Kirk's Masters World Championship Race

I finally get to write the final race report of the cyclocross season: Kirk's championship race. And what a race it was!

It's his lucky number!

The morning of the Men's 50-54 World Championship race finally dawned sunny, clear, and calm. It was cold, but not brutally cold. By the time we cleared out of the hotel room and got to the race site, it was in the low 20s. The parking area where I'd helped push cars out of the mud was now covered with bark mulch and frozen hard, and the entry to the parking field had been diverted to a new area.  We could see additional modifications that had been made to the course. In some sections the stakes had been pulled up and moved over the course width, running alongside the original line but now on dead weeds instead of the deep frozen muddy ruts of the original course.

An entire section in the back of the course, which wove its way through trees up and down a steep hillside, had been removed since the seeding heat.

Once parked, Kirk jumped on the back of the truck to pull his race bike and pit bike down only to discover that the locks linking all the bikes together were frozen. Using a "U" lock as a hammer (sorry about that Jerry), Kirk got the padlocks off, bikes down, the trainer set up and the derailleur on the Colnago adjusted. The bikes didn't like being in the cold, the brake cables moved very sluggishly and the gears wouldn't shift, so I set them leaning against the truck to sun bathe. After being in the rain Thursday and then freezing Thursday afternoon and Friday they definitely worked better after warming up.

Lesson - sleep with your race bike the night before an event.  Especially a World Championship.  Duh!

While Kirk warmed up, I watched a women's championship race that was underway. It was the second race of the morning. Several times I saw racers inadvertently ride off the race course, through the course tape, jumping off, and running their bikes back onto the course to resume racing. That told me that the ruts were still frozen, and if caught off guard the racers couldn't get out if the rut misdirected them. Plus the women's lower body weights were a disadvantage in terms of riding the ruts -- they were much less able to force their way across through weight and power than men would be.

Warming up on the trainer

Before long Kirk went to ride over to the start line, and I walked the Colnago over to the pit area. My concern today was not a pit swap due to mud/no shifting, but a mechanical. Riding ruts like these could cause derailleurs hangers to break, tires to flat, etc. I don't have the skill set to take care of a pit mechanical, but wanted to cover my bases. As such, I went to the neutral SRAM support tent and confirmed that I could get help should we have a problem. The guy I talked to indicated that he still anticipated mud being a problem, so I high tailed it back to the truck, got our bucket and brushes, went to the water truck for a dose of water, and got back to the pit area before Kirk's race began. Better safe than sorry.   Between races a green backhoe showed up next to the pit, and a guy with a shovel scooped dirt out of the backhoe bucket and into ruts in the course by the back side of the pit. Still trying to make it safer for the racers.  I didn't see many crashes in the women's race prior to Kirk's, but that was all about to change.

You can barely see it, but behind the guy in yellow is the backhoe, and the guy in the light brown jacket is shoveling dirt onto the course

Next I know, Kirk's race is underway. Steve Tilford, the guy who won this age group at Nationals (and a former pro racer) came by riding fast, looking on the edge of control as he plowed across and through the ruts. And even walking in the pit, it was becoming clear that the sun was superficially melting the muddy surface while the ground underneath stayed frozen -- making it very, very slippery on the top of the ruts. Even in my Uggs it was slick. And the racers learned that quickly, too -- I've never seen so many crashes in one race. First lap down that manmade ramp one guy didn't make the right hand turn at the bottom, crashing on the edge of the course, and the guy right behind followed him exactly, crashing as well. From there the racers took a mild left turn past the pit, and the line they all rode was directly up against the right fence. They were so close that handlebars would catch in the fence. If they didn't hold their line, they were tossed back into the middle of the course which took some down. It was crazy.    Immediately racers were pitting with flat tires. Kirk went by, riding strong and holding his own. With each racer wearing their seeding number it was easy to tell who had started where; Kirk had quickly passed quite a number of riders. I even saw some numbers in the 20s that were well behind him. I kept track of him from as far out from the pit as I could see, changing sides and ready for him should he need to come in. Lap 1 ended without a pit stop; lap two started. Riders continued to go down as the surface mud continued to melt. The riders in the second and third places were duking it out, one having to pit, but still eventually catching the other guy, passing him, and holding the advantage. Kirk rode by the pit on lap 2, both sides, and the Lapierre seemed to be riding well.   On his first pass by the pit on lap 3 he indicated that he'd be pitting on the second pass because the bike wasn't shifting. Then he rode out of my sight. . .and promptly rolled his tubular tire when he hit a rut, maneuvered the front of the bike out, but the back tire stayed in it, pulling it completely off the rim and wedging it in the chainstays. By now I knew what racers preceded him on the course (although he continued to pass racers as they ran out of steam), and as I saw them approach the second pit pass, still no Kirk, I knew he had gone down or something.  And lo! there he comes running, Lapierre on his shoulder, spectators cheering him on. Nothing says cyclocross more than a racer running his bike to the pit, and spectators are very appreciative and supportive of that racer.    Having staged myself midway down the pit, I grabbed the Colnago and moved to the very entry of the pit to speed his transition onto the new bike. We had a smooth hand off, and I grabbed the bike to take it to neutral support. They guy told me if I could get it cleaned off he'd put on a loaner wheel. Then I discovered they'd taken the pressure hoses out of the pit, and moved them to the other side of the course. I was going to have to cross the course, wait in line for a hose, get back across, and then turn the bike over to the mechanic. I decided instead to clean with my handy dandy bucket and brushes, and was heading that direction when I nearly ran into Kirk in the pit. Kirk said that the UCI official put his hand up, blew his whistle and directed him to stop at the exit of the pit.  Once Kirk stood down, the official put his hand on Kirk's shoulder and said, "that was very brave, but you've been lapped by the leader".  The other official present complimented the bike change by way of sympathy.  While changing bikes, Kirk had been passed by Tilford, the race leader, and therefore was not allowed to continue. Darn. If he hadn't rolled the tire, he wouldn't have been passed. But what a race, what a run! He figured he'd probably passed 20 or so racers, moving up from his 54th place at the start to the high 20's/low 30s, and was continuing to pass riders as they wore out from the seat of your pants riding that was required in the conditions. Even with running about a mile of the course he still placed 44th in the final results.

It was a great race. He had so much fun, was so in his element, and raced so well. The more technical nature of the course for the Championship race suited him so much better than the mud slog of the qualifying/seeding race. It was great to have him end the season on such a high note, with such a fun race. Between the two, it certainly was epic cyclocross. Next year will be even bigger and wilder, as both the Elite and the Masters World Championships will be in Louisville. It was a nice city to host the event in; we enjoyed it. Need a post-holiday holiday? I recommend Louisville next January. Really. It's going to be a heck of an event. We'll be there!     Sincerely, Kirk, Chandler, and Jonathon Rhinehart Spindoc