How Not to Start Your First Cross Race of the Season

Cyclocross!  To most this particular discipline of the cycling world brings thoughts of bitter cold, piercing rain, and bottomless mud.  Well, we like to do things a bit differently here in Southern California.  Try blistering temps in the high 90’s, beating sunshine, and dusty trails.  Since the temps are typically low and the races are fairly short, getting a good warm up is crucial.  I was sweating just getting my kit on.  I set out on the course.  It had some very technical sections and was long by cross course standards.  By the middle of my first warm up lap I thought of veering off course and riding into the nearby lake.  After the lap they closed the course down for the Junior’s race so I decided to ride around the parking lot a bit and then find some shade to sit down in an hydrate.

 

As my race approached I headed over to the staging area so that I could get a decent starting position (it’s a first come first served kind of thing).  They were running late so my 10:15 race didn’t start lining up until more like 10:45.  That means that since I had staged early, I had been standing in the same spot for 45 minutes before my start.  The legs were tight at this point.  Finally they called nearly 60 of us (cross is building in popularity here in SoCal) up to the line and I got a sweet spot on the inside of the front row.  Perfect!  Countdown, 1 minute, 30 seconds, 15 seconds, GO! And go I did.  The first straight is about 100 yards of pavement.  We were all pinning it.  I maintained my spot right up to the first turn.  It was a left-hand 90 degree turn followed by a quick right hander.  Some of my teammates, believing this would be an exciting vantage point for the start of the race, lined up in the corner.  Brakes squealed, teammates yelled, elbows bumped, and into the turn I go.  Outstanding, I made it through the hairpin unscathed.  Now for the right hander, uh oh, I’m going a bit too fast, I’m getting pushed to the outside of the turn, am I the only one that sees that 55 gallon trashcan?  Am I going to hit that wannabe steal drum?  Who puts a gigantic steel trashcan on a turn like this anyway?  What are the odds that my teammates walked away, having seen the first turn and become disinterested, aren’t seeing this? Alright, I hit the can, not the end of the world.  But now the stake holding caution tape that is marking the course is in my way.  Grab it and get it out of the way, still alright.  Seriously?  The caution tape is now wrapped around my brake lever!  Rip it off.  Finally, having lost about 30 spots, I’m on my way.  Since I have to find the silver lining, I was able to make it through all of that without taking a foot off the pedal.  It could have been much worse.  The picture you see below was taken by one of my teammates who, by the way, had not walked away and did in fact see the whole incident.  If you look closely you can see the death grip I am applying to the right brake lever as the inevitable becomes apparent.

 

The rest of my race went well.  I found a group I was able to hang with and we traded positions throughout the race.  There were a few that would pass me in the long grass sections but I was able to pass them in the more technical sections.  I finished mid-pack, bent over the bars, after the 40 minute suffer fest.  I had three basic goals for this first race: don’t get lapped, don’t finish dead last, don’t throw up.  All accomplished (although I came very close to throwing up several times).  Cross racing hurts!

I just found a video of the 35+ 3/4 race.  It's pretty cool to watch and get a feel for what the course was like.  I do want to point out that I find it interesting that this guy chose to point the camera backwards thus assuming all of the action will be happening behind him (and a lot of it did, good for him).  If I were going to try to film the action I would have to attach the camera to the front of my bike 5 minutes into the future.  Also, the guy in the light blue shirt standing next to the tree at exactly 6 minutes 3 seconds in is me!

Comments

[Becky]

Wow - you didn't divulge all of these juicy details to the homefront! I guess I'm going to have to get my updates on the blog :)

[Eric]

I'm curious about your training. Do you use a trainer or rollers ? Any opinion? Thx. I started at 252 and am now down to 210 after 1 year. Move, sweat and eat less !!! Good luck !

Justin - thanks for the question. I am actually going to respond in a blog post if that's alright.