CamRock n Roll CX 2022 - 50+ Cat 4/5

 North of the border once again.  Things worked out well this weekend.  Jerilynn was out of town and my Madison friend actually was in town.  So I drove up Friday night and we watched the Spartans choke away a game on an aircraft carrier and the Badgers pulling one out at the Brewers stadium.

The CamRock n Roll race is in Cambridge WI, southeast of Madison by about half an hour.  So the drive in the morning was much nicer than the 2 hours I've done earlier in the season.

I found a couple of fairly old videos of the course and it was to my liking.  Essentially a hiking path through the woods with some u-turns thrown in by the picnic area to make it more crossy.  It looked like more of a power course which last year would have been right up my alley.  This year I am lacking some power.  But at least it wasn't super technical which is where my real failings lie.

The temps finally became more fall like.  Actually, one of the reasons I made the drive was to get used to the temps for the CCC race the next day.  Low 30's for each race.  It takes me a while to get used to temp changes.  I like to ease in.  CamRock is in a wooded park which really helped with the wind which as cyclists we know is what really makes things cold.  

My race was the 50+ Cat 4/5.  We had 40 racers which is about par for a Wisc race.  The cold doesn't deter them cheddar heads.  I had another front row start which set me up for a good result.  

I lined up in between the top two callups.  I looked after the race the the top guy has over 50 upgrade points - it's pretty ridiculous that he is still in the 4/5 race.  He's actually still a 5!  

Our race starts about a minute behind the 35+ Cat 4/5 group so there are usually some stragglers we need to navigate through which can at times be tactical (See the Lion Cross recap).  I had a good start and was third wheel at the hole shot.  George has been advising me to not go out too hot and save something for the rest of the race.  We took a right turn off of the pavement and onto the grass.  There was one actual hill on the course and it was right as we hit the grass.  It wasn't too steep but took about 20 seconds to get up with a slight kicker at the end.  Then, to be mean they put a set of barriers at the top.  It's not like they needed to slow us down.  There was a Trek tent at the top where people gathered so I think it turned into a heckle hill.

I made a pass and went over the barriers in 2nd position.  The Upgrade Points guy had a gap and slowly just increased it.  According to Strava my hill segment times were 18, 23, 23, and 22 seconds.  Not too bad for consistency.

Because this course was heavily in the woods there were a ton of roots on the course.  Most were marked with paint and we were able to avoid most of the big ones.   But, there were plenty of little ones that you needed to roll over which sapped the speed.  

The eventual 2nd place rider passed me about 4 minutes in.  I thought I was doing ok but then over the course of the 4 laps 7 others passed me.  I ended up 10th out of 40.  Top 10 (and top 25%) is nothing to sneeze at but I had wanted more.
There were a couple fun features on the course.  There were 2 logs to bunny hop (smaller than the telephone poles from previous races).  In this GIF I hit the second log on the way down and was close to going down myself.

And a bumpy downhill with a slight turn at the end.  The hay bale in front of the tree at the bottom instills confidence.


In cyclocross the idea is to do a negative split.  If you paid attention to Ganna's Hour Record recently you'll know what I'm talking about.  Basically, you want to get faster lap times as you progress.  At least the last lap should be your fastest. The idea is that you've dialed in all the turns and are motivated to finish strong. I had 7:46, 8:07, 8:20, and 8:16.  So, while my last lap was faster that the 3rd lap it was still slow.  And based on the first lap time I did go out too fast and just couldn't hold it.  Average HR was 164 with a max of 173.  It was a pretty steady line so I was happier with how the heart was pumping.

I liked the course.  Not overly technical and not wet so it wasn't slippery either.  Enough short ups and down to keep it interesting.
Here is the link to the full race video:  https://youtu.be/nrQjweuQ2Mg