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11-09-08, 01:08 PM
After a couple of weeks of life getting in the way of cyclocross (don't you hate when that happens), I finally got into my second race yesterday, Battlecreek Cross in Salem, OR. This race was on a golf course that is scheduled to be converted into a housing development. In the interim, the land got to experience its true glory as a 'cross course.
In my first race, I finished 9th in a field of 10 with one DNF. Everyone else who finished beat me by a full lap. The leader in that race lapped me just after I finished the second lap.
Yesterday I did much better. I still only placed 26th in a field of 31 (no DNFs), but I managed to stay out of the granny gear the whole race and only five guys lapped me, and that not until the end of the last lap. I even beat one of the guys who beat me in my first race.
I only have a few pictures from my pre-race ride, but here are a couple of the highlights
One mud pit
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/3013027641_3febff7f81.jpg
The picture doesn't do justice to the mud pit. For one thing, shortly after I took this picture it started raining and continued raining throughout the morning. On my first pass at this I sank in up to my knee. A few laps later, the guy in front of me tried to ride this (it was right after a barrier, so momentum was out of the question). His front wheel sank and he did a nasty face plant.
Two sets of steps:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3288/3013026441_d3230b2055.jpg
This was as close as we got to a run-up. The organizers definitely intended it as a run-up, but people were riding the line up the sides all day. Every lap they moved the lines back in on the sides, but it only succeeded when they posted a volunteer there.
I'm far too cautious to be good, so I ran it every time. The highlight of the race for me came when I bounded up a set of stairs on the last lap, passing a guy who was trying to ride the outside.
Two sand traps
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3190/3013864572_c6258db71b.jpg
This was my first experience with sand. In this regard, the rain was probably very helpful. I only made it about halfway through the first sand trap I encountered as I had slowed down a bit because of the drop off. Learning my lesson, I managed to hit the traps with some speed the rest of the race and managed to churn through them. The two traps were pretty close together and I'm still not sure it wouldn't have been faster to stay off the bike and run them both.
In my first race, I finished 9th in a field of 10 with one DNF. Everyone else who finished beat me by a full lap. The leader in that race lapped me just after I finished the second lap.
Yesterday I did much better. I still only placed 26th in a field of 31 (no DNFs), but I managed to stay out of the granny gear the whole race and only five guys lapped me, and that not until the end of the last lap. I even beat one of the guys who beat me in my first race.
I only have a few pictures from my pre-race ride, but here are a couple of the highlights
One mud pit
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/3013027641_3febff7f81.jpg
The picture doesn't do justice to the mud pit. For one thing, shortly after I took this picture it started raining and continued raining throughout the morning. On my first pass at this I sank in up to my knee. A few laps later, the guy in front of me tried to ride this (it was right after a barrier, so momentum was out of the question). His front wheel sank and he did a nasty face plant.
Two sets of steps:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3288/3013026441_d3230b2055.jpg
This was as close as we got to a run-up. The organizers definitely intended it as a run-up, but people were riding the line up the sides all day. Every lap they moved the lines back in on the sides, but it only succeeded when they posted a volunteer there.
I'm far too cautious to be good, so I ran it every time. The highlight of the race for me came when I bounded up a set of stairs on the last lap, passing a guy who was trying to ride the outside.
Two sand traps
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3190/3013864572_c6258db71b.jpg
This was my first experience with sand. In this regard, the rain was probably very helpful. I only made it about halfway through the first sand trap I encountered as I had slowed down a bit because of the drop off. Learning my lesson, I managed to hit the traps with some speed the rest of the race and managed to churn through them. The two traps were pretty close together and I'm still not sure it wouldn't have been faster to stay off the bike and run them both.