Race Report: Emerald City Cyclocross Series Final (at Kelly Creek)

 

As you may or may not know, this past fall I acquired a cyclocross bike, and I have been participating in the Seattle area cyclocross series.  In cyclocross there are three division, A (fast), B (medium fast), and C (not too fast).  For some reason this past summer I stopped climbing towards the end of July, and started riding my bike a bunch.  I did a few mid-week road races at Seward Park, where I got pretty worked over in the cat. 4/5 division (the lowest division in road).  I didn’t get dropped, but didn’t finish anywhere near the front either. 

 

So, after I got my cross bike in August, for the first cross race on Labour Day I thought I better race in the C division, since I hadn’t had much success in the lowest division on the road.  Well, it turns out cyclocross racers in the C division aren’t nearly as fast as cat. 4/5 road racers, and I won by a fairly wide margin.  Or maybe cyclocross just suits me better, who knows, but for the next race, which was the start of the ECC series, I upgraded to the B division.  This was good, since there is a series standings, and this way I could race the whole series in the B division.

 

To make a long story short, throughout the series up until the final, I didn’t win any of the races, but was very consistent, with three 2nd place finishes, a couple 3rd place finishes, etc., so it turned out that I was in the series lead for final (this past weekend).  I was pretty stoked, and I had a good lead over the guy behind me in the overall, so I pretty much would have had to die of a heart attack mid-race in order for him to overtake me (or at least finish out of the top 20).  But, I really wanted to stamp my authority on the series, and show everyone a clean pair of wheels at the finish of the series finale.

 

I checked the weather report Saturday night, and it seems there was a few inches of snow on the ground where the race was being held.  This was good for me, since while the venue didn’t particularly suit me (we had raced there once before, it is pretty flat with a lot of grass, good for power riders and ‘rouleurs’), I ride better in crappy muddy conditions since my handling skills aren’t too bad compared to the other riders (many of whom come from a road racing background).

 

Roanne kindly came along to cheer for me, which was super nice of her, it is easier to suffer for 45 minutes when you have someone yelling at you to suck it up and go harder.  We arrived on time and I checked in and did a few warm-up laps.  Nothing too technical, but the snow on the course had only one bike width worn into it where it was easier to ride, so this meant it would be important to get a good start and stay near the front, since passing would be difficult.  Here is a photo of me at the starting line:

 

 

I am in the middle talking to the guy on my right.  The guy to my left was in second in the series (David), and the guy to his left was in third overall (Alex, who I usually train with during the week).  Anyways, the gun went off and I had a good start, it seemed slower than usual, maybe people were stiff from the cold, but I was in third coming up the first hill after the straightaway:

 

 

A couple of guys passed me during the first lap, so that I was in about 5th coming up the gradual climb to the start/finish, but at the base of the climb I put on the afterburners, and was able to open up a pretty good gap on the rest of the field:

 

 

I held this gap for about a lap (here is me during that lap):

 

 

But then Alex moved to the front and managed to bridge back up to along with David (the guy in second overall) and another guy named Logan.  I rode on the front of this group for a couple laps, with Alex passing me at one point but then I passed him back.  Here are some photos of the run up, which was short but steep and painful:

 

 

 

 

I was feeling really good, taking the corners well and accelerating out of them, usually getting a gap on the others so they had to chase back on.  Here is me being tailed by Alex:

 

 

And another random shot, Logan is in the background a bit off the pace.

 

 

Here is the group of four of us chugging up the only real climb, a gradual gravel road up to the start/finish.  You can see the next chase group in the distance, we have a pretty good gap on them already.

 

 

I was still feeling really good, and it seemed like Alex was starting to drop back a bit, and having trouble keeping the pace, so my plan was to just keep driving the pace from the front and hope they would crack and I could solo in for the win.  You don’t want to do this in road since drafting is such a big advantage, but on a course like this it is easy to make a mistake and drop back quickly (as we will soon find out).  If you are in the lead, it is no big deal as the guy behind has to brake (unless you really screw up and he passes you), but if you are in second and you screw up, you have to waste valuable energy chasing back on to the wheel of the guy in front.  So, I figured it was best to be in the front driving the pace, especially since I wasn’t feeling like I was completely at my limit.

 

 

On the second last lap, coming down a short muddy (the entire course was muddy if that is not obvious) downhill, I was turning off onto the road when my front wheel must have hit a root or something, and BOOM!!!, instantly I was on my face, eating dirt:

 

 

Thanks to Roanne for capturing this memorable moment on film.  Logan, who was behind me, rode into my bike and we got a bit tangles, but not too bad.  I wasn’t hurt, but I had totally knocked the wind out of myself and couldn’t breath at all, so I had to struggle back onto my bike and coast/soft pedal until I could start breathing again (all the while making loud gasping noises as I tried to breath).  Needless to say, during this period Alex and Logan both passed me and opened up a pretty big gap.  At first I thought I could catch back on (and was even imagining the headline in the next day’s papers: “Brave Cyclist takes a huge digger but bridges back up and takes the Win!”).  I was making up ground at first, but unfortunately it was not to be, I was pretty shaken up by the crash, and was not riding smoothly on the downhills, taking bad lines and negating any gains I made on the flats.  I stayed about the same distance back, and rode in for 3rd place.  Here is me after the race:

 

 

I felt like I was really capable of getting a better result, but it could have been a lot worse, if I had hurt myself more or damaged my bike in the crash, so I was still happy, and I comfortably kept the series lead.  Here is a photo of the overall series podium:

 

 

All in all it was a great race, and a great season of cyclocross.  It was my first full season (I had done a few races as a junior, and a couple on my mountain bike the first year I was in Seattle), and next year if I am around Seattle I am stoked to move up to the A division and race with the really fast guys.  So, thanks to Roanne for coming out to some of my races (and for not cringing in the summer when I told her I thought it would be a good idea to get a cross bike), thanks to all the friends that I made at the races, and thanks to you for reading a long account of my racing exploits (if you actually did read it all, otherwise, if you didn’t, I hope you get ambushed by a Chuck Norris/Vin Diesel tag team).