A Tumbling Pace

Today I raced in my first cyclocross race in the Boulder Cross Series at the Xilinx complex in Longmount.  I have been watching my friend Naz race for a couple of years and have always thought it looks like a blast.  The spectators crowd along the race course and get in your face as a racer, which as anybody who has raced anything knows, is exactly what you need when you are racing.  It’s a great spectator sport for Renee, who loves watching races anyway.  The races are 45 minutes and are a real power anaerobic challenge, something that would seem to fit me well.  

I raced in the Cat 4 on my singlespeed mountain bike.  I have been researching cyclocross bikes but can’t quite decide which bike to buy so thought I would try it and see some of the other bikes out there first.  There was a singlespeed division I could of raced in but I wanted to see what Cat 4 would feel like.  I pre-rode the course and quickly discovered that I felt pretty great on my 29inch tires.  They rolled over a big log obstacle well and made me very stable, of course too stable and slow for real racing, but great for my first race.   I pre-rode the course twice and was pumped to actually race because even preriding the course was really fun.  The course was very open and rolling, perfect for how I love to ride my singlespeed.

I started in the very back of the pack because I was worried about the first technical section.  It turned out that it was crowded even in the back and all I did was lose some places by starting so far back.  Next time I will push ahead from the beginning.  I was able to ride over the log and technical section the first time and all 5 times, although I had a minor crash on the 5th lap.  I quickly realized that the game was pretty simple, pick off people in front of you one by one and get over obstacles as quickly and smoothly as possible.   I loved it!  I was totally in the zone, trying to pick off guys in front of me and did so one by one.  I am not sure how many people I passed, probably over a dozen.  Nobody every passed me, I kept a very aggressive mentality the whole time, and never felt like I was bonking, although I was giving my best.  It was a whole lot like an ATC workout, just a bit shorter.  ATC is great training fitness wise for this sport.

On the road straightaway I always enjoyed passing guys on their geared bikes and on the last lap I got into a total sprint with another guy.  I almost passed him but couldn’t quite do it, opting to wait for the technical section.  I passed him but then braked on soft dirt and fell in front of him.  I apologized and then we both took off again.  I was never quite able to catch him again but I tried the whole last lap as fast I could.  

I am not sure what place I got, probably in the final 1/3. Many thanks to my photographer Renee Wright. She was patient and took all the videos. I rewarded with her with gelato (it was a hot day for cyclocross). This is going to be a fun fall if I get to do this every weekend.