The Providence cyclo-cross festival is a two day race that takes place at Roger Williams Park in the south-western side of the city of Providence, RI. This beautiful park is a perfect venue for such a large event, since it is filled with various terrain, and it has lots of parking on along the roads that go through it. Near the race course, the park has outstanding views of small lakes which surround the area. In an infield grassy area, the race promoter organized a small tent city, which was the hub for most of the racing activities. There were various vendors including (but not limited to) Kenda tires, REI, Cannodale, Wheelworks, a custom wool jersey company, a bouncy house for kids, a couple of food trailers, and a Harpoon beer tent. The race promoter also strategically placed an announcers tent among the tent city beside the course, so the folks who were armed with microphones could call the play by play for each race over the loudspeakers. Today, the weather had temperatures in the high 60’s and there was a blue sky with lots of bright sunshine. The combination of hundreds of cyclists, hundreds of fans with cowbells, and this great venue; made this a perfect atmosphere for cross racing.
Today, I was racing a 40 minute race with the older fellows in the 35+ age group for category 4 cross racers for the first time. My race started at 8:45, and I arrived at about 8 o’clock. My semi-late-ish arrival meant that I wouldn’t get to pre-ride the course, since the younger cat4 riders were already out there racing. There were 83 riders in my class, and since I registered only a few days ago, I got called to line up for the start almost dead last. My day wasn’t starting out so good, but I had a good feeling about what was in store from my warm-up ride. I felt a little off, but I felt very well rested. I was hoping I could burst off the start line and get going after a lap or so around the course. I figured after a lap around, I would know the terrain and obstacles, and would be able to strategize where I could go hard. I knew I would be working my way up through the crowds of riders (which I call traffic).
The only thing I knew about the course, beyond the 50 meters or so that I could see, was the help my teammate in my group offered me before we lined up. He said something like, there is a hard right hand turn that goes out onto some grass, then it gets crazy… At the start line, “30 seconds until we go” was called out, and I locked one foot into my pedal and visualized killing it for the straightaway that went up a slight grade in front of us, and then staying to the inside for the right-hander. “Go!” We were off. I attacked from the line and passed about 15 to 20 riders in the first 100 meters. Then we turned the corner and were onto the grassy sections. I continued to pass riders left and right as I mashed away like I was trying to bend my crank-arms.
After I completed my first lap, I had a really good introduction to the course at a relatively high rate of speed. Most of the straighaways were really fast becasue of the rolling terrain. Many of the corners ramped down in the straight sections which helped me quickly get up to speed. The entries into the corners were tricky though. Many of the corners had reverse banking and loose dirt and/or gravel. This created quite a few crashes in the corners from front wheel washouts. There were basically four sections of the course that required a dismount of the bike. There was a set of concrete stairs that went up a steep hill. Then there was a set of man-made wooden stairs which were staked into another hillside. There was a straight section that led up to a set of wooden barriers which were about 12-14 inches high. And the final dismount section was a short but very steep uphill near the start/finish area, which resembled roto-tilled topsoil more than a race course.
This course was very long and challenging. I found some of the long straight sections to my liking. Some of them were very bumpy, two sections were loose gravel, two were pavement, but much of the course was smooth grass/dirt. I found myself powering along the straight sections and passing riders before the corners while looking out for roots and bumps that were hidden in the grass. Somewhere along the second lap I heard someone yell to me that I am in the top 20. I thought to myself that they must be kidding. I figured I was maybe 30th or 40th. Then later in the lap, I heard a spectator tell a rider in front of me that he was in 18th position. I decided to put the hammer down and see if I could make it inside the top 10 at this point. Every rider became my prey. One by one I picked them off on the straight sections. I kept telling myself that I need to pass them when they are trying to recover, and it worked. I braked hard before the corners so I could maintain control. I was mastering the corners by the second lap. The only problem was, my stomach started to act up. I wasn’t sure what was wrong, but it felt pretty sick. I tried to ignore the feeling and continued to ride.
On the final lap, I went back and forth with a Cannondale factory team rider, who passed me, and I passed him. Finally he passed me again on the final run-up. I decided I couldn’t hang with him since my stomach felt like it was going to puke if I pushed harder, but I felt pretty good since he was the only rider that got ahead of me over the last three laps. On the road that led up to the finish the Cannondale rider passed one more rider and I followed suit. I was guessing I was near top ten and I was happy with that. As it turns out, I was 10th! Now I was really happy to know the race was worthwhile for me since I was hoping for at least a top 15 finish. It was another great day of racing at another great course, and to top things off, the beer tent had a cold beer waiting for me. I can’t wait for next year already…I’ll be there both days for sure.
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