So this was my first massive cyclocross race in my biking career and it was indescribable, but I will do my best. My largest race to this point has been just shy of sixty riders and Saturday's race consisted of a little over double this amount. I did not preride the course before the race, so I was little nervous going in cold like that. I did look at it during the other races to see strategies and lines, and I also received some advice from a couple of competitors. It was not my smartest decision, but I figured the first lap would be so compact that it would not really matter. Also I am fairly used to riding a course that I have no clue what it looks like from cross country racing. I would just have to do do some convincing improvisation as the race unfolded so I would look like I knew what I was doing.
The start reminded my of the first straight away and corner of a motocross race. There are a ton of riders all trying to get ahead of the others at any cost. With this mentality there is bound to be a crash and low and behold there was one half way through the first right hand sweeping corner. I think the crash was started by one person hitting the brakes and then the next and the next, and so on with an increasing domino effect. I had a strategy that paid off in my placement at the line. I new I would not be any where near the front since I did not have any points in the series, and I was not sure how many people registered before me as both of those affected the start position. I was lined up in row eight, and I tried to find a spot that would place me on the inside of the corner. This way if there was a crash, everyone should head toward the outside, and I might be able to squeak by to the inside. I had to hit my brakes and unclip one foot for the crash but I was not really slowed down.
The rest of the race went by as a blur. The first run up in the course was absolute mayhem. I know I passed about five people but I was also passed by another five. The next two laps were just a major reshuffling of the ranks. I kept to my plan and I was passed by a good amount of people, but I could only hope that they would blow them selves sky high at the end of the race and I would be able to put in a final charge at the end. The sand pit was a fun obstacle to go through every lap. I made it through almost every time with out having to unclip and I could make up tons of time. The key was to find a good rut that was packed down. The only problem though is that the ruts were over a foot deep in some places. Another place that played to my advantage was a very steep climb in the middle of the course. I knew how to scale a small wall of a climb from cross country and I passed a couple of people through out the race there. Many people tried to shift going up the climb which would only throw off their chain and made a spine tingling clang. The upper woods section was very fun minus all of the people who kept crashing in front of me. There must have been about five crashed that I was almost involved in because of some root taking the tires out from underneath the rider in front of me. So besides having to dodge a couple of hidden roots and rocks, off camber mud corners, broken pavement and shadows, I had to dodge sliding bodies and bikes. I guess that is what helps make racing interesting...
On the last lap of the race I was able to mount a massive charge and passed two people in the lower grass section, along with another two in the woods, and another on the steep climb. I was feeling great about this fast lap, but there was still one more person who has been sitting ahead of me the whole race. Through the baseball diamonds at the end I was able to catch and pass him. I had to put the hammer down going into a chicane before the finish stretch so that he could not retaliate. I did not look back until I was almost at the line and then it was only a fast glance under my arm, and I had a couple of seconds on him. That was my most exciting finish of the whole 2010 season! I was able to claw my way up to 49th of 126 starters. The result was not bad but I was way more excited about my last lap than any of the results.
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