'cross racing is...

Coming soon. So many of us now ride 'cross (cx) bike but have never raced. It really is a world apart, an alternate reality from road or mountain. Weirder than singlespeeds even.

'Cross is Hard. Lungs searing survive that initial sprint, hold your place, watch that squeeze, dont wreck me you F**k! Hit it, legs go, go, go. Recover lungs, damn you, cmon gain in this section, f'in flats, roadies killing me, hold that wheel. Redline, recover, redline again, off bike, over barriers, shit can't clip in, som bitch lost place, f-er, hit it cmon get it back, breathe, get the lactic out, manage the heart rate, can't keep this close to redline, will pay ltr. rip it. good section, ride it clean, hit it, lap over - only 40 more minutes of hell.

'Cross is training. Tuesday nite chasing the 'fast' guys around State College. Wednesday following a Ferrari around and practicing barriers, sprints, and then finishing with a race. It's knowing you'll suffer the entire time but showing up anyway. Its being slow, its being fast, its falling down, its sliding perfectly through a turn, its winning a sprint. Its being out of gas, hungry and cold. Its finishing in the dark. Its rollers and running. Its wanting to quit all the time, but not being able to.

'Cross is travel. Its riding 4 hours to do a 45 minute race. Its planning your weekends around your travel time, not your races. Its google maps and mapquest. Its gas station questions and interstate information kiosks. Its where am I? Its finding America in the middle of nowhere. Its being alone and appreciating a familiar voice on NPR. Its sleeping on couches, floors, and other people's beds. Its about never being comfortable...until Sunday night.

'Cross is a cool scene. Its beer. Its screaming. Its fan friendly. Its seeing the same racers week after week until you are no longer strangers. Its grabbing a beer while off the back or grabbing one while off the front. Its climbing that run-up to delight the crowd. Its swapping stories with Gunnar while rooting against his wife. Its DJs amping up the crowd. Its the announcer saying your name and hometown after a nifty pass. Its toeing the starting line to AC/DC Highway to Hell. Its sharing the hell, the suffering, the want of it to end. And then showing up again.

'Cross is fun! Its yelling, its screaming, its passing, its flying, its jumping, its sliding, its dancing, its drinking, its chatting, its dogs, its dreams, its addictive. Its sunny days, and snow. Its mud and misery. Its a sausage sprint! Its new friends and old. Its strange and familiar. Its smiles. Its laughter. Its endophins. Its the sharing of the moments. Its 'cross.

Riding Alone

The Lhorba listserv sent an article last week about a guy who went to ride some local trails at a park while on a visit to the area. He apparently lost control on a downhill and hit his head on rock between his eye and temple and died. He was wearing a helmet. It was tragic. Here is the exact contents of the email:

PLEASE POST THIS - NEVER RIDE ALONE - ESPECIALLY ON UNFAMILIAR TRAILS

http://www.timesonline.com/articles/2009/08/24/news/doc4a92092694ad9066878620.txt

This f'in yanked my chain. First it was an accident! Second there is no basis that riding with a partner would have saved his life. I think it is very uncool to add your personal opinion (as fact) to this tragedy. I'm still pretty hot about it.

Why? I admit I like riding with a partner but 'never ride alone'. That is a little draconian. Most beginner riders always ride alone. Most training rides SHOULD be done alone! Commute to work? Wait, never commute to work alone! WTF?

So lets look at some stats. 700 bike fatalities a year, 500,000 injuries. But guess what, 59% of those injured are children (less than 19 yrs). Mortality rate by mtb vs mortality by road vs mortality by commute vs mortality by recreation I could not find. So what about mortality while alone alone vs. mortality not alone? It is going to take someone really serious to pull these stats. I'm talkin' PHD candidate. I doubt the poster had anything remotely factual as they are not available on Google.

The only information I could find was mtb specific. A pre thesis on mtb injuries in New Zealand that is really good. Surprisingly it never broke down the alone/not alone question. But it did tell us without question that downhills cause injuries. The injury rate on downhills is far above any other type of mt biking - NEVER RIDE DOWNHILL! Other interesting studies were done at race events to look at male/female injury rates. They didn't address the alone/not alone question either but did let me know women get injured just as much as men! At least the racers do. Must be the downhills...

So where did this 'never ride alone' mantra come from? Just a tangent of general outdoor safety I think. 'Always let someone know where you are going and when you should return', correct. That's smart but its unrealistic for mtb's. My profile, single, live alone, family far away, neighbors would more likely TRY to kill me. I could tell my dog??? But we have cell phones, the trails are not deserted, and there are no human carnivores in our region of the world (unfortunately!). So is this still accurate?

I checked 3 bike forum for 'riding alone'. Guess what, every single mtb rides alone at some point. So this 'never bike alone' is being ignored by 99.999999% of the biking community. Where the F does this idiot get this sh*t??? Why am I the only one who cares?

I'll be the first to promote riding with a partner. But if it is between riding alone and not riding? RIDE ALONE (cue scary music and evil laughter). Until I see the statistics, the facts, I don't believe riding alone is any more dangerous than riding in a group. And I certainly believe it wasn't the prevailing cause of death in the tragic death in the article.

Now get out and RIDE!!!

On the road again

Old Man Ride goes to Renovo!

A funeral then a bum knee kept me from the Old Man ride the past 2 weeks. Pete was set on Renovo and we were game. 8am start for a big group including the usual suspects with guest appearance by D. Hill and Bob Rad. 12 of us rolled out. A big crew will help with the big miles (125-130). My original plan was to climb up to Snowshoe, check the knee, then maybe turn around on the plateau and head back to cut it short. I pulled to the base of the climb on 144 then had to recover. Found life and started bridging back up, recover, bridge, repeat. Leaders just ahead. Bridge to them at top - great effort, where did these climbing legs suddenly appear? Snowshoe, regroup and eat. Across plateau, f'in roller heaven. 40 miles to Renovo - 40 miles of rollers - crap. Josh convinces me it is easier to stay with the group. Riding partner calls, I tell her I'm not back tracking! Climb up the lip, staying with the group, pressure peter but not enough to break him, he's KOM. Damn, one more pitch? 15%, I blow up but so does everyone else except nifty Todd. Descent to Renovo, ahh relax. I run 'cross gears so I'm spun out early. Bridge to Todd/Josh at bottom. Make a game and try to gap leaders in flats - fun. Renovo! IGA has fruit and choc milk, yum, need to push the liquids. Off again, rollers alongside river. Serious rollers for a 'flat' section. Who built this road, those are f'in hills in a downstream river valley. Who signed up for this? In sprint, James loses something. I double back to get it. Bob picks up the lube. We're off the back by a 100 yds but both strong. My pull, his pull, up a roller, maxing heartrate, my pull, his pull, he's breathing hard, my pull, here's a flat, dig, dig, dig. We're back on. F' that was hard! Not stopping. F' the lube next time. Spent! Roll into Lock Haven, then the sheetz at Mill Hall. Mile 95 at 20mph pace. Second fastest ride in State College, baby! We are freaks this summer. Truly. Glad to get onto Jacksonville. Didn't remember this part during the double but its beautiful. Josh and I spot an osprey on a pull. Runkle sprints from far, can't catch him, but end up doing another pull. Leave it out here on this ride, been going great all day lets see what I'm made of. Easy to recover as need to slow pace - everyone's tired. Longest ride for 2 fellas. Into Bellefonte, my first ride of the year was to Bellefonte and back. Thought that was good, now Bellefonte to State is nothing. Seibert hill. James takes off, f' it, I mark him then pass. Try to recover before the steep, damn it can't. He goes, Todd gets me. Another steep, legs toast, Bob passes but I stay on his wheel on will power alone. Could outsprint him but its pointless. Matching his pace was the victory. Out to the airport, seeya glover, regroup for finish, I am 5th back at light and attack early but perfectedly. I gap the field by a few seconds. Just hold this pace for 300 yards...shit I'm tired. C'mon, TT and dig. Fumes. no response, rounding turn I can see bridge, f' it. Fork is in me. 100 yards short I pull over and field zips by. I'll give myself most combative rider for the day. Pissed, I had it. Happy I left it out there.

Final stats - 125+, 18.8ish, 7600 elevation gain. approx 6 hrs ride time. Effort level - high to very high.