KMC Crossfest

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ppereira
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KMC Crossfest

Post by ppereira »

Well, I was totally not planning on doing KMC at all, figured it was just going to be a family weekend, and one where I could probably use a break after racing all 4 weekends previously. But my wife had some plans and I took advantage of my parents to watch my son and signed up, knowing it was going to be a lovely day on Saturday. Definitely don't regret it. I did the 4/5 race and had my usual near the back start, although that's gradually improving, this time 56/72 starters. Had a good start and I think I gained some spots right away, but still got caught in some initial bottlenecks. Nothing super remarkable except I managed to avoid some guys going down (including one into a pond, I think!).

Managed to continue my usual trend of going faster with each subsequent lap, passing guys here and there. I've been using my powertap the past few races and I notice that a) I've got a really steady pace throughout and b) my intensity factor for the past three races has been 0.81. I tend to finish races feeling good, and not as spent as some other folks around me, so I'm wondering if I'm leaving too much on the table effort wise and how I'd do if I could bring that intensity to a 0.9.

Back to the race details lol Long story short I finished 36/72 starters, finally a 50% finish! Even with that good (for me) finish, I'm kicking myself a little for finishing 6 seconds behind this 545 guy who I generally beat and should have in this event if I had really focused on laying down some power. Oh well lol

On to Night Weasels!
strat
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Re: KMC Crossfest

Post by strat »

Sunday was my KMC day....another perfect weather day.

Entered the 4/5 40+ along with Dantleman, Eric B. and a DNS Frederick (?!). I had a front row start and got off well but didn't realize the starting straight was 10 miles long so faded a tad and lost a few positions before the hole shot. Couple of mistakes by me on the first 2 laps...had to put a foot down on the off-camber pond stuff as I went in too hot and also had to scramble up the short (totally rideable) run-up due to traffic.

Settled in and exchanged positions with Chris Pappas (Team Landrys) several times as we gradually began gaining on the pack of 4 battling for 3rd place. Bell lap came and we were maybe 10 bike lengths behind them and still closing...exiting the off-camber squiggles (outside the track corner named "Diving turn") and we were closing further, I was on the rivet trying to close as we hit the pavement section but barring any mistakes by them it was too much of a gap still (needed another lap) - I took 8th behind Pappas.

Still not certain that I ran optimal tire pressures. During the pre-ride I felt that the off camber sections were a bit greasy so a teased a few lbs out of both tires (I'm estimating I ran 28 ish in the rear and 24 ish in the front). This seemed to work well in the race for off road sections but cost me some time on the transitions to pavement where I backed off a touch through the turns as it felt like I could've unseated the bead.

Course was better than last year's in my opinion. Fun off-camber sections, less sketchy decent from the mound and the up hill finish was a nice touch. Still a lot of pavement but this would've been a welcome relief if it were wet.
dantelman
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Re: KMC Crossfest

Post by dantelman »

The KMC course, IMO was much improved this year. Gone were the flyovers and infield, and the long steep run up. The descent down the big hill was safer, as they put a chicane in at the top. Still plenty of pavement sections and long straightaways to get speed. The course flowed well, a fair amount of off-camber. Things bunched up quite a bit on the first lap, came into the first off camber section super fast and had to jam on the brakes to nearly a dead stop. Blue Hills guy biffed right next to me, he would later do a spectacular flip on the backside of the course, yet he still managed to regroup and pass again....on one of the short steep rises the guy in front of me just came to a dead stop.. prob was in the wrong gear. What can you do? I pushed myself up the remainder of the grade with one foot out, but in that short space 5 people passed.

Tried to use the flat, paved sections to attack and managed to pick off a few people that way, ended up 21st in the 4/5 40+ race, with Erik one or two riders behind me.

The word is that this will be the last year KMC being held at the speedway, they are trying to move it to Hartford for 2019.
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Briana
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Re: KMC Crossfest

Post by Briana »

KMC Sunday Masters 40+

The call up was weird, they put the masters in the left 6 slots and the juniors in the right 2 slots. Didn't much matter to me because I still had a front row start but I would have hated to be the number 7 or 8 master in the second row or 13, 14 in the 3rd row. I've never seen it done like this and it seemed to be a spur of the moment decision made at the start.

I agree the course was much better than last year but still WAY to much pavement. The worst part is I'm not sure how you can change that in Thompson. I also heard rumors from a very reliable source (right Chris) that next year KMC WILL be in Hartford.

Got a good start, was sitting in 3rd after the hole shot and then took the lead at the end of the long pavement before the first tight dirt turn. Kurt Schmid took the lead back after the short steep climb which was fine. We had a group of about 6 for the first couple laps then Kurt, Miles and myself split off and got a little bit of a gap over John Sakalowsky and Colm McMahon and mystery man. John eventually bridged the gap on the long pavement stretch into the wind since my group of three couldn't decide who would do the work (definitely a mistake on our part letting him get back to us). Eventually Kurt attacked and got himself a little gap, he stayed away to take the win. I put a foot down on the tight turn right before the finish up the hill on the second to last lap and couldn't catch back on to Miles and John. John finished 2nd, Miles 3rd and me in 4th. A good race but maybe not my best tactically, could have done some things differently.

Brian A.
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eboos
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Re: KMC Crossfest

Post by eboos »

Saturday Cat 4/5

Brought the whole family for the first time, and showed up very early. Did a couple preview laps, and a warm up on the road track. Call up had me starting in the sixth row, but in the first lap I managed to make it up to 35th. It all pretty much declined from there. By the third lap I slid down to 50th, and I was out of gas. With my heartrate pegged, I just wasn't able to put out any descent power. My coordination started to decline as well. I felt like I was going to lose my front wheel in just about every corner. I hung on as best as I could and finished 54/73. To add insult to injury, my wife locked her only key in her van and we waited until after 6pm only to find out that the track staff had an unlocking kit.

Sunday Cat 4/5 40+

After Saturday I felt like garbage. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep, and I was still a bit sore. Woke up at 5, ate some breakfast, but still felt poor. Stop at Cumbie's and got a coffee on the way to the race, and I just rode around the infield drinking my coffee as a "warm up". It was probably the most "I don't give a ****" warm up I have ever done before a race. My goal was to simply rely on my legs more than my heart for this race - essentially, run a bigger gear.

Call up placed me in the third row along with Doug. For some reason there were a lot of no-shows in this race. On the start I cut through the crowd pretty well, but on the grassy hill loop I was in too high a gear and I had to dismount about 3/4 the way up it. The barriers on the first lap were also not my best.

Either in lap 2 or 3 Doug passes me along with another guy and opens up a gap. Going into the slightly muddy hill that turns right at the top I pass the other guy, and with some pretty good speed, I slip a bit and shot straight up into a line that I wasn't planning and pass Doug on the inside at the top of the hill. We traded positions a couple more times, but are working together in the last two laps. I am right on his wheel and am holding off the other guy.

On the long paved section right before the end of the last lap I let Doug know that I am out of gas and cannot be of much more help. He gets ahead, and the other guy is close behind me. In the grass I close down the gap that opened on the pavement, and the other guy is still only about one turn behind me. We get to the sandy kink just before the finishing climb and although I remounted fine and was in the right gear, the other guy passes me going up the hill. I yell to Doug "Go Go Go". Doug finishes 2 seconds ahead of the other guy, and I finish 4 seconds behind him. 23/37. Much better than Saturday. Managed my heartrate better, and put out more power. I was two minutes faster over the same distance.

Edit: The power profile of this race was like doing 45 minutes of micro bursts. While the average power, and the normalized power, do not seem very impressive, that wasn't painting an accurate picture.
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nickb
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Re: KMC Crossfest

Post by nickb »

4/5 u40 Sunday.

Started in the back, fumbled with my pedals, got passed by the juniors and then it got worse. I couldn’t get comfortable. Halfway through the first lap I was in a pack of about four and I realized I didn’t eat breakfast, the previous nights fried seafood dinner after walking around Mystic, CT all day wasn’t really great race fuel. Thinking about breakfast and just generally not being great at CX lead to me dropping/throwing my bike over the barriers and having to duck under the tape to retrieve it. My small pack of racers left me and I never saw anyone again. Second time down the descent I crashed pretty fantastically. The announcers had a good time and exclaimed “Nick Blinn from Minuteman found a new way to descend! It’s not efficient but it looks fun.” I decided to just push through and ride the course alone. Didn’t get lapped so that’s nice. I finished 18/19 if you count the one DNF.
ppereira
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Re: KMC Crossfest

Post by ppereira »

i'm just annoyed now that they haven't uploaded results to crossresults yet, I'm missing out on those points to marginally improve my staging for night weasels!
dantelman
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Re: KMC Crossfest

Post by dantelman »

ppereira wrote: Tue Oct 02, 2018 7:22 am i'm just annoyed now that they haven't uploaded results to crossresults yet, I'm missing out on those points to marginally improve my staging for night weasels!
Was just thinking the same thing. Not sure why no results yet, but I will ask Richard. It is either the promoter didn't submit them or USA Cycling is late.
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Briana
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Re: KMC Crossfest

Post by Briana »

ppereira wrote: Tue Oct 02, 2018 7:22 am i'm just annoyed now that they haven't uploaded results to crossresults yet, I'm missing out on those points to marginally improve my staging for night weasels!
Careful what you wish for there will be times you are happy crossresults are delayed ;-)
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eboos
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Re: KMC Crossfest

Post by eboos »

nickb wrote: Mon Oct 01, 2018 4:25 pm 4/5 u40 Sunday.

Started in the back, fumbled with my pedals, got passed by the juniors and then it got worse. I couldn’t get comfortable. Halfway through the first lap I was in a pack of about four and I realized I didn’t eat breakfast, the previous nights fried seafood dinner after walking around Mystic, CT all day wasn’t really great race fuel. Thinking about breakfast and just generally not being great at CX lead to me dropping/throwing my bike over the barriers and having to duck under the tape to retrieve it. My small pack of racers left me and I never saw anyone again. Second time down the descent I crashed pretty fantastically. The announcers had a good time and exclaimed “Nick Blinn from Minuteman found a new way to descend! It’s not efficient but it looks fun.” I decided to just push through and ride the course alone. Didn’t get lapped so that’s nice. I finished 18/19 if you count the one DNF.
This is the kind of race you will be able to tell stories about for years, long after your CX proficiency surpasses your desired level. It will likely be one of your favorites.
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eboos
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Re: KMC Crossfest

Post by eboos »

ppereira wrote: Tue Oct 02, 2018 7:22 am i'm just annoyed now that they haven't uploaded results to crossresults yet, I'm missing out on those points to marginally improve my staging for night weasels!
Now that they are posted... I would have preferred they delay posting.
dantelman
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Re: KMC Crossfest

Post by dantelman »

Results are posted, but they do not list any points?
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eboos
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Re: KMC Crossfest

Post by eboos »

Some of Sunday's races don't have points listed. Possibly still being calculated?
ppereira
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Re: KMC Crossfest

Post by ppereira »

I saw the update, it doesn’t lower me enough to even gain any spots lol still trying to wash the stink of last season off my record lol
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