Wheeling CX

 The Pre-Ride

Wheeling is usually later in the year when it is colder and is always slick.  So, when there was midweek rain and projected 30 degree temps it felt just like old times.

Come race day it was actually 37 and the course was nice and grassy >> Green is good, green is grip.  I got my normal 2 pre-ride laps in and the course was good.  I wouldn't say I felt confident because this course always has my number.  But the amount of grass (as opposed to mud covered grass or just plain mud) was promising.  

In the normal CCC series of races my race (45+) is the second race of the day.  So my pre-ride is always on the pristine course before Bob and company rip it up.  What the course is going to look like after 50-100 guys dig their nobbys in with anger is anyone's guess.

The pre-ride is your real chance to test out the features and redo features that could cause you trouble.  You want to see how fast you can take the off camber turns without falling or whether you can ride an uphill.  Wheeling always has a short downhill U turn that is tricky to get back up.  Bob and I both did it a couple times to make sure which line we could take to ride both up and down which we did.

Unfortunately, the course didn't hold up as well as I wanted it to after the first race.  It wasn't the complete mud bath that this course has been in the past but rain and sleet came down.  I try to get  pictures and video of the guys while they race but on this day I sat in my warm car and watched the rain pelt the windshield.  The radar gave me hope that it would stop by my race (which it did) but Bob and George and Mark weren't so lucky - George's fingers could barely brake.

The first lap or two of my race then become re-testing grounds.  What has changed and what is ridable?  The U turn?  The only person I saw riding it had a mountain bike (of course I'm riding in the middling group so it's very possible the leaders rode it).  There was no longer grass on the uphill portion.

There is a long straight off camber of the west side of the course with a couple lines you can take.  The lower line is a bit more flat but it is muddy.  The upper line is more canted but a bit more grass.  I took the lower line the first lap but then followed another rider and stayed on the upper line after that.  The reason?  Slightly above the higher line there was grass >> Green is good, green is grip.  Even though it wasn't as flat as the lower line there was much better grip and I could put down a little more power and try to make up ground.  I actually clipped a post on one lap because the line was so close to the tape.

I did end up sliding out once because I chickened out in a corner and hit my brakes (I hear you cringe - DON'T HIT THE BRAKES).  I also had someone in front of me put a foot down in another corner and landed on a course stake but I don't count that as a true fall.  I probably shouldn't have been following so close but there were 4 or 5 of us bunched up and I was protecting my position.

Out of the 45 starters I finished 25th (the 4th Cat 4 to cross the line so not too bad).  Usually, they only pull riders once they are lapped by the leaders.  That didn't happen to me but they cut everyone after position 20 one lap early - I wasn't complaining mind you.  I didn't have the pleasure of sprinting at the line as I couldn't close on the guy in front of me.

Donnelly BOS tubeless mud tires were inflated to 26 front and 28 rear.  Heart rate averaged 166 with a max of 180.  The max seems like a weird spike compared to the rest of the graph unless it was when I fell.

All of the CCC races are done.  There is the Wisc state championships we are talking about going to this weekend at Trek HQ, plus Region Riot in Crown Point.  Then, all that's left is the National Championships in Wheaton.  So excited about Nats!

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