The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul…

…at last an Iron Cross #6 report! (part une)

Apologies to all my ten readers for the 5 month silence, but for me (but certainly not for most) Iron Cross #6 was a trial of strength and many lessons learned – when I imagined that this was one race that I had dialled-in and was pretty familiar with.

The Gods of Michaux decided otherwise – and wreaked their vengance…

The first error I made was to over-estimate my ability to recover from the effects of having ridden the Three Peaks a scant two weeks earlier – and even regard it as some sort of warm up for Iron Cross.

LESSON ONE: Don’t under underestimate either race – they’re both nasty – and they both bite! It’s not without good reason that the Three Peaks is widely held to be the toughest cyclo-cross in the World. Arrogance led me to believe that a ‘modest’ 5+ hours of plugging around the Yorkshire Dales at (my) racing speeds, could be recovered from by two weeks of light training, plenty of sleep and ingestion of suitable food materials.

I spent the last few days before IC #6 pottering around Pennsylvania on the bike (see earlier posts), and felt absolutely fine. No aches, no pain, plenty of energy. However, 20 minutes into race at Michaux, and after the post-start adrenalin rush had faded - I knew I was in really big trouble. The tank was pretty near empty. My legs felt leaden, I was generally uncomfortable and [most importantly for this race], couldn’t get into any sort of climbing cadence. By the final checkpoint, at 4+ hours, and nowhere to go but on to the finish – I felt so bad that I was actually getting really bad tempered about the whole affair – you know, shouting at tree stumps and rocks etc.,.

If organiser Mark Laser had made the mistake of standing on the course on the last sektor, this would certainly have been the scene:

The “Three Peaks / Iron Cross double-header Effect” as we shall now call it, has since been a discussion point between myself and fellow-CBRCer Chris McBurnie, who had likewise done the ‘double’ and also suffered the torments of the damned in both. We’re not sure that it’s possible for mere mortals to recover enough to put in a sparkling performance in both events – unless you happen to be a professional endurance athlete and probably called called Rob Jebb. Maybe doing nothing at all on the bike for two weeks between the two races is the key – but as a cyclist that would never really feel ‘right’…

Now… if we could persuade John Rawnsley to hold the ‘Peaks one week earlier or Mark Laser to run IC one week later – that might be enough time…

The second error was not to follow my own good advice, “Don’t use new / untried equipment”. I did, and what a plonker I was…

LESSON TWO: Don’t use new / untried equipment! Just prior to leaving for the US, I’d put together an new bike based on a rather lovely Raleigh Special Products 853 frame (good choice), my trusty Fulcrum Seven wheels (ditto) and LX MTB 9-spd running gear (ditto – but only so far). The only untried bit was a ‘new - very old stock’ PowerPro MTB triple chainset with 175mm arm that I thought would be the dog’s bs for all the uphill riding involved on IC. I hadn’t tried this rig out in the stress of race conditions, just for some of that ‘light training’. I discovered too-late (at about 21 mins) that the spacing between the rings was for 7 speed and when used with a 9 speed chain, and changing down over bumpy terrain (lots of that at IC) the chain would jam solid between the rings. And I mean SOLID.

This happened twice and meant I had to completely dismantle the rings from the cranks to get the chain out each time. 20 minutes+ lost. Plonker… The second half of the race was ridden entirely on the middle ring as a result. My temper started to flare around about this time...

Third error: I thought I knew the course. Well I did, but the buggers had changed it just a little – and just at the point where I was mentally thinking “not far now – just through those gates in the fence over there, across the scrub clearing beyond and then we’re onto those easy sections of singletrack before the last climb, then it’s all downhill to the flag…”

LESSON THREE: Don’t assume you know the course - you cretin. The trouble was that the gates that we’d ridden through for the last two years were closed and we now had negotiate a very nasty piece of terrain right round the fenceline of the clearing – adding 5+ mins to the race time. Not a lot, true, but I was feeling out of sorts already (see above) and this was a final blow to my morale and any aspiration of doing a decent time. I refer you to picture above for the likely outcome had Mr Laser been nearby…

After the finish I mildly enquired why we had been sent down this new route and someone vacantly said that they thought it was because they couldn’t find anyone to marshal the gate so it had to remain closed. This seemed strange to me even in my weakened state – as there had been loads of marshals out on the remainder of the 61 mile course (?) Only later did the organisers admit to me that actually they did it for a laugh… (again the picture above refers…)

LESSON FOUR: The Iron Cross Organisers are basically EVIL.

Part Deux Follows…

(Top pic courtesy of the excellent Charles M. "Chuck Armstrong - www.elementoftheeye.com )