Another Cyclocross Newbie-Rohrbach Brewery RR
If you are anything like me, you have been intrigued by the the race reports on cyclocross on the forum. I have to admit though that I have been pretty nervous about taking the plunge into this type of racing. I am not a particularly strong bike handler. Most of my mountain bike expeditions have ended with me pushing a bike over a good portion of the course, cursing myself as I watched others ride terrain that I couldn't without ending up in the ER. So while cyclocross had me excited, it also had me a bit terrified.
One of the local bike shops in Rochester, "Full Moon Vista", hosts a series of 3 cyclocross races each fall. FMV is partly owned by one of the nurse practioners I work with. Over the summer, she slowly sucked me in to the whole event and got me to sign up. The first event this last weekend was especially exciting as it was a 2-day event with amateur racing on Saturday and then an international UCI pro race on Sunday. I anted up for a cat-4 cyclocross license online and I was in.
I arrived on Saturday morning in Ellison Park at 9AM for a 10AM start for the cat-4 race. I had hoped to ride the course first to settle myself down. Unfortunately they were still setting it up (and wouldn't finish until just before our race which got pushed back to 10:30). I practiced the first half of the race which was set-up. From the start line there was a gradual uphill chicane to a set of barriers and then a steep climb to an equally steep downhill. The day was dry, just some dew on the grass and the ground was solid. The biggest challenge on the first part would be the sharp turns left, right, left at the base of the descent. Too much speed would find a body into the woods and off course quickly. After riding a few times up a down, I settled down and headed back to the start area.
At 10:30, we got the instructions to enter staging. The race would be 30-minutes. 40 men were entered in the cat-4 race. I was pretty nervous about descending to those curves in a big pack so I placed myself toward the back of the pack. I knew that I could navigate the turns, but wasn't sure what I could do if someone went down hard in front of me. When the horn sounded I clicked in and started hard. Mostly the pack stayed together around the climb to the barriers. The barriers were a set of 2. I had practiced hopping off and on my bike and getting back in the pedals quickly. While I was nowhere near as smoothe as the pros on Sunday who seemed to execute this move as one graceful series so quickly it hardly seemed they left their bikes; I managed to get clicked back in and get going without wasting more than a few seconds. The first barriers were the hardest to get going after because the hill went up steep after the barriers. It was hard to just push the bike and jump on since you couldn't carry any momentum without quickly engaging the pedals. The barriers weren't too high, so I was just able to lift the bike and jump over each barrier. I settled in on the climb and frankly let people pass me to be sure I had a clear line on the descent. The last part of the climb was a very step kick up that I wasn't able to climb in warm-up without spinning out my back tire, so I hopped off again (as did most of the other car-4's, the pros blew over it with no problem). Getting back on was easier here. Just hop back on and fire down the hill. Got clipped back in halfway down.
Once I was down, I entered the more "technical" part with a lot of quick back and forth turns on some sketchy ground. Kept myself upright. Then about 1/3 of a lap in, the course sort of openned up and I started to push harder. I began passing people, particularly on any uphill. A quick bit of sand was a bit of a challenge, but I stayed upright. A quick bit of pavement and I put my head down and charged in the drops. One more set of barriers, this time with a downhill after so I just hopped back on and went. Finished the first lap and saw the count that the race would be 3-more laps. Saw fellow EN team mate Nathalie as I passed through the finish chute who flashed the gang sign at me. She was there to cheer on her husband Scott was doing the cat 3/4 race to follow. She had already done her work for the day in prep for her upcoming gig at IM-Florida.
Comments
Great report and job, staying upright is an accomplishment in of its own.
Lets see what you can do at the next one.
Very cool. Looking forward to making my cross debut in a few weeks.
Kev and I are going to do hill repeats up Cobbs Hill on Fri for the next race then more mtb and 'cross riding at Dryer Road Park over the weekend. Wanna come along? I shall email you about this.
Twice the fun of a triathlon right? Great job! I was pulled in my first and second race, so well done! I live for the straight sections to pull back time and loss it in the tech areas....Pro's make it look easy.