2010 Blogs
Sunday was officially the kick off to my 2010-2011 cyclocross season! Copper Mountain and Soul Events USA promoted a great race with a challenging course and perfect weather. It was very well run with a podium presentation to boot! Plus cash-money and Belgian beer to the victor!? Yes please.
I was bummed to see such a small turn-out, but when a race is run smoothly and people are happy about it, eventually people will show. When I was warming up I kept questioning one section. It was a hard right turn up a grassy hill with one small barrier in the middle. The first time through I ran it, but there was no smooth remount section. When the hill turned left to flatten out the terrain was rock-laden and wicked off camber. I took another look at the barrier and deemed it bunny-hoppable…a skill which is not in my bag o’ skills. A few more practice laps – sometimes clearing it, sometimes looking like I was throwing a baseball with my left arm.
The course started with a downhill onto a couple fast concrete turns and then into a hard right through a wet rock bed. It then went into a fast dismount and run up a couple stairs, remount and into some loose, twisty, and rocky turns around the base of a ski lift. A short kicker climb into a rough and fast descent through biting rocks. This flattened out before turning right into the aforementioned barrier/bunnyhop section. At the top of this hill were a lot of miniature boulders which threatened to flat your tires (as so happened in my warm-up!). Now onto a jeep road descent, with more flat-threatening rocks and a hard fast and loose right uphill and into a long twisting grind of a climb. The kind of climb that doesn’t look like a climb, but is leg-sucking enough that it feels like one. This section went part-way up a Poma slope before turning left ‘round a tree and snaking down through more loose terrain turns. Hard left and back on the jeep road climbing back up to the start/finish descent.
The podium spots were duked out throughout the entire race. I wanted to grab the holeshot because the course was more about technical finesse than brute power. On the start line I was feeling confident about the bunnyhop section but as soon as we arrived to the section the willy-nilly nerves crept in. All of a sudden I was breathing hard and tense…the first time through my timing was off and I didn’t pick my rear up quick enough and fell away from the bike. Nicole Duke of Hudz-Subaru was hot on my tail and passed me as she shouldered her bike. I was able to remount quicker and passed her back. But on the backside through the loose turns I lost my front wheel and went down hard. The embarrassing part was that I was trying to get a powerfile from the race and the head unit flew off so I had to find that! Nicole put some distance between us. I began closing this down and tried for the bunnyhop the second time. Cleared it! But ran into a small boulder with my front wheel slightly turned and was ejected off the bike. Again, my computer went sailing so I had to collect myself. Now 2 girls were in front of me. I put my head down and kept pedaling, eventually catching second place. With only 5 laps to go of a short course it looked like the gap of 20-30 seconds would remain between myself and 1st place. But bike racing is like chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get! The course gave Nicole some trouble as she flatted her rear wheel and had to run part of the way to the pit. This is never how you want to win a race but Nicole and I both had our struggles and battles on the day and in the end someone needs to cross the finish line first.
I was bummed to see such a small turn-out, but when a race is run smoothly and people are happy about it, eventually people will show. When I was warming up I kept questioning one section. It was a hard right turn up a grassy hill with one small barrier in the middle. The first time through I ran it, but there was no smooth remount section. When the hill turned left to flatten out the terrain was rock-laden and wicked off camber. I took another look at the barrier and deemed it bunny-hoppable…a skill which is not in my bag o’ skills. A few more practice laps – sometimes clearing it, sometimes looking like I was throwing a baseball with my left arm.
The course started with a downhill onto a couple fast concrete turns and then into a hard right through a wet rock bed. It then went into a fast dismount and run up a couple stairs, remount and into some loose, twisty, and rocky turns around the base of a ski lift. A short kicker climb into a rough and fast descent through biting rocks. This flattened out before turning right into the aforementioned barrier/bunnyhop section. At the top of this hill were a lot of miniature boulders which threatened to flat your tires (as so happened in my warm-up!). Now onto a jeep road descent, with more flat-threatening rocks and a hard fast and loose right uphill and into a long twisting grind of a climb. The kind of climb that doesn’t look like a climb, but is leg-sucking enough that it feels like one. This section went part-way up a Poma slope before turning left ‘round a tree and snaking down through more loose terrain turns. Hard left and back on the jeep road climbing back up to the start/finish descent.
The podium spots were duked out throughout the entire race. I wanted to grab the holeshot because the course was more about technical finesse than brute power. On the start line I was feeling confident about the bunnyhop section but as soon as we arrived to the section the willy-nilly nerves crept in. All of a sudden I was breathing hard and tense…the first time through my timing was off and I didn’t pick my rear up quick enough and fell away from the bike. Nicole Duke of Hudz-Subaru was hot on my tail and passed me as she shouldered her bike. I was able to remount quicker and passed her back. But on the backside through the loose turns I lost my front wheel and went down hard. The embarrassing part was that I was trying to get a powerfile from the race and the head unit flew off so I had to find that! Nicole put some distance between us. I began closing this down and tried for the bunnyhop the second time. Cleared it! But ran into a small boulder with my front wheel slightly turned and was ejected off the bike. Again, my computer went sailing so I had to collect myself. Now 2 girls were in front of me. I put my head down and kept pedaling, eventually catching second place. With only 5 laps to go of a short course it looked like the gap of 20-30 seconds would remain between myself and 1st place. But bike racing is like chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get! The course gave Nicole some trouble as she flatted her rear wheel and had to run part of the way to the pit. This is never how you want to win a race but Nicole and I both had our struggles and battles on the day and in the end someone needs to cross the finish line first.