Fast pavement climb, S-turn to a steep hill with two barriers that force a dismount, back on the bike to the top of the hill, a long steep descent followed by a climb and a steep corner at the top. Some singletrack and tight turns follow, then a steep descent with a whoop-de-doo at the bottom that assured air time. Three more barriers and then pavement again to the finish. Five laps of this was surely going to hurt.
I started at the back of the group and during the first road section I passed about half the pack. I felt good and strong with lots of power, the way I like to start a race. Knowing that I hadn’t raced in months, for that matter, hadn’t ridden much in months, I didn’t know how long I would be able to keep up this tempo. I quickly found the answer, not long. At the top of the first climb I was passed by a few riders. The second lap started hurting at the uphill barriers and I wasn’t able to recover by the time I hit the singletrack. By the time I hit the third lap I had moved back to near the end of the pack.
At the start of the fourth lap I was passed by a fellow in a white shirt and I was sure if I kept him in sight I’d be able to pass him back. Around the backside I caught him on the whoop-de-doo section and kept up with him. He made a mistake on the next barriers and I passed him before the pavement section. I tried to extend my lead (on this, our last lap) before we hit the uphill section, where I knew I’d suffer and he’d get close again. Just before the singletrack he was on my wheel again. I stepped it up again through the turns and was coming closer to the racer in front of me. I knew that if I was able to keep this tempo I could gain on the rider in front of me and maybe even pass him at the whoop-de-doo. I took a risk and hauled ass down the steep hill, took the left line and as I started up the riser (into the forced jump) I heard the most gawd-aful sound, the sound you’d expect a fork to make as it breaks. I got off the bike to see what was broken. Wheel is in place, not dangling, check. Brakes are in place, check. Cranks are on, rear wheel is good. Ahh, handlebar was pointed down further than it was supposed to be, that must have been what I heard, the bars slipping in the stem. Check. Back on the bike and over the barriers to the pavement finish. As I hit the pavement I saw a rider in front of me flailing on the ground next to a tree, mental note, watch that corner.
15th place out of 19, Men’s C’s. Not my best results by far, but I was happy since it was my first ever CX race, I was out of shape, I had only been riding this new bike for a week.
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