What's CycloCross?

Racing on the skinnies.

Well I guess I found out what cyclocross was. I did my first cyclo cross race last Sat here in Draper. It's funny but I was really surprised how nervous I was the week before. I actually had a tough time before that setting the bike up. I didn't want to buy a new bike for a sport I had no idea if I would like so I figured I'd try setting up the ARANTIX with some skinnier and better rolling tires. Interestingly no one had skinny tires for a 26 inch wheel. There were some 29 inch tires since they are basicly 700's and I bought one for the front wheel. Then I realized I had some 26 inch 1.5 slicks from a long time ago and dug those out. I figured I was ready to go.

The race was at the Draper Equestrian center 1 mile from my house so I just rode there as a warm up. I entered 35+ B and showed up early to get an idea of what the course and race was about. I ran into Bob Saffal and Canyon Kris who gave me some pointers of what's going on.

I lined up dead last since I wasn't sure how the starts went. The first lap was nerve racking and I used it to get a feel for the course. Then I started to slowly get into the groove and started passing people. No one passed me until a pro girl came up from behind and beat me up pretty good as I tried to hang with her for a couple laps. It was Kathy Sherwin. She's one tough gal.

(WHAT'S UP WITH MAKING US RUN ON PURPOSE AND TRYING TO TRIP US WITH HORSE JUMPS?)

At first I had trouble trusting the skinnies and the slicks but got used to it fairly well by the end of the race. It was tough since it was an all out race without knowing ahead of time of how many laps. I just went around in circles until they told me to stop. It was the type of race that brings out all my weakness (mostly a lung burner and all out, all the time). It's definitely something I should do more of. Too bad it is the last one for the year.

I came in 11th out of 26, whatever that means. You can't compare time across categories or even the other racers since there is no time.

Well, next stop is Moab next weekend (19th). Hope the weather cooperates.

Total ARANTIX miles for 2008 (so far): 2075 and 240 hours.