OVCX 6 Eva Bandman Worlds Venue

The next stop on the ovcx tour was Eva Bandman. The park is where the World Championship takes place in Feb. I really enjoy this park and Louisville; it’s a fun fast course.

The race was fast from the whistle and I got a poor start because I missed my pedal and was in about 20^th after the first lap. I knew right away that I wasn’t on a good day. My exercise induced asthma was bad and I couldn’t breathe. It was going to be a long day on the bike. Long story short I worked my way up to 15^th by the end and was disappointed but it happens sometimes.  I need to warm up longer and I was not dressed warm enough for the temp and wind chill. I knew better and will correct it this weekend at the Cincinnati uci weekend.

On a positive note a Cycle-Smart athlete Ryan Knapp won and started at the back of the 60 plus field! Look for him to hit it in Cincinnati this weekend!

Stay safe in the Frankenstorm!

Gun Club

OVCX 4 Gun Club

 

Gun Club is one of my favorite course on the on the OVCX circuit. I headed down with local young gun John Proppe, we got to the course and it was laid out the same as last year except they added a big fly over after the sand pit. Awesome!  The course is a combination of twisty woods and dirt path linked by some open grass fields. There are lots of transitions and corners; it’s a really good course for my skills. The best that could have happen for me was some light rain right at the start. The rain completely changed the course. It made it super slippy and even more techy. I decided to run the Limus right before the start with 26 and 28psi, they were like perfect for the greasy mud.

 

I was a second row call up because of my DNF the week before I ended up getting a reasonably good start. I was in about 4^th place after the first lap, and then I lost some spots when I got in to a scrum with a JR in the woods on the second lap. I was able to recover and end up in the group of 4 racing for 4^th place about half way through. Rob Kendall ended up winning, got a good gap at the start and cruised in. Luke Haley and Eric Anderson battled it out for 2^nd and 3^rd. I attacked my group on the last lap and was fairly close to Eric by the end. I was pumped to finally have good legs at the end of the race, the form is coming.

Video highlights

http://www.cyclingdirt.org/video/658818-OVCX-Gun-Club-Elite-Men-Highlights

Bunch of pics on my wall.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/shawn.adams.503

Podium pic. by http://jjakucyk.exposuremanager.com/

 

Ups and Downs

OVCX 3 Dayton

 

I headed down to the 3nd ovcx race in Dayton on Saturday, a relatively easy drive of 3hrs. I didn’t need to get a hotel and could be home that night all good things about close races. The course was in an old park that had an amphitheater in it that we rode up beside and the rest was more bumpy grass, with lots of long power sections. Not really best conditions for my skill set. Long story short I was having breathing problem with my asthma from the cold dry air and was riding poorly. Then about half way through I rolled my rear tubular off the rim and had to put it back on and ride to the pit. This was the end of the day for me. DNF.

NEOCX Euclid

Euclid was a local race that was about a hr. from my house on Sunday. The weather was nice in the morning but by race time it was 40 and raining. I was bummed out from the day before but was determined to race better that yesterday

The course was right on Lake Erie and was super muddy and turnery, perfect for my skill set. I got a good start and was in a good battle with John Proppe and mtb legend Gunner Shoegrin. We were racing hard and soon had a gap on the rest of the field. I pinch flatted my front wheel on a rock and had to change bikes but was able to stay on the group about half way through John broke his chain and had to run so I got a good gap and stayed on the gas. I was able to take the win! It felt good after having a poor performance the day before. Gunner ended up 2^nd and it was a good battle. So an up and down weekend, hopefully there will be more ups than downs the rest of the season.

 

OVCX 2 St. Mary's

We headed down to the2nd ovcx race in Indianapolis Indiana on Saturday to pre ride for the race on Sunday. I got to the course and rode 4-5 laps and felt pretty good for just getting out of the car after a 5hr drive. The course was a grassy and bumpy. It looked like we would be doing high 6min laps and it was going to beat your back up. I decided to run Grifo’s at 27psi for the bumpy and loose turns. Had a good dinner at http://bruggebrasserie.com/ and was ready to rock the 2nd race of the ovcx season.

Race day warm up went well and I was ready to race. I was front row this based on the results of ovcx 1. There was another huge field in the elite race around 55 starters. This is a great sigh for the ovcx. The total entry’s for the race was around 500 again for the race. I ended up with a decent start and was in 10-12^th after the first lap. I was ok with my position because of how fast the course was and I knew it would break up later, but Josh Johnson had other ideas he checked out and had about 40sec after 3 laps. He was fresh off of 3^rd place at UCI gateway cup on Wednesday. He ended up crushing us all and won by over 2 min. Meanwhile I was battling for the 3^rdafter Mitchel Kersting went on the attack with about 4 laps to go. I positioned myself poorly for the last 3 laps and ended up getting 8^th. Better than the first week and my back is feeling better. We had post-race beer at http://tritonbrewing.com a great sponsor of the race.

This week we get to race in Ohio and it’s my birthday!

Results

http://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2012-2907