matt davis

am/pm cross

  With my first cross race of the year coming up this weekend i have been dialing in the bike and logging some ride time with it. Tires were first up. I threw the old maxxis tires on the pit wheels and mounted up some hutchinson bulldog tubeless ready tires onto a set of ksyriums, tubeless of course. A couple hard rides eased my anxiety of potential tire peeling. No matter how hard or fast i cornered the tires wouldn't budge. Sweet. Next up was some appropriatete cx gearing filled by srams cx crankset with a 46/38 up front and a 12/25 in back. With changes made there was nothing left to do but ride. I got in some time before work today hopping back and fourth from road to trail. The tires were solid and the gearing was a dramatic improvement from the standard compact that i was running. Right as we closed the shop doors for the night i headed to flower mound for the new Wednesday night cx race. I wasn't sure what to expect as far as turnout and the course, but i was in for a surprise. The field was small with 10 to 12 riders, but there was some fast dudes on hand. The course was really good. It had a bit of everything. Two sets of barriers, a fast downhill section and some nice technical corners. With no lights on the course we mounted our own which made it that much funner, or sillier, whichever you prefer. It was good stuff. Props to the Bikes Plus guys for getting this one going, I cant wait to get back out there next week. Im gonna have to get my light dialed in for next week. I was leading coming into the final turn when my light dropped into my spokes haha. I grabbed it pretty quickly and rode through in second with light in hand. Im headed to Austin Sunday for the second day of the Tx Cup Cyclocross opening weekend. Should be fun.

   

Lake Bryan

  Saturday started with a drive to Bryan, stopping along the way to pick up Cody and Ashley who were along for the ride. Upon arriving at the venue I met up with Mr. Comardo and we set out to pre ride the course before the short track race later that afternoon. The course was super tight and twisty with lots of loose corners. With limited places to open it up the course had all the ingredients needed to keep Sunday's race close. Later in the afternoon a small field lined up for the 30 min short track race. The course was interesting to say the least. I was in the pain cave from the gun and it didn't end for 30 minutes plus 1 lap. I worked my way up to third only to toss my lunch on the trail with two to go and had to settle for 4th. The ride of the day went to Mitch as he owned the race on his rigid SS... Sunday morning i was up before the sun fueling up with muffins and a latte before the 9:00am start. A second row start and some pedal fumbling put me in the woods somewhere around 10th. As i worked my way through the pack a move of four fired off the front. I worked up to 7th and rode in a three man chase with TX Tough's Tristan and Tyler. We were able to make a little forward progress as the leaders were rolling on cruise control, but nothing significant. With around 6 miles to go Mitch attacked and would stay away to the finish (with no gears!). I rolled away from Tristan and Tyler in hopes of catching the remnants of the lead group about a minute up, but with limited time and opportunity it was near impossible. I rolled through the finish in 5th with one of my stronger finishes of the year. It was a fun weekend and getting to stay with family in Bryan made it even better. Congrats to Mitch on grabbing his first win in the PSE class!

     

 

   

back on the wagon

Our shop shuts the doors around 5:00pm every Saturday and re-opens Tuesday at 11:00am. For two days a week i train and or race like im a pro. At least like i think a pro would train. I wake up late and have breakfast with Rach, lay around for a bit and finally suit up and head out for the days adventure. Once i return i eat and nap the rest of the day away with a few checks of cyclingnews and friends blogs in between.

  Sunday was my first race in what felt like a good while. Over the last four weeks i had managed about 7 successful days on the bike. I was skeptical at best as to how my body would hold up at race pace for three laps. Warm up was good with not even a hint of knee pain. Off the start i felt pretty good and settled in behind local fast man Lucas. I held a comfortable steady pace as i watched Lucas ride out of site. Limited training hadn't left me enough confidence to give chase. The pace was steady through the first two laps and i felt surprisingly good all things considered. With the beginning of the third lap I was being reeled in by Justin Wallace. I saw him coming so i let him by and just tried to ride along. The plan was perfect for a mile or so, but then I snagged a rock and did a low speed cartwheel through the brush. This gave Justin a decent gap and for the next few miles i struggled to close it. Coming into the last couple miles I had widdled the gap down to 5 or 6 seconds. As we started to hit the short steep series of climbs near the end of the course my legs gave up the ghost and I watched Justin creep away. The power to chase just wasn't there. I rolled over the finish line 3rd in my class and posted the 3rd fastest overall time of the day. As much as i would have like to battled it out with Luke i was pretty stoked just to be back racing. This coming weekend is a double header at Lake Bryan with cross Saturday and XC on Sunday. I will do the XC for sure and the cross race if it works out. Should be a fun one.    

 

off the bench