1. Cold as hell this morning, starting to feel more like cyclocross season (though personally I prefer sloppy and wet, the cold I can do without, but it IS 'cross).
2. It's in the 413, which gives me an extra reason to schlepp the kids out to my folks house for a visit.
3. My sister lives in Noho which is next door, so another family visit opportunity.
4. REALLY fun, twisty and single-tracky course.
5. I got 7th despite almost coughing up a lung on the last lap's run-up.
Great course-based on some of the comments I heard today regarding the Cheshire, CT race, I am going to see if I can negotiate the double for next year, assuming both races fall on the same weekend!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Daddy Daycare
Should be an interesting weekend! With the cost of "life" essentially doubling and my salary not keeping pace, my beautiful wife is heading back to the work force. I know this wasn't in the grand plan, and to be honest I'm somewhat ashamed/embarrassed/insert derogative term here, but it is what it is. She's Ok with it, and I think getting out of the house a bit will be a welcome respite from chasing 3 kids under 8 around all day every day.
So we've got a hoops game at 10, a birthday party at 3, a bunch of work-work that needs to get done, a bunch of house-work that needs to get done and a CX race in the 413 on Sunday. Hope to have some fun and not lose my mind doing it!!!
So we've got a hoops game at 10, a birthday party at 3, a bunch of work-work that needs to get done, a bunch of house-work that needs to get done and a CX race in the 413 on Sunday. Hope to have some fun and not lose my mind doing it!!!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Ahhhhhhh, the results...
Quick post....I'm playing hooky from some late night work I gotta' get done. Results finally posted for Plymouth South; I guess the promoter lost them for a while. Anyhoo, a 16th in the 4's. Once again, my lack of finishing sprint (what??? Chicken legs got no juice???) put me one place down than I should have been.
This past w'end was perhaps my favorite race of the New England CX scene over at Shedd Park in Lowell. It is such an awesome race and with all the rain the days before the event, there was mud, mud, mud. I love racing in mud. I'm not really sure if it's because I have some perversion about getting dirty, but I love it.
I had a pretty good starting position in the second row. This year the good dudes at BRC wanted to wind it up and out a bit before the slingshot tree turn, hoping for a smaller amount of stacked up riders....great plan, but guys stacked just the same. I got a little caught up there, but I'm trying to learn from experience. Instead of bitching about it, I'm trying to use those situations to my advantage. Jump off and quickly get through the melee on foot and scoot further ahead. This seemed to work pretty well. The next part of the course was the wicked steep ride-up that I was forced to run because my sh*tty shifters aren't working well when they get muddy ( http://blog-o-sweeney.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-really-want-rival.html). I didn't really lose any time on that but my HR was completely pegged for a section I should have been able to ride. The twisty turny sections worked out WELL for me as a fair amount of guys were wiping out and giving me space to pass which was great. By the middle of lap 2 things had strung out a bit and the Psycho guys that I just can't catch were on the front (again). The woodsy section was dramatically different this year and was loved by all (though I wish they hadn't taken the barriers out). Trying to ride that mud bog was by FAR the most fun of the course! I was able to clear it 2 out of 4 laps (stay in ze meeedle!).
By the end of the fun I was racing with a guy from NHCC. As we came out of the woods on the last lap I jumped on his wheel onto the track. Around the last bend and I came alongside him and smiled-he smiled back. We both stomped on it....and, yep, my "sprint" proved second best again. Ah well-I'm still improving (15th out of almost 80 starters) and really, really enjoying the season.
On to Easthampton hopefully! See you there?
This past w'end was perhaps my favorite race of the New England CX scene over at Shedd Park in Lowell. It is such an awesome race and with all the rain the days before the event, there was mud, mud, mud. I love racing in mud. I'm not really sure if it's because I have some perversion about getting dirty, but I love it.
I had a pretty good starting position in the second row. This year the good dudes at BRC wanted to wind it up and out a bit before the slingshot tree turn, hoping for a smaller amount of stacked up riders....great plan, but guys stacked just the same. I got a little caught up there, but I'm trying to learn from experience. Instead of bitching about it, I'm trying to use those situations to my advantage. Jump off and quickly get through the melee on foot and scoot further ahead. This seemed to work pretty well. The next part of the course was the wicked steep ride-up that I was forced to run because my sh*tty shifters aren't working well when they get muddy ( http://blog-o-sweeney.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-really-want-rival.html). I didn't really lose any time on that but my HR was completely pegged for a section I should have been able to ride. The twisty turny sections worked out WELL for me as a fair amount of guys were wiping out and giving me space to pass which was great. By the middle of lap 2 things had strung out a bit and the Psycho guys that I just can't catch were on the front (again). The woodsy section was dramatically different this year and was loved by all (though I wish they hadn't taken the barriers out). Trying to ride that mud bog was by FAR the most fun of the course! I was able to clear it 2 out of 4 laps (stay in ze meeedle!).
By the end of the fun I was racing with a guy from NHCC. As we came out of the woods on the last lap I jumped on his wheel onto the track. Around the last bend and I came alongside him and smiled-he smiled back. We both stomped on it....and, yep, my "sprint" proved second best again. Ah well-I'm still improving (15th out of almost 80 starters) and really, really enjoying the season.
On to Easthampton hopefully! See you there?
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Plymouth South
Well, I have been waiting to post up a report on Plymouth because I have no idea how I finished yet. Due to a yard full of leaves and two lovely little girls that were dying to jump in a pile of them, I had to get home right after I raced. So I did my thing in the 4's (race time was 10 otherwise I would have done the B masters), then watched Gary, Rich, and Jim start, then I took off. As of Tuesday morning, still no results posted. That bothers me....anyway....
The course was great...a mix of everything--some great woodsy single track (GREAT for me), coupled with long and open straight-aways (good for the guys at Psycho that keep f-ing beating me). Despite a lingering chest cold, I felt Ok and got off the line in decent enough shape. My biggest goal for next season though is improving my starts. As with many races this year, the bottlenecks at certain obstacles on lap 1 have a definitive mark on the outcome. I tend to be a decent enough bike handler but if/when I am caught behind guys that struggle on slippery stuff, I lack the power to bridge to the leaders once things open up again. It's my feeling that if I can develop more power and get off the line more quickly and then (theoretically anyway...) be able to stay there for two laps, I can dramatically improve my placings. This race was no different with guys stacking up on the off-camber turns right off the pavement. IMO this was an easy obstacle, even with a couple across going through it, but there were crashes and I was behind them. I caught up to Dave on the second lap and was hoping we could work together a bit to bridge...but my brain shuts off when I go into O2 debt and I just keep going as hard as I can. Need to work more intelligently with team mates from now on, it's doable in cross I am convinced.
Course notes of interest:
-I loved the waterbar descent through the woods-the traction was ideal and I was full gas through this section each time through. On the last lap, a 3/4 woman stacked pretty violently right before the uphill out of the woods....she seemed ok but that looked nasty. The guy from NEBC that was with me in this section literally rode OVER her!!!
-The off-camber S-turn section right off the road was also very cool and Sterling-esque. I wonder how much quicker I could be on that with tubulars at low pressure?
-It's too bad they took that steep downhill by the backstop out of the course, that would have been a BLAST to bomb down.
-The long grassy straightaways by the ball fields again crushed me. It's frustrating to watch somone literally ride away from you when you are giving every ounce of power you've got and the gap is still growing.
In any event, I think I placed top 20 or so, but we'll have to see how it goes.
Next up is the BRC race in Lowell, one of my absolute favorite courses of the year.
The course was great...a mix of everything--some great woodsy single track (GREAT for me), coupled with long and open straight-aways (good for the guys at Psycho that keep f-ing beating me). Despite a lingering chest cold, I felt Ok and got off the line in decent enough shape. My biggest goal for next season though is improving my starts. As with many races this year, the bottlenecks at certain obstacles on lap 1 have a definitive mark on the outcome. I tend to be a decent enough bike handler but if/when I am caught behind guys that struggle on slippery stuff, I lack the power to bridge to the leaders once things open up again. It's my feeling that if I can develop more power and get off the line more quickly and then (theoretically anyway...) be able to stay there for two laps, I can dramatically improve my placings. This race was no different with guys stacking up on the off-camber turns right off the pavement. IMO this was an easy obstacle, even with a couple across going through it, but there were crashes and I was behind them. I caught up to Dave on the second lap and was hoping we could work together a bit to bridge...but my brain shuts off when I go into O2 debt and I just keep going as hard as I can. Need to work more intelligently with team mates from now on, it's doable in cross I am convinced.
Course notes of interest:
-I loved the waterbar descent through the woods-the traction was ideal and I was full gas through this section each time through. On the last lap, a 3/4 woman stacked pretty violently right before the uphill out of the woods....she seemed ok but that looked nasty. The guy from NEBC that was with me in this section literally rode OVER her!!!
-The off-camber S-turn section right off the road was also very cool and Sterling-esque. I wonder how much quicker I could be on that with tubulars at low pressure?
-It's too bad they took that steep downhill by the backstop out of the course, that would have been a BLAST to bomb down.
-The long grassy straightaways by the ball fields again crushed me. It's frustrating to watch somone literally ride away from you when you are giving every ounce of power you've got and the gap is still growing.
In any event, I think I placed top 20 or so, but we'll have to see how it goes.
Next up is the BRC race in Lowell, one of my absolute favorite courses of the year.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Noho report....late
Not sure if the Farmington race is no longer or what, but Adam and the Cycle-Smart crew put on a fabulous double at Look Park. Enough changes in the course over the two days to be a ton of fun and we had something like 27 MRC'ers on the scoreboards!! Highlights for me were watching Manny dukin' it out at the front of juniors race (that kid is just plain fast), the Professor hitting the podium in the B-masters, and CCC at the front of the killer B's on both days. Bad Brad was sucking wind in the 2/3's but that kid is so good, it'll just take a couple of races to get some fitness back. The MRC women's team is wicked strong--podiums for Christina and Anna; didn't catch how Andrea did, but she's racing against the friggin' pros now! It's great to see; in just a couple of years it seems like the women's fields in NE 'cross have virtually doubled.
For me, well, I did Ok. As much as I love Noho, it's got a lot of roadie sections where I break down later on in the races. The long grass straightaways are the death of me. I need more twisty turny stuff! On Saturday I was 33rd overall and 25th in the 35+, and on Sunday I finished 32nd overall and 19th in the 35+.
The very best of the weekend though was my own personal fan club-Mom came out to watch on Saturday, and on Sunday the whole Sweeney crew was there. Mom and Dad, my wife Penny, and all 3 of my kids, my sister and her boyfriend. There is just NOTHING BETTER than hearing my daughters cheering me on--"go Daddy, go; he's only a couple seconds ahead of you".
My sister caught me doing my best Coley imitation over the barriers and staying upright! Perhaps the funniest thing (in retrospect) was on Saturday when I literally crashed right in front of Mom. On the steep run-up a rider from Cycle Loft inadvertently cut me off (I'm sure it wasn't intentional...) and in my oxygen deprived state I went off after him....just as we were to swing back to the left, I stared right at his rear wheel...and yep, hit it and went down hard. There's Mom on the other side of the tape-"Scotty, look where you want to go....not where you don't want to go". She's a smart one, I tell ya!
Thus far I am happy that I'm improving. Each week I look at my B masters results and transpose them to the cat 4 results list. Obviously it's a different race, but if I'd be placing consistently in the top 20 and even some top 10's in that group. I need to keep it up, it's fun and I'm gettin' better. On to Plymouth!
For me, well, I did Ok. As much as I love Noho, it's got a lot of roadie sections where I break down later on in the races. The long grass straightaways are the death of me. I need more twisty turny stuff! On Saturday I was 33rd overall and 25th in the 35+, and on Sunday I finished 32nd overall and 19th in the 35+.
The very best of the weekend though was my own personal fan club-Mom came out to watch on Saturday, and on Sunday the whole Sweeney crew was there. Mom and Dad, my wife Penny, and all 3 of my kids, my sister and her boyfriend. There is just NOTHING BETTER than hearing my daughters cheering me on--"go Daddy, go; he's only a couple seconds ahead of you".
My sister caught me doing my best Coley imitation over the barriers and staying upright! Perhaps the funniest thing (in retrospect) was on Saturday when I literally crashed right in front of Mom. On the steep run-up a rider from Cycle Loft inadvertently cut me off (I'm sure it wasn't intentional...) and in my oxygen deprived state I went off after him....just as we were to swing back to the left, I stared right at his rear wheel...and yep, hit it and went down hard. There's Mom on the other side of the tape-"Scotty, look where you want to go....not where you don't want to go". She's a smart one, I tell ya!
Thus far I am happy that I'm improving. Each week I look at my B masters results and transpose them to the cat 4 results list. Obviously it's a different race, but if I'd be placing consistently in the top 20 and even some top 10's in that group. I need to keep it up, it's fun and I'm gettin' better. On to Plymouth!
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