Cyclocross: Racing!


Well... sort of really. More like stories of personal suffering all in the name of good clean fun! I am not even going to try to explain to you how to dismount, shoulder, & remount the bike as I am not good at it the least bit!

Cyclocross Racing!

from the website The Mad Dog Media Doesn't that say it all at times?

2003 Races
In order to get these results (1 DNF & 2 dead last finishes), I drove well in excess of 900km or 560miles, total round trip mileage, if you can believe that. I brought along my good friend, Robert, to my first race for moral support. At that race, I met the good folks from The Montreal Irregulars whom I campaigned with during my next 2 races.
Others have similar stories, but on my first race ever, I had a falling out with this tree. Perhaps you know of Charlie Brown & Lucy, of The Peanuts & the famous football kick? Well, I would dare say that this tree was out to get me. "Look! Here comes a chinese guy! When he gets close, stick your limb out! Here he comes... Just a little closer...Now!... Did you see him fly... Wonder if he will come around again...."  Three times at the same spot!!!
This does not count the various stumbles & near misses all over the course, where I didn't land in the dirt, the mud, the sand, fall off the bridge, fall backwards on the run-ups, ....
In another race, there was THE ONE & ONLY lamp post, next to a muddy/slushy section, after a nice solid run on a paved path. Of course, after so many laps of just riding by, a slight loss of traction due to all the muck stuck in the tires (Michelin Jets) & "Bang!", right into the post! Did the quick get yourself up & look around fast & ..... Nobody saw me!
Coupe de Quebec, 5th Race near Mirabel, DNF

The Ottawa Bicycle Club CX series, 10th Upper Canada & 12th Terry Fox races, dead last in both races, Vet A class  Cumulative results, I ended up tied for 22nd out of 36!!! What a hoot!!


I would like to thank mtbkanata.com for these fine photos of me, 2003 OBC CX Series, 12th Race, Mooney's Bay. Just to confirm, yes, I was suffering quite a bit.


2004 Races
September 26th, 2004. Sherbrooke.
For the honor & glory of the last man to cross the finish line, the Sherbrooke race is completed!
All in all, it was a very good experience & most of the MSCXX team did well (1 fellow finished 2nd place in his cat). I even came home with a case of McAuslan beer (a team sponsor) as we passed out as many as we could & when there were no more takers, members got to bring them home.
We got 8 riders (over several categories) + 2 fellows brought their kids for the pee-wee race! That was really fun! It was a nice large contingent of Montrealers!
It was a lovely day in the Sherbrooke, Quebec (about 200km east of Montreal). The sun was out & it was warm, very strange weather for CX indeed for this part of Canada. Last year race weather was (1)cold & rain, (2)near freezing cold, & (3)snowing freezing cold. Under these coniditions, I was always in long pants & jackets. Wearing shorts & shirt seemed a bit weird..
The course had everything except sand. A little mud here & there, singletrack, killer switchbacks, a monster runup (loose dirt, exposed rocks & tree roots), under a footbridge crossing: down/up the tree roots/exposed rock/loose dirt embankment, a really fast trail descent, big & small climbs. On one small climb, if you went to fast, you will pop a wheelie at the top & had better not fall backwards. In my case, I had just enough to get to the top & plant a foot down so that I don't roll backwards. The large climbs always involved loose dirt, tree roots & exposed rocks. I think the only area that was flat was the start/finish area & even then, there was a slight grade, uphill. Any of the downhills involved trails (unless you cross the road), some less bumpy & others, will knock you about.
As for the actual racing, 45min + 1 lap, I guess with pre-race jitters, I went out hard on the first 2 laps (keeping up with the back of the pack instead of riding my own pace) & paid the price for my enthusiasm for the rest of the race. My heart rate was in max overdrive, could even feel it thumping in my ears & I was starving for oxygen! I struggled mightily on the climbs, & was nearly bounced off the bike twice on the singletrack. The switchbacks, with nice short sharp turns & all uphill, were deadly for me, I managed to complete it twice & the balance, I shouldered or pushed.
After-race beer was great & another teammate brought fresh fruit!
Here's the bonus! I did not crash & go down in this race!
I must be improving!
I finished 8th, Master A in my category. Another masterful display of total domination & unchallenged supremacy at the back of the pack!
October 3rd, 2004. Bromont.
Mission accomplished! Total dominance & supremacy of last place in the Masters category was hard fought & maintained. The field turn out was really great & most importantly, we must give a huge hand of applause to the MSCXX Development Team, which put 2 members on the podium 2 weeks in a row!
The race was held at the Bromont facilities of the Canadian National Training Center . The course was well laid out with some fairly open sections with some off camber switchbacks, some fairly heavy single track through the forest (mountain/jungle cross), some sandy climbs & descents into a bmx berm (!) to return in the opposite direction, & most noticeable, a water crossing ("le ditch", in french).
I had a little trouble in the single track as the back wheel was bouncing about all over but once you get used to it, it was par for the course. Luckily, no crash this week either (Progresss!) especially at the water crossing. Jump the barrier, shoulder the bike, down a grassy embankment, jump about 3 feet of water to reach the opposite side and make your run up. This quickly became a semi amphibious muddy assault on the opposite embankment as the race progressed.
Here are some pics provided by the good folks of Espoirs de Laval. I'm on page 4, 2nd to last image.
Much cheering on from fellow racers & politeness! Great facilities at the National Training Center too.



Not exactly "The Charge of the Light Brigade", but a very hard attempt at it. To whom ever took these pics, Thank You & Very Much Appreciated!
Oct 16th, 2004. Laval/Mirabel
The great gods of cyclocross looked down from their heights & were pleased with the labours of their minions over the last 3 weeks. In return for such pleasure, the great gods of cyclocross opened the skies to a most fierce rain the night before & into the early morning. Among the great forest, in the trails & the mud, the gathered warriors rejoiced & paid hommage.
Mission accomplished! Still ruling the back of the pack, with an iron fist! A good CX race was had with mud & downed leaves all over the course. It was impossible to stay clean, at least, not me. We had a spectacular turn out of the MSCXX crew & we were not at full strength yet (3 members were notably absent). Once again, the youngsters paved the way with medals & influenced some of the fellows as well with their winning ways.
It was the same course as last year, off the paved bike bath, over a half burried drainage pipe, a set of barriers, back on to the paved path, into the single track (watch out for the mud) & got bounced about fairly hard, onto a hard packed trail with some sandy portions, gravel road, into the bush again, up the run-up (strangely enough, though the same miserable sand dune, I did not have any problems with it this year), ride down the opposite side, accross a slippery footbridge, & back to the start/finish line. 2km.
A good time was had by all & good cheer.

Roster (Old guys, left to right): Little Dave, Cliff, Tim, Daniel, Andre, Sam, Matt, Mike, Paolo, Jay, Medium Dave
Roster (young guys): The Borden & Landsman kids
This pic was taken by Matt Friedman, an all around good fellow & Team Manager of MSCxX, shortly after the race. The mud & goop was stuck all over the lower frame, on the rims, all over the cranks & pedals, pretty much just about everywhere.
Oct 23rd, 2004. I passed the MSCxX team shop this morning looking to buy a jersey. Support the team thing philosophy & to look sort of team-like. Matt was working there & gave me a MSCxX Team freeride jersey. Just my style too! I can wear it as a normal t-shirt in warm weather or over a sweatshirt in cool weather. Gotta love it!!! Looks really cool & has the added benefit of being a limited run, uniqueness!
Oct 31st, 2004. Happy Halloween!
Dominate, the word of the day! Not that it really applies to me though. I still maintain an iron clad grip on Dead Last!
It was a nice warm day with sun beaming down early before the start & ominous looking clouds for the start of the race. Even with the rather large rainfall in Ottawa the day before, the course was remarkable dry. I would guess that the mass start had well over 60 riders (all age groups including the little ones) going like mad until the 1st barrier, followed by a steep run up which settled the leaders from everyone else. The course was a long one at about 3.5km/lap. The climbs were pretty tough as well as the long run ups. The course was redesign quite a bit compared to last year's race, though I think the snow on the ground last year had much to do about it. The wind was a very big factor as well blowing off the canal/river.
A funny note, I was the veteran member of MSCxX Team 2 Ottawa. The other 2 fellows I was with have never raced with OBC & there were a few OBCers which I recognized from last year & hand shaking was the order of the day. I even got to wear my brand new team jersey!
I was even photogenic with my brand new jersey in my "race action" shot today!!! It was originally a long pants type of day but that all changed after practics lap 1. There was no way I wanted to do practice lap 2, even though there was time to spare.

Once again, I would like to thank the good folks, Joe actually, of MTB Kanata for their hard work & dedication for these wonderful pictures. I may not be a dedicated racer but these little things make me come back for more.
Nov 1st, 2004. I wrote the good folks at MTB Kanata & they sent me the super size of the first & second posted above. The thing is huge at 2megs. Again, Thank You Very Much!
November 7th, 2004. Upper Canada Village / Morrisburg. Another glorious race day for the Black & Blues have come to past & I came out victorious! Still dominating the back of the pack! We got to Upper Canada / Morrisburg with 1 hr to spare. The time was used wisely to reconnoiter the course & get a few practice laps in. It was wide open as to be expected from last year's experience as well as other OBC CX races. The available land was put to good use with twisty course laid out. An interesting portion was a very ingenious (or devilish) climbing switchback on the one & only hill in the area. As expected too, the assault on the hill was made several times over the space of 1 lap with some recovery decents thrown in their for good measure. The general opinion of the veterans from last season's campaign is that the course is somewhat longer.
The terrain was wet from the rains from the previous nights & can be described in 2 words appropriately: WET GRASS. Not enough to splash the rider but enough to slow the bike down! Now, the onto the weather conditions: WIND, lots & lots of it due to an incoming weather front! I would hazard a guess that wind gusts of 30-50kph pelted all the riders along the river, of which you suffered dearly in 1 direction & worked in your favour in the other. The devilish switchback? It was into the wind as you rode up diagonally along the hill! It was a cool day but still, everyone worked up a huge sweat on the practice laps.

2005 Races
Sept. 25th, 2005. Coupe de Quebec Cyclocross, Race 2 in Sherbrooke, QC
The day started off at 7:00am with the usual loading up the car with the bike & all other necessities that goes with cyclocross, complete change of clothing, spare shoes, extra tools & the air pump. Out the door by 7:30 & off to fetch 2 teammates. By 8:00 we were fully loaded & moving as quickly as my little car can with 3 people, all the junk & 3 bikes up on the roof. Let me say this, the 91 Civic was no ball of fire moving down the highway. We got into Sherbrooke, QC by 10:00 & proceeded to registration to get that out of the way. I had to purchase my UCI license for the season as well.
By the time we off loaded the bikes, & got ourselves into race mode, the whole team was assembled. We were 10 in total, 7 adults & 3 kids. Of the 7 adults, 6 were semi pro riders & the other, hard core triathlete (olympic & half iron stuff in his palmares) trying cyclocross for fun. These are my teammates. The other participants? All semi pro road racers with the odd semi pro mtb guy as well.
The course description:
More or less a dry course as there was no rain. The sky did threaten though. From a sprint start (is there any other kind?) up the only small paved section & onto the grass next to the road. Into the woods with some choppy single track, not bad though. Out of the woods & onto a gravel parking lot for all of 10meters before diving into the woods again. Really rough singletrack from here on & lots of twisting back & forth. Ditch crossing but rideable & you get some mud splatter. Up the other side & up the hill, yet more roots & rocks to navigate over. Fallen log, first dismount, shoulder & run further uphill past the rather huge tree root embankment. Remount & more uphill to ride with a small dip to collect some speed before hitting 2 major but very short uphill climbs with the first around 30 degree slope & the last being past 50 (if not 60)degrees. Ugh! Near total exhaustion at this point Near wheelie on the last slop & big foot plant on the top (to keep from rolling back or falling over) & sharp right turn. Grassy descent for a few meters & 2nd dismount over a barrier, suitcase carry the bike & hop over & quick remount. Sharp right turn & long high speed descent down a trail (maxed at 38kph but could have easily topped 45kph if not more) & back out into the open field with a sharp right turn but able to carry some speed. Over a crush gravel drainage area & pickup some speed. Left turn, with a berm assist (beautiful!). Another left & hop onto the paved area once again for a short ride, hop the sidewalk ramp into a big grassy descent before transition to a sweeping right gravel road. A series of switchbacks, barrier dismount/remount, followed by another series of inclined switchbacks & onto the pavment.
1 lap completed & I am just about spent. I completed the race (4 more laps, I think) knowing full well that I am last. My ironclad grip on last place is firmly solidified! For all my experiences at the recent Canadian Sprint Du & the 10km in Montreal, those were nothing! This is one of the absolute worst that I have ever felt while racing.
Between the hard climbing, the constant speed & terrain changes, my whole body got a good work out. I was near out of breathe & I am certain that I was near/max hear rate at certain portions of the race. After 2 laps, the dismounts/remounts were complete struggle & the legs were not able to spin nor run.
All in all, it was a good race Comeraderie amoung racers were incredible with many "Thank You"'s for moving off the racing line when the fast movers went by & many words of encouragement received too!
Next week, we will be in Laval, QC for more action & human suffering, all in the name of fun! Here is the after race pic! I could barely walk or ride at this point.

Sept. 27th, 2005. In good humour, one of the fellows over at www.RunningMania.com described my future goal like this:
"But you know people will be gunning for your last place finish now. It's hard to stay on the bottom! You going to have to not train even harder next year! There's always some older guy not trying hard to knock you off. I think you have the lack of focus to stay on the bottom for years to come! You Da Man"
Personally, I love stuff like this! Keeps me going & more importantly, laughing & having fun! Thank You drghfx!
October 2nd, 2005. Coupe de Quebec Cyclocross, Race 3 in Mirabel, QC
This the 3rd race in the series but only the 2nd for me. What a spectacular day! The sun was out & not a cloud in the sky! It must have been about +18 when we arrived at 11:00am & felt that much more warmer in the sun. I can only imagine that the Montreal runners at The Run For The Cure had a fantastic run in the sun & peaple were cheering & rejoicing.
Great! Except that THIS IS NOT cyclocross weather!!! The gods of cyclocross nearly abandoned us today. No rain! No clouds! No snow! They did make a good appearance deep in the woods though.....
1 Lap Description
From the paved section at the start finish line, it was a sprint start. This time all the Junior, Senior, Master Men & Women started en masse, about 40 riders in all. A short sprint & a sharp left turn into the park to reverse the direction. Over the grass & a sharp right turn to reverse the direction again. Dismount, shoulder, run & jump a ditch filled with mud & remount. Over the small roots, before getting back into the open grassy area, a few more turns, dismount & run up a nearly vertical 20ft sand hill to the top, remount & zoom down the other side.
Generally it would have been nice to carry speed but a sharp left awaits at the bottom of the small hill so brakes on all the way or pile into the picnic tables there. Back into the woods & more twisty single track until a nice left back onto a crushed gravel path. Jitter along the path & a sharp left onto a sand path. Pass through a rather large kids fort (really weird) & continue down the sand path.
Left turn into major single track. The roots were large & riders were tossed around. It was bad enough but then deep in the woods, quite a few stretches in there can only be described as a mud bog (some places 1/4 to 1/3 of the wheel went in) with big tree roots in the middle. Not just 1 mud bog but 3!!! The reduced speed in the single track did not allow for sufficient speed build up to power through the stuff. Much easier to dismount & run it! Out of the single track/mud bogs & onto a paved (!) path. Speed down the path, sharp right, sharp left back onto the grass. Out onto the open area, sharp left or end up in a lake, bounce over a foot bridge & follow the lake a bit. Dismount, shoulder the bike & run over 2 barriers, remount & sharp right to reverse direction back into the woods. Bounce hard over a half sunken drainage pipe & through a patch of gravel before regaining the paved path & aim for the start/finish line.

Once again, I was unable to keep track of my laps but 8 seems about right. I went down once at the the ditch jump but luckily me left hand caught the tree before I could really splat! into the mud there. As for the mud bogs, the bike went down once minus the rider (quite the acrobatic feat here!), I was flailing the arms twice to keep from falling, nearly lost my left shoe on one lap as the mud was sucking pretty hard on it, & nearly toppled over on another lap when the bike got caught in the bog & it stopped my forward progress by foot.
I finished & had fun! Quite exhausted right now....
October 15th, 2005. Coupe de Quebec Cyclocross, Race 6 in Bromont, QC
Weather conditions:
+10 or so & it was either rain & driving rain in the wind! Never mind the stuff falling off the trees.
Amanda & I got on site about 1hr before the start of the kids event to find out that all events will have the same start time due to the weather conditions. This was fine for all riders as it was really wet out.
I took the precaution of wearing a garbage bag (t-shirt under the garbage bag) - Thank You Amanda - under my jersey with the cutouts for the head & arms. A really good move as it kept me warm but not necessarily dry. I made 2 practice laps to scout/recon the course for the dismounts & the ditch jump. I ended up shivering for the start of the race as my body cooled down rapidly in the rain. I think everyone was shivering.
1 Lap Course Description:
From the start/finish line in front of the cycling center building. Head straight along a very loose & rather fine crushed path & turn left to double back on the path before turning a right to break out long the main road. Sprint quickly for about 50-75meters before making a right turn into the field. Right turn to parallel the road back to towards the start area. Over the grassy field & dismount to run up & around a very short but severely slanted hill (off camber?). Remount & bomb down the back side of the hill & sharp left/right to get by the cycling center building. Move along the field to the back & left into a sharp right switchback. Proceed to a dismount, down & jump the ditch, remount & circle the velodrome & finally into the woods. Through the twisty trail system & popout through a series of sharp & steeply sloped switchbacks to come back to the otherside of the velodrome. Move along the path & dismount for a set of 3 barriers, remount & some more switchbacks before arriving down the fine crushed gravel path to arrive at the start/finish line.
There was only 1 way to describe race conditions. Muddy! A better descriptive is that the mud ranged from thick oatmeal to soup! The only nice/clean portion of the whole race was on the road! After lap 1, the whole course was mud. Period. There were sections that were totally unrideable & I dismounted to stumble through them & that was barely do-able at best & nearly lost my shoes at certain points for my efforts. Remember, this is a cylocross race & we are supposed to ride 90% of the time but the mud running sections were about 30 meters at a stretch & this does not include the natural or man made barrier networks. I think I rode about 65% & stumbled the balance.
The ditch crossing was successful on lap 1 & after that, jumped right down square in the middle into a foot of water/mud/silt whatever else was down there & clambered up the deteriorated slope on the opposite side. I could not see my skin or shoe from shorts on down. Just mud, on top of mud. The only part of me that was not covered in mud was under the garbage bag. I had much splatter on my helmet, goggles were useless, both arms were covered in goo so there was no hope in wiping the crap off your face either.
After the race at the cleaning area (garden hose), I hosed all the crap off the bike & lucky for me, Paul's wife was nearby & she offered to hose all the crap off of me. Still, I had to use the thumb trick to get more hose pressure to get the crap off & out of my shoes! My poor trail runners will never be the same again....
I survived 1 crash but that in itself was funny. I took a sharp left turn to descend a sloped switchback. The bike slid on the grass/mud/collected water & when the bike regained traction & dug in hard, I landed very heavily in my saddle. Kinda painful .....
I have never experienced race conditions like this ever. After every lap, I kept looking at the cycling center building & wondering if I should pack it in.... only to go by it & do the same again & again until it was mercifully over. I can honestly say that rain or snow will never bother me again. In case you are curious, another vigorous defense of last place.
Is this a taste of Belgium weather for cyclocross? If so, we have all been ordained. Everyone looked fairly beatup at the end. even though we were not permitted to take showers, I went to the wash/change room & all the guys were either stepping in/out of the showers. Well, when in Rome... A most beautiful hot shower & though I did not have a towel, my sweatshirt did it's duty! A few fellows did not take a hot shower & it showed.
Note: Garbage bags will now be part of my race kit!
October 18th, 2005. Pictures!!!


2006 Races
I posted all kinds of tidbits on cyclocross throughout 2006 over at www.RuningMania.com 2006 Cyclocross Resources, Info & News
Sept 17th, 2006. Cyclocross race 1 in Sutton, QC
A single lap description
From the start, uphill on a slight gradient on a dirt road. The uphill goes more up when you hit the tree line & then the grass begins. The grass looks like it could use a cut & that's ths stuff on the race groove. If you venture off the race groove... say by taking turns too wide, the grass is really tall .. like halfway up your calf.. & it's wet so for the most part, so its more like mushed down tall-ish grass. The organizers made good use of the erratic terrain for switchbacks (doubling back the same way you came in). Entering the 3 barriers were a slight uphill slope & of course, the barriers itself were also on a slight uphill slope. Into the trees (the brown area) once again, not much in terms of single track but pretty rough going with lost of small protruding rocks all over, a bit slippery as well. Most of it was downhill. Out of the trees & once again into long switchbacks (they were not winding like the map but sharp 180 turns!), & of course, uphill/downhill, uphill/downhill, ... but ever progressing downhill. Finally out onto the road past the parking area & onto the gravel raod but completely on the bottom. Uphill once again until a left/right switchback... in very unrideable deep sand to kill the legs, & back on the road for more ... uphill to the start/finish area.
Throught the grassy areas, it was bumpy & very pitted. This is once race where natural occuring obstacles were all over the place that you really wanted to avoid at all costs... cow dung! Yup! Farm land...
I did 1 practice lap before the race to recon the course & all was well. On lap 1 of the race, I was being rattle pretty hard in the deep trees among the rocks, etc. & took once bounce really bad... I didn't go down but my left knee was not very happy. I struggled on to complete the lap to see how I & my knee would fare but Lefty had enough so my day was over
On the upside, the suffering was merciless. You could not gain any momentum or carry any speed into the turns. It was another gut wrneching, near barfing, & trying to suck oxygen effort of a race. I won a nice door prize, Louis Garneau winter cycling gloves!
I wonder if my knee will take next week's punishment. If not, this could mean the end of my 2006 season. Lots of ice tonight

My friend, Jean Patrice, a fireman serving Ville de Montreal.
Going from looking good... to starting to suffer... in a world of hurt!

Since I was a lame duck, might as well do the photography thing!
Sept 23rd, 2006. Cyclocross race 2 in Chateauguay, QC
The weather can be described in one word: Rain. Either its was light or just plain old rain. The gods have smiled upon this poor soul on this weekend of cyclocross action
The race venue was on an ecological center in Chateauguay, QC which is just south of the island of Montreal. It is the second closest race to my home. The lap begins off the start/finish line. It is a nice & very, very long straight away on a dirt path underneath a full canopy of trees. They cut the path off at the distance & force a turn into a small clearing & onto a small wooden foot bridge, up & over, & sweep a corner to the first barrier (dismount, run/jump, remount). Back into the woods we go, single track/dirt path (sometimes wide enough for one bike to make it through between 2 sets of trees) & much bouncing about in the steep & rather rocky sections. Out of the trees, into the clearing & the only hill/embankment in sight coming up. The made this embankment into 2 switchbacks. Assault 1 consists of a barrier to force a dismount & run up the embankment, once on top, remount & bomb down the side. Assault 2 was a sharp reverse turn heading back to the embankment with no barrier this time but it didn't matter, dismount & puch up the embankment. On top again, remount again, bomb down the opposite side for a nice tight right hand turn to the start/finish line to do it all over again.
The Racing: Did I mention it was raining? Rain collects in certain spots as rather brown soupy looking stuff in the woods. Now, with a nice dirt trail & cyclists tearing up & down it like crazed rabbits, ruts develop, ruts fill with water, turns to thick gooey stickey mud or just plain old lakes of soupy mud. The single track woods was even in worse shape, I would easily say that any ditch on the race line filled with water making most about 3-4 inches deep & a few feet wide either way. Guess what? Through it you go & pray there's traction underneath.
Much heavy chugging going on through out the race. The course might have been better with the exception that the kids raced first, & then the women & older classes went next. Due to my age, I am lumped in with the Elite & the fast guys.... Hooray for me. On to the good stuff that everyone is waiting for! I crashed! Not once but twice! Crash 1: On the practice/recon lap Deep in the single track & I was not watching my speed on a steep decent, the front wheel lost grip on a bounce & washed out in the mud. Endo! Right over the bar & into the good stuff. No road rash. Crash 2: 2nd to last lap in the race, deep in the single track, I was negotiating a right hand berm trying desperately not to have to ride through the deepest & longest of the mud pits. The negotiations failed. Back tire lost grip & washed out, speed to low to maintain forward momentum & into the mud pit we go! Covered in goo but it did help cool me down. No road rash ..... again
In the end, I finished!!!! Last!!!!!
Once again, I have felt bad during duathlon & running races but nothing, absolutely nothing compares to this. In a 1 hour heart beating through the ears type of race & with the ever constant change in race pace & terrain, it just beats the complete heck out of me. I even had some good support & cheer from the locals who attended. A few with digital cameras are with the club who put the race on & I hope to find a few good pics of me in various stages of self-torture
It would have been a truly great day but I was fighting a cold (in the pouring rain... not particularly smart...), & my left knee was trying to get my attention every so often. I am not going to the next 2 races out in Quebec City as it is too far for me & really could use the time to heal.
Oct. 15th, 2006. Cyclocross race 3 in Terrebonne, QC
The day started out at the gym. It was leg day with squats & leg presses on the menu. I even hopped on the dreadmill to do the speed interval thingy on it. Unlike most who are conserving energy on race day, I chose to expend some at the gym! I try to approach everything with an open mind... perhaps not a particularly smart mind, but an open one! So with the gym done, the car loaded & off we go to grab a friend who is my witness (& camera guy) to my foolery of the day.
Get to the race site & do the registration thing. Since it was being presented by Martin Swiss, whom I am affiliated with, they waved my registartion fee. Woo! Hoo! A freebie!!! Now that the official stuff is taken care of, the hunt is on for breakfast. We left the race site & got to Chez Cora which was packed full. So, right out the door we go to the neighbouring restaurant for some scramble eggs, bacon, homefries, toast & coffee... MmmmM! Happy & full once again! Hop back in the car & back to race site!

Lap Description (from pre-ride)
Start at the parking lot, jump a side walk onto the gravel, & sharp switchback to reverse the direction, through mud, & another to reverse directions once again to find a rather long sand pit. Off the bike & carry or push through it. Reverse direction on a climb to a berm assisted reverse, through mud & start the climb up open field single track trail to the first of many short sharp (about 45deg) climbs which requires full tilt off the saddle efforts (which applied for every short climb ), roll down the backside & continue the ascent. Top of the ascent, descend into the forest single track & into a mud filled right hand turn to start climbing once again until the flat part. Down the mud filled trail & over a bridge, until it is too steep for riding, dismount & shoulder the bike for the continual ascent & not straight up either! Zig zagging along the way to top & breakout of the forest into wide open grass fields. Much riding around the park later with a barrier forced dismount, we hit the hill side for some up to the top/down to the bottom X 2 switchbacks. Calm riding once again until the major full speed descent to the next sharp rise to ascend.
After this, the organizeers (my home team of Martin Swiss) decided to go over the trenches (berm, flat part, berm) of a toboggan run, 3 trenches to be exact. So, up & over, up & over, & up & over just to do it all again as a switchback. Finally, descend in 1 of the toboggan runs & back to the parking lot ... to do this all over again....
From the get go, on lap 1, I was already dying. Panting heavily over every forced exertion... du's are so much easier in comparison The course forced so many pace changes & though I do not have a heart rate monitor, I know I was at VO2max. This was IT. It was a question of recovering while riding through the field of semi-wet grass & then suffering on all the climbs.

Living up to my name & hard earned reputation:
Crash 1 happened at the sand pit. I was carrying speed & made an attempt to ride through it. 30ft is too far to carry speed & down we went. Crash 2 was in the forest single track on the descent. Again, carrying speed & could not make the righthand turn to start the ascent & did the superman. Crash 3 was after the long fast downhill & the sharp ascent. The course was being pounded on quite hard & ruts developed... so the fronmt wheel buried itself in & over the bar we went. Since the climb was so sharp, I got my habd & leg down before anything happened. Crash 4 was in the trenchworks. After having successful negotiated this section in the practice & 2 race laps, my luck ran out. Being extremely exhausted & out of breathe, I did not pull up on the handlebar hard enough to pop the front wheel onto the berm, endo we went with the bike landing on top of me on the other side of the berm... at least I got over it but some what less gracefully than the other laps.
I made it through 4 laps & not only got my last place finish but I also got the famed Lanterne Rouge for being the last rider on the course. All in all, a great day was had!


2007 Races
& the long wait is on ..... but as I waited, I posted all kinds of tidbits on cyclocross throughout 2007 over at www.RuningMania.com 2007 Cyclocross Resources, Info & News
Sept.30th, 2007. Cyclocross Series Race 2 (#1 for me) Chateauguay, QC. The long wait is over!
I have joined the ranks of Master B this season & could not be more happier than to get out of Master A / Elite! Still, the experience there was very humbling to say the least.
No rain this year. One more time, no rain this year. Still, there was plenty of mud to pass around if need be!
The day started off with a nice cool +6c. Got to the sight & had time to preride the course once to familiarize myself with the terrain & the race line(s).

1 Lap Description
Velo Sud Ouest did a splendid job preparing the race course. Once again, the race venue was at the ecological center in Chateauguay, QC which is just south of the island of Montreal. The lap begins off the start/finish line. It is a nice & very, very long straight away on a dirt path underneath a full canopy of trees. A sharp right hand turn ended the only nice straightaway on the course. The first set of barriers forcing a dismounted run is encountered & it's a triple. Back onto the bike & right into the single track. Even though it rained a few days ago, enough water & dew still pooled up enough for mud to be omni present. Once again, certain sections of the single track is only 1 bike width... no passing & trees off to either side made it dicey to thread through. Out of the trees & singletrack, into the clearing & sweep right to the only hill in sight coming up. Another barrier forced dismount & run up to the top of the hill, remount & fly down to sweep by the start finish area. Keep on going along the gravel parking lot & down into the field we go. The snow (a nice sweet touch) at the bottom of the decent was kindly donated by the local ice rink which uses the same parking lot. Through the field to make a nice 180 loop to pint back to the start/finish line & lap 1 is in the books.

The Race
I trouble gathering myself today at the start line. I was really nervous & had the leg shaking going on. Strange really as I am a veteran of many races but still, the leg was shaking.
Did the usual thing at the start, the back of the pack we went. On the sound of the bell, away we went. I actually managed to keep in contact with the 2nd to last rider until the big hill run-up just before the start/finish area. But eventually, he got away. Once again, actually quite the familiar & comfortable feeling, I was on my own & racing my own race. Going along, going along, ... the leader laps me & we exchanged pleasentries & all. The same applied for the next few riders as well. But that was it... no one else was blazing by..... strange..... "There's a great disturbance in The Force"
Perhaps I was only racing for 40min today. Perhaps the efforts of 4 duathlons in a row is still in the legs. Perhaps the 12km run last week is paying dividends... I don't know but whatever it may be, I was hanging tough today.
It gets even better. I passed a Master B guy. Yup. You read that right. I actually made a bonafide pass on another racer. Eventually, he caught up & we ended up trading places every so often.
Finally, I got the bell which signalled the final lap! To make it better, it was my turn to be ahead. So, with only one lap to go & still feeling semi sort of ok-ish, time to empty the tank! This only lasted to about the end of the straightaway & the heavy duty suffering began in the barriers & single track. Finally, out of the woods & the big hill runup loomed which gave me the opportunity to see where my adversary was. Of course, he was starting his run up.
This was the only lap that I did feathered the brakes going down instead of grabbing a handful. I wanted the speed this time. Pass the start finish line & only the gravel path & field remained. Picked clean(er) lines & threw everything I had till the finish line. I waited 15-20 seconds until he crossed & we shook hands. What a great day!
After my race, I headed to the car to pack up my junk & head home to catch the 1:00pm NFL games. As I was loading up, a fellow in the Elite/MasterA group flatted (front tire) near me (part of the race course used the side of gravel parking lot). He hollered at me & we diid the NASCAR pitstop thing & exchanged front tires & away he went. Oh well... so much for the 1:00pm football games... Lucky for him it as the front tire as I was likely the only one with an 8spd cassette. I stuck around to watch the racing & to get my wheel back. Mind you, he had the waaaayyyyy better front wheel now in my care, an American Classics Hurricane.
As good fortune would have it, I had the honour of meeting Czeslaw Lukaszewicz. A 4 time Canadian road race champion & an Olympian as well.
Oct 6th, 2007. Cyclocross Series Race 3 (#2 for me) Val-Morin, QC.
The Gods of Cyclocross smiled today!
It was raining the enitre time at the race site & +12c or so

1 Lap Description
Push off the start/finish line in the middle of a field & head immediately for the first run up of a flight of stairs, remount & fly down the hill for a sharpo left turn which puts you onto the main country road. A small but steep out of the saddle effort climb to the flat part of the road, 25m later, left turn onto a nice quick descending trail. Right turn onto a climbing single track & the only double barrier on the course, dismount, & run over the barriers.. keep on going to the top of the ascent & sharp left into the real single track. Lots of trees on either side, many slippery exposed rocks & roots to go over... From this point on, the rest of the course is a blurr of stuff passing by while battling the single track which got really techincal at certain points. No passing at all could be done until we broke into the clearing. I remember parts that I could not descend safely opting for a dismount & run. Other climbs were simply not rideable if you were not attached to the pedals so more dismounted runs. I think I ran as much as I rode! ... & back into the clearing. The field (equal % of sand & grass) where the start finish line is huge so a series of switchbacks were created to snake all over the place to get back to the start/finish line.
It is beyond a doubt a mtb short course.

The Race
Took my usual position at the back of the pack & waited somewhat eagerly for the start. Once we were under way, I stopped freezing & went right into red line trouble from the get go. Certainly did not notice that it was raining the whole time. The lap description just about said it all... Everything was a blurr, breathing really really hard, heart rate was near max, just plain old survival to the bitter end!
Laterne Rouge is secure! I dare someone to take it away from me!
Race Time: 40min
Avg HR 174
Max HR 188
Above the Zone: 36min38
They even had a garden hose! on site. Blue Thunder got a much needed wash No choice really as I had (& still have) sand all over the drivetrain.

The Crashes
On the upside! Yes folks! Back in business! I crashed a few times at various places & twice in the same spot.
Not in any particular order as I really can't remember, there was a berm at a switchback that I went up way too high & basically fell over in the direction I was turning... needed speed (which I was severely lacking) for this type of stuff.
They built a tricky descent deep in the single track. Riders had the choice of a quick straighter descent or a slower twistier one. Did not survive either one without going over the bar. After trying it twice with the same results, I opted to dismount & run after that. Ha! Can't fool me three times!
At one of the various climbs in the singletrack, just did not have in me... down we went.
Bounced off at least 3 tress, another 2 kept me from flying off the bike, & managed to hit one dead on.
The Lady Madonna of Ghisallo was certainly watching over me

After the race... really happy just to survive!

Had a Carbon VS2 Rashguard shirt given to me from HAYABUSAFIGHTWEAR.COM underneath the standard blue & black Martin Swiss shirt. The material is definitely thicker than UnderArmour & certainly did it's job keeping me warm(er). Though not visible, it has a really nice stylized image of a peregrine falcon on the back. Made in Canada too!

Here are some comments from my good friends on RuningMania.com!
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 6:51 pm Post subject:
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Nice to see that you are becoming at one with nature.
I know you love this land. But do you really have to throw yourself at it?
I really love stuff like this! It's what keeps me going!
Oct 7th, 2007. Cyclocross Series Race 4 (#3 for me) Terrebonne, QC.
It is a double cross weekend! 2 races in 2 days! This time, Terrebonne, QC
1 Lap Description
Off the starting chute & around the Admin building we go! Circle in front & attack a small climb for some but out of the saddle effort for me, double back, dismount & run through the sand bank breathing hard. Back onto the bike & double back up a small hill & once again up a bigger hill.... more out of the saddle efforts. Half way up, we encounter the first barrier & off the bike we go again. Shoulder & run for it. Pretty darn steep as I am huffying & puffing really hard now. Remount at the top, peek at the HRM ..reading 180's, go through another series of switchbacks to encounter another dismounted barrier. Back in the saddle & off it once once again & max out of the saddle effort attack a climb with a sharp decent down a rutted groove. Another long hill to climb to the flats a top of the tobbogan run. Breathing & heart rate are pretty much at max. Descend down another rutted path half way dow the run & cross over 3 berms one way & back again in the reverse direction before the big high speed, heart thumping, death grip on the handlebar, descent to the bottom. A small hook around another building before a long winding turn with small jump back onto the driveway & head back to the Admin building finish line!
Now, a few more times & it's over

The Race
I found this course much tougher than the one from yesterday. Much climbing to do & wearing plain old shoes made for a difficult day. I will reconsider my position over the winter regarding clipless & Time ATAC pedals might be in my future. I had fun chatting up with Jenny from The Cyclery (Ottawa, ON) on the first lap as this was her first race. Eventually, she got away on the constant climbs on lap 2. After that, once again, on my own! I think about half the field lapped me today as the conditions were dry & no mud to speak of .... weird considering how much rain fell the day before.
I was in trouble after lap 1. An improvement! Usually, I can't make it out of lap 1. Again, avg HRM was way up there & maxed out at 187. Breathing was very laboured as well. Lots of encouragement from fellow racers & fans alike. I think I got a lot of horrendous looks when they noticed I was wearing plain old shoes With flat pedal. No clipless!
I managed to impress myself at a barrier today. I think this is the first time I managed a clean dismount, jump a barrier without the awkward motion, & remount the bike fluidly albeit not at any sort of high speed! No stutter step....
Progress!
More firsts! This is the first time that I can honestly say that my back is sore after the race.

The Crash
I tried to negotiate the berms once by bike & launched myself over the bike when I cold not pull the front wheel up in time & it just dug in & stopped. Heck of a stunt as I landed on 2 feet!
Jenny from The Cyclery, Ottawa ON!

Trish from The Cyclery, Ottawa ON!



The Espoir rider who inherited Last Man in Master A from me. I salute you for your bravery!







The season is over & I am raced out. I will enjoy the winter commute & will be ready for more next year. It was a great 2007 season!
Dec 4th, 2007





HAYABUSAFIGHTWEAR.COM The peregrine falcon, bird of prey; symbol of speed, power and strength. Spirit of the fighter.



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