Stony Creek Cyclocross

I raced the final cyclocross race of our local series this morning. It was made more interesting by the 21F temperature and the 3-4 inches of snow we got last night. Despite the conditions, we still got a good turnout for the C-Men field, over 20 racers I think.

I followed my strategy of going out hard on the first lap. I managed to stay somewhere in the middle of the pack, which is good for me, throughout most of the first lap. I think some of the riders rode a bit more conservatively than I did, since traction was an issue for the whole race. I felt I did a good job not letting gaps open up in front of me, and I was able to pass a few people on the climbing sections.



(The field crosses the only barrier section)

Unfortunately, about halfway through the lap, I fell going over what had seemed like a pretty easy section. There was a snow-covered log (or something) in the middle of a corner that had gotten a little slick by the time I got to it. My back tire slipped and I went down. This dropped me back a few places.

(Evidence of one of my falls on my left hip and foot)

Near the end of the lap, we had to cross a long sandy beach. There was enough snow down so that the beach was rideable, but it was still a little treacherous. There was about a 6 inch dropoff that had to be negotiated to enter the beach, and then a 16 inch step up to get back out of the beach. The first time through, I passed about 5 riders that had fallen at various spots.

The second lap was pretty uneventful for me until I hit the beach again. Prior to that, I had done a nice job of maintaining my pace, although most of the racers I had passed on the beach got by me again. I still had other racers close ahead and behind me though. Just before I got to the end of the beach though, my front wheel found some deep sand and the bike went down (I somehow clipped out and stayed up). Still, this was a time-consuming fall and a number of riders went by me.

Going into the third lap, I still had racers to chase down and racers right behind me. I was trying to reel in the guy in front of me on that last lap, but I had one more fall. This one was on a corner that was getting muddy and slick, and I just leaned the bike over too far and went down. This let another two racers by I think. I tried to close the gap back down again, but I just couldn't get it done at that point. The rest of my third lap was pretty lonely, the last racer in the C-men group was way behind me, and I wasn't making any progress on the guy in front of me.

So, despite the fact that I finished second to last, I was very pleased with this race, especially after the bad taste the last 'cross race had left in my mouth. I found out later that most of the guys were running a lot less pressure in their tires than I did, which I think might have contributed to two of my falls (and generally sketchy bike handling). Still, my mountain bike tires were twice as wide as their 'cross tires. This was also the first time I've really done any riding in the snow.

Looking back at my goals for the race, I think I did well. I did a good job of pedaling through the entire course, I basically only coasted when I was cornering. This is something I'll have to stay after though, as I caught myself starting to coast on descents a few times. I generally took good racing lines, although today the line was largely dictated by available traction. My mounts and dismounts were also pretty clean.

One of the other things I was very pleased about was my aggressiveness on the opening lap. It put me in a lot of discomfort, but it also put me well up into the field. If I had not fallen three times, I think I would have certainly finished higher, and my performance on the first lap would have had a lot to do with that.

I also stuck with my 170mm crankarms. I felt much more efficient with them today than I did with my 175's last time. In fact, my wife commented that I actually looked more efficient today. I'm not sure how she could see that, but I'll take it anyway.