A Good Cross Race!!!!

Sunday was another round of cyclocross. This by far was the best cross race yet in the St. Louis area. Bar none. It has a great course with a usual pagentry, 2 short sand pits and the WALL. I also had a much better race this week which helped a ton.

Prior to the race I went for a good 2hr+ singlespeed ride with Sara. That was good, Sara even climbed Lone Wolf on her Single Speed so that was even better. She was ahead of me on that climb and we passed some hikers on their way down. He mumbled something about how I had to ride it because she was in front and was still riding. Thanks man!!! Sunday I went back to Castlewood to ride a Superfly. Man that bike was sweet. If I won the lottery that would surely be a first purchase item. I got in about an hour of mountain biking which was a nice warmup for the cross race.

Anyways, back to the cross race. I got there earlier this week and had some warmup time and checked out part of the course. I lined up at the back because I foolishly was not at the start line 12 minutes before the race started. I waited until 7 minutes to line up which meant I was in the back with Klages. Got off decently and made it to the barriers ahead of some people who did start before me. Then headed through the fast twisty stuff. It was strung out single file. Wasn't too bad, but you could tell you quickly who could ride the twisty sections fast and who couldn't. It wasn't really a power output type of issue, but more of an issue of who wasn't comfortable on dirt. Then we came to the wall!

It was sweet. My first time up it and it wasn't too bottle necked. The worst part was my saddle got hung up in a Mesa Jrs rear wheel. I felt bad about that but it happens. Don't worry, he passed me back and dropped me for good shortly after that. Then we hit the first sand section. A straight shot with lots of speed on entry. Then next sand section has a sharp right hand turn in it. I tried to ride it the first lap and had to put a food down. Got going again. Back under the wall and completed the first lap. Repeat for another 50 minutes. It was a blast. Each time down the ramp of the wall I felt like a little kid riding a bike. Just jump on, put your feet on the middle of the pedals, stand up and roll with it. Once on the grass clip in a go. There is a lively discussion going on stlbiking.com about the wall, but I give it two thumbs up.

The race progressed well. Was able to make up a few more spots and finished ahead of some guys who lapped me last week. I was able to ride the sand pit completely during the middle third of the race when there lots of people around so that was fun to hear the cheers and cowbells. I tried to catch the guy in front of me but realized I couldn't with 2 to go. I kept going though because there were some guys chasing me just as hard. Overall I finished 11th out of 29 starters. Much better than 40th out of 45.