Cyclocross II - Centennial Park

Monday, October, 19 2009

The second cyclocross race of my life was, surprisingly, leaps and bounds better than my first. I don't know if that's an indication of how bad I was last week or if I'm actually learning this gig. Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

First of all, I must give props; to Gord Henderson for the rockin Major Jake loaner, love that ride; to Gary Fogelman who said my tire pressure was way too high and my bar position was too agressive (a bit of parking lot wrenching fixed all of that before the start); to Vicky Thomas who gave me valuable course tips during warmup; and, finally, to Ed Makarchuk and Rob Orange who let me warm up with them and also gave me some last minute pointers.

It was cold in the shade of the ski hill as we lined up for the start. I made a conscious effort to ride the start like a crit instead of a single track (like I had done last week) and it paid off. After starting on the last row, I made up a few spots and was about 20th in a group of 30 as we approached the first set of barriers. It's important to note that so far in my lackluster cycling career, I hadn't yet mustered up the courage to perform the flying "don't bag yourself" leap onto a saddle and it was now or never. Nothing like the pressure of a race to make you try new things.

I scampered over the barriers, or rather, I hit the barriers and had to either og for the leap or be left behind. Up, over, and.....hey, it works! Success!!! Too bad I swerved, nearly took out a couple of guys and, by the time I clipped in, was about 10 feet off the back of the 2nd last guy. Oh well, at least I'll still be able to reproduce. Fought to get back up to the group, lost some more ground at the stairs, then it was climb, climb, climb the ski hill.

Thank God I put the 11-28 cassette on this week, otherwise I would be toast. By the top of the ski hill, I was a good 30 seconds down and conceded defeat, but told myself I wouldn't DNF. On lap 2, my rear derailleur started ghost shifting (damned SRAM) and I fiddled with the barrel adjusters to no avail. Around and around I went, as fast as I could, hoping not to get lapped. Then I heard the commentator say that Peter Mogg was hunting me down like a wounded rabbit. He and four others went by me on the last lap.

So I finished, elated that I wasn't lapped by the entire field (like last week) and that I successfully completed many flying leaps with no damage to the family jewels.

I am now lining up the remaining cross races on the OCA sked. Hope to do even better next time around.

- Mark Carli