone coming up hard to the group. It was Bartman, who was on a rampage in the Elite A race. True, he was lapping us solo, but he also started his first lap 2 minutes ahead of our race, so cut us old guys a little slack. As he came up to our group, he asked if we wanted it to end (had he passed us and crossed ahead of us, we would have finished on the same lap and had to sprint it out right then and there). Knowing that the 4 guys ahead of us would be doing another full lap, we told Bart to stay behind, so we could all duke it out for 5th on the last lap. This is where it gets kind of hazy: I think Ohran surged, and I was duking it out with McCone to come to grips with the acceleration. And that’s pretty much how we finished.
So much for post race frites and a cold beer. I was so hot and toasted, I immediately headed for shade and it took a long time to get the core body temperature back down to comfortable. Oh yeah, and I had the cross cough for the rest of the weekend.
Sponsors
