I've had a few request for Dad's race reports from KC CX Nationals, so here it is, told by my Dad.
Masters 30-34 Race report: cut and paste pic of Dad dropping Weston http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2008/dec08/UScrossnats08/index.php?id=/photos/2008/dec08/UScrossnats08/UScrossnats0810/mjc2008-12-13_11-23-33
First off it was a great course, a bit climby for a cross course in my opinion but it was easy to figure out what it would require for a good ride. The start straight was a wide cement road that led to an uphill right hand sweeper, from there the course twisted up the hill with various off camber corners and short 30 sec powers climbs followed by 10 sec descents or plateaus.
This trend continued for half of the lap, the top of the climb was a 4 stair run with a 180 turn that put you straight down the hill then turned 180 straight back up the hill before finally descending back down the hill. This portion of the course was either a full run up and around or run the stairs and ride the second decent to climb, if you had the skills(you know i had those skills).
So the master group had 80+ entrants, 75% showed up to race. Defending National champ Andy Jacques-maynes was the first called to the start line. For those not familiar with AJM here are his current stats:
Andy Jacques-Maynes
USA Cycling ranking: seventh (212 points)
UCI ranking: 34th
USGP final standing: Eighth
NACT final standing: Seventh - AJM is no slouch.
Moving on, I was called to the front row due to me 8th place finish last year, Utah hard guys E-Rass(team rico) and Sam Krieg lined up to my left and right respectively. Another favorite called to line was Weston Shempf of Pennsylvania, apparently Wes is the current Semi-Pro mountain bike national champ for XC and short track. Wes has finished top five in the master cross race the last three years. Lined up behind us we're all the hopefuls that we would never see again, in that mix was a prior 2 time national champ Justin Robinson.
When the gun went off we all rallied to the first corner, I tucked into 5th wheel and prepared to see if the legs were any good. Behind us a few guys got tangled up in a crash, I was oblivious to this. within a quarter of a lap a four man break had formed, AJM was leading with Wes on his wheel, I was there and Justin Robinson was there as well. Half way up the climb Justin moved in front of me as AJM started to put a few bike lengths on Wes. A few moments later AJM had put more distance on Wes and Justin had lost Wes's wheel, I was behind Justin and wasn't about to let things come apart this quick so I jumped Justin, We we're almost to the top running section so I grabbed 2 more gears and ripped past Wes encouraging him to do the same.
Now I'm off in pursuit of Andy Jacques-Maynes(AJM), the decent is great, with good approach i to the corners you could really fly. As I start the second lap AJM has a 10 sec. gap, I'm chasing hard, trying to close it down. On the climb I pass BartMan G. who is spectating, he encourages me to ride steady, I consider it but want to bring back AJM, I came for the stars and bars. Entering the second lap Andy has extended his lead to 30 sec. and I'm pretty much red lined so I easy up slightly, this allows Wes to get back to my wheel.
We climb up to the top of the course and I lead the downhill, It's a windy day so as we come on to the start/finish straight I pull to the side and let Wes come through, I tuck in behind him to stay out of the headwind. I let Wes set the pace up the climb, Utah supporters are all along the course giving words of encouragement, My Ridley Team manager is in the Pits doing the same. At the top of the course I take the lead again as we bomb back down tword the start/finish line and again when we hit the pavement I let Wes take the lead, He was happy to set the climbing pace lap after lap.
At this point we were basically racing for second, not concerned about Andy. Wes and I were receiving tactical recommendations encouragement from our individual supporters, Also were hearing interesting comments from sidelines such as "go get that sandbagger" and "you guys are the real 1st and 2nd". Apparently people didn't feel that Andy, a guy with a full Pro contract for road and cross should be racing this Masters category, I can't hate a guy for defending his title, Both Wes and I race Elites when we can so the only difference between us and Andy is that We have job that don't require us to just go fast on our bikes.
From the race reports I read on the net Wes and I were in a battle, trying to get rid of each other, I'm pretty sure neither of us felt that way. I was just trying to stay with Wes and keep the pace high as Sam Krieg was only 20+ sec. back the whole time. Sam would gain a couple secs. on the climb each lap but we would get that time back on the decent.
So Finally the last lap comes, Sam has no time to get back to us at this point so I know that I have to make a good move to get second. Wes is an unknown commodity to me, has he been trying to get rid of me? how much punch does he have left? will he jump soon? all these thoughts are in my head, I know I have some punch left and I know I want to lead the descent but I don't want to go to early on the climb and blow.
As we head toward the last portion of the climb I can hear the music blaring out of a van parked by the stair section, suddenly the Gap Band "you dropped the bomb on me" comes across the airwaves, I've been training with a mix that contains this jam, and I feel allot of energy from this song, its a good sign so I grab a few gears and light it up. Wes is straight to my wheel but I'm leading into the run, as a I remount my bike it comes to me, go as slow as possible on the technical ride/climb, I creep the riding section causing Wes to almost track stand, then I accelerate with everything I have into the down hill.
I have the gap, only 5 bike length but it's a gap, still half a lap to go. I'm totally red lined as I go past the pits, Paul(Ridley TM) is yelling go, go, One more little climb and a stair set and then its pretty much on to the finish line. Wes is drilling it and closing down the gap, I see this and realize I still need to conserve something incase he gets back to me. People are yelling a me not to let up, at the top of the last stair section Wes is almost on me, there are still three corners left before the finish straight. Wes was bearing down on me but I knew at this point that I had it wrapped, I hit the cement with a few seconds in hand and lit it up so that I was assured second..and that what I got... second is not bad when you're up against Andy and Wes, on the finish we we're only 40 secs adrift from Andy and had Sam punched it on the first lap he would have been right on our wheel the whole race, he did hold down fourth so we all got to stand on the podium together.
Elite Race Report:
This will be brief, I lined up in the 6th row with Team Rico right next to me, Andy Jacques-maynes got a call up to the front row due to his UCI points. When the official blew the start whistle she was standing behind the front row and not a one of them heard it, they didn't even move, all the back rows pile forward and then stopped. Everyone was griping and trying to get back into position when the whistle blew again, everyone scramble to get going.
AJM got the whole shot and led the first lap, from what i read. I was mid pack looking for openings and a way to move up through the field. The first half lap was mayhem, guys dicing, a few crashing, one guy crashed right in front of me and i watched Sam Kried ride over his arm.. a little further up the climb I noticed a crash, when i passed the incident there were guys on the ground and a front wheel just laying by it self, pretty cool.
Things started to get less dangerous but not less crazy, as spectators were lining the course top to bottom , yelling, blowing horns and ringing cow bells, I love the Elite race. I just kept pushing forward through the first lap taking advantage of people being close together. when you get to the mid point of a race there are usually multiple second gaps between riders and it become much harder to pick people off.
Near the end of each lap is a 4 stair running section but just to the right of the stairs was a 5 inch wide ride-able line right against the fence, the crowd was thick there and they were encouraging every ride to attempt the technical ride over the stairs, I don't like to disappoint the crowd, more like I'm a show-off so i went for it, ride over the first stair, thread the needle past the next to stairs and then creep up over the last stair, I pulled it off and the crowd roared. Every lap I aimed to please on this section I only pulled it off 3 times but the crowd would get so excited they were still roaring when i reached the next corner.
By mid race i came up on Bart and was moving forward up the hill when my front tubular rolled, it caught in my brakes and i pitched over the bars onto the ground, the guy right behind me fell right on me. I was on my back with my bike on my shins and forearms protecting my self from getting run over. I jumped up and started to run with the bike, I didn't have my head on straight, luckily Matt Ohran was right there, he said "roll it back on".. Duh! i forgot you just put the tire back in place and ride it carefully toward the pits. So i'm climbing to the top of the course and i notice by handle bar is snapped, its still connected but it would not be wise to hold on to it lest it gives way. Luckily it was the left side and didn't control shifting, I still had a rear brake and gears to work with but i was creeping downhill so as not to crash again.
I made it to the pits, got my B bike and pushed on. At this point i had lost motivation and dropped into the 40's placement wise. I wanted to pull out of the race and call it a year but i pushed on knowing that I was the only Ridley rider in the Elite race. Looking at where Bart finished I would like to assume that I would have at least place in the mid 20's...but one never knows and racing is what it is.
So no more cross till next year, but it sure was a fun season.
