Cyclocross Nationals: My Racing

Cyclocross is fantastic.  The most wonderful thing.  I can think of almost no better way to spend a weekend.  Cyclocross bikes are versatile.  You can spin them around in a complex circle for an hour, or you can throw on some bottle cages and hunt for the loneliest dirt road in the vast mountains to the west, or you can rally them around the smooth singletracks out in the plains.  If a non-biking friend asks what kind of bike they should buy I'm more likely to tell them a cyclocross bike than anything else.  Needless to say I was very excited when I found out that we were moving to Colorado on the eve of Cross Nats coming to Boulder.  I would get to attend another National Championship, and I could sleep in my own bed every night.

I'm in a precarious when it comes to racing Cross Nats.  I'm a Cat. 3, and my racing age is 27.  Therefore, I am only eligible to race the Men's Non-Championship 10 - 29 and the Men's Singlespeed Open.  They are both on the same day, so I decided to do them both...

The 10 - 29 race was... interesting.  I swear I was the oldest person in the field.  I lined up on the left side of the grid and I swear I could see clear over every head to my right... plus I had to tilt my head down to meet anyone's eye.  Needless to say, it was weird.  But, of course, since this is Boulder, all those kids were a hell of a lot faster than me.  I got gaped pretty good at the start, and managed to avoid the overzealous-junior-caused crash that happened right under the finishing arch.  On the climb up the backside of the course Kyle blew by me, as I expected.  On the ensuing descents/climbs/stairs I went around many small people who didn't have the experience/leg length to move quickly through the trick bits.  And this course was half trick bits.  Quite frankly it was the best cyclocross course I've ridden all season, and I know I've said that a few times already.  There was mud, oh glorious mud!  I could slide corners, and the off camber after the stairs (Pete's Plunge) actually required some foot out Fred Flintstone action (Enter high and dive, dive, dive!).  I was a little nervous at first since it had been more than a year since I have thrown my bike at a muddy parcours, but the mudder in me quickly resurfaced.  The rest of the lap was the usual flowy Valmont stuff.  There was another small set of stairs, and a set of barriers for your added dismounting pleasure (unless your name is Cody Kaiser).

Goddam kids get off my start grid!

Out to the flat part of the lap.

5280 Stairs.  Gloucester has it's beach and it's rock and Valmont has these bad boys.  They make flat-landers cry.

Blue skies, mountains, and slidy-ness.

Same as above. 

A happy and mud-splattered Holeshot.

I have a hard time racing your juniors, especially ones as small as I was racing against.  My natural instinct is to ride behind them and encourage them to do better, not put them in the tape around the next corner.  It took me a lap and a half to figure out that I could race them and be my normal self at the same time.  I ended up 34th, which put me just outside the top 50%.

The Singlespeed race was a different kind of fun.  The kind of lining up at the back and chilling out with 100 of your best friends you don't know yet fun.  I knew that it would be tough for me to last the full 40 minutes in this, as there were a bunch of pros lining up in front of me.

This counts as a SSCX bike, right?

Carebear. 

The top tube scoot, soon to be followed by the dive and rip.

It went about as well as I expected.  I got 80%'ed after 2 laps, but it was still cool.  I had a great time racing.  I went to work for the next two days, and returned for the big shows on Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday I assisted Darth Auer in the pits for the U23 race.  Sam O'Keefe was our man, and he pulled a solid 14th place.  Sunday I worked the pits for Sam again for the Collegiate D2 race, which saw Sam finishing the first lap sitting comfortably second wheel.  When the group next came towards Pit 1 Sam was no where to be seen.  Auer and I exchanged worried looks, and Sam came into view a few seconds later, down in sixth or seventh.  He changed bikes telling us that he rolled his front tire and something about his drivetrain as he sped off.  After putting on a spare wheel (side note: Sam started the race with Chicane's front and rear, and after pitting got Chicane rear, Limus front, which was probably the perfect tire combo for the quickly drying, but still slick off cambers of the course), and having the Shimano neutral support check his drivetrain (no issues), Sam got his A bike back and started absolutely charging through the field.  Rarely have I seen such inspired racing.  After pitting to get his A bike back, Sam looked absolutely focused each time past, and quickly made his way up to second.  Unfortunately, there was not enough time to close the 20 sec gap to first place.  It was a fantastic race to be a part of.

I'll post up some pictures of the Elite races later.  Now, I'm going to bed.