Ft. collins

Posted on October 11, 2011 by rafal

Let’s just say ft. Collins was pretty hard racing and resulted in sudden stop day 2…  But i’m getting ahead of myself. The whole trip was fun the MCC bus was hoot so was seeing Chris Wolff.

Day 1

Let’s just say that I kind of knew I might be over my polish breeches when everyone in the front row was rolling on tubulars and carbon rims. I was like crap one of those wheels is worth more than my bike put together.  But you got to do  your thing. I race and I did my best. This altitude thing is different  I had not  acceleration. Last lap the rain started coming down and i had my wheel slip couple of time. I should of picked off 2 more guys in front but it didn’t happen worst some dude wont the sprint for 19th… ahhhh!!!!! I spend rest of the day pitting for Mark/Matt and Jay and for Ray Smith riding the elite race….  It was cold rainy and crappy…

Day 2.

I had  decent start. Avoided a big crash at the first turn,  someone did hit my wheel out of true and i heard some crunching.    Lap 2 I  decided to inspect the a pole right off the flyover. Ran straight into it with my handlebars almost broke my collarbone and that was it for racing for me.

jumpon

It almost looks like i know what i’m doing here. This hill was actually a lot tougher on ss speed. It was straight up form the double barriers.

After everyone got done racing we watched the elite man race which was really crazy and awesome.

Best part of the weekend was having MK with me. She is a super  fan she had blast… I will take it easy next two weeks and then continue on at spooky cross.  That’s it  from the rockies.

 

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Told you it was Rad

Posted on October 4, 2011 by rafal

Goulet

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Omaha cx weekend

Posted on October 3, 2011 by rafal

Omaha cx weekend, is opening cross season for majority of the people we usually ride with.  I must say Velo Veloce and Randy stepped up their game. Designed a great course and did heck of job whole weekend.  Thank you for your hard work. It takes a lot of time and energy to organize an event.

Day 1

I was quite nervous entering the event. We had good turnout for our class.  I got to line a bit late and got second row at the start line. Not to bad. The start was pretty good. I was in decent position which was improved by 5 guys taking a super wide corner on first turn and letting Jeremy and I get up front.  This got strung out for bit and I was glad I was sitting 3 rd wheel when we got to the maze.  I was able to ride the maze cleanly and i hear a giant bottleneck in back. That’s how Jeremy and I got our gap.   We managed to open it for bit and were closing on Kevin Limpach until Jeremy pull off and I was tasked to bring him back myself.  Which was not happening. At some point guy from south dakota pulled ahead of mean and rode away, and then I notice Dave Randleman on my wheel.  We were riding together and for while he tried to put the move on me but I stock it and was able to get pass him on the open sections. It was setting up to be the sprint for 3rd place and that’s what it was. one second difference.  The ladies choose to put some fun in the maze. Pac-man Style … whacka whacka .whacka

pacman

Pacman Ladies

game over

Game over Pacman

Day 2

Right before the race My hub lockup on me. BR offered me his bike, I accepted it.  got to the line kind of last. Last row for the start.   Spend a lot of time bridging the gap and figuring out how to shift SRAM shifters. Let’s just say I’m not that good at it and a race is probably not the best place to learn this skill. I gave up on the front shifting and was just shifting the rear. I know this cost me quite a bit as people where gaping me on the opens with ease. During this race I cam close to being one with Jesus. On the maze downhill I carried too much speed and was in  serious border line nose wheelie/ground kissing mode.  I managed to stay upright and somehow muscled myself into 6th place. Not bad on a bike I never rode before. I would say while SRAM shifting was solid I missed  the index clicks of Shimano.

Super stocked for Dave Randleman after coming close to the podium last 2 race he finally got some $$$. After that it was time for heckling and beer drinking….

beer

hmm beer.

Super stocked for Kevin Wilkins for finishing in the money both days. Also big props to Bryan Redemske and Jordan Ross. Both of them raced something else besides cross for first time. They rode well and took some beer handout like a seasoned pros. The CX craziness will continue at ft. Collins this weekend.

Picture Credits goes to Mike Dixon and Emily Hoesly

p.s. I super excited by everyone’s improvement this year. We might not as vibrant  as some other cities but there is a lot of people who invested a lot of time to put Omaha on CX map

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the curve

Posted on September 26, 2011 by rafal

So that was fun. First race of the cx season and a national event at that… Wow it was a lot of fun A lot of   learning opportunities and and lots of missed chances and learned many lessons.

Day 1

I lined up in 20 person single speed field. I knew that  both of the Raleigh guys were  the dudes to keep the eye on, I saw them Friday riding some smoking fast laps. Sure enough  I wouldn’t see the leader again.  I sat in behind 5-6 place guys and was waiting to make my move. lap 2-3 i seen an opening and came around the straightway to open the gap. Everyone else was running ubber low gear i figured 42-18 is the ticket with 1/3 of the course being super wide open.

So I waited and was looking at good spot to hit the burners, I did that and opened  a gap  and… some grandpa fell on my bike at the  barriers. I mean just got off his bike and fell over on to my bike. My handle bars were crooked for rest of the race, The gap was gone… I did my best and  try to close to the podium guys… I made contact but botched remount cost me some time and they rolled away from me 5th place… Not too bad

Day 2

It rained. I had not mud tires, I lined up in 4th row and was  ready to go and play in mud. First lap was kind of crazy. I managed a bit better and picked some positions.  At some point I overcooked the corner and hydrosailed with my bike sideways about 4-5 yards.  Lost many positions. I lost couple more on trying to climb out of some hills  with spinning out the back tire. Sprinted for  53rd place. Yes for 53rd place. I probably left 15 spots on the table. Gained a lot  experience…    Ft. collins will be better.

That’s awesome thing about these races,  Like Nate said you always can find someone to race….. I’m stocked and supper excited for OMA weekend and ft. Collins…

Spend rest of the day crewing for LNK/OMA crew…  Met a lot of nice people.  IT was busy day in the pits couple of bike changes.  Overall great time.

The war axe handled great in muddy conditions.  Quick and responsive bike, zero mud clearance issue. Shimano shifting was  spot on. With proper set of mud tires I might stay upright.

Thanks to MOD, NATE, Troy and KW for pointers and great travel companionship. Thanks to Joshua for pitting for me even though it was not needed.   I also met St. Louis Carl, I don’t think he ever had  cheese curds:D

Getting me some rubber boots for ft. Collins  just in case :D

 

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Calm Before the storm…

Posted on September 22, 2011 by rafal

Tomorrow I will leave for Madison, the start of cx season. This is my first time at truly a national event, I’ve been to regional events but not national. A lot of people there that are a lot more serious about cx than I ever will be.  It’s also fall which means awesome riding weather…

sunrise

fog

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singletrack and bacon mouth

Posted on September 6, 2011 by rafal

End of MTB season 2011,  marked to me by Dakota-50. Perry always puts on a great race/event. Sweet single track free food/free beer.  What more can you ask.  Each year more and more NE/IA/MN people show up to the event. I would bet  the amount of people from those 3 states are more than Colorado.  (Who says flatlanders don’t represent) Any who. Jeremy, MK and I rolled out of Omaha Thursday night, slept Thursday night in awesome town of Ainsworth, NE.
Friday mid day we rolled in to the campground with Omaha Crew representing. Rode to the Tinton rd and back ate diner. Saturday went and rode to the Tinton, rd, ate watched Huskers, drank free PBR from  RMS (can’t pass up on  free beer). Saturday night was cold I mean low 40′s cold. Sunday morning was early breakfast, getting my Metal on and riding around parking lot. MK and others went to crew the checkpoints and we were off the start.

support crew

Our awesome support Crew.

The start was pretty reasonable, not to fast not to slow, just right. At some point I believe RF, Jeremy, Todd E. and larry were together. The e top cat 1 pro dudes upped the tempo on the first gravel road and rest of us just followed suite.  The single track was the same story,  Until about mile 3 of it when i got flat (Kent Carlson got flat at roughly the same spot)  The glitter magic did it’s job and sealed the hole, I pumped up my tire with my pump just a bit and I rolled on…. While that happened I was passed by crap load of people.  Back on the bike and it was time to get my positions back. Slowly started to move up  on the climbs.  Before checkpoint 2 it was all blur, passed hurl, couple of IA guys  and larry. About 3 miles from  checkpoint 2, some dude commented on how low my rear tire was… ” I know hommie” Plan is to fix it at the checkpoint.

rolling along

JRA in full effect

The first words out of my mouth to MK at the checkpoint were, “Do you have floor pump?” She did we try to pump up the tire but with any psi over 20 would result in leak. Only one solution, put a tube in it pump it up to 40 PSI  and roll.  After quick tire change and musing about how “bunk” specialized pump really is… I was up.  All the people who I passed were gone ahead of me. So back on the bike  playing catch up. Hurl, Larry some other dudes that looked familiar… Sweetness making up ground. More IA guys high-five on that…

Got to checkpoint 4 grabbed water bottle and we are off, Now that is a long climb  at the end of it you get a) awesome view of black hills b) bacon strips (BONUS!!!) I grabbed hand full of bacon, started chewing and almost choked on one piece. Rest of the ride I could taste that bacon … it’s like seventh heaven singletrack and bacon mouth… Oh yeah !!!

Rest of the course it not as hard there is one fireroad that is actually a long steady uphill, this is where I caught Ted L. It was sweet redemption for me. This is the place where Mike Miles passed me last year.

After that it’s sweet sweet downhill all the way to beer and food.  Time to big ring this sucker all the way home.   Final time 4:41:25. I left sometime on the trail due to flats…  Next year will be better, hopefully

Thanks to all my travel companions, sponsors and friends I saw at the event this is a great event. Also thanks to Heather, MK and Scott for their support stellar support crew. I’m super stocked for Lis, Carly and April.  Those ladies rocked, congrats maybe you will do more endurance events in future.

 

finish

Cheese mode!!! 110%

P.S. Congrats to the other side of MCC who went to Gateway cup and did well. Especially MOD getting 3rd and 5th in two crits.
P.P.S.
Photo credit Rory Stone, Heather Wolff, MK
P.P.P.S I love loop point to point events. While 3/6/12/24 hour events are fun giant loop point to point events are just awesome

Final Note,Couple of people we were camping with asked me both about tire pressure and nutrition. The reason I don’t   give you  straight answer is  simple. Those things are very subjective and vary from person to person. I don’t want to be responsible for giving you info that will result in negative performance, hence I don’t tell you what to eat, drink etc.

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