Iron Cross 2011

There is only one word to descirbe miles upon miles of asphalt, fireroads, doubletrack, climbs, singletrack, powerline run ups, more climbs, and atmosphere all blended together to create Iron Cross 2011 weekend.....astoundingly awesome....ok, so that was two words. A good omen on the car ride up...shuffle playlist with the first hit being a favorite band....

Will had arrived early and set up base camp for team Chester County Velo/Bike Line and Wooden Wheels (what a mouthful). I pull up to an established Hotel Jayco...
Will and I prerode some of the course, chatted with Zach Adams (who put on a fantastic race btw) and awaited Rob and Eric's arrival. After unpacking, Will ensures security of the cluster o cross bikes prior to heading into town for dinner....our options: a tavern, a tavern, and another tavern. We came across a tavern that displayed "Bikers Welcome", but we werent sure what kind of bikers this entailed. As we pulled into the lot's lineup of two wheeled steel, horsepower and chrome, it was obvious that us pedal pushers may want to consider one of the alternate tavern options. Cassels was the verdict and we washed down a delicious Oktoberfest menu with some Sammy A and Troegs. We came back to a dark ridden campsite quickly illuminated by Will's firebuilding skills...a beer and some campfire bike chatter and I called it a night with a little bedtime reading in the West wing of Hotel Jayco...

We woke up to a chilly 41 degrees raceday morning, geared up, consumed the necessary calories, filled bottles, registered and basked in as much sunlight as possible up until race start. Though I was tempted to stage upfront and go for the early race holeshot (ha), Eric, Rob, Will and I staged midpack. It was on...congestion at first (pretty much common theme for a mass start endurance race, especially behind the only tandem rider on the first sharp turn) but soon began to thin out...that was at least until the first run up. I found it necessary to yell loudly "hey rider back!". I got a few chuckles on that one as I shouldered my bike up the hill with the rest of the bunch. Feeling strong and climbing the first 6 or so miles, antsy as I always get when my fitness is "there", I took a turn way too agressive on a fast fireroad downhill and received an undesireable Iron Hill tattoo...
Immediately after the crash, I ensured my bikes condition (so yes, I was fine), saddled up and continued down the fireroad to the road as I repositioned my bent shifter and continued on with a bit of sting on my left side....just glad I was still mobile and bike was functioning. Things heated up...literally...as I peeled my arm warmers off no later than 40 minutes into the race. At the first section of singletrack, I found myself to be one of those "racer assholes" I swore I would never be.......yelling at the racers in front of me for dismounting on foot high logs. Im sorry...its in my nature to hop em and understand that cross draws the best of both cycling realms (mountain and road) in which roadies have no logs to hop. Should have been thankful for everyone registering so that this race could exist....ill work on that. Some more asphalt, fireroad, doubletrack and then the gigantic run up....a slow hike and exchange of conversation among other riders all silenced by the first Checkpoint which I only relied on for water.....plenty of others to indulge in the Fig Newton, Cookie, Soda, and Hammer buffet. Time and RPMs passed, the real shot in the quads came after Checkpoint 3 with 19 miles to go...a long fireroad slow churn climb back up to the peak. Then a super fast long downhill decorated with flat fixing racers on each side (thank you Stans Alpha 340s, a top 10 best buy on my list). A final stretch of prestige singletrack, a calf deep creek crossing (rehreshing at that point), some fireroad and then the main road to the finish. During our preride, Will had suggested my personal goal to be 4:30...I agreed on it. Barriers and a few steps to finish the race, I received my IC socks, medal, a delicious chicken burrito, and headed to the results posting.....19th place in Open Men Under 40 with a time of 4:29:38. A great clean race (no mechanicals) and adventure for all of us...already pumped for next year!

Rob - 5:22:30

Eric - 5:11:56

Will - 5:41:58

In other fitness news, Cheech was getting his exercise in....or maybe not (errrr).
The night consisted of relaxation with Dina, the Cheech, and a new episode of Boardwalk Empire.