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WCA Cyclocross Race #8

Wisconsin and Midwest Cyclocross Championships, Angell Park Speedway, Sun Prairie, WI

Yesterday was the final race in the WCA series, and also the State and Midwest Championships, so all sorts of crazy racers showed up. The field was huge, maybe twice the normal amount. As Brian said in his report, they had call-ups for the top 10 which was nice. The start was crazy. I don't know how I didn't crash. People get crazy at these "big time" races. I don't understand why guys who know they'll finish in the bottom half of the results feel the need to try and fight for 10th wheel at the start. There were elbows flying and tires rubbing all over the place. I unfortunately had a lack luster start and had to fight my way back near the front. Sachs Boy and Masterson got the holeshot, and after only a few minutes had a 5 second gap on a second group containing myself, some Turin guy, and a few others. We bridged up, and Masterson drifted away. The Turin guy and I stayed with Sachs Boy. On lap 2 I began cramping in both quads whenever I really tried to put the power down. I ended up off the back, and the rest of the race I just tried to control the bleeding. Two more guys got around me, and I ended up 5th. The lungs felt fine, the legs just didn't want to go.

Here's the stats from the HRM:
Time: 45:04
Average HR: 196
Max HR: 201
Calories: 1007

The average and max heart rate are higher then normal, so I think I was slightly dehydrated. That could explain the cramping also. Who knows. It was a tough race with lots of full throttle sections and technical off camber turns with a few hard run-ups. The best designed course with the best facilities all year. Sachs Boy ended up 2nd overall, but 1st Wisconsinite, and State Champion, so hats off to him. We left early, so I'm not sure about the series overall. I think I won. Sachs Boy and I tied for season points, but ties are broken by the most finishes at the highest placing. We shall see.

Thanks to my parents for coming down to Madison for the weekend and seeing me race. Thanks to Heathrow and Vontoux for cheering, and thanks to my wife for the pictures.

Brian and I before the start


We don't have any more power, Captain


Sachs Boy givin'er


Mom and Dad trying to stave off hypothermia

Welcome

First, I'd like to start off this post to welcome all my new visitors. I've had 81 unique visitors to my blog so far today. Thats about 3 times this little blog's average. I hope everyone found my blog entertaining, and returns in the future.

Second, I'd like to explain "Sachs Boy" to Mr. David Greenblatt, as, I'd imagine, it would be quite disconcerting to stumble upon this blog. Sachs Boy is the antagonist in my race reports. I think race reports in general are boring, so to make them more interesting I play up the whole hero/villain thing. Sachs Boy is merely a character in this blog. You'll notice I never use your name in the reports as I try to keep a distiction between the character and the actual person. Anytime there were disparaging remarks I made sure your name was not mentioned, because I don't know you personally. As for why you were chosen to play the antagonist is twofold. 1. because our abilities are evenly matched and 2. your bicycle. I thought I had a nice cross bike, but holy crap. When I think of bicycle perfection, I immediately think of Bob Jackson, Richard Sachs, and Vanilla. Yours is the only Sachs I've seen in person. I don't doubt you got a deal on it used. There was a Sachs cross bike on ebay a couple months ago that went for a ridiculously low price that I would have snatched up had it been the right size. If I offended you, I'm sorry. I have no ill will or hatred or dislike for you. Sachs boy is simply a fun character in my blog. I've very much enjoyed racing against you and the two Trocadero guys. It has been a fun season and I'm looking forward to some good battles on Sunday.

Third, as for Mr./Mrs. Anonymous who somehow figured out my roadbikereview user name, well done Nancy Drew. I don't know how you did it. I would say I definately prefer my Dugasts, but you can't have a bunch of goobers rolling around on them. They would be less cool.

Dugast

I talk often on this blog about my Dugast 'cross tires. You guys must think, what's the big deal? They're only tires. Here is an excerpt from an article by importer Mark Hoskin who visited Andre Dugast at his workshop in March 2000:

"50kms south of Paris on the edge of the quiet town of Bouray-Sur-Juine is to be found the master of the tubular, Andre Dugast. The world is changing around him in his own lifetime, but he appears resigned in his sixty-second year. Since starting with Dourdoigne in 1952 and branching out on his own in 1974, just three years before Dourdoigne closed their doors forever, the victim of bankruptcy, cycling has grown and changed beyond all recognition. The two manufacturers of those times now both gone, Clement existing with only the name a tenuous link to the past and Dourdoigne only living in the memories of a shrinking number of cyclists. He has seen the rise and fall of all the modern champions, and made tubulars for most of them as well. Today's manufacturers find the path to his door, having him make tubulars with his own hands for their sponsored teams, many to be disguised as clinchers, or be converted by the words of marketing departments into the use of something else that is produced halfway around the world from France and sold to the public all over the world. It's work though, and with a craftsman's pride and satisfaction apparent it appears to be no problem. He knows what he does and it seems enough.

At the height of production in 1980 Dugast employed six people. Buying tread bands from the vast ranges of Wolber and Clement which were then fixed to his own casings in silk or cotton even this is under threat. Foxonall (nee Clement) has closed, the only ray of light that someone appears to have bought the moulds for the tread bands and wants to start their own production so this supply necessary for his Cyclo Cross tubulars may restart. Wolber closed, so his track and road tubulars with their tread bands are going to be extinct when his stocks run out leaving him with only Vittoria and Hutchinson to cajole into making products that they don't even want to sell under their own names. As a result the past year may have been the last year of the Dugast Cyclo Cross tubular. Nowadays he is receiving old tubulars from riders like Daniel Pontoni and carefully removing the tread bands and attaching them to new casings. Such is the faith riders still place in his skills and hands. With Veloflex only wanting to produce the simpler and easier clincher tires he may be the last person making tubulars in Western Europe for as long as he is willing to continue and can obtain supplies. It's not easy for a single person, making one hundred tubulars a week, to have today's big companies sell him anything. Even the ultra light latex tubes he uses may not be produced for much longer, he may be willing to continue, but may be driven into retirement by forces he cannot control.

His workshop, 10m x 10m square, is a museum of how things used to be in the old days of tire production. The only somewhat distant mirror now being Veloflex in Italy who employ five persons. The fax and radio are the only really modern intrusions. Even the wheels used while the glues set are old Mavic CX-18 and Wolber rims attached to old Simplex and Mavic hubs. Custom produced cloth arrives for the casings, chafing strips and base tapes, to be skillfully combined from start to finish by Andre Dugast's hands. Endless bands of cloth are cut to the correct width, have their edges turned over and finely sewn on an old machine and then the tube is placed inside and the chafing strip sewn in place. Later the base tape is glued on, and then the tread band is glued in place to then hang on the wheel from the ceiling to cure. Some tubulars hanging currently are made specifically for Paris-Roubaix, and will afterwards be consigned to training or other lesser purposes by the team who they are being made for. He is just finishing off the French track teams tubulars for the Olympic Games, more normal production for sale under his own name will then occupy him for the summer. If he is forced into stopping for lack of supply or retires then the last painter of a dying art will vanish, living on only in the memories of those fortunate enough to have experienced the joy of riding a tubular made by Andre Dugast."

Here's another description from Echelon Imports:

"Andre Dugast has been producing the finest tubular tires in the world since 1952. He started with the Dourdoigne firm in 1952 and branched out on his own in 1974. He has seen cycling change over the years, yet has produced tires for the greatest cyclists in the world throughout his career. Rumors abound that upwards of 80% of all Olympic cycling medals since the 1980 Moscow games have been won on Dugast tubular tires. Lance Armstrong has won all six of his Tours on Hutchinson commissioned Dugast tubulars. Dugast tires are also the winningest tubulars on both the cyclocross circuit and on the velodrome.

With the majority of tubular tires being produced in Asia by machines, Dugast has continued to supply the pro peloton with hand-made silk and cotton tubular tires. Andre Dugast buys the tread bands from a variety of tire manufacturers which are then fixed to his own casings in either silk or cotton."

Andre sold his business a few years back to Richard Neuhaus (Richard Groendaal's mechanic.) Andre stayed on to train Neuhaus in the art before retiring.

WCA Cyclocross Race #7

Janesville Cyclocross, Gibbs Lake Country Park, Fulton, WI

A rare Saturday only cross race. It snowed like a mother yesterday, so the race promised to be a sloppy muck fest. I planned to drive down to Janesville with Brian, but he became a eunuch, and apparently cyclocross racing is frowned upon, so he didn't go. It was nice and sunny when I left this morning, and the snow had already started to melt. It was crazy cold though. So I got to the venue and did all the normal pre race stuff that you guys don't want to hear about. I warmed up, and cooled back off before we started racing. My poor fingers and toes were ready to fall off.

The course was insanely muddy. Not clumpy, loamy mud, but thin, Hershey's Syrup mud. There were some barriers, long fast sections, slow hairpin corners, a beach/lake running section, and a LONG climb. The laps were really long, well over 15 minutes when I did my reconnaissance. The cat 4's were doing them in 12 minutes during their race. They had call-ups based on WCA points, so I had a perfect start position (they only allowed 5 riders on the front row.)

I started pretty slow and conservatively, and sat 5th or 6th wheel for the opening section of the lap. Once things calmed down and the race sorted itself out, I was in a chase group containing the same 3 other guys as last week. There was a dude dangling off the front about 5 seconds. Our little chase group was moving so slowly, that at the beginning of the second lap I put in a big acceleration and bridged up to the leader. He was wheezing and ready to die, so I just left him and drilled it the rest of lap 2. At the start of lap 3 I saw the lap counter and it said 2 to go, so I kept it pegged as long as I could. I was hurting climbing the hill on the thrid lap, but had a 10 second advantage. I tried to maintain my advantage, but a chase group of 3 clawed back 5 seconds. I was so cooked by the time I hit the hill on the last lap that I had to dismount and run the top section. It was all good though as my 5 second buffer turned to 10 seconds. Haley put in a major effort and clawed back a bunch of time, but it was too late and I soloed in for the win with Haley outsprinting 2 other dudes. Masterson dropped out and Sachs Boy came in out of the money in 5th. I also won the prime and a sweet trophy.

Here's the stats.

Time: 40:22

Average HR: 193

Max HR: 198

Calories: 991

No action shots today, as I was alone, but I took some pics of the carnage when I came home. Everything is covered in mucky guck.

What The!?

Yesterday I went for a bike ride in 65 degree sunshine. Today, not so much.

Tomorrow is race 7 of 8 in the WCA cyclocross series outside of Janesville. It should be a sloppy one. I did alright at the last sloppy one. Look for a race report sometime Sunday.

Slowhand

Seriously, how awesome is Clapton?

Vote!

Do it. Do it.

WCA Cyclocorss Race #6

Milwaukee Cyclocross, Estabrook Park, Milwaukee, WI

It was nice and sunny today with temps in the 50's for the race. The course was fast and dry with lots of pavement and fast grass sections. There was some nice slow chicanes and some tricky singletrack thrown in for good measure. There was 2 sets of barriers, and a short, steep run-up. The laps were fairly short, about 5 minutes long.

Brian and I both had front row starts that neither of us took advantage of. We didn't anticipate the start and we were slow getting off the line. When we finally got going, we were sqweezed into each other and rubbed shoulders. No harm, no foul. I made my way to the front group with brian right behind. I put in a little acceleration and made my way to the front before we entered the singletrack. I was riding a nice hard tempo, but was well within my comfort zone. No one wanted to work, and it was "groupo compacto" for the first 4 laps or so with the top 8 or so guys in points. I stayed at the front and dictated pace. About 20 minutes in, attacks started which whittled the group down to the top 4 riders in the series. The pace was pretty high at this point, but no one wanted to really go for it. We stayed together until the last lap. There were attacks and counter attacks, but no one got away. I made my move after the last set of barriers leading into a section of slow speed chicanes. I went for it here because I was much faster through the slow stuff than the others, and only had a straight-away after the chicanes. I came up on the corner too hot, and lost the front wheel in the loose dirt and went down. Hard. There was a massive pile up which Sach's Boy was able to avoid for the win. I came in third, humiliated, with a bent brake lever and bloody shin. Oops.

I was cursed at, and yelled at, and called bad names, but that's racing. It was a good move, I just lost it on some loose dirt. Victory would have been mine had I executed the corner properly. I don't think I could have won had it come down to a sprint, since I've never been in one. The legs felt great though. I apologized after the race, but I'm still the guy that caused the wreck. I don't want to be that guy. Brian had a good race, coming home in 7th.

Back down to second place in the series, Sach's Boy 5 points in front, with 3rd only 9 points behind me. The next 2 races should be quite interesting.

Here's some estimated stats from the HRM (I'm too lazy to go get the monitor. They're always roughly the same anyway.)
Time: 39 minutes
Average HR: low 190's
Max HR: high 190's
Calories: 800ish

Thanks to Heather for the cheerleading. Heather made the announcement before today's race that she started her off season yesterday. Mary couldn't make the trip today, so no pictures. Brian should have some in his race report, also check out Madcross.org for pictures and video highlights.

Superdog

Here is a picture of Sampson from Halloween. Vontoux came over and the dog boys enjoyed trick-or-treating together.

Tomorrow is the 6th WCA cyclocross race. It's agian in Milwaukee. The forecast for today is rain, but it hasn't rained yet, and it doesn't look like its going to. If the course is dry and fast I'll probably get my ass kicked again. I hope I can hold on to my series lead. I'll be rockin' the white handlebar tape like a bad ass mofo.

Cyclocross Perversion

Here's a link if you don't know what I'm talking about. Nice tires, by the way, Radomir.