VA State Cyclocross Championships race report

VA State Cyclocross Championships
Senior Men B
Mt Trashmore
Virginia Beach, VA
November 18, 2007

I have varying memories of Mount Trashmore- 1987, I was in 7th grade, 13 years old... My friend Scott's father took 4 of us to the skatepark there. This was a legendary skatepark! An eleven foot tall half-pipe that some major contests had been held on, and some of the best skateboarders in the world had skated. (Sadly, the original half-pipe that I skated then was burned to the ground in August of 2006, but has since been rebuilt.) I was new to the big ramp, and while we collectively looked like newbies (we were), we still got on it and pumped the huge transitions. Scott even dropped in, or attempted to. He didn't quite get it right the first time, and fell the full eleven feet to the bottom. The rest of us chickened out- so we went to Red Wing, a smaller half-pipe not far away. But it is still such a memorable day that it lives on in infamy for me, and hearing the Violent Femmes' Blister in the Sun reminds me of that day every time I hear it. I was a skate-rat back then, and to be honest, I had a lot of fun then. I skated with my best friends, and it was about all I did in my free time. We walked or rode BMX bikes what seemed like miles to skate ramps or find the smallest concrete banked wall...

19 years later, another memory ingrained in my mind was formed- a cyclocross race on the "mountain" (actually, an old dirt-covered landfill that reaches a grand total of about 80 feet above sea level, but is still the highest point in Virginia Beach.) It was the 2006 VA State Championship race, and I had some pretty lofty goals of being on the podium. To make a long story short, I started out fast, but couldn't hold the pace on the only long climb that the course offered. But I learned one thing from that race- you can't use climbs to recover. It's better to get them over with, and push as hard as you can for those short periods of time.

Another year, and now 20 years after my first trip to Mount Trashmore, and we're in 2007 at the State Championships again. It's a drier and faster course than last year, and the course is pretty much the same except that the four-foot-wide staircase that was a serious bottleneck last year has been removed, and we now have a 15-meter-wide grass run-up (or ride-up if you could) preceded by a set of barriers instead. There is a also a "Star of Death" (literally, draw a single-line 5-point star with your pen, but without crossing the lines. That's pretty much what we had to do) rather than the dreaded "Spiral of Death". It's not much better, but it comes much later in the race, which does indeed make a difference.

My teammates and I take a pre-ride lap to check out the course. We had plenty of time, but getting back to the start line, we find that most everyone but us is lined up. This puts us pretty much on the back row, starting somewhere in the 18-24th range. This is not where I want to be.

Starting off the race as usual, I have the misfortune of being behind someone who doesn't immediately clip into their pedals, and almost crashes off the left side of the course. I am stuck watching everyone ride away from me, and am left starting the race almost in last place. It's deja-vu considering the other races I've had this season.

On the first lap I work my way through the field, gaining quite a few placings. I'm still not with the group I need to be with, though. I make up ground wherever possible, but still have to worry about the "Star of Death", since there is virtually no way to pass the lesser-skilled and slower riders there.

On the second lap I've made it to the front of what amounts to a second, and pretty large group. There is a group of 4 riding in the front, containing a few of the guys I've been watching all season. I am pretty much driving the pace as hard as I can working my way to them, and late in the second lap I make it up to the lead group of four. Once I get there, I pretty much ride right through them, and separate the group of four into a lead group of two- myself and a guy who's won a couple of the races in the series already.

We ride the next few laps together- he leading most of it. He dropped his chain on the barriers leading into the run-up with about 3 laps to go. I am just behind him on the run-up and he manages to pretty much put his chain back on while running, and even though I passed him at the top, he was able to get back on and continue the pace. We ride together the rest of the lap, though, and on the road, there's a headwind that I've struggled with all race. I flick him through to take the pull on the road, but he doesn't. He waits until I've put in a good dig on the road and am back on the grass, where at the next 180 degree turn, he sprints away from me with two laps to go.

I catch back on in the technical areas, but he's still powering away on the flats- I'm even pushing on the climbs and making up ground, but it's on the flat sections and the road that he's just got more power than I can find in my legs. He starts to pull away with two to go, and I realise it's futile to stay with him- doing so may jeopardise my current second place...

I can see that I'm clearly in second, and that with a lap to go it's unlikely I can catch the leader, and it's also unlikely that I will get caught by the guy in third (one of my teammates, who earlier got second in the Masters' race.) I ride fast enough to maintain the gap, but somewhat resigned to second.

Actually, I'm very happy with my silver medal for second place. It's my first-ever medal in a State Championship race, in any cycling discipline. I wish the start had been better- having to bridge the gap solo may have been the effort that changed the race. Had I started in the front I may have been able to conserve more in the first two laps...

But, It was a perfect day for my bike- no mechanical issues. It was a great day for my legs, and it seemed like I rode the course almost perfectly, too. I had one "bobble" over the run-up barriers, but I don't believe it cost me any time. Otherwise I think I rode about as well as I could have.

Now to keep my form for another 2 weeks...