DCCX Kalas Classics Series 2015 Round 2: Killruddery

Long Story Short

• Finished 52nd out of 71,
• Finishing time was 43:07,
• Lap times were 7:09, 8:25, 8:51, 9:22 and 9:20,
• Got lapped by 4 riders,
• Didn't crash this race.

Strava

View the race on Strava: DCCX Round 2: KillMUDDERy. 52/71.

View the race Replay on Strava FlyBys: DCCX round 2. I enabled;

• Myself, I am the posterboy for Ginger CX Magazine,
• Barry, we had a good battle for 51st,
• Andrew, he finished 7th, 2 minutes after the leader.

Course Segment

MultiMedia

Full Results can be seen here: DCCX Kalas SuperLeague Round 2.

Alek had his Handlebar camera: DCCX Kalas Classic Series 2015 (vol 2).

Sean Rowe was snapping the Ladies race, the B race and the A race.

Short Story Long

Build-up

Stages cycling support were very helpful. They said to leave the Power Meter indoors for 24 hours for it to dry out. I got a new battery door from Fitz Cycles and took it for an FTP test. The test put my 7 Watts off my 20 minute peak power which was recorded in March after a few hard months on the Turbo. I was pretty happy about the result, and I knew I could go harder. I decided to not use the Power Meter on my CX bike anymore.

I was really happy to see that the Vegan message is getting out in the open. GoVegan.ie's poster campaigns at the bus stops and the subsequent radio interviews are hopefully opening the public's eyes to the trauma that humans are capable of inflicting on a grand streamlined scale. A radio debate on NewsTalk ensued, the Vegan lady, said that animal abuse was "unethical". The "Cow and Sheep" representative had only one option left to him. He went with the nuclear response; "These Vegans believe that cows are raped". This lead host Chris Donoghue to end the interview there and then.

Even with the glaring evidence of the WHO's report, the government won't speak out about the animal trade, as they have campaign sponsors who are heavily invested in meat. Teagsc had a report detailing that by completing a conversion from a Dairy farm to an Organic Veg farm, you can increase your profits by €200pha. Although you'll have to go to Farmer's Markets at the weekend instead of CX races.

I fell victim to Amazon's Black Friday build-up deals when buying an SSD for my four and a half year old MacBook Pro. Which, like Paula Radcliffe, is running really well after upgrades are applied.

Pre-Race

The low lying winter sun blinded my eyes as I tried to navigate the non-existent car park. I didn’t know how to park. Being the third car at the event, I was going to be the car parking trend setter. The guy who handled the sign on arrived and told me there was a better car park around the corner, which I availed of. I went in to sign-on, where I encountered Alek, Barry M, Breda and our latest debutant, Luke.

I was the second person on the course. I did three laps. The first two laps I rode on the sides of the course, to discover where best to avoid the bumpy and soft sections. The third lap, I put the lap together, I knew the lines I’d be taking and the sides of the course I’d be elbowing to occupy at the start. The most important line of the course would be the entry to, and avoidance of, the water covered tractor tyre tracks. Whilst cleaning the muck out of my shoes and pedals using a tyre level, I watched riders trying that watery section. Everyone hugged the inside of the corner. I was going to ride the middle of the track and swerve across before the water. That line, would mesh nicely with the requirement to “just smash it” across the preceding section where John was marshalling.

The women’s race was delayed by fifteen minutes. I watched their start to cheer on Naoise and Breda. I also wanted to see what would happen at the first obstacle. I noted that the field was half the size of the previous week’s field, 13 racers as opposed to 26.

I headed back to the car to prepare for my race. I met Richard, Valdis and Fionn (whom I believe was making his debut in the cauldron of the A-race, fair play for not sandbagging). I lent my pump to Valdis to adjust his tyre pressures. He was going with 50psi in both tyres. I opted to go with 30psi. I should’ve gone down to 20psi, as the course evolved, it would request more grip. I didn’t anticipate this. Michael and Barry K also showed up. I consumed a gel and sank 750ml of water with a High5 Extreme Caffeine tablet dissolved in it. I couldn’t sleep until 2am that night.

I struggled to pin on the fourth pin, and needed help from some nice Australian/New Zealand people. I joined up to the grid. I wanted a good position after the previous week, where I started at the back. I wanted to be on the right hand side of the grid. It would allow me to access my planned line and the surface was more compacted there. I was about half way back in the grid of 71. Valdis was directly in front of me, Richard was to my left. Luke was diagonally behind me. Mike and both Barrys were buried in the scrum behind.

The Grid

Race

The countdown expired and we accelerated off. Most riders went to the left of the track. I made up lots of places by using the centre channel. Two lads came a cropper in front of me just before the water. I navigated between them and asserted my dominance over the point of track I wanted to use to cut across. Traversing this soupy section I was the second placed Orwell rider, with only Barry K ahead.

Water finds its level, and I was soon passed by Valdis, Richard and Mike. They powered along the bumpier, right side of the track in front of the hay bales. I occupied the smoother left side. After a few more corners, a guy on a mountain bike crashed, forcing me to lose momentum. I ceded places to Barry M and Luke. I looked back as I climbed the corn field section. I was about eighth last.

I was very weak on that climbing section. But I was much stronger and braver on the grass field downhill section. Throughout the race, I made up a lot of positions on this section. It was just a case of holding position through the mucky woods by going through a rut. After dismounting to jump the ditch, the lap brought us around to the timing mats. This was a nice part of the track. It allowed the tyres to shed muck, in the early laps anyway. From there it was about being brave through the wooden bridges and carrying as much speed, using a big gear, as possible through the John’s mucky section. I was getting bounced around, like a rag doll, but I was heading in the right direction. If you’re not in danger of slipping a disk in your back, you’re not going hard enough.

Another lad binned it just as I was about to make my cut across to avoid the water. I let him know I was displeased with his actions, as I dismounted and ran the following section. It was beginning to look like a Tesco Chow Mein, the one in the red box. It probably tasted nicer than its food counterpart. The rest of the lap passed of nicely.

The stuff CX courses are made out of.

I caught up to Barry in the corn field section of lap three, he said that it would not be his day. Next I caught sight of Luke. He, like many others, was paying for a fast start. John was cheering me on each time as I exited the forest section. I gave him a “Two ‘Go Luke’s for the price of one” deal as I made the pass on, nine years my junior, Luke.

Some guy rubbed tyres with me through the soupy section. I could feel the thread of the tyres jar. Then they gave way as he went down. He didn’t look as much like Harvey Dent as I expected, as he ran past me, nudging my shoulder with his back wheel. I made up another place on section in front of the bales. The guy almost lost it on the corner and clipped me. I was OK with this. I let him know that I was of the opinion that CX is a full contact sport. After my left hip coming in contact with tyres in the last three races, I could not opine differently. I encountered Michael in the corn field, we traded places twice as he sped off. The next time I saw Mike, he was standing at the side of the road.

The last lap of the race passed without incident, if you call getting skunked on the line by Barry “without incident”. After I made the pass on Barry, he was always within striking distance, just like at PunchesCross. We were able to fend off the leaders lapping us until the last lap. I sensed Barry’s presence through the corn field. I backed off through the greasy grassy downhill section, as more leaders lapped me. Any time I looked back Barry was looming larger. After transcending the ditch I had a few meters on Barry. I was on the drops giving it everything I had. There was a spec of dirt on my Garmin screen, it was obscuring my speed, I thought it read 36kmh, but it was 26kmh. I thought I had done enough, but Barry just appeared on the inside and beat me to the line by a bike length. I passionately voiced my feelings, which drew a few chuckles from the crowd. I lost the sprint for Fifty-first.

From Sean Rowe

Post-Race

Lots of riders followed my previous week's example, they took an extra lap at the end. The only problem with the races is that there is not a flag at the end. The course was laid out very well and the chip timing was a great addition to the DCCX series. The comments on Boards were very complimentary, as opposed to the previous round of DCCX.

I missed the whole A-race, as I waited in-line to use the hose and get my clothes changed. Wobbles, who parked beside me had a pretty badass power washer. It was a tank of water and a motorbike battery with a small pump. The complimentary beer was really nice. The presentation of the prizes took place and most people filtered out after that. I stayed to watch the last lap of the World Cup race that they were streaming. Everyone enjoyed Sven Nys pulling out the victory.

Pre-hose

What Was Learned

• Hoses are good at cleaning bikes, but it still needs more attention to fully clean it.
• The number of riders that I am being lapped by is decreasing, which is a great sign.
• My climbing is still bad.