Cyclocross Virgin...No more!

I gave cyclocross a try last weekend. Well Arizona cyclocross anyway. I had a great time, however I don't think that would qualify for me to say that I liked cyclocross. Usually cross racing involves cold weather, which we didn't get. It was 80 by the time we started. The courses usually have a variety of terrair were a cyclocross bike is a most. We race at a park in Phoenix, where it was mostly grass except for the sandy section by the playground. oh and one little paved climb littered with broken glass. Oh and mud, I usually like riding in mud, but yeah, did I mentioned it was 80 and it hasn't rained down here for a few months, so sans mud.

The race:
I lined up in the back of the small field of riders in the open race (again cross races usually attract huge crowds at the starting line). The start was sorta fast but I still managed to stay with the group even with my MTB gearing. We made it to the sandy section which was a run-with-your-bike only. I made a couple attempts during warm ups and didn't even make it half way, so I decided I would run it like everyone else. The dismount was OK but at least I didn't crash. The group split here, so I made a huge effort on the back of the course to get by everyone in my group and bridge up to the next one. And I did, except that by the time I made it to the last guy in the lead group, I was completely maxed out. We hit the first barrier and I am proud to say that I had a smooth dismount and remount but I got gapped. I almost ate it on a little loose hairpin turn onto the paved section but made it through, then there were two other single barriers that I could have bunnyhopped but after a failed attempt during warm ups, I bagged the idea. The thought came back during the first lap as this would have help me bridge to the front group, thankfully I didn't because it could have been bad, unfortunately that mean that I had to ride on no man's land and try to bridge the 20 second gap to the next rider. For the first 4 laps the gap seemed to grow but it never exceeded 40 seconds, then I felt a little better and would reduce the gap on some sections then loose it in others. By the last lap I got it down to less than 10 seconds then I must've ridden over some glass which made a nice cut to my rear Maxxis 310 tire. I had stans in the tube which worked well for goatheads but this hole seemed to be too big for stans to seal it. I rode the hissing tire for the rest of the lap without getting lapped by TJ who won the race. I was the last rider not to get lapped but at the same time I lapped the other 3 guys behind me to finish in 8th place.

No pictures this time. Norma was out of town.
Thanks for Mister Zamora for helping me with hand offs. It was nice to get a sip of water or Cytomax every other lap.

Perhaps next year I could add a cross bike to the list and race the series. It sure was a painful and as fun as everyone had described it.

I am curious how many pounds I would gain by Friday?
Happy Thanksgiving!

Pura Vida!