Mudslingin’ Slogfest - Blunt Park Cross Race, Springfield Mass

So today was my first cyclo-cross bicycle race for the 2010 New England season, and as the day unfolded, it turned out to be a great learning experience for me.  I was hoping to start off the racing season by dipping my toes into a dry and fast course as a transition away from the road riding I’ve been doing.  One thing we can always expect is change, and upon waking up a half hour later than planned, I could hear the rain falling.  At that point I knew the day would not turn out exactly as I was hoping, but I dodged the raindrops as I loaded the things into my car and prepped myself to roll with it.

As I drove on the highway I reminded myself that this race is part of a larger picture.  I have been thinking about racing in both the Tobacco Valley points series and the Verge point series (which is more regional than local), so I planned to use this first race as a gauge to help me determine how much of a personal investment I wanted to put into this 15+ race cross season.  I figured that if I don’t do very well in this CAT 4 race, then perhaps I will forgo the whole idea of racing the other races, which would save me the money of going to the races and purchasing another bike.  This thinking sorta relaxed me and took off some of the pressure, even though my ETA of arriving at an unfamiliar place was 45 minutes before my start time of 9 a.m.  Yup.  I was stressed.

Ok, so I found the parking lot.  Where the heck do I get my number?  I asked a guy parked next to me and he pointed me towards a pavilion nestled under some tall pine trees about 120 yards away.  It was tough to see since the rain was misting, and it was dark and overcast.  I signed my life away, headed back to the car, and saw some other expo guys pre-riding the course with a bunch of the Cat 4’s who were ready to race.  I hastily got dressed, pumped tires to 30 &40 psi, and rode around trying to warm up my legs for about 10 minutes before I heard a loudspeaker call my group to the line.

A large group of riders formed at the starting line and filled the narrow asphalt road which was directly in front of an older camper that was being used for officials and scoring the races throughout the day.  I noticed riders had numbers on either side, so I asked one of the officials near the camper which side my number should be on…needless to mention it was on the wrong side…just then, “5 minutes until we start” bellowed an official through a loudspeaker.

I got my number situated, and got my shirt back on, and the zipper wouldn’t zip.  I about lost it.  Deep breath I thought…I still have a couple minutes at least.  I looked around at the 40 some odd riders around me in my group who were socializing with one another.  These guys look like experienced riders and they looked relaxed while I am freaking out trying to get my shirt zipper up.  Some of them were already muddy from pre-riding the course.  Then I got thinking.  Am I at a disadvantage?

Now let me explain my sudden lack of confidence.  First of all, I am riding a borrowed bike since I haven’t made the leap to add yet another bike to my corral.  These guys must all have their own bikes that they are used to riding…right?  And second, I have very little experience racing this sort of event since I only have one cross race prior under my belt (using the same borrowed bike last year on a different course).  I wasn’t sure what the course would be like.  These guys have pre-ridden the course, so they know the fast lines and I don’t.  At this point, one of my teammates from Expo Wheelmen came up and told me to get into my big ring for the start.  Another teammate told me about a fast line around a log.  That was great.  It was a huge confidence boost, took my mind off of the worrying, and next thing I knew, we were off! 

I started off in about the 5^th row back, straight down the blacktop road, until we do a switchback turn to the left and go onto the grass on the edge of the woods.  I sprinted the big ring as instructed and was heading into the turn in about 10^th position.  I saw my only teammate in my field, who was the leader of the pack, go down hard right on the road when he was steering into the turn.  This caused mass confusion in the group since we were trying to funnel three or four wide, through a one bike wide hole.  I heard clanking of wheels and spokes as bikes knocked together, followed by some cussing, but I just focused on pedaling out of there and told my teammate to get back on the bike and get moving as I went by.

My first lap was difficult since I didn’t know the course and I wasn’t warmed up (check those off as lessons learned).  I was frothing at the mouth as I followed wheels so closely that I was eating dirt, while the rain drizzled and the knobby tires began to roto-till the trails into a black sticky mud that was flying eveywhere.  As I came around from the first lap, one of my spectator teammates told me I was 16^th.  It gave me a little time to think.  The course had a bunch of tricky switchback turns, and very little climbing.  There were only four major obstacles that required dismounting from the bike, and there was one section of knarly roots with both a high and a low line.  I knew my strength was the fast straight-aways, and now I knew where they were.  I decided I would try to pick off a few riders, but shoot to maintain my position in the field the best that I could.  The points for this race series are given to the top 15 riders.  Now that I knew how long a lap was (seemed to be about 7 or 8 minutes), I knew I only had a few chances in this 40 minute race to pass on the straight sections.

As I came up behind slower riders I found it hard to pass.  The myriad of turns caused riders swerve from right to left, so every time I would approach to pass, my passing lane would get closed off.  Finally I passed on a straight section.  Ha.  My plan is working…heh, heh, heh. Oh yeah...now it began to downpour.

On the third lap I was soaked, but the 70 degrees was ok in the rain.  The water was cooling down my steaming body.  Overall I now felt like i was warmed up, but at the same time I felt a little spent since I pushed hard already without warming up.  My teammate who crashed in the first corner of the race was now behind me and he was charging hard.  Rather than holding him up, I told him I would give him room, with hopes I could follow his faster wheel than mine.  Once he was by me I was right on it…but a few minutes later we went charging hard into the switchback first corner again…and crash.  My front wheel slid out from under me on the greasy road, and I slammed it hard.  Oh, shucks (or something) I said, or maybe yelled out.

About six riders passed by while I checked my loaner bike, and my body for damage.  Surprisingly, everything seemed to be ok, but I knew I got some road rash on my left leg and hip.  As I climbed back on and pedaled the final laps around the course some pain began to set in, but I soldiered on.  I decided to hammer the best I could and just finish the race at this point.  This is after all, just a race to help me decide if I like cross enough to keep doing it.

So I had fun.  Even though I finished 23^rd out of 43, I learned a bunch that should help me do better next time.  Hmmm.  The races on the calendar for next weekend are Palmer and Munson.I wonder what the weather will be like.

Click here to see more photos from my race

Joe Tindal

Cat 4 Cross Racer

Exposition Wheelmen

Hangin' off the back and having fun.