With the mountain bike season wrapping up last weekend, we move into the beautiful fall cross season. This year I have plans on riding more races than the 2 I did last year. I was a rookie last year, with a 26" wheel bike that wasn't primed to be an adequate cross bike. I now have the Niner and better fitness to make a true run at the sport.
Single Track Escape
The last race of the mountain bike season this year is the Single Track Escape in St. Cloud. It is also the single speed state championship, so the field of racers was quite a bit bigger. I hadn't raced for about a month but was hoping to get a good finish for the year. There were some top riders in the lineup that included Brendan Moore and Heath Weibrud. My goal for the race was to lead out fast and try to hold that position through the entire race. I tend to fade later in the race as other riders ratchet it up. My theory is that my body size is better suited for shorter hard efforts, and the guys that catch me are smaller and more efficient.
The prologue for this race is a long run down some double track ski trails. At the start I sprinted to the top 10 position and settled into the pace as we hit the double track. I found Todd Trembley's wheel in the double track and decided to let him do the leadout. The field was spread out and we were moving along fast enough to spin out my 36-20 29er gearing. I was feeling good behind Todd and knew I would need to make a move before the single track. At the end of the double track, just before the single track, there was a short kicker (maybe 30-40 yards straight up). I shot around Todd and hammered the climb as hard as I could. After that, I rode alone. The guys in front of me were Expert/Pros and I didn't see much of them after the double track. The guys behind me were my Sport competition stuck in traffic behind me.
The first lap I was all alone. No one came up to me in SS, and the other sport riders were all behind. Half way through the second lap I got caught by 5 or 6 non-SS sport riders. I was starting to cramp a bit from the cool weather and tight/technical single track. I ran one of the small climbs and that seemed to relieve the cramps. I had lost a bottle on the first lap and really needed some water. In the final section of single track I got caught by someone in SS running some impressive gearing. He beat me to the finish by about 30 seconds.
I finished 3rd in SS 35+ and 13 out of 25 in the SS state championship. It was a fun race on a tight course.
Hudson Double Cross Shootout
Raced my first cross race of the season this last Saturday. I raced the Niner with my 2.2" Small Block 8s.
I went to the starting line late and was pretty close to the back. Was racing with Josh Collins in the newly formed Ready-Rail -- Team Dirty team colors ;) At the whistle, the course took us up a long gradual climb to the spectator area. I decided to go up the right side and got boxed in on the climb. I watched as Josh found a hole on the left side and shot past. I wanted to try to hold his wheel and did some aggressive passing on the far right. I did make some good positions with the move, but it killed me. I found myself alone between the lead pack of riders and the rest of the field. Kept up the tempo and gradually lost a few positions over the race. Finish 15th out of 54 riders and Josh took the win in CX4!
