Not My Game

Let's start with the skills session on Friday that never happened. I never made it to the park to play with the mountain bike and get some coaching on my dismounts and remounts. I did get in some cross training though and a short ride on the townie bike with a few stops here and there for beer and pizza. You have to fuel up properly to race your best . . . and the winner for best comedic cross performance goes to . . . Scott and John were nice enough to start the bets early on how I would do. John had a six-pack on me to win, Scott expressed his doubts very loudly and clearly.

I took a closer look at the mountain bike on Saturday morning and got out to the park just to practice a little bit before the race, using the tips I got from John and Scott the night before. Turns out I have some pretty beefy tires on the bike, 2.1 knobbies translates to a tire that is wide, very, very wide, providing good grip on the trail, but a lot of rolling resistance. That resistance gets much higher when your wheels flex and the tire rubs the chainstays, which mine did anytime I put the power to the pedals. I did some calling around to see who had what and if I could make any race day changes. In the end, I decided that equipment really wouldn't be too much of a limiting factor.

Once out at Xilinx and registered, there was no turning back for sure. I said a few quick hellos to some friends, got laughed at by many for racing cross and racing Cat 4 at that, and hit the course for some warming up. They have been staging riders for the start in order of points standings and race registration so at the start I was a good eight rows back with 105 starters total.

I underestimated the effort required at the start and didn't get past as many guys as I should have before we hit the first dirt section. I passed when I had the chance, getting by some guys based on power only to lose positions due to lack of skill on dismounts and remounts. A few laps in, I got to the point where there really wasn't anybody close behind me and I was able to close in on those in front of me. On to the good parts! Here I am "showcasing my skills" at what I found to be the toughest set of barriers:


They were on a reasonably steep hill with a loose, off camber approach. By the end of the race, the mountain bike started feeling really heavy. But all in all, it was a lovely day to be out on the bike doing something different.


It was amusing how a lot of guys would back off on the road sections. I made up all sorts of ground there and then tried to recover on the downhill sections where I had to brake anyways. I ended the day with all of my skin, no broken bike parts, no broken ego, I did no harm to myself or others (except the guy who ran into me and fell over), and finished in 11th place. Dave Towle summed it up best by saying, "I saw some 7-8 year olds out here racing with more panache and class than you today."

Thanks to all the friends and teammates who came out to support and taunt me. Dejan was out with his son and his camera taking pictures. Check out his photo album. I have joked around already about doing another cross race, but on a cross bike and with a little more skills practice under my belt. I don't make any promises though.