NM Cyclocross Race Report #3

Cyclocross Race #3

Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012

Polk Middle School, Albuquerque

Cross race number three. . .already! We almost didn’t make it though. It was an early wake-up, and the bed was awfully cozy and warm, and it looked cold outside. It was one of those mornings when it would be really easy to fall back into a deep sleep in spite of an alarm clock wake-up. After about 20 minutes of debate, we got rolling.

Polk was one of the first cross races I did last year on my mountain bike. I remember it well as there was a patch of snow on part of the course (it was one of the last races of the season last year). The course was totally different this year, featuring a crazy amount of powder-fine sand. I keep comparing it to the difference in texture between powdered confectioner’s sugar and salt – one is powder, the other granules. This was more akin to powdered sugar than salt!

Due to our tardy arrival I didn’t get to pre-ride the course. My racing pals Ann Keener and Tove talked me through some sections, describing which line to take, where it was dicey, what was ride-able and what wasn’t. The younger juniors started their race, and Tove led me to one front corner section and, when no kids were coming, we jumped onto it to ride a challenging section.

Then it was race time.

We took off with 10 seconds or so between groups, speeding off along a wide concrete path behind the school. A round-about much like a traffic circle led to a straight-away heading to the street and a wide u-turn. Racing back up half-way, the course then turned left into some fairly deep sand leading to the two barriers. After jumping the barriers, the surface changed from soft sand to grass as you rode along a fence line below trees to the back corner of a ball field. The tree roots growing under the grass made for surprise bumps, some pretty big if you hit them at speed. Behind the ball field were a few switchbacks, but all were easy to ride. Riding out from the corner I found you could get up some real speed, even on the grass – especially if you stood and pedaled. It was a great place to pass.

Then came the sand. Lots of it. Powder sand. It was piled higher and seemed softer on the right, as if someone had started to shovel a path on the left, slinging the sand to their right. I didn’t even try to ride it, although perhaps I should have. I dismounted at the beginning, and ran the left side, rolling the bike along next to me (or picking it up and holding it, but I never bothered with shouldering it).

Turning right you ran down a little gully edged on both sides with piles of soft deep sand. Up on the other side, though, I found I could remount and ride as the sand was much more packed. Even though we had a little 18-inch soft sand drop again, I learned I could ride it as long as I didn’t try to turn or break going down it. Instead, I rode in a straight line, coming out on the far left side of the course at the bottom, which again was packed sand. There, if you had the energy, you could again get some good speed. That was the spot on this course where I asked myself what the hell I was doing. There is one of those spots on each course, where you consider bailing and getting a DNF.

Riding up another soft sanding lip (or for me, riding it as far as I could, then putting a foot down to push myself the rest of the way up) set you upon another length of packed sand to this course’s nuttiest feature. (Tove’s comment was this course was a little circus-esque for her tastes; that sums it up quite well.) In the middle of a large flat of semi-packed sand was a spiral; you rode around the spiral, tighter and tighter as you got to the middle, at which point there was a tight little ‘S’ which turned you back to spiral out. For me, it was a matter of really focusing out ahead of myself, and slowing down as I got into the center and the circles got smaller.

Here too is where a strategy decision had to be made. Although I couldn’t ride the ‘S’ turn in the middle, I kept trying. Sometimes I was able to make my way around with a foot down, and then resume pedaling – other times I think I got off for the second part of the turn. Either way, it wasn’t particularly fast. In watching the men’s races later, I noticed they ALL got off before the first turn into the ‘S’, and simply ran the whole thing, jumping back on their bikes to spiral back out. I suspect it was much, much faster.

After the spiral, one raced back out along packed sand and past the pit, up another soft lip and onto a small bit of pavement. That led to the one dicey area Tove and I pre-rode, and that Ann gave me so much info on. One rode down a sandy and rocky short descent into a ditch. If you rode up on the right, out of the ditch, it was solid earth and very stable – it just looked scary as it was off-camber. It lowered back into the ditch, and although you could ride back up out of the ditch, the course circled behind a tree surrounded by deep power sand. I asked later, and no one was able to ride around the tree.  Returning to pavement, you also rode back to the start/finish line to start lap two. Yipes; lots of sand time per lap!

As always, my first lap was my worst lap.  By lap two I settled down. I found I could really speed around the traffic circle, with the bike more leaned into the turn than I have ever ridden before; I could ride the sand up to the barriers; I could easily ride the switchbacks on the grass, and pick up a lot of speed on the grass straightaway leading to the sand. I was faster running the sand than some, and was able to pass there. It was the spiral that got me – I was pretty slow going round and round, and the ‘S’ turn in the middle was like a thorn in my side. On the corner with the ditch, I rode the off camber dirt each time starting with lap 2, which made me happy. I always tried to ride around the tree, but did pretty well remounting and “keeping it rolling.” On lap four, I had determined that Tiziana, our NM National Champ for her age group, was the race leader. If I was passed by her, I would be doing one less lap. She was close behind me in the spiral, so I called out to her to pass me, please! She hollered back, “Don’t go so fast!” It made me laugh out loud as I felt like a snail going in circles.

I was surprised later to learn that I’d come in second of my group out of four.

With the current schedule, we have about 1½ hours between my race and Kirk’s.  Not long enough to go anywhere or do anything other than hang out and wait. SpinDoc team rider David Sammeth had arrived by then, and upon a test lap on his cross bike he asked if he could ride my Breezer hardtail for his race instead. Mountain bikes definitely had an advantage on this course. His cross bike became his pit bike, and the Breezer became his “A” bike. Kirk had his Lapierre for his main stead, and Tove and Jerry’s BCD as his pit bike.

Watching the Men’s 1/2/3 race, it was clear that the best strategy for the ‘S’ turn was dismount and run the whole thing. Dang, I wished they raced before me so I could glean those things before I rode! Jerry rode with this group instead of the Masters Men as he had to leave. I asked him later how that was, and he said it was great; he could follow behind a rider, taking his same line, following his lead. They are so skilled and smooth, it made for an easier, informed and very fun ride for him.

Kirk and David and the other Masters Men lined up, with single speed and Cat. 4 riders behind. They all took off like a shot, racing up to the right turn leading into the round about. At the barriers they had started to spread out a little, but there were still a large number of riders grouped together. When they hit the spiral, it created a cloud of dust that engulfed the riders. No wonder Kirk coughed for hours afterward! 

The more experienced masters riders all got off and ran the ‘S’ turn, but some of the less experienced Cat. 4 guys did as I had, and tried to ride it. As I was working the pit, I didn’t get to see how they did at the ditch and sandy tree segment. Turning around, I could watch – and holler – as they all rode past on the start/finish straight-away.

I had warned Kirk that the tree roots would be an easy chain drop location, and was happy to hear he had none of those issues on this course. As a matter of fact, none of our riders had mechanicals that day, although someone was always in the pit just in case. Just good clean – okay, good sandy fun. That’s ‘cross!