If there’s one thing I’ve put a lot of thought into on my mountain bike, it’s tires.  Tires are one of the most important components of your bike, they literally connect you to the ground.  Every tire is a compromise: too light and they’re not reliable, too heavy and they’re sluggish; too slick and they’ll slide out from under you, too knobby and they roll like a monster truck (with much less horsepower behind it).  Having the right tire for your setup is very much a personal preference, and what you read on the internet or bike magazine may have little to no application to where and how you ride. Just because pros are running Maxxis Minions while shredding loam in British Columbia doesn’t mean you should run them on your local hardpacked rocky singletrack.  Horses for courses as they say…

Having used most of the popular Cross Country tires over the last few years, I gave the Graphene line from Vittoria a shot, first the Mezcal but then the Barzo.  The Mezcal is an excellent XC tire especially in hardpack conditions, and I’ll have a full review of the new Graphene 2.0 XC Race Mezcals soon, but over the last year I’ve had more seat time with the Barzo.  

Looking at the Barzo you’ll see a pretty basic square/moto block type pattern with a little siping on each knob as well as angling.  Siping is the cuts or grooves in each knob which give it an extra edge to grip, and it’s something Vittoria has spent a lot of time working on.  

If you’d like to hear a podcast about what they put into these tires check out this one from Mountain Bike Radio.  The knobs on the Barzo are nicely spaced to clear mud well but not too tall to cause significant drag.  They definitely roll a bit slower than the Mezcal, but you notice it more as a rear tire than a front tire.  A really good combo is to have a more aggressive tire in the front and a fast rolling tire in the rear, Barzo/Mezcal would certainly be one way to do that.  Trading rolling speed for grip is what made the Barzo my go to tire over the last year as I traveled all over to race in unknown conditions on race courses I’d never pre-ridden.  The added margin of error was used, early and often in some of these races and kept me upright and rolling.

There are basically 2 versions of the Barzo, the lighter XC Race casing (formerly non G+ non TNT) and the XC Trail casing (formerly G+ TNT).  Over the last year I’ve ridden these tires in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, and of course sunny Florida in both versions. It’s generally about 50g in each size to go from the lighter casing to the reinforced version, and I ran both depending on the conditions.

One quibble I had with the old Barzo is that the 2.25 and 2.35 were exactly the same size and weight on a variety of rim widths.  I’m interested to see if the new XC Race and XC Trail casing comes with increased volume for the 2.35’s. The only other complaint is that they’re heavier than other options, up to 740g actual for a reinforced 2.35 Barzo on my scale.  Definitely the heaviest tires I’ve mounted on my Top Fuel but also the most grippy and reliable.

For example, when I went to Colorado to race the Steamboat Stinger 50 I wasn’t as worried about cacti and sharp rocks so I went with the lighter casing to help my Florida legs get up Emerald Mountain. The tires performed great in the loose and varied conditions the entire week I was in Colorado, including getting me my first win in a MTB race!

When I took the bike to Arkansas to race the Epic Rides Oz Trails Offroad I went with the reinforced sidewall Barzos as I heard about the sharp rocks throughout the Ozarks.  The rain on raceday exposed some new edges and as I passed at least 20 people repairing flats on other brand tires, I held my breath that my Vittoria’s would get me to the finish line.  Sure enough, despite having over 50 slices on my tires I didn’t leak a drop of sealant or lose 1 pound of pressure.

An informal survey at the finish line showed other Vittoria riders had a similar experience, and riders on other brands were certainly asking questions about why their reinforced EXO tires had repeatedly failed them on race day.  No, I didn’t see any Schwalbe’s at the finish line, because, well LOL nobody is that brave to run those in the Ozarks.

For 2019 I’m fortunate enough to be a part of the Vittoria Tester program, and they sent me a pair of Mezcals in the new Graphene 2.0 XC race casing to test.  I’m excited to mount them up and see how they perform on race day.  

I know the pattern very well and when I like running the Mezcal versus when I’m reaching for the knobby big brother the Barzo, so I’m interested to see if the new implementation of Graphene widens the operational window.  Of course I’ll make sure to put my findings here, but if you need a great all-around-er that’ll keep you rolling fast and railing corners, the Vittoria Barzo is at the very top of my list.  I like them so much I stocked up on them when they went on sale a few months ago, not knowing the new Graphene 2.0 was pending release.  

I’m certainly not upset to spend my own money on a tire that’s now been updated, as they’re just so good. I’m sure the new compound is even better!

disclosure

Not a lot of women race bicycles. I am seeing more and more women riding bikes, but the majority have yet to step up to the plate to race their bikes. This was evident in my experience cross country mountain bike racing and maybe even more evident in cyclocross racing. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say maybe they are not racing their bikes because they have family and or job obligations. Some women say that they are not in good enough shape or that they are afraid of some of the course obstacles. Some say that they do not want to feel stressed or be watched if they are not good at the cyclocross “form”. I spoke to one person who said they did not want to be made fun of when they rode past the hecklers.

What many women do not know is that they are missing out on having fun. They are missing out on a killer work out. They are missing out on learning better bike handling. They are missing out on beer and gummy bear hand ups. They are missing out on the costumes or funny bikes that people bring to cyclocross. Even more importantly though, they could be missing out on being a series champion.

So, people like me reap the reward of their absence and race attendance inconsistency. My name is Kelly Pinheiro and in December 2018, I came in 3rd overall in women’s category 4/5 but most importantly, I came in 1st in the women’s pro 1/2/3/open category in 2018’s Wicked Awesome Racing (W.A.R.) series.

I barely trained for it. I was way heavier than I wanted to be. I never had fresh legs for the women’s open race as it was my second race of the day. My cyclocross mounts were disasters. I was not racing at my fastest pace. Heck, I would often get lapped by my competition. I got heckled……mainly by my own husband. But I managed to win that series championship jersey. All I had to do is show up and finish.  

For those who are not familiar with cyclocross……Cyclocross is a form of bicycle racing that typically takes place in the fall and winter and consists of many laps of a short course. The bike one uses for cross is like a road bike with knobby tires. Usually a cross course features pavement, wooded trails, grass, sand pits, mud, steep hills and obstacles requiring the rider to quickly and effectively dismount, shouldering or carry the bike while navigating the obstruction and then remount. There are multiple categories, some of which are age related, and some are class category related. Women typically get the shaft on the age division as there are simply not enough women that race to suit the demand of age divisions.  

What’s interesting is that you can race more than once and more than one day. Some people race up to 3 times in a day on both Saturday and Sunday. When I agreed to race the series, I thought I would race the 2 women’s categories offered; pro/cat 1/2/3/open and category 4/5. I also decided I would race both Saturday and Sunday. My goal: to gain some fitness, improve my bike handling skills, to make new friends, and to have fun.

I never envisioned this sort of win. I did not enter the series with even a third-place finish on my mind. I honestly just wanted a good work out. The problem is that I am married Nat Pinheiro, also a cyclist, who planned to commit to the 2018 the W.A.R. series.

Why was this a problem? Well, if he raced two races a day, on both Saturday and Sunday, then my chance to ride a bike would be limited and my bike fitness would fade. I mean, sure, I could ride a lap in between races but it would not have been the quality fitness that I craved.  So, the only thing I could do since my husband was going to commit to an entire series was to race.

But based on two cyclocross races I did in 2017 where I came in last in women’s category 4/5 and got lapped by the leading women, I knew I had to bring my fitness levels back to a level where I am not placing myself in cardiac danger. I also had a friend who thought she was going to race the series but instead bought a house, got engaged, and eventually married right in the middle of cross season; again, our plates get full sometimes and priorities get in the way of having fun and gaining fitness.  

So, six weeks before the start of cyclocross season, I added in 2 extra weekday rides (if I had the time) including the dreaded interval training where you ride your bike as fast and hard as you can, trying to sustain a maxed out heart rate for multiple minutes multiple times. Nobody likes intervals. It is straight up torture. I spent my weekends trying to ramp up those base miles with 25-50-mile road rides.

But there was a slight problem with only working on fitness; in cyclocross, you mount and dismount your bike so frequently that you need to learn how to do it effectively and efficiently.  If cameras were around, you need to do it eloquently. I mastered neither effectively, efficiently, nor eloquently and there is photographic proof. I became confident with the dismounting for the most part, something that you do on the left side of the cross bike.

I am so used to getting on and off my bike from the right side that habits are hard to break; and it would bring the heckles to the yard, especially from the husband.

But this remounting thing that cyclocross riders do, this flinging of your body back onto the bike with your body flying in the air almost horizontally and landing perfectly on your saddle and then getting your feet onto the pedals and speeding off…. Yeah, my brain does not allow for this:

I have a crummy back that Is loaded with arthritis and disc degeneration. I have had so many episodes where my back goes out and I cannot straighten up or bend over or rotate. I have had so many close calls to needing surgery. I have been told my spine looks like the spine of an 80-year-old (so what is it going to look like when I am 80?). I am afraid to fling my body onto my moving bicycle and simply enough, my brain does not allow me to do it, even though I want to. I do.

I want to because it looks so cool, but my brain will not let me so I am caught being photographed getting back on my bike like a dingus; stopping, putting my right leg over the bike and right foot on the ground, then placing my left foot in the pedal and then my right foot on the pedal and then pushing off. No momentum. It is not aesthetically pleasing. It is not efficient. It is far from eloquent.

But worse yet, you have an audience and it happens in front of your peers. Peers with cameras and megaphones. Its embarrassing.  But did I mention I won the series championship?

I am not new to racing. I am a former mountain bike racer who started to race in 2015 at the ripe age of 39. The Hammerhead 100 was my first race; I did the 25-mile portion and came in second to everyone’s surprise. It gave me some confidence to try other races. I entered the Florida State Championship mountain bike racing series in 2015 with zero expectations and because my husband was also racing, and I did not want to lose day of riding a bike because the husband would be off and racing and I would be spectating. I attended every race, never podiumed but ended up 5th overall and awarded at the end of the season.

I stepped up my game the following year with a new race specific bike, being on a racing team and being coached. I trained hard for 9 months, 4-5 workouts a week. I was becoming fast and efficient. I could finally ride with my husband and his friends and not be too far behind. I was impressed with what I could do with a now 40-year-old body that was never ever athletic. In high school I even made fun of by athletes, jocks, and cheerleaders. I entered the 2016 FSC race season hot and ready to shred and hopefully to win. While pre-riding Ft. Clinch at Amelia Island in race number 5, I had an incident where I had to unclip forcefully and land hard on my feet which jammed up my back; I think I had my worst finish that season, placing 5th the following day. But the sad part was that was where my 2016 race season ended. With a 1st place standing, 5 races in, with only 2 more to go, I had to stop racing. I had to stop training. The pain in my back and down into my left leg was so severe I had to stop working. I could not tolerate standing or walking. I could only crawl, like a baby, on my hands and knees.  I had a severely compressed L3 nerve from a L4 disc protrusion that slowly but temporarily paralyzed my left quadricep, causing severe pain in the anterior thigh, numbness in the inner part of my lower leg, leaving me with atrophied quadriceps. I was a candidate for surgery. After a couple of rounds of steroids and pain meds, along with intense physical and aquatic therapy, I recovered with less pain than I normally have.  But my bike fitness was non-existent, and my riding confidence was squashed. I only casually rode my bike a weekend here and there for about a year and a half.

And then we met The Bikery owner Taylor Norton (pictured above doing the remount beautifully) who tried to convince us that cross racing is cool and that we would love it. Taylor is a veteran cross racer and has earned a few state championships. The Bikery is one of our local bike shops in St. Petersburg; and it is cool with its impressive display of vintage, Moots, and Cannondale brand bikes. They have great coffee and they serve craft beer.  Nat took the bait and checked out a race in Dade City put on by Wicked Awesome Racing. He rode the course with a fat bike. He wanted in. We did not need another bike in our house, but he was too excited and intrigued by cross.

He was burnt out from mountain bike racing but enticed by how the fun of the cross race outweighs the stress of the race. I thought the sport was silly and goofy; I still feel that way, that the jumping over barriers and getting off the bike and carrying it over things is weird and silly.  He bought a cross bike and raced at Haile’s. He had so much fun despite how intense cross racing is. He attended most of the W.A.R. races and ended up in 3rd place in men’s cat 4/5, all without having to train his face off.  

I watched, I spectated, I handed water bottles to him (some people do not use a bottle cage in cyclocross, which is also weird to me). But I did not get to ride my bike the way I like to ride my bike, which is on both Saturday and Sunday. My friend Sara Campbell, who I met at the cross races, worked at Flying Fish bikes in Tampa and hooked me up with a sweet cross bike.

It is a Cannondale SuperX with amazing neon fork graphics. It was way too nice of a bike for someone who never rode cross or gravel before. But Nat said I should buy it. So, I did.

My first time riding it was at a W.A.R. event where I came out of race retirement and raced. I was pumped to have my bike friend and former race competitor Cynthia Morales Manfredi race with me. She had a new bike and wanted to break it in as well.  

Ten seconds into the race, I was at a zone 6 heart rate and going like only 8 miles an hour. It was pathetic. It was torture. I was lapped by the race leader maybe twice. It sucked. But I did it even though I came in last. I raced again at an event in Orlando with similar results, lapped and coming in last with immediate zone 6 heart rate and slow speed. But being a part of the cyclocross race scene here in Florida is nothing like the road and mountain bike race scene. Everyone is so friendly, funny, sometimes goofy, with most people just out to have a good time versus being stiff and serious (well there are a few out there that are super serious so get out of their way).

Cyclocross is extremely demanding on the body. There is no time for recovery. You constantly pedal and waste so much energy getting off and on your bike. You lose energy running across the sand pit. Your legs scream as you run up a hill with your bike on your shoulder. All with very little time for recovery. The shorter courses were the most difficult, as they took out the steep and technical portions of the race course for the cat 4/5 races. I knew I was not going to do well with only 6 weeks of training but said, “Yes, if it means I can race myself fit.” To my surprise, I had good starts with cyclocross. It was part of my training for mountain bike racing, but I never started well in mountain bike races. But it transferred well into cross. I was usually cycling into the grassy course in first place from a fast parking lot sprint but once I hit the grass, my glory was destroyed.

I did not have the fitness to sustain that pace. My competitors would soon get around me and even end up lapping me. But those fast gals did not show up every race. There would be a familiar face from time to time, but the women’s pro 1/2/3/open class was often vacant, maybe two to four women. There were races where it was just me out there.

And there were those dreadful pathetic remounts with photographers right there to catch how pathetic I am at remounting. So sometimes I would just own up to my shortcomings and would pose or be silly or crack a joke. No sense beating myself up over something I thought was impossible to master. And it was ok.  I did not die. I did not have to be cyclocross perfect. I just needed to be there and present.

Honestly, I was not heckled that much; my husband maybe was my only heckler. I was mostly cheered on and encouraged. Jemma Coleman is the best for shouting words of encouragement. And then she would be there with her camera, so I was like, do not get off your bike and walk through the mud, ride through the mud like a bad ass.

Or Jemma would be standing at the bottom of a drop that scares me because there is a hair pin turn followed by a steep, off-cambered drop but since she has a camera and she’s cheering for me, it caused me to overcome a lot of my fears, completing the task successfully. Or she would be standing on top of a super steep climb that I had been walking my bike up as I would be too tired to ride up, but she was there with that dang camera, so I better complete the climb without getting off my bike. So really a lot of my success in cross is because of Jemma. Seriously. (Editor’s note – Kelly is a badass and succeeded because she pushed through and reached for her inner strength. But I’m always happy to cheer and my heart is happy hearing that it fortified Kelly’s inherent drive and effort!)

I know a lot of fast bike-riding women. I have tried to talk them into racing cross. They will race a cross country race but not a cross race. They will race in road crits but not a cross race. Here is the thing about cross: there’s far less pressure. You are not 20 cyclists wide, aiming for a 2.5-foot-wide trail. There is enough space to get around the slower cyclist if you need to get around the slower cyclist. If someone is not going to make a climb in cross, you have space to get around them, so there is way less bitterness about other racers messing up your race flow. Mountain bike skills will help a racer transition into cross. Your roadie legs will only assist you to go super-fast in cross. Your triathlete cross training will come in handy in cross as there is a decent amount of running. And if you stick with it, you might just race yourself fit and get rewarded with a series championship jersey. Not to mention, there are beer and donut hand ups that are offered to you. You will get heckled if you do not take those hand ups. There is money sticking up out of the ground for you to grab as you climb up the dirt mound that is too steep to ride.

Cross reminds you to not take yourself so seriously and reminds you to be a kid again and have fun. What is also nice about cross is that the crash factor is reduced. No crashes for me this this past season.  You do not even need a cross bike as Mountain bikes are allowed, but you will be heckled and maybe playfully dissed if you did well racing on your mountain bike, but… after dragging your bike up a steep hill on, you will figure out the lighter the bike, the better. If Kelly can get out there and race cross, anyone can do it. And when you finish a race, you will say, “That was the hardest thing I have ever done” and then look forward to signing up for the next race. You will have earned that after race beer.

You have now earned the right to heckle the next crew of racers that were scheduled after your race and yell out “Even I made that climb!” because it is OK to politely dis other racers. Heckling is fully encouraged and even mandatory. Spectating is the best part of cross but is best after you’ve completed at least a race or two. I hope to give it a go again this 2019 race season.

So if I can do it, I know a lot of you gals out there can do it.

Cyclocross……do it for the fitness, stay because you might win a championship jersey.

To find out more about the 2019 Florida Cyclocross Season, follow the Wicked Awesome Racing Series page and request to join the Facebook group for FLCX. You can also check out USAC cyclocross races in Florida by visiting the USAC website.

Here is the tentative 2019-20 season schedule to date. Watch for updates and additions via the above sites and especially the Facebook group.

9/28-29 WAR I
10/12-13 WAR II
10/27 Spooky Cross
11/2-3 WAR III
11/16-17 WAR IV
12/7-8 WAR V
1/4-5 Swamp Cross

Unfortunately the race organizers removed all of the singletrack mountain bike section of the course (BOO), so my advantage coming from the MTB world was eliminated.  The course was flat, straight and fast, like a crit race on grass. There was no way I could do 2 races in a day on half a lung, so I watched the Masters race to see my friends battling it out there for one last race this season.  

When it was time for our race I hammered it as hard as I could, which kept me with the lead group for maybe half a lap. I just didn’t have the legs and lungs to even come close, so I settled in and rode with some other guys I’d raced with all year.  

In the end I finished 6th which was good enough to secure the overall FLCX season championship for Cat 4/5.  My first year racing CX was definitely a success, and I learned so much by doing it wrong and getting a few things right.  

Here’s a snippet of a few of the things I learned year 1:

• Cyclocross is about community.  Get there early, hang out late, talk to the other racers & organizers.  It’s a great spectator sport and (mostly) family friendly. Just keep the kids away from the hecklers or they might get covered in 4loco.

• Holeshots are important, but not as critical as XC racing.  There will be plenty of places to pass throughout the lap so as long as you’re toward the front, you’ll probably be ok.

• The fast guys and girls are really fast.  You’re going to get lapped, it’s ok. Just hang on their wheel and try to learn something for the next race.

• Cyclocross is not Endurance MTB racing.  Going at a pace where you’re smiling and having conversations (aka, my usual MO) means you’re having a good time but not going nearly hard enough.  You should be out of breath and legs burning for the entire race, and that’s how I felt in the races I did best in.

• Tires matter.  Tubeless is good, I hear tubulars are too, gravel tires are good for grass and hardpack but don’t bring them in the mud or you’ll be sliding… or walking.

• Cyclocross is hard on bikes.  Make sure you give your bike a thorough cleaning and inspection after each race.  You’re going to go through chains, brakes, and other items throughout the season. This is why the pros have pit bikes.

• Have a pit bike.  I used my singlespeed Mountain Bike as pit bike once in WAR #3 and it kept me close enough to tie in points for the overall WAR series.  If I didn’t have one I would have been completely out of the running.

• It’s hard to maintain fitness in Cyclocross season.  When you’re used to long weekend rides and instead you’re racing for 45 minutes spurts 4 times throughout a weekend, you have to find time in the week to get good rides in.  I definitely didn’t, and I faded as the season went on.

• Cyclocross is more like a bike party than a race.  If you like bikes and parties, you should try CX, especially if you have a smart mouth.

If you love our pics/recaps and want to high five us, check out our store, we’ve got a bunch of cool gear we’d love to see you getting good use out of. We made a special effort to pick some great quality stuff!

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After Rodeo Cross I had a bit of a shifting problem but I solved it with a new set of derailleur pulleys. Since I had some other fun MTB races coming up I wanted to do both the Masters Race and Cat 4/5 both days to get a little extra credit in the legs.  I knew the course would be a muddy mess, so I just decided to ride it blind in the first race Saturday with no preride.  

I learned a few things in that race, but none more important than the lesson that Gravel tires are best suited for hardpack and not ankle deep mud.  I was lucky enough to finish in the top 5 but more importantly learned a couple lines for the Cat 4/5 race.

In the Cat 4/5 race I went out pretty hard and tried to skate through the mud as best I can.  I’m not sure if it’s the best strategy, but in some of the long muddy sections I’d just try to come in with a ton of speed and slide as far as I could before I dismounted.  The gravel tires made it hard to put down power, looking back anytime I went over 200w it just spun out. Unfortunately cyclocross tends to be a lot of short bursts in the high power range, so I was restrictor plate racing due to my choice in equipment.  I crossed the line in 3rd and got some much needed points for the FLCX series to keep me in the lead.  

Some of the shifting issues I’d had before cropped back up, but I chalked it up to a mud-clogged drivetrain and hosed off the bike thoroughly at the end of the day Sunday.  I’d later learn that my derailleur had been so mangled and cut by a misaligned chain/worn pulley that it was completely destroyed. See the difference between the old and new below… Ouch.

Sunday came with a slightly dryer course, but make no mistake there was still plenty of mud, just less standing water.  Having watched some of the guys go through faster on foot than riding I implemented that strategy in the Masters race Sunday. Especially since I couldn’t put down power with the wrong tires, running proved to be an effective race strategy and I was able to finish 5th for the 2nd day in a row.  

The Cat 4/5 Race Sunday felt like Groundhog Day with a strong start and then eventually fading.  A highlight was midway through the race as I was re-mounting the bike after an extended wet and muddy section there was what appeared to be a water moccasin in the middle of the course!

I was sitting 2nd or 3rd at the time and tried to warn those behind me, a few saw it and I think one person ran it over but nobody was bitten and the snake was gone the next lap. I settled in and was able to hold on and ride/run my way to 4th which was good enough to get some points and a good weekend of training for MTB races coming up.  

If I were to race that kind of race again I’d definitely bring some mud tires.  I love the Panaracer Gravelking SK tires and file treads like the Donnelly LAS, but perhaps something like the Vittoria Terreno Wet or Donnell PDX would give a little more grip for cornering and acceleration when it’s muddy.  I could have definitely gone faster with the MTB and a set of Vittoria Barzos, but I figured ruining one bike in a weekend was enough!

If you love our pics/recaps and want to high five us, check out our store, we’ve got a bunch of cool gear we’d love to see you getting good use out of. We made a special effort to pick some great quality stuff!

Check out a sneak peek gallery here and be sure to enjoy and download the photos in the full gallery of 2019 Swamp Cross photos, taken by my wife, Jemma.

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You are welcome to download and use these photos personally! We’d sure appreciate you leaving our logo intact, a link to our BikeMinded Blog, our BikeMinded facebook page, or our BikeMinded Instagram if you post them! We’re all about growing our community! <3

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Shaking off the bad vibes of losing a WAR championship on a tie breaker, I spent the week riding the MTB and just enjoying the ride.  There was a FSC race at Hailes which is always one of the best places to ride in the state, so I packed up the bike and headed up there.  The course was amazing, with crazy punchy climbs and new sections added I had never seen. If you’ve never gotten a chance to race at Hailes aka Gatorback, DO IT.  I got to pre-ride the race course with all my MTB buddies who I missed racing with all year.

But wait a second, isn’t this an article about Rodeo Cross?  Yes, yes it is. You see, while the conditions at Hailes were perfect on Saturday for the pre-ride, a major storm was coming through the state and that course would turn to mud overnight.  Having done a 6hr race there earlier this year in a pouring rain, the idea of trashing my freshly serviced Trek Top Fuel (thanks Beyond Bikes!) in 90 minutes of slop didn’t’ sound so appealing.  But you know what did sound appealing: cyclocross in the mud. Fortunately I’d brought my CX bike with me, and there was a CX race south of Ocala on Sunday so we packed up and headed there.

Rolling into the race course under thunder and lightning I knew it was going to be a messy day.  Sure enough, it was so sloppy we didn’t even bother setting up our tent, instead just hiding in the van until it cleared enough to see about racing.  We’d got there in time to race the Cat 4/5 race which was perfect, so I did a loop of the course to see what we had. The course was in a pasture which had been recently used, so there were…uh….obstacles throughout.  The was a nice pit that we went down, around and up, some barriers, and a long slow leg burning climb to the finish on each lap. And plenty of mud and grass to clog any derailleurs.

Instead of having the Single Speed in the pits this time I had the full suspension Trek Top Fuel, so I was ready for whatever.  When the whistle blew I hit out hard and settled into a rhythm. The laps were short and there was a young kid up front just drilling the pace.  I couldn’t quite hang on and slowly drifted back over the first couple laps. Suddenly when I shifted into the large ring on the front my gears started grinding funny.  I clicked through the cassette and chainrings to find a combo that worked and after a bit it resolved itself. Good, I wouldn’t have to use my pit bike. Except it did it again. And again. It seemed to happen right after the pits, and fix itself right before I got back to the pits.

Turns out 1500 miles is about the lifespan for Shimano derailleur pulleys when subjected to CX abuse, and these had developed a nice groove for an alternate chainline.  Dropping back to 5th I just found a gear and stuck in it, not that the shifters were working anyways. It was also my first CX race with a power meter, so you know we’re gonna have to sit down and Analyze that after the season…

Racing CX in gross muddy conditions was pretty cool.  It was a short day but I hear Swamp Cross in Gainesville might have some mud, and I’m ready for it!

Check out a sneak peek gallery here and be sure to enjoy and download the photos in the full gallery of 2018 Rodeo Cross photos, taken by my wife, Jemma.

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The last race of the WAR series this year was at Stanley Park which I had heard about all year long.  I was coming into the race weekend with a cold from visiting family over Thanksgiving but knew I had to give it everything to have a chance at a series championship.  I had a few points lead but that was going to be hard to hold with the other racers getting faster all season.

Since I was battling a head cold I decided against racing the Open Masters race which was a good thing, as watching/heckling that group battle the hills, off camber sections, run ups, and brutal headwind on the main straight away looked like pure suffering.  

Based on what we saw from those groups we figured it was going to be a 4 lap race for the 30 minute Cat 4/5 guys later in the day. I tried to warm up but of course forgot my heart-rate monitor so just got the legs loose based on feel. I ended up lining up late and towards the back, but when the whistle blew the group took off into the headwind and I was able to work my way through to the front before the first climbs.  This race had a $25 Prime in place for lap 1 so I knew some would be going hard for that and sure enough 2 young kids were putting everything into the first lap.

I was just behind the leaders at the end of the first lap and sure enough the kid that won the $25 pulled the parachute and coasted in after that.  Now the race was on with some of the same guys I’d been battling with all season. There were 3 of us who’d broken ahead of the rest of the group so I knew if we could hold this pace that’s what the podium was going to look like.

Passing the start finish tent at the end of lap 2 they had a sign that would have normally said 2 to go, but it had blown over so they verbally confirmed we had 2 laps to go.  Keeping the leader in sight I swapped places with another racer for 2nd/3rd through the technical parts of the course.

As we approached the end of the lap, the race director came over and said that in fact there was not 2 laps to go, but only 1: THIS WAS IT!  Oh man, my pacing strategy was not going to work out and all I had left was a set of barriers and finishing straight away to get my best position. I was able to smoothly navigate the barriers and power out of them forming a gap on 3rd, but 1st was too far to reel in. Crossing the line 2nd I felt good about my performance but wondered what a 4th lap would have been like. After years of racing 6hr races, I definitely like it when they go a little longer

Day #2 was for all the marbles: I had a small points lead and just needed to finish in the top 5ish to have a chance for the overall.  I wasn’t settling for just finishing top 5 though. Having not won a WAR race yet I went out hard at the start.

Leading into first climb I kept the pressure on into the descent and wanted to attack harder on the 2nd climb.  That’s when it all came apart: my rear tire burped out all the pressure and I was riding on the rim. I quickly went from first to outside the top 10 as the rest of the group flew by me. Fortunately we were not far from the pits where I had left my Trek Superfly Single Speed mountain bike as a backup bike.  

I left my CX bike there for neutral service to work on, jumped on the SS and made my best efforts to catch up to the leaders.  I was able to get back up into the top 3 but burned some matches to get there. The mountain bike was very good in the sand and roots, but the gear ratio was made more for high speed MTB races and not so much slow technical Cyclocross courses.  After a lap on the SS I decided to switch back to the CX bike which had been aired up and readied for racing (Thanks Kona Bike!).

I was holding in the top 3-4 racers through the first 2 laps but changing bikes twice and chasing back on was taking it’s toll.  I was cracking pretty hard but knew I only had 1 lap left based on how we raced on Saturday.

Unfortunately Sunday the race organizer made the race about 10 minutes longer than Saturday so we ended up doing an extra lap. That final lap I was slowly slipping back into 6th place battling for 5th.  I wasn’t exactly sure how many points I needed but I knew every position was critical. At the end I finished 6th about 10 seconds behind 5th place.

We waited around for all the times and points to be tallied and it was official: 6th place, tied for the points championship with Ryan who finished first Saturday and Sunday.  Ryan won the tiebreaker so he got the jersey.

That was a tough one and definitely took a while to process. A lot of things went wrong to get to the point of tying for a series championship, but ultimately I didn’t do enough to overcome the adversity to win it.  

I was definitely bummed and took a few days off, but I’ve bounced back and now I’m gunning for the FLCX overall series. The WAR series was super fun, and I’m glad to see they’re adding a few more races for next season to make it even more Wicked Awesome! We’ve got a few more CX races left this season so hope to see you all out there!

Check out a sneak peek gallery here and be sure to enjoy and download the photos in the full gallery of 2018 WAR #3 MudCat photos, taken by my wife, Jemma.

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