Wheeling CX 2022 - 45+

 Weeeeeeeeeeee-Ling

The Wheeling course has been pretty static over the years.  This was my 5th crack at it and it is the first time I remember it not being muddy and freezing.  There was a little rain earlier in the week but the course wasn't slick at all.  There is an off camber section that has a speed limit when muddy but can be ridden fairly normal in the dry.  There is also a short downhill u-turn that causes problems but was ridable this time.  The temps were low 30's but I only remember 20's and biting winds from the past.  So all in all it was a good day for racing.

The Tower crew this week included Fran, Brad, George, and Mark in the 55+.  In the 45+ I was the only Tower blue although Joe Doyle was next to me in the start grid.

The excitement on the day was George hitting his first podium.  Here he is on the second step of the 55+ 4/5!

Less notable but still exciting was Fran hitting the podium in the 65+ 4/5. (Again?!?!  This is getting old Fran!)
Before retreating to the warmth of my car I nabbed a quick video of the first lap.  In order are Mark (black), Fran, George (red), and Brad.
The 45+ races in the CCC have seen consistent numbers in the high 50's to 60's.  At Wheeling the cold temps whittled it down to 46 racers.  I had a 4th row start.  I had switched to the Donnelly PDX mud tires a couple races ago due to what were expected to be slick conditions.  I still have the all around MXP's mounted on a different set of wheels but choose to ride the PDX's for confidence inspiring grip.  This course is usually slick.  With the unusually grippy course I probably would have been fine with the MXP's.  I tried a higher pressure during pre ride (28/29 psi front/rear) but there were a number of bumpy sections where a lower pressure was needed to smooth it out.  If you can ride smoother and let the tires be your shock absorbers then it is faster.  I brought my gauge with me on the pre ride and dropped it to 26/27 and it was better.  I am not a light rider so going lower might be too low and I could get rim strikes or burp (With tubeless if the bead gets bumped away from the rim and lets a bit of air out that is called burping).  For reference George ran 21/21 but he is much lighter than me (Also running tubulars).
It is important to line up behind someone you know to be a good starter if possible.  In Wisc I don't really know anyone but here in the CCC while I may not know the names I do recognize certain people.  Of course on any given day it is a crap shoot how someone clips in.
Check out the guy in green on the left.  He just goes backwards immediately and I almost hit him.  If I had been behind him I would have lost a number of places.
I had a decent start and had George in my head as well: "Don't go out too hard on the first lap".  It is important to get past as many people as you can when the track is wide but not at the expense of blowing up.  
The course had a longer start section leading into the first half of the course which has a gazillion turns.  With the group largely together on the first lap it was a matter of holding your line and not letting people squeak through holes.  Pre ride is for dialing in the corners but on the first lap you can only go as fast as the rider in front of you in the turny sections.  This half of the course ends with medium sized barriers.  I sat there long and hard before the race and decided that even if I could bunny hop them now in the last lap of the race my brain would be a little fuzzy and it might not end well.  The old adage in cross is don't do something if you can't do it 10 out of 10 times.  So I ran the barriers.  (George has mad skills and jumped them each lap.  As of this writing I haven't heard of any chainring damage :) ).
The On Board view
From Brad's Perspective


I mentioned above that there is a short downill U-turn and this is the place that always gives me trouble.  Thanks to the dryness of the course I was able to ride it each lap.  Without the mud at the bottom the main concern was being in the right gear for when you started back up and don't stall.  In this snippet it doesn't look too steep but getting out of the saddle was needed and tricky to avoid spinning out the back wheel.
Because I had raced the previous day in Wisc I wasn't sure how the legs would be.  In my limited experience of 2 races in a weekend things actually haven't gone that badly.  The 3 times I've done it this season I've actually had good results the second day even if the legs didn't feel that great.  I've have 3 bad races and all came with rest.  Hmmmm.
Having raced the previous day was another reason to listen to George and take it easy on the first lap.  Normally I'd try to pass more people with micro efforts.  This time I took what was offered but didn't make lap one a hero lap.
My lap times did show a bit of fatigue as I went on.  The first lap has a minute of extra time for the start section.  9:12 (Really 8:12), 8:14, 8:26, 8:25, 8:06.  You can see in laps 3 and 4 I was slowing.  But how about that lap 5!!!!!!!  Why you ask?  
I don't know exactly when I noticed it but somewhere on the 4th lap 2 guys were closing in on me.  Both were faster on lap 4 than me by 7 and 8 seconds and were getting close.  I do remember Fran yelling near the end of the lap "C'mon Case.  Got someone on your tail!"
Different things motivate people.  I was now motivated by 3 things.  The guys behind me, the last lap, and the Tower crew cheering me on (Fear of disappointing Fran is a real thing).  A little adrenaline was kicking in and the mental acuity was getting razor sharp.  The corners are where you can lose tenths of seconds or even worse.  Focusing in on the corners to make sure I took the best line at the best speed (without crashing) was critical.  Making sure that I got every pedal stroke available was key too.  Time is lost when you coast 5 meters longer than the other guy.  Pedal if the course allows you to pedal.
BG Photography
On the back side of the course there is a long gradual rise.  Before the rise I was about 7-8 seconds ahead of the pair.  By the top it was down to 6 seconds.  There was a quick downhill and it was back up to 8 (Heavy things go downhill faster I guess?).  I'm getting all of these times from watching the video and wasn't actually counting on the course.  I knew they were close and I knew I had blown 2 last lap leads this year.  My focus was on the corners and trying to remember which ones were sharp and which were easy.  Where did I need to downshift and which could I keep my gearing.
I was almost at the final section which was a hundred meters of straight grass with a right turn and 30 meters to the line.  This time I can hear a duet of Fran and Brad yelling "Gotta guy behind ya!"  I switched to the drops and as soon as I crossed a paved path got out of the saddle and put what I had left into the pedals.  Fran said that as soon as the guy behind me saw me jump he let up.  Nothing left in the tank for him either.  I dared to look back and and saw he wasn't on my tail (I then looked over my left shoulder to just make sure) and pulled across the line 4 seconds ahead of the first guy and 8 in front of the second.
I finished 29th/46 which from a percentile perspective isn't that great.  But 29th in general is fairly good.  I was the 5th Cat 4 out of 14.  And I like to think that the 10-20 guys who didn't show up at all are the weak ones who would have filled out the lower placings.  :)
My average HR was 164 with a Max of 176.  The last lap however was an average of 169.  
There is one more CCC race which is in 3 weeks (Regional Championships).  Region Riot is in 2 weeks and we might hit that up too in Crown Point.  
Here is a short video of my Fan Boys:
https://youtu.be/ovtJMu9ZlIc
Here is the full race video:

https://youtu.be/NX4CLwPmnYY