new CX bike and my first CX race

Busy day busy day...........Picked up my cx bike Friday after work. Its a Specialized S-Works fitted with a 105 grouppo. I like the fit of it and it definitely fits the entry level of bike I was wanting to piece together. I rode it for like 20 mins Saturday after I got in 30 miles on the road bike. Fast forward to one day later (today) I was doing my first cx race. The course was pretty flat and really suited me well being it was my first ever cx race. I like the vibe and relaxed feel the cx races have. I can't say a whole alot about the race as I was only in for 3 laps. I was sitting in 4th place and then I goofed on a dismount and had to stop and really just walk over the barriers. After that I dropped back to like 8th and here is when my day ended. We were going through a winding section of the course when the guy in front of me washed out his front tire and went down. I'm right behind him and with no where to go, I hit the deck. Falling on to the grass was not that bad but my right hammy just wasn't right after that and it took a few minutes to check the bike out and get back going. Needless to say I did enjoy the cx race and I'm looking forward to racing next weekend. I was in the C race forgot to mention that. Erik took 2nd place for The Hub in this so that was pretty awesome.

My day wasn't over after the bike race. I got recruited to play in basketball league on Sundays too. After the race I headed straight to Priory HS to hit the hardwood. I put in 20 points in a losing effort by our squad. I hadn't played basketball in about 3 months now since my time in California. Overall though the body is pretty beat. I'm pretty much dead tired. Nextweek I've got my Tuesday training ride, Sat morning shop ride, and rolling right into another busy Sunday with cx race and basketball game.

My birthday is this Friday too. Another year in the books.

The New Ride

Scott Addict R3

So I'm rolling a new Scott these days. The bike is all that and more of what it is hyped up to be. The bike is light and responsive. I wasn't really sure how I would like another Scott because I wasn't to impressed with my CR1 Team. I say that with some reservations because I didn't take the time to dial in my CR1. I knew it had somethings that didn't make the fit just right for me that I never took the time to get adjusted because it was just a back up bike. A couple things I had adjusted on my Addict were the handle bars and a stem. The new handle bars have a shorter width and the stem is also a 100mm inplace of the 110mm. The bike came with Mavic Ksyrium ES' but I had those replaced with Rolf Prima Vigors. The grouppo is SRAM FORCE. I had never used SRAM before but I really like the set.

In other new ride news, I'm piecing together a Cross bike. It should be ready to roll by middle of nextweek and I will race in the Bubba series next Sunday. I'll post a pic of that also and give a little more details on it then. One last bike I will probably get sometime soon is a Time trial bike. The cross bike is being put together with used parts and the TT bike would also be something that I piece together. I went and rode the TT bike I'm talking about and it really fit pretty well.

Back at it Again

Returned to the bike yesterday and today. The return was a filled with much anticipation as they had my new bike ready to roll for me for its maiden voyage. Prior to this weekend we were tweaking a couple things on the bike to get the fit pretty close to perfect. I had new handle bars (ones that came with it were to wide) put on and a shorter stem. So looking good on the new bike I got 30 miles in Saturday on the shop ride. Although I didn't feel good at all and just rode at the bike most of ride it was great to be on the new bike. After that ride I knew the handle bars needed to be raised up so we added some spacers. Wanting to check the fit with the spacers and I went today for a pretty long ride. I got in 65 miles. I rode out to my parents and watched about 30 minutes of the Rams game while there and replenished my bottles. Then I set out towards the loop to grab a quick treat from Smoothie King then out to Forest Park and finally back downtown to my place. The first 30 miles went really well but the last 30 or so were pretty hard because my legs were shot. Big thing is, I think we have the fit of my new bike to my liking. As for what kind of new bike I have, I will post about it later. Lets just say it is very light.

not to much and Cat 3 racing

Haven't ridden any since the St. Gen road race besides tooling around downtown. I've enjoyed the time off the bike but I'm to point I am ready to jump bike on the saddle. This will happen once I have my new bike, which should be ready to go Saturday. More on that in a coming post.

Someone posted a link to the cat3phenoms blog on stlbiking.com and I find this particular entry pretty revelant since I'm made the jump up to the cat 3. Read below his entry entitled Cat 3 racing is the tougest. This isn't serious his blog is pure humor.

"That's right, racing as a Cat 3 - or in my case, dominating as a Cat 3 - is the hardest thing to do in all of bicycle racing.A quick lesson for the non-cyclist on Racing Categories. When you begin racing, you start out as a weak little Category 5, or Cat 5. I prefer calling it the Crash 5's. You wouldn't believe the amount of 'squirrily birds' they have in those groups. Once you do ten races, you can move up to a Category 4. Unless you are a Nancy-ass sandbagger, then you stay as a Cat 5. Why would you do this??? I guess some people like gay medals to hang on their walls.So Cat 4's is a step up from the Cat 5's, but this does not mean a thing. All it means is the person likes to race, not that they are any good at it. Anybody can be a Cat 4, or Cat 5.To become a Cat 3 - hereafter referred to as 'the Ultimate Cat' - you must earn points from the races you compete in. You must have 20 points in a 12 month span in order to accomplish this. The only point value I know is for first place, because that was where you could always find me.So you get you 20 points and have shown you have some talent, so now you're in 'the Ulitmate Cat'.Now that the briefing for the uneducated is finished, I can discuss why Cat 3 racing is the toughest...First off, the bike handling of most Cat 3's has not improved since the time they were a Cat 5. At the same time, leg strength and power has generally increased among these same people which means everyone goes faster. That, combined no bike handling skills, results in carnage waiting to happenOr picture it like this: You go out on St. Patty's day, consume massive amounts of Irish Car Bombs so you've lost all control over your body and it's functions. You then have a choice of hopping into a souped up Corvette capable of 0-60 in 3.5 seconds, or throwing your leg over a 1946 Vespa that lacks the horsepower the get you over that big neighborhood speed bump.In the Corvette, you're lucky to make it out of there alive. You wake up the next morning and are just counting your blessing that you made it home in one piece. You know you escaped a wreck that could have cost you your life. This is like Cat 3 racing.On the mighty Vespa, you're just lucky if you make it home before daylight due to the slow speeds that you putter along at. You know full well that the only damage that's going to be caused in a wreck might be a little skin off the body. This is Cat 5 racing.It is for this reason that during Cat 3 races I just stay off the front, constantly attacking my opponents to wear down their legs. I slowly turn those 09 Corvette legs into the wet noodle that is the 46 Vespa. By the time the bell lap rings I have turned what was once the Ulitmate Cat into nothing more than a bunch of spandex-wearing sissy-boys.As far as Cat 1's and 2's are concerned, their bike handling does not allow for the difficulty that is involved in Cat 3 racing, thus making Cat 3's - the Ulitmate Cat.Well that is all for now, I'm off to get my bike fit perfectly to my body. I feel as though my seat is 1 nanometer too low, thus impeding my ability to maximze my already superiour power on a bike. Have a good one!"