Cross on the Lake 2003

Saturday, cyclocross day.

Don and I rode down to course at 55th and south marginal. I figured it would be a good warm up for the race. We got there as they were finishing up the setup.

My race start is 9:00, we got there a littlebefore 8:00, so I had time to set the bike up, and pre-ride a bit. The course is really short. I think it was only 3/4 of a mile. There was a 100yd straight at the start, to spread the field out a little before the course, then everything else was twisty stuff. Most of the riding was over reasonably smooth grass. There were 2 "paved" sections, and one set of stairs.

It's pretty tough to explain the course with out pictures. So I've attached a sketch (sorry, Don it was fast and dirty). The circles represent an terraced amphitheater. The lower section was through a paved pit in front of a stage. The parallel lines on the right are 2 sets of barriers, that we dismounted and ran over. The first set you could lift the bike over. The second set, I was shouldering the bike, and then running up the stairs. At the top of the stairs was a paved walk. You then dropped down and up the theater terrace twice, before climbing out of the theater to a really narrow downhill chute that looked like a short section of an overused DH course. The hill that we went up was probably a 50 foot rise. Similar in length to the lower Euclid Creek hill at Highland and Euclid. Only the climb up the side ofthe theater wasn't quite as steep.

When I pre-rode the course, I found there was almost no recovery time. You always have something new coming up.... and the course was hard to get around at some semblance of speed. And though it wasn't classic 'cross weather. 65 and sunny was OK by me for my first taste of cyclocross.

They started the 30 minute citizen/cat5 race, the women and the junior race all at 9:00. The cat 3/4 was 45 minutes at 9:30, and the 1/2 race was an hour starting at 10:30. I got to the line, and found I was the only cat 5. There were 2 women and 1 junior. So I pulled out, and raced the cat 3/4. Which was nice, because I got to watch a race before I actually did one.

The Cat 3/4 race had 11 starters and one cat 1 guy racing for fun on asingle speed fixed gear. So at the gun, I figure I'll try to hang with the group as best as I can, and I do until we hit the top of the stairs. The path there was the only time I could try and recover, so I backed off a little and watched the first 3 guys go off. I'm still in 5th, so I don't feel to bad. I've just got to hang on for 45 minutes...

Here is how it the race works. They time each lap, then average the first few lap times of the leader. They then calculate how many laps make up 45 minutes, and from there on they let it be a lap race. So after 3 laps, they tell you how many laps until the finish, rather then shouting out time remaining every time someone passes the start/finish line.

The barriers and stairs are wild! Pick the bike up, hop, run, hop put the bike down and jump back on. It doesn't take long before I'm dropping the bike... and it bounces around making it really hard to get back on. So I start concentrating on setting it down.

After 4 laps (or so), I see a 6 and figure I've got 6 laps to go. I'm pretty much redline through the whole race... but figure it's only 45 minutes, so let's go! I've been passed by a few more people, but I know there is at least 1 guy behind me. Since the course twists back on itself so much, you can easily see where you are on the field... the only problem is the A race guys are all doing their pre-rides, so I couldn't tell where I was REALLY. I saw the gap on the one guy I knew I was in front of getting wider at one of the stair sections, the next thing I know, he's going by me, I mean within a minute or two. It turns out I've just been lapped by the guys teammate.

On lap 9 I'm one lap down on the leaders. I come by the start/finish, and see the 1 and figure I've got 2 laps to go, so I ask as I go by... no one answers, but everyone looks at the lap counter... then I see the second 1 and spend half of that lap figuring out there are 10 more laps to go. At this point I realize, I can't finish if I stay redlined for 10 more laps! and start to really back it down and just try to survive. Don is handing me my water bottle about every other lap. On lap 11 or 12, I ask him to pass me up a gu... I feel pretty good, but I get lapped again! So now I'm 2 laps down, and figure I may or may not be in last place of my race. Whatever, I'm going all out still, I'll do my best to finish strong and maybe I'll catch someone...

With 2 laps to go, a guy passes me... and I don't know if he's lapping me or just stealing a place. I do know he's in my race though. I think I should have tried to fight him off though... but I didn't have much left in me.

On the last lap, I'm not 100% sure if I'm done or not. I wish I knew, because I would have buried myself instead of thinking I had to conserve to do 2 or 3 more laps (I may have been 3 laps down by then). So... it turns out I got 8th out of 12 starters. The leaders did 20 laps, I did 17 or 18. The third place rider was also at least 1 lap down. I was 20 seconds from lapping the 10th place rider, and 40 seconds from the 9th place. There was 1 DNF that happened in front of me... from the looks of his injury, I would have continued on... but I don't know how much the inside hurt.

I raced about 10 miles, and I finished in 54 minutes and some change. I feel pretty good about it for a first timer. There is a 7 race series put on by Bike Authority in the area. My goal is to do 5... we'll see how the schedule works out.