I figured it was better late than never so here it goes.
In December with a huge crew of five housemates, I took off for Bend, Oregon for the collegiate cyclocross nationals event. I attended the event in Kansas in 2007 and having the race on the west side this year made it an easy trip. The course was still frozen for the early morning start, which worked well as the corners did not degrade and I could find the grip level and push. Steve Fisher of Western Washington, a NW area CX chief did a great race and finished 2nd. He should have won though as the guy in the stars and bars is some 35 year old who placed 6th in the US masters category a few days before, so great race Fish!
Even though I forgot to register in time, they still called me up for a front row start. That was very appreciated as passing on the slick course was quite difficult. Essentially we were all just domino's. If you didn't like the way the guy in front of you was riding, he would usually make it easy for you and fall within the next 30 seconds, then you just avoid the carnage and fly right by!
Off the gun, the guy in black, Ian Crane (Western Washington / Hagens Bermann) took the whole shot. I made sure Steve went ahead into the first turn as I just wanted to finish a smooth race and knew, after only two cyclocross races this season and minimal high intensity training, that I wasn't going to challenge him. Out of the first corner, after the usual close call with tape and barriers I rode in fifth. One half of the course was straight dirt, but it was frozen. I really liked that part of the course. There was even some ice! It featured big sweeping corners where you are going fast enough to be right on the edge of grip and if you go down, it would really hurt.
The second half of the seven minute lap was in an in-field section of grass which was much more spectator friendly. The course dived down and to the right before a ridiculously slippery corner followed by the stairs. Those stairs were really sweet! There was a long sidehill afterwards which was also hella slippery, definitely saw a few guys go down there - even in the elite race in the afternoon. Next the to the big white beer tent, the barrier section came around a blind corner all of a sudden. On the first lap, right before this section, Ian went down from two guys in front on me and I had no where to go. Throwing on the brakes four guys swarmed me and all of a sudden, I had fallen back to tenth. I slowly pulled back riders within the next 2 laps but after that, the race was pretty much done for me as everyone settled into their own rhythm. Forty five minutes later, I brought it home for 7th place. I was pretty stoked as I rode a smooth race without any big mistakes and some huge saves in the tricky conditions. Full opposite lock on the handlebars over frozen mud definitely came out of the bag of tricks a few times to the relief of my bony hips.
Thanks again to Brennan for putting me up in her house. Dunco, Emily, Warren and Jack, there is no way this would have been fun without someone to appreciate my ridiculous hair styles!
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