The final PACC cyclocross race of the winter was today.  It was a sunny and warm day with no mud to be seen.  The course (map) was similar to the previous courses, but with a huge spiral, and a couple good mulch run-ups, which were both quite rideable. Here’s what my phone and Google Tracks thought of the course:

View PACC CX 2011 Race 6 in a larger map

As usual, I rode the Gunnar.  There were no major changes from the last race, save airing the tyres down from 45/50PSI to 30/35 (F/R).  The All Terrainasarus tyres did very well at the lower pressure, and I think something like 28/32PSI might work a little better.

So, the Gunnar did well, and I had a great race.  Before the race I decided that I was going to put in more effort than the last and either blow up before the finish, or place higher.  In the end, I placed fourth, which is a decent improvement over the seventh place finish in the previous race.

Dan borrowed Rachel’s Specialized Sirrus so he could try out a cyclocross race.  The Sirrus had about 2 kg of extra weight removed, the brakes swapped from ‘American’ to ‘rest-of-the-world’, and the old 32/30 Speedmax Pros swapped on for the race.  Dan did well, winning the B grade.  Here’s the Sirrus before and after:

The full race results, race animation and a write-up are over on PACC.

Also, I’d like to thank everyone at PACC and those who helped organize, setup and tear-down the races.  The cyclocross series was a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to the next race.

Here’s a great video of the first lap of the CX B race from kdcd.  I’m the one in the “authentic” 2009 U.S. Postal Service Pro Team yellow jersey :

How many funny, strange, weird or scary expressions can you find?

Photos from the 2011 PACC cyclocross series, race 2.  Video and results over on the PACC blog.

If you recall, I swapped the 2.1″ Ignitors on the Eriksen with some rather heavy 2.35s. A few weeks ago I raced the Ignitors (with Eriksen attached) at the AMTBC MT. Torrens enduro. Overall, the 2.35″ Ignitors performed well. More specifically, the 2.35s were noticeably slower on the climbs (it wasn’t me, really), but more than made up for any shortcomings on the way back down.

The downhills at Mt. Torrens are a lot of fun with fast rocky sections, several ramps, berms and other potentially painful features. With my new monster-truck tyres I was able to catch other riders on the downhills and have a lot of fun doing it. So, the 2.35s are staying and I’ll just have to deal with the climbs.

Also of interest may be my new lights. The Mt. Torrens enduro was held in the afternoon with approximately three hours of daylight and three hours of night riding. Prior to this race I had been using a NiteRider MiNewt Mini USB, a 115 lumen light. For this race I used a new bar-mounted NiteRider TriNewt, which comes in at just under 500 lumens.

I ran the TriNewt in the reduced brightness mode for a reported seven-hour battery life during the night portion of the race. Prior to the race I hadn’t noticed much diffrence between the full and reduced brightness modes, and found the light in this mode more than adequate for the race.

I brought the MiNewt Mini USB as a backup light, but I never felt a need to use it. Since the race, I’ve purchased a helmet-mount kit for the MiNewt Mini USB. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but I’m curious to see if it is a worthwhile addition to the TriNewt.

If you’re interested I ended up finishing in the middle of the men’s solo class, even with an unscheduled coffee and photo break– full results over at AMTBC.

Prior to the Mt. Torrens enduro I converted the ’08 Reba Race from 100mm to 115mm. I wasn’t convinced this is what I wanted long term, but I wanted to give it a try. Well, after a few rides and the enduro I converted the Reba back to 100mm. Why? The fork went from fairly stiff and generally nice to noticeably flexy and generally frustrating.

During the conversion back to 100mm I replaced the fork oil (again) and the dirt/oil/foam seals on the fork lowers. Thanks again to BMCR for having the parts in stock. Anyway, replacing the seals is fairly easy, and the now that the fork is back to the “right” height everything feels a lot better. In any case, my rebuild proved a lot cheaper than some others I’ve recently heard about.

Want more? I’ve been getting the Gunnar in shape for the next cyclocross race and had the bottom bracket faced, thanks to Brian at Road Rage Cycles. This may seem like an odd thing to do to a 10-year-old frame, but I noticed my external-bottom-bracketed FSA cyclocross crankset didn’t spin nearly as freely as the more road-friendly 105 Octalink crankset I had been using. Instead of going nuts with a White Industries VBC crankset, I tried the cheaper option of fixing what I already had. I’m happy to report that the FSA crankset now spins nicely and all is ready for the upcoming race.