Two Wheel Blogs

Saturday was the second of four cyclocross races in Illinois sponsored by Wild Trak Bikes, Gear Up, and Pride, Inc. I missed the first race of the year due to a commitment to race in Hermann, but with no "Burnin' issues" on the calendar, I was definitely making the race in Godfrey, IL. With the heavy, heavy rains in the days preceding the race, many of us expected the course to be a muddy bog and prepped our minds for such. As it turns out, the course was only muddy in two very small places, but really soft and spongy throughout.

I had recently upgraded to a Cat 3 in order to remove any temptation to race against weaker fields. In our Bubba Series, categories are really a moot point as your generally free to race wherever you want provided you're either willing to get your butt handed to you or worse yet endure taunts and shouts of "sandbagger" from the sideline rowdies. Being a freshly minted Cat 3, I registered for the 3/4 race (my only other option being the Open race) and noticed several strong racers preparing for battle. Most notably, Jay Strothman, Justin Allen, and Dennis Koscielski (who went on to finish 1-2-3, respectively) as well as Jim Klages, Andy Hamilton, Matt Fickinger, Trent Donat, and many others. We had 23 racers total and I took my spot on the second row and planned to go out hard, but not in the lead.

After the perfunctory pre-race lecture by our rules official we were off. The race seemed to start in slow motion and I recall thinking the pace was a little pedestrian. Sure enough, the pace was keeping some of the lesser-skilled bike handlers in the mix and after two or three 180-degree turns, it was becoming downright sketchy to be around some of them. As we neared the first barrier, Justin and I were running about 5th or 6th when a rider tumbled into the barriers. For anyone more than 4-5 riders behind that guy, the race was over. Why? Well, simultaneously Jay used that moment to begin to string out the field. Justin and Dennis attacked to catch his wheel. Riding solo in no man's land was Matt Fickinger despite encouragement from Jay to bridge up. Jim Klages, me, and Andy Hamilton were chase group 2, approximately 15 seconds behind the leaders.

Jim, Andy, and I traded pulls at the front for several laps. I recall thinking we need to bridge up to Matt, but the winds were strong and riding by yourself meant you were exposed for 100% of the work. Seeing that Matt wasn't making progress towards the leaders, we kept our battle rolling. Finally, on the 4th or 5th lap, I failed to unclip my left foot cleanly and went flying into the first barrier almost breaking my front wheel in the process. I picked up the bike and began scrambling, but Jim and Andy were now several seconds up the road and I was in no shape to chase them down. I decided I'd try to control the damage and see what happened later in the race.

As it turns out Jim and Andy caught and passed Matt for 4th and 5th and now he was coming into sight for me. I tried hard on the last lap to catch him and nearing the last 400 meters I was within 5-6 bike lengths of catching him, but I rolled my rear tubie twice in an attempt to close the gap and shut it down in the last turn telling Matt "it's yours" to save any sprinting to the line. Jim said he was pipped at the line by Andy for 4th, but overall they had a heckuva battle going on up there. Andy has won 1 race already this year and finished 4th twice. He's definitely a strong racer. This was a great race for Jim as he rode really strong the entire time and I never once saw him make a mistake.

Overall, I was quite pleased with my results as I said before the race that a top 10 would be well-earned against this field. Big thanks to everyone who put together the race, it was quite a show! Afterwards, the only thoughts that came to mind were the words of Tim Johnson from The Nine Ball Diaries upon finishing a cross race where he chased back on after rolling a tire early in the race, "That hurt soooo bad!" Yup, that race hurt soooo bad.