On Saturday I was up early for the MN State Cyclocross Championship. When I left the house, it was snowing like crazy, with about 4 inches accumulated so far. I registered for the CX4 race and went out to pre-ride the course. It was very beautiful with the snow covered trees, but the course was slippery. I went back to my car to remove a couple of layers and warm my hands. Everything was warm, except for the hands. Tom T. and Josh C. both offered me their 'winter' gloves, so that really saved me from some pain.
At the start, the riders were called up in the order that they registered. That left me at the back of the pack. When the whistle blew, bikes were sliding everywhere. A good portion of the riders decided to run, including myself. As I was running, my left leg warmer started sliding down my thigh. Even when I was riding it wanted to creep lower and lower. Into the race only 2 minutes, I knew I was going to have to stop and pull it back up. It was irritating, but if I let it slide down it was going to get caught in something. Stopping for about 45 seconds to adjust, I lost all of my positioning and was riding at the back of the pack. The leg warmers didn't give me any more issues for the rest of the race, but now I was riding to pass.
It ended up being a fun race. I was picking people off the entire race, giving me the motivation to ride harder and faster. The highlights were the fans cheering, belly sliding down the hill after crashing, and chasing geese off the course. Finished 48th out of 65, with a new love for cyclocross racing. Next year I have high hopes.
