Everyone loves a train wreck

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This was my preride lap. gnar!

2010 KC Cup Cyclocross race

I have always been pretty wary of races that are this early in the season. Namely because there are too many roadies with huge motors that try to throw themselves under your wheel, then make up time on the straight aways. Couple this with the fact that this course was 50% singletrack and you have a recipe for some serious rage....and heat and humidity. I was stoked.

I rolled to the line in next to last place with a huge hill climb to start the race before we got into some gratuitous 180 degree turns. The first lap I don't think my HR got over 155 as I watched the lead group ride off while I jockeyed through traffic.
I had one minor incident that came from my failure to communicate with someone that I was trying to over take. I got into his back wheel, and apologized about rubbing his tires. Then I hear Chris Locke shout "Rubbing is Racing". That just about cracked me up. Then I started to slowly move forward, unaware of my position, but feeling good that I was able to bury myself on the 500 yard road section, and then just flow through the singletrack. One disconcerting thing though was that I could feel my front wheel rocking in the fork. I could see the skewer cam was not moving, but it was a little unnerving.

There was one barrier section that consisted of 2x6's that was rideable but on my preride I went over the handlebars on the third barrier so I elected to run the barriers through most of the race. With a lap and a half to go I could see a SKC racer (I think it was Joel Terry?) up ahead. I realized that I had been putting time into people the entire day, so I went to the big ring for the last road section to bridge up and make the pass as we went back into the grass. I had seen the SKC rider clear all the barriers without dismounting and I knew that he was going to come around if I dismounted and tried to run it.

As my race progressed I felt more and more comfortable clearing the logs while in my drops, so as I rolled into the barriers I figured I might as well leave it all out there. The first two barriers were smooth and fluid, but I banged my back wheel pretty good on the third. No style points. Then it was time to motor. I was really leaning through the 180's before we hit the woods, and I managed to open a bit of a gap. Focus on fluidity. Pop out of the single track, look about and see no one, roll across the line. Good enough for 4th place. Brad Sullivan emerged from retirement to take the Win in the 3's. It was really good to see Brad back out there.

i really liked how the course was laid out and how they made use of the terrain. It definitely kept the race tighter than it would have been of it was a wide open course. I liked the smaller barriers and the 10" log crossings in the singletrack sections. Probably made for some good wipeout pics though.
Keith Walberg (of Zero Traction fame) has some sweet footage

KC Cup Cyclocross, 2010 from Keith Walberg on Vimeo.

It take a while to load but it is very high quality and well edited.
Thanks to MOD for putting together all the Wed nite CX practices, I felt like I had a leg up on alot of other riders this early in the season.

Fail

This was too good not to share.

lot happens in 2 weeks

We went cruising the Blues. Waller was not feeling so hot so we had the Ladies repping it for us.

Afterward it was time to kick back with all our homies from manhappenin.

Then It was off to Wilson Lake for our third annual BGR shenanigan fest.

As usual, Tanner does all the work while Zack and waller look on.

Brutus Supervised.


Then this past weekend it was the 2nd annual River trail TT. I mean where else are you gonna find koreans in a dress cookin brats?


True Dat!

Rode Fast for about 28 minutes, but my TT skills are still pretty weak. I need to see people to actually feel like I am racing.



Then it was time for a well deserved break. Last night I put the the 40c tires on the CX bike and rode it to tranq for some "in the drops" training. I have never really been comfortable riding down in the drops , so I am trying to break some bad habits.

Today we found out that its a Boy!

Stans boogers

It was time to give the wheels a fresh stans-ing before heading to this weekends festivities. There are some wicked (bad)goathead and puncture vine patches out west so it definitely pays to use sealant. This is my 4th consecutive Cruise the Blues, and it never fails to excite me. Doug and Bud put on such a great event, and its really awesome to see folks racing bikes that had been wearing cowboy boots, wranglers, and were checking cattle just prior to registration.
Weather looks great. You have no excuse.

If you use C02 in your tubeless tire setup you have probably seen these little fellers before.

I usually do not get such large uniform specimens. I line them up in my window sill in the kitchen.
One day I will find a use for them.

Cranks and BB's

Found another fried ISIS bottom bracket in the SS......they hardly last a year. sigh.
I also get a chuckle our of the fact that buying a complete crank set with BB only costs 50 dollars more than just buying the BB.
I am also surprised at just how little has been developed as far as cranks getting lighter. I really do think that the lightest setup you can get is a Middleburn with a WI square taper bb. So I guess my question is whether or not outboard bearing bb's are truly stiffer (measured as deflection) than other crank interfaces (octalink, JIS, ISIS,) What about Hollergram (how my TN friends speak of Cannondale technology)?

I can speak to the fact that 15G cranks from the Hive are pretty stinking stiff and still lighter than cranks costing twice as much. They shift good too. Not Shimano good, but good non-the-less.

Is one brand of external bearing bb longer lasting than another?

It kind of makes me wonder what the weight differences between SLX, XT, and XTR is, once you remove the chainrings?

just ruminations.

Orygun

So this past week I had the opportunity to go out to Portland to see my family. I haven't seen my folks in over a year. It was the typical Stamper family get together with lots of smoking and drinking.


Actually, it turns out that my sis-n-law "Mandy Lou Who" is hopelessly addicted to candy cigarettes. She literally bought a carton of candy cig's. My folks did not know what to think.


The Oregon Coast is pretty pimp once you get away from the Californians.


Driftwood shenanigans.


Even though it looks like awesome weather the temp never got above 55F. However the sand warmed up at low tide, and it felt really awesome to sit on a log and put your feet into the warm sand as you were shivering.


Al cropped this picture.


Traffic jam on hwy 101


Then we stayed a night in Portland. We dined at the HUB. I was sated.

This week the nub is going to review several new brake sets, and then Waller and I have some Gravel Worlds shenanigans cooked up.

PS. If anyone has a EZ-UP tent (or something in that genre of shelter)that I could use for the weekend, I (and many others) would be especially grateful. I promise it will only be used for good deeds, and will provide you with a cash deposit.