DAS Racing tackles Bay State Cyclocross

Baystate Day 1

Nature was once again on our side, as temperatures were well above average and the sun was shining on the first day of competition. Unfortunately, Chris' season came to a premature end, as work took a front seat to racing for the winter, so John and Rich were left to start things off with the first race of the weekend. John's goal for the race was simple; not throw up! He made the mistake of a long day of cooking, with one too many beers, the day before and was suffering from a pretty severe hangover. He managed to hold everything down the entire race, but he wasn't able to stop the heart burn from creeping in halfway through the race. He looked strong, however, and fought hard to finish 36th out of more than 50 riders. Rich had a quick start and managed to get as low as 4th place by the second lap. Unfortunately, he couldn't hold on, as he got stuck in traffic and lost ground on the straightaways. He still had a very solid 11th place finish, part of a pack of 5th-12th place riders as he crossed the finish line.

Tracy and Crystal were next up in the women's race. There was a massive pileup on the start, however, Tracy was ahead of it and Crystal managed to narrowly avoid it by starting in the back of the field. There was a bottle neck created by the runup, which allowed most racers to get caught back up to the pack. The first lap was pretty tight, as junior men caught up to the women and it took awhile for the field to begin to break up. Two juniors crashed going over the barriers directly in front of Crystal, which shook her nerves, as she listened to one screaming out in pain (later she learned his bone was sticking out of his leg and he left in a stretcher!). Tracy had better luck, avoiding a crash with another junior who cut her off. Both women settled in after the first lap and remained pretty consistent for the rest of the race. Tracy ended up 15th in 35+ and 7th in cat 4, while Crystal was 21st.

Baystate Day 2

The second day of racing was full of surprises for everyone. The weatherman had played a trick on everyone. Instead of weather like the day before, there was a huge layer of mist over the venue that kept temperatures down, the ground slick and no sun to be found. During a pre-ride of the course, Crystal took a tumble down one of the slick slopes and landed on her head. Once she was able to get up, she noticed her handlebars were twisted and she didn't feel quite right. As it turned out, she had suffered a minor concussion and was not allowed to race day 2. She was bummed, but took it in stride.

Rich took things a little easier off the start then he had the day before. Entering into lap 3, he was sitting in about 8th place. He AGAIN dropped his chain going over the barriers and quickly lost 4 positions. This lit a fire under him, as he was determined to finish top 10. He raced his heart out, putting everything out there and caught the pack containing 3rd,4th and 5th with about 300 yards to go. The rider in 5th, quickly fell off, having popped and Rich was focused on beating the other two in the sprint to the finish to finally get his illusive podium finish. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough time (and he had pushed himself to the limit for 1.5 laps), so he wasn't able to do it. He took 5th and a new appreciation for what his body could do.

John looked (and felt) much better on day 2. He still had a tough starting position, but he moved his way through the pack. Each lap he caught riders, including those who had started 2 minutes ahead of him in the cat 4 race. He had a bit of bad luck, as he fell a couple times in some slick patches, but each time he recovered quickly and kept riding hard. His result wasn't what we expected, but John took it in stride and vowed to really make a showing next weekend in Warwick. Similarly, Tracy was excited for the course on day 2, as it was more challenging and included some sections in the woods. Unlike the day before, she was not able to avoid a crash on the start line and lost some valuable time trying to get back going again. She chased down the field, however, and improved on her day 1 performance with a 6th place in cat 4. She felt good, but was also happy to begin her season count down, as her body begins to feel the toll of racing every weekend.

Another weekend in the books... Nov 19th and 20th

Cheshire Cyclocross
Another beautiful fall day for racing was upon us, and team DAS racers were excited to get out on the course. Preriding, they soon found this was not your typical cyclocross course. With close to half of the 1.4 mile course in the woods, it was the perfect course for a mtn bike/cross team like DAS racing. Andre was first up for the day, and he powered through the course, but showed his strength was definitely in the open fields and straightaways. He seemed to lose time in the woods each lap, but he always more than made up for it after exiting them. In addition each time over the barriers, Andre was fast and efficient, showing he was hungry to chase riders in front down.

Next up was the women's open race, featuring Tracy and Crystal. Tracy once again was tentative off the start, but after about 100 yards she really began to crank the pedals. She remained pretty consistent throughout the entire race, duking it out with a fellow racer. In the end Tracy lost the battle, but she felt good and enjoyed the race overall. Crystal was last off the line, but easily caught 3 riders going up the long stair climb in the woods. She stuttered remounting and lost back on of those spots, but she came out of the woods ahead of 2 riders. Once out of the woods, however, she struggled as her tires were not gripping around corners and she was easily passed by a rider from behind. Entering the woods on lap 2, she was determined to close the large gap this rider had created. To her surprise, she was able to catch up to her relatively quickly. With no good places to pass in the narrow single track, she was planning to take her on a short, but steep climb half way through the woods. Unfortunately, on the downhill leading into this section, Crystal took a hard fall where there was a sharp right turn on a steep descent. It her awhile to recover and get her bike back in working condition, and buy this time, not only had she lost the rider in front, but the rider behind her at caught up to her. She managed to jump quickly back on the bike and fight off the rider from behind. In the open section the rider tried to make a move, passing Crystal as she bobbled in the sand pit. Crystal remained determined, passed her back and remained ahead of her the rest of the race (increasing her gap once again throughout the wooded section). The women finished in 6th and 9th respectively, with Tracy even getting some sweet swag!

Rich and John finished up the day. Rich had a pretty good jump of the line, crossing the finish line roughly in 5th place. He felt great in the woods and game out moving from 3rd to 2nd. Now he had the task of chasing down the leader. Unfortunately there were some strong winds that favored grabbing a wheel, so after pulling a group of 3 riders, Rich let them past after the barriers, so he could take a turn sucking wheel. Overall, it was a bit of a frustrating race for him, as the single speeders were let off in front, so he was stuck trying to pass them, as well as lapped riders as he struggled to hold his position after dropping his chain going over the barriers. He excelled in the woods, but this was the hardest place to find room to pass, so in the end he finished in 7th overall. John was not feeling in top shape physically, after a long week of work, 3am trainer workouts and time with his son. Lucky for him, once out on the course, he felt strong and only the good kind of suffering from racing hard. He once again started in the back of the field, but looked strong right off the start and quickly moved into the woods. Just like Rich, John also dropped his chain on the course but was able to recovered quickly and keep going. As he moved through the course, John picked out a rider and pulled them in, until he was able to find a good place to pass. This tactic really seemed to work, as he had his best showing yet, placing 24th overall.

Hop Brook CX: CT State Championships
Today brought abnormally warm fall weather, but only two team members decided to race the state championships. The others all decided to take a day off from racing to help Donnie with some trail work that needed to be done before the big Thanksgiving mountain bike ride.

Liz and Crystal were disappointed upon arriving to learn that they would not be allowed to pre-ride the course. They set out on their bikes and tried to get visuals of as much of the course as possible to help prepare for their race. Their first impression was it was a long but fast course. Lucky for them, Liz ended up getting about 3 mins out on the course before the start, and Crystal asked fellow racer Anson Ross for a play by play on the course and which lines to take. Without a significant warmup (and only her 2nd cross race all year), Liz felt flat out of the starting gate. By lap two, however, she really got in the cyclocross racing mindset and began to put the hammer down. She dominated in the tiny section of woods, riding up the steep run-up and going down the rocky slope, like the pro mountain biker she is. Unfortunately, there was a lot of open pavement, where competitors were able to put time into her. She narrowly missed catching the rider in front of her, finishing 6th in the open field, but taking home the honors of CT state champ for her age group. Crystal felt a little in over her head in this race, with women competing at the national level in the starting field. In fact, she only made it 1.5 laps before being passed by the lead rider. This was also about that time she really began to get her legs and was able to push harder the rest of the race. Even though she would finish last, Crystal showed her power as she caught up to riders who had lapped her on the pavement by beating them up a climb on the back side of the course. She completed the course without acquiring anymore injuries (after crashing the day before), so she took it as a win.

CX @ Putney, VT

On November 13th, John Young was the sole representative of DAS Racing up in lovely Putney VT. Some of our racers ventured up that way to mountain bike race this summer, and enjoyed the muddy hills. Here's what John had to say about the cyclocross event the following day...

Yesterday I raced in Putney VT at the West Hill Bike Shop. It was a very small race with the largest class being around 20 people. The course was pretty fast with a very steep run up, a technical descent (into mud) and some longer spots where you can 'open it up'. It was a fun day, I crashed in the mud once and threw elbows in a corner with a guy who looked at me then tried to stuff me (then apologized claiming he didn't see me) when I tried to pass. I felt really good, my legs were there, I rode aggressively but again, my poor starting hurt me with me starting DFL. I hung in at first but when the road rose up I went anearobic and got dropped. I ended up 8/12 in the Masters 35-44 B/C race. I highly recommed this race. It's a long but easy drive (set the cruise for 75 the whole way). The bike shop is cool, they had food and hot drinks there and the organizers were nice. My favorite race of the season!

Great job John!

21st Annual Cycle-Smart International Cyclo-Cross Weekend

photo of Tracy Gustafson courtesy of Tayler Dube

With November 5th and 6th brought the Verge New England Championship Cyclocross Series Rounds 10 and 11 which was also the Shimano New England Professional Cyclocross Series Rounds 5 and 6. Having so many people hoping to be able to race, the field limits were raised from 125 to 150 the week before the race.


CSI Day 1
Another great weekend for racing in NE! Team DAS racers were at the venue nice and early, ready for the men's cat 4 race first up. Unfortunately, park officials didn't get the memo and there was no one to open the gate to let racers in. Good news, this meant when it was opened, team members avoided the hefty park entrance fee for the day :)

The day started pretty cold, temperatures were in the low 30s at the start of the cat 4 men's race. Unfortunately for them, as the sun came out, temperatures rose. This caused major changes in the course conditions as they rode; it seemed like each lap was different (frozen ground, thawing ground, wet slippery ground).  Rich continued his streak of improvements, finishing in 23rd. Next in was John (87th) who still looked like he had gas left in the tank on the final lap. Chris had a tough day, with multiple crashes that ultimately led to a DNF.

Women cat 4s were up next with Tracy looking strong right out of the gate. She powered through the pack throughout the first two laps and settled in to a battle with a couple other riders in the remaining laps. Ultimately she managed to beat all but one of these riders and finished 37th overall (12 points better then predicted and 17th in 35+). Crystal got stuck in the mass pileup going up the first run up and then got her bike seat caught in her number. As she struggled to get it out without ripping off her jersey, she was passed by all the cat 4 women and began to get passed by the juniors. At this point she solicited the help of a fan and began the process of trying to hunt down her competition. She managed to catch one pretty quickly and stayed ahead of the elite racers until the straightaway going into the final lap. She was excited to see her name listed as in 28th place, but soon realized it was only an officiating mistake. She had been scored as on the lead lap, instead of a lap down and after the correction finished in 72nd overall.

Intermission
Three team members had decided to share a hotel room at the local super 8. What could be better then a hotel room at $50/night, 15 mins from the race they thought? This would not only save them having to get up at the wee hours of the morning two days in a row, but would save them the gas and time spent driving back and forth in a car. They quickly learned, however, that maybe this wasn't such a good idea...After getting back from an early dinner, showers were taken and racers were ready for a relaxing night of lounging. This didn't last long as the fire alarm went off and they were rushed outside with the other hotel occupants. As they stood outside in the cold with wet hair, in shorts and tshirts, surrounded by people smoking, they commented that this probably wasn't the best form of recovery. Fire trucks quickly arrived to survey the building, but firefighters could not determine the source of the alarm. Once it was deemed safe, the hotel worker was not able to reset the alarm, meaning no one could go back into the building. The alarm company was called and after more than 40 mins outside, individuals were finally allowed back into their rooms. Back in the room, team DAS members found a room that reeked of smoke, a broken a/c unit and a tv that didn't work. It was a rough night for all, with little sleep between the three.

photo of Rich Gauvin courtesy of Crystal Gauvin


Day 2
The temperatures on day 2 were even lower then the previous day, but team DAS racers were ready to battle.  Unfortunately, after driving up to the race, John was forced to turn around and head to an eye doctor after scratching his eye with his contact. This left Rich and Chris to duke it out in the cat 4 men's race. Rich looked a little slow off the start but by lap 2 has moved into the top 15. He continued to gain on the lead group each lap and finished 12th overall, just missing being able to catch the 2 riders in front of him for a top 10 finish. Chris had a much better day, and while he still managed to crash, he recovered quickly and came through in the top 50% of riders.

photo of Chris Adams courtesy of Crystal Gauvin


Tracy felt great in the cat 4 women's race, but struggled off the start. She was forced to chase down the same riders she had battled with on day 1, but ran out of time and wasn't able to catch them all. She finished with a respective 44th (22nd in 35+). Tracy’s overall weekend recap: “Racing weekend at NoHo overall was a blast both days. Some of the highlights for me were: Not going down in the sea of bikes on the first run up when my seat got caught in someones rear rim. The camaraderie after battling the same group of ladies both days, very cool. Proving race predictor wrong by 11 places. Cheering on (ok heckling) my team mates and friends and over the chocolate stout.”

Finally making his team DAS race debut, rider Andre Bessette raced in the men's 35+ category. This is one of the toughest categories out there, with riders of all levels competing in one field. Luckily, he was able to start a couple rows back, so he was able to avoid the intensity of racing with the top 35+ males. Andre had a solid start and managed to avoid some pileups. He raced hard and finished a nice even 50th for the day. When we asked Andre to recap the weekend for us, he said, “Although I couldn't race Saturday in NoHam, I was able to make it up Sunday to cheer on Tracy G. @ the end of the women's race, catch up with a the DAS crew between races, and then head out in my heat with the 35+ "elite" guys. What a gorgeous day and nicely-fashioned course. While this was my first foray into racing with the ‘big guys’, and I started last row, I think I did a respectable job by making up a few places, having a very graceful crash on one of the greasy corners, and ultimately, not finishing last (i.e. 50 out of 60). That's one thing I love about CX: you don't have to finish in the upper echelons to have a fun time, but you try to improve your form/fitness to gain just those few places every race. Of course free microbrew and sweet brats afterwards are always a plus. Great seeing you DAS folks out there hammering it home!”


“The highlight of my race (Saturday) was catching air over the railroad tracks after dropping down from the 'top' section of the course. That was sweet! Otherwise, I wasn't a fan of the course, I like something a little more technical. I had a weird feeling race, like it took me 30 minutes to warm up. I think my last lap was my fastest which never, ever happens for me. My bike had some shifting issues again so off it went to Dr. Donnie for some TLC. I also need to work on starts. I wasted a lot of spots with a poor start. I unfortunately missed out on day two when I came home from day one, put my contacts in and scratched my eye due to either something being embedded in the lens or crap in my eye. However, I didn't feel too bad as it was the wife's birthday and we had extra time together  No matter how poorly I felt Saturday, any day racing and coming home in one piece is better than no day racing. Putney up next!” - John Young

photo of Rich Gauvin courtesy of Crystal Gauvin


“Day 1 and 2 of the cat 4 race at the Cycle-Smart International can be summed up by cold weather and constantly changing course conditions. Both mornings we were greeted with temps in the 20's when arriving at the frost covered race course. I started in the 4th row out of 13 or 14 rows both days. This helps greatly in avoiding the "big one" if a pile up did occur. I was able to get decent starts and settled into around 25th place on both races. Day one I was feeling kind of flat and managed a 23rd place finish out of 130 racers. Day two, I had really good legs and was able to work my way up through the field. Course conditions were changing rapidly as the race wore on. What started as frozen hard ground turned into wet slick conditions; people were crashing around corners all over the place. Feeling as well as I did, I was able to ride the corners more conservatively and accelerate out to get back up to speed. I eventually finished 12th place out of 135. My most satisfying race yet.” -Rich Gauvin

DownEast CX - MUDDY MAYHEM!

Downeast Cyclocross (aka Mudfest 2011)
Day 1
After a week of solid rain, the farm was one giant mud pit by Saturday morning. Chris and Rich were first out for the day. Unfortunately, Chris rolled a tire but he was lucky and able to quickly fix it and keep going. This cost him some time, but he still managed a 27th place finish for the day. Rich struggled with the conditions, losing time by riding sections he should have just got off and ran. He looked strong throughout the race and finished in 19th . Tracy was having a great race, up about 6 mins on her crossresults.com nemesis, before having her chain slide off the wrong side and get stuck. She was right at the pit zone, but with no pit bike, she was forced to run her bike in the rest of the lap. She completed the race without getting lapped, managing to finish on the lead lap even with her mechanical. Luckily fellow team members were able to get her bike back in working order for the next day, as she was hungry to get back out and race.

photo of Rich Gauvin courtesy of Tayler Rae Dubé


Day 2
The conditions continued to take their toll on racers. In the mens cat 4 race, one unlucky racer didn't even make it past the start/finish line. He broke a derailer hanger and was out of the race before getting off the pavement. Rich got lucky and found all the right lines on his first lap, but not everyone was so lucky and he had to fight to stay upright as others nearly took him (or the course markers) out. He battled back and forth with one racer for the entire 4 laps, gaining on the turns and the climb, but losing ground elsewhere. On the final lap he was ready to pounce and pull the other racer in for good, but one slip of the tire on the hill section gave his competitor room to create a gap, leaving not enough time for Rich to get him through the twisty finish section. Overall though a real breakout race for Rich with a 6th place finish.


Chris (Crash) Adams was excited for another fun day in the mud, his favorite way to race. His bad luck continued, however as he took a pretty rough fall on the course's descent. He battled back in the remaining laps, still looking strong at the end. He was happy to come away relatively unscathed and with a bike in one piece, while finishing 22nd.

photo of Chris Adams courtesy of Tayler Rae Dubé


John made it up to Maine for day 2, sitting on fresh legs from not racing the day before. It was a weird race for him as it seemed to be a balance of powering through mud while still trying to finesse the slippery off camber turns. He slipped out on an off camber section twice; once crashing in slow motion, the other time managing to catch himself. He was pretty drained at the end from all the running and riding through deep mud, but he had a lot of fun except for getting blitzed at the line by someone he thought he had dropped. He’s learned his lesson and realizes he now needs to pay more attention to that in future races. He placed 33rd overall in cat 4 and had a top 20 finish for 35+ men.


Tracy came back with a vengeance on day 2, determined to complete the race on her bike this time. She got caught behind a crash in the opening stretch, causing her to have to clip out and go around. This cost her some time on the start and she was in the back end of the field into the hole shot. She quickly recovered and moved up through the field. She once again gained ground and was able to put time in on her top opponents. With a problem free final lap, Tracy flew past the finish line in 28th place.

photo of Tracy Gustafson courtesy of Tayler Rae Dubé


When asked how the weekend went for her, Tracy (aka T-rock) said, "What can I say but MUDDY FUN!? Well actually, I was a bit nervous for my team mates and myself when I saw derailleurs breaking like twigs. Luckily we all remained unscathed. My goal for the race was not to break anything. Day 1, I was feeling good making good time then the chain jammed, and I could not fix it. Luckily, I was only about a 1/2 lap from the finish, so I picked up the bike and ran as fast as I could to the finish. Okay, I mostly walked since the bike was tremendously heavy with all the mud on it. I finished and didn't get lapped, so I was happy. Day 2, still feeling good, and having no mechanical I was happy with my finish. Both days, trying to lift the now 30 lb. bike covered in mud over the barriers was less than smooth."