Steilacoom Cross Race

I tried my hand at cross for the first time. The timing seemed right:

• Condition: I've ridden barely fifty miles a week for the last six weeks. Weight ballooning. Last raced road in April, track in June.
  
• Technique: Haven't been on a trail in almost ten years. Never crossed a barrier.
• Bicycle: Well, I have one. I picked up a cross bike at a swap last winter in San Francisco. It cost $200. I've ridden it all of about 30 miles.
  
• Logistics: My wife was unavailable so I had to wake my daughters at 7:00 to bring them along, and hope they could entertain themselves for 45 minutes. My youngest HATES bike racing.
  

See, the problem with running is that you just always
look like a doufus. In my case, a morbidly obese
doufus. Mein gott, am I really that fat?

Yes. Yes, I am.

Let me back up a moment. I wasn't totally unprepared. I drove to Tacoma the day before and rode the trails for about 90 minutes. And that night I went to the USACycling site and watched a video showing the dismount and remount. Job done. Packed my license, shoes, and helmet (although not, alas, any gloves) and was good to go.

So I went. And I raced. I didn't crash, I didn't finish last in my category, and I didn't puke on Johathon Page. Darned if I didn't have a lot of fun.

The course is apparently one of the tougher ones on the Seattle 'cross circuit. It's about two miles, and begins on asphalt, crosses onto a singletrack through waist-high grass, and transitions back to an asphalt trail. Then comes its raison d'etre: the runup. Steilacoom features an 80 meter long climb up a dirt path that's roughly the steepness of stadium stairs. Once at the top, there's a bunch of wide trail and single track that doubles back and forth, a few barriers, and then a fast descent to the start/finish area, which features a pair of barriers and short grass.

My group (Cat IV/35-45 years old) had about 42 riders. After the gun we strung out pretty well along the pavement. I was about three seconds behind the leader when we hit the trail, and a guy endo'd spectacularly, causing a major pileup. I rode into the tall grass until I had to jump off and run around the clot.

The transition to the climb was my first flying dismount, and as my feet hit the ground I was shocked by the speed I was carrying. Still, I got the bike on my shoulder and began the run, only to be slowed by the traffic on the climb. The truth is, all three run-ups were never more than trot-ups for me.

By the end of the first lap a phenomena had taken place that I'd never seen in a road or track race: everyone had found his own pace, and while I would occasionally pass a single rider or be passed by another, there was no cohesive pack that I could find. And it makes sense: push that climb too fast and you're going to blow up in a major way. And there's no draft worth having at 'cross speeds. Better instead to have good sight lines and to be able to pick one's own lines through the gravel and sand.


What really amazed the heck out of me is that most of the passes I made, after the first quarter mile leg, were when I was on foot. I was actually better at dismounts and Superman remounts than a lot of other folks! I even passed a fair few people on the climb.

A lot more riders passed me when I was riding. I thought that would be really dicey on single track, but it proved not to be the case. I was conscious of where other riders were and would make a point to move over and say something, and the faster guy would inevitably say "thanks". Again, way different than road racing.

My effort brought me 20th place, out of a group of 42. Not too bad a first time effort. On the other hand, the winner finished a full 10% faster than me, which is a shocking differential.

I was riding slow in part because I'm just at a low ebb in my fitness, but also because my bike was an unsteering pig. A few days later I got some lightly used Michelins and swapped out the skinny IRCs. The bike was completely transformed. The green Michelins are plush, roll fast, and make the handling much, much more secure. They really hook up. I'm looking forward to riding my next race with 'em. I've also swapped my brakes so that my left hand controls the rear. That way, I can modulate my speed while dismounting, and hopefully can shift when I've got the brake on hard--something I couldn't do with my Ergo lever cinched down tight.