Aaaaand that's a wrap.

Hung Mai November 25, 2016

I think we can make it official now; I've pulled the plug on my 2016 CX campaign. My motivation has pretty much been drowned by the 28 days (out of 31) of rain during October and what I'm assuming will be a similar stat once November wraps up. Things didn't exactly go the way I planned this year and I'm ready to close the book and start planning for next year.

My season finished last weekend with Valley Cross Mill Lake, the venue of the first annual Valley Cross race last year. The organizers ran the course in reverse, but that didn't make things any easier on us. A paved start into a slight kicker of a hill then put racers onto some tricky off-camber including a 180 degree traverse. A paved downhill followed, leading into the flooded sand pit before forcing riders off the bike for the course's defining run-up and some tight 'n twisty stuff in the upper woods. The course finished with a fast sweeping left gravel downhill and a tricky multi-surface transition back onto the paved start straight.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that staying out and imbibing the night before would not be conducive to race performance, but I regret nothing. I thought I had done enough to re-start the hydration process before heading to bed, but was quickly proven wrong during my first pre-ride of the course. I blew what little energy I had on the opener and guzzled what remained of the fumes the first time up the run up. At that point, I switched to race plan B, which was essentially "how many hand-ups could I reasonably consume and still finish the race?" The answer, in no particular order:

beer
rum (I think)
marshmallow(s)
some disgusting chocolate covered cookie thing
mashed potatoes, possibly with some brisket mixed in. *FAVOURITE ITEM. MOAR PLZ*

At some point, the commissaires stepped in and shut the hand ups down (BOOOO), so I focused on not killing myself on the gravel downhill and finishing the race. Mission accomplished. For what it's worth, I was able to finish in the top half of the field (barely) and the bonus was having a few nice snaps taken by James Lissmore Photography.

So, what's next? I'll probably be shooting at provincials this weekend and will be down in Portland for SSCXWC in Portland next week to drink/party/heckle. There's still the season closer at Hastings Racetrack on December 10th, but that's something for future me to think about.

It helps if you don't fall down.

Hung Mai November 6, 2016

My original plan for this weekend was to head over to the Nanaimo to race the Cross on the Rock double-header, but plans fell through so I down to Cascade Cross with Alex instead.

Forecast: Cool. Rain. Windy.
Notable course features: BMX pump track, straight shot single track, spiral of doom, one super-steep run-up/ride-up, steep off-camber with a really narrow high line, never ending bumpy grass.

The good news is the steady rain we encountered on the drive down the I-5 to Ferndale tapered off as we pulled into the race site and held off for the entire morning. We were the third race of the day, scheduled to go at 12:30. For the most part, the course consisted of greasy wet grass with a few spots of greasy mud, but wasn't the sloppy mess that I had been planning for.

The day didn't get off to the greatest start: during one of my recon laps I stalled at the top of the ride-up and tipped off course. Into a blackberry thicket. And not just on top of it, but I somehow managed to get tangled in it, requiring the assistance of several bystanders and Alex to be extricated. To Alex's credit, he was more concerned about getting me out than taking photos or video of me lying in a contorted heap trying not to move and cause the thorns to dig in any further. Aside from this hilarious episode, my warm up and recon laps were uneventful.

Fast forward to 12:15 as the Men's B group starts to stage. The start was paved, leading to a gently sweeping left hander, into a 180 corner past the timing tent. I snagged a second row spot with my registration and when the gun went and the guys in front of me were caught literally flat-footed because they weren't watching the countdown clock, I found a gap and accelerated to definitively claim the hole shot before dialling it back into a sustainable race pace.

So, where did things go wrong?

On the first lap, I knew I was going to opt to ride the low line of the off-camber ditch. I was first into that section of the course so I didn't have to worry about bottle necking, but was still worried about getting snagged in stakes or course tape since they were only inches away to the right of the only rideable line. I caught something with my rear end because as I exited that section, I could hear something making baseball card noises against my rear spokes. It was still rideable, but I didn't want to risk it wrapping itself in my jockey wheels and tearing off my derailleur, so I had to stop and pull it out, losing a few places in the process. Still OK though as it was only the first lap and I was still top-10.
Somewhere mid-race I took a sloppy line through a turn and got caught stalled up in some fencing. It didn't take me down, but it made me come to a dead stop and let the guy chasing me catch back on to my wheel.
With two laps to go, I washed out on a turn with a decreasing radius and went down, letting the two guys I had been battling with for places back past me. Unfortunately, I could not find the energy to chase them down again. So long, top-5.

The other factor was that there simply was no place to rest on this course because the terrain was so bumpy. To those who have raced the Marymoor course in Seattle, I would dare to say that this was worse. There was a transition from grass to about 100 meters of pavement before you got dumped onto the single track, but that went by in a few seconds and wasn't much of a break.

What was I happy with?

Fantastic start and hole shot, obviously.
Getting the power down on the single track. The surface was somewhere between tacky and greasy mud, but was interrupted every few meters by divots, bumps, or roots that threatened to buck you off your bike. The key was floating just above your saddle while keeping the pedals moving and I was consistently able to claw back a second or two each lap.
Not panicking during my two major mishaps, managing to hold on to 7th.

What do I need to work on?

Turns with surface transitions, especially any surface that suddenly becomes gravel.
Corner exit speed.

Light, camera, surprisingly little "action."

Hung Mai November 1, 2016

Some days, I'm OK with not racing. Sunday was one of those days, and I think it worked out for the best. On the drive out to Maple Ridge for this year's Pumpkin Cross, I was treated to a rural landscape draped in a layer of low-hanging fog. With a forecast calling for some much needed and much missed sun, I knew I'd be lucky to have any of it still around by the time the first race rolled out at 10AM, so I set out to make the most of it while I still could.

If you came here looking for hero shots of you deep in the pain cave or awesome costume, I'm sorry to disappoint you. There are plenty of other fantastic photographers who were at the race that should have something for you and a glut of images on Instagram, but honestly, I wouldn't bother. No matter how awesome you think you were, this dude already won the Internet on Sunday.

So, if you've made it this far or if you're a follower of my work, you'll know that I strive to capture something unique about each event. I think the themes under which I chose to document this race should be pretty self-evident from the gallery below.

Thanks to Local Ride Racing and Liv Canada for hosting another fun race this year and Mother Nature for providing conditions that made things tricky and fun, but not so much that people left with hypothermia as in previous years.