For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories. ~ Plato

Putting our eight hundred mile pilgrimage behind us, Jen and I pulled into the Biltmore Estate guest services on Monday afternoon to pick up Estate access wrist bands. The 2016 C-X nationals race course opened for preview at two o-clock and we didn't want to miss an opportunity to pre-ride the course – even though our races were still days away. Our C-X vacation was in full swing.

Five years previous, three local guys, with a vision, had gotten together to discuss hosting C-X national in Asheville. That initial conversation led to the formation of an organizing committee that put together the successful bid. Hugh Moran, one of the original visionaries, weighed in on the results of the five year labor of love “It’s a lot, laying out [the Biltmore Estate] course. I think that course is impressive. I think people are going to be blown away.” Cyclocross pro Adam Meyerson posted on social media that he thought Asheville’s nationals course was one of the best of all the cyclocross courses across the country. Monday afternoon riders talking about the course were either saying they loved it or they couldn't ride it. I asked a rider from Austin TX how it compared to the 2015 national C-X course “Two separated ribs and a skinned leg different. This course is insane!” was his answer. He didn't make it through his pre-ride.

John Bradley wrote in his Velo (Vol. 45/No. 4, p. 10) column about a Dutch study into how vacations affect happiness. The study found that the only part of a vacation that markedly boosts peoples happiness is the planning. “The study gets to a universal truth” writes Bradley. “Our anticipation of a big event – before reality has had it's way – is when we're most excited. It's [most] fun to dream.” Wrong. I've been dreaming of this C-X vacation for more than a year and the reality is – I had no idea how fun a C-X vacation could be. I loved the course.

Cyclocross was an appropriate means of introduction to North Carolina's red clay soil called ultisols. The term "ultisol" is a mash-up of "ultimate" and “soil”. Ultisols are the ultimate product of continuous weathering of mountains of minerals in a humid, temperate climate without ever having new soil introduced through glaciation.

The next three days played out like the movie 'Groundhog Day'. The course would freeze overnight, start the new day as red clay grease on frost in the morning sun or frozen ruts in the morning shade, and then slowly soften to a clingy red clay mud and frost conglomerate by noon. And then by late afternoon, hundreds of riders would transform the course to red clay tacky tracks.

Two hours before my race, I started my pre-race routine with my typical heart attack symptoms: chest discomfort, shortness of breath, anxiety and nausea – I knew it was time to eat my PBJ. The “J” was Bonne Maman's Plumb Preserves. Delicious. My heart attack symptoms subsided. My pre-race routine culminated with me introducing myself to the racers immediately to my right and left; at this race it was Jeff and John. I'm now in my zone and ready to implement my master plan – BWUAHAHAHAHA.

My master plan – BWUAHAHAHAHA is actually the plan I use at every race. Line up behind a strong starter and hang onto his wheel for dear life and then just try like hell to catch and pass the next guy ahead of me. And when I'm at the end of my endurance rope, I do what Franklin D. Roosevelt said “tie a knot and hang on.” Hanging on got me a 32nd place finish. Race predictor had me at 38th. A six place personal victory!

More pics of nations can be seen here.

BWUAHAHAHAHA

Throughout the year HRRT holds races in Schenectady's Central Park. In my very first race report I described the corner of the park where HRRT holds its races, however, I failed to mention that besides being a great place to mountain bike race, Schenectady Central Park is the crown jewel of Schenectady's parks. The Schenectady Common Council voted in 1913

to purchase the land that occupies the highest elevation point in the city for the present site of the park. Schenectady's Central Park was named after New York City's Central Park. Both Central Parks were designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.  Schenectady Central Park features an acclaimed rose garden and Iroquois Lake. The movie Time Machine (2002) features Schenectady's Central Park in the ice skating scenes, standing in for New York City's Central Park – Iroquois Lake holds special significance to  me as I won my first cycling trophy racing on the ice of that lake.

Now, I'm using this late season Central Park race and the rest of the park's wooded paths, treed hill-sides and anything that remotely resembles a barrier as training for this year's grand finale of cyclo-cross, the USA Cycling Cyclo-Cross National Championships in Asheville North Carolina. The Championship race course is located on the grounds of Biltmore Estate – which landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted also had a hand in designing. I'm hopeful that practicing in a park designed by the same person who designed the grounds that will host the championship race will provide me with a unique advantage, even though the championship course doesn't include a frozen lake (I think).

For the race I rode my singlespeed.  It turned out to be the right choice. Central Park's mountain bike trails are sufficiently twisty and undulating that I seldom find myself spun-out.  I spent the bulk of the race chasing a HRRT junior team racer riding a fat bike. Chasing the junior had put me within striking distance of the next guy on the last lap. He was also riding a fat bike and had worn himself down trying to maintain position. With  less than a mile to go he miss shifted and appeared to just give up. I wasn't officially racing him, never-the-less, I “sprinted” (spun like I was possessed) past him and onto the start-finish line as if I was in the running for the overall win. The HRRT Xmas Madness MTB race proved to be a really great post cyclo-cross season work-out.

Schenectady is not only known for its Central Park, it is also the birthplace of Spiderman’s nemesis, super-villain Doctor Octopus (Otto Gunther Octavius). Otto was a brilliant and respected nuclear physicist, atomic research consultant, inventor, and lecturer with a “master plan”. He designed a set of highly advanced tentacle arms controlled via a brain-computer interface to assist him with his research. The tentacle arms were capable of great strength and highly precise movement. Due to an accident the tentacle arms became fused to Otto's body. Just like Otto's tentacle arms became an extension of Otto's body, training in Central Park has helped make my Colnago World Cup cyclo-cross bike become an extension of my body. And just as Otto Octavius was quoted in Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 681 “... The final stage is complete. All readings are good, gentlemen... It's time... Time to implement my master plan... my last master plan.”  – my final stages of training are coming to completion and it's time to put into practice all that I have learned. It's time to implement my master plan at nationals – BWUAHAHAHAHA