From alexjw@u.washington.edu Tue Dec 16 01:25:37 2003 Received: from mxu6.u.washington.edu (mxu6.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.12]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.12.10+UW03.09/8.12.10+UW03.09) with ESMTP id hBG9PauL034840 for ; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 01:25:37 -0800 Received: from mxout5.cac.washington.edu (mxout5.cac.washington.edu [140.142.32.135]) by mxu6.u.washington.edu (8.12.10+UW03.09/8.12.10+UW03.09) with ESMTP id hBG9PZgN014492; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 01:25:35 -0800 Received: from hymn09.u.washington.edu (hymn09.u.washington.edu [140.142.15.136]) by mxout5.cac.washington.edu (8.12.10+UW03.09/8.12.10+UW03.09) with ESMTP id hBG9PYK4015732; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 01:25:35 -0800 Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by hymn09.u.washington.edu (8.12.10+UW03.09/8.12.10+UW03.09) with ESMTP id hBG9PYNQ031157; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 01:25:34 -0800 Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 01:25:34 -0800 (PST) From: Alex Wilson To: "A. Hegyvary" cc: uwracing@u.washington.edu Subject: Re: 'Cross Nationals In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Received: from [165.121.59.85] by hymn09.u.washington.edu via HTTP; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 01:25:34 PST MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=XII, Probability=12%, Report='X_NJABL_DUL 1, SUPERLONG_LINE 0.003, FORGED_RCVD_FOUND 0.000, EMAIL_ATTRIBUTION 0, QUOTED_EMAIL_TEXT 0, RCVD_IN_NJABL_ORG 0, IN_REP_TO 0, MSGID_FROM_MTA_HEADER 0.000' I also "selflessly" got my shoes soaked with mud running around the course yelling at you. In actuality, I did more walking than running, you guys were rolling pretty slow. Lots of waiting around too. alex On Mon, 15 Dec 2003, A. Hegyvary wrote: > > Howdy- > > Well, it was a hell of a weekend in Portland, with what local news > stations were calling first the "24 hour rainstorm," then the "48 hour > rainstorm," then "winter storm watch." Northwest weather certainly proved > to be the framing event of the weekend, as the flat course through > Portland International Raceway became one huge mud bog by the end of the > first day. > Kicking off the weekend festivities, veteran Nationals attendee Alynda > was the first to race in the Collegiate/U-23 Women category. With far > bigger proverbial balls than anyone else on the team, Alynda went out in > the spongy mess to compete alone in what perhaps was the most spread-out > race of the weekend. A Wisconsin rider soloed away from the field early > in the race to win by a huge margin (she also went on to take 13th in the > Elite Women, I believe), and everyone else lined out on the course for a > 45 minute slog. After a brutal race which Alynda clearly enjoyed > tremendously (and said so repeatedly while riding), she took a top-ten > placing in the U-23 women and beat several people in the collegiate > category. > 24 hours later the Collegiate men toed the line, and after a night of > rain and a day of racing, the course became significantly muddier (yet > faster). Also a pretty stacked field, the race got off to a fast start > with Barry Wicks driving hard from the gun. Troy got in a fast group and > worked at the front to succesfully drop the rest of us, eventually > finishing 8th. Mike also had a strong race (also working hard to drop his > fellow Huskies), and finished 13th. After getting shelled out the back > with Alex on the 1/4 mile asphalt start (because we're on single speeds), > I set my sights on Jimmy "The Muscle" Lingwood and the two of us finished > 29/30th after exchanging harsh words and throwing a few elbows. Alex, > still suffering from what doctors (me) predict is a cracked rib from a > crash in friday's pre-ride, took 40th after Barry Wicks passed him shortly > before winning. Finally, feeling compelled to cheer on his team and > fulfill his presidential responsibilities, Luke decided (after an > unsucessfull attempt at crashing out the leaders) to leave the race early > so he could put back on his fleece tights. Highlights from the race > include Jimmy sliding head-first down a muddy off-camber section (a solid > 15ft, I'd guess), and Luke throwing up on the back stretch of the course, > amidst great spectator cheer, after chugging a pre-race Redbull. > Sunday morning brought the next Husky-entered race, the 8am single speed > competition. With his rib still cracked, the course still muddy, and the > weather still bloody awful, Alex decided Sunday would not be his day. > This feeling was compounded when he discovered that he had two left-hand > gloves, and would either have to race with only one glove on, or wear one > upside-down. In a trully selfless act, Alex decided not to race as > planned, and instead ran all over the course yelling at me to push harder. > As slow as the course was earlier in the weekend, Sunday morning was > absolutely brutal. About 30 single speeders (including two wearing > speedo's) showed up after warming up in the dark (it was just light enough > to see around 7:30), and we hit the course hard. After another night of > rain, all the mud had settled out and the ruts that had been established > the day before were all gone. There were no "slow" or "fast" lines, just > one, huge, mucky mess. I ended up running the entire first half of the > first lap, and by the end found myself in the top-5. The 2-mile course > took the leaders 15 minutes to complete, so they cut down our race from 4 > laps to two laps. Hearing the bell after the first lap, I decided I could > put down a little more hammer and started to chase. Still running more > than riding, I was in third coming into the final run-up, and after the > second-place rider's chain jumped atop the final hill, I passed my last > rider in route to taking second in the race. > After seeing how painfully slow the course was, organizers decided to > cut out the whole back-half of the course (the part I was running) for > later races. The final Husky performance of the weekend was Troy's ballsy > appearence in the men's Elite race Sunday afternoon. Since the rest of > us had by then already come home, I can't really say what happened, but > from the results it looks like Troy had a strong showing. Placing 25th > only 8 minutes down from winner Jonathan Page (the first consecutively > winning National champion), Troy bettered Emerald-series winner Russell > Stevenson by 5 positions (after finishing 2nd to him this season) and was > only a few minutes behind northwest 'cross legend Dale Knapp. > All in all it was a damn good time and we all have a lot of laundry to > do. Cyclocross nationals will be in Portland again next year, and ought > to be an equally spectacular event. Nats are a great way to get your ass > kicked by the best riders in the country, see how you measure up, and come > back a stronger rider for it. Essentially, all of this is an elaborate > way to once again extend an invitation to the Pomona Valley Stage > Race/Spring Break road trip this coming March. Though it's not Nationals, > it is a national event and will be very hotly contested. If you missed > 'cross nats but still want to get a good beating, Pomona Valley should be > a great venue to offer it. Also, we've had a lot of riders coming out to > cyclocross races this fall (all of the above plus Brian and Patrick), and > next season the Nats opportunity will be here again. This weekend we took > third in the collegiate men team competition, but with only one woman > racing, got 9th overall. So, you ladies also need to come out and lay the > hammer down with Alynda, get muddy, and maybe next season we'll all be > pulling on stars and stripes jerseys. Happy finals, I'll see you on the > road. > > -Adrian- > .