Stuck In the Mud

This weekend brought the Verge series of Cyclocross out to Gloucester Ma for the Great Brewers Gran Prix of Gloucester. This is one of the most popular cyclocross races in the country, having been on the National Gran Prix circuit a couple times. It always attracts the top talent in the country and this year was no different. International superstar Jonathan Page was here, Jamey Driscoll, Tim Johnson, Jeremy Powers. Big time racers. In the masters field the top guys are all here, Aspholm, Bold, McCormack decided to join the masters. Guys who would legitimately battle for top 10 positions in the pro field. The race is put on by my team, Essex County Velo, so I was out Friday to help set up the course which was designed this year by Tom Stevens. It was a technical course that was about to absorb 2 inches of driven rain over the course of Saturday's races.

On a day like I had today I don't really even know where to begin. So let's just start with the forecast. Rain, lots of it, and wind, lots of that too. The course is right on the ocean and was getting crushed by 30-40mph winds off the surf. It was a nasty day for racing, but this is part of what makes cyclocross so damn cool. We're out playing in conditions that drive most people to the comfort of the fireplace with a latte and some cookies. I've told you before how badly the masters field crushes me and how hard I'm working towards becoming competitive with them. Today I actually was saying to myself that this weather was going to help me compete. Why? Good question. I figured the weather would kind of even out the playing field, slow everybody down, which would affect the really strong guys more than it would me, because honestly, how much worse could I do? Ummm, let's go to the videotape and see....

Off-camber mud in Gloucester

Let's just start at the staging area. At this point I've been out in the rain for about an hour alternately warming up and freezing my nuts off. I was OK during warmups, but when I stopped I would be instantly frozen from the wind driven rain while wearing nothing but a skinsuit and a light rain coat. So I would try to keep riding my bike to stay warm, but eventually you just have to stop and get to the staging area. I was in the staging area shaking like a chipmunk that just drank a 6 pack of Red Bull. I decided that maybe walking around at 5 or 6% bodyfat isn't such a good idea sometimes.. Like now. The race official starts the countdown... 30 seconds. Everything is quiet, tense.. Except for the incessant chattering of my teeth. 3...2.....1.. The field explodes off the line, all 82 of us.. Well, 81 of us.. I don't know what the hell happened but I missed with my left foot trying to clip into the pedal on the sprint and it took me about 3 times to get in while trying to pedal my way back into the group... "Go on without me boys! I'll be right there!" haha... Shit! I wasn't quite in last place heading into the narrow section of the course, but I was pretty damn close. Now here's the part where the mud was going to slow everybody else down more than me.. Great! One thing I forgot was that I've never actually raced in the mud like this before so I really had zero experience with it. Holy crap, I was screwed. I was all over the place, all over my bike, all over the course. I came around a corner, hit a root, came unclipped on the right side, came down awkwardly on the top tube of the bike almost turning myself into a girl (luckily my new skinsuit was holding everything in high and tight), caught myself before going down in a heap, and made my way like nothing ever happened. Good save. Ok, so maybe the conditions are going to slow me down more than I thought... We got through the first section of field, down a long straight away and into a 45 degree wall of ankle deep mud about 60 feet long that we had to run up carrying the bike. Being the first lap, it was a traffic jam and there was about 40 people on the mud wall at the same time so the run-up was actually a walk/slip/slide up. I got to the top, remounted my bike, slid around a little, took a 180 turn and tried to catch the people in front of me. I looked over my shoulder to see how many people were still coming over the top of the run up and there weren't any. Huh, I already had a gap on some of the field. Nice! Then I looked again, but still nobody. Before I turned into the next section of the course I took one more look and still nobody. I realized I hadn't actually gapped anybody. I was DFL (dead f'n last).. I'd rather have a DNF than a DFL. I looked directly ahead of me and there was a fatass ahead of me. There's one heavy guy in my field and I'm behind him. A thought flitted through my head that maybe I should ride my bike off the seawall and into the ocean next time around and just end it. Ok, so this was the worst start of my life.. On the bright side, there wasn't anybody that was going to pass me. Time to get to work. I passed fatass and three other riders. I came into the next area where we had to dismount and run over barriers and up a hill and I overtook a few more. I was working like crazy trying to manage my bike through all the mud. It was like riding in quicksand. I tasted salt from the ocean being blown across the course by the 40 mph gusts. It was brutal conditions. But I kept my head in it and I kept picking off riders one by one trying to make sure of two things, I finish on the lead lap, and I finish ahead of one particular rider who I'm not going to call out by name here, but let's just say he's a jackass of the highest proportion, has an unlimited amount of excuses why he and his $10,000 bike don't do better at these races, and just walks around at these races like the self-absorbed, pretentious tool that he is. I passed him on the second lap. Riding around the course you get a lot of encouragement from the crowd, especially since this particular race was run by ECV and I was wearing ECV colors.. I hear people yelling, "Go on Kev!", "C'mon ECV", "Go get 'em, Jack!".. Jack is a friend of mine that also rides for ECV and I get mistaken for him regularly. He's about the same height, rides a green bike, and wears the ECV kit. We don't generally ride in the same field but that doesn't deter people from calling me Jack. I have to remember to ask if he ever gets called Kevin. Typically I hear people calling for Jack when I'm about 30 yards from them on the approach and then they realize they have the wrong person as I get closer.. Then they yell "C'mon Ja... Oh.. Let's go ECV!".. Yesterday I was coming into a group of people and this one woman was calling me Jack as I approached... as I was right next to her... and as I made my way by. I was either too caked with mud for her to make a positive ID that I wasn't Jack, or she had spent too much time at the beer tent. Then there's the possibility that, "Lady, you don't know Jack.". On the second to last lap I was coming into the ankle-deep run-up side by side with another racer and there's this woman screaming at the top of her lungs for me to "Gap him! Gap him! GAAAAPPP HIIIIMMMMM!". I felt that if I didn't put some kind of gap into this guy that she was going to do something awful to me so I dug incredibly deep, sprinted up the run-up like the pros, and remounted at the top with an amazing 30 foot gap on the guy. I need to find that woman and see if she can start following me to all my races. On the last lap I passed 8 more, my endurance in these races is good, my starting power blows. That's where I need the most work.

I came across the line on the lead lap. 82 started the race, I finished 63rd. Not bad considering how badly I started. My friends Aaron, Ryan and Jon finished really well with Ryan and Jon both top 20, and Aaron just one spot out of the points. All really strong. I need to train more with these guys.

Aaron picking his line

After a race like this, everything is caked and covered in mud, so now you have to go over to the bike wash area and stand in line to wait for the hose. I thought I was cold before the race started. Now, having overheated for the better part of an hour, and having been standing around again in the wind driven rain for about 20 minutes, I was shivering like that same chipmunk on Red Bull, which has now succumbed to an epileptic seizure. There was a guy, in full rain gear looking really warm, behind me watching the earthquake going on in my body so I stated the obvious, "I'm fuckin freezin".. To which he replied, "My father said all you need to do is picture yourself some place warm like Hawaii". I've never been to Hawaii so I fondly thought of Hell and it's eternal flames gently caressing my body. This didn't make me any warmer. Nice try though.

Another tough race for me but I'm determined to get stronger. I decided I'm hiring a coach next year. Not sure who yet, but I'm looking at a couple guys. Roger Aspholm is one of them. By sheer coincidence, I ended up parked right next to Roger and we were both getting ready at the same time before the race so I went over and introduced myself. The first thing that strikes you about Roger is how lifelike he appears for an indestructible cyborg with superhuman cycling powers. Even his teeth look real. I introduced myself "Hey Roger, I'm Kevin Buckley, I get my ass kicked regularly by you in these races.".. This is actually giving myself too much credit. To get your ass kicked by a person you have to generally be in the same race competing against this person. And while I start these races in the same field as Roger, he is typically in his street clothes and on his second pint in the beer tent by the time I cross the finish line. Anyway, Roger and I had a quick conversation and I may hire him as a coach for next year. I also want to talk to Kurt Perham who is another cycling coach that is a super strong cross racer and is top 10 in the Verge points so far this year. The plan is to continue to work my ass off and get stronger while trying not to get too discouraged by being in the bottom end of the elite masters field. Keep reminding myself that for me, in my limited amount of experience, finishing on the lead lap with these guys is a victory in itself. Oh yeah, and have as much fun as possible.

Having Fun!