a midway bikelog

2007 CX #4 - Powderhorn Park/the Hub

14th place C1, 110 starters (from what i heard)

For the second week in a row, the threat of rain held off and it was near-perfect ‘cross weather. I rode to the race, which made for a nice warm-up and a good chance to fine-tune clothing layers for the race. I got to the park early and from the north, so i got a nice preview of some of the new course, including the oddball MORC-style bridges section over some construction dirt piles. The course was a lot different than last year, and a little disorienting at first because parts of the course were run backwards from last year, and some turns were hard to figure out on the first lap. Pre-riding was totally unnecessary for the gratuitous MFD-supplied mud section, of course, as it was obvious that there was little strategy there other than trying to not fall over.

Speaking of pre-riding, a registration holdup delayed the start of the Cs by about 10 minutes, and the officials sent everyone off for a practice lap. I, for one, was glad for the delay when i realized that my seat post clamp had somehow popped loose. With the delayed start, i was able to tighten it down and get back to the line in time. I hate to think how the race would have gone otherwise.

I got a good start, again in the mid-20s or so. The pack seemed to string out pretty quickly after the trip around the baseball diamond and the short stair runup. The little 2×4 bunny hops were annoying; on lap 2, a board jumped up and knocked my foot off the pedal. I liked the run around the construction area and plywood bridges, but i like any course that rewards my mountain bike skills.

In retrospect, i should have done some more testing to see if i could ride the long staircase runup. In practice, it looked like everyone was supposed to go on the left because of the way the tape ran at the top. Later i saw people riding up the smoother right side, so i might have been able to do that too, because i usually tend to ride those. I did pass one guy on the runup, but only because i rode up about 15 feet up before dismounting and managed to stay ahead the rest of the run/walk up.

By lap 4 everyone around me was so far apart that i couldn’t get closer than 50 feet to the guy ahead of me, so no sprint finish for me. I was happy with my finish and my effort. Unlike last weekend at Boom Island, i don’t think i had another 2 laps in me. I should have eaten before the race, and my right thigh started cramping up through the last 1/2 lap. I didn’t bonk, but didn’t leave much in reserve, which was good.

The main thing i realized in this race were the little things i’ve learned to do to conserve momentum and energy, increase efficiency, etc. I have reasonably good endurance, but little things like holding a good line and staying out of the rough makes a big difference in how much energy you can focus on going faster or holding someone off after a pass. In short, experience is good!

Thanks to my fellow rodents and to Ron and Marty from the shop for the cheering, and whoever it was (Ron?) who called out my position after lap 2, very helpful!