bay area super prestige cyclocross #1
photo:chris patterson [bigger]
candlestick point, san francisco
2005/10/02
cat b
11th/49
teammates: joe
i finished better than i felt in this race, which is a good sign for the coming season. got a good start in the second row off the line, and was ahead of the inevitable pileup through the first dirt corners. heard the commotion just a few places behind me. glad to be in front of that. i think i spent most the first half of the race around 6th or 7th, but faded. based on the heartrate i was running at, i thought i'd have more left at the end, but i lost 4 or 5 positions in the last couple laps. i was starting to get the chillies and was just not grabbing and holding wheels through the increasingly windy flats like i usually can. didn't fully bonk, but i don't think i ate quite enough between breakfast and the late start time. with how i was feeling, i thought i finished more around the mid or upper teens, so was glad to see 11th. a little bummed i missed a call up next race by only one slot.
the remainder of this entry is dorky gear talk...
i debuted my new race wheels this race. woo hoo! black anodized phil wood hubs laced to black velocity escape tubular rims with 34mm black-on-black tufo elite tubulars. thank you sponsors! my second and third wheel builds. my first attempt at gluing tubulars. messy, but apparently successful, as they stayed on. i'm glad my kitchen floor is a rental... not the lightest wheelset in the world, but they should be smooth and rugged once the hubs finish breaking in. the 34mm tufos are fat for 'cross tires. was glad to have the cush through the lumps and bumps at candlestick. i need to stay on top of them on the fast loose corners though. maybe it's an illusion, but it doesn't look like tufo scaled up the tread for the larger casing, so the round sidewalls seem to be exposed more and the tread doesn't wrap around to the sides quite as much. got scarily close to losing the front wheel once on the fast, off-camber right hander just before heading back onto the pavement. had to tripod and scratch a bunch of speed to avoid going down. think that will just take some getting used to. if i were to do it again, i think i'd go with 32mm instead. but these are glued on, so they aren't going anywhere...
<bt> - kal-el