Fruitlands CX

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oscarp
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Fruitlands CX

Post by oscarp »

Tough day. Cold and rainy. Plus its on the side of a hill. Course was acceptable first thing in the morning. By the time I raced it was a mud slog.

Reid did great. 5th overall and bronze medal for the u14 MA State Championships. Thats Josh's kid on the top step. Im sure Chris will create a new mrc points clause for earning that. Ha.
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Oscar
ppereira
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Re: Fruitlands CX

Post by ppereira »

That's awesome! It's great seeing the kids out there, and big congrats for Erik's son getting out for his first event as well! I just got my 7 year old on zwift, maybe I can convince him to join me next year lol

As for me, did the 4/5 over 35 field. Got staged in the 2nd row thanks to the wimps who didn't show up, was really hoping to capitalize and did get off to a good start, but I fell off trying to ride up one of those early muddy hills (not the first big one lol) so lost some seconds there. The whole thing felt slow to me, either uphill or bumpy or slow grass. It didn't help that I did zero warmup, I was feeling it on the first couple of efforts. Spent the rest of the time trading spots with several others until I got my act together on the last lap and applied some power in the lumpy section by the pit area and finally picked a good enough line on the last hill to not have to dismount. Funny enough, the last minute was my highest power, averaged 376w (136% for me). finished 16/36, not bad, but I had a couple more spots in me considering a couple of guys I have generally beaten in the past got in just ahead of me. But I'm still lowering my crossresults points, so it's a win!
strat
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Re: Fruitlands CX

Post by strat »

That is awesome to see the kids on the podium, plus, suffering through those conditions too!

I was also in the 4/5 35+ with Phil. I was able to get an inspection lap in before the first race and was relieved to see that the big run up had been omitted from the course! Think it was a game day decision based on the last minute taping that was going on. Barring the lumps, bumps and stalks the course was actually in decent shape first thing. Nice mud pit down in the valley (reminiscent of Mud Weasels) but otherwise plenty of grass available on the rest of the course. I squeaked in a bit of a warmup on the trainer but it was largely all roller slippage while trying to stay warm and dry!

Had front row on the grid and a good start. MKidd and I were sitting 2nd & 3rd 'ish' for the first half lap and encountered the back markers from the 4/5 open field (1 min before us) pretty quickly. The previously rideable off camber whoop-de-doo was now too greasy so another dismount was required (I don't like getting off the bike!) and then it was into the lumpy stalk stubble field, over the ditch, through the mud pit and then the slog up the hill. At the end of lap one I took the lead from the eventual winner (Riverside guy - Andrew Bishop) only to relinquish it after the stalk stubble. 2nd and 3rd laps were largely uneventful...tried to keep it smooth and tidy and eased up a little bit. By the start of the 4th lap SVC/Bikeworks guy was starting to close in and passed after the Ibiza mud-pit, I resisted the immediate counter as I was quietly confident I could out climb him and take 2nd back up the final slog. Turns out I passed him on the semi-run up (where I rode it and he hopped off) and then increased the gap up the final slog to take 2nd. Thanks to the guys for sticking around for my podium and for Don's cloakroom duties and support.
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cbusick
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Re: Fruitlands CX

Post by cbusick »

https://deepbrook.smugmug.com/Fruitland ... -mrrnv9R/A some pictures from 545 guy Jeff Dieffrnback (sp?) Looks like you guys had fun, sorry I missed it
-Chris Busick
dantelman
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Re: Fruitlands CX

Post by dantelman »

Looks epic! Sorry I could not come. I am out of commission (possibly for the rest of CX season).
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BikeRider
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Re: Fruitlands CX

Post by BikeRider »

More pictures in case anyone missed them in the CX Team thread:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing
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peterkuhn
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Re: Fruitlands CX

Post by peterkuhn »

Mens 2/3/4:

I just got my cat 2 upgrade and did the 2/3/4 race on account of fear of hypothermia. From the P/1/2/3 results it looks like the course got even worse in the afternoon. We were at a Jens Factor of 5:

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We line up, they send us off promptly. I'm pretty much only marking Ben Ryan, it looks like William Crabtree is too. Before the race I decided to skip any glasses in favor of the Safety Squint (KISS), so Ben Ryan or William Crabtree roosts some mud in my eye and a contact lens spends the next lap trying to escape. Off goes Ben Ryan. We are in mud ruts of grass that take 400w to go 10mph in. Ben Ryan is sailing away. He puts 30-40s into William and I over the first two laps. I'm screwing up corners and making unforced errors right and left.

A lot of times when I get done with a race and I'm thinking back on it I think that I could have caught the guy in front of me, if I'd REALLY wanted to. If only I was just motivated enough. So during the first couple laps of this race I made a few mental notes to remind myself that I was not catching this dude. I may have not warmed up well, or the residual soreness from lifting and running earlier in the week might have hurt (this is my excuse parade), or whatever, but first place was mailing me postcards from daytona beach.

For a lot of this race I thought about how nice it would have been to have tubulars, 10psi less, and mud tires.

By lap 2 I have swung wide on an off-camber corner and harvested a full eight feet of tape. I know this, because it wound itself tightly between my disc rotor and wheel and remained there for the rest of the race. William has passed me on a straightaway, and he starts to make a bit of a gap, but he loses a couple seconds on the ditch every lap and usually fudges another downhill mud turn so we stay close for the most part. I hear the announcer refer to him as a cat 2 road guy and think I'm screwed if it comes down to a sprint up the hill at the end, so I follow as close as I'm able. He makes an error just before the last lap at the mud bog at the bottom, so I have the lead. My hands don't work so great and my legs feel like logs; when I get off to run they just flop and shuffle. My drivetrain sounds like a steamroller crushing rocks.

I expect an attack after we make it up the hill so I'm trying to be smooth through the Slop at the Top, but he stays on my wheel and doesn't come around. I push it through the field and then push it harder after the ditch where I know he's a little slower, and I think this is where I get a small gap. It doesn't seem like enough to hold through the final climb, but I guess he's gassed too at this point so I get 2nd.

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Gear report:
I wore an insulated skinsuit under a wool baselayer under my uninsulated MRC skinsuit, legwarmers, wool socks, a buff, and gloves over nitrile gloves over glove liners. Core was fine but fingers still got cold.

Tires were WTB Crossboss at 25/28psi tubeless. I would have liked to go lower but didn't want to risk burping. I'm doing the whole season on a cross bike, but an MTB would have been a fine idea here if it was light and you could run 15-20psi.
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peterkuhn
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Re: Fruitlands CX

Post by peterkuhn »

oscarp wrote: Sun Oct 28, 2018 5:59 am Reid did great. 5th overall and bronze medal for the u14 MA State Championships. Thats Josh's kid on the top step.
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nickb
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Re: Fruitlands CX

Post by nickb »

NEWSFLASH: I am still out of shape. I turned into a shivering mess at the start of the race. I pinned my number to my jacket because I didn't want to take it off. Road gloves + full finger gloves + knee warmers tucked into my socks = still cold. I did a lap, blew up my derailleur and threw up on my fancy new MRC CX jacket (I like that the sleeves zip off into a vest, that shit is neat). Good thing the race was only ten minutes from home.
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