Smile! Another Cyclocross Race Report

 

Another weekend, another cyclocross race.  This week was the ICX race at the Goldman Camp just south of Zionsville. Saturday was frigid with temps below freezing and windy.  A parking snafu had me parking in a small lot on the opposite side of the camp from the start line. Following registration I went and moved my car, but ended up having a very short warm up as a result.  At the start line snow began to fall, marking the first time I have raced in the snow, although it was very short lived. Anyway, the race started and I quickly found myself at the back of the Cat 4 pack. Eh. No big deal. As I have mentioned in past race reports, I have found that I get faster as the race goes on.

Luckily mud was at a minimum due to the cold temperatures. Corners were not outright muddy, but slick, and still required care. I think if I could work on getting around tight muddy corners faster my results would be much better. I’m just not very fast on the tight corners. Early in this course was a terribly tight section that looked a bit like this:

Complete momentum killer for me. In retrospect, I think dismounting and running through this section would have been faster. 

One first for this race was a sand pit. Yep, I’d never been through a sand pit. Six laps and I only managed to ride it once, although the guy next to me running it still made it out just before me. After that I ran it each time, which resulted in some entertaining photos:

 

 

 

Following the sand was a nice gravel uphill, followed by a downhill which ended in a run up a wooden stairway, which then required an uphill remount, some more tight sections, with slick corners, a few more up and down hills, and then a streak back to the start finish line.

I went back and forth with several riders. Passed a few on the uphills, they repassed me in the tight sections, etc. I went back and forth with one guy (in red on the right with me in the background) whose family was seemingly all over the course cheering him on several times, before finally gapping him on the second to last lap.

A 40+ Nebo rider caught me at one point and I pushed to stay on his wheel. However, in a tight turn some loose course tape got tangled with his front disc brake and actually brought him down. He made a push to catch me, but I was riding hard on the last lap (my fastest) and held him off. 

There was one rider who I had my sights on from the middle of the race. I saw him well ahead of me and knew he was in my group. I saw that I was slowly gaining, and in fact caught him on the gravel climb and was on his heels on the stair way run up. We both remounted on our bikes at the same time, but he got in a better initial pedal stroke and got a short lead going into a tight section, where he was much faster. I pushed hard and got within a few bike lengths, but the ending straight away was too short and I just missed him, finishing one second behind him. Another 100 feet was all I needed.

Again, I’m generally happy with my race. I would have liked to have been higher in my age group (I won’t mention my category finish) although overall I was 16^th out of 34, so my streak of overall middle of the pack finishes continue.

The next, and last, race in the series is in two weeks. Sometime before then, but after the Gravel Grovel, I am going to find a muddy patch of ground and do repeated figure 8’s over and over again.

 

Thanks to Planet Adventure for the photos.