How to Make Money Racing Cyclocross

Caught on Camera

Steve got some amazing shots of the madness on Sunday.

Click here to check out the full slide show.

A Proper Start

Well, you can forget about easing into the cyclocross season with a few warm dry races like last year. Mother nature was having none of that during this past weekend's Brookside Park Cup and Saint Mary's CX at Fort Harrison (FULL RESULTS). Saturday's race at Brookside was certainly no mud bog but a few light showers had things loosened up a bit and greasy through the off camber sections. Being the second race in the OVCX series this was not a chance to feel things out. It was hard fast racing from the gun. Sunday it was raining by the time you woke up and was still raining when the last race was over. The course went from slick, mushy grass with muddy sections early to one continuous ribbon of chocolate pudding by the end of the day.

Team Indiebike.com p/b Angie's List was represented all day with at least one rider in almost every wave. Joe and Stumpe broke in the course for everyone early in the Cat4 race. Joe was forced to abandon Saturday with "intestinal issues" but managed to stick it out in the mud on Sunday. Stumpe gained maximum style points with his new drag your bike over the barriers by the handlebars technique. My guess is that the bike was just too heavy for him to pick up with all that mud caked on it. Schmitz and Felipe represented well in the Cat3 Masters races. Dustin got off to a rough start both days but rode strong late in the race to finish respectably. Sierra could be found in her usual spot on Sunday, on the podium. Cory had some bad luck on the start Saturday and ended up running his bike around the first half lap with a broken derailleur and a spoke pulled through his rear rim. Sundays start was "clean" but the rest of the race was a long slog as the Elite Men's field was left with a course that showed very little evidence of the grass that had been there earlier in the day.

So needless to say it was a dive headfirst into the CX season. The good news is that if you could survive Sunday's race it isnt going to get much worse. Colder yes, but at least in the snow the ground underneath is usually pretty firm.

Run it or ride it?

What would you do?

Pop and Lock

Preseason injuries are taking their tole on the Team Indiebike p/b Angie's List cyclocross roster. For the second time in three weeks a crash during practice has resulted in a serious shoulder injury for one of our riders. Three weeks ago, Justin completely dislocated his left shoulder after laying it down on some slick, wet roots on the side of a hill. Last night, Ryan was practicing his bunny-hop over the barriers. After a few attempts he seemed to be getting the hang of it, but just as his confidence peaked, in an attempt to get the back wheel over the second barrier with not quite enough momentum Ryan shifted his weight a little too far forward and proceeded up and over his handlebars. He appeared to cushion his landing and roll out of the crash relative smoothly but as he remained in a crouching position holding his left arm it was apparent that something was wrong. He had suffered a complete acromioclavicular separation. You will notice those two bones at the top of the x-ray image below. Nothing is broken but those should be connected. Ouch! Fortunately Dr. Tim Weber, from our partners at OrthoIndy Trauma, lives about a mile away from the field where we practice. Always willing to help, Tim was on the scene in a matter of minutes to asses the damage and get Ryan proper treatment. It was kind of a good news/bad news scenario. No bones were broken and the shoulder was not dislocated (good news). However, there is no treatment option to repair a separated clavicle other than pain meds and a sling (bad news). In a sport where such injuries are unfortunately all too common we certainly appreciate having the expertise and resources so readily available, though ideally we would prefer to never have reason to call on them. Hopefully all of these incidents are out of the way for the remainder of the season. Ryan and Gus, heal up quickly. The rest of you be safe!

Cory at Cross Vegas

Cory goes over the top of the first run-up in 39th place. You can see him remount right at 1:00. That looks like complete madness!

Cross Vegas

Last night Team Indiebike.com p/b Angie's List was represented on the national stage. Our very own Cory Swihart raced in the Cross Vegas Wheelers and Dealers race on Wednesday night in front of thousands of cyclocross fans and industry insiders. Riders and spectators were there from across the country and across the world as the biggest cyclocross event in the US officially kicked off the domestic CX race season. Cory drew a tough starting position on the very last row among 163 riders. Undeterred, he made the best of the circumstances by quickly fighting his way into the top 50 half way through the first lap and into the top 30 by the time they crossed under the start/finish for the first time. The massive amount of energy that it took to move up that far so quickly did have consequences. However at the end of the night Cory rode strong and finished a respectable 39th overall. To put it in perspective, he managed to pass more than 120 riders in a 35 minute race, not bad. Way to go Cory. Cross that one off of your bucket list.

How awesome is it to see the new team kits being showcased at the largest and most well attended cross race in the US? Nowhere else could our sponsors get that amount of exposure to that many people in the industry. How amazing would it be to get 2 or three riders in the field next year? What a way to start off the season. Remember local racing gets started in earnest this weekend with the OVCX series opener in Louisville followed by Indy DoubleCross early on the calendar September 24th and 25th. Cant wait!

CX Racing is Hard!

In case you forgot, like I did, training is not racing. It seems like this is a lesson you have to learn all over again each fall. No matter how many weeknight cross practices you attend or how many times you jokingly talk to your teammates about how brutal cross is but its still fun you just aren't prepared for the first lap of the first race of the season. There is a reason that there are "tune up" races two weeks before any of the actual series kick off their schedules. The opportunity to test out your cross skills once again at race speed and to ride for 40 minutes after you have already started seeing red 6 minutes in is invaluable. No matter how hard you think you are "pushing it" on Tuesday night racing is the only true test of your legs and lungs.

This weekends Huber's Applecross was that wake up call for me. I came off the road season in pretty good shape and figured the transition to cyclocross this year would be seamless, or at least not shocking. But as I was reminded, even the accelerations of late summer crits don't adequately prepare you for the constant barrage of obstacles and maximum effort accelerations that follow over the course of a 45min cross race. There is no draft, no lull while riders sort out tactics.

So if you haven't toed the line yet this season, prepare yourself, the time is coming and it will hurt worse than you remembered (or expected if this is your first season). But after you cross the finish line, collapse on a picnic table, and finally take a drink, you wont be able to wait to do it all over again. Its kind of like the first time your parents take you on the roller coaster you were to short to get on last summer. You may have cried like a baby when the bar locked down over your lap, and screamed like bloody murder on the big drop, but when you pulled back in the station and got out all you could think of was running to get back in line for another ride.

Cyclocross Practice Race, and More...

The official, unofficial Saturday cyclocross practice race will begin this weekend, and end whenever it finally gets too miserable to show up. Riders from Team Indiebike.com p/b Angie's List and many more will descend on the Butler athletic fields for an hour or torturous pain that is somehow also fun.

Riding will begin at 8:30 with an easy lap to get everyone warmed up and familiar with the course. After that all hell breaks loose. The practice race will consist of about 6 laps, or for Joe and Ryan, however many they can do before getting a flat tire. With average lap times in the 8 minute range that should provide 45min to an hour of suffering followed by a few good laughs to ease the pain.

But that's not all... Beforehand, come to the Illinois Street Food Emporium at 7:15am for breakfast and coffee to fuel up and share some conversation. Don't ride cross? Not to worry. Roadies are welcome to mingle and then head out for a ride of their own. All are welcome and encouraged to join. At 8:15 we will stop stuffing our faces full of pastries and head over to Butler.

Hope to see you all out there. Let the fun begin!