Badger Prairie

A pretty good showing for Viroqua-Crossers out in Verona. Jay and Dick had good showings in the 45+, Jay getting 7th and Dick 8th in age grouping. Bob C. rocked his second race, looking good out there on a tough Course. Newlin was thought to be 7th, 10th in the results, managed to finish a race. Watershed moment!

The course had a few minor improvements that added up to a pretty interesting and flowing course. The RR ties on the backside certainly made it more interesting, and the front of the course was way more flowing... lots of rest, but every other part that wasn't rest was crazy talk for 30sec at a time, uphill! Fun!

See you Guys at 5:45 on Thrusday night at Washington!

10/14/10

Hey-yo! Very fun practice again tonight. Dick, Lee, Jay, Bob, Thom and I all came out for the throw-down, and throw down we did! The new cheater sections of the course have made the racing pretty rugged. If you get a gap on somebody, you turn around and there they are again! This tactic was employed freely, and Dick claimed to have a two lap lead at the finish... Maybe he did!

Thanks to all who showed up and had fun. We are starting the races at 5:45 now to squeeze a couple more weeks out of the fading daylight.

Thanks to Donna for hanging out and running the clock, even giving splits! Whoa! It was pretty awesome, accept for when she said that we were pulling too slow a lap. 35 min still seems like plenty of practice.

See you next week, and look for the ViroquaCrossers in Verona this weekend. Jay and Dick in 35+, Bob in the 4s and Chris in the 3s. Good luck to all!

Cross is Fun

Sorry for the infrequent posts!

Last night we only had a few guys, but I think e might have had the most fun. We made the course longer with more features than weeks past and also had some spots where dropped guys could cut the feature and catch back on, still race wheel-to-wheel. Nothing better than attacking on a stretch of pavement to get a gap, turn around and see a rested dude who is about to throttle you! It was great!

Thanks to Jay for the 'Team Car'. Gotta get some photos up. Harder this week with one race. Also, note to Lee V. We added a few longer stretches for all of our roadie type dudes, making the laps both longer and a little harder. Super fun!

See you out there next week!

Chris

Week 3 Coming up, USGP Report...

Hey everyone, looks like the season has started, ready or not. The Madison USGPs have come and gone and we are heading into week three of Viroqua Cross. Thursday will have some new folks coming to to race; local MTBers will be hitting it as well as the usual cast of characters. Looks like a 35min format, dropped riders welcome to pit and catch back as needed. Have fun, race as hard as you can. That's the point, right?

A bunch of us did the USGPs this weekend. Jay and Dick hit the 4s on Saturday and had some fun. The consensus was that a 6th row start and a few crashes out of the gun pretty much seal the deal... Yep, that will do it! The start is important, but it's tough to battle through that many dudes and get in the winning break. The first race is to registration!

I had a 5th row start but battled forward, was in the top 10-15 guys and felt pretty good. It was fast but doable. On the second lap I totally crashed at the barriers... guess I was due! Pretty aggravating but I battled back, kept calm. Lungs locked up again, did some weird coughing-barfing. Thought about dropping out but instead sucked it up and pedaled around and felt okay. Kicked off the brakes, bobbled a few more times... it happens man! My first season, everything was usually smooth. Now, maybe not so much.

Whatever is going on for me health-wise is a bummer, but man I had fun racing in that big a group. Moving up during the first lap was a blast, getting chopped in the corners and bumping is somehow super-fun. It'll come around and I will be healthy, all isn't lost. It's nice to not get a result but remember that racing is fun and should be considered process driven. I train a bunch and can get all mental regarding results, but if I have trained and have put the time in it is nice to race and be present. Maybe that is what guys say as the get older and slower... but even though I have coughed up a lung in the last two races, I am relaxing away from the 'what-if' type thinking. I did throw up after the race, but I also did finish. Maybe I put myself out and dug a hole health wise, but I doubt it.

First Thursday and other notes...

Hello ViroquaCrossers, Connie Hawkins aka Chocolate Thunder, or lone follower of ViroquaCross. This last Thursday we had our first Race, or practice race and we had a blast. Slightly greasey out there, we had a full showing of the Local Cross guys, Lee and Andrea from IA and first-timer Eric from LaCrosse! It was fun and we did 2 20min mini-races. Fun. Next week will be missing some, so Jay will be running the show. Please let him know how much you appreciate what a pain it is. He is already watching my chickens...

Also, a few Western WI guys were at the No Good Double Cross today. I saw Eric anyway and he looked great. Really fun conditions, sloppy, just the way you like it. I imploded with lung-mung that doesn't seem to want to clear this season. Paul from MWInc suggested allergy shots and I am gonna look into it.

Each year I suffer like a dog until Fall is cold and Summer is hot. Since I am only fit for 3 weeks a year, it would be nice to be able to race as I only race during my allergy season. If anyone else has a suggestion I'll take it. I already don't do gluten and that has helped other symptoms, but I am all ears at this point.

No matter how much I hated coughing up a lung and puking from the lunging, it was fun to ask a spectator to move so I wouldn't barf on him.

See you the week after next for some fun at 6pm.

Chris

2010...

Okay, here we go. Next Thursday we will have adult races at Washington Park starting at 6pm. It will be fun, one race.

The Series will begin in October and will be run by Vernon Trails... and I am very, very glad for some help. After a few years of plugging away at this thing I am glad to hand over the reigns to VT.

I will still use this blog to update the schedule and the happenings of our series.

Thanks for reading, and again: Thursday at Washington Park in Viroqua, 6pm.

See you there!

Chris

WCA Schedule 2010

2010 WCA Cyclocross Schedule

Saturday, Sept. 26-27: USGP Sun Prairie

Saturday, Oct. 2 Cross at the Domes of Mitchell Park (my wife inc)

Sunday, Oct. 3 Lapham Peak (Lake Country Endurance)

Saturday, Oct. 9 Grafton Pumpkincross (BVC Nomad)

Saturday, Oct. 16 Badger Prairie (5-9s)

Sunday, Oct. 17 Cam Rock

Saturday, Oct. 23 Kletzsch Park (Pegasus)

Sunday, Oct. 24 Whitewater (UW-Whitewater)

Saturday, Oct. 30 Halloween Cross (Velo Trocadero)

Saturday, Nov. 6 Estabrook (Hampshire Cycle Club)

Sunday, Nov. 7 Team Magnus Madison Cross Race Warner Park (Magnus)

Saturday, Nov. 13 Sun Prairie (Brazen Dropouts)

Sunday, Nov. 21 State Cyclocross Championships: Hales Corners (Hampshire Cycle Club)

This looks great, Excited to get to some new courses! Wonder what the My Wife Inc. guys have up their sleeves?

2010, Plans?

It's now getting to June. The weather is hot and I'm actually getting out on the bike now. In seasons past I have had a hard peak in the end of June and early July and dragged myself through the fall. I like being fast in May, but not as much as I love being fast in Sept-Oct.

Intentionally or not, this year I have stayed off the bike and am coming into June super fresh. Still hitting the same numbers on the Powertap as last Fall, but now I'm lighter and way more motivated to hit a hard peak in September. The goals are the same, to get fast and be a player in the Bs, or 3s race. Seems like every year we have more and more guys focusing on cross, so I am going to step it up this season! I might say that every year... but I am headed that way.

For the local races we are doing a Thursday night practice race still, but there will be one of them. ViroquaCross will continue with a few weekend events and Marty is going to run one down in PDC as well. So the series is still on, but more informal. Does this mean less prizes? Yes during the weekend, no during the week. The Weekend prizes are going to be nuts! Fancy stuff...

So if you would like to come out and get some this fall, please do. It's always fun to have folks from out of town come up and experience how great Viroqua is!