Two Wheel Blogs

I rode in my first cyclocross race today. I'll post about it as soon as I recover enough strength to regain the use of my hands.

;)

Before heading to the cyclocross course, I stopped at the SIUE cross country course to watch the inaugural running of a fall 5K race to benefit the SIUE Cross Country and Track & Field programs. Since this was the first running of the race -- and it was starting at 9:30 on a Sunday morning -- the field was small. I checked the starting line for runners who might be in my age group. When I didn't see many, if any, I was tempted to change into my gear and join them on the line. With my first cyclocross race staring me in the eyes, I found the strength to resist. That and the race-day registration fee was more than I cared to pay, and I did not feel right running it as a bandit.

After that, I drove to one of the Bellefontaine Parks in north St. Louis county. Apparently, there are several. Fortunately, I had checked the map on the Big Shark website. I heard other riders complain that they'd gone to a different Bellefontaine Park before arriving at the right one. As I registered, I saw Scott Thompson. When Scott and Boz rode the Brevet series, I had ridden out of town with them and, on a couple of occasions, met up with them on their return to ride back into town. I'd not seen Scott since we did the Covered Bridge ride with Boz on July 3rd. Scott said he'd come out as a show of moral support and to see what cyclocross was all about. Since he'd just run the Des Moines marathon a few weeks ago, he decided to run the cross country race on the course. (He finished 4th overall.)

Once the foot race was over, I circled the course a couple times to get a feel for it and to practice my dismounts. Fortunately -- mercifully -- "The Green Monster" was not there, so I would not have to shoulder my bike and climb any stairs. There was only one set of barriers where I would have to dismount, hoist and carry, and then remount. In that respect, I could not have asked for a better course for my first race. In terms of the course itself, however ... let's say I was not twice blessed.

Credit to the people at Big Shark who set up the course, it was tough. I'd seen only one other cyclocross course, the one at Hermann Under The Lights, and that looked tough enough. Both courses featured a lot of tight turns and sharp switchbacks; I'm sure all courses do. What made today's course particularly challenging -- apart from its being my first race -- was a sloping embankment on the north side of the course. The Big Shark folks took full advantage of this, making the route do a "W" up and down the slope a couple of times. That stretch was particularly nasty. Also, the Hermann course had one long, flat straightaway where riders could recover a little. Today's course had only two straightaways, both too short for building up any real speed -- at least, for me to do so. Of course, Hermann had steps to climb, so I'd never say today's course was the harder of the two. But for a first-timer, it was hard enough.

Even though I was just rolling over the course to learn it, not riding it hard, I was starting to feel the effects. I was getting tired, so I pulled off near the Starting line to rest before the race started. Soon enough, we were on the line receiving instructions, and then the whistle blew and we were off. At this point, things get a little fuzzy.

The race opened as most do, with pack of riders surging to the front. Some would hold the pace and remain there. Others would drop off. I started out riding what I thought was a sustainable pace, figuring I would try to move up later in the race if I felt good. "Good," the day would teach me, is a relative term. I made it through the first barrier without incident, though my remount was rough. With that out of the way, I hit the back half of the course that looped back to the Start area, and I had one uneventful lap under my belt.

As I rode, I got support from Scott, who shouted encouragement from the barrier area, and Boz, who rode the course perimeter and coached my from a various points. I felt I was riding as hard a pace as I could maintain. One lap was followed by another, each one harder than the one before. I've run races of varying distances, and I've done hard rides (for me) on the flats around St. Charles. But I have never experienced anything quite like the strain of trying to maintain pace on the grass of a twisting and turning cyclocross courses. Bikes were not meant to be ridden on grass surfaces. Even a cyclocross bike, which is designed to be ridden on grass, isn't really meant to be ridden on grass. New equation:

Bike + Grass = Bad Idea

This was, quite possibly, the hardest forty minutes I have ever put my body through. If not, you would have had a hard time convincing me of that after the fourth lap. But mid-race is no place to carry on an internal debate about the relative difficulty of the activity in which you're engaged. No, you need to focus at the task at hand: maintaining pace.

Around the fifth lap, I found myself behind a rider wearing Big Shark colors. He was moving at a good pace -- and moving up -- so I made hanging with him my goal. I was able to maintain contact until we made a sharp right turn onto the one stretch of gravel on the course. I went down on my side, my one spill of the race. I got up and tried to get back in rhythm as quick as I could, but Big Shark guy had moved on.

Later, as I crossed the Finish line for the penulimate time, I was never so happy to see the number "1" in my life. Only one more lap to go. Then I could stop. Feeling used up, I tried to push myself as hard as I could to get all I could out of what little I had left. I was relieved to make my final pass through the "W" on the embankment, more relieved to hop over the barriers for the last time, and even more relieved to make the final climb up the last rise to the Finish line. It was good to be done.

As it turned out, I finished 15th in my class. Boz told me I'd raced really well, and that meant a lot to me. It was his birthday: a good effort on the bike he built for me was the best gift I could give him. Everybody has a first race. This was mine. I will always remember the beauty of a warm and clear fall day, the exhaustion of pedaling through the labyrinth of twists and turns, and the voices of Scott and Boz urging me on. As first races go, it was a good one.