Sorry for the delay but better late than never.
The Ohio State Cyclocross championships, dubbed "Two days in Dublin," this past weekend, was one of the most spectacular sandbagging events I have ever witnessed!
But before I go into my rants, I would like to thank everyone involved in running the event for a good weekend of racing. Andys and Amanda Burns, Kirk Albers, all the officials (Mitch, Dave, Andrew, Alan), the cute girls at registration, all the setup and tear down crew, food vendors, the sponsors, and anyone else I missed. Also my #1 Hater was there doing the announcing. Well I gotta hand it to you Scot, you know how to work a mic. I know this thanking is kind of going against my MO, but I gotta support my state and its races.
Now back to what you all came here to read about...
The first race of the weekend was the non-championship Category 3/4 race. The Category 3 or 3/4 race is often considered the breeding ground for sandbaggers (in all disciplines of cycling, not just cross) and boy did it not disappoint. The star of this race was Chris Metzler, or Noah's brother as some may call him. Joe Hall took the holeshot and lead for the first lap or two until Chris got up to his wheel, then was never seen again. He did the same the previous week at Big Run. And to add to the sandbagging, he didn't even race on Sunday! Must be to avoid that auto-upgrade.
Another big sandbagger in the 3/4 race is the 5th place finisher Trevor Miller. At Big Run in the C race, from start to finish, it was the Trevor Miller show. At Dublin, it was the same deal. He kept up well with the other sandbaggers in the 3/4 race and on Sunday, he just dominated the Championship 4 race. A quick look at his results this year shows two wins, 4, two 5's, 6. Not too shabby on the road either. I hope he will be getting an upgrade, on his own accord or by forced upgrade. Oh yeah, I guess 4's can't be auto-upgraded, something USA Cycling needs to fix for this year (and add a Cat 5 men's category.)
I gripe I do have about this race was the lack of categories in the Masters races. All Masters races were category 1-4. Look at the OVCX, there is Elite, Cat 3 and Cat 4 Masters Category. How is one supposed to win their age group in if you are a Cat 3 or 4 if you have Elite racers in your age group!!!
All this sandbagger talk is making me a little sandy so I'll end here.
It is Halloween this weekend and 5, count it 5 races going on this weekend. Uncle Steve's, two days of Chagrin River CX, Lion of the Den and Storm the Greens. Send me your best costume pictures and sandbagger reports!
im hating the women's masters cat for UCI. they have cat 1-4 for 35+ and it sucked ass at devou yesterday. ive been out most of the season since crashing at gun club, so im kinna done now. uci races are the best but racing against the likes of gerry shulze isn't fun. just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of categories in the Masters races correspond to the races being held at Kingswood (Midwest Regional Masters Championships) on December 3rd, and the Masters World Championships in Louisville January 12-15. The Ohio State Championships and the Kings CX are great venues to train and see how you would fare before spending a lot of time and money at the World Championships.
ReplyDeleteThe same with the UCI races at the USGP, the amount of races have been dictated "from above." Unfortunately, a lot of old dudes with a lot of money are the paying customers right now so they get to choose from multiple race options.