Date:
29 January 2006
Location: Watsonville
Category: B
Distance/Time: 45 min
Field: 8
Conditions: Clear and warm with slippery muddy
with a few deep mud pits
Teammates: Andrew Lanier Sr. and Jr. racing the
Cs
The last cyclocross race of the season and
the beginning of road season
for me. Same beautiful Watsonville fairgrounds
area but they included
the nasty slippery run up from the Velo Bella
race earlier in the
season. The mud wasn't thick just slippery
which made traction a high
priority. I arrived early and warmed up on the
trainer while the Andrew
Sr. and Jr. raced. After they were finished
I went out to scope the
slippery soupy mess that I would be enduring
for 45 min. I decided since
it wasn't sticky mud I would run the Lemond
and use my Fuji as my back
up bike but just swap tires. I usually run the
Fuji as my race bike.
As we started the first mud field I was already
having issues with
shifting and they only seemed to get worse.
My friend/pit man was there so
as he was taking my picture coming up the horrendous
run up I told him
next lap to have my bike ready which he did
and man did I feel like a
pro swapping bikes to a fresh clean bike. It
was a little piece of
heaven for a few minutes but the tires were
an issue as I was running the
Ritchey Speedmax which are more for hard pack
not slippery mud. I was
sliding all over and had to slow way down for
the corners. I did 1.5
laps and was losing more time so I figured an
automatic shifting bike is
better than a slippery no traction bike. So
I did another bike swap
which my pit man had did a quick hose off and
with 1.5 laps to go I had
another clean bike and decided to try the big
ring and low and behold
the bike auto shifting problem stopped for the
most part and I was
picking up the pace but unfortunately I ran
out of race but was happy with my
results givin my bike mechanicals.
I finished feeling strong but learning alot that
a fresh "clean" bike is great thing.
I wish I would have done that a few races ago...
Next Race is Road and hopefully Snelling depending
on my fitness
Travis Tonn
San Jose Bicycle Club
Racing since 1939
»
RESULTS
Category B
5 Travis Tonn
Juniors
3 Andrew Lanier, Jr.
4 Cooper Thomas
5 Joseph Chizanskos
