Friday, November 12, 2010

StormTheGreensUncleStevesICEMANGunClub

Sorry fellas, life gets in the way sometimes and I didn't have the time to point the finger for all my fans. I'll do a little summary of the past two weeks of racing and give my preview for the OVCX/CapCityCross double event at Infirmary Mound.

I'll start down south with Storm the Greens. We seemed to have a little premature celebration last year bidding farewell to River Road Country Club but we were back at it again. We'll start out with my favorite sandbagger category, the Cat 3's. A shake up in the standings as Jason Monk takes the lead over Ray Smith who has been at the top for a few weeks. Those two have a sizable lead over third place. Over in the women's race, Elizabeth Cobb and Staci Mandrola are up on the top step again! To give Elizabeth some credit, she did race the elite race afterwards.

Up in Ohio, there was the party/cross race known as Uncle Steve's. Bone rattling surface, check, fire, check, beer handups, check, creek crossing, check. In the B race, we saw a new face win and not too far later, Joe Hall roll in for second. Joe certainly is strong enough to be a 2 both in cross AND ON THE ROAD. Especially when he solo bridged to the breakaway on some early spring series race.

This past weekend, we had Gun club along with some mountain bike race up in michigan... oh what was that again? Oh yeah Iceman. I've never really understood the fascination of Iceman. Really, why would you go to Michigan to do a mountain bike race. However I'll have to give props to Brian Matter for winning his third Iceman. He has won Chequamegon three times, Ore to Shore three times and Iceman three time! The following day, a popular guy on this blog, Ray Smith won the B race at Ice Cross (though it is his first win.) This "big" event might have pulled some racers away from what I think is the best OVCX race, Gun Club.

Oh yes my favorite race of the OVCX season. Gun Club has all the great ingredients for an excellent cross race. Double sandpit, wide open sections, not so wide open sections, hard climbs, crazy descents, good food and always a good atmosphere.

But then again, the Gun Club race can quite possibly the most controversial race for more liberal types on the schedule. I mean, its held on a gun club, is called GUN club, and races start with a SHOT OF A GUN! The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence claims that the mere presence of guns makes you 3-5x more likely for you to get shot, and guns instantly make you a cold blooded murderer. With their logic, we would all be running around (rather riding around on our cross bikes) and shooting each other while racing. On the other side, the NRA and other gun rights groups say they are full of shit and guns save lives. I'll stop here without getting overly political and I quite frankly don't care which side of the fence you are on.

Really at Gun Club the real sandbagging deal is in the Cat3 masters. The 35/45+ got their own feel good race and well, it was quite obvious some of these guys don't belong. The winner of the 35+ was pretty much long gone after a lap or two, David Johnson. And on the second step on the podium, its Peter Hills AGAIN. I've seen him on the podium what, like at every race? Take a page out of Corey Green's book and start racing Elite masters. And rumor is, Peter sent out some nasty email to the Team Dayton email list about me.

This weekend is the Infirmary Mound race up in Granville, OH. I know its a haul for you all in Louisville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, but we up in Columbus make the drive down to your races. Its a great course and you won't be disappointed. If you haven't already registered, do so now! http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=11896

4 comments:

  1. Yea..Mr. Johnson Raced the John Bryan state championships last year as a cat 4 35+ and just DESTROYED the rest of the field to get himself a cat 4 state championship jersey..then raced the elite masters race same day..big man.
    Yea..I'm salty cuz I was a legit cat 4 and missed the jersey myself by oh...ALMOST AN ENTIRE LAP.
    Rant off.

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  2. I thought this blog was about calling out true sandbaggers. Apparently you are slacking in more areas than blogging, like research. If Elizabeth Cobb is not a sandbagger simply because she is racing up after beating everyone in the lower category I must be confused on the definition of a sandbagger. If a single cross podium this year and success in another area of racing is sandbagging, as in the case of Joe Hall, then I also must be confused. As I recall, in your earlier post you stated that after two wins you should upgrade. So this means Elizabeth (wins at Kings Cross, Louisville, and STG) and Stacy (wins at Louisville, Bloomington, STG, Gun Club, and Infirmary Mound) should have upgraded awhile ago and Joe Hall is not yet fair game (2nd at Uncle Steve’s and 9th at Infirmary Mound are his two best finishes this season). Are you changing the rules Ohio Sandbagger? If so I demand a post on the rule changes immediately. Either way, what about Ray Smith? You commented he didn’t deserve to be called out after Ice Cross because it was his first win even though second place would never have seen him if his wheel didn’t fall out of the drops during the race! At Infirmary Mound he may have only finished second but the gap on the field was significant. You made the decision to start this blog and you had a good idea. However, if you want more people than Judi to continue to read it, try checking the facts before you publish your words to the web.

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  3. damn, getting slammed. don't worry. people (promoters) are actually listening to you, so keep it up. see the bikecliques OVCX thread.

    p.s. someone said you called cooper ambjorn out. cooper is a legit cat 4 - she and i started cx last year. she's kicking ass. i am not.

    and just for the record, it doesn't make sense to *have* cat up in the middle of a cx season. unless you want to go to bend, like cooper is doing.

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  4. I personally know Mr. Johnson and feel compelled to stick up for him. He was a "legit" Cat 4 last year in only his second year racing CX. As far as I know you can’t start out as a Cat 2. You have to start somewhere and accumulate enough points to upgrade. He had never won any CX race before last year’s State Championship. After the State Championship win he upgraded to a Cat 3. He did decide to jump into the Elite Master’s later in the day, but finished second to last. I say good for him for trying a more competitive class. As for “Butch” missing out on the jersey, I have some advice. Besides losing a few pounds, he should think twice about “high fiving” his buddies in the parking lot while leading the race. Seriously….you took your hands off the bars, to high five your friends, as the course passed one of the parking lots while you were leading the race and you have the balls to accuse someone of sandbagging because they attacked when they noticed you were being a complete jackass.

    As for the Gun Club race it was Dave's first victory of the year. I would hardly call it "sandbagging". I think it speaks to the difference between the Michigan series vs. the OVCX series. Many riders who race the Michigan Tailwind series go to other cities and dominate. For example, last year's winner of the Elite John Bryan State Champion race Tim Saari, Michigan boy. Second place, Jon Card, Ohio licensed rider who races primarily in Michigan. Jon repeated as Elite State Champion again in 2010. Mike Wissink, won the USGP 35+ Master's Series the year before last and has lead at times this year, Michigan boy. The point is the Michigan scene is strong and when riders come south to race OVCX they have good results.

    Dave raced Elite Master's at the 2010 Louisville USGP and finished near the bottom of the field. I'd say he is not quite ready to make the leap to the next level. He has worked with a coach for the 2010 CX season, upgraded from a Cat 4 to a Cat 3, with the main goal of winning the State Championship in the next category. If he was "sandbagging" he would have stayed a Cat 4. Hard work and focus should not be mistaken for sandbagging.

    For all you whiners, you'll be happy to know Dave has submitted his 2010 results to USA Cycling in order to upgrade to a Cat 2.

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