OVCX Bloomingcross Race Report

Time for more cross. Last weekend was another OVCX race, this time in Bloomington for “Bloomingcross.” (reason for the delay was because I was waiting for photos to be posted) Since the Brookside race back in September there have been two or three other OVCX races in which I have declined to participate due to the driving distance to the venues and in the interests of marital harmony.

Bloomington on the other hand is close enough for a drive.  Prior week’s weather had been a mix of rain and mild temperatures. Saturday some showers came through Indy and Bloomington, but things seemed to be drying out nicely. Sunday dawned

Like Brookside, my call up sucked. I had registered a bit late so I ended up 66^th out of 76^th. So….yeah.

My bike was my standard set up with my Maxxis Mud Wrestler tires. While built for mud these are becoming my catch all cross tire. They seem to work well in all conditions.

So, I lined up in the second to last row. The start went along a long grassy “C” start chute before cutting into the course itself. Unfirntantely, I had lined up on the left side of my row,

The the crashes started. The first one was on the last part of the C and took down a few riders, while others got tangled in the tape.  Another happened on a tight 180 off camber hairpin just after the finish. There may have been a few more but I can’t be sure.

So, anyway, the field was still stretching out  bit and the course takes a dive into a large bowl like sink hole. And now might be time for a bit of a geology lesson. See, the course was at Karst Farm Park in Bloomington.  Karst topography is characterized by depressions and sinkholes caused when water seeps into rock, like limestone, and causes the rock to break down and collapse, thus resulting in sinkholes. Bloomington sits on top of a huge layer of limestone, and the IU campus is full of examples of the karst landscape, as is the surrounding area. 

So the course on Sunday was over this type of terrain with several bowl like sinkholes. The largest bowl was named the spiral of death. The course dropped into the sinkhole in a fast descent, and then gradually climbs out to the rim, then drops straight down tot eh center into a right turn to a tight spiral and then it spirals out. The Strava track for this section looked like this:

 

After this there were some twisty section, followed by a sandpit, which was set up at the top of a short hill and just after a hard left turn. In other words, not much momentum. More ups and downs followed, with a drop into another sink whole which had a combination of thick grass mixed mud and downright rough trail. A few gravel path sections led to a short uphill finish.

So the first lap was trying to recover from my crappy start where most people behind me passed me, and avoiding crashes. Coming into the second lap I set into a groove and began to pcik people off in ones and twos. I was feeling good and maintained a good pace, although my rear shifting began going downhill with rough shifts and skipped gears. I was forced to run the sand pit each time…just couldn’t find a good route through so I just dismounted and ran.

 

On the second to last lap I got behind a rider in black who seemed to be slowing on the hills. I called out that I was passing on the right, and the rider responded “No way are you doing that” and cut over and sped up.

Ok, no problem. I would expect this on the last lap, but maybe not now. Instead I sat on the guy’s wheel for the rest of the lap and most of the last. Admittedly I missed a few chances to pass him, but when we came to the barriers (which were incredibly high) on the last lap he remounted faster and got a gap.

Climbing the barrier. My only photo from the race.
 

I continued to chase up to a grassy downhill section. There was a Speedway Wheelmen rider and a rider  from Bicycle Outfitters just ahead of me. I closed on them on a gravel path before turning into the grass. I chose to not call out my passes and instead charged past them in a wide grassy section of the course. The rider in black was just a few seconds ahead, and when I looked up I saw him crash on a turn and take down the tape. I came around, took a wider line to avoid him, and accelerated into a tight section of trail which went between several small trees. I figured he would chase and he did, but by the time we hit 200 meters, I had a good enough gap to get across the line first,

In the end, I got 41^st out of 77 riders in the wave. I moved up 25 riders from my start and I felt very good about how I raced. For Cat 4, I ended up 14^th out of 29, solidly middle of the pack. Next up is another IndyCross event at Traders Point on November 1.  I was the third person to register so I am hoping to make better use of my potentially high call up.  Until then, this weekend will be spent riding some long miles and maybe tackling the short track at Marian University.