Today I was biking home from work on the bike path next to the Chuck Albrecht fields (near the police station).  I was surprised and disappointed to see another huge swath of trees chopped down in preparation for a new road.  All the trees on the north side of the bike path are gone.

Just as I was looking at the clear-cut and bemoaning the loss of more woodlands, out of the corner of my eye I saw a creature next to the ballfield fence on the south side of the path.   I only caught a glimpse of it before trees blocked my view.  At first I thought it was a dog.  But it was being very still, just sitting there watching me bike by.  And very quiet.  Very un-dog-like.  And there wasn’t any dog owner within sight.  I turned around and went back to get a better look.  Could it be…

Sure enough it was.  A wolf.  And there was another.  And another.   Three wolves sitting there watching my every move.  I suppose I should have been a bit nervous, like seeing a bear up close.  But I wasn’t.  I was thinking about how one second I had been lamenting the loss of more ‘wild lands’ in the city, and the next second I was looking at the animal that symbolizes wild Alaska.  All within several hundred yards of the Police Station, a hospital, and a Quiznos.  

In the time it took me to get out my cell phone camera, the closest wolf had ducked back into the woods.  So I didn’t get him in my picture.  But if you zoom in (click on it) you can see one blurry wolf next to the fence, and the rough outline of another halfway around the far side of the fence in the background.  Damn, I wish I’d had a real camera.

The encounter was a nice little reward for ridding my bike to work in dark 8 degree weather this morning.

Our cyclocross series wrapped up on Saturday, Oct 4 with a great race at Goose Lake. This course was the best one of the season. It combined pavement, trail, and even sand to make what I considered a true cyclocross challenge. This race was worth double points, so everyone showed up. I finished 13th, and also finished 13th for the season, though I only did four of the six races.

Results | Photos | Photos below by Peter Lekisch

I really enjoyed the cyclocross races, but I can’t help but think that the current cyclocross format is handcuffing the sport. In an article earlier this year, I discussed the similarities between cyclocross and cross country ski racing. In my opinion, cyclocross also suffers from an unfortunate similarity: the over-use of multi-lap courses.

I absolutely hate this trend in skiing. It makes the races boring and repetitive for the racers. Its called cross-country skiing, not gerbil-loop skiing. Let’s cross some country. I long for the days when I could do a 15K or 30K race without having to count laps on my fingers and toes. And the tiny loops necessary for these courses degrade our trail systems. Instead of long, winding, scenic trails through the woods that everyone can use, ski racing now demands extremely short loops which are of little use to non-racers. Case in point: the “new and improved” Kincaid Park. Whoops, sorry for the rant, let me reel it back in here…

I understand that there are many good reasons for using short loops for cyclocross. Its a lot easier on the organizers, it impacts less land, and it is easier for the spectators to see the racers (though it can be impossible to figure out how they are doing - just ask my wife).

But why pigeon-hole cyclocross into this format?  In many ways, cyclocross is the purest form of cycling. The bikes are pared-down. No suspension, no disc brakes. The objective is to cover all kinds of terrain in order to get from point A to point B. So why add in all the contrived stuff like a one hour time limit, multiple loops and man-made barriers?

While skiing has moved to this rat-in-a-cage environment (I’m going to see how many rodent analogies I can squeeze in here), fortunately there are still some ski races that don’t conform to the new standards. Likewise, we need some cyclocross races that break the mold. Let’s have a good old-fashioned bike race from point A to point B over lots of different terrain.

Think about the races we could have near Anchorage:

1) Start at Hilltop, go down the Seward Highway to Indian, up and over Powerline Pass and back to Hillside. Or the same route in the other direction.

2) Start at Kincaid and make your way to Glen Alps or the Dome, using the Coastal Trail, Chester Creek trail, and various dirt trails in between.

3) Start at Moose Run golf course, go up Arctic Valley road, and up the ski area to the ridge, along the ridge and drop down to the South Fork of Eagle River trailhead and back to Moose Run on the road.

4) Start at the Hatcher Pass Lodge, go up and over Hatcher Pass, then climb up Craigie Creek Rd. Then drag your bike up and over a couple of passes to get to the Fern Mine area off Archangel Rd. Ouch. Then back to the Lodge on the road. Is it even reasonable to hoof it up and over while carrying a bike? Probably not, but it would definitely be interesting to try.

Each of these routes offers plenty of the elements that define cyclocross (pavement, trail, bike carrying) and it would be a hell of a lot more interesting that going in circles. I know all of these examples would have issues that could prevent a race from happening, but the point is that there are other options out there.

In no way do I mean to criticize the organizers of our great Arctic Cross series. They do an outstanding job, and it is important to have a series that conforms with international standards. But this is Alaska, where we have the potential to do things bigger and better. Maybe we need to branch out and make this its own sport with a catchy name (Cyclocross Extreme!!) and sign Red Bull up as a sponsor. So who’s in? And more importantly, who wants to organize it? After all, I want to DO these races, not organize them.

Its funny that just last week I made this statement about my results in local fun races:

I could have a great race and finish 15th, and I could just as easily have a bad race and finish 4th, if no one shows up.

Well, in this week’s Tuesday Night Race, none of the fast guys showed up.  And I finished 4th.  It wasn’t a bad race by any means, but maybe it was a self-fulfilling prophesy.  For most of the race, I was in the top three, but faded to fourth with a half-mile to go.  I guess I should have written that I could win if no one showed up!  Nonetheless, it was fun to run with the leaders and entertain thoughts of victory.  Even if those dreams were shattered when the top two guys picked up the pace with two miles to go.  TNR Results

After two weeks of finishing the same place in both TNR and cyclocross, I knew I had my work cut out for me going into Saturday’s cyclocross race.  If I was going to keep the streak alive, I had a long way to go to reach fourth place.  The course was rooty, muddy and very challenging on skinny tires.  The course had very little running, so it felt like an ordinary mountain bike race, exept I was on the wrong bike.  So I was not surprised when the eventual winner blew past me on a hardtail mountain bike.  But it was still fun.  I managed to get a good workout and finish 10th.  ArcticCross results

And finally the highlight of the week was a spectacular weekend.  The kind of crystal clear weekend we’ve been waiting for all summer.   I didn’t get away for any adventures, but I did manage to kick-off the weekend with a spectacular run around the Williwaw Lakes - Ballfield loop from Glen Alps with Rob and Chrissy.  The evening light lit up the fall colors and contrasted well with the confirmation dust on the peaks. 

Normally, the first snow on the mountains is called termination dust because it signals the termination of summer.  But this year I’ve dubbed it “confirmation dust,” because it confirmed that the summer of ‘08 is never going to happen.

Anyway, a few photos from our run, courtesy of Chrissy…

Well, last week was an eighth-place week.  It appears that this week’s number is ten.  I guess I’m slowing down.  The truth is that with these local races, it all depends on who shows up. I could have a great race and finish 15th, and I could just as easily have a bad race and finish 4th, if no one shows up.  That said, it might also be true that I’m getting slower.

Tuesday Night Running Race: 10th place

Wednesday evening Cyclocross: 10th place

I was just happy that I got to do the ‘cross race.  My bike broke while I was warming up.  The chain got snagged on the derailleur and snapped the hanger.  I walked back to the start, very dejected.  The race organizers, Bruce Ross and Patrick McGownd,  saw my situation and jumped into action.  First they tried to find parts to fix my bike.  When that was hopeless, Patrick loaned me his bike and they found tools so I could swap the pedals.  They did all this WHILE they were also running the pre-race meeting, five minutes before the start.  They certainly went above and beyond, and I really appreciated it.

The bike was small (52 cm, whereas mine is 58cm), but I was just glad to be riding rather than driving home early.  And I’ll leave you with a great photo.  I think the caption should be “I just realized I’m going too fast down a muddy, rooty, narrow trail on a bike that I’ve never ridden before.”  either that, or simply, “Uh oh.”

Photo: George Stransky.  Here’s more.

This week I did two races. A Tuesday Night Running race and a cyclocross race. With all of these fall races, I try to emphasize the training benefit rather than the result. Often, this means not red-lining the whole way, but instead starting conservatively (under aerobic threshold pace) then getting faster if I feel good. I did a good job of that in the Tuesday race, and I finished 8th.

In the cyclocross race, I probably started too conservatively. I got intimidated by all the fancy bikes at the start, and the fact that there was a nasty hairpin turn 200 meters into the race. So I seeded myself way in the back, even behind most of the juniors and women. I realized after about 30 seconds of the race that this was a mistake. I spent the rest of the race playing catch-up, which admittedly was a lot of fun. Much better to be the pursuer, than the pursuee. By the last lap, I had moved into the top ten and, with a devastating sprint at the end, was able to nail down my second 8th place finish of the week.

Photos by George Stransky . A ton of great photos can be found here.

We had a fun sprint Orienteering race at APU on Wednesday.  It was less about navigation and more about making decisions quickly.  It was a lot of fun, and I managed to win.  Here are the results and the race in RouteGadget.

The orienteering season is pretty much over, so now its time for me to move on to another obscure sport.  Cyclocross.

The Arctic Cross season starts on Sept 6th and I’m pretty excited about it.  So excited, in fact, that I wrote an article for FasterSkier.com. The Anchorage Daily News also mentioned my new fondness for ‘cross, but nobody is going to read that article, because apparently there was some other news story today.

Photo: Peter Lekisch

I like to bike to work as often as possible.  Today when I woke up, it was raining and the temperature was a cool 46 degrees at our house.  I wanted to bike, but I was not looking forward to having my butt get sprayed with cold, grimy water for an hour or so.  So I decided to rollerski instead.  It was just as wet as biking, but at least I was working harder, so I was warm.

So there I was striding uphill on Arctic Boulevard at 7:30 AM, soaking wet and preparing myself mentally to do battle with the midtown traffic on slick roads.  From the sidewalk next to me I hear a man’s voice.

“Dude, you are out of control.”

I look up just in time to see the guy give me a quick nod and a smile.  I like to think he was saying something along the lines of “You’re crazy to be doing that, on a day like today, in a place like this.  But I like your style.”

It made my day.  I broke out in a huge smile.  The comment was perfect for two reasons:

1) It was in almost the exact same spot where recently I was biking, when a waste-of-flesh teenager in a pickup truck coming the other direction cut me off by taking a left-hand turn in front of me.  As I slammed on my brakes to avoid a collision, he swerved towards me, gave me the finger, and then yelled “get off the fucking road” for good measure as he sped away.  So now maybe I won’t think of that experience every time I pass through that intersection.

2)  These days I feel like I am under control a lot.  Not much craziness happening in my life as a family man.  And I believe that being out of control every now and then is good for me.

So if rollersking through midtown Anchorage on a rainy day brings me back a little bit of craziness, well, I guess I’ll take it.

On Sunday, the local adventure racing club was having a low-key 8 hour adventure race.  Since the weather wasn’t great and some of my desired summer trips are on hold because of lots of snow in the mountains, it seemed like a great way to spend the day and beat myself up a little bit.

Ian and I paired up to compete against 5 other teams.  Darren’s course consisted of various controls around town, with each control worth a certain number of points depending on the difficultly/time involved in reaching it.  The object was to get as many points as possible. The course involved mountain biking, hiking in the Chugach front range, ‘ reverse orienteering’, and paddling Campbell Creek.

It was a lot of fun. I managed to flip my packraft in Campbell Creek (with my bike attached to it), which was quite stupid and embarrassing.  Mental note: Do not try to step, feet first, into a packraft in moving water. The hiking part (in the Williwaw-Wolverine-Long Lake area) was a bit trippy because the mountains were completely enshrouded in low clouds. We ended up coming in late (and losing some points) because we chose to get the high-value control at Long Lake.  But no matter, we still did well in the points and we were glad we pushed out to the Lake.  You can view the results here. The point values aren’t quite right, but they are close enough. Our team name was ‘Ask Cory’ because when Darren asked Ian what the team name was he said - yep - “Ask Cory.”

For many of the controls, we had to take a picture to prove that we made it there.  Thus, I have a few photos from the event. And because I’m a geek, I also drew up a map of the controls and plotted our route.  Check it out:

Thanks to Darren for a fun, challenging course, and thanks to Ian for hauling my ass around town.

June 18: Linda and I have really been hitting the packrafting hard this summer. They really are the coolest things ever. With snow still in the montains, we’ve been doing a few short, road-accessible creeks to practice our skills. Still can’t figure out how to snap photos in the rafts without soaking the camera, so all I can show you are the maps.

On Sunday Sept 25, Linda and I mountain biked the Johnson Pass trail.