a midway bikelog

I doubled up this weekend to make up for missed races and take advantage of the beautiful ‘cross weather (32 and flurries).

I missed last year’s inaugural run of the Velodrome CX, so i didn’t want to miss it this year. We didn’t have the standing water bonus of last year, but the cold and snow helped make up for it. The course was twisty, wet and grassy, and predictably, crashy. I got a decent position on the holeshot and steadily made ground from there. The trouble spots quickly became apparent: the plywood heading into the track, the climbing switch back on the west end, and the edge-of-the-tires line along the ditch ridge. Not to mention every other grassy switchback. I easily gained a half-dozen places simply by not crashing and getting around those who did. My only bobble was catching a pedal on the 4th lap at the start of the ditch run, but i managed to keep rubber side down.

It was a great course for singlespeed; flat and fairly low speed. And short – i think we did 6 laps in 30 minutes. I finished 10th for the Cat4s out of 41, total field of 58. Nice job to Dan for finishing 2nd, fun to see lots of rodents out that day.

2008 Velodrome CX, photo from skinnyski.com

Lake Rebecca was my first ‘cross race getting back to it 4 years ago, and i like the race a lot. The last 3 years it was one of the first races of the year, and this year it’s 2nd to last. At least the swans were still on the pond, that’s always nice to see. It’s not the greatest singlespeed course with the steepish runup and long straightaway, but it has enough roots and slippery spots to keep it interesting. It’s a long course too, just 4 laps for the C race. Like on Saturday, i got a decent start, but lost a little ground on the long straight, spinning out at 23mph. I lost a handful of places on the first runup as i just couldn’t grind it out with my one gear (and couldn’t run it fast either), but i steadily gained ground on the rest of the course. The interesting thing about this race was that the advantage of singlespeed stood out in different ways. Not a lot of chain drops (like at Wirth), but i could consistently gain ground and pass people on the hills. It’s a tough enough course that most riders downshift for the hills, but i can only go so slow, so i’d get ahead. That strategy backfired when i worked to pass another singlespeed rider who had the same advantage so i had to pass him the old fashioned way.

I finished out 5th for the C4s out of 28, total field of 43. My best finish of the year! With the change this year to stricter race groupings, i think i’ll aim to upgrade to c3 next year. There have been a couple of races where i know i could go more, and wished for another lap or two to pass the next guy ahead. Thanks for all the great cheering, it was a great weekend of racing.