Going into the race, I knew it was going to be cold! I’ve raced a few times below freezing but not many, so getting the right clothing selection would be important. There were a couple of inches of snow on the ground but it was pretty dry and wouldn’t be too much of an issue unless it started to melt. I arrived early to give myself time to figure out the clothing issue, pre-ride the coarse and get a good warm-up. During my first lap I came across an ominous sign of things to come. A junior racer had crashed and an ambulance had been called to take them to the hospital. I don’t know the details of the incident but I really hope they are ok.
The coarse had a little bit of everything, flat power sections, off camber, barriers, steep hills both up and down and a fun little “spiral of death”. With the temperatures slowly rising the conditions of the coarse were quickly changing. I felt like a racer with pure speed wasn’t going to have a huge advantage during this race. Staying upright would be very important. The person with the fewest mistakes would have a big advantage. I was confident because I’ve had little to no issue with the technical stuff this year but you aren’t alone on during the race. Anything can happen.
Last year I was called up to the second row, this year I was in the front row. With 80 people lined up behind me it’s nice to know they have to come around to beat you; however, if something goes wrong, they aren’t stopping for nothing! Once we were all lined up we had a few minutes to “relax” before the start. It’s always awkward, racers are focused and nervous, I try to relax and think about other things. What is getting all worked up at the start line going to do besides get your heart rate up?
We got the whistle and were off. I tried to stay near the front but not on the front, driving yourself like a dog into the slippery mush could quickly result in beating your head against the wall as your crash, chase and crash. So steady was the name of the game. It was going to be hard so I conserved and tried to stay upright. I figured the early leaders would quickly come back. I was right, an example of this, a friend of mine went off the front on the first lap, his technical skills aren’t that strong and finished in the 50’s. Another strong racer would pass me, crash in front of me, chase and pass, then crash again. Finally he succumbed to the effort and finished a few positions back.
I had a few bobbles but no crashes. In cyclocross you’re always going to have a few bobbles, you have to let them go. The mental aspect can mess up your race if you dwell on them. Just worry about hitting the next obstacle correctly and quickly.
I was on the first chase group for the first couple of laps but had a series of bobbles on the slippery off camber backside section. After that I couldn’t close the gap. So I raced my own race and tried to limit the damage. I finished 12th, better than my customary 14th this year. More importantly I felt pretty good and had a great time! It was a great season, now it's time to relax and start dreaming about next year.
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