saturday’s race was in hagerstown, md.  for those who don’t know it, all you need to do is drive out to the boonies, and then go an hour further.  i left my house at 7 a.m. to make sure i got out there in time.
 
when i got there i realized that after replacing my bearings i’d forgotten to reinstall my freewheel (don’t do drugs kids).  shit.  with no chance of driving back to get it and no replacement wheel i was stuck riding fixed.  with a ratio of 42/16 (71.3 gear inches), which is just stupid high for a cross race.
 
barry, a friend of the shop very awesomely offered the use of his 10 speed road wheel, and if i’d had some time and tools i’d probably have played with the spacers to make it singlespeedable.  but it was time to get to the line and there was no way my 1/8″ chain was going to work on a 10 sp cassette so i accepted my fate.  you go to war with the army you have, right?
 
i lined up at the back.  i wasn’t sure how this was all going to go off but i was pretty sure i wasn’t going to contend for this one.  i certainly didn’t want my stupidity to lead to a crash so i decided to take it conservatively for the first lap.
 
i spent most of that first lap picking places to pass, and by the end i felt like i was in the top 3/4, maybe 2/3.  the second lap was mostly pacing the guys i was riding around, and anticipating bad corners/dismounts. 
 
i was definitely a crowd favorite, i got a lot of “yeah fixed gear!” and one guy said “you’ve got to be kidding me” as i passed him.
 
as i was rounding the corner towards the end of the second lap i heard a bell that was definitely not of the cow variety.  and through the nonsense that he was spewing i heard the announcer say “1 lap left!”  i hadn’t been passed so i knew i hadn’t been lapped.  could this really be a three lap race?
 
the last lap my knees were really starting to hurt.  i picked off a couple more guys and the finish was flat and paved so my equipment was actually appropriate for the final sprint.  turns out the race was indeed short, about 32 minutes for me.
 
after the race i was looking at the results and didn’t see my number after a quick scan.  one more, still nothing.  i was looking where i thought i’d placed, between 30th and 55th place.  great, two races in a row they didn’t even count me.  i was starting to have serious doubts about the officiating of these races when someone said “hey dude, you got 23rd.”  and sure enough, there i was.  that would mean that i did about the same on a fixed gear with a ridiculous ratio as i’d done on a reasonably geared freewheel two weeks ago.  which i guess is an improvement if you choose to look at it that way.
 
i’ve really been enjoying racing singlespeed, and fixed was an adventure, but i must admit i’ve got my eye on a gearie frame.  we’ll see if it materializes this season or if it turns into a winter project.  either way i’m stoked to line up for the next one.
 
-john

hey guys,

sorry for the radio silence, but a bunch of us were doing the ms150 this past weekend.

we’re going to do another practice on monday, meet at the shop at 6.

also there’s a race on saturday in hagerstown.  i don’t think many of us are headed up there but shoot me an email if you’re interested.  (it’s an hour and a half drive and the men’s 4 starts at 10 am)

see you on monday!

On Wednesday, September 26th, we are going to switch things up a little and make the trek out to College Park to ride the UMD campus with some people from Proteus. The laps there are bigger, and the campus is lit well at night.

I really encourage everybody to try to make it to this ride, it is going to be a lot of fun. We will be bringing out our hurdles as well.

Meet at the Comcast Center between 7 and 7:30. We are going to start riding at 7:30, so if you don’t make it there by then, give me a call, my phone will be in my jersey.

-Ryan

(and if you don’t have my number, you can find it in my forum profile)

it’s dry. it sprinkled a little bit while we were riding and there was some dew on the grass but i’d expect a fast course with very little mud.

i’ll use this video for reference.

the run up is not steep at all. according to vpower, the way they make you run is to put a hurdle at the bottom of it.

this course has several turnarounds. one of them is a the top of a hill, and you hop over a wooden barrier (about 18 inches tall) then around a tree and back over the barrier. you can see it at the 45 second mark in the video. those guys are hopping right over it, but i’m short so i was actually stepping on it and then over, like the kid in the ncvc jersey a bit later. it’s about ten inches deep, so watch your shins if you jump it and it’s old and wood, so it’ll get slippery if it gets wet at all.

the sand pit is just two volleyball courts. you get a really good look at it at 2:55 in the video. there’s a hairpin turn in the middle of one court so it seems like you’ll have to dismout for that. the sand itself is deep in the middle but actually ridable (although the sounds my bike made after i rode through were not happy sounds).

and then there’s one hairpin turn down by the road that goes straight down and up a short but steep hill. still not sure if i’m gonna ride or run it, we’ll see how the tape is laid out.

getting there wasn’t too bad. the directions on the flyer kind of suck because they tell you how to get there from the north side of the baltimore beltway.

google maps took me up the bw parkway and then up a few one way streets to get to the park. not a bad route, but you can’t go back the same way.

from the bw parkway:

Continue on N Paca St 0.2 mi

Slight left to stay on N Paca St 75 ft

Continue on Mcculloh St 2.0 mi

Turn right at Gwynns Falls Pkwy 135 ft

Sharp right at Pimlico Dr 0.3 mi

Turn left at Swann Dr 0.2 mi

Turn left at Mansion House Rd 0.3 mi

google maps/directions call mansion house road duck pond dr, but i promise you the sign says mansion house. park on the side of the road (not the grass) and you should see registration.

to get back i actually went out the other side of the park and kludged my way back to 95. but from this map it seems like the better way would be to take druid hill ave. (one way, parallel to mculloh) to a right on mlk, then there’s an exit for russell street. then right on paca, and that’ll turn into the bw parkway south.

I just received confirmation that there are slots still available for the cat IV races.  Race day registration begins at 8:00 a.m. and the race starts at 10 a.m.  If you’re thinking about coming but need a ride then get thee to the forum and make some noise!  We’ll take you and bring you home.

We’ll meet as the shop closes and head out the C&O for about an hour then turn around.  Come get your miles in before the next weekend’s race in Baltimore.

We’re going to meet at the shop (1412 Q St. NW Washington DC) and work on mounts, dismounts and carrying.  Same format as last time but at the end we’ll do a few “big laps” to more closely simulate race situations.

Hey guys, John here.  The new site’s up, just in time for the season.  Here’s where we will be announcing practices, races, and team news.  You can subscribe by email, RSS, or add it to your Google homepage.

It’s cross season, get stoked!