11.13.2005

11.13.05 - cleveland cross race update and such

hey all...

just got done with the 2nd race of the cleveland cross series - it was at a farm near akron ohio. this course has historically been not a good one for me as it is very NON technical and has very long straights and usually heavy winds. the course usually favors the roadies because of this, as i can't use my mad cross skillz to get good gaps.

race started hectic as usual, was in 3rd place for awhile and then was caught by two bike authority guys. i thought i could ride them off my wheel, so i kept the pace high and led them around for two laps. then they both attacked me - one guy i would catch, the other i would not. i ended up 4th behind paul martin, jerry pfluge (pittsburgh rider who i used to race a lot with years back), a bike authority guy who's name i always forget, and then myself.

key to these races is at about 45 minutes into the one hour race, the roadies usually crack a little bit. if i can ramp up the pace at the moment they are having difficulty, then i have a chance to catch them. the third place guy was cracking, but i ran out of time - just as i got the gap down to under 10 seconds, the race was over. oh well... good race though...

the new moots - wow. all i can say is that the combo of the oversized salsa bell lap cross bars and the new all carbon alpha q cross fork not only lightens the bike up, but is also hella stiff. within 2 minutes of getting the new bike on the road i was already thinking that i am going to switch out forks/bar/stem on my other moots for next year.

in other news, i see the NORBA schedule is up and that the series is cut down from 8 races to 6 - and no news on nationals or the marathon races yet unless they posted something recently. snowshoe is no more, and there is two races out in utah. i think the snowshoe race was moved to a new location further south. and... i guess one of the races is on the same weekend as big bear.

wow.... news update as i was just checking the NORBA web site.

holy cow, road nationals is at SEVEN SPRINGS IN PA!

WOW, i really can't believe it. that's cool - too bad mountain bike nationals are stil out at mammoth... looks like the date is july 20th through 23rd. dad and dan, get your bags ready to head to cali next year.

and - 24 hour nationals, dates are not set yet... hmm....

2006 NORBA schedule is up as well. bummed out that they are having a national race in NC the same weekend as big bear...

that's it - gotta run. looking like the schedule for next year will be pretty cool. looking forward to it already.

ride your bike at night - sologoat out.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hey
Toby Stanton at HOTTUBES told me a week ago that at a cross race he was at some guy with Tufo tires rolled one off rim and crashed and a few went with him. write me at
riverseasons@yahoo.com

if you can help out with your take on your Tufo ride ???
he said he asked around there and nobody likes the Tires. so, you know what his advice is.
river