At the beginning of the season I thought that it would be impossible to get points if you signed up late for a Verge race. Then I got some points on Saturday and got a call up on Sunday. Sweet! So it is possible. I'll have to remember that for next year.
Saturday went well and Sunday went even better. Adam Myerson did a great job setting up this course. I loved every inch of it. After the race on Sunday I did a few more laps because I couldn't get enough of the course. Thanks Adam!
I moved up a lot on Saturday but at the end I lost some spots because I didn't sprint for the finish. I could have possibly gotten 14th but I had this weird feeling that I was going to crash so I didn't go for it. Man did I regret that. All night I stewed over that decision and vowed to never do that again. 18th for Saturday. Not bad for starting in 70th.
On Saturday some guy tried to get in front of me in the woods so I gunned for the corner to get there before him. Well he wasn't budging and I wasn't budging so I sent him into the tape by accident. Somehow he still got in front of me and was really threatening me verbally. Like "don't you f-ing touch me again!" I was like "relax man." I wound up passing him down the course hoping he wouldn't recognize my jersey and throw a fist out or something weird.
Thanks to my fans Alex, Em, and Josh and others who yelled out my name for cheering me on and encouraging me. You are the best and I appreciate it.
Sunday I was on a mission. Destroy every rider in sight until the end. No more hanging onto wheels to recover. I'll recover some in the upper wooded section. I loved passing guys on the open pavement section. I'm sure they were thinking "no, that's not how you do it." And it wouldn't be smart to do it that way if I was in the pro race. But then again look at the pro leaders. They are out there all by themselves with no one to recover with. At Providence Katrina Nash slayed her race even though she was way out front she kept the pedal to the floor.
On the last turn there was no one with me but I sprinted for the finish anyway. I saw one dude close to the line and thought I might make it but didn't. 13th for Sunday.
13th is a victory in my book at a Verge race. If only I could get the front row or 2nd row. I might have a chance at podium.
That double weekend really took it out of me. It's Saturday the next week and I haven't touched my bike. I'm feeling like my body needs some recovery time. It may sound weird but I did a lot of running this past week instead. I think mentally I might be burn out on bikes this week. I guess it's good timing then that I have this weekend off.
I've been "training" to do this run in CT called the Goshen Turkey Trot 10K. It's on Thanksgiving morning. So far I'm pretty slow. I can do about a 9:30 mile over 7 miles. I'm sure during the race it will be different. The top results for the last 3 years have been 5:33 miles average. I've got a long ways to go.
I've been learning a new technique called "Chi Running." It's all about running using the mechanics of your body and gravity to pull you along. It's really hard to master but the more I practice it the more fun I have running. And it promises injury free running. If I do it right.
I also got into the SSUSA race in Tucson AZ in February. I hope I am more motivated to get on a mountain bike soon. I havn't ridden Selma since Ringwood. I still have a broken spoke to fix. I might take all of December off anyway. We'll see.
Next Week, Cheshire on Saturday and Easthampton on Sunday.
Tim Schopen and team from Eastern Sports Promotions did a great job setting up a course over an Equestrian park. Tim said they used Google Earth to map it out. We could see the course from the road and saw that it was all in this one field and was a little disappointed but once I was on the course I was stoked!
Lot's of twists and turns and out of the saddle efforts played in my favor.
Place Time Laps First Last Team 1 57:47 12 Johannes HusebyFiordiFrutta Elite Cycling Team 2 57:48 12 James Harmon 503 Cycleworx/LHCC 3 58:51 12 David FreifelderWestwoodVelo 4 59:02 12 Joshua Wilcox 503 Cycleworks 5 59:57 12 Todd CassanWestwoodVelo 6 60:26 12 Brian Lariviere Team Bulldog/Cycle Craft
An article was published in the Poughkeepsie Journal by Nancy Haggerty.
"The six-rider Men’s Pro race was a two-man contest almost from the start.
Johannes Huseby of Danbury, Conn., who works for Cannondale and started riding cyclocross professionally 12 years ago, traded the lead with James Harmon of Litchfield, Conn., in the early going before settling in right behind Harmon’s rear wheel for the rest of the race. Well, almost the rest.
On a short, steep hill with about 150 yards left, Huseby, who rides for FiordiFrutta Elite Cycling, passed Harmon.
He’d plotted the move long before, determining where Harmon was slowest on the course and where, with little more than tight turns and one obstacle left, Harmon would have a hard time recapturing the lead.
"He was strong and riding really well. (But) I knew I could hang (on) from that point on," said Huseby, who crossed a second before Harmon in 57:47.
Despite creating an energy-saving draft for Huseby, Harmon said he wanted to stay in front, fearing that Huseby, who was strong on the flats, might otherwise "power away." "I figured if I kept him behind, I could manage," said Harmon, who normally rides down in Category 3/4 for 503 Cycleworx. "Towards the end, I tried to give it all I have and he was right there. ... He was smart. ... When he did make his move, I wasn’t ready."
I wish I could find some pictures to put in here. It was a really good race for me especially being my 1st pro race I felt pretty good about my placing.
Nancy writes other articles in the NY area that are cycling related. It's really cool to get some coverage like this for small events. Great job Nancy! And thanks.
Some sick dudes at the line up. I had to not look at them so I wouldn't get intimidated by there carbon wheels and onesies uni suits or what ever you call them.
Lot's of rain the day before left the course muddy. A pit bike would have been nice.
Jesse, Naomi, and Will cheered me on to victory. Thanks' guys for being there!
This was the run up. Check out the guy with the single speed mountain bike. He was killing it! It turns out that he was Salem Mazzaway. Apparently a legend mountain biker. I kept yelling at Josh Wilcox to "get that single speeder!" I guess everyone was doing the same and it got to be annoying after a while. Josh did beat him and came in third! Podium weekend for 503 Cycleworx!
Woke up this morning at 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep so I figured I would upload some pictures on Facebook and do my blog. Now it's 5:13am and I'm debating on weather or not I should go for a run or keep writing.
I'll keep writing for now. So yes the Hartford Cross race went better then expected for me. My Mother-in-Laws Fiance Steve asked me (through Facebook) how I did it? And I would like to share what I told him.
James Harmon October 26 at 4:04am Thanks Steve! How did I do it? I think there was a lot of factors that helped me to win.
#1 was all the training that I did during the past week. I've picked up running early in the morning for at least a half an hour and then I had 2 good days of riding over 2 hours.
#2 was that I rested well on Friday and Saturday so when I got on my bike Sunday morning I really felt like my legs were in good shape.
#3 was the course had a huge run up and since I had been running and doing practice run ups it really helped me to not "red line." I just ran up it at a comfortable pace while others around me were really huffing and puffing.
#4 was that there were some tricky sections that only mtbing can give you the skills to make it through. When I talked to the guy that got second place after the race he told me that every time I hopped over this log he had to dismount and run over it causing him to loose time and then he would have to push really hard to catch up.
Not that I'm pro or anything. Or that you could benefit from me telling you what I did the past week to help me win, but I think I did do some things right. I've been doing run ups in my training. Lot's of run ups. And I was hoping for all of the cross races to have a mighty run up. Hartford was the first real run up this season. And I was happy that all of my work had paid off.
The race started off in this wide parking area and narrowed to double lane pavement with a right 45 degree turn and onto the grass. I knew that I needed to get the whore shot so I wouldn't get tangled with anyone crashing on this corner. I was second onto the grass and passed him 5 seconds later. I was happy to be safe.
The first lap I was battling it out for position and was in 3rd. I was comfortably riding behind the leaders and then the leader went down on a pavement turn I assumed the lead and held that position for a while. Then I traded pulls with a few guys up to the run up and then back to the lead.
Ryan O'hara stepped it up and pulled in front of me for a bit. I barely beat him last weekend at Mansfield Hollow so I knew I couldn't drop a beat. He followed me the rest of the race. I would get a gap and then he would close it on the flat sections. Every lap was the same. I would look over my shoulder and see him turning the corner that I just went through.
The final lap rang out and I knew I had to stay on top and ware him down as much as I could before the slick steep slope of a run up. This was the final run up so I pushed it really hard. If I nailed the off camber grassy/muddy down hill I was home free. But as I was descending I ran into traffic from lapped riders. The ruttyness of the hill made it impossible to pass. You just had to pick a rut and stay in it. Isn't that ironic? I made it down without crashing and put the hammer down. Hopped the log and kept my speed up. A few more turns and I'm home free. Out onto the grass I was out of the saddle and trying to not give it all just in case Ryan had enough in him to catch me. On the last turn I clicked down a gear got out of the saddle and hammered home. I didn't see how far back Ryan was but I knew that I pulled it off. Sweet!
This weekend I'm planning to go over to NY to race at Tymor Park in NY. Cash prizes and close to home! That's what I'm talking about.
Crossresults.com I now have a few victims. Mckittrick is my nemesis. He's killing it in the Verge series. No way I could beat him at Northampton. He will be in the front row and I'll be starting in 60th place. I guess I'll have 2 days to try.
John Foley crushed the 2/3/4 class at Mansfield Hollow. You really can not see how ripped Foley is in this picture but if you check out the site I stole it from you will see how impressive John really is.
Hey Mom! That's me with the blue helmet.
Michel Mckittrick eats pieces of sod like me for breakfast and poops me out the back. I grabbed these photos off of this site.
Thanks Steve Yau for taking them. They look much more impressive over there.
I haven't updated my blog in quite a while. Mainly because I haven't had the time or energy to do so. Since I was sick I felt like I had been sucking and therefore wasn't very excited to tell every one how much I suck. I also have been enjoying reading every one else's blogs that that consumes my time.
Anyway, Providence was fun but hard to move up from starting all the way in the back row. I went from 90th to 28th with 100 guys in my field. I was really happy that my grandparents from CA came out to see me race. I haven't seen them for 18 years. It was good to catch up on things.
I raced at Mansfield Hollow and placed 5th in the Cat 2/3/4. My goal was to beat McKittrick , but I think he wanted to beat me and showed that he could on the first lap. After we went through the sand I dropped my chain and there he went. Cross is so unforgiving. I'm not giving an excuse, I'm sure he would have beaten me anyway. Great job Mike! I battled it out for 5th place with Ryan O'hara, one of Mike's team mates, and I was able to get him at the line. It was tough to keep up with him but by the final lap I was on his wheel and I thought we could get up to 4th if we tried harder. I was trying to encourage him by telling him we can catch 4th, but I guess I wound up using him to get me to the finish line. That's cross. It's all about the mind games.
John Foley got the win. I won some winter riding gloves and some cash. Great course. I really appreciate the people who put this race on. Mckittrick wrote a great report on the course and race. Check it out.
I loved the course so much that for $10 more I entered the pro race an hour later. I was feeling good and confident. Then I told Colin I was going to be racing with him and he was like, "you're going to regret it after you start." I was thinking man he might be right but I'm feeling good so maybe he's wrong. He was right!
He was so right that he would have lapped me if I didn't drop out at the bell lap. That was really hard to suffer for that long. But I kept telling myself to stick it out. I still had fun. Maybe I would do better if I didn't blow myself out and then race the fastest guys around. What I discovered though was that I haven't been pushing myself enough for my own race. I haven't felt so much pain and suffering during the pro race and it took every bit of strength to finish the race. I got lapped so I didn't finish but I was done. My track coach in 8th grade told me that when I'm heading for the finish line if I wasn't fully out of gas I didn't push myself enough. I'll try that next time and let you know if it worked.
It was good to see Rob Stine racing with gears like me. The course didn't suit mountain bikers too much like I had hoped but then again Foley won my race so there you go.
Next race Hartford Cross! I see that Ryan O'hara is signed up. I'm sure he wants a rematch.
Once again Blunt park was a pleasure to race at. A small field of guys came out to brave the elements and mud. Much more slippery than when we raced here in August. So slippery that when I was warming up on the pavement I went down trying to turn around. I immediately went back to the car and lowered my air pressure from 45psi to 42. It made all the difference in the world. I had high hopes to ride everything but once I saw how slippery the conditions were I changed my mind and ran. In fact I ran quite well. I ran so well that I decided to keep running. Not the whole course but some of the tricky parts that were slimy.
After Landmine I got sick. I was out a full week of work with some kind of stomach thing. It gave me a chance to rest my heart, lungs, and legs though. So back on the bike at the beginning of this week was interesting. I felt really strong but I didn't want to overdo it so I took it easy. I rode Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday for around an hour on the cross bike in my back yard. Then I decided to see how running would go. Friday morning I got my ass out the door and ran. Man I was sore the next day, but I think it paid off. I felt good running during the race. I think I will try to get out more.
I didn't get lost getting to the race like last time so I arrived in plenty of time to go the bathroom. Whew. I got to warm up much better than last time and I got to take a lap right before the start. I knew it was going to be rough going with every section of the course being goo (except for the pavement). I got to the start line and the front line was full so I took the next row. There were about 30 guys, so roughly 4 rows. My last start here wasn't too pretty and I was stuck way in the back for the first half of the race. This start went much better. I knew that my best chance was to get the inside of the first corner and come out on top. We took off and when we hit the first corner I was right where I was supposed to be. Everything was perfect until some guy went down right in front of us. Crap! By the time the guy in front of me (who would later get 2nd) untangled his pedal from the crashed guy's spokes we were passed by at least 15 guys. Half the field. So that sucked.
But I kept cool and tried to keep my wheels on the ground. Every corner a controlled slide with extra slide just for fun. Guys were dropping like flies all around me. I got to see some really crazy crashes and was able to thread through the carnage. Luck was on my side today. The ruts were throwing everyone from side to side and some of them went right into trees or off course. I just kept plowing ahead and smashing it on the open sections so that I could take more time in the corners. Some corners I just ran because it was too slippery for me.
Somewhere around the middle of the race I passed some guys. One of them was Eric Carlson representing CT from Bikers edge. I kept thinking that there were other guys up ahead that were so far ahead that I couldn't see them. I hammered hoping to see someone. Another dude, Jeremy from Spooky bikes, was on my tail and I couldn't shake him. Later I found out that he was a cat 2 roadie and this was his 1st day of cyclocross racing (this was his 2nd race that day) and he was on a borrowed bike. He also won the 4 race that morning. I think if the course was drier and he didn't race that morning he would have won. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had just taken the lead.
So me and Jeremy were duking it out in the lead. I would try to hammer the open sections but he would stick to me. I didn't know how to drop him and I didn't want him to get ahead so he would think he could take me. Which he probably could have. 2 laps to go and he was keeping close. Luck was on my side. Again I hammered the open section and gave it all I had. Then I heard a crash and looked over my shoulder to see that he slid off course and hit a tree. Man was I bummed for him. I slowed down a little thinking that I was in the clear. Then I thought what if he recovers? I really want this win. So I hammered some more. Some how he recovered and was closing down on me again. Like I said he would have won if I wasn't so lucky today.
1 lap to go and I have got to make this stick. I just kept saying to myself to not crash and everything will be fine. So then I crashed. I was trying to unclip to run over one of the first logs and my foot got stuck in the pedal. I went face first into the brush. Crap Crap Crap! back up and running like a mad man. I just had one more log to go. Every lap I bunny hopped this log with some trouble because the take off was soft. I nailed it and was half way home. I got to the next twisty section and he was getting close. I gave it all I had and pushed it through the next sections. Running up and down the slippery hill and over the muddy barriers. Then I knew I had him for sure and just concentrated on keeping my bike upright. Sweet I made it! My first win of the year. And now I think I'm in the lead for points for the series!
I won $60 and I had some extra cash with me so on the way home I stopped at Benidorm bikes in Canton and picked up some new shorts. My last short from Mavic fell apart. Congrats to Josh Wilcox from 503 Cycleworx for getting 2nd in the pro race at the Rumble in the Jungle. He also got 2nd the week before at another mtb race in NY. Man he's on fire now! This weekend we will be heading down to NJ to race at Ringwood Park. Since I've been sick this week again and have been in cross mode I will be racing the cat 1 age group. 1 less lap. The pros will have to do 32 miles and from the youtube video it looks like there is a lot of climbing. I figured out all of the cross races I want to do this season. Mansfield Hollow, CT 10/17 Hartford Cross, CT10/25 Wicked Creepy, VT 10/31 Tymor Park, NY11/1 Cheshire Cross, CT 11/21 Spooky Bikes #4 Acc for the cure 11/22 I don't know if there are any races between the 1st and 21 of November that are close. So we shall see.
I'm going to be in Falmouth MA visiting with my grandparents from CA who I haven't seen in 18 years. So I might try to do the Providence Verge race on the 11th. But if we come back early I might do a NY cross race on that day.
Landmine is a 3 hour drive for me and from last year's experiences driving so far before and after a race doesn't make me happy. So on Saturday we went up to Hartford for a couples massage at Prossage Muscle Therapy and had brunch at Agave restaurant.
I was feeling very relaxed happy and the food was really good. It was a Mexican breakfast with shredded beef and eggs with hot green peppers and rice and beans.
Part of the plan to go up the day before is having to deal with Boston traffic and directions. Last year coming home from the race I took a wrong turn and wound up in downtown Boston. So this year I wrote down tons of directions and did pretty well. Maybe someday I will have a gps to get me to where I'm going.
The rain was getting me worried about the course but I figured there was nothing I could do about it. The course was going to be wet and the bridges were going to be slick. During the race there was lots of water sections. Water up to the hubs!
Since it was so wet out I pulled Selma in for the night and wiped her down.
All of this traveling, getting a massage, going out to eat, and staying at a hotel was quite a lot of stuff for one race. I'm glad it's not like that for all the races. It makes me really thankful to be in the heart of bike racing where the races are mostly close by. Don't get me wrong. I still had a good time. Sometimes it was more stress than relaxing and it cost a lot of money. And I'm not sure if it helped me perform better as I will tell you next.
The race was interesting. I think I will stop calling it a race now and just call it a ride. So the ride was interesting. I got to start next to the Golden Bike guy and from what I hear he finished strong. Looking at the results you wouldn't have guessed that I was having a bad day. I would have won the ss class. But I digress. Would've but didn't.
At the starting line it was very weird with the golden cheerleaders dissing me with their protruding belly buttons, doing negative cheers like "you're too slow, he's gonna leave you in the dust". I just felt embarrassed and awkward --it's nothing against them-- but it just seemed weird to have these cheerleaders telling us we're not going to be as good as the golden bike guy. I guess that's supposed to help the golden bike kid win. I just felt bad for the cheerleaders because they were stuck in front of all these guys who were just wondering what the hell they were doing there and maybe they felt really awkward and wondering why the hell they were there too. I suppose it's just for fun.
What would be REALLY COOL would be to have some like guy on a dirt bike getting us all suped up or something, revving his engine and doing wheelies and stuff. I was on the drumline in high school and we used to supe up the football players before the game by going into their locker room before the game and just pounding the shit out of the drums to get them all amped! Or... shirtless drunk guys with golden painted faces screaming at us like some kind of pre-battle viking war chant. At least it wouldn't be such a downer. Maybe the negative cheers worked and that's why I had a bad race!!
So off we go and I'm feeling special that my heavy gear could keep up on the super flat double track section. I stuck to the core group as we headed into the first single track and right behind Randall Jacobs. I figured this was good. I could see the group ahead slowly creeping away from us but I was comfortable and all. Greg "the leg" Montello was right with us and the first tricky climb section I was off the bike and running up the climb. That put the hurt on me for sure and needed to recover. But recovery was not going to happen. I failed once again to pick the "right"gear and was stuck with the wrong gear. If you don't know the feeling it's when you get on your bike and start to pedal but are stuck in too hard of a gear and you want to down shift but can't. Mentally it drove me nuts. I knew that the 34x18 would be hard but not as hard as it was. So I lost all of my "spunk" and slowly digressed into self pity and loss of feelings in my gut to race anymore.
But it wasn't until I hit a rock while pedaling and smashed my cheap ass crank brother pedal that I really lost the edge to keep pushing. I couldn't clip in very well and it was hit or miss. Once I was able to clip in it was hard to keep focused on the terrain and I felt that it was unsafe for me to keep riding at "race" pace. It really was a big fat excuse for me to just sit up and chalk it up to experience and knowing that everyone has a bad race sometimes.
But before all of that happened I was really going good with Colin. (One of the fastest cat 1's and super cross man around) It was really fun to ride with him. Very positive guy that didn't seem to be racing as much as riding really fast and having a lot of fun. I'm sure having a full suspension bike had nothing to do with it. He was kind enough to drag me around on the flat open paved sections with his gears. At one point I was totally spinning like a blender just to hold his wheel. Yes Colin gears would have been nice. Again I had a lot of fun riding with him and racing was not really happening for me. So eventually he left me behind and that was that. Great job Colin you are really killing it out there. I can't imagine what your cross season is going to be like.
So after the pedal strike I pulled off to check out the carnage and saw that the one of the bars was bent and the pedal had a lot of resistance. That's when Mike Rowell passed me and Greg passed me too. I was out. I picked up a rock and started to bang my pedal to see if it would get back into shape enough to feel confidently clipped in. Didn't budge.
Back on the bike again and a single speeder from Independent fab passed me and wanted me to follow him because he knew the course. Ya, that would have been great if I could. The guy was killing it. I could hear some other guys behind me and so I pulled off to let them pass. It was good old Rob Stine. I didn't even try to stick with him because this was his bread and butter. Rough is his middle name. Especially on a rigid 26" single speed. He breaks all of his bikes every other week so he's down to his last frame.
Then the 19-29 guys passed me and the 30-39 guys passed and somewhere the 40+ dudes with Jonny Bold in the lead passed as well.
Then I saw Kevin Sweeny. The look on his face I could tell he was not too happy. So I thought that I would ride with him and try to cheer him up. We rode a steady pace and I was able to stick with him for the last 10 miles. I was having a lot of fun just riding with someone. He was cleaning sections that were kinda hard to clean. And I was so impressed that I couldn't help but yell some encouragement. I hoped it helped. Thanks Kevin for letting me tag along. You helped me to stick it out whether you knew it or not.
Kevin and I caught up to Greg Montello and he was in the same boat as us. Like we all stepped on a Landmine. His back wheel was all wobbly from a broken spoke. I also had a broken spoke. Did I mention this course was rough? So Me, Kevin and Greg pushed it through to the end. I was second to last with a time of 2:19 min. Which was 10 mins faster then last year. But I did get a flat last year too.
How Kevin Hines won the pro class and the golden bike I will never know. He's going to be racing in the 50+ category next year. It makes me damn depressed thinking about how good he is but it also makes me think that maybe when I'm 48 years old I can whoop up on the 30-year-olds.
I kinda got choked up a bit because it was fun just to be able to ride with these guys and this was the last race of the year for the root 66 series. And if you thought I was going to drag myself to Mt Snow for the finals you're smoking crack.
I'll finish racing mountain bikes this year for the New York series. Then it's local cross races for me. I'm boycotting Verge series because I'm a big cry baby that doesn't have $500 to sign up for all of the races 2 months ahead of time at lunch time to get a good spot up front for a chance at placing. What's the deal?
This weekend at Landmine who ever is the fastest cat 1 racer wins this bike or the marathon full suspension bike. There was several races that this bike has been through and a few different winners. So this guy is supposed to be better then the rest and now he's is flying in from Wisconsin to defend his title/bike. Looking at his results from past races would not seem too impressive. I'm not saying I could beat him. He's got a coach and all that jazz. The big question is who will beat him at Landmine?
Well I think Kevin can. His last race at Norcross didn't go so well so that means he's going to totally redeem himself at Landmine. His results at Hodges Dam in the pro open class reveled what he can do.
Remember too that Jonny Bold and Kevin Hines are also cat 1's! Landmine is in there back yard. If they show up.
There are others who I shall not mention here just so that I don't jinx them. They did very well last year at Landmine. My time last year was 2:38 with a flat. Rob Stine came in first with an excellent time of 2:21. This course is well suited for his talents.
Colin will be back from his Kiwi vacation ready to kill it on his full suspension bike. Timothy Daigneault also had a mean time last year.
Who knows? All I know is that I just jinxed every one I mentioned on this page. Ha Ha! See you Sunday and may the best cat 1 win the Golden Bike!
Congrats to Josh Wilcox from 503 Cycleworx for getting 2nd in the pro race at the Rumble in the Jungle. He also got 2nd the week before at another mtb race in NY. Man he's on fire now! This weekend we will be heading down to NJ to race at Ringwood Park. Since I've been sick this week again and have been in cross mode I will be racing the cat 1 age group. 1 less lap. The pros will have to do 32 miles and from the youtube 
