Andy Salmon Kermesse (ASK)

First race of the year,


After an illness in December and ugly weather in January, I finally got some miles in and decided to try a bike race that I had never done before. According to the local promoters, a kermesse is a race consisting of road and off road mixed in a 3 or 4 mile circuit with everyone (all cats, men and women) starting at the same time.


It was a clear, sunny and cold start for the race. When the whistle blew, we went up a tarmac road for a mile and then turned right onto a proliferation of fire/maintenance roads that were hard packed dirt with boulders sticking up from the road surface. The race course had to be modified from event description due to the downed tree limbs from our recent storm. When racing the off tarmac portion, the protruding boulders kissed the tires in such a way as to produce a rhythmic vibration that our massage sponsor would find quite dreadful. Said rocks also pulled the air right out of many of the skinny tired bikes. I used 32mm tires with about 35psi on my cross bike and did not have a flat (I weigh 130lbs). On the rocky down hill, the bike took a real pounding. 

Everyone started at the same time so the fast guys went up the road as I struggled to warm up. After several laps a small group formed at the back and we continued to rumble through the rocks, then tarmac.....repeat. After about 5 laps, three fast guys passed us then life returned to normal. The race was feeling like a very long cross race without barriers. There were only two wet sections on the course but that was enough to fill my shoes with water and subsequently make my feet very cold. On the very last lap, the second group of fast guys caught me just as I was about to go down the rocky down hill. I tried to stay out of their way but in the process got forced to the side of the trail into deep ruts, had to slow down and lost contact with my small group. I struggled to catch up but did not get back to the group for the finish. 

I got 33rd place out of 50 starters but maybe 10 or more folks flatted due to pinch flats on the rocks. During the race I noticed that a woman was glued to my back wheel during the race. After crossing the finish, she came up to me and said thanks for pulling her along. You are welcome Heidi. At the end of the race, I got tangled up in traffic and she placed just in front of me. 

Gold Cowbell - Seattle Cyclocross

Monroe, WA was the last race of the year for the Seattle Cyclocross series and this race would determine the podium winners for the year. After the Sprinker race I was sitting in 5th place for the series. When I got up in the morning it was raining....hard. As I arrived at the race course it was still raining hard. On my one and only ride around the course I noted running water, mud puddles, deep mud, and grassy sections of goo.  The race started and the roosters of flying mud began. This picture was taken during the first lap of the race in one of the sandy corrals. Note the narrow line of hard packed sand.

 I figured that my glasses would be covered in flying mud thereby limiting my vision but the real problem was the slimy hillside where I fell. Later in the race I would have to run the slimy sections.

 This was a power course.....powering through all the mud. This picture was taken later in the race evidenced by the accumulation of mud on the jersey.

During the run-up.

 Finally I crossed the finish line and then headed for the car and some dry clothes. I wanted to get to the awards ceremony and did not have much time. After piling all the muddy things in the car, I headed for the ceremony. They called Don forward for third place and my heart sank to the floor. I figured that I missed the podium for this year. Then Tom was called for second, again not me. I was standing there under the side of the barn watching the rain fall when, much to my surprise, they called my name for the top podium position. The final numbers must have been very close, but at age 64 I'm very grateful to have won this series.

Podium finishers for the Cat 4 Men 55+ group

Many thanks to Seattle Cyclocross for putting on these races for the past 20 years.

Sprinker CX

As you can see from the following photo, the Sprinker course was frosty with a hint of mud. The lead in this photo is Jodi who is in the process of winning the women's SS race.

I got a good start and latched onto the wheel of the leaders.

There were a lot of grassy turns, three sets of barriers and then my trouble spot, the sand pit. I don't normally have trouble with sand but this sand pit cost me way too many seconds. In the end I got 4th place (26 seconds off the leader) in the Men Cat 4 55+ group. I'm now ranked 6th in Washington by USAC for Cat 4 men 55+.

It does not look that cold in the photos but when I finished the race, my feet were stinging from cold for over thirty minutes.

My Challenge Grifo tires did well in the grassy corners and slipped only once on the icy rocks during the turn into the first barriers. In all, it was a good day and I'm looking forward the the final race in Monroe.

Seattle Cyclocross - Steilacoom

This is the second time this season that we have raced at Steilacoom. Several days prior to the race, we all received an email from Seattle Cyclocross predicting wet weather and lots of mud. They wanted to duplicate the conditions at Enumclaw. It was not to be.

The course was dry and fast with plenty of climbing to thin out the field. I got a faster start than usual, worked my way around the barns and started passing 45+ aged back markers on the first climb on the tarmac. After a narrow section of single track, the course designers placed three barriers further apart than normal on an up hill section that forced everyone to run the entire length of the barriers. I lost a lot of time in this run-up stretch because of all the traffic. A right turn sent you down a short down hill followed by tight turns around trees and then another longer climb up a gravel road and around a large water tank. By this time in the race, I was totally out of breath but had to negotiate a narrow loose gravel down hill path with my eyes watering from the cold. I love doing sketchy down hill sections, at speed, and blind.

Following the descent you were greeted with a wood chip path and then the remainder of the course on grass and tarmac. 

I sprinted for the finish but did not catch Rick, who was 2 seconds in front of me. 

In the end I got 6th place out of 26 in the Cat 4 55+ age group on a course that required a lot of power and endurance. 

A little math fun: As we lined up for the start the officials told us that the course had changed since the pre-ride and would be a little longer. Then, during the race, they added another lap to the race. So, as you crossed the start/finish line on lap one you heard "two laps to go". Then at the end of lap two, you again heard "two laps to go" at the finish line. Some of us were questioning the officials math abilities, but what the heck, this is cyclocross, you just go until you drop.

Only in Ballard

I saw the following in an email written by Fabien.

"I was driving to my classes in baaaahlard and was driving up the lake city way road when I saw a cycling, climbing in the biggest gear he could handle and making the same face as Bjarne Riis climbing up in the Pyrenees. He was looking straight ahead and was clearly aiming to catch up a rider about 200 meters ahead of him who was spinning casually.

I got closer to the said cycling who was pedaling smoothly, perfect technique, when I realized that it was....RAINER!

I laughed so hard thinking about the other guy trying to catch Rainer up....

Anyway, I thought that I would sharer that with you :D"

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Alleen in geval u niet wist, is Rainer een van de sterkste cyclocross en weg racers in het noordwesten.

Seattle Cyclocross - Enumclaw

If you like full-on mud and slimy bike handling, then you should not have missed this race. It was raining as we left the house and headed for Enumclaw and it was still raining as we drove into the fairgrounds parking lot. The grass was wet, the mud puddles were deep and the peanut butter mud was all around. I checked in at registration and then tried to get some warmth into my legs prior to the race. Soon enough we lined up and the whistle blew. The first several hundred yards of the race was wet grass followed by this steep slippery run up.

Here I am wading through the tar pits doing a little hike-a-bike. 

 Christie is showing us how to plow through the mud.

On a faster section.

After going through the slimy back portion of the course we headed back to the grassy section, then across barriers, various ditches, a straight section of watery grass/mud and through the middle of a barn. On the last lap, the fellow in front of me hollered "MOOOOOO" as we went through the barn and the sound echoed all around us.

As for my race, on the first lap I tried to find a good path around the course. On the second lap I found some areas where I could use my conditioning and do some passing. On the third lap I passed several in my group and as I crossed the finnish line they announced that I was fourth, an excellent result on this challenging course.

MFG Magnuson CX

Early this morning, it was calm and beautiful at Magnuson Park in Seattle. 

Then all hell broke loose! 

Here comes the devil and his followers.

(On this photo, note the bike grip while crossing the barriers.)

Happy Halloween!

Then at the end of the day, the park was quiet and the locals returned.

The Magnuson CX was a good race for me. I got third place in the Cat 4 (55 and over age group), finishing 10 seconds behind the leader. The course had a lot of long flats, one technical section around a tennis court, and a nice gravel road up a hill. There were very few places to rest.....power on all the way.