In The Crosshairs

It's Sometimes Sunny in Baltimore

There was this ice cream truck, no doubt drawn by the crowd of seemingly undernourished folks in the middle of Baltimore’s Druid Hill Park, who spent most of the day course-side at Charm City Cyclocross. It’s a free country, and I’m not one to turn away from a good ice cream sandwich or drumstick, but the music, oh, the music. It was an eight hour barrage of “If Your Ears Hang Low,” on a loop. I don’t want to think what the guy in the truck did to cope with that inside his skull all day, every day. So for him, and all of you who parked near that truck, this video is dedicated to you.

As for the racing? It was phenomenal. Sunday in Charm City was the perfect autumn day. Moderate temperatures, sunny skies and a kickin’ cross course. The big guns put on another great show and the seventh year of racing in Druid Hill Park goes down as one of the best.

Next week is Tacchino Cyclocross in Upper Marlboro, Md. If you are there, come say hi. I’ll be the guy with the microphone.

Until then, here are more sights and sounds from Sunday’s race.

Thanks for watching.

Belgian flags and weather at Charm City

Despite being in existence for seven years, Charm City Cyclocross went out and did a couple things it never had before. One on purpose, and one predetermined by nature. For the first time, it actually rained a little bit on race day at Baltimore’s Druid Hill Park. Not a nasty drenching rain that leaves you cold, shaky and trying to believe that “this is what cyclocross is supposed to be like,” but a cool drizzle that turned an already technical Saturday course into one fraught with serious slippage. Little mud sections popped up and the thin mud was just the right consistency to get into the crevices of your tires and stay there until you hosed it out.

By the time the UCI race started, the rain had stopped and the course dried up a bit. It wouldn’t have mattered either way for these guys. They are just good at what they do. Amazingly fast on all features and riding the off-camber and technical sections as if Baltimore’s long dormant streetcars once traveled the same terrain [that was a metaphor for the way these cats scream through the turns like they are on rails; not sure it works, but it has some historic poetic flavor, so it's staying in].

On Sunday, the second first occurred. [Can you have a second first? Can you have too much editorial interruption?] The traditional Charm City course was run in reverse. The prologue remained the same but then you did all those things you normally do at the end of the lap at the beginning. It didn’t make the natural barrier any lower, or the nasty little climbs any flatter, but it did set up to be a super fun course.

Shot lots of video both days. Most of it is from Saturday, so that was a bit easier to compile. Sunday is still a work in progress. If an edit passes QC we will release that clip into the wild. Until that time, here’s what we put together from Saturday. And although it is Baltimore, and he was invited, Omar was a no show.

Thanks for watching.

Steevo clearing the Charm City natural barrier.

The seventh running of the Charm City Cross happens this weekend in Baltimore’s Druid Hill Park. What started as a one day event with around 300 total riders has quickly grown into one of the premier East Coast events with two days of UCI and non-UCI racing and over 1000 cyclocrossers pinning on numbers. We stopped by race sponsor, Twenty20 Cycling Co., last night to record a course preview with Twenty20 co-owner and C3 bossman, Kris Auer, and C3 stalwart Bad Andy Wulfkuhle.

The preview covers the Saturday race, which according to Bad Andy, will be set up “as close to last year as we can manage, in the dark, at 4 a.m. on race day.” Sunday’s race will be the traditional Charm City course in reverse. Crazy! I know. Keep in mind it is not 100 percent backwards. You will not climb down the steps and the finishing straight will remain the same as last year, absent the asphalt climb.

So you can follow along while watching, here is a rough map of Saturday’s course (click on map for large view).

Saturday's Charm City Course

And here is the video commentary with Kris and Bad Andy.

 

This is what you are looking at for Sunday’s race (click on map for large view).

Sunday's Charm City Course

To get an idea of the set up for Sunday, here is last year’s course commentary with Fulcrum Coaching‘s Dan Tille and JBV Coaching‘s Chris Mayhew. Keep in mind THE COURSE WILL BE REVERSED.

 

Thanks for watching and we will see you at the races.

P.S.-if you see me this weekend and want the super sweet In The Crosshairs SwiftWick socks, recently donned by Jeremy Powers, don’t be shy. Ask. I have PLENTY. They will also be available at the Team Money ‘n’ Stuff tent.

[Ed. Note: Periodically we have guest columnists here at In The Crosshairs. One of our favorites is Jay Morali, who last penned an article for us about this time last year. Jay returns with a column about the internal battle most of us find ourselves in each week on the cyclocross course. Simply put (and I'm paraphrasing Adam Myerson, here) the battle boils down to this: is the physical pain of trying to hang on to that wheel in front of you less or greater than the mental pain you will feel later if you let it go?]

“If you ain’t first, you’re last!”

-Ricky Bobby

Too often in life we subscribe to Will Ferrel’s lovable character’s motto from the movie Talledega Nights and we focus solely on the “winner” or “champion” and forget about the rest of the competitors. Look at the great Laurent Fignon, who just passed away. He will be remembered more for the one memorable race he lost instead of the many he won. And it’s not just on the professional level. Just last year I came home from a race after turning myself inside and out to come in second place. I get out of my car and my neighbor, who has no idea what a tubular tire is, asked me how the race went. I proudly told him I crossed the finish line a few seconds behind the winner to claim the second spot on the podium and his response was, “Great, first loser”.

If you race cross long enough and move through the various categories you will find yourself at some point in many different positions in the race. One year you might be fighting it out each week for a podium spot and the next just trying not to come in last. I am currently facing the latter. Last year, I was getting front row call-ups, winning holeshots and picking my own lines. Now, I am five rows back and “rubbin’ paint” as we fight to get past the prologue! (my second NASCAR reference. What do you expect from a Mississippi boy?) But as we all know, unless you are lucky enough to be leading a race, it doesn’t really matter where you are because one thing is always certain in cross: there is always someone in front of you to catch and pass. This is where most of us spend 100 percent of our race.

Schempf battling in the sand at Charm City.

The purpose of this article is to look into the minds of a couple of the prominent racers across the Mid Atlantic and get a sense of what they are feeling during the “chase.” Do these guys hurt like we do out there? Do they have negative thoughts and consider packing it in? I think you will enjoy their insights and may even learn something from their experiences.

Wes Schempf, a fellow C3-Athletes Serving Athletes teammate, is considered one of the best in the area. He is a former overall MABRAcross and MAC Elite title winner. Wes has had a few memorable experiences racing against pro mountain biker Jeremiah Bishop. Wes explains what it is like for him to fight it out with the former U.S. Champion in MTB short track and marathon in a cyclocross race.

“As you mentioned, Bishop and I have had some experiences,” Wes told me. He explained that his battles with Jeremiah fall into a routine script. “I know that mental preparation is almost as important as physical preparation,” Schempf said. “For some reason, Bishop has a mental voodoo blocker on me. I just can’t seem to get around the fact that he consistently beats me. This has led to a negative feedback loop where if I know he’s racing then I start to think that I’m racing for second.” Continue reading »

DCCX takes place Sunday at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, D.C. With over 600 racers already registered, this event is going to be huge.

Despite the ever growing popularity of DCCX, the organizers are never satisfied with last year and are always looking to give participants and spectators the best experience possible.

DCMTB, the club responsible for bringing us DCCX, is not one to blindly follow conventional wisdom. They like to mix it up a bit on course design, venue layout and fun extra activities like tandem races, a Saturday women-only CX clinic and a rookie class.

Women interested in the Saturday clinic, led by 2009 DCCX champ Arley Kemmerer (C3-Athletes Serving Athletes), need to do nothing more than show up at the AFRH on October 23rd at 2 p.m. Let the guard at the Upshur St. NW and Rock Creek Church Rd. gate know why you are there and he will point you in the right direction.

We met up with DCCX promoters Marc Gwadz and Matt Donahue to run through the course and get an idea of the new twists and turns. Many will be happy to learn that the long, exposed out and back on the far side of the course is gone. However, a new uphill barrier will join the existing uphill obstacle (steps replace last year’s barrier) to make the course no less painful.

For this course preview everything was done on location, which is a CXHairs first. We rode and filmed the course and immediately downloaded the file. The mobile crosshairs studio was set up on a hay bale leaning against a telephone pole around where the frites will be served on Sunday. Matt and Marc got on the mics and recorded the commentary in the field, which means you get some authentic DC background noise, like the medevac helicopters landing at Washington Hospital Center, mixed in with the commentary.

For more information and updates on DCCX, check out the DCMTB blog.

Thanks for watching and we will see you Sunday.

New twists and turns at the 2010 Charm City Cyclocross. Photo © Joel Steen

The 2010 edition of Charm City Cyclocross included two days of gut-wrenching, chest-burning racing. The festivities kicked off early Saturday morning with a new course layout at historic Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, Md. More twists and turns than the usual set-up but no less demanding or fun. The course still included Charm City Cross landmarks such as the staircase, natural barrier and double-sandpit.

Here at CXHairs, the 2010 game plan is to again try and record the races we attend using two cameras. One camera is on the helmet and a second, rear-facing camera is on the seat-stay. Instead of trying to fit both camera views onto the screen at the same time, as I did for a handful of races last year, I am going to post two videos. They will be close to identical in music and length. The only difference is that one will be the forward-facing view and the other the rear-facing view.

For music this year I hope to once again tap into the great bands supported by Mid-Atlantic labels. If you hear something you like, check out the labels website and buy some music. 

Charm City Cyclocross had me diving back into the archives for a couple of my favorite tracks from Exotic Fever Records alums. For this race we have tracks from Pash and Eulcid. Not to highlight my dumb mistakes, but you may notice on the video I had a 2:00 a.m. typo and misspelled Eulcid. My apologies to the band. My goal is to get that changed and reloaded soon.

Enjoy and thanks for watching. 

Forward-Facing Camera 

Rear-Facing Camera

Introducing your Masters 3/4 field. Photo © Joel Steen

The start of the Charm City Cyclocross Masters 3/4 race on Sunday, September 19, was chock full of controversy and intrigue. Helmet cams were confiscated, disqualifications for false starts were threatened and people were doing all kinds of crazy things up the road. Not having the forward-facing helmet-cam, it’s hard to say exactly how the race developed. But the rear-facing camera remained in place (for about thirty seconds) to capture the race as it unfolded. All over the road.

They say the start is the most important part of a cyclocross race. The conventional wisdom is that getting up front and in a good position will not necessarily win you the race but it should keep you clear of the bottlenecks and early race crashes. The conventional wisdom is not always right.

Full Video of Saturday’s race still to come. Thanks for watching.

The 2010 Charm City Cyclocross took place September 18 and 19 at Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, Maryland. Presented by C3-Athletes Serving Athletes, Charm City Cyclocross has grown from the regional Mid-Atlantic kickoff race to a full-blown two-day UCI Cyclocross event. Although the C3 men and women continue to grow this race every year, they have yet to bite off more than they can chew. The racing and atmosphere was once again spectacular and put everybody in the proper ‘cross mindset going forward.

Although many see this race as their season opener, it actually represented races 2 and 3 in the MAC series. Having the second day added to Charm City meant that the promoters were given the opportunity to try out a new course. What they came up with was a nice change of pace from the traditional power-friendly course that racers expect. The Sunday course did not stray too much from this traditional course, with only a couple new diversions along the way. The Saturday course, on the other hand, presented several new twists and turns and gave those racers that favor technical flair over raw power a chance to show their stuff on the Druid Hill Park grounds.

The men’s and women’s elite races featured strong fields and competitive racing. By the time these afternoon races rolled around, the heat and bone dry conditions started to take their toll on the fields. We caught up with the race winners for both days as well as the reigning MAC champion.

First up is Laura Van Gilder (C3-Athletes Serving Athletes) who is entering her second weekend of ‘cross after a long and successful road campaign. Laura won the MAC opener, Nittany Lion ‘Cross, and follows it up with back to back wins at Charm City. This is LVG’s third year securing victory at Charm City.

Our next interview is with Davide Frattini (Hudz-Subaru). Davide raced a full road season with Team Type One, lining up at The Tour of California, Tour of Utah and several trips overseas. Splitting time between his homes in Italy and Asheville, N.C., Davide is a returning Charm City champion and Druid Hill Park crowd favorite.

We were also able to catch up with reigning MAC champion, Valentin Scherz (Cyfac-Champion System Racing Team p/b Revolution Wheelworks). Valentin traveled from Switzerland with his countryman, Anthony Grand (Cyfac-Champion System Racing Team p/b Revolution Wheelworks) to take on the MAC series. Scherz finished 2nd behind Frattini each day and Grand slotted in at 3rd for both races.

A big thank you to Dan at www.cyclingreporter.com, Bruce Buckley and John Cutler for their help in producing these interviews. Thanks for watching. We will be back soon with video race footage.

Frattini and Myerson battle at the front of the 2009 Charm City Cross

Charm City Cross goes off September 18 and 19 for a full weekend of cyclocross goodness. Always a crowd favorite, the addition of a second day of racing gives race organizers C3-Athletes Serving Athletes more latitude to tweak an already amazing course. Run it backwards? Add some new sections? Only the promoters know for sure at this point. Fields are filling up fast and a couple on Saturday have already closed. So if you want to be on the line with 124 of your closest friends, go here now and register.

Last year at CXHairs.com we introduced helmet-cam footage to great success. Now that we have a healthy library of race footage to pull from, we are ready to unveil a new feature on the site. I think you are going to like it. The plan is to release a new video roughly a week before a selected race. The new video will include the helmet-cam footage with the addition of full race commentary. A rotating cast of cyclocross insiders will walk you through the ins and outs of the course as the video rolls.

Where is the best line? How should you set up for a barrier? This is the type of inside information we hope to provide with these videos.

So let’s get started. Charm City Cross is the traditional season opener for many in the Mid-Atlantic. Especially for those that travel North to the race. The event makes up the second and third round of the MAC series and is the dress rehearsal for the MABRAcross series that starts the next weekend with the Ed Sander Memorial Cyclocross race. Your commentators for this race are Chris Mayhew, associate coach with JBV Coaching, and Dan Tille, head coach at Fulcrum Coaching.

Thanks for watching. And as always, your feedback is important. Drop us a line at CXHairs@gmail.com or on Twitter or Facebook.

Sam O'keefe Displaying the C3-Athletes Serving Athletes Colors

C3 is hosting a team party and fundraiser for Athletes Serving Athletes this Saturday, January 30th, 7PM at Fraziers on the Avenue in Baltimore. Party with one of the top cyclocross teams on the East Coast and help raise money for a good cause. Want to go? Here is where it’s at: 919 West 36th Street, Baltimore, MD 21211-2414.

Seems Like Forever Ago LVG Won The 2009 Charm City CX

C3 promises a great time to get together after the big season and right before all those little ones. It’s also a perfect kick off to the 2010 world cyclocross championships where just hours after the festivities end, Laura Van Gilder and Jeff Bahnson will toe the line in Tabor, Czech Republic and represent C3-Athletes Serving Athletes, Thule/Van Dessel, the Mid-Atlantic Cyclocross series and the entire cyclocross community.

Bahnson Will Hopefully Arrive at Tabor With His Bikes

At 7:00 PM there will be live bands food and drink to be had and a small but good silent auction featuring  iPods, Dansko Clogs, Massage Gift Certificates, Coaching, Cycling Goods Galore. All proceeds go to Athletes Serving Athletes. www.athletesservingathletes.org.

Cost is $5 for C3 members and $10 for non members. Please pass the word as the entire cycling community is invited.