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Want it...

Jez has a segment on his blog called "want it Wednesday"

Every other Wednesday he'd like to see something you lust for.

Here's mine.

Well actually that's Brado's.

But I've been missing the caress of steel so I've contacted Waltworks
and I'm on the list.

The waiting is the hardest part...

One of those days...

All dressed up...

and nowhere to go...

Well, I could go to Rocky Hill, but I'm still a little banged up from Sunday (I am feeling much better though, thanks for asking).

Landmine: Ouch!

We will get to the report but first how about a food report?
After the race the winner of the Pro / Open class treated me to a tomato / mozzarella panini.

When I got home I had lasagna

then a salad

washed down with Italian soda

followed by a strawberry juice bar

Neal rode up to the race with me, which made something of an ass-grinder drive  quite bearable.  I'm sure the fact that it was a beautiful day played into that as well.

After downing large coffees and water bottles on the drive we wished we had cut off that Union Velo rider who made it to the bathroom at Dunkin Donuts before us.

Turn out was good for the end of the season in the singlespeed class.  The usual suspects, Dave, Scooter, and now Gerry were there, as well as about a half dozen other guys.  One was Chris Borrello who had beat me by a couple of minutes at Winding Trails this year.

I had just set a World Inter-Continental record on my commute Friday with my fixed gear so I was feeling pretty good.  I had forgone my usual OCD pre-race day rituals, and instead chose to go riding with LB and cut the grass.

The whistle blows and we are off.  Chris, Scooter, Dave and I are leading in a tight pace line.  The trail turns slightly up, and I decide to nail it and go to the front.  For six glorious minutes I lead!

Then we turn on to a paved road, and the triple tandem of Dave, Scooter, and Chris go by.
They get a gap, but I'm able to pull Dave back, and move back up to third.

I get a little gap on him, and think I'm okay, but after another road section he is right on me again.
He's clever too.  Being stronger than me on the road sections he'll let me take the front there, only to politely take the front when we get back to the singletrack, where I'd like to believe I can go faster.

Every time I get a gap on Dave, that tenacious Mofo claws his way back to my wheel.
This goes on for the first hour of racing.

Then when I think I've finally broken the elastic, he uses the  40-49 leaders to pace him back.
Cheeky plan until one of the same bobbles in front of him allowing me to get a gap.

When I finally have the nerve to look back to confirm this, about 1:15 in, I look down and see I only have one bottle.

The empty one.

FOOK!

I catch up to Scott Hood from the Cat1 30-39 group and begin to ride with him for awhile.
After he takes the lead I notice he has not 1, but 3 bottles on him.  That's  a lot to carry, so I ask him if he'd like me to carry one of them to the finish for him.  Seeing the logic in not carrying extra weight, he relinquishes a half full one with some chocolate milk flavored stuff in it.
(Thanks Scott!)

Earlier in the race, I thought to myself "in the dry this course is sort of like Winding Trails", after an hour and a half, my wrist were telling me "This course is nothing like Winding Trails!"

At the final aid station I'm psyched to get some water.  The young man doing hand ups is trying to be all crafty and spills the water on me.  I know I only have a few miles left, but after how Dave has been reeling me in all day there is no way I'm going to stop.

I start running into Cat 3 or First Timer traffic so  know I'm close.  Try and pass as politely as possible as to not sully their experience, but try and stay on it to prevent the patented Skrocki Sneak Attack®.

Finally, the clearing and the sweeper to the finish.
Boy do I need a drink (of water)!

Third behind Scooter and Chris.
Great job guys!
Congratulations to Scott for going 8 for 8 winning the Cat1 SS overall!
It's been great trying to chase you this year Scooter.
 (I'd use another exclamation point but I don't want anyone to think I use too many).

Congratulations to my buddy Neal Burton of Central Wheel for his first Pro victory!
(I couldn't help myself)

I'm second guessing my gear choice a bit; I used a smaller gear last year and had a faster avg speed, but the course was a little different.  Although there wasn't much elevation gain, I felt slow and bogged down on some of the rocky sections.  A smaller gear wouldn't have changed the outcome at all, just made me a little more comfortable.

Now for one last food item:

frozen strawberries on the wrists

As lame as it might seem to cancel a CX race due to rain I'm sort of relieved for the following reasons:

• I won't have to clean my bike for a practice race (I get to do that enough for not practice races, thank you very much)
• I won't have to wash my team jersey an extra time before Landmine.

• After the phenomenal tubeless success on Saturday, Monday's results were less than stellar.  I guess even tubeless they are still only 31s and a modicum of caution should be taken on rocky descents (side wall puncture running 30 PSI)       

                 I like the tubeless wheelset better than my tubulars wheels for CX

• I still don't know if I want to race singlespeed or geared regardless of the size of Alby's penis.

Tubeless Cross.

For my trek to RI back in July I built up a set of clinchers. My reasoning was two-fold.
First since I would be riding solo for a long distance on unfamiliar roads I wanted to be easily repair multiple flats, with minimal additional gear (i.e. not having to carry more than one extra tubular, being able to patch a tube if I got numerous punctures), and secondly the idea of having a wheelset to try tubeless for cross was appealing.

I had tried tubeless in the past with the same rims without success.  This time around I used Velox rim tape and smaller tires to give me a tighter fit.

The front tire aired up and locked into to the bead in text book fashion; Stan should have been taping my successful attempt.
The rear was trickier.  It would air up, lock in, and then  quickly bleed off pressure until flat.  No matter how much shaking and spinning I tried, it wouldn't seal.  Finally I found the problem was the tight tire bead had folded over the Stan's rim strip for about 3" preventing a perfect seal.   After digging it out I added more sealant than I'd typically use in a 29'er tire just to be sure.
Results =  Victory!

Going tubeless over tubular was going to cost me a solid half pound of rotational weight.  But with that half pound I gained a stiffer wheelset (my tubulars are Mavic Gel280s and Mavic GL330 rims), and the ability to more easily and quickly change my tires.  I have never been able to air up tubeless tires with a floor pump and still can't, so I won't be changing any tires trackside, but I can easily do so the night before.

Initially I was thinking maybe I'd train on the tubeless and race on the tubulars, but after today's ride I think the tubeless wheelset wins.  Being a smaller guy, wheel stiffness has never been top priority, but once I hit the trails the advantage truly became apparent.   I never realized how much stability I was giving up with my vintage rims.

I have had good results with not flatting tubulars.  I run sealant in them and have yet to puncture (knock wood!).  Considering where I train, and how with clinchers and tubes I would typically get at least a flat a ride, I was pretty happy with that.  With tubeless I get the same level of flat prevention, but also the ability of just throwing a tube in in case the unmentionable does happen.  The tubeless setup proved it's mettle today as I bombed a rocky fireroad and at the bottom came upon a group of about 8 riders from one of the local clubs who had just had multiple flats on the same descent. 
On another descent I kicked up a huge rock launching myself skyward, landing with enough force to dislodge my securely strapped pump.  The results?  Absolutely nothing.  Not a squirt of air or sealant escaped.
I was running my pressure on the higher side (45 psi), because I spent about 1/3 to half of my ride on tarmac, but I'm excited to test lower race pressure on Tuesday.

Now the question still remains, with an SS class in all the races currently listed for Connecticut, do I leave it a 1x9, or go back to what I know best?