Granogue and Wiss 2007

Granogue ‘Cross – October 20, 2007

Known as the “Queen of the MAC,” Granogue is an unforgiving technical course that brings back racers year after year. This year, the previous night’s rainfall and the early morning dew combined to make conditions along the grassy slopes of the watchtower hill almost unridable. The flow was also disrupted for early races due to a silly chicane around the roots of a big tree. This particular course “feature” was taken out for the elite races, significantly speeding up the section leading into the road climb.


We got to the venue later than we'd planned and we rushed to get Jean registered, pinned, and warmed up before her 0900 start. We found out later that I had pinned her skinsuit to her base layer and that she was trapped in the Port-a-john with 10 minutes before the start. Oops. She got the start line on time but without a decent course preview. She was rattled from the beginning, struggling with her cleats not clipping in and concerned by the difficulty of the course.


With all of the excitement with Jean, I only got 2 laps in on the course and nothing at speed. I completely squandered a second row start by getting swarmed during the road start and into the prologue loop. Up and down the watchtower hill, the slick grass and tight off-camber turns caused several traffic jams and slowed me down quite a bit. I struggled on that section and never really got into the “flow” of the course that makes Granogue so famous. Toward the end of the race, when I crashed on the off-camber yet again and former Coppi Kevin Kuzas passed me (after starting at the absolute back of the field), I even had my own little “Bjarne Riis” moment of throwing my bike on the ground in anger. Cathartic, but not really conducive to going faster! I’m beginning to understand the existential angst that is cyclocross – perhaps even understanding Dostoyevsky’s assertion that “suffering is the sole origin of consciousness.” Whatever. The suck-o-meter was pegged that day!

Wissahickon ‘Cross – October 21, 2007

I’ve heard that “the first lap is one-half the race” in cyclocross. That was certainly true for me at Wissahickon this year. After a front-row start, I was passed by a succession of riders throughout the first lap until I was barely hanging in the top 20. After that I just tried to hold my own and avoid getting passed. I had my traditional 3rd lap fade followed by my 4th lap burst of energy, but it was too little, too late to make up much ground. I ended up 28th out of 61 starters and about 6 minutes off the winner. BSNYC nails it when he explains that starting on the front row and then completely exploding on the first lap is “like you're an Alka-Seltzer and the race is a big glass of water, and everybody gets to watch your effervescent, frothy demise.” That’s how I felt - like I was fizzizziling away.

I obviously need to work on my VO2max power, because that’s what it will take to hold or gain position in the first lap. Although the first lap is only 6 to 10 minutes of the 45-minute race, your finishing position in the race is largely determined by the end of the first lap. To excel, you need to have a really high VO2max power and good recovery. You may get a few seconds of respite here and there during the lap, on downhills or other sections, but for the most part, you’re going at near VO2max levels for the first 6 to 10 minutes of the race. So – its time to bring out the big stick and whip up some intervals. Word.