Charm City 'Cross race report

Charm City 'Cross
Baltimore, MD
09/23/07

This was my first "big" 'cross race in years. It was also my first 'cross race of this season, but I wanted to get started early and race often. It may have been too early, or the heat wave was sticking around too late. Either way, it was about 91 degrees and humid- not exactly what most of us call "'cross weather".

The start is on pavement, and I'm on the 3rd row. It's a pretty big field of about 70 guys, so my position isn't bad. The whistle blows, and we're trucking up the road and onto the course. A holeshot or close to it is key here- there's an off-camber turn pretty early, and it's vital to make it through there before 50 guys stack it up and walk. I get through in about 15th, safely. I have no idea what the carnage behind me looks like. I'm close enough to the front to not care. At the end of the first lap, there's a set of barriers that are at the top of the hill, and come after a 90 degree turn. I chose to try to accelerate through the barriers, so I speed up going in- only to wash out with the front wheel, and crash. Luckily, nobody is close enough behind me, and I maintain my spot.

Over the course of the next few laps I lose a few spots, but I'm still maintaining a decent pace. It's dry and dusty on top of the heat, which isn't making things any easier. I've got a solid race going, though. At one point I was as high as 13th, as I found out later. But I was suffering, so I wouldn't keep that place for too long.

With two laps to go, I'm still maintaining my 18th place. But I'm dying from the effort and the heat... I can see there's a small group of 3 behind me, and they seem to be working well together. In the middle of the second-to-last lap, they catch me just before the run-up on the backside of the course. I put in a small dig, but can't match the pace. I'm now in 21st, and can tell I've got a pretty good gap on 22nd.

I gave it pretty much all I had on the last lap, but still lost time- 22nd place was creeping the entire lap. I got onto the pavement first, though, and sprinted out of the turn. I held on to 21st, but not by much.