Five TripleShotters out tonight for the first of 8 "practice sessions". Brad, Katie, Roland, Gavin and I rode round and round on a wet field with between 50 and 60 others. 8 laps of 1 km per lap. It was my first cyclocross race, and it was tons o' fun. Man are there some fast folks out there. Drew Mackenzie lapped me when I was 1.5 laps in. That's 67% faster! Wow. Awesome to see how fast people can corner on wet grass and the dismount/remount thing is impressive.
My son Logan raced on his mountain bike and lapped me too. He said it was great and can't wait for his new (used) CX bike to arrive in the mail.
I wished that I had seen Lister's post before the race:
Lister Farrar wrote:On another point, the riders all finish at the same time. So a beginner might do 3 or 4 laps, while the leaders do 7 or 8. You can even take a lap out out and catch your breath and jump back in and give 'er again.
I only managed 7 laps out of the 8 but was strangely all on my own for most of my last lap. It seems all the people behind me (there weren't many) had already stopped. Oh well. All in all, a great first CX experience. Now if I could only dismount properly...
The others will have to give their own reports as I was too far behind to see them.
Hi Eric, awesome to get out there and shake away the 'cross virgin from them legs! The two warm up laps led me thinking "hey, this isn't so bad... then I dismount like the pros do and drop my first foot onto the pavement of the basketball court only to slide across on my cleats... what the? Turns out I forgot why I 'retired' my favorite Sidi mountain shoes... the soles are so worn that my new cleats stick out like nice shiny and strangely shaped brass skate blades. Oops. Newbie mistake #1.
Newbie mistake #2 came on lap 2 on a quick up-the-berm-down-the-berm sharp left turn on a grass bank. I took the inside line only to be line-challenged and have the other rider fall onto me. In doing so, I jammed my brakes into the spokes and attempted to jump back on only to come to a quick stop. No worries. A training race. So, I patiently put the wheel back in place and rolled on. By this time Drew has just passed a lap ahead.
On lap 5, i figure 'damn, this grass is getting very slippery. Maybe I'm running the wrong tires? Nope. I had sprung a leak on the crash, and by lap 8 I had maybe 25 psi in the rear tire. Did I say lap 8?! Yes, I finished the 'training' race. Without nothing but a few more newbie boo boos.... the classic - jump on the saddle, slide back and 'french tickle' my thigh with the knobbies on the back tire. Ouch, ooh, ah! I can't decide. Missed my junk, though. It's all good.
Before my newbie intro to this fall passion, I read and watched about all I could on 'cross racing. Technique, training and UCI races 'borrowed' off the internet. I gotta say one training tip rang oh so true to me... running up the stairs, if you could call what I was doing 'running'. I don't run.. not several years now. Too hard on me. I used to run with a passion -half marathons, 10-ks like they're going out of fashion. Not anymore. Bad idea. I should have been doing a bit of light running before 'cross season. Now my glutes are so stiff I can barely sit down. And I'm still trying to stuff my heart back down my throat where it belongs. Cough.
Next Saturday (9am, I think) meet at OBB and you'll be in for a 'practice' ride. I need this, but I can't make it. Hosted every other Saturday through the season. Gran Fondo this weekend keeping me from learning to dismount, jump and mount without castrating myself.
This was, in short, a short and very intense race, and probably the most fun I've had on a bike in September in awhile. I'm hooked. I'll be out again next Wednesday, family scheduling taken into consideration. Heck, I might even have to give a 'Cross on the Rock race a go.
Great to see the huge, incredibly huge and enthusiastic showing! Impressive. 50+ riders. Wow!
Gavin said it was going to be a blast. It was indeed. So fun! I think my wife is tired of hearing how fun. But she didn't mind picking me up with my kids in their jammies at the Quadra/McKenzie 'Bucks. I pinch-flatted my 25 psi tire on wet ride home, and newbie mistake #47 meant I forgot to bring my pump. Oh, I had a tube alright. But no pump! Go figure.
See ya out there next Wednesday! Fondo next.
Brad
brad[at]zedwheels.com Member #58 1 May 2010 to December 2011
Well, that certainly was awesome! Big crowd, really well designed course (as always curtious of Drew!) and a tonne of fun had by everyone!
I really had a good time, though I am definitely feeling the cross muscles that haven't been used in a while today. I felt a lot strong on the cross bike than last year, but still got whooped by a lot of people. But that's ok - I just love cross because it's fun, not because I'm good at it (which I'm not)
The course was perfect from my perspective - lots of sharp corners on the open field (which I suck at), a few long open straight-aways, a dash of sand, two good solid sets of stairs, a real steep single track drop with a hair-pin corner at the bottom, and even a touch a pavement across a tennis court.
Glad to see a solid contingency out to the race - and hope to see more out the next race. I hope the newbies were comforted that there were lots of other cross virgins out - and there always seems to be someone else at your level to ride with. There were a few rock-stars out, but also novices and everything in between - so it was a very nice mixed field that spread out perfectly and never felt too crowded, despite a MASSIVE field.
Awesome job to everyone that came out - and I'm already super excited about next weeks session!!!!
(AND despite the rain and mud - my bike was sparkling within minutes of getting home!)
@#$& this 'work' stuff, I think I'll just go pro...
